University of California Berkeley 
 
HISTORY 
 
 
 OF 
 
 BAPTIST INDIAN MISSIONS: 
 
 EMBRACING 
 
 REMARKS ON THE FORMER AND PRESENT CONDITION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ABORIGINAL TRIBES; 
 
 THEIR SETTLEMENT WITHIN THE INDIAN TERRITORY, 
 
 *, 
 
 < 
 
 AND THEIR 
 
 UTURE PROSPECTS. 
 
 BY ISAAC McCOY. 
 Hi 
 
 TO THEM WHICH SAT IN THE REGION AND SHADOW OF DEATH, LIGHT 
 18 SPRUNG UP ; AND THE SOLITARY PLACE SHALL BE GLAD, AND THK 
 DESERT SHALL REJOICE AND BLOSSOM AS THE ROSE. 
 
 Matthew and Isaiah. 
 
 WASHINGTON : 
 WILLIAM M. MORRISON J 
 
 NEW-YORK : 
 
 H. AND S. RAYNOR 76 BOWERY, NEW-YORK, AND 
 BENNETT, BACKUS AND HAWLEY, UTICA. 
 
 1840. 
 
ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR MDCCCXL, BY 
 M C COY, IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT COURT FOR THE 
 OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 
 PRINTED BY P. FORCE, 
 TENTH STREET, WASHINGTON. 
 
x 
 
 TO 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE GENERAL CONVENTION OF THE BAPTIST 
 
 DENOMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES, FOR FOREIGN 
 
 MISSIONS, AND OTHER IMPORTANT OBJECTS 
 
 RELATING TO THE REDEEMER'S 
 
 KINGDOM, 
 
 THE .CONSTANT AND ARDENT FRIEND OF THE INDIANS, 
 
 
 
 AND FOR THE LAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS THE EFFICIENT PROMOTER OF THEIR 
 TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL WELFARE, 
 
 THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 
TESTIMONIALS. 
 
 December, 1839. 
 
 SIR : Accept our thanks for the opportunity you have afforded us 
 of perusing your manuscript History of Baptist Missions to the 
 Indians. Our gratification is heightened by a retrospect of the 
 many years that we have been associated with you in missionary 
 labours. We regret that, to avoid rendering the work too volumi 
 nous, you have been obliged to abridge the history in reference to 
 many interesting facts ; and we hope that, should a second edition 
 be necessary, this defect will be remedied. 
 
 We heartily approve of the publication of the work; it has 
 already been too long delayed. It will be accompanied by our 
 prayers, uttered with strong confidence that such is its character that 
 God will make it a means of promoting zeal, and liberality, in be 
 half of the too much neglected people to whose temporal and eternal 
 welfare we have consecrated our lives. 
 
 Respectfully, your brethren and fellow-missionaries-, 
 
 J. LYKINS, 
 
 ROBERT SIMERWELL, 
 JOTHAM MEEKER. 
 REV. ISAAC McCoy, 
 
 As the printed sheets came out of press, a specimen of each was 
 sent to a few gentlemen whose names are favourably known in the 
 churches, and in the country generally, who have kindly returned 
 the following testimonials in favour of the work: 
 
 From the Rev. Charles G. Somrners, Pastor of the South Bap 
 tist Church, City of New- York, and Corresponding Secretary of 
 the American and Foreign Bible Society, 
 
 New- York, April 27, 1840. 
 
 I have read the proof sheets of the " History of Baptist Indian 
 Missions," by the Rev. Isaac McCoy, and have no hesitation in ex 
 pressing the opinion, that if great practical experience in Indian 
 affairs, and a thorough knowledge of the past and present history 
 of our aborigines, added to an agreeable talent for the descriptive, 
 can entitle an author to general patronage, then the present work 
 must receive a very extensive circulation among the multitudes who 
 
TESTIMONIALS. 
 
 sympathize in the physical sufferings and moral degradation of 
 American Indians. 
 
 CHARLES G. SOMMERS. 
 
 From the Rev. Stephen Chapin, D. D., President of the Colum 
 bian College, D. C. 
 
 Columbian College, May 2d, 1840. 
 
 I have read with attention a considerable portion of the Rev. Mr. 
 McCoy's " History of Baptist Indian Missions." It is the object of 
 the writer to give a history of the origin, the progress, and the pre 
 sent state, of this mission : this he has done in a style strong and 
 perspicuous, and wholly free from quaintness, or laboured effort to 
 produce effect. 
 
 This work, independently of its intrinsic merit, and the benevo 
 lent design of the author, will be read with much interest by every 
 philanthropist and Christian, on account of its bearing upon the en 
 terprise to preserve the Indian race, by introducing among them the 
 blessings of Christianity and civilization. This attempt is certainly 
 among the most memorable events in the history of this country. 
 For more than two centuries after the settlement of North- America, 
 the various Indian tribes, who from time immemorial were the un 
 disputed sovereigns of the soil, continued to melt away before the 
 enterprise and the cupidity of the Anglo-Saxon settlers. In this 
 period, some of them became extinct, others were dispersed, and all 
 the while their entire population continued to wane in a rapid ratio. 
 In view of these facts, many distinguished individuals were led to 
 inquire, what can be done to save the remnant of this noble race from 
 speedy and utter extinction? And the plan was formed to collect 
 the fragments of the remaining tribes, and to settle them without the 
 boundary of our Confederacy, and upon lands provided for them by 
 the Government, where they would have powerful motives to give 
 up their habits of hunting and of war, and where, in their permanent 
 homes, they might be steadily acted upon by the teacher and the mis 
 sionary. The reader will learn that the author, and the missionary 
 board who patronise his efforts, acted no inconsiderable part in this 
 great enterprise to make some return to the aborigines of this country 
 for the wrongs they had received at our hands, and to save them from 
 final ruin. 
 
 There is yet another interesting light in which this work may be 
 viewed, in its tendency to do away the general prejudice that there is 
 something queer in the Indian character; that his passion for hunt 
 ing and war is original; and that, therefore, you can no more civilize 
 him than you can tame the partridge of the forest. But let it once 
 be fully understood that there is nothing peculiar in the character of 
 the Indians that their habits are the result of circumstances, and not 
 the result of original propensities and our missionary labours to 
 save them will be more liberal and sanguine. In a word, I cordially 
 
TESTIMONIALS. 
 
 recommend the work to the attentive perusal of the friends of Indian 
 missions, and hope that it will have a wide circulation, and do much 
 good in advancing a cause in which we are all so much concerned. 
 
 S. CHAPIN. 
 
 From the Hon. Wilson Lumpkin, member of the Baptist Church 
 at Athens, Georgia, Ex-Governour of the State of Georgia, and 
 Senator in the Congress of the United States. 
 
 Washington, May 2d, 1840. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR: With feelings of interest and pleasure, I have 
 read the sheets submitted by you for my perusal, on the subject of 
 Baptist Indian Missions. The importance of the facts which you 
 record cannot fail to render them useful and interesting to all who 
 may read them. But the value of your work will be more fully 
 appreciated hereafter. 
 
 The very limited aid which you have received in your long and 
 untiring efforts to save the native race of our land, demonstrates the 
 fact, that your philanthropic spirit has been in advance of your gene 
 ration; but you have not laboured in vain. The brief historical 
 sketch which you design giving to the public substitutes (within my 
 own knowledge) truth in the place of popular fable, on many points 
 connected with the Indian character. You have not suffered imagi 
 nation, or tradition, to supersede truth. You have justly considered 
 and treated the character of the Indian, as that of a man nothing 
 more or less than a man in peculiar circumstances, demanding the 
 lively sympathies of his fellow-man, who may happen to be in a 
 more favoured position. All the peculiarities of the Indian charac 
 ter have arisen from the circumstances in which they have been 
 found. As to the period, manner, and place, of peopling America 
 by the aboriginal race, you prudently leave these questions involved 
 in that obscurity which candour demands from every considerate 
 and intelligent man. You have, incidentally to your main object, 
 sketched some of the most prominent errors of the Government in 
 its policy and intercourse with the Indian tribes, and suggested the 
 only true remedy. You have afforded the means of tracing the 
 chief causes of all the failures of missionary efforts amongst the na 
 tive American race ; but that which I esteem to be of greatest value 
 of all the facts which you have submitted, is the record of the mis 
 sionary efforts of you and your family, and associates ; and which 
 may serve to enable those who would engage in similar labours to 
 make a just estimate of the joys and sorrows which await the de 
 voted missionary. 
 
 I hope your work will be extensively read; it is worthy of the 
 patronage of the wise and the good, and I very sincerely commend 
 it to the consideration of all. You have literally forsaken all the 
 flattering prospects of this life, and cast your eye to that abiding in- 
 
TESTIMONIALS. 
 
 heritance where you and your Indian converts will be equal and 
 joint heirs with the author of your faith. 
 Your friend and obedient servant, 
 
 WILSON LUMPKIN. 
 REV. ISAAC McCov. 
 
 From the Rev. Rufus Babcock, D. D., Pastor of the Baptist 
 Church in Poughkeepsie, New- York. 
 
 Poughkeepsie, N. Y., May 1, 1840. 
 
 I have carefully, and with deep interest, perused the principal 
 part of the Rev. Mr. McCoy's History of Indian Missions. For 
 many years I have been personally acquainted with the author, and 
 have formed an opinion decidedly favourable of his piety, devoted- 
 ness, and self-denial, in the great work of Indian reform. No man 
 now living has probably enjoyed so ample opportunities of tho 
 roughly understanding the character and the wants of our abori 
 gines. What he has done and suffered for them, and what he has 
 desired and attempted to have accomplished for their benefit, are set 
 forth in a simple and perspicuous manner in this volume. No one 
 can read it without feeling compelled to give credit to the mission 
 aries, among the Indians, for more zeal and self-sacrifice in their 
 labours than even the well informed portion of the Christian com 
 munity have ever imagined. 
 
 In warmly recommending this history to Christians, to philan 
 thropists, and, indeed, to all who seek for extensive and exact inform 
 ation on the subjects embraced in it, it will not be understood that 
 every opinion advanced is regarded as established, since " to err is 
 human." The work will undoubtedly commend itself to the public 
 confidence, as the testimony of sufferings a kind of martyr-witness; 
 and, as such, I sincerely hope it may be extensively read, and serve 
 to awaken greater liberality and energy in conducting Christian 
 missions among the waning remnants of that race who were lately 
 the undisputed proprietors of our national domain. 
 
 RUFUS BABCOCK, JR. 
 
tic H fiji* ji3U;i'w flaw! s'f&d aneaml otfo 
 -7 I-Fwow *)7?1f -.If4m. irldikf sit* hB^lwir o) l>ir3*K>f.i*.o 'How 
 R jIoifR j [tug t'/iwij ataoaq u 1ocl6?/ !wn^jjihj ;(..*> oilj lidiii 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 tiDoa bluod* ii fluoth ,/dlil "M -;to]j?;i itoimnos 01!) lo dfiug oi 
 
 I have supposed that an introduction, embracing remarks on 
 the origin, character, and condition of the aborigines of our 
 country, would be useful as a preliminary to the history which 
 follows. 
 
 In the history itself, some latitude has been indulged, in reach 
 ing matter which would properly belong to a history of the 
 Indians, and especially to a history of their settlement in the 
 Indian territory; but I have seldom, if ever, touched any matter 
 which I did not believe had some bearing upon the narrative, 
 either immediate or remote. 
 
 The materials which more than twenty years 3 missionary 
 operations had supplied amounted to more than time and oppor 
 tunity to write, and the means to meet the cost of publishing, 
 admitted into the work ; and much has been omitted that would 
 probably be useful to the public. Most of the missionaries have 
 not been sufficiently careful to record in their journals all mat 
 ters of interest, and the accessible resources of information, 
 besides my own notes, have been scanty beyond expectation. 
 It is hoped, however, that, by the vigilance of missionaries in 
 future, these defects may, in some measure, be remedied. 
 
 The work has been prepared at short intervals, amidst the 
 pressure of other duties, and there is much reason to fear that 
 the utility of important matter will, to some extent, be pre 
 vented by its going abroad in homely dress. Most books 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 respecting the Indians have been written with an air of romance 
 well calculated to mislead the public mind. If we would ex 
 hibit the condition and wants of a people truly, and in such a 
 manner as to elicit helps to their improvement, it is necessary 
 to speak of the common matters of life, though it should seem 
 to be at the expense of some refinement of taste, and to pre 
 sent to the reader the people as they are at home. 
 
 It is with much satisfaction that the joint certificate of Messrs. 
 Lykins, Simerwell, and Meeker, is inserted. For many years 
 we have all laboured side by side in our missionary enterprise ; 
 and such is the extent of their information, that their assistance 
 in compiling the work would, doubtless, have enhanced its 
 worth. The missionaries more remote would have been con 
 sulted, had there been opportunity, and it is believed that 
 the publication will be favoured with the hearty approval of 
 them all. 
 
 With prayer that the blessing of God may accompany the 
 work, it is respectfully submitted to the public by 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 Shawanoe Baptist Mission, 
 
 Indian Territory, December t 1839. 
 
 lo ootuiig^'-drf.! 1 vd 
 
 -^ ml V J bsiaov 
 
Jl 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 SEC. 1. Origin of the Indians. There is no evidence that 
 they are descendants of Israel. Probable manner 
 of their introduction into America, . . 9 
 
 SEC. 2. Their original condition. Not taciturn and phlegma 
 tic. Not strangely attached to either hunting or 
 war 17 
 
 SEC. 3. They have no marriage ceremonies. Are without 
 law. Their numbers had not diminished before 
 their discovery by Europeans. They had not de 
 generated from a more improved condition, 25 
 
 SEC. 4. They claimed particular portions of country. Indian 
 rights to land denied by Europeans. The Indians 
 were the real owners, 28 
 
 SEC. 5. All Europeans adopted the same principle in taking 
 possession of Indian lands. The delusive nature 
 of Indian treaties. Moneys unfairly obtained by 
 them, 30 
 
 SEC. 6. The Government of the United States adheres to the 
 principles previously adopted by Europeans. Trea 
 ties become more liberal in their provisions, .... 32 
 
 SEC. 7. The policy which ought to have been adopted. In 
 creasing regard for Indians. A change of measures 
 essential to the prosperity of the Indians, 34 
 
 SEC. 8. Improved condition of the southern tribes. The crisis 
 produced by a bad policy. Difficulties between the 
 General Government, the State of Georgia, and the 
 Cherokees, 36 
 
 SEC. 9. Change of measures in the management of Indian 
 
 affairs, . 39 
 
 CHAP. I. Correspondence, and appointments to missionary ser 
 vice. First efforts. Location on Wabash river, 
 Indiana. Journey among the Delawares. School 
 commenced. Necessity for removal. Second tour 
 among the Delawares. Sickness. Baptism of the 
 teacher. Journey to Fort Wayne, 43 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP, IV. 
 
 CHAP. II. Removal to Fort Wayne. The school prospers. 
 Baptisms. Journey to Ohio. Sickness. Jour 
 ney to Vincennes. Arrival of a missionary. 
 Awful effects of intemperance. Embarrass 
 ments for want of the means of support. Bap 
 tism of a Delaware woman. Difficulties in 
 
 obtaining school teachers, Tl 
 
 CHAP. III. Pecuniary assistance obtained from Government. 
 Pressing necessities. Assistance obtained in 
 Ohio. Mr. Hill quits the mission. Indian 
 murders. Retrospect of a year's operations. 
 Tour among the Putawatomies. Praying In 
 dians. Voyage down the Wabash river. Bap 
 tisms, w ,,,t-rt'. 89 
 
 Dreadful effects of ardent spirits. Superintend 
 ents of missionary stations. Important treaty 
 at Chicago. Beneficial stipulations. Indian 
 murders. Candidates for missionary service. 
 Sickness. Indian murders. Circular to the 
 public. Want of suitable school teachers. 
 Journey to Washington. Arrival of a mis 
 sionary. Appointment of missionaries. In 
 jury received from an Indian. Manufacture 
 of cloth, '. 110 
 
 Lamentable death of an Indian woman. Arrival 
 of a missionary. Modes of burial. Ceremony 
 of adoption. Tour among the Putawatomies. 
 A suffering mother and infant. Dreadful ef 
 fects of intemperance. Baptism of Mr. Lykins. 
 He is appointed a missionary. Temperance 
 society. Journey to Detroit. Appointments 
 from Government. Disinterestedness of the 
 missionaries. Arrival of missionaries. Church 
 constituted. Severe sickness of the mission 
 family. Death. Arrival of a missionary, . . 131 
 
 Indian murders. Failure of a missionary. Mis 
 sion Family Rules. Erection of mission build 
 ings. Death of Mr. B. Sears. Removal to 
 the St. Joseph's river. The school resumed. 
 Want of supplies of bread stuff Sickness. 
 Benevolence of Christians in support of the 
 
 mission, 164 
 
 CHAP. VII. Resignation of a missionary. Journey to Ohio. 
 Loss of property in Elksheart river. A second 
 loss. Tour among the Ottawas. Superstition. 
 Scheme conceived for procuring in the west a 
 permanent residence for the Indians. Major 
 Long's exploring party visits the mission. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 5 
 
 Scarcity of bread. Efforts to promote colo 
 nization. The routine of business. Want of 
 support, 186 
 
 CHAP. VIII. Tour among the Ottawas. Medicine dance. 
 Death of Indian pupils. Loss of property on 
 Lake Michigan. The Government agent ex 
 amines the affairs of the mission. Arrival of 
 missionaries. Want of the means of support. 
 Journey to Washington. Scheme for colo 
 nizing the Indians. Tour to take collections. 
 Success. Phenomenon on Lake Erie. Mr. 
 Simerwell joins the mission. Condition of 
 affairs in the vicinity of the establishment. 
 Encouraging appearances, 206 
 
 CHAP. IX. Sickness. Visit of the Sauks. Effects of ardent 
 spirits. Revival of religion. Journey to Ohio, 
 and death of a child. Condition of the institu 
 tion, as reported by the United States' commis 
 sioner. Baptism. Tour among the Ottawas. 
 Selection of a site for a missionary station. 
 Indian colonization. Continuation of religious 
 animation, 229 
 
 CHAP. X. Narrow escape from a murderer. Improving 
 condition of the Ottawas. Improvements of 
 the,Putawatomies. Baptisms, Paralyzing ef 
 fects of ardent spirits. Preparation of Indian 
 youths for superior usefulness. They enter 
 the Baptist Theological Institution at Hamil 
 ton, New- York. Indian festival. Resigna 
 tion of missionaries. Condition of the school, 
 &c. Arrival of missionaries. Efforts to pro 
 mote colonization. Effects of intemperance. 
 Cattle furnished the Ottawas. Measures of 
 the board in reference to the missionaries, . . . 258 
 
 CHAP. XT. Commissioner's report of the mission. Impor 
 tant treaty stipulations. Arrival of mission 
 aries. Difficult journey to Thomas station. 
 Voyage to Thomas. An idol. Two boys 
 taken to Vermont to study medicine. Super 
 stition. Missionaries arrive at Thomas ; others 
 return to Carey, 286 
 
 CHAP. XII. Marriage of a missionary. Sickness. Origin 
 of mission to Sault de St. Marie. Indian hos 
 tilities. A captive redeemed. Cannibalism. 
 Indian murders. Journey to Thomas. Sick 
 ness among the Ottawas. Treaty at Carey. 
 Journey to the Eastern States. Remarks on 
 Indian reform, published. Efforts to promote 
 
O CONTENTS. 
 
 colonization. Objections on account of slavery. 
 First settlement of emigrants in the Indian ter 
 ritory. Exploring tour originated. Station at 
 Sault de St. Marie, 308 
 
 CHAP. X11I. Tour of exploration. Pecuniary embarrass 
 ments. Tour with Putawatomies and Otta- 
 was. Poverty of the Osages. Indians are 
 not taciturn. The Indians' skill in following 
 foot-prints overrated. Miserable condition of 
 the Kauzaus. Tour with delegations of Creeks, 
 Chickasaws, and Choctaws. Death of a Creek 
 Indian. Council with Osages; their buffalo 
 hunts, names, religion, condition, tales, &c., . . 332 
 
 CHAP. XIV. Exploring expedition continued, and terminated 
 on Arkansas. Journey to Washington. Re 
 port of the expedition. Valuation of improve 
 ments at Carey. Influence of politics upon 
 the subject of Indian colonization. Reprint of 
 remarks on Indian reform. Triennial Con 
 vention. Memorial to Congress. Missionaries 
 remove to the West. Calumny counteracted, . 365 
 
 CHAP. XV. Baptisms. Condition of Thomas station. Tour 
 of exploration. Sickness. Journey to Wash 
 ington. Memorial of the Board of Missions 
 to Congress. Other memorials for and against 
 colonization. Stage accident. Proffered re 
 signation of missionaries. Passage of the 
 memorable act of Congress, known as " The 
 law of 1830." Selection of Indian reserva 
 tions. Sickness and death of Dr. J. McCoy. 
 Discontinuance of the Carey station. Survey 
 ing expedition. Origin of mission among the 
 Shawanoes. Origin of missions to Otoes and 
 Omahas. Councils with Kauzaus, Shawanoes, 
 and Pawnees. First request of an Indian 
 tribe, for a land patent. Ancient tumuli. 
 Clouds of dust. Natural curiosity, 389 
 
 CHAP. XVI. Journey to Washington. Origin of missions 
 among the Choctaws. Station established 
 among the Shawanoes. Difficult journey to 
 Arkansas. Councils with the Cherokees and 
 Creeks. Exploration. Severe storm. Alarm 
 given the Osages. Sickness and deaths. Ori 
 gin of the church among the Creeks. Explo 
 ration. Massacre of De^awares. Journey to 
 Missouri. Location among the Shawanoes. 
 Missionaries to Sault de St. Marie. Journey 
 to Washington. Address to the public, .... 412 
 
CONTENTS. t 
 
 CHAP. XVII. Creek treaty. Small-pox intentionally commu 
 nicated. Cherokee difficulties. Triennial con 
 vention. Appointment of two missionaries. 
 Death of Dr. R. McCoy. Settlement near the 
 Shawanoes. Journey to Arkansas. Muscogee 
 Baptist church constituted. Baptisms. School 
 opened among the Shawanoes. Additional bap 
 tisms among the Creeks. Report to Commis 
 sioners. Location of a missionary among the 
 Choctaws. Baptism at Shawanoe. Proposed 
 mission to the Kickapoos. Kickapoo prophet. 
 Missionary appointed to the Choctaws. Arri 
 val of missionaries at the Shawanoe station, . . 440 
 
 CHAP. XVIII. Baptism. Tour in the wilderness. Arrival 
 of missionaries. Mission established among 
 the Otoes. Arrival of other missionaries. 
 Journey to Arkansas. A missionary retires 
 from labour. Baptisms. Tour in the wilder 
 ness. Journey to Washington. Enlistment of 
 missionaries. Printing press. New system 
 of writing. Baptism. Tour in the wilder 
 ness. Resignation of a missionary. Publica 
 tion of the Annual Register. Death. Apos- 
 tacy of a missionary. Arrival of missionaries 
 at the Creek station. Death of two mission 
 aries. Arrival of missionaries among the 
 Choctaws. Newspaper in Shawanoe. Books 
 in Creek and Choctaw. Baptism, and mission 
 ary appointment, 463 
 
 CHAP. XIX. Boarding schools. Ordination of a missionary. 
 Indian hostilities. Journey to Washington. 
 Boundaries of Arkansas. Ottawa treaty; im 
 portant amendment in favour of the Thomas 
 station. Putawatomie delegation. Cherokee 
 treaty. Fruitless effort to effect a better treaty. 
 Bill for the organization of the Indian terri 
 tory. Indian notion of religion. Sickness. 
 Journey to Indiana. Appointment of mission 
 aries to the Creeks. Missionaries leave the 
 Creek country, 489 
 
 CHAP. XX. Cherokee station. Omahas. Death. Journey 
 to Washington. Treaty with Putawatomies. 
 Baptisms. Tour in the wilderness. Seat of 
 government of the Indian territory, &c. Mis 
 sionaries arrive at Shawanoe. A design to 
 get the Indians' lands. Periodical account 
 published. Annual Register. Establishment 
 of the Ottawa station. Establishment of the 
 
8 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Putawatomie station. Half-breed lands. Bill 
 for organizing the Indian territory laid before 
 the different tribes. Putawatomies divided. 
 Baptisms. Three delegations examine the 
 country, 513 
 
 CHAP. XXI. Mission to the Osages. Their deplorable con 
 dition. Ordination. Death of a female mis 
 sionary. Journey to Washington. Bill for 
 the organization of the Indian territory passed 
 by the Senate. Baptist Convention. Death. 
 Superstition of the Chippewas. General coun 
 cil among the Cherokees. Expedition to Flo 
 rida. Journey to the Putawatomies. Indian 
 bill laid before the southern tribes. Improved 
 condition of the Choctaws. Delawares desire 
 laws. Patent to the Cherokees, 535 
 
 CHAP. XXII. Small-pox. Death. Journey to Washington. 
 Difficulties at the Creek station. Fourth num 
 ber of the Annual Register. The Indian bill 
 again passes the Senate. Death of a mission 
 ary. Baptisms. Missionaries appointed. Wy- 
 andauts. Stockbridges 554 
 
 CHAP. XXIII. Condition of affairs at the close of 1839. Pun- 
 cahs. Omahas. Station abandoned. Paw 
 nees. Otoes. loways. Sauks. Kickapoos. 
 Kauzaus. Delawares. Shawanoes. Books 
 printed. Ottawas. Weas and Piankashas. Pe- 
 orias and Kaskaskias. Putawatomies. Osages. 
 Quapaws. Senecas and Shawanoes. Creeks. 
 Cherokees. Choctaws. Obligation of the Bap 
 tists, 560 
 
 CHAP. XXIV. Encouragement to go forward in the work of 
 
 Indian reform, 577 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. 1. Speech of the Hon. Wilson Lumpkin, in the House 
 of Representatives, in Congress, on the bill for 
 the removal of the Indians, May 17th, 1830, 589 
 
 No. 2. Report of the Committee on Indian Missions of the 
 
 Baptist General Convention, in May, 1832, . . 595 
 
 No. 3. Speech of the Hon. A. H. Sevier, in the Senate of the 
 United States, on the ''bill to provide for the 
 security and protection of the immigrant and 
 other Indian tribes west of the States of Mis 
 
 souri and Arkansas," February 23, 1839, 
 
 598 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 Introductory Remarks on the origin of the Indian Tribes: their 
 condition; the relation which they have sustained towards 
 other Nations since their acquaintance with them, and their 
 prospects for the future. 
 
 SECTION 1. On the present occasion we can devote but 
 little time to the consideration of the subjects which we here 
 propose to notice. Inclination would lead us to write a volume, 
 and should life last sufficiently long, this inclination may one 
 day be gratified. But we shall here attempt no more than a 
 brief sketch, one object of which will be to show to the public 
 that its credulity in many respects has long been heavily taxed 
 with misrepresentations. 
 
 At what period, in what manner, and from what place the 
 aboriginal tribes carne to America, or to which of the nations 
 of the earth they are most nearly related, are questions that 
 never can be satisfactorily answered. 
 
 The most common opinion in regard to their descent, and 
 one which our minds seem predisposed to adopt, is, that they 
 are the descendants of Israel. Volumes have been written in 
 favour of this hypothesis, and the evidences in its support have 
 been presented in the most imposing manner, but such proof as 
 is necessary to a belief of the fact assumed is still wanting. 
 One tells us that he has heard the Indians on festival occasions 
 use the Hebrew word Hallelujah. But others, amon^ whom is the 
 writer of this, have listened to the unmeaning whooping alluded 
 to, and could perceive no similarity which a fruitful imagination 
 could not as easily conjecture resembled words of some other 
 language. Certain it is, the Indians do not design, by their un 
 meaning hallooing on festival occasions, to say any thing like 
 "praise ye the Lord." So far as we have any knowledge of 
 Indian language, no dialect admits of this form of speech. 
 Praise ye the Lord, cannot be literally translated into Indian. 
 
10 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 It appears to us that a just comparison of languages would be 
 the best test of the origin of the aborigines; but it appears equally 
 plain that no just comparison has been instituted. The vocabula 
 ries of Indian language have usually been made by or through 
 careless, ignorant men, and we have never seen a list of words, of 
 any of the tribes with which we have formed some acquaintance 
 in our twenty years' intercourse in Indian affairs, that is not too 
 imperfect to be used for scientific purposes. Take for instance 
 words of most common use in our intercourse with the Indians, 
 as for example, the words meaning father, mother, brother, 
 sister, &c. The language of not one of the tribes which ever 
 lived between the Mississippi and the Atlantic ocean, admits of 
 this mode of expression ; in this case the noun cannot be ex 
 pressed without the pronoun. In vocabularies of the Putawa- 
 tomie language nosah is given for the word father, but nosah is 
 my father, kos, thy father, ossun, his or her father. N'sessah 
 is my elder brother, messah is my elder sister, n'sheemah is 
 either my younger sister or my younger brother, gender not 
 being implied. In Indian speeches which have appeared in 
 print, the speaker is invariably made to use the word brother or 
 father, and in every instance he is misrepresented, because he 
 has no word for father, mother, brother or sister, as is seen in 
 the example above. If he uses the word father, he says my 
 father, our father, &.C.; he has no separate word for either 
 brother or sister ; if he uses the word brother, he says my elder 
 brother; if he speaks of a sister, he says messah, which is my 
 elder sister; if he omits the adjective elder, he is compelled to 
 imply the adjective younger he uses the word n'sheema, which, 
 as before stated, is my younger brother or my younger sister. 
 
 A list of similar blunders might be extended, until the pa 
 tience of the reader w ? ould be exhausted. We select these, the 
 most familiar and the most easily understood, as a specimen of 
 the inaccuracy of Indian vocabularies, and to show how little 
 we can gain by them. 
 
 In a comparison of languages for the purposes under con 
 sideration, the idiomatic construction would of course be par 
 ticularly noticed ; but it should be borne in mind that the In 
 dian is the pupil of nature the construction of his language, as 
 well as his modes of obtaining subsistence, is such as is most 
 natural. Hence we would expect to find its construction most 
 nearly resembling the most ancient languages. 
 
 Customs among the Indians have been compared with Jewish 
 customs with much satisfaction by those who believed these 
 people were of Israel's line j x but it is observable that all the 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. i i 
 
 customs referred to among the Indians are such a? are perfectly 
 natural to people in their condition precisely such, and such 
 only, as we would expect to find among them, had they de 
 scended from any other people, and hence no argument is fur 
 nished in favour of the hypothesis under consideration." 
 
 We are referred to certain ceremonies respecting uncleanness 
 and sanctification, in which the parties for a time are separated 
 from other company; but with the Indians this retirement is the 
 result of that sense of decency which belongs to human nature 
 every where, the observance of which is more rigid in refined 
 society, and less in barbarous. The poverty of the Indians in 
 regard to raiment and houses increases the necessity for separa 
 tion from company. 
 
 We have been referred to Indian festivals as bearing a striking 
 resemblance to those of the Jews, particularly the festival of 
 the Indians which occurs at the use of the first ripe fruits of 
 the season. They have three festivals of this character in the 
 course of the year, and each is evidently produced by causes 
 perfectly natural, and need not be attributed to tuition. The 
 first occurs in the commencement of the summer, when the 
 people, after a separation from their villages, and after wander 
 ing in an unsettled condition during the cold season, commonly 
 in small detached parties, return to plant their vegetables, and 
 to commence the culture of their small patches. The second 
 occurs at the time when their corn, (maize,) soft in the ear, be 
 comes eatable; and the third takes place after they have gather 
 ed the fruits of their fields, at the commencement of cold 
 weather, when they are again about to separate on their winter's 
 wandering. They, like all other people, are social beings, and 
 after a separation from kindred and acquaintances eight months, 
 are happy to see each other at the common place of annual 
 meeting ; and from the same principle that festive parties would 
 be induced in civilized society, under circumstances as nearly 
 similar as we could expect to occur, the Indians collect, to talk, 
 to make speeches, to eat, beat their drums, rattle their gourds, 
 sing and dance. Their feasts, or dances, one appellation being 
 about as appropriate as the other, or parties, as we would de 
 nominate them if they occurred among ourselves, happen fre 
 quently, and depend on the disposition of an individual to enjoy 
 a social interview with his friends. But a festival at meeting in 
 the spring season is observed as a national affair. A second 
 regular national meeting is expected when, after the season of 
 greatest scarcity, which is that between assembling at. the vil 
 lages and this time, they can gather enough from their fields lor 
 
12 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 a plentiful feast ; zest is given to this occasion, and the hilarity 
 promoted by music, dancing, &ic. In the autumn they again 
 assemble for the parties to take leave of each other, and that a 
 similar feast should occur is perfectly natural. 
 
 Their division into tribes has been compared to the patriarchal 
 state of the Hebrews. But this division is a necessary conse 
 quence of their seeking subsistence chiefly from the spontane 
 ous productions of nature, so that whether they be Israelites or 
 not, the division into tribes and the existence of chieftaincies 
 are things which we should expect to find. The seeking of sup 
 plies from the chase, or from spontaneous vegetable productions, 
 necessarily leads to a division into parties, and the division into 
 tribes is the result of the same causes operating upon a larger 
 scale, and dividing them into bands under leading chiefs. A 
 man by heirship may be a chief, but often this honour is attained 
 because in the first instance a man may choose, with a selected 
 few, to separate from the main body of his people, on account 
 of the greater facility with which supplies could be obtained 
 for a small company than for a large one. His age or his in 
 dustry secures respect, and ultimately he becomes an acknow 
 ledged chief; his followers sometimes strengthen their number, 
 and from a small band grow into a tribe. 
 
 jThe absence of idol worship among the aboriginal tribes, and 
 their belief in the existence of God, have been esteemed striking 
 proofs that they were the descendants of Israel. We have been 
 astonished to notice the stress which has been laid upon this 
 matter by many ; it seems to us that a little reflection, unin 
 fluenced by some of the dogmas of theology which were in 
 better credit a century ago than ought to be awarded them in 
 this age of light, would make it apparent that idol worship, or 
 a disbelief in the existence of God, could not possibly prevail 
 among any people in the condition of savage Indian tribes. 
 These have no regular system of imparting religious instruction; 
 the Indian is the pupil of nature; his religious opinions are 
 natural ; he is a rational being, and as such as naturally feels that 
 there is a Creator of himself and of the wonders by which he 
 is surrounded, as that he contemplates any other matter. To 
 this Almighty Being he gives such a name as appears most ap 
 propriate, the Great Spirit, the Father of Life, our Creator, &c. 
 He acknowledges his superintending providence, and endeavours 
 to secure his favourer avert his displeasure, by such a sacrifice, 
 offering, or gift, as he fancies will be most acceptable. He feels 
 his own accountability to God, and hence believes in the im 
 mortality of the soul and future rewards and punishments. This 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 13 
 
 he believes, not because he has been taught it, either by tradi 
 tion or otherwise, but because God has made him a rational 
 being. " For God hath showed it unto them for the invisible 
 things of God, from the creation to the present time, being evi 
 dently seen and their existence understood, even by the heathen, 
 by the tangible objects of creation, even the i eternal power and 
 godhead' is believed, so that the savage as well as the civilized 
 sinner is without excuse."* 
 
 Infidelity, whether in the form of atheism, deism, or idol 
 worship, is a folly into which nature or common sense never 
 did, and never will lead a man. Let man follow the dictates 
 of common sense, and he feels that there is a God, and that 
 there is a hereafter in which his soul shall be rewarded or 
 punished for the deeds done in the body. Life, in connexion 
 with immortality, or a holy and happy immortality, is "brought 
 to light through the Gospel," but immortality itself, or a future 
 state of existence, is the natural belief of man, though he be des 
 titute of the Gospel. 
 
 The Indians have not time to attend upon religious instruc 
 tion; their precarious habits prevent the concocting of systems 
 of mythology or the organization of a priesthood. To these 
 the mind of depraved man is prone ; and so far as the Indians 
 have opportunity, it is thus misemployed in forming systems, 
 which invariably are more absurd in theory and of more cruel 
 tendency than are the views and practices of such as have less 
 leisure. Hence upon the entrance of Europeans into Mexico, 
 where the natives were found in larger bodies, and were more 
 civilized than in countries farther north, there was the sem 
 blance of idol worship. Even the poorest tribes have a little 
 leisure to think and talk about religious things, and just so fat- 
 as time and circumstances have enabled them to build up a sys 
 tem, it has invariably proved to be composed of absurdities in 
 theory, and clothed with debasing ceremonies. 
 
 Man, though he knows God, hates holiness, which implies 
 sanctified affections ; and hence, when he feels the necessity of 
 pleasing God, he devises a service congenial to his love of un- 
 holiness. With his predilections for unholiness, he starts wrong, 
 and the distance that he diverges from truth is in proportion 
 to the extent of the system which he forms. The mythology 
 of the Hindoos leads them into greater absurdity than that which 
 attends the Indian. But place the Indians in circumstances 
 which would enable them to form a system of mythology, and 
 at the same time withhold from them the light of the Bible, 
 
 * See Romans 118, 19, 20, 21. 
 
14 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 and, like other heathen,. they would not stop short of worship 
 rendered to the creature instead of the Creator. It appears to 
 me that nothing of the kind can be more. evident, than that the 
 absence of idol worship among the Indians is owing to their 
 unsettled habits. 
 
 If we could suppose that the absence of idolatry was be 
 cause they had descended from the Jews, we should expect to 
 find with them some sentiment of dislike to idol worship ; but 
 we perceive no such thing. They have no impressions about 
 idols, either for or against them. They sometimes pay reli 
 gious adoration to the sun, to the elements, or to a mysterious 
 production of nature ; such, for instance, as the curious salt- 
 spring, on Solomon river ;* but the idea never enters into their 
 head that- matter, which is completely under their control, is to 
 be worshipped. 
 
 Considerable stress has been laid upon the traditions of the 
 Indians, some of which have been thought to favour the idea of 
 their descent from Israel ; but; it is probable that none have ever 
 become acquainted with the traditions of any tribe, until after 
 the tribe had derived some notions of Christianity from white 
 men. They are, in their original state, so destitute of any thing 
 like historical knowledge, that they would, with great facility y 
 receive an impression from a hint respecting the creation, the 
 flood, &c. All traditions of a religious cast, which are not ut 
 terly unworthy of notice, savour of sentiments which evidently 
 were not common to Indians before their acquaintance with the 
 whites. 
 
 Nothing can be more opposite to fact than the supposition, 
 that important information may be deduced from the tradi 
 tions of the Indians, either in matters of religion or of history; 
 and, moreover, many of the Indian traditions of which the 
 world has been informed have been manufactured by other 
 people. From tradition and imaginary hieroglyphics among the 
 Indians of Mexico, the Abbe D. Francesco Saverio Clavigero 
 wrote the history of those nations, commencing with generations 
 before the discovery of the New World by the Spaniards. Now, 
 one who will make himself acquainted with the Indians at their 
 homes, will be induced to believe that he could, with equal ac 
 curacy, compile a history of the tribes of Missouri from the 
 paintings upon the buffalo robes which we get from them. The 
 same kind of vanity which induced the conquerors of those 
 countries to call their chiefs emperors, kings, and lords, prompt 
 ed them to represent that the natives were so much civilized 
 
 * See an^ account of this natural curiosity on a subsequent page. 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 15 
 
 that they had a regular system of hieroglyphics, which foreigners, 
 without instructors, could learn to decipher. Since we have 
 become acquainted with the Indians, every one can perceive 
 that what they termed kings, noblemen, &c., were only what 
 we term Indian chiefs; and that their hieroglyphics were little, 
 if any thing, superior to the marks which our Indians in the pre 
 sent day use to distinguish their family, their clan, or their 
 tribe, or their freaks of fancy in painting a skin. The Spaniards' 
 own story of the conquests of Mexico, though it is told with 
 the design of conveying the idea that the people were so far 
 civilized that regal governments were organized, and kingdoms 
 and empires formed, nevertheless, shows that they were at best 
 only poor, naked savages. Witness the victories obtained by 
 a handful of Spaniards over thousands, and, as they reported, 
 tens of thousands of Indians. Can any one in his senses be 
 lieve that this could have been done, if those people had risen 
 materially above the common condition of unimproved Indians? 
 All Indian tribes, in their original condition, have been found to 
 be the reverse of courageous ; yet where is the tribe of Indians 
 in the recesses of our vast wilderness, or where has ever been 
 the tribe, since a faithful historian has written, that could be 
 whipped a thousand to one, as the Spaniards say they whipped 
 their Indians ? 
 
 If the Mexicans had advanced in civilization as far as has 
 been represented by their conquerors, it is reasonable to suppose 
 that they would have discovered the art of manufacturing iron, 
 and of subjecting animals to servile purposes, in bearing burdens 
 or in draught. They were surrounded by thousands of buf 
 faloes and elks, and were in the habit of using their flesh for 
 food and their skins for clothing, and yet they had never sub 
 jected one to labour. AH wooden materials for building had to 
 be prepared without an edged tool, and all, whether wood or 
 stone, had to be transported to the place of building by human 
 strength alone. 
 
 Hieroglyphics and tradition were the guides which led the 
 Spanish, and some other visionary writers, back into ages past, 
 and enabled them to present the history of the Aborigines in a 
 form more easily understood. 
 
 That little reliance can safely be placed upon Indian tradi 
 tions is susceptible of demonstration. Inquire of an Indian 
 what were the circumstances attending the first acquaintance 
 of his nation with white men, a few generations past, and you 
 will find him exceedingly deficient in knowledge, and wandering 
 into great errour. His story will be just such as we ought to 
 
16 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 expect from a people who keep no records, who have no estab 
 lished system of giving or receiving instruction, and who are not 
 in the habit of burdening their minds with study or reflection. 
 
 It would afford us pleasure of a peculiar character to be able 
 to believe that the aborigines of America belong to the select 
 nation which claims so large a place in our sacred history. It 
 may be so: none desires, and most certainly none will ever be 
 able to prove the contrary to prove that they are not Israelites. 
 But I must declare, that in all that I have read, or heard, or seen, 
 I have not discovered a particle of evidence that carried con 
 viction to my mind that they were of that family. 
 
 It is most rational to suppose that they are nearest of kin to 
 the nations nearest to them, or from whom a passage to this 
 country would appear least difficult, either by accident or by 
 design. It is, therefore, commonly conjectured that they ori 
 ginally came to the American continent somewhere in the 
 neighbourhood of Bhering's straits, because in that place other 
 lands approach near to this. There is also some physical re 
 semblance between the Asiatics on the coast nearest to us and 
 the aborigines of our country. An emigration may have been 
 designedly effected at this place. But it is most probable that 
 this country was peopled by accident. If a company had vol 
 untarily emigrated to this continent, it is reasonable to suppose 
 that they would have brought with them some knowledge of 
 the arts of civilised life, and that some traces of the existence 
 of such knowledge would have been found among them by 
 Europeans. A knowledge of the use of iron would hardly have 
 been lost, where the necessity for that article was continually 
 very great, and in a country abounding with iron ore. The sub 
 jecting of animals to servile purposes of burden or draught 
 would have been resorted to if they had landed with the design 
 of forming a settlement. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Parker, a Presbyterian missionary on the Columbia, 
 informs us in his journal of an exploring tour beyond the Rocky 
 mountains, that in March, 1833, a Japanese junk was driven to 
 and wrecked upon the American coast, about two degrees north 
 of the Columbia river. Out of seventeen persons, only three 
 survived the wreck. These were found by Captain McNeil, 
 of the Lama, and brought to Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia 
 river, and, in the following October, were sent away by ship, 
 with the design of restoring them to their country.* It is also 
 
 * We regret that our author has not stated some other circumstances at 
 tending this affair, which would have enhanced the value- of his information^ 
 In this respect his account of this matter is very deficient. 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 17 
 
 reported, upon good authority, that other vessels belonging to 
 the coast of Asia have been forced by contrary winds to some 
 of the South Sea islands, within the last few years. These 
 facts confirm the probability of the conjecture, that America 
 was first peopled by accident. Most probably a vessel at sea 
 was forced on to this coast from the nearer parts of Asia. 
 
 Some, who have attempted to compare Indian languages, 
 have discovered such differences as to induce the belief that 
 these people have sprung from three or four different nations, 
 and hence suppose that some may have found their way to the 
 continent from Greenland and elsewhere. That a migration 
 from Greenland is possible, none will doubt ; but few can con 
 sider it probable ; and we feel very confident, that a fair in 
 vestigation would not furnish any evidence in favour of this 
 hypothesis, from affinity of languages. A great difference in 
 words used by different tribes, to express the same ideas, is 
 known to exist, but we feel pretty confident that the construc 
 tion of all Indian languages is essentially the same. The In 
 dians being destitute of writings, and by their habits of obtaining 
 subsistence often parted asunder in small bands, each of which 
 may be the nucleus of a tribe, are subject to rapid mutations of 
 language. 
 
 SEC. 2. But whether the aboriginal tribes all sprang from the 
 same root, or from various companies, it is evident that all com 
 menced their residence in America under similar circumstances, 
 and have continued in similar circumstances ever since, with 
 the exceptions produced by the presence of the whites. These 
 circumstances have been peculiar to themselves. The original 
 condition of the Indians is every where virtually the same, and 
 in all places different from that of any other people ever known 
 in the world. In speculations, which were rather idle than use 
 ful, we have sometimes been told of the advances which man 
 has made from a barbarous to a civilized state, and step after 
 step has been pointed out, as though civilized nations had risen 
 from this barbarism ; when the truth is, that no nation, since the 
 world was made, excepting the aboriginal tribes of our conti 
 nent, ever existed in the barbarous state supposed. Adam and 
 his sons were not in this barbarous condition Cain was an 
 agriculturist, and Abel a shepherd. Noah and his family left 
 the ark and entered upon similar pursuits. And ever since, the 
 most barbarous nations have had domesticated animals, have 
 known the use of iron, and in some other respects have been 
 superiour to the lowest state of barbarous existence. 
 
 The aborigines of this continent had no domestic animals 
 
18 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 except their clogs, which so nearly resemble the wolf as to justify 
 the belief that they are of the same species. They manufac 
 tured no metals and no cloths. The world before them afforded 
 room for them to obtain subsistence chiefly or entirely from the 
 spontaneous productions of the earth and the waters, and they 
 never adopted any mode, or invented any thing which was not 
 essentially necessary in their mode of obtaining subsistence. 
 They did not study the improvement of mind, because the man 
 would be as expert a hunter if left to grow up to maturity un 
 der the guidance of his necessities, as if he were trained to the 
 studies of a philosopher. The cultivation of the earth was re 
 sorted to so far only as was necessary to supply the deficiency 
 of the chase or other sources of subsistence, and their efforts in 
 mechanic arts extended no further than their simple mode of 
 living positively required. 
 
 In the commencement of this wild career of savage life, we 
 contemplate human beings left, for the first time since the crea 
 tion of man, in a state of nature. Fancy portrays them strug 
 gling through the waves to an unknown shore, and perhaps 
 separated forever from companions which still cling to the wreck 
 of their ship, or have sunk in the deep to rise no more. No 
 human voice tells them where they are, to what dangers they 
 are exposed, or what methods to adopt to preserve their exist 
 ence. " Here man begins a state of existence as if in another 
 world, where all is unknown except the brook at which he 
 slakes his thirst ; without an implement of iron to fell a tree, 
 to till the ground, to butcher an animal of the forest for food, or 
 to catch a fish in the waters, or even to dig a root from the 
 earth ; no spinning-wheel or loom on which to manufacture a 
 garment, and no seed-corn from the mother country.* They 
 have every thing to learn ; and the brevity of life (especially 
 under the calamities of this new state of things) soon deprives 
 this destitute race of profitable recollections of the arts of life of 
 the mother country. No book of record preserves the story, or 
 encourages succeeding generations to improve their condition, 
 by telling them of what is done in other lands. Tradition alone 
 tells of the past ; but with them no regular institutions exist to 
 preserve the veracity of tradition," and all the past becomes 
 shrouded in obscurity, which increases with the distance of time. 
 Nature would not postpone her demands : they must eat, and a 
 sufficiency could only be obtained by the application of all their 
 mental and physical energies ; and it is probable that, by the 
 
 * Maize, or Indian corn, was indigenous and peculiar to America. The 
 small grains, such as wheat, rye, &c., have been brought from other coun 
 tries to this. 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 19 
 
 time that experience in their new modes of living had become 
 such as to afford occasionally a little leisure, their anxieties and 
 sufferings had reduced them to the condition in which they were 
 discovered by Europeans. 
 
 This must have always been a state of great hardship and 
 suffering. Nevertheless, it was evidently a tolerable state, be 
 cause under it the people must have increased from a few to 
 millions. So far as we have data in this case, their numerical 
 decline commenced with their first acquaintance with white 
 men, and that decline has been continuous with all tribes who 
 have intercourse with the whites. And since all tribes, or nearly 
 all, on the continent, have formed some acquaintance with the 
 whites, all are thus declining. The exceptions applicable to 
 some of the emigrant tribes within the Indian territory, will be 
 noticed hereafter. 
 
 Much that has been said of the condition and habits of the 
 Indians is fabulous. The world is too much inclined to suppose 
 that there are some traits in Indian character peculiar to that 
 race, and which might not exist with others, though they were 
 placed in similar circumstances; and writers too often, for rea 
 sons not obscure, endeavour to frame their story so as to suit 
 this morbid taste for the romantic. Facts declare that the In 
 dians are only what others would have been, had they been 
 placed in similar circumstances neither better nor worse, nei 
 ther more nor less wise, or virtuous or vicious, than others, and 
 naturally no more attached to hunting OP war than others. In 
 a word, they are precisely what we should reasonably expect to 
 find them. 
 
 It is not our business now to write a history of the Indians, 
 We shall attempt nothing more than a correction, so far as our 
 limits will allow, of such prevailing mistakes in regard to Indian 
 character as evidently hinder their improvement. 
 
 1st. The Indian is represented to be exceedingly taciturn, 
 and of phlegmatic temperament, so that he is seldom aroused 
 into cheerful conversation by the most animating circumstances, 
 and cannot be induced to notice with interest magnificence in 
 any form in civilized life. 
 
 With regard to loquacity and cheerfulness, precisely the re 
 verse of the above representation is the fact. Among them 
 selves they are as cheerful as any people upon earth, excepting 
 when severely oppressed with want; and even then, if they are 
 not cheerful, they are patient. So far from being taciturn, they 
 are rather loquacious than otherwise ; they not only detail facts, 
 
20 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 but, like other depraved people, run into romance.* They re 
 late anecdotes for amusement, and appear to enjoy themselves 
 well in this kind of sociality, as is evinced by frequent and loud 
 peals of laughter. They have their improper as well as their 
 proper amusements. Of the former, are racing, playing at games 
 of chance, and dancing. In these they greatly indulge when 
 their circumstances bring considerable numbers into the same 
 place. 
 
 That they should not manifest surprise or wonder at what we 
 deem magnificent is perfectly natural. Take, for example, a 
 splendid edifice. You admire the workmanship, because your 
 thoughts have been turned more or less to the erection of build 
 ings, or to their convenience and elegance. The Indian, who 
 has never aspired to any thing more substantial or elegant than 
 a fragile and temporary hut of bark, or of skins or flags, does 
 not class your objects of admiration with those of his own. But 
 show the Indian something wonderful in his line of things, and 
 you will find that his soul is tempered like your own. The 
 philosopher gazes with rapt astonishment upon the starry hea 
 vens, while others contemplate them with little more interest 
 than they do the ceiling of their room. 
 
 The supposed dulness of the Indians has been assigned as an 
 obstacle to their improvement, when no such dulness belongs 
 to Indian character. 
 
 2d. The aborigines have been supposed to be strongly pre 
 disposed to the pursuits of hunting and war. The world has 
 long been taught to believe that so strong were their predilec 
 tions for these pursuits, that it was almost or quite impossible 
 for civil institutions to direct the mind, even of Indian youth, 
 in any other channel. A greater mistake than this could hardly 
 be conceived. Fearless of successful contradiction, we aver 
 that the supposition is unphilosophical and at variance with facts: 
 that Indian youths early receive impressions which incline them 
 to the pursuits of the chase, none pretends to question; but these 
 impressions are made by the hunting habits of the people with 
 whom they mingle, and are not innate. The son of a black 
 smith, on becoming able to lift a hammer, might choose to use 
 it, because it was the business of his father, and one, the opera 
 tion of which he had witnessed from his first recollections. But 
 who ever heard of a race of men who came into the world with 
 so strong a propensity to work in iron that it was almost or quite 
 impracticable to induce them to follow other trades ? And who 
 
 * See a subsequent page. 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 21 
 
 would not brand with absurdity the supposition that an Indian 
 child was born with an inveterate predisposition to hunting or 
 war? The absurdity is too glaring to require argument to ex 
 pose it ; and yet, absurd as it may be, it would seem that a large 
 majority of those that can find time to think of the Indians, be 
 lieve it to be true. Some of our most scientific countrymen 
 have published these opinions, and the people, without consider 
 ation, have generally adopted them. Certainly " a sober second 
 thought" would make the former blush on account of publishing 
 opinions which the most common capacity can perceive are re 
 pugnant to reason, and well known matters of fact ; and the lat 
 ter to feel ashamed of their credulity. Indian children, taken 
 into our schools before they have received impressions from the 
 habits of their kindred, manifest no more fondness for the bow 
 than the white children with whom they mingle; they adopt 
 the same amusements with equal facility ; and every body knows 
 that white youths, taken captive by the Indians, easily adopt the 
 habits of their captors, and become assimilated to them; prov 
 ing to demonstration that there is naturally no difference between 
 the natural propensities of the white and the red man. 
 
 The Indian directs his attention to hunting or fishing, to dig 
 ging roots, gathering wild fruits or .plants, or peeling the tender 
 and juicy bark of trees, for food. As his necessities command 
 his attention to one or more of these pursuits, his thoughts and 
 conversation dwell more upon them than upon other branches 
 of the business of life, for the same reason that the agriculturist 
 thinks of his farm, and the merchant of his merchandise. No 
 thing can be more obvious than that Indians have naturally no 
 uncommon fondness for hunting they are not born hunters in 
 disposition, but are made so by surrounding circumstances ; and 
 hence, a change of circumstances would be followed by a 
 change of habits. 
 
 Of similar character is the silly supposition that the Indians 
 are strongly predisposed to war. Why should we think so ? It 
 would be as absurd to suppose that Indian children carne into 
 the world with a peculiar passion for war, as to suppose that 
 they were born hunters in miniature, or that white children 
 were born cobblers or tinkers. If the Indians are a warlike peo 
 ple, they are made so by extraneous causes, and not hereditarily. 
 But the Indians are not a warlike people. The whole history 
 of our settlements in America, and of our operations in forcing 
 them from their countries, to which they were strongly attached, 
 shows that they were not a warlike people. By degrees the 
 tribes near the white settlements acquired courage to fight, until 
 
22 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 their yell became dreadful to their invaders; but the Indian in his 
 original condition is precisely the reverse of what he has been 
 represented to be. A few Spaniards could enter their country, 
 and enslave and butcher their hundreds of thousands. If the 
 natives had been as courageous as civilized white men usually 
 are, the task of destroying their invaders with sticks or stones 
 would have been easy. All along the coast of the Atlantic, 
 small companies of Europeans planted settlements ; the natives 
 invariably, sooner or later, resisted their encroachments; but 
 their want of success, with their vast advantages of numbers, 
 proved that they were neither disposed nor accustomed to hard 
 fighting. 
 
 That the aborigines in their original condition are not a war 
 like people, we have at this time positive evidence close at hand, 
 in a comparison of the unimproved indigenous tribes between 
 the white settlements and the Rocky mountains, with our roving 
 frontier citizens, or with the tribes which have long resided near 
 the whites. Hundreds of these Indians at a time, well mounted 
 upon horse, and equipped for battle with gun, bow, and shield,* 
 have attacked, without success, comparatively small caravans of 
 traders returning from Santa Fe to the State of Missouri. They 
 commonly contrive to rush suddenly upon the caravan, coming 
 at full speed, with a front as widely extended as their numbers 
 justify-, hallooing, and exhibiting an appearance as frightful as 
 possible, in the hope of frightening the animals of the caravan, 
 and throwing the company into disorder ; but on discovering that 
 the assailed are not to be driven from their places by their im 
 petuous onset, they wheel and retreat before coming near enough 
 either to kill or to be killed. In one instance nine men, who 
 had gone about eight miles from the company, were approach 
 ed by sixty Pawnees and Camanches, in open prairie. The 
 assailed found nothing to shelter them from their assailants but a 
 little unevenness of ground occasionally, and their enemies had 
 not the courage to surround and take them, and all safely re 
 joined their company. Three Shawanoes, not far from the same 
 period, followed a company going to Santa Fe, with a view of 
 joining it. They were attacked by more than three times their 
 number of Pawnees. The former found a small grove or 
 thicket, in which they sheltered and defended themselves until 
 night afforded them an opportunity of leaving the place unhurt, 
 
 * An Indian's shield in a piece of raw buffalo hide, divested of the hair, 
 and round, about twenty inches in diameter. The arm passes under leather 
 thongs fastened on one side, by which means it is held in a proper position to 
 nhield the person from arrows or bullets, the force of which it would in com 
 mon repel. 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 23 
 
 when they returned and brought a scalp, which they had taken 
 from the Pawnees. The Shawanoes, like many other tribes, have 
 been near neighbours to the whites ever since the settlement of 
 the latter in America, and on this account have acquired the 
 feelings which arm men with courage in deathful contests with 
 their fellow men. 
 
 The Kauzaus and the Pawnees have been at war from time 
 immemorial. The former reside on the Kauzau river, and the 
 settlements of the latter commence on the same river, less than 
 one hundred miles above them. The intervening country is 
 open level prairie, without mountain, marsh, or water, to obstruct 
 a passage from one tribe to the other. The Kauzaus number 
 only about seventeen or eighteen hundred souls, and the Paw 
 nees about ten thousand. The latter are sufficiently numerous 
 to surround the Kauzau villages and cut them all off, and thus 
 at once rid themselves of their troublesome neighbours. But 
 in doing this they would necessarily encounter some danger and 
 lose some lives, and therefore the Kauzaus are permitted to 
 live, though not a year elapses without mutual depredations 
 upon each other's property, and the loss of a few lives on both 
 sides. 
 
 Evidences are almost endless that the Indians in their original 
 state are not a warlike people they are not as much inclined 
 to war as civilized man is, and as they advance in civilization 
 they become more courageous in contending for their rights, 
 whether real or supposed. The time has come for us to un 
 derstand facts in regard to the Indians. We have been too long 
 deluded and amused with false theories and romantic stories 
 about the aboriginal tribes ; and even at this time fictions are 
 crowded upon public credulity, under the name of truth, served 
 up to the taste of the novelist. When the true character of 
 the Indians comes to be drawn, even from the showing of the 
 visionary historians who have laboured to produce a different 
 impression, how exceedingly foolish their pages will appear, 
 in which they have described in glowing colours the propensity 
 of the Indians for war ! and how ridiculous will be the attitude 
 of those who predict the failure of all efforts to improve the 
 condition of the Indians, because their supposed fondness for 
 hunting and war is unconquerable ! 
 
 Our limits will not allow us to enlarge upon this subject, but 
 as great stress has been laid upon the opinions we oppose as 
 they have long and almost universally prevailed as they have 
 furnished heroes for romance and pictures for fancy as they 
 have been the ground of apology for oppression, and a pretext 
 
24 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 for withholding justice as they have produced an impression 
 that this portion of human beings are in their minds radically 
 different from all other human beings, so that like causes opera 
 ting upon them will not produce effects like those produced 
 upon others, and hence Christians excuse themselves for not 
 applying the golden rule, of doing to others as they would desire 
 others to do unto them, and thus withhold the blessings of the 
 Bible from the Indians, who are perishing by their side, we de 
 sire to be distinctly heard, and understood, and noticed, upon 
 this subject. Here, then, we declare, that the Indian is natu 
 rally no more inclined to hunting than men of other nations 
 placed in similar circumstances ; and he is LESS inclined to war 
 than men who are more civilized than he. In confirmation of 
 the truth of this declaration we appeal to the whole history of 
 the intercourse of white men with the Indians, although the 
 whole has, perhaps, been written under the belief, or with the 
 design to produce or foster the belief, that the contrary of what 
 we declare was true. As soon as the reader divests himself of 
 the impression that there is something queer in the Indian 
 character, and settles in his own mind that all human beings 
 must necessarily be the same kind of beings, he w r ill discover 
 from the history of Indian intercourse, to which we have ap 
 pealed, that the Indian has been misrepresented. Surely when 
 we reflect upon this subject philosophically, the absurdity of the 
 statements and theories, the truth of which we deny, will appear 
 so glaring that there will be few who will not regret that they 
 had prevailed, and wish that they could be obliterated, and not 
 transmitted to posterity, to produce in them such feelings, in re 
 gard to us and generations which preceded us, as we realize in 
 regard to blue laws and other indications of the foibles and mis 
 takes of our forefathers. 
 
 The Indian, instead of being a taciturn, dull being, inclined 
 only to hunting and war, as he has been represented, is, when 
 not oppressed with suffering, cheerful and conversable. This is 
 precisely what we ought to expect to observe among them ; be 
 cause, elsewhere, we find the spheres which are least improved 
 and refined are most inclined to cheerfulness and talk. He is 
 no more inclined to the chase than the w r hite man who, having 
 been made a prisoner in youth, has grown up by his side. He 
 is less disposed to war than others, and meets an enemy with 
 greater dread than men more civilized. Sanguinary contests 
 are seldom, and when they do occur it is when one party has 
 greatly the advantage of the other. Usually their wars are 
 carried on without great sacrifices of life, according to the 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS* &<J 
 
 example furnished above in reference to the Kauzaus and Paw 
 nees. 
 
 We find, therefore, in the Indian nothing peculiar his habits 
 are formed by his circumstances. Like other people, he is 
 susceptible of impressions, and these may be made by the same 
 means that are employed in reference to others, and with equal 
 success. 
 
 SEC. 3. There is among them little order or regularity in 
 reference to any thing. Their departure from and return to 
 their villages are directed by the seasons. There are some rules 
 observed in relation to games and dances, the ceremony of 
 adoption, the making of an atonement for crime, &c., and 
 there exists a semblance of order in reference to chieftaincies, 
 the conduct of councils, and retaliation for murder. The pub 
 lic have heard much said of their modes of courtship and their 
 ceremonies of marriage. We have been sorry to see some of 
 these accounts inserted in our religious newspapers; and one 
 such has recently come before the public, which belongs to a 
 course of lectures, which are being delivered in many cities in 
 America and in Europe, on Indian manners, and attended by 
 exhibitions. Here the young man who desires a partner is 
 made to whistle on a wooden instrument prepared for the pur 
 pose. This is understood by others, and negotiations between 
 parents and parties follow, until the nuptials are completed ac 
 cording to rule or custom. This makes a pretty good story, but 
 its misfortune is, that it is altogether fabulous. We have been 
 more than twenty years among the Indians, and have formed an 
 acquaintance with more than twenty tribes. We have inquired 
 of missionaries and others in the Indian country, and of the In 
 dians themselves, and desired them to state when or where a 
 marriage with any kind of ceremony ever took place among the 
 Indians, unless prompted by a desire tq imitate the customs of 
 their civilized neighbours, and we have never yet heard of one 
 single instance of the kind. We have often seen and heard the 
 Indian's flute, on which our celebrated lecturer makes the lover 
 play his wooing notes, but, excepting when the flute is played 
 for innocent amusement, it is employed by a worthless fellow, 
 who, if he attract company, finds it suited to his own charac 
 ter, and such as a common share of self-respect, even among 
 savages, would leach a man to shun. 
 
 As might be expected among a people in the condition of the 
 Indians, the obligations of marriage are supposed to be exceed 
 ingly lax. The parties come together without ceremony, and 
 when either becomes tired of the connexion, they separate with 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS, 
 
 equal facility. The child remains subject to the control of the 
 parent only as long as it may choose. 
 
 They are without law. Theft and murder, and other crimes, 
 are not punishable, only as an avenger chooses to retaliate upon 
 the aggressor. 
 
 In this condition they were discovered by Europeans. The 
 latter seeing many places at which Indians had once resided, 
 left destitute of inhabitants, supposed that the neighbouring 
 tribes had once been much more numerous than they were at 
 that time but of this there is no evidence. The story of a 
 fatal disease having nearly depopulated large districts in the re 
 gions of New-England, a short time before the landing of the 
 Pilgrims of Plymouth, is improbable, and the mistake is easily 
 accounted for by all who are acquainted with the Indians in their 
 own country. Their necessities often compel them to change 
 the locations of settlements. 
 
 The supposition that they had either been preceded by a 
 more civilized people, or had themselves degenerated from a 
 more civilized state, is also unfounded. Ancient mounds, forti 
 fications, and other indications of the residence of human beings, 
 made probably centuries before the sprouting of our oldest oaks, 
 show that they were made by savage and not by civilized men. 
 Hewn stones are not found ; but stone, when used, is as it was 
 taken from the brook or loose quarry. In their construction 
 there is not a nearer approximation to order in arrangement 
 than would suggest itself to a savage mind. Indians erect their 
 huts in their villages without regard to the order which would 
 produce streets. They are placed promiscuously, as leaves fall 
 from the trees, and they never plant their corn or other vegeta 
 bles in rows. Similar indications of indifference to order charac 
 terize the ancient works to which we have alluded. All which 
 prove that our modern Indians are really the aboriginal race, 
 and that they never had been more civilized than they were 
 when we first became acquainted with them. 
 
 We have never heard of a skeleton being found in one of 
 those ancient mounds, with which was connected any marks of 
 civilized man. Native copper ornaments, and trinkets of shells, 
 &c., are sometimes discovered with the skeleton, showing that 
 the habits of those people were the same as those of our modern 
 Indians. They are still fond of such ornaments, and are in the 
 habit of placing such things, and weapons of war, &c., in the 
 grave with the dead. 
 
 Some have supposed that the number and magnitude of those 
 mounds are such as to indicate the existence of a race of men 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 27 
 
 more industrious than our modern Indians. But in regard to 
 this, it is evident that conclusions have been drawn too hastily. 
 A little reflection will show that the amount of labour required 
 in their erection did not surpass the common industry of the 
 savages. Suppose a mound to be forty feet in diameter at its 
 base, and to rise by steps, one foot in height and a foot and a 
 half in depth, to the height of thirteen feet, with a level surface 
 on the summit four feet in diameter. It would contain about 
 six thousand two hundred and thirty-three cubic feet of earth, 
 or a fraction less than two hundred and thirty-one cubic yards. 
 To deposite on the mound one cubic yard of earth, would be a 
 moderate day's labour for one man. Therefore the erection of 
 the mound under consideration would employ two hundred and 
 thirty -one persons one day only. Among the Indians, the 
 women would perform as much of this kind of work as the men, 
 or perhaps more, and more than twice this number of persons 
 able to labour are frequently at one village, or one encamp 
 ment. It is probable that the custom of mound building existed 
 several centuries. If so, we shall only be surprised that they 
 are not more numerous. Either the uses to which they were 
 appropriated did not require them to be greatly multiplied, or the 
 people were not tenacious of the ceremonies connected with 
 them, or they were too much averse to labour to increase their 
 number. Within the Indian Territory we have ninety-four 
 thousand inhabitants ; one fifth of these, or more, are competent 
 to labour. This gives eighteen thousand eight hundred labourers ; 
 if each of these would, in the course of twelve months, bestow 
 only as much labour on the erection of mounds as would amount 
 to one day, eighty-one mounds would be built in one year. 
 And if the work should progress at the same rate, with an equal 
 number of inhabitants, three centuries, twenty-four thousand 
 three hundred mounds would be constructed within the Indian 
 Territory. This would be more, by a great many thousands, 
 than have ever been found within an equal area. A few reflec 
 tions of this kind must satisfy any one that the supposition that 
 such a people as our Indians could not have erected those 
 mounds, on account of their aversion to labour, is entirely 
 groundless. 
 
 There is another fact in relation to this subject, which, if pro 
 perly weighed, would clear it of much perplexity. Very many 
 of the large mounds reported to be artificial are not so, and upon 
 examination would appear to be natural. Many of those natu 
 ral mounds have probably been improved by the labour of man, 
 In those vast prairies of the Indian Territory, artificial mounds 
 
XO INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 are exceedingly rare, but natural mounds of an imposing ap 
 pearance are very numerous, many of which rise one hundred 
 feet or more from the level of their base. The appearance of 
 these, in their distinct form and isolated situation, is often such 
 that the observer can scarcely resist the belief that they have 
 been formed by the hands of man. 
 
 We are also prone to run into wild conjectures concerning 
 the purposes for which these mounds were erected. That they 
 were either watch-towers or defences is too unreasonable to be 
 supposed: neither their construction nor their locality favour, 
 in the remotest degree, any such hypothesis. If we will 
 suppose that the mound builders observed some such forms of 
 worship as prevailed among the heathen in the days of Moses, 
 and for about five hundred years afterwards, all becomes easy. 
 In those days there was a strong and widely prevailing pro 
 pensity to worship in high places, to which the Scriptures refer 
 more than forty times. Those high places were, no doubt, arti 
 ficial, because they were frequently demolished, and it was a 
 righteous act to destroy them. I think we have good reason to 
 believe that our mounds were formed for religious purposes, like 
 those spoken of in the Scriptures, and that more or fewer of the 
 dead were buried in them we know from examinations which 
 have been made. 
 
 In view of the whole matter, we shall discover nothing at 
 variance with the supposition that those mounds were erected 
 by the Indians, and when they were in a condition similar to 
 that in which Europeans first discovered them. 
 
 SEC. 4. It is not probable that much had been thought or said 
 among the Indians about metes and bounds of country, before 
 the formation of white settlements, because all had so much room 
 as to render it unnecessary. Nevertheless, the tribes occupied 
 countries which they respectively considered their own, and upon 
 which others could not intrude without a supposed trespass. 
 It was esteemed the province of each to roam or rest within 
 its own country. We must not suppose that because the In 
 dians were in their villages in summer, and the residue of the 
 year were roving or encamped in clans on their hunting grounds 
 or near their fisheries, that they laid no claims to any particular 
 country. Evidently each tribe did claim a tract of country, 
 and there is much evidence too, and some of it not very plea 
 sant for us to reflect upon, that they felt the love of country. 
 It sometimes happened that a tribe was driven from its territo 
 ries by the invasion of a stronger, and was in a formal manner 
 granted permission to locate upon the lands of others. Theru 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 29 
 
 were some places which combined local advantages, which occa 
 sioned contests for possession by various tribes ; among these was 
 the country near the rapids of Grand river, in which the Ottawa 
 Baptist missionary station was located, in Michigan. The rapids 
 of the river afforded a fine fishery. The great number of 
 mounds, &c., show that it had long been a place of resort 
 for multitudes, and ditches and embankments prove as incon- 
 testibly, that the parties have struggled for the mastery and for 
 the occupancy of the ground. 
 
 Whether Europeans on coming to America supposed that the 
 Indians, on account of their unsettled habits, had no ideas of 
 claims to land, and were strangers to the love of country, or 
 whether they supposed that the claims of these naked, unletter 
 ed, and comparatively inoffensive people, ought not to be re 
 spected by civilized nations, is uncertain. But, whatever were 
 their views, they at once decided that the aboriginal tribes were 
 not the owners of the lands they occupied, and therefore they 
 laid claim to the whole country, without a knowledge of its ex 
 tent. This first step in Indian affairs was wrong, and was the 
 beginning of a policy unrighteous in principle, and oppressive in 
 its operations. This principle was universally adopted. All 
 denied that the Indians were the owners of the country, and 
 therefore the whole was divided among European Governments, 
 each of which made such assignments as it chose to companies 
 or individuals of its subjects. 
 
 We can now easily perceive that our ancestors were in error, 
 and that the Indians were unquestionably the real owners of this 
 country. We can bring no argument in favour of the claims of 
 any people which will not apply in favour of these. Europeans 
 claimed by right of discovery : but the Indians had not only 
 discovered, but had lived in this country for ages. But it may 
 be argued, that the Indians lived chiefly by the chase and by fish 
 ing, and cultivated but little land: the same may be said of 
 thousands of the citizens of the United States ; and yet they are 
 competent to own lands. What law of nations ever prescribed 
 the quantity of land which must be cultivated by a given num 
 ber of citizens, in order to render valid the claims of the nation 
 to territory? Such a thing was never heard of. If it be con 
 tended that the cultivation of the soil is necessary to the estab 
 lishment of a right in land which, by the way, every body 
 knows is not the case then have the Indians established their 
 claims ; for they were on our arrival, and had been from time 
 immemorial, cultivators of the soil. Their patches were small; 
 nevertheless they often furnished supplies to the Europeans 
 
OU INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 when in want. The aborigines are a barbarous, uncultivated 
 people. But where is the rule by which we may determine 
 the extent to which they must advance in what we call civiliza 
 tion what shall be the extent of their knowledge of letters, 
 and of the arts and sciences in general, before they can be 
 competent to hold lands ? 
 
 SEC. 5. The different European Governments, which took 
 possession of this country, did not always resort to the same 
 means to produce the removal of the natives, in order to make 
 room for white settlements. The Spaniards depended chiefly 
 upon their arms. Further north, upon the Atlantic coast, milder 
 measures were commonly resorted to. But every company, 
 from every nation which landed, was resolved to remain, if pos 
 sible, whether the Indians consented or not. The Pilgrims 
 of Plymouth came to this country without the consent of the 
 Indians, and were resolved, if practicable, to take possession 
 of the Indians' lands, whether they were or were not agreed. 
 The Indians did pretty soon object to their encroachments; but 
 the immigrants fought them manfully, and conquered and took 
 possession. We have instanced this case, because we suppose 
 that that company was more virtuous than most others that 
 made settlements in those early times, and to show the princi 
 ple adopted by the best of men in reference to Indian rights. 
 The name of William Penn is favourably known in reference to 
 this subject : but nobody believes that he intended to abandon 
 the design of forming a settlement on the Delaware river, if the 
 Indians should not consent to it. He went there with the same 
 design that other people went to other places to take the 
 country, whether the Indians consented or not. He, like others, 
 chose the measures which he deemed most expedient in the 
 case : these, we admit, were more humane than some others 
 adopted ; but the principle upon which he proceeded was the 
 same. 
 
 If the Indians had been esteemed the owners of the country, 
 exercising a rightful sovereignty over it, the immigrants would 
 have entered it with some feelings of respect for them, as they 
 would have entered the territories of other nations. It would be 
 a very singular circumstance, if a company of her Majesty's sub 
 jects from England should now enter the United States, under 
 the authority of their sovereign, and attempt to establish their 
 own laws, regardless of those of the United States. In wars the 
 Indian tribes were not treated, by the early European settlers, as 
 men who were contending for their country and their rights; they 
 were proceeded against, and treated, when vanquished, as rebels. 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 81 
 
 As driving the Indians from their territories by force was 
 always attended with serious inconvenience, the more easy 
 method of inducing them to remove by means of treaties was 
 generally resorted 10, when practicable. These treaties were, 
 in reality, unmeaning conventions ; or if any definite meaning 
 did belong to them, the world has not yet learned it. The 
 operations we understand; but we can perceive no propriety in 
 denominating the promises exchanged at these meetings a treaty. 
 The whites resolve to occupy a certain additional portion of land 
 which the Indians claim. They call the latter into council, 
 and propose their terms: that is, if the Indians will leave the 
 ground peaceably, they shall be paid so much ; and, in order to 
 render the propositions less unpalatable to the occupants, the 
 land is called theirs, and they are asked to cede it, &c. But the 
 Indians are not ignorant of the fact that the whites are resolved 
 to have the land, and that they have power and disposition to 
 execute this design. The terms proposed, therefore, are accept 
 ed; not from choice, but from necessity. 
 
 Usually the desires of the Indians cling to their country with 
 wonderful tenacity, and if the tribes treated with had been al 
 lowed to choose for themselves, it is probable that no treaty 
 would ever have been made. In order to obtain a public ac 
 knowledgment of assent at treaties, preliminary measures are 
 usually put into operation to secure the assent of some or all of 
 the most influential chiefs and principal men. These measures 
 are not in all cases such as a "tender conscience" could feel 
 easy in managing ; but they produce the desired effect, and ne 
 gotiators on our side excuse themselves by supposing that "the 
 end sanctifies the means." The members of the tribe generally, 
 not being subject to the same influences that are felt by their 
 leaders, invariably complain of the hardship of yielding up their 
 country. But there is in the case no alternative. 
 
 In the progress of treaty making it was discovered by white 
 men who mingled with them, that those occasions afforded 
 favourable opportunities for acquiring large sums of money with 
 facility. First, there were their children of half Indian blood, 
 whom they requested should be provided for by a reservation 
 of land, or in some other way; but these provisions were often 
 appropriated by the father to his own use. Secondly, the trader 
 makes out a large account of debts due him by individuals of 
 the tribe. In order to give the transaction the colour of fairness,, 
 the principal men in council are induced to acknowledge the 
 account to be just, and to request that it should be paid : at the 
 same time they may know that it is almost wholly fictitious. 
 
32 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 They have their reasons for doing so. They are obliged to 
 part with their country, and they are tempted to take all they 
 can get for it. If they will acknowledge the justness of the 
 account, and stipulate for its payment, the creditor will allow 
 them a pecuniary consideration. Strong objections to the al 
 lowance of these claims, as they are usually denominated, are 
 frequently felt by the commissioners engaged in the negotiations; 
 but the claimants having adopted methods which will certainly 
 influence the Indians, the latter cannot easily be induced to sign 
 the treaty, until the payment of these claims is stipulated for. 
 We believe that few important treaties have been made in late 
 years, at which the purchase of the consent of the traders was 
 not necessary to their consummation. 
 
 SEC. 6. The policy introduced by the early settlers, and 
 adopted by all the colonies, was transmitted to the United 
 States when the Union was formed ; and until some of the 
 tribes were located within what we term the Indian Territory, 
 they never were admitted, in principle, to be the sovereign own 
 ers of land. Some remnants of tribes yet remain in the State of 
 New- York and in New-England. But those bands have never 
 been permitted to act for themselves : they cannot alienate their 
 lands without the consent of the States within which they re 
 spectively lie, and in all cases they are subject to such restric 
 tions as the State chooses to impose. 
 
 At the conclusion of the last war. between England and the 
 United States, the commissioners at the treaty of Ghent agreed 
 that a line through our northern lakes to north latitude 49, and 
 thence with that line of latitude to the ocean, should be the 
 dividing line between the two Governments. This line, extend 
 ing across the continent from east to west, was, with the excep 
 tion of a small portion at the east, through countries to which it 
 was not pretended that the Indian title had been extinguished. 
 If the aboriginal tribes had been admitted by the two Govern 
 ments to be the real owners of the soil, they would not have 
 claimed the right to divide the country between them. It would 
 be a strange thing for the United States and the French Go 
 vernment to call a convention, and draw a line through the 
 British possessions in Canada, and mutually admit that each 
 had jurisdiction on its side of the line! This is what the British 
 and United States Governments did in relation to the Indians 1 
 country, and in that convention they agreed that " the recogni 
 tion of a boundary gives up to the nation in whose behalf it was 
 made, all the Indian tribes and countries within that boundary/' 
 Here all the country north of the line agreed upon is declared 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 33 
 
 to belong to England, and all south to the United States ; and 
 this is not all the Indian tribes are "given wp" to each party, 
 as well as the country they inhabit. The article implies that 
 both the country and the tribes which inhabited it were subject 
 to the control of the parties prior to this convention; hence they 
 had the power of " giving up" the country and the Indian 
 tribes, and at this convention the parties agree upon the portion 
 which each shall subsequently control. 
 
 It is evident that the Indians were not admitted to be the 
 owners of the countries they inhabited, and to this agree text 
 books on laws of this nature : " What is the Indian title ? It is 
 mere occupancy for the purpose of hunting. It is not like our 
 tenures ; they have no idea of a title to the soil itself. It is 
 overrun by them, rather than inhabited. It is not a true and 
 legal possession. It is a right not to be transferred, but extin 
 guished. It is a right regulated by treaties, not by deeds of 
 conveyance," &ic.* 
 
 Whatever might be the meaning of Indian treaties, it is evi 
 dent, from the whole history of the intercourse between the 
 white and the red men, that the former did not admit that the 
 latter were the owners of the countries they inhabited ; and this 
 fact is confirmed by negotiations between European nations 
 which claimed possessions in America. 
 
 '\^ji$e have already intimated that this denial of Indian rights 
 was the beginning of our troublesome policy in regard to Indian 
 affair^. The British, Spanish, and French Governments, com 
 monly acted in these matters more consistently with the 
 principles adopted by all, than did the United States, though 
 with less kindness towards the Indians. Those Governments 
 commbnly took possession of the country, from time to time, as 
 their convenience required, without the forms of a purchase. 
 The United States adopted as a general, though not an invaria 
 ble rule, a course less at variance with a sense of justice than the 
 measures of her neighbours. The forms of a purchase from the 
 tribes were observed. As her citizens became more enlightened 
 by her republican institutions, they manifested greater regard for 
 the rights of the Indians. Hence the price paid for the extin 
 guishment of Indian claims increased with the treaties of almost 
 each succeeding year, until within the last few years a hundred 
 
 * We here write from notes made at a former period, and have not the 
 authors, from which our quotations are made, at this time, before us ; but we 
 believe our notes are correct in referring to Vattel,book 1, sect. 81, p. 37, and 
 sect. 209, book 2, p. 96 ; Montesquieu, book 18, c. 12; Smith's Wealth of 
 Nations, book 5, c. 1 ; Cranch, vol. 6, p. 121. 
 
34 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 thousand dollars have been given for a cession of land, for an 
 equal quantity of which the United States, a few years previous 
 ly, would not have paid five thousand dollars. But still the in 
 consistent policy was continued. 
 
 SEC. 7. It is not our business to argue questions upon this 
 subject, but to state facts, a knowledge of which may be of use 
 in reading the following history. Nevertheless, it will, perhaps, 
 not be too great a digression for us to state what we think 
 experience, under the light of our republican institutions, now 
 says, pretty distinctly, would have been a proper policy to ob 
 serve between European immigrants and the aboriginal tribes. 
 
 If the interests of Europeans required them to make settle 
 ments in America, they had a right to do so only by observing 
 due respect to the rights of the inhabitants of this country. If 
 their necessities forced them from the mother country, they were 
 justifiable in forcing themselves into this ; but this forcible seiz 
 ure of this country could not affect the validity of the claims of 
 the aborigines. In times of war, possession, regardless of the 
 wishes of the owner, is taken of his lands, buildings, and other 
 property, and the same is applied to uses which the emergency 
 demands. But in justification of this exercise of power, the 
 necessity of the case is alone urged. The rights of the owner 
 are not denied ; they are admitted, and he is entitled to ample 
 remuneration for his losses. 
 
 We therefore suppose that Europeans, on coming to this coun 
 try, ought not to have set up a claim to it upon the principles 
 of the right of discovery, because they had not discovered an 
 uninhabited country ; the country was covered, though not 
 densely, with inhabitants ; and the claims of these inhabitants 
 ought not to have been denied, merely because their modes of 
 obtaining subsistence were in some respects different from those 
 of Europeans. When necessity compelled the latter to enlarge 
 their settlements, they ought to have made ample remuneration 
 to the owners. 
 
 Here we may be met by the objection, that the condition of 
 the Indians rendered them incompetent to the management of 
 their own matters, and therefore the management of the whole 
 matter devolved upon the whites. Be it so. This could not 
 affect the principles of justice between man and man. We 
 properly assume the management of the property of the minor, 
 because he is incompetent himself; but his rights remain unim 
 paired. If his property be taken for public purposes, he is 
 entitled to its value in something else. On account of his in- 
 competency to act for himself, we may not purchase or other- 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 35 
 
 \vise get his property from him, even with his acknowledged 
 consent, without securing to him its full value. But although 
 the Indians were at first incapable of properly attending to their 
 own interests, and most of the tribes have not yet risen above 
 this condition, yet, latterly, exceptions have occurred. The 
 Cherokees, for instance, have become capable of understanding 
 and pleading for their rights. 
 
 Having admitted that the aborigines were the owners of the 
 country which our necessities had required us to wrest from them, 
 we should have made them ample restitution. This we have 
 not done. And as they were incapable of managing advan 
 tageously the price which we had paid them, it should have 
 been managed by us with the scrupulous care of the guardian 
 over the ward. This we have not done. We have kept them, 
 from generation to generation, in a state of entire dependance 
 upon us, when we ought to have applied to their improve 
 ment the amount justly due them ; the judicious application of 
 which would, in a short time, have elevated any tribe above the 
 dependant condition of wardship. We have in word, espe 
 cially in the instruments called treaties, admitted that they were 
 a nation, or body of people competent to act, and that they were 
 the owners of the soil, when, in fact, we admitted no such thing. 
 As children may be amused with fair speeches and toys, and 
 be induced to yield to any measure proposed, so have we en 
 deavored to amuse the Indians. When these milder measures 
 failed, and the Indian, though incapable of publishing his own 
 story to the world, felt that he was oppressed, and manifested 
 a disposition to contend for his rights in his own way, he has 
 been compelled to yield to superiority of power. * 
 
 This is the unfortunate policy which was entailed upon our 
 Government by that which preceded it. In this lame manner 
 we hobbled onward, from the first of our existence as a Govern 
 ment. The inconvenience of the policy was increasingly felt 
 as the Indians near us advanced in civilization, and, therefore, 
 self-interest would have prompted the desire that they should 
 remain ignorant and dependant. But whilst a sordid principle 
 of self-interest seems to have had too much influence upon 
 many who have been among and near to the Indians, it has 
 been otherwise with our citizens generally. Sympathy for 
 the suffering red people, and a desire to do them justice, have 
 rapidly increased within the present century ; and with increas 
 ing solicitude the inquiry has been made, " what can be done 
 for their relief, and how shall we discharge the debt we owe 
 them ?" 
 
36 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 The answer to these inquiries at once suggests a change of 
 measures. Happy would it have been for the present genera 
 tion if our ancestors had made this change ; but they did not do 
 it, and it remained to be done by us. A change in an unvaried 
 custom, which had been adopted at the time of our first settle 
 ment in America, could not be effected without objections on 
 account of clashing opinions and clashing interests. But we 
 happily perceive that the current of public opinion is gradually 
 turning into a channel favourable to a radical change in the man 
 agement of Indian affairs. Circumscribed to small spheres by 
 the settlements of a people of other interests, in the institutions 
 and prosperity of whom the Indians could not participate ; thrown 
 by the prejudices of their neighbours around them out of society, 
 and rendered ineligible to an equality with them as associates, 
 neighbours, or citizens ; exposed from childhood, through life, and 
 from generation to generation, to the contaminating influence of 
 both the scum and the dregs of the society of those who surround 
 ed them ; prevented from indulging such habits .of savage life as 
 made it tolerable, and allowed to retain so much as, in their pre 
 sent condition, is hurtful ; each band isolated in its settlement, 
 and deprived of the advantages of union with other tribes; each 
 forming a little band, without any profitable connexion with any 
 other people upon earth ; without the prospect of deliverance, for 
 the present or succeeding generations, from this deplorable state 
 of degradation and dependance they have not prospered ; and 
 reason and observation declare, that neither they nor any other 
 people could prosper under these circumstances. They are not 
 within the influence of the common incentives to action. What 
 is there in their condition to call forth either mental or physical 
 energy? What can they do to improve their condition? Like 
 prisoners, circumscribed to the limits of the prison-yard, they may 
 have a competency of food and raiment; but this is the utmost 
 of their hopes. They may acquire an education ; but whatever 
 may be the extent of education, or the weight of talents, the 
 most ambitious can aspire to nothing superior to the condition of 
 an Indian chief a principal man among a few dependant people, 
 who, like himself, are under the control of others. Under these 
 circumstances they have been perishing ever since the forma 
 tion of European settlements in the country, and under them 
 they would continue to decline until the last had perished. 
 
 SEC. 8. The Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, and Chickasaws, 
 were not so rapidly hemmed in by white population as other 
 tribes further north; they were allowed the occupancy of a large 
 extent of country, the locality of which was such as long since 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 37 
 
 excluded the temptations of the hunter state. The tribes res 
 pectively had an opportunity of stimulating each other by coun 
 sel and conduct to improve their condition ; and in the resources 
 of their country, their combined counsels, and mutual examples, 
 they had prospects which made them feel, in some degree, a 
 sense of national character, national dignity, and that kind of 
 laudable ambition which aspires to greatness. 
 
 These tribes had made such advances in civilization, that at 
 the beginning of the present century, or at least within ten years 
 afterwards, the extent to which their agricultural and manu 
 facturing operations were carried seemed to entitle them to the 
 appellation of a civilized people. They were so, indeed, when 
 compared with the unimproved tribes. In these improvements 
 the Cherokees were foremost. Written laws were adopted by 
 most, or all of those tribes ; and at length the Cherokees re 
 solved to appear as an independent Government among the other 
 Governments of the earth. They formed a constitution, and 
 asserted their sovereignty within the limits of the country which 
 remained to them, after frequent and extensive cessions made to 
 the United States. In asserting their sovereignty they meant 
 precisely what they said. They showed their neighbours that 
 they held all persons who stepped within their lines subject to 
 their laws, and amenable to their tribunals. One instance was 
 the arrest, trial, conviction, and punishment by whipping, of a 
 worthless white man who entered their country and stole a horse. 
 
 Then came the crisis. Before the existence of the Govern 
 ment of the United States, the claims of Georgia and Virginia 
 extended west to the Mississippi river. Excepting compara 
 tively small settlements of whites, those countries were occupied 
 by various Indian tribes ; but, in the estimation of Europeans, 
 these tribes were not the rightful owners of the soil. When 
 these two colonies united in the confederacy of States, their 
 claims to their respective territories were recognised by the 
 confederation ; and when, at different periods, agreements were 
 made between these States and the General Government of the 
 United States, the settlement of those western territories by 
 citizens of the United States, was stipulated for. It seems that 
 no formidable obstacle to the removal of those tribes, as fast as 
 the advancing white settlements required it, was at that time 
 anticipated. 
 
 It had so happened that the tribes which lay within the 
 claims of Virginia, like those within the States further north, 
 were not in a condition to complain with success. Although, 
 in their inability to wield the pen in defence of their rights, they 
 
38 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 sometimes used the tomahawk most terribly, they were forced to 
 yield. The southern tribes, though advancing in civilization, it 
 was expected could be removed as fast as necessary. This 
 opinion was so general, and its correctness attended with so little 
 suspicion, that, in 1802, the General Government, in a negotiation 
 with the State of Georgia for lands towards the Mississippi, 
 agreed to incur the expense.and trouble of removing the Indians 
 from the limits of the State of Georgia, " as soon as it could be 
 done peaceably, and on reasonable terms." It is evident, from 
 the lax phraseology of this agreement, that the parties sup 
 posed the existing policy in relation to Indian affairs would 
 produce the removal of the Cherokees without serious incon 
 venience. But when the Cherokees rose up and asserted their 
 national character, and their rights as a sovereign Government, 
 the State of Georgia became alarmed ; she appealed to the 
 General Government for a fulfilment of its engagements, made 
 in " good faith," and for a valuable consideration, to extinguish 
 the claims of the Cherokees. It was then discovered that this 
 could not be done " peaceably, and on reasonable terms." 
 
 At that time the ugly features of the farce of treaty-making 
 began to be viewed in a true light, and the perplexing nature of 
 the policy in relation to the Indians severely felt. The State 
 of Georgia pleaded for the fulfilment of promises made to her 
 by the United States, and the Cherokees pleaded for the fulfil 
 ment of promises made to them in treaties, with apparently 
 "good faith." Of course the United States could not fulfil its 
 engagements with both parties. The State of Georgia asked for 
 nothing more than each of the other States had claimed for itself, 
 and which all had conceded to her : she claimed the right to 
 manage all men and matters within the limits of the State. But 
 here was a Government of Cherokees set up within her limits. 
 She was unwilling to yield her rights to jurisdiction, and she was 
 unwilling to lose the country claimed by the Cherokees. 
 
 This incongruity of a sovereign and independent Government, 
 competent to the enactment and execution of its own laws, and 
 to enter into negotiations with other Governments, existing within 
 one of the United States, will hereafter appear so clear, that 
 future generations will wonder how such a proposition happened 
 to find advocates. Moreover, if the claims of the Cherokees to 
 sovereignty had been admitted, twenty other tribes, or more, 
 within the United States would have been induced to form simi 
 lar Governments, each claiming similar rights to rule all within 
 its jurisdiction. The result would have been a perversion of 
 order and the abolition of all Government. 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 39 
 
 It was argued that the Cherokees were originally, and at 
 present, the real owners of the country which they claimed, and 
 that their rights had been repeatedly admitted by the General 
 Government in treaties with them ; and that in these treaties the 
 Cheroke-es had been recognised as a nation. All this was true ; 
 and the perplexities which we at this time felt on account of 
 the bad measures adopted by the first European immigrants were 
 only what would have been realized fifty years before, if a 
 tribe of Indians, like the Cherokees, had at that time asserted 
 similar rights. Our country knew that the Indians had been 
 injured ; but to do them justice at this time, in the way that the 
 Cherokees demanded, would ruin the Government of the United 
 States ; and it was impossible to believe that such a sacrifice was 
 proper. 
 
 Our intercourse had not borne heavier upon the Cherokees 
 than upon other tribes, nor indeed so much so, as was evident 
 from their numerical strength and their comforts, when compar 
 ed with other tribes ; and yet it was remarkable that the sym 
 pathies of the public were almost wholly concentrated upon that 
 tribe. 
 
 The lands of the Cherokees extended into other States be 
 sides the State of Georgia, none of which manifested the least 
 inclination to admit the Indian claims. The State of Georgia 
 was most interested, and took the lead in action. Between the 
 years 1828 and 1830, she enacted laws, the force of which was 
 to be felt within the Cherokee country, and the result of which 
 was to be the abolition of the Cherokee form of government. 
 Among these laws were also some which were designed to rid 
 the Cherokee country of such white men as would exert an in 
 fluence prejudicial to the interests of the State of Georgia. 
 
 SEC. 9. About this time the subject of Indian affairs was 
 peculiarly perplexing. Nothing could be more certain than that 
 the tribes, and remnants of tribes, could not be allowed a per 
 manent resting place on the east of the Mississippi, without 
 the almost unanimous consent of the people of the United 
 States, because the privilege to fill that region with citizens of 
 organized States had become incorporated with our federal 
 compact. It was equally certain, too, that the several bands 
 could not prosper in their isolated condition, each separated 
 from the other, and distinct from all other people, and pressed 
 by its neighbours, to the will of whom it was subject. The 
 necessity for a change of measures had become apparent. We 
 owed the Indians a debt which we could not pay in kind; there 
 fore, we must make restitution in some other way. Their just 
 
40 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 claims to land and sovereignty could not be satisfied on the east 
 side of the Mississippi. This could only be done on the west 
 of the State of Missouri, and the Territory of Arkansas, in which 
 region State claims did not exist. That country was exclusively 
 the property of the General Government, and it could be secured 
 to the Indians as certainly as lands could be secured to her own 
 citizens. The tribes being placed together, would mutually as 
 sist each other in their advances in civilization. Enjoying the 
 prospects of a permanent home, and encouraged by their numeri 
 cal strength, they would naturally feel something of national 
 character, and would aspire to an equality with their white neigh 
 bours. A meeting of delegates from the several tribes, in a 
 general council, once a year, or oftener, would tend to harmonize 
 their feelings, and stimulate all to improve their condition. 
 The council would acquire the essential properties of a Con 
 gress, or a Legislature of one of our States. They would cease 
 to be distinct bands of men, without law, headed by chiefs, and 
 subject to the custom of retaliation ; but they would be under the 
 protection of such laws as> from time to time, they should find to 
 be necessary. These Jaws having been enacted by themselves 
 would sit easily upon them, at the same time the circumstances 
 of contemplating them, and the interchange of views which 
 would take place in making them, would doubtless have a happy 
 effect in enlarging their minds and in promoting their attach 
 ment to the institutions of civilized man. The brief authority 
 of chieftaincies would disappear in the increasing lights of civil 
 government, and all the ramifications of the system of Indian 
 agencies (the whole of which are well calculated to promote 
 savage habits) would soon be repudiated. The system of In 
 dian agencies was never necessary, but always wrong. The 
 only colourable pretentions in its favour are found in the un 
 civilized habits of the Indians, over whom agents are placed 
 by the Government, somewhat in the character of overseers. 
 But as the Indians advance in improvement, the imaginary 
 necessity for such overseers vanishes. The Indians, in their 
 own country, could manage their own affairs. The United 
 States being bound, in moneyed and other obligations, to every 
 tribe, it was expected that the confederacy would be represented 
 at each session of Congress by one or more of their own people, 
 chosen by themselves, and attending to the interests of their 
 countrymen. 
 
 This condition of the Indians would be similar to that of 
 citizens of the United States in new countries ; and they being 
 " men of like passions with others," would doubtless advance in 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 41 
 
 improvement at the same rate, making the proper allowance 
 for their present degradation. Schools could be established 
 among them regularly and systematically, and the missionary 
 would not, as in other places, find his flock diminishing in num 
 ber, and the people of his charge perishing, but precisely the 
 reverse ; the same as ministers find their congregations enlarging 
 in new settlements of white people. 
 
 Necessity on the one hand, arising out of bad measures, 
 adopted under an erroneous estimate of Indian character and 
 rights, and a desire on the other hand to rescue the red people 
 from extermination, and elevate them to the comforts of civili 
 zation and the richer blessings of Christianity, have induced the 
 Government to set apart a country in the West, as the permanent 
 residence for the nearer tribes, in which the experiment of a 
 change of measures may be fairly made. Should this experi 
 ment succeed, as it doubtless will, and the nearer tribes become 
 prosperous, similar measures may be applied to those more re 
 mote. Other colonies can be formed in suitable districts within 
 the vast wilderness inhabited by Indians. 
 
 Some brief historical sketches of the collocation of the tribes 
 within the Indian Territory, and their present condition, will be 
 found embodied in the following History of Missions. 
 

 .i JU 
 
 
 
Tfcj 
 
 HISTORY OF MISSIONS. 
 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Correspondence, and appointments to Missionary service. First 
 efforts. Location on Wabash River, Indiana. Journey 
 among the Delawares. School commenced. Necessity for 
 removal. Second tour among the Delawares. Sickness. 
 Baptism of the teacher. Journey to Fort Wayne. 
 
 On the 26th March, 1817, I wrote from the western part 
 of the Stale of Indiana, to the Board of Managers of the Bap 
 tist Missionary Convention for the United States, that I should 
 be happy to accept an appointment from it, to labour as a mis 
 sionary on the Mississippi river. A preaching tour which I 
 had performed in that country the preceding year, and inquiries 
 made of me by the agent for the board, Rev. L. Rice, had 
 directed my thoughts towards St. Louis, as the most eligible 
 place of location. The great want of preaching, which was 
 obvious among the destitute white settlers in those frontier 
 regions, had induced me to employ most of my time among 
 them, and a desire to continue those labors still predominated in 
 my mind. Missions to the Indians were at that time a second 
 ary consideration, and the same was evidently the case with the 
 Baptist Board of Missions, as appeared from their proceedings 
 and inquiries. About the date of my application to the board for 
 an appointment, they wrote me through Mr. Rice, inviting me 
 to accept of their patronage, and these letters passed each other 
 on the road. 
 
 In May, the Rev. J. M. Peck and Rev. J. E. Welsh were 
 appointed missionaries to the west, and directed to locate at St. 
 Louis. I was requested to labour further east, and to inform 
 the board what places in Indiana and Illinois were most desti 
 tute of preaching ; in complying with this request, I expressed 
 a desire to extend my labours to the Indians. 
 
 On the 17th October I received an appointment from the 
 
44 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 board, to labour as a missionary for one year. I was instructed 
 to give attention to the Indians as far as practicable, but as a 
 number of counties in Indiana and Illinois were described as the 
 field of my labours, and as my appointment was limited to one 
 year, I could not suppose that the board had contemplated that 
 I should do any thing of importance for the Indians. By this 
 time my anxiety to preach the gospel to the Indians had become 
 great. But 1 was so much discouraged by the limited terms of 
 my commission, that for a while I abandoned the idea of extend 
 ing my acquaintance to them during this year. The inquiry of 
 a gentleman, who was not religious, if I would not soon make 
 an effort to preach to the Indians, aroused a more laudable zeal 
 in their behalf, and I resolved that, notwithstanding I had no 
 assurance of patronage beyond the current year, I would, the 
 Lord willing, make an effort to establish a mission, and to em 
 ploy the remainder of my life and labours in the promotion of 
 their temporal and eternal welfare. 
 
 On the 24th of November I applied to Gen. Thomas Posey, 
 United States' agent for the Weas, Miamies, and Kickapoos, in 
 Indiana and Illinois, for information respecting the condition of 
 those tribes, and for his aid in introducing a mission among them. 
 He approved the design, and kindly promised his co-operation. 
 Matters were so far matured that I was about commencing actual 
 operations among the Weas and others, when a sudden check to 
 my arrangements was occasioned by the death of the agent, 
 which occurred in March, 1818. 1 lost no time in applying 
 to those who succeeded Gen. Posey in the Indian agency for 
 their co-operation, and in June, at the time of paying the In 
 dians an annuity, I was introduced to them by the agent. The 
 subject of the mission was brought to their notice, and their 
 reply was as favourable as could have been expected from uncul 
 tivated Indians, who were not prepared to appreciate the advan 
 tages of education, and who had not felt the want of religious 
 instruction ; but it was by no means such as was desired. It 
 seemed to be the result merely of Indian courteousness. They 
 spoke to the following effect : " Yes, we are very glad to see 
 you, and to hear your propositions to benefit us. We believe 
 you are sincere ; we will think of this matter, and at a future 
 opportunity we will give you an answer," &LC. 
 
 The Government annuity was paid to them in goods. The 
 quantity which the agent stated to be due them was laid in a 
 pile on the earth. This heap was divided by two Indians, who 
 alternately took a piece of goods ; and when it was necessary 
 to divide one, the measurement was made by extending the 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS, 
 
 45 
 
 arms apart at full length. On these occasions the Indians are 
 not favoured with an opportunity of comparing their receipts 
 with an invoice ; both quantity and price are left to the honesty 
 of Government agents who deliver the goods. 
 
 At this meeting two lads the mother of one of whom was 
 Putawatomie, and of the other Wea were promised to me as 
 pupils in school by their respective fathers, who were French 
 men. As those boys were related to respectable Indian fami 
 lies, and as each of them could speak English, it was hoped 
 that they would be of much advantage as interpreters, &c., in 
 the commencement of a school. This matter ended in disap 
 pointment; for when, subsequently, the school concern was in 
 readiness to receive them, their fathers, who were Roman Catho 
 lics, objected to placing their Indian sons in the school of a 
 Protestant, lest " they should lose their religion." 
 
 In order to elicit interest in the subject of missions in the west 
 ern States, I issued, in July, a circular, explaining our designs, 
 and appealing to humanity and religion for patronage. This was 
 circulated pretty widely in the States of Illinois, Indiana, and 
 Kentucky. While absent from my family, upon a tour of some 
 weeks among the churches of Kentucky, our eldest child, a daugh 
 ter, between thirteen and fourteen years of age, sickened and died 
 of typhus fever. This stroke was the more severe, on account 
 of its occurring in my absence. Nevertheless, we afterwards be 
 lieved that the event was sanctified to our benefit, in inducing us 
 with less reluctance to let go the hold which our affections had 
 upon people and things in the regions of civilized society, and in 
 enabling us to trust all our children, ourselves, and all our inte 
 rests to God. In view of taking up our abode in the Indian 
 country, we had felt great anxiety on account of this daughter; 
 our other children were small, but she was of an age to make 
 it particularly desirable that she should enjoy the benefit of a 
 good school in the midst of good society. We could not think 
 of keeping her with us in the woods, and it seemed not very 
 convenient for us, in our frontier country, to leave her in a suit 
 able place, especially as the mode of life upon which we were 
 entering would likely deprive us of the means of meeting the 
 expenses of a favourable situation. But our Heavenly Father, 
 by one stroke, taught us not to feel undue anxiety for any thing 
 on earth, not even for our children ; and we afterwards, for our 
 motto on the subject of our children, wrote in our journal the 
 words of the Psalmist " ' I have been young, and now am old, 
 yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging 
 bread.' Our children may be injured by our residence in the 
 
46 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 Indian country, and so they might become worthless were they 
 brought up in good society. But the additional risk on account 
 of their residence in the Indian country will be more than ba 
 lanced by the mercy of Him who has called us to labour there." 
 This confidence in God has not been disappointed ; and we 
 mention it here, for the encouragement of other missionaries who 
 may realize painful anxieties on account of their children while 
 resident among a heathen people. No parents were ever more 
 happy in reference to the deportment of their children than we. 
 Most of them have been taken from us, but we believe that 
 they are in heaven. 
 
 We were exceedingly at a loss to determine by what means 
 to establish ourselves as missionaries in the Indian country. 
 The patronage of the board had been pledged to us only one 
 year, and about nine months of this had elapsed. We rightly 
 judged, as circumstances afterwards proved, that the uncertainty 
 of the further patronage of either the Baptist board, or of others, 
 would be increased, if the year should expire without a perma 
 nent beginning among the Indians in some way. A location in 
 the border of the white settlements would be fifteen or twenty 
 miles from any Indian village, and on many other accounts 
 it would be unsuitable; but there was not time to make ar 
 rangements for locating at an eligible site in the Indian country. 
 The distance between us and the board was such that we could 
 not expect an answer to a communication in less than two 
 months ; but had it been otherwise, we should not have con 
 sulted the board upon the subject. During the tardy move 
 ment of Indian matters, I had been much engaged in preaching, 
 &,c., among the destitute white settlements ; and this, I believed, 
 was about all that the board had expected that I would do. I 
 could not therefore expect that they would approve of a propo 
 sition to make a permanent location in the Indian country, and 
 therefore I did not ask leave to do so. We resolved to show to 
 those whom it might concern, that when we spoke of labouring 
 for the benefit of the Indians, we meant precisely what we said ; 
 and having actually made a beginning among them, we hoped 
 that if the Baptist board of missions should not continue its 
 patronage, help would be obtained from some other source. As 
 no further time was to be lost, I purchased a small tract of land 
 a little without the white settlement, and as near to the Wea 
 Indians as I could get, on which I erected two log cabins, which 
 would answer, without great inconvenience, for the accommo 
 dation of the family and of a school. 
 
 It was on the 27th of October, 1818, that we set out for the 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 47 
 
 mission premises, a distance from our former residence of ninety 
 miles. My commission from the board had ere this expired. 
 With my wife and seven small children 1 went into the wilder 
 ness, to seek an opportunity of preaching Christ to the Indians, 
 without a promise of patronage from any one, looking to Hea 
 ven for help, and trusting that God would dispose the hearts of 
 some, we knew not who, to give my family bread, while 1 
 should give myself wholly to the service of the heathen. 
 
 Our separation from our church was affectionate such as 
 might be expected after a happy connection of eight years. 
 On the evening preceding our departure, a meeting for prayer 
 was held at our house, which was attended by many. Wo 
 had previously consulted the church of which we were mem 
 bers, and had obtained its approbation of our course. We 
 arrived at our station on the 30th October. We were so far 
 in the wilderness that it was difficult to hire that assistance of 
 labour which was needed at a new settlement, and, withal, we 
 had commenced under circumstances which rendered the most 
 rigid economy indispensable ; and we therefore had to labour 
 with our own hands much more than would have been expe 
 dient, could it have been avoided. 
 
 On the 2d November we hired Mr. C. Martin, to teach 
 school. He was not a professor of religion ; but, on the con 
 trary, he professed to disbelieve the Scriptures. Under other 
 circumstances, the employment of an infidel would have ap 
 peared improper ; but I was alone, and found assistance indis 
 pensable. He was a young man of decent acquirements and 
 good sense, and one whose sense of honour, we believed, would 
 induce him on all occasions to adhere to the measures which 
 would be creditable to a Christian mission. As a matter of eco 
 nomy, we designed to collect into a school a few white children, 
 from some frontier settlers, for whose tuition we should receive 
 a small compensation. 
 
 About the middle of November I was present, several days, 
 at a meeting of Weas and Kickapoos, called by the agent ; 
 during which time I had several talks with them upon the sub 
 ject of our mission. I had an interview of some interest with 
 Peter, a Putawatomie, but was compelled to use two interpre 
 ters, one to translate from English to French, and the other 
 from French to Putawatomie. This was a poor way of con 
 versing upon subjects of importance, but it was the best that 
 circumstances admitted. Peter said he was well pleased with my 
 proposals, but, during the last war, his nation had suspected that 
 he was too friendly to the people of the United States ; and, 
 
48 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 although he knew that a compliance with my overtures would 
 be greatly to their advantage, he would not now be the first to 
 accede to the proposals, lest he should increase the jealousy of 
 his people. But I might feel assured that, although he should 
 not be first m this matter, he would not be last. In pledge of 
 which, he rose and gave me his hand, said he had confidence in 
 me, that he would mention the subject to his people, and con 
 cluded by desiring me to go among them. While we were in 
 conversation, a Kickapoo chief came in, to whom Peter men 
 tioned the topic of conversation. " Ah !" replied old Kicka 
 poo, " I would rather have a good dram of whiskey than to 
 hear that." 
 
 On the same day I had an interview with several Delawares, 
 who appeared unusually friendly, and said that they thought that 
 some children for our school might be obtained at their village, 
 and that their chief would be glad to see me. Two days after 
 this, I reasoned with a Delaware, (Billy Killbuck,) who could 
 speak English, on the propriety of schools. He promised that on 
 his return from his present hunting excursion, he would place 
 in our school his only child. This promise he never fulfilled, 
 notwithstanding I frequently saw both him and the boy. 
 
 It was rarely the case that I found an Indian with whom I 
 could converse, except through interpreters, and these were 
 Frenchmen, traders, or United States' interpreters, and Roman 
 Catholics by profession. Hitherto they had appeared friendly, 
 but now they began to manifest a very different spirit ; and the 
 United States' agent appeared to be under the influence of kin 
 dred feelings, though professing at the same time much friendship 
 for me. The United States' interpreter said publicly, though 
 not in my presence, that " none but a fool would attempt to 
 instruct Indians ;" accompanying his words with a profane oath. 
 They positively refused to interpret any thing relating to the 
 subject of religion. About the same time the conduct of the 
 Indians, which had previously indicated the warmth of friend 
 ship, became cool and distant, which I was obliged to attribute 
 to the influence of those men. In his manner, a Kickapoo 
 (the English of whose name was Flour) was an exception. 
 He had heard me explain the objects of the mission, and had 
 heard arguments in its favor, so far as could be done through 
 those interpreters. During a day that we were both in the 
 same village, I frequently met with him; he never failed, at 
 meeting, to give me his hand, and with a countenance indica 
 ting affection, he would point towards his breast, and towards 
 mine, and then towards heaven ; but his words I could not 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. ^J* 
 
 understand. At length I met him in presence of one of the Uni 
 ted States' interpreters ; Flour went through the usual ceremo 
 ny, when 1 asked the -interpreter what he said. He hesitated 
 to interpret ; but at length said, " the Indian says that he loves 
 you as a brother in the Lord." 1 then asked the Indian, " Do 
 you love God ?" He answered in the affirmative. " Do you 
 pray to him r" The interpreter now refused to communicate, 
 and replied for himself " The Indian does not pray, but some 
 times he fasts." I was exceedingly distressed that I could not 
 converse with him on the subject of religion ; and after inviting 
 him to visit me, which he promised to do, I left him, consoling 
 myself that he was in the hands of a merciful God. 
 
 The agent had carried his professions of friendship so far, 
 that he had, without solicitation, promised to employ two In 
 dians, without cost to me, to accompany me on a tour through 
 the Indian country, and to give me letters of introduction, &tc. 
 He had also been instrumental in making an arrangement with 
 Stone-Eater, an influential Wea chief, for a formal council on 
 the subject of the mission ; but in all he disappointed me. I 
 waited on him, and respectfully, yet plainly, told him that I was 
 unable to account for these disappointments, which were unex 
 pected. He endeavoured to apologize, or rather to supply the 
 place of apology, by renewed expressions of friendship. 1 asked 
 him if the two Indians, whom he had said he had sent for, to 
 accompany me through the Indian country, had arrived, or 
 would arrive soon. He replied, there were some goods at that 
 place for them, and they would probably come after them. He 
 had all along assured me that he would have them there at that 
 time ; yet I ascertained that he had not sent for them at all. 
 
 Never before had I been so sensibly affected with the unhap 
 py condition of those miserable Indians. The whites furnished 
 them with ardent spirits, under the influence of which the hor 
 rid shrieks, lamentable crying, and awful bowlings, which ema 
 nated from their encampments, I thought would have been suffi 
 cient to awaken the compassion of all who could have heard 
 them, except those sinners who profited by their ignorance and 
 sported with their miseries. 
 
 With my measures thwarted, and my expectation of imme 
 diately doing something beneficial for the natives baffled by 
 wicked men, I returned, sad enough, to my lonely family, late 
 in the night. What is to be done? Shall we interpret our dis 
 appointments to indicate that we have mistaken the path of duty, 
 or shall we at once adopt the maxim to increase our efforts 
 7 
 
50 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 in proportion to opposing difficulties? We incline to the latter, 
 and look upward, fully believing that an arm of flesh is too fee 
 ble to extricate the poor Indian from his lamentable condition. 
 
 1 now concluded to make a tour through the Delaware coun 
 try, and to extend my journey as far as a settlement of Shawa- 
 noes, on the frontiers of the State of Ohio, a distance of about 
 two hundred miles. My object was to extend my acquaintance 
 with the Indians, to obtain pupils for a school, and to ascertain 
 where, and how, I could most successfully labour for their spiri 
 tual and temporal benefit. 
 
 On the 1st December, in company with Mr. Martin, whom 
 we had hired as teacher, &c., 1 set off upon our journey. My 
 wife and I both felt a good deal of anxiety at our parting. She 
 was left in the woods, in unfinished cabins, with our little chil 
 dren, without any one near her interested in our enterprise ; 
 but, most of all, we were uneasy because we had not heard from 
 the Board of Missions for a long time, and knew not whether 
 they or any others would aid us in our undertaking ; and we 
 were not in possession of the means of proceeding without the 
 patronage of others. We travelled on a path through the wil 
 derness, so small that we lost our way, and had some difficulty 
 to recover it ; passed several Indian encampments, and at night 
 made a shelter with bark, which we happened to find at an old 
 deserted Indian camp. We had hobbled our horses, (tied their 
 two fore legs together,) which, being less pleased with the place 
 than ourselves, attempted to go back, and gave us some trouble 
 in the night to overtake them. 
 
 On the following day we passed some Indian huts, but the 
 owners were all absent on their hunting excursions, excepting a 
 solitary woman and child. We slept on the ground, without 
 any shelter. The grazing for our horses was so poor, that they 
 seemed determined to return, and occasioned us two unpleasant 
 jaunts in the dark, among the brush, to stop them. 
 
 On the 3d we passed through a Wea village. Not a house 
 smoked with fire on that frosty morning, except that of a French 
 trader. The Indians were on hunting excursions. There we 
 found four Frenchmen and three Indians ; one of the latter we 
 hired, to put us in our path. We slept in a deserted Indian 
 camp. 
 
 On the 4th, at noon, we arrived at a Delaware village. Mr. 
 Conner, a trader, to whom I had letters of introduction, was 
 absent, but we were well treated by his partner, both of whom, 
 like most traders located in the Indian country, were mar 
 ried to Indian women. We were now travelling through the 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 5-1 
 
 Country of the Delawares, and within the chartered limits of 
 the State of Indiana. We lodged at night at the house of Bet 
 sey Pitcharker, a widow, with several children. I was happy to 
 find her a Christian. She had united with the Baptist church 
 in the State of New- York. She related to me her Christian 
 experience, and conversed freely upon experimental religion. 
 Her eldest child could read. She had two Bibles in her house. 
 She said she would be happy to send four of her children to 
 school, were it convenient. 
 
 At noon on the 5th of December, we procured a little corn 
 for our horses, and dined at the house of an elderly couple, the 
 wife being a woman of note, named Nancy, who could speak 
 English tolerably well, and who was the principal manager of 
 matters around her. I informed her of our endeavours to ame 
 liorate the condition of the Indians, with which she appeared to 
 be much pleased. We passed through several villages along 
 White river, rode all day through rain and snow, and at night, 
 when the storm had become still more severe, we took shelter 
 in a deserted Indian wigwam, where, as usual, we made our 
 own fires and prepared our own suppers. The wind and snow 
 rendered my horse so uneasy, especially as he had nothing to 
 eat except brush, that I resorted to the expedient of tying his 
 two hind legs together, instead of the fore legs, as usual. 
 
 We left this uncomfortable place early on the 6th, and prose 
 cuted our journey along a narrow path, leading through a brushy 
 wilderness, with the bushes loaded with snow. We passed an 
 encampment of wretched looking Indians, who appeared less 
 hospitable than those people usually are. We had little to eat 
 for ourselves, and still less for our horses; and having had an 
 uncomfortable day's journey, were glad to enter the cabin of 
 a white man on the frontier. We had now left the Indian coun 
 try, and the two succeeding days' journey were over exceed 
 ingly bad roads of rnud and ice, with here and there a house. 
 
 I had intended to visit the Quaker missionary station among 
 the Shawanoes, which I now found myself unable to do. I 
 spent some time with Mr. Johnson, United States' agent for 
 the Shawanoes, Miamies, and some other tribes. We concluded 
 that the most eligible place for our missionary establishment, 
 which at that time presented itself, was among the Miamies on 
 the Wabash, upon a tract of land about thirty miles square, re 
 served at a late treaty for the residence of that tribe. By agree 
 ment I was to meet Mr. Johnson at that place the following 
 May, at which time he would aid me in making the necessary 
 arrangements with the Indians. , )Sqo' 
 
52 HISTORY OV BAPTIST 
 
 Several considerations favoured this location ; but there I 
 should be compelled to communicate with the Indians through 
 the medium of Roman Catholic Frenchmen, as interpreters; 
 and so great was the influence of this class of men, that in 
 order to obtain a favourable consideration of my business, Mr. 
 Johnson advised me to secure the particular friendship of some 
 such one, who would commend the mission to the natives. It 
 was also agreed that I should accompany the agent among the 
 Delawares, in the hope that we could there establish another 
 mission. At this time we were so ignorant of the general indif 
 ference of Christians to the improvement of the condition of the 
 Indians, that we imagined if favourable openings for missions 
 could be found, and the means of support for missionaries be 
 obtained, there would be no lack of men to enter upon this 
 work of benevolence. Alas, up to this present time, facts show 
 that in this matter we were sadly mistaken. 
 
 On the 15th of December I commenced my journey home 
 ward; on the 17th we halted awhile at some Indian camps, 
 which they were preparing to shelter them from the cold. A 
 Shawanoe who spoke English, on being informed who I was, 
 and what was my business, appeared very friendly. He spoke 
 of the death of his wife, and the difficulty which he experi 
 enced in making comfortable three children left in his charge. 
 I proposed to take them and educate them, to which he seemed 
 ready to consent ; and 1 was concluding to wait with him until 
 he could prepare to accompany me home, when one of his 
 neighbours came in and dissuaded him from his good intentions. 
 This day one of my feet was a little injured by the frost ; we 
 slept on the frozen ground, without shelter. 
 
 On the following day we put up at the house of Captain 
 Anderson, the principal chief of the Delawares. He was very 
 hospitable, prepared food for us, and endeavoured to make us 
 comfortable. He called in his interpreter, and listened respect 
 fully to my tallc upon the subject of our mission. I had been 
 informed that he was decidedly opposed to education, and to 
 civilization in general; and this information, I presume, was 
 correct, yet he declared to me that he felt otherwise. He said 
 that they were at present unsettled, and could give no definite 
 answer to any of my overtures. " A little more than a year 
 ago," said he, " the United States' agent advised us to adopt the 
 habits of civilized life. At that time his word was very good ; 
 accordingly many of us procured cattle and hogs, &LC. Scarcely 
 had we commenced this course, when we were asked to cede 
 our lands to the white people. Something of this has been 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 53 
 
 done; the white people now claim our country, and desire that 
 we should leave it and now we know not what to do ! I think 
 that the men who made the bargain with us have done wrong, 
 and that they had not been authorized to purchase our country ; 
 and I hope the transaction will not be approved by Congress." 
 
 I assured him that there were many white people who felt 
 under obligations to do something for the relief of their red 
 brethren, upon whose lands they were living, and he must not 
 doubt this if he should perceive among some a different feeling 
 towards them. He declared that he felt entirely confident that 
 I lacked neither disposition nor ability to help them; he would 
 speak of me and my business to his chiefs, and in the spring 
 following he would be able to give me an answer, and said he 
 would be happy to see me at that time at his house. Fifteen 
 women were carrying fire-wood to the chief's door, from a dis 
 tance of half a mile or more. They carried enormous loads, 
 tied together with leather ropes, and swung upon their shoul 
 ders like a soldiers knapsack. At one time an old man ad 
 dressed them in a speech of about fifteen minutes' length, which 
 I was sorry that I could not understand. When their labour was 
 completed they partook of a plentiful meal, and each carried 
 away a small present of food. About one-half, or more, of the 
 Delawares at this time lived in small log cabins, the residue in 
 bark huts. Their prospects for improvement would have been 
 promising, had it not been for the necessity which arose for their 
 removal. 
 
 Within that same year, 1818, they had ceded their country 
 to the United States ; nevertheless, I discovered that many of 
 them upon whom I called still hoped that they would not be 
 compelled to leave it. On that subject I chose to be silent, 
 notwithstanding their many inquiries. From the agent I had 
 letters to Mr. Conner, a trader, requiring him to further my 
 designs as far as opportunity would admit. This he appeared 
 ready to do, but it was now winter, and the Indians generally 
 were dispersed at their hunting camps, which to them were 
 winter quarters, so that nothing effectual could be done. The 
 weather was extremely cold, and we had found much diffi 
 culty in crossing streams of water, on account of the ice. 
 White river we once crossed upon the ice, on a dark night. I 
 had been unwell two days, when at our camp on the 20th I 
 became quite sick. I left camp on the 21st with a considerable 
 fever, and travelled in pain all day, and still became worse. We 
 lost our way, and I spent another painful night on the frozen 
 
54 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 earth, with the additional anxiety attendant on the circumstance 
 of not knowing the right way. About ten o'clock the follow 
 ing day we recovered the small path. IVly fever, attended with 
 delirium, increased until I was scarcely able to sit upon my 
 horse. Had I not reached home on that day, I must have been 
 carried thither in a litter, or have remained in the woods. The 
 Lord knew how far I was from home, and said to my afflictions, 
 " Hither shalt thou come, but no farther." I found my wife 
 almost blind with sore eyes ; still the Lord had been round 
 about the family, during a time which had been lonely enough. 
 It was about the last of January before I had so far recovered 
 from this sickness as to be able to leave my room. 
 
 On the 1st January, 1819, we opened a small school of six 
 scholars from the frontier white settlers, and one Indian boy, 
 of the Brothertown Indians; he was boarded and clothed at the 
 mission gratuitously. His mother at the same time came to re 
 side in our family. About this time the measles prevailed in 
 our family, arid added not a little to the burden of Mrs. McCoy's 
 labours ; she, too, had a turn of sickness. These afflictions 
 lasted until the latter part of February. We felt the want of 
 missionary associates, and began almost to despair of doing 
 much, without the co-operation of others. Nothing, however, 
 so much discouraged us as the silence of the board ; they had 
 been informed of our proceedings, and of our desire to enjoy 
 their patronage, but as yet we knew not that any would be will 
 ing to help us. 
 
 On the 9th January we received a communication from the 
 board, which, though not exactly such as we desired, neverthe 
 less gladdened our hearts by an assurance of their patronage. 
 Under my embarrassments on account of being unable to speak 
 any Indian language, I resolved, if possible, to acquire a know 
 ledge of the Miamie. As soon as my health admitted of my 
 riding abroad, I visited some of that tribe, with a view of obtain 
 ing one to instruct me, but I was unable to make such an en 
 gagement. I then made an effort to obtain a white man who 
 understood an Indian language to instruct me ; in this I was 
 equally unsuccessful. We also began to despair of doing much 
 at that place, at which we had settled, not as a matter of choice, 
 but of necessity. 
 
 On the 14th March I was prepared to make another excur 
 sion of some extent in the Indian country, but was prevented 
 by a heavy fall of snow, and the anticipation of high waters. 
 Five or six families of Indians spent the winter a few miles 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 55 
 
 from us, and probably designed to cultivate a little corn there 
 the ensuing summer, to whom we hoped to extend our labours ; 
 but to our grief and mortification, some of our nearer white 
 neighbours, having resolved on their removal, went to them on 
 the 13th, and ordered them to leave the place within two days. 
 This was an unauthorized and cruel proceeding, but the Indians 
 prudently departed. We could not hope to succeed in melio 
 rating the condition of the Indians alongside of people whose 
 hearts were so manifestly destitute of the feelings of humanity. 
 
 In April my business required me to make a journey to Vin- 
 cennes, a distance of about ninety miles. There I found Billy 
 Killbuck, the Delaware, with whom I had formed an acquaint 
 ance some months before, and two other Dela wares, in prison r 
 for killing a white man. In a neighbourhood in which whiskey 
 was vended to the Indians, these men had become intoxicated, 
 and in an affray had committed this deed, for which they had 
 been arrested. Killbuck seemed transported with joy on seeing 
 me. I told him I was sorry to find him there. He said he was 
 intoxicated when he committed the crime. I reminded him 
 that I had warned him against drunkenness. " Yes," said he r 
 " I well remember what you said to rne that morning, at my 
 camp." I said, you have done wrong, yet I cannot forget you ; 
 when I pray, I will pray for you. A white prisoner requested 
 that I would then pray, which I did. Soon after the door was 
 closed, I heard one speaking within, in a solemn tone ; the jailor 
 said it was Killbuck engaged in prayer. On the following 
 morning I visited them again. On my inquiry respecting their 
 condition, they said they suffered with hunger ; and I could see 
 that they were in great want of clothing. I carried them some 
 bread, and a little calico for shirts. I visited them several times 
 afterwards. About the time of their trial,, they made their 
 escape from custody. 
 
 The preceding January I had written to Hon. W. Taylor, in 
 Congress, requesting him to endeavour to obtain from the Se 
 cretary of War permission for us to settle in the Indian coun 
 try. The necessary permission was obtained, and reached me 
 in April. This I hoped would be of advantage, if in May I 
 should be able to join Mr. Johnson, the agent, in the Indian 
 country, agreeably to our arrangement. During my absence to 
 Vincennes, many Indians had frequented our house. Mrs. 
 McCoy had no other company than a hired female, and our own< 
 children, and an Indian boy; nevertheless, the Indians on all 
 occasions were respectful in their deportment, though they were 
 often said to be insolent at other houses on the frontier. 
 
56 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 On the 2d May I received a communication from Mr. John 
 son, agent, whom, by agreement, 1 had hoped to meet in that 
 month in the Miamie villages, informing me that the agency of 
 the Miamies had been given to a Dr. Turner. Here was ano 
 ther disappointment. The new agent was a stranger to us r 
 and before we could take another step in the business of loca 
 ting among the Miamies, I must make an acquaintance with 
 him. About this time I received intelligence of the passage of 
 a law of Congress, appropriating ten thousand dollars annually 
 for purposes of Indian improvement, to be applied under the 
 direction of the President of the United States. Disappointed 
 in regard to my contemplated tour in the Indian country, I made 
 another journey to Vincennes, to endeavour to obtain a portion 
 of these facilities in aid of our enterprise. Several gentlemen 
 united in a communication to the President of the United 
 States, in favour of the measures which I had proposed. Al 
 though our hopes were not fully realized, yet this application 
 for aid from Government it was believed, was not without a 
 good effect. On my return from Vincennes I found Mrs. Mc 
 Coy and two of our children sick. 
 
 Indians frequently called upon us, but we had not been able 
 to secure any regular attendance upon instruction, either in let 
 ters or religion. The latter part of May I concluded to make 
 another tour through the Delaware country. It was with some 
 difficulty that I found an Indian who could be hired for a rea 
 sonable price, to accompany me. At length I hired a Wea y 
 who called himself John, an exceedingly worthless fellow. 
 He left a little boy at our house \ this we considered our 
 second Indian scholar, though he was rather too small to study,, 
 and after a few months he was removed by his mother. 
 Among Indians it is not always the case that children in a 
 state of minority are under the control of their parents : they 
 are often under the guardianship of an uncle, aunt, or some 
 other relation. In this case John's brother claimed the boy. 
 When we began to divest the little fellow of his few filthy rags, 
 and clothe him better, his owner became jealous, supposing 
 either that we were introducing an unwarrantable innovation of 
 Indian habits, or else that we would acquire a paramount claim 
 upon the boy. He wished immediately to take him away ; and 
 it was not easy to persuade him to allow the boy to remain. 
 
 On the morning of the 28th of May I again left our affairs 
 about the mission house in charge of Mrs. McCoy t and, with 
 Wea John, set out for the Delaware towns. 
 
 We travelled a very small path, and the day was rainy, so 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 57 
 
 that we found travelling through the wet bushes somewhat un 
 pleasant. We stopped a little before night to avail ourselves of 
 a shelter in a bark hut, in a small village, to which the proprie 
 tors had not returned from their winter's hunt. John could 
 scarcely speak any English, and I spoke less Indian ; so that 
 we could not be very communicative, notwithstanding we em 
 ployed both head and hands to assist our tongues. He was 
 quite sprightly in making a fire, but the preparation of the sup 
 per I took upon myself, as I could better relish my own cooking 
 than his. 
 
 Through the day we had passed many miserable creatures, 
 some travelling on horseback, others wading through the mud 
 and weeds on foot, and some lying in their wigwams ; some 
 half dressed, and others far less, and several of both sexes in a 
 state of intoxication. John informed me that a few yards from 
 where we slept, an Indian not long before had killed his wife 
 with a knife, which was the third wife that he had murdered. 
 About three nights previous to our departure, the brother of 
 the same murderer, in a drunken frolic, killed two women with 
 a tomahawk. Some others were injured in the same fracas. 
 
 I find in my journal the following: 
 
 " May 29. We had another day of rain, and consequently 
 unpleasant travelling through wet bushes. About noon we 
 halted, and endeavoured to make fire ; but our spunk had be 
 come damp, and John, after trying a long time without success, 
 in a fit of impatience threw away both spunk and flint, and left 
 us destitute of the means of making fire. A few hours ride 
 brought us to Eel town, (Wea,) which I would willingly have 
 passed without stopping, but we were under the necessity of 
 seeking for the means of making fire ; and before we could 
 obtain these, we had called at many huts. The Indians were 
 generally in a state of intoxication, as usually happens on their 
 return to their villages in the spring. 
 
 " In the first cluster of cabins we found several sick, having, 
 as I supposed, contracted colds in their drinking scrape. A little 
 further we met an acquaintance, Old Nettle, riding briskly. He 
 was without clothes, with the usual exception of the srnalljjcloth 
 about the waist. His face was painted black as high as the 
 nose, with red around his eyes. His appearance was rendered 
 still more hideous by a second coat of painting of mud, which 
 he had involuntarily received. A little further we saw a great 
 many drinking, and heard many more singing and howling in ad 
 jacent houses. Two young men came running to us in a style 
 which indicated that they designed to have some sport by insult- 
 8 
 
58 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 ing us; but on coming up they recognised me, and behaved well. 
 An intoxicated female approached, and begged for bread. We 
 had none to spare ; and if it had been otherwise, I should have 
 been unwilling to have opened a bread sack there. Intoxicated 
 Indians from all quarters began to gather around u$, and I was 
 not sorry when John turned and rode off briskly. I readily fol 
 lowed his example, and as we were leaving them they declared 
 that they would kill us, and accompanied the threat by oaths 
 in the English language. 
 
 " About three-fourths of a mile further, at a trading house, a 
 Frenchman gave us the means of making fire, and Old Nettle 
 begged of us a shilling for accompanying us. In the early part 
 of the day we had passed an encampment of Indians, at which 
 was Stone-Eater, the principal chief of the Weas. He showed 
 us some attention, but chiefly with the design, it would seem, of 
 seizing the opportunity to beg a little bread for his wife and 
 children. We gave out sparingly, because we could not replen 
 ish our stock of provisions, if once exhausted. Though he 
 was chief of his tribe, he appeared as wretched as any. A few 
 filthy blankets, pack-saddles, camp kettles, &tc. y constituted his 
 moveables, while his live stock consisted of some horses, too 
 many dogs, and not a few cats. We have no shelter to-night ; 
 have peeled a little bark to keep us off the damp earth, and have 
 spent an hour and a half in drying our clothes. 
 
 " May 30. Another rainy day. Am sorry that the traders, 
 whom I hoped to obtain for interpreters, are absent. A Dela 
 ware chief and several others called on me, and appeared very 
 friendly ; but as I had no interpreter, I could not say much to 
 them. 
 
 " May 31. Had more rain. After calling upon several fami 
 lies, we arrived at the house of Captain Anderson, principal 
 chief. A considerable number of men were about him, en 
 gaged in a council. He appeared less friendly than I desired. 
 He gave me to understand that it would not be convenient for us 
 to lodge in his house. This relieved me from some embarrass 
 ment, which I anticipated, in eating some of his cookery, which 
 I saw in progress, and which I was sure I could not have rel 
 ished very well. He sent a man with us to look out a house to 
 lodge in, who conducted us to a cabin, which, though perhaps 
 as comfortable as the village afforded, was filthy enough. Be 
 tween my two blankets I lodged on the floor among Indians and 
 dogs, and the vermin which infest both. 
 
 " June 1st. I returned to Captain Anderson, who called in 
 his interpreter, a black man, through whom I communicated to 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 59 
 
 him at large my business in relation to the Indians. He replied, 
 * Since you was here last winter I have assembled the chiefs, 
 agreeably to what I promised you, and informed them that our 
 brother had come to assist us to teach us to read and write, to 
 raise corn, and to make our clothes. I did not say much, but 
 sat and listened to them ; some of them were in favour of the 
 measures you proposed, and some were not ; some said that a 
 good while ago the white people took one of our people, and 
 gave him a good education ; perhaps ten years afterwards they 
 took another, and taught him to read also, and both of these 
 men were afterwards killed by the white people. One was 
 killed as he lay asleep, and the other was shot by a boy; and 
 perhaps the white people desire to educate more, so that they 
 may kill them. For my part, I think what you say is true k 
 would be of great benefit to our children for you to instruct 
 them. Were we to remain in this country, we should be glad 
 if you would come and live near us, and we would send our 
 children to you ; but we are soon to leave this country; never 
 theless, I will assemble the chiefs again, and tell them what you 
 say, and if any of them agree to your proposals, our children 
 will be taken to your house ; if they do not, you will not hear 
 from us any more until we become settled. I have written to 
 the great council of the Seventeen fires [Congress] to send me a 
 paper that will give us a sure title to the land to which we are 
 going, so that the white people may no more disturb us. When 
 I get this paper, and we shall have become settled, we will 
 think of doing something for our children we will then send 
 for you to come and instruct them ; but at this time nothing 
 can be done / wish you to notice that.' 
 
 " I had no reason to doubt the truth of his closing remark, 
 that nothing could be done with him at this time. Most of the 
 people of the village were in a drinking frolic, which induced 
 me to leave the place sooner than otherwise I should have done. 
 Near where we lodged, both men and women were all night 
 beating their old drums, singing, dancing, and hallooing. This 
 morning a spectacle of drunkenness was exhibited around us 
 too disgusting to be related. On the same day an influential 
 old woman, who is a kind of a head of a party, said that if the 
 tribe should go to the west of the Mississippi, she and her party 
 would remain near our establishment. 
 
 " June 2d. Agreeably to a promise made yesterday, seven 
 influential Delawares assembled, to whom I communicated our 
 plans and proposals, an aged female acting as our interpreter. 
 
60 
 
 HISTOKY OF BAPTIST 
 
 They declared that they were well pleased with the overtures I 
 had made them, but their contemplated removal to the west of 
 the Mississippi would deprive them of the opportunity of com 
 plying with my requests. Were they settled, they would cer 
 tainly agree to my proposals ; and as it was, they would never 
 forget what I had said to them. Some Miamies being present 
 who could not understand, the company, at my instance, crossed 
 White river with me, where at a small Miamie village a council 
 was convened, to which the Delawares communicated what I 
 had said to them. The Miamies received us with politeness. 
 A bench was placed for the chief speaker and myself to sit 
 upon, while the others sat around on the earth, on mats, logs, 
 &c. Our council was begun and ended with the ceremony of 
 smoking ; the chief speaker smoked the first half of his pipe, 
 and allowed me to smoke out the other. In the evening we 
 prepared supplies for our journey. In making bread, I chose 
 to perform the kneading myself, as I had not confidence in the 
 cleanliness of John. 
 
 " June 3d. On setting out this morning we swam our horses 
 across White river by the side of a canoe slept between two 
 pieces of bark which I had peeled on my way out. In the af 
 ternoon, and during the night, I was quite sick. 
 
 " June 4th. On account of my indisposition, I did not rise 
 so early as usual, and when I did I found John preparing our 
 breakfast ; but his cookery was such that I could not partake 
 of it. In going a few miles my horse sunk in a mire, and I 
 went through without him. Through John's assistance I reco 
 vered him. On reaching Eel town I was so unwell, and there 
 was so much whiskey among them, that I concluded to pass on 
 without stopping ; but before we were fairly through the settle 
 ment, Stone-Eater, the principal chief, having heard of me, 
 overtook us and requested me to return and have a council. I 
 turned and went with him three-fourths of a mile, and halted 
 at a few tents pitched in the shade of some trees. Stone-Eater 
 rode about and collected his chiefs and others, among whom, 
 unfortunately, were some who were intoxicated ; the most trou 
 blesome was a young Delaware, whom they in vain endeavoured 
 to persuade to leave the place. We had seated ourselves in a 
 circle on the earth, and Stone-Eater was about opening the 
 talk, when the loquacity of the Delaware broke the conversa 
 tion. Again they endeavoured to get him off, but failed. At 
 length a young W T ea approached him with a piece of bark in 
 his hand, as if designing to tie him, and gave him much loud 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 61 
 
 talk, and many an angry look. The altercation became so 
 warm that I was looking to see their large knives resorted to in 
 order to settle the dispute. 
 
 " Times becoming more quiet, we resumed our talk in coun 
 cil. Agreeably to custom, at the conclusion of each sentence 
 the party spoken to responded Ho-o. On these occasions the 
 young Delaware, whom we had been compelled to admit to a 
 seat with us, would halloo aloud, to the great annoyance of 
 every one. Presently a bottle of spirits was brought by some 
 one, and placed within our circle ; the chief placed it by his 
 side, to prevent others from drinking. Seeing how matters were 
 going, he said, c We had better make short speeches' this was 
 to enable me to leave the place as soon as possible. To this I 
 had no objection. Being apprehensive that I was in danger, 
 the chief directed me to pursue a by-path, by which I could 
 get off with the least exposure. Before I could mount my 
 horse the chief himself was overcome by temptation, and took 
 a full dram. Whiskey and intoxicated Indians were now fast 
 accumulating about us, and before we had proceeded one rod, 
 John too insisted on having a dram. Our interpreter was an 
 Indian ; I requested him not to allow John to become intoxicated. 
 I was glad when we got away from these wretched people. 
 
 " Some twenty miles further we passed another village, where 
 I saw a man whom I had once engaged to teach me the Miamie 
 language. He said that the reason why he had not fulfilled his 
 engagement was, that he was afraid to live so near the whites, 
 lest he should sustain some injury at their hands. John also 
 expressed similar fears, and said that on that account he would 
 take his boy from our house on his return ; and asked me to 
 loan him a horse to bring him back as far as the village in which 
 we then were. I perceived that his object was to steal my 
 horse ; I therefore told him I should not grant his request. He 
 appeared much offended, and insisted that I should allow him 
 greater wages for his services than had been agreed upon. To 
 this I would not consent. He probably thought that as I was 
 alone in the Indian country, I would be afraid to deny him, lest 
 advantage should be taken of my situation. Finding that I 
 spoke and acted with decision, he admitted that I was right, and 
 we slept peaceably together in the woods another night. 
 
 u June 5th. The best breakfast that our means afforded 
 this morning was hot water thickened with a little flour, and 
 slightly sweetened. In the afternoon I united again with my 
 family." 
 
 On the 4th of August I was attacked with bilious fever ; I 
 
62 HISTORY OP BAPTIST 
 
 prescribed for myself, and for ten days was not severely indis 
 posed. I regretted the loss of time, and being unable to go 
 abroad to mingle with the Indians, I endeavoured to get one to 
 sit by my bed-side and instruct me in the Indian language, but I 
 found none whom I could thus employ. 
 
 August 13th, I became so unwell that a speedy dissolution was 
 apprehended. A messenger had been sent ninety miles for a 
 physician. A while after, our eldest son, about twelve years of 
 age, was also to human appearance brought near to death. It 
 was the 5th of October before I could leave home. The interests 
 of the cause in which we had embarked requiring me to make 
 a journey of ninety miles to Vincennes, I set out when I was 
 so feeble that I had to lie down and rest frequently. I returned 
 home on the 13th of November, when, from the fatigue of the 
 journey, 1 relapsed into violent fever. My case became so se 
 rious that an unskilful person, who styled himself a physician, 
 was called in. After being greatly injured by his prescriptions, 
 1 v/as under the necessity of refusing to follow them. 
 
 On the 25th of October the symptoms of my disease were 
 strongly such as in that country usually attended those who were 
 dying with the disease with which I was afflicted. I supposed, 
 and so did others around me, that I was dying. On being asked 
 by my wife, if I thought there was any hope, I replied, " there 
 is none, only that with God nothing is impossible ; that for me 
 to live would be a miracle little less than for one to be raised 
 from the dead. I knew that I had to die, and I could not ex 
 pect the Lord to work a miracle in my behalf." For about 
 forty hours my distress was very great ; so much so that my 
 dearest friends desired me to die, that I might be relieved of my 
 pains. I begged the Lord by some means to lighten my pains 
 a little. Mr. Martin, our teacher, who had become serious on 
 the subject of religion, fell on his knees by my bed-side. The 
 Lord pitied and spared. It was the latter part of December 
 before I became tolerably well. 
 
 During my illness two of our children were also very sick. 
 The watchings and anxieties of Mrs. McCoy, together with the 
 heavy charge of the affairs of our large family, and the increas 
 ing cares of the institution, became a burden so onerous, that 
 we had reason to fear that she too would fail ; but the Lord 
 mercifully sustained her. While I was confined to my bed by 
 my severe sickness, Mr. Martin, who was an avowed Deist 
 when we hired him to teach school, made profession of the reli 
 gion of the Lord Jesus, and was baptized at the mission house 
 by Rev. Wilson Thompson, of Ohio, who, with Rev. A. Frakes, 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 63 
 
 had paid us a visit. Shortly after his baptism, Mr. Martin left 
 our place, with the view of preaching the Gospel among the 
 whites, which he did for several years to good acceptance. 
 
 Amidst our great afflictions the Lord afforded some encou 
 ragement. This was not only derived from the conversion of 
 Mr. Martin, but from other circumstances. While I lay sick, 
 five children of the Brothertown Indians, and another Wea 
 child, were taken into the family. We now had eight Indian 
 children, all feeding at our table, and dependant upon us for 
 clothing. The family thus increased, the business of the insti 
 tution became rather too great for Mrs. McCoy. For a while 
 studies in school had been suspended ; they were resumed on 
 the 15th of November, while I was sick, under the management 
 of Mr. Johnston Lykins, who had been employed on the depar 
 ture of Mr. Martin. He was not a professor of religion. This 
 to us was the less discouraging, on account of the favour which 
 had been shown us in the conversion of our late teacher; nor 
 have our ho'pes in this case been disappointed, for Mr. Lykins 
 at this time (1839) is a faithful missionary. 
 
 I had become able to handle my pen, and no more, when I 
 received information that the President of the United States de 
 signed to apply the ten thousand dollar annual appropriation for 
 Indian reform, in conjunction with the labours of benevolent 
 societies; and that such as would avail themselves of those 
 Government facilities should report their plans, and the condi 
 tion of their missions. Accordingly, about the middle of No 
 vember, I reported to the Secretary of War. I further made 
 application through Mr. Taylor, member of Congress, for per 
 mission to establish missions among the Kickapoos and the 
 Delawares, when those tribes should become settled on lands 
 which had lately been assigned them in the State of Missouri. 
 At the same time we determined, the Lord willing, to get into 
 the country of the Miamies as soon as possible. To carry into 
 effect our plans, several more missionaries would be indispens 
 able, but these we hoped the Lord would provide. Our plans 
 and operations were communicated to the board of missions. 
 
 In our inquiries for more missionaries, we had understood that 
 Mr. Thompson, who had recently been at our house, would 
 like to unite with us ; and believing that he was qualified to be 
 useful, we opened a correspondence with him upon the subject ; 
 but this design failed. After many vexatious disappointments 
 in regard to the employment of an Indian to instruct me in 
 the Miamie language, I commenced the study of Delaware, 
 with the assistance of one whose English name was Ben 
 
HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 Gray. He, with others, had acquired some knowledge ot our 
 institution while 1 was on rny late tour in their country. I 
 engaged him for twenty-one days only. In this short time 
 I could not hope to learn much, especially as I had much 
 other business to look after, and had to study under great disad 
 vantages ; nevertheless, I commenced. While I received in 
 structions from Ben, Mrs. McCoy afforded some instruction to 
 his wife. Ben had not been long at our house when he in 
 formed us that a white man, not far off, had told him that he 
 would be killed if he remained so near the white settlements 
 with his family. We, however, prevailed on him to remain 
 with us a while longer. 
 
 On the 16th of February I joined in marriage Mary Ann 
 Isaacs, of the Brothertown Indians, who had been spending a few 
 weeks at our house, and Christmas Dashney, a half-breed Wea. 
 Our near Indian neighbours were invited to attend the cere 
 mony, and we had the happiness to have twenty-three of the 
 natives partake of a meal prepared on the occasion. 
 
 Waupungea (alias John) had erected a little hut near our 
 house, in which he and his family had resided for a few weeks. 
 We had encouraged them to this in the hope of doing them 
 good, and because we would, on that account, more proba 
 bly keep their children in our school. On the 15th he in 
 formed us that he thought he had better not live with us any 
 longer, he had better go among his people. God had made the 
 Indians as they are, and therefore it would be proper for them to 
 continue as they have been made, and not to change their man 
 ners and customs for those of the whites. White people would 
 be happy in the enjoyment of their own customs, because the 
 Great Spirit had placed them in that situation. 
 
 He was told that our object was to make the miserable hap 
 py, the poor man rich, and the mean man great. The fashion 
 of dress, and such like things, we cared but little about. This 
 he knew, because we had a few days before given him paint for 
 his face, and we had made his children clothes after the Indian 
 fashion. Our attention was directed chiefly to things obviously 
 beneficial, and calculated to do them lasting good. He conclu 
 ded to remain a while longer. 
 
 I did not make much progress in the study of the Delaware 
 language, as I had scarcely one hour in twenty-four which I 
 could devote to it. But I had been criminal indeed, if, upon be 
 coming better acquainted with their deplorable condition, I had 
 not become more anxious to acquire a knowledge of their lan 
 guage, that I might preach to them the unsearchable riches of 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 65 
 
 Christ. Ben Gray, who was my instructor, also evidently pro 
 fited by our connection. In their little matters of housekeeping 
 they became much more neat, and his wife learned to knit, and 
 perform some other work well. They had removed a few miles 
 from us, when Mrs. McCoy and I made them a visit as neigh 
 bours. They were exceedingly gratified. For our repast they 
 pounded dried venison in a mortar, until it was almost reduced 
 to powder, and then mixed with it a considerable proportion of 
 bear's and racoon's grease. 
 
 Exceedingly anxious to get to a more eligible site within the 
 Indian country, I had engaged an Indian to accompany me 
 through the wilderness (180 miles) to Fort Wayne, to consult 
 the new agent, Dr. Turner. Ben Gray also was to accompany 
 me, that I might prosecute my study of the Delaware language 
 on the way. This journey I was compelled to relinquish, on 
 account of the poor state of my health, and the cares of our 
 establishment, which were too onerous for Mrs. McCoy alone* 
 Mr. Lykins was sent thither, accompanied by a half Indian. 
 The waters were very full, on account of which they were ex 
 posed to great inconvenience, and not a little danger both to 
 themselves and their horses. They returned on the 9th of 
 March, after an absence of fourteen days. 
 
 They had carried a communication to Pishewa, the principal 
 chief of the Miamies, and to Dr. Turner, their agent, both of 
 whom appeared to favour our designs. We desired to settle at 
 the Miamie Massassinawa villages ; but the agent urged the 
 propriety of our locating at Fort Wayne. He and others urged 
 that, at Massassinawa, not only would our property be destroyed 
 by the Indians, but our lives would be in jeopardy, on account 
 of intoxicated Indians. At Fort Wayne we were offered the use 
 of public buildings gratuitously, and promised the hearty co 
 operation of the agent in promotion of the objects of our labours. 
 The Indians would readily have consented to our wishes to set 
 tle at Massassinawa ; but the agent, who resided at Fort Wayne, 
 employed his influence to get us to the latter place. 
 
 Having hired Silk Hernbus, a Delaware, to accompany me, I 
 started on the 18th of March, to go and see the agent myself. We 
 lost the small path, and travelled almost the whole day without 
 any traiL On the second day Hembus's horse began to fail, 
 and he was obliged to walk and drive him ; and on the third day 
 we had to leave him, having first tied his two fore legs together 
 with bark, so that he could not wander far from the place be 
 fore our return. He hid his saddle, bridle, &c., in a hollow 
 tree, and carried his blankets on his back, 
 9 
 
66 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 My horse having no company on the following night, mani 
 fested a strong inclination to leave me. I had taken the pre 
 caution to tie his fore legs together, and his head down to them. 
 About midnight Hembus told me that he had heard my horse 
 going off. I wished him to go with me in pursuit of him ; but 
 as there was much water on the ground , and the night dark and 
 cold, he preferred remaining at camp. I took fire in my hand, 
 to make light, and went in quest of him alone, but had to re 
 turn without him. I felt not a little anxiety on account of my 
 situation ; I thought my horse had probably made his escape, and 
 my poor state of health rendered me unable to travel on foot 
 to any place of human residence. However, I resigned myself 
 to the care of Him who had been with Jacob in the desert, and 
 again wrapped myself in my blankets. In the morning, how 
 ever, we recovered my horse. 
 
 That night, as Hembus and I lay by our fire, 1 introduced in 
 conversation the subject of religion. He said all the Delawares 
 believed that good Indians go to God after death, and bad ones 
 to the devil, to be punished in a great fire. All, both good 
 and bad, had to appear before God, who looked upon them, and 
 decided who was his. He said it was very bad to make pewter 
 money ; and all who did so would go to Muh-tunh-to, (the devil,) 
 to dwell in a hot fire. They would be very thirsty; and, when 
 they would ask for drink, would be forced to drink melted 
 pewter. It was reported that in dealings the whites frequently 
 passed counterfeit money to the Indians. It is possible that the 
 impositions practised upon them in this respect had caused the 
 crime of " making pewter money" to appear more heinous than 
 it would otherwise have done. 
 
 On the 2lst, Hembus, who was travelling on foot, tired, and we 
 had to encamp before night. On the day following, as we were 
 entering the Miamie villages on Massassinawa river, Hembus, who 
 was walking before me, discovered a company of Miamies sitting 
 on the ground before us, drinking. He instantly turned back, 
 saying, " 1 do not like drunken Indians." He went off another 
 way, and made inquiry if we could not cross the river by a way 
 by which we should avoid those who were drinking. I discov 
 ered that he was afraid ; and as he was a man of good judgment, 
 and familiar with such circumstances, I was induced to estimate 
 the danger of our situation in proportion to his fears. We were, 
 however, under the necessity of passing within sight of the com 
 pany. They no sooner discovered us, than several ran rudely 
 towards us. To our satisfaction, at this juncture, a sober young 
 man came to us, with whom Hembus was acquainted, which at 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 67 
 
 once dissipated his fears. An elderly man, considerably intoxi 
 cated, as he made towards us, threatened personal injury. But 
 being told by the sober young man that Hembus was his friend, 
 and that 1 was a good man, he left off his threatening. Hem- 
 bus took my horse, and examined the river, and finding that I 
 could cross without swimming, drove the horse across back to 
 me, and I rode him over. 
 
 Hembus, who had met with an acquaintance with whom he 
 could rest contentedly, and being much fatigued by travelling on 
 foot, now proposed to go no further ; and that I should proceed 
 alone, and he would remain here until I should return. We 
 were more than sixty miles from Fort Wayne, the way a wil 
 derness, through which I had never passed, and the waters high, 
 so that I could not think of getting on alone. With some 
 persuasion he consented to proceed five miles further, to the 
 residence of Joseph Richardvilie, son of Pishewa, the chief. 
 When we arrived, we found that he. with those about him, were 
 also engaged in a bacchanalian revel. He was at the time 
 asleep in his house, while several women without were making 
 much noise. Hembus was afraid to awaken him; and, in wait 
 ing, we spent an hour or two very disagreeably, on account of 
 the drunken Indians, who crowded about us. In the mean 
 time Hembus had quietly found a small hole in the wall, through 
 which he could discover the sleeper within, and to which, with 
 some impatience, he often applied his eye. Oh ! what a wretch 
 ed people! 
 
 We had no sooner made our acquaintance with Richardvilie, 
 than he washed the paint, &,c., from his face, and required 
 others around him to do the same ; and some, who were too 
 far overcome with ardent spirits to obey, were sent away, being 
 told that they must not annoy the good man who had come 
 among them. 
 
 I endeavoured to hire a horse for Hembus to ride, but failed. 
 1 was in a strait when Richardvilie consented to bear me com 
 pany. He was exceedingly hospitable, and on the following 
 morning we proceeded. The Wabash river intervened between 
 this and Foil Wayne, which was now swimming deep, and had 
 to be crossed where no one resided. Hembus agreed that on a 
 certain day, which 1 named, he would meet me at the river on 
 my return, to aid me in recrossing. Richardvilie and I swam 
 our horses, and crossed ourselves in a small canoe. We slept 
 in an Indian village, and the next day we swam our horses 
 across St. Mary's river, and reached Fort Wayne. 
 
 I persevered in my purpose to get, if possible, permission to 
 
HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 settle at the Miarnie villages on Massassinawa. But the agent, 
 the principal Miamie chief, and many others, were united in 
 endeavouring to bring us to Fort Wayne, and I was under the 
 necessity of consenting. True, it was a central point between 
 Shawanoes, Putawatomies, Miamies, and others, a trading post 
 to which many Indians resorted, and from which we could ex 
 tend our acquaintance among the Indians in every direction ; 
 and as we could get buildings and a garden to occupy, without 
 cost, I consoled myself somewhat, by supposing that we should 
 lose little by stopping there, and we should, perhaps, while at 
 that place, be able to make the most judicious selection for our 
 permanent settlement. 
 
 There were other considerations which weighed heavily in 
 favour of accepting the invitation to Fort Wayne. We began 
 to perceive that we had been mistaken in supposing that so 
 much sympathy for the Indians could be excited in the Chris 
 tian public, that a competent number of missionaries could be 
 obtained. As yet, none 'had become willing to unite with us in 
 our work. Our family had increased to the number of about 
 twenty persons, and half of these were Indian children. No 
 one female could be supposed to possess either muscle or mind 
 sufficient to sustain the charge which devolved on Mrs. McCoy. 
 In my absence, the care of every thing without doors, as well 
 as within, came upon her. She seemed to be sinking with 
 fatigue and anxiety. At Massassinawa, a place still more remote 
 from supplies, and from places where labourers could be hired, 
 and from which our circumstances would oftener carry me from 
 home, these difficulties would be augmented. Moreover, the 
 erection of buildings would be attended with considerable cost, 
 especially so far from the settlements of labouring people ; and 
 we were not quite certain that the Board would agree to meet 
 the expense of erecting buildings, &c. 
 
 The chief attention of the board was directed to Burmah 
 and other countries beyond the seas, and missions to the In 
 dians were a matter of no more than secondary consideration ; 
 and upon the mission begun at St. Louis, and designed to be 
 extended to Indians west of the Mississippi, their favours for 
 Indians would probably be exhausted. Neither the particu 
 lar members of the board of missions, nor others, seemed to 
 feel so much interest in the subject of Indian missions as to 
 make themselves tolerably well acquainted with it. The public 
 conjectured that a people so wretched as these Indians are 
 would eagerly seize our offers to do them good, and were not 
 prepared to make any allowance for the thousand disappoint- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 69 
 
 merits and delays to which we were subject, especially when 
 labouring under so many disadvantages. 
 
 We did exceedingly regret that we had not heard our patrons 
 say to us, " Seek out the most eligible site for your location, 
 and study the most hopeful means and measures for accomplish 
 ing the designs of the mission ; take time to confer freely with 
 us; give yourselves wholly to these things, and we will take 
 care that the necessaries of life shall be furnished you." Had 
 they given us this assurance, our course of proceedings, from 
 the first, would, in many respects, have been different from 
 what it was. 
 
 The hardheartedness of the frontier white inhabitants, and 
 other causes, were driving the Indians further from our house, 
 so that we could not hope to enlarge our school or improve our 
 operations in that place. If our business should appear to the 
 board to be stationary upon its present small scale, we should 
 soon expect them to advise the discontinuance of our labours, 
 especially as they had not, as we believed, felt altogether 
 hearty in sustaining them. We were obliged, therefore, as 
 soon as possible, to get to some place where we could in 
 crease the number of Indian scholars, and be able to make it 
 appear to the public that our business was improving. Neces 
 sity, and not choice, compelled us to consent to go to Fort 
 Wayne. 
 
 In returning from Fort Wayne I had the company of a white 
 man forty miles, when I hired an India'n lad to go with me as far 
 as the crossing of Wabash river, which was still swimming deep. 
 I was a day later than the time appointed for Silk Hernbus to 
 meet me there, to aid me in crossing ; and I had some fears that 
 I should not find him at the place, But as I came near the 
 crossing I heard him hallooing for me in the woods, on the op 
 posite side of the river. He had come to the place on the day 
 appointed, and had waited for me. This was an instance of 
 fidelity in an Indian truly honourable. 
 
 After I had crossed, he said he was exceedingly hungry, and 
 hasted to put upon the coals a piece of a turkey he had killed ; 
 and, rather than detain me long, was about to eat it before it 
 was cooked ; when I prevented him by opening my provision 
 sack, and requiring him to take time to eat. 
 
 The next day, March 30, we left camp very early ; and, not 
 withstanding we lost our way, and travelled till near twelve 
 o'clock before we got right again, we should have made a tole 
 rable day's journey, had not my travelling companion, who was 
 on foot, tired again. In the forenoon of the 31st we reached the 
 
70 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 place where we bad left his horse. We had been absent ten 
 days, and it was by this time not an easy matter to follow the 
 horse's tracks. With a search of about four hours we recovered 
 him, hobbled as we had left him. Hembus lost nothing of the 
 things which we had left, except a little storage on his saddle 
 and bridle, which some animal of the woods had taken in ad 
 vance, to satisfy its appetite. On the 2d of April we arrived at 
 the mission house. 
 
 The night of the 4th of April Ben Gray and an aged Dela 
 ware lodged at the -mission house. I had by this time become 
 capable of conversing somewhat in the Delaware language. In 
 conversation on the subject of religion, some inquiries were 
 made respecting their views of futurity. The old man, who 
 was chief speaker, said they believed that virtuous persons, such 
 as would not steal, get drunk, swear, [they have no profane 
 swearing in Indian,] commit murder, and the like, but who re 
 turned thanks to Ke-esh-she-la-moh-ko, (our Creator,) for their 
 food and drink, their clothes, and other good things, would, after 
 death, go to God. There the inhabitants live in large houses, 
 clean and comfortable, made of cedar, or some such wood, 
 which emits a pleasant odour. There would be a great plenty 
 of deer, bears, and turkeys, and all very fat. The inhabitants 
 would always have plenty, and would spend most of their time 
 in singing. Such as were bad, were unthankful, would steal, and 
 do other bad things, would go toMuh-tunh-to, (the devil;) there 
 they would be punished in a manner similar to their manner of 
 sinning whilst upon earth. If the man had been a drunkard upon 
 earth, he would, in the world of spirits, be compelled to drink 
 hot whiskey, and thus it would be in regard to the several 
 crimes which each had committed upon earth. All had to 
 -dwell in a great fire. 
 
 From a correspondence, for a few months, between the 
 Rev. Mr. Peck, one of the board's missionaries to the Mis 
 sissippi, we had been led to hope that he would have been 
 at my house about the time of my return from Fort Wayne, 
 and that he would become united with us in labour. It was a 
 grief to receive a communication from him which made us des 
 pair of the happiness which we had anticipated, of having him 
 associated with us. On my return from Fort Wayne, I had 
 only two days' rest before our business required me to make 
 another journey to Vincennes, on which it was necessary for 
 Mr. Lykins to accompany me, so that Mrs. McCoy was left in 
 charge of the whole concern, without the aid of even a hired 
 man. In the ten days' absence on this last journey, 1 under- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 71 
 
 went more fatigue in travelling, and exposure by riding in the 
 night, than my slender constitution could bear, and I had hardly 
 reached home when I was attacked with vomiting and fever. 
 We became very uneasy, lest, on this account, our removal to 
 Fort Wayne, to which we now attached much importance, 
 should be delayed. The Lord pitied and spared, and it was 
 not long until I was again able to attend to business. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Removal to Fort Wayne. The School prospers. Baptisms. 
 Journey to Ohio. Sickness. Journey to Vincennes. Arri 
 val of a Missionary. Awful effects of Intemperance. Em 
 barrassments for want of the means of support. Baptism 
 of a Delaware woman. Difficulties in obtaining School 
 Teachers. 
 
 On the 3d of May, 1820, a batteau, containing most of our 
 moveables, and pushed up the Wabash river by four men, with 
 poles, left Fort Harrison for the direction of Fort Wayne. We 
 had only six Indian children to take with us, five of whom went 
 in the boat, and one accompanied my family by land. We left 
 our first two children at different places in the State of Indi 
 ana, and on the 4th May I started to Fort Wayne, by land, on 
 horseback, with my wife, six of our children, and an Indian 
 boy, and one hired man besides Mr. Lykins. We drove with 
 us fifteen head of cattle and forty-three swine. Eighteen or 
 twenty of the natives encamped near us the first night ; some 
 said they would go with us the whole journey, for the purpose- 
 of assisting us, and some for the purpose of sending their chil 
 dren to our school. The first night was rainy, and not a little 
 disagreeable for women and children to lodge on the ground 
 amidst the wet bushes and weeds. 
 
 On the following day, as we passed an Indian village, we 
 were informed that Stone-Eater, the principal Wea chief, had 
 recently been murdered by one of his own people. A friend of 
 the deceased followed and brought back the murderer, who was 
 put to death, and both corpses were then buried in the same 
 grave. This circumstance had occasioned a considerable ex 
 citement. Among the questions which were to be settled, was 
 one in relation to the succession to the principal chieftaincy. At 
 this village our whimsical Indians, who had set out to go with. 
 
7-1 
 
 HISTORY OK BAPTIST 
 
 us to Fort Wayne, all deserted us. Considerable numbers 
 visited our camp that evening and the following morning. We 
 were in great need of assistance, but could get none of them 
 without greater wages than we could afford. 
 
 Neither cattle nor swine had ever been seen in the Massas- 
 sinawa villages, nor had a family of white people, in like manner, 
 ever passed that way. From the insolence of the Indians to 
 white men, at divers times, when travelling through their villa 
 ges, we had great reason to fear some serious interruption, espe 
 cially if the Indians should be engaged in drinking, which was 
 probable. We had endeavoured to hire one or two Indians to 
 accompany us, to inform others who we were, and what were 
 our reasons for passing through their country, but they had de 
 serted us on the way. We had not even an interpreter, to ena 
 ble us to converse with them. By an old Indian, who, with his 
 wife, had travelled with us a day and a half, we sent a commu 
 nication to Joseph Richardville, who had recently treated us so 
 kindly, desiring him to meet us, or to send some suitable person 
 to us, to accompany us through the villages, that we might be 
 saved from insult and injury. We placed in the old man's hands 
 a reward for the service he had undertaken, with which he ap 
 peared perfectly satisfied. But he deceived us, and we heard no 
 more of him. About three o'clock in the afternoon of the 6th 
 day. May 10th, we were within three miles of the first Massas- 
 sinawa villages. Hearing nothing from either our Indian mes 
 senger or Richardville, we halted the company, and leaving 
 only one man with them, Mr. Lykins and I set off to find Rich 
 ardville. On entering the first village, we saw a company at 
 no great distance, sitting on the ground, who Mr. Lykins said he 
 thought were eating. On approaching them, we found one car 
 rying around a vessel of whiskey, and giving to each a sip from 
 a ladle which he put to the mouth of each with his own hand. 
 Two of them arose and gave us their hand in friendship. As 
 we passed on we discovered that the villages were in an uproar. 
 Many were seen riding and running in various directions, by 
 far the greater part of whom were intoxicated ; all, however, 
 appeared friendly except one, who came towards us, holding a 
 small dead dog by the heels, apparently with the design of 
 throwing it upon one of us. I was holding myself in readiness 
 to dodge, when a young man of our acquaintance, though him 
 self intoxicated, spoke to the insolent Indian, upon which he 
 turned away and left us. Richardville received us with his ac 
 customed urbanity; said he would give notice to the Indians of 
 our approach, and would require them to allow us to pass un- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 73 
 
 molested ; and, further, that with one or two others he would 
 meet us on the following day, and pilot and otherwise assist us 
 in getting through the towns. 
 
 As we returned we saw many drunken wretches, among 
 whom was one that, Mr. L. said to rne, came running after us r 
 to which remark I paid no particular attention, but as I stopped 
 my horse to speak to some decent looking young men, this fel 
 low, who was in chase, seized my horse by the bridle, cursing 
 me bitterly with English oaths. I could not tell what he want 
 ed. The young men present instantly spoke to him, but spake 
 as if they were themselves afraid of him. I discovered that he 
 was in a rage. I had no weapon of defence about me ; and 
 made no effort to escape, but kept my eye closely upon him 
 while he held my horse with his left hand, and with his- 
 right felt around his belt for his knife. I determined, in the 
 moment of haste, that so soon as I saw the knife in his 
 hand, I would throw myself off my horse on the opposite 
 side, and then shift as circumstances might dictate. Provi 
 dentially, at that moment, one Lewis Godfrey, an Indian 
 somewhat related to the French, rose up the river bank on 
 which we were, and on discovering my situation called out 
 to the Indian who was endeavouring to injure me. This di 
 verted his attention from me long enough for him to turn his 
 eyes towards Godfrey, but he showed no disposition to desist 
 from his malicious purpose. Godfroy, however, prevailed 
 on him to desist. Godfroy, who could speak a little English, 
 then told us to follow him, saying, " me horse very good for 
 run." He also called upon a young man, who by this time 
 had come to us, with whom we were slightly acquainted, to ac 
 company us ; and so we all rode on, and when drunken Indians 
 came near us we galloped the faster, and kept out of their hands. 
 When we were entirely beyond the last houses, our two con 
 ductors turned back, promising to be at our camp early the next 
 morning. This was a noble act of friendship. To their drink 
 ing may be attributed the breach of their promise to meet us on 
 the following day. To save Mrs. McCoy and others from anxi 
 ety, 1 requested Mr. L. not to inform them of the insolence of 
 the Indians. We got back to our camp at dark. After others 
 had pretty generally lain down, I noted in my journal the adven 
 tures of the day, and carefully put my papers in my saddlebags, 
 lest my wife should see them, and become acquainted with the 
 unpleasantness of our circumstances. This was a night of great 
 anxiety to me. Here lay my wife and our little ones, in this 
 desert. We were so hemmed in by Massassinawa and W abash 
 
 10 
 
74 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 rivers, and the dense forest around us, that we could not possibly 
 go around the Indian settlements. There wao no alternative, but 
 either to attempt to goon through the villages, or to retrace our 
 steps of five days' journey. 
 
 On the following morning, May llth, I went alone towards 
 the villages, in the hopes of meeting and hastening Richardville, 
 or some one whom he might send to aid us. Finding none r 
 and despairing of obtaining any assistance, I concluded that 
 we would commend ourselves to the care of a kind Provi 
 dence, and move forward without it. In my absence on that 
 morning, my wife, for the purpose of filling up some lonely 
 moments in the woods, had found my journal, and on my re 
 turning to camp smiled at the pains 1 had unsuccessfully taken 
 to conceal from her the impudence of the Indians. She, how 
 ever, cheerfully consented that we should make a trial to pro 
 ceed. Our design was to stop the stock before we entered 
 the settlement, and to endeavour to get my family through 
 first. We had proceeded about one mile, when, to our great 
 satisfaction, two Indians met us, who had been sent to our as 
 sistance by Richardville ; as an apology for not coming in per 
 son, he informed us that a friend had died, and he was obliged 
 to attend the funeral. We discovered that our coming was 
 universally known. Children and others had placed them 
 selves behind trees, for some distance along the road, before we 
 reached the town, through curiosity to see us. Hundreds of 
 eyes were staring at us. Many were intoxicated, but were kept 
 out of our way by those more sober. All appeared cheer 
 ful and pleasant. They kept the way open for us to pass, and 
 did not allow their dogs to frighten our stock ; our guides were 
 active, and took much pains to make our passage safe. Having 
 gone beyond the villages, we rewarded our guides and they re 
 turned. It rained on us a good deal through the day, which les 
 sened the comfort of our night's lodging on the ground. After 
 several hours' labour in drying our clothes, we were compelled to 
 lie down in them wet. On the two following days it rained 
 upon us severely. We sometimes in heavy showers threw 
 blankets about the children, to shelter them a little. Wearing 
 wet clothes through the day, and sleeping in them on the ground 
 through the night, endangered our health, but it could not be 
 avoided. 
 
 We passed through two Indian villages, near one of which 
 we were deeply affected at seeing a mother in a swamp, digging 
 wild roots for subsistence, with one child tied on her back, and 
 another standing by her side. We arrived at Fort Wayne on 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 75 
 
 the 15th of May, after a journey through the woods of eleven 
 days. A few days afterwards our boat reached the portage, 
 and we found ourselves safely housed in the public buildings, 
 and had also about two acres of land, already ploughed, fur 
 nished us for a garden gratuitously. 
 
 At Fort Wayne was a little village of traders, and of persons 
 in the employ of Government, as interpreters, smiths, &c., 
 some of whom were French, of Canadian and of Indian de 
 scent. The nearest settlements of white people were in the 
 State of Ohio, and nearly one hundred miles distant. By our 
 neighbours we were treated with great kindness and respect, 
 which created affectionate recollections which years of separa 
 tion have not obliterated. I preached to them in my own house 
 every Sabbath. A few days after we reached Fort Wayne, Mr. 
 Lykins's engagements with us terminated, and he returned to the 
 settlements on Wabash. 
 
 On the 29th of May our school was opened at Fort Wayne; 
 I was teacher myself. We commenced with ten English scho 
 lars, six French, eight Indians, and one negro; the latter we 
 hoped would one day find his way to Liberia, in Africa. We 
 had opportunities daily of conversing with Indians of different 
 tribes. On the 4th of June, some with whom I was conversing 
 informed me that they had to attend, near our place, the cere 
 mony of making an atonement for the dead : they term it " cov 
 ering the dead," A few weeks previously a woman had killed 
 her husband. In those cases the nearest relative to the deceased 
 has a right to take the life of the murderer ; but if the offender, 
 either in person or by his friends, offer to the offended party 
 such an amount of property as will satisfy them, they may ac 
 cept it as an atonement for the crime, and let the offender go 
 free ; but it is discretionary with the offended to accept the 
 atonement or not. Notice is given to the injured party that an 
 atonement will be offered. The time and place being agreed 
 upon, the parties meet; the offender is usually present; the 
 price of atonement, which may consist of blankets, clothing, 
 horses, or any other property, is placed together, not far from 
 which the offender takes his seat on the earth, and bows his 
 face towards the ground, in token of submission. The offended 
 party then decide whether they will accept the price of atone 
 ment, or will take the life of the culprit, and they proceed im 
 mediately to do the one or the other. In the present case the 
 murderess had concealed herself, and her friends had procured 
 and offered in her behalf two suits of clothes, which were 
 
76 
 
 H1STOKY OF BAPTIST 
 
 accepted. About this time they had a great dance and parade, 
 when adopting one in room of a person who had died. 
 
 1 wrote to the State of Ohio, to hire a man to teach our 
 school, and on the llth of June Mr. P r arrived for that pur 
 pose. We had so much business on hand that every thing 
 could not be well attended to. A teacher for the school pro 
 mised some relief. We hired an Indian woman to assist in 
 domestic labours, but she afforded little help. Besides the care 
 of eight Indian children, and six of our own, the whole charge 
 of the family, consisting of about twenty persons, devolved on 
 Mrs. McCoy ; she also endeavoured to instruct neighbouring 
 Indian females in the art of knitting, and other domestic labours. 
 We had to work hard with our own hands. The Indian chil 
 dren were clothed, and fed, and lodged, at the expense of the 
 mission ; they fed at the same table with my own family. This 
 ^course was necessary, in order to silence the jealousies of the 
 Indians generally, and this course we ever after pursued. 
 
 Mrs. Turner, the wife of the agent, was a half Indian, who, 
 with her sister, Mrs. Haekley, had received a decent education. 
 Their relations among the Miamies were influential, for the im 
 provement of the condition of whom, and for the welfare of all 
 die Indians, these women manifested a commendable solicitude. 
 Mrs. Turner was indisposed, and on the evening of the 6th of 
 June Mrs. McCoy left her in much darkness and distress on 
 account of her sins. In the night she sent for Mrs. M., who, 
 fearing -that she had become more indisposed, hastened to her 
 room, when she was agreeably disappointed ; for on entering 
 her room, Mrs. T. said, " I have sent for you to tell you how 
 happy 1 feel." She gave satisfactory evidence of faith in the 
 Lord Jesus, and for some days enjoyed great peace of mind. 
 By the reading of the Bible, previous to our going to Fort 
 Wayne, her mind had become much exercised upon the subject 
 of religion, and she had enjoyed some manifestations of mercy, 
 but still could not hope that she was really a Christian. In 
 reading those passages in the Bible which spoke of God's dis 
 pleasure with the heathen, she supposed that as she was an In 
 dian they applied to her, and that therefore she had no right to 
 hope for mercy. Upon the subject of baptism her mind was 
 clear, but, on account of scruples of her husband, her baptism 
 was deferred for several months, and until he consented. 
 
 About this time her sister, Mrs. Haekley, also gave satisfac 
 tory evidence of conversion to the faith of the Lord Jesus. 
 Her baptism took place on the 18th of June. The scene was 
 novel to all, both white and red, and on that account excited 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 77 
 
 the more interest. At ten o'clock I preached on the subject of 
 baptism. We then assembled at the fort gate, about sixty 
 yards from the brink of the river Maumee. As the procession 
 moved to the water, we sung 
 
 " Thee, great Jehovah, we adore, 
 
 Who came the lost to seek and save," &c. &c. 
 
 At the water we sung the following lines, which had been 
 prepared for the occasion : 
 
 Glad tidings, so the angels sung, 
 
 Until the heavens with gladness rung ; 
 Glad tidings late my soul replied, 
 
 For me my Lord was crucified. 
 
 "The news shall spread through all the earth," 
 
 So sang the host at Jesus' birth. 
 Ye gentle waves, I call on you 
 
 To say, is not this promise true ? 
 
 This very stream was lately stained 
 
 With blood from strangling soldiers drained ; * 
 
 Now, strange to tell, the Prince of Peace 
 In it displays his sovereign grace. 
 
 Ye oaks, which shook while cannons roar'd, 
 Now bow your heads and praise the Lord ; 
 
 Tell the wild man beneath your shade 
 Why Christ in Jordan's stream was laid. 
 
 Those warlike towers on yonder wall,t 
 
 Like those of Jericho, must fall, 
 While deathful weapons dormant lie 
 
 Shout, saints, the Ark is passing by. 
 
 Ye winds, which spread the news of death, 
 
 No longer breathe offensive breath ; 
 But the glad tidings loud proclaim, 
 
 " Here saints rejoice in Jesus' name." 
 
 Sure all who hear will join and sing, 
 
 Glory to God, our Christ is King. 
 Still let the Gospel spread abroad, 
 
 Till all the world shall worship God. 
 
 The mixed assembly, consisting of whites and Indians, be 
 haved well ; many appeared serious, and some shed tears. As 
 the candidate carne out of the water, an elderly white w T oman, 
 who in earlier life had been prisoner many years with the In 
 dians, took her by the hand and said, " I wish it was my case." 
 
 * Several bloody battles, between white people and Indians, had been 
 fought at and near Fort Wayne ; the most distressing of which, on the part 
 of the whites, was that known as Harmar's defeat, when, it is said, dead 
 corpses almost formed a dam across the St. Joseph's river, a little above the 
 place of baptizing. 
 
 t Military Fortifications. 
 
78 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 The afternoon's service was better attended than usual. This 
 was a good day to a couple of poor missionaries, who hoped 
 that the blessing enjoyed might be but like a drop before a 
 copious shower. 
 
 It became indispensable to make a journey to the State of 
 Ohio, in order to purchase supplies. With a hired Frenchman 
 I set out on the 17th of June. We purchased a two horse 
 wagon, a spinning-wheel, raw materials for spinning, &c., and 
 hired a religious young woman to assist in domestic labours. I 
 enjoyed the satisfaction of preaching several times while on this 
 journey, and once to a little few in a remote place, who seldom 
 indeed enjoyed the privilege of public worship. The way was 
 chiefly a wilderness. Water at that time was very scarce ; we 
 often had to drink of filthy ponds, and even from puddles in the 
 road. Much of the way I had to drive the team myself, while 
 the Frenchman looked out the way among the trees and brush. 
 We became much exhausted with heat and fatigue, and I came 
 home sick. 
 
 At Fort Wayne the necessaries of life were dear ; our flour 
 and meal had to be hauled in wagons about one hundred miles, 
 and most of the way through a wilderness and over a bad road. 
 Corn, which in the white settlements seldom sold for more than 
 twenty-five cents per bushel, here cost one dollar and a half, 
 and two dollars. The cost of supporting so large a family as 
 ours became pretty heavy, and the want of missionaries, or 
 persons who would feel some interest in the success of our en 
 terprise, became very great. With a view of obtaining help 
 in both these matters, I issued a printed circular, in which were 
 set forth our want of assistance, and our prayer that such as 
 could delight to aid the work of Indian improvement would 
 contribute for the supply of the wants of the Indian scholars, 
 -clothing, raw materials for clothing, books, articles of food, &ic. 
 For a moderate compensation we engaged Mr. Martin, who 
 had been our first school teacher, and who had been baptized 
 at our house, to disseminate those circulars, and to endeavour to 
 collect for the support of the mission such things as could be 
 obtained. 
 
 After my return from Ohio I continued unwell for several 
 weeks, and until my symptoms were so unfavourable that it was 
 deemed expedient by those about me, as well as by myself, to 
 send for a physician, who came ninety miles to see me. Through 
 mercy 1 was again restored. The first year of my services 
 under the direction of the board they gave me a specific sum 
 lor my support, and which was sufficient, and barely so, for the 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 79 
 
 time. After the year for which 1 was appointed had expired, 
 we proceeded several months without knowing from whom we 
 should receive assistance, or whether we should be patronised 
 by any. During this period of uncertainty, and ever afterwards, 
 we kept a regular account of our expenditures and of our re 
 ceipts ; and when we were assured of the patronage of the 
 board, these accounts, in the form of debtor and creditor, were 
 from time to time forwarded to the board. Every item of 
 expenditure was therefore made known to them. The board, 
 however, desired me to accept a specific salary for the support 
 of myself and family, and that these accounts should embrace 
 only what they termed extra expenses. But the Indian pupils 
 of our school, and all whom we employed to aid us, either in 
 the school or elsewhere, fed at the same table, and the Indian 
 youths were also clothed and lodged at the mission ; so that it 
 was impossible for us to keep accounts of expenditures for 
 others, distinct from those of myself and family. 
 
 When we commenced at Fort Wayne, we were so destitute 
 of the furniture necessary for the comfort of so large a family, 
 that we were actually ashamed of our poverty, even in the 
 presence of some of the more rational Indians. The weather 
 was yet warm, and a small amount of bedding sufficed ; but to 
 keep our large family of children decently clothed was not an 
 easy matter. No greater care could have been taken in relation 
 to food, to save every crumb from waste, and to apply every 
 thing to the best advantage. While we were poor, and la 
 boured hard with our own hands to save expense, it gave us 
 much pain to ascertain that the board thought that our expen 
 ditures for a living were too great ; so little did they understand 
 our condition, or the circumstances under which we were placed. 
 
 On the 23d of July I baptized a white man, when I was so 
 unwell as scarcely to be able to walk to the river. By the 19th 
 of August, the number of Indian pupils had increased to nine 
 teen, among whom were a son and a grandson of Pishewa, the 
 principal Miamie chief. Pishewa appeared to interest himself 
 much in favour of our school ; being related to the French, he 
 professed to be a Roman Catholic, in matters of religion. 
 
 There was a Putawatomie who lived some sixty or seventy 
 miles from us, named Peresh, to whom I sent a message by a 
 Frenchman, between whom and the Indian the following con 
 versation took place. 
 
 Peresh. Well, my brother, how does your school at Fort 
 Wayne come on ? 
 
80 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 Frenchman. Very well ; there are twelve or fourteen Indian 
 children who attend school: they are the children of , &LC. 
 
 Peresh. Do your children go lo school ? 
 
 Frenchman. -Certainly I send two. 
 
 Peresh. You are a fool. 
 
 Frenchman laughs. 
 
 Peresh. You need not laugh you will know, by and by f 
 that you have been a fool. Do you think that that mart 
 (McCoy) is rich enough to educate all our children for nothing? 
 
 Frenchman. There is a large company engaged in the busi 
 ness, and they are rich. 
 
 Peresh. If they are rich now, they intend to be richer here 
 after. After our children have been with them a long time, and 
 have been taught to read and write, they will make us pay 
 dearly for their education. We shall, at a great price, have to 
 buy them back again, before they will let us have them. 1 was 
 well pleased with the school when I first heard of it, and in 
 tended to send two of my children to it ; but when I was last 
 at Fort Wayne, I was told what I now tell you. 
 
 Such jealousies of the purity of our motives, as the foregoing 
 conversation discloses, and which were too often cherished by 
 persons who lived upon the wretchedness of the Indians, were 
 formidable obstacles, to overcome which required something 
 more than a hasty interview time to test our sincerity was 
 necessary. Desirous to extend our operations as widely as 
 possible, and hoping that missionaries would be found to 
 occupy the openings which we might be instrumental in creat 
 ing, we concluded to make another effort to do something 
 for the Shawanoes of Ohio. In August I wrote to the Qua 
 ker missionaries at Waupaughkonetta, that if it would be 
 agreeable to them I would like to visit the Shawanoes of that 
 place, and take a few of their children into our school, should 
 any consent to the measure. They returned a modest answer ; 
 but it was evident that they preferred that we should not make 
 any such propositions to the Shawanoes. We therefore declined 
 any further attempt for that band. 
 
 On the 14th of August, a new agent, Mr. Hays, succeeded 
 Dr. Turner in the agency. Early application was made to him 
 for permission to continue our residence in the fort, &,c., and 
 to request his favourable countenance of our undertaking, so far 
 as related to intercourse with the Indians within his agency. 
 Our requests were complied with cheerfully. The man whom 
 we had hired to teach school was not religious, and in several 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 8t 
 
 respects, did not meet our reasonable expectations, and, in the- 
 latter part of August, the connection between us was dis 
 solved, and we engaged another, also from the State of Ohio. 
 Mrs. McCoy became so worn down with care and fatigue that 
 a little respite seemed really necessary. At the same time it 
 was thought that she could render some service to the mission, 
 by a hasty visit to Ohio. She left home on the last day of Au 
 gust, and was absent fifteen days. About the time of her leav 
 ing home, and soon after, five of our own children were at 
 tacked with bilious fever, and a little later two of the Indian 
 children sickened ; some of these cases were severe, but none 
 of the afflicted died. 
 
 By the 20th of September it became necessary for me to- 
 make a journey to Vincennes, a distance of about two hundred 
 and seventy miles ; on which occasion Mrs. McCoy was ne 
 cessarily left sole manager of matters at the mission house. 
 White Raccoon had heard that we were to pass through his 
 village, and had the kindness to prepare for us a palatable meal. 
 I was now travelling with a gentleman who spoke the Miamie 
 language, so that 1 could communicate with the people among 
 whom I travelled. At a second village I visited and conversed 
 with many. On the following night (my interpreter not being, 
 in company) we lodged in one of the Massassinawa villages. 
 No people could appear more hospitable and kind than the In 
 dians were, at every place where we met with them. Out of 
 respect, and with a view to our comfort, at this latter place, 
 they swept out one of their huts for our accommodation. True, 
 the wall and roof of the house were bark, and the floor was the 
 earth, but it was the best that they could do for us ; they took 
 care of our baggage with their own hands, which is not a com 
 mon act of hospitality with them, and gave us a supper of their 
 boiled bear's meat. The great kindness of the Indians shown 
 me now, as I was retracing the steps which, with my family, I 
 had taken about five months before, under somewhat different 
 appearances, was a matter of great encouragement, because it 
 evinced that they now indulged a favourable opinion of the 
 mission. On the next day we suffered for want of water ; we en 
 camped near Lefambois's village, which we entered on the fol 
 lowing morning before the inhabitants had risen. I informed 
 some of them that we were scarce of provisions, who had the 
 kindness to give us a quart of sweet corn and a piece of boiled 
 pumpkin. The former served for our supper and breakfast at 
 our next camp. On halting; for a short time in a village, I was 
 requested to visit some sick persons who lay in a little hut: 
 
 11 
 
82 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 one of whom was a lad reduced to a skeleton by an imposthurne 
 on the hip, and who appeared to be near eternity. The filthi- 
 ness and wretchedness of these poor creatures, within a little 
 bark hut, without a floor, with a smoking fire in the centre, were 
 indescribable. Their sufferings awakened the tenderest sym 
 pathies of my heart, and the condition of their souls made me 
 tremble. They took pains to make me understand that the 
 suffering young man had been at my house, and that he remem 
 bered our kindness to him. Alas, for want of a sufficient 
 knowledge of his language, 1 was not able to make an expres 
 sion of sympathy by telling him of Jesus, the Saviour. 
 
 The land, and other property, belonging to the mission, or 
 rather to the board of missions, except the little which we trans 
 ported to Fort Wayne, was sold and accounted for to the board ; 
 and to attend to this was a part of my business on this tour to 
 the settlements. 
 
 In company of my little son and daughter, whom we had left 
 in the white settlements when we went to Fort Wayne, and a 
 coloured young man, I entered the wilderness on my return, the 
 14th of October. The preceding night it had rained and 
 snowed so that it was unpleasant under foot, and more so above, 
 as the snow hung heavily upon the bushes along our narrow 
 path. In passing through an Indian village which the inhabit 
 ants had left on their winter's hunt, we noticed that they had 
 set up a few small stakes in a line, with a piece of pumpkin or 
 something else on the top, to attract notice, and the stakes in 
 clined to the direction in which the company had gone, to direct 
 any who had been left behind, which way the company had 
 journeyed. We encamped near Lefambois's town, where we 
 endeavoured in vain to purchase a feed of corn for our horses. 
 Without solicitation, a woman gave us a piece of venison, and 
 early on the following morning she brought to our camp another 
 present of the same, as she said, for my children. This was an 
 act of kindness very grateful to us, as we needed provision for 
 our journey. 
 
 On the 18th, I saw where an infant had been interred in a 
 fallen tree. A small trough, sufficient to contain the corpse, 
 had been made in the log with an axe, in which the body was 
 laid. Over the trough was placed a covering of bark, and a 
 second covering consisting of a piece of timber. Stakes were 
 driven into the earth on each side of the log, and at a little 
 distance from it, and wood was piled up between them to the 
 height of five or six feet, so that the dead was enclosed within a 
 pile of wood resembling wood in cord. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 83 
 
 This method of interring is seldom resorted to except when 
 the earth is frozen, or when, from some other cause, it would be 
 difficult for them to excavate it with the implements at hand. 
 Often, too, the mother of the new born infant is alone, or almost 
 alone. The small axe is invariably carried for the purpose of 
 preparing a temporary shelter, and of procuring fuel ; and when, 
 on those occasions, death bereaves her of her charge, she can 
 in this way more conveniently secure it, for the present, from 
 the vermin, than by placing it in the earth. In the course of a 
 few years the stakes decay, and the timber tumbles down, and 
 in a few instances I have seen the skeleton exposed. Near this 
 grave we saw also the board upon which the babe had been 
 tied while alive. This piece of furniture is merely a smooth 
 board, a little longer than the infant, upon which it is placed 
 upon its back, and made fast by leather strings ; a wooden bow 
 encircles its head, to prevent the covering from lying too close 
 upon its face. This is a convenient method of taking care of 
 an infant, and one which has been suggested by the peculiar 
 circumstances of these people, in their homeless wanderings in 
 the wilderness. In travelling, it is swung upon the shoulders 
 of the mother, and carried with the same convenience that a 
 soldier carries his knapsack. When they halt, it can be placed 
 against a tree or wall as conveniently as we place our shovel and 
 tongs, and with less danger of being injured than if it were laid 
 upon the ground. When, at camp, it becomes necessary to 
 rock the child, a blanket is suspended by the four corners, be* 
 tween two trees at a suitable distance, and the babe is swung 
 backward and forward. 
 
 In my absence, several of the family had been sick. Mrs. 
 McCoy had taken into the family six more Indian youths. The 
 whole number of our Indian pupils was now twenty-six. By 
 the arrangements of the board, we were obliged first to create 
 accounts, and then submit them for payment. No money being 
 placed in our hands, with which to purchase supplies, we were 
 compelled to go in debt for every thing we needed ; this sub 
 jected us to loss as well as inconvenience, for supplies could be 
 procured cheaper for cash in hand than upon a credit. It sub 
 jected us to much anxiety also, because, when we were creating 
 debts, we knew not that our accounts would be approved by the 
 board. If any of them should not, then we would at once be 
 ruined, because we could not command the means of paying our 
 debts. With a family of twenty-six Indian children, who, besides 
 clothing and lodging, fed at our table, in addition to the residue 
 of our family, we could not but feel anxious concerning the 
 
84 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 means of support. Our business, also, was too much for my 
 wife and me ; we often worked ourselves sick, and then grieved 
 the more that we should become invalids when our services 
 could so illy be dispensed with. Our multiform labours and 
 cares also deprived me of the opportunity of studying any Indi 
 an language to advantage. I had despaired of doing any thing 
 for the Delawares, who were to remove to the far west, and had 
 undertaken to study Putawatomie, but I could give no attention 
 to it only as I could snatch a few minutes occasionally from other 
 calls. 
 
 On the 1st of November, 1820, we were overjoyed at the 
 arrival of a Mr. Samuel Hill, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 
 who came as a missionary to labour with us. He immediately 
 took charge of the school, and we dismissed our hired teacher. 
 Mr. Hill was a single man, and not a preacher. For some 
 weeks in the latter part of October and the fore part of No 
 vember 1 was so unwell that I could scarcely attend to business 
 that called me out of my room. The people of White Rac 
 coon's village manifested a laudable disposition to improve their 
 circumstances. They wished to procure a suitable white man 
 to aid them, by his contrivance and labour, in agriculture, and I 
 was allowed the privilege of selecting the person ; at first 1 
 hoped that I should be able to procure some pious man, who 
 would pray with them as well as work ; but, situated as we were, 
 we could not do it. 
 
 By the principal chiefs of the Miamies it had for many 
 months been expected, that at the payment to them of an an 
 nuity, at which time the Indians generally would be assembled 
 at Fort Wayne, I would address them in council, and fully ex 
 plain to them the nature of our mission. It was believed by those 
 Indians, and others friendly to the mission, that explanations 
 could then be made, and our doings referred to in a manner that 
 would be of much advantage in correcting erroneous impres 
 sions which had been fostered in the minds of some, through 
 jealousy of innovation. The payment of the annuity took place 
 about the middle of November, but no opportunity suitable for 
 me to address the Indians was afforded. We were grieved with 
 this disappointment, and it was complained of by others. By 
 closely watching the movements of the agent in his business, I 
 found an opportunity of addressing them briefly, but at too late a 
 season to receive from them an answer during their present visit 
 to that place ; for they had no sooner received their money from 
 the Government than scenes of drunkenness ensued. During 
 these disorders, which lasted for many days after they received 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 85 
 
 their annuity, two intoxicated Indians set upon two white men 
 unarmed, as they met in the road, a mile from our house; one 
 of the white men was wounded considerably in the head and 
 body, with a knife, but made his escape, and recovered. 
 
 We brought into our house an influential Indian, whom we 
 had found very sick in the neighbourhood. On the 22d of No 
 vember he died, and we buried him as decently as circum 
 stances would admit. His disease was attributable to intempe 
 rance. A few mornings previously, a poor Indian was carried 
 by our house, who, on the preceding night, had died of intoxica 
 tion. On the 22d, about a mile from our house, an Indian, 
 somewhat intoxicated, dismounted his horse and ran upon a young 
 Indian woman, a sister-in-law of his, with a knife in his hand ; she 
 ran around first one of the company, and then another, to avoid 
 the murderer, but in vain he stabbed her with his knife. She 
 fled from the company. He stood and looked after her, and 
 rinding that she did not fall to the ground, pursued her, threw 
 her to the earth, and stabbed her to the heart, in presence of 
 ihe company, none of whom ventured to make an effort to save 
 the damsel's life. On the same night^another poor wretch died 
 of intoxication, within half a mile of us. 
 
 On the 25th, a brother of him who lately died in our house 
 deceased in his camp. We brought him to our place and buried 
 him. His wife, who was sick, and likely to perish with hunger 
 and cold in her camp, was also brought to our house, and taken 
 care of until she recovered. At the same time we heard of 
 the murder of two other Indians in a bacchanalian revel, not far 
 from us. With our best management in the case, we could not 
 avoid being a good deal annoyed by them. 
 
 About the 20th of .November, myself and wife, and several 
 of our family, were sick. We were in much affliction ; our cir 
 cumstances had become such that we could not afford a com 
 fortable meal for a sick person. Mrs. McCoy and myself needed 
 little else, for the restoration of our health, than suitable food 
 and a little rest. But our greatest distress was, lest for want of 
 missionary and pecuniary aid, the children of our charge, and 
 every thing else, would exhibit such a ragged and ordinary ap 
 pearance that the institution would become contemptible in the 
 eyes of the Indians. 
 
 On the 25th of November, a religious young woman, who 
 had lived with us some months, took her leave of us. This in 
 creased the weight of Mrs. McCoy's labours. We had, at that 
 time, thirty Indian youths in our family. Our temporal wants 
 ow became so pressing that they could be no longer withstood. 
 
86 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 We were getting deeply in debt, and it had become time to pay, 
 and we had no money. We had to borrow from one to pay 
 another, until, among those around us, there were few to bor 
 row from, to whom we were not already indebted. Our stock 
 of bread-stuff was becoming very low ; we had endeavoured to 
 save it by eating hommony (boiled corn) until we had grown tired 
 of it. Our Indian children were suffering with cold by day and 
 by night ; and in so large a family it was found impracticable 
 for Mrs. McCoy to give attention to all the business that de 
 volved upon her. She was evidently sinking ; both her health 
 and her spirits were declining. We concluded, therefore, that 
 I must attempt a journey to Ohio, one hundred and twenty 
 miles, to procure female assistance, and some supplies. During 
 iny absence, her burden would be increased. My own health 
 was poor, and two of our family were very sick. 
 
 I left home on the 28th of November the weather cold : I 
 had no resources in Ohio, but hoped to borrow money to pay 
 old debts nearer home, and to purchase food for my family. 
 But I had little acquaintance with any one in Ohio, and would be 
 obliged to apply to strangers for the favour; of course, success 
 was doubtful. It was a humiliating circumstance, and could it 
 have been avoided, I would not have asked a stranger to loan 
 me money. But there was no alternative ; a few days would 
 terminate our mission ; the school must be dispersed, and all 
 our hopes plunged into ruin. I was in much distress of mind, 
 and pleaded with the Lord to provide for our wants, that we 
 should not be compelled to abandon our mission in disgrace, and 
 to the injury of the cause of religion 1 pleaded, not as a man 
 would plead for his own life only, but for the lives of others 
 also, who were committed to his care. 
 
 I called on Mr. Phillips, a merchant, of Dayton, and told him 
 candidly the nature of our wants, who very kindly advanced me 
 money to meet our most pressing necessities. This favour 
 afforded seasonable relief. I returned with better spirits than I 
 tiad left home, having purchased three milch cows, a fresh sup 
 ply of flour and pork, and paper, &c., for the school, and other 
 'articles needed, and having hired a female to assist in domestic 
 labours ; we said, " It is safe to trust in the Lord." 
 
 Another circumstance occurred on this tour, which afforded 
 ^still greater satisfaction and encouragement. Mrs. Shane, a 
 Delaware, who lived on the road to Ohio, gave a satisfactory 
 account of a work of grace on her heart. Captain Shane, her 
 husband, was half Ottawa and half French, and could speak 
 English. They had visited us at Fort Wayne some months 
 
IN 7 DIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 87 
 
 before, at which time we were much pleased with the interest 
 she took in religious exercises. Her husband generally inter 
 preted to her. On my return from Vincennes in the fall, I had 
 heard that she had been very sick, and that she had expressed 
 a strong desire to converse with some of the missionaries. Our 
 circumstances not allowing me to visit them at that time, as 
 they lived forty miles from us, I wrote them a letter on the sub 
 ject of religion, which was read to them, and for which they 
 returned us thanks. On my tour to Ohio, I preached twice at 
 their house. She stated that her grandmother had been instructed 
 in the Christian religion by the Moravian missionaries, and had 
 given her some instruction in the same religion when she was 
 a little girl. Many years afterwards, and while a widow, she 
 had a severe attack of sickness, and became deeply concerned 
 for the salvation of her soul. She had long been destitute of all 
 religious opportunities. " Then," said she, " I felt like I was 
 in the fire ; I prayed to God to save rne, and all at once my 
 bad feelings left me, and I felt very happy. I then prayed that 
 I might die. Since that time I have often thought of Christ, and 
 prayed to him, and served him as well as I knew how. When 
 I was at your house last summer, and heard you preach, and 
 pray, and talk a good deal, I discovered that you talked like I 
 bad felt. You told rne the same things that my grandmother 
 had when I was a little girl. I then determined, if God would 
 help me, to serve him better than I had ever done before. A 
 few weeks ago, when I was very sick, and my little son died, I 
 was in great distress. But, for a few days past, I have not been 
 in so much trouble, for I hope that when I die I will go to the 
 same place to which my son has gone. I desire to go to that 
 place, but I will not pray to die, as I once did. I think it would 
 not be right. I will try to be willing to live and willing to die.'* 
 She said she knew that the Saviour had come into this world, 
 and had died to save sinners, and she hoped that he would save 
 her. On her expressing a desire to be baptized, I told her that I 
 believed that Christ was baptized by the immersion of the whole 
 body in the water, and that such was my fashion of baptizing. 
 At this, her husband, who interpreted, and who professed to be 
 a Catholic, seemed shocked, and replied to me, that such had 
 been the delicate state of her health, that for a long time she 
 had not dared to put even her hands into cold water, and the 
 immersion of the whole body in water would, doubtless, cause her 
 death. I told him that I had never known any one injured by 
 being baptized, and again desired him to interpret to her what 1 
 had said respecting the mode of baptism. She answered, " I 
 
88 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 am not afraid to be baptized. I believe that God will take care of 
 me." Before I left, she expressed some doubts of the propriety of 
 being baptized soon. Said she, " I am still an imperfect sinner, 
 but in my present unbaptized state the Lord forgives me my 
 faults : I fear that after baptism I shall not be able to live without 
 doing wrong ; and will the Lord then forgive me as he does now?" 
 In the course of conversation, she related the following anec 
 dote : " When I was a little girl, I had understood my grand 
 mother to say, that if a person would fast and pray four days, 
 the Lord would forgive their sins and make them happy. About 
 two years ago I was troubled because I was not more holy, and 
 I determined to try what my grandmother had said. I re 
 mained in the woods two days, fasting and praying. On return 
 ing home, I was sorry to find there a woman who was fond of 
 nonsensical talk ; but I determined to continue serious, and to 
 fast and pray. I thought I did pretty well until near the 
 close of the fourth day, when the time to receive the blessing, 
 as I thought, had almost arrived, when off my guard, I became 
 foolish and wicked, and I found myself no better than 1 was 
 before I began to fast. I now believe, that wherever we go, or 
 whatever we do, the devil is with us, to keep us from being truly 
 good." 
 
 Before she had an opportunity of coming to Fort Wayne, to 
 receive baptism, she made a journey into Ohio, and, while there, 
 some Christians of another denomination expressed to her a 
 desire that she would join them. She answered, she would pre 
 fer joining the church at Fort Wayne, because that was intended 
 for the Indians, and she hoped that many Indians would unite 
 with it. She was baptized on the 24th of June, some time 
 after which, a religious person rebuked her for wearing trin 
 kets in her ears. She replied, " My religion is not in my 
 ears, it is in my heart. My heart is no more affected by the 
 jewels in my ears, than it is by any other part of my dress. 
 Nevertheless, 1 will converse with the missionaries, and if they 
 say it is wrong to wear them, I will put them away." We 
 never deemed it necessary to make innovations on the customs 
 of the Indians merely for the sake of form or fashion. Their 
 ornaments are esteemed a part of their dress. She was, there 
 fore, told that the Great Spirit had not directed what should be 
 the fashion of our dress. Different nations and different ages 
 had their various modes of dressing, both in regard to comfort 
 and comeliness. Religion consisted of a right disposition of the 
 heart, rightly influencing our actions. The circumstances con 
 nected with the conversion of this Delaware woman have been 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 89 
 
 related with the more particularity, because, up to this time 
 (1839) she has shined as a Christian light among her benighted 
 kindred. 
 
 Our secular concerns continued to bear heavily upon us. Our 
 school increased so, that at the close of the year 1820, we had 
 thirty-two Indian scholars, all of whom were members of our 
 family. About this time it became necessary for us, in time 
 of a snow, to go forty miles through a wilderness with sleds, one 
 of which 1 drove myself, to procure corn. Some was afterwards 
 transported from the same place, by water, when the weather 
 was so cold that ice formed on the poles with which the men 
 propelled the canoes, by which their hands were frost-bitten. 
 
 Mr. Hill, who had not long before become associated with us, 
 despairing of success in the school, left it. He was an affec 
 tionate, well-disposed young man, but not calculated to manage 
 thirty-two wild Indian youths just from the woods. We hired 
 another young man, who taught a few days only, before he also 
 became discouraged and quit, and I had to go into the school 
 myself. On the 7th of February, 1821, Mr. Martin, who had 
 been our first teacher, arrived, and took charge of the school- 
 He was not associated with us as a missionary, but merely hired 
 to teach. His services afforded great relief.. 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 Pecuniary assistance obtained from Government. Pressing 
 necessities. Assistance obtained in Ohio. Mr. Hill quits 
 the Mission. Indian murders. Retrospect of a year's ope 
 rations. Tour among the Putaiu atomies. Praying Indi 
 ans. Voyage down the W abash river. Baptisms. 
 
 From the State of Ohio, and elsewhere, we received some 
 donations in clothing, &tc., and occasionally small sums of mo 
 ney. These donations, though honourable to the donors, for 
 which we were ever grateful, were, by no means, adequate to 
 the wants of the family, which consisted of more than forty 
 persons. Amidst the anxieties which poverty, under our pecu 
 liar circumstances, was calculated to produce, a worthy Presby 
 terian brother, a Mr. Hudson, an entire stranger to us, wrote 
 from Detroit, that if we were in great need, he thought, that 
 by a visit to that place, I might, possibly, obtain assistance from 
 12 
 
90 HISTORY OF BAFTIST 
 
 Government. As might be supposed, we were not long in de 
 ciding what to do. In company of the mail carrier, I set out 
 for Detroit, (two hundred miles) on the 18th of February. 
 We spent the first night in a deserted Indian camp, where, by 
 the light of our fire, I made the following note, which I find in 
 my journal : " My mind is oppressed with anxiety. We are 
 deeply in debt. Our wants have long since, and often, been 
 made known to the board, but no relief has arrived. The situ 
 ation of our affairs never appeared more precarious than at the 
 present. Old debts are becoming due, while necessity compels 
 us to contract new ones, and, should we not obtain reHef soon, 
 our mission must be broken up." 
 
 On reaching Detroit, my business was with Governour Cass, 
 who listened to the story of our wants with the sympathy that 
 does honour to humanity, and having control of some public 
 means, he was so kind as to promise me aid. He furnished 
 about four hundred and fifty dollars' worth of clothing and food 
 for our Indian scholars ; the latter was in the form of rations 
 for the Indians, and the money for the former was afterwards 
 placed in my hands, so that we might lay it out to the best ad 
 vantage, which we did in purchasing at the cheapest rate in 
 Ohio. He also promised to employ a young man whom I 
 recommended to him, to assist the Indians of White Racoon's 
 village in farming, and to place him under our superintendence. 
 Circumstances, however, became such, that no person was so 
 employed. I also obtained permission to get our blacksmith work 
 performed at the public smithery at Fort Wayne, which was a 
 great accommodation in that remote place. It was at this time, 
 also, that I commenced arrangements for obtaining help from 
 Government, which a few years afterwards became the source of 
 the principal part of the support of the mission. A treaty of 
 -much importance was to be held at Chicago, which I was in 
 vited to attend, with a view of obtaining a more eligible site 
 for our mission than Fort Wayne, and with a view, also, of 
 procuring treaty stipulations which might be beneficial to the 
 cause of Indian education. On my way homeward I found a 
 few Baptists in a small settlement at the rapids of Maumee, to 
 whom I preached, and made promise to endeavour to get a minis 
 ter to visit them, and administer the ordinances, my business not 
 allowing me to stop and serve them. This resulted in a visit 
 to them of the Rev. John Mason, of Ohio. 
 
 At camp, March 3d, I made the following note in my jour 
 nal : " I have travelled all day along a small trace through the 
 wilderness, have seen no one except four Indians. My own 
 
liNDlAN MISSIONS. 
 
 horse having fulled before I left the settlement, 1 hired another 
 to ride, while 1 led mine. Much wearied with the day's travel, 
 and afflicted with pain in my face, I have just finished my sup 
 per, tied up my horse to trees, and now sit alone by a little fire 
 in the wilderness, where I make this note." A ride the follow 
 ing day, of twenty miles, under a continual fall of rain, brought 
 me home. The amount received from Government at this time 
 was a very great help for the future, but it afforded no present 
 relief in liquidating debts which we had already contracted, 
 the payment of which could not be delayed. 
 
 About the 12th of March I wrote again to the board, re 
 questing in the most pressing terms pecuniary assistance, and 
 stating to them the precarious situation of the mission for want 
 of it. Our school had increased to thirty-nine Indian scholars. 
 It may be inquired why we continued to enlarge our operations, 
 when we found so much difficulty in supporting a smaller num* 
 ber of scholars. We had always feared that the board had 
 been too indifferent to missions among the Indians, and that they 
 had not cheerfully entered upon the support of the one in which 
 we laboured, but had been drawn into its support by means 
 which they could not conveniently control ; and if our opera 
 tions had dragged on at a poor rate, we believed that support 
 would have been entirely withheld. We also obtained some 
 assistance from societies and individuals in the western country, 
 who perhaps would have done nothing if our business had not 
 appeared to be flourishing. Moreover, by enlarging our busi 
 ness as much as possible, we hoped to attract the attention of 
 the Christian public to the subject of Indian missions, and we 
 were daily hoping that more missionaries would come to our 
 assistance ; and that, when the community was somewhat awa 
 kened to the matter, the means of support would be furnished. 
 Further, had we turned away any who had applied for admis 
 sion into our school, the institution would at once have sunk 
 greatly in the estimation of the Indians. Hitherto we had so 
 managed as to keep up the credit of the institution pretty well 
 among the natives, though they did sometimes complain that their 
 children were not made comfortable. But, most of all, our feel 
 ings would not have allowed us to turn any away, while a gleam 
 of hope remained that we should be able to support them. W T e 
 should have looked after them as after those whom we had con 
 signed to ruin, the extent of which might not fully be known 
 until the great day of accounts; and how could we have borne 
 the thought of then meeting their accusations, that we had 
 refused them the means of religious instruction. 
 
92 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 It is a little remarkable, that in our embarrassments, during 
 the many years of the existence of the mission in those regions, 
 Providence so favoured us that we never seriously disappointed 
 any of those with whom we had dealings, notwithstanding we 
 often had to create a debt with one person to procure the means 
 of paying another. 
 
 On the 15th of March our necessities compelled me to set out 
 upon another unpleasant journey over very bad roads, and 
 through snow and rain, to Ohio. But by far the most unplea 
 sant part of the business was that of again asking Mr. Phillips 
 to lend me money, before I had paid up my old debts to him. 
 He was a humane gentleman, and sympathized with me, but 
 hesitated to risk any more upon the patronage of the board, but 
 desired me to call again. The following note in my journal 
 -describes part of the exercises of my mind the following night : 
 41 Spent the night in painful anxiety ; reviewed my Christian 
 experience, my call to the ministry, my exercises of mind on 
 the subject of missions, my motives and my hopes, and the 
 dealings of Providence under various circumstances. Has God, 
 thought I, who has preserved my life, and in some instances 
 almost miraculously, who has made me sensible of my un wor 
 thiness, and of my dependance upon him, who has comforted 
 me often by teaching me to trust in him, and who has given me 
 such an earnest desire to spend the only life which I have to 
 live in this world in a way well pleasing to him, and who has 
 taught me to pray that I might not materially err from the path 
 of duty suffered me to engage in the mission and to continue 
 in it so long, and yet not required these labours at my hands ? 
 Have all my warm feelings on the subject been delusive? 
 Have the prospects among the Indians brightened merely to 
 confirm the delusion, to lead me further from the right way, 
 and to complete my downfall ?" Never did I more earnestly 
 beg, really beg. that God would save us from ruin, if he de 
 lighted in our course ; and if the way was displeasing to him, 
 to correct us in mercy, and set us right, without allowing any 
 material injury to grow out of our errour. 
 
 Agreeably to Mr. Phillips's request, I waited on him again, 
 and told him, plainly, that while I hoped the board would pay the 
 debt that I wished to contract by borrowing, they were under 
 no promise to me to do so. That if they should not choose to 
 allow my accounts, I should not be able to pay him soon ; though 
 one day, but not in time to suit his convenience, 1 should pay 
 him. My wife and 1 had consecrated our lives and labours to 
 .the improvement of the condition of the Indians ; and all that 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 93 
 
 we held dear on earth was, in some degree, connected with this 
 enterprise. If he could risk a loan of money under such doubt 
 ful circumstances, he might be the means of saving all ; but, if 
 not, I could perceive no way to prevent all from being plunged 
 into ruin in the course of a few weeks. He very generously 
 loaned me money to meet our immediate wants. I never bor 
 rowed upon interest. Matters were afterwards so arranged that 
 he was not a loser by his kindness. The board afterwards did 
 hesitate to pay those accounts ; but Mr. Phillips was still 
 my friend, and made a communication to the corresponding sec 
 retary of the board respecting our affairs, honourable to the 
 mission, and perhaps to our future benefit. 
 
 Before I obtained this loan, my business had led me into Ohio, 
 about one hundred and fifty miles from home. I had been charged 
 for my fare in almost every place at which I had called, and 
 in every instance I had been compelled to request them to wait 
 for their pay until I should return. This was not a little morti 
 fying ; I felt it to be the more so, because I knew not that 1 
 should even on my return have a cent to pay at any place. In 
 Lebanon a kind friend placed in my hands five dollars and fifty 
 cents, as a donation to the mission. This was a great relief in 
 reflecting upon my travelling expenses, which I had left unpaid 
 as I came into the settlements. Little did this kind friend 
 suspect that his donation was so much needed. 
 
 At Dayton, Ohio, I met with Rev. George Evans, who occa 
 sionally served the board as an agent. I was rejoiced to see 
 him^ I gave him a history of our affairs of the difficulties we 
 encountered from various sources, and particularly of our great 
 embarrassments for want of funds. He was astonished, and ma 
 nifested the sympathy and feeling of a Christian brother. He 
 promised to spend three weeks, without pay, in endeavouring to 
 collect supplies for us, and to write to the board in the mean 
 time respecting our distress. Mr. Evans obtained donations to 
 an amount sufficient to aid us materially. He afterwards visited 
 us at Fort Wayne, and among other services which he rendered 
 us was one of a delicate nature, which none could have managed 
 better than he, Mr. Hill, who was associated with us, was 
 pious and affectionate, but we had all along known that he 
 would not probably succeed as a missionary ; and being there, if 
 he were of no use, he would be a weight upon the mission 
 which would do some harm. But my wife and I had not ven 
 tured to say so to him, for fear of giving pain to a good man, 
 whose feelings we respected. Mr. Evans saw him in Ohio, and 
 
94 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 afterwards at our house ; and perceiving that he was probably 
 not in his appropriate sphere, took upon himself the responsi 
 bility to advise him to retire from the mission ; which he did, 
 without delay. As we had lived together in perfect harmony, 
 so we parted in friendship ; and at parting we gave to each 
 other certificates, in writing, that nothing the least unfriendly had 
 ever existed between us. This left my wife and I alone again, 
 with a family of forty Indian youths. 
 
 My journey homeward from Ohio was extremely unpleasant, 
 on account of rain and bad roads. I found my wife confined 
 to her room by a burn, which, from almost unavoidable expo 
 sure in her business, had inflamed. I had taken with me to 
 Ohio one of our Indian pupils, a lad not quite grown, who 
 understood English tolerably well. My object was to enlarge 
 his mind by a journey in the white settlements, and I treated 
 him as a travelling companion. He noticed with much interest 
 many things which occurred on the journey. Once a person 
 related to me in his presence the story of some church difficul 
 ties, in which a minister appeared to be implicated. He asked 
 me afterwards what was the meaning of all that ? Was there a 
 preacher in that country who was not a good man ? He seemed 
 never before to have suspected that a preacher could be a bad 
 man. In Dayton he happened to observe a collection of people 
 in a house, which curiosity prompted him to approach, when he 
 discovered that it was a place of preaching. It was a meeting of 
 a society which is sometimes noisy in time of worship. On 
 the following day he told me that he had heard somebody preach 
 on the preceding night, and that the people hallooed, and 
 jumped, and fell down, and were in confusion, like a company 
 fighting. At one time we were awhile in the company of a 
 preacher who had carelessly fallen into a singular manner, when 
 engaged in conversation, and whose gesticulations were more 
 violent and less natural than those of an Indian. As soon as he 
 had left, the lad asked me if that man was not intoxicated. 
 
 For upwards of two years I had corresponded with the Rev. 
 Mr. Peck, one of the Baptist missionaries in the vicinity of St. 
 'Louis, in which time I had earnestly endeavoured to induce him 
 to consent to leave those parts, where his ministry was limited 
 to the whites, and to join us in labours among the Indians. The 
 board of missions about this time expressed to Mr. Peck their 
 wish that he should join us at Fort Wayne. He, however, 
 preferred to remain in the white frontier settlements, which 
 indeed were in want of ministerial labours; consequently, the 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 95 
 
 connection between him and the board became dissolved. Mr. 
 Peck continues his indefatigable labours in those regions. His 
 efforts in preaching, and in the promotion of the bible cause, 
 the tract, the home mission, and the Sunday school depart 
 ments, have been patient and persevering ; and his zeal in the 
 cause of education has been worthy of greater success than has 
 yet attended his labours. At the same time the connection 
 between the board and Rev. Mr. Welch, the associate of Mr. 
 Peck, was also dissolved. Mr. Welch returned to New-Jersey, 
 and continues to be a zealous promoter of Sunday schools, and 
 the circulation of bibles and tracts, and occasionally fills respon 
 sible appointments in the service of societies for promoting 
 these important objects. Intelligence that Mr. Peck had 
 declined uniting with us among the Indians reached us the last 
 of March. This was to us a great disappointment. 
 
 I had been informed, by an Indian trader, that on the Illinois 
 river, some one hundred and twenty miles from Fort Wayne, 
 there was a company of religious Putawatomies, at the head of 
 whom was one who was a kind of preacher, whose name was 
 Menominee. As this man exhorted his followers to abstain 
 from ardent spirits, and many other vices, and to practise many 
 good morals, and as a part of their religious service consisted 
 in praying, we were induced to hope that their minds were 
 somewhat prepared to receive religious instruction. My circum 
 stances were such that I could not visit them at that time ; but 
 I wrote their leader a pretty lengthy letter, encouraging him in 
 what was right, and requesting them to call and see me, &c. 
 This communication was sent by a man who promised to read 
 and explain it to the party. About the 10th of April, the party 
 came to Fort Wayne, to see me; and, during several days that 
 they remained in that neighbourhood, we had much interesting 
 conversation on the subject of religion. The leader professed 
 to have been called, some few years previously, by the Great 
 Spirit, to preach to the Indians that they should forsake their 
 evil practices, among which he enumerated the vices of drunk 
 enness, theft, murder, and many other wicked practices. He 
 had a few followers, the number of whom was increasing. 
 They generally kept close together, and all united in morning 
 and evening worship, at which times they heard a lecture from 
 their leader, and all kneeled and engaged in prayer, all vocally 
 reciting the same words at the same time. While they taught 
 good morals, they appeared wholly ignorant of the leading doc 
 trines of the Bible, which teach that salvation is by Christ. 
 Menominee, however, appeared to be more meek, and more 
 
96 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 ready to receive instruction, than could have been expected 
 from a wild man who had arrogated claims to be a leader, not 
 only in temporal but also in spiritual things. We felt much 
 interest in his reformation, and trusted that it might prove to be 
 the beginning of one among his people generally. At his par 
 ticular request I gave him a writing, in which I stated that he 
 had been several days with me, that I had heard him preach 
 and pray, and had conversed much with him ; that I hoped his 
 instructions would do his people good, and therefore requested 
 all to treat him with kindness. " Now," said he, " 1 will go 
 home and preach to the people all my life. I will tell them 
 that my father says I tell the truth." 
 
 During all the month of April, and until some time in May, 
 I was in ill health, much of my time confined to my room, and 
 frequently had to preach sitting in a chair, and sometimes had 
 to write as I lay in my bed. At the same time our business 
 increased upon our hands. In addition to feeding, clothing, 
 lodging, and instructing more than forty Indian youths, pressing 
 calls were made for us to afford some assistance to the poor 
 natives at their villages. From the town in which, as we were 
 on our way to Fort Wayne, we had seen a mother digging roots 
 in a swamp, with a child tied on her back, and another by her 
 side, two women came to us to get a few seeds, to put in the 
 ground, that they might fare better. They told us, in an affecting 
 manner, that they lived exceedingly poor at their village. The 
 women were compelled to undergo great hardship. They 
 desired to become more comfortable, but they knew not how to 
 cultivate the ground to advantage : they hoped that their 
 father (as they called me) would pity them, and send a man to 
 assist them in farming ; they would pay him for his services 
 as amply as their means would allow, and he should eat the 
 very best food that their village could furnish. We once 
 thought that we should be able to procure a religious young 
 man to aid that village in cultivating the ground, and that we 
 should do it without drawing upon the charities of any ; but our 
 business at the mission house and my ill health disappointed 
 our hopes. We could do no more than to loan them a plough, 
 and some other farming utensils. 
 
 On the 7th of May we were informed that a Miamie young 
 man was lying half a mile from us, mortally wounded with a 
 knife, which shocking deed had been perpetrated by an asso 
 ciate of his. The murderer had fled, in order to escape from 
 vengeance. On the same day a Miamie man and his wife were 
 riding together, not more than the fourth of a mile from our 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 97 
 
 house, both intoxicated. She, falling from her horse, was or 
 dered to mount again, which, either for want of ability or 
 inclination, she did not immediately do ; when the wretch 
 instantly drew his tomahawk, and beat out her brains. He 
 then opened a bundle of goods, and told the Indian women 
 present to dress the corpse as finely as they pleased. The 
 corpse was accordingly decorated with all the finery, trinkets^ 
 and painting, which the foolishness of the friends present dic 
 tated, and their means allowed. While they were performing 
 this ceremony of dressing, an Indian rode up and inquired, 
 " Who has done this ?" " I did it," replied the murderer, with 
 a boasting air. " Tell the relations of this woman that I shall 
 remain here ten days ; if they wish to avenge her death, they 
 will know where to find me." Three days after this another 
 Miarnie stabbed his wife mortally with a knife, within a mile of 
 our house. On the 17th. a young Miamie stabbed and killed an 
 old woman, who had professed to be a physician, and consequently 
 was esteemed a witch. I was informed, that some time previ 
 ously a child of the murderer had sickened, and the old woman 
 had been applied to as physician; unfortunately for her, the 
 child died, and she was accused of killing it, either by poison 
 or some other means, and she was now murdered, by way of 
 revenge. Attempts to take her life had frequently been made by 
 others, because she was suspected of bewitching iheir horses, and 
 of performing other dark deeds, by familiar art. She had often 
 been compelled to flee for her life, and conceal herself from the 
 pursuer. Their chief informed me of the death of the old 
 woman, and desired me to have her buried. I took a young 
 man and rode to their camp, where we found only two men and 
 a woman, all of whom were intoxicated. The corpse lay 
 upon the ground, wrapped in a piece of calico and a blanket. 
 While the grave was preparing the murderer returned, who 
 affected to be wholly callous on the occasion, but I thought his 
 countenance indicated a sense of guilt, and some remorse. Her 
 grave was beside that of a poor woman who had been murdered 
 the winter before. Several Indians came to us before we left 
 the place, most of whom were intoxicated. Before the end of 
 this month we heard of the murder of a Putawatomie, who was 
 returning from our place to St. Joseph river, by the hands of 
 one of his comrades. 
 
 Among the Indians are various games of chance, at which 
 they play, and gamble in such articles as they possess, similar 
 to gambling among white men. An Indian had been stabbed 
 13 
 
98 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 with a knife, who lingered, and of whose recovery there was 
 doubt. On the 12th of May a party resolved to decide the 
 question whether the man would live or die, by a game at moc 
 casin. In this game the parties seat themselves upon the earth, 
 opposite to each other, while one holds a moccasin on the 
 ground with one hand, and holds in the other a small ball ; the 
 ball he affects to conceal in the moccasin, and does either insert 
 it or not, as he shall choose, and then leaves the opposite party 
 to guess where the ball is. In order to deceive his antagonist, 
 he incessantly utters a kind of sing-song, which is repeated 
 about thrice in a minute, and moving his hands in unison with 
 the notes, brings one of them, at every repetition, to the mouth 
 of the moccasin, as though he had at that moment inserted the 
 ball. One party played for the wounded man's recovery, and 
 the other for his death. Two games were played, in both 
 which the side for recovery was triumphant, and so they con 
 cluded that the man would not die of his wounds. 
 
 About the middle of May, Rev. John Mason, of Ohio, an 
 elderly and worthy servant of God, visited our station. We 
 were so much refreshed by his company, and were so greatly in 
 want of missionaries, that, notwithstanding his age, we invited 
 him to cast in his lot with us. Some of his family, we believed, 
 would afford much relief to Mrs. McCoy, who greatly needed 
 it. He encouraged us to hope that he would join us, but this 
 also ended in disappointment. 
 
 In the latter part of May, a gentleman from the southeastern 
 shore of Lake Erie, who had opened a correspondence with us 
 some time before, arrived at our house, with the design of be 
 coming a missionary. I concluded that it would be better for 
 us not to strike hands hastily ; and so we gave him some busi 
 ness for about three months, for which we paid him wages. He 
 was a pious man, of an amiable disposition ; but, after the trial 
 made, we feared that he did not possess a tact for usefulness 
 among the knotty sticks which we had to manage, and our con 
 nection w r as not prolonged. 
 
 The following is from my journal : 
 
 "May 29, 1821. One year ago, this day, we opened our 
 school at this place; we had then eight Indian scholars; we 
 now have forty-two. These consist of Aliamies, Putawatomies 3 
 Shawanoes, and Indians from New- York. These undisciplined 
 youths have not been managed without difficulty; I have hired 
 five different persons, who have, at different times, tried to man 
 age the school ; nevertheless, I have frequently been obliged to 
 take the sole management of it myself. These changes in teachers 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 99 
 
 have been to our disadvantage ; yet the school flourishes, and 
 the scholars make pleasing progress in their studies. Certainly 
 the Lord takes care of us. 
 
 "Mrs. McCoy, in addition to domestic labours, in common 
 teaches the larger girls the use of the needle and the spinning 
 wheel. She is more confined to the house than I am, and in the 
 daily routine of her labours there is more of sameness than in 
 mine; and, on many accounts, her business is calculated more 
 deeply to depress the spirits and to unnerve the constitution than 
 mine. The apprehension that both her strength and spirits are 
 sinking has become another source of serious disquietude to me. 
 [ endeavour to conceal from her as much of that which is dis 
 couraging in our affairs as possible, and to place the better side 
 of our prospects towards her ; I am oppressed with many an 
 anxious thought which I dare not communicate to her. 
 
 "I felt wretched last night, when a man who had laboured for 
 us. and who had patiently waited for his pay until he was about 
 to leave the place, called for his money, and I had not one cent 
 for him. I looked around to borrow it, but failed, and I was com 
 pelled to use money intrusted to my care by a friend, hoping 
 that before he should call for it, I would have obtained it from 
 some other source." 
 
 ^s*^r^^ Under these trying circumstances Providence so ordered it, 
 that small remittances of money by mail, from societies and indi- 
 
 rviduals in the western country, frequently came to our relief. 
 The donors of these and of various articles of food and clothing 
 designed to do good when they made their donations, but they 
 could ^riot set a just estimate upon their benefactions, without 
 being acquainted with the wants of the institution. Could they 
 Have seen to what expedients we were reduced, many a time, to 
 get a better garment for an Indian child, when one of its relations 
 happened to be near; could they have seen the homely furniture 
 of our table, or felt the want of a palatable meal in sickness, or 
 ^d the satisfaction of paying a debt intimately connected 
 
 h the reputation of the mission, when, a few hours previously, 
 they had not a cent in their possession then they could have 
 formed a more correct opinion of the value of their donations. 
 
 From the neighbourhood of Menominee, the Indian preacher, 
 some Indians came to our place, who informed me that a propo 
 sition I had made to visit them had excited much interest. 
 They thought I delayed, and had become impatient. Some 
 said I had lied, and Menominee himself had become so uneasy, 
 that he frequently visited a trading house, some fifteen miles off, 
 to inquire for me. On hearing this, we concluded that Mrs. 
 
100 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 McCoy must again take the sole charge of the institution, while 
 I would visit those Indians. Her difficulties, we knew, must 
 be somewhat increased by the circumstance of being obliged to 
 take into the school a new teacher. Mr. Martin's engagements 
 with s terminated on the 7th of May, when the school was 
 committed to one unacquainted with Indian habits and preju 
 dices, as well as uninformed with regard to all our business. 
 
 Having long been in poor health, and having barely recovered 
 so as to be able to travel, we were not a little afraid that I should 
 be unable to endure the fatigue and exposure of the journey. 
 For an interpreter and travelling companion, I took one of our 
 pupils, named Abraham Burnett. To meet my engagements 
 with Menominee was only a part of my business; I designed to 
 look out a site for the permanent location of our mission, as we 
 had from the first considered our residence at Fort Wayne a 
 mere temporary measure, dictated by the necessity of the occa 
 sion. I had been informed that the principal Putawatomie 
 chiefs had held several councils upon the subject of our mission, 
 and had resolved to invite us to locate among them. We 
 deemed a tour among them necessary, in order to foster these 
 kind feelings of theirs. An important treaty with the Puta- 
 watomies, Ottawas, and Miamies, was approaching, which 
 would be the proper time to secure a site for the mission upon 
 favourable conditions, and the minds of the Indians must pre 
 viously be prepared to come into the measure. 
 
 We had long been so much distressed for want of means to 
 support the mission, that while we should thankfully accept of 
 all the assistance which the board of missions would give us, 
 we were taught not to rely on it for support. But we resolved 
 to seek support, as far as practicable, from Government, and 
 From the Christian public, by our correspondence, and through 
 such agents as we should be able to employ to take collections 
 from the benevolent. 
 
 Ever after my journey to Detroit, in the months of February 
 and March, 1821, 1 had been endeavouring to prepare the way, 
 lo get into the anticipated treaty some stipulations which should 
 favour educational purposes among the Indians. In all this I was 
 careful to ascertain that I acted in accordance with the views of 
 those who would be the principal agents of the United States 
 in the negotiations. It was believed that a tour among the 
 Putawatomies at this time would promote these ends. It may 
 be well here to remark, in regard to the wants of the mission, 
 both before and after the period respecting which I am now 
 writing, that a missionary, or agent, who could have devoted 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 10 1 
 
 his time wholly to procuring supplies from a benevolent public, 
 and from Government, could have obtained support for a mis 
 sion, upon even a larger scale than that of ours, without draw 
 ing a cent from the funds of the board. The truth of this 
 assertion will appear in the sequel of our story, when we relate 
 that notwithstanding all our cares, which were calculated to 
 confine us at our post, we did so manage as to get help from 
 Government, which, with the labour of our own hands, sup 
 ported the mission the last four years of its existence at Carey, 
 without drawing a dollar from the treasury of the board which 
 they could have applied to any other purpose. But at the 
 time of which I am writing, we had business enough at the esta 
 blishment to employ at least three male and three female mis 
 sionaries, while the management of every thing devolved on my 
 wife and me. Thus situated, it was impossible for me to go 
 abroad to solicit donations. 
 
 In company of three Indians, I set out upon my tour among 
 the Indians the 7th of June ; swam our horses across St. Mary's 
 river, and about ten o'clock met a company of Putawatomies. 
 We had passed them about a mile, when one of them came 
 riding back to us in haste, to tell some news which had escaped 
 recollection at meeting. The intelligence was, that a brother 
 of the newsmonger had latterly been stabbed by an Indian 
 woman, and was badly wounded, but not dead. We encamped 
 near a large pond, which supplied us with water. It rained upon 
 us severely through the night, and we were under an ordinary 
 lent cloth, which was a poor defence against a shower. The 
 loons, by their mournful screaming, and the large frogs, whose 
 hoarse notes formed a kind of base to a thousand other song 
 sters which inhabited the pond and the woods, gave us music 
 in all the wakeful hours of the night. 
 
 On the following morning it commenced raining upon us just 
 as we left camp, and with little intermission continued all day. 
 While we stopped to eat a bite at noon, a tremendous shower 
 poured down. I sat over my saddlebags, until Abraham, 
 seeing that 1 was taking wet fast, ran to an old Indian camp, 
 and brought thence a piece of bark, which I held over me 
 as a partial shelter; but it was impossible to keep dry. We 
 encamped a little before night, for the purpose of drying our 
 clothes. We had another night of rain, but I was so much 
 fatigued with the journey that neither the rain, nor the thou 
 sands of moschetoes which swarmed about us, prevented me 
 from sleep. Some time in the morning my Indian friends 
 
102 BISTORT OF BAPTIST 
 
 awoke me, and informed me that they were ready to eat and 
 start. The following night we arrived at the house of a trader, 
 and the next day Abraham went to the neighbouring villages to 
 let the principal chiefs know that I would be glad to meet them 
 in council on the following day. 
 
 June 10th, I met Topenebe, Chebass, and Cheshaugen, and 
 others, at one of their villages. As is usual on those occasions, 
 business was opened by throwing my tobacco in a heap on the 
 ground, in the midst of the company, followed by a round of 
 smoking. Next came our talk. I spoke very cautiously to 
 them upon all subjects except the advantages of education, and 
 the character of our institution as it respected education. Early 
 on the llth, having procured an Indian to pilot us, we set off 
 for Menominee's village. As we approached it, Menominee 
 and others met us with all the signs of joy and gladness which 
 could have been expressed by these poor creatures. Menomi 
 nee immediately cried aloud to his people, all of whom lived 
 in four little bark huts, informing them that their father had 
 arrived. 1 was no sooner seated, by their invitation, than men, 
 women, and children, came around and gave me their hand ; 
 even infants were brought, that I might take them by the hand. 
 
 A messenger was immediately despatched to a neighbouring 
 village to announce my arrival ; in his absence Menominee in 
 quired if I were coming to reside among them. Receiving 
 evasive answers, he expressed great concern ; he said the prin 
 cipal chief of their party, and all the people of their villages, 
 except a few, desired me to come. He showed me a place 
 which he had selected for me to build a house upon. Their 
 huts being exceedingly hot and unpleasant, I proposed taking a 
 seat out of doors. The yard was immediately swept, and mats 
 spread for me either to sit or lie upon. We were presently re 
 galed with a bowl of boiled turtle's eggs ; next came a kettle of 
 sweetened water for us to drink. 1 was then shown a large 
 turtle which had been taken in a pond, and asked if I was fond 
 of it. Fearing that with their cooking I should not be able to 
 eat it, I replied that I was very fond of corn and beans. This 1 
 knew was already over the fire; it was placed before us in one 
 large wooden bowl, and we ate it with wooden ladles. Meno 
 minee had two wives, each of whom presented me with a bark 
 box of sugar, containing about thirty pounds each. 
 
 In a short time the principal chief, Pcheeko, and every man, 
 and almost every woman and child in his village, were at Me 
 nominee's, and all came and shook hands. I was rather aston- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 103 
 
 ished to discover that the parents required all the children, who 
 were capable of understanding, to give their right hand. I had 
 strange feelings: all were gazing on me with a kind of reveren 
 tial respect that I was unaccustomed to. On the arrival of 
 Pcheeko we had resumed our station in the house, where 1 
 handed out my tobacco ; all smoked until the fumes and the 
 heat became almost insupportable, but I mustered courage to 
 remain, as I supposed it would be impolite to leave the room 
 at that time. Menominee said that as I had promised them 
 that I would visit them when the grass grew to a certain height, 
 he had gone out every day to see how high it was; he had at 
 length become uneasy, and intended soon to have started to 
 Fort Wayne, to learn the cause of my delay. In the mean 
 time, some had reproached him for being so foolish as to ima 
 gine that I would visit him ; they had also said his preaching 
 was not true, for none of them would go to God as he had said ; 
 that I preached differently from him, and that I had told the 
 people of other villages that they might drink whiskey, &c. 
 Still he had encouraged his people to hope that I would be 
 faithful to my promise " and now you see, my children," said 
 he, " that he has come." 
 
 They reiterated their entreaties that I would come and live 
 among them. I told them the distance from Fort Wayne was 
 great. They replied, " It is not very great you came a 
 crooked road. Almost all of our people have quit drinking 
 whiskey, and have left off many other bad practices. Whiskey 
 will be brought into our country, and, unless you come and re 
 side among us, we fear that many will return to drink and to 
 other evil practices ; but if you will come and live with us we 
 will drink no more whiskey ; we will send our children to school, 
 and you can preach to us ; we all desire to hear you preach. 
 You can bring with you a good interpreter, so that you can tell 
 us all your mind about religion. We desire to understand these 
 things." 
 
 They invited rne to remain with them the next day, and 
 when I consented they entreated me to stay two days. If I 
 would, they said they would send some of their young men and 
 kill for me some fresh meat. They insisted on knowing when 
 I would visit them again; on being told that it was uncertain r 
 they said, " If you will tell us at what time you will visit us 
 again, we will have something good for you to eat now we 
 have nothing good." Menominee delivered to his people a lec 
 ture. He had no ceremony, but commenced without even 
 rising from his seat, and spoke with much energy. A little 
 
104 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 before dark the company dispersed, and all shook my hand 
 at parting as they had done at meeting. When we were 
 alone, Menominee informed me that he had two wives. Some 
 had said to him that if I had knowledge of this circumstance, I 
 "would push him away from me." "I tell you," said he, 
 " that you may know it; it is a common thing among our peo 
 ple ; and often the younger sister of a wife claims it as a privi 
 lege to become a second wife, that she, too, may have some 
 one to provide meat for her. This is the case in regard to 
 my two wives, who are sisters. I did not know that it was 
 wrong to take a second wife ; but if you say it is wrong, I will 
 put one of them away." This, I thought, appeared like cut 
 ting off a hand, or pulling out an eye, because it offended. 
 
 I desired to have a better interpreter than Abraham, when I 
 should explain to him the sacredness of the marriage contract ; 
 especially as the delicacy of the present case was increased by 
 the circumstance that both of his wives were mothers, and, 
 agreeably to Indian customs, claimed his protection for both 
 themselves and their children. I replied, " This is a subject of 
 great importance, and I must think before I speak. You propose 
 accompanying me as far as the lake ; if you do, I will tell you 
 my mind before we finally separate." 
 
 I sung and prayed in their wigwams, evening and morning. 
 The women also kneeled and prayed, in their own language, 
 evening and morning. They all vocally recited the same prayer 
 at the same time, during which Menominee said nothing. I also 
 heard them at family prayers in an adjoining house. These 
 things were so affecting that it was with difficulty sometimes that 
 I could repress my tears, even in their presence. When all had 
 retired to sleep, 1 .! gave vent to my passion, and enjoyed a precious 
 season of prayer and praise. Menominee at one time showed 
 me a square stick, on which he had made a mark for every ser 
 mon he had preached. I then showed him in my journal the 
 list of texts from which 1 had preached at different times, show 
 ing him at the same time that what I preached had been taken 
 from such and such places in our good book. He immediately 
 set about counting both his marks and mine, in order to ascer 
 tain which of us had preached most frequently in the course of a 
 year. Finding a considerable difference in my favour, he plead 
 ed his inferiority. He must now see all my books and papers 
 must hear me read, notwithstanding he could not understand a 
 word. He must also examine my watch. I attempted to write 
 in my journal, but he kept so close to me, and was so inquisitive, 
 that I was obliged to defer it. I retired into the brush to make 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 105 
 
 some hasty notes with my pencil, but he followed, and in a 
 few minutes was seen gazing after me. 
 
 In compliance with an invitation of Pcheeko, the principal 
 chief of this band, we paid him a visit on the 12th, accompa 
 nied by Menominee and several others. Pcheeko, to show his 
 loyalty to our Government, or rather as an expression of respect 
 for me, had hoisted over his hut the American flag. A large 
 kettle of hommony and venison was ready for us on our arrival. 
 To my mess, besides some choice pieces, they added sugar. 
 With the help of my knife, a wooden ladle, and a good appe 
 tite, I despatched a reasonable meal, endeavouring at the same 
 time to indulge as few thoughts as possible about the cleanli 
 ness or the uncleanliness of the cooks. 
 
 In private, they intimated to Abraham that they suspected 
 me to be partial to Menominee. The lad replied, that rny visit 
 was to them all. They said that they were glad of that, and 
 that they would be glad to attend my preaching, for they " were 
 afraid Menominee did not know how to preach good." They 
 mentioned some doctrines which they said Menominee had ad 
 vanced, and inquired of Abraham if 1 had preached the same. 
 With all that was pleasing with these poor creatures, we disco 
 vered that they were too much under the influence of Indian 
 feeling, in their hopes of deriving some temporal benefit from 
 an acquaintance with us. On this subject Abraham replied to 
 them, as he informed me, that my business was preaching, teach 
 ing school, and instructing Indians in mechanical trades and in 
 agriculture; that Menominee, being a preacher also, knew by 
 experience that preachers received but little pay, and had but 
 little to give away; the food and clothing at the institution 
 were not really mine they were intrusted to my care, for the 
 benefit of the children who attended school, and for none others; 
 but we would instruct them to make clothes, which would be 
 far better than a few presents of clothing ; the latter would soon 
 wear out, but a knowledge of manufacturing cloth would be a 
 lasting benefit. 
 
 The weather being excessively hot, and we being obliged to 
 use water taken from a filthy pond, the flies exceedingly severe 
 on our horses, and our situation in every respect being very un 
 pleasant and unwholesome, Abraham, who was already sick, 
 insisted on our leaving. He said, " We stay here, I'm sure we 
 die ; our horses die too. Me no want to die here." Menomi 
 nee called together all his people, of whom I took an affection 
 ate leave, after promising them that, if practicable, I would visit 
 them again when the leaves began to fall. Menominee walked 
 14 
 
106 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 with us half a mile, begged a continuation of our friendship, 
 declared that he would continue to endeavour to please God, 
 and do right ; and so we parted ; when I was made to exclaim, 
 " O, compassionate Saviour ! didst not thou expand thy bleed 
 ing arms upon Mount Calvary ! and is there not room in thy 
 bleeding bosom for these dear people ? and will not this desert 
 soon begin to rejoice ?" 
 
 Here was an uncommonly favourable opening for doing good 
 to these dear, artless people, who appeared ready to receive 
 instruction in things relating both to this life and that which is 
 to come ; but it was impossible for a solitary missionary and his 
 wife, who already had much more upon their hands than they 
 could manage, to improve the opening here presented. It was 
 more properly the duty of the Baptist denomination to see to 
 them, than that of others, because Providence had allowed us 
 to become acquainted with them ; but among three or four hun 
 dred thousand of our denomination in the United States, none 
 manifested a willingness to make his home in the desert, and 
 teach these poor anxious inquirers the path to heaven. Within 
 a year after the time of which we are writing, the party, as such, 
 began to dwindle, and long since it has ceased to exist as a re 
 ligious party. Some have died, and some have returned to the 
 vices which once they denounced; but, in the great day of ac 
 counts, will they not have cause to complain of the thousands 
 of Christians who, though not far from them, neglected to 
 hold out to them the lamp of life? They were left to wander 
 in the dark, and have fallen. It is /done ; we cannot now go 
 back to atone for our criminal neglect of the party of poor Meno- 
 minee. We shall have attained our end in telling this sad tale 
 of our injustice, if the narrative should induce a discharge of 
 Christian duty to others within our reach. 
 
 It was on the 12th of June that we left Menominee's village. 
 The heat was excessive, and the flies so numerous that our 
 horses could scarcely travel. We suffered for want of water 
 ourselves, and often could get none, only in ponds, and so full 
 of animalcule, that, before drinking, we strained it through our 
 handkerchiefs. About three o'clock we fell in with a company 
 of Sauks, on their way to Canada, for presents, which the British 
 there make to them, and other tribes, annually. When they 
 first discovered us, some of them came dashing up, in a manner 
 which made us suspect that they intended to insult us. In this 
 we were mistaken. At sunset we arrived at a small Putawatomie 
 village, on the banks of the St. Joseph river. I was so much 
 exhausted that 1 was scarcely able to walk. I lay down on 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 107 
 
 my blankets in the yard, and listened to two men who were 
 within a bark hut, sweating for their health. They poured 
 water upon heated rocks, and placed themselves in the steam 
 which arose, and by this means produced violent perspiration. 
 They commenced with a short song, and then fell into a kind 
 of prayer, of very few words, which was uttered in a sing-song 
 tone, repeated three or four times in a minute. This was kept 
 up without intermission during the whole process of sweating 
 over the heated rocks. Having remained in the sweat-house as 
 long as they desired, they hastened to the river; and, when in 
 a profuse perspiration, plunged into it. After remaining in the 
 river a short time, they returned to their tent, and wrapped 
 themselves in their blankets. 
 
 We had not been there long before a large wooden bowl of 
 thick soup, made of pounded corn, without grease or salt, was 
 placed before us. I was very hungry and faint, and withal a 
 little sick : a comfortable meal would have been very grateful, 
 but the cookery appeared so extremely filthy, that it was with 
 much self-denial I partook of a small portion. We then bor 
 rowed a kettle, and made coffee for ourselves. In this we were 
 not less unfortunate; for it turned out that the kettle was so 
 unclean, that even Abraham, who was more accustomed to 
 Indian fare than I, could not drink our coffee. About the same 
 time the Indians commenced eating upon the same ground; the 
 group which sat nearest to me consisted of an old woman, with 
 the carcass of some small animal on her lap, four children, eight 
 dogs, and a cat. Puss and the surly curs had some contention 
 about their claims ; and as the supper was likely to be rather 
 scant, some snapping, and at length a heavy fight, ensued among 
 the canine guests, who were so incautious in the affray as to 
 tumble over one of the children. For this ill manners poor 
 Tray had to submit to a severe pelting from the affectionate 
 mother ; which, though it was a just punishment, he could not 
 bear without complaining as loudly as the injured child. 
 
 We left this place early on the following morning ; the day 
 was rainy, and the thick brush along our narrow path wet. For 
 our dinner we divided between us the only biscuit we had left. 
 Passed three villages, at one of which we halted a short time, 
 and had some conversation on the subject of our mission. In 
 the afternoon reached the residence of the Burnetts, Abraham's 
 relations, who were half-breeds, and who resided near Lake 
 Michigan. Here we were made comfortable, rested two days, 
 and obtained a supply of provisions. I was by this time so 
 feeble that I could scarcely walk. Abraham was unwell, and 
 
108 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 scarcely able to travel. By mingling with the Indians, our 
 clothes had become infested with the filthy vermin so abundant 
 among all uncivilized Indians, which was a sickening as well as 
 an annoying circumstance. The Burnetts, who were acknow 
 ledged Indians by their tribe, were related to Topenebe, the 
 principal chief of the Putawatomie tribe. They were intelli 
 gent, and I availed myself of their influence in bringing the 
 Putawatornies into measures. We awaited the arrival of one 
 of them who attended a feast at Topenebe's, at which they 
 cooked eight deer. He also attended a council, at which the 
 question, whether it would be advisable for the mission to be 
 located among them, was discussed. The principal chiefs had 
 referred the matter to the young men, who knew little about it, 
 and cared less, and who decided that it was not necessary for 
 the mission to be located there. This decision occasioned no 
 discouragement, because I was confident that matters were in a 
 train to secure the consent of the principal chief, and indeed of 
 every one else, as soon as proper explanations of our objects 
 could be made. A daughter of Topenebe gave me two of her 
 sons, about five and seven years old, to take to our school. Both 
 were so nearly naked that they could not travel among the flies 
 and musketoes until I had procured clothing for them. 
 
 We left Burnett's early on the 16th, and at about ten miles 
 took into our company a third Indian boy, which had been pro 
 mised to me a few days before. I hired two Indians to carry 
 the boys thirty miles. Having halted a little at noon, all were 
 ready, and resumed their journey a few minutes before me. 
 When I came up with them, they were halted with a company 
 which they had met, with whiskey. Our Indians seemed to be 
 waiting for a dram, while one of the other party appeared to 
 be outrageously mad. He at length seized a pistol of one of 
 our company, and endeavoured to force it from his belt, that 
 he might discharge it at the owner. The latter at length dis 
 mounted, and raised a club upon the madman, who was hauled 
 away by others of his party. Some heavy scuffling ensued, 
 and I expected to see bloodshed, which, happily, was not the 
 case. I was concerned for my little boys, who were in the 
 midst of the tumult, and I kept rny eye upon them until we 
 were under way again. Not one of them attempted to trouble 
 me. We travelled through a great rain, and lodged at the 
 trading house. 
 
 On the night of the 17th we encamped near a company 
 driving cattle through the wilderness to the army at Chicago. 
 One of their company had sickened, and was perfectly de- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 109 
 
 ranged. On the following morning I was requested to assist in 
 taking him back to Fort Wayne, one of the proprietors accom 
 panying us. We found great difficulty in keeping him upon 
 his horse ; after various unsuccessful measures, we tied his 
 feet under the horse. A lusty Frenchman had fallen into our 
 company, whom we hired to assist, and him we placed on the 
 horse, behind the poor maniac, to hold him on, and the other 
 man walked by his side, for the same purpose, while one of us 
 led the horse. After conveying him about five miles, and find 
 ing it impossible to proceed, we turned off to an Indian hut, 
 into which the owners kindly allowed him to come, and spread 
 a mat for him to lie upon. Neither the circumstances of our 
 company, nor our affairs at home, admitted of our losing time. 
 After directing the two men whom we left, to take care of the 
 sick man, and how to bleed him with a flint, as we had no lancet, 
 we proceeded. After we left, they again attempted to travel 
 with the sick, but the poor man died on the following day. 
 They had not the means of burying him in the earth, and 
 having found a hollow occasioned by a tree being torn up by 
 the roots by the wind, they laid the corpse there, and covered 
 it with old fallen timber, such as could be gathered without the 
 use of the axe. We found some trouble in crossing a swamp, 
 so that we had to lighten the burdens of the horses, and carry 
 our baggage across upon our shoulders, and soon after we en 
 camped, we had a violent storm of wind and rain. 
 
 On the 19th we found the creeks full; in crossing one of 
 which, that was almost swimming to my horse, he fell with me 
 twice, and drenched me pretty thoroughly. W T e had but fairly 
 got clear of the creek, when we encountered another severe 
 rain and wind ; swam our horses across St. Mary's river, where 
 we had a canoe for the conveyance of our persons, and entered 
 our own door in a condition very different from dry and comfort 
 able. 
 
 The situation of Mrs, McCoy had become such as to re^ 
 quire attentions which our wilderness residence did not afford. 
 The most eligible mode of conveying her to a suitable place in 
 the settled country was to descend the Wabash river in an 
 open canoe. The distance by water was between three and 
 four hundred miles, and more than half of this was through a 
 wilderness, inhabited only by uncivilized Indians. It was the 
 25th of June, that, with our three younger children, she took 
 her leave, not expecting to return in less time than three months. 
 Neither of us had ever felt a parting scene so trying as this. 
 She was entering a gloomy desert with our three babes, and 
 
110 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 the sickly season of the year had already commenced. It was 
 now the heat of summer, and the rnusketoes were as numerous 
 as were ever known. The first night they encamped, Mrs. 
 McCoy spent without sleep, driving the rnusketoes from her 
 little children. They were nine days on the river, and scarcely 
 a day passed without rain, to which in their open canoe they 
 were exposed without a shelter ; their provisions damaged, and 
 their clothing mildewed with wet and heat. Still Jacob's God 
 was round about them by night and by day. She returned by 
 land through the wilderness, and reached Fort Wayne the 14th 
 of September, with the addition of one to the number of her 
 little ones. In her absence, when I was left in charge of forty- 
 seven Indian youths, I learned by experience how onerous had 
 been her duties when I had frequently left her sole manager of 
 the mission. 
 
 On the 8th of July I baptized Mrs. Turner, whose mother 
 mother was a Miamie. Of this woman's conversion mention 
 has already been made. On the 15th I baptized a white 
 woman whom we had hired to labour in the family, and who 
 gave satisfactory evidence of her conversion to God. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 : .- ' !IK> f?UJi! :-?.", 
 
 Dreadful effects of ardent spirits. Superintendents of Mis 
 sionary Stations. Important treaty at Chicago. Beneficial 
 Stipulations. Indian murders. Candidates for Missionary 
 Service. Sickness. Indian murders. Circular to the pub 
 lic. Want of suitable school teachers. Journey to Wash 
 ington City. Arrival of a Missionary. Appointment of 
 Missionaries. Injury received from an Indian. Manufac 
 ture of cloth. 
 
 Early in July, 1821, Chebass, a chief from St. Joseph river, 
 informed me that no decision unfavourable to our locating among 
 the Putawatomies had been made among them, as had been 
 reported. Meteor, another Putawatomie chief, was present, 
 and made something of a speech, and concluded by request 
 ing me to furnish them with some whiskey. I told him that 
 preachers were not in the habit of drinking whiskey. He 
 then said that he had not requested me to drink, nor would 
 he ask me even to procure the liquor for them ; he would 
 be satisfied if I would give him a little money with which to 
 buy whiskey. I pointed to the pitcher upon the table, and 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 said, " that is very good water." Meteor paused and smiled y 
 and taking me by the hand, said, " My father, you are right. 
 The Great Spirit will hear what you say, and protect you, for 
 1 find that you are a good man." Fort Wayne was the resort 
 of many Indians from different places. We frequently invited 
 them to visit the school, and we also took pains to explain to 
 them the mode of conducting our business generally. Many of 
 them flattered us with approbation, who never practically mani 
 fested a desire to promote civilization among their people ; and 
 among such were the two chiefs named above. 
 
 In order to satisfy the parents of our pupils, and others who* 
 felt an interest in their welfare, that their children were treated 
 with kindness, we had taken into our family an elderly Puta- 
 watomie widow, of much respectability among her people. 
 When complaints would reach the parents, this old woman, in 
 whom they had confidence, could state the facts in a manner 
 which seldom failed to give satisfaction. Early in July, we heard 
 of the death of her mother, who was a very aged and intem 
 perate woman. She had been left alone at her camp, with 
 whiskey in her possession, and was never heard of afterwards. 
 She was, no doubt, devoured by beasts and buzzards. 
 
 As a matter of economy, in our expensive charge, we culti 
 vated about thirty acres of corn, and mowed hay on the prai 
 ries. In attending to this business, besides our labour in a large 
 garden, we sometimes employed the boys of our school. When 
 they worked, I had to work with them, not only for the purpose 
 of teaching them and of preventing idleness, but also to satisfy 
 both them and their parents that we did not esteem labour dis 
 graceful. In addition to the laziness which habit produces in-, 
 the Indian, we have found his mistaken sense of honour, es 
 teeming it degrading to labour, a formidable obstacle to his im 
 provement. Their first and most intimate acquaintances are 
 such as are connected with Indian trade. Between the princi 
 pals in trade or their clerks, and their hired hands, is usually as 
 much distinction as there is between a southern planter and his 
 negro slaves. The Indians discovering that the employees, who 
 alone performed the drudgery, were treated as menials, naturally 
 drew the conclusion that manual labour was generally esteemed 
 to be degrading among the whites. We found it necessary, 
 therefore, to correct this impression by our own example. 
 
 On the 25th of July a Putawatomie came into my house 
 with many singular airs. He first touched my hand, and then 
 kissed the place on his own hand which had come in contact 
 with mine.. He then wet his finger and touched my forehead,. 
 
112 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 each shoulder, and my breast, which was virtually crossing me 
 according to the Catholic ceremonies. He then bowed almost 
 to the ground, and, rising, shook my hand and took his seat. I 
 quietly allowed the simpleton to perform his ceremonies to his 
 own taste. He then proceeded to inform me, that on the pre 
 ceding night a friend of his had been murdered with a knife, by 
 one of their acquaintances, and desired me to go and baptize 
 him. I told him it was too late to baptize him ; that baptism 
 would be of no service to a dead man. He then requested me 
 to give him four quarts of whiskey to " cover the dead" as they 
 express themselves, and "to help them to mourn for their de 
 parted friend." The putting of clothes, food, whiskey, hunting 
 apparatus, &tc., into the grave with the deceased, they call " cov 
 ering the dead." Most of the whiskey, however, on such oc 
 casions, is drunk by the living, who frequently have another 
 murder committed before the termination of their season of 
 mourning. I assured him that I would not give whiskey to an 
 Indian on any occasion, but that I strove to prevent them from 
 destroying themselves by it ; but I would give him a little to 
 bacco. He wept, and accepted the tobacco. I took one of our 
 Putawatomie scholars and proceeded to the place where it was 
 said the dead man lay, with a view to attend his funeral. The 
 poor wretch was yet alive, and weltering in his blood. Many 
 Indians were about the place, all intoxicated excepting three or 
 four. The murderer was with the drunken. On the 6th of Au 
 gust we heard of the murder of two Shawanoes at Wapaughkon- 
 netta, southeast of us ; and on the 10th we heard of two others 
 being killed among the Miamies, of Massassinawa. Such scenes 
 were shocking in the extreme. 
 
 About this time the board resolved to " select, in the vicinity 
 of their respective Indian stations, brethren of well known piety 
 and discretion, to fulfil the office of superintendents" of the seve 
 ral missions. This regulation was really applied in regard to 
 the Cherokee mission, but not in relation to ours. Indeed, we 
 were surprised to find the measure proposed in general terms, as 
 if applicable to all stations, because no such persons resided in 
 what could be termed the vicinity of our station ; and a man 
 who resided one hundred and fifty or two hundred miles from 
 the station, who had begun and intended to end his life in civil 
 ized society, who was ignorant of the manners and customs of 
 the Indians, and of the privations of the missionaries, and whose 
 attention was directed generally to other matters, so that he 
 could only think of Indian affairs occasionally, must be poorly 
 qualified to superintend. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 113 
 
 During the absence of Mrs. M. in Indiana, the contem 
 plated and important treaty with the Indians at Chicago came 
 on. It being impossible for me to leave home at that time 
 to attend it, at a distance of one hundred and eighty miles, 
 I looked around with great solicitude for a person whom I 
 could employ, and in whose integrity and talents I could con 
 fide. I could do no better than send the teacher of our school, 
 who could illy be spared. So difficult was it, in our remote 
 situation, to get a teacher who would not do more harm than 
 good, that in a few weeks' absence of the one mentioned above 
 I had to dismiss one and try another. 
 
 The messenger to Chicago, mentioned above, was made 
 acquainted with all our plans and doings in regard to matters 
 among those Indians, and both they and the commissioners were 
 requested to listen to his propositions. His instructions were full. 
 He left Fort Wayne on the 2d of August, accompanied by 
 Abraham Burnett, one of our pupils. As it was at this treaty 
 that we had long been hoping to make some arrangements for 
 getting to a more suitable location for the mission, and for 
 obtaining something for future support, I was distressed that I 
 could not be present myself. In the midst of deep anxieties, 
 it was not a little relief to my mind, when, on the 9th of August, 
 Col. Trimble, of Ohio, United States' Senator, on his way to 
 the treaty, looked in upon me, and inquired into our affairs. He 
 requested a written statement of our progress and present con 
 dition. I gave him, in writing, the whole of my plans and 
 wishes, and he kindly promised his most zealous support at the 
 treaty, and declared his readiness to help at any subsequent 
 period. We have reason to remember his kind offices at the 
 treaty; and in his death, which occurred not long after, we felt 
 that we had lost a friend. Through the favour of a kind Pro 
 vidence, our propositions at the treaty of Chicago were success 
 ful, notwithstanding that matters were not arranged precisely in 
 the manner that we had marked out in our plans. 
 
 The Putawatomies gave a mile square of land for mission 
 premises, to be located under the directions of the President of 
 the United States, and held by him as United States' property. 
 It was stipulated, that for the -benefit of the Putawatomies, 
 Government should place upon this section of land a teacher 
 and a blacksmith, and should expend in their support 01,000 
 annually, for the term of fifteen years. To bring about such 
 an arrangement as this, had cost us much labour, watchfulness, 
 and anxiety. Others, in their intercourse with the Indians, had 
 money and goods with which to purchase their consent to mea- 
 
 15 
 
114 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 sures to which they otherwise felt disinclined ; but we had neither 
 money nor consciences that could be thus used. We had, 
 also, many strong prejudices of the natives to contend with in 
 this matter, and still worse passions which were opposed to us 
 by some mischievous white men. At the moment, when in 
 council, the Putawatomies demanded of the commissioners a 
 teacher, a certain Roman Catholic Frenchman, who was a United 
 States' Indian sub-agent, and who, at the time, was interpreting 
 for the United States' commissioners, stated to them (the com 
 missioners) that the Indians desired that the teacher be a Ro 
 man Catholic. The Indians, the moment that they were made, 
 by one of their party who understood English, to understand 
 what had been just stated, positively contradicted the statement, 
 and declared that they had not requested a Catholic teacher ; 
 that I was the man whom they desired to be their teacher. Sub 
 sequently, this office was given me by the Government, which 
 office I held until about a year after I left that country for the 
 Indian territory, which was in 1828. My salary was four hun 
 dred dollars a year, all of which was thrown into the common 
 missionary fund for the support of the mission, and was regularly 
 accounted for to the board of missions, as so much money 
 received from them. For the time that I was allowed the 
 salary after I left the station on Government and missionary 
 business in the west, the allowance was continued because a 
 missionary brotherwas still at the station, attending to the affairs 
 of the mission, and my salary was applied to his support, and 
 not to that of my own. 
 
 A full explanation of our connection with Government, which 
 grew out of the treaty of Chicago, can more properly be given 
 in another place in our narrative. 
 
 The smithery also was subsequently placed under my superin- 
 tendency. Three hundred and sixty-five dollars a year was al 
 lowed for the support of the smith, and the residue of the $ 1,000 
 annuity was applied to the furnishing of iron, steel, &ic., for the 
 smithery. These arrangements, as will be learned from our story 
 hereafter, became a source of great relief in pecuniary matters. 
 At the treaty under consideration, Government also engaged to 
 furnish the Ottawas with a teacher, a farmer, and a black 
 smith ; to locate them on a mile square of land, to be selected 
 and held similarly to that aforementioned for the Putawatomies, 
 and to expend in support of those persons $1,500 per annum, 
 for the term of ten years ; and also to furnish the Ottawas with 
 a considerable number of cattle, farming utensils, &tc. Subse 
 quently, the Government was pleased to place under my super- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 115 
 
 intendency the persons employed as above provided by the 
 treaty, and also the distribution of the cattle to the Ottawas. 
 
 Had it not been for these measures, our mission there would 
 probably have been discontinued, for want of support. In these 
 matters, the special interposition of Providence in our favour 
 appeared to us evident. We therefore thanked God and took 
 courage. But it was about a year and a half after the treaty, 
 before we derived any pecuniary aid from these arrangements. 
 
 The facilities provided for the benefit of the Ottawas could 
 not be secured to our mission as early as those for the Putawat- 
 omies, on account of the failure of a missionary, as will be men 
 tioned hereafter. In the mean time, the man whom I had 
 employed to carry my despatches to the treaty, and whom I 
 had retained in my employment, for wages, as school teacher, 
 conceived the design of supplanting us in the matter relating 
 to the Ottawas, merely for the sake of the salary of the teacher 
 for that station, for which the treaty stipulated, without any 
 pretensions to be influenced by regard for the welfare of the 
 Indians. He was a professor of religion, but not a member of 
 the Baptist Church, and he had secured my confidence as 
 a Christian and a friend. In maturing his plans, he made a 
 journey to Ohio, on a pretext which was satisfactory tome ; and 
 I loaned him my horse to ride, and furnished other things 
 for his convenience in travelling. On his journey he made 
 known to one of the United States' agents for Indian affairs his 
 design to supplant us in the station contemplated among the 
 Ottawas, and desired his assistance in the measure. Fie was 
 considerably indebted to the agent; and whether the influence 
 of a hope of recovering a bad debt, or some other consideration, 
 weighed with the latter, he did undertake to aid the design, and 
 to this end, furnished him with papers to the Governour of Mi 
 chigan Territory, who had control of those appointments. The 
 secret was communicated to me by a friend, and on his return 
 to Fort Wayne I reasoned and remonstrated with him, but in 
 vain. He appeared confident of success, in consequence of the 
 high standing in the Indian department of the agent, who had 
 given him, he said, the best of testimonials; and he even threat 
 ened, that if I attempted to expose him, it should be at my peril. 
 He was at that time on his way to the Governour of Michigan, 
 in company with another person. I could not possibly leave 
 home, and I was exceedingly anxious to make a communica 
 tion to the Governour as early as his application should be 
 presented. I accordingly prepared my communication, and 
 prevailed on a friend to enclose it in one of his own to Detroit. 
 
116 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 This was sent by the mischievous man and his companion. 
 Thus, without suspecting it, they carried with them a commu 
 nication adverse to their application, and which, no doubt, con 
 tributed not a little to defeat it. 
 
 In bringing to view, in connection, a few prominent facts in 
 relation to the measures which grew out of the treaty of Chicago, 
 we have, in the order of time, advanced beyond other matters 
 which claim our attention. 
 
 After the business of the treaty was completed at Chicago, 
 and before the Indians left the treaty ground, they received 
 seven barrels of whiskey, and within twenty-four hours after 
 wards ten shocking murders were committed among them. 
 About the same time we heard of three murders being commit 
 ted at Massassinavva, among the Miamies, and also of two Sha- 
 wanoes being murdered at Wapaughkonnetta, on the east of us. 
 
 About the middle of August a gentleman wrote rne, proposing 
 to become a missionary. But, greatly as we needed assist 
 ance, I was, in conscience, compelled to dissuade him from the 
 undertaking, as I believed that his qualifications were not such as 
 were essential to a missionary. I had very different views of a 
 young minister from the city of New-York, Mr. John Sears, 
 who, on a tour of preaching to the whites, extended his route 
 to our place, for the sake of information in relation to Indian 
 missions, and with a view to becoming a missionary. I visited 
 several Indian villages with him, and was so well satisfied with 
 his qualifications as to give him assurance of my readiness to 
 serve him in endeavouring to procure for him an appointment 
 from the board of missions. In this month, also, I had occasion 
 to record in my journal an instance of misplaced confidence. A 
 soldier belonging to the^army at Chicago had frequently been sent 
 express to our post, and had insinuated himself into my favour 
 able opinion so far, that from his having been much in the wil 
 derness, a man of good English education, and now professedly 
 serious, I hoped that he might be employed usefully in our wil 
 derness excursions, and as a school teacher. At his pressing 
 request, I wrote to the commanding officer in Michigan, and 
 succeeded in obtaining his discharge from the army, by furnish 
 ing a substitute which he himself found. This matter cost me 
 sixty dollars. He appeared very grateful, and his widowed 
 mother, in Canada, wrote me a letter of many thanks. I put 
 him into our school ; but he soon became drunken and worth 
 less, and I was compelled to dismiss him, lose my money that I 
 had advanced on his account, and to bear the affront of his 
 ingratitude in various ways. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS, 
 
 11? 
 
 On the 24th of August a gentleman from Indiana arrived, 
 with the desire of uniting with us in our labours. I employed 
 him a month or more for wages, and, from the trial thus made, I 
 believed that he would not be useful, and advised him to give 
 over the design of labouring as a missionary. It may not be 
 amiss to remark, that our principal difficulty, in relation to this 
 man's qualifications, was a fear that he was not a Christian. The 
 account which he gave of a work of grace on his heart was not 
 satisfactory, notwithstanding his morals were good, and he was 
 an orderly member of a Baptist church. Precisely the same 
 difficulty had been felt in relation to another person, to whom we 
 had given similar advice. About this time I hired one Konkapot, 
 an Indian from New- York, to carry communications to other 
 New-York Indians, who at this time resided about one hun 
 dred and fifty miles from us. They were somewhat civilized. 
 I informed them of our design to locate in a more eligible situa 
 tion than the one which we at that time occupied, and I invited 
 them, as I had done others in New- York, to settle around us. 
 This design embraced their own benefit, and it was hoped that 
 it would be the means of promoting the improvement of others 
 who were less civilized. We had conceived a design of forming 
 a settlement of civilized Indians ; of instituting such civil order 
 as might contribute to their growth and permanent improve 
 ment, and of holding the society together, if possible, wherever 
 circumstances might compel us to go. But we designed what 
 we have not yet been fully able to accomplish. On the re 
 turn of Konkapot, he was accompanied by a chief and seven 
 others of those New- York Indians. They professed to have 
 made their visit especially to me, and hence expected me to 
 feed them while they remained about our place. But their 
 real errand they endeavoured to conceal from me, which was 
 to negotiate for a residence among the Miarnies, where we had 
 been endeavouring to build up a mission, and had not yet 
 found the man to enter upon the work. In event of their suc 
 cess among the Miamies, they were to prepare for the location 
 of a mission of another denomination. Their plans were never 
 effected. 
 
 Our neighbourhood became exceedingly unhealthy, and on 
 the 21st of August, 1821, several of our family were attacked 
 with bilious fevers. On the 22d seven were sick, including our 
 little son and daughter, the only children we had at home. Mrs. 
 McCoy had not yet returned from her visit to the white settle 
 ments, on which she had left us in the month of June preced 
 ing. On the 27th our afflictions were such that we dismissed 
 
118 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 the school, or rather suspended studies, for our scholars boarded 
 with us, and were clothed by us, and consequently remained 
 with us, whether they were in the school or out of it. On the 
 1st of September 1 was attacked myself, but not con6ned to 
 my bed. The neighbours around us were very sickly. It was 
 the season when it was necessary to provide hay and fodder for 
 food for our cattle and horses in winter. Though sick myself, 
 1 was obliged to superintend all our business, both without doors 
 and within. At ten o'clock on the 8th, I suddenly became 
 much more unwell, and in less than three hours my extremities 
 had become cold, and my flesh generally numb, and my speech, 
 sight, and hearing, had considerably failed. To human appear 
 ance, 1 was near the verge of time. In obedience to my in 
 structions, those around me continued stimulant applications 
 until I somewhat revived. 1 was obliged to prescribe for 
 myself. Ours was, at this time, a house of affliction. I find the 
 following note in my journal, written after I became able to 
 handle the pen : " The afternoon of this day (September 8th) 
 was a most pleasant time with my soul, and I said to my friends 
 around me, notwithstanding I am now scarcely able to raise my 
 head from the pillow, yet, if ever I become able to write, 1 will 
 record this day in my journal as one of my most happy days. 
 My mind was calm, and death seemed to be disarmed of his 
 sting. I could happily trust my family to the good Providence 
 of God. My wife and seven of our children were absent ; 
 nevertheless I felt little anxiety on that account. But when I 
 thought of the Indians, I felt a strong desire to live a while longer, 
 that I might see the mission settled upon a more permanent 
 basis than it then was, and that I might preach Jesus to perish 
 ing sinners." While I apprehended that there was not a phy 
 sician within one hundred miles of rne, God so ordered it that 
 that very night two physicians stepped into my room. 
 
 I find in my journal the following, written for the 14th of 
 September: *' Had been so unwell, that I recollected little that 
 occurred between the 8th and the 14th, only that I had had 
 two other extremely severe turns. On that day my little son, 
 Calvin, was exceedingly ill, so that it was a question which of 
 us would first leave the world. My little daughter and four 
 others were sick. All seemed but a scene of distress : the 
 school suspended, and all other business at a stand, except wait 
 ing upon the sick. I exclaimed, " Good Lord, what will become 
 of the mission ?" But mercy was mingled with our afflictions. 
 It was on the evening of this 14th day that my wife arrived. 
 At this time the Miamies received at our place an annuity from 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 119 
 
 Government. I had hoped that I should be able to transact 
 much important business with them at this meeting, but I was 
 confined to my bed. The following is from our journal : 
 
 " October 8th. Arn able to walk out of doors, and notice a 
 little the situation of the establishment. A gloomy cloud hangs 
 over our affairs. New cases of sickness occurring in our family; 
 our infant daughter, and her sister, two years older, very sick. 
 The whole charge of the establishment devolves on my poor 
 wife, while her little sick children will be consoled by none 
 beside herself. If we had a man who would manage the out 
 door concerns, it would be a great relief to her. Our Indian 
 children have become scattered among their friends, so that, 
 of forty-eight, we have only twenty-three with us. Still we 
 trust that our God * hath broken up for our afflictions his de 
 creed place, and hath fixed doors and bars, and said, hitherto 
 shalt thou come, and no further, and here shall thy proud 
 waves be stayed.' 
 
 " October 18. It is just four years since I received my ap 
 pointment from the board of missions, and my wife and I are 
 still struggling alone, without an assistant missionary." 
 
 Through mercy we were all again restored to health. On 
 the 5th of November I was able to preach, sitting in my chair. 
 About this time a Miamie woman, who resided in the house in 
 which we opened our school at this place, threw herself in the 
 fire, in a fit of intoxication, and burnt herself to death. Two 
 more Miamies were murdered near us. 
 
 In October I issued a printed address to the public, setting 
 forth the condition and prospects of the mission, and requesting 
 assistance in clothing, books, or other articles, which any might 
 choose to contribute, and of which we were in want. I also* 
 wrote to many individuals, expressing our want of missionaries^ 
 Our efforts to obtain missionaries were less successful than those 
 which related to the means of support. 
 
 On the recovery of our health our scholars returned gene 
 rally. On the 14th of November we had the happiness again 
 to see our school in operation ; but we had no settled teacher. 
 I prevailed upon an elderly doctor who had come into our 
 neighbourhood to take charge of the school a few days. After 
 wards I put into the school, as a teacher, a young man of very 
 moderate education, whom I had hired to labour on the farm. 
 I wrote to the white settlements to hire a teacher, and on the 
 29th of November one arrived with the design of serving us. 
 
 An instance of attachment of Indian youth to our institution 
 may be seen in the following brief story of Consafqua. She 
 
120 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 was a promising Putawatomie girl of about fourteen years of 
 age, and had been persuaded to leave the institution by some 
 of her rude kindred, who lived a hundred miles from us. She 
 had been so long absent that we had despaired of her return 
 ing ; and it is probable that her relations supposed that she had 
 become effectually weaned from regard for the institution. On 
 the 5th of November she visited the trading post with some of her 
 relatives, and in company with them called to see us. We said 
 nothing to her about returning to reside with us. After leaving, 
 she contrived to send a message to us by one of our female 
 pupils, and inquired at the same time if we would permit her 
 to return. Our answer being favourable, she slyly left her 
 company, and hid herself. Her company soon returned to 
 our house in quest of her, some of whom appeared to be much 
 enraged, and threatened her life if they should find her. Some 
 of them being intoxicated, we had reason to feel apprehensions 
 for her safety ; but we could take no measures to conceal her. 
 Twenty days afterwards, while we were sitting at the table, one 
 of her female schoolmates informed her hastily that her rela 
 tions were approaching the door in search of her. She instantly 
 left the table, shuddering with fear, but could not leave the 
 room, because the Indians were already around the doors. She 
 could do no better than turn her face to the wall, in the hope 
 that they would not recognise her, as she had exchanged her 
 Indian dress for those of English fashion. I had strange feelings 
 when they looked into the room, but determined not to inter 
 fere, unless an attempt should be made upon her life, which I 
 had too much reason to apprehend. Happily the stratagem 
 succeeded. When the Indians turned away to examine other 
 apartments of the house, she darted out at a back door, and in 
 less than a minute was concealed where no one would have 
 thought of looking for her. Despairing of finding her, they 
 retired. Her inconsiderate kindred, however, never relinquished 
 their determination to keep her in savage condition, and, a long 
 time after this, she was compelled to yield to their wishes, and 
 return to them, to live and die in Indian wretchedness. 
 
 About this time another JViiamie woman was murdered by a 
 monster of her tribe, about half a mile from our house. 
 
 We had made the board of missions acquainted with the provi 
 sions of the Chicago treaty, and of our efforts, in various ways, to 
 obtain help from Government, together with the most feasible 
 plans for future operations, which surrounding circumstances 
 suggested. Also, I had suggested to them that, in order to 
 secure the facilities for which we had laboured, and to mature 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 our plans, it might become necessary for me to wait on them in 
 Philadelphia, and to visit Washington City. The board had 
 approved the design last intimated, and, in obedience to their 
 instructions, I set off upon this journey on the 4th of Decem 
 ber, 1821, leaving our infant child so sick that her recovery 
 could scarcely be hoped for. 
 
 The sole management of the institution again devolved upon 
 Mrs. McCoy. We kept some oxen and milch cattle ; the 
 taking care of these, the procuring of fire-wood, &c., made it 
 necessary to employ a few hired men. Besides, matters which 
 belonged immediately to the establishment, the procuring of 
 those supplies of food from a distance, such as pork, &c., which 
 would be needed for some months to come, had to be attended 
 to about this time. 
 
 Our school teacher was a stranger, who had been with us but 
 a few days. I had not long been absent before one of our 
 hired men ran away; another, and also a hired female, Mrs- 
 McCoy was compelled to dismiss, on account of indolence, and 
 the school teacher was discharged on account of drunkenness. 
 Our Indian boys, in order to heap contempt upon him, without 
 the knowledge of Mrs. McCoy, painted their faces, and took 
 sticks, which they handled as uns, and employed an old tin 
 vessel for a drum, and an old candlestick for a drumstick, and 
 surrounded the room of their wretched schoolmaster, drumming 
 and dancing in Indjan style. They wished to be understood 
 that their contempt for him was in proportion to the indignity 
 which they believed he had offered to an institution which they 
 were bound to respect. 
 
 Some time before 1 left home, we had heard that the board 
 of missions had appointed a Mr.. Clyde, as a missionary to be 
 associated with us. He had a wife and two small children. He 
 was not a preacher, but was a man of good sense. He was 
 nearly fifty years of age, and was only about two years from 
 Scotland ; by trade a weaver, with a very imperfect idea of the 
 condition of a missionary to the Indians. I had heard of his 
 approach, and had sent a man to meet him, with horses, to 
 assist him in coming through the wilderness. But he had not 
 arrived when I left ;, I met him in the wilderness. 
 
 While I cast no reflection upon Mr. Clyde, as not possess 
 ing a disposition to render service to the missionary cause, hon 
 esty compels me to say that such had been his habits of life, 
 that, while he remained on missionary ground, he was not of 
 any perceivable advantage ; and such was his age, that future 
 16 
 
122 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 usefulness could not be hoped for. His own good sense con 
 vinced him of this; and after remaining at the station a few 
 months, he prudently retired from missionary service. Before 
 he left, we mutually exchanged certificates, that as we had lived 
 together in harmony, so we parted in peace. The following is 
 a copy of Mr. Clyde's letter of resignation to the board : 
 
 " Fort Wayne, April 15, 1822. 
 
 " DEAR BROTHER : The object of my becoming your mis 
 sionary was, that I might thereby aid in ameliorating the con 
 dition of the Indians. My desires to be useful in this business 
 have not abated. But, after an experience of more than five 
 months, I have come to a settled conclusion that, owing to the 
 present, and the prospect in relation to the future situation of 
 my family, it would be most serviceable to the mission for me 
 to retire from the service of the board. 
 
 " It is expected that the mission will shortly remove further 
 into the wilderness. This circumstance has a discouraging 
 effect on the mind of my wife, notwithstanding she is as desi 
 rous to be useful to her suffering fellow-beings as ever she was. 
 
 " Having taken all these things into consideration, and believ 
 ing it to be the duty of the servants of the board to accept of 
 their patronage no longer than they can be useful, I humbly beg 
 leave to tender to the board of missions this my resignation, 
 accompanied with grateful acknowledgments for their generosity 
 and kindness. 
 
 " As preparation is making to locate the mission among the 
 Putawatomies, and it is therefore important for brother McCoy 
 to know who will certainly accompany him, as the season most 
 favourable for my providing for my family will soon be past, 
 and as the situation of my family renders a settled home indis 
 pensable, I hope it will not be considered premature for me to 
 return to Ohio by the first conveyance. 
 
 " I trust that my resignation will not be a matter of discour 
 agement to the board, nor to any who may feel disposed to 
 serve them, and whose circumstances will enable them to be 
 useful. 1 am more and more convinced of the duty of Chris 
 tians to endeavour to reform these exceedingly depraved and 
 wretched people, and experience has taught me the pressing 
 necessity which calls for more missionaries at the station. I am 
 well satisfied with the qualifications of brother and sister McCoy 
 for the stations they fill; but what can two or three missionaries 
 do in a work like this? Nothing short of a conviction that I 
 could not strengthen their hands could induce me to leave thi. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 123 
 
 brother and sister, with whom I could live on amicable terms, 
 or to quit a field which, with all my heart, I wish to he culti 
 vated. 
 
 " Your communications to me please to direct to brother 
 McCoy. Trusting that the board will have the goodness to 
 accept my resignation, I remain their humble servant, 
 
 " PETER CLYDE. 
 Rev. Dr. Staughton, Cor. See., fyc." 
 
 I made my journey to Philadelphia on horseback, and reached 
 the city the 1st of January, 1822. Dr. Staughton and other 
 members of the acting board had gone to Washington City, to 
 attend the opening of the Columbian College. 1 could there 
 fore do no better than to proceed to that place, which 1 did, 
 without delay. By agreement with Mr. Sears, of whom men 
 tion has been made, he met me in Philadelphia, with the design 
 of applying to the board of missions for an appointment to mis 
 sionary service. We hired a carriage, and, fastening my horse 
 thereto, we rode together to Washington, and back to Philadel 
 phia. 
 
 On the 7th of January the board of missions favoured me 
 with an audience. They cordially approved the plans which I 
 proposed for future operations. These plans contemplated the 
 establishment of three missionary stations : one among the Puta- 
 watomies, one among the Ottawas,and one among the Miamies; 
 in support of each of which we hoped to obtain some aid from 
 Government, by virtue of treaty stipulations. The board also 
 vested me with authority to select missionaries for our several 
 contemplated stations, and such other assistants as should be 
 necessary, to employ agents to make collections for the mission, 
 or to perform other services which might be necessary, and to 
 allow them such compensation as I deemed expedient, and in 
 general to obtain such aid from the public and from Govern 
 ment as might be practicable. They voted five hundred dollars, 
 to aid in the erection of a mission house among the Putawato- 
 mies. They directed me to leave Fort W r ayne whenever I 
 should deem it expedient. In the rninutia3 of our operations 
 their views also harmonized with my wishes; so that I felt 
 thankful to the Lord, and strongly united to them in affection. 
 
 For some months previous to this time, I had corresponded 
 with Mr. Giles Jackson, of Ohio, on the subject of his becoming 
 a missionary. On my way to Philadelphia 1 called on him, 
 and we carne to an understanding on the subject. I carried 
 with me his written application to the board of missions for an 
 
124 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 appointment to missionary labours, and at the meeting under 
 consideration the board cheerfully made the appointment soli 
 cited. The board also resolved that it was expedient for me to 
 lay our plans before the Secretary of War, so far as would be 
 necessary in soliciting aid from Government, and appointed 
 some of their number to accompany me when 1 should visit 
 that officer. On the 10th of January, in company of Rev. Dr. 
 Allison, Rev. Luther Rice, and Hon. Richard M. Johnson, 
 member of Congress, a call was made upon Hon. John C. Cal- 
 houn. Secretary of War. The treaty of Chicago had not at 
 that time been ratified. The Secretary of War heard our 
 requests with kind feelings, and declared his readiness to grant 
 them, so far as should be consistent with the stipulations of the 
 treaty, when it should come before him, and with other laws, by 
 which he must be governed. In our prayer to the Secretary of 
 War, we requested that Mr. Jackson should be appointed black* 
 smith for the Putawatomies, and Mr. Sears teacher for the Olta- 
 was ; and I also solicited permission to recommend to him 
 others, subsequently, to fill the remaining situations provided by 
 the treaty of Chicago, 
 
 By a treaty provision, mills had been erected for the Miamies, 
 and they were entitled to a miller. This subject was also sub- 
 milted to the consideration of the Secretary of War. Subse 
 quently the appointing power gave me leave to nominate a man 
 to attend to the mills, whose salary would be four or five hun 
 dred dollars a year, which would be that much towards the 
 support of a missionary station, which we desired to establish 
 tipon that ground, because this man might be a missionary, and 
 bis situation would be favourable for doing much good among 
 the Miamies, in things both temporal and spiritual. But, alns ! 
 I was never able to find a man suitably qualified, and willing to 
 labour as a missionary for that tribe. Most of the tribe conti 
 nue on the same ground to this present time, in wretched con 
 dition, and constantly diminishing in number. It is now too 
 late to help them in that place, xvhere they are closely hemmed 
 in on every side by white population, and are subject to the 
 wasting influence of the causes which have injured all tribes 
 surrounded by white people. Their recovery can only be hoped 
 for by their removal, and by vigorous humane efforts for their 
 relief. The tribe was once powerful, but it is now feeble ; a 
 few are located in the Indian territory west of the Mississippi. 
 Possibly this western settlement may prove to be a germe from 
 which the tribe may again thrive, and outlive its present wretch 
 edness. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 125 
 
 On the 17th of January, 1821, Mr. Sears was appointed by 
 the board to unite with us at our mission. The success which 
 attended my visit to Philadelphia and Washington was such 
 as to call forth devout thankfulness to God. My expectations 
 were exceeded. After preaching for the Rev. Mr. McLaugh- 
 lin, one of the vice presidents of the board, he said, " Go 
 on in your work among the Indians, and we will bear you 
 through, if possible. Should you be in want of more funds than 
 we have voted you, write to us accordingly, and in the fear of 
 the Lord, I pledge you my word, we will help you if possi 
 ble." Also, Dr. Staughton used similar language for my en 
 couragement. Nor were the Rev. Mr. Ashton and the Rev. 
 Mr. Peckworth less kind. 
 
 While I was not a little consoled by the evidence of kind 
 feelings on the part of the board, which were truly honour 
 able to their hearts, I discovered a fact equally plain, which 
 gave me much anxiety ; to wit, that my own responsibili 
 ties in the management of affairs were not likely to be dimin 
 ished. 
 
 I left Philadelphia on horseback, the 21st of January, and 
 reached our place at Fort Wayne the 16th of February. 
 For four or five days before I reached home I was so unwell as 
 to be scarcely able to travel. Still, I had great reason to be 
 thankful that I had been so well preserved in health, on a ride 
 of more than seventeen hundred miles in the winter. 
 
 It is now in order for me to tell of the severest trial that I 
 have ever experienced in my pilgrimage; in doing which, I 
 shall copy from my journal : 
 
 " When about five miles from home, I received the distressing 
 intelligence that, two days before, a Putawatomie Indian had 
 almost murdered one of our little daughters, about nine years of 
 age. She and two of our Indian girls, larger than she, went on 
 an errand about two hundred yards from the house, and the 
 greater part of the way in full view from the house, when three 
 Indians appeared at a little distance from them, one of whom 
 made towards the largest Indian girl. The children fled for 
 their lives. Our daughter being the least, and being more 
 affected by the fright than the others, and accidentally falling as 
 she ascended the river bank, was left in the rear, and fell into 
 the hands of the savage. He choked her until she was on the 
 point of expiring. The Indian girls alarmed the family. Her 
 distressed mother, and many others, hastened to her relief. Mr. 
 Edmund Liston,^ young man hired to labour, and Mungosa, one 
 of our JVliamie lads, first reached the place of the horrid scene $ 
 
126 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 which was just as the child apparently was struggling in the 
 agonies of death, and still in the grasp of the monster. He 
 fled, and they pursued him, while the other two Indians fol 
 lowed close in their rear. Liston soon overtook him, and 
 knocked him down with a club, and beat him severely. Mun- 
 gosa, on coming up, drew his knife, and would have despatched 
 him, but was prevented by Liston. 
 
 " The mother, and many others of our family, reached the 
 child before she could breathe. The blood was issuing from her 
 neck, mouth, and nose, with a considerable quantity of sand and 
 earth in her mouth. The feelings of her mother can be more 
 easily conceived than described. The design of the Indian was 
 of the basest kind, but happily the child was not injured beyond 
 what we mention in this place. Her neck was gashed with the 
 monster's nails, and her lungs were injured by violent exertion 
 for breath. Her eyes and face soon swelled frightfully. But 
 she recovered. 
 
 " The Indian was tied, but as the agent was absent, the inter 
 preter advised that he be set at liberty until the agent should 
 return. The agent was in company with me, and before we 
 arrived the Indian had left the neighbourhood. On this occa 
 sion most of the Indian children of our family united with my 
 own in weeping most bitterly. To Mrs. McCoy the circum 
 stance was the more trying on account of my absence. 
 
 " This circumstance puts our missionary zeal to the test. O, 
 how hard it is to regard a people affectionately, who, while we 
 are toiling and suffering solely for their benefit, and not our own, 
 thus cruelly requite us. I have quitted the society of relatives, and 
 many desirable Christian privileges, with a degree of cheerful 
 ness ; I have spent many days and nights at a time in the wil 
 derness, without seeing the face of a white man, and was con 
 tent with the company and fare of the natives ; I have repeatedly 
 slept on the ground, under falls of rain and of snow, without 
 much depression of spirit ; I have seen the native struggling 
 in the agonies of death, occasioned by the murderous hand of 
 his fellow, and have assisted in burying the murdered, and found 
 my desires for the salvation of the surviving enlarged, and my 
 zeal in the work of reformation increased ; from hands which 
 laid hold on me in the wilderness, to deprive me of life, 
 I have escaped, with resolution to persevere in my efforts to 
 teach them better things. But, alas ! this abuse of my dear 
 little daughter, who could not provoke insult, and her narrow 
 escape from greater injury, has taught me a lesson of human 
 frailty which I had not previously learned by experience. This 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 i27 
 
 tale of wo, connected with an account of the screams of the 
 affrighted child, of the tears running over more than forty faces 
 of our family, of the anguish of a mother, aggravated by many 
 local considerations, together with the subsequent artless excla 
 mations of the child ' O, he hurt me so much !' bore down 
 my spirits and deprived me of resolution. I was sinking, 
 when the everlasting arms underneath prevented my fall. 
 Should I endure to the end, let God have all the praise. 
 
 " By the failure of my horse I had been prevented from reach 
 ing home before this atrocity. I deeply regretted the hin- 
 derance at the time, but it was not longer after I reached home 
 than I recovered cool reflection before 1 viewed it as a great 
 mercy that I had been detained. Had I been at home, it is 
 probable that I should not have observed that discretion which 
 comported with the interests of the mission, and which would 
 have promoted my happiness in future. I am under obligations 
 to Mr. B. B. Kerchevall, United States' Indian agent, who 
 resides in the fort, who, though not a professor of religion, acted 
 the part of a Christian towards me upon this trying and tempt 
 ing occasion. He embraced an early opportunity of reminding 
 me of the sacrifices which my wife and I had made, and the 
 interest we had taken in the mission cause ; and said the appre 
 hension and punishment of the Indian, by the laws of the United 
 States, or in any other manner, would make such an unfavour 
 able impression upon the minds of these rude barbarians, unac 
 customed to this mode of avenging wrongs, that our prospects 
 of usefulness among them would be at an end. We concluded 
 to leave vengeance to Him to whom alone it belongs, and re 
 flected that we should not regard even life itself, should we be 
 called to sacrifice it in the work upon which we have entered." 
 
 About two months after this, Mungosa, the Miamie young 
 man mentioned in the preceding narrative, in company with 
 another Miamie youth belonging to our school, entered my room 
 considerably agitated, and delivered me a message, which, through 
 others, came from the murderous Indian of whom we have been 
 speaking, which was as follows : " I am here encamped, [within 
 two miles of the mission house ;] if you wish to avenge the 
 injury I have done you, you will find me here." He stated to 
 his people that he expected I would endeavour to kill him ; 
 but he was on his guard, and would endeavour to prevent it by 
 first killing me. These young Miamies were much provoked 
 by this new insult offered by the Indian, and manifested a desire 
 that I should accept his challenge to fight him ; and it required 
 
12S 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 some pains to satisfy them that I was induced to decline by 
 other considerations than those of fear. 
 
 The Indian knew that, according to their custom, he had 
 forfeited his life, and that I was the proper person to take ven 
 geance. On this account, the first time that we should by 
 chance have met, it would have been natural for him to endea 
 vour, as he had said, to kill me, with a view 01 saving his own life. 
 My business required me to be daily passing and repassing 
 through the neighbourhood, generally alone, and always un 
 armed ; and of my danger, under those circumstances, I was not 
 ignorant. But Providence, to whom we had committed the 
 matter, disposed of it in a way unexpected to us, He had 
 remained about his encampment in this menacing attitude a 
 few days, when, in a frolic of drunkenness, one of his own as 
 sociates murdered him.- The murderer himself was instantly 
 shot to death by a third person of their party. 
 
 In my late absence, Mrs. McCoy had received a large drove 
 of swine from the State of Indiana, and some cattle from the 
 State of Ohio. These were donations to the mission. For 
 the kindness of the contributors in these cases, and in many 
 cases of contributions of clothing. &c., for the scholars, and 
 occasionally small sums of money, we were taught by many 
 weighty considerations to be thankful to God and to them. 
 These donations of live stock were the more gratifying to us, 
 because they were made in places where some of those mis 
 guided ministers and others, whose names need not be remem 
 bered except as they claim our pity, were opposing missions 
 with a zeal worthy of a good cause. 
 
 I was so unwell on my return home, that it was eight days 
 before I was able to preach. At this time we were made glad 
 by hearing, from different sources, that two men in Kentucky, 
 and one in Indiana, would probably consent to unite with us 
 in missionary labours. We continued for some time our cor 
 respondence on these subjects, but all ended in disappointment. 
 
 Studies in school, which had for some time been suspended 
 for want of a teacher, were resumed on the 4th of March, but 
 without a permanent instructer. On the 18th, Mr. Johnston 
 Lykins, who had arrived on the llth, took charge of the school, 
 with the view of continuing until we should find a missionary 
 to fill the place. 
 
 During the suspensions of the school, which happened at 
 various times, the Indian children committed to our care were 
 not allowed to be idle. In taming the wild man, we conceived 
 that instruction in manual labour was as necessary as instruction 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 in letters. Under these views, both the males and the females 
 were invariably employed in their appropriate spheres, in the 
 house and in the field, at all times when circumstances justi 
 fied it. 
 
 Mr. Kerchevall, who was at this time Indian agent, nobly 
 encouraged the Indians to adopt the habits of civilized life, and 
 among some of them were, indeed, favourable indications in this 
 respect. A band of seven families, resident at the forks of 
 W abash river, who had previously fenced in a large field, re 
 solved on the erection of six more log dwellings, and the appli 
 cation of $600, out of an annuity of $800, for this purpose, 
 and for the purchase of live stock. Others of the Miamies 
 seemed determined on keeping cattle, hogs, &c., and were 
 improving their lands promisingly. 
 
 To provide early for the settlement in business of Indian youths 
 improved in schools, so that they should not, as has too often 
 been the case, return to wild or wicked habits, has long been a 
 desideratum in the work of Indian reform, and one that has 
 contributed not a little to promote the design of colonizing the 
 Indians in what we now term the Indian Territory. It has 
 often happened that promising Indian youths, whom the mis 
 sionaries had rescued from wretchedness, and had instructed 
 with solicitude, as soon as they became capable of being useful 
 to others, and when they had arrived at the age in which they 
 most needed a guardian to fix their habits for life to come, have 
 been enticed, by the promise of pleasure or reward, to leave 
 the institutions which had been established for their benefit. A 
 strong temptation of this kind was thrown out to one of our 
 Putawatomie young men, the fore part of March. He informed 
 me that an Indian trader (a white man) had, for some time, 
 been incessantly persuading him to leave our institution, and to 
 engage as a clerk with him. The young man came to me for 
 advice, but apparently much inclined to leave. He listened 
 respectfully to my advice and reasoning, and resumed his stu 
 dies with cheerfulness. 
 
 March the 8th, we put our loom into operation, and began 
 to make cloth, which, from first to last, was manufactured at the 
 establishment, the yarn having been spun by our Indian girls. 
 None among the tribes by whom we were surrounded had 
 adopted the practice of spinning and weaving. 
 
 Excessive application to business prolonged my poor health 
 many weeks after my return from Philadelphia. Notwithstand 
 ing we had more business at the establishment than we could 
 both manage to advantage, either my wife or I had to be much 
 
 17 
 
(30 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 of the time absent. On the 30th of March she set out upon a 
 journey through the wilderness to Ohio, on horseback ; from 
 which she returned on the 7th of April, having been compelled 
 to encamp in the wilderness the preceding night, with her infant 
 at the breast, which had been sick during her absence. 
 
 April the 4th, we were visited by a Miamie chief of the Mas- 
 sassinawa band, named Charley, who at that time seemed to be 
 determined to adopt habits of civilization, notwithstanding the 
 opposition of many worthless fellows belonging to his party. 
 He had left his former village, and had settled a few miles off r 
 where he intended to make a farm, and had now come to see 
 the agent, in order to procure farming utensils, and to hire men 
 to labour for him. On learning that I intended to locate myself 
 among the Putawatomies, the Miarnies were not altogether satis 
 fied. I found it necessary now to inform Charley, that notwith 
 standing my family would go to reside among the Putawatomies, 
 the Miamies should not be neglected ; that, if practicable, a 
 mission should be located in that tribe, at a place which they 
 might deem suitable, in which their children should continue to 
 receive instruction, and from which other benefits might be de 
 rived ; I was happy to hear that they were improving their 
 lands, and purchasing stock ; they were now on the road to 
 happiness, fee. Accompanied by the agent, I took him into the 
 school, and to see our loom ; after which he spoke as follows: 
 
 " My father, you spoke to me just now as we were seated on 
 the grass. A good man's words are always true, whether we 
 hear them without or within a house. You have brought me 
 into your house, and t now discover with my own eyes that 
 your words are true ; I see that of which I had formerly only 
 heard. I see the children here doing well, and learning that 
 which will make them respectable, and do them much good. I 
 have two children, whom I will bring to the school as soon as 1 
 shall have planted corn, and I will encourage my people also to 
 come into these measures." 
 
 About this time, the board was disposed to appoint a Baptist 
 minister in Indiana,, to unite with us in missionary labours. I 
 opened a correspondence with him, and with others, respecting 
 the probability of his consenting to endure such privations as 
 attended our labours, and which he could not well anticipate ; 
 the result of which was to bring me under the painful necessity 
 to advise him to decline the undertaking. 
 
INDIAN MlSSlONStllf l 
 
 f>tt> 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 t 
 
 Lamentable death of an Indian woman. Arrival of a mis 
 sionary. Modes of burial. Ceremony of adoption. Tour 
 among the Putawatomies. A. suffering mother and infant. 
 Dreadful effects of intemperance. Baptism of Mr. Lykins. 
 He is appointed a missionary. Temperance Society. Jour 
 ney to Detroit. Appointments from Government. Disin 
 terestedness of the missionaries. Arrival of missionaries. 
 Church constituted. Severe, sickness of the mission family. 
 Death. Arrival of a missionary. 
 
 irti 
 
 On the 14th of April, 1822, four of our Putawatomie 
 pupils, who had been absent through the winter, returned, 
 ragged and wretched enough. They informed me that their 
 grandmother, an aged woman, was lying at a camp a little dis 
 tance from our house, at the point of dying. In the afternoon 
 we were informed that the old woman was dead. Two young 
 men, who were her grandsons, intimated to me, through the 
 medium of some of their relatives belonging to our family, a 
 wish that I would assist in burying her, and appeared to be very 
 thankful when I consented. My wife and 1 walked to their 
 camp, where we found the corpse lying on the ground, wrapped 
 m an old blanket. In this place and position the old woman 
 had lain several days before her death, as we discovered by the 
 whitish appearance of the grass underneath her. It had been 
 raining, and sometimes snowing, for several days, and the earth 
 was very full of water; to all which she had been exposed, 
 without even a tent or a piece of bark to shelter her from the 
 storm from above, or to save her from the water beneath. The 
 few rags which had served for her clothing were filthy in the 
 extreme, and under and about her were vermin, such as might 
 be seen about a putrid carcass that had lain some days on the 
 earth. The sight was shocking, and was rendered more so on 
 account of the depravity and insensibility of her children and 
 grandchildren who were about the place. The whole company 
 exhibited a scene of poverty, wretchedness, and wickedness, 
 which scarcely could be found among any other people in the 
 world besides these miserable Indians. Near the corpse were a 
 man and two women drunk ; several others were in but little 
 better condition. A few were sober, and appeared solemn. 
 All were destitute of any shelter, excepting a piece of a tent- 
 
132 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 cloth which partially covered two or three of them. The wind 
 was high and cold, yet they had not more fire than would have 
 laid upon a common fire-shovel. All their clothing, bedding, 
 cooking vessels, and furniture of every description, would not 
 have constituted a back load for one of them. Not a particle 
 of food was to be seen about the camp, except a piece of a dog 
 which they had butchered on that morning, and which was 
 hanging on the limb of a tree. In dressing the animal they 
 had not skinned it, but had singed off the hair in the fire. 
 
 For our comfort we gathered a few sticks and kindled a fire. 
 At my request, one showed me the place where they wished the 
 grave to be dug. Their apology for troubling us was, that " they 
 had no implements with which to make a hole in the ground." 
 In order to convey the corpse to the grave, they placed on it a 
 pole extending a little beyond the head and the feet, and with 
 leather strings tied it fast to the pole in several places. A short 
 pole was next placed across the stomach, between the body and 
 the first pole. Four men then took hold, one on each end of 
 the two poles, and carried this wretched female to the grave. 
 When the corpse had been placed in the grave, one of them 
 put a piece of tobacco at the head, and pronounced the follow 
 ing valediction : " Grandmother, you have lived long enough; 
 you have now died, and left all your children. Grandmother, 
 I give you a piece of tobacco to smoke, that you may rest 
 quietly in your grave, and not disturb us who are alive. This 
 is all that I have to give you ; we will all smoke for you. Our 
 father (alluding to myself) will take care of your grandchildren. 
 Grandmother, I now bid you farewell.'* 
 
 We then placed boards over the corpse, and filled the grave, 
 after which they built a fire at the head and another at the foot. 
 This done, all retired to their camp to conclude the funeral cer 
 emonies, by smoking and by drinking whiskey. O, sin, what 
 hast thou done ! 
 
 April the 17th, Mrs. McCoy received an interesting visit 
 from two Miatnie women, who manifested much interest in the 
 operations of the loom. One of them got into it, and made a 
 trial at throwing the shuttle. One of them, who was a widow, 
 stated that it was her husband's request, when on his deathbed, 
 that his children should be placed in our institution. His dying 
 request, however, was not long regarded. 
 
 Apekauneah, a Putawatonrn'e lad about fifteen years of age, a 
 relation of the poor old woman whose funeral we had not long 
 before attended, lingered about our house a week, frequently 
 intimating a wish to come and live with us. At length he came 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 133 
 
 out plainly, and made his request to become a member of our 
 family. He pleaded that the Indians were exceedingly poor; 
 he would be a good boy, would obey me in all things, and his 
 father would by and by bring me venison, &c. I listened to 
 his affecting tale, and granted his request without asking a ques 
 tion. For his improvement, in appearance at least, he went to 
 the river, and in a few minutes returned, dressed in a suit with 
 which we had presented him, much elated with his good fortune, 
 and the better pleased because our other Indian boys conferred 
 on him the name of Isaac McCoy. 
 
 Some of the few white people about Fort Wayne were 
 French Catholics. These were visited by three priests, who 
 came to administer the sacrament, &c. On Sunday, the 21st 
 of April, after worship at our house, I took our family, including 
 our Indian pupils, to their meeting, and heard one of them 
 preach. His subject was Baptism, and his discourse was 
 mainly directed against Baptist sentiments. I soon became 
 convinced that his design was to provoke altercation with me, 
 which he might, through the Catholics mingling with the In 
 dians, turn to the disadvantage of our mission. I had been ad 
 monished by their prejudices, soon after I became a missionary, 
 to be ever on the alert in regard to them. I felt a little restless 
 within hearing of his sophistry, the absurdity of which was 
 glaring; but I was sensible that it could affect no one present, 
 either for the better or the worse, except myself. I had long 
 expected that the Catholics would one day attempt to blow 
 up a storm against us, and I had accordingly endeavoured to 
 fortify my habitation. I now deemed that I saw the cloud 
 arising, and I determined to keep the door of my mouth shut, 
 and to attend to my own business. It happened that our white 
 neighbours about Fort Wayne were exceedingly affectionate 
 and friendly towards us ; and iti the attentions bestowed on the 
 priests, the few days that they remained at our place, we were 
 frequently invited to participate. This afforded them an oppor 
 tunity of discovering that I would not be otherwise than friendly; 
 and if my conjecture respecting their design was correct, it was 
 entirely frustrated. At our request, they visited our school and 
 drank tea with us. 
 
 Among other things which were for our encouragement about 
 this time, was the following. In 1818, I met at the Silver 
 Creek Baptist Association, in Indiana, a certain minister of that 
 State, who violently opposed all our missionary operations, and, 
 as I thought, needlessly provoked altercation, not to say strife. 
 He was marshal of the State, and, in discharge of official duties, 
 
134 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 visited Fort Wayne in 182*2. While there, our house was his 
 home. 1 took pains to make him fairly acquainted with the 
 institution, but neither of us disturbed the old question which 
 we had once too warmly debated, respecting the propriety 
 of missions. On his return home, he wrote to Col. Richard 
 M. Johnson, a member of Congress, highly commendatory of 
 the mission, its prospects, &c. This letter was published in 
 various newspapers, and no doubt made an impression on the 
 minds of many, which resulted in good to the mission. On the 
 27th of April we received a newspaper, in which the good 
 effects of this letter were visible, not only in the remarks of the 
 editor, but in a statement that sixty dollars had been forwarded 
 to the board, for the aid of the mission. Thus Providence or 
 dered that one who had been a formidable opposer, after spend 
 ing a few days at the institution, should become an active helper. 
 
 On our journal I find the following note for April 4, 1822, 
 soon after the departure of Mr. Clyde : " Our spirits have been 
 much depressed for a few days. The reflection is pretty hard 
 to bear, that after toiling and hoping for help about four years 
 and a half, we find ourselves alone in this wilderness, without 
 another kindred spirit to sympathize with us. We mutually pour 
 our plaint into each other's bosom, and look upwards for relief." 
 Three days later we received intelligence from Mr. Sears, that 
 two or three others in New-York, besides himself, felt inclined 
 to become missionaries to the Indians. This intelligence was 
 like a cordial to our wounded spirits. But experience had by 
 this time taught us to rejoice with trembling, when we heard of 
 missionaries coming to our assistance. That our fears, that 
 many who should enlist in this service would soon after desert 
 it without having contributed to its promotion, were well found 
 ed, will be manifest by this history throughout. 
 
 In April, Mr. Jackson, who had recently been appointed by 
 the board of missions to unite with us, set out for our place, 
 from Ohio. Our two elder sons, who were lads at school in 
 Ohio, accompanied him. On the 27th, the younger came into 
 our house, alone, for assistance to bring in Mr. Jackson and 
 family, whom he had left twelve miles behind, in the wilder 
 ness, with his team so worn down, on account of the badness of 
 the road, that he was scarcely able to proceed. On the follow 
 ing morning I took assistance, and met him wading on through 
 mud and water, and the same evening we had the happiness to 
 see him and his family seated in our house. 
 
 Mr. Jackson was not a minister, but was a pious, good man. 
 He was expected to labour as a blacksmith, under an appoint- 
 
1N1MAN MISSIONS. 
 
 135 
 
 ment from Government, as has before been intimated. While 
 about his shop, it was believed he would have favourable oppor 
 tunities of making profitable communications to the natives; 
 and if at any time he desired to labour in spheres more exclu 
 sively evangelical, another would be hired to perform the man 
 ual labour required, under his superintendence. It was hoped, 
 also, that we should be able to impart a knowledge of this neces 
 sary trade to some Indian youths, and by this means contribute 
 to improve the condition of these people. 
 
 About this time we were aided by generous donations of 
 clothing, &LC., and sometimes cash, from Kentucky, Ohio, Ten 
 nessee, and other States. Also, frequent visits from various 
 tribes by which we were surrounded, gave us evidence of an 
 increasing interest being felt by them in the operations of the 
 institution. 
 
 Near dark, on the evening of the 2d of May, an Indian called 
 on me, and desired rne to visit a sick friend of his, at his camp. 
 I found the unhappy man lying on the ground, in the open air, 
 surrounded by his party, the greater part of whom were intoxi 
 cated. A cup of whiskey, which was near the head of the 
 sick, was removed at my request. He begged of me to send 
 him a little food, which I did. After spending the night on the 
 earth, without a shelter, he was brought into our house on the 
 following morning, through a rain. Two days after this he died. 
 When he discovered that his end was approaching, he requested 
 to be taken out of the house, into the open air. Those people 
 were much averse to being within a house when they expired. 
 We had him buried as decently as time would admit. It is 
 their custom to bury theirdead as soon as possible. We were 
 not allowed time to procure a coffin, but we placed boards about 
 the corpse. They will not permit their graves to be du.g so- 
 deep as civilized people usually inter their dead. Agreeably 
 to their custom, a piece of tobacco was by them put into the 
 grave at the head. The countenance of his wife indicated me 
 lancholy, and her sister shed tears. Before the burial, a nephew 
 of the deceased, who was somewhat intoxicated, came running 
 and hallooing like a madman. He set up a hideous lamenta 
 tion, which resembled the howling of a wolf more than the 
 expressions of grief of a bereaved relation. After some foolish 
 incantations, such as blowing his breath into the nostrils of the 
 corpse, &c., he declared that the deceased had been poisoned, 
 and hurried off, threatening to be avenged upon the Indian 
 whom* he suspected of the crime. To us it was evident that 
 his death had been occasioned by intemperance and privation. 
 
136 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 On the 8th of May, about midnight, we were awakened by the 
 singing of a brother of the deceased, who had come into an 
 apartment of our house to procure fire, to kindle at the grave. 
 They also poured whiskey on the grave. 
 
 The following is copied from the journal of the mission for 
 this time : " Besides the mode of burying the dead in an exca 
 vated log, which we have heretofore described, the Indians 
 observe various modes of interment. In some instances the 
 corpse is placed on the surface of the earth, and enclosed with 
 small poles, notched closely together. Sometimes the walls are 
 perpendicular, but oftener they incline inward, until the longer 
 sides come in contact with each other. In one end is made a 
 small aperture, sufficient to admit a twist of tobacco. The 
 enclosure is sometimes filled with earth. Frequently, in the 
 graves of men, a small wooden post extends a few feet above 
 the tomb, on which notches are cut, or marks are made, each 
 of which indicates a scalp which the deceased in his lifetime 
 had taken from an enemy, or some other noble deed achieved. 
 Over the graves of chiefs a tall pole is often erected, upon the 
 top of which is suspended a yard or two of cotton cloth, as a 
 flag, which is permitted to remain in that situation until de 
 stroyed by wind and weather. 
 
 " In 1821, a woman on Wabash river was buried by being 
 seated with the head erect, and was braced up in this attitude, 
 with her face towards a small window in the east end of the 
 enclosure, through which it was designed that she should behold 
 the rising sun. 
 
 " A few years since, a Putawatomie, who had acquired the 
 name of Tobacco, from his fondness for that article, desired to 
 be buried in a public place, which travellers would frequently 
 pass, in the hope that by this means he should frequently 
 receive a piece of tobacco, the use of which he said he could not 
 think of discontinuing. He was interred in a log, and, agreeably 
 to his request, was deposited in the forks of a road between 
 Detroit and Chicago. 
 
 " I am credibly informed, that not long since a man on Wa 
 bash river was buried standing with the whole body erect, and 
 the feet placed upon the surface of the earth. Before his 
 death, he requested to be interred in this attitude, with his face 
 towards a coal mine, near which he was placed for the purpose 
 of guarding it. He supposed the mine contained something 
 valuable, and he stated to his people, that, as the settlements of 
 white people were rapidly approaching them, he deemed it 
 proper for him to take care of this important treasure." 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 187 
 
 In the lake country to the north I have seen the corpse 
 placed in a wooden trough, and a covering of bark tied over it, 
 and then elevated upon a scaffold. On Arkansas 1 discovered 
 where the corpse of an adult had been enclosed in a bundle of 
 reeds the common cane so abundant in that country and 
 placed upon a scaffold. They had selected a tree, from which, 
 about ten feet from the earth, several boughs extended almost 
 horizontally, the outer ends of which were sustained by erect 
 braces of poles, i accidentally happened on it as I passed 
 through a remote part of the wilderness. It had then fallen 
 down, and the flesh had been destroyed. The bones, blanket, 
 shrouding, &ic., lay at the place. 
 
 The bereaved frequently adopt a person in the room of a 
 deceased relation. About the 9th of May, 18*22, a man near 
 us was invited to the Massassinawa towns, to be adopted in the 
 room of a respectable Miamie, whose English name was 
 George, and who had left a considerable family of children. 
 In the ceremony of adoption a feast is prepared, at which also 
 there must be an ample supply of ardent spirits to drink. 
 When the person to be adopted arrives, he is stripped of his 
 own clothes, and is dressed in the best clothes remaining of the 
 person whose place he is designed to supply. If no clothes of 
 the deceased suitable to the occasion can be produced, new 
 clothes and ornaments are accordingly prepared. The candi 
 date, being dressed and painted, is led out of the dressing apart 
 ment, and presented to the nearest relatives of the deceased, 
 who, taking him by the hand, call him by the name of their de 
 parted friend, and receive him in his room. He becomes seated 
 by the father, mother, or other near relations of the deceased. 
 Next they commence beating on their drums, and the newly 
 adopted person must lead in the dance, which accords to the 
 music, in which the males of the company unite, and follow 
 him around a fire. Afterwards they eat, drink, and drum and 
 dance many hours. 
 
 The husband and the wife usually hold property separately. 
 All the property, therefore, which had belonged to the deceased, 
 though he may have been a husband and a father, is now given 
 to the person who has been adopted ; and if he be an unmarried 
 man, the widow, or some other near relation of the deceased, is 
 also presented to him, and becomes his wife. I believe the man's 
 fancy is not consulted in this case, and it would be an unpardon 
 able insult to the company, were he not to accept the wife 
 offered him. 
 
 In acknowledgment for these attentions, it is expected that 
 18 
 
138 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 the newly adopted man will, either at the present or at a future 
 time, make presents of clothing, or the like, to the nearer rela 
 tions of the deceased, and a liberal portion of ardent spirits to 
 the company, by which they may give zest to another festival. 
 Females, also, are sometimes adopted in the room of deceased 
 females. 
 
 May the 13th, we were visited by a Miamie who resided near 
 Tippecanoe,* who spoke sensibly about education and improve 
 ment in general. He desired us to locate ourselves in his neigh 
 bourhood, and argued the point with a view to gain our consent. 
 He urged that it was a good place corn there throve well he 
 doubted not that there many children would attend school, &tc. 
 Formerly, these people had spurned the offers of institutions 
 for the improvement of either their heads, their hands, or their 
 hearts; and it was no less gratifying than surprising, now, to 
 hear them endeavouring to persuade us to settle among them for 
 these purposes. The fields around us appeared to be whiten 
 ing for the harvest, but we could not obtain labourers. 
 
 On the 14th of May, I took Abraham, one of our pupils, and 
 set out upon a tour among the Putawatomies: three Frenchmen 
 also were in company. We passed an encampment of Puta 
 watomies, who were drinking. A relation of the late wicked 
 Indian who had so illy treated me, and who had previously inti 
 mated some antipathy against me, was one of the company: he 
 was, however, too much intoxicated to recognise me. He 
 had a pistol in his belt. The whole company proposed fol 
 lowing us, for the purpose of encamping with us, and Abraham, 
 fearing that the fellow would ascertain that I was in company, 
 and on overtaking us might injure me with the pistol, peaceably 
 disarmed him, by requesting the loan of it for the purpose of 
 procuring fire. The company, however, did not overtake us as 
 they had proposed. In the course of the day we met several 
 companies of Indians going to Fort Wayne to procure whiskey. 
 I slept on a piece of bark, as, in those days, I usually did in the 
 wilderness, when bark could be procured. On the day following, 
 we had so much difficulty in crossing Elksheart river, that we 
 found it necessary to halt and dry our baggage. 
 
 On the 16th, we reached a French trading house, at Park- 
 aux-Vaches, by travelling through the rain. I was sorry to hear 
 that many of the chiefs, whom I desired to see in reference 
 to our settlement in that country, had gone to Lake Michigan 
 
 The Indian pronunciation is Ke-tp'-e-kon. An idea prevails extensively, 
 that Tippecanoe embraces the word canoe ; but the word for canoe, with slight 
 variations in the diffierent dialects spoken in that region, is chee-man. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 to engage in a drunken frolic; a trader having arrived at that 
 place with a quantity of whiskey. 
 
 On the 17th, I sent Abraham to the lake, to urge the return 
 of the chiefs, and to bring thence three children for our school. 
 In the mean time, I took a Frenchman and rode five or six miles 
 to examine the ground on which the Putawatomies, as I had 
 learned, desired us to settle. In our excursion we called at two 
 lonely little huts, one made of bark, and the other of flags. 
 Here I met with a chief from a neighbouring village, who, with 
 the rest of the company, appeared delighted with the prospect 
 of our settling near them, and, by many rude expressions of friend 
 ship, welcomed me to their country. 
 
 The wigwam composed of flags was circular, about ten feet 
 in diameter, and about seven feet high in the centre. The 
 smoke from the fire in the middle of the hut escaped through 
 an opening above. The door was closed by a deer skin attached 
 to the upper part. Within lay a woman on the ground, whose 
 groans indicated extreme agony, and whose appearance presaged 
 a speedy dissolution. Her body and arms were uncovered, ex 
 cepting as she occasionally drew over them an old blanket, which, 
 in her restlessness, she was perpetually shifting. Six days be 
 fore this time she had become the mother of twin sons, one of 
 whom had died, and the other was scarcely alive. 1 already 
 supposed that I had witnessed among Indians the extreme of 
 wretchedness ; but a sight of this infant, which was brought to 
 me that I might see it, together with the indescribable condition 
 of its mother, surpassed any thing which I had ever beheld, 
 and excited in me feelings both of sympathy and horror. The 
 babe was placed on a board, as was common with those people, 
 with pieces of an old blanket around it, to which, and to the infant, 
 now six days old, I suppose a drop of water had never been 
 intentionally applied, it gasped for breath ; " but why," thought 
 I, " should it desire to live, seeing that its life must be that of a 
 miserable Indian ! Or shall our benevolent institution, to be 
 erected here, become a house of mercy to such, in which shall 
 be concentrated, for their benefit, the sympathies and charities of 
 Christians !" 
 
 The Frenchman who was with me was a very profane man, 
 but a professed Roman Catholic, and on this account esteemed 
 himself a Christian. He said, " he believed that baptism would 
 be very good for the child, and that he would return on the 
 following day and baptize it." 
 
 On the 18th I rode to Menorninee's and Pcheekos's villages, 
 and was received with much kindness. The day following the 
 
140 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 people of both villages assembled at one house. I issued tobacco, 
 and all smoked. Next a bowl of hommony passed around the 
 company, of which all partook, one after another, by means- of 
 the same ladle, without spoon or dish. After which I spoke to 
 them an hour, on the propriety of their adopting habits of civili 
 zation, &c. 
 
 1 then informed them that I desired to address them solely 
 on the subject of religion, and wished the women also to hear. 
 They were called, but appeared ashamed to come into the house, 
 it not being customary for women to mingle with the men w 7 hen 
 in a council, from which they could not distinguish this assem 
 blage. The females generally seated themselves outside of the 
 house, but near enough to hear. All listened attentively to the 
 discourse, and then retired about half an hour, which time the 
 principal men employed in private consultation ; when we re^ 
 assembled, and they made the following reply : 
 
 " Our father, we are glad to see you and hear you among us. 
 We are convinced that you come among us from motives of 
 charity towards us. We believe that you know what to tell us, 
 and that you tell us the truth. We are glad to hear that you are 
 coming to live near us, and when you shall have arrived we will 
 visit your house often, and hear you speak of these good things." 
 The bowl of hommony then passed around the company again, 
 all smoked, shook hands, and parted in friendship. On leaving, 
 some of them gave me their blessing. The benediction of one 
 was as follows : " May the Great Spirit preserve your health, 
 and conduct you safely to your family, give success to your 
 labours, and bring you back to us again." 
 
 Among those tribes we rarely saw the men labouring in the 
 field. The cultivation of the field was almost universally es 
 teemed the business of the women. On this occasion we passed 
 a small field in which a company of men were also labouring. 
 Men, women, and children, came running to meet us at the 
 fence, and all gave me the parting hand. 
 
 I did not see among them a particle of either bread or meat, 
 excepting a few pigeons which they had killed with sticks ; 
 some deer might have been taken, but they were destitute of 
 powder and lead, and had not any thing with which to purchase 
 those articles. Excepting roots and weeds, their only food at 
 this time consisted of corn and dried beans, of which their stock 
 was exceedingly small. 
 
 Abraham would have brought two or three children from the 
 lake, for our school, had he been able to procure horses for 
 them to ride, On our return to Park-aux-Vaches, a woman was 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 i4t 
 
 there who had fled from a cruel husband, who had designed to 
 murder her and her children, of whom he was only the step 
 father. The eldest, a son, had been a while at our institution, 
 and the mother now gave us a little girl to take home. 
 
 We set out for Fort Wayne on the 21st of May, having with us 
 two Indian boys and this little girl. The mother was consider 
 ably affected at parting with her children. We halted and con 
 versed a while with the people in Rum's village, and at night 
 pitched our tents amidst a fall of rain, through which we had 
 travelled an hour, and where we were annoyed by swarms of 
 musketoes. 
 
 On the 23d we passed three drunken Indians lying asleep in 
 the weeds, and also passed many others who were intoxicated. 
 On the same day we reached Fort Wayne, and were happy to 
 find our business moving on well, notwithstanding the family 
 had been much annoyed by intoxicated Indians. 
 
 In my absence, an Indian murdered his brother near our 
 house. Soon after this atrocious act, Mrs. McCoy and some 
 others went to the place, and found the dead man horribly man* 
 gled. He had been stabbed seven times, and ripped up on one 
 side. The hardened wretch who had done the deed, without 
 any appearance of remorse, showed them how and where the 
 wounds had been inflicted. Our family buried the deceased. 
 About the same time this wretch raised a quarrel with ope 
 of our larger Indian boys, and chased him some distance with a 
 drawn knife, with the design to kill him. The lad ran into our 
 house for protection, while the pursuer was close at his heels.. 
 It was with some difficulty that our eldest son, only a boy, and 
 Mr. Lykins, the school teacher, got the fellow to leave the 
 house without accomplishing his bloody design. He did not 
 attempt to injure them ; but such was his obstinacy, and his de 
 termination to take the life of our Indian boy, that while they 
 reasoned with him in a friendly manner, and required him to 
 leave the house, they deemed it prudent for each of them to 
 be provided with a good cane. 
 
 In my absence, a man from Miamie county, Ohio, agreeably 
 to his previous proposals to us, arrived, with a view of becoming 
 a missionary. He proposed to take the management of our 
 agricultural matters. We had deemed it most expedient that 
 he should first come without his family, and make some trial of 
 his qualifications. The result of a few weeks' probation with 
 us was a conviction that he would not be useful as a mission 
 ary. 
 
 On the 24th of May, Mr. Jackson put our smithery into 
 
142 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 operation, and one of our Indian boys was taken into the 
 shop, with a view of teaching him the art of blacksmithing. 
 About this time we received many interesting visits from the 
 Indians. One chief said he would give us two square miles of 
 land for mission premises, if we would settle near his town. At 
 this time, myself and several of our family suffered by sickness. 
 
 On Lord's day, June 2d, 1822, immediately after the morn 
 ing services, Mr. Johnston Lykins, our school teacher, related 
 to us his exercises of mind on the subject of religion, which left 
 us no doubt of his being a disciple of the Lord Jesus. He had 
 obtained a hope in Christ while he taught our school on the 
 Wabash river. At three o'clock in the afternoon, I preached 
 on the subject of baptism, and baptized him in the Maumee 
 river, in presence of a considerable number of spectators, some 
 of whom were Indians. 
 
 While some whom we had employed to assist us had given 
 us much trouble, others had afforded us great satisfaction. Mr. 
 Lykins was the second school teacher who, at our place, had 
 obtained hope in Christ, and he was the third of those whom 
 we had employed, who had been baptized. The first school 
 teacher alluded to was Mr. Corbly Martin, who at this time was 
 an acceptable minister of the Gospel in the State of Ohio. My 
 health was so poor that I was compelled to deliver both dis 
 courses of this day as I sat in my chair, and it was with diffi 
 culty that I descended and ascended the river bank, in attending 
 to the ordinance of baptism. 
 
 On the 3d of June we buried another poor Indian, who had 
 died near our house. Two days previously an Indian stabbed 
 his wife near us, and would have instantly taken her life, had 
 she not been rescued by a white man who happened to be 
 present. 
 
 With the view of obtaining Anthony Shane, a half-Indian, 
 to reside with us when we should become settled among the 
 Putawatomies, to serve the institution as interpreter, and desi 
 rous also that his wife, who was a member of our church, should 
 be within reach of religious instruction, I set out on horseback 
 on the 4th, for their place, a distance of forty-five miles. I was 
 so unwell that I was scarcely able to ride. I reached Shane's 
 on the 5th, having travelled fifteen miles through a rain, and 
 found myself more indisposed. On the 6th I preached, sitting 
 in my chair. The object of my visit was not attained, and with 
 much pain I returned to my own house on the 7th. 
 
 The people of White Raccoon's village, having commenced 
 improving their lands, erecting houses, &c., and getting into 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 143 
 
 such difficulties in their incipient improvements as threatened to 
 deprive them of a crop, they applied to us for some assistance. 
 For their encouragement in well doing, we sent a young man, 
 with a wagon, plough, and team, to labour for them one week, 
 without charge. For this favour they expressed many thanks. 
 Mr. Lykins, whom I baptized on the 2d of June, offered to 
 unite with us as a fellow labourer; with much pleasure we gave 
 him the hand of fellowship as such, and it is with increased 
 satisfaction that we can now reflect that the high expectations 
 which we then indulged of his future usefulness have not been 
 disappointed. He was at that time a little over twenty-two 
 years of age. He was furnished with the following certificate 
 of his appointment : 
 
 " Fort Wayne, June 15, 1822. 
 
 " Agreeably to regulations of the Baptist Board of Missions 
 for the United States, in relation to the appointment of mission 
 aries to the Fort Wayne mission, the bearer, Mr. Johnston 
 Lykins, at his request, and upon a full acquaintance with his 
 character, is hereby duly appointed a missionary, in conjunction 
 with those already labouring at this station. 
 
 " As Mr. Lykins has dedicated his life to this service solely 
 for the good of the Indians, without the promise or hope of any 
 pecuniary reward whatever, expecting nothing more than a sub 
 sistence, it is hoped that all good people will treat him with that 
 respectful attention which his talents, piety, and self-denial 
 merit. ISAAC McCoy." 
 
 With one exception, which we shall explain hereafter, the 
 use of ardent spirits presented the most formidable obstacle to 
 Indian reform. Laws of Congress had been enacted to prevent 
 the introduction of ardent spirits into the Indian country, but it 
 could not be perceived that the Indians drank less liquor on ac 
 count of the enactment of these laws ; they were seldom exe 
 cuted. By law, traders were required, as they still are, to take 
 licenses from an Indian agent or superintendent. In these they 
 pledged security, in a given amount, to observe the laws of the 
 United States regulating trade and intercourse with the Indian 
 tribes ; and one of these laws positively forbids the introduction 
 of ardent spirits into the Indian country ; nevertheless, traders 
 as regularly laid in ardent spirits, as a part of their annual stock 
 to carry to their store-houses, as they did blankets, calicoes, or 
 any other article. In ten years that we spent in that country, 
 we knew not a solitary exception to this statement. 
 
 We could perceive no way by which this evil could be 
 
144 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 checked, but by kindly remonstrating with those who were in 
 the practice of furnishing the Indians liquor. All such persons 
 in the vicinity of Fort Wayne, excepting one, at length con 
 sented to discontinue the practice, each upon the proviso that 
 others also would discontinue it. On the 12th of June we had 
 a general meeting of the white inhabitants of the neighbour 
 hood, and formed a society, the object of which was the sup 
 pression of this practice. The following is the preamble to the 
 constitution : 
 
 " Whereas the sale of ardent spirits to the aborigines of our 
 country is productive of the most baleful effects ; it has been 
 proven to be the fruitful source of poverty and wretchedness 
 among them ; it destroys conjugal, paternal, and filial affection ; 
 it paralyzes a sense of honour, decency, fidelity, and virtue ; it 
 leads to ignorance, superstition, indolence, and crime ; occasions 
 the most horrid and barbarous murders, fosters the wretchedness 
 of savage habits, and checks the progress of civilization among 
 them: And whereas the continuation of the practice of furnish 
 ing them with liquor, with such infallible proofs of its pernicious 
 consequences before us, would be not only a violation of the 
 good laws of the United States, but also of humanity and of 
 every feeling of the benevolent heart, without even increasing 
 the profits of trade among them : Therefore, we, whose names 
 are subscribed below, do agree to unite in a society," fee. 
 
 The society resolved to solicit the co-operation of all traders 
 in the Indian country, and of others on the frontiers of white 
 settlements ; but the success of the society was not equal to the 
 kindness of its resolutions. The individual who refused to come 
 into those measures was soon after detected in selling liquor to 
 the Indians, with proof positive, ;which made him liable to fines 
 for three offences. The cases were such that it was necessary 
 for them to be decided by the court, meeting in the village of 
 Winchester, about eighty miles from Fort Wayne. The matter 
 was, by the society, placed in the hands of the proper civil offi 
 cers, and there it ended. Finding it impracticable to induce 
 the execution of laws forbidding the sale of ardent spirits to the 
 Indians, the society was not a little discouraged ; and some of 
 us soon after removing to the Carey mission, a hundred miles 
 off, matters returned to run in their former channels. 
 
 Throughout the month of June I was sick, and much of the 
 time unable to preach, even from my seat. On the 28th, Mrs. 
 McCoy was attacked with fever. On the 9th of July her 
 health was improving, and mine was so far restored, that it was 
 deemed proper for me to set out upon a journey to Detroit, (two 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 145 
 
 hundred miles,) which had been delayed on account of my ill 
 health. The first night we tied our horses to trees at an en 
 campment, to prevent their escape. On the following morning, 
 as we were allowing them to graze a little, they were so much 
 annoyed by flies and musketoes that they attempted to leave 
 us, and occasioned a severe race to recover them. 
 
 This journey to Detroit was made for the purpose of securing 
 the facilities which had been provided by the treaty of Chicago, 
 and which had been promised to us. By an arrangement of 
 the Department of War, this matter had been placed under the 
 control of his Excellency Lewis Cass, Governour of Michigan 
 Territory. Our wishes in this matter were fully met. Mr. 
 John Sears was appointed teacher for the Ottawas ; the black 
 smiths for botli the Ottawas and Putawatomies I was authorized 
 to select. This was a very favourable circumstance, because it 
 allowed us time to look around for suitable persons for those 
 places ; whereas, had we been required to present the names of 
 the smiths at that moment, we should have lost those places, 
 and have been liable to have an ungodly man placed in our 
 connection in the capacity of smith, for we had no man in readi 
 ness for the Ottawa smithery. and of Mr. Jackson's perseverance 
 in missionary labours we already began to feel doubts. 
 
 The importance which at that time was attached to the pro 
 visions of the treaty of Chicago may be inferred from the 
 commission and instructions given me by the Governour of 
 Michigan Territory, as follows : 
 
 " Detroit, July 16, 1822. 
 
 " SIR : By the article of the treaty of Chicago, the 
 
 sum of fifteen hundred dollars is appropriated for the support 
 of a blacksmith, teacher, and a person to instruct the Ottawas 
 in agriculture, and for the purchase of cattle, farming utensils, 
 &c. ; and the sum of one thousand dollars is appropriated for 
 the support of a teacher and blacksmith for the Putawatomies. 
 The establishment for the latter is to be formed on a section of 
 land, to be located in the Indian country, south of the St. 
 Joseph's, and, for the former, north of the Grand river. 
 
 " Having been instructed by the Secretary of War to avail 
 myself of your services upon this subject, if they can be advan 
 tageously used, and believing the interests of the United States, 
 as well as those of the Indians, will be promoted by your em 
 ployment, I have no hesitation in conferring on you the appoint 
 ment of teacher for the Putawatomies, and also upon your 
 associate, Mr. Sears, that of teacher for the Ottawas. 
 19 
 
146 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 " Your duties as superintendent of the establishment, by the 
 Baptist church, for the civilization and improvement of the In 
 dians, will be separate from and independent of those which 
 will be required of you under the treaty ; and for the execution 
 of the latter, agreeably to the instructions you may receive, 
 you will be responsible to the proper officers of the United 
 States. 
 
 " As teacher, you will give such instructions to the Indians, 
 old and young, as you may deem best suited to their capacity, 
 habits, and condition. What portion of these instructions shall 
 be moral and religious, must be referred to your own discretion. 
 Schools for the education of youth will come within the sphere 
 of your duties, so far as circumstances may require, and as the 
 bounty of individuals or of societies may provide for the support 
 of the scholars. But no other expenditure than your own com 
 pensation must be expected from the United States for this 
 object. 
 
 " Accompanying this I transmit you an extract of rny letter 
 to the Northern Missionary Society, which will exhibit to you 
 my sentiments on this subject, and which render it unnecessary 
 for me to repeat them in this letter. 
 
 " But, independent of these objects, your duties, as teacher, 
 will extend to the whole circle of Indian wants, and to all the 
 means of Indian improvement, whether moral or physical. 
 
 " 1st. It will be a paramount duty to inculcate proper senti 
 ments towards the Government and citizens of the United 
 States, to persuade the Indians, as far as possible, to withdraw 
 their views and affections from a foreign Power, and to restrain 
 them from any acts which would render them obnoxious to our 
 laws, or expose them to the lawless attacks or depredations of 
 individuals. 
 
 " 2d. All attempts to meliorate the condition of the Indians 
 must prove abortive, so long as ardent spirits are freely intro 
 duced into their country. Their continued intoxication is the 
 bane of all our efforts. Every hope, feeling, and consideration, 
 are sacrificed to this overwhelming passion. It is an absolute 
 mania, which they appear to be wholly unable to resist, and 
 which sweeps before it every barrier of self-regard, of moral 
 duty, and of natural affection. One fact will place this lament 
 able evil in a clearer point of view than the most laboured dis 
 cussion. At the treaty concluded September last, at Chicago, 
 Topenebe, principal chief of the Putawatomies, a man nearly 
 eighty years of age, irritated at the continual refusal, on the part 
 of the commissioners, to gratify his importunities for whiskey, 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 147 
 
 exclaimed in the presence of his tribe, ' We care not for the 
 land, the money, or the goods ; it is the whiskey we want 
 give us the whiskey.' 
 
 " Under such circumstances, your efforts must be unceasingly 
 directed to prevent the introduction of ardent spirits into the 
 Indian country. Congress have done their duty on this subject, 
 and if the laws are administered with vigilance and fidelity, the 
 most salutary consequences may be anticipated. You must 
 explain to the chiefs, and the more reasonable men, the misery 
 and destruction which the indulgence of this habit will entail 
 upon their race, and endeavour to promote the establishment of 
 associations with the avowed object of preventing the introduc 
 tion and use of ardent spirits. In fact, no terms must be made 
 with this devastating enemy, and the final accomplishment of 
 your object will depend, in a great degree, upon your success 
 in this first and most important effort. 
 
 " 3d. It will be necessary for you to observe the conduct of 
 the traders, and report any infractions of the laws to the nearest 
 agent, that proper measures may be taken to investigate the 
 facts, and to punish the offenders, and more particularly the 
 offence mentioned in the preceding article, of introducing into 
 the Indian country ardent spirits, either by traders or others. 
 The nature of the evidence and the names of the witnesses will, 
 in all cases, accompany your report. 
 
 "4th. In all this section of country, the fur-bearing animals, 
 as well as those used for food by the Indians, are disappearing. 
 It is impossible for the different tribes to support themselves by 
 the product of the chase, and it is highly important that their 
 attention should be directed to agriculture, and to the rearing of 
 domestic animals, before their condition has become such as to 
 render further exertions hopeless. 
 
 " There is no stipulation in the Chicago treaty for the em 
 ployment of any person to teach the Putawatomies agriculture, 
 or to provide domestic animals for them. They will, of course, 
 be deprived of the aid of any labourers, and also of any assist 
 ance in the purchase of cattle and horses. But still, the duty 
 of recommending these subjects to their attention must be faith 
 fully performed. The considerations proper to be urged are too 
 obvious to require enumeration. They embrace their means of 
 present subsistence and all their hopes for the future. Without 
 this radical change in their habits and views, their declension 
 must be rapid, and their final extinction near and certain. Be 
 sides, all prospect of moral improvement must depend upon a 
 previous improvement in their physical condition. By render- 
 
148 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 ing them stationary, by assigning to each a separate tract of 
 land, and thereby teaching them the value of exclusive property, 
 and by enabling them to furnish their food with less fatigue and 
 more certainty by the labours of agriculture than by the chase, 
 we shall gradually teach them the advantages of our arts and 
 institutions, we shall prepare them for such instruction as they 
 may be able to comprehend, and as may suit their altered con 
 dition. But to reverse this natural order of things, and to 
 undertake to explain to them the obligations of religion and 
 the moral duties of life, while they are naked, starving, hopeless, 
 and helpless, is to ensure the failure of the plans which charity 
 has devised, and zeal is now prosecuting for their melioration. 
 
 " Endeavour, therefore, by precept and example, to reclaim 
 them from the life of a hunter. Your time and services cannot 
 be better employed, and I trust you will, ere long, realize your 
 most ardent expectations. 
 
 "5th. The cash annuities which the different tribes receive 
 from the United States might be made very serviceable to them, 
 if judiciously expended. It will be proper, therefore, that you 
 should advise them what articles they ought to purchase, and 
 endeavour, as far as possible, to restrain them from procuring 
 whiskey, or trifling and expensive ornaments, which contribute 
 nothing to their comfort or support. 
 
 " 6th. It is important that their implements of agriculture, 
 their clothing, and domestic animals, should not be sold ; and as 
 the law expressly prohibits the traffic, under a specific penalty, 
 you will report, as in the former case, any violations of it to the 
 nearest Indian agent, and you will also explain to the Indians 
 the immense sacrifice which this custom occasions to them, and 
 the little proportion there is between the value of the articles 
 which they give and receive. 
 
 " 7th. The Indians gain nothing by resorting to our settle 
 ments. They exchange every necessary article in their posses 
 sion for whiskey. They violate the laws, and are exposed to 
 punishment. They commit depredations upon the property of 
 our citizens, and the amount is deducted from their annuities, 
 and, above all, they resort to a foreign country, where they bar 
 ter immediate promises and future services for substantial pre 
 sents, where an influence is acquired over them, injurious to 
 us and destructive to them ; you will endeavour to persuade 
 them, therefore, to remain at home. Their annuities will be 
 principally paid to them in their own country. There are 
 traders enough to furnish them with goods, and to receive their 
 peltries in exchange. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 149 
 
 " 8th. It will be proper for you to visit, occasionally, their 
 villages, to become acquainted with the different individuals, to 
 examine their wants, and their modes of living, and to acquire 
 their confidence in such a manner as to give the greatest effect 
 to your advice and representations. 
 
 " An annual compensation will be allowed you of four hun 
 dred dollars ; and you can select a blacksmith, whose annual 
 compensation will be three hundred and sixty-five dollars. 
 These allowances will commence with the commencement of 
 your duties upon the reservation. The balance of the appro 
 priation, being two hundred and thirty-five dollars, will be ex 
 pended in the purchase of steel, iron, &ic., and in other contin 
 gent expenses. 
 
 " The blacksmith will be under your direction, and will be 
 employed in repairing guns, in making traps, spears, hoes, toma 
 hawks, axes, and the necessary farming utensils. He will be 
 kept faithfully employed. 
 
 " You can transmit a statement of the articles and materials 
 required, as well for the establishment upon the St. Joseph's, as 
 for that upon Grand river, embracing tools, iron, &,c., and such 
 as will be deemed proper will be sent to Chicago. 
 
 " The tools for the blacksmiths may be either furnished by 
 them at a fair price, or sent from here upon your requisition. 
 
 " Mr. Sears's compensation will be the same as yours, and he 
 or you can select the blacksmith for Grand river. The black 
 smith will be allowed three hundred and sixty-five dollars per 
 annum. 
 
 " Mr. Sears's duty will be regulated by the principles here 
 laid down, and he will be governed by these instructions, of 
 which you will please to furnish him a copy, as far as they 
 apply. 
 
 " But the stipulation for the Ottawas is more extensive, in its 
 objects and amount, than that of the Putawatomies. A teacher 
 of agriculture is to be provided, and in the execution of this 
 stipulation I think it will be better to employ two or three 
 native young men as labourers. They should be sent to the 
 different villages, to split rails, to make fences, to build cabins, 
 to plough, and to plant, and to raise corn. As the Indians will at 
 first be averse to labour, it is expedient to consult their preju 
 dices, and to give them as great advantages from our limited 
 means as possible ; and I think it will be much better to employ 
 young men at low wages, as actual labourers, rather than one 
 person at a higher rate, as a mere teacher of agriculture. 
 
 " It is desirable, as these persons must live among the Indians, 
 
150 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 that they should understand their manners, and, if possible, 
 speak their language. I think, therefore, it will be better to 
 send Canadians from this place, and I shall accordingly pursue 
 this course, and direct them to report to Mr. Sears for instruc 
 tions. He will station them as he may think best, and direct 
 and superintend their labours. 
 
 " I shall send a few ploughs, chains, yokes, &c., to the agent 
 at Chicago, with instructions to forward them to Grand river, 
 to Mr Sears, for distribution. 
 
 " I expect the principal Ottawa chief here in a few days, 
 and until his arrival 1 shall delay making any provisions respect 
 ing cattle and horses. 
 
 " Some allowance will be made this year towards the erec 
 tion of buildings for the teachers and blacksmiths; but the 
 amount will be limited, and will be made upon the receipt of 
 your estimate and report, after reaching the seats of the esta 
 blishments. 
 
 " You will exercise a general superintending power over the 
 persons at Grand river, as well as those at St. Joseph's, and 
 will make regular semi-annual reports to the agent at Chicago 
 and to me ; and, to enable you to do this, Mr. Sears will make 
 regular reports to you. 
 
 " These reports must exhibit the situation of the establish 
 ments, the number and occupations of the several persons em 
 ployed, the quantity of labour performed, the number of persons 
 taught, the condition of the schools, if there are any, the pro 
 gress made in mechanic arts and agriculture, and prospects, by 
 which the exertions of the several persons may be determined, 
 and the efficacy and final result of the experiment ascertained. 
 
 " Your reports will also be accompanied by an estimate of 
 the probable expenses for the next half year, detailing, under 
 distinct heads, the several branches of expenditure, w r ith as much 
 accuracy as possible. 
 
 14 Payments will be made to yourself and to the several per 
 sons employed, as near the beginning of January and July in 
 each year as practicable. Forms of the proper vouchers and 
 accounts will be hereafter transmitted to you ; and on the receipt 
 of these vouchers, signed by the several persons, money will 
 be remitted to you for their payment. 
 
 b ^The sites for the respective establishments upon the St. 
 Joseph's and Grand rivers are to be located by the President of 
 the United States. I shall despatch a competent person, in a 
 few days, through that country, to ascertain the most eligible 
 situation for tliese establishments, that I may report the facts to 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 151 
 
 the Secretary of War, to be laid before the President. I will 
 communicate to you the instructions which the Secretary of 
 War may give upon this subject. 
 
 "The same person will be authorized to apply to the proper 
 chiefs, to ascertain their feelings and wishes, and to receive any 
 representations they may wish to make. 
 
 " The Indian agency at Chicago is nearer the St. Joseph's 
 than this place. I am not yet satisfied whether it would be 
 better that instructions should from time to time be given you 
 from that place or from here. JThe decision, however, shall 
 shortly be made ; and in the mean time you will please to attend 
 to any instructions which the agent at Chicago may give. 
 
 " You will observe that this whole arrangement is temporary, 
 and subject to any alterations which the Secretary of War may 
 make. I shall report my proceedings to him, and he will 
 approve or disapprove them, as he may think proper. What 
 ever instructions he may give will be carried into full effect. 
 " 1 am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 " Rev. Isaac McCoy." " LEWIS CASS ' 
 
 It will be seen that the foregoing instructions required me to 
 report, semi-annually, both to the Governour of Michigan Ter 
 ritory and to the Indian agent at Chicago. Subsequently a 
 special commissioner was appointed by the Governour, to visit 
 this and other missionary stations within his superintendency, 
 and report to him their condition, management, prospects, &c. ; 
 and this report was also forwarded to the Secretary of War, for 
 his examination. A small portion of an annual appropriation 
 of Congress of ten thousand dollars, for purposes of Indian 
 reform, was allowed, in aid of our station among the Putawato- 
 mies. By this means the institution was brought under the 
 immediate patronage of the Secretary of War, irrespective of 
 the arrangements in which the Governour of Michigan was con 
 cerned, and we were therefore required to report directly to the 
 Secretary of War. In addition to all these reports, we were 
 required to report annually, or oftener, to the board of missions. 
 While the preparation of these reports necessarily employed 
 time, which seemed called for by other business, the arrange 
 ment was favourable to us, because the concerns of the mission 
 were so thoroughly developed as to inspire confidence abroad, 
 and thus elicit assistance from Government, and prayers and 
 benefactions from the pious. 
 
 We were, as above seen, required to make six reports in the 
 course of the year, viz : two to the Indian agent at Chicago, 
 
152 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 one hundred miles to the west; two to Governour Cass, two hun 
 dred miles off to the east ; one to the Secretary of War, and 
 one to the board of missions. A seventh report for each year 
 was made by the special commissioner appointed to visit the 
 station in person, which was made to the Governour of Michi 
 gan Territory, and by him laid before the Secretary of War. 
 
 These arrangements brought the minutiae of the whole rou 
 tine of our operations fully before the several authorities to 
 which the reports were made ; and the missionaries have ever 
 appealed, with great confidence and much satisfaction, to the 
 testimony borne to their fidelity and management by those 
 honourable and disinterested departments. Our reports to the 
 board of missions embraced accounts of our receipts and dis 
 bursements. The several items of expenditure, with date and 
 circumstance as far as practicable, and in important, and even 
 in many small disbursements, the missionaries secured vouchers 
 from the persons with whom they dealt, which were carefully 
 preserved on file, to show that the expenditure had been made 
 as had been stated in the account. 
 
 It will be seen, a few pages hence, that the missionaries, by 
 articles of agreement between themselves, and between them 
 selves and the board of missions, which usually met in Phila 
 delphia, had surrendered to the board their individual claims to 
 all property which should come into their hands, from any 
 source whatever. Hence the salaries which some of the mis 
 sionaries received from Government were not claimed as the 
 property of those several persons ; but every dollar was accre 
 dited to the board, as scrupulously as though it had been 
 received immediately from them. The application of it became 
 a business under the direction of the board, and all expenditures, 
 as before stated, were submitted to the inspection of that body. 
 The receipts of the mission consisted, as above stated, of 
 Government salaries to some of the missionaries, a portion of 
 the ten thousand dollar annual appropriation of Congress for 
 Indian reform, also appropriations from the board from their 
 own charity funds, and donations of money, books, clothing and 
 bedding, chiefly for the Indian children in school, live stock, 
 &,c., made directly to the mission by benevolent societies and 
 individuals. The accounts of receipts and disbursements were 
 audited by the board of missions; and either the whole, or so 
 much as was necessary, was published in their printed periodi 
 cals; so that the whole matter, embracing money or property 
 received, and money or property expended, became open to the 
 investigation of all persons in all parts of the United States. If 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 158 
 
 a contributor to the support of the mission desired to know 
 whether his donation had reached the end designed by him, he 
 had only to look on the mission accounts, as reported, exa 
 mined, &tc. 
 
 The Government salary of two of the missionaries was to 
 each four hundred dollars per annum, and of another three 
 hundred and sixty-five dollars per annum.* In earning this 
 money from Government, they were not required to lose an 
 hour from their missionary work, for the service required by 
 the* Government and that required by the board of missions 
 were virtually the same. Their commissions improved their 
 usefulness as missionaries. They could therefore have claimed 
 their salaries from Government as their private property,, 
 with as much propriety as any other Government officers 
 could claim theirs. But this was never done. The mis 
 sionaries who received Government salaries profited no more 
 by them than they who received none. All was thrown into 
 the common missionary fund, and became the property of the 
 board. & &s\ 
 
 Having obtained my papers from Governour Cass, I hastened 
 back to Fort Wayne, which I reached on the 21st of July, 
 having spent the previous night in a desolated hut, being wet 
 with rain, and having only a small blanket for my bed. About 
 this time we again became sickly. On the 29th of July one of 
 our little daughters and four of our Indian children were sick 
 of bilious fever, and my own health poor. 
 
 His Excellency Lewis Cass commissioned Mr. Charles C. 
 Trowbridge to make definite arrangements with the Indians for 
 the sites for our missionary stations. He passed Fort Wayne 
 on the 27th, and, by agreement, I was to meet him in the Puta- 
 watomie villages a few days afterwards. 
 
 On the 1st of August, 1822, Mr. and Mrs. Sears arrived. 
 They had travelled a hundred miles of the road over which I 
 had passed a few days before, on my way from Detroit. Mr. 
 Sears's father and brother had been in company, and had been 
 left back in a dearborn wagon, while our new comers had come 
 on upon horseback. They had a wilderness of fifty miles, with 
 out inhabitant, to pass, in order to reach our place ; this they 
 could not perform by daylight. They travelled in the night, 
 until losing the path ; they spent two hours in waiting for day, 
 
 * It will be seen presently that Mr. Sears, who had been appointed teacher 
 for the Ottawas, did not remain long enough to become entitled to any pay 
 from Government. The commission was held by others at divers times, who 
 surrendered the emolument to the board of missions. 
 
 20 
 
154 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 much annoyed the whole time by musketoes. We sent assist 
 ance to meet those of the party who were behind, and on the 
 2d of August Mr. Sears's father and his brother, Benjamin 
 Sears, arrived. The latter came with a view of becoming a 
 missionary. He was cordially received as such, and, agree 
 ably to the authority with which the board had invested me, I 
 gave him credentials, dated August 3d, 1822. He was an un 
 married man, about twenty-two years of age. 
 
 Several weeks before this we had resolved to form ourselves 
 into a regular church on the 3d day of this month ; the arrival 
 of our new missionaries was therefore opportune. 
 
 The subject of missions was new to many in the west ; and 
 while missionary labours were approved by some, others, whom 
 we respected as Christians, for want of information, conjectured 
 that new principles, in either doctrine or discipline, or both, 
 were necessarily connected with missions. Proper respect for 
 the feelings of our weak brethren, and especially those of our 
 own denomination, required us to embrace all favourable oppor 
 tunities of correcting these mistakes. The constitution of our 
 church was an occasion favourable to our desires in this respect. 
 We pursued the usual course of applying to the nearer Baptist 
 churches for ministerial helps. Two of the ministers for whose 
 assistance we had written to the State of Ohio were professedly 
 opposed to missions, and on that account, we supposed, did not 
 attend to our request ; a third was prevented by proper consi 
 derations. We were happy to have the assistance of Rev. C. 
 Martin, of Ohio, who had been our school teacher, as has been 
 stated, and the Rev. Benjamin Sears, sen., of Meredith, New- 
 York. Mr. Martin preached from Isaiah xxxv, and part of first 
 verse : " The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad 
 for them." The right hand of fellowship was given by Mr. B. 
 Sears, sen., and the charge by Mr. Martin. The following is 
 the summary of doctrines which were subscribed, viz: 
 
 " We, whose names follow, being convinced of the propriety 
 and utility of a church state, and having due knowledge of each 
 other in respect to experimental and practical religion, by con 
 sent and with the assistance of Elder Benjamin Sears, of Mere 
 dith, New-York, and Elder Corbly Martin, of Staunton, Ohio, 
 do agree to unite in a church compact, upon the firm basis of 
 the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as being of 
 divine authority, and the only infallible rule of faith and prac 
 tice. And whereas there are different opinions among professed 
 Christians in relation to the true meaning of Scripture, therefore, 
 in order to prevent unpleasant disputation; and to cherish har- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 155 
 
 mony of sentiment, we deem it indispensable to subjoin the fol 
 lowing expression of the leading features of those doctrines of 
 the Gospel most liable to be disputed, which shall always be 
 considered as the sentiments of this church. 
 
 " ART. i. We believe in one only true and living God, who 
 is infinite and unchangeable in all his divine perfections or attri 
 butes, such as wisdom, power, justice, love, &c., the Creator 
 and Preserver, of all things ; and that he cannot be brought under 
 the least obligations to any of his creatures. 
 
 " ART. ii. We believe that in Deity there is a Trinity, 
 of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in all respects equal, and 
 unlike the subordination between father and son among men. 
 
 " ART. in. We believe that God is not liable to the least 
 disappointment, but that eternity is at all times fully compre 
 hended by him, so that neither the malice of hell, nor the wick 
 edness of men on earth, can any way frustrate his eternal pur 
 poses. 
 
 " ART. iv. We believe that God made man upright, but he 
 has voluntarily fallen from his uprightness ; that in his fall he 
 lost all traces of virtue, (moral goodness,) and became wholly 
 averse to godliness ; yet he is, on that account, under no less 
 obligations to his God. 
 
 " ART. v. We believe that as there is nothing new with God, 
 it is his eternal purpose to save those who ultimately will be 
 received into heaven, not upon the supposition of any condition 
 to be performed by them, but wholly in consequence of what 
 Jesus Christ has done in their behalf. 
 
 " ART. vi. We believe the Son of God united himself to 
 humanity, and in that state fulfilled in his life the law of God, 
 which was binding on man, and suffered in his death the penal 
 requisitions of the same. 
 
 " ART. vii. We believe, agreeably to the inevitable conse 
 quences of articles first, third, and fifth, that Christ's life, 
 death, resurrection, and intercession, were, and are, in behalf of 
 those, and those only, who shall enjoy the benefits thereof. 
 
 " ART. vin. We believe that regeneration is effected by 
 the operations of the Spirit of God only, and is an essential 
 preparation for the enjoyment of God in heaven, and an assur 
 ance of title thereto. 
 
 " ART. ix. We believe that, through grace, all who are 
 regenerated will be preserved in a gracious state, and will cer 
 tainly go to heaven. 
 
 " ART. x. We believe it to be perfectly congenial to the 
 Scriptures, and to the spirit of the foregoing articles, for minis- 
 
156 
 
 HISTORY 0V BAPTIST 
 
 ters of the Gospel to command all men indiscriminately to 
 repent, and to exhort them to believe the Gospel. 
 
 " ART. xi. We believe that God hath appointed a day in 
 which he will judge all men by Jesus Christ. 
 
 " ART. xii. We believe that the joys of the righteous will 
 be eternal, and that the sufferings of the wicked will be of end 
 less duration. 
 
 " ART, xin. We believe that the suffering of the wicked 
 is the spontaneous consequence of their own wickedness, and 
 not the effect of any thing in or done by Deity, hostile to their 
 happiness. 
 
 " ART. xiv. We believe that none but believers in Christ 
 ought to be baptized, and that immersion is the only scriptural 
 mode of baptism. 
 
 " ART. xv. We believe that none but baptized believers in 
 Christ, united in Gospel order, have a right to communion at 
 the Lord's table, 
 
 " ART. xvi. We believe that God hath set apart one day in 
 seven, for rest and religious worship, and that the first day of 
 the week ought to be observed as such, in resting from our 
 temporal concerns, excepting works of necessity. 
 
 " And being united together upon the foregoing plan, we 
 deem it our duty to walk in all the commandments and ordi 
 nances of the Lord blameless, which, that God may enable us to 
 do, let every member, at all times, fervently pray. 
 
 ISAAC McCoy, JOHN SEARS, 
 
 41 CHRISTIANA McCoy, MARY SEARS, 
 
 " GILES JACKSON, JOHNSTON LYKINS, 
 
 " MARY JACKSON, BENJAMIN SEARS, JUN. 
 
 " Missionaries. 
 
 41 WISKEHELAEHQUA, a Delaware woman. 
 " ANN TURNER, a Miamie woman. 
 " JESSE Cox, a black man." 
 
 lO \( <'! ,Xy *)& 
 
 On the following day we commemorated the death of our 
 blessed Lord Jesus, 
 
 The constitution of our church, the association of such a 
 goodly number of missionaries, and the prospect of our getting 
 on to eligible sites for future usefulness, were matters affording 
 great encouragement. Truly we needed strength, as it began 
 now to appear, to bear the severe trials of our faith, which the 
 Lord was permitting to come upon us. 
 
 Our history for a few weeks from this time can best be given 
 by copying from the journals of the mission : 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 157 
 
 " August 4, 1822. Our little daughter Elizabeth, who has 
 been languishing some time under a fever, grows worse. 
 
 " August 6. 1 am much distressed. The interests of the 
 mission imperiously require my presence on St. Joseph's river, 
 where I have agreed to meet Mr.Trowbridge, the commissioner, 
 and the Putawatomies, on the 10th, in order to fix upon the 
 place for the future location of the mission, &c. Should I not 
 get thither in time, we may be located in an undesirable place, 
 and other inconveniences will likely ensue. Should I not get 
 out to prepare hay from the prairies for our stock through the 
 succeeding winter, we shall scarcely be able to proceed in the 
 erection of buildings before the next spring. We shall obtain 
 no aid from Government until we get on to the ground ; and 
 our want of pecuniary assistance is so great, that the mission 
 will scarcely exist without help from Government. On the 
 other hand, it seems to be a trial too great to be borne, 
 to leave my child here, apparently at the point of death, and to 
 leave my distressed wife to bear alone the probable bereaving 
 stroke. 
 
 " August 7. Mr. Sears, four hired white men, and one of 
 our Indian boys, set off with a wagon for St. Joseph's river. I 
 accompanied them a few miles, and returned to watch the symp 
 toms of our dear child. In the afternoon, the Indian boy whom 
 I had left with the company returned, sick of a fever. Two 
 others of our children, and Mrs. Jackson and one of her chil 
 dren, have become sick. 
 
 " August 8, eight o'clock, A. M. Elizabeth revived a little, 
 and became able to speak, and we cherished fairer hopes of her 
 recovery. My wife and I concurred in opinion, that it was safe 
 to trust in God ; and, notwithstanding the path of duty should 
 lead us through trials severe in the extreme, yet the mercies of 
 <jod would, in the end, surpass them, as we had often experi 
 enced ; and since the state of our affairs imperiously required 
 my presence at St. Joseph's, we agreed that it would be proper 
 for me to go. Accordingly I was ready to mount my horse in 
 a few minutes. On taking what proved to be my final leave of 
 our Elizabeth, she said she was willing I should go, if I would 
 not remain absent too long. When ready to start, it was disco 
 vered that the Indian whom I had engaged to accompany me 
 had been intoxicated, and was now unwilling to appear in my 
 company. He at length consented. 
 
 " With feelings which I could not describe, I took leave of 
 our afflicted family and brethren and sisters. The Indian hur 
 ried on before me, and, as I believed, with a view of deserting 
 
158 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 me. In less than a mile 1 discovered him asleep in the weeds 
 near our path. I prevailed on him to renew his journey. On 
 overtaking the wagon, I found one of the hands quite sick, and 
 riding Mr. Sears's horse, and the latter travelling on foot. We 
 had to open the road for the wagon as we proceeded. The 
 10th of August was the day that I had agreed to meet the 
 commissioner in the Indian country. Being yet fifty miles 
 from the place of meeting, Mr. Sears and our Indian proceeded 
 ahead, while I remained with the wagon. On the afternoon of 
 the 12th we encountered a storm, which wetted us much, and 
 rendered lodging on the ground unsafe at this sickly season. I. 
 laid a bag of corn under me, to raise me from the wet earth. 
 
 " August 13. We arrived at the trading house at which we 
 had agreed to meet the commissioner and the part of our com 
 pany which had gone in advance of us. One of the work hands 
 was very sick. On the 14th the hands were set to work, making 
 boards to cover a camp, and preparing to make hay on the 
 prairies. A runner was sent to assemble the Putawatomie 
 chiefs, who were requested to meet on the next day. In the 
 evening a man hallooed across the river, and said he desired to 
 see me. I instantly judged that he had come with evil tidings 
 from my family. A letter from Mr. Lykins informed me that 
 Elizabeth was yet alive, but barely so. Mrs. McCoy and ano 
 ther of our children, and several others of the family, had sick 
 ened with fevers after my departure, and I was entreated to 
 return as soon as possible. 
 
 " I could do no better than leave with the proper persons 
 my views and wishes in regard to our business, and directions 
 for the work hands, and return to our place. I had a hundred 
 miles of wilderness to go through, but made it in a little over a 
 day and a half. Five miles from home I heard that Elizabeth 
 was dead and buried." She was nearly nine years old, and was 
 the same that had barely escaped the loss of her life, a few 
 months before, by the hands of a murderous Indian. She was 
 the second child we had buried after we had become mission 
 aries. A younger daughter long lingered in a nervous fever, 
 exceedingly low; her nerves ever after remained so much 
 affected as to render her incapable of taking care of herself; 
 and this continued affliction of a dear child, once among the 
 most sprightly of our children, has been a source of anxiety 
 exceeding all others which belong to the ordinary matters of 
 our life. 
 
 Mrs. McCoy was at this time labouring under a fever, which 
 was the second attack during summer. Five of my own chil- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 159 
 
 dren, Mrs. Jackson and her three children, and seven of 
 the Indian part of our family, were sick. Studies in school 
 were suspended, and indeed all other business was omitted 
 excepting attendance upon the sick. The prompt attention 
 and useful services of our good brother Lykins, in this time of 
 affliction, ought never to be forgotten. 
 
 A dark cloud at this time seemed to be gathering over the 
 affairs of the mission. In addition to the common afflictions of 
 the family, fears were felt that the board of missions were be 
 coming cold in the cause of this mission. These suspicions 
 were, perhaps, not well founded. They arose from the silence 
 of the board for some months, in their public prints, relative to 
 this mission. It was also remembered that the board had not 
 been hearty in the establishment of a mission in this quarter, but 
 that they had been drawn into the measure by circumstances 
 which they could not easily control. There was therefore a ten 
 dency to put an unfavourable construction upon any seeming 
 neglect of theirs. The effect of these suspicions at the mission 
 were, however, the same as though they had been well 
 founded. 
 
 Believing that the board would probably propose some 
 changes which would frustrate our plans in relation to missions 
 in this country, the resolution had been formed: 1st, to put 
 the mission into extensive operation, if possible, and with as 
 little delay as circumstances would allow, so that the board 
 could not draw back, even if they felt inclined so to do, without 
 incurring responsibilities in public opinion, beyond what they 
 could desire ; and, 2dly, to obtain all the assistance possible from 
 Government and a benevolent Christian public, so that our de 
 pendence upon the board for support might become small, or be 
 dispensed with altogether, excepting the examination of our 
 receipts and disbursements, and the reporting of the same to the 
 public. 
 
 Our personal afflictions were about this time so severe that 
 there was reason to fear that some of our new missionaries 
 would become disheartened and inclined to desert the field. For 
 fear of adding to their discouragements, 1 concealed from all, 
 except Mr. Lykins, the fears which were felt in regard to 
 ample patronage from the board. It appeared, however, that the 
 Christian public did not feel that indifference to our interests 
 which we feared had been felt in a degree by some members of 
 the board. With the public generally, there appeared an in 
 creasing attention to our wants. The amount of donations for 
 this mission, specially, appeared from the public prints, much 
 
160 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 greater than had been received by the board for any one of its 
 other missions in one year. 
 
 The following is from our journal : 
 
 " August 20. One of our work hands at St. Joseph's has re 
 turned on account of sickness. 
 
 " August 28. New cases of sickness occur in the family almost 
 daily. Mrs. McCoy has recently been very sick, is now a little 
 better. Mr. Benjamin Sears has been indisposed a week and 
 is now very sick of fever. This is the thirtieth case of sickness 
 in our family." 
 
 On the 22d, a Baptist minister, from the State of New-York, 
 (Rev. Phinehas Nichols,) arrived at our place. He came for 
 the purpose of becoming acquainted with the condition and pros 
 pects of the mission, and, if things appeared favourable, he de 
 signed to offer himself as a missionary. He remained with us 
 until the 28th. He said that, previous to his visiting us, he had 
 no thought that our difficulties were so great as he now disco 
 vered they must necessarily be. He left us. after having aban 
 doned all idea of becoming a missionary to the Indians. On the 
 same day, Mr. Jackson, who, for some time, had given evident 
 signs of a failing resolution, told me plainly that " he could not 
 reconcile himself to the privations which we, who were mission 
 aries to these Indians, were destined to endure." We lived har 
 moniously and happily with Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, and we 
 esteemed them both valuable acquisitions to the mission. Loth 
 to part with them, we had been some time endeavouring to 
 bolster them up by such talks as were calculated to fan mission 
 ary fire. But we were unsuccessful. On this day it became 
 properly understood between us that he was no longer a mission 
 ary. The reasons which he assigned for his resignation, and 
 which were entered upon the journals of the mission, were : That 
 he had a mother who was somewhat dependant on him for sup 
 port : he could not endure the idea of bringing up his children 
 among the Indians; he could not reconcile himself to live in 
 so large a family as our missionary family ; he did not enjoy reli 
 gious comfort as he formerly had and, in a word, he could not 
 endure the difficulties attendant on a missionary life. 
 
 As we were in want of a smith for the Putavvatomie station, 
 and it had been expected that Mr. Jackson would fill that place, 
 and as Mrs. Jackson's services were greatly needed in the 
 family, I hired them to continue their services in the family, as 
 usual, for one year, for which the mission paid them two hun 
 dred dollars, besides board, &tc. On the same day they set out 
 upon a visit of several weeks to their friends in Ohio. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 161 
 
 The following is copied from our journal : 
 
 " Friday, August 30. Our youngest child was attacked with 
 fever. This is the thirty-second case of fever in the family. 
 Our wagon and hands came in from St. Joseph's, having prepared 
 hay, &c. An Indian boy whom we sent to meet them returned 
 very sick. 
 
 " Sunday, September 1. Mrs. Sears was attacked with fever ; 
 also, Mr. Bruce, foreman of the hands, lately at St. Joseph's. 
 Others of the family have become worse. Our condition is 
 truly alarming. Could not attend to preaching, nor even to 
 family prayers, on account of the attentions which the sick 
 required. 
 
 " September 2. Two Indian boys taken ill of fever. Mr. 
 John Sears returned, sick of intermittent fever. This is the 
 thirty-ninth case. He was several days sick in the wilderness, 
 where he enjoyed the company of Mr. Trowbridge, the com 
 missioner, whose kindness to Mr. Sears deserves to be remem 
 bered. He accompanied that gentleman to Detroit, whence he 
 came on alone to Fort Wayne. The two nights previous to his 
 arrival he slept alone in the wilderness. 
 
 11 September 3. Mr. John Sears has become more indisposed. 
 Mrs. Sears grows worse ; Mr. Benjamin Sears no better. 
 
 " Sunday, September 8. So much sickness and distress in 
 the family that we could not have preaching. Two more are 
 added to the sick list." iwsri 
 
 The fever in our neighbourhood was at this time so general 
 that the sick could not receive the attentions which their condi 
 tion required. Hired nurses, or other persons to perform the 
 labour of the house, could not be obtained. Mr. Lykins's health 
 and mine were still preserved. In addition to our other duties 
 to the sick, we were compelled to go into the kitchen and 
 prepare food as regularly as the day returned. 
 
 In this time of severe trials, Mr. John Sears and Mrs. Sears 
 gave evident signs of a disposition to quit the mission. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Jackson had already gone. Mr. Benjamin Sears and 
 Mrs. McCoy were both sick. Mr. Lykins alone remained to 
 me a friend, whose circumstances enabled him to be a counsel 
 lor and a comforter ; and such he certainly was. Neither the 
 performance of the most disagreeable services for the sick, 
 whether they were missionaries, their children, or Indian chil 
 dren, nor their peevishness and unreasonable demands, nor the 
 deathlike discouragements which, in various forms, hovered 
 around our abode, moved him from his noble determination to 
 
162 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 do right. He never became impatient, nor formed hasty con 
 clusions, for the sake of getting out of a scene of distress. Sel 
 dom do circumstances occur so fully to attest what a man is, as 
 those under which Mr. Lykins was at this time placed. It was 
 not his amiable disposition alone by which we profited. His 
 soundness of judgment in administering to the sick, and in 
 relation to missionary affairs generally, was constantly deve 
 loping. 
 
 It having been concluded that it was necessary for me to visit 
 Ohio, to employ domestics, and to transact other important busi 
 ness, I set out on the 9th of September, leaving two of my chil 
 dren and many others extremely sick. The late distressing cir 
 cumstance of the death of our daughter in my absence, and when 
 my wife was too much indisposed to see her buried, and many 
 other distressing associations of thought which our afflictions and 
 other circumstances were calculated to inspire, made it painful to 
 myself and others for me to leave them at this time. 
 
 I travelled alone, and noticed that persons whom I met 
 gazed at me with some appearance of astonishment, from which 
 1 inferred that the deep anxiety of my mind was visible in my 
 countenance. The second day, at noon, I sickened, but pro 
 ceeded until I was compelled by high fever to stop at a little 
 cabin of white people. I was sixty miles from home, and could 
 not possibly return thither through the wilderness ; and if I 
 had, should have found most of them sick. I then said to 
 myself, as I afterwards wrote in my journal, " How dark are the 
 late dealings of Providence ! The very existence of the mis 
 sion seems to be menaced. The sick at the establishment suf 
 fering for want of attention ; the school suspended; some of the 
 missionaries have forsaken the field, and others will probably 
 soon follow : important business requiring my presence in the 
 white settlements, and still more important business will demand 
 my presence a few days hence at Fort Wayne, while I am for 
 bidden to go to either place ; my family sick yonder, and I sick 
 here, in a place in which the thought of being confined is in 
 tolerable ; some important engagements with the Miamies and 
 Ottawas in danger of being thwarted ; to which may be added 
 many other discouragements, so that the cloud becomes gloomy 
 and the day dark I ' Yet, through the stormy cloud, I'll look 
 once more to Thee, my God.' ' 
 
 On the following day, September llth, being unable to travel 
 on horseback, I prevailed upon a man with an ox wagon to 
 convey me twenty miles further towards the white settlements. 
 On the following day, Captain B. Leave!!, to whom I had 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 163 
 
 sent intelligence of my condition, came to me with a carriage, 
 and conveyed me to Piqua, Ohio. 1 was now favoured with the 
 attention of kind friends and skilful physicians. This day I was 
 extremely sick. 
 
 On the 14th of September, my health being a little improved, 
 I employed a man to attend to my business. Two of my 
 sons were at school about thirty miles from me, and, hearing of 
 my illness, the elder came to see me, and rendered me much 
 service in the transaction of business. 
 
 On the 16th 1 wrote this note in my journal : " Was visited 
 by the worthy Rev. John Mason, who left the Mad River Bap 
 tist Association, and came, shall I say, as an angel to comfort 
 me. His encouraging and instructive conversation, and his fer 
 vent prayer, cannot soon be forgotten." I had addressed a 
 letter to that association, to which Mr. Mason brought me a 
 kind and sympathizing answer; this was the more gratifying, 
 as some of the ministers of that body were opposed to the 
 general missionary operations of the day. They said, "We 
 often cast an eye to Fort Wayne, and sympathize with you and 
 our sister, who, we believe, are suffering many privations ; and 
 we think, also, that there is not one minister in our association 
 but what would use all the influence he has for the benefit of 
 your establishment, if he could do it without having any sort 
 of connection with . . . ." [others.] 
 
 The matters of the board of missions were, at this time, in 
 their incipient stages, and persons a thousand miles from them 
 could not easily foresee that their treasury would continue to 
 be amply replenished. Mr. Mason, whose opinion was worth 
 something, believed that if the want of funds should prevent 
 the board from continuing to us their patronage, the people of 
 the west would nevertheless amply sustain us. This was sea 
 sonable consolation, in view of the fears we had felt on the 
 subject of support. 
 
 While I was at Piqua, Mr. Daniel Dusenbury reached that 
 place on his way from Zanesville, Ohio, to Fort Wayne, with 
 the view of becoming a missionary. I had held a correspond 
 ence with him on the subject for some time previous, and had 
 remitted to him money to meet his expenses in travelling 
 to us. 
 
 On the 18th I put a bed in a wagon, on which I was placed, 
 and set out to return to our family, having in company Mr. 
 Dusenbury, two females hired to labour in the family, and a 
 Mrs. Hars, a lady resident at Fort Wayne. The first day of 
 our journey the lady was attacked with fever, and becoming un- 
 
164 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 able to proceed, I mounted a horse and left with her the wagon, 
 to enable her to return. By travelling carefully, and sometimes 
 resting by the side of the road, I was enabled to arrive at 
 Fort Wayne on the 21st. 
 
 While I was deeply affected with the sight of so many pale 
 faces in our family, 1 was thankful that all whom I had left were 
 still living. Mr. Benjamin Sears and some of my children were 
 still exceedingly low; the health of Mrs. McCoy and many 
 others had improved, but Mr. Lykins had been confined with 
 fever almost all the time that I had been absent. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Indian murders. Failure of a missionary. Mission family 
 rules. Erection of mission buildings. Death of Mr. B. 
 Sears. Removal to the St. Joseph's river. The school re 
 sumed. Want of supplies of bread stuff . Sickness. Benevo 
 lence of Christians in support of the mission. 
 
 .; >>h -jj]'. 5 -. ; 9$( tl ,fffl >!"/'..-> -.;!;"!#',* , IHO'Y 
 
 On the 25th of September, 1822, an annuity was paid to the 
 Miamies, at which time the readiness of those who had con 
 tracted debts, by the erection of fences, buildings, &c., to pay for 
 the same as soon as they received their money, indicated a 
 pleasing disposition on their part to improve their condition by 
 adopting agricultural pursuits. I addressed them on subjects 
 relating to missions, but, on account of the indifference of the 
 United States' agent in regard to the improvement of the con 
 dition of the Miamies, I was unable to accomplish much at this 
 interview with them : this I felt to be a sore disappointment. 
 
 On Sunday, the 29th of September, though too feeble to 
 stand, I was enabled to preach from my chair. 
 
 It was the 5th of October before the Indians, who had been 
 called in to Fort Wayne to receive their annuity, had generally 
 returned to their respective homes. During their stay near us, 
 they murdered six of their number, some of whom we assisted 
 them to bury. Several horses were also stolen from other In 
 dians, and from the whites. Mr. Dusenbury, who was unknown 
 to the Indians, rode to a neighbouring house, and on coming 
 out to mount his horse, discovered that it had been stolen in 
 daylight by two Indians who had seen him alight. We sent 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 165 
 
 with him one of our Indian pupils and a white man, who reco 
 vered the horse in a secret place, where he had been tied. 
 
 In the midst of our severe afflictions, when we had about forty 
 sick persons in our family, Mr. John Sears resolved to leave 
 the mission. That, under our peculiarly trying circumstances, 
 he should become disheartened, and should feel inclined to 
 abandon the field, was not surprising ; it was his misfortune, 
 but not his crime. Could he have consented to assign what 
 was probably the true cause of his desire to leave, as other 
 missionaries who had previously left had candidly done, he 
 would like them have retired with credit, and with the sym 
 pathies of all acquainted with the circumstances ; but he seemed 
 unwilling to admit that the privations of missionaries to these 
 Indians had much weight in inducing his design to leave ; and 
 in seeking for what he esteemed more honourable pretexts, he 
 erred to his own injury. 
 
 I had made arrangements with his Excellency Governour Cass, 
 for the erection of precisely such buildings for Mr. Sears among 
 the Ottawas, as I expected for myself and others among the 
 Putawatornies. He desired better houses ; and when informed 
 that our missionary funds were too low to justify greater expense 
 than that which had been proposed, the greater part of which 
 we hoped to get from Government, he proposed borrowing five 
 hundred dollars to improve his buildings a measure which 
 aside from all other considerations, our poverty forbid. .IK; 
 
 For reasons not necessary to mention here, I had supposed 
 that it would be greatly to our disadvantage as it respected our 
 connection with Government, our dealings with neighbouring 
 citizens for supplies and labour, and our reputation among the 
 Indians, for it to become generally known that we were greatly 
 embarrassed for want of funds. We always contrived to meet 
 our engagements, and none, except Mr. Lykins, was at that 
 time fully aware of the fears which were felt that the missiona 
 ries would have to provide for their own support. The board 
 had resolved that all the expenditures of the mission, so far as 
 their funds were concerned, should be made under my responsi 
 bility. When this proposition to borrow funds for the erection 
 of buildings was made by Mr. Sears, in order to satisfy him that 
 I did not act from unkind feelings towards him, I acquainted him 
 with my fears that the board would not find it convenient to 
 amply sustain us, and therefore we were obliged to economize. 
 To my great mortification, Mr. Sears very soon disclosed the 
 state of our poverty, and our anxiety about future support, to 
 an officer of Government. This gentleman, however, without 
 
166 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 using the information to our disadvantage, gave me early notice 
 of the fact, and advised me in future not to intrust confidential 
 matter to Mr. Sears. 
 
 He next concluded that he must study medicine before he 
 could go further into the wilderness, and consequently further 
 from medical aid, and for this purpose wished to take up his 
 residence immediately in Detroit. But here he was again re 
 minded of our want of funds. I did most earnestly desire him 
 to go to the Ottawa station without delay, as he had been com 
 missioned to do by the Government. Every thing, almost, was 
 in readiness for him to begin, and that without much, if any, cost 
 to the board of missions. Arrangements had been made for 
 the erection of buildings for himself and the blacksmith, for the 
 employment of a smith, the procuring of smith's tools, iron, 
 steel, &c., and carpenter's tools. I had purchased two good 
 yokes of oxen and a first rate wagon, all at the expense of Gov 
 ernment ; that is, Government was ready to assume the cost 
 of these things so soon as operations were commenced on the 
 ground. Then, there would be his own salary of four hundred 
 dollars a year towards meeting current expenses. A more 
 favourable opening, and more suitable preparations, I supposed 
 had never been presented to a missionary to the Indians ; but 
 he could not be prevailed on to go to the station. 
 
 We had no missionary to take his place, and remain at the 
 station. In order, therefore, to satisfy him, if possible, and de 
 tain him until a more healthful state of the mission, and a little 
 more experience of matters in the wilderness might inspire him 
 with more courage, I proposed to him to remain in our present 
 place for some months longer, and study medicine under a phy 
 sician who had taken up his residence in the neighbourhood. 
 Here he could study without any additional cost on account of 
 house rent or living. To this he almost consented, but in a few 
 days abandoned the scheme, and resolved on leaving the country 
 as soon as possible. I also proposed to him to take his station 
 at Massassinawa, among the Miamies, where we were desirous 
 to establish a mission, and lacked only a man to take the place. 
 This would be much nearer to the white settlements than either 
 the Putawatomie or the Ottawa station. A great many of our 
 scholars were Miamies, and would unite with him there, and I 
 had secured the promise of pecuniary assistance from Govern 
 ment, in the event of establishing a mission in that place ; but he 
 would not consent to go.' 7:59? 
 
 My relation to the board made it my duty to report to them 
 every item of expenditure on account of the mission, and all 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 167 
 
 receipts. Hence, when missionaries arrived, their expenses for 
 outfit and travelling were reported by them to me, together with 
 the sums received by them, either from the board or from others. 
 Mr. Sears was more than once reminded of these regulations, but 
 declined submitting any such statement. The horse and car 
 nage, and several boxes of articles needed at the Ottawa station, 
 which he had brought to Fort Wayne, he retained in his own 
 possession, and afterwards removed or disposed of as his own 
 private property. It was, however, much to our satisfaction to 
 hear Mr. Sears say, at our parting, in presence of Mr. Dusen- 
 bury, that my wife and I had always treated them with kind 
 ness and respect, and that with our deportment towards them 
 they were well satisfied. Similar sentiments, in a fuller express 
 ion, he subsequently communicated in a letter to our friend B. 
 B. Kerchevall, Esq., of Fort Wayne. Though Mr. Sears and 
 I differed widely in opinion respecting the propriety of measures, 
 we were far from indulging a quarrelsome spirit towards each 
 other. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Sears left Fort Wayne on the 26th of Novem 
 ber, 1822. He proceeded to Philadelphia, the seat of the 
 board of missions, which place he reached before any communi 
 cation from me, announcing his departure. The subsequent 
 history of this affair can best be given in the following extracts 
 of a letter to me, from the Rev. Dr. Staughton, corresponding 
 secretary of the board : 
 
 " Philadelphia, April 2, 1823. 
 
 " MY DEAR BROTHER McCoy : I think I know the heart of a 
 missionary, and I arn sure I am no stranger to his trials. I am 
 happy the Lord has supported you under so many, and trust he 
 will sustain you to the end. I never thought your selection of 
 the Rev. John Sears, to be your associate in missionary service,, 
 a happy one. I have no reason to believe he is otherwise 
 than a real Christian, but all Christians are not qualified foe 
 missionaries. 
 
 " In January last, Mr. Sears came with his wife to Philadel 
 phia. I was at that time in deep affliction, having lost, by 
 death, my inestimable companion, with whom I had lived thirty 
 years. 
 
 "Perceiving that Mr. Sears was privately prejudicing the mem 
 bers of the board against the Fort Wayne mission, I had called a 
 meeting of the board on the 17th of January, when he was re 
 quested to be present. He was full of complaining. He told the 
 board that he entertained as high an idea as ever of the piety, 
 
168 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 zeal, and devotedness of brother McCoy, and yet it came out at 
 last that he complained that * * * * [Here follow twenty- 
 seven counts, or complaints.] 
 
 " The full confidence I have ever entertained in you led me 
 to make such a reply to these charges as was by no means ac 
 ceptable to Mr. Sears ; but the evidence itself is, in several in 
 stances, so contradictory, that I felt it my duty to cover the fault 
 finder with the shame it appeared to me that he deserved. He 
 even condescended to particulars that it was no less unmanly 
 than ungodly to have uttered. I took, on the occasion, the 
 charges hastily from his lips, and it is only at the direction of 
 the board that 1 copy them, and transmit them to you. 
 
 " The board at this meeting passed merely the following 
 minute : 
 
 " ' Brother John Sears made a verbal statement of his difficul 
 ties and dissatisfaction in relation to the Fort Wayne mission. 
 The board suspend their judgment until they hear from brother 
 McCoy. A draft of thirty dollars was ordered in his favour, to 
 help him on to New- York.' 
 
 " At a meeting of the board, February 2d, 1823, your letter 
 having reached me, the following minute and resolutions were 
 passed: 'A letter was received from brother McCoy, on the 
 subject of the Rev. John Sears's retiring from Fort Wayne, on 
 which, 
 
 " ( 1st. Resolved, That this board sympathize with brother 
 Sears, under the afflictions he has sustained in the loss of his 
 father and brother.* 
 
 " ' 2d. Resolved, That the measures adopted in the whole of 
 this case, by brother McCoy, appear to have been wise and 
 salutary, but that the board will communicate to brother McCoy 
 the objections raised by Mr. Sears against the economy of the 
 mission. 
 
 " < 3d. Resolved, That the Rev. Mr. Sears is at liberty to re 
 tire from missionary service under the board, his mind appearing 
 disinclined to the privations which evangelical labours among 
 the aborigines of our country essentially require. 
 
 " ' 4th. Resolved, That Mr. Sears be requested to furnish the 
 board, as early as may be, with a full account of his receipts and 
 expenditures while in their service. 
 
 " ( 5th. Resolved, That the corresponding secretary is in- 
 
 * This was after the death of Mr. Benjamin Sears, an account of which 
 will be given pressntly. The elder Mr. Sears, who had accompanied his 
 sons to the field of their labours, died at Delaware, in Ohio, on his return to 
 New- York. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 169 
 
 structed to communicate the preceding resolutions to brother 
 McCoy and brother Sears.' 
 
 " A special meeting of the board was held on Friday, the 14th 
 of March, from which I have the pleasure of making the follow 
 ing extracts : 
 
 " 'A letter dated St. Joseph's, January 25, 1823, was received 
 from brother McCoy, containing his journal from February 9, 
 1822, to January 24, 1823. Resolved, That the board very 
 sincerely and affectionately sympathize with their brother in all 
 his trials and deep afflictions, and trust that the God of all con 
 solation will continue to be his support in every work of faith and 
 labour of love. The board, under the influence of these feel 
 ings, rejoice that their brother is pleased with the situation in 
 which he now lives, and hope that the blessings of heaven from 
 above, as well as those from the earth beneath, may ever rest on 
 him and all the mission family.' 
 
 " Let none of the foregoing communications prevent you from 
 drawing on the board for such sums as your necessities shall re 
 quire. I believe the board are wholly satisfied with what you 
 have done and are doing. I pray the Lord may support you. 
 Let none of these things move. If God approve, all will be 
 well -forever so. My children unite in love. Let me hear 
 soon from you. Your affectionate brother, 
 
 " WM. STAUGHTON." 
 
 'ft*?"' 1 . 
 
 We now return to affairs immediately at the missionary esta 
 blishment. 
 
 October 5th, 1S22. As the Miamies, at the recent pay 
 ment of money to them, had' been furnished with whiskey 
 largely, our society for the suppression of this practice held a 
 meeting to inquire into this matter. On my return home from the 
 meeting, I was met by Legro, a principal chief of the Miamies, 
 who, with some sarcastic ceremony, addressed me as follows : 
 
 " My father, some time ago you had a meeting, and stopped 
 the whiskey ; no Indian could get a dram. This was a very 
 good thing ; it is bad to get drunk. But, my father, the Indians 
 at that time had no money, and so you was good enough to stop 
 the whiskey. A few days ago, when the Indians received their 
 money, they got drunk, fought, and killed each other. You 
 could see my people's blood running in the street, but you could 
 not then withhold the whiskey, because we had money. Now 
 my people have left this place, there is no money here, and so 
 1 understand you have had a meeting to-day, to prevent Indians- 
 22 
 
470 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 from getting whiskey. Now, my father, we discover the advan 
 tages of education !" 
 
 In February of the present year, " Family Rules," so called, 
 were framed, in imitation of the Baptist missionaries at Seram- 
 pore. In consequence of Mr. Clyde's retiring from missionary 
 service, the subject slept until after the departure of Mr. Jack 
 son, when those rules were adopted and subscribed ; but Mr. 
 and Mrs. Sears, being at that time inclined also to leave the 
 mission, declined subscribing. 
 
 " General Rules for the Fort Wayne Mission Family. 
 
 " We, whose names follow, being appointed missionaries to 
 the Indians by the General Convention of the Baptist denomi 
 nation for missions, deem it expedient for our comfort and use 
 fulness to adopt, in the fear of the Lord, the following general 
 rules for the regulation of the mission family, viz : 
 
 " 1st. We agree that our object in becoming missionaries is 
 to meliorate the condition of the Indians, and not to serve our 
 selves. Therefore, 
 
 " 2d. We agree that our whole time, talents, and labours, 
 shall be dedicated to the obtaining of this object, and shall all 
 be bestowed gratis, so that, the mission cannot become indebted 
 to any missionary for his or her services. 
 
 "3d. We agree that all remittances from the board of mis 
 sions, and all money and property accruing to any of us, by 
 salaries from Government, by smith shops, by schools, by dona 
 tions, or from whatever quarter it may arise, shall be thrown 
 into the common missionary fund, and be sacredly applied to 
 the cause of this mission ; and that no part of the property 
 held by us at our stations is ours, or belongs to any of us, but 
 it belongs to the General Convention which we serve, and is 
 held in trust by us, so long as said society shall continue us in 
 their employment : Provided that nothing herein contained shall 
 affect the right of any to private inheritance, &ic. 
 
 " 4th. We agree to obey the instructions of our patrons, 
 and that the superintendent shall render to them, from time to 
 time, accounts of our plans, proceedings, prospects, receipts, 
 and expenditures ; and that the accounts of the mission, together 
 with the mission records, shall at all times be open for the in 
 spection of any of the missionaries. 
 
 "5th. We agree that all members of the mission family 
 have equal claims upon the mission for equal support in similar 
 circumstances ; the claims of widows and orphans not to be in 
 the least affected by the death of the head of the family. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 171 
 
 "6th. We agree that when any missionary shall not find 
 employment in his particular branch of business, it shall be his 
 duty to engage in some other branch of business, as circum 
 stances shall dictate. 
 
 " 7th. We agree that, agreeably to their strength and ability, 
 all the female missionaries should bear an equal part of the bur 
 den of domestic labours and cares, lest some should sink under 
 the weight of severe and unremitted exertions ; making the 
 necessary allowances for the school mistress. 
 
 "8th. We agree to be industrious, frugal, and economical, 
 at all times, to the utmost extent of our abilities. 
 
 " 9th. We agree that missionaries labouring at the different 
 stations belonging to this mission are under the same obligations 
 to each other, as though resident in the same establishment. 
 
 " 10th. We agree that it is the duty of missionaries to meet 
 statedly at their respective stations, for the purposes of preserv 
 ing peace and harmony among themselves, of cherishing kind 
 ness and love for each other, love to God, and zeal in the cause 
 of missions. 
 
 " llth. We agree to feel one general concern for the sue* 
 cess of every department of the mission, for the happiness of 
 every member of the mission family, and to feed at one common 
 table, except in cases of bad health, &tc., in whi^h cases the 
 persons thus indisposed shall receive special attention, and shall 
 be made as comfortable as our situation will admit. 
 
 " 12th. We agree to cherish a spirit of kindness and for 
 bearance for each other, and, as the success of our labours 
 depends on the good providence of God, it is our duty to live 
 near to him in public and private devotion, and to walk before 
 him with fear, and in the integrity of our hearts, conscious that 
 he ever sees us, and that by him actions are weighed ; realizing 
 that we are, at best, only instruments in his hand, and hoping 
 that when we shall have finished the work given us to do, we 
 shall dwell together in heaven, in company with fellow-labourers 
 from other parts of the vineyard, and with those for whom we 
 are now strangers and sufferers in this wilderness, and, to crown 
 our happiness, shall gaze eternally on Him whose religion we 
 are now endeavouring to propagate, to whom shall be ascribed 
 all the glory of the accomplishment of our present undertaking. 
 
 " ISAAC McCoy, 
 "CHRISTIANA McCoy, 
 " JOHNSTON LYKINS, 
 " DANIEL DUSENBURY. 
 d# February 15, 1822." 
 
172 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 Signed at different times, as missionaries connected themselves 
 with the mission. 
 
 The foregoing rules were submitted to the inspection of the 
 board of missions, which body, on the 14th of March, 1822, 
 passed the following minute and resolution in relation to them : 
 " The Family Rules (forwarded by Mr. McCoy) of the mis 
 sion having been twice carefully read, Resolved, That the said 
 rules meet the full and decided approbation of the board." 
 
 It will be seen that the Family Rules, so called, became not 
 only an article of agreement between the missionaries them 
 selves, but also a written contract between the missionaries of 
 the one part, and the board of missions of the other part. 
 These engagements placed the missionary beyond the influence 
 of temptation to worldly mindedness ; for whatever he might 
 receive for services rendered the Government, or from indi 
 viduals or societies, or directly from the board, no part of it was 
 his own ; he was charged with it, and was liable for it to the 
 board, until he expended it according to their directions. He 
 was entitled to nothing more than his current support. If he 
 should become deficient in economy or usefulness, it was the 
 business of the board to dismiss him, at which time he went out 
 empty. This policy effectually stopped the mouths of the ma 
 licious and the ignorant, who, not having ever felt the influence 
 of disinterested benevolence, might be disposed to attribute the 
 toils of missionaries to a desire to accumulate property. By 
 this agreement, every body perceived that they could not in 
 crease their property, for they held none of their own at the 
 station, and all their receipts and expenditures were examined 
 by their patrons, the board of missions. 
 
 It may be well to remark in this place, that while the for 
 mula by which it may be done may differ in relation to other 
 Baptist missionaries, and to missionaries of other denominations, 
 the relation between them and their patrons, respectively, is 
 formed upon the same principle as the above ; that is, that the 
 missionary is to receive nothing more than his current support, 
 and is liable to be dismissed at the pleasure of his patrons, at 
 which time he can claim no more than his necessary clothing. 
 
 On the 8th of October, 1822, Mr. Lykins, having so far re 
 covered his health as to be able to ride on horseback, set out on 
 a journey to Vincennes, a distance of two hundred and eighty 
 miles, on business of the mission, and for the purpose of settling 
 some business of his own. On the following day a company 
 of us left Fort Wayne for our new station on the St. Joseph's, 
 with the design to erect buildings, after the erection of which, 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 173 
 
 the remainder of the family would be conveyed thither. Our 
 company consisted of Mr. Jackson and family, four hired men, 
 my eldest son. Rice, who was but a lad, and several of the 
 Indian part of our family ; in all, twenty-two persons. We had 
 two ox wagons, and one drawn by four horses ; and we also 
 drove four milch cows. The day was rainy and unfavourable. 
 Mr. Jackson was sick, and scarcely able to proceed, and we were 
 travelling in a wilderness, where of course we had to sleep 
 every night without a house. 
 
 The following are extracts from our journal : 
 
 " October the 10th. One of our best hands was sick. The 
 day rainy. The following was another wet day. We broke 
 one of our wagons, and spent half a day in the wet bushes re 
 pairing it. One of the wagoners was taken sick, and I mounted 
 the horses and drove the team myself. 
 
 " October the 12th. Capsized one of the wagons, with two 
 of our Indian pupils in it, but without much injury to persons 
 or property. A few hours later in the day we mired an ox, 
 and crippled him so severely that we left him on the road; the 
 Indians soon afterwards butchered and ate him. This was a 
 great misfortune, as we had now one yoke of oxen less than 
 before, when we had scarcely been able to proceed with our 
 loads. 
 
 " Sunday, October 13th. Found ourselves in an unsuitable 
 place to detain the teams. Proceeded a few miles, found 
 better grass for our cattle and horses, and encamped and 
 spent the Sabbath in the wilderness. The health of our sick 
 improving. 
 
 " October 14th. Mrs. Jackson and an Indian woman were 
 quite indisposed. 1 had to take hold and assist in cooking my 
 self. On the 16th, we pitched our tents within five miles 
 of the principal Putawatomie settlements, and on the day 
 following I had an audience of the chiefs, at which time 
 the place for the erection of our buildings was finally agreed 
 upon. 
 
 " October 19th. While it rained on us incessantly, we moved 
 to the site selected for the establishment. This was an un 
 pleasant though short travel through the wet grass and bushes. 
 All the men were as wet as if they had been drenched in a river, 
 and were trembling with cold. We were, however, not long in 
 pitching our tents and in kindling a large fire, although it was 
 done amidst a falling rain, so that our condition was soon very 
 much improved." 
 
 Our location was about one hundred miles from Fort Wayne, 
 
174 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 at which place were the nearest white inhabitants. We were 
 about one hundred and eighty miles from any thing like a set 
 tled country, and one hundred and ninety miles from a flouring 
 mill. This place was, by the board, denominated Carey, and 
 the station among the Ottawas was called Thomas, out of re 
 spect for the celebrated Baptist missionaries of these names who 
 first penetrated Hindostan. On the 20th, I preached to our little 
 company in our tents, while the rain was falling rapidly around 
 us. The following day I sent a man and one of the teams 
 back to Fort Wayne, with my son in company. We immedi 
 ately set about the erection of buildings, and our work went on 
 rapidly. For the encouragement of others, I took hold myself, 
 though I was unable to do much. 
 
 November llth. 1 took an Indian lad, and set off to re 
 turn to my family, from whom I had not heard for twenty-nine 
 days. At a distance of five miles I met a letter from my son, 
 which informed me that Mrs. McCoy had again been confined 
 to her bed by a fever. This was the third attack which she 
 had suffered that summer and autumn. On the second day's 
 journey, night overtook us in an unsuitable place for encamping. 
 We had no axe, and could not procure much wood. In the 
 night it commenced raining upon us, and the wind blew up cold. 
 I laboured some time to resuscitate the fire, but could not make 
 enough to warm my feet. We were obliged to submit to our 
 uncomfortable condition on the ground until morning, and then 
 we set out amidst a rain and severe wind, trembling with cold 
 as with an ague. The Indian boy was on foot, and bore the 
 storm with less inconvenience than I did. I wrapped my wet 
 blankets about me on my horse, but still felt like perishing. 
 About eight o'clock we found a deserted Indian camp, where, 
 sheltered by a piece of bark, we kindled a fire, and took some 
 refreshment. We reached home the same evening. All the 
 sick were convalescent, except Mr. Benjamin Sears. Mr. Du- 
 senbury, Mrs. McCoy, and four of our children, had been 
 much afflicted, and their sufferings were increased by the 
 absence of Mr. Lykins. 
 
 Circumstances allowed me to remain with my family a few 
 days only. On the 19th of November I set out upon a jour 
 ney to Ohio, which was indispensable before the rest of our 
 family removed to the St. Joseph's. From this tour I did not 
 return until the first of December, by which time the weather 
 had become cold. On the last day of our journey the 
 snow on the bushes in the wilderness rendered travelling very 
 unpleasant. I cut my saddle blanket in two, to wrap up my 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 175 
 
 feet. Before we reached Fort Wayne I had great fears that a 
 footman in company would freeze. I furnished him with the 
 means of making fire, and was compelled to leave him behind, 
 and dash forward, to prevent one of our Indian pupils we had in 
 company from perishing. We all got safe to our fire-side that 
 night. 
 
 Mr. Benjamin Sears, who had long languished under a typhus 
 fever, had died on the 3d of November, 1822. He was a 
 son of the late Rev. Benjamin and Ann Sears, was born in 
 Meredith, New- York, June 16, 1800. Was baptized in the 
 summer of 1815. Subsequently he was led to desire, most 
 earnestly, to dedicate his whole life to the service of God. But 
 he discovered no opening to a sphere of usefulness until after 
 the appointment of his brother to missionary service, when he 
 learned the want of missionaries at this station. 
 
 He had been bred a farmer, and was robust, and hoped to be 
 useful to the natives by instructing them in agricultural pursuits, 
 as well as in the doctrines of Christianity. He made no pre 
 tensions to the ministry. He reached our place on the first of 
 August, 1822. His application to become united with us was 
 cheerfully accepted, and the approbation of the board of mis 
 sions applied for. But their answer was not received previous 
 to his decease. 
 
 He was permitted to labour with us only twenty-three days, 
 before he was prostrated with the prevailing fever, which termi 
 nated his life. He was favoured with the attendance of physi 
 cians, and was made as comfortable as our distressed situation 
 would admit. More than two months he was unable to turn 
 himself in bed, and he became reduced to a skeleton. It was 
 a great consolation to know that under his deep afflictions he 
 exercised a patience and resignation to the will of God, that in 
 dicated much spiritual mindedness. His desire to be useful to 
 the Indians seemed not to be impaired by disease. And when 
 his prospect of being spared to labour for them was blighted, he 
 directed that his clothing, and whatever else of small articles of 
 which he had control, should be applied to the benefit of the 
 mission, either among the Ottawas or the Putawatomies. In 
 prospect of death, his hopes of a blessed eternity remained firm 
 and unshaken : with humble confidence he rested his hopes 
 for salvation on Christ alone. He retained his senses until the 
 last, and appeared to be unmoved when it was intimated to him 
 that his end was near. 
 
 He was decently interred by the side of our Elizabeth, who 
 
176 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 had died the preceding August. There rests his dust, while 
 his soul, no doubt, rests in heaven. 
 
 We were now preparing to take the last of our family to our 
 new station. On the 8th, I preached a kind of farewell dis 
 course. Most of our white neighbours about Fort Wayne 
 were irreligious ; nevertheless, their kind attentions to us during 
 our whole stay at that place, and the affection indicated at our 
 parting, made a deep impression upon our hearts, which we yet 
 feel ; and, while speaking of them, we can scarcely repress a de 
 sire to record here a list of their names, as evidence of our last 
 ing remembrance of their kindness. May the Lord reward 
 them ! 
 
 At this time, Tohtauneneng, a Miamie chief, of Turtle's town, 
 brought a little boy whom he wished us to educate, but he was 
 unwilling that he should go into the country of the Putawato- 
 mies. He inquired how much land the Putawatomies had given 
 for a site for the mission ; and, on being informed, said he would 
 give an equal quantity if we would settle with him. I could do 
 no better than endeavour to reconcile him by informing him 
 that, although my family would remain at the station among 
 the Putawatomies, we should endeavour to establish a mission 
 among the Ottawas on the north, and another among the Mi- 
 amies, his people, on the south, and that it would be my busi 
 ness to spend my time at the several stations alternately. 
 
 The Miamies were averse to sending their children into the 
 Putawatomie country. Hence they were obliged to return to 
 their rude kindred, with the exception of one, who was old 
 enough to choose for himself, and whose mind appeared to be 
 much agitated. He said he knew that if he should return to 
 the Miamies at that time he would be undone. The artless 
 manner in which he spoke on this subject, in broken English, 
 was deeply affecting. He said, " I know if I go back to Indian, 
 I soon be done. You not want me stay wid you ? You tell 
 me go wid you, I go. I want to live wid you. I love you just 
 like my fader. I love mama (Mrs. McCoy) just like my moder. 
 I want you always tell me dese good tings." 
 
 We greatly regretted the loss of our Miamie pupils. In hope 
 that missionaries would be found qualified and willing to labour 
 there, we did not abandon the idea of giving them a mission 
 until we were fully convinced that among the hundreds of thou 
 sands of our denomination in the United States, none were ready 
 to enter upon the arduous though delightful duties of reclaiming 
 the Miamies. This was the more astonishing, and the more to 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 177 
 
 be regretted, in view of the facilities from Government which we 
 had secured for a station there. Could we have gone forward 
 in the work, a great portion of the expense of supporting that 
 station would have been met by Government. My heart now 
 sickens at the recollection of the failure. In future, may our 
 denomination have more zeal in a cause so well deserving it . 
 
 December 9, 1822. We moved off from Fort Wayne. Our 
 company consisted of thirty-two persons, viz : seven of my 
 own family, Mr. Dusenbury, six work hands, and eighteen of 
 the Indian part of our family. The health of many was by no 
 meads firm. One of our children was still unwell with its late 
 sickness. We had three wagons drawn by oxen, and one 
 by horses, fifty hogs, and five cows. On account of the ice, 
 we found much difficulty in crossing the St. Mary's river, and 
 were able to make only about three miles of our journey the 
 first day. The snow was about three inches deep, which we 
 raked away with hoes until we found earth to make our beds 
 upon, and where we could kindle fire. On the 10th, travelling 
 was extremely difficult, on account of snow and ice, and many 
 deep quagmires, in a flat wet country. I lent my horse, to 
 enable some hands to go back after cattle that had escaped on 
 the preceding night, and being compelled now to go on foot, 
 became greatly fatigued and not a little indisposed. I took a 
 hand and went ahead, and had a fire burning by the time the 
 company came up at dark. 
 
 December 1 1th. Several Indians came to us early, and brought 
 us a present of venison. We returned the compliment by an 
 other present. Again we went ahead and prepared a fire, but 
 the teams were unable to reach us, and we had to return to 
 them, and make a second fire. This we regretted the more, on 
 account of the unpleasantness of raking away the snow. 
 
 December 12th. We passed an encampment of Miamies, 
 who resided in the Putawatomie country, and with whom I had 
 previously had little acquaintance. A young man came out arid 
 invited me in, to see the chief, who was sick. He said the In 
 dians generally expected travellers who were going through their 
 country, and especially such as were conveying property, to give 
 the natives something for permission to pass. For his own part 
 he would not demand any thing of me, but his young men wished 
 me to give them a hog. I replied, that I had men at work on 
 the St. Joseph's, who being hungry, and not hunters, I was 
 taking my hogs to that place for their benefit and the benefit of 
 our company after our arrival. That all our labours were for 
 the benefit of the Indians, and I had been very glad to find 
 23 
 
178 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 some kind enough to present us with venison on the pre 
 ceding day. I would give him some biscuit and tobacco, not 
 for permission to pass through the country, but because he was 
 sick. When we moved off from their camp, T deemed it pru 
 dent to remain behind with the drove, lest they should take a 
 hog from our young men by force. 
 
 By exposure I had contracted cold, and on the 13th I be 
 came too unwell to ride on horseback, and was compelled to 
 get into a wagon. After passing a rainy uncomfortable night, 
 we commenced and prosecuted the journey on the 14th, 
 through falling snow and cold, and encamped on the bank of 
 Elksheart river, and butchered a hog for our use. The follow 
 ing day we experienced not a little difficulty in cutting away 
 the ice, to enable us to cross the river. 
 
 December 16th. I left our camp early, and went on before 
 the company to the St. Joseph's river, ten miles, to examine a 
 crossing. On returning, I found that the company had not left 
 carnp, on account of fifteen oxen having gone astray. Two 
 men were in quest of them, and I immediately followed, with 
 two others By night we had recovered the oxen ; some of 
 them had wandered as far as ten miles from our camp in search 
 of food. Our reliance was upon grazing ; and this in winter, and 
 snow on the ground, was poor. 
 
 December 17th was cold, and 1 remained very much indis 
 posed. I took two men, and went ahead of the company, and 
 made a large fire on each side of the St. Joseph's river; the 
 stream was rapid, and so deep that it almost ran into the 
 wagon beds; the ice was also running very thick. Neverthe 
 less, we got all safely across, with the exception of drowning 
 one hog, as the drove swam the river. 
 
 December 18th our oxen were almost worn down and the 
 company all exceedingly anxious to terminate the journey. 
 We therefore made a vigorous effort to reach Bertrand's tra 
 ding house, which we accomplished at dark. Here we found 
 a shelter from the cold and freezing rain which had been 
 falling on us half the day. On the following day, which was 
 the eleventh of our journey, we reached the mission station, 
 and found the part of the family which had been left there 
 well, but scarce of provisions. We then looked back upon 
 our journey with gratitude to God, who had brought us safely 
 hither. We had generally risen at four o'clock, and had 
 prepared and eaten breakfast by candlelight. Most of the 
 country had been covered with snow ; and when that was 
 removed from our sleeping places, our beds were spread on tiie 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 179 
 
 frozen earth. In view of these exposures so soon after our 
 general ill health, we felt that we had been astonishingly 
 favoured in being preserved in so much comfort. Our cabins 
 were unfinished, but they afforded us a shelter so much superior 
 to what we had lately experienced on the road, that we were 
 not inclined to complain. Mrs. McCoy was at this time much 
 indisposed, on account of cold contracted on the journey. 
 
 On our arrival we found two labourers who had been em 
 ployed for the Ottawas, by virtue of the Chicago treaty. It 
 being now winter, so that, were they among the Ottawas, they 
 could do but little before spring, Governour Cass had kindly 
 authorized me to employ them at Carey station until they could 
 be set to work to good advantage at the other. This was a 
 great favour, especially as Mr. Sears had declined going to that 
 station, and as we had no person to send in his place. My 
 health had improved a little, but our circumstances did not 
 allow us sufficient rest. On the 21st I assisted the work hands 
 all day in the open air, where I was very much exposed to 
 cold. The following night I was required to be up late. At 
 one o'clock I awoke with a violent ague, which was followed 
 by fever, delirium, and symptoms of pleurisy, and it was three 
 days before I was able to sit up. We sent three wagons back 
 to the settlements for supplies, which, including going and re 
 turning, had a journey of four hundred miles to make through 
 the wilderness, and over a bad road, at that inclement season, 
 before we could obtain a fresh supply of bread stuff. We had 
 taken the precaution to deposite corn and hay at Fort Wayne, 
 for recruiting our teams as they passed and repassed that place. 
 By the 29th of December I was again able to preach. Indians 
 visited us almost daily, and on the 1st of January we deemed 
 it expedient to invite Topenebe and Chebass, principal chiefs, 
 and some others, to partake of a frugal meal with us ; some 
 attention having generally been paid to the 25th of December 
 and the 1st of January by white men among them, most of 
 whom have been French Catholics, from whom the natives 
 derived a knowledge of these holidays. From them also they 
 have learned on those days to shake hands and kiss their ac 
 quaintances. With the latter civility we chose to dispense. 
 They retired from our house much gratified with the attentions 
 which they had received, and said privately to our interpreter, 
 " they could not think there were any more such good people 
 among the whites." 
 
 The winter continued cold. The earth was covered with 
 snow from the time we reached the station until the 20th of 
 
180 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 March, generally from ten to fifteen inches deep. Our houses, 
 being unfinished, were cold and uncomfortable. We had only 
 four fires, one of which was our kitchen fire, for the benefit of 
 about fifty persons. The Indian female pupils, besides alter 
 nately attending to common domestic labours, resumed their 
 spinning, knitting, sewing, &c. Out of doors, our business 
 went on slowly, on account of the severity of the weather. 
 Our religious services appeared to be attended with cold hearts 
 as well as cold feet. 
 
 On the 1 3th of January we received intelligence that, in 
 consequence of oxen having gone astray, our wagons would not 
 return with supplies as soon as we had hoped. This was un 
 welcome tidings, inasmuch as our stock of flour had already 
 become so low that we had put ourselves on short allowance of 
 bread, by substituting homrnony, (boiled maize.) Even corn 
 had become so scarce, that it was with difficulty we could 
 obtain any of the Indians. January 14th we started another 
 ox wagon to Fort Wayne (one hundred miles) for supplies. 
 Travelling in the wilderness had by this time become very diffi 
 cult, on account of the cold and snow. 
 
 Infidelity may receive some countenance in times of health 
 and prosperity, and under apparent prospects of long life ; but, 
 in view of eternity, even the savage contemplates it with hor- 
 rour. Keeshwa was an old Putawatomie woman, who had 
 occasionally resided with us ever since our settlement at Fort 
 Wayne. At one time she made a visit to a respectable white 
 man and his lady, both of whom professed to be Deists; and, 
 while there, suffered from sickness. At our new residence she 
 again became much indisposed, and in religious conversation 
 remarked that the gentleman and lady had been very kind to 
 her in her former illness ; nevertheless, she was exceedingly 
 anxious to get away from them, because they were not reli 
 gious. " Oh !" said she, " I did not want to die there. 1 
 wanted to come to your house to die." For the same reason 
 she desired not to leave her child and grandchild there, both of 
 whom were with her, but wished them to be placed with reli 
 gious people. 
 
 Soon after our arrival at the station, we commenced the 
 erection of a school house; and on the 27th of January, 1823, 
 we opened our school with thirty Indian scholars, ail of whom 
 were fed, clothed, and lodged, at our .expense. Our school 
 house was without floor, shutter to the door, or chimney. We 
 built a large fire within, around which we sat, greatly annoyed 
 with smoke and cold. Mr. Lykins had not returned, and I 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS, 
 
 181 
 
 was compelled to go into the school myself. The management 
 of all our missionary matters devolving upon Mrs. McCoy and 
 myself, I found, by a few days' experience, that the additional 
 charge of the school was more than I could sustain ; and we 
 should have been compelled to suspend studies, had not a 
 stranger been detained with us a few weeks, chiefly on account 
 of the severity of the weather. I copy from the mission jour 
 nals the following notes: 
 
 " February 1st. Having eaten up our corn, and having only 
 flour enough for one meal, we sent five of our stoutest Indian 
 boys five miles, to an Indian trader, and borrowed a barrel of 
 flour and a bushel of corn. Our teams were absent, and the 
 boys carried it home upon their backs. The flour was dam 
 aged ; nevertheless, it was very acceptable to us. 
 
 " February 7th. Ate our last meal of bread for breakfast, 
 which was so scarce that we had to divide it carefully that 
 every one might take a little. We had saved a few pounds of 
 flour for the small children, whose necessities were increased 
 by the want of the valuable article of milk. Sent out an 
 Indian to endeavour to buy corn, who .returned with about six 
 quarts, which was all that, he could get. We sent an Indian 
 and a white man to Fort Wayne, to see what was detaining our 
 wagons ; and, should they not meet the team on this side that 
 place, they were directed to hire horses and fetch flour to us. 
 
 " February 8th. Breakfasted upon the corn we had procured 
 the preceding day. Blessed be God, we have not yet suffered 
 for want of food, because corn is an excellent substitute for 
 bread. But having now eaten our last corn, we cannot avoid 
 feeling some uneasiness about the next meal." 
 
 The snow was more than a foot deep, and my health poor; 
 but, inconvenient as it might be, I could do no better than to 
 obtain a horse, and, taking a man on foot, go in quest of corn. 
 The Indians had not half enough for a comfortable supply for 
 themselves; and what little they owned was chiefly deposited 
 in the earth, at their villages, from which they were absent; 
 and if they had been there, it was difficult taking it up from 
 under the snow. I hoped, however, that by going in person, I 
 could prevail on some of them to divide with us. I encour 
 aged the family to hope that they would obtain relief on my 
 return, though I could not promise when that would be. I left 
 them in pretty good spirits, but my own anxieties were very 
 great. I could not contemplate the destitute condition of so 
 many persons, among whom were my wife and my children, 
 when the probabilities of extreme suffering, not to say perish- 
 
182 HISTORY OK BAPTIST 
 
 ing, were thickening around us, without feelings which can 
 better be imagined than described. 
 
 I was slowly working my way through the snow, without a 
 track, when I happened to meet Mr. Bertrand, a French trader. 
 On telling him my business, he said that the Indians were 
 generally scattered at their hunting camps, and that, on account 
 of the deep snow, it would be almost impossible for me to find 
 them ; and if I should succeed in finding a few, they would 
 probably be destitute of corn. Moreover, to travel through 
 the brush in a trackless wilderness, through a deep snow, was 
 almost impracticable. " But," said he, in broken English, 
 "I got some corn, some flour; I give you half. Suppose you 
 die, I die too." 
 
 I had, however, scarcely travelled out of sight of our house, 
 when an old Putawatomie widow, our nearest neighbour, who 
 had herself not a particle of any thing to eat except her small 
 stock of corn and beans, sent the family sweet corn enough for 
 a plentiful meal for our whole family. Thus we had scarcely 
 eaten our last meal, when God sent us another. 
 
 Our kind widow had a few days before given information of 
 our scarcity to some of the neighbouring Indians, and on this 
 same day four other women and a boy brought us, on their 
 backs, about three bushels of potatoes. We did not fail amply 
 to reward these generous acts. 
 
 With my little Indian horse loaded with corn and flour I re 
 turned at night, and unexpectedly found our family regaling 
 themselves upon the kind widow's mess of sweet corn. Then, 
 with grateful hearts, we wrote in our journal Newton's excellent 
 stanza : 
 
 " The birds without barn or storehouse are fed 
 From them let us learn to trust for our bread ; 
 The saints what is fitting shall ne'er be denied, 
 So long as 'tis written * The Lord will provide.' " 
 
 On the 10th of February, two Indians brought us about two 
 bushels of corn ; and two traders by the name of Rosseau, hear 
 ing of our scarcity, brought us half of a pittance of flour they 
 had, a distance of fifteen miles. 
 
 Our school house was so exceedingly uncomfortable, that we 
 set about improving it, by making a floor, chimney, &c. I 
 worked wfth the labourers, though I had for some time been 
 afflicted with a severe cold. Fatigue and exposure again pros 
 trated me. I was violently attacked with chills, followed by 
 fever, distraction, and pains in my limbs, breast, and bowels, with 
 difficulty of breathing. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 183 
 
 I knew that my situation was dangerous, and exclaimed, as I 
 find I afterwards wrote in my journal, " Should I die at this time, 
 what will become of the mission ? of my family ? Must all, 
 for which we have toiled for five years, be lost in a day ? All 
 our adopted children be scattered and perhaps forever lost ? 
 Mr. Lykins has not yet returned, and there is no missionary 
 here to help when I fail. My wife cannot do every thing. 
 Notwithstanding my eyes shall not see these things, nor my 
 ears hear the hapless orphans cry, yet how dreadful hard it is 
 to die under these apprehensions ! The reflection sometimes 
 seems somewhat painful to bear, that our missionary brethren 
 should desert the camp because the fare is hard, and leave me 
 to labour, to suffer, and to die alone." 
 
 I continued several days extremely sick, and our house was so 
 open that I was afraid to take medicine. In the room where I 
 lay was no upper floor, and the snow drove through upon me 
 so much that I could not be screened and kept warm by cur 
 tains above and about me. By the 20th my health began to 
 improve. 
 
 On the 13th of February our wagons arrived, two valuable 
 oxen having perished on the journey. Besides bread stuff, our 
 wagons brought us five boxes of clothing, in all worth more 
 than three hundred and forty dollars, sent us from the vicinity 
 of Boston and Salem, Massachusetts. Many circumstances 
 concurred to render these donations unusually acceptable at 
 this time. They brought seasonable relief when our wants 
 were pressing, and it was not a little affecting to see the gladness 
 which sparkled in the countenances of our adopted children 
 when they were called up to receive shoes to cover their naked 
 feet from the snow, and other garments which they needed no 
 less. They seemed to feel assured, by what we said and their 
 own eyes beheld, that, should my wife and I both die and leave 
 them, they had friends a thousand miles off* who would not for 
 get them. We said that " we knew not how to make suitable 
 acknowledgments to the kind ladies who had filled these boxes. 
 But God had seen the charitable put their gifts therein, and 
 the needy take them out, and he would return to the blessed 
 giver a better reward than our expressions of gratitude." 
 
 On the 21st of February, to our great joy, Mr. Lykins re 
 turned. In his absence he had suffered much with sickness, but 
 he was at this time in good health. My health continued very 
 imperfect; I was reduced to a skeleton, and was barely able to 
 walk about the house. Every moment of time that I was able 
 
184 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 to write was in that way employed. I desired, should God call 
 me hence, to leave our missionary accounts and other matters in 
 a state that would occasion no difficulty to those who might suc 
 ceed. My poor health increased the burden of labours of Mrs. 
 McCoy, who had no female missionary associate with whom to 
 divide her cares and toils. 
 
 On the 1st of March a woman came to our house, inquiring 
 where the neighbouring Indians could at that time be found. 
 With her husband and three small children, she had just returned 
 from Detroit to a neighbouring village, which they found with 
 out inhabitant. Both they and their horses were worn down 
 by travelling through the deep snow, and were destitute of food, 
 and in danger of perishing. They had not heard of our loca 
 tion at that place; but while her husband was looking around the 
 village, to see if he could find any thing like food, and she and 
 her three children were sitting hungry by the fire, she fancied 
 she heard human voices and the lowing of cattle in the direc 
 tion of our house. She immediately left her little ones by the 
 fire, crossed the St. Joseph's river on the ice, and waded through 
 the snow to bur place. She wept while she related the tale of 
 their sufferings, and was greatly transported when we gave her 
 a little food to take to her hungry children and husband. 
 
 On Sunday, the 2d of March, I made the following note in 
 my journal : " Unable to preach, and scarcely able to walk, I 
 feel something like a prisoner shut up from society and Gospel 
 privileges. The long train of successive and trying difficulties 
 through which we have come, and in which we are still involved, 
 has occasioned much * searching of heart.' ' If it be so' that 
 we have been called of God to the work in which we have been 
 engaged for some time, ' why are we thus ?' Could we at 
 all times feel assured that we have not ' run before we were 
 sent,' and that it might not be said, ' who hath required this 
 at your hand ?' we could toil and suffer with more fortitude. 
 But how are we to determine the path of duty ? We ought 
 not to conclude that we have lost the way, merely because the 
 path is rough. Nothing with which we have met has produced 
 greater discouragements than our disappointments in relation to 
 missionaries. We, who commenced our labours five years ago, 
 little expected that at this time there would be only two or three 
 missionaries at the station. 
 
 " Again, when we reflect, that, notwithstanding the srhallness 
 of our number, our work still goes on, we are constrained to 
 acknowledge the interposing hand of Providence therein. We 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS, 185 
 
 are encouraged to hope that the Lord who ' can save by many or 
 by few/ is ' on our side,' therefore, of whom shall we be afraid ?' 
 " It was but a short time previous to the discomfiture of the host 
 of the Philistines in Michmash, that Jonathan and his armour- 
 bearer were alone, climbing up the hill among the rocks, on their 
 hands and feet. Had their enterprise proved unsuccessful, their 
 countrymen universally would have charged them with rashness 
 and folly. But they succeeded in their undertaking, and Israel 
 shouted." 
 
 We had at this time thirty-six Indian scholars actually at the 
 establishment, and our school went on well under the manage 
 ment of Mr. Lykins. On the 7th of March we received en 
 couraging intelligence that the Rev. Corbly Martin, whom we 
 had employed as agent to collect for the mission, had been very 
 successful. A flock of one hundred and thirteen sheep col 
 lected by him, chiefly in Kentucky, had reached Fort Wayne. 
 He also obtained more than one hundred dollars worth of cloth 
 ing, and nearly two hundred dollars in cash. The Rev. Walter 
 Warder, and Mr. Morris, of Mason county, Kentucky, took an 
 active part in our favour. 
 
 In Xenia, Ohio, were some kind hearted Christians, of the 
 order of Seceders, among whom Mr. James Galoway and 
 his lady were conspicuous. Some mischievous persons circu 
 lated slanders, in that place, with a view of injuring the mission. 
 These malicious efforts induced the benevolent people of Xenia 
 to make inquiries, which resulted in the increase of their libe 
 rality towards the mission. Thus, that which was intended to- 
 injure us resulted in our good. And thus it invariably happened, 
 when men distant from us sought our injury, unknown to us r 
 while we were labouring for the Indians in the desert, the Lord 
 turned their " counsel into foolishness," and overruled it for 
 good. 
 
 March 8th. Two young men from Ohio arrived, with a view 
 of labouring for us, who, in order to cross St. Joseph's river, cut 
 loose a large cake of ice, and, putting their knapsacks thereon, 
 undertook to push themselves across with poles. The current 
 was strong, and carried them down stream rapidly, so that for a 
 while they seemed destined to make the remainder of their 
 journey by water, if it should be made at all. They at length 
 came so near the bank with their ice boat, as to be able to throw 
 their baggage on shore, after which they swam out themselves. 
 By this means they wetted their apparatus for making fire, sa 
 that they were compelled to sleep in wet clothes, without fke. 
 24 
 
186 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 TP. .1* - 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Resignation of a Missionary. Journey to Ohio. Loss of 
 property in Elksheart river. A. second loss. Tour among 
 the Ottawas. Superstition. Scheme conceived for procur 
 ing in the West a permanent residence for the Indians. 
 Major Long's exploring party visits the mission. Scarcity 
 of bread. Efforts to promote colonization. The routine 
 of business. Want of support. <\-\'\ \ 
 
 My health for a long time remained poor. Though able to 
 walk about a little, and to direct in our affairs, it was the 16th 
 of March before I was able to preach, and then I had to sit in 
 my chair. Our business, both at Carey and at our contemplated 
 station among the Ottawas, made it necessary for me to make a 
 journey to the State of Ohio. I had barely recovered my 
 strength so as to be able to ride on horseback, when, on the 19th 
 of March, I set out, accompanied by one of our Indian pupils 
 and two white men, one of whom was Mr. Dusenbury, who 
 had concluded to leave the field of missionary labours. He 
 was an inoffensive, modest young man, but we had been so 
 fully satisfied that he would not succeed as a missionary, that 
 although we accepted him as an associate in labour, we 
 omitted to recommend him to the board, confident that his race 
 would be short. 
 
 About this time the snows were melting by rains, and conse 
 quently the streams were full, and the low grounds covered with 
 water. We swam our horses across Paupaugoh creek, crossing 
 ourselves on a fallen tree. Elksheart river was impassable ; we 
 therefore left the path, in order to feel our way without a road 
 around near the sources of the streams, without crossing the 
 river. At night, we had to rake away the snow to make a 
 sleeping place. On the following day, we were obstructed by 
 a large creek, which would have occasioned us not a little diffi 
 culty, had we not found an Indian canoe tied near a deserted 
 encampment. 
 
 On the 2 w 2d, we found the low grounds of Eel river covered 
 from hill to hill. We forded until we reached the main channel, 
 across which we found a fallen tree extending, but the water 
 was running over it eight or ten inches deep. I alighted on the 
 stump of the tree, undressed my feet and waded on the log: the 
 water was exceedingly cold. Similar difficulties on account of 
 high water frequently occurred, on the whole journey to Ohio 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 187 
 
 and back to Fort Wayne. These exposures were the more 
 serious on account of my poor state of health. 
 
 I was back at Fort Wayne, and ready to proceed to Carey, 
 the 16th of April. The waters were so high, and the road, on 
 account of wet, so bad, that one wagoner, whom I had employed 
 to transport property to our station, refused to proceed with 
 his team, and I was under the necessity of storing up the load. 
 With three wagons, one of which was our own, we set off, hav 
 ing in company Mr. and Miss Wright, who were severally hired 
 to assist in the school, six hired men, and our Indian boy. We 
 drove twelve head of cattle, and one hundred and ten sheep. 
 St. Mary's river was deep at this time, and we had no other 
 craft than a large canoe, with which to cross our wagons, bag 
 gage, and persons. Some of our oxen were unwilling to swim, 
 and were dragged across by the horns. We had not proceeded 
 more than three miles, when we discovered that the earth was 
 so soft, that we could not get forward with our loads without 
 more force of team. We encamped and sent two men back to 
 Fort Wayne, and procured two additional oxen and one horse: 
 a sentinel guarded the sheep all night, to prevent mischief by 
 the wolves. We had not proceeded two miles, on the second 
 day, when we were again compelled, by bad road, to lighten our 
 loads. We sent a man back to Fort Wayne, to get this pro 
 perty secured. Having a drove of cattle and sheep to manage, 
 besides the wagons, I was subjected to much fatigue. It rained 
 on us, and we encamped at night, wet, hungry, and tired. 
 
 On the 18th, one yoke of oxen failed, so that their owner 
 turned them loose. Some deep creeks were exceedingly trou 
 blesome, and the sheep had to be dragged through the water. 
 The following day it rained on us incessantly, which induced us, 
 before night, to take shelter in a deserted Indian camp, being 
 all well drenched with rain. At Elksheart river we halted 
 and made a periogue, or large canoe, out of a single tree, intend 
 ing to transport some of our loading down that river and the St. 
 Joseph's to our place. The road along which we had thus far 
 come was at this time considered, even by the Government 
 express from the military post at Chicago, to be impassable. 
 But the want, at our station, of such property as we carried 
 with us, had impelled us to make extraordinary efforts to get 
 thus far. We now hoped that our chief difficulties had been 
 left behind us. The two hired teams were to return from this 
 place to Fort Wayne. 
 
 On the 24th, we had our canoe in the river, in which we 
 ferried our wagon, sheep, &,c. ; horses and cattle swam. After 
 
188 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 crossing the stock, I took a few hands to collect them, and 
 to select a camping place a short distance below, leaving three 
 men to load the canoe with property that was to be freighted 
 down the river, and to bring it to our encampment. We had 
 but just settled ourselves at our camp, when we discovered the 
 periogue coming down, and went to the river bank to assist in 
 landing it: before it reached us it became entangled in a tree, 
 from which it was not disengaged without taking water. The 
 current was as swift as a mill race, and the periogue was no 
 sooner disengaged from the first tree than it ran foul of another 
 and capsized. The loading was all turned into the river, and 
 every one plunged in to save what he could. By great exer 
 tion, we saved eight and a half barrels of flour, two barrels of 
 corn meal, a little seed corn, a box of dried fruit, and a few arti 
 cles of clothing. Some things were rescued from the water 
 nearly two miles down the river. Our peas, potatoes, one bar 
 rel of flour, one of salt, and other property to some considerable 
 amount, were lost, and some of that which we saved was much 
 damaged. 
 
 Our potatoes and some of our corn were for seed for the ensu 
 ing season ; the articles designed for food we were confident we 
 should greatly need at the station. Weary and wet, we sur 
 rounded our little fire in the woods, talked over our misfortunes, 
 and felt that it was to us all a sorrowful evening. 
 
 On the next day, we reloaded our canoe, and with three men 
 it again descended the river. There were left with me only one 
 hired hand, Mr. Wright, and the Indian boy, to take on the 
 wagon, sheep, and cattle. We pitched our tent on the bank 
 of the river, and waited till our canoe arrived. I went to an 
 Indian camp to obtain meat, of which we had become very 
 scarce, but was unsuccessful, though I bought about a pound 
 and a half of sugar. 
 
 April 26th, we dragged our sheep through Rock creek, and 
 on reaching St. Joseph's again met our canoe, which we needed 
 for the purpose of crossing our sheep. It rained on us so 
 severely that we had to lie in our tent the latter part of the day. 
 I obtained some venison from an encampment of Indians, but 
 we had to eat it without salt, in consequence of our Jate misfor 
 tune of losing our salt in the river. Much exhausted, I lay 
 down in our tent and fell asleep, and awaking at night, I learned 
 that seventy of our sheep had rambled from camp during the 
 rain, and had not been found. I mounted a horse as soon as 
 practicable, and proceeded in quest of them, leaving directions 
 with two of the hands to follow me as soon as they could get 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 189 
 
 horses, and to meet me at a given point. Having searched to 
 the distance of three miles, without success, it became very 
 dark, and we were in danger of losing ourselves. We had 
 great reason to fear that our flock would suffer by the wolves. 
 I was after them again early on the following morning, and about 
 three miles from camp recovered all except one. It required 
 the whole of this day to get our stock, &c., across the river, and 
 it rained on us nearly all the time. The men being wet and 
 much chilled with cold, we had a large fire burning for them at 
 camp by the time they had completed their day's work. From 
 the Indians we obtained a little sugar. 
 
 April the 28th, the canoe which we had been using for a 
 ferry boat was again loaded and pushed off, with two men only. 
 It rained on us till one o'clock. Our sheep, in consequence of 
 so much exposure to wet, began to fail, and as they failed we 
 laid them in our wagon until we had room for no more ; we 
 then halted the sheep, and left two men to take care of them, 
 while the rest of us hurried onward. Our Indian mounted the 
 horses and drove the wagon ; Mr. Wright conveyed two horses, 
 while I brought on three other horses and the twelve head of 
 cattle. At Bertrand's trading house we found fire, by which to 
 warm ourselves, and a palatable meal, both of which we greatly 
 needed. Here we left our wagon and cattle, and each mount 
 ing a horse, soon found ourselves in the company of our 
 family, vrq ei 
 
 None except one who has been in similar circumstances can 
 duly appreciate the gratification which it afforded, after a tedious 
 journey of six weeks, now to be surrounded by between fifty 
 and sixty persons of our family, who came to take me by the 
 hand. One hired hand was sick with ague, and my poor wife 
 had been in imperfect health during the whole of my absence. 
 Her multiform cares and labours had been too great a burden, 
 while the poorness of our living had not allowed her the com 
 forts which indisposition required. Mr. Lykins's attention to 
 business had, as usual, been faithful and judicious. We had at 
 this time thirty-nine Indian scholars in our family ; these were 
 pursuing their studies and labours promisingly. Preparations 
 for a crop, and our other business, were all as far advanced as 
 could have been expected. We arrived in time barely to save 
 the family from suffering for want of bread ; two days they had 
 been on short allowance, and had not ventured to make bread 
 of their flour, but merely used a little in thickening soup. 
 Then we wrote in our journal : " Many are thy mercies, O 
 
190 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 Lord ! By thee we have run through a troop of difficulties, 
 and by our God we have leaped over walls of obstacles." 
 
 Mr. C. Bruce, a trusty young man, became not a little sick, 
 on account, no doubt, of his exposures on our late journey from 
 Fort Wayne. There was not a day on which he and others 
 were not wetted either by rains or by wading waters. My 
 hands and wrists remained swollen for some days, by having 
 been so much in the water, On the 4th of May I enjoyed once 
 more the privilege of preaching at home. 
 
 In hiring hands, we had not been successful in getting a work 
 man who could make a plough, harrow, &c., and I was required 
 to superintend this business. Our smithery was in operation for 
 the benefit of the Indians, and our house was visited by them 
 daily. On the 14th of May, about forty called, and desired our 
 assistance in transacting business with Governour Cass. 
 
 On suffering the loss of our property by the capsizing of the 
 canoe, we employed a man to bring us on two wagon loads of 
 seed potatoes and seed corn, and corn, flour, and peas, for imme 
 diate use for food, together with some other articles of which we 
 were in great want. The badness of the road and high water 
 induced him, as those circumstances had done us at first, to 
 make a canoe and embark the load at the same place that we 
 had freighted ours. On the 22d of May we had the grief to 
 hear that his canoe had met with a fate similar to that of ours, 
 and within four rods of the same place. A less proportion of 
 this load was saved than of the former. All our potatoes and 
 peas were lost, and we were in danger of losing almost an 
 entire crop of those articles, for want of seed. They saved a 
 little corn, but only one and a half bushels was undamaged. 
 The nominal loss was about two-thirds of the whole of the two 
 wagon loads, but the loss to us really was much greater, and 
 was one which we had reason to fear would be felt the next 
 year. The man was to blame, because he ought to have 
 taken warning from our misfortune, and not have encountered 
 a similar risk ; but it was done, and we were left to a scanty 
 allowance of bread stuff. Our next supplies we expected to 
 receive by way of the lakes, which we hoped would reach us 
 about the 15th of June. On the 23d of May we sent again to 
 Fort Wayne for supplies. I went abroad myself, and obtained 
 a few seed potatoes in our own neighbourhood. We sent to 
 the distance of thirty miles to buy corn and potatoes from the 
 natives, but it was impossible to obtain a competent supply. 
 
 Our business requiring me to make a journey to Grand river, 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 191 
 
 for the purpose of putting matters into operation at that con 
 templated station among the Ottawas, I left Carey on the 26th 
 of May, taking with me a Frenchman, named Paget, for a 
 pilot, one of our Indian pupils, and one of the men who had 
 been employed to labour there under Government. We were 
 at this time so scarce of flour that we could not take a compe 
 tent supply for our journey. I felt very unhappy on leaving 
 the family so scarce of bread that they were under the neces 
 sity at every meal, when they used it at all, to count the pieces, 
 and make the number correspond to that of the family. We 
 had runners almost continually in search of corn to buy from 
 the Indians, and we feared that every bushel would be the last 
 that we should be able to get. 
 
 We swam our horses across St. Joseph's river beside a canoe, 
 and in a neighbouring village I was happy to engage an Indian 
 to carry back to the family a bushel of corn. On the second 
 day we perceived that we had taken a wrong path, and I disco 
 vered that Paget had become bewildered in his head in regard 
 to our true course, and I resolved on steering according to my 
 own inclination. We were happy to find an Indian in camp in 
 the evening, of whom we obtained venison, which was the more 
 acceptable because we could use it well without much bread. 
 Kekenmazoo* river was almost swimming to our horses. 
 
 Among the Ottawa villages which we passed, there was one 
 in which the natives were drinking. All appeared friendly to 
 us except one, who was somewhat otherwise. The women 
 were drinking in a house by themselves. While I allowed my 
 horse to graze a few minutes, five or six yards from me, three 
 pigeons which we had shot on the way were stolen from my 
 saddle, where I had tied them, with the design of cooking them 
 for our next meal. Unwilling to bear the loss when we were 
 in want, I demanded my fowls, and they were restored. 
 
 On the 30th of May, by the help of an Indian and his canoe r 
 we crossed Grand river at the village of Kewikishkum, who 
 was absent. I called on another chief, who sent to inform the 
 former, as well as other chiefs, that I had arrived, and desired to 
 see them. We bought a little sweet corn, and boiled it for our 
 breakfast. 
 
 Mr. Sears had described to me the place at which the com 
 missioner had located the site for our Ottawa station, in such 
 terms that I had fancied that I should recognise it at sight ; but,, 
 
 * I prefer retaining the original and true pronunciation of this river, 
 which, by corruption, is now called Kallamazob. 
 
192 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 following the directions as I had understood them, I found no 
 place in any degree answering to the description given me, nor 
 could I hear of such a place on the river. I searched down 
 the river nine miles, and on the following day returned to Kewi- 
 kishkum's village, the inhabitants of which had been drinking 
 during the preceding night. The principal chief had not ar 
 rived, and they desired me to remain a few days. 1 told them 
 that I should address them in council on the following day. I 
 reconnoitred the country in order to select a building place, 
 and lodged at a trading house. At this place an old woman 
 brought her son to me, that I might heal him of the disease of 
 convulsive fits, with which he had been afflicted from infancy, 
 and by which he had become an idiot. She said that a relation 
 of hers had informed her that one of her children had been af 
 flicted in the same manner, and that a Catholic priest had cured 
 the diseased by his prayers. She had taken this young man to 
 an Indian who was reputed to be skilful in such cases, but the 
 conjurer had not succeeded in this. He alleged, as the cause 
 of his failure, that this disease was under the influence of the 
 moon, and he could not control the moon. She had applied 
 with no better success to a second conjurer, who also attributed 
 the affliction to the influence of the moon. Both physicians, 
 however, had united in opinion that I could control the moon, 
 and heal the diseased ; and, accordingly, they had advised her 
 to bring her son to me, which she had done. She believed 
 that I had power to heal her son, as the Indian doctors had re 
 ported, in which opinion she was confirmed by discovering a 
 favourable change in the symptoms of the disease since my 
 arrival. I patiently listened to the old woman's tale before I 
 said any thing in reply, and the purport of my answer may easily 
 be conjectured. 
 
 On my return to the village, at which I hoped to obtain an 
 audience of the chiefs and others, I was informed that Kewi- 
 kishkum had not yet arrived, but that he had sent a message re 
 questing me to remain until he would come. Pretty soon they 
 were discovered to have whiskey among them. I desired them to 
 forbear drinking until I had addressed them, but to this they did 
 not consent, but renewed their request that I would remain un 
 til the arrival of their principal chief, as they could not transact 
 any business without him. " When they were among the whites 
 on business," they said, (i they had to await their will; and as I 
 was now among them, I must do the same, and wait until they 
 were ready to hear me;" This I chose not to do; business, 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 193 
 
 and the situation of the family at home in relation to bread, 
 made it necessary for me to return without further delay. 
 
 While among the Ottawas, 1 ascertained that their backward 
 ness to meet me in council, on the subject of a mission among 
 them, grew out of their dissatisfaction with the proceedings at the 
 treaty of Chicago. The main body of the tribe denied iiaving 
 authorized the sale of their country to the whites. They threw 
 the blame on Kewikishkum ; and the latter, perhaps from a 
 sense of having erred, and certainly for fear of their doing him 
 personal injury, chose not to appear in council on any matter 
 that had grown out of that treaty. The tribe, as a people, con 
 sidered the sale of their country illegal, because, as they said, 
 it had not been authorized by them. They intended to insist 
 upon its illegality, and hoped to retain possession ; they es 
 teemed the circumstance of my offering to furnish them with a 
 school, blacksmith, &tc., as a stratagem to get them to act in the 
 matter upon some of the provisions of the treaty, and thereby 
 make the whole binding upon them. A report had been circu 
 lated among them that, ultimately, we designed to compel the 
 Putawatomies to pay ten dollars for each scholar instructed io 
 our school ; and they expected that the expense of supporting 
 a teacher, blacksmith, and farmers for them, according to the 
 provisions of the treaty, would be taken out of their annuities. 
 To persons unaccustomed to the prejudices which prevailed 
 among those northern tribes generally, the state of things at that 
 time among the Ottawas would have appeared more discourag 
 ing than it did to us ; we had been accustomed to meet simi 
 lar prejudices wherever we introduced ourselves, and we had 
 learned that nothing but a personal acquaintance could remove 
 them. By this we had succeeded to a great extent among the 
 Miamies and Putawatomies, and we hoped for similar success by 
 similar means among the. Ottawas. We knew that it would 
 only be necessary to satisfy them that our motives were pure 
 that our sole object was their benefit and access to them would 
 become easy, Whatever might be their prejudices against our 
 Government, or against the white people generally. We had 
 employed two men who were to begin improvements among 
 the Ottawas, but these we set to work for us among the Puta 
 watomies. 
 
 Just as I was leaving the village, I saw a company of women 
 carrying kettles of food to the grave of a child who had been 
 buried a few weeks previously. The nature of this funeral rite, 
 as it was described to me at the time, is as follows : A few 
 days after the burial of a child, the father, or mother, or if 
 25 
 
194 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 neither of these be living and present, another of the near 
 relations to the deceased, makes a feast. The food is prepared 
 and carried to the grave, to which the company of sympathizing 
 friends repair. If the feast be prepared by a man, none but 
 men attend, and the same principle applies to the females. 
 When assembled at the grave, the ruler of the feast distributes 
 to each of the attendants a portion of the food which has been 
 prepared, and each, before eating any, puts a small quantity on 
 the head of the grave. A small aperture is usually made in 
 the poles or boards which cover the dead, through which the 
 food is passed. If it be a company of females, and one of their 
 number be esteemed profligate, she is not permitted to make 
 the offering to the dead from her own hands, but another re 
 ceives it at her hand, and offers it in her behalf. After the 
 offerings are made to the deceased, the remainder of the food is 
 eaten by the company. Similar feasts are prepared for adults 
 as well as for children, and when the party consists of males, 
 addresses are made to the deceased. These festivals are usually 
 repeated once a year. On returning from their wintering 
 grounds to their villages in the spring of the year, the grass 
 and weeds are carefully removed from about the graves of de 
 ceased relatives, and none is permitted to grow there during the 
 summer. 
 
 I found none who possessed distinct ideas on the subject of 
 their religious ceremonies. There has been a time, no doubt, 
 when something more like system was observed in the small 
 amount of religion embraced by their pretensions ; but changes in 
 their original ceremonies have been progressing ever since their 
 acquaintance with white people. Keeshwa, the aged Putawa- 
 tomie female of whom mention has been made, and who was 
 long an inmate of our family, has stated to us, with tears, that 
 since her recollection there had been great deterioration in the 
 observance of religious ceremonies. " Formerly," said she, " on 
 the return of the Indians to their villages in the spring, prepara 
 tion was early made for a feast. This would require a day, or 
 more. At noon, on the day appointed, men, women, and chil 
 dren would assemble, when an elderly and respectable man 
 would proclaim aloud, that the time for them to take their seats 
 had arrived. All being seated, he would make a speech to them, 
 and they would sing a song to the Great Spirit. The elderly 
 leader would follow, with a prayer in behalf of the company, 
 in which thanks were returned for their preservation through 
 the past winter, and for their safe arrival at their villages, and 
 prayer made for a blessing on their labours through the summer. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. i 95 
 
 On these occasions such language as tiie following was em 
 ployed : ' Oh ! our Father, we want corn, we want beans, &c. ; 
 pity us, and give us these things.' After the prayer, all would 
 eat, and after a little respite they would again sing. Singing 
 was repeated four times during the service. After the due 
 observance of this festival, all felt at liberty to commence pre 
 parations for planting their fields. These meetings," said she, 
 " were affecting, and frequently 1 wept all the time." 
 
 Among the Ottawas we often discover at the head of a 
 grave, even of a child, a post, in height somewhat proportioned 
 to the size and age of the deceased, on one side of which is 
 the picture of an animal, the name of which was a prevailing 
 name in the family; for instance, one of the family would be 
 called Panther, another Panther's Foot, another Panther's 
 Track, &LC. ; hence there would be made on the post the 
 picture of a panther. On another side a clumsy drawing, 
 slightly resembling a man without a head, would represent a 
 person whom the deceased had slain in war ; or, if it were a 
 child, the victims of some of its near relations would be thus 
 pictured. A man with a head signified a person wounded ; and 
 these hieroglyphics were multiplied as circumstances would 
 justify. Vanity, no doubt, often induced them to swell the 
 number beyond the facts which they were designed to indicate. 
 Near this post is placed a stick, about two feet in length ; and 
 when one visits the grave, he takes this stick, and raps on the 
 post, as if to announce his arrival. 
 
 Posts, some eight or ten feet high, are frequently erected by 
 the side of a dwelling; and they are invariably placed by the 
 side of a house in which dancing and conjuring occur, for the 
 recovery of the sick. On the upper end of the post is cut a 
 slight resemblance of a human face. Mr. Lykins discovered 
 one on Qrand river, among the Ottawas, on which was a pretty 
 well executed bust. In a village we also sometimes discover a 
 very tall pole, neatly peeled, with a few streaks of vermilion 
 encircling it, to the top of which is tied a bunch of small green 
 boughs. This tall pole is reared for religious purposes ; but its 
 use, or that of the others, I never could satisfactorily learn. 
 
 Having spent the night at th6 trading house, on the 2d of 
 June we swam our horses across Grand river, and proceeded 
 towards home. Our scanty allowance of provision brought 
 from home had been some time exhausted. On Grand river 
 we had obtained corn, but scarcely any meat, except a meal of 
 a ground hog. We had hired an Indian to beat a little corn in 
 a mortar, and make us a cake. This was poor bread for our 
 
196 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 journey ; and, what was still worse, we had not half enough of 
 it. About eight or nine o'clock, Paget's horse failed, and we 
 left him in the woods. On the following night, my horse, 
 having no company, endeavoured to escape. 1 had taken the 
 precaution to hobble him with my own hands, as I thought, 
 securely ; but he broke his hobbles, and it was ten o'clock the 
 next day before the men recovered him, and brought him back 
 to camp. They had well nigh lost themselves, so as to be 
 unable to find camp. The time of their absence I employed 
 in boiling sweet corn, a little of which we had purchased of 
 the Ottawas ; but 1 had no vessel to boil it in larger than a pint 
 tin cup, and as it softened a little, I emptied it on a piece of 
 bark, and filled the cup afresh. By this means I was able to 
 prepare enough for our breakfast previous to leaving camp. 
 On this day we called at an Indian town, to get something to 
 eat, but could get nothing more than a few Irish potatoes. 
 These 1 relished so well, that I fancied they were a more ex 
 cellent kind of potato than 1 had ever seen. I obtained two 
 or three, to carry home for seed, on account of their superior 
 quality. They were afterwards cultivated with great care, but 
 proved to be uncommonly poor; it became obvious that the 
 high character which I had given them was attributable alone to 
 the keenness of appetite with which I had first eaten of them ? 
 and not to the flavour of the root. 
 
 At the house of Gosa, on Kekenmazoo river, we were treated 
 with great hospitality. Here we had meat, but no bread. I 
 handed out a little tea, which his wife prepared. They had no 
 table, but a cloth was spread upon the floor, and we all seated 
 ourselves around it, with the landlady among us, for the purpose 
 of pouring the tea, which was handed to us in bowls, and cooled 
 in wooden ladles. The feet of one of the men had become so 
 sore that it was deemed expedient to leave him and the Indian 
 at this place, to recruit. 
 
 The morning of the 4th of June, 1823, was made memo 
 rable to me by reflections on the discouragements attending all 
 missionary efforts for the Indians, in countries from which they 
 soon must be driven by approaching white population. While 
 Paget went on before, on foot, with his pack upon his back, 
 and I followed on horseback, tormented by flies and musketoes, 
 I felt the additional pain of the reflection, that " after all our 
 labours to put our missions into operation, we shall in a few 
 years be driven away, to encounter new hardships in another 
 part of the wilderness, or if we remain here, it will be only to 
 witness the decline and ultimate ruin of the people of our 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 197 
 
 charge, for no band of Indians has ever thriven when crowded 
 by white population. Hardly can we hope to surmount present 
 obstacles, and do the Indians a little good, before our business 
 here must fail, by causes which we cannot control." At this 
 time I formed the resolution that I would, Providence permit 
 ting, thenceforward keep steadily in view, and endeavour to 
 promote a plan for colonizing the natives in a country to be 
 made for ever theirs, west of the State of Missouri, &c., and 
 from that time until the present I have considered the promo 
 tion of this design as the most important business of my life. 
 
 We arrived at Carey on the 5th of June, and 1 wrote as 
 follows in my journal: "Never did I feel myself more blest 
 than on finding harmony, patience, cheerfulness, and hope, 
 abounding in our large family, under peculiarly trying and threat 
 ening circumstances. The allowance of bread had become 
 very short, and the stock of corn was almost exhausted ; yet 
 none complained, and all hoped for better times. Mr. Lykins 
 was in quest of corn, and obtained about a bushel and a half, 
 and gave it as his opinfon, that if we could get all that the 
 natives had for their own use within many miles around us, it 
 would not suffice our family two weeks. In my absence they 
 had obtained some seed potatoes, to supply the place of those 
 lost by the capsizing of our canoe. On the 2d of June the 
 school had been divided, and the females placed in charge of 
 Miss Wright, who had lately been hired in Ohio. 
 
 At that time, also, the establishment was visited by Major 
 S. H. Long and his party, consisting of Messrs. J. E. Colhoon, 
 Thomas Say, Samuel Seymore, and William H. Keating, on 
 their way to the sources of the Mississippi. Amidst our doubts 
 and anxieties, we derived some encouragement from the appro 
 val of our operations by disinterested and discriminating stran 
 gers, who occasionally favoured us with a call, as they iour- 
 neyed through the wilderness. The following is extracted from 
 Mr. Keating's account of the mission, as recorded in the first 
 volume of Major Long's Expedition to the Sources of the St. 
 Peter's. Passing from Fort Wayne to Chicago, he remarks : 
 " There is in this neighbourhood an establishment, which, by 
 the philanthropic views which have led to its establishment, 
 and by the boundless charity with which it is administered, 
 compensates in a manner for the insult offered to the laws of 
 God and man by the traders. The reports which we had 
 received of the flattering success which had attended the efforts 
 of the Baptist missionaries on the St. Joseph's, induced us to 
 deviate a little from our route, to visit this interesting establish- 
 
198 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 ment. The Carey mission house, so designated in honour of 
 the late Mr. Carey, the indefatigable apostle of India, is situ 
 ated within about a mile of the river St. Joseph's. The estab 
 lishment was created by the Baptist Missionary Society in 
 Washington, and is under the superintendence of the Rev. Mr. 
 McCoy, a man whom, from all the reports we heard of him, 
 we should consider as eminently qualified for the important trust 
 committed to him. We regretted that, at the time we passed 
 at the Carey mission house, this gentleman was absent on busi 
 ness connected with the establishment of another missionary 
 settlement on the Grand river of Michigan; but we saw his 
 wife, who received us in a very hospitable manner, and gave us 
 every opportunity of becoming acquainted with the circum 
 stances of the school. The spot was covered with a very 
 dense forest seven months before the time we visited it ; but, 
 by the great activity of the superintendent, he has succeeded 
 in the course of this short time in building six good log houses, 
 four of which afford a comfortable residence to the inmates of 
 the establishment, a fifth is used as a school room, and the sixth 
 forms a commodious blacksmith's shop. In addition to this, 
 they have cleared about fifty acres of land, which are nearly 
 all enclosed by a substantial fence. Forty acres have already 
 been ploughed, and planted with maize, and every step has 
 been taken to place the establishment upon an independent 
 footing. The school consists of from forty to sixty children. 
 It is contemplated that the school will soon be increased to one 
 hundred. The plan adopted appears to be a very judicious 
 one. The plan adopted in the school purposes to unite a prac 
 tical with an intellectual education. The boys are instructed 
 in the English language, in reading, writing, and arithmetic ; 
 they are made to attend to the usual occupations of a farm, 
 and to perform every operation connected with it, such as 
 ploughing, planting, harrowing, &c.; in these pursuits they ap 
 pear to take great delight. The system being well regulated, 
 they find time for every thing ; not only for study and labour, 
 but also for innocent recreation, in which they are encouraged 
 to indulge ; and the hours allotted to recreation may perhaps 
 be viewed as productive of results fully as important as those 
 accruing from more serious pursuits. The females receive in 
 the school the same instruction which is given to the boys; 
 and are, in addition to this, taught spinning, weaving, and sew 
 ing, both plain and ornamental. They were just beginning to 
 embroider ; an occupation which may, by some, be considered 
 as unsuitable to the situation which they are destined to hold in 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 199 
 
 life, but which appears to us very judiciously used as a reward 
 and stimulus. They are likewise made to attend to the pursuits 
 of the dairy, such as milking of cows, &c. All appear to be 
 very happy, and to make as rapid progress as white children of 
 the same age would make. Their principal excellence rests in 
 works of imitation ; they write astonishingly well, and many 
 display great natural talent for drawing. The institution re 
 ceives the countenance of the most respectable among the 
 Indians. There are in the school two of the grand children of 
 Topenebe, the great hereditary chief of the Putawatomies. 
 The Indians visit the establishment occasionally, and appear 
 pleased with it. 
 
 " The [mission] family have a flock of one hundred sheep, 
 collected in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio, and are daily 
 expecting two hundred head of cattle from the same States. 
 These contributions, together with the produce of their farm, 
 will, it is thought, prevent them from being exposed to suffer as 
 much from scarcity of provisions as they have already done. 
 When we visited them, they were on short allowance." 
 
 The following are extracts from our journal : 
 
 "On my return from my late tour among the Ottawas, I was 
 severely attacked with cholera rnorbus, and many others of the 
 family became similarly indisposed. 
 
 "June 9th. I am able to walk about and write a little. 
 Several of the family ill of dysentery ; one man dangerously 
 sick. We suppose that our indisposition has been occa 
 sioned by the absence of wholesome food, and particularly by 
 the want of bread, of which, for some time past, the family 
 have eaten scarcely any. We cannot afford even the sick half 
 as much as they need, and that little which they get is made of 
 flour greatly damaged. 
 
 " We expected the arrival of a wagon, with flour, &c., before 
 this time, but, hearing nothing of it, we sent another team to 
 Fort Wayne after supplies. 
 
 " June 13th. We sent out two men to purchase corn, if any 
 can be found, not having enough to last through the day. 
 Obtained a small quantity of corn from an Indian, and a little 
 damaged flour from a trader. The Indian had not the corn to 
 spare without risking his own comfort, and refused to sell it, but 
 said, " It is too hard to be hungry; I will give my father that 
 sack full ; I believe I will lose nothing by if. ; I think he will 
 give me an equal quantity when he shall get corn.' 
 
 " June 15th. One hundred and twenty-one head of cattle 
 arrived, which had been collected for the mission by the Rev. 
 
200 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 Mr. Martin, chiefly in Kentucky, and which were brought to 
 us by the Rev. John Ficklin, who had been employed by 
 Mr. Martin. The drove at first consisted of over two hundred 
 head. Some failed and were lost on the way, and fifty-five 
 head were left at Fort Wayne to recruit. This was a valuable 
 acquisition to the property of the mission. We were in great 
 want of cattle, but had not hoped for so large a drove." 
 
 The great difficulty attending the transportation of bread stuff 
 by land, two hundred miles through a wilderness, had admon 
 ished us to make an engagement with the captain of a vessel 
 on the lakes, to bring us a load by water to the mouth of the 
 St. Joseph's river, which was scarcely thirty miles distant from 
 us. We expected the flour as early in the season as vessels 
 could sail on the upper lakes, and anticipated the relief it would 
 afford with not a little satisfaction. It was to be delivered by the 
 15th of June, and at a price agreed upon ; but unfortunately for 
 us, the man with whom we had contracted found, nearer home, 
 what he deemed a better market for his flour, and left us destitute. 
 This was a grievous disappointment, and one which subjected us 
 to great inconvenience and cost. W T e sensibly felt this ungenerous 
 deed, and knew thai the man who had been so depraved as to com 
 mit it deserved to suffer damages, to which he had become liable. 
 But we had no time to institute or attend lawsuits. We wrote 
 to a friend immediately, requesting him to make another con 
 tract for flour, &c., for us, to come to us as soon as possible by 
 way of the lakes. The disappointment extended also to many 
 other articles greatly needed at the establishment, and which we 
 expected by the vessel that would bring our flour. Our chief 
 reliance for bread, until we could make it at the establishment, 
 was to transport it in wagons two hundred miles. This was 
 very expensive ; but our necessities induced us to hurry off 
 teams without delay. 
 
 On the 23d of June, 1822, agreeably to the resolution taken 
 on the 4th, I wrote letters on the subject of colonizing the In 
 dians in the west to His Excellency Lewis Cass, Governour of 
 Michigan Territory, Col. R. M. Johnson, and his brother, Hon. 
 John T. Johnson, both members of Congress, John Johnson, 
 Esq., of Ohio, and William Polke, Esq., of Indiana. 
 
 The plan submitted to the consideration of these gentle 
 men was to form an association of such kind hearted men in 
 various places as would secure a weighty memorial to Congress 
 in favour of colonizing the Indians in the west. It was sug 
 gested, that if the scheme should be countenanced by Govern 
 ment, it would be necessary to authorize the selection of the 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 201 
 
 country. To make the matter the more easy, it was proposed 
 to begin settlements with Indian youths who had been instructed 
 in our schools, and their relations and friends. It was thought 
 that each denomination of Christians which had missions on the 
 east of the Mississippi would be so warmly in favour of the 
 plan, that they would severally encourage the people of their 
 charge to emigrate. Besides the land which might be given to 
 each tribe as common property, each individual might be allowed 
 to own a portion separately as his own, under such restrictions 
 only as would be required by a due regard to their peculiar con^ 
 dition. There, it was hoped, the Indians might become organ 
 ized into a civil community, and ultimately become citizens of 
 the United States. 
 
 In the attention given to this communication by these gentle 
 men, 1 had no reason to complain of a want of courtesy, but I 
 had little reason to hope for their zealous eo-operation in accom 
 plishing the design. I felt a degree of mortification in not 
 finding others as zealous in this matter as I thought it deserved j 
 nevertheless, I determined to promote it to the utmost extent of 
 my opportunities. I also communicated to the board the same 
 plan for colonizing the Indians, and earnestly entreated their 
 consideration and efficient action in its favour. Their first an 
 swer was, that u A committee had been appointed to consider 
 it." The part which the board subsequently took in this matter 
 will be noticed in appropriate places. 
 
 Our first report to Governour Cass, at Detroit, and to Dr. 
 Wolcott, the United Slates' agent at Chicago, was dated July 
 1st, 1823. At that time we had sixty acres of land enclosed 
 with good fence. The boys of our school spent about half 
 their time in manual labour on the farm, and half at their studies 
 in school. The girls laboured more than half their time. This 
 was not a matter of choice, but of necessity, growing out of 
 the circumstance of the number of males exceeding that of 
 females, by which domestic labours became the more onerous 
 to those who sustained them* All could use the needle in sew 
 ing, twelve of them could knit, six could spin, two could weave, 
 and twelve of them could embroider with the needle, and in 
 the performance of domestic labour, in common they were not 
 surpassed by any white girls of their ages. Twenty-eight of our 
 pupils could neither speak nor understand English when re" 
 ceived into our school, and most of the others had scarcely any 
 knowledge of the English language. 
 
 At the opening of day, during the shorter nights of summer,, 
 and earlier during the longer nights, the sounding of a trumpet 
 26 
 
202 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 was the signal for all to rise. At sunrising in the longer days, 
 and earlier during the shorter, the ringing of a bell summoned 
 the family to morning prayers, after which the children were 
 directed to their morning labours. At half past six the trumpet 
 called to breakfast, and the ringing of a small bell directed the 
 family to become seated at table. We all sat down together at 
 the same table, and the native children received the same atten 
 tion, there and elsewhere, that white children would have re 
 ceived, had we kept a boarding school for them. As our dining 
 room would not contain all at the same time, the larger scholars 
 ate first, and one of the teachers attended to the table until all had 
 left. At eight o'clock in summer, and half an hour later in win 
 ter, the scholars were called together, and they were dismissed at 
 twelve. Half past twelve dinner was called. At two the 
 scholars were again called in, and were dismissed at five in the 
 longer days, and at half past six supper was called. Between 
 sunsetting and dark in summer, and never later than eight 
 o'clock in winter, the whole family were again called together 
 to evening prayers. Besides singing, reading, and prayer, a 
 portion of Scripture was usually expounded. All were required 
 to retire to rest at an early hour, and if circumstances made it 
 necessary for any to remain up later than the hour for retiring, 
 they were required to be silent after nine o'clock. It was made 
 a point to attend promptly to time. The moment that the hour 
 arrived for rising, the trumpet sounded, and at the moment when 
 the trumpet or the bells directed to any other thing in the routine 
 of business, it was not deferred on any account. 
 
 On Saturdays the schools were suspended v and the boys were 
 allowed part of the day for recreation. Twice in the week 
 they were permitted to bathe in the river in summer, and to 
 amuse themselves on the ice in winter, accompanied by the 
 teacher, or some one else, to prevent accidents. On Sabbaths, 
 only two meals were eaten. At half past ten the trumpet an 
 nounced the approach of the hour for public worship, which 
 commenced at the ringing of a bell half an hour later, and at 
 half past four in the afternoon we again assembled for public 
 worship. At this time, Mr. Lykins, Mrs. McCoy, and myself, 
 were the only missionaries at the station. Generally our busi 
 ness was divided between us, but we were not particular to limit 
 ourselves to these rules, but one would take hold of the work, 
 which belonged to the department of another, whenever it was 
 necessary. 
 
 The Indians are generally so improvident, and often so much 
 in want of food, that while one of themselves, or another near 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS* 
 
 203 
 
 them, has any thing, the poorer depend much upon it, and con 
 sequently, by their begging, become exceedingly troublesome to 
 whites among them. They gave us great trouble whenever 
 they knew we had on hand a few barrels of flour. Without 
 reflecting that it was necessary to our comfort to be at all times 
 supplied with a stock of provisions, they seemed to hope for 
 the same liberal distribution to all who chose to eat with us, or 
 to ask for a portion of our supplies to be given them, that 
 prevailed among themselves. A steady course towards them, 
 never marked with unkindness, tended gradually to correct this 
 servile habit of begging for food. 
 
 Visits were made to us almost daily, by chiefs and others. 
 On these occasions we had to furnish tobacco to smoke, and for 
 this purpose we kept a supply constantly on hand. On the 
 19th of August, a widow, carrying an infant in her arms, visited 
 us for the purpose of leaving with us a little girl of eleven years 
 of age, who had come with her forty miles on foot. This child 
 we named Rebecca Blaine, out of respect for a lady of that 
 name in Washington, Pennsylvania, who zealously promoted in 
 that place a female society, which liberally contributed to the 
 support of the mission. 
 
 At this time the Rev. Luther Rice was agent for the board 
 of missions, and having had the principal agency in bringing 
 into existence the missionary convention, he was one of the 
 most efficient and influential members in managing the concerns 
 of the board. On the 27th of August we received from him 
 a communication, which showed that our suspicions that the 
 funds of the board would fail, and leave us without ample sup 
 port, had been well founded. His words were the following; 
 " The funds of the board are now exhausted, and it has become 
 necessary to request you to omit drawing any more drafts on 
 Dr. Staughton, but that, when some particularly urgent demand 
 for funds occurs, you will have the goodness to state specifically 
 the case, and the amount requisite, and the board, if practicable, 
 will in such cases appropriate the funds that are needed," &tc. 
 This intelligence was to us unpleasant, but less alarming on ac 
 count of our having in some measure anticipated it. We had 
 never considered that " our bread and our water had been made 
 sure" by our connection with the board, and we had from the 
 first felt it to be our duty to use much exertion for support, and, 
 above all, we had been taught to look to Him who feeds the 
 fowls of heaven and clothes the grass of the field. By the 
 same express that brought Mr. Rice's unwelcome letter we re 
 ceived, for our encouragement, through the United States' agent 
 
204 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 at Fort Wayne, the first allowance that reached us, of the 
 annual appropriation of Congress lor Indian improvement, con 
 sisting of one hundred and eighty-three dollars. 
 
 During the whole time of our labours in that country, there 
 were some causes of expense which we could not control, and 
 respecting which we deemed it expedient to remain silent. It 
 often happened that kind and zealous agents, and other individu 
 als, and missionary societies, were not discreet in their methods 
 of sending their donations to us, by which means losses oc 
 curred, and cost accrued nearly equal to the value of the arti 
 cles ; so that the amount of actual cash which we had to pay 
 in costs would nearly have enabled us to purchase articles of 
 equal value. Second hand clothing, too, and articles not imme 
 diately needed, came to hand frequently, which we could not 
 apply to actual benefit equal to their nominal value. The sum 
 total of our expenditures, therefore, as exhibited in our accounts, 
 was much greater than it would have been, had we, by possess 
 ing funds, been enabled to purchase necessary supplies only, 
 and those upon the best terms. This circumstance was an ad 
 vantage to us in regard to obtaining help from the Government, 
 which apportioned some items of assistance to the amount ex 
 pended on the institution by the benevolent. But in a few in 
 stances, with the benevolent, it operated differently, and not to 
 our advantage. We believed, however, that such an explanation, 
 at that time, of the augmentation of expense, as we may without 
 fear give in this place as matter of history, would have had a 
 dampening influence upon many who kindly contributed to the 
 support of the mission. Could we have employed an agent to 
 collect and bring to us supplies, who would have laboured upon 
 the same principle and with the same feeling that missionaries 
 at the station did, the difficulties of which we speak would 
 have been chiefly avoided, and ample means of support would 
 have been obtained, without further trouble to the board than 
 merely auditing and publishing accounts of our receipts and 
 expenditures. But such an one we never were able to enlist in 
 the service. 
 
 Another vexatious cause of considerable expense in actual 
 cash was occasioned by the failure of missionaries, and the 
 necessity of hiring assistant school teachers. Many of these, 
 both missionaries and hired persons from whom we hoped to 
 obtain some assistance, occasioned not a little cost ; for while we 
 were hard pressed for funds to procure food and raiment, and 
 were compelled to labour with our own hands, they rendered 
 not a particle of benefit to the mission. For want of mission- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 205 
 
 aries, we were compelled to hire assistance in the school, &,c., 
 and it was not to be expected that persons who laboured merely 
 for the sake of their wages should feel the interest in the suc 
 cess of our affairs that was desirable. Matters intrusted to them 
 were not at all times managed with that economy which the 
 nature of our business, and especially our poverty, required. 
 Moreover, the expense of bringing a teacher from the settle 
 ments and sending him back, together with his wages, consumed 
 much which could have been applied advantageously, had we 
 been properly strengthened by missionaries. It often happened 
 that persons with whom during their connection with us, we had 
 hoped to divide our cares and toils, were a continual burden, 
 from which we were happy to be relieved by their departure. 
 
 For some time we had sustained a correspondence with Mr. 
 William Polke, of Indiana, on the subject of his becoming a 
 missionary. Having expressed his readiness to unite with us, I 
 forwarded to him an appointment, dated September 6, 1823, and 
 a remittance to meet the expenses of his outfit and travelling. 
 
 August and the fore part of September was the season to pro 
 cure hay on the prairies for our stock through the succeeding 
 winter. One of us was obliged to attend to this, and to labour 
 hard with the hired men. About this time, the male and fe 
 male whom we had hired in Ohio, to assist in the schools, ter 
 minated their services with us, and we were under the necessity 
 of employing a stranger who happened to be at our place. 
 
 Times being pretty hard in relation to pecuniary matters, it 
 behooved us to leave no stone unturned that might possibly 
 afford relief. We therefore determined that, notwithstanding 
 the onerous duties which devolved on us at Carey, we would 
 make a vigorous effort to get matters into operation among the 
 Ottawas. We could receive no Government allowance for the 
 Ottawas until we actually commenced upon the ground, when an 
 appropriation would be made, and we should also be repaid for all 
 the property, such as wagons, oxen, &ic., purchased for the sta 
 tion, with the expectation of its being speedily applied by Mr. 
 Sears, and which was still on hand. Notwithstanding we 
 needed at Carey one or two others like Mr. Lykins, yet neces 
 sity seemed to demand his attention to the Ottawas ; which he 
 gave, in the hope that Government would confer on him the ap 
 pointment of teacher, and thus secure to him a salary of four 
 hundred dollars, which sum would be applied to the support of 
 the mission. In this design, as will appear in the sequel, we 
 were successful, and hence was opened a permanent source of 
 considerable pecuniary relief. 
 
206 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Tour among the Ottawas. Medicine dance. Death of In 
 dian pupils. Loss of property on Lake Michigan. The 
 Government agent examines the affairs of the mission. Arri 
 val of missionaries. Want of the means of support. Journey 
 to Washington City. Scheme for colonizing the Indians. 
 Tour to take collections. Success. Phenomenon on Lake 
 Erie. Mr. Simerwell joins the Mission. Condition of 
 affairs in the vicinity of the establishment. Encouraging 
 appearances. 
 
 On the 19th of September Mr. Lykins went to the lake, to 
 hire a suitable interpreter to accompany me to the Ottawas, but 
 was unsuccessful. On the 30th I set out, with an Indian and a 
 white man to go as far among the Ottawas as Kekenmazoo river, 
 where prejudices existed which might prevent the immediate 
 commencement of operations among them on Grand river. In 
 order, therefore, to secure a footing among them without delay, 
 we proposed to commence with only the smithery, on the line 
 between them and the Putawatomies. The advantages which 
 they would derive from the smithery, and the opportunity which, 
 by this course, would be afforded of extending our acquaintance 
 among them, we believed, would result in subduing all their 
 jealousies in relation to us. 
 
 Early on the morning of the third day we reached the Otta 
 wa settlements on Kekenmazoo, and were informed that they 
 were about to spend the day in the observance of a religious 
 ceremony, which would be accompanied by dancing and feasting. 
 We went immediately to the house of the chief, White Spar 
 row, who, with one male companion, and three women, one of 
 whom was his wife and another his daughter, had already en 
 gaged in the exercises of the day, in the house fitted for the 
 occasion. Without doors a man and his wife were preparing a 
 considerable quantity of bear's meat, venison, turkey, and por 
 cupine, for the feast. The chief's wife had the kindness to 
 suspend her exercises long enough to set before us a little food, 
 which we needed. The chief asked for tobacco to smoke with 
 his people, and seemed much pleased that I added a little salt. 
 
 The apartment in which the services were performed had 
 been specially constructed for such occasions. Stakes were 
 driven into the ground at proper distances, on which poles were 
 tied horizontally, with bark ; on the outside of these grass mats 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 207 
 
 were fastened, which raised a temporary wall, about as high as 
 a man's breast. The hall was about twenty feet wide and sixty 
 feet long. On three sides were spread mats and skins for the 
 company to sit upon. Through the centre three posts were 
 erected, ranging with each other the longer way of the apart 
 ment, and extending so much higher than the sides that a tem 
 porary roof, in case of rain, might be made to rest upon poles 
 that lay along upon their tops. 
 
 On our arrival the chief was delivering to the few who were 
 with him short speeches, to which the others occasionally re 
 sponded with O-oh, in a more plaintive tone than is commonly 
 heard among Indians. Between speeches, the chief drummed, 
 and all sung. Two of them held in their hand a gourd, to 
 which had been fastened a wooden handle. Gravel or corn 
 within the hollow of the gourd made a rattle resembling a child's 
 toy. The drum consisted of a skin stretched over the end of 
 a small keg, after the heading had been displaced, and was beaten 
 with one stick only ; the strokes, without changing their force, 
 occurred regularly, at the rate of about one hundred and thirty 
 in a minute. The gourds were shaken so as to make their 
 rattling in unison with the strokes of the drum. 
 
 About eleven o'clock, thirty or forty persons, including men r 
 women, and children, assembled about thirty yards from the 
 dancing house, at which place they left most of their children 
 and some of the women. The others formed in single file, and 
 marched until the leader reached the door of the dancing hall, 
 and halted, the whole maintaining their order. The leader 
 stamped a few times with his foot, crying, Ho! ho! ho! Those 
 within responded with their Ho; several who were on the front 
 end of the line sung for a few minutes, and then all marched into 
 the hall, and around the room three times, halting and singing 
 twice each time. Invariably through the whole day, when they 
 marched around the room, the circle was described by turning to 
 the left, so that if a person seated near the door to the right 
 desired to walk out, he never retraced his steps, but walked 
 around the room, with his left hand towards the centre, until he 
 reached the door. All took their seats with their backs against 
 the wall. 
 
 A principal man then arose, and addressed the company in a 
 speech of considerable length ; after which one drummed, two 
 rattled their gourds, several sung, and two women and one man 
 danced. The musicians and dancers then passed round the 
 hall, severally pointing a finger to each one seated as they 
 passed, and using words which I did not understand. The 
 
208 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 person pointed at responded each time with a mournful groan, 
 A-a-a ; these took their seats ; another man arose and made a 
 speech ; two men held a short private consultation in a low 
 voice, and then mixed some powders, which they called medi 
 cine. A little tobacco, or rather the common mixture of 
 tobacco and the leaves of other plants, which they use in 
 smoking, made fine as if prepared for the pipe, was sprinkled 
 at the foot of the two posts of the door, and of those planted 
 along the centre of the building, and a small quantity put 
 into the fire. Another man arose and delivered a lengthy 
 speech, which was followed by drumming, singing, and dancing. 
 A little respite ensued, which the men employed in smoking ; 
 another speech was made, and followed by the dancing of ten 
 persons to music ; another turn of smoking ensued, and the two 
 men who had charge of the medicine allowed each person to 
 take a little between the fingers, and put it into an otter's skin, 
 with which each was furnished. These skins had been taken 
 off the animals entire, including the bones of the head. The 
 sack thus formed by a whole skin has an opening into it on the 
 throat, which is generally the fashion of an Indian's tobacco 
 pouch. These medicine bags are esteemed sacred, and are 
 used for no other purposes than those belonging to this festival 
 occasion, and to hold the sacred medicine. Artificial eyes, 
 usually of metal that will glisten, are inserted; the teeth are 
 disclosed by the drying of the skin, and the sides of the mouth 
 are ornamented by soft feathers, dyed red, extending along the 
 jaws three or four inches. The tails are ornamented with por 
 cupine quills, dyed various colours, to the end of which, and 
 also to the feet, small brass thimbles and bells are suspended, 
 which make a tinkling sound whenever the skin is moved. 
 Each keeps his or her skin hanging on the arm at all times 
 while in the house during the festival, excepting when seated, 
 at which time they are hung on the wall, by the owner's seat. 
 Another speech being delivered, four men and two womea 
 marched out at the door of the hall, with Ho-hos and gesticula 
 tions which cannot be described. They formed a semicircle in 
 front of the door, and one of the men delivered a speech, which 
 was followed by singing. Their otter skins were held horizon 
 tally in the two hands, with a tremulous motion that rattled the 
 trinkets suspended to them, and which made the skin assume 
 the appearance of the living animal when about to leap for 
 ward. While thus shaking their skins they ran around, now 
 stooping towards the earth, and then stretching upwards and 
 hallooing ; they then marched into the hall again, severally 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 209 
 
 pointing a hand to each one seated as they passed, and each 
 person pointed at uttered an awful groan, as before. They 
 marched around the hall, until they reached the door again, 
 when each of the four men pretended to swallow a small bullet, 
 which apparently almost choked him, aud gave him great unea 
 siness at the moment ; but, as he did not fall to the ground, it 
 was understood that he was wise and good, and expert in the 
 performance. 
 
 All these fooleries were but preliminaries to the regular 
 course of exercises on which they were now prepared to enter. 
 Two principal men took the lead; each held in one hand a 
 rattle, and in the other a piece of folded cloth, to defend the 
 hand against injury when the gourd should be struck against it. 
 The leader delivered a speed), and all became seated again, 
 when the drummer and the gourd men on each side of him 
 beat in unison, while the leader sung alone. Three or four 
 persons presented themselves before the drum, and danced; 
 when these dancers had retired to their seats, the musicians 
 rose, and the leader delivered a brief speech. They then 
 marched twice around the hall, with their instrumental music, 
 stopping to sing a few minutes at the completion of each semi* 
 circle. The drummer then, facing the door, became seated 
 by the middle post, with one of the rattlers behind, and the 
 other in front; the principal one delivered a speech, at the con 
 clusion of which they both commenced singing, and then rat 
 tled, and were joined by the drummer. Now all appeared to 
 become inspired with new life. Some rose and danced in their 
 places, then others, until all were on their feet, and dancing to 
 the sound of the drum and gourds. Suddenly, as if moved by 
 supernatural impulse, one man stepped forward from his place 
 into the space left for them to pass in single file around the 
 room, which, as before observed, is always with the left hand 
 towards the centre; he bends forward, whirls around, (always 
 to the left,) appears frantic, though not mad, shakes his otter 
 skin, crying Ho-o-o-o, in a quick, frightful tone. He falls into 
 the rear of the music, now passing around the room, and some 
 where in his circuit he becomes more frantic, gives a few louder 
 Whoh-whos, and suddenly punches the nose of his otter skin 
 against some one of the company, who are all standing with 
 their backs to the wall. The person punched either drops to 
 the earth, as if dead, like a butcher's beef, or bows and stag 
 gers back against the wall, uttering a horrid shriek of O~ho-ho, 
 as if pierced to the vitals. He now kisses the nose of his otter 
 skin, with gestures expressive of profound respect and warm 
 27 
 
210 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 affection. These fond kisses counteract the electric shock 
 just received from the nose of his neighbour's otter skin, and in 
 half a minute he is restored, and falls into the rear of the com 
 pany as they march around with the music. -ffviv 
 
 When a person fell, apparently lifeless, I noticed that he 
 never hurt himself in falling. Each one invariably fell in the 
 same position. In about half a minute he would recover and 
 rise, and, as in the other case, fall into the company of the 
 music. Each one, on recovering from the electric shock, before 
 he went around the room once, would become frantic, and 
 Whoh-whoh oftener and louder than usual, and punch his otter 
 skin at the nose of another person ; after which he danced until 
 he came around to his proper place, where he again took his 
 station, with his back to the wall. In this manner they conti 
 nued to go around the room, usually seven or eight persons at 
 a time, with their music, whooping and dancing, and shaking 
 their otter skins, and punching them towards each other's faces. 
 Sometimes a short pause is made, and again the vocal music 
 strikes a new tune, and at the same instant many set up a hideous 
 whoop of Ho-ho-ho, until the ear is stunned with almost every 
 frightful kind of noise that can be imagined. Having pro 
 ceeded in this way a sufficient length of time, the music ceased, 
 and each took his and her proper place against the wall. The 
 principal actor, followed by the other gourd-man, with the 
 drummer in the rear, went twice around the hall, halting and 
 singing twice in performing each circuit ; at length, halting at 
 the man who was designed next to use a gourd as a leader in 
 the farce, they made an uncommon ado in hallooing, and in 
 singular noises and gesticulations, and finally laid down their 
 gourds, cushions, and drum, at his feet. They then continued 
 around the hall once more, each pointing a finger at every one 
 as they passed, groaning each time, and being answered by 
 the person pointed at with a frightful groan. 
 
 Another now takes the lead, and the same ceremonies are 
 acted over again ; and this round of ceremonies is repeated 
 until every male has once led in the exercises. If, therefore, 
 the company be small, the exercises will end the sooner. Some 
 times the company is so large, that the services continue until 
 late in the night, and even all night. The females follow in all 
 the exercises, but never lead. They carry their otter skins or 
 medicine bags, sing, dance, blow, fee., and at this meeting one 
 went so far as to deliver two short public speeches, but this 
 was a rare occurrence. The males having each led in a round 
 of the regular ceremonies, all became seated to rest, and the 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 211 
 
 men smoked. On coming together, each had brought a kettle 
 or bowl ; seven or eight large kettles of boiled meat were now 
 brought into the house, and every one's small kettle or bowl 
 was placed near the food. A man then arose and delivered a 
 speech. Next, the man who had superintended the cookery 
 distributed to each a portion, using a sharpened stick fora flesh- 
 fork; and when a piece was not too hot, he took hold with his 
 hand. 
 
 It was now between sundown and dark ; they all ate, having 
 nothing before them besides meat. Another speech was deli 
 vered, and when it was concluded, every one rose, with his 
 vessel in hand, in which remained a considerable portion of 
 food. They marched once around the room, and the leader 
 halted at the door, where he performed some antic feats, 
 attended by noises of divers kinds, and then marched out of 
 the house, followed by all, in single file ; and those who did not 
 reside at the place marched directly off to their homes, not 
 stopping within sight to speak to any one, or even to look back. 
 A portion of food was sent to me. 
 
 The Indian who was with me had accepted an invitation to 
 participate in all the ceremonies. When we were alone, at 
 camp, on the following night, I asked him if the presentment 
 of the nose of the otter skin did really give them pain, when 
 they gave the horrid shriek, and staggered back, or when they 
 fell apparently lifeless on the ground. He was embarrassed, 
 being unwilling to tell me a lie under the circumstances attend 
 ing my inquiry, and on the other hand reluctant to acknowledge 
 the deceptions they had practised. He looked abashed, and 
 said, falteringly, "It hurt a little. " 
 
 At a separate fire food was prepared for a number of women 
 and children who did not join in the ceremonies. They were 
 not displeased at my looking on, but did not invite me into the 
 hall. None were allowed to enter that place, except such as 
 were prepared to engage in the exercises. Some of their ora 
 tors spoke deliberately ; others spoke as fast as the tongue 
 could clatter. It is supposed that a capacity to deliver very 
 long sentences without taking breath is a fine accomplish* 
 ment. I was often reminded of our Lord's words respecting 
 " vain repetitions in prayer," a favourite word being repeated 
 once or twice in almost every breath throughout the speech. 
 
 This ceremony is called Me'ta'wuk' ; that is, Medicine dance* 
 It is considered a religious ceremony, and moral lectures are 
 given to the audience, and addresses made to spirits, as though 
 they were visibly present ; as, for instance, whea the leader of 
 
212 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 the company reached the door of the house in the morning, 
 with the company in single file in his rear, he halted, and stamp 
 ing three times with his foot, said, " Ho-ho-ho I see you 
 now, I see you now, I see you now !" three times, affecting to 
 see a spirit that was present to preside over the meeting. One 
 man within responded in behalf of the spirit, and invited the 
 company in. More privacy usually attends these festivals than 
 was observed at this, and often many rude feats of legerdemain 
 are performed. 
 
 October the 3d, 1823. Early, about a dozen Ottawas called 
 on' me, to whom I communicated our desires to assist them in 
 improvements, &c., with which they appeared well pleased. 
 As eatables were a desideratum in those times of scarcity, we 
 were gratified to be able to set out for Carey with as much meat 
 as we needed for our journey. We reached home on the 4th. 
 Our circumstances were at this time such as to occasion much 
 anxiety. Two months had elapsed since we had been informed 
 that the funds of the board were exhausted. Our buildings 
 had to be improved before winter, to prevent a recurrence of 
 sufferings similar to those experienced the preceding cold sea 
 son, and preparation was necessary for wintering our live stock. 
 Our immediate intercourse with the Indians required much of 
 our time ; we were compelled to labour with our own hands, 
 and all our business had to be done, without knowing that we 
 should receive any pecuniary assistance from the board of mis 
 sions. At this time the circumstances of Mrs. McCoy made 
 it necessary for rne to conceal from her, as far as possible, the 
 darker side of our affairs, and Mr. Lykins and I shared the 
 burden of our troubles as well as we could. 
 
 We instituted a Bible class among our scholars on the 1.2th 
 of October, and distributed among them twenty-one Bibles. 
 With the exercises which followed they were much pleased. 
 About this time the whooping-cough, which prevailed in the 
 neighbourhood, entered our family, and caused the first death 
 among our Indian pupils. We invited our Indian neighbours to 
 the funeral, that they might have ocular evidence in this case of 
 our kindness to the children committed to our care. On the 
 following day a cousin of the deceased refused to eat, saying, 
 with tears, that his " deceased cousin was somewhere hungry, 
 and on that account he would fast." Hence we perceive how 
 early in life superstition is imbibed. A few weeks afterwards 
 another of our Indian pupils died of the same disease. 
 
 Upon the failure of the vessel the preceding spring to bring 
 us supplies by way of the lake, as we had contracted, we took 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 213 
 
 measures to have supplies brought to us by another vessel. 
 This latter, carrying four or five hundred dollars' worth of pro 
 perty for us, anchored at the mouth of St. Joseph's river on the 
 17th of October, and the captain came on shore. About this 
 time the wind became so severe that their cable parted, and the 
 schooner was driven out to sea. About midnight the captain, 
 who was at an Indian house, a rnile from the lake, was informed 
 that the vessel had again come in sight. He hastened off, di 
 recting the men who were in waiting to receive our property to 
 be on the shore early in the morning. Unfortunately, they 
 were able to land only seven barrels of flour, one barrel of salt, 
 and two or three other small articles; the remainder of our pro 
 perty was carried back to Detroit, greatly to our loss, and to 
 our serious inconvenience in other respects. This failure occa 
 sioned Mr. Lykins to make a journey to Ohio a few weeks 
 afterwards, in order to procure articles which we had expected 
 by way of the lakes. 
 
 In the latter part of October, Charles Noble, Esq., was com 
 missioned by Governour Cass to visit our institution, and exa 
 mine and report its condition, agreeably to arrangements which 
 grew out of the treaty of Chicago. He remained with us three 
 days. His inquiries related to the amount and condition of the 
 improvements, number of persons employed at the establish 
 ment, their business severally, the number of native scholars, 
 their progress, apparent satisfaction or dissatisfaction, general 
 mode of instruction, &LC. In a communication to us the 1st of 
 December, Governour Cass said, " Your report and that of Mr. 
 Noble are entirely satisfactory. The affairs of your agency 
 appear to be in the best condition, and, if the experiment is 
 ever to be successful, I am satisfied you will make it so." 
 
 The Rev. Corbly Martin was at this time travelling in Ken 
 tucky as our agent. Among other services which he rendered 
 us, was an active part which he took in encouraging Miss Fanny 
 Goodridge, of Lexington, to become a missionary. After the 
 necessary preliminaries of correspondence, Miss Goodridge 
 reached Carey November 5th, 1823, accompanied by the Rev. 
 James McCoy, who had the goodness to accompany her to the 
 mission. She came well recommended by the deacons of the 
 church of Dr. Fishback, of Lexington, Kentucky ; we had 
 reason early to esteem her as a valuable acquisition to the mis 
 sion, nor have our expectations been disappointed. On the 
 18th of November Mrs. Polke and family arrived, and Mr. 
 Polke followed a few weeks afterwards. These added mate 
 rially to the number of our missionaries. On the 23d of Novein- 
 
2 I 4 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 ber Miss Goodridge commenced a Sabbath school specially for 
 the females. 
 
 The members of our little church had been so scattered, that 
 we were often ready to conclude that we had become a consti 
 tuted body prematurely ; but the addition of our new mission 
 aries had inspired fresh hopes, which were enlivened on the 
 28th, by surrounding the Lord's table for the first time after our 
 settlement at Carey. Several poor Indians residing near us in 
 flag or bark huts, and most of whom usually waded through the 
 snow during a great part of the winter, to attend our evening 
 prayers, were present at this communion. 
 
 On securing the proceeds of our farm, notwithstanding this 
 was our first year, and our fields had to be prepared in an uncul 
 tivated wilderness, we had about nine hundred bushels of Indian 
 corn, besides garden vegetables. 
 
 Within this month we erected a blacksmith's shop on Keken- 
 mazoo, among the Ottawas, and made other preparations for 
 putting our smithery into operation. As the hands were on 
 their way to the place, an Indian forbid them to proceed upon 
 that business, and declared his determination to destroy their 
 house, &,c. He followed them twenty or thirty miles, to the 
 neighbourhood of their work, and, with a view of opposing our 
 operations, called a council of the Indians, but the result of this 
 council quieted his scruples. The Ottawas of that place be 
 came exceedingly pleased with what we had undertaken for 
 their benefit. 
 
 We have heretofore intimated that our kind friends were not 
 always fortunate in choosing the most eligible methods of con 
 veying donations to us: this was distressingly exemplified in 
 the case of a fine drove of hogs collected for the mission in 
 Kentucky and Indiana, of which one third, including the most 
 valuable, were lost by the drivers on the road. The conse 
 quence was, that, besides paying cash to the drivers for their 
 services, we had to purchase the principal part of our supply of 
 pork for the ensuing year. Thus, by an unfortunate manage 
 ment in transporting to the station donations of live stock, and 
 of books and clothing for the Indian children, the actual value 
 to the mission was often so much diminished as to leave but 
 little real advantage to the institution. 
 
 Before we received information that " the funds of the board 
 were exhausted," we had sold a draft to H. G. Phillips, Esq., 
 of Ohio, for five hundred and fifty-two dollars. In November 
 this draft came back protested. We were greatly mortified at 
 this circumstance, and no less distressed on account of our 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 215 
 
 scarcity of funds. Mr. Lykins was at the time in Ohio, endea 
 vouring to procure articles needed for the approaching winter, 
 most of which we had hoped to obtain by way of the lakes. 
 Providence, however, had directed that our business should 
 chiefly be with a man of feeling. When the draft came back 
 to Mr. Phillips protested, we owed him nearly one thousand 
 dollars ; nevertheless, he advanced to Mr. Lykins whatever our 
 immediate wants required, and offered to increase the sum to 
 any amount we deemed prudent to take, and all without inte 
 rest. Mr. Joseph R. John, of Troy, Ohio, who was engaged 
 in business with Mr. Phillips, wrote to us on the occasion, say 
 ing, " I feel for your present situation, but I hope it will 
 
 not discourage you ; and we even hope that it will all work for 
 the benefit of the mission. We deem it prudent to keep the 
 news of the draft's being protested among ourselves, because, 
 if it were known to the public, it might be to the injury of your 
 establishment." Neither of these two gentlemen were then 
 professors of religion. The mission at this time owed about 
 fourteen hundred dollars more than we had money to pay, and 
 our most rigid economy and hard personal labour could not pre 
 vent the augmentation of our debts. The question, What shall 
 we do ? required an immediate answer. Mr. Lykins proposed 
 that I should go at once to Washington, and endeavour to 
 get help from Government, from the board of missions, and 
 from a benevolent public. In favour of this plan was also a 
 hope that I might be instrumental in promoting the colonization 
 of the Indians in the West a subject of which we never suf 
 fered ourselves to lose sight. 
 
 When I first went into the wilderness as a missionary, 1 set 
 about the study of the Indian language, but circumstances had 
 denied me the opportunity of acquiring such a knowledge as 
 would enable me to address the natives on the subject of f reli 
 gion without an interpreter. On the late acquisitions of mis 
 sionaries, I had hoped that I would be so far relieved from the 
 general cares of the institution as to be able to spend the winter 
 chiefly in the huts of the Putawatomies, in the study of their 
 language, and in imparting to them religious instruction. The 
 plan proposed for me to leave home a few months thwarted 
 this design, and 1 was exceedingly loth to adopt it. 1 felt dis 
 appointed, and was deeply distressed. But there was no alter 
 native, as we could contrive no other way to obtain relief. On 
 the 29th of December, I set out upon this journey, on horseback, 
 expecting to be absent five months. 
 
216 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 Excepting our embarrassments in pecuniary matters, our 
 affairs had never been more encouraging. Forty -nine Indian 
 youths were members of our family, and receiving instruction 
 in letters and labour, and attending to religious exercises. The 
 hearts of all the missionaries appeared warm and zealous. The 
 females held special religious meetings among themselves, and 
 we appeared to be entering upon a happy season in our mis 
 sionary labours, when this distressing necessity compelled me to 
 leave the place. I had with me a Frenchman named Mettez 
 to aid me in getting out of the wilderness. The snow was melt 
 ing, which increased the uncomfortableness of travelling ana 1 
 lodging. I gathered brush to raise me from the water and cold 
 earth the first night, during a great part of which it rained on 
 us. The next day we called at a trading hut, to see one of 
 our hired men, who, a few days before, while driving hogs 
 through the wilderness to us, had had his feet so much frost 
 bitten that he was left at this hut, where he still remained, 
 unable to travel. 
 
 December 30th. It rained on us all day, and night came 
 upon us in an open country, where we were much exposed to 
 chilling wind, and in which it was especially unpleasant to spend 
 the night. We, however, succeeded in making fire amidst a 
 continual fall of rain. Mettez had the kindness to lend me a 
 wolf skin to lie upon. I stretched up a blanket for shelter, 
 but my bed was both too short and too narrow to save me either 
 from the cold, from the water that fell from above, or from that 
 which arose from the earth beneath. The succeeding day was 
 wet, and, to add to the uncomfortableness of our situation, our 
 stock of provisions was exhausted. We therefore travelled hard, 
 in order to reach Fort Wayne, but soon after dark we lost our 
 path, and spent another rainy night in the brush. The next 
 day the waters were so high that we sometimes had to leave 
 the road to get around them. We swam our horses across St. Ma 
 ry's river, and reached Fort Wayne. From this place I sent 
 Mettez to Detroit on business, while I proceeded to Ohio. I 
 spent the Sabbath and preached at the house of Captain Shane, 
 of whom mention has been made, and whose wife was a mem 
 ber of our church. Shane, who was by birth an Ottawa, had 
 rendered great service to the United States in time of the late 
 war. In treating with the Indians after the war, Government 
 had granted some lands to him. But he and his wife both being 
 in bad health, were, at the time of which we speak, in want of 
 assistance, I consented to his request to lay his case before the 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 217 
 
 proper officers of Government, and endeavour to obtain for him 
 the appointment of interpreter, or some other situation that 
 would afford them a living in their declining years. 
 
 We were exposed to much rain during the two succeeding 
 days, and had to swim our horses once on the first day and 
 twice on the second. My horse became so chilled, by being 
 almost constantly in water for several days, that he could 
 scarcely proceed. I took the road by the way of Chilicothe, 
 for the purpose of calling upon the Surveyor General of the 
 United States' lands. Mr. Polke, who was a practical surveyor, 
 had agreed to take a district of surveying, and contribute his 
 earnings to the relief of the mission. I made an application to- 
 the surveyor in his behalf but was unsuccessful. 
 
 At this time the board of missions met in Washington City. 
 I remained in the city twenty-four days, during which time they 
 held several meetings, at which my business was considered. 
 Pecuniary relief they could not afford, because they had not the 
 means. But they granted our requests as far as practicable, 
 and generally adopted the measures we suggested. But it was 
 evident that while they indulged kind feelings towards the mis 
 sionaries, the pressure of the affairs of the Columbian College 
 engrossed most of their thoughts and deliberations, and that the 
 missionaries must provide their own support. It was conclu 
 ded that I should endeavour to collect something from a benevo 
 lent public, to meet the necessities of the mission, and with 
 this view the board gave me the necessary credentials. 
 
 The plan for colonizing the Indians, which was submitted in- 
 writing, was a prominent subject of consideration. Dr. Staugh- 
 ton and Mr. Rice were appointed to accompany me, to lay the 
 matter before Mr. Monroe, President of the United States, and 
 to request his views on the feasibility of the plan. 
 
 We called twice, but, unfortunately, he was each time absent, 
 so that we did not obtain an audience. Accompanied by the 
 Rev. O. B. Brown, we called on Mr. Calhoun, Secretary of 
 War. Some members of the board had intimated that if the 
 Secretary of War should not approve the plan, the board of 
 missions ought to abandon it. This doctrine I had opposed. I 
 thought that we ought first to satisfy ourselves, from better evi 
 dence than the mere opinions of men, that the plan was good. 
 This done, we should seek its accomplishment ; and if others 
 viewed it erroneously, it should be our business to endeavour, 
 by sound argument and zealous pleading, to set them right. 
 That while the President and Secretary of War might be emi 
 nently qualified for their respective stations, it was possible that 
 
 28 
 
218 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 they raight form erroneous opinions in regard to the most eligible 
 measures for improving the condition of the Indians, whom they 
 had never seen at their homes in the wilderness. And, further, 
 it was argued that mistaken opinions upon this subject, to the 
 disadvantage of the Indians, had always prevailed both in Eu 
 rope and America, and therefore it would not be surprising if 
 objections to the experiment proposed should be made by great 
 men as well as by others. Still, I discovered plainly enough 
 that if the Secretary of War should disapprove of the design, 
 our board would feel disinclined to foster it. When, therefore, 
 the subject was submitted to the notice of Mr. Calhoun, and he 
 requested me to state my views, I was so much afraid that his 
 answer would be unfavourable, that after mentioning the out 
 lines of the plan, I proceeded to offer many reasons for adopting 
 it before I paused to allow room for his reply. Somewhat con 
 trary to my expectation, but greatly to my satisfaction, his an 
 swer was such as I desired. 
 
 He not only approved the plan, but argued its practicability, 
 and said that nothing was wanting to insure success, but a right 
 feeling in Congress. The latter was an excellent idea, and a con 
 firmation of my pleadings with the board, that if satisfied our 
 selves of the propriety of the measure, we ought to labour to 
 induce right views and feelings on the subject in others. 1 de 
 sired the board immediately to present a memorial to Congress 
 on the subject, and this proposition was at first favourably re 
 ceived, but finally they concluded that the better way would be 
 by bringing the matter before the public through the press, to pre 
 pare for a successful application to Congress at another session. 
 
 We obtained from Government at this time five hundred and 
 sixty-six dollars, on account of buildings at Carey, which was 
 to reimburse a portion of the cost that had accrued to the mis 
 sion in their erection. It was paid to us out of the annual 
 appropriation of Congress for Indian reform. The Secretary 
 of War also agreed to increase the annual allowance from the 
 same fund, for the benefit of our school, from two hundred 
 dollars to six hundred dollars. This was securing to the mission 
 considerable relief. 
 
 The children of missionaries who reside among a barbarous 
 people ought not to be wholly brought up without better oppor 
 tunities than the society found in those places affords ; while 
 they are small, little anxiety is felt by their parents, but when 
 they are approaching maturity, and forming Jhabits for subse 
 quent life, they ought to spend, at least, a portion of their 
 time in civilized and Christian society. Their parents, by pei- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 219 
 
 sonal services, can provide no pecuniary assistance for them. A 
 good education and favourable impressions derived from ming 
 ling with good society, is the only legacy that missionaries can 
 hope to leave their children, and to this their children are enti 
 tled. When it is discovered that the services of parents are not 
 of sufficient value to justify the patrons of missions in incurring 
 the expense of educating the children, the missionaries should 
 be dismissed. This subject was taken into consideration by 
 the board at the time of which we speak, which, with an hon 
 orable generosity, directed me to send my two elder sons to 
 the Columbian College, at Washington, to complete their edu 
 cation. 
 
 At this time the Rev. Luther Rice, who had been instru 
 mental in bringing into existence the Baptist General Conven 
 tion, was the most efficient man in connection with its board of 
 managers. To a liberal education and extensive personal ob 
 servation of men and things in different countries, he united 
 uncommon powers of intellect. His reliance, however, upon 
 his own resources of judgment was too great. He undertook 
 to perform more than any one man could do, and sunk under 
 the weight of cares which a generous heart had induced him to 
 assume. By attempting (in a degree alone) to establish the 
 Columbian College for the benefit of our own, and of other 
 countries, debts accumulated faster than he was able to collect 
 means to pay them. He became embarrassed, and in the midst 
 of his indefatigable career his usefulness became suddenly 
 abridged. By a similar reversion, a man of ordinary fortitude 
 would have been driven to despair, but Mr. Rice, after his use 
 fulness had been reduced more than fifty per cent., struggled 
 on, doing good to the extent of his opportunities. 
 
 At the time of my second visit to Washington, Mr. Rice's 
 affairs were approximating a crisis. Nevertheless, with all his 
 toils and cares, he found leisure to show himself the substantial 
 friend of the Indians, and a sympathizing brother to mission 
 aries. He warmly advocated the scheme for the colonization of 
 the Indians, and kindly favoured the design of taking my sons 
 into the Columbian College. Speaking to him of the great 
 reluctance with which 1 had left the missionary station on this 
 tour, he encouraged me to hope that all had been directed by 
 an unerring Providence. God had, perhaps, permitted our 
 necessities to become such as to force me to make this tour, in 
 order that I might be instrumental, somewhat, in promoting the 
 colonization of the tribes a measure which he believed was 
 fraught with more important consequences than any labours of 
 
220 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 mine could effect within the small sphere of immediate mission 
 ary operations. 
 
 I left Washington City on the 24th of February, 1824, and 
 passed through Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia, Holmes- 
 burg, New-Brunswick, and Newark, to New- York, in each of 
 \vliich places, especially in Philadelphia, I obtained consider 
 able help for our mission. In New- York city I found a Baptist 
 minister of respectability, whose mind had become much pre 
 judiced against our mission, through the misrepresentations of 
 a disaffected missionary who had been dismissed by the board, 
 and for whom this minister had a warm partiality. I laboured 
 in vain to remove his prejudices ; he seemed resolved on oppo 
 sing my efforts to obtain relief for the mission. Knowing that 
 we had nothing to fear from an investigation of our missionary 
 matters, his opposition was turned to our account by making it 
 a cause of inquiry into our affairs among the Baptists generally 
 in the city. The result was, that scarcely a man in the city 
 contributed more to promote liberality towards our mission by 
 his friendship, than this minister did by his opposition. 
 
 I had great reason to be thankful for the kindness of our 
 friends in New- York, as well as to those of other places, My 
 home was at the hospitable dwelling of William Colgate, Esq. 
 Rev. Spencer H. Cone, pastor of Oliver street church, and his 
 lady, warmly espoused the cause of Indian missions, and that 
 of our stations in particular, and this favourable support never 
 abated. 
 
 I embarked for Providence in the steamboat Fulton, where 
 every face was strange to me. Mr. Raymond, of New- 
 York, had furnished me with a letter to a Mr. Wilder, a Chris 
 tian gentleman, well known in the circles of benevolence. He, 
 without solicitation, proposed to make an effort to collect some 
 thing for us. We had worship in the cabin on Sabbath morning, 
 at which time I was allowed to make a brief appeal to the 
 company, which was followed by their placing in my hands 
 twenty dollars for the mission. 
 
 Reaching Providence, in Rhode Island, I found that the 
 minister who had opposed me in New-York had sent on com 
 munications to his acquaintances, which had reached that place 
 before me, in order to hedge up my way, that I might not be 
 able to take collections for the mission. The repulse which I 
 met at my first landing in New r -England was not a light trial to 
 me. I remembered our sufferings at the station ! the splendid 
 dwellings were contrasted with our huts, and my comfortable 
 lodgings with the nights of misery which, with my wife and 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 221 
 
 children, I had spent unsheltered amidst snow and rain in the 
 wilderness. I could not approach the luxuries of their tables 
 without being reminded of passing around our table, distributing 
 to each a small piece of bread, because we could afford no 
 more ; of living weeks at a time without bread,, and of having 
 seen the last morsel of our boiled corn eaten. 1 thought it was 
 hard that Christians should so far indulge in prejudice through 
 partiality for a friend, as to endeavour to hinder me from 
 obtaining the means to prevent a recurrence of our sufferings. 
 But God designed it for our good. Here, in New-England, 
 the opposition, as in New- York, elicited inquiry, which resulted 
 in making the benevolent more liberal to the mission than if no 
 such cause of inquiry had existed. In Boston a meeting was 
 called of the more respectable Baptist ministers and others, to 
 make inquiry relative to the condition of the mission. Many 
 of them came to it with strong prejudices against us, occasioned 
 by the misrepresentations of the persons before alluded to. I 
 had, however, taken the precaution, on leaving home, to carry 
 with me such documents as would unequivocally show what 
 had been and what then was the state of our affairs. Our Bos 
 ton friends became fully satisfied in regard to the management 
 of our affairs, and now, in the warmth of zeal in a cause which 
 they were sure claimed their kindness, they resolved to pro 
 mote the object of my visit to Boston. This examination 
 settled the question in New-England. Of their number they 
 appointed a committee of three ministers, whose characters 
 were universally known, to aid in giving success to my efforts. 
 This committee wrote in my subscription book the following : 
 
 " The bearer of this, the Rev. Isaac McCoy, is an approved 
 missionary of the Carey station, on the river St. Joseph's, in 
 Michigan Territory, among the Putawatomie Indians. He is 
 now soliciting subscriptions and donations in aid of that mission. 
 We, the subscribers, have seen with pleasure the ample testi 
 monials of Mr. McCoy's piety and fidelity in this good work, 
 and do most cordially approve of his character, and recommend 
 him to the patronage of all the friends of the Redeemer, who 
 wish for the civilization and salvation of the aborigines of the 
 
 " THOMAS BALDWIN, 
 " DANIEL SHARP, 
 " F. WAYLAND, JUN." 
 
 I returned through New- York, Albany, and Rochester, to 
 Buffalo, on Lake Erie, where I shipped on the lake the pro 
 perty which I had procured for the mission. I obtained on 
 
HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 this tour books, clothing for the Indian scholars, and other 
 articles needed for the benefit of the mission, to the amount of 
 eight hundred and twenty dollars. Besides the five hundred 
 and sixty-six dollars obtained from Government, and the addi 
 tion of two hundred dollars a year to the annual allowance for 
 the support of our mission, I received in donations to the mis 
 sion one thousand six hundred and twenty-three dollars in cash. 
 This sum was sufficient, besides paying our debts, to procure 
 some additional supplies, and to pay the transportation of our 
 goods to the station. I took home thirty bushels of wheat, 
 for seed, one hundred barrels of flour, and twenty-four barrels 
 of salt. 
 
 At Albany, on my return from Massachusetts, I found Mr. 
 Robert Simerwell, with whom I had formed an acquaintance in 
 Philadelphia, and who, agreeably to previous arrangements, 
 met me here, with a view of uniting with us in missionary 
 labours. The subsequent history of the mission will show that 
 we found in Mr. Simerwell a persevering missionary brother. 
 We embarked on Lake Erie, at Buffalo, the 25th of May, in the 
 schooner Neptune, Capt. Johnson. On the night of the 28th 
 we had a thunder storm, and a pretty severe gale, in which our 
 danger was greater than at the moment we apprehended. The 
 vessel was old, and too much decayed to be seaworthy, a cir 
 cumstance which we did not fully understand until afterwards. 
 I noticed that during the storm there appeared to be more 
 anxiety on the part of the captain and others of the crew than 
 I had expected on such an occasion, which doubtless was attri- 
 tmtable to this fact. 
 
 The day had been calm; at dark, a black cloud covered us, 
 attended with heavy thunder. A slight rain was falling, when 
 we were not a little surprised at a phenomenon which to us was 
 new. Suddenly the top of each mast and the ends of the 
 yard-arms became illuminated, as if enveloped in a flame like 
 that produced in burning ardent spirits. Each light was glo 
 bular, extending four or five inches from the substance which it 
 enveloped. Those on the mast tops appeared a little sooner 
 than the others; and they would also sometimes suddenly dis 
 appear, and as suddenly reappear. The phenomenon lasted 
 about twenty minutes. Being unaccustomed to the seas, I made 
 inquiry at the time respecting this phenomenon, of some who 
 belonged to the vessel ; but I could obtain no other answer 
 than that " it was a sure sign of a heavy blow." 
 
 At Detroit we put on board iron, steel, &c., for our public 
 smithertes. Mr. Simerwell continued on board the vessel, and 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 223 
 
 ascended to the mouth of St. Joseph's river, while I hired a 
 horse, and rode home through the wilderness. A ride of five 
 days brought me to Carey, on the llth of June, 1824, after 
 an absence of about five and a half months, in which time I 
 had travelled three thousand three hundred and thirty-eight 
 miles. It was peculiarly gratifying to reach the place which of 
 all others was the most dear to me. 
 
 In my absence the labours of the missionaries had been greater 
 than they were well able to sustain. Laudably ambitious to 
 keep all matters moving forward, and to prevent a retrogression 
 in any department, they had toiled beyond their strength. Mrs. 
 McCoy's health was poor, and her spirits were more depressed 
 than I had ever known them. I found them on short allow 
 ance of bread. On the 16th we had exhausted all our bread 
 stuff excepting a few pounds reserved for the small children and 
 the sick. All except myself were in good spirits in regard to 
 food, hourly expecting the arrival of the vessel. I feared that 
 contrary winds or other hindrances might cause us to suffer, 
 but I concealed my anxiety. On the 18th we had only corn 
 enough for one day, but our merciful God was still near us. The 
 harbour at which the vessel would stop was without inhabitant. 
 We had sent two of our Indian pupils to build and keep up a 
 fire at the place, in order that the smoke, by being seen from 
 the vessel, might point out the place of landing. The youths 
 were directed to open a barrel of flour immediately on the 
 landing of the vessel, and hasten to us (twenty-five miles) with 
 what they could bring. On the evening of the 18th, to our 
 great joy, and to mine in particular, one of the young men 
 arrived with a mule packed with flour. 
 
 We brought our property from the lake to the station upon 
 the St. Joseph's river in periogues. Mr. Polke superintended 
 this labour. From that time forward the mission did not suffer 
 for want of bread, nor did our pecuniary wants ever again be 
 come so great as they had been. 
 
 It is deserving of notice, that from this time until, by an ar 
 rangement with the Government in 1830, the affairs of the mis 
 sion at that place were wound up, we never had occasion to 
 draw on the board of missions for any funds intrusteo^ to them 
 by the benevolent, excepting some donations which were made 
 specially for Carey, and which the board, on that account, could 
 not, apply elsewhere. With this exception, the mission, hence 
 forward, cost the charity funds of the board nothing. 
 
 The number of scholars was at this time about the same as 
 
224 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 when I left home. Indeed, it would not have been prudent for 
 them to have added to the family, had they been influenced by 
 no other reason than the scarcity of bread. Soon, however, the 
 number of scholars was greatly increased. 
 
 As I returned home through Detroit, I obtained from Gover- 
 nour Cass the appointment of Mr. Police as teacher for the Ot- 
 tawas, under the treaty of Chicago, the place that had once 
 been given to Mr. Sears. Mr. Polke had visited those Indians 
 once, but had not made any definite arrangements with them, 
 excepting that the public labourers had afforded them some 
 assistance in improving their lands. Mr. Lykins's personal 
 business made it necessary for him to be absent from the station 
 six or eight weeks. He set off on the 28th of June. His path 
 led him four days' journey through an uninhabited wilderness. 
 
 On our returning from a journey it was common for the Indi 
 ans to agree upon a day among themselves, when they would 
 call "to hear the news." On the 29th, four chiefs and many 
 others made the inquiring visit, in relation to the late tour. 
 After furnishing tobacco to smoke, and exhibiting some curiosi 
 ties, which I had brought home chiefly for that purpose, I gave 
 them a brief history of the tour, and told of the kind feelings which 
 many had manifested for their Indian brethren. Towards the 
 conclusion of the story, I informed them that the clothing, flour, 
 &c., which I had brought home was for the benefit of the Indi 
 an children who had become members of our family, and could 
 not be given to others; nevertheless, as a token of friendship, 
 we would present them with some tobabco and salt, which they 
 might take and divide among themselves. We had never 
 seen a company of Indians appear better pleased than these 
 were. 
 
 In the spring season of this year, Chebass, one of the prin 
 cipal Putawatomie chiefs, and two other families near us, com 
 menced improving their lands in a manner that was really pro 
 mising. Three log cabins were erected, and two considerable 
 fields fenced with rails. In this labour, and in ploughing the 
 fields, the mission had afforded them some assistance. 
 
 June 29th, 1824, Mr. Polke set out for the Ottawa station, 
 with tools, &tc., for the smithery, taking with him a blacksmith 
 whom we had hired, and one of our Indian pupils, who went 
 with a view of learning the trade. They took a wagon, drawn 
 by two yokes of oxen, driven by another of our Indian boys. 
 He left the two public labourers at work for the Ottawas, and 
 returned to Carey on the 9th of July. In his absence, the St. 
 
TNDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 225 
 
 Joseph's river had risen, which on their return they did not per 
 ceive until they had driven the team into the stream, and oxen 
 and all were afloat. They succeeded in getting all back to the 
 shore they had left. Unable to get the wagon out of the river, 
 they tied it to a tree, that it might not be carried down by the 
 stream ; they then, having driven their beasts across the river, 
 and swam across themselves, came home wet and fatigued. 
 
 Soon after the commencement of the mission, a boy, whose 
 mother was a Putawatomie, and his father a Frenchman, named 
 Rollo, was engaged as a scholar in our school. The boy spoke 
 both English and Putawatomie. Being capable of interpreting 
 for us, we were the more desirous to take him into our family, 
 but ultimately his father's Catholic prejudices disappointed us. 
 He said " he was afraid, if his boy came to live with us, he 
 would lose his religion." The boy's education was neglected,, 
 and he learned little more than the alphabet. In March of this 
 year, his father died near Fort Harrison, on the Wabash. An 
 thony, the boy, who had nearly reached the age of twenty years, 
 on the death of his father resolved, if possible, to get to our 
 house. He was naturally lame, and scarcely able to walk. 
 With some difficulty he prevailed upon a trader to carry him 
 on horseback to Fort Wayne, one hundred and seventy miles. 
 In the latter part of June, my three sons, who were attending 
 school in the State of Ohio, made us a visit at Carey, and as 
 they passed Fort Wayne they found Anthony waiting an oppor 
 tunity to get on to us. They had only two horses to aid them 
 in corning through the wilderness; one of these they gave up 
 to Anthony, and two of them proceeding on foot, they brought 
 him with them. 
 
 About this time it was discovered that the prejudices of the 
 Putawatomies, with which we had to contend at first, had almost 
 wholly vanished from among those who were near us. We had 
 never before seen a time when our Indian neighbours manifested 
 so much interest in the mission. Applications to us to take 
 their children into our family were frequent, and their attention 
 to religious instruction appeared to increase. 
 
 We had long regretted that business which was indispensable 
 to the existence of the mission had denied us the opportunity 
 of acquiring fully the Putawatomie language, and of imparting 
 religious instruction to the neighbouring natives to the extent 
 that was desirable. Our solicitude increased on perceiving the 
 natives around us prepared to listen to us on the subject of reli 
 gion, as well as to matters relating merely to their temporal com 
 forts. Under all the embarrassments which existed, it was 
 
 29 
 
226 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 resolved to make an effort to extend our religious instructions. 
 The morning sermon was delivered at the mission at ten o'clock. 
 After this, on the morning of July 4th, I took Noaquett, alias 
 Luther Rice, one of our Indian boys who had acquired some 
 knowledge of English in our family, and rode five miles to an 
 Indian village ; the other missionaries attending to the Sabbath- 
 school and other services at the mission. At the house where 
 we halted we found the Indians at their usual occupations. 
 One woman was pounding corn in a mortar, two were making 
 moccasins, one was preparing bark for the construction of sacks, 
 some of the men were idle, and four of them were playing at 
 cards. We were received with the usual expressions of friend 
 ship, though the men with cards were too much interested in 
 their game to take much notice of us. I entered into conversa 
 tion with others, but could not thereby divert the attention of 
 the gamblers from their cards. At length I told the owner of 
 the house that I had come to talk to them about God and religion. 
 I had lived long among them, and had said too little to them 
 upon this subject. I had not enjoyed an opportunity of acquir 
 ing such a knowledge of their language as I had hoped for, nor 
 had I been able to get a suitable interpreter. I had at length 
 concluded that while I was preparing to make preaching to them 
 in their villages more convenient, either they or I might die, 
 when opportunities to give and to hear religious talks would be 
 forever closed. 
 
 They replied that they would be glad to hear me. Others 
 were called in, the cards were concealed, and a considerable 
 company was soon in an attitude to hear. All were attentive, 
 and some appeared truly solemn, quite beyond what I had an 
 ticipated. They were informed that if it would be agreeable to 
 them, such visits and exercises would be frequently repeated. 
 One replied in behalf of all, " We will be glad to hear you tell 
 us about these things, that we may know how to please our 
 Father [God."] " Yes," said Porcupine-Moccasin, who had 
 just been at his cards, " nobody will be sorry for that. We will 
 be glad when you come, and will listen to you." They inquired 
 at what time I would visit them again, and on taking our leave 
 an old man repeated thanks for our attention to them, and de 
 sired it to be continued. 
 
 We persevered in the practice of visiting one or two villages 
 every Sabbath, and preaching to such as we could collect. 
 Sometimes we had a tolerable number of hearers, at other times 
 their necessities compelled them to be absent in quest of food, 
 by hunting, &c. Human nature, however, is in itself the same 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 227 
 
 in every land, whether civilized or savage. Carnal, sinful man 
 hates Gospel truth, and nothing short of divine influence will 
 subdue the rebellious heart. 
 
 On the 14th of July, five chiefs and others, great and small, 
 to the number of about one hundred, assembled at our house to 
 talk. Many of them were preparing to make a journey to De 
 troit and to Canada, with a view of receiving presents from the 
 British at the latter place. We were under the necessity of 
 listening to their long speeches, the principal design of which 
 was to induce us to give them an ox for food on their journey. 
 We could not grant their request, but gave them some powder 
 and lead, with which they might procure wild meat. We em 
 braced such opportunities as this of enforcing arguments in 
 favour of their adopting the habits of civilized life. On the 
 following day we had a visit from the Ottawas, and learned that 
 our labourers, smith, &c., among them, would not be able, as 
 we had hoped, to obtain from the Indians a sufficiency of wild 
 meat to supply their wants. They also brought information 
 that the Ottawas were beginning to feel deeply interested in our 
 efforts for their improvement, and had expressed a desire that 
 we should locate the smithery on Grand river, in a central and 
 more eligible place. This was an effect we had hoped to pro 
 duce when we put the smithery into operation upon their bor 
 der, and had in this cautious manner introduced ourselves to 
 their acquaintance. 
 
 The Indians return to their villages for the purpose of plant 
 ing their fields in May and June ; from that time until their 
 fields yield them vegetables is the most trying season of the 
 year, on account of the scarcity of food. I find in the journals 
 of the mission the following note for July 17th : 
 
 " The Indians are so exceedingly pinched with hunger at this 
 season of the year, that swarms of them linger about us, in 
 hopes of getting a few crumbs or bones from onr table, or the 
 liquor in which any food may chance to have been boiled. We 
 are continually grieved at witnessing their distresses ; we cannot 
 feed them, and yet many cases present themselves, especially 
 of women and children, too affecting to be wholly disregarded. 
 Often, on presenting a petition for the relief of hunger, they 
 place a hand upon the stomach, to show how it is sunken for 
 want of food. A few hours ago a woman appeared in our house 
 with moccasins to exchange for powder and lead ; pleading that 
 she and the family with which she lived were in a measure 
 starving. She had nephews who would hunt for wild meat, did 
 they possses the means of taking it. She was informed that we 
 
228 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 could not conveniently grant her the articles she needed, yet 
 she continued her importunity, entreating for a ' very little.' 
 Begging like this occurs almost hourly through the day ; at this 
 time eight or ten unfortunate women are at our house, hegging 
 for a morsel to eat. When we gave the old woman, alluded to 
 above, a little salt, she said, ' This will season the weeds on 
 which 1 feed.' She declared to us that for several days she 
 and the families with which she was connected had not eaten a 
 particle of any kind of food, except weeds boiled without salt 
 or grease. This is, at this time, the condition of hundreds 
 around us. 
 
 " To-day an Indian woman brought to our house, and left 
 here, her little girl, about five years of age, a sister to two little 
 boys recently taken into the family, and departed without say 
 ing any thing to any of us on the subject of leaving the child. 
 She, no doubt, supposed that our family was so large that we 
 would not increase it by receiving her child, and therefore she 
 resorted to this expedient in order to secure a situation for it, 
 knowing that we could not permit the child to suffer. We found 
 the poor, wretched little creature in company of its brothers, 
 and, upon inquiry, ascertained whence it came. When the bell 
 called to evening prayers, this little girl, instructed no doubt by 
 its brothers, and perhaps by its mother, came running with 
 others, and with them kneeled in prayer, with a view, as we 
 presumed, of enlisting our sympathies in her favour. The poor 
 creature was stripped of its rags, and dressed like our other 
 children, and attended with our prayers that she and her poor 
 kindred might be clothed with the garment of salvation." 
 
 We were deeply affected by a complaint of poverty on the 
 25th. We had concluded the public worship at a neighbouring 
 village, where there had mingled with the company before us 
 twelve children, four of whom were, with a very slight excep 
 tion, destitute of clothing; many others, some of them adults, 
 were little better furnished. We had a solemn, attentive audi 
 ence, and after worship they conversed freely and feelingly on 
 the subject of religion ; but before the conclusion the poor crea 
 tures said that their children wept almost constantly with hunger. 
 The truth of this we had no reason to doubt. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 229 
 
 \ 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Sickness. Visit of the Sauks. Effects of ardent spirits. 
 Revival of religion. Journey to Ohio and death of a child. 
 Condition of the institution, as reported by the United States' 
 Commissioner. Baptisms. Tour among the Ottawas. Se 
 lection of a site for a missionary station. Indian Coloniza 
 tion. Continuation of religious animation. 
 
 Soon after my return from the eastward my health began to 
 fail, and 1 continued to sink until, on the 26th of July, I became 
 confined to my bed. We had, however, so much business on 
 hand at this time, with the Indians and with our numerous cor 
 respondents, that I was compelled to write whenever I was able 
 to sit up, and sometimes as I lay in my bed. On the llth of 
 August my situation was such that the brethren sent to Fort 
 Wayne, one hundred miles, for a physician. A note in the 
 journals for August the 13th, though written subsequently, reads 
 as follows : " Was very sick indeed ; brother Simerwell had 
 the kindness to write for me respecting my views of missionary 
 affairs, and the course which I thought would be proper for my 
 surviving brethren and the board to pursue, in relation to this 
 mission, after my decease. 
 
 " This is a time of severe trial ; I am so rapidly sinking under 
 my disease, that both myself and my friends around me are 
 confident that I cannot sustain many days of afflictions like the 
 present. Besides what relates to myself, and the condition of 
 my family, many trying considerations press upon my mind in 
 relation to missionary matters. The situation of my wife gives 
 me much concern ; she and I have sustained the burden of 
 affairs, the greater part of the time, without assistance ; the 
 consequence has been, that both her health and spirits have been 
 some time sinking. Knowing that she has sacrificed her health, 
 to a considerable extent, to keep the mission in existence until 
 we should be re-enforced by other missionaries, it now gives me 
 indescribable pain to leave her in her afflicted situation. None 
 will be able to form an adequate idea of what she has borne, 
 and who will there be on earth to comfort her by appropriate 
 sympathy, or to sustain her by suitable pity and kindness ! Yet 
 I find comfort in affliction. I have spoken of these things to 
 my brethren and sisters, and, to their honour be it recorded, the 
 most tender, affectionate, and sincere assurances that I could 
 desire have been given that there shall be nothing wantinc to 
 
230 HISTORY OF BAPTIST { 
 
 the partner of my toils which their opportunities shall allow. I 
 have spent so many months from home, that the writings of the 
 mission, the accounts, and considerable business with individuals, 
 are not in that regular train that could be desired. 
 
 " Our mission has not been, and is not likely to be, amply 
 supported by the society we serve; it is now supported by the 
 personal exertions of the missionaries. I am confident that the 
 unfortunate Indians have but few substantial friends among the 
 whites 1 mean friends who will make sacrifices of property, 
 of ease, and of health, and will persevere in vigorous, disin 
 terested, and judiciously managed efforts for their reformation. 
 I feel confident that the present missionary operations among 
 the natives ought to be considered as merely the rudiments of 
 the system of effort which, humanly speaking, is to succeed ; I 
 am well assured that, in general, the mind of the public is but 
 illy informed on the subject of Indian improvement; I therefore 
 feel a strong, very strong desire to be allowed a while longer to 
 bear a part with fellow-labourers in divers parts of the forests, 
 in pleading for the Indians, and in instructing them in the way 
 to heaven ; yet I know, and have this day acknowledged to 
 God and to my brethren, that Jehovah is not dependant on such 
 a worm as I for the accomplishment of what he will do for the 
 poor natives. With my afflictions and great anxiety is mingled 
 a degree of faith that is consoling, that God will mercifully save 
 the people for whom I have considered it a great privilege to be 
 allowed to labour, by such means as wisdom shall employ. 
 Looking back on many circumstances in which the interposing 
 hand of Providence seems to have been conspicuous in favour 
 of the mission, I hope for its prosperity and success. Other 
 missionaries are, no doubt, encouraged by similar considerations. 
 I hope God will save the Indians, and will take to himself all 
 the glory. 
 
 " I have given directions respecting my private concerns. 
 My sufferings this day have been considerable, nevertheless 1 
 am surrounded with mercy ; I receive all the comfort that kind 
 ness can impart; and, above all, I am allowed the consolations 
 of the Bible and the hope of heaven." 
 
 " In my distress I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me," 
 and restored me to health, though it was the 5th of September 
 before I was able to walk to the house of worship. 
 
 The kind feelings which the Indians manifested to us in our 
 afflictions were often deeply affecting. On the 19th of August 
 Cash-kas was the bearer of a message from a considerable num 
 ber of them, on the subject of impositions which were practised 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 231 
 
 upon them by unprincipled white men. He then said, " We 
 are much concerned on account of your ill health ; we often 
 say to each other, ' if he should die, we shall not find another 
 friend like him to help us. We are ignorant we need advice 
 and assistance, and we have but few friends; we very much 
 desire his recovery.' ' It frequently happened that, on taking 
 me by the hand, they would lift their eyes towards heaven, and 
 invoke on me the blessing of the Great Spirit. On the 1st of 
 August, 1824, Mr. Lykins returned from his journey to the 
 Wabash. 
 
 The Sauks* annually visited the British possessions in Cana 
 da, to receive presents guarantied to them by that Government 
 for their services in the last war with the United States. On the 
 4th of August a company of them called on us, to beg a little 
 provision, and to get their guns repaired at oursmithery. They 
 behaved well. They begged us to allow them to eat a hog 
 which they had discovered on the plantation, that had died of 
 disease, and had become putrid. On leaving, they all, even 
 the women and children, took me by the hand. One of the 
 old men, in his valedictory benediction, prayed for the blessing 
 of the Great Spirit to descend upon me, and talked until his 
 eyes were moistened with tears. 
 
 On the llth of August, my eldest son, who had been sent 
 to Detroit with our accounts, report, &ic., and to transact other 
 business, returned with a gratifying communication from His 
 Excellency Lewis Cass. On the 19th, i\lr. Polke set off 
 upon a journey to the Wabash, not expecting to return before 
 December. 
 
 At this time lands which had been ceded by the Indians to 
 the United Spates approached on one side within a mile of us. 
 Remote as we were from white settlements, some such restless 
 men as are always to be found on the frontiers followed our 
 road, and began to settle on the United States' land not far 
 from us. Some of these were worthless, and, their principal 
 design being to sell whiskey to the Indians, soon became an ex 
 ceeding pest. At first we reasoned and remonstrated, but this 
 was fruitless with men who had sunk below all sense of honour, 
 and had become callous to every kind feeling of humanity. 
 We then threatened with as little effect, because they had little 
 property and less reputation to lose, and should they even be 
 driven to another place by force it mattered little to them where 
 they were, if beyond the restraints of law and the good order 
 
 * The name of this tribe is generally written Sac. But the true pronun 
 ciation is Sauk, (singular,) Saukeek, (plural.) 
 
232 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 of civilized society. We finally concluded we would make 
 another effort to bring the laws forbidding this nefarious traffic 
 in ardent spirits to bear upon the offenders. Mr. R. D. Potts, 
 United States' sub-agent of Indian affairs, was boarding in our 
 house at this time. We took measures to obtain such evidence 
 as the law required against the venders of ardent spirits to the 
 Indians, and to our communication to Governour Cass, upon 
 the subject, Mr. Potts added his official report of a case. But 
 the practice of furnishing the Indians with ardent spirits was at 
 this time so general in that country, that the officers of Govern 
 ment supposed the evil could not be corrected. Therefore, 
 notwithstanding the practice prevailed notoriously, the offenders 
 escaped with impunity. In answer to our report of the offence 
 under consideration, the Governour of Michigan Territory for 
 warded to me a magistrate's commission, that I might be autho 
 rized to enforce the laws in such cases. But as the nature of 
 my business did not justify my taking upon me such responsi 
 bilities, I declined accepting the commission, and here the mat 
 ter ended. 
 
 Many of the Indians manifested a dislike to this traffic in 
 ardent spirits, fraught with ruin to themselves, though they sel 
 dom possessed fortitude to withstand the temptation to drink. 
 On the 20th of August, Pocagin, a chief, and many others, carne 
 to inform us of liquor in their country, and expressed a wish to 
 go and seize it. We could not hope that Indians in such cases 
 would be governed by sound discretion, and therefore dissuaded 
 them from their purpose. About this time they frequently ap 
 plied to us for aid in securing their little property and money, 
 received from Government, from the rapacity of those lawless 
 white people. But we could oftener pity than help them. Our 
 abhorrence of the vile conduct of those outlaws, and our devo 
 tion to the interests of the Indians, aroused in the former the 
 most vindictive feelings towards us. But they did not presume 
 to insult us personally, and their tongues could do us no harm, 
 either with Indians or white people. We feared that they 
 would injure some of our property by fire, but they did not. 
 
 In August we were cutting hay on the prairies. In this, as 
 in other labours on the farm, we taught our larger Indian boys 
 to bear a part. Mr. Lykins was under the necessity of super 
 intending this business, until he was attacked with sickness, 
 which deprived the mission of his services two or three weeks. 
 Mr. Polke was absent, and I was sick, so that Mr. Simerwell 
 was the only efficient male missionary on the premises. 
 
 It happened that the few members of the board of missions 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 233 
 
 who were active in the management of its concerns, were so 
 charged with the affairs of the Columbian College, that after my 
 departure from Washington, the preceding winter, the plan for 
 colonizing the Indians in the West did not receive that attention 
 which while I was present the board had resolved to bestow 
 upon it. Their resolution to bring the subject before the pub 
 lic, in order that views and feelings might be elicited favourable 
 to a vigorous effort for the promotion of the design at the ensu 
 ing session of Congress, had been neglected. This circumstance 
 we regretted exceedingly, but could not allow the subject to 
 sleep. Mr. Rice was written to in relation to it on the 5th of 
 August, and Dr. Staughton on the 27th. 
 
 On the 2d of September, Miss Goodridge made an interesting 
 visit to an Indian village, with a view to religious conversation 
 with the females. These visits were repeated as often as cir 
 cumstances admitted. We were also gratified with an inquiry 
 from a neighbouring village, " When would it be Sunday ?" or 
 as they express it, " Prayer day ?" 
 
 About this time it was necessary that some one of us should 
 go to the Ottawas, for the purpose of adjusting our affairs with 
 them. They had expressed a strong desire that this should be 
 done, and sent us word that they had long looked for us. Mr. 
 Simerwell being the only missionary at the station able to attend 
 to business, we could do no better than to write to each party, 
 and inform them why we failed to visit them, and to express to 
 them some useful thoughts. This communication was carried 
 by three of our Indian pupils, one of whom was a man grown. 
 Our smith was directed to read the letter to the inhabitants of 
 each village, and one of the Indian boys to interpret it. This 
 measure tended to cherish kind feelings among the Ottawas. 
 Assisted by one of the United States' labourers, a stack of 
 prairie hay was made before their return, for the subsistence of 
 our oxen through the succeeding winter. They brought home 
 with them, for our school, an Ottawa girl about seven years old. 
 Business at Fort Wayne and in Ohio required attention; but 
 having no missionary to look after it, my eldest son (not yet 
 grown) set out for this purpose on the 9th of September. Mrs. 
 McCoy, whose health at this time required a respite from her 
 onerous charge, and that she might afford him some counsel in 
 relation to the business, accompanied our son on this journey. 
 Our late afflictions had not a little deranged the order of the school 
 and other matters. By the 20th of September, Mr. Lykins 
 had so far recovered his health as to be able to resume his ordi- 
 30 
 
234 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 nary labours, and matters became restored to their usual condi 
 tion. 
 
 About the 1st of September, the Miamies were paid an annu 
 ity at Fort Wayne, and before these bacchanalians concluded 
 the frolic that always attends the payment of an annuity, they 
 committed six murders. About the 20th of September, three 
 murders were committed near us, among the Putawatomies. 
 A friend of one of the murdered, by way of retaliation, killed a 
 young man who was deaf and dumb. On the night of the 22d, 
 one of the murderers encamped and slept in our yard, but with 
 out our knowledge, until we were informed of it on the follow 
 ing morning. Two Indians, at that time with us, who were 
 related to the deaf Indian, had concealed themselves during the 
 night, through fear of the wicked man just mentioned. Noa- 
 quett, one of our pupils, about fifteen years of age, who was 
 also related to the murdered deaf man, had been marked out by 
 the murderer for another victim. We advised all who deemed 
 themselves in danger to keep close about our house for some 
 time, and if this wicked man was again seen about us, to give 
 us information, and we should bestow upon him such attentions 
 as the case called for. Noaquett felt ambitious, though but a 
 boy, and under the influence of Indian feelings, said " he did 
 not regard to die." But we reasoned him out of his spirit of 
 retaliation. Five days afterwards, the man who had threatened 
 some of our family returned to our house. We took him into 
 a room and conversed with him on the subject, stating to him 
 some of the dreadful consequences of murder, and among other 
 things the denunciations of our good book against the murderer. 
 Noaquett and another who felt himself aggrieved were brought 
 in. On their entering the room, the murderer appeared some 
 what alarmed, but I assured him that he had nothing to fear 
 from us. The effect of the interview was to induce the parties to 
 profess to be reconciled. The murderer said, " If I had known 
 before I killed the man what I do now, I would not have 
 done it." 
 
 About this time we commenced writing and reading religious 
 discourses to the Putawatomies, in their own language. With 
 this they were better pleased than when we spoke to them 
 through an interpreter. After my late attack of sickness, my 
 first visit to an Indian village, to preach, was on the 10th of 
 October. Our service was in the house of Amukos, who re 
 ceived us kindly, and called in his neighbours. It was our 
 custom, at the close of the discourse, to encourage them to 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 235 
 
 engage in conversation on the subject of religion. On this 
 occasion Amukos replied, " I have heard you. I will think of 
 these things, and not forget them. I will endeavour to under 
 stand them." In conversation, however, he betrayed the influ 
 ence of that principle of self-righteousness which is natural to 
 sinful man in a savage as well as in a civilized state. I inquired 
 if he felt willing to forsake sin and to obey God ? He uttered 
 a slight exclamation, indicative of the vanity of his mind, and 
 said, " I believe I have not been very bad. You know me 
 well, and you know that I am not a very bad man." 
 
 Here we visited a poor sick woman, who was reduced to a 
 skeleton, lying on the earth, in a condition which seemed to be 
 the extreme of poverty and wretchedness. I inquired what 
 was the state of her mind, &c. She said she still hoped that she 
 would recover, and that, should she die, she would go to God, 
 having thought of religious things, more or less, ever since she 
 had been capable of reflection. I could not discover that she 
 had any just ideas of the evil of sin, nor of the depravity of 
 her heart. She wished me to think that she had not been very 
 wicked, and named prevailing vices among the Indians, to which 
 she had not been addicted. I said such things as I thought 
 were best calculated to teach her the wickedness of her heart, 
 and the necessity of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus. 
 When I exhorted her to pray, she replied, " I would pray if 1 
 knew how." This was very affecting. Such explanations 
 were made to her as were deemed proper. We had enjoyed 
 the morning service at the mission house, and from this visit we 
 returned thither in the evening, with better feelings than usual. 
 The following note in the journal will show how the evening 
 was employed : 
 
 " At the close of evening prayers one of our Indian girls 
 requested that some time might be employed by them in sing 
 ing spiritual songs ; and, while I write this note, I hear them 
 singing hymns of praise to Jesus. 
 
 " A white man, in our employ as a labourer, with a solemn 
 countenance, seats himself in my room. On my turning to 
 him, and inquiring after the state of his mind, he bursts into 
 tears, exclaiming, ' I feel that I am the worst sinner in the 
 world ;' he retires abruptly. Four other white men in our em 
 ploy come in ; one of them says, ' he most earnestly desires to 
 become religious ;' leans his head on his hand and weeps. 
 Another expresses similar feelings. A third says ' he can't tell 
 me how he feels ;' hangs his head and wipes his eyes. The 
 fourth says, * It seems to him that he never can become reli- 
 
236 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 gious; the more be tries, the worse he is. He cannot think one 
 good thought,' &c. I say within myself, I trust you are not far 
 from the kingdom of heaven. Two of our sisters are with us, 
 and two of our Indian girls have seated themselves near, and 
 have listened to us. I direct my discourse to them ; they say 
 but little; one of them weeps freely. This is a very pleasant 
 evening. Few such have been enjoyed in this lonely desert. 
 I relate some of my own Christian experience. We kneel and 
 pray, and the clock announces the hour to retire to rest." 
 
 On the llth of October, Mr. Lykins, Mr. Simerwell, and 
 Miss Goodridge, and several of the Indian part of our family, 
 gratified their curiosity in witnessing the medicine dance and 
 feast at a neighbouring village. Old Topenebe, the principal 
 Putawatomie chief, had a child lying a corpse; but he was so 
 intent upon attending the festival, that he could not attend to its 
 burial, but intrusted the management of the funeral to another. 
 
 About this time application was made to us, by two Indian 
 families near the lake, for live stock and assistance in other 
 matters relating to fanning. We were pleased to find them 
 disposed to improve their condition, and afforded them all the 
 encouragement that was practicable. Another village solicited 
 assistance in ploughing the ensuing spring. On the same day 
 I rode out with Saukine-neep and his brother, to aid them in 
 selecting a suitable place for a farm. We first became ac 
 quainted with Saukine-neep about two years before this time. 
 He was then a very worthless fellow, but afterwards became 
 much improved; and through his influence we prevailed on his 
 mother, brother, and sister, from Mackinaw, who had made 
 him a visit, to remain near us, and commence civilized life. 
 On our return from selecting a farming place for Saukene-neep, 
 Cashkas inquired where we had made the location, repeated his 
 determination to make a farm the ensuing spring, and expressed 
 some fears that the better places near us would be taken up 
 before he should complete his winter's hunt. Shauno-kaute, 
 who had been living at the distance of about fifteen miles, set 
 tled near us, and procured cattle and hogs, and learned to work 
 oxen. Our souls were refreshed by these accumulating evidences 
 of a disposition among the Indians to exchange savage for civi 
 lized habits. 
 
 At evening prayers, such as felt disposed to attend, were 
 invited to one of our private rooms, to spend a while in prayer, 
 praise, and religious conversation. Five hired white men, and 
 two males and three females of our Indian pupils, attended on 
 the first night of these exercises; at which time we spent two 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS 
 
 237 
 
 Lours, much to our satisfaction. These conference meetings 
 were repeated one evening in each week. 
 
 On the 14th of October, my son returned from Ohio, having 
 hired a blacksmith for one of our smitheries, and loaded a 
 wagon with articles needed at the mission. Mrs. McCoy and 
 our infant were detained in Troy, Ohio, both sick of fevers. 
 They received all the comforts which kind attentions could im 
 part, in the hospitable dwelling of Mr. J. R. John, who, with his 
 excellent wife, were well known by generous and noble deeds. 
 On the 18th, my son set off again for Ohio, but before he reached 
 Troy our infant daughter, Maria Staughton, had died. This 
 was the third daughter that we had buried after we had become 
 missionaries. Mrs. McCoy returned to Carey on the 1st of 
 November. 
 
 Some of the Putawatomies and Ottawas of that country had 
 some knowledge of the ceremonies of the Catholic missionaries, 
 who were early in their country, and of Catholics, who continue 
 to mingle with them, chiefly for purposes of trade. Supposing 
 it would please us, they frequently told us that they still recol 
 lected portions of prayers which they had been taught, and two 
 or three old persons told us that " they had had water put on their 
 faces," as they expressed it. After preaching at the house of 
 Arnukos, on the 17th of October, an elderly man came and took 
 me by the hand, by way of acknowledgment for the favour of 
 preaching to them, and as he approached me he crossed himself 
 after the fashion of the Catholics. 
 
 October the 21st. Our meeting for special prayer was con 
 ducted in English. We were much interested in the circum 
 stance of two Indian women attending with us, though neither of 
 them could understand what was spoken. 
 
 Koessun, a war chief, presented us with his war club, for the 
 museum of the Columbian College. We also procured for the 
 same purpose a few other Indian curiosities. The presentation 
 of these was, on their part, merely expressive of friendship, and 
 not of a disposition to change the habits of Indian life. On 
 the following day Amukos, who, a few days before, had appeared 
 averse to the adoption of habits of civilization, came to inform 
 us that, upon reflection, he had determined to make a house 
 and a field the following spring. Another object of his visit, 
 he said, was to take his leave of us before he set out upon this 
 winter's hunt. He had intended to start on the following day, 
 but, understanding that I designed to preach to them at their vil 
 lage, he had put off his departure a day longer. The observ 
 ance of the Sabbath was again enjoined. He said he had been 
 
238 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 talking to his people upon the subject; and on his inquiring how 
 he should recollect when it returned, I advised him to cut a notch 
 on a stick each day, and to make a longer one for the Sabbath. 
 
 On the 24th of October, afternoon worship was held at the 
 bark hut of Mussequagee, where our audience was larger and 
 more attentive than usual. The little house being too small for 
 our accommodation, we sat outside in front. Several of the In 
 dian part of our family, who could not well understand English, 
 had followed from our house on foot, a distance of five miles. 
 Just as our worship commenced, two traders came up hallooing, 
 as is customary among the Indians on approaching each other. 
 We had reason to fear a serious interruption to the attention 
 of the audience, but, on reminding them that no other business 
 was of equal importance with that in which we were engaged, 
 all remained orderly. On the evening of that day several of the 
 neighbouring Indians attended our special meeting for prayer 
 and religious conversation, which took place soon after evening 
 prayers in the family. The conclusion of these exercises was 
 pretty late in the evening, when, being not a little fatigued with 
 the duties of the day, I was preparing to retire ; but the feelings 
 of some of the young men in our employ, and the zeal of the 
 missionaries, induced them to come into my room to spend an 
 other hour or two in religious conversation. At this time, four 
 young men appeared to be seriously inquiring what they should 
 do to be saved, and a fifth seemed also to mourn over his sins. 
 Such a season of serious religious concern had not before been 
 witnessed in the mission. 
 
 Scarcely a day passed in which Indians did not visit us, though 
 not often on the subject of religion. On the 26th, two companies 
 of Ottawas were with us, from a distance of one or two hundred 
 miles. On the next day, when a family of the same tribe were 
 about to leave our vicinity, a young woman of their company 
 requested to remain with us, "that she might hear preaching 
 and learn our religion." She was placed among our other Indi 
 an girls, to receive instruction in labour, as well as in more im 
 portant matters. 
 
 On the 28th, Cheekeh came five miles, to converse on the 
 subject of religion. After sitting some time in a pensive mood, 
 she* introduced conversation by asking " when it would be 
 prayer day" (Sabbath.) She said she was concerned for the 
 salvation of her soul, desired to forsake sin and to be holy ; 
 she had been in the habit of praying ever since we had com 
 menced preaching to them in their village the preceding sum 
 mer. She believed that her brother and eldest son were both 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 239 
 
 serious. On the following Sabbath she came on foot to our 
 house to worship, and brought with her three of her children. 
 To us, who had so long mourned over the depravity of the 
 people of our charge, these incidents, which would have 
 appeared of small import in some other places, were deeply 
 interesting. 
 
 About this time the institution was visited by the second 
 special commissioner appointed by Government to examine 
 and report the condition of our affairs. This commissioner was 
 John L. Leib, Esq., of Detroit. He was accompanied by Col. 
 Godfrey, (a Catholic,) of the same place, who, having some 
 knowledge of the Indian language, had been appointed as a 
 suitable person to aid the commissioner in his inquiries. They 
 spent three days with us, and departed from our house on the 
 2d of November, 1824. The following is an extract from Mr. 
 Leib's report to Governour Cass: 
 " To His EXCELLENCY GOVERNOUR CASS : 
 
 " SIR : I have the satisfaction to inform your Excellency, 
 that, agreeably to your appointment and instructions, I left 
 Detroit the 22d ultimo, accompanied by Col. Godfrey, for the 
 establishment made by the Baptist Missionary Society, upon the 
 river St. Joseph's, to which society is confided the expenditures 
 of certain funds appropriated by the treaty of Chicago for agri 
 cultural purposes among the Ottawa and Putawatomie Indians, 
 and beg leave to report the following, as the result of my exa 
 minations into the situation and prospects of the establishment : 
 
 " I arrived there early on Sunday morning, of the 31st of 
 October; and my appearance being unexpected, everything, 
 it is presumed, was found in its current state no previous pre 
 parations having been made to give a better face to the affairs 
 of the establishment than its ordinary aspect. Every member 
 of the institution being on this day engaged in devotional exer 
 cises, I could not proceed, until the next, in my intended 
 examination, which was commenced with the school. It is 
 composed of sixty-three scholars, of both sexes, of various 
 ages, from childhood to manhood. The letter marked A, 
 hereto annexed, exhibits their ages, sexes, &ic., and the time 
 when they severally entered the institution. 
 
 " The arrangements of this school, its order, and the improve 
 ment of its pupils, excited in me delightful sensations. To 
 behold, at the distance of nearly two hundred miles from the 
 last habitation of civilized man, an institution arising out of the 
 wilderness, exhibiting without cultivated fields, and smiling 
 within with cheerful contented countenances with order and 
 
240 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 an admirable economy opening its portals to the rude children 
 of the forest, and inviting them to enter, and be made acquaint 
 ed with the benefits resulting from domestic life with letters, 
 which enlarge the sphere of human happiness and knowledge 
 with agriculture, which dispels all fears of a precarious subsist 
 ence a nd, above all, with the Christian religion, which ensures 
 to those who observe its commandments interminable happiness, 
 is a spectacle consoling to humanity, and in the highest degree 
 praiseworthy in the founders of it, and deserving of the foster 
 ing care of a benevolent and enlightened Government. 
 
 " I examined separately, with few exceptions, every pupil, 
 both in and out of school, and found them not only satisfied, 
 but contented and happy ; and was as greatly surprised at the 
 distinctness with which they pronounced English words as 
 with their general improvement. The table marked A, before 
 referred to, will indicate the various stages of their advancement 
 in education. 
 
 " The bugle is sounded at four o'clock in the morning, when 
 persons of every description repair to the school house, where 
 the business of the day is commenced with religious exercises ; 
 after which they disperse to their various avocations until break 
 fast, which is generally prepared a little after sunrise. Besides 
 the Rev. Mr. McCoy, the superintendent, and his wife, an ami 
 able and excellent woman, there are three male and one female 
 teachers, all of whom, from a sense of their missionary obligations, 
 devote themselves, without remuneration, to the diversified la 
 bours of the institution ; and one of them, Robert Simerwell, is, 
 moreover, a blacksmith. There are six men engaged in their 
 agricultural operations, improving buildings, procuring fire-wood, 
 &tc. There are also five Indian women, who serve as domes 
 tics, one of whom takes care of several of the Indian children. 
 The boys and girls are in separate classes. The latter are under 
 the tuition of Miss Goodridge, a lady well qualified for so ardu 
 ous an undertaking; and which is manifested by the improve 
 ment of the scholars, their great propriety of manners and 
 neatness of dress, but, above all, by their attachment to her. 
 The male teachers are also ardently and unremittingly em 
 ployed in instructing the boys committed to their charge ; in 
 short, 1 never remember to have witnessed as much order in a 
 primary school, in which children of all ages were mingled 
 together, as in this. Two of the boys are learning, as appren 
 tices, the trade of a blacksmith ; and the others, who are large 
 enough, are occasionally occupied on the farm. All the girl?, 
 except three or four who are very young, can spin, knit, and 
 
INDIAN MISSION*. 
 
 241 
 
 sew, and go through all the gradations of domestic service, 
 with as much skill and facility as their fairer sisters of more cul 
 tivated life. Two of them weave plain cloth ; and two hun 
 dred and ninety-four yards of this fabric have been manufac 
 tured in the loom of this institution since February last. Noa- 
 quett, or Luther Rice, and Anthony Rollo, have made such 
 proficiency in the English language as to enable them to inter 
 pret between the missionaries and the Indians; and even reli 
 gious discourses have been explained to their red brethren, in 
 a manner highly creditable to the boys, and satisfactory to the 
 missionaries. Luther Rice, who is not yet fifteen years- of age, 
 when he first entered this institution, was wild from the woods, 
 acquainted with no language but his native Indian. He is a 
 very promising lad, making rapid improvements in reading, 
 writing, and arithmetic, and exhibiting an inquisitive mind, and 
 a strong desire for the acquisition of knowledge. 
 
 " There is a field of fifty acres of cleared land, surrounded 
 by a good substantial fence, forty-four of which was appropri 
 ated for Indian corn the past season, five for oats, and one for 
 potatoes. The corn yielded sixteen hundred bushels. One 
 hundred and fifty bushels of oats, and four hundred of potatoes, 
 were also the products of this fifty-acre field. There are 
 other smaller fields cleared, and enclosed by like substantial 
 fences, comprising, in the whole, upwards of forty acres. One 
 hundred and fifty bushels of turnips and one thousand heads 
 of cabbages were raised, besides peas, beets, and other vege 
 table productions for culinary purposes. 
 
 " The site on which the principal buildings are erected is 
 judiciously chosen. In a more enlarged survey of the future 
 prospects of this establishment, nurtured by a paternal Govern 
 ment, and aided by the personal sacrifices of benevolent mis 
 sionaries, I beheld from this spot, consecrated to humanity and 
 the highest offices of our nature, the melioration of the condi 
 tion of this neglected portion of our species ; redeemed from 
 mental blindness, their eyes opened to " the ways of pleasant 
 ness," and their steps directed in " the paths of peace." I 
 beheld a colony firmly settled, numerous, civilized, and happy, 
 with every attendant blessing flowing from a well-regulated, 
 industrious, and religious community. I beheld also the same 
 paternal Government rejoicing in this successful experiment, 
 exulting in the ample means it has afforded for its accomplish 
 ment, animated with a new and increased ardour, pushing insti 
 tutions of a like nature deeper and deeper into the wilderness. 
 
 " By the annexed paper, marked C, your Excellency wiJl be 
 31 
 
242 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 informed of the number and kind of stock, as also of the vari 
 ous instruments of husbandry, and indeed a general enumera 
 tion of every species of property belonging to the establish 
 ment, with its estimated value. 
 
 " The tribes surrounding the establishment evidence a desire 
 to avail themselves of the opportunity offered of making them 
 selves acquainted with letters, and religious and agricultural 
 instructions. The school might be enlarged beyond the limits 
 of the present means to support it. A taste for agriculture is 
 already shown, and several Indian families, among whom is a 
 chief, are now settled in the neighbourhood, and, with the assist 
 ance of the missionary brethren, have commenced the improve 
 ment of selected pieces of land, which have been ploughed, 
 and a few acres fenced, in a manner to resist the intrusions of 
 all kinds of cattle. Two log cabins, with like assistance, have 
 been erected ; thus forming a nucleus, around which may be 
 anticipated a gradually growing settlement. Indeed, I enter 
 tain little doubt, that, with proper care and protection, with 
 conscientious agents to superintend and direct their operations, 
 the Indians may be gathered into colonies. But this cannot 
 be done but in places remote from white population, and unless 
 all intercourse with traders be interdicted, and particularly 
 with those unprincipled men who, disregarding all legal and 
 moral restraints, debase them more and more, by introducing 
 among them ardent spirits, the bane of this now unhappy 
 people. The penalties for this offence cannot be rendered too 
 severe, and the cupidity of these monsters should be repressed 
 by a superadded punishment, which should render them infa 
 mous upon conviction. 
 
 " The United States and the people are under the most 
 imperious obligations to preserve and protect the Indian, and, 
 if possible, redeem him from his savage state. A strange and 
 unaccountable apathy has hitherto prevailed on this subject ; 
 and while we behold the philanthropists of the United States 
 enlisting the best feelings of the heart to aid in improving the 
 condition of the negro, and generously expending their treasure 
 in transporting him to climes and countries more congenial to 
 his nature, the poor suffering child of the forest within our pre 
 cincts attracts but occasional and partial notice. 
 
 " I feel assured that the hard fate of the Indian has rather 
 been overlooked than disregarded. From the kindness of your 
 Excellency's nature, I know that you would give efficacy, as 
 far as you could give it, to any plan that would meliorate the 
 condition of this neglected race. More McCoys and more mis- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 243 
 
 s^onary societies may be found, if funds were afforded them, 
 to lend their aid with the same pious, unbought zeal, which 
 planted this benevolent, orderly, and promising establishment 
 on the St. Joseph's. 
 
 " The Indians' corn fields, as your Excellency well knows, 
 are enclosed with fences consisting of one, or, at most, of two 
 poles, fastened to small stakes with bark ties, about breast high 
 from the ground, not at all calculated to keep out swine, or 
 indeed any other unruly animal. Hence the Indian, hitherto, 
 from the nature of his enclosures, has been prevented from 
 raising hogs, the most prolific and useful, as regards subsistence, 
 of all other domestic animals. I would, with great deference, 
 suggest to your Excellency the certain advantages which 
 would result to him, by making Carey (for this is the name of 
 the establishment under consideration) a depot of hogs and 
 other cattle, and distribute therefrom, among such settled Indians 
 as would erect fences sufficiently strong to ensure the safety of 
 their vegetable productions from the trespasses of predatory 
 creatures. And a discretionary power should be vested in the 
 superintendent at Carey, to distribute them according to the 
 merits of the party claiming them ; and the stock first furnished 
 should be preserved until it should accumulate to an extent 
 adequate to the supply of their wants. The necessary farming 
 utensils, with suitable persons to direct agricultural operations, 
 should be furnished from the same depot. 
 
 " I feel thoroughly convinced, that, with adequate means 
 placed at their disposal, the exertions and sincere zeal of the 
 missionaries would produce the most gratifying results. A fair 
 experiment should, at all events, be made. Indeed, so fast are 
 distresses accumulating upon the distressed Indian, from known 
 and obvious causes, that the time is fast approaching when he 
 will perish, unless provision of some kind be made to save him. 
 
 " I should have proceeded to Grand river, had I not learned 
 that the contemplated establishment there had not as yet been 
 effected. There can be no doubt that great pains have been 
 taken to prejudice the Ottawas against any location at Grand 
 river, under the direction of a Protestant association; and 
 they have been made to say that a Catholic establishment would 
 be welcomed. It can be easily conceived how this feeling has 
 been produced ; but it cannot exist long, inasmuch as a policy 
 has been pursued by the superintendent at Carey, by which 
 not only the salutary purposes contemplated by Government 
 will be achieved without opposition, but a settlement courted, 
 A temporary smithery, the most important of all concerns in 
 
244 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 the view of the Indians, has been erected at the river Keken- 
 mazoo, about midway between St. Joseph's and Grand rivers, 
 at which much work has been done for the Ottawas, and some 
 for the Putawatomies. 
 
 " The hands employed by the Indian Department have 
 built for an Ottawa a considerable cabin ; and, besides assisting 
 others, have made coal Jbr the smithery and hay for their 
 cattle. The superintendent was about to repair to Grand river 
 soon after I left St. Joseph's, with the purpose of erecting 
 buildings thereat, suitable to the objects of the intended insti 
 tution. No opposition was apprehended, as the benefits derived 
 from the temporary smithery on Kekenmazoo, and the exten 
 sive usefulness of the establishment on the St. Joseph's, made 
 many of the Ottawas desirous of a settlement for like purposes 
 in their own neighbourhood. 
 
 " I have the honour to assure your Excellency of the sincere 
 respect and unfeigned regard of your obedient servant, 
 
 " JOHN L. LEIB." 
 
 At our special evening conference meeting on the 6th of 
 November, 1824, Ezekiel French and E. Clark, white men in 
 our employ, related their religious exercises of mind, and satis 
 fied us that they were believers in the Lord Jesus. On the 
 following day, immediately after preaching, we prepared to go 
 to the St. Joseph's river, a mile and a quarter, to administer 
 the ordinance of baptism. Three large wagons and two saddle 
 horses were loaded with part of our numerous family, the rest 
 went on foot. One of our pupils and a hired man, both indis 
 posed, and an old Indian, were the only persons who remained 
 to keep the house. The vicinity of our place had been occu 
 pied by the Putawatomies from time immemorial. Formerly 
 the tribe, then numerous, generally resided here, in one exten 
 sive settlement. Many had been buried on the shores of the 
 St. Joseph's, and in the neighbourhood. These remarks are 
 made as a clew to a better understanding of the following lines, 
 which were sung at the water, before the administration of bap 
 tism, for which occasion they were prepared on the morning of 
 that day : 
 
 Bless'd morn which saw the Lord arise 
 
 Victorious from the grave ! 
 Bless'd morn which now salutes our eyes, 
 
 And shows his power to save ! 
 
 Here long hath dwelt the wandering chief, 
 
 While thousands roamed around ; 
 None sought the Lord, and no relief 
 
 From sin and death was found. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 245 
 
 But lo! the Sun of Righteousness 
 
 Darts forth a gladd'ning ray 
 Through the dark clouds, which o'er the place 
 
 Spread gloom and wild dismay. 
 
 There sleeps the warriour on the shore,* 
 
 His war-club at his side.t 
 Lie still, red man, the war is o'er, 
 
 Which late your weapons dy'd. 
 
 Yes, our Emanuel, Prince of Peace, 
 
 Speaks, and the sinner hears ; 
 There's smiling mercy in his face, 
 
 To dissipate our fears. 
 
 Let the dense forest all around, 
 
 Which heard the savage yell. 
 This news, that mercy here is found, 
 
 In joyful echoes tell. 
 
 *'Tell the wild man beneath your shade," 
 
 The news of pard'ning love, 
 Till thousands in this stream be laid, 
 
 Who in these deserts rove. 
 
 This was the first baptism administered in this river, or on 
 the waters of Lake Michigan. A more suitable place could 
 not have been desired, and there were many associations of 
 thought, arising out of circumstances peculiar to the place, that 
 heightened the interest of the exercises. The ground was 
 lightly covered with snow, and we made a fire on the bank for 
 our comfort. There, with a kind of native simplicity that was 
 delightful, we praised the Lord who had taught our souls to love 
 and to obey ; but, most of all, that which made the place like 
 Jacob's " house of God and gate of heaven," was the deeply 
 impressive and gracious presence of the Lord. Here were 
 some hearts filled with joy, and others filled with grief for sin. 
 Mr. Clark was not baptized until a subsequent day. Circum 
 stances requiring the newly baptized person and some others to 
 remain on the ground longer than the majority of the congrega 
 tion, we again gathered around our fire and returned thanks to 
 God for his mercies, and sung 
 
 " Saviour, if of Zion city 
 
 I through grace a member am, 
 Let the world deride or pity, 
 
 I will glory in thy name. 
 Fading is the worldling's pleasure, 
 
 All his boasted pomp and show ; 
 Solid joys and lasting treasure 
 
 None but Zion's children know," &c. 
 
 * Referring to an adjacent Indian burying-ground. 
 
 t The weapons of the warriour are buried with him. The Pulawatomies 
 have been fierce and formidable in wars with the United States. 
 
246 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 Some of the neighbouring Indians were present; most of them 
 were at this time absent on their winter's hunt a circumstance 
 which we deeply regretted. At night we held religious exer 
 cises in the Indian language, for the benefit of those who could 
 not understand English ; after which, we spent some time in 
 conversing with the penitent. 
 
 November the 8th. A little Indian girl of our family was 
 very tender, and expressed great desire to become religious. 
 On the following day she went to Miss Goodridge, and said that 
 she and one of her associates desired to hear her converse on 
 the subject of religion. The latter, in her artless manner, said 
 that she was so much troubled on account of her sins, that she 
 could scarcely sleep. After family prayers, we spent an hour 
 in lecturing and other religious exercises. The deep solemnity 
 and sorrow depicted in the countenances of some, and the hum 
 ble transport exhibited by others, were deeply impressive. The 
 note in the mission journal for that evening reads as follows : 
 " About the time of making this note I hear Miss Goodridge in 
 an adjoining room, talking and praying with a number of our 
 Indian girls. Mrs. McCoy is on the other side of me, endea 
 vouring to comfort some mourners ; Mrs. Polke has a band 
 around her in her room, engaged in a similar way ; and Mr. 
 Lykins and Mr. Simerwell are in our house of worship with a 
 considerable company, talking and telling of the great things 
 which the Lord hath done for them." 
 
 November the 10th. Soon after evening prayers we again 
 assembled, and heard Charles Polke and Jared Lykins tell of 
 the goodness of God in leading them to repentance and to hope 
 in the Redeemer; they were received as candidates for baptism. 
 The following is an extract from the mission journal : 
 
 "November llth. My two elder sons leave us for Wash 
 ington City, to enter as students in the Columbian college. Three 
 Indian children are taken into the school, making the number 
 of scholars sixty-six. Scarcely an hour passes without religious 
 conversation with a penitent sinner or a happy Christian. This 
 evening a little Indian girl stood some time silent beside me 
 where I was writing. At length I asked her, do you desire to 
 be religious? She answered, yes. Do you try to be religious? 
 Yes, sir. Do you think you will ever become a Christian ? I 
 am afraid not. What is the reason ? I am so wicksd. Do 
 you pray? Yes, but there is nothing good in my prayers; 
 there is nothing good within me ; I never did any thing good, 
 
 &c. Do you and your associates talk about religion ? H 
 
 and I do. How long have you felt concerned about it ? Ever 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 247 
 
 since Miss Goodridge talked to us one night. Another little 
 Indian girl stopped reading her hymn-book, to listen to our con 
 versation, and hid her face and wept. An Indian boy is present. 
 
 J , do you desire to become a Christian ? Yes, sir. Do 
 
 you boys ever talk about religion ? J n and I do. What 
 does J n say ? (J n had lived a while in Detroit, and had 
 been taught some Roman Catholic forms.) J n says he wants 
 to be religious, and he intends, when he shall have learned to 
 read, to go to Detroit and there learn religion. 
 
 " After family prayers, J called on me again, with J n 
 
 in company, and sat down in silence beside me. Judging what 
 their business was, I introduced conversation by reading to them, 
 in the September number of the Latter Day Luminary, Mr. 
 Dawson's account of their penitent Charles, among the Chero- 
 kees ; after which, in conversation with them, the boys wept 
 freely. J n said, I think now that I am not good enough to 
 be saved ; meaning that he had lost the hopes he had lately 
 
 drawn from his Catholic forms. J- said he knew he was 
 
 wicked, and had sinned against God. While I conversed with 
 
 them, my little son,C , placed himself near us to hear, and 
 
 when they retired I followed them to the door with my son. 
 We all withdrew from the house, and, kneeling down, a petition 
 specially for them was put up to God. The boys were much 
 affected, and I said to myself, ' How sweet and awful is the place !' 
 
 " November 12th, 1824. Our evening lecture for the bene 
 fit of the children was in both Putawatomie and English. An 
 thony, the young man brought by rny sons from Fort Wayne 
 in the preceding June, as heretofore noticed, and who had been 
 kept some years from our school by his father's Catholic preju 
 dices, has become very uneasy, but clings with desperate tena 
 city to Catholic ceremonies. I say nothing to him in particular. 
 He expresses great uneasiness of mind to others, and says he 
 will go to Detroit as soon as practicable, to consult his priests, 
 in the hope that he can by that means obtain happiness similar 
 to that apparently enjoyed by others here. We trust that 
 the Devil is too late in this business, and that Anthony has 
 received wounds that can only be healed by the Balm of Gilead. 
 
 " Another Catholic, a young man employed by the Govern 
 ment to labour under our direction among the Ottawas, mani 
 fests great uneasiness of mind, speaks freely on the subject of 
 his troubles, and appears to have a just sense of his sinful, lost, 
 and helpless condition ; says he can find no relief by praying ; 
 he cannot improve his condition ; all is sinful, &c. 
 
 " Anthony's anxiety becoming almost insupportable, he placed 
 
248 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 himself near me for conversation, and spoke of his distress. He 
 perceived others happy, he said, in the enjoyment of their 
 religion, while he found no happiness in his. He had been 
 good once, but he had lost it all. Formerly, when troubled 
 about these things, he obtained relief by praying ; now his 
 prayers were not followed by relief. Still he was determined 
 that he never would change his religion no change ever should 
 take place with him. 
 
 " He wept, and appeared to be almost distracted, seemed 
 anxious to hear my conversation and advice, and yet listened 
 with fear that he would be convinced of something wrong in 
 what he termed ' his religion/ While he was deeply sensible 
 that we were his friends, he endeavoured to cherish all the 
 hatred for our religion that was possible for a prejudiced mind." 
 
 Soon after this he gave very satisfactory evidence of a saving 
 change of heart. His health declined, and he was not bap 
 tized. He abandoned all his Catholic forms and hopes, and 
 died rejoicing in salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 in confident expectation of a blessed eternity. 
 
 It can easily be conceived that Indians qualified for mission 
 ary service would be more useful to their countrymen than white 
 missionaries ; hence we were exceedingly anxious to promote in 
 them a spirit of Christian benevolence, and, in hopeful cases, to 
 give a suitable direction to the mind in education. 
 
 On the 14th of November, we introduced into public worship 
 hymns in the Indian language, sung to our common congrega 
 tional tunes. The success of this experiment exceeded our 
 expectations. The practice has been continued ever since, and 
 with improving advantages. A note in the journal for this day 
 reads as follows: "The spirit of religious inquiry among us 
 increases. O, what a blessing it is to us to drink of the stream 
 from the rock in the wilderness, and what encouragement to find 
 the stream still rising." On Monday, November 15th, Eze- 
 kiel Clark, Charles Polke, and Jared Lykins, were baptized. 
 These were young white men, who had engaged to labour for us 
 for the sake of wages, but who obtained a better reward. The 
 celebration of the Lord's supper on the following Sabbath was 
 an interesting season. 
 
 Our smithery for the Ottawas, as before stated, was on the 
 line between the Putawatomies and Ottawas. It became ne 
 cessary for one of us to visit it, and Mr. Polke, who had been 
 commissioned teacher for that station, was still absent. Mr. 
 Lykins was on the eve of setting out for that place, when Gosa, 
 an Ottawa, of Kekenmazoo, arrived with a message which had 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 249 
 
 been intrusted to him by an Ottawa of Grand river, earnestly 
 requesting me to visit them. Gosa also brought us our sixty- 
 seventh Indian scholar. 
 
 I regretted the necessity of leaving home at this time of 
 religious interest in our family. But, taking our Putawatomie 
 lad, Noaquett, for interpreter, I set out on the 24th of Novem 
 ber, 1824, accompanied by Mr. Sawyer, who was our black 
 smith, C. Mettez, labourer, and Gosa. Our horses swam across 
 the St. Joseph's river, and the night we spent without a house. 
 In the absence of our smith, the Indians had undertaken to work 
 at the forge, and had fired and nearly burnt up the house. On 
 the 27th, we encamped at Gun Lake, and on the following day 
 had an interview with Naoqua Keshuck, an Ottawa chief, who 
 was encamped, with his family and some others, on the opposite 
 side of the lake. He said he had long desired to see me, and 
 had sent the messenger to ascertain the cause of my delaying to 
 visit them. He urged me to make a settlement at his village, 
 at the rapids of Grand river, declaring that he and some others 
 desired to adopt the habits of civilized life, and would be glad 
 to avail themselves of our assistance. He was anxious for the 
 establishment of a school for the benefit of the youth, and 
 wished also to hear preaching. " I am an Indian/' said he ; 
 " nevertheless I think of God, and of religion, and had we a 
 preacher among us perhaps I could become good." While I 
 informed him what we proposed to do for them, I was deeply 
 affected with the fears he manifested that we, as he said other 
 white men had often done, would deceive them. He desired 
 me to commit to writing my proposals, which I did. He then 
 arose and said, "In token of friendship I take hold of your hand, 
 I take /as* hold of it. God sees us take hold of each other's 
 hands and will be witness against him that shall deceive." 
 
 We decamped on the following day, November 29th, and 
 proceeded towards the rapids of Grand river. At twelve 
 o'clock we were joined by Noonday, alias Naoqua Keshuck, 
 Gosa having left us. That night I was violently attacked with 
 dysentery, occasioned by the mode of living necessary on my 
 journey. I usually carried medicines with me, but at this time 
 happening to have none, the skill of both Noonday and myself 
 was put in requisition in seeking vegetable remedies in the 
 forest. I spent a night of great distress. With some abate 
 ment of pain 1 became able to sit on my horse the following 
 day, but continued much indisposed during the remainder of the 
 tour. 
 
 M^d; <c> 
 
250 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 Two days later we reached Grand river, which it was neces 
 sary we should cross. Noonday had two canoes hid in the 
 brush, smaller than I had ever before seen. He brought one 
 on his shoulder, and, placing it in the river, directed me to lie 
 down in it, as in a sitting posture there would be danger of cap 
 sizing. When I was thus adjusted, he said he believed he could 
 get me across, as I did not appear to be so heavy as a deer he had 
 once taken over in the same canoe. I spent the night in camp. 
 As far as indisposition admitted, and assisted by the chief, I 
 made examinations on horseback, for the purpose of selecting 
 a site for our missionary station. Having marked out a place, 
 and given the chief some advice in relation to buildings and 
 fields, which he desired to make, on the 2d of December, in a 
 rain which continued all day, sometimes mingled with snow, I 
 set out for home. 
 
 The site selected was about thirty or forty miles lower down 
 Grand river than the one fixed upon two years before by the 
 United States' commissioner. I preferred the selection which 
 I had made on various accounts. In making it, I acted upon 
 my own responsibility, and I lost no time in requesting Govern- 
 our Cass to confirm the location ; which he did, and it was after 
 wards approved by the Secretary of War. 
 
 Many obstacles had, from the first, opposed the formation of 
 an establishment at this place ; the first of importance was the 
 failure of the teacher, and the second was the insidious attempt 
 of the man we had employed in business to supplant us ; and, 
 with our onerous cares at Carey, we should probably have 
 abandoned it, had not the provisions for a school, &ic., at this 
 place grown out of our efforts at the Chicago treaty. Another 
 inducement to perseverance was, that by a connection of the 
 two stations, under the same superintendency, our means of 
 support might be enlarged. 
 
 The Ottawas, as we have elsewhere stated, being dissatisfied 
 with the treaty of Chicago, malicious white men endeavoured 
 to persuade them that our object was to inveigle them into a 
 confirmation of that treaty. They were told that we were not 
 seeking their welfare, but that for the education of their children 
 and our other services we would retain a portion of their 
 annuity ; that their children intrusted to our care would be 
 enslaved, that their burying places would be violated, &ic. A 
 fruitful source of these calumnies, and of our most formidable 
 difficulties, was the hostility of the Catholic French, or rather 
 Canadians, who were almost the only white people with whom 
 these Indians had had much acquaintance. One of them at the 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 251 
 
 treaty at Chicago had the hardihood to endeavour to supplant 
 us in relation to the station on the St. Joseph's,* and they had 
 constantly been endeavouring to acquire the occupancy of the 
 station among the Ottawas ; of this further evidence will be 
 seen in an official report of the agent appointed by Government 
 to inspect missionary stations. Again, these Indians had fought 
 under the British flag, and they considered themselves still in 
 the British interest ; hence were occasioned causeless jealousies 
 and fears, which were fostered by designing white men. The 
 distance from Carey, (being more than a hundred miles,) in 
 connection with our multifarious labours, had prevented us from 
 speedily overcoming these prejudices. When I visited them in 
 1823, 1 could not obtain a meeting in council, and Mr. Polke 
 met with the same reception in May of the following year. 
 
 We had located the smithery for them temporarily on Keken- 
 mazoo, and on the same half way ground had erected a build 
 ing for Gosa. Gradually we secured their esteem, so that at 
 the time of which we speak, three villages, embracing nine 
 chiefs, invited us to settle among them. Had the number of 
 missionaries enabled us to improve our acquaintance with them 
 faster, the present point would have been sooner attained ; or 
 had the first missionary appointed teacher by Government 
 gone promptly to work, they would have been kept free from 
 prejudices. 
 
 Cold and disagreeable as was the day on which we left Grand 
 river on our return, and severe as was my indisposition, I was 
 urged by Noonday to go considerably out of my way, through 
 the wilderness without a road, to see a salt spring. Next, 
 amidst a perpetual fall of either rain or snow, we must be shown 
 where the old man had lately killed three deer ; for our in 
 formation, the position of both the hunter and the game was 
 pointed out, and the bleating of the victims imitated all 
 which would have been more interesting in pleasant weather 
 and in better health. He afterwards took us to a bed of gyp 
 sum. A small stream of water having washed it, and produced 
 an unevenness similar to that made on salt banks by animals, 
 our guide said it was supposed that the spirits fed there. Par 
 ticularly anxious to show himself kind, he informed me that he 
 had concealed a kettle in the woods while he was on his win 
 ter's hunt, which he would allow our men to use when they 
 should commence the erection of buildings, &LC. Indians have 
 no idea of measurement, and the size of this vessel was de- 
 
 * See page 114. 
 
252 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 scribed by saying it would contain in cooking, six ducks, or three 
 racoons. He gave me the parting hand with great apparent 
 affection, saying, " If God permit us to live, we shall see each 
 other again." 
 
 Having no grain or hay, and grazing at that season being very 
 poor, our horses suffered severely. Pretty late in the night of 
 December 4th, after a very disagreeable day, I arrived at Gosa's, 
 very much fatigued on account of my continued sickness. I 
 urged Gosa to abandon ardent spirits, and among other things I 
 stated that with the natural industry of himself and wife they 
 would soon become very comfortably situated. He jestingly 
 replied, that he had left oft drinking at one time for some months, 
 and that he became poorer every day. I told him that 1 had 
 used tobacco seven years, and after becoming very fond of it 
 had abandoned it, because I deemed it unmanly not to have the 
 mastery of myself. He said, the whiskey had not the mastery 
 of him, and, to convince me, he would forbear drinking any 
 length of time that I would fix. Leaving the matter to himself, 
 lie said he would abstain for three years, and desired me to 
 write the pledge and keep it, with his signature affixed. His 
 fidelity far exceeded my expectation. He was rarely, if ever, 
 disguised with liquor during the three years, though the habit 
 subsequently increased upon him. 
 
 I employed Gosa to assist our blacksmith and Frenchman in 
 taking our smith's tools from their present location to the one I 
 had selected at the rapids of Grand river. The attempt, how 
 ever, failed, on account of ice in the waters which they were 
 required to navigate. On the 6th of December we left camp 
 before day, in order to reach our home ; which we did, after 
 swimming our famished horses across the St. Joseph's river. 
 
 On the 7th, we received a communication from Colonel Mc- 
 Kenney, of the Department of Indian Affairs, at Washington, 
 acknowledging the receipt of our annual report. He said 
 u the prosperous condition of the school at Carey is very grati 
 fying," &c. 
 
 The board not having found it convenient in their prints to 
 take so much notice of Indian colonization as I had hoped for 
 when in Washington, and deeming it, myself, one of vital im 
 portance in our operations, at the request of Mr. Meehan, edi 
 tor of the Columbian Star, I forwarded a communication in its 
 support, and regretted that I had not time oftener to appear 
 before the public in favour of this benevolent object. 
 
 The religious excitement in our family continued. On the 
 12th of December Simeon French, another of our hired white 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 253 
 
 men, was baptized, and the Catholic Frenchman, before spoken 
 of, remained much agitated. About this time Mr. Polke arrived 
 with a drove of hogs, intended for our next year's consumption. 
 Scarcely had we felt the satisfaction of Mr. Polke's arrival, 
 after an absence of nearly four months, before we realized the 
 pain of a separation from Mr. Lykins ; he left us on the 14th 
 of December, with the expectation of being absent nine months 
 or a year. Domestic afflictions in his father's family induced 
 him to obey a parental call, which indeed was too urgent to be 
 resisted. We needed the services of all our missionaries, and 
 more than all, and lamented the necessity which weakened 
 our force. I accompanied him a little way, in order that our 
 adieus might be alone, where we might indulge our mutual sym 
 pathies, without being reproached with childishness. On the 
 17th, our blacksmith, William Sawyer, with two labourers for 
 the Ottawas, left Carey, to improve the station which we had 
 recently selected on Grand river. 
 
 Business and cares crowded upon us so much, that, although 
 our religious exercises on Sabbaths and other days had not been 
 neglected, we had not usually enjoyed them so well as previ 
 ously ; but the 26th was another very comfortable Sabbath. 
 During worship, besides many others, one of our pupils, a sen 
 sible young man, who, after a long absence, had just returned, 
 was deeply affected. On the following Thursday he gave a 
 satisfactory account of his having experienced a work of saving 
 grace in his soul. This was the first conversion which, so far 
 as we knew, had taken place among our Indian pupils, the 
 other Indians whom we had baptized not having been members 
 of our family. Noaquett, our interpreter, also showed signs of 
 repentance. " I once thought," said he, " that I was not wicked, 
 but since I have heard you talk so much, and have listened to 
 the conversation of these young men who have lately been bap 
 tized, I feel that I am a sinner, and have a sinful heart, and I 
 am sometimes in great trouble on account of my sins. I once 
 thought well of the French [Catholic] religion, but I now think 
 otherwise. They kneel and pray, but 1 believe they say over 
 their prayers as one would recite a lesson committed to memory. 
 I believe there is nothing of it here," laying his hand on his 
 breast ; " and, on rising from their knees, they indulge in all 
 common vices." 
 
 Wednesday, January the 12th, was a happy day with us, 
 when our hearts were rejoiced to hear some declare what God 
 had done for their souls. On this day we baptized one of our 
 female Indian pupils, Henry Reeder, our blacksmith, and J. H. 
 
254 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 George, an elderly German employed as a cook, each of whom 
 had given a satisfactory account of a work of grace on the 
 heart. The following appears in the mission journals : " This 
 day we have esteemed the most blessed that we have experi 
 enced since we came into the wilderness." We sung the fol 
 lowing lines, as expressive of our feelings: 
 
 Hail, exalted mighty Saviour ! 
 
 Push thy glorious conquests on, 
 Help us, who enjoy thy favour, 
 
 Sing the victories thou hast won. 
 We would praise thee, 
 For what sovereign grace hath done. 
 
 E'en in this benighted nation 
 
 Smiling mercy cheers the soul ; 
 Here the waters of salvation, 
 
 Softly murmuring, onward roll. 
 Let thy praises 
 Soon be spread from pole to pole. 
 
 Mingling here in sweet connection, 
 
 Taught to speak with divers tongues 
 
 Not less different in complexion, 
 Yet harmonious in our songs : 
 
 Sweetly praising 
 
 Jesus, though with stammering tongues. 
 
 Help us, Lord, thy footsteps tracing, 
 
 Steadily to keep the road ; 
 Gladly thy commands embracing, 
 
 Pressing towards thy blest abode. 
 Come yo with us 
 Mourners, we are going to God. 
 
 The following day continued to us rich blessings. Devo 
 tional exercises had become the chief and almost only business 
 of the establishment, Three of our male Indian pupils, who 
 had gladdened our hearts by their artless accounts, in broken 
 English, of their conversion, were baptized, under circumstances 
 unusually interesting. One of the missionaries wrote in the 
 journal : " I never before felt so sensibly that the gracious pre 
 sence of God would convert any place on earth into a kind of 
 heaven. It seems that a celestial atmosphere may descend to 
 earth, and may be breathed and enjoyed even in this literal wil 
 derness." The father of one of our pupils who was baptized 
 on this day was a Catholic Frenchman. The lad, after relating 
 to us his Christian experience, had expressed an inclination to 
 defer baptism until he could ask his father's consent a measure 
 of which we did not disapprove. Subsequently, and before he 
 could hear from his father, he desired us to baptize him, express 
 ing a strong inclination to accompany into the water an associate 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 255 
 
 to whom he was much attached. The day before that on which 
 he was baptized, a lad of about the same age, or something 
 older, also the son of a Catholic by an Indian woman, came to 
 our house, and remained until the evening of the second day. 
 He said he had been sent thither by his father, to prevent the 
 baptism of the convert above mentioned. This Catholic youth 
 was permitted free access to the company of our Indian youths, 
 as he had been on former visits, and he appeared faithful to his 
 unhallowed trust. He endeavoured, by sneers and all that he 
 could say among them, to induce them to decline baptism. 
 Some of his remarks were very cutting to our young converts, 
 but they all remained firm. Two days later a Catholic trader 
 called at our house and complained of the baptism of the Catho 
 lic lad alluded to. We found it easy to silence his lips, but had 
 no hope that we had changed his heart. 
 
 The journals record the 16th of January, 1825, as " the 
 most sweet, solemn, blessed sacramental occasion that had been 
 realized by the missionaries." The satisfaction of sitting down 
 to the communion table with Indian youths whom we had gath 
 ered from among the ruins of savage life, was indeed like an 
 Elijah's rneal, served up in the wilderness by an angel of God. 
 Our meetings for conversation, prayer, and praise, were fre 
 quent ; and we had, pretty soon after the commencement of this 
 revival, introduced special ones, for the benefit of such as were 
 inquiring what they should do to be saved. They were not 
 held in our place of public worship, and all who chose were 
 permitted to attend. The meeting on this sacramental day was 
 more fully attended than usual. Two others of our Indian lads 
 satisfied us of their conversion; one of them becoming favoured 1 
 with very comfortable evidence that his sins had been forgiven, 
 and feeling anxious to talk about the Lord Jesus, and diffident 
 in our presence, retired, and communicated the news of salva 
 tion to a company of his school-fellows, one of whom, a boy, 
 
 came in and informed us, in his broken English, " N been 
 
 down yonder talking to de boys ; he say he feel very well." 
 He was sent for, and found to be in a joyous frame of mind. 
 " I want to talk," said he ; " I don't care if de house full of 
 
 people. I feel happy ; I never feel so happy before " 
 
 He described the sensation of mind, on first obtaining a hope, 
 as follows : " My heart seem all de time to go up to God, and 
 whenever I walk I think God see me, and sometimes seem like 
 he come very close," 
 
 The father of the other lad was a Catholic Frenchman. 
 After the youth had become anxious for the salvation of his 
 
256 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 soul, he conferred with us, and wrote to his father, asking per 
 mission to be baptized if we should deem him worthy. He had 
 not, however, patience to wait for an answer from his father, 
 who resided a hundred miles off. On Monday, January 17th, 
 the mercury standing at only ten degrees above zero, we repaired 
 a sixth time to the river, and baptized three of our male and one 
 of our female Indian youths. 
 
 About this time our Indian converts were in the habit of 
 uniting, two or three, or more, in private prayer; sometimes 
 they would invite their fellows, who had not experienced reli 
 gion, to accompany them. This was particularly gratifying to 
 the pilgrim missionaries. " O, how delightful it is," said they, 
 " to think of these poor red youths thus bending on the frozen 
 earth and snow, sheltered from human sight by the sable curtain 
 of night, and in the very forests in which they lately roamed 
 like beasts, now imploring the mercy of God on themselves and 
 associates and kindred !" 
 
 They also held evening prayer meetings among themselves, 
 On these occasions one who was most competent , would read 
 and expound the Scriptures to such as could not understand 
 English. We had, as before stated, taken into our family a re 
 spectable Putawatomie woman, who assisted in taking care of 
 some of our smaller pupils, and who, being extensively known 
 and respected among her people, was of great advantage in cor 
 recting any dissatisfaction they might feel in relation to our 
 treatment of their children. She, too, after coming to reside 
 with us, had been led to seek the salvation of her soul, and on 
 the 20th of January she was baptized, together with a Puta 
 watomie boy, both of whom gave a very satisfactory account of 
 their being adopted into the family of heaven. On the 25th, 
 another of our male Indian pupils was baptized. 
 
 While we were greatly favoured with religious enjoyment, 
 and employed all the time in religious exercises that a due 
 regard to our necessities allowed, we were compelled to be bur 
 dened with many secular cares. Sensible that the temporal 
 condition of the people of our charge ought not to be over 
 looked, if we would hope for extensive and lasting religious im 
 provement among them as a nation, our favourite scheme of a 
 colony in the West bore with constant weight upon our minds. 
 It was the 13th of January before we received the annual 
 message of Mr. Monroe, to Congress. We were exceedingly 
 gratified to find in this document a reference to the subject of 
 colonizing in accordance with our wishes. We copied the part 
 containing it into our journal, as an important historic fact, and 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 257 
 
 one upon which we, and others who should come after us, 
 might look back with peculiar satisfaction. The following is an 
 extract from the message : 
 
 " The condition of the aborigines within our limits, and 
 especially of those within the limits of any of the States, merits, 
 particular attention. Experience has shown that unless the 
 tribes be civilized they can never be incorporated into our sys 
 tem, in any form whatever. It has likewise shown that in the 
 regular augmentation of our population, with the extension of 
 our settlements, their situation will become deplorable, if their 
 existence is not menaced. Some well digested plan, which will 
 rescue them from such calamities, is due to their rights, to the 
 rights of humanity, and to the honour of the nation. Their 
 civilization is indispensable to their safety. Difficulties of the 
 most serious character present themselves to the attainment of 
 this very desirable result on the territory on which they now 
 reside. Between the limits of our present States and Territo 
 ries, and the Rocky mountains and Mexico, there is a vast 
 territory to which they might be invited, with inducements which 
 might be successful. It is thought if that territory should be 
 divided into districts, by previous agreement with the tribes now 
 residing there, and civil government be established there in 
 each, with schools for every branch of instruction in literature 
 and the arts of civilized life, that all the tribes now within our 
 limits might be gradually drawn there. It is doubted whether 
 any other plan would be more likely to succeed." 
 
 On the 17th of December, 1824, in the same Congress to 
 which the aforementioned message had been communicated, Mr. 
 Conway, Delegate from the Territory of Arkansas, offered in 
 the House of Representatives the following resolution, which 
 was adopted : " Resolved, That the Committee on Indian 
 Affairs be instructed to inquire into the expediency of organiz 
 ing all the territory of the United States lying west of the 
 State of Missouri and Territories of Arkansas and Michigan 
 into a separate territory, to be occupied exclusively by Indians^ 
 and of authorizing the President of the United States to adopt 
 such measures as he may think best, to colonize all the Indians 
 of the present States and Territories permanently within the 
 same." 
 
 Of the President's message from which the foregoing extract 
 is made, and of the bill before Congress which grew out of the 
 above resolution, we had the honour to receive twenty copies, 
 forwarded to us from the Department of Indian Affairs 
 
 By the unnecessary extent of territory proposed for the Indi- 
 33 
 
258 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 an colony by the foregoing resolution, it will be perceived that 
 either very crude Hotions of the subject existed at that time, 
 or that principles were involved not necessary to the welfare of 
 the Indians. Nevertheless, the favourable notice of the sub 
 ject by the President of the United States, and the early atten 
 tion to ^t by Congress, were very gratifying indications of a 
 successful issue. 
 
 It became necessary for me to make a journey to Ohio, 
 which was commenced on the 27th of January, and terminated 
 on the 19th of February. This journey, lying through a wil 
 derness of nearly two hundred miles, at an inclement season of 
 the year, was attended with the usual privations. Within this 
 time two more Indian scholars had been added to our family, 
 which increased the number to seventy. 
 
 When, on the 17th of December, 1824, our blacksmith and 
 two labourers left Carey to improve the Thomas station, we re 
 gretted that they should, at that interesting time, be separated 
 from their religious associates, and be placed in the wilderness, 
 where they could not enjoy the advantages of religious instruc 
 tion. In February, 1825, we were gratified to learn from the 
 smith, who visited us on business, that much seriousness had at 
 tended the little company in the desert. They had daily united 
 in prayers, the smith professed to have received the spirit of 
 adoption, and the other two were serious. The company had 
 suffered for want of provision ; on hearing of which Mr. Polke 
 sent them supplies, on horseback. On the 27th of February 
 the smith and a Putawatomie young man, resident in our family, 
 were baptized. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Narrow escape from a murderer. Improving condition of the 
 Ottawas. Improvements of the Putaivatomies. Baptisms. 
 Paralyzing effects of ardent spirits. Preparation of Indi 
 an youths for superior usefulness. They enter the Baptist 
 Theological Institution at Hamilton, New-York. Indian 
 festival. Resignation of missionaries. Condition of the 
 school, fyc. Arrival of missionaries. Efforts to promote co 
 lonization. Effects of intemperance. Cattle furnished the 
 Ottawas. Measures of the board in reference to missionaries. 
 
 On the 10th of March, 1825, Mr Polke, with the blacksmith, 
 an Indian apprentice to the blacksmith's business, and a labourer, 
 set out in a periogue for our station on Grand river. On the 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 259 
 
 way he availed himself of the assistance of our Ottawa friend, 
 Gosa. He found a majority of the Ottawas well disposed 
 towards the mission, and the prospects of its usefulness very 
 pleasing. At the same time, some malicious persons had resolved 
 on breaking up the establishment. From time immemorial the 
 rapids of Grand river had been a place of great resort in the 
 spring, on account of the facility with which fish could be taken ; 
 and, in accordance with this custom, many were now encamped 
 there. A council having been proposed, the opposers of the 
 mission delayed, with the design that Mr. Polke should leave 
 for the St. Joseph's before it should be convened. These men 
 had brought whiskey on the ground, to aid in making disturb 
 ance. All, however, appeared friendly towards Mr. Polke, 
 except one, who as we afterwards learned, had previously medi 
 tated mischief. Mr. Polke, in his journal, says : " I had been 
 requested by some of the Indians to remain at the place another 
 day, in the hope of being able to have a council. I was unde 
 cided, when a circumstance occurred which induced me to 
 remain, and which circumstance evinced that life is in the hands 
 of the Lord, and that ' not a single shaft can hit till the God of 
 love sees fit.' 
 
 " Many Indians near our house were in a state of intoxica 
 tion. The blacksmith, our apprentice, and Gosa, were on the 
 margin of the river, while I was standing on the river bank, near 
 our door, looking at some canoes of fishermen in the river, when 
 more noise than usual occurred in an Indian carnp near. At 
 this instant the fishermen in the canoes, who could perceive 
 what was going on in the camp, hallooed lustily to us on the 
 bank. I could not understand them; but Gosa, who understood 
 them, rushed up the river bank towards me. On turning my 
 eyes towards the camp, I discovered an Indian running towards 
 me with a gun in his hand. I apprehended that his intention 
 was to shoot me, and I resolved that as he raised his gun to fire, 
 I would endeavour to save myself by a sudden leap down the 
 bank. He approached within about fifteen yards, when he 
 abruptly halted to fire. In the attempt to raise his gun he was 
 seized by Gosa. The fellow made a violent effort to accom 
 plish his purpose. The Indian apprentice boy came to Gosa's 
 assistance, and they disarmed the wicked man, who was taken 
 away by some of the people of his camp." 
 
 About the 1st of December, previous to the time of which 
 we have been speaking, an old Indian chief was detained at the 
 mission house a few days by indisposition. Mr. Lykins and Mr. 
 Simerwell were the only male missionaries at the establishment 
 
260 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 at that time. They improved the opportunity of imparting 
 religious instruction to the old man. In February lie returned 
 to our house, and immediately inquired for Mr. Lykins and Mr. 
 Simerwell, saying, he desired to converse with them on the 
 subject of religion. He had been made to hope in Christ, and 
 gave an account of his religious exercises of mind so satis 
 factory that we gave him the right hand of fellowship. In his 
 case it was deemed expedient to allow a little time before his 
 baptism, for him to manifest" fruits meet for repentance." He 
 was baptized on the 20th of March. 
 
 About ninety persons now daily fed at our table. To pro 
 cure the means of support for so many persons, especially at a 
 distance so remote from the settlements of civilized man, occa 
 sioned no little labour and anxiety. Early in November the 
 board had been informed that we should find it difficult to get 
 through the winter without some pecuniary assistance. It was 
 the 10th of March following before we received an answer to 
 this communication, and then we were only authorized to draw 
 for an allowance which passed to us through their hands from 
 Government, on account of buildings erected at Carey. These 
 buildings had been produced by the personal exertions ; of the 
 missionaries, without taking any thing therefor from the actual 
 funds of the board ; and having reported them according to a 
 regulation of the Department of Indian Affairs, we were 
 allowed two-thirds of the cost of their erection. It was this 
 sum only which the board at this time made available to us. 
 
 On the 17th of March, 1825, Mr. Simervvell and Miss F. 
 Goodridge, two of cur missionaries, were united in marriage. 
 On the 21st of April Mrs. Polke set out for Indiana. Her jour 
 ney led her about two hundred miles through a wilderness, in 
 which Mr. Polke accompanied her two days, when she pro 
 ceeded with suitable company. Mr. Polke was returning alone, 
 and being obliged to encamp in the wilderness one night, his 
 horse escaped, and left him to prosecute his journey on foot. 
 This he found fatiguing, being under the necessity of carrying 
 his saddle and other travelling apparatus ; but he chose to endure 
 the fatigue, rather than, by leaving it in the wilderness, to run 
 the risk of losing it. 
 
 A Putawatomie southwest of us, notorious for the many 
 murders he had committed, had rendered himself so odious to 
 his people, that on the occurrence of the last crime, which was 
 the murder of an Ottawa, they resolved to surrender him to that 
 tribe, to be put to death according to Indian custom of retaliation. 
 On the 26th of April, a company of Ottawas called at our house, 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 261 
 
 and intimated their intention to proceed to the neighbourhood 
 of the offender, and despatch him. We discovered at once that 
 angry feelings between the two tribes would probably thus be 
 engendered, notwithstanding the willingness manifested by the 
 Putawatomies to surrender the murderer, and that the loss of 
 many more lives might be the result. We therefore dissuaded 
 them from their purpose, and were gratified when they acqui 
 esced in the measures of forbearance which we proposed. 
 They then requested us to communicate to the Ottawas near 
 Chicago, through Dr. Wolcott, United States' agent, their desire 
 that every thing like hostility should be for the present post 
 poned. They also requested us to write to Governour Cass on 
 the subject, and^obtain his counsel. This circumstance shows 
 how easy it would be, in most instances, to prevent hostilities be 
 tween the tribes, and also between the tribes and the citizens of 
 the United States, by suitable advice from men in whom the 
 Indians place confidence. 
 
 On the 17th of May, Mr. Polke returned from another visit 
 to Grand river. He found the Indians friendly; many ex 
 pressed regret that he had been insulted on a previous visit, 
 and hoped nothing of the kind would again occur. Even the 
 man who had made an attempt upon his life had since that 
 time indicated a disposition to conciliate those connected with 
 the mission. Mr. Polke also found a favourable attention to 
 public religious exercises, which he had the happiness of per 
 forming while at the station. Our blacksmith and the two 
 workmen for the Ottawas were labouring to great advantage for 
 those people. Improvements in the erection of dwellings, in 
 the making of fence, and in ploughing, were advancing. The 
 Indians themselves were becoming animated with their pros 
 pects of better condition, and began to labour with their own 
 hands much more than they had previously done. We stated 
 to them that Government had placed under our control only 
 two white men, to labour for them. These could do but little, 
 compared with the amount of labour needed by the neighbour 
 hood. They must therefore take hold themselves. If, for 
 instance, they could not manage a plough and oxen themselves, 
 let them furnish a man to work with one of the labourers, and 
 by this means they would learn to manage the plough and 
 oxen, and two ploughs instead of one could be kept constantly 
 moving by the two labourers. To two families we had loaned 
 milch cows, for their encouragement. These Ottawas also 
 expressed a desire to avail themselves of the advantages of 
 schools, and solicited the establishment of one among them as 
 
262 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 soon as practicable, which we assured them should be done. 
 Three children had been sent by them, from Grand river, to our 
 school at Carey. 
 
 This had become a busy season. Our Putawatomies, on their 
 return to our neighbourhood after their regular winter's ramble, 
 or, as we more commonly say, ivinter's hunt, resolved to im 
 prove their condition, by making fields and houses, and by the 
 raising of live stock. They sought for eligible situations for 
 farms, and for implements with which to labour. In those 
 things their applications to us for advice and assistance were 
 almost incessant. We went with them to make locations, and 
 to give advice in regard to the nature and extent of improve 
 ments which ought to be undertaken. Ploughs, hoes, and axes, 
 were needed, far beyond what our smithery could furnish, and 
 it was affecting to see them digging up the bushes with an 
 axe instead of a grubbing hoe. Both men and women wrought 
 in making improvements. For their encouragement, we sent 
 our male Indian pupils to aid them, and sometimes our own 
 hired white labourers. Our teams were also employed for 
 them whenever they could be spared from our own farm. 
 
 Previous to this time, scarcely a rail for a fence was found 
 among the Putawatomies. Often their small patches of corn 
 were not enclosed at all ; and, when enclosed, it was with a 
 temporary fence of brush, or one formed by inserting stakes in 
 the earth, to which a tier or two of poles were tied horizontally 
 with strings of bark. Now they commenced to make rails at 
 different places, and to build their houses of wood instead of 
 bark. Topenebe, the principal chief of the Putawatomies, 
 and almost all the people of his settlement, removed from the 
 north side of St. Joseph's river, and settled near us on the 
 south. More than thirty families in our neighbourhood were 
 improving more or less rapidly, and were now enabled to keep 
 live stock, which, while their fields were unfenced, it was use 
 less to attempt. 
 
 As the number of our family increased, it was necessary to 
 enlarge our means of support. We had now upwards of two 
 hundred acres, most of it pasture land, enclosed by good fence ; 
 thirty acres were planted in corn, and a few acres in culinary 
 vegetables. We knew that, as the rapid approach of the white 
 settlements would soon compel the Indians to recede, our resi 
 dence there could not be permanent ; and, taught by necessity 
 to exert our utmost to support the mission, we employed all the 
 means within our power to enhance the real value of the farm, 
 for which we expected to be paid by the Government of the 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 263 
 
 United States, on our removal. We early planted peach seed, 
 and now had an orchard of two or three hundred trees. By 
 searching in the brush, about deserted Indian villages and 
 trading houses, we found here and there a few young apple 
 trees, which perhaps had grown from seed accidentally cast ; 
 these we transplanted, and ultimately had nearly one hundred 
 apple trees growing. We were also at this time erecting a 
 flouring mill, to operate by horse power, there being none 
 within one hundred and ninety miles. We had made a small 
 mill with materials obtained in our neighbourhood, which was 
 turned by hand. One strong man at this constantly was able 
 barely to make meal, of a poor quality, sufficient for bread, of 
 Indian corn. Wheat flour could not be manufactured. A mill 
 of similar construction was put into operation at Grand river. 
 
 About the 1st of June, 1825, we were favoured with the 
 receipt, by our wagon from the white settlements, of sundry 
 articles much needed at the establishment, among which were 
 several boxes of clothing for our Indian pupils. About the 
 same time, similar supplies arrived by way of Lake Michigan. 
 These articles, which were forwarded by benevolent persons in 
 different parts of the United States, were favours which pre 
 ferred strong claims on our gratitude ; and they were the more 
 highly esteemed by us on account of the heavy charge of pro 
 viding for the comfort of so large a family. We were also 
 sometimes pleased and affected to overhear our Indian converts, 
 in their prayer meetings held among themselves, returning 
 thanks to God for giving them favour with good people at a 
 distance, and whose faces they had never seen, and invoking on 
 them the benediction of Heaven. 
 
 On the Lord's day, June 12th, Joseph Bay, another of our 
 hired white men, was baptized ; and on the Tuesday following 
 we baptized an Indian woman resident in the neighbourhood. 
 Her husband at first opposed her pretensions to religion ; and 
 when she first intimated a desire to be baptized, he declared that 
 the act should cause their separation. She very prudently for 
 bore any thing that would provoke his dislike to religion, and 
 not many weeks elapsed before he cheerfully consented that 
 she might be baptized. He was severely indisposed at the 
 time, and expressed a strong desire to attend the baptism of 
 his wife. We conveyed him to the river in a carriage, where 
 he witnessed the administration of the ordinance as he lay in 
 his bed. 
 
 This summer we harvested about three hundred bushels of 
 wheat, and no longer felt fears of suffering for bread. Favoured 
 
264 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 with the conversion of many young men whom we had employed 
 at different times as labourers, and still more highly favoured with 
 the conversion to godliness of many of our pupils and some 
 other Indians with our school prosperous, and our Indian 
 neighbours animated by the encouragement we had given them, 
 and becoming industrious, erecting dwellings, making fields, 
 and raising live stock with their numbers near us increasing 
 by new settlements, our mission appeared to be really prosper 
 ous ; and with our work prospering in our hands by the blessing 
 of God, we felt ourselves more than repaid for all our toils and 
 sufferings. We were, however, continually haunted with the 
 painful reflection that the Indians would soon, be driven from 
 this place by the ingress of white population. 
 
 Our location was so remote from the settlements of white 
 people when we first made it, and the inconveniences of reach 
 ing and residing at it so great, that we hoped, at that time, to 
 be able to push forward the work of civilization to a state not 
 much liable to injury by the proximity of white population, 
 before we should be crowded by it. In this we were disap 
 pointed. The Indian title to land had been extinguished on 
 the north of the St. Joseph's river, to a distance of not more 
 than one mile from us. Our settlement in that country attracted 
 the notice of people who are fond of being on the frontiers of 
 civilization, and our road led them to our neighbourhood. The 
 first was a man from Indiana, who came on foot and alone to 
 our house ; he made a settlement as near as the claims of the 
 Indians would allow, and for some time after his arrival was 
 much dependant on us for subsistence. Having, however, 
 erected for himself a little hut on the north bank of the St. 
 Joseph's, and laid in a small stock of bread and meat, he pro 
 cured a barrel of whiskey, and commenced retailing it to the 
 Indians, without regard to our entreaties to desist. 
 
 It was in this same memorable spring of 1825, when our 
 business, both of a religious and of a secular character, at the 
 institution and in the neighbourhood, was prospering pleasingly, 
 that the evil practice of vending liquor to the Indians increased 
 to an alarming degree. Some of our Indian converts were en 
 snared, and became intoxicated. Our religious meetings were 
 interrupted ; our Indian neighbours were induced to neglect 
 their fields and other improvements, which they had begun un 
 der favourable circumstances ; and sometimes even the clothing 
 and bedding of our pupils would be purloined by neighbouring 
 Indians, and exchanged at these whiskey houses for ardent 
 spirits. 
 
INDIAN MISSION?. 
 
 265 
 
 We increased our efforts to oppose the growing evil. We 
 not only prayed and preached, reasoned and remonstrated, but 
 we exerted all the authority among the Indians that we could 
 venture to exercise. With the design of destroying their whis 
 key, I on one occasion went, with two young me of our family, 
 to the new settlement formed near our place by Topenebe, the 
 principal chief, and his party, where we found the inhabitants 
 engaged in a horrid bacchanalian revel. After searching among 
 them awhile, I found a keg of spirits-, but I had scarcely taken 
 hold on it before it was seized by the drinking Indians, and I 
 was under the necessity of leaving it in their possession. On 
 all occasions they would admit the reasonableness of our remon 
 strances, and would make fair promises of reformation, but, when 
 tempted to drink, they had not fortitude to resist. For some 
 months the struggle between the influence of the mission and 
 the blighting effects of white settlements, which rapidly increased 
 around us, was obstinate. But, to our great mortification and 
 grief, we perceived the adversary of our hopes acquiring strength 
 and ultimately getting the ascendancy. 
 
 These accumulating difficulties admonished us, in language 
 not to be misunderstood, that it was necessary to urge by all 
 possible means the colonizing of the Indians, in a country from 
 which they could not be forced by a white population, and in 
 which the state of society among them might become so much 
 improved, before they would be pressed by people of clashing 
 interests, or be dragged into the vortex of ruin by whiskey sel 
 lers, as to render their protection practicable. 
 
 As a measure preparatory to the success of the scheme of a 
 colony, we deemed it our duty to endeavour to fit for enlarged 
 usefulness some of our most hopeful Indian pupils. Nothing 
 could be more evident than that in both civil and religious mat 
 ters, Indians with suitable qualifications could be more useful 
 than white men among their countrymen. Indian language being 
 their mother tongue, and being by kindred identified with Indians, 
 their opportunities of usefulness would surpass those of strangers. 
 We were allowed the peculiar felicity of church-fellowship with 
 a considerable number of our Indian pupils, and from among 
 them we proposed to make a selection of some who appeared 
 to possess the most promising talents, whom we would endeav 
 our to qualify for superiour usefulness. 
 
 At that time we supposed that the Columbian College, in the 
 
 city of Washington, and which was under the management of 
 
 the same society which patronised our mission, partook so largely 
 
 of the character of a missionary institution, that it would be ap- 
 
 34 
 
266 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 propriate and convenient for our select Indian youths to complete 
 their education there. Indeed, we supposed that the college 
 concern would feel itself honoured by the presence of our Indian 
 youths, and would esteem it a privilege to gratify us in this matter. 
 Accordingly we wrote a lengthy letter on this subject to the 
 Corresponding Secretary, the Rev. Dr. Staughton. Our views, 
 hopes, and prospects, in relation to this matter, may be inferred 
 from the following extracts from our letter: 
 
 "July 11, 1825. 
 
 "R.EV. AND DEAR BROTHER: I beg leave, respectfully, to 
 solicit the attention of the board to a matter of more than ordi 
 nary interest to us. 
 
 " Of the natives who have united with our church by baptism, 
 upon a hopeful profession of faith in Christ, seven male youths 
 who belong to our school ought, we believe, to be allowed more 
 than an ordinary education. Could not the board provide them 
 a situation in the Columbian College ? and could not one of 
 them, after spending some time in your preparatory school, be 
 allowed to learn the art of printing ? 
 
 " Many considerations, enforced by actual observation, leave 
 us no hope for the national salvation of the Indians, except in 
 anticipation of an Indian colony in the West. For this we 
 hope we pray we labour. Should a colony be established, 
 Indians of piety and attainments qualifying them for usefulness 
 in the different departments of the state, of the schools, and of 
 the church, will be wanted to give tone to a rising community. 
 So soon as practicable, the colony ought to be supplied with men 
 of their own nation, capable of managing all their own business. 
 This none will doubt. Our denomination is not prepared to 
 send one single Indian thither capable, of filling the place of 
 magistrate, capable of teaching a respectable school, and much 
 less capable of defending from the pulpit the doctrines of the 
 Gospel. 
 
 " Labour is bestowed upon ungodly youths, under some pro 
 bability that those labours will be lost. We do not pray you to 
 take such under your patronage. Wt will keep those knotty 
 sticks here, and will smooth them as we can. But God has 
 blessed us with seven hopeful Indian youths, who give evidence 
 of genuine piety, and some of whom, at least, feel strong de 
 sires to be useful to their less fortunate countrymen, whose lan 
 guage they speak, and with whose manners and customs and 
 wretchedness they are well acquainted. These youths we en 
 treat you to take into the Columbian College, and to favour 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 267 
 
 wkh such advantages as your wisdom and goodness may pre 
 scribe. Should God smile on these efforts, the youths may, on 
 the completion of their several courses, return with your pray 
 ers to the forests, and sound the jubilant trump to theif despair 
 ing kindred. 
 
 "We feel a strong confidence that nothing more would be 
 wanting than a representation of the case by the board, to induce 
 the President of the United States to meet the whole expense 
 of their situation in your institution, and possibly that of con 
 veying them to it, out of the ten thousand dollars annual appro 
 priation for purposes of Indian reform. We believe that the 
 number being considerable, would attract greater attention from 
 the Secretary of War, and excite more interest than if we were 
 to offer you only one or two, and that on this account the aid 
 that would be obtained in support of those students would be 
 more than in proportion to their numbers. But, if all cannot 
 obtain situations in your excellent institution, can you not make 
 room for some of them ? But, O, how can we separate them ! 
 To which of the seven must we say, you cannot gol My 
 heart, my eyes are affected by this thought, and I persuade 
 myself that a secret whisper says, Heaven will smile propitious 
 upon this our humble petition to you. 
 
 " We need not say a word on the propriety of preparing 
 natives for ministers, missionaries, school masters, civil officers, 
 &c.; of this you are fully aware; but I entreat you to allow us 
 to ask, have missionaries among the aborigines of our country 
 ever been able to offer to their patrons a more acceptable remu 
 neration for their deliberations, instructions, and expenditures, 
 a more precious boon, than that which your servants now beg 
 leave to send home to you from the missionary field, in the 
 persons of these Indian youths ? We venture, further, and ask 
 when and where in any of the missionary fields on earth, did 
 Providence exhibit stronger, more affecting, or more interesting 
 claims on the philanthropy of a missionary society, than in this 
 case upon yours? But, we correct the sentiment just now ex 
 pressed ; we will not say we offer them to you ; they are your 
 own pupils, fruit of your own labours, the gift of God. To us 
 is reserved only the pleasure of reporting them ready to be 
 promoted by your charities. 
 
 " We may be mistaken in relation to the state of the college 
 as affording room for these Indian lads, yet we trust ' there is 
 room,' and we feel a full conviction that their names would not 
 disgrace your catalogue, or in any way detract from the charac 
 ter of your institution. The boys are willing and anxious to 
 
268 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 go. We beg leave to tell you their names, and to state their 
 ages, condition, &c. 
 
 " We are sorry that these youths are not further advanced in 
 their studies. Yet, considering the state in which they came to 
 us, the time they have been with us, and the portion of that 
 time which has been spent in manual labour, we are not 
 ashamed of their acquirements. 
 
 " Were it our province to petition Government in behalf of 
 these youths, we would call up to consideration the condition of 
 the tribes to which they are related. The Cherokeesand others 
 in the South are in a manner a civilized people. They have 
 been advancing in habits of civilized life more than thirty years. 
 They have their mills, machinery, looms, farms, houses, wagons, 
 ploughs, &c. But these tribes are almost wholly destitute of 
 such things. It is with humble gratitude to our God, yet with 
 boldness before men, that we say that these tribes have received 
 their first impressions favourable to civilization since the com 
 mencement of this mission, and, even at this time, the number 
 of houses of better materials than bark, the amount of fencing 
 on farms, and the number of cattle and hogs, are exceedingly 
 small. Not a spinning wheel or loom is owned by one of them, 
 and, in a word, a large majority of them are as far from what 
 they ought to be as any Indians were when the whites first set 
 foot on the American shores, and even further. These tribes 
 were engaged in the hostilities of the last war. They are 
 generally poor and wretched to a proverb, and with slight ex 
 ceptions their sufferings are daily increasing ; consequently, their 
 prejudices against the whites run high, aggravated by a thou 
 sand considerations. We suppose, therefore, that from the ideas 
 which these facts naturally associate in the mind, our Govern 
 ment would be pleased with the opportunity of aiding these 
 youths in the acquisition of useful knowledge, who may live to 
 light up and cherish the lamp of existence of their expiring 
 tribes. 
 
 " Until we shall be allowed the pleasure of hearing from the 
 board, we shall aid the youths in their studies all that we possi 
 bly can, and this we shall do in the hope that before the begin 
 ning of the next year they will be under better instructers. 
 
 " We can offer no better apology for troubling you with a 
 letter so long, than the deep solicitude we feel for the success of 
 our application. 
 
 " Faithfully, your humble and obedient servant, 
 
 " ISAAC McCoy." 
 " J?et>. Dr. Staughlon, Corresponding Secretary." 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 269 
 
 In order to present our story in relation to these Indian youths, 
 to our readers, unbroken, we shall be obliged to leave behind 
 many incidents which, in the order of time, claim priority. 
 
 On the 24th of October, 1825, we were informed by the 
 Rev. Luther Rice that a committee of the board of missions 
 had been appointed to wait on the Secretary of War, to solicit 
 pecuniary aid for the support of the Indian youths in the Co 
 lumbian College. From this circumstance we inferred that the 
 board was favourable to our design of educating them in the 
 higher branches. And in another letter, afterwards, Mr. Rice 
 informed us that he thought some help might be obtained from 
 Government. Nevertheless, fearing a disappointment ultimately, 
 we endeavoured to find a place for the youths elsewhere, should 
 they not be taken into that institution. On the 25th of No 
 vember we wrote to the Rev. Daniel Hascall, a principal in the 
 Baptist Theological Institution at Hamilton, New- York ; Rev. 
 J. Chaplain, D. D., President of Waterville College, Maine ; 
 Rev. Francis Wayland, Jr., Boston, Massachusetts, and Rev. 
 S. H. Cone, of the city of New- York, inquiring for a place, 
 and suing for favour for our Indian youths, in event that they 
 should not be received into the Columbian College. From the 
 Rev. D. Hascall, of Hamilton, New- York, I received an an 
 swer that five of our Indian youths could find places in the 
 institution of that place, if we could not provide for them else 
 where. 
 
 Up to the 16th of January, 1826, we had heard nothing 
 from the board officially, in reply to our pressing request of the 
 preceding July. We attached so much importance to the edu 
 cation of these youths, that we conjectured others would view 
 the subject somewhat in the same light, and that a place could 
 be found for them somewhere, and therefore we had been pre 
 paring to take them abroad. We could not well abandon the 
 undertaking, without great disappointment and discouragement 
 to the Indians, and a considerable diminution of our influence. 
 We were therefore resolved on proceeding in the scheme, be 
 lieving that we should be able to obtain from Government some 
 pecuniary aid towards their education. 
 
 We were destitute of funds to procure the necessary outfit 
 for the journey to Washington, or to meet the expenses of 
 travelling. We sent to Detroit for some money due us from 
 Government for our salaries, but, it not being ready for delivery, 
 were disappointed in its receipt. We were compelled, there 
 fore, to start from home without money, in the hope of borrow 
 ing in the State of Ohio. 
 
270 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 Gosa, our Ottawa friend, desired to accompany us, and I 
 deemed it expedient to consent. Among the several motives 
 which influenced me, one was that he might see how the boys 
 would be situated, and might report to his people, to prevent 
 any dissatisfaction, through the influence of mischievous white 
 men. We resolved on taking the seven who had long been 
 candidates, and all of whom were members of the Church. 
 Through S. Hannah, Esq., of Fort Wayne, I had made arrange 
 ments for another to be placed in charge of a Presbyterian 
 friend in New-Jersey, by the name of Holsey. I therefore 
 took in company another young man of our family, who was 
 not a professor of religion. 
 
 With these eight Indian youths and Gosa, I left Carey on 
 the 16th of January, 18*26. Want of means to enable us suit 
 ably to prepare, subjected us to a good deal of inconvenience. 
 Some others from our place were going to Ohio, making our 
 company, in all, fifteen. We were nine days getting through 
 the wilderness, to Troy, Ohio. There was snow on the ground, 
 and the weather exceedingly cold ; the mercury on the last day 
 sinking six degrees below zero. Here 1 stopped the young 
 men, while tailors could prepare clothing for them. Horses, 
 saddles, &c., had also, to some extent, to be obtained here. 
 All this outfit I obtained upon credit. In the meantime I pro 
 ceeded to Dayton, and borrowed of my friend, Mr. Phillips, 
 money to bear the travelling expenses of our journey. 
 
 Anxiety, fatigue, and exposure, threw me into a fever, and for 
 three days we had reason to fear that our enterprise would fail, 
 on account of my indisposition. I was hardly able to sit upon 
 my horse on the 13th of February, when we proceeded on our 
 journey. On the ninth day following, as we passed Wheeling, 
 Virginia, I met a letter from Mr. Rice, informing me that the 
 board of missions had directed that we take the boys to what 
 was denominated the Choctaw Academy, in the State of Ken 
 tucky. He stated that " this course would satisfy the board, but 
 no other would." To have complied with these orders would 
 have required us to retrace our steps through Ohio. 1 was un 
 willing to turn back, and the boys insisted that if I did not pro 
 ceed I should take them back to Carey. I thought the board 
 ought not to have made their decision without consulting the 
 views of the missionaries relative to the eligibility of the loca 
 tion they had chosen for them. We wished well to the Choc- 
 taw Academy, which belonged to Colonel R. M. Johnson, but 
 at the same time we did not believe that the opportunities to be 
 enjoyed at that institution would be superiour to those of our 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 27 1 
 
 own. We therefore proceeded on our journey. Thirty-six 
 miles further we found a letter from Dr. Staughton, still direct 
 ing us to turn back to Kentucky; and in Hagerstown, Maryland, 
 I received another letter from Mr. Rice, to the same effect. 
 
 I obtained board and lodgings for some of the young men in 
 Cumberland, Maryland, while, with Gosa and Noaquett, I pro 
 ceeded to Washington. It is due to the memory of Dr. Staugh 
 ton, and to his son-in-law, the Rev. S. W. Lynd, who was also 
 a member of the board, to say that they had strenuously op 
 posed the measure of turning me back with my Indians to 
 Kentucky. 
 
 My own two sons were at this time students in the Columbian 
 College. Some members of the board having intimated that 
 inconvenience might arise out of the circumstance of the admis 
 sion of Indians into the college, the students, on hearing of 
 it, unanimously joined in a petition to the faculty in favour of 
 their admission. Understanding, afterwards, that want of funds 
 might be the principal objection with the board to the admission 
 of the boys, the students were preparing to make a subscription 
 for the purpose of introducing at least one, two, or three of 
 them. It was ascertained, however, that none could be admitted. 
 
 We obtained from Government the promise of one hundred 
 dollars a year towards the support of each, seven hundred dollars 
 annually for the whole ; and I returned to Cumberland, rejoined 
 the party I had left there,, and conducted them across the country, 
 a journey of eleven days, to Hamilton, New- York. Here we 
 were welcomed by the Rev. N. Kendrick, D. D., President, and 
 all others of the faculty, and by the students and the people of 
 that neighbourhood. 
 
 The young men found places in this institution, and as the an 
 nual sum of one hundred dollars each, for their expenses, was too 
 little, the deficiency was made up by the liberality of the Chris 
 tian community which surrounded the institution. To the wants 
 of the youths, those connected with the institution paid unre 
 mitting attention during several years that they were students, 
 and gratitude to all concerned, especially to Dr. Kendrick and 
 Mr. Hascall, are deeply impressed upon the missionaries, as well 
 as upon the immediate recipients of their favours. No doubt, 
 Heaven approved and will reward the kind attentions which 
 these Indian boys received while at Hamilton. The expenses 
 of this undertaking had not been incurred at the cost of the 
 board. 
 
 Believing, as before mentioned, that Indians suitably qualified 
 could render more service to their barbarous and wicked coun- 
 
272 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 trymen than whites, we rejoiced that success had attended our 
 efforts in relation to the young men of whom we have spoken. 
 At the same time we deemed it important that some of the In 
 dian females should also enjoy advantages not accessible at a 
 missionary station in the wilderness, where all must receive at 
 tention alike. Under these impressions, we wrote the board of 
 missions, November 21, 1825, on the subject of affording supe- 
 riour opportunities to two Indian females in the mission family, 
 one of whom was pious. We asked in a direct manner nothing 
 more of the board than their approbation thus to extend the 
 opportunities of education of these females, provided we could 
 do it without cost to the board. We argued that we hoped, 
 ere long, to see the Indians permanently located in a country of 
 their own, and under an independent Government. That high 
 schools for the advantage of the males would be established, 
 and that the present was a favourable opportunity for qualifying 
 some females for the management of female academies. We at 
 the same time requested the board to propose the plan of a female 
 literary institution, and to petition the Government for its patron 
 age. Matters of this kind would necessarily move on so slow, 
 that were the board to enter upon it immediately, it was not 
 probable that they would be in readiness to employ teachers 
 before we should have some prepared for employment. We 
 also brought the subject of female education to the considera 
 tion of several of our correspondents. But our designs were 
 not much favoured, either by the board of missions or our cor 
 respondents. We did, however, find an opportunity of sending 
 two of the female pupils, upon our own responsibilities, to a 
 school in Ohio a few w r eeks. 
 
 We have always found it difficult to persuade our correspon 
 dents among the white people, that the Indians were naturally 
 like all other human beings, and that the same means which 
 were necessary to improve society among the whites, were ne 
 cessary among the Indians. 
 
 If we would form a correct opinion of a people, we must notice 
 small matters as well as great.., .We must contemplate them as 
 they are at home. In the summer of 1825, I attended an In 
 dian festival, which, according to custom, they accompanied with 
 dancing. These festivals professedly partake of a religious 
 character, but in reality it seems otherwise. Different festivals 
 have appropriate names. The seasons for some occur regularly, 
 but most of them are occasional, as circumstances are supposed 
 to suggest or to require them. That which occurred at this 
 was one at which singular feats of legerdemain, such as 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 273 
 
 taking meat out of a boiling pot with their naked hand, drinking 
 boiling hot broth, eating fire, &c., are attempted. Some igno 
 rant whites who have mingled with Indians, have reported that 
 the latter were very dexterous in these feats, but we have never 
 seen any thing of the kind attempted among them that was not 
 very clumsily performed. 
 
 On the present occasion, a little tobacco prepared for the pipe 
 was placed in the centre of the hall, on the bottom of a new 
 moccasin, (Indian shoe,) with a small bundle of cedar sticks, 
 resembling candle matches. Three large kettles of meat, pre 
 viously boiled, were hanging over a small fire near the centre of 
 the house. 
 
 The aged chief, Topenebe, led in the ceremonies. He de 
 livered a speech of considerable length, without rising from his 
 seat, with a grave countenance, and his eyes almost closed. He 
 then sat and drummed with one stick, and sung at the same 
 time, while his aid at his side rattled the gourd. At length, four 
 women appeared before him and danced. A while after this 
 he arose, delivered another speech, then drumming and dancing, 
 turned round, and moving slowly around the dancing hall, was 
 followed by all the dancing party. When he had performed 
 his part in leading, others went through the same ceremonies ; 
 and these were repeated until every pair had twice led in the 
 dance. These exercises were accompanied with many uncouth 
 gestures and strange noises. Occasionally a man would stoop 
 to the kettle and drink a little soup. One fellow, assuming a 
 frantic air, attended with whooping, lifted out of a kettle a deer's 
 head, and holding it by the two horns, with the nose from him, 
 presented it first upwards, and afterwards towards many of the 
 bystanders, as he danced around, hallooing. The droppings of 
 the broth were rather an improvement to the floor than an 
 injury, it being the earth, and now becoming pretty dusty. At 
 length he tore asunder the deer's head, and distributed it to 
 others, and what was eatable was devoured with affected 
 avidity. 
 
 At the conclusion, which was after sun setting, each brought 
 his or her vessel, and received a portion of the food. Chebass, 
 a chief, sent to me and invited me to eat with him ; and I having 
 consented, he placed his bowl on the earth beside me and said, 
 " come, let us eat in friendship." The same dish contained 
 both meat and soup. The chief took hold of the meat in one 
 hand, and with a knife in the other severed his piece, and 1 fol 
 lowed his example. After eating, another speech was delivered, 
 the music followed, all joined in a dance with increased hilarity, 
 
 35 
 
274 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 and most of them with their kettles of meat and broth in their 
 hands, and at length breaking off, each went to his home. 
 
 On the 21st of April, 1825, Mrs. Polke left Carey, on a visit 
 to Indiana and Kentucky, as has been previously stated. Being 
 the mother of a numerous family of promising children, and a 
 justly esteemed relation and acquaintance in an extensive circle, 
 it was not surprising that she should be led to doubt the propri 
 ety of continuing in the missionary field. Similar views were 
 realized by Mr. Polke himself. Their reasons for retiring from 
 missionary labours were too plausible to be opposed by the 
 other missionaries, notwithstanding we greatly needed more 
 help. Mr. Polke made his resignation to the board on the 
 24lh of June, and on the 21st of July took his leave of us at 
 Carey. On parting, we gave to them, and they to us, written 
 assurances of friendship and esteem. Through life, Mr. Polke's 
 talents and piety had made him prominent in both civil and reli 
 gious society, and it was our prayer that the evening of the 
 lives of our brother and sister should continue tranquil and 
 happy. 
 
 Four days after the departure of Mr. Polke, Mr. Lykins ar 
 rived, after an absence of more than seven months. He was 
 appointed by Government teacher for the Ottawas, in the place 
 Mr. Polke had filled. This was the third appointment made 
 for that station, at my request, in a period so short that it was 
 natural to feel a little mortification in the repetitions of those 
 requests. 
 
 Settlements of white people were at this time rapidly multi 
 plying near us, attended with ruinous effects upon the Indians. 
 We resolved to double our diligence to prevent a deterioration 
 among those around us. Mr. Simerwell, Mr. Lykins, and my 
 self, alternately made tours of several days at a time among the 
 villages, for the purpose of imparting religious instruction, and 
 of promoting habits of industry. We were almost invariably 
 treated respectfully, but the devil and whiskey sellers appeared 
 to pull down faster than we could build up; we therefore urged 
 with increased zeal every measure which we thought would pro 
 mote a settlement of the Indians in the West, and our removal 
 thither. 
 
 In August, intoxication prevailed to such an extent on Grand 
 river, that our young men employed there as smith and labour 
 ers requested leave to abandon the station. An attempt had 
 been made on the life of our friend Gosa, and on one occasion 
 he and his family took refuge in the house with our young men, 
 where the whole party remained watching all night. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 275 
 
 Recovering from a bacchanalian revel, and finding our young 
 men inclined to leave them, they sent Gosa messenger to us, 
 to entreat us to continue our efforts for them ; promising better 
 manners in future, and requesting me to visit them. By way 
 of extenuation, they said the disturbances had been- originated 
 by young men, who had been prompted by a white man, whom 
 they named the same who had stated to the United States' 
 commissioners, at the treaty of Chicago in 1821, that the Puta- 
 watomies desired a Catholic instead of a Protestant teacher ; 
 which statement was instantly contradicted by the Indians. 
 They stated that some Ottawa young men had been told that 
 we would rob them of their annuities, would induce the whites 
 to settle in their country, &c_ 
 
 My health had for some considerable time been very poor, 
 and at this time I was almost wholly confined to my room ; I 
 could not, therefore, visit them according to their request. We 
 sent them by Gosa what we esteemed a suitable message, and 
 wrote, encouraging our young men not to abandon the station, 
 and promising to visit them as soon as practicable. 
 
 The navigation of these upper lakes was at this time in its 
 incipient state, and supplies by this route were often attended 
 with great expense. Sundry articles of importance to us had 
 been left at Chicago, a distance by water of more than one hun 
 dred miles from us, and we had to encounter the expense of 
 sending a barge for them. On the 5th of September, 1825, we 
 started a periogue to Grand river, with iron and steel, and other 
 articles needed at that station. On the following day, with 
 Noaquett, who was yet with us, a Frenchman, and an Indian, 
 I set out for the same place by land, driving with us five head 
 of cattle, for the benefit of our establishment there. On the 
 same day, Mr. and Mrs. Simerwell set off on a journey of four 
 or five hundred miles, to Kentucky, with the expectation of 
 being absent two months. Mr. Lykins and Mrs. McCoy were 
 the only missionaries left at Carey. 
 
 On our way to Grand river our Indian sickened, and we had 
 to send him ten miles, to find a shelter in an Indian village. 
 We reached Grand river on the fifth day, having suffered not a 
 little inconvenience at some of our encampments, on account of 
 the scarcity of water. 
 
 I delivered to the Indians ploughs, yokesj chains, and other 
 farming utensils, and also some mechanics' tools, all which had 
 been forwarded to our charge by the Government. The arti 
 cles, as too often happens in such cases, were not of good qual 
 ity. By such delinquencies .the confidence of the Indians is 
 
276 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 impaired, and lire obslacles to the success of missionary labours 
 are increased. Advice was given them in regard to places for 
 improvements, and the most eligible modes ; and they seemed 
 inspired with new hopes, and made new promises to endeavour 
 to do well. Some who had been induced to oppose the mission 
 at Grand river visited me while there, and appeared to become 
 entirely satisfied. We had as yet little improvement in build 
 ings or farm at this station. Hands were now set to work to 
 erect permanent log buildings, such as the operations of the 
 mission called for. 
 
 To hear these people entreating that a school should be fur 
 nished them, to find them actually improving farms, and to 
 observe them listening attentively to religious instruction, could 
 not but make a deep impression on my mind. We regretted 
 the necessity which we foresaw would soon occur for their re 
 moval, and for the abandonment of the missionary improve 
 ments which we were now making ; still we hoped by our 
 efforts to prepare some, by making them acquainted with civil 
 ized and Christian institutions, to become useful citizens in the 
 Indian territory in the West, to the establishment of which much 
 importance was attached by every day's experience. Had these 
 Indians been permanently located in a place in which it was 
 possible to avoid the effects, to a ruinous extent, of the proxi 
 mity of white settlements, our prospects in relation to them 
 would have been fair, and our satisfaction great ; but we laboured 
 under the discouraging reflection that our work there was tem 
 porary, and that after we had with much sacrifice produced a 
 little improvement among the people of our charge, there would 
 be a distressing deterioration at the time of their emigration to 
 another country ; therefore, the sooner their permanent location 
 in a country of their own could be effected, the better. We 
 also hoped that some remuneration for our expenditures at the 
 place would be made to the mission by the Government, at the 
 time that it would require the removal of the Ottawas. The 
 place we had selected for the establishment of the mission, we 
 could easily perceive, would one day become a place of impor 
 tance much more so than that which had originally been se 
 lected for it by the commissioner of the United States. That 
 our estimate of the local advantages of the present site was not 
 erroneous, will be seen in the sequel. 
 
 In the fore part of October, I attended at Chicago the pay 
 ment of an annuity by Dr. Wolcott, United States' Indian 
 agent, and through his politeness addressed the Indians on the 
 subject of our mission. On the 9th of October, 1825, I 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 277 
 
 preached in English, which, as I was informed, was the first 
 sermon ever delivered at or near that place. Between our 
 place and Chicago was a wilderness, in which we took five 
 nights' lodging on the tour. 
 
 In consequence of a pressure of business on our part, and a 
 knowledge of the absence of the Superintendent of Indian Af 
 fairs from his office, our semi-annual report, which ought to have 
 been made out in July, was not forwarded until the 1st of Octo 
 ber. The following are extracts from it : 
 
 "Seventy scholars belong to our school, viz: fifty males and 
 twenty females ; fourteen of whom have advanced to the study 
 of arithmetic, twenty -two others to reading and writing. During 
 the last year four have completed their courses, and have left 
 the institution; two are apprentices to the blacksmith's business, 
 and one to the shoemaker's. The residue of the males who 
 are old enough labour a portion of the time on the farm, and 
 the females spend part of their time at the wheel, loom, needle, 
 &c. Two hundred and eight yards of cloth have been manu 
 factured the past year." 
 
 The following is an extract from the answer of the Superin 
 tendent of Indian Affairs : 
 
 " Detroit, October 12, 1825. 
 
 " SIR: I am highly gratified with your report of the condition 
 of the schools, and of the general state of the establishments. 
 I have no doubt but that, under your immediate superintend 
 ence, they will increase in numbers, usefulness," &c. 
 
 " LEWIS CASS." 
 
 On the 24th of November, 1825, Mr. Jotham Meeker and 
 Mr. W. M. Crosley arrived at Carey, with the view of becom 
 ing missionaries ; they were from Cincinnati, Ohio ; each about 
 twenty-one years of age ; the former a printer, and the latter 
 by trade a blacksmith. Mr. Simerwell, on a journey to Ken 
 tucky, had formed some acquaintance with them, and had en 
 couraged them to enter upon missionary labours. The mission 
 assisted them in making the journey, two hundred and seventy- 
 five miles, to Carey. Mr. Meeker, whose name will hereafter 
 frequently be mentioned, remains up to this time a faithful mis 
 sionary. Mr. Crosley remained until the 27th day of May, 
 1826, when, having declined further missionary labours, he left 
 the mission and returned to Ohio. 
 
 By the 26th of December, 1825, we were prepared to report 
 to the Secretary of War the erection of three neat buildings at 
 Grand river, one of which was designed for the accommodation 
 
278 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 of a school. These reports were made for the purpose of ob 
 taining some remuneration for the costs incurred in the erection, 
 and we did afterwards receive two-thirds of the cost, as we had 
 for some of the buildings at Carey. It was by means obtained 
 by us from the Government, in connection with donations from 
 benevolent individuals and societies, made specially for Indian 
 stations, or for our stations, that we were enabled to carry for 
 ward our operations. 
 
 On the 17th of February, 1826, I made an arrangement with 
 General J. Tipton, United States' Indian agent, from which a 
 hope was indulged that, at a treaty to be held in the ensuing 
 autumn, some provision for education could be made, which 
 would add somewhat to our relief in the support of the mission. 
 In this we were not disappointed, as will be seen hereafter. On 
 the 9th of March following, I addressed a letter to the board, 
 in relation to some of our missionary plans, of which the follow 
 ing is an extract : 
 
 " DEAR BROTHER: I beg leave to communicate to the board of 
 managers of the Baptist General Missionary Convention the fol 
 lowing, in regard to missionary operations. 
 
 " The emigration of citizens of the United States westwardly 
 will, doubtless, soon drive from the neighbourhood of Carey and 
 Thomas the Putawatomies and Ottawas, as well as the Miarnies, 
 Shawanoes, and others. A treaty has been authorized by Con 
 gress, which will occur the next summer, and will extinguish the 
 title of those tribes to all, or nearly all, the land they respectively 
 own. These Indians will be removed to the west [of the Mis 
 sissippi river.] Should this removal take place before suitable 
 preparation is made for locating, aiding, and instructing them, 
 they must inevitably wander and perish, as others have done 
 under similar circumstances. 
 
 " The removal, when it occurs, must be attended with loss 
 to the mission, and with a deterioration in the condition of the 
 Indians. In order to prevent, though in a small degree, these 
 evils, we propose that as soon as a competent number of mis 
 sionaries can be obtained to manage the stations of Carey and 
 Thomas, the undersigned, with his family, shall go westwardly, 
 say in the ensuing autumn, and make himself acquainted with 
 the country and its inhabitants west of the State of Missouri, by 
 actually residing in and exploring those regions, &c. 
 
 " ISAAC McCoy." 
 
 "Rev. Dr. Staughton, Cor. Sec. tyr." 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 279 
 
 We also took measures at the same time to influence the 
 Government to make suitable locations for the emigrant tribes, 
 and provision for their comfort and improvement, This design 
 was favoured by the Board, which appointed a committee 
 upon the subject of its management. I also conferred freely 
 upon the subject with the following members of Congress, all 
 of whom appeared ready to promote our views, viz.: Hon. R. 
 M. Johnson, Hon. James Johnson, Hon. William McLean, and 
 Hon. James Noble ; also. Col. T. L. McKenney, who was at the 
 time at the bureau of Indian Affairs, and who approved, and 
 declared himself ready to promote our wishes. 
 
 In the fore part of May, 1826, I attended the Baptist Gene 
 ral Convention in the city of New- York. At this meeting t he- 
 Convention unanimously passed the following resolution : 
 
 " Resolved, That a memorial be presented at the next session 
 of Congress, expressive of the entire approbation of this Con 
 vention of the design of our Government to locate the abori 
 gines of our country in the West, and of our readiness to co 
 operate in such a measure, and praying Congress to increase 
 the appropriation for Indian reform." 
 
 Embarrassed for want of pecuniary support for our mission, 
 we had made great efforts to obtain it from Government, and 
 from benevolent societies and individuals, and these efforts had 
 been successful to a degree that excited gratitude to God. 
 Still we had sensibly felt, from the first, the want of the zealous 
 co-operation of the board in devising and accomplishing mea 
 sures which we deemed of vital importance. The inconveni 
 ence to us was the greater, because we could not, without injury 
 to our good cause, tell the public that we were left to contrive 
 and manage for ourselves; and the prints emanating from the 
 offices of the board (the Latter Day Luminary and the Colum 
 bian Star) being deficient in information respecting our missions, 
 and in requesting help in means and missionaries, less interest 
 was felt in our behalf than would otherwise have been the case. 
 Persons with whom we corresponded, on reading our letters to 
 them, often expressed astonishment that the board should not do 
 more to inform the public of our condition and wants. We sup 
 posed that the absorbing interests of the Columbian College 
 had diminished their attention to missionary affairs. 
 
 At this convention the college matters were very properly 
 separated from those of a missionary character ; and we now 
 hoped that the board would find room for more thoughts rela 
 tive to our missions. The office of the board and its common 
 place of meeting were removed from Washington to Boston, 
 
280 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 Massachusetts; consequently, a new secretary and treasurer 
 were appointed ; and what might be termed the acting mem 
 bers of the board were changed with the change of the place 
 of meeting. 
 
 But with all that was gratifying in the good sense, piety, 
 and zeal in the cause of God in general, manifested by the 
 members of the Convention, 1 was much distressed on observ 
 ing how imperfectly Indian affairs were understood, and the 
 little probability there was that Indian missions would be zeal 
 ously prosecuted. 
 
 I returned from the convention by way of Detroit, at which 
 place I obtained for our relief some funds due us from the Go 
 vernment, and which we greatly needed ; and, what was of still 
 more importance, I was allowed an opportunity of presenting to 
 Governour Cass, who was to be one of the commissioners to 
 treat with the Indians the following autumn, a petition, that, in 
 making the treaty, provision should be made for educational 
 purposes. 
 
 From Detroit I was accompanied by Mr. R. D. Potts, who 
 had been appointed sub-agent of Indian affairs, and who for a 
 long time after .resided in our family. Five days' journey 
 through the wilderness brought us to Carey, from which I had 
 been absent more than four months. It was on this tour that 
 the Indian youths had been taken to the literary institution in 
 the State of New-York, as before stated. I had overstaid 
 my appointed time for returning, and our family having become 
 uneasy lest some serious accident on the lake or elsewhere had 
 befallen me, I was met by Mr. Lykins on his way to Detroit, 
 to inquire for me. Agreeably to custom, on returning from a 
 long journey, a large company of Indians assembled " to hear 
 the news." 
 
 For two days our family had been in great anxiety on account 
 of two of our little Indian girls, one about five and the other 
 about six years of age, who had wandered from our house, and 
 lost themselves in the surrounding woods. During their absence, 
 diligent search was made by every one who could be employed ; 
 but it was some time before any signs of them could be per 
 ceived. At length it was discovered where they had, rested on 
 a log, and had chewed roots and twigs, and, after extracting 
 the juice, had thrown them on the earth. On the evening of 
 the second day they were found, and brought home upon the 
 shoulders of Mr. Meeker and one of our hired men. 
 
 The following may furnish a faint idea of the evils of intem 
 perance around us about this time. While absent on my late 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS 
 
 281 
 
 tour, Mr. Simerwell wrote me as follows: " Our white neigh 
 bours, T , G , and E , deal out whiskey to the In 
 dians plentifully, with which they purchase any thing which the 
 Indians are willing to part with. A silver mounted rifle, worth 
 twenty or twenty-five dollars, has been purchased of them for 
 seventy-five cents worth of whiskey. The clothing of the 
 Indians, and farming and cooking utensils, are purchased for 
 liquor ; and these articles are sometimes again sold to the In 
 dians for furs. Articles manufactured for the Indians in our 
 smithery have afterwards been seen in the stores of the whis 
 key sellers." 
 
 Mr. Lykins also wrote as follows: " Since we last wrote 
 you, [twenty-eight days previously,] I suppose the Indians 
 have not passed a single day without drinking. Poor old To- 
 penebe [principal chief] is said to be near his end, from intoxi 
 cation. I have never before known them to continue in a state 
 
 of intoxication so long without intermission. T , and 
 
 G , and L , all near us, are engaged in selling whis 
 key ; and I suppose they have enough to keep the Indians 
 drunk all the spring and summer. Sympathize with us, my 
 dear brother, in our griefs, when I tell you every hope, every 
 prospect for the welfare of the Indians around us, is prostrate 
 is entirely cut off. I entreat you to plead for their removal. 
 If our patrons have not funds to employ, they have feelings and 
 voices ; entreat them to make themselves heard in behalf of 
 the Indians." On the 19th of January, a father, under the 
 influence of liquor, resolved on the murder of a son, and with a 
 loaded rifle in his hand started to a neighbouring house in quest 
 of him. The mother ran to our house for assistance, to pre 
 vent the murder. An older son, who was a member of our 
 family and of our church, was barely able to intercept his 
 father, in time to save his brother's life. The gun was pre 
 sented at our young man, who by a dexterous and violent effort 
 saved his life, and disarmed the murderer. On the 10th of 
 June, 18:26, a Putawatomie, under the influence of ardent 
 spirits, became troublesome at our house, and was compelled 
 to leave, though no violence was used towards him. He left 
 in anger, and went five miles to a trading house ; there he 
 declared his determination to return and take the life of some 
 one of us, and, mounting a horse, hastened back ; the trader, 
 in order to warn us of our danger, followed him, and they both 
 reached our place at the same time. He was induced to leave 
 the premises without doing any mischief. 
 
 Amidst these disorders, by which the mission was surrounded. 
 36 
 
282 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 unremitting efforts were made for the temporal and spiritual 
 welfare of the people of our charge. We assisted them with 
 our teams in ploughing land, and aided them in other respects ; 
 and religious visits to their houses and public religious exer 
 cises were not omitted. 
 
 Having ascertained that we could place two of our Indian 
 pupils in a medical institution in the State of Vermont, on the 
 6th of June we selected two lads, each about sixteen years of age, 
 who were very much pleased with their prospects. Their Indian 
 names were Soswa and Conauda. For their improvement we 
 employed them as interpreters, and hoped that religious truth 
 might reach their hearts. Nearly a year preceding this time 
 they had been serious, and one of them had requested to be 
 baptized ; but it was feared that he was not prepared. One 
 day, after interpreting a religious discourse, Soswa said to one 
 of the missionaries, " Soon after you told us you would send 
 us some place to learn to be doctors, I said to Conauda, 
 well, now, our friends are very kind to us, and we must do as 
 they tell us. They tell us to be good, and we must try ; and 
 Conauda say, well, I am willing. I said, now we must try to 
 pray; and Conauda say he was agreed. So every night we 
 pray in the woods. One night I pray, and next night Conauda 
 pray. One time I try to pray in English, and I could not say 
 many words, because I did not understand English very well. 
 Then I say to Conauda, well, we pray in Indian, because God 
 can hear Indian talk the same as he hear English ; then we 
 always pray in Indian. The first time I pray I feel afraid I 
 think somebody see me ; and Conauda say he feel so too, the 
 first time he pray. Now we don't feel so. We talk very 
 much about being good." 
 
 On the 7th of June, 1826, Mr. Lykins was licensed by the 
 church to preach the gospel. On the 19th, more than eighty 
 Sauks from the west, on their annual visit to Maiden, Upper 
 Canada, for British presents, called at our house and performed 
 their begging dance. A minute account of their dress for the 
 occasion, their painting, drumming, dancing, shouting, speech- 
 making, &tc., would make a long story. They had taken great 
 pains to appear in good style, and to perform their uncouth feats 
 to advantage. One had the scalp of an Osage suspended to a 
 string around his neck, and hanging on his breast. 
 
 June the 25th. We received fifty-five head of cattle, sent 
 by the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, in conformity with the 
 treaty of Chicago of 1621, to be distributed by us to the Otta- 
 was as we should think proper. About this time Mr. Lykins 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 283 
 
 returned from a visit to Thomas, by way of the lake, and in a 
 few days started with the cattle for that place, having with him 
 a hired white man, an interpreter, who was a half-Indian, and 
 an Indian. 
 
 His interpreter sickened on the road, and afforded very little 
 assistance in any way, and was left at Thomas. His hired 
 white man poisoned his limbs in the wet grass and weeds, so 
 that he became a burden rather than an assistant ; and about 
 half-way through the wilderness his Indian deserted him, when 
 more than a day's journey from Grand river. By him, how 
 ever, he sent instructions lo our hands at Thomas to meet him 
 and help him forward. 
 
 The Ottawas were generally assembled, and the distribution 
 of the cattle was made among them entirely to their satisfaction. 
 They were told that the cattle must not be killed for food, un 
 less such as might not be necessary for draught or milk, or for 
 increase. They remained in charge of the mission, subject to 
 the use of the Indian owners, respectively, whenever they de 
 sired. The two labourers employed by the Government, by 
 virtue of the Chicago treaty, who were under our management, 
 prepared hay for the cattle and fed them in winter, except such 
 as the Indians applied to use. This method of preserving the 
 cattle was very troublesome to the missionaries, but it was a 
 measure necessary to the welfare of the Indians. Mr. Lykins 
 had much interesting conversation with the Ottawas, who re 
 peated their earnest request for a school, and expressed a desire 
 to hear preaching. Gosa, on his return from Washington and 
 the State of New York, whither he had accompanied the Indian 
 youths who had been taken thither to school, had made a full 
 report of the journey to his people, and it soon became evident 
 that it produced a favourable impression upon them. 
 
 On the 21st of July, we received a communication from the 
 corresponding secretary of the board of missions lately organ 
 ized by the General Convention, by which we were informed 
 that I had been appointed their agent, to attend to business for 
 them in relation to settling the Indians in the West, subject to 
 future instructions. They also informed that Mr. Slater and 
 wife, and Miss Purchase, had been appointed missionaries to 
 unite with us. All this was good news. 
 
 The most prominent part of the communication of the board 
 was, however, far from being satisfactory to us. We had, long 
 since, adopted what we termed " Family Rules."* In these 
 we had established equality among ourselves, and had consa- 
 
 * See page 170, 
 
284 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 crated our whole lives and labours to the business of mission 
 aries to the Indians. All our earnings from the Government, 
 all the products of the industry of our own hands, and all money 
 or property accruing to us, or coming to us from any quarter 
 except a private inheritance, was to be thrown into the common 
 missionary fund, to become the property of the board, and ac 
 credited to the board as it came into our hands, the same as if 
 it had actually come out of their treasury ; and all our expend 
 itures were to be regularly reported to them, and our accounts 
 of receipts and expenditures were to be examined by them. 
 At the same time we held that the board were bound, if they 
 had the means, to afford us needful support so long as they 
 chose to continue us in connection with them. Any missionary 
 was liable to be dismissed at their pleasure. If, in auditing our 
 accounts, we had not expended all the money that we had re 
 ceived, the balance was placed to the credit of the board, to be 
 accounted for by the mission at the next rendering of accounts. 
 If we had expended more than we had received, we expected 
 the board to refund it to us, if they possessed the means. 
 These Family Rules, having been approved by the board, had 
 become a written contract between them and the mission, until 
 by one of the parties it was disclaimed. 
 
 The new board, without consulting the missionaries, and with 
 out respect to the Family Rules, informed us that they " con 
 templated putting all their missionaries on a footing of pay." 
 Against this, and sentiments connected with it, we strongly 
 remonstrated. We pleaded that it would be degrading us to 
 the condition of persons hired to labour ; whereas we had not 
 been influenced by the love of wages to come hither. We at 
 tached to the missionary enterprise a dignity with which we 
 thought their proposition did not comport. The adoption of 
 the measure proposed would produce an entire change in our 
 relation to one another as missionaries, and to the missionary 
 cause. Now, we lived as one family, fed at one table, the corn- 
 fort of all being provided for alike, and the burden of labours 
 was borne as each had strength and opportunity, and no one 
 claimed as his any thing belonging to the mission ; but if we 
 should be put " upon a footing of pay," the distinctions of mine 
 and thine would be introduced. This would ruin us. Our 
 trials and sacrifices were great, and our labours severe, and we 
 knew that the missionaries must be actuated by higher motives 
 than it seemed the board had supposed. We respectfully, 
 though positively, refused to submit to the decision, and con 
 tinued, as before, to make our reports of all our receipts and all 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 285 
 
 our expenditures. This, however, was no disadvantage to the 
 board, because they were not advancing for our support any 
 moneys which did not belong to us. It was, indeed, an advan 
 tage to them ; because our salaries from Government were pro 
 perly our own money, as much so as the salaries of any other 
 agents of Government were theirs, and might justly have been 
 applied to private use. The fulfilment of the duties of these 
 Government agencies was properly missionary labour, and added 
 to our influence and usefulness. Had we accepted of a salary 
 from the board, all our earnings from Government might have 
 been laid by as private property ; but all the missionaries had 
 not salaries from Government. Hence a difference in condition 
 would have been occasioned ; and, moreover, we were resolved 
 not to put it into the power of any to suppose that we were 
 actuated by any other than principles of disinterested benevo 
 lence. We had no objection to a monthly or yearly allowance, 
 nor that this should be varied to meet our actual wants, which 
 at one time might be greater or less than at others. 
 
 On the 27th of September the corresponding secretaiy in 
 formed us that, " in compliance with our united and pressing 
 request, the board had agreed that the missionaries at Carey 
 might remain without a salary," as had been the case before ; 
 still our views were not harmonized In all points. We did not 
 believe that our obligations to our families, in certain respects, 
 had been diminished by our undertaking to labour for the In 
 dians. We believed that our children ought not to be reared 
 up wholly in the Indian country; we were willing to send them 
 into the world poor ; we were not laying by a particle of pro 
 perty for them, but we were resolved that they should be 
 decently educated in better society than existed among the Pu- 
 tawatomies and other Indian tribes. This was a case too plain, 
 we thought and felt, to need argument in its support. The 
 board, however, declined assuming any responsibility for the 
 education of the children of missionaries, further than it could 
 be imparted at the respective missionary stations. From this 
 resolution they have never since departed ; but the mission not 
 being dependant on the board for support, we continued to ad 
 here implicitly to the rules we had adopted, sent our children 
 to school in the white settlements a portion of the time, and 
 reported to the board the whole of our receipts and expendi 
 tures, as formerly. 
 # :" -i ni : : .*! H 
 
286 
 
 HISTORY Ol" BAPTIST 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Commissioner's report of the mission. Important treaty stipu 
 lations. Arrival of missionaries. Difficult journey to Thomas 
 station. Voyage to Thomas. An idol. Two boys taken to 
 Vermont to study medicine. Superstition. Missionaries 
 arrive at Thomas ; others return to Carey. 
 
 On the 27th of July, 1826, a poor, destitute Indian woman, 
 whose little son was a member of our family, and who had her 
 self resided with us some months, was murdered about a mile 
 and a half from our house, by Putawatomies, under circum 
 stances too shocking to be related. About the same time, 
 Topenebe, the principal chief, fell from his horse, under the 
 influence of ardent spirits, and received an injury, of which he 
 died two days afterwards. Both these deaths are attributable 
 to the whiskey sellers. 
 
 John L. Leib, Esq., the Government agent to visit and in 
 spect, annually, Indian schools within the Detroit superintend- 
 ency of Indian affairs, visited Carey a second time in the latter 
 part of August, 1826. The following is the acknowledgment 
 of the report by the Department of Indian Affairs at Wash 
 ington : 
 
 " DEPARTMENT OF WAR, 
 " Office of Indian Affairs, February 7th, 1827. 
 
 " SIR: Tour letter of the 10th ultimo, enclosing Judge Leib's 
 report, is highly satisfactory. 1 have no doubt much good will 
 result to the Indians from his visits, sustained as they are by just 
 and humane views towards the Indians, and an intelligence 
 which works advantageously upon their hopes and their hap 
 piness. 
 
 " I have the happiness to be, very respectfully, your obedient 
 servant, 
 
 "THOMAS L. MCK^ENNEY. 
 
 " To his Excellency Lewis Cass, Detroit." 
 
 The following are extracts from the report itself, made to 
 Governour Cass : 
 
 " On the 15th of August, I proceeded to the Carey establish 
 ment, on the St. Joseph's, where I arrived on the 21st, and was 
 much gratified with its improvement in all its departments. It 
 is a world in miniature, and presents the most cheerful and con 
 soling appearance. It has become a familiar resort of the 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 287 
 
 natives, and, from the benefits which they derive from it in 
 various shapes, they begin to feel a dependance on, and a re 
 source in it at all times, and especially in difficult and trying 
 occasions. There is not a day, I might almost say an hour, in 
 which new faces were not to be seen. The smithery affords 
 them incalculable facilities, and is constantly filled with appli 
 cants for some essential service. It is a touching spectacle to 
 see them, at the time of prayers, fall in with the members of 
 the institution, which they do spontaneously and cheerfully, and 
 with a certain animation depicted on their countenances, exhi 
 biting their internal satisfaction. 
 
 " The missionaries permanently connected with this institu 
 tion, besides the superintendent and his wife, are Robert Simer- 
 well and wife, Jotham Meeker, and Johnston Lykins, who is 
 now constituted the superintendent of a missionary station, called 
 Thomas, on Grand river, a ramification from the St. Joseph's. 
 
 " There are at present seventy scholars, forty-two males and 
 twenty-eight females, in various stages of improvement. Their 
 ages and advancement in learning will be found in the paper 
 marked A, annexed. Eight of the alumni of this institution, 
 who have completed the first rudiments of education, have been 
 transferred to academies in New-Jersey and New-York. Two 
 of the boys at Carey are learning the trades of blacksmith and 
 shoemaker ; the remainder of sufficient size are employed occa 
 sionally on the farm. The girls are engaged in spinning, knit 
 ting, and weaving, and the loom has produced one hundred and 
 eighty-five yards of cloth this year. Two hundred and three 
 acres are now enclosed, of which fifteen were in wheat, fifty in 
 Indian corn, eight in potatoes, pumpkins, and other vegetable 
 products. The residue is appropriated for pasture. 
 
 "There have been added to the buildings, since my last visit, 
 a house and a most excellent grist mill worked by horses. The 
 usefulness of this mill can scarcely be appreciated, as there is 
 no other of any kind within one hundred miles, at least, of the 
 establishment ; and here, as benevolence is the predominating 
 principle, all the surrounding population is benefited. 
 
 " Numerous Indian families have, since my last visit, settled 
 themselves around, and have, from the encouragement, counte 
 nance, and assistance of the missionary family, made consider 
 able progress in agriculture. Indeed, a whole village has been 
 formed, within six miles of it, under its benevolent auspices and 
 fostering care. I visited them, to witness myself the change in 
 their condition. To good fences, with which many of their 
 grounds are enclosed, succeed domestic animals. You now see 
 
288 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 oxen, cows, and swine, grazing around their dwellings, without 
 the danger of destroying their crops. These are the strongest 
 evidences of their improvement, and not the least of the benefits 
 arising from the neighbourhood of this blessed abode of the 
 virtuous inmates of Carey. Occupancy now seems consecrated 
 by the labour which these new exertions cost, and results in 
 giving birth in the mind of the Indian to a strong sense of indi 
 vidual property. This germ, as it expands, will give root to a 
 principle which will ensure gradual civilization, producing secu 
 rity against want, while it dissipates the fears arising from a 
 precarious subsistence. 
 
 " It is not in the immediate neighbourhood alone that the 
 efforts of missionary exertions are felt. In distant places, near 
 the mouth of the St. Joseph's, and at Grand river, the most 
 surprising changes have taken place. Strong and effective en 
 closures are made and making, and stock acquired ; and at the 
 latter place the missionary family has erected several spacious 
 buildings, including a school house, and improved some lands. 
 Whilst at the St. Joseph's, I was solicited by a very intelligent 
 and exemplary Indian, in behalf of his tribe, to interfere with 
 their Great Father, [the President of the United States,] to 
 endow an establishment on Grand river, similar to that on the 
 St. Joseph's. 
 
 " I cannot forbear to mention here, that I was visited by 
 numerous chiefs of known and approved influence over their 
 tribes, who came to express their satisfaction at the establish 
 ment, and inviting me to a conference with them. In one of 
 these conferences I represented to them, and endeavoured to 
 impress it strongly on their minds, that the Government of 
 the United States, and the missionaries under its countenance, 
 had no other views in the expenditure and personal devotion 
 but to improve their condition ; that they could be destroyed at 
 much less expense than protected and cherished as they had 
 been, and would be, if good were produced ; but that all the 
 efforts of both would be vain and fruitless, if they did not abstain 
 from whiskey, and prevent its introduction among them. 
 
 " I shall never forget, on one of these occasions, the answer of 
 a venerable and interesting chief. He was surrounded, besides 
 other chiefs, by a numerous offspring, who, like himself, were 
 magnificently attired according to their custom. After a con 
 siderable pause, he commenced by stating that what I had said 
 was very true ; that they were all sensible of the deleterious 
 effects of whiskey, and of the ravages it had made and was still 
 making among them; that they did not seek it, but it was brought 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 289 
 
 to them, that they could not prevent it, nor could they possibly 
 forbear from drinking it when it was within their reach, that 
 they have lost all their manhood with their independence, that 
 they were a degraded and disgraced race, that they now looked 
 upon the whites as so much their superiours that they would not 
 attempt to resist any thing they did or should do. ' But,' 
 continued this chief, elevating his dignified person, ' if our 
 Great Father feels such an interest to preserve us as you men 
 tion, all powerful as he is, why does he nor command his people 
 to abstain from seeking, in the ways you mention, our destruc 
 tion ? He has but to will it, and his will will be done. He can 
 punish he can save us from the ruin which surrounds us. We 
 can do nothing of ourselves. Jf whiskey were not brought to 
 us, we should soon cease to think of it, and we should be happier 
 and healthier.' 
 
 " All this was said with so much feeling and truth that I 
 blushed for my country, and could find no apology for my Go 
 vernment, in not devising means to restrain these licentious 
 traders, high and low individuals and companies, who, by every 
 means, open and covert, are conveying to the Indian the poison 
 of his life and his hopes." 
 
 On the 15th of September, 1826, I left home, in company of 
 one of our pupils, to attend the treaty which had been contem 
 plated for some time, with the Putawatomies, Miamies, and 
 others, and was absent from the mission two months. We de 
 signed to secure reservations of land to our Indian pupils. We 
 supposed the time was not distant when these Indians would 
 remove to the West, and the proceeds of the sales of these 
 tracts of land, at the time of emigration, would assist the respec 
 tive owners to make improvements in the West. The first few 
 days of our journey were spent in the wilderness, in the exami 
 nation of the country, so that, should such locations be made 
 by stipulations of the treaty, we should be able to point to suita 
 ble places. 
 
 The negotiations of this treaty with the Putawatomies and 
 Miamies lasted nearly four weeks, and resulted in the cession 
 of a considerable amount of land to the United States. On 
 the part of the latter, Governour Cass, of Michigan, and Go- 
 vernour Ray and General Tipton, of Indiana, were commis 
 sioners. On Sabbaths I was favoured with an opportunity of 
 preaching in the council house, which 1 did not fail to improve, 
 in pleading the cause of Indian reform. The commissioners 
 also politely afforded me an opportunity/ of making known to 
 them our plans and requests. They also very properly endea- 
 
 37 
 
290 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 voured to impress upon the minds of the Indians the lamentable 
 fact that their woes would accumulate while they remained in 
 their present places, pressed by white population ; and argued 
 the propriety of their removal to a country in the West, from 
 which, it was hoped, they would not be compelled to remove. 
 For their encouragement to adopt at once this measure, they 
 were told that, in event of their consenting to remove, we would 
 accompany them, and continue our school and other labours 
 among them for their benefit. In reference to removal they 
 made no reply. 
 
 Among the stipulations of this treaty we had the happiness 
 to see secured for educational purposes among the Putawatomies 
 two thousand dollars annually, for twenty-two years, and for 
 education among the Miamies one thousand dollars a year, as 
 long as the President of the United States should deem it 
 expedient. One-half of these allowances for education we 
 expected to be applied under our direction, and the other half 
 to be applied at the Choctaw Academy, in Kentucky. One- 
 third part only of these annuities was afterwards applied in aid 
 of our operations for a year or two, when the whole amount 
 turned into the channel of support to the Indian school in 
 Kentucky. 
 
 There were granted to sixty-two of our Indian scholars, or 
 those who had been such, and had completed their course of 
 study, reservations of land, the smallest tract containing one 
 hundred and sixty acres, and the largest six hundred and forty 
 acres. The aggregate of these reservations was ten thousand 
 five hundred and sixty acres, which, at the minimum price of 
 Government land, equalled thirteen thousand two hundred dol 
 lars in value. Five hundred dollars worth of goods, suitable 
 for clothing and bedding, were allowed for the benefit of the 
 pupils of our school ; this favour was very acceptable, as we 
 were in want of such articles. 
 
 At that time we hoped that the Putawatomies would soon be 
 located in a suitable and permanent home, west of the Missis 
 sippi, and that the fruit of our schools could there be settled 
 about us, and that by the sales of their reservations of land they 
 would be enabled to commence business in the new country, 
 above the discouragements of poverty. The preliminaries of 
 emigration, as the sequel will disclose, advanced more tardily 
 than we had anticipated, on which account the ultimate benefit 
 derived from these lands by the owners was greatly diminished. 
 The lands were to be selected by order of the President of the 
 United States. Mr. Lykins was appointed to make the selec- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 291 
 
 tions, and he was judicious in his choice. The lands were 
 valuable. The Putawatomies being detained in their original 
 country long after most of the missionaries had gone west, and 
 missionary operations had been discontinued at Carey, the 
 consequence was, these youths remained there without guardi 
 ans of their interests. The country filled up with white people. 
 The owners sold their lands to whites, and in many instances 
 consumed the proceeds for food and raiment, while they were 
 doing nothing for their own substantial benefit. The causes 
 of these hurtful delays in relation to the permanent location of 
 the Indians will be better explained hereafter. Had the fruit 
 of our schools been allowed to go west within the time we had 
 reason to expect it, our scheme would have succeeded equal to 
 the hopes in which it originated. 
 
 At this treaty, General J. Paine, a respectable gentleman 
 from Kentucky, attended for the purpose of obtaining some 
 Indian youths for the Kentucky school none from the Indi 
 ans in those regions having yet entered that institution. This 
 gentleman was unsuccessful in his undertaking, and was about to 
 return without a candidate for the school, when, as some of the 
 provisions of the treaty for education were designed for the 
 benefit of that institution, and as nothing could be realized 
 without scholars, I obtained a Putawatomie boy about thirteen 
 years of age for the school. I was required to pledge my 
 promise to the parents that the boy should be well treated, &c. 
 
 Pretty soon after the treaty, it was believed that the Miamies 
 would not be satisfied with the application of their funds for 
 education outside of their own country, and the design was 
 conceived of establishing a school for them within their own 
 limits. With the agent, General Tipton, [ made an arrange 
 ment by which we were to be employed in bringing the school 
 into operation, and that it should be managed by us, in connec 
 tion with a mission among the Miamies. This was a scheme in 
 which we felt a deep interest. Our missionary labours were 
 commenced among the Miamies, and among them we had de 
 sired to locate. In locating among the Putawatomies and Otta- 
 was we had been compelled to abandon about twenty Miamie 
 youths who had been members of our family, many of whom 
 had made encouraging improvement in their studies. We had 
 left the vicinity of the tribe when many of their most respecta 
 ble people were oft repeating their entreaties that we would 
 settle permanently among them; and we had promised, if prac 
 ticable, to give them a mission, embracing a school, &c. We 
 hoped that the way was now opening for the accomplishment 
 
292 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 of our desires in these respects. But all ended in disappoint 
 ment ; and our disappointments in relation to a mission among 
 the Miamies were chiefly for want of missionaries. 
 
 Returning from the treaty spoken of, 1 fell in company with 
 Mrs. McCoy, who had made a visit to the white settlements in 
 the States of Indiana and Ohio, chiefly for the sake of a little 
 respite from labours which were hearing hard upon both health 
 and spirits. The journey from and to the missionary station 
 was attended by the usual privations of spending both the days 
 and the nights in a wilderness, without a house to afford accom 
 modations either for eating or sleeping. On our return, we 
 found Mr. Leonard Slater and Mrs. Slater, and Miss L. Pur 
 chase, who had united with us as missionaries. The latter was 
 one of the last remnants of a tribe of Massachusetts Indians. 
 She had no knowledge of Indian language or manners. She 
 was intelligent, and well educated in English, and felt a great 
 desire to be the instrument of good to the suffering aborigines. 
 
 Pocagin, a Pulawatomie chief, and his party, had commenced 
 a village about six miles from the mission, and manifested a 
 disposition to make themselves more comfortable. It was one 
 of our places of preaching. In the spring of 1826, we were 
 about to afford them some assistance in making improvements, 
 when one of those white men that are commonly hanging about 
 the Indians, for the sake of flaying them, like crows around a 
 carcass, interfered, and made a contract for making improve 
 ments. This ended in disappointment to the Indians. Poca 
 gin again applied to us, and in November we hired white men 
 to erect for them three hewed log cabins, and to fence twenty 
 acres of prairie land. The Indians promised to pay them, and 
 for the payment we became security. We saw that justice was 
 done to the Indians in regard to price and the good perform 
 ance of the work, and we subsequently employed our team and 
 hands to plough up the new prairie land for them. We also pre 
 sented to them some stock hogs, and loaned them a milch cow 
 for their encouragement to raise stock. 
 
 It happened this autumn that, a heavy charge in missionary 
 matters devolved upon Mr. Lykins. In securing supplies for 
 Carey, he had to make a tour of one hundred miles through 
 the wilderness, to Chicago ; and, in order to render a similar 
 service to Thomas, made a journey thither by way of the lake. 
 Up to the last of November, 1826, we had not a school in 
 operation at Thomas, on Grand river. W T e had had for some 
 time men there working for the Ottawas, and preparing build 
 ings for ourselves ; but a missionary had not been regularly 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 293 
 
 labouring there, though different persons had at divers times 
 visited the place and people. It now appeared necessary that 
 I and my family, including Miss Purchase, should go to that 
 station, and remain some months, in order to put the station into 
 full operation, while the other missionaries would remain in 
 charge of affairs at Carey. 
 
 The following are extracts from the mission journals : 
 " We now look towards Grand river, and we do it with dread* 
 Winter appears to be fairly set in. The snow is about six 
 inches deep, which must greatly increase the inconvenience of 
 a journey one hundred and twenty miles through a desert. No 
 food for our horses, and probably none for ourselves, can, at 
 this season of the year, be obtained on the way, except what 
 we carry with us. There is also danger of not being able to 
 find, amidst the snow, the very small path along which we have 
 to travel. Our youngest child, in the arms of its mother, has 
 been for more than a month severely afflicted with sickness, 
 All things considered, we really fear to set out. Our business 
 has prevented us from starting sooner in the season, when our 
 difficulties in travelling might have been fewer; and the state 
 of our affairs is such as to forbid delay. The Oltawas are 
 expecting us, and must not be disappointed. 
 
 " We 'started on the 28th of November, 1826. Our com 
 pany consisted of myself and wife, and three small children, 
 Miss Purchase, an Indian girl, Anthony Rollo, who was one of 
 our Indian scholars, and who served us as interpreter, Mr. J. 
 F. Polk, who was a gentleman from Washington, engaged in 
 collecting materials for a history of the Indians, and who pro 
 posed to teach our school for a short time, our blacksmith, four 
 hired white men, and an Indian boy. We had five horses and 
 a small one horse wagon, and we drove twenty-three swine, 
 intended to be butchered for the support of the station. In 
 addition, we took a horse load of provisions, and hired an ox 
 team to convey hay and corn as far into the wilderness as they 
 could venture to go without being in danger of perishing with 
 hunger on their return. 
 
 " We found the travelling bad, particularly on account of the 
 snow, which hung heavily on the bushes, and adhered to the 
 feet of the footmen and to our wheels. Wagons had never 
 before gone that way. On the second day, our wagon with hay 
 and corn mired, and occasioned not a little labour to extricate 
 it ; and later in the day, my one horse wagon, with my wife and 
 three children in it, upset. It was on the side of a hill, and our 
 situation for a while seemed perilous. The mother and three 
 
294 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 children were all fastened beneath the carriage, so that they 
 could not easily be extricated. The infant had been heard to 
 weep, and cease. It was breathless when first relieved, but soon 
 recovered. During this time our horse was lying with his back 
 down the hill, in a position from which he could not recover 
 without our assistance. We were happy to find that, although 
 we were a little bruised, we were not seriously injured. That 
 night we pitched our tent by the side of a large log, and, raking 
 off the snow, made our bed on the earth. We carried with us 
 implements for the purpose of removing the snow. 
 
 " On the third day, November 30th, Miss Purchase narrowly 
 escaped serious injury by being torn from her horse by the limb 
 of a tree. At noon, we kindled up a fire to warm our company, 
 from which we started in a heavy fall of snow. In the distance 
 of half a mile we discovered that we had lost our way. Most of 
 the company halted, while others of us were searching the 
 woods around, in order to ascertain which way we ought to 
 travel. The snow was falling so fast that there was danger 
 that some would get out of sight of the rest, and not be able to 
 find them again, and might perish. We therefore hallooed to 
 each other frequently. An Indian hunter, hearing us, came to 
 us just as we had found the appearance of a small track, which 
 we supposed might be the proper one for us, and we were 
 rejoiced when he assured us that we were not mistaken. Re 
 lieved from our anxiety, Mr. Polk remarked, that 'Providence 
 had sent that Indian to us, for our relief.' We then endeavoured 
 to hire the Indian to show us the way to Grand river. We 
 promised to reward him with powder, lead, tobacco, and some 
 articles of clothing. In order to rid himself of our importunity, 
 he promised to join us late in the day, but we heard no more 
 of him. 
 
 " December 1st. The fore part of this day was extremely 
 uncomfortable. About nine o'clock we found it necessary to 
 kindle a fire for the purpose of warming the company. Our 
 infant was more unwell than usual ; under the influence of fever, 
 it wept for water; but we were in a place where, for several 
 hours, none could be obtained, though I sent a man to every 
 sink that appeared, in order to search for it. We were then in 
 a desert, without any path. Here and there an old mark on the 
 scattering trees were the only indications of the right way. 
 
 " We were travelling through an open country, where we 
 were much exposed to a piercing wind, and the snow retarded 
 us so much that it was exceedingly difficult to proceed. Our 
 sick child became so distressed that my wife began to entreat 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 295 
 
 me to halt. But we were then travelling through a piece of 
 country in which I knew we should soon perish with cold and 
 for want of water. Without stating the extent of my uneasi 
 ness on account of our situation, I proposed still to proceed a 
 little and a little further. In order to lighten our carriage and 
 facilitate our march, I walked and drove it. We at length 
 reached a little grove of oaks, whose proximity to each other 
 had tended to diminish the quantity of snow about them, and 
 where I hoped to be able to kindle a fire. On the sides of 
 these small trees we hung blankets, to break the chilling wind, 
 and in the lee we soon had a fire burning. In the meantime, 
 our man in search of water had been successful in finding what 
 would answer our purpose, with the snow which we were now 
 able to melt. We waited till the hindmost of our company had 
 come up and refreshed themselves, and again proceeded and 
 encamped. From this place, the wagoner, who had come with 
 hay and corn for our horses, turned back. In coming thus far 
 he had deposited hay in two places to feed his oxen as he, 
 should be returning. Our own horses, we designed, after 
 reaching Thomas, to send back to Carey, to be fed during the 
 winter. At this encampment we hid a little corn, for their use 
 also on their return. 
 
 " December 2d. We crossed Kekenmazoo river, and pitched 
 our tent near the remains of one of those ancient fortifications 
 which are numerous in these countries. This was more ancient 
 than the lofty oaks which shaded its ruins. It had been a fort, 
 with a circular wall of earth, about four rods in diameter, with 
 one gateway near a beautiful stream of water. 
 
 " December 3d. Being foremost, 1 was misled by marks ot> 
 the trees made by hunters, which I mistook for those I ought to 
 have followed. I had a Frenchman with me, on foot, to aid 
 me in breaking the road. In searching for way marks, the 
 Frenchman soon became separated from me, but, fortunately for 
 us, I had been in that wilderness before, and knew pretty well 
 in what direction to drive my small wagon, which contained my 
 family, though it was not a very convenient condition to be in 
 without assistance. Reaching a small lake which I knew, I 
 kindled a fire, and after waiting some time we were overtaken 
 by our Frenchman, and still later by our Indian boy, and two 
 other footmen, at different arrivals. The rest of the company, 
 who had charge of our drove of swine, had taken another road. 
 I sent after them, and after we had passed through an Indian 
 village, from v/hich all the inhabitants were absent, as is cus- 
 
296 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 tomary with these Indians at this season of the year, we en 
 camped. 
 
 " December 4th. Miss Purchase, our Indian girl, Indian 
 boy, and interpreter, on horseback, and a hired white man on 
 foot, started early, and by a hard day's journey reached 
 Thomas. Our way had now become more difficult for our 
 carnage ; all within had frequently to quit it in difficult places. 
 Fatigued every evening, we hastened to repose, and soon in 
 sweet slumber lost sight of the wintry woods around us. 
 
 " December 5th. Hid a little corn in the woods, for the 
 purpose of feeding our horses as they should be returning to 
 Carey. About eleven o'clock we were met by Mr. Lykins 
 and two men to assist us, and some fresh provisions, all which 
 were acceptable. We crossed Grand river in a periogue, and 
 that night rested in our own houses, after a dreary journey of 
 eight days." 
 
 Some of the neighbouring Indians had requested that our 
 trumpet should be blown on our arrival, that they might have 
 an early opportunity of calling to shake our hands. But we pre 
 ferred rest to compliments. The news of our arrival, how 
 ever, reaching the neighbouring village, a few called on us, 
 though late in the evening, and in the village the drum was 
 beaten all night, as a token of rejoicing. 
 
 On the following day, Noonday, Blackskin, principal chiefs, 
 and many others, men, women, and children, visited us, and 
 bade us welcome to their country. They desired to see us 
 again, when our circumstances would allow the transaction of 
 business; and the day being agreed upon, they departed happy 
 that we had arrived, while we were no less happy in being 
 allowed the peculiar privilege of bearing the tidings of salva 
 tion to a poor and almost friendless people. 
 
 Mr. Lykins, with a hired Frenchman, had left Carey on the 
 20th of October, for the purpose of getting supplies to Thomas, 
 and of putting our buildings there in such order as would admit 
 of our wintering in them. At the mouth of St. Joseph's river 
 he put his property and a large periogue on board of a schoo 
 ner, and had them conveyed, on Lake Michigan, to the mouth of 
 Grand river. The schooner anchored a mile from shore ; the 
 periogue was lowered into the water, and, being loaded, was 
 towed ashore by the long boat, while the waves run so high as 
 to threaten to turn all into the lake. Three trips to and from 
 the vessel got all ashore, but not without wetting both men and 
 goods. They had barely landed the last of the property, when 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 297 
 
 a storm of wind and rain so raised the sea, that it was with diffi 
 culty Mr. Lykins, who was suffering much pain from a sprained 
 ankle, and his Frenchman, could secure the property by con 
 veying it further up on the beach. Had the schooner been one 
 hour later in reaching the place, the property could not have 
 been landed, Mr. Lykins would have been carried in the schoo 
 ner to Mackinaw, at the northern extremity of the lake, unable 
 to return before the following spring, and our missionary station 
 at Grand river would have been left destitute of supplies. But 
 the Lord had " gathered the winds in his fists, and bound the 
 waters in a garment." 
 
 Extracts from Mr. Lykins' 's journal. 
 
 " November 14, 1826. Succeeded in getting our goods a 
 mile or two up Grand river, to a trading house, but could not 
 obtain a shelter for them. 
 
 "November 15th. Sent my Frenchman up to Thomas, to 
 procure assistance. In the night of the 16th he returned, with 
 men and another canoe. Could not travel, on account of the 
 snow and rain, until late on the 18th. Our friend Gosa, having 
 heard that I was on the river, came down in a bark canoe, and, 
 taking me on board, hoisted a sail, which enabled us soon to 
 leave the other crafts out of sight. In the afternoon we had 
 snow. I halted and made a fire for the benefit of the men in 
 the canoes behind, when they should come up. They became 
 so chilled, that they deemed it prudent to halt, to keep from 
 perishing ; but they had become so benumbed with cold that 
 they could not make fire. There remained no alternative, 
 therefore, but either to assume courage, and push forward their 
 canoe against the stream, or to perish. They succeeded in 
 reaching my fire. 
 
 " November 19th. It continues to snow, and the weather 
 is so cold that we remain here to-day. We are at a village at 
 which only one man is found, all the other inhabitants being 
 absent on their, winter's hunt. The village contains nine 
 houses, constructed of pine timber let into guttered posts, and 
 covered with bark. The solitary occupant showed us as much 
 hospitality as his place would allow, giving us a shelter for our 
 persons and property, and inviting us to remain during the 
 storm. Noonday, having heard of my approach, also came 
 down the river in his canoe, and met me at this village with his 
 wife and children, and assisted in making our quarters com 
 fortable. 
 
 " Here I discovered, in the comer of a house, a wooden 
 
 38 - SB ^ 3 
 
298 
 
 HISTUHY OF BAFT 1ST 
 
 image, seven and a half feet high, facing the south. The 
 upper part is shaped like a man's head and face. From the 
 shoulders down, it is a pillar of equal thickness, hollowed 
 somewhat on the back, which makes the upper and lower ex 
 tremities incline a liitle backward. The nose is aquiline, and 
 broad at the face. A bunch of feathers of the tail of an eagle 
 is suspended from the right shoulder, and on the back of the 
 neck hangs a bunch of some other kind of feathers, and on the 
 left shoulder is tied a piece of tobacco. Spots of dark red 
 supply the place of eyes, and a spot of the same is made upon 
 each cheek. A line of the same runs from the left shoulder 
 diagonally across the breast, and returns by a lower stroke to 
 the same side. It bore the appearance of antiquity, as it was 
 beginning to decay. The ground around it appeared to be a 
 dancing place. I suppose that this is an idol which is worshipped ; 
 this is the only thing of the kind that I have ever seen among 
 the Indians.* 
 
 "We reached Thomas on the 21st, and the day following I 
 sent a canoe back to the lake for the remainder of our property. 
 1 have been amused and affected by children and others swarm 
 ing about me, and addressing me as I pass them with, ' Bozho 
 Meketa koneah ?' (How do you do, preacher?") 
 
 On the llth of January, we held a general council on 
 business. Much was said on both sides, and with very good 
 feeling. Noonday led the way in the speeches of his people, 
 who remarked : " My brother, I wish you to listen to what I 
 have to say ; and I hope you will not be offended at any thing 
 I shall say, for I shall be careful not to wound your feelings. 
 I remember your promises to us; I have forgotten nothing. 
 You said you would help us to build houses, make fence, 
 plough, and such like things, besides giving us a blacksmith, a 
 school, and a preacher. I have seen the beginning of the fulfil 
 ment of your promises have seen a little done. We are all 
 rejoiced that you have come to live among us, and hope that 
 we shall realize the whole. You have told us to be good, and 
 I tell you that ever since, you first talked to me about God, I 
 have been trying to be good ; and since that time, I and a few 
 others of my people have often endeavoured to persuade others 
 to become good also. For my own part, I acknowledge that 
 I know nothing correctly about the Great Spirit, and I am glad 
 that you have come to live among us, and regularly preach to 
 us about him. 
 
 * There is good reason to believe, that among the aborigines of America, 
 especially thosa north of Mexico, idol worship was unknown prior to their 
 acquaintance with Europeans. See remarks on idol worship, p. 12. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 299 
 
 " In regard to the school, I say I wish our children to be 
 instructed like the whites ; then these educated children will 
 become capable of assisting us in the transaction of business 
 with white people. 
 
 " My brother, when you promised to favour us, because our 
 heads might forget, you put your words on paper, which could 
 not forget them. Look at this paper, (taking it from his bosom, 
 carefully enveloped,) and see if it is the same you gave me; 
 notice if we have forgotten any thing you promised us." 
 
 I told him that I had made that paper, and it contained my 
 name. I was now prepared to complete the fulfilment of all 
 that it promised. There is the blacksmith, there are the labour 
 ers, there are the milch cattle, the oxen, ploughs, chains, and 
 other farming and mechanical tools ; the school will be opened 
 in a few days ; and I am here ready to preach to you. 
 
 On the 12th of December, Mr. Lykins left us, to return to 
 Carey. The buildings not being finished on our arrival, our 
 school was not opened until the 25th of December, when we 
 commenced with five Indian scholars, and one of our hired white 
 men. The latter entered the school with a view of qualifying 
 himself for missionary labours. He was one of those who had 
 lately embraced religion at Carey, and we were much gratified 
 with the hope that some missionaries might be raised up on 
 missionary ground. He received an appointment, improved his 
 education somewhat, remained in connection with us some twelve 
 or eighteen months, and retired from missionary labours. 
 
 Our scholars were fed and clothed by the mission ; and, 
 under our circumstances, many could not be accommodated. 
 By the 1st of April the scholars had increased to fifteen. 
 
 Our communication with the civilized world was by way 
 of Carey, to which place we occasionally hired our friend Gosa 
 to go express. The snow being sometimes a foot and a half 
 deep, or more, travelling was chiefly performed on snow shoes.* 
 It required twelve days for our first express to make the tour to 
 Carey and back, and our second was nineteen clays in performing 
 
 * A snow shoe is constructed by bending a light piece of tough wood, so 
 as to resemble in shaps, somewhat, the profile of a pear, though narrower in 
 proportion to length ; about two feet and a half in length, and a foot in width 
 at the broadest place. The interior is filled with a webbing of leather strings, 
 not unlike a ratan chair bottom. The foot is placed on the webbing, and 
 fastened by a string near the broad end of the shoa. The surface of the shoe 
 is such that the person is sustained and walks upon the top of the snow. 
 On raising the foot, the narrow end of the shoe trails on the snow. Con 
 siderable practice is necessary to enable a person to use them, and even then 
 the weight is tiresome to the traveller, but causes much less fatigue Mian if 
 he were to sink into the snow at every step. 
 
300 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 it. The cold at our station was extremely severe, and our dwell 
 ings were not sufficiently warm for such weather. 
 
 On the 20th of January, 1827, Mr. Lykins wrote us from 
 Carey as follows : '' The winter thus far has been the most se 
 vere that we have ever experienced at this place. The snow 
 is two feet deep. It is said that the Indians on Tiaukakeek* 
 river are actually starving to death. The snow is so deep as to 
 preclude every chance of taking muskrats their only means of 
 subsistence, at that place, at this season of the year. Seven of 
 the poor creatures, who lately abandoned that place in search 
 of a better, are now here. So distressing is the tale of their 
 sufferings, that the subject has spontaneously become a mat 
 ter of prayer with the missionaries, that God would feed them 
 and take care of them, as he does of the young ravens that 
 cry." 
 
 On the 8th of January, I contracted a cold which threatened 
 to prove mortal, and from the effects of it I have never fully 
 recovered. Four weeks after the attack I was unable to preach, 
 except feebly, from my chair. Nearly a year previous to this 
 time, we had opened a correspondence with the Rev. Pharcel- 
 lus Church, relative to placing two of our Indian boys in a medi 
 cal institution at Castleton, in the State of Vermont. The boys 
 had been selected on the 6th of June, 1826, and we had been 
 making arrangements for Mr. Lykins to take them to Vermont 
 the present winter. They were not to be placed there at the 
 expense of the board, benevolent friends in that quarter having 
 nobly offered to meet the expense of their living and education. 
 Out of respect to the board, we had asked their approbation, 
 and solicited for liberty to apply so much of the means produced 
 by our own efforts and industry as would meet the travelling 
 expenses incurred in conveying them to Vermont, unless the 
 board should prefer making a direct appropriation for that object. 
 
 On the 8th of January, 1827, a letter from the correspond 
 ing secretary of the board reached Carey, disapproving of our 
 design of sending the boys to Vermont. We were exceedingly 
 sorry that our patrons had taken a view of the subject so differ 
 ent from our own. The reasons which were assigned for their 
 decision were by no means satisfactory to us, some of which 
 were, that by sending Indian youths abroad to complete literary 
 or professional education, we were "occupying the attention 
 and diverting the means [of benevolence] of various sections of 
 the country to particular objects," which they thought would 
 " be attended with mischievous consequences ;" because there 
 
 * By corruption called Kankakee. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 301 
 
 " would soon be no ground left to the great foreign purposes of 
 the mission." 
 
 We, too, felt a deep interest in foreign missions, and claimed 
 the honour of not being second to any in our esteem for the mis 
 sionaries who were labouring in foreign fields, in our admiration 
 of their devotion and self-denial, and in the ardour of our de 
 sires for their success; but we supposed that placing some select 
 youths from among our heathen, in the white settlements, to 
 qualify them for superior usefulness among their heathen kin 
 dred, so far from producing the result Apprehended by the board, 
 would promote a spirit of benevolence favourable to missions, 
 both foreign and on our own continent. The fear that we should 
 monopolize public attention, and public munificence, was thought 
 to be not well founded. Moreover, we had consecrated all the life 
 and labour that God would allow us to the temporal and spiritual 
 welfare of the Indians. While the board justly contemplated 
 the objects of foreign missions as being "great" as they chose 
 to designate them, we felt that the considerations involved in 
 missions to the Indians ought not to be esteemed small. It was 
 a duty which we could not dispense with, even to avoid the 
 sacrifice of feeling which we must make in departing from the 
 instructions of the board, to do all that we possibly could for 
 the benefit of the people of our charge. We did not claim the 
 right of adopting measures of our own, contrary to their instruc 
 tions, at their cost ; this had not been contemplated. We had 
 made great exertions to obtain the means of support, and from 
 April, 1824, up to that time nearly three years the board 
 had applied to our use no other funds than properly belonged 
 to our stations, and which could not, without our consent, be 
 applied any where else. According to these views, and with 
 out any feeling of disrespect towards our patrons, though differ 
 ing from them in judgment, Mr. Lykins, on the 25th of January, 
 1827, started from Carey, for Vermont, with the two candidates 
 for a medical education. Their English names were Francis 
 Barrow and Thomas Baldwin. 
 
 A journey into a region still further north, at this season of 
 the year, was attended with much suffering, but it could not be 
 made in the summer, as the labours of the missionaries were 
 then so pressing that Mr. Lykins could not be absent. They 
 went by way of Detroit, and thence through Canada to Queens- 
 ton, where they recrossed to the United States. It was the 
 15th of April before Mr. Lykins got back to Carey. 
 
 The boys were well received, and found benevolent friends, 
 who took pleasure in helping to rescue the aboriginal race from 
 
302 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 threatened extinction, and who rejoiced that an opportunity was 
 afforded for the exercise of these best feelings of Christian man. 
 They were making proficiency in study that promised future 
 usefulness, to reward the kindness of their benefactors, when it 
 appeared the pleasure of Heaven to take them both away by 
 pulmonary consumption. Their loss we felt to be a severe 
 stroke. We had daily and painful evidence of the want of phy 
 sicians among the Indians ; and in the medical department, as 
 well as every other, it was an opinion which experience had 
 confirmed, that natives, suitably qualified, could be more useful 
 than persons introduced into the Indian country from other 
 nations. 
 
 It became necessary for me to make a journey to Carey, 
 which I commenced on the 5th of March. After spending 
 three nights in the wilderness, and swimming our horses across 
 Grand river, Kekenmazoo, and the St. Joseph's, we found our 
 selves at Carey, and were much gratified, to perceive all things 
 prosperous, Sunday, March the llth, was a pleasant day at that 
 place. Public religious exercises commenced a little after nine 
 in the morning, and continued until between two and three in 
 the afternoon ; within which time Jacob French, one of our 
 hired white men, was baptized, in presence of a large company 
 of red and white people, and the Lord's supper was celebrated. 
 I returned to Thomas on the 20th of March, accompanied by 
 Mr. Meeker. Mrs. McCoy was at this time in poor health. 
 
 In travelling from one of our stations to the other, we passed 
 by a lake, which was supposed by the Ottawas to be the abode 
 of spirits, who sometimes performed strange feats. It was by 
 them called Gun lake, because, as they said, a noise was often 
 heard in it, like the report of a gun at a distance. In one place 
 they said there was a large heap of ashes, the summit of which 
 rose almost to the surface of the water. They supposed it had 
 probably been accumulating hundreds of years, by being carried 
 from a fire which they thought might be kept up near it. It 
 was said, also, that the trunk of a large tree had been standing 
 in the water many years, the top of which extended a little 
 above the water. It was supposed to be held there by some 
 supernatural agency, and, should any one have the temerity to 
 approach it, his canoe would be certainly capsized by an invisi 
 ble hand. 
 
 At that time, (March llth,) it was reported that, on the 
 margin of this enchanted lake, a tree had been set on fire, pro 
 bably by lightning, the previous autumn, which had been burn 
 ing all winter, from the top downward, until the stump of the 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 303 
 
 tree was not more than ten feet high. The snow in the coun 
 try had been, all winter, about two feet deep, yet, according to 
 this spirit story, the earth had been bare for a considerable 
 distance around this burning tree. Great fears were felt that 
 when the fire should burn down to the earth, the ground would 
 become ignited, and the fire be found to be unquenchable ; it 
 being evident, as they said, that it was a kind of fire which water 
 would not quench. 
 
 On the evening of the llth of February, 1827, there was 
 noticed in the vicinity of Thomas a meteor, or, as it is com 
 monly called, a shooting star, which resembled a ball of fire 
 more than meteors usually do. In its passage a sound was 
 heard, which, on its disappearance, resembled an explosion, 
 such as is common in connection with these phenomena. This 
 alarmed our Ottawa neighbours. Noonday called on me the 
 next day, to ask my opinion concerning it. " Was it ominous 
 of distress ? Did the good book give any information on the 
 subject?" &ic., were among his inquiries. 
 
 Between Carey and Thomas, on the 7th of March, curiosity 
 attracted me to a neat little house of poles in a grave-yard, in 
 the east end of which a small hole was made, not much larger 
 than necessary to admit a mouse. Through this aperture we 
 could see, wrapped in a blanket, the skeleton in a sitting atti 
 tude, with its face towards the little window. It was the skele 
 ton of a Putawatomie, who had died about two years before. 
 
 In relation to diseases, their causes, and cure, the Ottawas and 
 neighbouring tribes are exceedingly ignorant and superstitious. 
 A charm, some kind of conjuration, incantation, or witchcraft, 
 is always associated with the application of means for the reco 
 very of the sick ; indeed, so much importance seems to be 
 attached to these mystic matters, that commonly their agency 
 appears to be principally relied on for effecting the cure. The 
 idea, which has gained too much credit with the whites, that the 
 Indians are, in many instances, skilful physicians, is preposte 
 rous. Indians of sound judgment are generally sensible of this, 
 and avail themselves of the better skill of the missionaries, even 
 of those who make no pretensions to the science of medicine ; 
 nevertheless, among those poor, ignorant people, instances fre 
 quently occur strongly marking the tenacity of the natives to 
 their superstitions in regard to this as well as other matters. 
 Any disease which becomes located, so as to produce a sore, 
 swelling, or pain, in one particular place, is attributed to the 
 existence of small vermicujar insects. 
 
 Near our station on Grand river, a poor Ottawa woman, to 
 
304 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 whose comfort the female missionaries often administered, lin 
 gered and died with pulmonary consumption. She was related 
 to Noonday, the chief of the village. The latter one day in 
 formed me, previous to her death, that her afflictions were occa 
 sioned by the existence of small worms, the size of which he 
 described to me with much confidence, and represented them to 
 be about half an inch long, and collected in the upper part of 
 the lungs. He stated that on the preceding day, Goauboi, who 
 was something of a conjuring doctor, had applied a hollow tube 
 to the outside of the woman's chest, and, by enchantment and 
 suction, had extracted one of those mischievous vermin. I 
 asked if it had required a great effort to dislodge the one which 
 they had taken ? He replied, not very great, but it would be 
 impossible to extract them all, and therefore the woman would 
 probably die. 
 
 In our fields, at Thomas, we ploughed up pieces of earthen 
 ware, made by the natives long before the recollection of any 
 living; none of those tribes have manufactured earthen ves 
 sels since the discovery of America by the whites. The Otta- 
 was, more or fewer of whom were always about our house, 
 noticed that, with some interest, we examined ancient fortifica 
 tions, mounds, &c., and preserved with care specimens of this 
 earthen ware of ancient manufacture. These circumstances 
 elicited some traditionary tales respecting these matters. Our 
 friend Gosa related the following, which was, probably, believed 
 by many : 
 
 " Three ages ago, that is, when the grandfather of him who 
 is now an old man was born, some Ottawas at this place, (Rap 
 ids of Grand river, Michigan,) experiencing great inconvenience 
 on account of having no vessel in which they could prepare 
 their food, set about making a pot of earth. The vessel being 
 placed over the fire, broke. Other trials were made to con 
 struct a substantial vessel, all of which were unsuccessful ; none 
 yet could be made impervious to fluids, or that would resist the 
 action of fire. After two days' fruitless labour, and when the work 
 men were hungry for want of a vessel in which to prepare their 
 food, they sat down in despair and wept. On a night, not long 
 after, a spirit appeared to one of them in a dream, and inquired, 
 * Why do you weep ?' The sleeper answered, ' Because I am 
 poor I have no pot. Why did you create me and place me 
 here, to suffer poverty and disappointment, without remedy?' 
 The spirit pointed down the lakes, and said, ' Go in that direc 
 tion, and I will accompany you, and you shall find relief.' 
 They set off, and the spirit, unperceived by day, accompanied 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 305 
 
 them, and conversed with them every night. They passed the 
 islands of Mackinaw and Montreal, and reached Quebec. At 
 the latter place they found the French, who extended to them 
 the hand of friendship, and who furnished them with an iron 
 pot, to which were added other useful articles of which they had 
 previously been destitute. Their spiritual guide having fulfilled 
 his errand of kindness, now discontinued his communion." 
 
 B d is a Frenchman, slightly related to the Indians, and 
 
 married to a Putawatomie woman. He was employed to assist 
 in collecting some of the Putawatomies, and in conducting them 
 to the treaty of Wabash, in the autumn of 1826. While we 
 were upon the treaty ground, he related to me the following 
 story, with a seriousness which forbid the suspicion that a doubt 
 rested on his mind in relation to its truth : 
 
 " After their company was formed, which consisted of four 
 or five hundred souls, they set out for the treaty ground, com 
 pelled by circumstances to travel slowly. Within the first 
 three days' journey, their most expert hunters, to the number 
 sometimes of fifty, with their utmost vigilance, were unable to 
 kill a deer. They saw game, and often shot at it, but killed 
 nothing. The consequence was, that they began to be dis 
 tressed for want of food. Soon after the company halted to 
 encamp on the evening of the third day, Saugana, a well known 
 chief, fell asleep, and slumbered soundly through the night, 
 On the following morning he informed the company that in a 
 dream a person had acquainted him with the cause which had 
 rendered their hunting unsuccessful, which was an error in Che- 
 bass, a celebrated chief, who had been the principal agent in 
 prevailing on them to set off on the journey, to attend a place 
 at which business of importance was to be transacted, and had 
 neglected to make a sacrificial feast before they started. He had 
 started on this important journey, the dreamer said, as a white 
 man would, without making any religious preparation ; and for 
 this dereliction of duty the whole company had been rebuked 
 by being left by the Great Spirit to realize the scarcity of food. 
 In order to propitiate the Deity, Chebass must fast that day. 
 Twelve men, neither more nor fewer, with faces blacked, 
 indicative of hunger and want, and of their devotion, must pro 
 ceed to their hunting, six of them on each side of the road 
 along which the company had to travel. By the time the sun 
 had risen to a height pointed out in the heavens, [we would say 
 about 9 o'clock,] Saugana said they would have killed four deer. 
 He assured them that such would be the fact, because he had 
 seen in the vision four deer lying dead. 
 39 
 
306 IUSTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 " The hunters set off according to instructions, killed the four 
 deer within the time spoken of, and brought them to the com 
 pany. A general hah was called. The four deer, including 
 head, legs, feet, &,c., were all boiled at the same time, and 
 feasting immediately followed, in which all participated, each 
 receiving a portion meted out, excepting Chebass. The feast 
 was considered his, and on that account it was necessary for 
 him to fast until the sun had gone down. Several speeches 
 were made during the festival. About noon of the same day 
 the company resumed their march ; and on the following day 
 they killed five deer and one bear, and during the two or three 
 remaining days of their journey had plenty." 
 
 In April, Mr. Lykins visited us at Thomas, and Mr. Meeker, 
 who had for a while been our school teacher, returned with him 
 to Carey. I was then compelled to go into the school myself. 
 Our scholars increased to twenty-one. By the 20th of May, 
 we had made some improvement in our buildings; had fenced 
 over fifteen acres of land, ten or eleven acres of which we had 
 planted in corn, potatoes, and other vegetables. It so happened 
 that, contrary to our expectation and that of the Ottawas, 
 the two labourers for these people, provided by the treaty of 
 Chicago, were recalled for a lew months at this busy season of 
 the year, on account of some temporary deficiency in regard to 
 funds to pay them, which occurred in the Department of Indian 
 Affairs. Not anticipating this, we had promised the Ottawas 
 assistance, and we were unwilling to disappoint them, especially 
 as they seemed willing, with some encouragement, to work a 
 great deal more for themselves than they had been in the habit 
 of doing. We therefore kept one plough constantly, and some 
 times two, running for them. 
 
 I had been exceedingly anxious, from rny first entering the 
 Indian country, to acquire such a knowledge of the language of 
 those among whom I resided, as would enable me to converse 
 with them with ease. While at Grand river, I pressed into this 
 service every moment which could be taken from imperious 
 calls of other duties. Noonday and Gosa were my instructers. 
 But during this time, as previously, a constant press of other 
 labours allowed little time for the study of the language. With 
 the assistance of my instructers, neither of whom spoke English, 
 I wrote discourses, prayers, and hymns, in the Ottawa language, 
 which enabled me to conduct religious exercises commonly 
 without an interpreter. 
 
 Our religious meetings were better attended at this place than 
 at Carey. It was common for neighbouring Indians to walk 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 307 
 
 three quarters of a mile to attend family prayers, both morning 
 and evening. It was most interesting to see them at morning 
 prayers, because they were under the necessity of rising very 
 early, which was contrary to their ordinary habits. A few cases 
 of serious concern for the salvation of the soul, of a favourable 
 character, occurred. The time drew near when it would be 
 necessary for me and my family to return to Carey. The 
 anticipation of this elicited expressions of desire, on the part of 
 many Indians, to attend regularly on preaching, which circum 
 stance, to us, was very affecting. 
 
 Noonday had said that he designed to put a boy, for whom 
 he was guardian (having no children of his own) in our family. 
 He delayed doing so four or five days longer than we had 
 expected. The boy was frequently at our house, and we 
 wondered why the brief ceremony of saying, " here he is, take 
 him," should be delayed. These queries were all answered on 
 the following Sunday, when Noonday and his boy appeared at 
 our house very early. " I wish," said he, " to speak to you. 
 I have brought hither my son, for the purpose of placing him in 
 the mission family. Jesus, the Son of God, after his death, 
 arose from the dead early on the day of prayer, (Sunday.) On 
 that account, we meet every day of prayer, to pray, to sing, 
 and to talk. It is not right to work on the day of prayer. 
 Therefore, as Jesus arose early on prayer day morning, I have 
 brought my son early this morning, to deliver him to you, to be 
 instructed in things that are good. I thought that if I gave him 
 to you on the morning of the day on which Jesus arose, perhaps 
 he would have mercy upon him." This was a rare method of 
 honouring the Saviour and the day on which he arose. It was 
 an original thought, and one that indicated sincerity, though 
 not a well cultivated understanding. 
 
 Mr. Meeker had left Thomas on the 22d of April, for Carey, 
 to take charge of the school there, of which Mr. Slater had for 
 some time had the management, the latter expecting to locate 
 at Thomas. 
 
 On the 5th of May, 1827, Mr. and Mrs. Slater arrived from 
 Carey, with the expectation of making Thomas their home in 
 future. About the same time, a periogue which we had sent 
 around by way of Grand river, Lake Michigan, and St. Joseph's 
 river, to Carey, for supplies, returned to Thomas, after a voy 
 age of thirty days. This brought seasonable relief to the station, 
 but the cost was very heavy upon us. On the 9th, having pro 
 vided for them suitable company, Mrs. McCoy, and our three 
 little children, and Miss Purchase, left Thomas, to return to 
 
308 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 Carey. Business compelled me to remain a while longer. 
 On the 20th, Mr. Lykins unexpectedly arrived on foot. He 
 had heard of a vessel coming up the lakes, and had providently 
 contrived to meet it at the mouth of the St. Joseph's, with corn 
 and pork, and had purchased of the schooner seven barrels of 
 flour, and got all on to Grand river, coming up to us in a peri- 
 ogue, before we had heard of the transaction. This arrival was 
 alike unexpected and acceptable. The station was now pretty 
 well furnished with supplies for several months. 
 
 I became much attached to these people, and was sorry to 
 leave them. A malign influence, emanating from some mis 
 chievous whites, had cherished some opposition to us among 
 the Ottawas most remote from us ; but, as fast as we had been 
 able to form personal acquaintances, we had the happiness to 
 see their suspicions give way, and the opposition constantly 
 weakened. We took pains to extend our acquaintance to some 
 whom we could not visit, by sending messages to them by Gosa 
 and others, and inviting them to visit us. Excepting the un 
 common religious excitement with which we had been blessed 
 at Carey, we had not seen a missionary station in a condition 
 so hopeful as Thomas was at this time. 
 
 i felt very much like going from home, when, on the 22d of 
 May, I left Thomas, for my old residence at Carey. Mr. 
 Lykins remained at Grand river a month longer, before he visit 
 ed Carey. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Marriage of a missionary. Sickness. Origin of the mission to 
 Sault de St. Marie. Indian hostilities. A captive redeemed. 
 Cannibalism. Indian murders. Journey to Thomas. Sick 
 ness among the Ottawas. Treaty at Carey. Failure for 
 want of missionaries. Smithery at Carey. Journey to the 
 Eastern States. Remarks on Indian reform published. 
 Efforts to promote colonization. Objections on account of 
 slavery. First settlement of emigrants in the Indian terri 
 tory. Exploring tour originated. Station at Sault de St. 
 Marie. 
 
 June 7th, 1827, Miss Purchase was married to Mr. R. D. 
 Potts, United States' agent of Indian affairs, who had resided 
 many months in our missionary families. Out of respect to 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 309 
 
 the parties, and for the sake of making a favourable impression 
 upon our Indian neighbours, we suspended the ordinary opera 
 tions of labour at the establishment, and had a prepared dinner. 
 By this connection, Miss Purchase necessarily dissolved her 
 connection with the board of missions. For a while they 
 resided at Fort Wayne. Subsequently they returned to Grand 
 river, and Mr. Potts became teacher of the school at that 
 station. He became religious, and was baptized, and some time 
 afterwards obtained from Government an appointment as a 
 school teacher to the Choctaws, within the Indian territory. 
 These are the Mr. and Mrs. Potts who are at this time labour 
 ing successfully as missionaries, of whom we shall have occasion 
 to speak hereafter. 
 
 At this time, the routine of business at Carey remained the 
 same as formerly. Visits were also made to the neighbouring 
 villages, for the purpose of imparting religious instruction, though 
 congregations could not be collected regularly. In the latter 
 part of spring and the fore part of summer, before vegetables 
 could be gathered from gardens, was the time of greatest 
 scarcity of food during the year. Notwithstanding the notice 
 we would give that we would attend and preach at their villages, 
 the poor creatures would sometimes be almost all absent in 
 quest of roots, or some other spontaneous production of the 
 woods, for food. 
 
 Among our expensive inconveniences was the necessity of 
 sending expresses. We had no mail, and it was necessary to 
 keep up a communication with Chicago, ninety miles from us, 
 with Fort Wayne, one hundred miles, and with Detroit, two 
 hundred miles. 
 
 On the 3d of July, 1827, Mr. Lykinsleft us, on a journey to 
 Indiana, of five or six weeks. On the same day I was attacked 
 with severe indisposition. A violent fever, with very great 
 suffering, brought me down, until those around me almost de 
 spaired of my recovery. On the eighth day I thought myself 
 that I should die. My sufferings for a few days were greater than 
 had commonly attended me in attacks of fever. I gave such direc 
 tions respecting my family, and advice respecting the mission, as 
 I deemed proper on leaving them. I endeavoured to commit 
 my family to the care of a gracious Providence, but I felt great 
 uneasiness on their account. I was leaving them in a wilder 
 ness, excepting those of my children then at school in the white 
 settlements, and I had fully learned that there was no certainty 
 that they would find friends to provide for their comfort and 
 education. I said, " I am leaving my family in a lamentable 
 
810 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 condition !" My missionary brethren would not be wanting in 
 sympathy and kindness, but they would not have it in their 
 power to help. They were wearing out the best portion of life 
 without securing any thing for the future benefit of those of 
 whom they had charge, and, for ought that could be foreseen, 
 they too might one day realize anxieties in relation to their own 
 families, similar to what I felt. From Heaven alone could hope 
 and consolation be drawn, under circumstances like these. I had 
 to prescribe for myself. Despairing of my recovery, and influ 
 enced by sympathy for me under great sufferings, those around 
 me entreated me to employ anodynes to allay my pain. But I 
 resolved on a different course, and continued the use of calomel. 
 " In my distress 1 cried unto the Lord, and he heard me." 
 
 In April, 1827, Dr. Bolles, the corresponding secretary of the 
 board of missions, had informed us that an annuity of one thou 
 sand dollars, for educational purposes among the Chippewas, was 
 available, provided we could find a missionary who could under 
 take a mission there, to be located at Sault de St. Marie, 
 between Lake Huron and Lake Superior, and inquiry was made 
 whether one could be spared from Carey or Thomas for that 
 place. We were unable at that time to send a missionary from 
 our place, and so answered the board ; but we hoped that our 
 number would increase. We were exceedingly desirous that 
 the board should improve the opening for the establishment of a 
 mission there, and trusted that, even if we should not be re-en 
 forced with missionaries, we should be able to make such 
 arrangements as would eventually allow one of us to labour 
 there. In the mean time, in order to secure the occupancy of 
 the place to our board, we addressed a letter to Governour Cass, 
 Superintendent of Indian Affairs. 
 
 Governour Cass and Colonel T. L. McKenney were commis 
 sioners for the purpose of negotiating treaties with the Chippe 
 was and others, this year, and it was designed by us that I 
 should endeavour to attend their negotiations, which would be 
 at Green Bay, not far from Sault de St. Marie ; by which means 
 it was hoped some profitable arrangements could be made 
 relative to the occupancy of the contemplated station, and for 
 the procurement of other educational facilities for the enlarge 
 ment of our operations. Governour Cass very politely invited 
 me to attend the treaty. Twice I had appointed to set out on the 
 journey, and each time was prevented by sickness. These dis 
 appointments afterwards appeared to us to have been providential. 
 My route lay by way of Chicago, and the distance to Green 
 Bay was nearly three hundred miles, and through an unsettled 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 311 
 
 country, excepting a few families at Chicago. I should have 
 necessarily passed through the Winnebago towns, and should 
 have entered them unconscious of danger, whereas it appeared 
 by an express, which passed us on the 27th of July, 1827, 
 going from Chicago to Detroit, that the Winnebagoes were in a 
 state of almost open hostility. Had 1 entered their country at 
 the time that I desired, I should probably not have left it. 
 
 News of hostilities was very unexpected. Some information 
 which Governour Cass received at Green Bay induced him to 
 procure a birch bark canoe, and proceed across to Prairie Du 
 Chien, on the Mississippi river. In descending the Wisconsin, 
 he passed many Winnebagoes, at great hazard. About the time 
 he reached Prairie Du Chien, these Indians, in open day, made 
 an attack on a little settlement at that place, and killed two 
 men and a child. The people hastened into the fort. Troops 
 from the fort at St. Peter's were ordered down the river, to the 
 assistance of Fort Crawford, at Prairie Du Chien. Governour 
 Cass descended to St. Louis, and troops were also sent up from 
 that region, to the relief of the place. Another boat, in de 
 scending the Wisconsin soon after Governour Cass, was attacked, 
 and had three men killed and seven wounded. Governour Cass 
 returned in his canoe up the Illinois river, to Chicago, and thence 
 went again to Green Bay by way of the lake. 
 
 The little settlement at Chicago was thrown into great alarm, 
 being only two days' journey from the enemy's towns. They 
 took refuge in the fort at the place, but no troops being sta 
 tioned there at that time, their dependance for protection, for 
 some time, was on their own prowess. Subsequently, two hun 
 dred militia, from the State of Illinois, arrived for their relief. 
 Governour Cass invited as many of the Putawatomie chiefs to 
 a council at Chicago as his haste would allow, and gave them 
 such a talk as the times required, in order to prevent them from 
 participating in the hostilities of the Wlnnebagoes. All ap 
 peared friendly excepting one chief, named Bigfoot, who refused 
 to come into council. 
 
 The Providence by which 1 had been prevented from enter 
 ing the Winnebago country at that time of danger was made 
 more impressive by a letter being unaccountably detained on the 
 road. Governour Cass wrote me from Detroit the 22d of May, 
 encouraging me to go to Green Bay. Had the letter reached 
 me in the usual time, say in ten or twelve days, I should pro 
 bably have started. But, from some cause unknown to us, the 
 letter did not reach me until the 18th of July, at a time when I 
 was unable to travel. 
 
3 1 2 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 The Putawatomie country adjoined the country of the Winne- 
 bagoes, and on account of the intercourse to which their prox 
 imity to each other gave rise, it was natural to suppose that 
 some of the Putawatomies, especially those who lived nearest 
 to the hostile tribe, should partake somewhat of their spirit of 
 disaffection towards the whites. Chebass, a noted Putawatomie 
 chief of our neighbourhood, stated to us that while they had 
 been at Chicago to receive their late annuity, four men from the 
 hostile Indians, in a formal manner, according to Indian custom 
 in such cases, invited them to join in the war against the whites, 
 by presenting to them their war tomahawk, war pipe, and war 
 beads, with the hair of a buffalo or of a cow's tail suspended 
 to one arm, all of which emblems were coloured red. 
 
 On the 29th of July, though I was so feeble, from my late 
 severe illness, as to be scarcely able to sit up, I sent for a few 
 of the neighbouring chiefs and principal men, sixteen of whom 
 called to see me, to whom I stated the unpleasant news we had 
 heard respecting hostilities which had commenced between our 
 Winnebago neighbours and the whites, and gave them such ad 
 vice as 1 thought circumstances required. Saugana, a chief, 
 was made their speaker, who said : 
 
 " Our brother, we are sorry to hear that some Indians have 
 been fighting with the white people. This is not good, and we 
 will not join them ; we will remain at peace ; we are happy that 
 you have come to live among us, and that you are our friend 
 the same as one of us. If soldiers should pass through our 
 country towards the Winnebagoes, our women and children will 
 be afraid. There are some foolish white men as well as foolish 
 Indians. We shall be glad if you will meet the soldiers, and 
 speak to them, and accompany them through our country, that 
 our women and children may not be alarmed. You will know 
 every thing that passes among the whites. If any thing should 
 occur that we ought to know for our safety, we desire you to 
 inform us, and advise us what to do. We will understand all 
 that occurs among the Indians. If we hear of any thing which 
 affects your safety, we will inform you. Finally, I can say no 
 more than, do you take care of us, and we will take care of 
 you." 
 
 At all times we had Indian acquaintances who would confiden 
 tially communicate to us any thing we desired, of which they had 
 knowledge, in relation to occurrences in the Indian country. With 
 vigilance on the part of agents, and a discreet management on the 
 part of Government, almost all Indian wars might be avoided. 
 The first symptoms of hostile feelings might be known, and 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 313 
 
 measures adopted to check them. If they had just cause for 
 dissatisfaction, justice ought to be extended to them ; if their 
 dissatisfaction was the result of a mischievous influence from 
 others, or of a malignant spirit of their own, it might be cor 
 rected before it produced serious consequences. On the present 
 occasion we were so fortified with Indian friends, in whose 
 fidelity we could rely, that a party of hostile Indians could 
 hardly have reached us without our knowledge of their ap 
 proach. 
 
 At the time that the first overt acts of hostility occurred with 
 the Winnebagoes, several hundred Sauks were on their annual 
 visit to Maiden, in Upper Canada, to receive an annuity of 
 presents, a reward for the part they had taken in favour of Eng 
 land in the last war between that country and the United States. 
 The country of the Sauks adjoined that of the Winnebagoes. 
 Hearing, in the vicinity of Detroit, of the disturbances in their 
 neighbourhood, they hastened home. Eleven passed hastily on 
 before the main body. 
 
 On the 4th of August, the main body of them encamped 
 about five miles from Carey, and very early on the following 
 morning two chiefs, Nepop, and Kukekamaquau, the latter a 
 war chief, with a highly ornamented war club, called to see us, 
 as they said, in behalf of the whole company. As they ap 
 proached our door, they showed signs of fear, which we took 
 measures to remove. Our conversation turned on the subject 
 of the difficulties between the Winnebagoes and the whites, and 
 we urged upon them the propriety, of their remaining neutral. 
 They declared their fears that on their journey home they might 
 fall in with soldiers, or other white men of hostile feelings, from 
 whom they might receive ill usage, and requested a line, stating 
 that they had passed peaceably through our neighbourhood, and 
 requesting that they might be treated as friends by any whites 
 whom they might chance to meet. They also asked for a piece 
 of white cloth, which they might use as a flag of peace, should 
 occasion require. These reasonable requests were cheerfully 
 granted. 
 
 On their arrival, they lost no time in exhibiting a certifi 
 cate favourable to the character of one of them, obtained at the 
 Department of War, in Washington, in 1824, and also a line 
 from two of the white settlers near Detroit, saying they had 
 passed through peaceably. They appeared much gratified to 
 learn that they probably would not be molested on their way. 
 Nepop said, " I am glad that there is no danger of the white 
 people attacking us, for if they were to strike us, we should 
 40 
 
314 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 return the blow. We fought very hard against the long knives 
 [citizens of the United States] in the last war, and they came 
 near killing me. There," said he, putting his finger on his fore 
 head, " a white man's bullet struck me, and had well nigh taken 
 my life." The scar indicated a very narrow escape, sure 
 enough. The conduct of our Putawatomie neighbours during 
 these transactions was very much to their credit and to our satis 
 faction, and we had reason to believe that the pains we took to 
 preserve the Indians unhurt, had times become worse, by pro 
 moting peace, elevated the character of the missionaries in their 
 estimation very much. 
 
 A few days after the Sauks had passed on, Pocagin and his 
 wife visited us, bringing with them an Indian boy, apparently 
 about eleven years of age, supposed to be a Naudowisse 
 (Sioux) whom they had purchased of the Sauks. Pocagin hav 
 ing heard that in divers villages of the Putawatomies the Sauks 
 had been offering a person for sale, went to them and proposed 
 purchasing. He gave for the boy three horses, saddles, and 
 bridles, and other property equal in value to a fourth horse. 
 The boy had been taken prisoner by the Sauks, and illy treated. 
 Several scars on him were pointed out to us, occasioned by the 
 blows of a cruel old woman to whom he had belonged. In 
 making the purchase, it seemed that Pocagin had been actu 
 ated, in a good degree, by humane motives. He said that 
 many of his own children were dead, and the living being few 
 in number, he had redeemed this captive to adopt into his own 
 family. In evidence of the sincerity of our commendation of this 
 praiseworthy deed, we presented the boy with a couple of gar 
 ments, ot which we perceived he was still in want. 
 
 Pocagin, who is a Putawatomie chief of respectability, as 
 sured us that the Sauks frequently killed their prisoners, after 
 they had been a considerable time captives ; and what rendered 
 the account shocking in the extreme was, that they ate the 
 flesh of the victims. He said that two years previously, while 
 the Sauks were making their annual journey to Canada, an Osage 
 man, who was a prisoner, when sitting in his tent unconscious 
 of danger, was approached by two Sauks, who, taking him by 
 the two arms, conducted him out of the company and killed 
 him. A woman afterwards cut him to pieces, and boiled the 
 flesh, and it was eaten by the party. These horrid deeds are 
 not done on account of hunger, but they are the effect of super 
 stition. They are considered evidences of bravery, and are sup 
 posed to inspire the eater with additional courage. 
 
 Pocagin also informed us that one year before, when the 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 315 
 
 Sauks were on their way to Canada, they were about to sacri 
 fice a young man, who was a prisoner, and that he overheard 
 them as they were devising his death, and made his escape. 
 This year the claimant of the fugitive was not in company, but 
 had enjoined it on others to endeavour to retake his captive ; 
 and in event of their getting him again, he directed that he 
 should be murdered in a manner too shocking to be here de 
 scribed. Our very natures, revolting at the thought that human 
 beings could be thus savage, would fain have furnished grounds 
 for disbelieving these horrid tales. But we were compelled to 
 believe that it was such a people as this that we laboured to 
 improve. From well attested facts, the recital of which was no 
 less shocking than the above, we are constrained to believe that 
 the Putawatomies, Ottawas, Chippewas, and Miamies, the tribes 
 among whom we laboured, have all been guilty of cannibalism. 
 We do not mean that human flesh was eaten for the sake of 
 food ; this we presume never has been done by any people, 
 except in extreme cases of suffering. If the accounts of the 
 Indians can be credited, the last war between England and the 
 United States, in which Indians were mercenaries on both sides, 
 was disgraced by cannibalism, the last instance of which we have 
 been informed, occurred near Fort Meigs, on the Maumee river, 
 in 1813. Deeds, the enormity of which cannot be described, 
 we know have been done in the country about us. What else 
 can be expected from depraved human beings, unrestrained by 
 law? 
 
 Whatever else, whether good or bad, we had occasion to 
 notice among the people of our charge, the disorders on account 
 of intemperance were ever prominent. Two murders about 
 this time were committed on the Tiaukakeek river, and Mr. 
 Potts, the sub-agent, found it necessary to interpose to prevent 
 others following, from a spirit of revenge. A few days after the 
 Putawatomies received their annuity at Chicago, in July, 1827, 
 three murders were committed, one of which was within a mile 
 of our house ; a fourth murder occurred a while after : all were 
 the effects of whiskey, distributed to them by our white neigh 
 bours. About the same time, the son of an Indian named Owl, 
 was murdered near us, in which wicked deed a son of the 
 chief, Chebass, acted a conspicuous part. The murderer a 
 short time after set fire to the house of Shak-wauk-shuk, one 
 of our near neighbours, in which several others resided besides 
 his own family, and destroyed all the property it contained. 
 They appealed to us, and we afforded them some relief in their 
 destitute condition. 
 
316 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 One of Shak-wauk-shuk's wives was a sister to the murderer. 
 She very unconcernedly said that her brother had become so 
 troublesome that the Indians were about to look for him and kill 
 him. A few hours afterwards, Chebass, the chief, called on us, 
 and said he was in great distress ; that a council was to be held 
 on the following day, when the family of the late murdered 
 man would demand vengeance on his son, who had participated 
 in the murder. He said he would take a horse to the council, 
 as an atonement for the offence of his son, and by the price of 
 atonement he would suspend a flag of white cloth, which we 
 gave him at his request. The culprit and the price of atone 
 ment would be placed near each other, and the avengers would 
 make their choice of one or the other. He awaited the decision 
 in an agony of hope and fear; and equal to his anxiety must 
 have been his joy, when it was decided that the offender should 
 not be executed. 
 
 It was at this time deemed expedient for Mr. Meeker to join 
 Mr. Slater at Grand river, and on the 20th of August he and I 
 set out for that station. Late rains had swollen the St. Joseph's 
 river, so that our horses had to swim it. At night, on account 
 of the unpleasantness of lodging on the ground, which was very 
 wet, we turned a little from our way, and took shelter in an In 
 dian hut. The inmates took great pains to show kindness to 
 us. A little scaffold, above which was a temporary shed, was 
 pointed out to us for our sleeping place. Here we were so an 
 noyed by fleas, that Mr. Meeker soon retreated to a scaffold 
 erected for the purpose of drying corn, some ten feet from the 
 ground ; the enemies of his comfort, however, were not avoided 
 by the change of place. The little settlement had made pre 
 paration for a dance. They appeared to delay entering upon 
 their exercises awhile, to allow us to fall asleep. They con 
 tinued drumming, dancing, and singing, until near daylight ; so 
 that between the noise which was in a house adjoining us, and 
 the insects, which treated us with less ceremony, we slept none. 
 
 Mingling with uncivilized Indians, especially in warm wea 
 ther, is exceedingly unpleasant. All filthy vermin with which 
 persons are liable to be infested, when little or no regard is paid 
 to cleanliness, abound among them. On our visits to their 
 houses, for want of a chair, a blanket is commonly spread for 
 us to sit upon, and the consequence very often is an accumula 
 tion of filthy vermin, of which it is difficult to rid our garments. 
 This was also a source of much vexation and labour in regard 
 to our schools. Relatives and acquaintances, on visits, would 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 317 
 
 mingle among our scholars, and divide with them their offensive 
 vermin. 
 
 Want of attention to their persons, in regard to cleanliness, 
 occasions uncivilized Indians to be subject to cutaneous erup 
 tions, especially the itch. With all the caution, by the mission 
 aries, which it was possible to observe, the children of the school 
 would frequently contract this disagreeable disease, by mingling 
 with their acquaintances ; and to suppress it among a family of 
 sixty or seventy Indian children was not a light matter. 
 
 On the second night of our journey, as we lay in camp on the 
 bank of Kekenmazoo river, 1 was taken very sick. We were, 
 however, able to reach Thomas on the evening of the following 
 day. 
 
 The establishment at this time appeared to be exerting a 
 salutary influence all around. We were welcomed by the 
 neighbouring Indians, who flocked in to see us, and we had 
 much interesting conversation with them, both in council and 
 on other occasions ; most of all, we were gratified to hear them 
 express a desire to receive religious instruction. A lively dispo 
 sition to improve their condition was manifested in many villages, 
 and some were indeed becoming quite comfortable, both in re 
 spect to food and raiment. Noonday's village, which was near 
 the mission premises, was increasing in population, and improv 
 ing in regard to the character of buildings. They had twenty- 
 four acres of land well fenced, and most of it in a good state of 
 cultivation ; and at Blackskin's village, they had twelve acres 
 fenced. 
 
 On the 27th of August, 1827, a considerable number of the 
 neighbouring Ottawas called at Thomas to pay their respects, 
 on my leaving the place for Carey, on which occasion I intro 
 duced Mr. Meeker to them, as the superintendent of the station, 
 and as a licensed preacher. With this they appeared to be 
 much gratified the more so because they discovered that he 
 could read to them religious discourses in the Ottawa language. 
 
 I was on the eve of setting out, when they desired me to 
 tarry a short time, until they could bestow on Mr. Meeker a 
 name. They conferred with me privately on the propriety of 
 the measure, and on the suitableness of a name which they had 
 proposed among themselves. We then all became seated, in a 
 serious manner, as if a matter of great moment had been on 
 hand, when the old chief, Blackskin, arose and shook the hand 
 of all the whites, both male and female ; then turning to me, 
 said, " My brother, it is nothing bad that I am now about to say. 
 We are all pleased that you have brought this young man to 
 
318 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 live with us ; we are happy to hear that he is a speaker of 
 things that are good. It is difficult for us to pronounce his 
 English name, and we therefore desire to give him an Indian 
 name. We have decided that his name shall be Mano'-keke- 
 toh' [He that speaks good words, or, a preacher of righteous 
 ness.] We have given him a good name ; we hope he will 
 remain with us, to teach us and our children good things, so that 
 our children will be benefited, and be worthy of good names 
 which you will give them." He concluded by giving Mr. 
 Meeker the hand, addressing him by his new name. I made a 
 brief response, and also gave Mr. Meeker the hand, under ad 
 dress of his new name. On similar occasions of conferring a 
 name among themselves, the recipient, or one, of his friends, is 
 expected to give a feast ; we were happy that this part of the 
 ceremony could be dispensed with upon the present occasion. 
 
 We had no physicians near us, which often occasioned great 
 anxiety. In August, Mrs. Simerwell made a visit to Thomas, 
 on account of the indisposition of Mrs. Slater, from which she 
 returned, in the company of her husband, in September. Mrs. 
 Simerwell and her infant both came home sick of fever ; they 
 had been much exposed to rains on the way, and were some 
 times thoroughly drenched. One day the poor child had its 
 paroxysm of ague and fever in the woods, when its clothes 
 were thoroughly wetted with rains. They also brought the un 
 pleasant 'intelligence that a diarrhoea, which existed in that coun 
 try when I was last there, and of which I had suffered, had 
 increased to an epidemic. Several deaths had occurred ; Mr. 
 Slater and six of the pupils were sick, and studies in school had 
 been suspended. During these afflictions, Noonday invited the 
 missionaries to visit the sick, and converse and pray. He also 
 lectured his people himself, on the propriety of forsaking wicked 
 ways, which gave offence to the Great Spirit, and of attending 
 to the instructions of the missionaries. We were frequently 
 called upon for medicine, and we knew that it was necessary to 
 administer it with great caution. We could not depend upon 
 their fidelity in following a prescription ; and if the patient should 
 die, we were liable to be blamed. Their own conjuring physi 
 cians frequently forfeited their lives by an unsuccessful case. 
 In the time of this general sickness at Grand river, Mr. Meeker 
 gave an emetic to a child, which died while under the influence 
 of the medicine. When he issued the medicine, he was not 
 aware that the child was so near its end. Notwithstanding no 
 blame ought to have been attached to Mr. Meeker, the Indians 
 felt unpleasant, and on that account the missionaries felt more 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 319 
 
 so ; they could not tell how far these ignorant people would be 
 influenced by their superstition. The parents of the child claimed 
 of the missionaries burying clothes, with as much confidence as 
 if the child had been, destroyed by design. In these requests 
 the missionaries gratified them, and, by a steady and prudent 
 course, nothing prejudicial to the mission ensued. 
 
 On the Hth of September, 1827, his Excellency Lewis Cass 
 and suit arrived at Carey, for the purpose of holding a treaty 
 with ourPutawatomie neighbours, whom, by runners sent before 
 him, he had assembled at our house. At this treaty, several 
 small reservations, on the north side of the St. Joseph's, were 
 consolidated in one; five hundred dollars worth of goods were 
 paid them, and an annuity of twenty-five hundred dollars. 
 About half a dozen traders, and some others who had nothing 
 to sell except whiskey, placed themselves, for the time, near 
 the Indians' encampment, and not much more than a mile from 
 us. In about twenty-four hours after the Indians had received 
 their money, the dealers had relieved them of it, and broken up 
 their temporary store encampments, and left the place. Such 
 is the facility with which an Indian can rid himself of the burden 
 of carrying his money. 
 
 By personal services and the sale of some of the products of 
 our farm, &LC., this treaty was made to benefit the mission more 
 than four hundred dollars, which our .pressing want of funds, 
 for the purpose of paying debts, made very acceptable. But 
 we believed that the greatest benefits to the mission on account 
 of the treaty arose from the opportunity afforded us of making 
 known our plans and wishes fully to Governour Cass, and to 
 General Tipton, United States' Indian agent. The United 
 States' agent for the examination of Indian schools, J. L. 
 Lieb, Esq., was secretary to the commissioner at the treaty, and 
 took this opportunity of making his annual examination of the 
 establishment. All three of these gentlemen tendered their 
 services in future, in the promotion of our views. 
 
 We were much gratified with the privilege of seeing in our 
 house Governour Cass, who had been a kind of patron of our 
 institution from its origin, and to whom we felt under great obli 
 gations for many attentions and positive favours. The female 
 department of the school was at that time taught by my eldest 
 daughter, scarcely grown. His Excellency visited both depart 
 ments, and made himself acquainted with our whole routine of 
 business ; and the interest which he evidently took in these ex 
 aminations, and his readiness to promote the interests of the 
 institution, were very flattering. 
 
320 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 From him we ascertained that at the late treaty at Green 
 Bay, which I had desired to attend, a provision had been 
 made for educational purposes. We immediately conceived 
 the design of availing ourselves of the application of this annu 
 ity, by establishing a mission on Fox river, about eighty miles 
 west of Green Bay. In effecting this object, we were assured 
 of the co-operation of Governour Cass. We hoped that we 
 should be able to procure missionaries, and the means of sup 
 port were already provided for. The measure we thought 
 might facilitate the formation of a missionary establishment at 
 Sault de St. Marie, as we had for some time desired. But 
 if a preference ought to be given to one of the two sites pro 
 posed, we believed that that on Fox river was entitled to it. 
 Sanguine as were our hopes of success at this time, we never 
 found missionaries to improve the opening, and our plans failed 
 for want of men to carry them into operation. 
 
 While I had resided at Grand river, measures had covertly 
 been taken, by some of our white neighbours, to obtain an order 
 from Governour Cass to remove the public smithery from under 
 our charge. Without our knowledge, a communication had 
 been made to him on the subject, to which he had paid no 
 attention, so that our enemies effected nothing more than an 
 expression of their malicious feelings. 
 
 Mr. Simerwell was by trade a cutler. Soon after he arrived 
 at Carey, he had the magnanimity to consent to be the superin 
 tendent of our public smithery, for which he was eminently 
 qualified. We obtained for him a commission as United States' 
 blacksmith, on account of which he received a salary of three 
 hundred and sixty five dollars per annum, all of which he, like 
 those of the other missionaries who received salaries from the 
 Government, threw into the common missionary account, as 
 money belonging to the board, and to be accounted for by a 
 report of our common expenditures. We commonly kept an 
 other smith, hired by ourselves, to labour in the shop, for the 
 relief of Mr. Simerwell. This hired man we obtained for less 
 than Mr. SimerwelPs salary; so that there was a positive saving 
 of upwards of one hundred dollars a year from this source, 
 which constituted one of the items of income by which the 
 mission was supported. When we had not a hired smith in 
 the shop, Mr. Simerwell laboured in it himself, and, in very 
 pressing times for smith work, by the necessities of the people 
 of our charge, he laboured in conjunction with the hired smith. 
 
 Some other insidious attempts had been made to deprive our 
 mission of some streams of support for which we had laboured 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 82 1 
 
 at the treaty of 1826. In conference on these things with Go- 
 vernour Cass and J. L. Leib, Esq., at the late treaty, they 
 both advised that 1 should visit Washington during the next 
 session of Congress, and endeavour to make such arrangements 
 with the Department of Indian Affairs as the circumstances of 
 the mission called for. 
 
 Our expenses were heavy. Besides the seventy Indian chil 
 dren to be supported and educated at Carey, we had to con 
 trive to meet the expenses of the Thomas station. All supplies 
 for that place, except what they could make on the ground, 
 were sent from Carey, usually in periogues or a barge, by water. 
 Accidents by winds and water sometimes befel them, and oc 
 casioned great loss, and added distressingly to the expense. 
 
 About the time of the late treaty we received in charge fif 
 teen valuable cattle, sent to us by order of the Superintendent 
 of Indian Affairs, to distribute to the Ottawas, in -further fulfil 
 ment of the treaty of 1821. 
 
 Feeling it to be a duty we owed to our children to send them 
 a portion of the time to school in the white settlements, and 
 without a settled home ourselves, my wife and I had been much 
 deprived of their society. In the mission journals the following 
 note in reference to our family appears for September 21st, 
 1827: "This evening arrived my three sons, on a visit from 
 Lexington, Kentucky, where they have been pursuing their 
 studies. It has been years since I and my poor wife have had 
 all our children together. This afternoon we have the satisfac 
 tion of seeing all our living children present. For this great 
 favour, after years of anxious separation, we record our grati 
 tude to God, our heavenly father." 
 
 On the llth of October Mr. Lykins had an alarming attack 
 of inflammation in the ear, attended with excruciating pain and 
 delirium. For a few days we had reason to fear that his labours 
 were ended ; but the Lord had mercy on him, and on us, and on 
 those for whom he has since been allowed to labour. 
 
 The time now drew near when, according to our own views of 
 expediency, and the advice of our friends, Governour Cass and 
 Judge Leib, I should take my journey to the eastern States. I 
 had written what would make about fifty large octavo pages, enti 
 tled " Remarks on Indian Reform ;" the principal design of which 
 was to show the practicability of Indian reform, the obligations 
 which devolved upon us to carry it forward, and the measures 
 which ought to be adopted for its accomplishment. In this, the 
 location of the tribes in a permanent home west of the State of 
 Missouri, was particularly urged as a measure essential to suc- 
 41 
 
322 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 cess. To get this work printed and before the public was a 
 prominent object contemplated by the journey. I also hoped 
 to prevail on the board to present a memorial to Congress, in 
 favour of colonizing the Indians. Should they not consent, I 
 designed to endeavour to form a connection with a society 
 which I hoped nlight be originated for that special purpose ; in 
 this event, my connection with the existing board of missions 
 would have been dissolved. 
 
 It appeared to us that the time had arrived when it became 
 indispensable to make a vigorous effort to obtain some provision 
 for the settlement of the fruit of our schools, and of the people 
 of our charge. It seemed next to useless to wear out our lives 
 in teaching youths, who, on the completion of their courses, 
 were to be turned out to mingle with their depraved country 
 men and kindred, while the latter were exposed to all the con 
 taminating influences which emanated from unprincipled white 
 men. We discovered that our Indians could not possibly pros 
 per where they knew they had no settled residence, and where 
 the influx of white population, and with it the introduction of 
 floods of ardent spirits, had already added discouragements to 
 their spiritless minds. 
 
 October 15th, 1827. I took my leave of the station, expect 
 ing to be absent several months. Many circumstances, particu 
 larly the situation of Mrs. McCoy, made these adieus very 
 painful. But the interests of the cause of Indian reform, in 
 which we had embarked, required the sacrifice. I took a man 
 with me, to assist me in travelling through the wilderness to De 
 troit, which place we reached on the eighth day. Four nights 
 of the journey we encamped without a house. From Detroit I 
 sent two hired men to Thomas, and also sent up the lakes, by a 
 schooner, salt, flour, and other articles needed at the station. 
 
 The most important of missionary matters was that which 
 related to the forming of permanent settlements in the West, 
 where the scattered tribes could enjoy the benefit of such civil, 
 religious, and literary institutions, as by the constitution of man's 
 nature, are essential to his prosperity. On reaching the city of 
 New- York, November 7th, 1 was greatly encouraged to find the 
 substantial friend of our mission, the Rev. S. H. Cone, warmly 
 in favour of these measures. He did not content himself by 
 silently approving, as too many do in relation to the Indians, 
 which amounts merely to saying, "be warm and be fed, without 
 my help,'' but he took pleasure in promoting these measures. 
 He had corresponded with other members of the board, and not 
 withstanding some seemed to question the eligibility of the 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 323 
 
 scheme, the approbation of the board officially was justly 
 hoped for. 
 
 1 met the board of missions in Boston, on the 13th of No 
 vember, at which time it resolved that a memorial be presented 
 to the next Congress, praying for the countenance of Govern 
 ment in forming a settlement of Indians in the West. The 
 board having previously appointed me their agent to go to the 
 West on this business when it should be necessary, resolved also 
 to seek from Government a similar appointment for me. The 
 board having examined the manuscript which I had prepared 
 on the subject of Indian reform, resolved that it should be 
 printed, which was done in Boston forthwith. It was issued to 
 the public gratuitously. A copy was given to each member of 
 Congress, and to each of the heads of the Departments, and 
 others distributed in the different States. 
 
 I was in Washington City on the llth of December; and 
 on the 12th, through the Honourable Wilson Lumpkin, of Geor 
 gia, laid before the House of Representatives, the memorial 
 of the board in favour of the organization of an Indian territory. 
 Mr. Adams, President of the United States, and the Honour 
 able James Barbour, Secretary of War, were made acquainted 
 with our plans, and the reasons which had weighed with us, 
 and from each encouraging answers were obtained. On the 
 14th and 28th of December I was allowed interviews with the 
 Committee of the House of Representatives on Indian Affairs, 
 for the purpose of advocating our plans for Indian settlement 
 in the West. I formed a personal acquaintance with more than 
 thirty members of Congress, the greater part of whom were 
 favourable to our designs. From the Hon. William McLean, 
 Hon. W. Lumpkin, Hon. R. M. Johnson, and Hon. W. Hen- 
 dricks, I received much assistance. 
 
 While there were encouraging circumstances attending this 
 matter, there were many of a contrary character. It was easily 
 perceived, that while many were willing to make the experi 
 ment, from motives of humanity towards the Indians, they 
 doubted the possibility of rescuing the aboriginal race from 
 extermination. Many gentlemen who offered to aid in, any fair 
 experiment for the improvement of the Indians, and whose 
 polite attentions and prompt assistance brought me under very 
 great obligations, frankly told me that they believed the Indian 
 race was destined to become extinct. It was our duty to adopt 
 all feasible measures for their preservation, but all would fail. 
 Among objections to the formation of an Indian territory, was one 
 ,on the part of the non-slaveholding States, relative to the form- 
 
324 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 * 
 
 ation of new States in the West. When Missouri was admitted 
 into the Union, it was, by way of compromise, agreed upon be 
 tween the parties, for and against slavery, that thereafter no State 
 tolerating slavery, should be formed north of north latitude 36 
 30', which was the parallel of the southern boundary of the 
 State of Missouri. In the formation of an Indian territory in 
 the West, a portion of the country north of this line would be 
 assigned to the Indian tribes, and, consequently, the number of 
 non-slaveholding Slates would ultimately be curtailed. A ma 
 jority, however, seemed not opposed to tribes removing west 
 upon the same parallels of latitude which they respectively 
 occupied on the east of the Mississippi river. The two parties 
 which are necessarily formed in our Government upon the sub 
 ject of slavery have continued from that time to this) to mani 
 fest great tenacity for what each esteems its rights ; the non- 
 slaveholding States opposing every measure which they sup 
 pose would introduce Southern Indians on to their side of the 
 line compromised, and the southern States as warmly opposing 
 the filling up of the country on the south side of the line, with 
 Indians from the north. The Indians, when located in the West, 
 were not expected by either party to become citizens of the 
 United States, and it was contemplated that white cititizens would 
 be excluded from the Indian territory. 
 
 Not long before the time of which we are speaking, the 
 Cherokees formed for themselves a written constitution of a 
 civil form of Government. They declared their right to govern 
 themselves, and to control their own territory, and their deter 
 mination never to alienate their lands. This circumstance 
 aroused the State of Georgia, within whose limits most of the 
 Cherokees resided, to assert what she esteemed, and other 
 States had conceded to be her right to control all within her 
 chartered limits. The agitation of this subject had an impor 
 tant bearing upon the matter of forming an Indian territory. It 
 was evident, from many considerations, which will receive no 
 tice hereafter, that the result would be, the removal of the 
 Cherokees to the West. 
 
 The scheme of an Indian territory contemplated the location 
 in it of all the tribes east of the Mississippi river; which, added 
 to the indigenous tribes of that country, would make about one 
 hundred and forty thousand souls. Doubts were felt by very 
 many, whether so great a number could be advantageously set 
 tled within the country that was available for that object. A 
 very imperfect knowledge of the country at that time prevailed 
 in the United States. It was known that it was generally a 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 325 
 
 prairie country. It had never been examined with a view to 
 settlement, and according to the reports of those who had hastily 
 passed across it to the Rocky mountains, and by those who had 
 traversed it on the business of the fur trade, its resources in 
 wood, water, and soil, were such as would render it inadequate 
 to the purposes contemplated. 
 
 The doubts which surrounded this subject, with regard to the 
 character and resources of the country, occasioned painful anxiety 
 to some who felt a deep interest in the salvation of these wretch 
 ed people. All experience proved that they could not prosper 
 when mixed up with or when hemmed in by white population. 
 A country of their own, and occupied exclusively by themselves, 
 was essential to their happiness, and even to their existence as 
 a people. No other place than the one under consideration 
 would answer the purpose. The northern regions, owned by 
 the United States, would be too cold for the southern Indians, 
 and they would there be pressed by white population as com 
 merce on the lakes advanced. The objection noticed already, 
 of the northern States, to filling with an Indian population a 
 portion of the country, all of which they desired should be 
 inhabited by a non-slaveholding population of citizens of the 
 United States, would apply with full force, and their proximity 
 to a foreign Government would be a ground of objection to all 
 the States. If, therefore, the country west of the Mississippi 
 should be inadequate, it appeared to some, that the fate of the 
 Indians on our borders and within the States must be considered 
 as sealed they must perish ! 
 
 About the year 1818, a portion of the Cherokees, supposed 
 to be about three thousand in number, by a treaty agreement 
 with the United States, had, at different times, left the main 
 body of the Cherokees on the east of the Mississippi, and had 
 obtained a settlement on the Arkansas river. The object of their 
 removal west, as stated in the treaty, was not to promote habits 
 of civilized life, but to follow their hunting and other wild habits 
 unembarrassed by the presence of a civilized population. 
 
 On the Arkansas they were soon overtaken and were sur 
 rounded by white population ; and in 1828 they again treated 
 with the United States, and changed their place for that occu 
 pied by white people on their west. The white population, on 
 a strip of country forty miles wide, extending in length, north 
 and south, on the west border of the Territory of Arkansas, 
 removed to the interior, on to what had belonged to the Chero 
 kees, and the latter went west on to this strip, of which, the 
 eastern boundary was made the western boundary of the Ter- 
 
326 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 ritory of Arkansas ; so that the Cherokees were now not only 
 west of white settlements, but west of the States and Terri 
 tories. 
 
 The motives which induced the location of these Cherokees 
 in this western settlement were precisely the reverse of those 
 which now prompted the desire to furnish the Indians with a 
 peaceable and prosperous home. Their repeated removals 
 were, on their part, to avoid embarrassment to their uncultivated 
 habits by the proximity of civilization ; and on the part of the 
 Government, it was but a continuation of the unjust policy 
 always practised, of removing the Indians further, to make room 
 for while settlements. Under similar circumstances, small por 
 tions of the Choctaws and Creeks had made settlements on 
 Red river and Arkansas river. About the same time, [1828,] 
 the Shavvanoes, Weas, Piankashas, Peorias, and Kaskias, com 
 menced settlements on their respective tracts of land within the 
 Indian territory. 
 
 In 1827, Col. Thomas L. McKenney held negotiations with 
 the Chickasaws, by which it was agreed that a delegation from 
 that tribe should explore the country west of the Mississippi, 
 with a view to the selection of a future home, should they be 
 satisOed with the country. He also made arrangements for a 
 delegation from the Choctaws, to examine the country assigned 
 to that tribe, and in which a very few of the Choctaws were 
 then living, with a view to the removal ultimately of the whole 
 tribe. Also, a delegation of Creeks were to visit, for like pur 
 poses, their kindred in the West. These explorations were to 
 be made under the supervision and at the expense of the Uni 
 ted States. 
 
 The arrangements thus made for explorations were condi 
 tional, the completion of which depended upon the future action 
 of Congress. In December, 1827, a resolution was offered to 
 the House of Representatives, inquiring into the expediency of 
 making appropriations to encourage some of the southern tribes 
 to remove. The result was, that Congress made an appropria 
 tion to meet the expense of explorations, and the same was 
 ordered by the President to be made the following year. The 
 vote on the question of this appropriation was so close in the 
 House of Representatives, that there was a majority of only ten 
 votes in its favour. The conduct of the exploration was com 
 mitted to Capt. George Kennedy, of St. Louis, Missouri, and my 
 self. I was no sooner informed that I should be employed, than 
 J asked leave to take with me also a delegation of Putawatomies, 
 and another of the Ottawas, and to be allowed the privilege of 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 327 
 
 making a more extensive survey of the country than was neces 
 sary in reference to the three southern tribes. This request was 
 granted, for which, and for the favour of a commission to perform 
 a service upon which I had long desired to enter, and which 
 had been contemplated in my appointment by the board of mis 
 sions, as its agent in services in the West, I was under great 
 obligations to Col. McKenney, in whom, after my first acquaint 
 ance, I always found a friend while he continued in office. 
 
 We had felt, to our grief, that the work upon which we had 
 entered was more difficult than we had at first anticipated. We 
 had supposed that missionaries, competent to sustain the work 
 of Indian reform, would not be wanting; in this we had been 
 disappointed. We knew that the influx of white population 
 would crowd us out of that country, but we did not expect that 
 the torrent would have overwhelmed our affairs so soon, and not 
 until we had made some suitable preparation for the better loca 
 tion of our people. With the board of missions we had reasoned 
 and entreated in favour of seeking a better situation for the In 
 dians, nearly five years before any efficient measure, or one 
 positively affecting the matter, had been taken. Its first actual 
 effort was the presentation of its memorial to Congress. With 
 the Government and political men we had respectfully laboured 
 the same length of time, and we now found the matter no fur 
 ther advanced than the authorizing of an exploration of the 
 country. But great as were our discouragements, on account of 
 the accumulation of evils around our station, and the tardiness 
 of the public in acting, there remained to us no alternative but 
 either to see all our hopes frustrated, or to persevere in efforts 
 for a settlement in the West. The board of missions was not 
 disposed to incur any expense on account of this enterprise; 
 all that we could hope for from it was its approbation, by which 
 our influence on the subject elsewhere might be increased. 
 
 Before I left Washington, Mr. H. Lincoln, Treasurer of the 
 board, came to aid in the promotion of our plans on Indian mat 
 ters. I departed from Washington on the llth of February, 
 1828, and, after an uncommonly disagreeable time on that part 
 of the journey which lay through the wilderness, on account of 
 rain, high water, and cold, arrived at Carey on the 21st. In 
 my absence, three deaths had occurred in the Indian part of the 
 mission family. The increasing evils arising from the proximity 
 of white population, especially those attending the introduction 
 of ardent spirits, showed the necessity of the measures we had 
 been pursuing for a removal of the Indians. We knew that our 
 labours there must, from that time forward, be almost wholly 
 
328 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 unavailing. A blacksmith, whom I had sent to Thomas from 
 Detroit, as I was on my way to the East, had become dissi 
 pated, and had induced our friend Gosa, who had abstained 
 almost wholly for about three years, again to drink, and great 
 difficulties almost daily occurred, on account of ardent spirits. 
 Under the torrent of evils beating upon them, we perceived that 
 the Indians around us were rapidly diminishing in numbers. 
 
 While I was absent, the situation of Mrs. McCoy having ren 
 dered medical aid indispensable, a hired white man, and our 
 third son, only a boy, set out for Fort Wayne on that errand. 
 They swam their horses twice across the St. Joseph's river, 
 crossing themselves in canoes. When they reached Elksheart 
 river, about fifty miles from Carey, they found it very high ; 
 they encamped on its bank until the following day, when, the 
 stream still remaining full, they formed the imprudent resolution 
 to swim it. One of their horses was thought unable to carry 
 his rider through ; they therefore put on him most of the bag 
 gage which was necessary in travelling through the wilderness. 
 Their plan was for the young man to ride the stronger horse 
 across, while my son drove in the poor one, in the hope that he 
 would follow ; after which, it was hoped that the strong horse 
 could be induced to swim back, and that my son could mount 
 him, and swim him across to his travelling companion. The 
 man and horse got across, but the pack-horse, being unwilling 
 to encounter the stream, turned down it, and, after losing his 
 load, saddle, and all, with difficulty got out on the same side. 
 My son plunged into the river, to endeavour to save some of 
 the baggage, but was unsuccessful. The young man, then at 
 tempting to return on his strong horse, became disengaged from 
 him, and with difficulty swam ashore. The horse came out, 
 but without his saddle. They now found themselves on the 
 same side on which they had commenced their enterprise, but 
 without provisions to eat, or a blanket to make them comfort 
 able in sleep. Without saddles, they went twelve miles to a 
 trading house, where they found a canoe, to which they fastened 
 one of their horses, and dragged it back to the place of the dis 
 aster, and made an unsuccessful search for their lost property. 
 They then returned the canoe by the same difficult means, and, 
 after a fruitless absence of seven days, returned to Carey. 
 Medical aid was subsequently obtained. 
 
 On the 17th of February, Miss Eleanor Richardson, of Cin 
 cinnati, Ohio, arrived at the Thomas station, in the capacity of 
 a missionary. At the same time, Mr. David Richardson, from 
 the same place, united with the missionaries, with the design of 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 S29 
 
 labouring at the same station, but he remained no longer than 
 till the 1st of July following, at which time he retired from the 
 missionary field. 
 
 On the 27th of February, 1828, Mr. Lykins was married to 
 my eldest daughter; he was the Government teacher for the 
 station among the Ottawas, but that station being an appendage 
 of the station on the St. Joseph's, our labours were applied, as 
 our mutual necessities seemed to require, without much regard 
 to place or office. In my absence, Mr. Meeker and Mr. Slater 
 had laboured at Thomas, and Mr. Lykins at Carey. 
 
 Soon after my return from Washington, it appeared necessary 
 for me to visit Thomas. Accompanied only by my little son, 
 on the 24th of March I set out, and swam our horses across the 
 St. Joseph's river. My health was poor, and I became so un 
 well that I deemed it expedient to return, though, in doing so, 
 the inconvenient task of recrossing the river had to be repeated. 
 On the following day we again undertook the journey. Travel 
 ling in these wildernesses, in the colder seasons of the year, 
 was always severe on our horses, on account of the scarcity of 
 grass ; grazing being the only dependance for their subsistence. 
 About Indian villages, or where villages had once been situated,, 
 we often found the blue grass, which affords some grazing at all 
 seasons. On our journey we availed ourselves of a practice, 
 common to us, of seeking those grassy places, though at the 
 expense of turning out of our way. We lodged in one of the 
 bark huts, but the dreariness of those places in winter can hardly 
 be conceived by one who has not visited them: not an indi 
 vidual is to be seen about them, nor any domestic animals, nor 
 any thing which is to be employed for the future use of the un 
 settled owners, on their return at the commencement of warm 
 weather. 
 
 Matters at Thomas, at this time, appeared to be retrograding. 
 The school was reduced to twelve scholars, and some of the 
 neighbouring Indians seemed unfriendly. 1 gave notice of my 
 arrival, and desired to see them. Blackskin, a chief, declined 
 coming ; many others, however, attended, who went away appa 
 rently well satisfied. A Sabbath was spent there comfortably, 
 when the Lord's supper was celebrated for the first time at that 
 ptece. 
 
 On the 1st of April we left Thomas, to return to Carey. In 
 a storm, our horses attempted to escape from camp, and occa 
 sioned an unpleasant jaunt in the night to recover them. On 
 the following night, they caused us to make another brief noc- 
 42 
 
830 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 turnal tour in the woods, at a time when repose would have 
 been more acceptable. 
 
 We were anxious that the board of missions should establish 
 a station at Sault de St. Marie, as has been stated. No mis 
 sionary being found to occupy the place, the subject had been 
 so long delayed that the Department of Indian Affairs had re 
 solved to give the place to another denomination (Episcopalians.) 
 Ascertaining this while I was in Washington, in February, 1828, 
 I renewed our application for the occupancy of that place, and 
 offered additional assurances that we would not abandon the 
 enterprise. The Department continued to us the privilege we 
 prayed for, and allowed us the further privilege of locating a 
 mile square of land, provided by the treaty, on which the pub 
 lic school was to be established. 
 
 On the 12th of March, we received a joint letter from the 
 Rev. A. Bingham and the Rev. Mr. Stannard, missionaries to 
 a small band of Indians at Tonawanta, in New- York, express 
 ing a wish to unite with us in missionary labours. Mr. Stannard 
 died not long after this. We were much gratified with an op 
 portunity of opening a correspondence with Mr. Bingham, and 
 were not mistaken in hoping that it might eventuate in enabling 
 the board to meet the engagements we had made with the De 
 partment of Indian Affairs, in relation to the establishment of a 
 missionary station at Sault de St. Marie. We wrote the board, 
 without delay, in favour of commencing that station. In 1828, 
 Mr. and Mrs. Bingham were appointed missionaries, by the 
 board, for that station, which they have ever since occupied, with 
 commendable zeal and some success. The station was located 
 near Fort Brady, which is garrisoned as a military post, and not 
 far from a village of two or three hundred Chippewa Indians. 
 In 1830, Miss Eleanor Macomber and Miss Mary Rice were 
 appointed by the board to labour at this station. Both of these 
 females, on account of imperfect health, pretty soon left that 
 place for other fields of labour. Miss Macomber is, at this time, 
 a missionary among the Karens in Burmah. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Cameron was a missionary, whom a Protest 
 ant Episcopal missionary society had sent into that country. 
 While there, his views on the subject of baptism, church govern 
 ment, &,c., became changed ; and in 1832 he was baptized by 
 Mr. Bingham, and since that time he has been an efficient 
 coadjutor in missionary labour. 
 
 In 1832 Mr. Bingham had gathered a church, of the mem 
 bers of which sixteen were natives, and to which a considerable 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 331 
 
 number of natives have since been added. Ministerial labours 
 have also been extended to the garrison with good effect, Mr. 
 Bingharn performing the office of chaplain ; and not a few of 
 both officers and privates have become hopefully pious. A 
 school in English is kept in operation at the station, containing 
 about thirty scholars, about one half of whom are natives, who 
 are supported at the mission. A temperance society here em 
 braces a very considerable number of members, consisting of 
 persons attached to the garrison, and other white persons, and 
 of Indians. 
 
 Miss Rice, after leaving the station, joined the mission to the 
 Creeks on Arkansas river, within the Indian territory, as will be 
 hereafter noticed; but finding the climate unfavourable, returned 
 to Sault de St. Marie. The missionaries connected with the 
 station at present (1839) are the Rev. A. Bingham, Mrs. Bing- 
 ham, the Rev. J. D. Cameron, A. J. Bingham, Miss Mary 
 Rice, and Shegud, a native. 
 
 Journeys, which are sometimes perilous, are made by the 
 missionaries to distant villages, the privations of which are com 
 pensated by a degree of success. The field, however, is not 
 so encouraging to the missionaries as some others would be. It 
 is a cold and somewhat steril region, along the line between 
 the British possessions in Canada and the United States, and 
 the Indian population along the shores of these lakes is very 
 sparse. The locality and character of the country are such as 
 make it unfavourable to the formation of a colony, or of perma 
 nent settlements of industrious men. The natives will always 
 be greatly exposed to a bad influence, by intercourse with other 
 people. 
 
 In 1838, a proposition was made to some of the people of 
 Mr. Bingharn's charge, to accompany delegations from their 
 kindred lower down the lakes, to the Indian territory, with a 
 view to the selection of a home therein ; but they declined 
 making the tour, preferring to extend their settlements up Lake 
 Superior. This is indeed much to be regretted, because that in 
 those regions they must ever remain unsettled, and exposed to 
 the evils under which the tribes have wasted away between the 
 Mississippi and the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 Murders, and deaths occasioned in other ways by intempe 
 rance, continued to be frequent occurrences about our stations 
 of Carey and Thomas. I find in a note in the mission journals 
 for April 6th, 1828, the following: "Nought but experience 
 could give any one a just idea of our distresses and discourage 
 ments. Our prospects of usefulness in this country are com- 
 
382 
 
 HISTORY Or BAPTIST 
 
 pletely blighted ; the wretched Indians around us, without the 
 hope of hetter condition from any improvements which they 
 may make, daily grow more stupid and indifferent to every thing 
 like improvement of circumstances in life, or in mind. From 
 intemperance, and other evils resulting from the proximity of 
 white settlements, they are rapidly wasting away. We have 
 little encouragement to visit them in their encampments,* to 
 converse with them on the subject of religion, or upon any other 
 subject. No people could possibly be situated further from the 
 influence of incentives to improvement, than are these, since the 
 approach of white settlements. We are preparing to wind up 
 our affairs here. We shall endeavour to sustain the school, and 
 the labours connected therewith, as respectably as possible, un 
 til the last of the missionaries take up their line of march for 
 the West. We will retrench our farming operations which have 
 been necessary for ou; 1 support, and, as fast as practicable, will 
 dispose of all the property that can possibly be spared from 
 immediate use. We daily feel more and more sensibly the ne 
 cessity of establishing ourselves in the West, if assurances can 
 be obtained from the Government that there the Indians will be 
 allowed to remain" 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Tour of exploration. Pecuniary embarrassments. Tour with 
 Putawatomies and Ottawas. Poverty of the Osages. In 
 dians are not taciturn. The Indian's skill in following 
 foot-prints overrated. Miserable condition of the Kauzaus. 
 Tour with delegations of Creeks, Chickasaws, and Choc- 
 taws. Death of a Creek Indian. Council with Osages ; 
 their buffalo hunts, names, religion, condition, tales, fyc. 
 
 It was the llth of February, 1828, that I left Washing 
 ton, and it was not until the last of June following that we 
 received information that an exploring expedition had been or 
 dered by the Government. The interim was a time of painful 
 suspense. We had, as early as the 1st of April, determined, by 
 permission of Providence, to make a tour of exploration in that 
 country, within that year, even if the Government should not 
 authorize it. In this event, we should have been thrown wholly 
 
 * Excepting some who had advanced considerably in civilization, none 
 remained about their villages in the colder season of the year. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 888 
 
 upon our own responsibilities. The board had formally author 
 ized me to accept of business under Government, but had not 
 authorized any thing in relation to this matter to be undertaken 
 at their cost. For the expense of an exploration, without the 
 help of Government, we should have been obliged to provide ; 
 and this, too, when the mission was in debt more than a thou 
 sand dollars beyond the funds due us for our Government sala 
 ries, &tc. In winding up our operations, however, we hoped to 
 be remunerated by the Government for some of our landed 
 improvements : this income, and something obtained by the sale 
 of property which we could not carry with us, on our removal 
 westward, added to our salaries from the Government, we hoped, 
 would ultimately enable us to pay the debts which would be 
 occasioned by the prosecution of our design. We therefore 
 proceeded to engage Ottawas and Putawatofnies to accompany 
 me on the contemplated tour. 
 
 In the promise that had been made to me that I should be 
 employed, provided the Government should authorize delega 
 tions from the southern tribes, to make a tour of exploration, it 
 had not been intimated to me that any direct action of Govern 
 ment would be had, in order to induce the Putawatomies and 
 Ottawas to send delegations. The Department of Indian Affairs 
 had done ,no more than to promise that, in event of my being 
 employed, I should be at liberty to take some of the Putawato 
 mies and Ottawas ; we therefore did not hope for any action on 
 the part of the Government, to induce these tribes to send dele 
 gations. They knew that the subject of an Indian settlement 
 in the West was contemplated, and it was natural for them to 
 feel averse to removal ; and the sending of delegations to explore 
 a country, with a view to their future settlement therein, would 
 seem to imply that they had in some degree consented to re 
 move. Under all these circumstances, it seemed improbable 
 that they would be inclined to send delegations. 
 
 Application, therefore, was not made to the respective tribes 
 for an official act of sending delegations ; but while we spoke of 
 the matter publicly, and sometimes in council, it was submitted 
 as a matter for the consideration of individuals. If any would 
 choose to accompany me, I should be pleased to have them do 
 so. Notwithstanding the loss of time to them was no object, 
 yet, as they would go without any certainty that they should 
 profit by the journey as it regarded future settlement, not hav 
 ing agreed to remove, they demanded some reward. On such 
 occasions, presents must be given to Indians. On this occasion, 
 I made specific agreements with them for the amount they 
 
334 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 should receive, in addition to all travelling and other incidental 
 expenses, and the needful clothing, horses, saddles, &c. 
 
 I employed Naoqua Keshuck, (or Noonday,) Gosa, and We- 
 sauogana, from among the Ottawas, Magaukvvok, Shawaunuk- 
 wuk, and Baptist Chadonois, from among the Putavvatomies. 
 The latter was a half Indian, and served as interpreter. Having 
 engaged these men, we commenced our preparations for the 
 journey, purchasing horses, &ic., all before I knew that the Go 
 vernment would order an expedition, and if it should not, with 
 a design to make it at our own cost. 
 
 On the 30th day of June, 1828, a commission from the De 
 partment of Indian Affairs reached me, dated the 10th of the 
 same month. This commission stated, " You are at liberty to 
 take with you three Putawatomies, and, if necessary, an inter 
 preter." I had three Ottawas also in readiness, and chose not to 
 disappoint them, though I was not authorized to take them with 
 me. The Government, however, without hesitation, afterwards 
 sanctioned this measure. 
 
 Some mischievous white men who had intercourse with the 
 Indians, now undertook to prevent the Indians from accompany 
 ing me. They told them frightful tales respecting the country 
 we were about to visit. It was very far off, excessively hot, very 
 unhealthy, and infested with venomous serpents ; I designed to 
 deceive them, and lead them into difficulty ; and, moreover, the 
 tribes residing there would take our scalps. Pocagin, a Putawa- 
 tomie chief, brought a party to see the Ottawa delegation, and 
 endeavoured to dissuade them from accompanying me ; but 
 they could effect nothing. They next came to see me, and 
 told of these dangers of which they had heard, &c., and, accord 
 ing to their figurative mode when speaking of bad news, said, 
 " they had heard a little bird singing the news they spoke of." 
 I replied, that I had heard the notes of the same little bird. I 
 understood them well. " My younger brothers," said I, " a 
 white man has sent you to tell these tales," to which they made 
 no answer. 
 
 About this time a circumstance occurred, calculated to con 
 firm us in the opinion, that of all people, the aborigines are the 
 most friendless. Our letters of correspondence were sometimes 
 published, and elicited relief in supplies of cash and clothing, 
 forwarded by benevolent individuals and societies. The corres 
 ponding secretary requested that our appeals to the benevolent, 
 for aid, should be made to the public through the board ; to 
 which we cheerfully consented. In June, 1828, we received a 
 copy of the proceedings of an annual meeting of the board, held 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 335 
 
 a few weeks previously, and in their minutes honourable notice 
 was taken of the missionaries to the Indians, &c. But in an 
 address to the public, setting forth the wants of the missions, 
 and soliciting pecuniary aid, the board pleaded for Burmah 
 and Africa, and for aid to enable them to establish missions 
 in South America, Greece, and China, and entirely overlooked 
 their Indian stations, as though no help was needed for them ; 
 and, indeed, a pretty plain hint was given, in the proceedings of 
 the board, that Indian stations would be amply supported by the 
 Government. Our accounts were regularly submitted to the 
 board, and our mission was at this time thirteen hundred and 
 fifty dollars in debt, beyond the amount of our salaries and other 
 resources from Government. It seemed to us that too little 
 interest was felt for missions to the Indians. We regretted that 
 while we were making extraordinary exertions against the cur 
 rent of woes which threatened to sweep the natives speedily to 
 destruction, and were in great want of assistance, that we should 
 be left, as it were, alone. Neither missionaries nor means were 
 solicited in behalf of Indian stations, both of which were greatly 
 needed. But, whatever were our discouragements, duty forbid 
 our silence. We therefore wrote an address to the public, 
 dated the 26th of June, 1828, from which the following ex 
 tracts are here inserted : 
 
 "To FRIENDS OF INDIAN REFORM: Pecuniary embarrass 
 ments of the missions at Carey and Thomas compel me at this 
 
 time to appear before you For several years the 
 
 moneyed income to the mission has not been quite equal to the 
 necessary expenditures. The missionaries have done what they 
 could, by personal contrivance and personal exertion, to dimi 
 nish demands upon the common treasury of the board. Provi 
 dence has so far smiled upon their efforts, that for upwards of 
 four years the society which we have the honour to serve has 
 not been tinder the necessity of applying to purposes of this 
 mission one dollar besides moneys received from Government, 
 and moneys designed by benevolent individuals and societies 
 specially for the use of this mission. Even all the money 
 donated for Indian missions generally, without specification, our 
 worthy patrons have been enabled to apply to [Indian] stations 
 more needy than ours. 
 
 " In the course of these four years, however, the generous 
 bequests of Miss Eliza Lincoln, late of Boston, [six hundred 
 dollars,] and of Mrs. Baxter, late of Pomfret, Connecticut, have 
 been received. Also, liberal donations from sundry societies 
 and individuals. 
 
336 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 " Within these four years, some disbursements of a peculiar 
 character have been made. Such were the expenditures of 
 fitting out with clothing, horses, &tc., eight Indian youths con 
 veyed to New- York, to pursue their studies, in 1826, and two 
 others conveyed to Vermont in 1827, and the travelling ex 
 penses of both parties; all of which has been paid out of the 
 mission funds above described. The result has been an ac 
 cumulation of debt upon the mission, of thirteen hundred and 
 fifty dollars beyond its available means. This sum the mission 
 now owes. 
 
 " The perplexities of our secular concerns have been greatly 
 augmented by the necessity of dealing on credit, or of borrow 
 ing money ; the more so, on account of our residence being 
 two hundred miles from a bank, or from individuals who usually 
 accommodate us with loans. 
 
 " None more deeply sympathize with missionaries in Bur- 
 mah and Africa, and those at other stations among the Indians, 
 than we. We would cheerfully divide with them our last loaf, 
 and we would do no more than our duty in placing ourselves 
 foremost among those who were to suffer from want, if such 
 suffering must come. We have known that the funds of the 
 society which we have the pleasure to serve have been low. 
 We have observed what we esteemed a becoming silence, out 
 of respect which we cherished for other missionaries, and on 
 account of the deep solicitude we felt for their happiness and 
 success. But the time has arrived when circumstances imperi 
 ously require us to ask the liberal for aid. 
 
 " If you have a dollar laid by, either in mind or in purse, for 
 Burmah, for Africa, or for other stations than ours, among the 
 aborigines of our country, we do not solicit, nor will we know 
 ingly accept one cent of it. But we believe that, without 
 lessening in the smallest degree the streams of benevolence 
 which water those thirsty places, there are persons who, on 
 becoming acquainted with our wants, will delight to make us 
 glad and grateful by their gifts. To such this appeal is respect- 
 fully, prayerfully, fervently made. It is done in behalf of 
 scores of lovely youths in our schools, in behalf of a suffering 
 people whose friends are too few. Can you help us ? will you 
 
 lle 'P US? ;.. "ISAAC MCCOY." 
 
 According to the instructions we had received, to make our 
 appeals to the public through the medium of the board, the 
 above address to the pliblic was forwarded to that body, with a 
 request that it be published in the Christian Watchman, and 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS 
 
 337 
 
 the Baptist Magazine, two prints under its patronage. But the 
 board did not see fit to publish it. 
 
 I left Carey, on our tour of exploration to the west of the 
 Mississippi, on the 2d of July, 1828, accompanied by three Pu- 
 tawatomies and three Ottawas. Separation from my family on 
 this occasion was painful. The weather was now exceedingly 
 warm, and rny health at this season often failed, and sometimes 
 brought me very low with bilious fever. It was about this time 
 of the preceding year that my life had been almost despaired of. 
 I was entering upon a tour of several months in a wilderness 
 unknown to me. We had been long distressed in noticing the 
 apathy which seemed generally to prevail upon this subject. 
 The bill authorizing the expedition had passed the House of 
 Representatives by a lean majority of only ten votes. Should 
 the expedition not result in a favourable report, either by the 
 caprice and failure of the delegations to make the tour, or be 
 cause the country should not appear suitable, or from any other 
 cause, it would probably be difficult for the friends to colonizing 
 the tribes to press the measure forward. We lamented, too, that 
 with five years' labour we had not succeeded in eliciting some 
 effective action of the Christian public, and upon the success of 
 the scheme of an Indian territory depended all our hopes for the 
 salvation of the Indians from utter extermination. 
 
 We passed through the wilderness to St. Louis, a distance of 
 more than four hundred miles. We slept in our tents in the 
 open air, and twice on the way I was very sick. We reached 
 St. Louis the fifteenth day. 
 
 After reaching St. Louis, nearly one month elapsed before 
 the first of the southern Indians arrived, which consisted of a 
 company of four Creeks, conducted by Mr. Luther Blake. An 
 express had been sent from St. Louis to the Chickasaws, and, 
 on the 17th of August, information was received that these In 
 dians had resolved not to make the tour before the following 
 spring. Another messenger was sent to them, but the distance 
 was so great that it was not expected that this latter could 
 return under six weeks. I was exceedingly unwilling to lose 
 so much time. Our Putawatomies and Ottawas were becoming 
 impatient, and I began to fear that the expedition would fail. 
 
 Gen. William Clark, of St. Louis, who was superintendent 
 of Indian affairs in the western district, had been required by 
 the Secretary of War to give a direction to our movements I 
 applied to him for permission to make a tour with the Putawato 
 mies and Ottawas, proposing to return to St. Louis by the time 
 that the messenger to the southern tribes would arrive, either 
 
 43 
 
338 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 with those Indians or with intelligence from them. But to this 
 measure a very formidable obstacle presented itself. The De 
 partment of Indian Affairs had ordered that none of the delega 
 tions should move from St. Louis until the Chickasaws had 
 arrived, and were ready to proceed. Gen. Clark, therefore, 
 declined the responsibility of giving me orders to proceed with 
 our Putawatomies and Ottavvas, as I proposed. Dr. Todson, 
 who had been appointed physician to attend the explorations, 
 and who was now unemployed, also declined accompanying me 
 without positive orders. I was told, too, that the season was 
 so hot and sickly, and the horse flies so numerous, together with 
 the supposed scarcity of water in the prairies, that I should not 
 be able to make the tour. Finding, however, that the journey 
 could be undertaken without a breach upon the feelings of Gen. 
 Clark, I assumed the responsibilities, and set off for the western 
 wilderness on the 2lst of August. On the eve of departure, 
 Gen. Clark sent to me the following brief instructions, which 
 I was happy to receive. 
 
 " Superintsndency of Indian Affairs, > 
 St. Louis, August 20, 1828. { 
 
 " DEAR SIR : As the exploring party of Chickasaws are not 
 expected here before the 20th of next month, and will not be 
 in advance of this State until the 1st of October, and as the 
 Putawatomies and Ottavvas, who accompanied you to this place, 
 are unwilling to delay, I would, in accordance with your sug 
 gestions, recommend that you proceed with your party, and 
 explore a portion of the country purchased of the Osages and 
 Kauzaus, west of the State of Missouri, westward of the Osage 
 and Shawanoe reservations, and north of the Kauzau reserva 
 tion, taking care not to go so far west as to endanger your party 
 by falling in with war parties of Pawnees, and other tribes who 
 are at war with the Osages and Kauzaus. The Indian agents 
 in your direction are informed of your movements, and will 
 afford you every aid and assistance in their power. You will 
 take JNoel Mograin, a half-breed Osage, who is acquainted with 
 the country, the routes of the Indians, and speaks the Osage 
 and Kauzau languages. I must request the favour of you to 
 write me from Harmony mission, and on your return to Camp 
 Leavenworth, or the out settlements, and state your views and 
 wishes, that I may be enabled to afford such aid as may be 
 necessary. 
 
 " Accept the assurance of my best wishes. 
 
 " Yours, sincerely, WM. CLARK." 
 
 Rev. Isaac McCoy. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 33 1) 
 
 I hired two white men, to assist in packing, camping, &z;c. 
 We were in all nine in number, with twelve horses, and well 
 equipped with guns, pistols, &tc. While resting at our camp 
 on Sunday, the 24th of August, my riding beast escaped, but on 
 the following day I had the good fortune to purchase another. 
 
 Our Indians were unsuccessful in their efforts to take any 
 game of more value than a turkey, until the 28th of August, 
 when Gosa brought in a young bear, and reported that he had 
 wounded the dam. This circumstance raised the-spirits of our 
 Indians not a little, and on the following morning the old bear 
 was taken. On leaving camp, Noonday placed the feet of the 
 bears, and such other pieces as had been left, at the root of a 
 tree, and carefully covered them with brush and leaves. When 
 I inquired the reason for this, I was answered, " that the form of 
 the bear so much resembled that of man, that it was thought 
 there might be some relationship between men and bears ; and on 
 this account, some respect in regard to funerals, was due the 
 latter." He pronounced a brief address over the deceased, the 
 substance of which was, that he had now respectfully performed 
 the last services which could be rendered to the dead, by which 
 he would have the latter to understand that he desired to per 
 petuate the good will which had long existed between the bear 
 family and that of the Ottawas, and hoped that no offence would 
 be taken on account of what had happened in this case. 
 
 We called on Noel Mograin, the half Osage, who was to be 
 our interpreter and guide, and he refused to go with us unless I 
 would employ another old Osage, who sat by. This I was 
 under the necessity of doing. On inquiring where his horse 
 was, Mograin pointed to the old man's legs, and said, " There 
 is his horse, one that has served him many years." 
 
 Our company now consisted of eleven persons, with thirteen 
 horses and Mograin's dog. Our old Osage moved off on foot, 
 little encumbered with travelling baggage. He had deerskin 
 moccasins on his feet, and the same material composed his 
 leggins. He wore the usual small cloth about the loins, and 
 above, his body was naked ; even his head was but partially 
 covered with hair. He carried an old gun which I had had 
 repaired for him, a horn and pouch, and an additional pair of 
 moccasins. A piece of an old blanket was thrown across his 
 shoulder under the gun, and a small sack, containing about a 
 pint, was fastened to the belt. Thus equipped, this old man, of 
 nearly sixty, set off on a six weeks' tour in the desert. 
 
 My first acquaintance with Osages was formed on the 
 Osage river. On the f morning of the 4th of September, a 
 
340 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 wretched old woman placed herself by our fire, and set up a 
 hideous lamentation and howling. We conjectured that it was 
 a method of begging, and gave her a little food, and left her. On 
 the same day we passed, in the wilderness, a company consisting 
 of two Osage women, a girl, two boys, and two infants. They 
 had three small horses. On one was seated a naked child, the 
 mother on foot, leading the animal. The girl rode another, and 
 on the third rode a mother, destitute of any clothing above the 
 loins, and with bare feet and ancles, and holding in her arms an 
 infant in a state of perfect nudity. The boys were both naked. 
 One carried an old gun, and the other a bow. None had a 
 covering for the head, except a heavy coat of neglected hair, 
 hanging loosely. This wretched company was in search of 
 roots for food. Among our more northern tribes, the men and 
 children, when about their homes in warm weather, were usually 
 destitute of clothing; but we seldom saw an adult female without a 
 covering for the body. Young women among the Osages some 
 times wear a strip of cloth eight or nine inches broad, resting 
 on one shoulder and passing over the breast and under the 
 opposite arm. On the evening of the 4th of September, 1 was 
 attacked with sickness and was obliged to take physic. I was 
 scarcely able to travel for .several days, but circumstances com 
 pelled me to proceed, though scarcely able to sit upon my 
 horse. 
 
 I had noticed, on the 3d, that Mograin had fears that his old 
 Osage would desert us. In order to reconcile him to our 
 company, we had made his lodgings more comfortable than his 
 own scanty means would afford, and on this morning I informed 
 him that he should be permitted to ride on horseback a portion 
 of the time. The old man was regaling himself with his pipe 
 when we left camp, and noticing that he had not joined us 
 after we had proceeded about a mile, Mograin turned back in 
 quest of him. Fearing that we should lose Mograin also, I 
 sent Gosa with him. They discovered, from the tracks of the 
 old Osage, that he had turned his back upon us, and we heard 
 no more of him. The loss was not esteemed great by any 
 except Mograin, whom I endeavoured to satisfy that we should 
 be able to accomplish our object without him. I had discovered 
 that Mograin was uneasy, lest we should penetrate the wilder 
 ness so far as to fall in with war parties hostile to the Osages. 
 On the 6th of September, we discovered from the rising ground, 
 that the Osage river, which we were ascending, made two 
 branches. Mograin confidently affirmed that the northern 
 branch was the main stream; by ascending this, we would reach 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 341 
 
 its source, and consume our time, without going so far west as 
 we should be led by the southern. I doubted the correctness 
 of the opinion he advanced, and after occupying an elevation in 
 the prairie for some time in waiting for some hunters who were 
 out, to join us, and discharging our guns to give them notice of 
 our situation, I changed my course, in defiance of the strong re 
 monstrances of Mograin. I was not mistaken in regard to the 
 course of the river. On the decision of this question, Mograin 
 appeared mortified. I knew not whether to attribute his error 
 to a want of fidelity, and a design to mislead, and keep us out 
 of danger, or to ignorance of the situation of the country. At 
 any rate, I felt admonished to be my own pilot from that time 
 forward. 
 
 This was a year when theCamanchesand other remote tribes 
 were uncommonly troublesome to companies of traders return 
 ing from Santa Fe to the United States. The time of our 
 sojourning, in September, was that in which those companies 
 were returning. I had reason, therefore, to suppose that hos 
 tile parties would watch, along the Santa Fe road, for opportu 
 nities to do mischief. On the 10th of September we were near 
 the source of the Osage river, and from information I knew we 
 must be not for from the Santa Fe road. As we were every 
 day getting nearer those whom we did not wish to see, I admo 
 nished our Indians to be always on their guard ; their guns 
 should always be in good order for use, and individuals ought 
 never to separate themselves from the main body. But, with 
 all that I could say about danger, our Putawatomies and Otta- 
 was, being much delighted with the beautiful appearance of a 
 fine prairie country, and with the sport of firing on deer and elk, 
 could not feel much concerned for the safety of their scalps. 
 On the evening of September llth, I adopted other methods 
 to induce them to be more careful. I pointed out a small soli 
 tary grove at a distance, surrounded by prairie lands, in which I 
 proposed to encamp. We had that day crossed the trail of a 
 large party, going in a direction, however, which gave me no 
 uneasiness. I stated to them, that if our trail should be dis 
 covered by our enemies, we should probably be followed. I 
 therefore pointed out a place to which I desired Gosa to return, 
 after we had encamped, and watch the track we had made, to 
 see if enemies were following, while we would proceed on 
 ground that would afford the most favourable opportunity for his 
 discovery of any evil design against us. At camp, not a bell 
 on our horses was allowed to tinkle, lest the sound might attract 
 an unwelcome visitant. Notwithstanding all the pains which I 
 
342 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 had taken to induce the Indians to feeJ concerned for their 
 safety, they remained the same, always cheerful, unconcerned, 
 and careless. 
 
 Desiring to .ascertain, as well as I could, in what part of the 
 country we were, on the morning of the 12th I took one man 
 only, because I would avoid making much sign of foot marks, 
 and proceeded about three miles, and struck the Santa Fe road. 
 Returning to camp, we bore southward, on to the Neosho river, 
 and ascended that stream. 
 
 For a few days we had found game uncommonly scarce a 
 circumstance from which we inferred that Indian hunters were 
 near, or that they had recently been there. We were becom 
 ing scarce of provisions, when, on the 13th of September, we 
 discovered a flock of about twenty elk. I and our two white 
 men encamped, and remained by the baggage, while I gave the 
 Indians permission to employ the remainder of the day, if they 
 chose, in chase of the elk, or in hunting in any other way. 
 They had fine sport, and in the evening brought in a very 
 good elk. 
 
 Shawaunukwuk had been sick a few days, and his symptoms 
 having indicated an attack of bilious fever, 1 had resolved to 
 give him medicine on the evening of this day. I desired him 
 not to go in chase of the elk, but to remain in carnp with me ; 
 but his disposition to enjoy the rare sport of killing elk was too 
 ardent to be restrained. Becoming quiet, after his violent and 
 animated exercises through the day, he raised bile so freely that 
 I omitted administering medicine, and was not mistaken in 
 hoping that it would not be necessary. The beneficial effects 
 which would have been sought in the administration of an 
 emetic, or a dose of calomel, were produced by the exercises of 
 the preceding day, and restoration of health followed.' 
 
 The following day, being the Sabbath, we remained in camp; 
 being two nights in succession in the grove, we afforded the 
 wolvos an opportunity of becoming acquainted with our resting 
 place. On the latter night I heard an animal helping itself at 
 our elk meat and some venison near me. I supposed at the 
 time it was Mograin's dog, and thinking that he would undoubt 
 edly leave enough for the use of the better portion of our 
 company, I remained contented, and slept on. In the morning 
 I was surprised to find that the w 7 olves had drawn largely upon 
 our stock of meat, although it lay near my head. Mograin's 
 dog lay quietly by the fire at the same time, within a few feet, 
 but had been either too lazy or too liberal to give an alarm. 
 
 I have thought that no situation in life in which men associate, 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 343 
 
 more rapidly and correctly developes the disposition of a man 
 than one of these wilderness excursions. Melancholy and viva 
 city, with the causes by which each is produced, are strongly 
 marked, Hunger, fatigue, exposure, and disappointment, seldom 
 fail to produce melancholy, while, upon a reverse of circumstan 
 ces, the spirits, with equal facility, become animated. However 
 depressed the spirits of our Indians might seem to be at the time 
 of encamping, they seldom reclined upon their blankets, after a 
 comfortable meal, without regaining their accustomed cheer 
 fulness. 
 
 Almost all who have written about the aborigines of America 
 have reported them to be remarkable for taciturnity. This has 
 not been the case within the sphere of my acquaintance. Silence 
 is sometimes, though very seldom, imposed upon an Indian by 
 reverence for a white man, and sometimes by jealousy, anger, 
 dislike, and the difficulty attending intercommunication. But 
 where these obstacles do not exist, I have found them uncom 
 monly loquacious. They are particularly so among themselves. 
 From the time I started with these Putawatomies and Ottawas, 
 from Michigan, until we had made their tour so far as to return 
 to St. Louis, I rose early and travelled industriously every 
 journeying day. Nevertheless, it was common for them to 
 spend hours at night, short as the nights were at that season, in 
 reciting humourous anecdotes, which they enjoyed exquisitely, 
 as was manifest by their animated peals of laughter. When 
 they had not fact, of which to compose a story, fiction supplied 
 its place, and was employed with equal facility. Their tent 
 was always near my own, and for some time after we com 
 menced our journey, and before habit had overcome the incon 
 venience, these long, merry conversations were a great annoy 
 ance to me when I desired to sleep. The night after their 
 grand elk chase was memorable for this kind of glee. 
 
 On the 15th of September, 1828, we resumed our journey 
 early. Saw deer, elk, and antelopes, and the men again en 
 joyed themselves in hunting. Crossed a trail of men going 
 south, which Mograin, on examination, supposed had been made 
 by a war party going against his people, (the Osages,) who 
 lived in that direction. On the following day we again reached 
 the Santa Fe road, on the upper branches of Neosho river. 
 We changed our course, and recrossed the Indian trail seen the 
 preceding day. I now alighted and examined it myself, and 
 found Mograin again in error. I discovered the print of horses' 
 feet, as well as those of men, and therefore knew that it had not 
 been made by a war party, for a party hostile to the Kauzaus 
 
344 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 and Osages would not approach so near their towns on horse 
 back. 
 
 Remarkable skill in following the footmarks of man or beast 
 has been ascribed to the Indian ; and this circumstance has not 
 unfrequently been urged as a reason for employing them as 
 auxiliaries against their countrymen, in wars which existed 
 between the latter and civilized nations. To say nothing of the 
 cruelty of hiring these credulous and ignorant people to hunt 
 and butcher their brethren who had done them no injury, and 
 for no other reason than to gratify the white man's ambition, or 
 to keep the white man out of danger, facts prove that their em 
 ployment for trailing was not necessary. We admit that, by 
 habit, an Indian is better qualified to trace the footmarks of a 
 man or of a beast than a man who has been educated in the 
 City of New- York. But his skill in this respect is not superior 
 to that of thousands of white men in new countries, who are 
 not only more or less accustomed to the chase, but who, for 
 want of grazing enclosures, are compelled to turn their stock at 
 large, and to search for more or less of it almost daily. 
 
 In the time of the last war between England and the United 
 States, I resided on the frontiers of the State of Indiana, where 
 the Indians frequently made inroads into our settlements, and 
 murdered our citizens, and committed depredations on our pro 
 perty. I frequently made one of the party which followed the 
 Indians, as they retreated from the settlements, after they had 
 accomplished their errand of mischief. They would often scat 
 ter, and not all walk in the same place, in order that their signs 
 might be so dim that their tracks could not be perceived by their 
 pursuers. They would not only choose the pathless wilderness, 
 but such ground in it as would receive the least impression from 
 the foot of a man. Nevertheless, their pursuers were almost 
 invariably able to follow their trail, and in some instances in 
 which they had retired with all the caution alluded to above, 
 we were able to travel after them in a brisk gait. I arn confi 
 dent that I have never known an Indian more skilful in trailing 
 than many white men with whom I have been acquainted. 
 
 Uncommon skill has also been ascribed to the Indian in steer 
 ing his course through a trackless wilderness. This, to a certain 
 extent, is true. He is at home in every place, and hence he can 
 pass through the wilderness to any place. If encamped, he can 
 make an excursion around on a day's hunt, and return to his 
 encampment at night with more certainty than most white men 
 who have occasion to go into the woods. From the habits of 
 the Indian we have a right to expect this and no more. As a 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 845 
 
 pilot in the exploration of a wilderness country, with such ob 
 jects in view as induced the expedition of which I am speaking, 
 I should not desire an Indian. I have never derived any benefit 
 from an Indian, as a pilot, in any exploration that I have made, 
 and, excepting the commencement of the one of which I am 
 here speaking, I have been my own pilot. 
 
 On the night of the 17ih of September we encamped on tli 
 waters of the Kauzau river. On the following morning we fell 
 in with a Kauzau hunter, from whom we ascertained that we 
 were near the most remote of the Kauzau villages. As we 
 came in sight of two houses, which were situated about two 
 miles from the main village, we discovered that the inhabitants 
 were alarmed. We were a mile or more from them, and open 
 prairie fay between us. I led the company along an elevation, 
 so that they might have a fair view of us, supposing that they 
 would discover, by our hats and other accoutrements, that we 
 were from the land of civilized men, and were not hostile Indi 
 ans, as they feared. But their fears were not so easily allayed. 
 We saw them in great confusion, and the women and children 
 fleeing to a grove to conceal themselves. We were passing 
 near a grove of timber, towards which I saw a man running. 
 Supposing it was one coming to inquire who we were, I directed 
 Mograin to hasten to meet him. I followed, directing the com 
 pany to keep at some distance in the rear, in order to diminish 
 the fears of the runner. We came to him in a grove, just as 
 he had reached a couple of horses which were grazing there, 
 when we found that his violent effort had been to remove his 
 horses, in order to prevent an enemy, as he supposed us to be,, 
 from taking them. He had his moccasins on his feet, and wore 
 his small cloth ; excepting these, he was entirely naked. He 
 held his gun in his hand, with his pouch and powder horn across 
 his shoulders. Mograin spoke to him as soon as he came near 
 enough ; still, it was some time before he could recover from his 
 fright, and appear composed. 
 
 I hurried him off at full speed, to inform the inmates of the 
 two houses that we were friends, and not foes. While our com 
 pany moved slowly on, we were met by men and women a half 
 a mile before we reached the houses, the latter bringing us a 
 present of boiled corn in a kettle. By the runner I also sent a 
 message, accompanied by a few twists of tobacco, to the village, 
 informing them of our approach. Many of the town's people 
 came to meet us, and as we neared the village the crowd thick 
 ened. I made inquiry for a suitable place to encamp, but their 
 stories were so long, their inquiries so numerous, and Mograin V 
 
 44 
 
346 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 conversations and interpretations so tedious, that I was forced to 
 turn off to such a place as I conjectured would be suitable, and 
 direct the company to follow. 
 
 At camp we packed up our baggage snugly, to prevent them 
 from purloining it ; and, leaving the two white men to guard 
 it, I took our Indians an.d went into the village to a council 
 which I had requested. At camp, and at all other places, men, 
 women, children, and dogs, swarmed about us. We were 
 conducted into a large bark hut, in the more central part of 
 which were two fireplaces. This, with the exception of a 
 small space at each fire, was instantly crowded ; such a scene 
 ensued as I had never before witnessed, of crowding of men, 
 women, and children, talking, scolding, crying of children, a 
 few of the good mothers singing to quiet them, dogs fighting, 
 and the conquered begging loudly for quarters. Boiled corn, in 
 two large wooden bowls, supplied with a few buffalo horn spoons 
 and ladles, were placed before us. We ate, and smoked, and 
 talked, being obliged to elevate our voices in order to be heard 
 amidst the din of noises by which we were surrounded. We 
 breathed an atmosphere which was far from pleasant, to improve 
 which I made a little aperture in the fragile bark wall. 
 
 Sixteen Pawnees were on a visit to the village at the time of 
 my approach. On my requesting that they should be invited 
 .into council, I was informed that all excepting three had left on 
 our arrival. These, I suppose, had been left behind, to ascer 
 tain the object of our visit. They were found and brought 
 into council, to whom we extended the usual courtesies of coun 
 cils. The Pawnees and Osages were hostile to each other, and 
 probably the suspicion that some of our Indians were Osages 
 induced the Pawnees to retire on our approach. Kauzaus and 
 Osages are virtually one people, but the spirit of hostility be 
 tween the former and the Pawnees is less virulent than between 
 the latter and the Osages. 
 
 The condition of the Kuazaus was similar to that of the Osa 
 ges. How affecting is the contrast between an assemblage of 
 orderly, decent, comfortable people, in our favoured Christian 
 country, and that of those barefooted, bareheaded, naked, mise 
 rable Kauzaus ! Some infidels have endeavoured to persuade 
 the world that the Indians, in their original condition, are com 
 paratively happy and virtuous. Such men are either uncandid, 
 or else they are almost as ignorant of the true condition of the 
 Indians as they are of the inhabitants of the moon. 
 
 Soon after our arrival, an elderly man proposed to assist in the 
 labour of encamping, cooking, &,c. We accepted his services 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 347 
 
 merely for his gratification, and he was rewarded with food and 
 tobacco. 
 
 In travelling in the wilderness, the two fore legs of a horse or 
 mule are commonly fastened together, about eight inches asun 
 der, with a rope, or piece of bark or leather, denominated a 
 hobble, to prevent the animal from rambling fur from camp ; and 
 on each leader of the company a bell is hung, in order that they 
 may be found with the greater ease. On this night, on which 
 we lay near the Kauzau village, we forbore to bell our horses, 
 lest the bells should be stolen. We lost nothing except a few 
 buckles cut off the girths of the saddles, and some other trifling 
 articles, which they had been enabled to take without notice. 
 These prople resided on the banks of the Kauzau river, yet they 
 had not then, nor have I ever seen among them, a single canoe; 
 so different are they in this respect from the northern tribes 
 about the great lakes. 
 
 I had intended to return on the north side of the Kauzau 
 river, but the want of a craft in which to cross, and more espe 
 cially the want of time, induced me to take a nearer route to 
 the white settlements. I discovered that I would barely have 
 time to return to St. Louis, to meet the southern delegations. 
 
 About two hours after we left camp on the 19lh of Septem 
 ber, two villages were seen across the prairie, several. miles from 
 us ; soon after which we were intercepted by a man on horse 
 back, who had come at full speed from one of the villages, six or 
 seven miles, with no other object in view, as he said, than to see 
 us, and obtain a piece of tobacco. Like most others, he was 
 unencumbered with clothes. A chief, he said, had started with 
 him on the same errand, but the race had proved too long for 
 him and his horse. 
 
 When about leaving the white settlements, we had relied upon 
 obtaining bread stuff at an outer house, at which, when we 
 arrived, a competent supply could not be obtained. We were 
 then too remote from supplies to think of returning for them. 
 I stated the circumstances to our party, and asked them if they 
 would be willing to proceed under the inconvenience of scarcity 
 of bread. They all preferred to proceed, and said they could 
 live on meat, and the bread should be preserved for me. We 
 took a little corn, by the help of which, and economy in divi 
 ding our bread daily into small rations, we completed the tour m 
 tolerable comfort in this respect. 
 
 On the 24th of September, we arrived at some new settle 
 ments of Shawanoes, on the line of the State of Missouri. The 
 tour had enabled me to acquire a pretty correct knowledge of 
 
348 
 
 HISTORY OF BAFflST 
 
 the country designed for Indian settlements, embracing a tract 
 about eighty miles in width, from south to north, and one hun 
 dred and fifty in length, from east to west; which country was 
 far belter than I had anticipated. 
 
 Whatever should be the result of our explorations, or what 
 ever might be the action of the Government or of the board of 
 missions, the missionaries had resolved to transfer their labours 
 to the west of the State of Missouri, and we hoped that the 
 people of our charge in the Lake country would ultimately be 
 drawn into that region. Therefore, on returning through the 
 white settlements, across the State of Missouri, I selected the 
 town of Fayette as a stopping place for Mr. Lykins and myself, 
 until we should be able to make suitable locations in the Indian 
 territory. 
 
 We returned to St. Louis, after an absence of fifty days. 
 The Chickasaws and Choctaws were then daily expected. I 
 hastily equipped the Putawatomies and Ottawas for their jour 
 ney home, made to them the presents which they had been 
 taught to expect, to which considerable additions were made, 
 greatly to their satisfaction. They acknowledged themselves 
 pleased with the country, and all, excepting Noonday, expressed 
 a desire to return and live in it, provided the missionaries should 
 settle therein. 
 
 When we first arrived at St. Louis, in July, Wesauagana, one 
 of our Ottawas, met with a little girl about eleven years of age, 
 who was a cousin of his. Her parents were dead, and she had 
 fallen into the hands of some poor Sauks. The child wept, 
 and begged Wesauagana to take care of her, and the Sauks in 
 charge of her also desired to get rid of her. We were boarding 
 at that time at the house of Mr. John Brown, thirteen miles 
 from St. Louis. I engaged Mrs. Brown to take care of her 
 during our absence in the western wilderness. The child was 
 sick, and Gosa and Wesauagana would have found it difficult to 
 convey her on horseback from St. Louis to our boarding house, 
 bad not Mr. Llewellyn Brown had the goodness to allow her the 
 use of his carriage. In making preparations for the Putawato 
 mies and Ottawas to return to their country, this little orphan 
 was not overlooked ; she had by this time recovered her health, 
 and now, comfortably clothed, and with a cheerful countenance, 
 little resembled the ragged, sickly, neglected orphan girl among 
 barbarous strangers. She accompanied her kindred to the 
 North, with the view of entering one of our missionary families 
 in that country. The company left St. Louis on the 10th of 
 October, 1S!28. { accompanied them until the evening of the 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS, 
 
 349 
 
 llth; here we separated they went on to their homes in 
 Michigan, and I returned to St. Louis. 
 
 On the 12th, the delegations of Chickasaws and Choctaws, 
 so long looked for, reached St. Louis; we therefore set about 
 preparing for another tour in the wilderness. Had I consulted 
 my feelings, irrespective of duty, I should have decided on re 
 turning to my family. Our company consisted of thirteen 
 Chickasaws, six Choctaws, and four Creeks ; the first accom 
 panied by Mr. Duncan, the second by Mr. Haley, and the 
 third by Mr. Blake. Besides these, the Chickasaw delegation 
 had been allowed to take three white men, as helpers. Lieu 
 tenant Washington Hood, of the United States' army, and Mr. 
 John Bell, were topographists, and Dr. Todson was phy 
 sician. These,. with Captain Kennerly and his servant, and a 
 coloured servant of the Chickasaw chief, Levi Colbert, made a 
 company of thirty-six. 
 
 It appeared to me that the plan of the expedition had not 
 been judiciously laid, and that the southern delegations had for 
 some time been under a bad influence from white men, and I 
 soon despaired of our being able to accomplish as much as 
 would be a fair equivalent for the labour, and what was likely 
 to be the expense of the enterprise. 
 
 In our commissions, the direction of the daily movements of 
 the party had been assigned to Captain Kennerly, and the funds 
 to meet the expenses had been intrusted to me. A few hours 
 after my first interview, the Chickasaws, accompanied by Mr. 
 Duncan, desired me, in not very modest terms, to place in the 
 hands of Mr. Duncan one thousand dollars, which he might 
 have liberty to expend for them as they and he should choose. 
 This I declined. By reasoning with them respecting my ac 
 countability in the management of the funds, and assuring them 
 that their comfort and convenience should not be neglected, 
 they appeared to become satisfied. I have seldom found In 
 dians difficult to manage by a reasonable course. The chief 
 difficulties attending the management of Indian matters, at all 
 times, relate to white men about them. The demand was after 
 wards renewed for at least five hundred dollars. I determined 
 not to comply; but General Clark, who exercised a superintend 
 ence of our movements, in view of all things, thinking it prudent 
 to gratify them, and having relieved me from the responsibility, 
 I furnished the money. This circumstance placed me in such 
 a situation as I desired. I had discovered that our expedition 
 would be very expensive ; and about this time I contrived that, 
 while the gentlemen of our party would be required to account 
 
850 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 to me for all the money they expended, I would not he hound 
 to control them in relation either to the article or the price. I 
 would report the accounts to the Government, and, if the ac 
 counts of either should be disallowed, the matter would lie 
 between them and the Department of Indian Affairs. By this 
 course I got on smoothly with the company, and afterwards I 
 had no difficulty in settling with the Government ; I reported 
 all their accounts as each reported to rne ; but some of them 
 were, on final settlement, greatly curtailed, and not a little to the 
 dissatisfaction of the respective persons interested. 
 
 In relation to the Putavvatomies and Ottawas, the whole mat 
 ter, from first to last, was pretty much under my own manage 
 ment. Their exploration, which, in regard to distance and time, 
 but not in numbers, had about equalled that of the southern 
 delegations, had been made with about fifteen hundred dollars ; 
 whereas the whole cost of this undertaking, including the above, 
 was about twenty-two thousand dollars ! 
 
 The last of our company left St. Louis on the 22d of Octo 
 ber. Captain Kennerly and myself travelled across the State 
 of Missouri in a small dearborn wagon ; we were in the rear 
 of the company on the 24th, when we found Harper Lovett, 
 one of the Creek delegation, in a cabin, sick of the measles. 
 He had contracted the disease in St. Louis, and I had in vain 
 endeavoured to dissuade him from accompanying us. Becoming 
 unable to travel, he had been left by his company on the pre 
 ceding day ; Dr. Todson had halted with him a little before we 
 came up. He was not well situated, and we took him in our 
 carriage seven miles further, to Mr. Van Bibber's, where we 
 left him, after making the necessary arrangements for his com 
 fort and for medical assistances The poor man died the fourth 
 or fifth day after. 
 
 The views of the Department of Indian Affairs had not, at 
 that time, become definitely fixed on the country west of the 
 State of Missouri and the Territory of Arkansas, as the future 
 home of the Indians ; we had, therefore, been instructed to ex 
 plore the country north of the State of Missouri, as well as 
 west, unless the desire of the Indians should indicate a different 
 course. I was much averse to going north of the State of Mis 
 souri, because it was evident that there the Indians would not be 
 allowed quietly to remain; and our object was, or ought to have 
 been, to find a permanent resting place for these homeless tribes. 
 The Indians, however, readily declined extending their tour 
 northward; they had entered upon the tour reluctantly, and 
 dreaded to do any thing that looked like consenting to leavs 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 351 
 
 their original residences in the South. From St. Louis they 
 would probably have turned back, had it not been for great 
 liberality on the part of the Government, through General Clark. 
 Before we reached the western line of the State of Missouri, 
 three hundred miles from St. Louis, the Choctaw delegation 
 manifested a strong inclination not to make the tour of observa 
 tion, but to proceed, by the nearest route, to the residence of a 
 few of their people on Red river. Had these left us, the others 
 would probably have followed. They were, however, prevailed 
 on to go forward, under a promise that our tour should not be 
 extended as far west as had at first been contemplated. 
 
 I afterwards contrived, while Captain Kennerly went forward 
 with the main body on horseback, to travel in the rear, and pre 
 vailed upon some of the more influential Indians to remain in 
 my company. Among these was Colonel Levi Colbert, princi 
 pal in the Chickasaw delegation, and a reasonable and worthy 
 man, whom I took into the carriage with me, and encouraged to 
 persevere in making the tour. I also embraced suitable oppor 
 tunities to stimulate others. 
 
 November the 3d. Our whole company encamped on the 
 western line of the State of Missouri, at the point at which I 
 had returned to the State on the former tour. Winter was near, 
 and I was exceedingly anxious to be moving, because it was 
 evident that, unless we should improve our time, we would see 
 little of the country. The latter, however, was a consideration 
 which occasioned no uneasiness to our company. We had con 
 sumed an unnecessary length of time in getting thus far, and, 
 with all my efforts, it was the 9th of November before we left 
 our encampment on the State line. At this place, the Shawa- 
 noes, as they had done with the Putawatomies and Otjawas as 
 they passed, reciprocated friendly visits with our delegations, 
 much to the satisfaction of both parties. Our company had 
 increased to forty-two persons, among whom was Mograin, who 
 had figured so strangely on the former expedition. We had 
 with us about sixty horses. 
 
 While we lay here, Major John Dougherty, United States' 
 Indian agent at Fort Leavenworth, communicated to us inform 
 ation that it was reported that fifteen hundred Pawnees had 
 gone on a war expedition, intending to watch the Santa Fe 
 road, and, if unsuccessful, to proceed further southeast. He 
 warned us to be on our guard ; and should we fall in with Paw 
 nees, though apparently friendly, not to permit them to mingle 
 with us in camp, or at any other time, lest they should take 
 advantage of an unguarded moment, and injure us. About the 
 
352 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 time that 1 had returned from the wilderness with the Puta- 
 watomies and Ottawas, fragments of a party of traders were 
 coming into the settlements of Missouri, having suffered much 
 by the Pawnees and Camanches. They had been several times 
 attacked, and had lost several men ; they had also been robbed 
 of a great many mules, and of other articles, so that many of 
 the company nearly perished with hunger and fatigue, before 
 they reached the white settlements. In one or two instances, 
 pretty large sums of silver were the last articles abandoned, and 
 some thousands of dollars were hid in the earth, which were 
 afterwards recovered by the owners. From information, it ap 
 peared that the last assault on the party was at the time that I 
 was farthest west with the Putawatomies and Ottawas, and about 
 two days' journey from us. 
 
 We had proceeded about five miles, when, riding briskly over 
 the prairie to prevent a pack horse from escaping, my horse fell 
 with me, and rolled on to my foot and leg. I was a good deal 
 injured on the side that had been dashed on the earth, but was 
 able after a while to resume my journey, though I suffered 
 much pain for several days. At camp, the doctor bled me 
 pretty freely. The injury received by this fall has occasioned 
 more or less pain, in unfavourable weather, ever since. Three 
 sentinels at a time, with an officer, were on guard during every 
 night. I offered to perform an equal part of this duty, but the 
 company exonerated Captain Kennerly and myself. 
 
 November the llth, we encamped on the Osage river. On 
 stopping, I took a white man, and travelled up the river about 
 five miles, to see if I could recognise any place that I had pass 
 ed in going up the river with my company the preceding Sep 
 tember, by which I might learn how far we were from the 
 western boundary of the State of Missouri. In this I was not 
 fully successful. As I have never been esteemed an expert 
 hunter, I may be allowed to indulge vanity enough in this 
 place to say> that on this excursion I killed two turkeys at one 
 shoot. The man with me killed an opossum. We discovered 
 signs by which we inferred that we were near an encampment 
 of Indians. 
 
 Some time before we left St. Louis, one Papin had been sent 
 to the Osage villages, a little over three hundred miles, in order 
 to get Mograin to accompany us as interpreter. Mograin, with 
 another man, afterwards joined our company at the Shawanoe set 
 tlements. At our encampment on the Osage river, Papin, and a 
 man whom he had hired to accompany him overtook us. Papin 
 was well known in some parts of the United States as a propri- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 853 
 
 etor of circusses; but whatever had been his dexterity in horse 
 manship, he had not learned to be a good rider in the wilderness. 
 When mounted on the baggage which, after he Joined us he was 
 required to carry, it was remarked by all, that his appearance 
 was extremely awkward, and he felt not a little inconvenience. 
 The story of his misfortunes, out of which grew his failure to 
 accomplish his mission in obtaining an interpreter, is briefly as 
 follows: About ten miles before he reached Harmony mission, 
 to which he was wending his way, his horse by some means 
 escaped from him. He knew not how far it was before him to 
 the habitation of man, but he very properly set off on foot to 
 find a friend, and very prudently pursued the road. But not 
 finding a house before his courage and hopes failed, he turned 
 to retrace his steps, which he did until he despaired of enduring 
 a journey in that direction that would reach a habitation ; he 
 again turned around, to make further trial of the other end of the 
 road, and whether the habit of riding in a circus had affected 
 his brain or not, such was the fact that he was afterwards found on 
 the same ground, by some travellers, where he had walked first 
 in one direction and then in the other until he was alrndst per 
 ished with hunger. He was taken to Harmony mission, where 
 with better living he soon recovered strength to sit upon a horse, 
 which he purchased at the cost of the United States ; and, rightly 
 judging that two heads in his journeyings would be better than 
 one, hired a skilful woodsman and found our camp. 
 
 Soon after we left camp on the 13th of November, 1 took 
 five men and turned off from the main body to examine a creek, 
 the timber of which we discovered across the prairie at a con 
 siderable distance. Soon after this, the company fell in with a 
 Kauzau, and from his statement, as they said, were induced to 
 change their course, and bear in nearer to the State of Missouri. 
 I overtook them at three o'clock, P. M., encamped, and was 
 not a little grieved to find the company resolved to go south, 
 parallel with and but a few miles from the western boundary of 
 the State of Missouri. 
 
 In the evening, fifteen Kauzaus visited our camp, and had 
 some speech making between them and our Indians. Some of 
 the gentlemen of our party, with a good deal of formality, made 
 many inquiries of them through Mograin, as interpreter, respect 
 ing the country, distances, &c., and received ready answers, 
 almost all of which I discovered were erroneous. We were on 
 a creek, by ascending which we should be going almost south, 
 and still keeping near the line of the State. They said that 
 this was the principal branch of the Osage river a statement 
 45 
 
854 
 
 II 1ST Oil Y OF BAPTIST 
 
 which I knew to be incorrect, but one which the company 
 seemed willing to admit, as it favoured their views of the course 
 to be taken. 
 
 At the villages and encampments of Osages and Kauzaus, 
 we often find a kind of public crier, who proclaims the arrival 
 or presence of a person whom they choose to notice, the news 
 which has come to hand, &c. In the present company of Kau 
 zaus, one of these criers afforded great amusement to our people 
 by proclaiming the name of Chickasaws, perhaps twenty times 
 in succession, as loud as his stentorian lungs could roar. Then 
 the Choctavvs and Miscogees, (Creeks,) and individuals respect 
 ively, would give him their names, for the sake of hearing him 
 bawl aloud again until he was wearied. 
 
 About twelve o'clock on the 14th of November, as we were 
 marching, a desperate screaming was suddenly commenced in 
 the forest near us. It began immediately after the report of 
 one of our people's guns, and the first thought with rne was 
 that it was the noise of a bear, which some of the company 
 might have attacked ; but it was almost instantly perceived 
 to be the voice of a Kauzau woman, who had been left alone 
 at a hunting camp, and had been alarmed at the sight of our 
 company, supposing we might be a party of enemies. Mograin 
 was immediately required to halloo to her, and approach her 
 as fast as possible, to quiet her fears. About an hour after, we 
 were overtaken by a man in a profuse perspiration, who had fol 
 lowed us on foot, out of curiosity, as he appeared to have no 
 business. His fatigue was rewarded by some tobacco. Before 
 we left camp on the 15th of November, several men, women, 
 and children, of the Kauzaus, visited us. 
 
 While with the Putawatomies and Ottawas, I had entire 
 control of the company, and from the time I started from Carey, 
 until we separated, we rested on Sundays ; and on the morn 
 ing and evening of that day, the company united in religious 
 services in our camp. These exercises were performed in the 
 Indian language ; written discourses and prayers were read, and 
 hymns sung in tunes common to us. Our present company was 
 large, and formed under circumstances that compelled me to yield 
 to the general wish in regard to travelling on the Sabbath. Usu 
 ally, the traveller, even in the wilderness, may so husband his 
 time, that little, if any thing, is lost by observing the Sabbath. 
 But a company of forty men, anxious to get out of the wilder 
 ness, few of whom have any religious regard for the Sabbath, 
 cannot be persuaded to observe this economy of time, or to rest 
 for conscience sake. The company, however, had the polite- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 355 
 
 ness, on Sabbath mornings, to invite me to perform religious 
 service before they set out. I usually made a short religious 
 address and prayer, to which every decent attention was given. 
 
 Two or three of the members of the southern delegation 
 were professors of Christianity, and a much greater number 
 were intelligent and sensible men. Among the latter was Peter 
 P. Pytchlynn, a Choctaw ; though not a professor of religion, 
 he frequently borrowed my small bible to read, which I after 
 wards presented to him. I had much interesting conversation 
 with him. At one time he inquired how it happened that Christ 
 ians differed so much in opinion, when each sect appealed to the 
 Scriptures for proof of its doctrines. I endeavoured to account 
 for it satisfactorily to him, by the proneness of man to err. The 
 Scriptures are plain, and are an unerring rule of moral obliga 
 tions and duty, both towards God and man ; but man is averse 
 to that which is right, and under the influence of this aversion, 
 because truth is uncongenial with his evil disposition, he mis 
 takes error for truth, but not necessarily. 
 
 On the 17th, we reached the Osage agency ; gave notice of 
 our arrival to the Osages, and desired them to meet us in council. 
 On the 20th, we pitched our tents near the village of the Chief 
 called White Hair. A large long fire of logs was made, at 
 which our company was joined in council by about twenty 
 Osage chiefs, and principal men. The usual ceremonies of 
 shaking hands, smoking, and speech making, were entered 
 upon, and continued until night, when all parties agreeing that 
 peace speeches ought not to be made in the dark, we adjourned 
 till the following day. 
 
 That night the coldness of the weather increased to severity. 
 Our encampment was in a narrow streak of timber, with many 
 miles of woodless plain on both sides. The wind was high, 
 with snow falling, and our situation became very uncomfortable. 
 The weather was so severe on the following day, that it was 
 late before the council convened. In the mean time, we were 
 invited to a feast of boiled buffalo meat, in the house of the 
 chief Belle Ouizo. In the absence of chairs, we all became 
 seated on the floor, when bowls of boiled meat were placed 
 before us, and each used his own knife and his own finders. 
 Immediately on the completion of this, we were taken to the 
 house of the chief, White Hair, to partake of similar hospitality, 
 the eatables being the same in kind and cookery. 
 
 This buffalo meat is procured on what are termed their buf 
 falo hunts, two of which occur in the summer season of the 
 year, and are attended by th people generally; men, women. 
 
356 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 and children, move oft* in a large body, like an army, leaving 
 none behind excepting invalids. They march in pretty good 
 order, generally in three lines. They keep spies ahead, to look 
 out for enemies ; and they usually encamp on an eminence in 
 the open prairies, far from timber, so that the approach of an 
 enemy may be the more easily discovered. The horses are 
 kept close about the encampment, and at night a stake is driven 
 into the earth, and the horse, by a long rope made of a buffalo 
 skin, is tied to the stake, with latitude to feed around in a radius 
 of several yards. I have noticed that, in some of their remote 
 encampments, a little excavation had been made in the earth, 
 for each fire. This, I suppose, was for the double purpose of 
 diminishing the inconvenient effects of the wind on the fire, in 
 the process of cooking, and of concealing the light of the fire 
 from a prowling foe. 
 
 On these excursions they have portable tents, of the skins of 
 elk and buffalo. These tents are easily put up for use by being 
 thrown around stakes placed in the earth, so as to form a circle, 
 with their tops brought nearly or quite in contact with each other. 
 Their smoked and black exteriors give the settlement of these 
 fragile houses a gloomy appearance, which, however, is usually 
 overlooked by the observer, on account of the extreme wretch 
 edness of the inmates. In travelling in these vast plains, groves 
 of wood are avoided as much as possible, for fear of a lurking 
 enemy. The poles, therefore, necessary for the Construction of 
 their tents are transported from place to place with the rest of 
 their baggage. The method of transportation is to tie one end 
 of the poles to a horse's load, some on each side, while the 
 other end is allowed to trail on the ground. 
 
 The vanguard of the host, en discovering a herd of buffalo, 
 which often consists of some hundreds, give notice, and a halt is 
 ordered. The hunters then devise the plan of.attack, and, each 
 mounted with a bow and a quiver of arrows, and sometimes with 
 a gun having the barrel shortened to about one-half the usual 
 length, proceed with a good degree of order, and approach their 
 game as near as possible without alarming them. The moment 
 the animals become affrighted, and attempt to escape, the hunters, 
 many of whose horses are well trained to these races, pursue at full 
 speed. The horse, swifter on foot than the buffalo, brings the 
 hunter alongside, who discharges an arrow into a vital part, and 
 repeats it until the animal either falls or is so disabled that others 
 on horses less fleet can overtake him, when he dashes forward 
 to attack another of the herd. The women follow, and flay the 
 animals; after which, the flesli is carefully taken oft' in unbroken 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 357 
 
 fleeces, as large as practicable, and thin, so that it resembles a 
 bed cover. This kind of flesh-fleecing is repeated until pre 
 vented by the bones. The latter, with the flesh adhering, are 
 applied to immediate use, and the former, without salt, are dried 
 in the open air. When thoroughly dried, it is rolled up like a 
 blanket, or a travelling horseman's cloak, and packed on a horse. 
 This is brought home and preserved for future use. It becomes 
 exceedingly hard, being, when dry, seldom more than the fourth 
 of an inch in thickness. Confined to this food alone, a man 
 with a good appetite, whose jaws have not acquired strength by 
 habit, and with imperfect teeth, will have to use some industry 
 to masticate enough through the day to answer the demands of 
 nature. 
 
 It may easily be supposed that among a people who seldom 
 or never apply water to either hands, or face, or clothes, for the 
 purposes of cleanliness, these blankets of buffalo beef are liable 
 to some objection. When the meat has been taken from a lean 
 animal, or when a desire for improved cooking predominates, 
 some tallow, taken from the same animal, is introduced into the 
 mess. This is commonly rancid, and indicates more careless 
 ness in the dressing than the meat, and to the olfactories of a 
 novice in buffalo meat eating, is far from pleasant. Our Osage 
 feast was evidently liable to these objections in a high degree. 
 Nevertheless, a suitable respect for the people who had invited 
 us forbid the indulgence of our scruples. 
 
 On account of the severity of the weather, our council was 
 completed in the house of the chief, White Hair. The result 
 was a reciprocity of good feelings and fair speeches. In con 
 firmation of friendship, the southern Indians offered, and the 
 Osages accepted, strings of while porcelain beads, tied to a 
 piece of tobacco. This is termed, " making a white road 
 between the parties, which is to be kept clean." 
 
 The Osages had some scalps among them, taken from an 
 enemy. A scalp is taken from the crown of the head, and 
 stretched within a remind hoop of wood ; the hair remains on it, 
 and the fleshy side is rubbed, so as to appear like buff leather, 
 and it is usually reddened on the flesh side with vermilion. 
 
 Through the advice of Mr. Haley, which turned out to be 
 rather * unseasonable, the Choctaws intimated a desire to obtain 
 one of these dressed scalps, to carry with them, as a matter of 
 curiosity. With some ceremony, an Osage warrior came for 
 ward in council, and presented the principal Choctaw chief, 
 with the scalp of a Pawnee. The acceptance was followed by 
 a brief speech in behalf of the Osage nation, in which the orator 
 
358 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 argued that, as the Choctaws had accepted of a scalp at the 
 hands of the former, which they had taken from an enemy, the 
 Choctaws, as a nation, were bound by the customs of Indians 
 to espouse their interests, and that the Osages would hence 
 forward understand that the Choctaws, about to become their 
 neighbours, would also become their allies in war. This turn 
 of the affair was as unwelcome as it was unexpected to the 
 Choctaws, who made' no reply. Our Indians requested the 
 Osages to exhibit specimens of some of their dances, which was 
 done, somewhat to the amusement of such as delighted in 
 foolery. 
 
 The trading interest, with the Osage nation, had always been 
 in the hands of a few. These had given out to the world that 
 they were an uncommonly fierce, courageous, warlike nation of 
 Indians. On going among them, I was exceedingly astonished to 
 discover the most striking evidence of precisely the contrary 
 character. I had never before seen Indians so obedient to their 
 chiefs and principal men, so subservient to traders, and so easily 
 managed by the United States' Indian agent. 
 
 In speech making, they exhibited more native eloquence, 
 and acquitted themselves with much more credit, than our civ 
 ilized and half civilized Indians. Ours had lost too much of 
 native Indian character to appear to good advantage in an In 
 dian council proper. White men, unaccustomed to Indian 
 councils, in which it is necessary to observe Indian forms, usu 
 ally appear awkward ; and the same remark will apply to all 
 cases that I have witnessed, between Indians who have been 
 raised near the whites, when in council with others in their 
 native condition. 
 
 In most of our treaties with the Osages, they have been 
 represented as composed of two distinct bands, called " Great" 
 and " Little" Osages. No such distinction, in reality, exists, or 
 ever did exist. The supposition originated in the ignorance 
 and awkwardness of traders among them. They at that time 
 lived on the Missouri river, in two settlements, one of which 
 acquired the name, among themselves, of the Upper settlement, 
 and Upper people ; and the other, of the Lower settlement, and 
 the Lower people ; each settlement having its chiefs and prin 
 cipal men, as is common among all Indians. The whites, igno 
 rant of these circumstances, and with an imperfect knowledge 
 of the Osage language, fancied that the one was called the tail 
 people, and the other the short or small ; and a story was even 
 propagated that, by an arrangement among themselves, they 
 had divided, by placing all the taller men in one class, and all 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 359 
 
 the shorter in another, and hence originated the name of the 
 Great Osages and 'the Little Osages. These settlements re 
 moved from Missouri long since, but naturally formed different 
 settlements, elsewhere, a few miles apart. By us they still 
 retain the appellatives of Great and Little ; their name by them 
 selves is pronounced Wos-sosh-e, which has been corrupted to 
 Osage. 
 
 From time immemorial, the Osages, like the Kauzaus, have 
 been at war with the Pawnees and other remote tribes. Several 
 skirmishes had occurred the summer preceding our visit, and a 
 party of Osages which had lately returned, said they had seen 
 signs of a Pawnee war party on the upper branches of the 
 Neosho the waters on which I and our Putawatomie and 
 Ottawa delegations had spent five days the September prece 
 ding. The Osages had lost a considerable number of horses, 
 the enemy sometimes approaching near to their villages. In 
 return, they had taken horses and scalps in considerable num 
 bers. I saw a captive Pawnee woman and boy, lately taken, 
 who were at this time in the capacity of slaves. 
 
 It had been reported that the Osages did not believe in the 
 existence of the Great Spirit. I was astonished that any one 
 who had ever been two days among them, or the Kauzaus, who 
 are in all respects similar, should be so deceived. I had 
 never before seen Indians who gave more undoubted evidence 
 of their belief in God. In their speeches they make the refer 
 ences and appeals to the Great Spirit, common to all Indians 
 on such occasions ; and a devotional exercise is observed among 
 them, which I have never heard existed among any others. At 
 the opening of day, the devotee retires a little from his camp 
 or company, and utters a prayer aloud. This may or may 
 not have some allusion to a deceased relative or friend. The 
 voice is usually elevated so as to be heard sometimes half a 
 mile, and their words are uttered in a kind of plaintive, piteous 
 tone, accompanied with weeping, either affected or real, I sup 
 pose commonly the former. To English ears, the sound is un 
 couth, and we would denominate it a kind of howling. Their 
 word for God is, W6h-kon'-da, (Father of Life.) Their prayer 
 runs in some such words as the following: " Woh-kon'-da, pity 
 me ; I am very poor ; give me what I need ; give me success 
 against mine enemies, that I may avenge the death of my 
 friends. May I be able to take scalps, and to take horses," 
 &tc. These services are performed by the women, also, with 
 language appropriate. Some omit them ; but a large portion 
 
360 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 of the middle aged and older are punctual in their observance 
 every morning, and with less punctuality in the evening also. 
 
 I discovered that they frequently deposited their dead on or 
 near the surface of the earth, and raised over the corpse a heap 
 of stones. In this heap, I saw in a few places a pole planted, 
 to the top of which was suspended a scalp of an enemy. Their 
 notion was, that by taking an enemy, and suspending his scalp 
 over the grave of a deceased friend, the spirit of the former be 
 came subjected as a slave to the spirit of the latter, in the world 
 of spirits. Hence, the last and best service that can be per 
 formed for a deceased relative is to take the life of an enemy, 
 and apply his scalp as above. This sentiment, it is believed, 
 is among their strongest inducements to take human life. What 
 a happy change upon these people, in this respect, a knowledge 
 of the gospel would effect ! 
 
 At the time of which I am writing, the Rev. Mr. Pixley, a 
 Presbyterian missionary, with his wife and several children, 
 resided among the Osages. He was a worthy man, and desired 
 much to impart spiritual benefits to that poor people. But he 
 accomplished little, if any thing, of this nature during his 
 labours there. His impatience amidst what he esteemed wrong 
 in those about him sometimes induced him to administer re 
 proof in a manner to subject him to unnecessary inconvenience. 
 He and the .United States' Indian agent, Major Hamtramck, 
 at the same place, were widely at variance. Both appealed to 
 the Department of Indian Affairs at Washington, with which 
 Mr. Pixley's story evidently had greatly the advantage of the 
 other. Nevertheless, the obstacles to Mr. Pixley's usefulness 
 so accumulated, that the American Board of Commissioners for 
 Foreign Missions desired him to retire. The United States' 
 agent continued in office but a short time. 
 
 From the first dawning of the scheme for colonizing the In 
 dians in the West, the American Board of Commissioners for 
 Foreign Missions, (Pedobaptist,) than which no missionary soci 
 ety in the United States was more respectable or influential, had 
 strenuously opposed it. I was sorry to find that Mr. Pixley, 
 though labouring in the country in which it was proposed to 
 give these poor " scattered and peeled people" a permanent 
 home, was averse to the plan his feelings beating in unison 
 with those of the society which he served. 
 
 Among some of the uncultivated tribes to the north, there are 
 instances, though rare, of men assuming the office of women. 
 They put on women's apparel, and mingle with them, and affect 
 
1NDIAV MISSIONS. 
 
 the manner and appearance of females as much as possible, and 
 continue this folly during life. While I was at the Osage 
 villages, one of these wretches was pointed out to me. He 
 appeared to be about twenty-five years of age, was tall, lean, 
 and of a ghost-like appearance. His presence was so disgust 
 ing, and the circumstances of the case so unpleasant, that I 
 spoke not a word to him, and made few inquiries about him. 
 He was said to be in a declining state of health, and certainly 
 his death would not have been lamented. 
 
 We left the Osae villages on the 22d of November, 1828, 
 accompanied by Belle Ouizo, a distinguished chief. After 
 supper, at camp, he said he desired to relate a story, which he 
 had once told to an officer of the Government, who did not 
 believe it. " I should like to know," said he, " if you will 
 believe it." 
 
 " Some, years ago a company of Osages, then resident on the 
 Osage river, made a visit to St. Genevieve, on the Mississippi. 
 One of the company was a young man, in love with a young wo 
 man whom he had left behind at his village. In his absence, the 
 girl sickened and died, and was buried. The burial took place 
 just as the people of the village were leaving it, with the view of 
 establishing settlements on the Neosho, [on which river they 
 now chiefly reside.] The young man returned to the .village 
 four days after the inhabitants had left it, where he found the 
 young woman alive and alone, and in health. Not having heard 
 of her illness or death, he was not surprised at seeing her. He 
 inquired, ' W T hy are you here alone?' she replied, ' Our people 
 have all removed, and I remained behind to await your return.' 
 Taking up their little property which they desired to transport, a 
 bundle being assigned to the girl, they immediately set out to 
 overtake their people. They came up .with them at a creek 
 about one day's journey below our present encampment, [about 
 one hundred and forty miles from their former villages, from 
 which they had started.] Their people were scattered through 
 the bottom lands, in the act of pitching their tents. He directed 
 the girl to remain on the bank of the creek with her bundle that 
 she had carried, while he would ascertain where their family 
 were halted ; and he would then return for her, that they might 
 all encamp together. He found the camp of their friends, and, 
 instead of returning himself, sent one to bring up the woman 
 with her bundle, whom he had left in a place which he pointed 
 out. In the hurry of the occasion, none had inquired what 
 woman it was, nor had he informed them. The messenger 
 found the bundle, but not the woman. Returning with this in- 
 
 46 
 
862 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 formation, inquiry was made of him who she was whom he had 
 left there, and on hearing his answer he was informed that that 
 young woman died and was buried before the party left the 
 village. On hearing this, the young man instantly expired." 
 
 To this story I replied, that some white people supposed that 
 spirits could occasionally be seen. Most of them did not 
 believe it. I had never seen one. I then related two short 
 spirit stories, which had originated with people of my acquaint 
 ance, which I told in such a way as to satisfy him that I ascribed 
 all such stories to deception or superstition. This, by the In 
 dian, I knew would be esteemed a respectful method of telling 
 him that I did not believe his narrative. 
 
 He said he knew many other short stories which he would 
 like to relate, " but," said he, " you will not believe them ; the 
 one I have related is the strongest," [most interesting.] I told 
 him that I should like to hear his stories. The Indians among 
 whom 1 lived often related to me theirs. " I will not laugh at 
 yours," said I, " unless you tell something with the design of 
 producing laughter." He then mentioned two or three instan 
 ces, and detailed the circumstances, of Osages having been shot 
 through the body, scalped, and left on the ground for dead, by 
 the Pawnees, who afterwards recovered, and were still living. 
 The correctness of these accounts I did not call in question, 
 but responded by mentioning two or three similar cases which 
 had occurred among the whites. 
 
 He proceeded : "I will now relate an affair which is gene 
 rally believed among the Osages. I know not whether it is 
 true or not. I will tell it as I heard it. The Pawnees took an 
 Osage woman prisoner at the town on the Verdigris river, and 
 conducted her to theirs, which was a distance of thirteen days' 
 journey. After remaining some time with them, the woman es 
 caped from their village. But, being on foot and alone, without 
 the means of making fire or of procuring food, and with a track 
 less wilderness of thirteen days' journey between her and her 
 people, she was soon reduced to great distress, and had reason 
 to despair of ever seeing her people. In this melancholy con 
 dition she was visited by a wolf, which inquired the cause of 
 her distress. On hearing her answer, he admonished her to 
 take courage, and promised, to furnish her with a guide and with 
 supplies. He then conducted her to a buffalo. The latter en 
 tered into conversation with her, and invited her to follow him, 
 and assured her that he would guide her safely home. As to 
 her eating, she need not be uneasy ; his eating would have the 
 mysterious effect of imparting nourishment to her. Grass was 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 363 
 
 abundant, so that food adapted to his powers of digestion would 
 not he wanting ; all this she found to be true. They prosecuted 
 their journey together until one day they arrived at the stump 
 of a tree which had been cut down with an axe. He asked 
 her if she knew that place ? She replied in the negative. Said 
 he, ' you cut down that tree yourself.' When she was made to 
 recognise the place, he said, ' now you are near your village 
 you know the way, and can go alone.' So saying, he departed. 
 
 " The woman is now living in one of the Osage villages. 
 Her face is tatooed, after the manner of the Pawnee women.* 
 It is a fact that she vyas a prisoner, and she says it was by the 
 means stated that she was enabled to return. I know not whe 
 ther her story is true or false, but we can hardly suppose that 
 she could return so great a distance through a wilderness, in her 
 destitute condition, without assistance." 
 
 To the foregoing narrative I made no reply. He then pro 
 ceeded with another. " The past summer," said he, " a man 
 and a woman encountered, in the wilderness, a violent thund.er 
 storm. Each sought a shelter beneath a plum tree, two of 
 which stood near each other. While the man was seated, 
 wrapped in his blanket, which was made to cover his lap, 
 the thunder came down, and struck him on the head, and, pass 
 ing through the blanket, descended between his knees, and 
 entered the earth. The woman, affrighted, attempted to flee, 
 but had gone a few steps only, when the thunder came down 
 again and killed her. Where the thunder entered the ground 
 between the man's feet, the Osages who attended to the fune 
 rals observed a round hole about as large as a tin cup, [which he 
 pointed to, three and a half inches in diameter,] and in this hole 
 was a stone, by the fall of which the hole had been formed. 
 This, they supposed to be a thunder stone. They did not 
 touch it, because it was esteemed a sacred thing. Hitherto, our 
 people had supposed that the thunder was like a small bird, and 
 that after the stroke, it instantly flew back to the clouds ; hence 
 they never could find it, but now it is known that thunder is a 
 stone." 
 
 For his encouragement in talking, and to satisfy him that I 
 
 * It is common among many of the uncivilized Indians, both males and 
 females, to make indelible blue marks on the face, arms, or body t as best 
 suits the fancy of the person. The practice prevails to a greater extent in 
 some tribes than in others. The more ignorant of the men among the frontier 
 Canadians and Mexicans often do the same. The figure, line, or spot, is 
 made by pricking the skin, and rubbing therein colouring matter, usually gun 
 powder, which, becoming deposited beneath the cuticle of the skin, gives it a, 
 p ermaneut tinge. 
 
364 MlflT-ORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 was not so illiberal as to require him to bear the whole burden 
 of conversation, 1 related the traditionary tale of the Ottawas, 
 respecting the means by which they obtained an iron pot.* I 
 then asked him how the Osages first obtained fire. He readily 
 replied as follows: 
 
 " The story is connected with our religion, and when I tell 
 you about our first obtaining fire, I shall also speak of our pray 
 ing. Our first attempt to procure fire was by the use of a large 
 dry weed, the pith of which was large in proportion to the 
 harder exterior. The weed was laid horizontally on the earth, 
 and a hole made in the side, extending into the dry pith ; into 
 this hole the operator inserted a hard diy stick, then taking the 
 upper end of the stick between his two hands, and rubbing 
 them rapidly backward and forward, turned the stick first one 
 way and then the other, constantly praying to God for success. 
 The friction occasioned smoke, but not flame, or fire in a man 
 ner that could be kindled. While thus laboriously employed, 
 and nearly in despair, a panther came to him and inquired what 
 he was doing. He said he was trying to make fire. The pan 
 ther then kindly told him that he would show him a better 
 method of procuring fire. So saying, he instantly ascended an 
 exceedingly rocky hill which rose up from the place, and as he 
 ran up the hill with frantic speed and Ibrce, he kicked stone 
 upon stone with such violence that he made the "fire fly." 
 The fire maker now perceived that fire could be produced by 
 percussion, and this led to the use of flint and steel. After 
 obtaining sparks, they laboured considerably before they suc 
 ceeded in kindling them. This they ultimately effected by 
 means of dry leaves, decayed wood, and the like. For this 
 peculiar favour from the panther, the Osages still cherish great 
 respect for that animal, and often when we pray we wrap our- 
 elves in a panther's skin. We pray and have our religion: as 
 well as the whites. We have no preachers among us to make 
 us acquainted with your religion, but we worship W6h-kon'-da 
 [the Father of Life] in our own way. Now," said he, " I 
 want some information from ycu 3 and will ask you a question. 
 How did white people first obtain shoes ?" 
 
 It may easily be imagined that to give an appropriate answer 
 to this unexpected and singular question, and one that would 
 appear suitably polite, would be attended with some embarrass 
 ment. Endeavouring, however, to maintain the gravity which 
 important matters of conversation demand. I made out some 
 thing of a story spoke of the reasonableness of applying the 
 
 * See page 304. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 365 
 
 thick skins of animals to the feet, as that article could not con 
 veniently be used for food ; and then I mentioned the improve 
 ment made in hides to convert them into leather. Shoes at first 
 only protected the soles of the feet ; subsequently, they were 
 improved so as to cover the foot entirely, and these supposed 
 improvements were followed up to extremes, and shoes were 
 made to extend as high as the knee. Experience having taught 
 that shoes had been made too, large, they were diminished 
 until they were commonly limited to the foot, or to the foot and 
 lower half of the leg. While making these explanations, I was 
 honoured with sober attention. 
 
 Indian traditions, tales, &c., often involve such glaring absurd 
 ities, that the reader will be tempted to suppose that we have 
 omitted such parts of the story as w r ould tend to reconcile the 
 inconsistencies. When, for instance, we tell of the first attempts 
 to procure fire, the mind of the reader naturally inquires, where 
 do the Indians suppose other human beings were at that time? 
 How had the Osages previously lived without fire ? How did 
 this man know that such a thing as fire could be produced ? 
 How do they account for wolves, panthers, and buffalo, enter 
 ing into conversation with man, &c. ? These things they never 
 attempt to account for. When they have told the story, and 
 stated the facts, they suppose that they have done all that is 
 required of them; others may account for all that is uncommon, 
 and at their leisure reconcile the parts of the narrative which 
 appear to be. at variance with each other or with common sense. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Exploring expedition' continued, and terminated on Arkansas. 
 Journey to Washington. Report of the expedition. Valua 
 tion of improvements at Carey. Influence of politics upon 
 the subject of Indian colonization. Reprint of remarks on 
 Indian reform. Triennial convention. Memorial to Con 
 gress. Missionaries remove to the West. Calumny counter 
 acted. 
 
 November the 26th, 1828, our exploring company encamped 
 on the Arkansas, at the mouth of Verdigris river. We remained 
 in this neighbourhood until the 2d of December. Here our 
 Creek delegation had an opportunity of enjoying the company 
 of about fifteen hundred of their countrymen, who had. recently 
 
366 
 
 HISTORY OP BAPTIST 
 
 arrived from the east of the Mississippi. This interview ap 
 peared to be pleasant to both parties. These Creek immigrants 
 belonged to what was termed the Mclntosh party, and our dele 
 gation belonged to the other and larger party. Old General 
 Mclntosh, who had headed this smaller party on the east of the 
 Mississippi, had been killed by the others, and some fears were 
 felt lest an existing grudge might mar the future peace of the 
 two parties, if located near each other. It was, therefore, the 
 more pleasant to witness the friendly manner in which the delega 
 tion was received by the immigrants. They expressed a desire 
 that their people generally should follow and settle with them ; 
 and lest any should be deterred from doing so, by supposing 
 that the immigrants retained angry feelings on account of a former 
 quarrel, they held a council, and prepared a written communi 
 cation to the other party, affectionately inviting them into their 
 country, under assurances that former grudges were buried. 
 
 Here we left our Creek delegation, who, after remaining a 
 few days with their people, would go directly to their home on 
 the east of the Mississippi. I therefore- settled accounts with 
 them, gave them funds to take them home, &c. From this 
 place, also, Mograin, who was our interpreter for the Osages and 
 some others, turned back. Here, also, we got rid of our circus 
 man, Pa pin. We first left him to take care of a few worn-down 
 horses, in the vicinity of Fort Gibson, and he was afterwards 
 induced to remain in the place, for the purpose of amusing the 
 idle by a circus in that wilderness Indian country. I believe 
 that the design was never carried out. 
 
 Notwithstanding my great anxiety to return to my family, 
 from whom I had been separated much longer than I had ex 
 pected, I was desirous that we should see as much of the coun 
 try designed for Indian settlement as possible. During the 
 earlier part of the excursion, the plea for not going further west 
 from the State of Missouri was, that they desired to employ the 
 time in examining the country between the North Fork and the 
 main Canadian river. We were between these rivers on the 
 4th of December; but so anxious were the company to termi 
 nate the tour, that not a single night was spent there. 
 
 We were now in a buffalo country, though but a short dis 
 tance south of Fort Gibson. On the 5th of December, four of 
 our Indians became separated from us, as they were in pursuit 
 of buffalo, the last of whom did not reach our camp until 
 after dark, when he was conducted to us by a Cherokee, on 
 whose camp he had by chance fallen. On the following day, 
 two buffalo were taken by some of the party. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 367 
 
 At camp on the south of the Arkansas, and near the junction 
 of that river and Canadian river, December 7th, our explora 
 tions terminated. Here we were to separate. The Choctaws 
 would pass home by way of a few of their people who had set 
 tled on Red river, and the Chickasaws would proceed direct 
 to their places east of the Mississippi, while others of us would 
 return to St. Louis. As the principal design of the exploration 
 was to satisfy the Chickasaws, I inquired of them if they were 
 pleased with the country, &c., to which they sent me the fol 
 lowing note : 
 
 " Canadian river, December 7th, 1828. 
 
 " FRIEND AND BROTHER : In reply to your request, we have 
 to say to you that, from the situation of affairs at home, we are 
 not able to give you any account of the present tour. When 
 we return home, and find our affairs settled with the General 
 Government satisfactorily to us, we will then make our report 
 to our Great Father, the President of the United States. 
 *' We are, with great respect, your friends and brothers, 
 
 " LEVI COLBERT, 
 " ISH-TE-MA-TAH-KA, 
 " EMMUBBA, 
 " IM-MA-TAH-ISH-TO, 
 " AH-TO-CO-WAH, 
 " ISH-TA-YAH-TTJBBA, 
 " BAH-KAH-TUBBA, 
 " THOS. SEALY, 
 <: ISAAC LOVE, 
 " ELAPA-UMBA, 
 " C. COLBERT, 
 " J. McLisH. 
 To Mr. McCoy." 
 
 The other members of the delegation were absent at the time, 
 in quest of buffalo. 
 
 I was confident that they had started on the expedition with 
 reluctance. They had avoided an examination of the country 
 only so far as seemed necessary to save appearances, and I had 
 not the least expectation that they would report in favour of 
 
 coming to it. 
 
 On our way back to St. Louis, we passed the Union and 
 Harmony missionary stations, both under the patronage of the 
 American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, origi 
 nated in about 1820, for the benefit of the Osages. Harmony 
 was located fifteen miles within the State of Missouri, about 
 
368 
 
 HISTORY OK BAPTIST 
 
 seventy-five miles from the Osage villages, excepting a few 
 houses which were near the station. Union was twenty-five or 
 thirty miles from the nearest Osage village, with the exception 
 of a few who had been induced to form a small settlement 
 nearer ; and in the exchanges which had been made of lands, 
 this station had fallen within the Cherokee country. Both sta 
 tions were designed to operate upon a large scale; many mis 
 sionaries were connected with them, and in each the system of 
 boarding schools had very properly been introduced. The 
 missionaries were worthy of great praise for their piety, and 
 devotion to the interests of the perishing Indians; and, while 
 in these respects they were well qualified to be useful, it was 
 evident that each station needed a superintendent, qualified to 
 manage men and matters under difficult circumstances. All 
 pious persons are not qualified for missionaries, and there are 
 many who may labour advantageously in spheres congenial to 
 Christian kindness, if associated with one who has talents for 
 management, who, without the latter, would be unsuccessful. 
 These good missionaries became discouraged, and both stations 
 have since been discontinued, and all the missionaries have aban 
 doned the missionary field. They fancied that the condition of 
 the Osages was hopeless, or nearly so, and to this they ascribed 
 their want of success. I was obliged to view the subject differ 
 ently. The opinion I then formed has been confirmed by my 
 acquaintance with the Osages since that, among our uncivilized 
 or partially civilized tribes, no opening presented itself so favour 
 able for successful missionary operations as in this tribe. These 
 poor people have been neglected, but, as will be seen hereafter, 
 they have not been wholly abandoned. 
 
 Forty miles north of Fort Gibson, it was necessary for us to 
 halt a few minutes at a trading house, near which Monopushe, 
 an Osage chief, with his party, was encamped. The chief sent 
 for me to visit his tent ; a son of his had been a while at Union 
 mission, and had learned English enough to serve as our inter 
 preter. He spread a blanket on the earth, and seated me near 
 him, and placed before me a wooden bowl of buffalo meat. He 
 then inquired what chiefs we had seen south of that place, and 
 what talks had taken place. He expressed much dissatisfaction 
 with two Osages who had been in our company; said they were 
 bad men, who had lied ; they had sold the country in which we 
 then were, and in which his towns were, to the United States, 
 for the benefit of the Cherokees, but he was resolved not to 
 leave it, but would fight for the maintenance of his rights. I 
 endeavoured to satisfy him that we were not concerned in this 
 
INDIAN MISTS IONS. 369 
 
 matter at all, and that we had been upon other business. Hd 
 appeared calm vvhen I parted with him, and to promote good 
 feeling I sent him some tobacco. 
 
 The Osages and Cherokees had been at war, and lives had 
 been taken from both parties. Now they had become near 
 neighbours, and, in order to make room for the immigrants, the 
 OsageS Were required to leave towns which they had long inha 
 bited, and retire within a tract which had been reserved for 
 their use by a treaty in 1825. It was not surprising, therefore, 
 that the latter should feel dissatisfied. These Osages remained 
 at their villages within the Cherokee country ten years after the 
 time of which we are speaking. 
 
 It was now winter, when grazing for our horses was poof, 
 and almost daily some of them failed. Early on the morning 
 of the 14th of December, we heard the voice of an Osage en 
 gaged in his morning orison^ though till that time we had riot 
 known that an Osage encampment was near ours, nor did we 
 See the people at all. We were at this time living poorly, upori 
 a scanty supply of dried buffalo meat, sour flour, and coifed 
 without sugar. We encamped near White Hair's village on the 
 night of the 14th, and, soon after we stopped, an Osage brought 
 to camp about a gallon of corn, which he kindly presented to 
 me, with which to feed my horse. At the Osage agency, ort 
 the following day, we found a comfortable meal, which was a 
 grateful treat, and our horses obtained a feed of corn. 
 
 We returned to St. Louis on the evening of the 24th of 
 December. My extreme anxiety to return to my family had 
 induced me to prepare my accounts and all my papers, as far as 
 practicable, on the road, so as not to be long detained in St. 
 Louis. Stopping to close some business in the country, I had 
 desired Dr. Todson to take my letters out of the post office, 
 and have them ready at my arrival, lest it should be after th 
 office had been closed at night. He did, indeed, take the let 
 ters from the office, but wandered off where I could not find 
 him. The stage would leave for the East at sunrise on the fol 
 lowing day", and the ice was accumulating in the Mississippi, and 
 it Was probable that if I did not cross to go with the first stage, 
 I should be detained Some days or weeks. My mind was filled 
 With great anxiety. I at length found the Doctor and my pa 
 pers, and, by working till midnight, prepared to take the stage 
 06 the following morning. 
 
 At this time my two elder sons, Rice and Josephus, were 
 studying medicine in Lexington, Kentucky. Before I left 
 Carey, we had supposed that it would be proper for my family, 
 
 47 
 
70 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 and Mr. Lykins's, to leave the station during the autumn, and 
 spend a few months in the white settlements, while I should be 
 discharging the duties upon which I had entered; and then for 
 both families to go west, with the design of forming missionary 
 settlements in the Indian territory. I did not hear from my 
 family whether this plan had been entered upon, until 1 reached 
 St. Louis, where I learned that the families were then in Lex 
 ington, Kentucky, which place I reached on the 1st of January, 
 1829, after an absence of SJK months. 
 
 In September, during rny absence, Governour Cass and Col. 
 P. Menard, Commissioners on the part of the United States, 
 held a treaty at Carey with the Putawatornies, for the purchase 
 of land. At this treaty Mr. Lykins succeeded in obtaining a 
 stipulation providing an annuity of one thousand dollars for edu 
 cational purposes, which we fully expected would be applied 
 under the direction of the Baptist board of missions, with which 
 we were connected. Subsequently, to our great disappointment, 
 and not a little to our dissatisfaction, these funds, through an 
 influence of which I did not hesitate to complain, were applied 
 elsewhere. Annuities of two thousand dollars, for the educa 
 tion of Putawatomies and Miamies, to obtain which we had 
 laboured at the treaty of 1826, and which had been promised 
 to us, we had already been deprived of; the loss, therefore, of 
 this last one thousand dollar annuity was to us the- more griev 
 ous, especially as our support almost wholly depended on the 
 help we obtained from Government, and as we were constantly 
 pressed for the want of means to support our large Indian and 
 missionary family. In order to pay debts which the mission 
 owed, and to enable him to carry out our designs of going west, 
 Mr. Lykins had furnished, at the treaty at our house, some sup 
 plies, the product of our farm, which brought some pecuniary 
 relief. 
 
 About the 1st of October, Mr. and Mrs. Simerwell returned 
 to Carey, from a visit to their friends in the eastern States, on 
 which they had been absent from the station more than three 
 months. Mr. Lykins and wife, and my family, were in readi 
 ness to leave on their arrival ; the station, therefore, was left in 
 charge of Mr. and Mrs. Simerwell. We had for some months 
 been preparing to close our labours there, and, consequently, 
 operations were by this time greatly curtailed. We had been 
 taught, by the experience of many years, that it devolved on 
 the missionaries to devise measures, and to procure the means 
 of accomplishing them. The attention of the board being chiefly 
 engrossed by their missions in other countries, which were prose- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 371 
 
 cuted with discretion, zeal, and success, they could not be ex 
 pected to feel that interest in the establishment -of missions 
 among the tribes in the West that we did. We did not believe 
 that they would grant us permission, at that time, to go west, 
 and we therefore did not ask it ; for it would have been more 
 painful to go contrary to direct orders, than to go without orders; 
 and, from the views we had taken, we felt that we had already 
 too long delayed to remove. The board was not satisfied with 
 this movement, and rebuked Mr. Lykins for leaving the Carey 
 station before he had obtained permission. Mr. Lykins re 
 mained at Lexington with the families until I returned, when he 
 went back to Carey, to render such assistance in business as 
 was necessary. The letter from the board, complaining of pre 
 cipitancy in our movements, came to hand after Mr. Lykins's 
 departure from Lexington to Carey ; the duty of answering it, 
 therefore, devolved on me, and our reasons were candidly stated. 
 
 It was necessary for me to be at Washington, to report as 
 soon as practicable ; I therefore remained only seventeen days 
 with my family, before I again left them on a four months' tour. 
 I did not remain in Lexington long enough to prepare my ac 
 counts, and two days on the steamboat, as I ascended the Ohio 
 river, I wrote faithfully. 1 arrived at Washington on the 27th 
 of January, but having made exertions beyond my strength-, I 
 sickened, and was confined to my room several days, under the 
 care of Dr. Sewall. 
 
 According to the division of labour which the Department of 
 Indian Affairs had made between Captain Kennedy and myself, 
 it had become properly his business to report the character of 
 the country, the route we had taken, &c., and mine to attend to 
 the settlement of accounts. I had reason to suppose that Cap- 
 lain Kennerly would say little more than would be reported by 
 the topographists; and their report, I knew, would necessarily 
 not be such a condensed statement, relative to the suitableness 
 of the country for settlement, as the case demanded. I there 
 fore made a formal report, although it was not really my pro 
 vince to do so. This, I had reason to suppose, was unexpected 
 by some connected with the matter; and Colonel McKenney 
 himself, who was at the head of Indian affairs, intimated that it 
 was informal. I nevertheless felt the necessity of the measure ; 
 I was exceedingly desirous that the character of the country 
 should be known to the people of the United States, and that 
 some further action of the Government, relative to the location 
 of Indians there, should be produced as soon as practicable. 
 
372 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 The following is an extract from my letter to the Secretary of 
 War, the Hon. P. B. Porter, which accompanied my report: 
 
 "..... Document No. 1 exhibits in detail the disburse 
 ment of the funds confided to my trust. Documents Nos. 2 
 and 3 furnish vouchers. Document No. 4 contains explana 
 tions. Document No. 5 is a map of the country we explored, 
 and extending west to the Rocky mountains, and north beyond 
 what may probably be the limits of the Indian territory. It also 
 exhibits the claims of the several tribes, and the amount of un 
 appropriated lands. Document No. 6 furnishes a brief history 
 of the expedition, a description of the -country, and my views 
 relative to the settlement of Indian tribes therein, and the sub 
 jects connected therewith which claim the immediate attention 
 of our Government." 
 
 My report having lain in the office of the Department of In 
 dian Affairs nine days, and fearing that it would not appear 
 before Congress in time to produce any effect, the Honourable 
 Wm. McLean, Chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs 
 in the House of Representatives, made a call of the House for 
 those documents, which he did with success. The following is 
 an extract from the report of the Committee, of which Mr. 
 McLean was Chairman : 
 
 " The Committee on Indian Affairs, to which was referred so 
 much of -the President's Message, transmitted to Congress at 
 the commencement of its present session, as has reference to 
 our Indian relations, with the documents from the War Depart 
 ment, accompanying the same, on that subject ; and to whom 
 was also referred the communication from the War Department 
 of the 12th instant, transmitting reports from the commission 
 ers appointed under the act of Congress, passed at the last ses 
 sion, authorizing an exploration of the country west of the 
 Mississippi, report: 
 
 " That, on a review of the subject touching our Indian 
 relations, the committee are confirmed in the belief that the 
 Government of the United States cannot, in justice to this 
 dependant race of human beings, cease to exercise over them 
 a parental guardianship, and that no means should be left unem 
 ployed which promise an elevation of their character, and an 
 increase of their happiness and prosperity. This position is so 
 clear as to render unnecessary any reference to the history of 
 our relations with the aborigines of this country to sustain it. A 
 very small portion of this history can be contemplated with 
 pleasure. We have, it is true, legislated, and doubtless with a 
 view -to the welfare of the Indians, but our legislation does not 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 373 
 
 appear to have tended even to ameliorate their condition, much 
 Jess to elevate them to the level of their more fortunate white 
 brothers. It would seem that our chief business had been to 
 trade and barter with them, not for their interest so much as our 
 own. We give them annuities for their lands, and have occa 
 sionally, by some feeble efforts, assisted a few of them 10 rise 
 from the vices into which they have been led by our example 
 into better life and better hopes; but, in doiflg this, we have 
 not fulfilled our obligations which grow out of our relations to 
 them. 
 
 " Without further reference to the past, the committee will pro 
 ceed to consider the present condition of the Indians, especi 
 ally those tribes and parts of tribes whose country is embraced 
 by some of the States and organized Territories. 
 
 " It is well known that the condition of the four southern tribes, 
 the Chickasaws, Choctaws, Cherokees, and Creeks, has become 
 extremely critical. There does appear to have arrived a 
 crisis in which the salvation or destruction of those tribes is 
 involved. Some of the States within whose limits they are situ 
 ated urge their removal, while many of the Indians cling to 
 their soil. Repeated efforts have been made by the General 
 Government to reconcile the parties, and to obtain the consent 
 of the Indians to remove, but some of them still persevere in 
 their refusal to go, and call upon the Federal Government for 
 protection. No force has been employed on either side, but 
 the right of sovereignty in the States is proposed to be ex 
 ercised over all the Indians within certain of the States, by 
 making them amenable to their laws, and answerable for any 
 violation of them before their courts of jurisprudence. This 
 policy, it is feared, would prove destructive to the Indians. 
 
 " The question then recurs, How are they to be preserved ? 
 The committee can perceive but one way ; and that is, by adopt 
 ing the policy proposed by the Government for their removal 
 and collocation upon lands without the limits of the States and 
 organized Territories. The policy of urging them to leave their 
 country for another would be deplored, if it were not believed 
 to be the only effectual measure to secure the prosperity and 
 happiness of themselves and their posterity. 
 
 "It will be seen by the documents accompanying this report, 
 that the persons appointed by the President, under the act of 
 Congress passed at the last session, authorizing an exploration 
 of the country west of the Mississippi, have performed the 
 duties assigned to them, and furnished satisfactory evidence of 
 the fitness, extent, and even desirableness of the country upon 
 
374 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 which it is proposed to locate the Indians, a considerable pro 
 portion of which is now possessed by parts of the Choctaws, 
 Cherokees, and Creeks, who are anxious to receive their friends 
 from the east. 
 
 " A part of the delegations from the different tribes who ac 
 companied the commissioners have returned, being well pleased 
 with the country, and are desirous to emigrate to it ; especially 
 the Creeks, whose application to that effect is appended to this 
 report. 
 
 " It is believed that the great body of the Indians now residing 
 within the States are willing to emigrate, but are deterred from 
 doing so by the fear of their chiefs, who are influenced to op 
 pose the measure by interested traders, who speculate in Indian 
 annuities. 
 
 " The proposed plan for the colonization of the Indians has 
 long since been suggested, and indeed approved and acted on 
 by the Executive and by Congress. In many of our treaties 
 with them, provisions have been introduced for their emigration 
 to the west of the Mississippi, and pledges given to furnish them 
 with the necessary aid in their removal. Those treaties have 
 been sanctioned, and some of them carried into effect by the 
 Congress, and for the fulfilment of the whole of them the faith 
 of the Government is solemnly pledged. 
 
 " The committee recommend that the lands upon which the 
 Indians shall be located be so secured to them, as that, in no future 
 time, they may be dispossessed, or even encroached upon ; that 
 they be paid a just compensation for their improvements which 
 they may abandon ; that protection be afforded them in their 
 new homes ; that, so soon as circumstances shall admit of and 
 require it, they be furnished with all the helps necessary to form 
 for themselves a government of laws suited to their condition, 
 and the means of education in letters and the arts. In a word, 
 that they be, so far as the Government of the United States 
 may have the power, redeemed from the evils of the past, and 
 elevated, so far as possible, into rights and privileges such as 
 we enjoy. To such as shall prefer remaining where they are, 
 and come under the laws of the States, (and doubtless there are 
 some such,) give ample reservations, under proper restrictions. 
 Thus would the parties, even among themselves, be accommo 
 dated, and the great object realized, in ridding the States of a 
 population which they feel to be burdensome, and in conferring 
 blessings on the Indians. 
 
 " The plan suggested by the Secretary of War, in his report 
 accompanying the President's message to Congress at the com- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 375 
 
 mencement of the present session, in reference to the Indians, 
 is, that they be encouraged and aided in their removal to the 
 proposed country; and he urges the importance of the coloni 
 zation plan in the following language : ' If the project of colo 
 nization be a wise one, and of this 1 believ 7 e no one entertains a 
 doubt, why not shape all our laws and treaties to the attainment 
 of that object, and impart to them an efficiency that shall be 
 sure to effect it ?' 
 
 " The President of the United States also approves of, and 
 recommends, the adoption of this course, and, among other rea 
 sons by him assigned, is the unanswerable one of the difficulty 
 likely to arise from the formation of independent Governments 
 among the Indians, within the limits of sovereign States, l claim 
 ing to be independent of ours, and rivals of sovereignty within 
 the territories of the members of our Union.' The committee 
 do not perceive that the regulations adopted by the Cherokees, 
 under the forms of a constitution and laws, change in any man 
 ner their relations to the United States. But it is easy to see 
 that a conflict must arise out of this state of things, whenever 
 the States, by their laws, take cognizance of the acts of the In 
 dians. It is to avoid the calamities of such a conflict, and to 
 save the Indians from its heavy judgments, that the committee 
 would urge their removal." 
 
 The bill for the organization of the Indian territory, which 
 has since twice passed the Senate, described the boundaries of 
 the territory, according to the recommendation contained in rny 
 report, and exhibited on the map which accompanied it. I also 
 recommended the appointment of a superintendent of the Indi 
 an territory, accompanied by reasons in favour of the measure ; 
 and, also, that measures be taken to conciliate the remote tribes, 
 whose intercourse was chiefly with the Spaniards of Mexico, by 
 an expedition among them, for the purpose of making them ac 
 quainted with the United States, and inducing them to be peace 
 able to the immigrant Indians and to our citizens. The closing 
 paragraph of the report was as follows : " It only remains for 
 me to ask leave to express, with much confidence, my opinion 
 that the country under consideration is adequate to the purposes 
 of a permanent and comfortable home for the Indians ; and what 
 ever may be the obstacles which at present oppose, they may, 
 nevertheless, be located there without recourse to any mea 
 sure not in strict accordance with justice and humanity. In 
 such a location only can be found hopes of their future pros 
 perity, and here their prospects would not be shaded by a 
 doubt." 
 
376 
 
 HISTORY OK BAPTIST 
 
 My report was submitted on the 30th of January ; it covered 
 eighteen large pages of print, and was appended to the report of 
 the committee. Besides the number of these documents which 
 Congress ordered for its use, I had one thousand stricken off at 
 my own expense for a wider circulation, in order to direct pub 
 lic attention to the subject. 
 
 Through Mr. Lykins, who was at that time attending to mat 
 ters at Carey and Thomas, I received a communication from 
 some of the Putawatomies, and another from a few Ottawas, 
 which they desired me to submit to the President of the United 
 States, expressing a desire to emigrate to the West, and asking 
 for assistance. Also a similar communication was received from 
 our two Indian medical students, in Vermont. 
 
 Through the attention of Mr. Lykins at the treaty at Carey, 
 in October, 1828, who was at that time the only male missiona 
 ry on the ground, provision had been made by which the Go 
 vernment was to pay for the improvements which had been 
 made, in houses, fields, orchards, &c., whenever the missionaries 
 should remove. I now reported to the Department of Indian 
 Affairs that we were ready to close our operations there, and de 
 sired that commissioners be appointed to value the improve 
 ments. The Department also allowed me to nominate one of the 
 two commissioners to make the valuation. This measure, a few 
 weeks afterwards, was confirmed by the board, and Mr. Lykins 
 and I directed to be present, if practicable, at the appraisement. 
 I chose Charles Noble, Esq., of Michigan, who was the first 
 special agent that had been sent by the Government to examine 
 and report the condition and prospects of the mission, and the 
 Indian Department chose Mr. Simonson, of Indiana. The 
 appraisement took place in September, 1830. 
 
 Through the indulgence of Government, Mr. Lykins and I 
 were allowed, some time after we left the stations of Carey and 
 Thomas, to retain our commissions -the one as teacher for tho 
 Ottawas, and the other as teacher for the Putawatomies, and as 
 superintendent of both stations; and tbis indulgence was extend 
 ed until we finally settled in the West. We made out our 
 accounts for our salaries ; and these salaries were drawn by our 
 brethren Simerwell and Meeker, and by them applied immedi 
 ately to the support of their respective stations at Carey and 
 Thomas. 
 
 About this time the board made a nominal change in the 
 management of the two stations, which would have been pro 
 per at a later period, but which was premature, so long as our 
 connection with the Government remained unaltered. The two 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 877 
 
 stations had always been connected, not only because such was 
 the arrangement of the Government, but because it was neces 
 sary that they should mutually assist each other in means and 
 missionaries. The board separated the two, and directed Mr. 
 Meeker and Mr. Slater to manage jointly the affairs of Thomas, 
 and Mr. Sirnerwell those of Carey. This measure would have 
 led to confusion, and the loss to those stations of the support they 
 received from the salaries of Mr. Lykins and myself, had the 
 arrangements of the board been strictly adhered to. The mis 
 sionaries, however, harmonized their movements, and went on 
 as before. The schools were at this time less than formerly, 
 but the operations of each station were sustained in a manner 
 creditable to the respective missionaries. 
 
 A bill had been introduced into the House of Representa 
 tives of Congress, providing an appropriation to carry forward 
 the design of collocating the tribes in the West, which did not 
 pass. My business detained me at Washington some time after 
 the adjournment of Congress. I thought that, in order to pro 
 mote some favourable action of Government, further examina 
 tions of the country ought to be made before the next session, 
 particularly with reference to a judicious location of the tribes, 
 and a small reservation for the seat of Government of the con 
 templated territory, on which the officers of the territory and 
 Indians of any tribe might locate. I therefore applied to the 
 Secretary of War, the Honourable John H. Eaton, for autho 
 rity to make a brief lour, with a view to these objects, the cost 
 of which would be but a trifle. He appeared well disposed 
 towards the plan, but said he had no funds which could be ap 
 plied to that object. I then resolved to make the examination 
 at my own cost, and to bring the subject to the consideration of 
 the Government in an unofficial manner. This design was car 
 ried out, as will be seen hereafter. 
 
 At this time, J. EvarJ;s, Esq., Corresponding Secretary of the 
 American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, a 
 worthy gentleman and Christian, was in Washington. I was 
 frequently in his company, but was grieved to discover that, in 
 regard to colonizing the Indians in the West, his views and 
 efforts run in a channel opposite to mine. The opposition of 
 that society was not only to be deprecated on account of the delays 
 of the action of Government, which their influence would occa 
 sion, but because the acting members of our board of missions, 
 though they acted with dignified independence, were not a little 
 influenced by theirs. This was natural, because both societies 
 were in the same neighbourhood, and both were in a country 
 48 
 
378 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 where they heard much more from the pen and the press against 
 locating the Indians in the West, than the few who advocated 
 the measures could find opportunity to say in its favour, and 
 therefore some of the more active memhers of the Baptist board 
 were made to doubt the eligibility of the plan. The board 
 was composed of thirty-two members, only about seven or nine 
 of whom resided so near the ordinary place of meeting as to 
 attend. These acting members met in Boston, Massachusetts, 
 and honestly drank so deeply the spirit of opposition to the 
 colonizing plan, that, left wholly to their own choice, they would 
 have done nothing in favour of it. But with a majority of the 
 members more remote, different, and, as the missionaries thought, 
 more consistent views of the subject were taken. We therefore 
 kept up a correspondence with these distant members, whose 
 wishes, reaching the acting members, produced decisions in ac 
 cordance with what were supposed to be the views of a large 
 majority. Among those who exerted a favourable influence in 
 this respect, none was more conspicuous than the Rev. S. H. 
 Cone, of New-York, to whose influence and zealous action 
 may be ascribed much that the board did in favour of the mea 
 sure under consideration. 
 
 In a Government like ours it will always happen that there 
 will be political parties almost equally balanced in power and in 
 influence the one striving to gain the ascendancy, and the 
 other striving to retain it. The ambition and excitement of the 
 two prominent political parties had, perhaps, never run higher 
 than at this period, and very much to the disadvantage of In 
 dian matters. The subject of colonizing the Indians, which 
 necessarily involved their removal, was seized by those opposed 
 to the administration, as a matter which would be made avail 
 able for political purposes. The propriety of securing the 
 tribes in the possession of a home was in a measure overlooked, 
 and the matter merely of Indian removal was harped upon. In 
 this branch of the subject, no new principle or practice had 
 been introduced. The whites had always controlled the In 
 dians and Indian affairs, and had removed them whenever they 
 chose, or if they permitted them to remain, prescribed the condi 
 tions upon which they were allowed the liberty of doing so. 
 Many of the States had got rid of their Indians, and all claimed 
 the right to manage them, excepting a few instances in the south 
 ern and western States, where the right to rule them was, to 
 some extent, conceded to the General Government. The 
 policy which Europeans had adopted on their first settlement 
 in this country, and which all had practised up to the time of 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS.-. 
 
 379 
 
 which we speak, was evidently wrong at variance with na 
 tional honour and justice, and with Christian philanthropy, and 
 fraught with evils under which the tribes had constantly wasted 
 away. Among a people like those of the United States, it was 
 not difficult to elicit strong sympathies in favour of the Indians; 
 and the policy being intrinsically wrong, multitudes did not stop 
 to reflect that the States had all been involved alike in the 
 same error; but fixing their attention upon the southern tribes, 
 the Cherokees especially, exclaimed against the cruelty of com 
 pelling them to remove " from the graves of their fathers." 
 
 The Cherokees in the South were more civilized and more 
 numerous than most of the tribes to the North, and on this ac 
 count they felt most keenly the injurious tendency of the policy 
 of the whites. With these exceptions in regard to numbers, 
 and the advances made in civilization, the policy bore as op 
 pressively upon the northern tribes as upon those of {he South ; 
 and in years gone by, both before and since the constitution of 
 our Government, its effects had been equally injurious to the In 
 dians ; but it happened that in those da)s the Indians had not in 
 telligence and opportunity to complain, and cause .their com 
 plaints to be heard. In years past other States had been as 
 anxious to rid themselves of the inconvenience of Indian popula 
 tion as the State of Georgia and some others now were to get rid 
 of theirs ; and Georgia was not easily convinced that an exception 
 to the rule universally observed by others should be made to 
 her disadvantage. At the same time, others, no longer feeling 
 the necessity of removing Indians, complained loudly of the 
 cruelty of the State of Georgia. 
 
 The two preceding administrations of Mr. Monroe and Mr. 
 Adams had been consulted by the Baptists, on the propriety 
 of giving to the tribes a permanent home in the West, and both 
 had been understood to be in favour of the measure, though at 
 that time the question of sovereignty had not advanced to a 
 crisis, so as to render some action either for or against the 
 measure unavoidable. This was reserved for the administration 
 of GeneralJackson. While he warmly advocated the benevolent 
 measure of giving to the Indians a permanent resting place, which 
 the generations preceding us had denied them, he was decidedly 
 in favour of allowing to the southern States the advantages of 
 the policy of which the northern States had previously availed 
 themselves. He was, therefore, both by the necessity of the 
 case and by principle, required to act in reference to the 
 removal of the Indians. These acts were represented by the 
 opponents of the administration as cruel, and the sympathies 
 
330 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTISf 
 
 of thousands, who deserved more credit for the piety of their 
 hearts than for the information of their heads, petitioned the 
 Government to u spare the Indians." 
 
 In these well meant but misguided efforts of the petitioners, 
 the northern tribes were overlooked, notwithstanding their suf 
 ferings from the policy of Government were at that time 
 greater to each individual than the evils that had then come 
 upon the southern tribes. I have no knowledge that among the 
 hundreds of petitions there was one in favour of any except the 
 southern tribes ; and even among these, the Choctaws, Chicka- 
 saws, and Creeks, were almost wholly overlooked. The burden 
 of the prayer of ten thousand voices was, Spare the Cherokees ! 
 They who had opportunity and inclination to view the subject 
 on all sides, could not but perceive that this partiality for the 
 Cherokees originated in motives less honourable than those of 
 philanthropy.* They who worked the wires stood behind the 
 political curtain, and adroitly aggravated opposition to the ad 
 ministration. 
 
 The northern States had done very much more in missionary 
 matters, both in regard to foreign nations and the aborigines of 
 America, than the southern and western States. Being en 
 gaged more largely in works of benevolence, the sympathies of 
 the North were more easily excited than in the South and 
 West; and as a large portion of the benevolence necessary to 
 the success of missions belonged to the North, the wrong'direc- 
 tion of sympathy, which caused it to run in an improper chan 
 nel, was the more extensively injurious to the cause of Indian 
 reform. On these accounts, the tide set strongly against the 
 measure of providing a permanent home for the Indians. Past 
 experience showed, too plainly to be denied, that, should they 
 remain where they were, they would inevitably perish ; and no 
 good reason could be assigned why they might not prosper, if 
 located where they could remain undisturbed, and under cir 
 cumstances that would allow them to acquire self-respect, and 
 a knowledge of their rights, and of the moral means of sustain 
 ing them. Still the cry was, " Let them remain where they 
 are." A few reasoned more rationally, and contended that the 
 matter should be left wholly to the choice of the Indians. This 
 seemed plausible, and in itself was right ; but those persons 
 either did not understand, or had not fully weighed the fact, 
 that in these cases Indians seldom acted for themselves, but were 
 generally under the influence of persons who regarded their own 
 interests more than those of the Indians. 
 
 * See introductory remarks, pp. 38, 39. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 381 
 
 Indian affairs, in themselves, constituted a subject of common 
 interest to our country, on which there was no necessity for 
 parties, which had filed off upon other considerations, to divide. 
 If we desired to do the Indians good, we might honestly differ 
 in the choice of means ; but we would naturally suppose that 
 this difference of opinion respecting measures would be found 
 in both parties. But it so happened that the same line which 
 divided the two great political parties in the nation was almost 
 identically the same that divided the opinions of men in the 
 matter of colonizing the Indians ; that is, the friends of the 
 administration were almost universally in favour of it, and 
 the opponents of the administration were almost unanimously 
 opposed to it. 
 
 While there was reason to lament these hinderances to a work 
 on which, perhaps, depended the very existence of the Indians, 
 they seemed at the same time to operate in some degree as a 
 corrective of the general apathy which for two hundred years 
 had prevailed in regard to this suffering race. A few, from 
 time to time, had prayed and laboured for their relief; but ninety- 
 nine hundredths of our citizens neither knew nor cared what was 
 their condition. The violent agitation of the subject brought 
 men to think, to learn more respecting the condition of the In 
 dians, and to indulge more liberal feelings towards them. 
 
 Some of us made considerable efforts to enlist in the cause 
 we espoused public prints which had a wide circulation ; but 
 some, as might be expected, declined publishing any thing fa 
 vourable to the plan of removal. Some religious periodicals of 
 the Baptists would occasionally furnish notices respecting the 
 colonizing plan, not in opposition to it, but with studied caution, 
 as if they were afraid they were treading upon enchanted ground. 
 Some of us, however, did at times appear before the public 
 in defence of the scheme, in both political and religious prints, 
 but in the former, commonly, under a fictitious name. 
 
 I left Washington on the 4th of April, and proceeded to Bos 
 ton, to confer with the board of missions. I fully believed that 
 both the political and the religious public laboured under erro 
 neous views on the subject of Indian reform. Most of the advo 
 cates of the measures dear to us worked as if they were in the 
 dark ; the religious seemed not to understand Indian character, 
 and the true causes of their woes, and how to devise and zeal 
 ously execute the best measures of relief. 
 
 I had revised the pamphlet which I had published in 1827, 
 entitled " Remarks on the Practicability of Indian Reform," 
 which I desired to republish with an appendix. These were 
 
382 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 submitted to the inspection of the board, with a request that 
 they would print them. A committee was appointed to inspect 
 the work, and to report on the propriety of printing. The com 
 mittee reported in favour of reprinting the pamphlet, hut against 
 publishing the appendix. This to me was a pretty heavy 
 stroke, because I was more anxious to have the appendix go 
 before the public, than the pamphlet. The most formidable 
 objection to the appendix appeared to be, that it contained some 
 sentiments, relative to the management of missions, not in strict 
 accordance with those of the board; and the hope of correcting 
 what I thought to be erroneous views was a prominent reason 
 for placing the work before the public. I then resolved to pub 
 lish the work at my own expense, if I could possibly obtain the 
 means. My own large family, and Mr. Lykins and wife and 
 child, were, as we considered it,* on the way to the West, under 
 circumstances very expensive. Our salaries of four hundred 
 dollars a year each from Government, on account of our con 
 nection with the missionary stations on St. Joseph's and Grand 
 river, were given to Mr. Simerwell, Mr. Meeker, and Mr. Sla 
 ter, for the support of those stations. I had on hand a few 
 hundred dollars, above what 1 had expended, of my earnings 
 from Government on account of services on the late tour of 
 exploration ; I therefore had the pamphlet reprinted, with the 
 appendix, which I distributed gratuitously, again furnishing each 
 member of Congress with a copy. I could not remain to attend 
 to the printing myself, and the Rev. Mr. Cone had the good 
 ness to superintend its publication in the city of New- York. 
 
 Between the 29th of April and the 7th of May, the General 
 Triennial Missionary Convention was in session in Philadelphia. 
 Iwas grieved to discover that while zealous and well devised 
 efforts, honourable to both the heads and the hearts of the mem 
 bers of the General Convention, were put forth in favour of 
 foreign lands, our own -was almost wholly overlooked. During 
 the session, a committee was appointed to report on missions 
 generally, and on the best measures for promoting them, &ic. 
 In this report, as first made, Indian stations were wholly omitted. 
 Of this 1 complained, and it was corrected. T complained, also, 
 that, a year before that time, the board had sent to the world an 
 address on missions, in which a similar though not an equal de 
 linquency was manifest in regard to Indian stations. The fact 
 was, so much noise was made in the country about the cruelty 
 of removing the Cherokees, and such mistaken views were 
 formed of the true state of Indian affairs, that many good men 
 seemed almost to despair of the success of missionary efforts 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 383 
 
 among them. They seemed to be settling down in the opinion 
 which had too widely prevailed, from the time of our first settle 
 ment in America, that the aborigines were destined to become 
 extinct, and, therefore, works of benevolence had belter be 
 directed to places in which success might be hoped for. The 
 Rev. W. T. Brantley, D. D. than whom none was more justly 
 esteemed for talents and piety, and who was a member of the 
 Convention, and who was at that time editor of a respectable 
 religious periodical said to me that there were so many ap 
 palling circumstances connected with the business of Indian 
 improvement, that he had a thought of introducing into the 
 Convention a resolution, declaring the belief that their reforma 
 tion was impracticable. I complained that Indian missions had 
 not been well supported ; that there appeared to be less zeal in 
 favour of the conversion of the aborigines at this time, than a 
 few years before, and that their missionaries were too few in 
 number, and were labouring under very many disadvantages, 
 which might be diminished by greater attention on the part of a 
 Christian public. If the Indians were to perish, as many sup 
 posed, the missionaries desired to remain with them to the last. 
 They had placed themselves under the patronage of the Con 
 vention, in order to obtain assistance in carrying forward their 
 designs of benefiting that almost friendless race ; and if this 
 assistance could not be obtained, the connection was unnecessary 
 and undesirable. In private conversation, I suggested to many 
 members of the board the propriety of dissolving the connection 
 between it and the missionaries, and of throwing the latter upon 
 their own resources.* I knew, indeed, that in order to secure 
 public attention and public confidence, it was necessary for us to 
 be under the wing of some benevolent society; and this was 
 also necessary, in order to secure the patronage of Government 
 for a missionary station. According to a judicious Government 
 regulation, individuals would not be recognised as justly entitled 
 to Government allowances for Indian civilization; but it was 
 thought that the amount of business relating to foreign missions 
 was as much as the existing board ought to be expected to give 
 attention to, and that a board could be formed, the appropriate 
 business of which would be the promotion of Indian missions. 
 In these propositions no reflections were cast upon the existing 
 board; in regard to talents and zeal for the glory of God and 
 the welfare of heathen men, they were second to none. There 
 were reasons why they should feel a deeper interest in foreign 
 missions than in domestic, and these reasons were weighty and 
 many ; but those who were favourable to the formation of an 
 
384 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 Indian board discovered that men of the proper type could not 
 be found within a convenient distance of any one point. The 
 deficiency which obstructed the selection was not the want of 
 talents, piety, or Christian zeal for the spread of the Gospel, 
 but the discouragements and consequent apathy which sur 
 rounded the subject of Indian reform. There was a want of 
 agents to bring the subject more fully to public notice. In 
 benevolent orations, in printed circulars, and in the deliberations 
 of the board, the subject of Indian missions was thrown into the 
 back-ground it had not been allowed a prominent place, and 
 the public knew comparatively little about it. As evidence of 
 the want of zeal in this department, the Convention was re 
 minded that no charity funds had been applied to the support 
 of the two stations to which I was particularly attached for five 
 years, except a small amount contributed specially for the bene 
 fit of those stations by individuals or societies. 
 
 A series of resolutions was submitted to the consideration of 
 the board, relative to future operations, the more important of 
 which were adopted certainly more in compliance with my 
 wishes than in accordance with those of the acting members of 
 that body. Among these resolutions were the following: 
 
 " Resolved, That in order to facilitate the designs of this 
 board, relative to the collocation of the Indians on suitable lands 
 in the West, our missionaries, the Rev. I. McCoy and Mr. J. 
 Lykins, be instructed to repair to the regions west of the State 
 of Missouri and Territory of Arkansas, or as near thereto as 
 circumstances will permit, and that they procure and submit to 
 this board information respecting the country, and the circum 
 stances connected therewith, as their opportunities will allow; 
 and while they select and report, for the decision of this board, 
 a suitable cite for the location of the mission, when necessity 
 shall compel us to relinquish the ground we now occupy in the 
 regions of the lakes, they are required, in all the measures they 
 may propose to the board, to keep steadily in view its designs 
 relative to future operations. 
 
 " Resolved, That Mr. McCoy and Mr. Lykins are permitted 
 to accept of. any appointments from the Government, and to 
 avail themselves of other facilities which may be compatible 
 with the character and designs of the mission. 
 
 " Resolved, That should their wants actually require it, they 
 will be at liberty to draw on the board for a sum not exceeding 
 one thousand dollars, during the year ending March 31, 1830." 
 
 Government made an annual appropriation of $10,000 for 
 the improvement of the condition of the Indians. This sum 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 385 
 
 was divided among the various religious denominations which 
 had missions or schools for the benefit of the tribes. At first, 
 the apportionment for each station was made by the Depart 
 ment of Indian Affairs. But at the time of which we speak, 
 the money was distributed to the different societies in charge of 
 the missions, and each authorized to apply its allowance at its 
 own discretion. The appropriation, therefore, of one thousand 
 dollars by the board, as above stated, trenched upon no cha 
 rity funds which could be applied to any other object than 
 missions among the Indians. 
 
 At this meeting of the convention and its board of managers 
 we were much gratified with the correct views and efficient 
 efforts of the Rev. John L. Dagg and Rev. S. H. Cone. The 
 Rev. Lucius Bolles, D. D., corresponding secretary of the 
 board, and Hernan Lincoln, Esq., were appointed a committee 
 to accompany me to Washington, for the purpose of presenting 
 to the President of the United States the following petition : 
 
 "Washington, May 9, 1829. 
 
 "Sia: By treaties with the Osage and Kauzau tribes of 
 Indians, lands have been reserved for education purposes, to be 
 applied under the direction of the President of the United 
 States. The Baptist Convention for the United States have 
 authorized me to inform you, that in the application of those 
 lands to their object, they would be glad to be honoured with 
 the trust. 
 
 " Their views relative to the collocation of the tribes west of 
 the State of Missouri and Territory of Arkansas perfectly agree 
 with those of the Government, an expression of which they 
 made to Congress, in a memorial, in 1827-'8. Mr. McCoy, 
 who accompanied the late exploring expedition, has, in con 
 junction with another agent, been appointed by them to revisit 
 that country, to select a suitable situation for the settlement of 
 the fruit of their schools, and for education establishments, and 
 to procure such information relative to the country as may be 
 of service to the next Congress. 
 
 " They beg leave respectfully to submit to your consideration 
 the propriety of establishing within the Indian territory, so railed. 
 a superintendency that may tend to the judicious location of 
 the tribes which may be settled there. 
 
 " They would further suggest, with due respect, the proba 
 bility that, should an expedition be sent the next spring to the 
 Camanches, and others in the West at present at war with the 
 Osages, menacing to emigrating Indians, and mischievous on 
 the Santa Fe road, they would be rendered peaceable, 
 49 
 
386 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 " For reasons for the above suggestions relative to a superin- 
 tendency, and to the expedition, they would respectfully refer 
 to pages 19, 20, 21, and 22, of the report to the Secretary of 
 War, of Mr. McCoy, herewith submitted. 
 
 ' With the highest respect, I am, sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 " Lucius BOLLES, Cor. Sec'y* 
 
 <l Andrew Jackson, President of the United States." 
 
 I left Washington on the llth of May, 1829, and reached 
 rny family on the 18th ; having been allowed to spend only 
 seventeen days with them within the preceding ten and a half 
 months. Mr. Lykins had returned to Lexington, Kentucky, 
 from the missionary stations in Michigan, and was awaiting my 
 arrival, in readiness to proceed to the West with our families. 
 
 God often frustrates our plans, and disappoints our hopes, to 
 teach us our littleness, and that He is sovereign. When the 
 missions were in their incipient stages, efforts were made, and 
 in many instances with success, to provide openings for the en 
 largement of operations, under a supposition that missionaries 
 would not be wanting; in most instances, these hopes were dis 
 appointed. Efforts were also made to qualify Indians for mis 
 sionary labours, and the children of missionaries were educated 
 with a view to their usefulness in the same field, should God 
 sanctify and rightly dispose them. Several deeply affecting 
 instances in our own families, and the miseries of the people 
 around us, had made us to feel keenly the want of medical aid. 
 With a view to future usefulness in this department, two of my 
 sons studied medicine in the Transylvania University, in Lex 
 ington, Kentucky ; but, as will be seen hereafter, our hopes of 
 help from them were disappointed by their deaths. 
 
 They had graduated a few days before my arrival at home, 
 and three days afterwards the elder proceeded to Missouri, to 
 procure a resting place for us on our arrival. On the 1st of 
 June, 1829, Mr. Lykins and I followed with our families, ac 
 companied by my second son. We left Lexington with grate 
 ful recollections of the attentions of many worthy friends, among 
 whom Dr. William H. Richardson and lady, and Dr. Best and 
 lady, were prominent. Under her years of toil and anxiety in 
 the wilderness, Mrs. McCoy's health had become such as to 
 make a few months' rest necessary; and this was a reason for 
 quitting Carey at the time she did. She was now going to the 
 far West, with improved health and spirits. 
 
 Near the western line of the State of Indiana we left our 
 families, while Mr. Lykins and 1, on the 19th of June, set off 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 387 
 
 to visit our missionary stations in Michigan, in order to aid in 
 placing matters in a situation as favourable as possible, when 
 they should be left solely under the management of cur breth 
 ren Simerwell, Meeker, and Slater. 
 
 After three or four nights, on which we had encamped under 
 disagreeable circumstances, we reached Carey on the 26th of 
 June. Here we found the faithful Mr. and Mrs. Simerwell, 
 whose unostentatious manner evinced that they worked for God, 
 and expected to receive their pay in heaven, patiently prosecut 
 ing their labour of love for the salvation of the almost friendless 
 natives. Indian acquaintances flocked to see us, and our mu 
 tual satisfaction seemed to be interrupted only by the reflection 
 that we soon must part. 
 
 Operations at the station had been narrowed, but not more 
 than might reasonably have been expected. On the 10th of 
 July there were actually on the mission premises thirty-seven 
 Indian youths, well managed by Mr. and Mrs. Simerwell. Ne 
 cessity compelled them to employ a teacher in the school. 
 
 It is much to be regretted that, in years following the period 
 of which we speak, the zeal and self-denial of missionaries have 
 greatly relaxed. Now, boarding schools, in many instances, 
 cannot be sustained, because of the labour and anxiety they 
 would occasion to the missionaries. Notwithstanding, in some 
 cases, a missionary, by keeping a school of a dozen scholars, 
 boarded with him, would secure a congregation of five to one 
 to hear him preach, he cannot encounter the privation, and 
 pleads that preaching is his appropriate business. The man 
 agement of three or four children of their own is as much as one 
 pair of missionaries can undertake. But in those days, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Simerwell, with two or three children of their own, could 
 take the trouble of feeding, clothing, lodging, and teaching, thir 
 ty-seven Indian children, besides such as were occasionally ab 
 sent, making the whole number in their charge between forty 
 and fifty ; and this was a labour only similar to what others had 
 performed before. 
 
 Still, in the vicinity of the mission, there were not wanting 
 men so wicked as to seek, by calumny, to rob the missionaries of 
 the honour to which their self-denial entitled them. A man 
 living, at that time, less than two miles from Carey, had pub 
 lished an anonymous communication in an obscure newspa 
 per printed on the frontiers of Indiana, designed to injure the 
 missionaries. The libel carried on its face the evidence of its 
 falsehood, and was badly written, and on these accounts we 
 deemed it unworthy of notice. But Mr. Simerwell had inad- 
 
388 
 
 HISTORY 0V BAPTIST 
 
 vertently promised some friends in the vicinity of the press at 
 which the print issued, that it should be answered, and the 
 matter had been postponed until this time. We now regretted 
 exceedingly that Mr. Sirnerwell had given such a pledge, as, 
 without it, we thought we ought not to stoop so low as to give 
 it a formal printed notice. 
 
 Mr. Lykins and I took the printed libel in our hand, and went 
 to see the author, read the piece, and remonstrated against it, 
 stating its inaccuracies, &tc., and insisting that, as charity would 
 suggest a hope that he could not be guilty of such an unwar 
 rantable attack upon well earned reputation, without his having 
 been misinformed, we now placed within his reach unquestion 
 able evidence that he had done us injustice, and we considered 
 him bound by the honour of a gentleman to correct the errors 
 into which he had been led. The man seemed to be much 
 mortified, and a few days afterwards, agreeably to promise, for 
 warded us a communication on the subject, so far qualifying the 
 piece which had appeared in print, that nothing more remained 
 necessary for us to say to the public, than to state a few facts 
 relative to the manner in which we managed our missionary 
 matters. This statement was prepared and sent to the man, 
 that he might see what we had prepared for the public before 
 it went to press. He was so much gratified with this ingenu 
 ous and forbearing course, that he returned in writing many 
 thanks and expressions of good wishes for our prosperity, &c. 
 We believe that the self-denial and disinterestedness of faithful 
 missionaries to the Indians have never failed to excite envy, 
 more or less, among white neighbours, when it has been their 
 misfortune to have them near. There are thousands of men 
 who appear to be utter strangers to disinterested benevolence ; 
 always under the influence of selfish motives themselves, they 
 ascribe to others similar motives. Then, again, the hatred of a 
 corrupt heart is provoked by the better conduct of another, es 
 pecially under circumstances which exhibit clearly the contrast; 
 and, further, they who live near the Indians generally feel little, 
 if any, sympathy for them. It cannot be expected that they 
 who employ all their time and all their lives for the benefit of 
 the Indians, without the slightest pecuniary reward, and the 
 class which has little or no sympathy for these people, and in 
 many instances study to defraud them of the little they possess, 
 will feel cordial friendship towards each other. The missionary 
 stands aloof, as far as possible, from all the perplexing cares of 
 trade, and the bustle of the world in common life. Feeling that 
 he has but one object in view, he is resolved, let others do as they 
 
INDIAN* MISSIONS. 
 
 389 
 
 may, no* to lose sight of that, but to apply all his strength, both of 
 mind and body, in promotion of that object. It may be said 
 that, in a sense, he does all his work upon his knees ; and espe 
 cially when he is calumniated he appeals to his God, who knows 
 him altogether, and pleads with Him for defence from the 
 wicked, who would swallow him up. It is a saying with them, 
 " that a faithful missionary never fails to do good;" and with 
 equal confidence it maybe asserted, that God never permits the 
 tongue of slander to injure the missionary who appeals to him 
 for protection. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Baptisms. Condition of Thomas station. Tour of explora 
 tion. Sickness. Journey to Washington. Memorial of 
 the Board of Missions to Congress. Other memorials for 
 and against colonization. Stage accident. Proffered resig 
 nation of missionaries. Passage of the memorable act of 
 Congress, known as " the law of 1830." Selection of In 
 dian reservations. Sickness and death of Dr. J. McCoy. 
 Discontinuance of the Carey station. Surveying expedi 
 tion. Origin of mission among the Shawanoes. Origin 
 of missions to Otoes, and Omahas. Councils with Kau- 
 zaus, Shawanoes, and Pawnees. First request of an In 
 dian tribe for a land patent. Ancient tumuli. Clouds of 
 dust. Natural curiosity. 
 
 Our satisfaction on visiting Carey was greatly enhanced by 
 the circumstance of two converts being in waiting to receive 
 baptism. These were two young white men who had been em 
 ployed as labourers at the station. They were baptized on the 
 28th of June, in presence of many Indians, who attended the 
 religious exercises of the day. One of the persons baptized, 
 Daniel French, proposed to become a missionary a design 
 which Mr. Simerwell had encouraged. He had, some time be 
 fore, declined labouring for wages, and had interested himself in 
 missionary matters, much to the satisfaction of Mr. Simerwell. 
 
 The white settlers in the vicinity had by this time become 
 pretty numerous. Some of them, who wished the Indians to 
 remain in that country as long as they had a dollar to lay out 
 for whiskey, supposing that the circumstances attending our 
 arrival would make an impression on the minds of the Indians 
 
390 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 favourable to removal, endeavoured to prevent as many as pos 
 sible from calling to see us. The 29th of June had been ap 
 pointed for a general meeting, for the purpose of shaking hands, 
 and mutually telling the news, according to custom, after an 
 absence of some time. At this time, intoxicating drink was 
 offered to many; and when they objected that they must not 
 drink, on account of the meeting which they desired to attend, 
 they were furnished with a quantity of cider, which they were 
 told they might drink without fear of intoxication ; but it ap 
 peared that whiskey had been mixed with it, and they became 
 intoxicated unawares. 
 
 From Carey we proceeded to Thomas, (one hundred and 
 twenty miles,) at which we arrived July 2d, 1829. On the way 
 we fell in with our friend Gosa, coming to meet us, who turned 
 back with us. He entreated us to allow him to accompany us 
 to the West, to which we at length consented ; fordoing which, 
 our principal reason was, that we might improve our knowledge 
 of his language. 
 
 A short time before this, a Miss Thompson had united with 
 this station, under an appointment from the board of missions. 
 She was now present, but not long after retired from missionary 
 labours. Mr. Meeker was absent on personal business in the 
 State of Ohio, and the establishment was under the manage 
 ment of Mr. Slater. The condition of the station was at this 
 time such as to occasion grief. The school was discontinued. 
 Only two Indian children were at the establishment, one of 
 whom was the little exile we had found in Missouri, in 1828, 
 who was carried home by her cousin; A farm had been pre 
 pared, nearly sufficient to yield bread stuff for the support of the 
 mission ; most of this was uncultivated, and the whole establish 
 ment appeared in a state of dilapidation. 
 
 Formerly the missionaries, in some things, formed views of ex 
 pediency in management different from those of the board, and, 
 excepting in matters of not much importance, the former claimed 
 the right to exercise their own judgment, provided it should not 
 be done at the responsibility or cost of the latter. Being more 
 deeply interested in the success of their labours than others at a 
 distance could be, and being on the ground in actual view of cir 
 cumstances, there seemed nothing improper in this assumption. 
 The board yielded to this course, but with less satisfaction than 
 if the views of the parties had harmonized as well as their acts. 
 Mr. Slater, from his first arrival at the mission, appeared to pos 
 sess views similar to those of the board. 
 
 When I was about starting on my tour of exploration, in 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 391 
 
 18*28, by free conference among the missionaries, all matters 
 were adjusted at both stations in a manner which it was hoped 
 would work well. It was thought that each understood his ap 
 propriate business, and of kind feeling towards each other there 
 was no doubt. By that arrangement, Mr. Meeker was left in 
 charge of affairs at Thomas, though for their good management 
 of that station, Mr. Lykins, by virtue of his commission, was 
 accountable to the Government. Mr. L. was to manage mat 
 ters at Carey while he remained. This arrangement, Mr. Slater 
 afterwards thought was not the best that could be made, and 
 preferred that he and Mr. Meeker should manage affairs jointly. 
 He visited the board, and it granted him his request, without 
 reflecting, no doubt, on the accountability of Mr. Lykins. 
 
 Thus Mr. Slater, in our absence, was afforded an opportunity 
 of managing according to his own judgment. His visit to Bos 
 ton, and subsequent correspondence with the board, resulted in 
 new modelling the affairs of the station in many important 
 points, and doubtless not for the better. 
 
 This station having been brought into existence, and sustained 
 up to the time of our leaving, by the missionaries, without cost 
 to the board, and with much labour and privation, we thought the 
 board had acted without due reflection in new-modelling it with 
 out consulting, and in the absence of those who could not but 
 feel a deep interest in its success. We had seen the station 
 prosperously rising above a protracted series of appalling diffi 
 culties and discouragements, and it now gave us much pain to 
 see it retrograding. Still it was a great satisfaction to discover 
 that the amount of religious instruction imparted to the natives 
 was not diminished. We should have been willing to have re 
 sumed our labours there, had it not been for the duties which 
 called us to another country, in language too imperative to be 
 disregarded. Our faces were directed to a field which we be 
 lieved had been too long neglected, and we could do no more 
 than pray the Lord to take care of his own cause, and not allow 
 all to be pulled down which had cost so much labour to build 
 up. 
 
 From Thomas, Mr. Lykins, accompanied by our candidate 
 for missionary labour, Mr. French, went on to Detroit (nearly 
 two hundred miles) to attend to some of our missionary matters, 
 and afterwards joined me at Carey. Gosa accompanied me from 
 Thomas, and brought with him two children of his relations, 
 Ottawas, to leave in charge of Mr. and Mrs. Sirnerwell. Other 
 Ottawas desired to send children to Carey, but we dissuaded 
 them from it, fearing that that station might be over burdened. 
 
392 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 On the 8th of July, Mr. Meeker stopped at Carey, on his 
 way from the State of Ohio to Thomas. He was not a little 
 discouraged on account of the obstacles to their labours there, 
 but we endeavoured to encourage him to hope that he would out 
 live them. 
 
 Four male missionaries being present at Carey, soon to be 
 widely separated, we embraced the opportunity of a consulta 
 tion in reference to the future. A retrospect of the past re 
 minded us of the means by which our missions had been origi 
 nated and supported, and taught us that in future, while we would 
 avail ourselves of all the assistance possible, from the counsel, 
 instruction, and patronage of the board, the responsibility de 
 volved upon us to press forward in such measures as we believed 
 would be most for the benefit of the Indians and the glory of 
 God. We would not, without orders, undertake any thing at the 
 cost of the board, but having only a piece of a short life remain 
 ing, and in view of our awful accountability, while we would 
 endeavour to learn wisdom from others, we would prosecute in 
 concert the course which to us seemed right. 
 
 From the commencement of our labours among the Indians, 
 we had often reiterated our entreaties that the board would send 
 an agent to our station, to see us at home and inspect our affairs, 
 and to form some acquaintance with the character and condition 
 of the people of our charge. We supposed that they would 
 acquire more useful information in the management of their In 
 dian missions, by a week's personal observation, than by a year's 
 correspondence ; and by this means our views might be more 
 fully harmonized. The propriety of a visit from a member of 
 the board was particularly pressed at our last interview, and we 
 had been taught to hope that at this time we should have met 
 such an agent at Carey; but we were disappointed, and, except 
 ing a station among the Cherokees, none has yet visited our 
 Indian missions. 
 
 We left Carey to return to our families, July 10, with Gosa 
 in company. It was a time when rains had so swollen the small 
 watercourses in the wilderness, that they were difficult to cross. 
 At one time we carried our baggage over a creek on a fallen 
 tree, and made our horses swim through. At other places, with 
 very miry bottom, so much water was running, that the less in 
 convenient method of crossing was to dismount and wade 
 through, leading or driving our horses, which often got through 
 with great difficulty, after their loads had thus been lightened. 
 
 Having rejoined our families, we again took up the line of 
 march for the West, on the 27th of July, 1829. On the 30th, 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 393 
 
 my son, Josephus, was attacked with fever, and could not pro 
 ceed. On the 1st of August our youngest child was to human 
 appearance brought near to death by cholera rnorbus. Our 
 eldest son, who had gone in advance for the purpose, had pro 
 cured a temporary residence for us in the town of Fayette, Mis 
 souri, one hundred and seventy miles west of St. Louis. This 
 place we reached on the 8th of August. In the fore part of 
 September we received information from Mr. Simerwell, that 
 mischievous persons were again endeavouring to remove the 
 smithery from Carey, by which measure they designed to em 
 barrass his operations. I wrote Governour Cass without delay 
 on the subject. About the same time I forwarded for publica 
 tion in prints in Kentucky, Washington, New-York, and Bos 
 ton, communications on the subject of our Indian relations, 
 their settlement in the West, &c. 
 
 On the 17th of September I set off on a tour of exploration, 
 which had for some time been contemplated, to meet the ex 
 pense of which an unsuccessful application had been made to 
 the Secretary of War. This 1 undertook at my own expense. 
 The company consisted of Gosa, one hired white man, and my 
 second son, who had only so far recovered from a second attack 
 of fever as to be able to ride on horseback. Mr. Lykins and 
 our youngest child were at this time very sick. 
 
 The objects of this tour were to acquire a more definite know 
 ledge of a portion of the Indian territory, which information 
 might be used at the next session of Congress for promoting 
 some proper action in reference to the permanent location of the 
 Indians ; and more particularly to be able to name a suitable 
 region in which to locate the seat of government for life proposed 
 territory. It seemed necessary thus early to keep this matter 
 before the Government, lest the lands in the most suitable place 
 should be ceded to some one particular tribe. 
 
 On the 23d of September we reached the Kauzau villages. 
 Here we desired to increase our number ; and in order to avail 
 ourselves of the company of General M. G. Clark, United 
 States' Indian agent for the Kauzaus, my son assisted him seve 
 ral days in completing writing he had on hand. We left the 
 agency on the 29th, having added to our company General 
 Clark, White Plume, who was the principal Kauzau chief, and 
 Plume's son-in-law Gunville, a Frenchman, who, though he 
 could speak very little English, was our only interpreter. Plume 
 neither spoke nor understood English. We were in all seven 
 persons. 
 
 On the third day after we left the Kauzau agency, Gosa and 
 50 
 
894 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 Gunville went in advance to hunt. A few hours after we saw 
 Gosa at the distance of a mile and a half on the prairie, and a 
 man on horseback making towards him, unperceived, as it 
 appeared, by Gosa. I inquired of Plume, by signs, if the man 
 we saw was Gunville, he, by a similar method, answered in the 
 negative, and said Gunville had gone in a different direction, 
 and moreover he had rode a grey horse, whereas this man ap 
 peared to be riding a dark coloured horse. We then feared that 
 it was one of a hostile party creeping upon Gosa with some evil 
 design. Leaving two men to bring on the pack-horses, the 
 other three of us, one of whom was old Plume, examined our 
 guns and hastened towards Gosa, for his protection. We rode a 
 mile or upwards before we had the happiness to discover our 
 mistake, and that the man we feared was Gunville, w T ho, when 
 we first saw him, had occupied a place so nearly between us and 
 the setting sun, that we had not at that great distance recognised 
 him. 
 
 On the 2d of October we encamped, after a few miles' ride, 
 for the purpose of making some examinations, and Gunville 
 was sent out on foot to hunt. A few miles from camp he was 
 alarmed on seeing three Indians on horseback, at a considerable 
 distance, approaching him. There was no forest nor unevenness 
 of land to hide him from them, and he discovered that they 
 were resolved to take him. One came rapidly towards him, 
 while the others bore to right and left, with a view of intercept 
 ing him with the more ease, should he attempt to escape. See 
 ing no alternative but to submit to his fate, he examined his gun 
 and awaited their arrival. His joy was equal to what a moment 
 before had been his anxiety, when he ascertained on their near 
 approach that they were Kauzaus. They were disappointed in 
 not finding an enemy, whose scalp could have been easily taken ; 
 and whether their disappointment was a matter of joy or grief 
 we did not ascertain. They accompanied Gunville to our camp. 
 Subsequently, on the 7th, five other Kauzaus, having discover 
 ed our trail, came to our encampment. The object of the ex 
 amination of the country being attained, the tour was terminated 
 on the 13th of October. 
 
 Mr. Lykins had apparently been at the point of death, but 
 was at this time convalescent. Our dear little son was still 
 sick. It was desirable that Mr. Lykins should at this time re 
 turn to Carey and Thomas, on business in that country, but his 
 severe indisposition preventing, my son Josephus, who had 
 accompanied me on my late tour, and whose services were all 
 rendered gratuitously, agreed to go for us. He and Gosa set 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 395 
 
 off for Michigan the 2d day of November, Mr. Lykins intend 
 ing to follow as soon as his health would allow. One object of 
 this journey was to take- a delegation of Putawatomies and Ot- 
 tawas to Washington, with the view of urging the Government 
 to assist these tribes to remove to the West ; the expense of 
 which we proposed to meet out of our own means, which my son 
 was to collect in Michigan. Had this scheme succeeded, much 
 evil, which afterwards befel the Putawatomies and Ottawason ac 
 count of being detained in their original place, would have been 
 prevented ; but it failed, chiefly on account of the severe indis 
 position of rny son. 
 
 November 12th, 1829, I left Fayette, Missouri, for Washing 
 ton. Many of the Putawatomies and Ottawas desired to go to 
 the West with us, and we were very anxious to effect a general 
 removal about the time of closing affairs at Carey, because we 
 knew that their deterioration would be rapid after the discon 
 tinuance of our missionary operations. We were also fully 
 aware that measures would be taken by the whites, who profited 
 by the presence of the Indians, to prevent their emigration ; we 
 therefore deemed it of much importance, and the Indians desired 
 it, that a few of their principal men should appear at Washing 
 ton, to make an arrangement for their removal. No other mea 
 sure attended by equal expense, we thought, would result in 
 more advantage to the interests of our missionary matters; but, 
 on explaining the circumstances to the board, they viewed the 
 subject in a different light, and declined giving the necessary 
 directions for accomplishing it. 
 
 The little property which I owned before I became a mission 
 ary had been invested in land in Ohio. As I was not laying by 
 for the use of my family, should they outlive me, any thing 
 from my personal services, I had intended that this little should 
 remain theirs ; but it appearing necessary, in order to prevent a 
 distressing relapse in missionary affairs, that some of the Indians 
 should meet me in Washington, and not finding means to meet 
 the expense elsewhere, I directed my son to procure the requi 
 site funds by the sale of this private property. This plan was 
 also disappointed, on account of the sickness of my son, who 
 had left Missouri in poor health, and who, at Carey, was so un 
 well as to be entirely unable to attend to any business. 
 
 The late Convention had directed the board to present to 
 Congress, at the session of 1829-'30, a memorial in favour of 
 giving the Indians a permanent home, &LC., in the West, and Mr. 
 H. Lincoln was afterwards appointed the agent of the board to 
 present the memorial. Agreeably to my request, he met me m 
 
396 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 Washington in December ; but the memorial, of which he was 
 the bearer, was not what had been hoped for; it did not present 
 a prayer in favour of settling the Indians in the West, but merely 
 asked the Government, in event of Indian removal, to provide 
 for them in future. It appeared to me that the tenor of the 
 memorial was such as would produce an impression that we 
 were receding, instead of advancing, in the matter of Indian 
 colonization. Regretted that the board had felt it to be their 
 duty to write so cautiously, and at first contemplated presenting 
 a memorial emanating from another quarter, but refrained, under 
 an impression that our views could be made known to Congress, 
 with a greater prospect of success, in a less conspicuous manner. 
 The memorial of the board was presented to Congress by the 
 Hon. Wilson Lumpkin, on the 4th of January, 1830. 
 
 A reason why we were particularly anxious to bring the sub 
 ject in which we were deeply interested before the Government 
 at this time, in such a manner as might promote the most fa 
 vourable action, was, it had been discovered that, in the progress 
 of this subject, Congress at this session would probably adopt 
 some effective measures, and it was desirable that these mea 
 sures should be such as would have a salutary tendency. That 
 we were not mistaken in supposing that this crisis had arrived, 
 will appear a little while hence, in the enactment of what is 
 known by " the law of 1830." 
 
 In the changes which the board had made in matters at the 
 Thomas station, they had asked the Superintendent of Indian 
 Affairs to confer on Mr. Slater the appointment of teacher, held 
 by Mr. Lykins. I thought this was indiscreet; but since Mr. 
 Lykins's home had been removed far to the west, so that he 
 could only occasionally visit the Thomas station, and as there 
 existed no reason why he should draw the salary of the teacher 
 in his own name only that it would afford him an opportunity 
 of giving some direction in its application at the station, which 
 would virtually be the exercise of so much authority in direct 
 ing the management of its affairs 1 had written GovernourCass, 
 intimating our acquiescence in the wishes of the board. Never 
 theless, by a letter received from his Excellency the 6th of 
 January, I was informed that he had declined, for the present, 
 to make the change which the board had requested. 
 
 In the autumn of 1829, the board very judiciously directed 
 that the boarding school should be resumed at Thomas, which 
 was accordingly done. Mrs. Slater's health was declining, and 
 about this time Mr. Slater intimated to the board a design to 
 ieave the missionary field. He went to Detroit to make prepa- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS, 
 
 397 
 
 ration for their departure, but this design was afterwards relin 
 quished. 
 
 While in Washington on this occasion, I was brought under 
 great obligations to President Jackson, Secretary J. H. Eaton, 
 and numerous members of Congress, for the opportunities af 
 forded me of pleading for such measures, in behalf of the 
 Indians, as appeared proper. Through the politeness of the 
 Hon. John Bell, Chairman, I was allowed to appear on this 
 subject before the Committee on Indian Affairs of the House 
 of Representatives. Gentlemen Lumpkin, McLean, and Hen- 
 dricks, were conspicuous among those whose willingness to work 
 in promotion of Indian interests is remembered with great satis 
 faction. 
 
 At this time the subject of Indian removal was warmly agi 
 tated, and numerous memorials reached Congress, opposed to 
 the collocation of the tribes in the West. To some, it appeared 
 evident that nineteen-twentieths of these memorialists were mis 
 led by others ; they were actuated by kind feelings towards the 
 Indians, and did not imagine that if their requests should pre 
 vail, the Cherokees, for whom alone their sympathies appeared 
 to be elicited, would be driven from the east of the Mississippi, 
 by force of arms, and that all who resisted would become victims 
 to their temerity. 
 
 In order that those in Congress who opposed the measure 
 might not have all the argument to be drawn from memorials 
 on their side, I wrote to friends in divers places, setting forth 
 what I deemed to be the true state of the case, and requesting 
 them to forward memorials in favour of the plan under consider 
 ation. The result was, well written memorials were presented 
 to Congress from various places : one was from the Pennsyl 
 vania Baptist Association for missionary purposes, Philadelphia ; 
 another from citizens of Philadelphia and vicinity the latter 
 was lengthy, embracing argument, &c., and was printed ; one 
 from Troy, Ohio ; one from Salem, Indiana, and one from New- 
 York city. 
 
 In order to promote right views in reference to memorializing 
 Congress, and to confer with the board, at its request, I went to 
 Philadelphia, where I remained ten days. I had left Philadel 
 phia but a few miles for New- York, on the 13th of February, 
 1830, when the stage capsized, and so injured me that for some 
 time my recovery was doubtful. One of my shoulders was 
 much injured, several ribs broken, and my chest was so crushed 
 by a vast weight which fell upon me, that my breast and sides 
 ever after remained much out of natural shape. At the time, I 
 
398 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 thought it probable that I should not recover, and made a vigor 
 ous effort to reach the residence of my untiring friend, Mr. 
 Cone, in New- York. I was conducted into his hospitable 
 dwelling under circumstances which scarcely admitted a hope 
 that I should leave it with life. Here, with Mr. and Mrs. Cone, 
 and their dear sons, Edward and Wallace, I remained thirty- 
 seven days ; and when I left I was barely able to move, being 
 exceedingly sore and in much pain. It was more than two 
 months before I was able to preach. The kindness of these 
 good people, and Miss Price, who was a member of their family, 
 made a deep impression on my sense of gratitude, and that of 
 all my family. To their unremitted attention, and their ardent 
 sympathies, and sensible and consoling conversation, when anxie 
 ties respecting my family, the Indians, and the missionaries, were 
 rapidly accumulating, may be attributed in a great degree the 
 agency which a gracious God employed for my restoration. 
 Such people ought to be known to the world ; no doubt, such 
 acts of kindness are noticed in heaven. I was so long confined 
 in New- York, that I concluded not to proceed to Boston to see 
 the board, but to return to Washington. 
 
 As the views of some of the missionaries respecting the best 
 mode of conducting missions, and in respect to the colonization 
 of the Indians in the West, differed somewhat from those which 
 the acting members of the board honestly and religiously in 
 dulged, it was thought by the former that the connection had 
 better be dissolved. It would not be a separation in affection, 
 but one merely of an official character. Accordingly, before I 
 was able to leave my room, I wrote a resignation, including Mr. 
 Lykins's, and mentioned that I believed Mr. Simerwell and Mr. 
 Meeker would also unite in the same. I stated many reasons 
 why we deemed it better for us to retire from the connection, 
 the substance of which was, that the views of the acting board, 
 relative to the most eligible measures for benefiting the Indians, 
 differed in some important particulars from those of the mission 
 aries. The public naturally looked to the board for information 
 on the subject ; and with their views, and the onerous charge 
 of other missions resting on them, it was scarcely to be expected 
 that the condition and wants of Indian missions would be fully 
 presented to public view. The object of the missionaries in 
 placing themselves under the patronage of the board was, to 
 obtain assistance in their missionary operations, in means of sup 
 port, in influence upon public sentiment, in enlisting mission 
 aries, and in devising and executing measures. In these 
 respects, the missionaries believed that the advantages which 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 399 
 
 they received by the connection were not such as to make its 
 continuance desirable ; they believed that it had been a hin- 
 derance to their usefulness, and, having consecrated their lives to 
 this work, they desired to be at liberty to prosecute it with 
 energy, and render themselves as useful as possible ; therefore, 
 they desired that the connection should be dissolved, so that the 
 missionaries might either form a connection with a society organ 
 ized with a special reference to this object, or, if this could not 
 be done, might bring their cause immediately before the public 
 in their own way. 
 
 This communication was shown to Mr. Cone, and some other 
 friends in New- York, who advised that I proceed to Boston to 
 see the board, according to the original design. To their earnest 
 solicitation I yielded, and Mr. Cone, and William Colgate, Esq., 
 a gentleman of distinguished worth, accompanied me. The 
 subject was deliberated upon by the board three days, and re 
 sulted in the continuation of our connection. Our desire was, 
 to see Indian missions prosecuted with energy. It was not so 
 much matter how the work was performed, as that it be done 
 some how. About this time an effort was made to enlist in In 
 dian affairs some talented friend at New-York or Philadelphia, 
 who, through the press, would keep the public properly informed 
 of our proceedings ; but the effort was unsuccessful. With 
 some there was a deficiency of zeal, and those who would have 
 cheerfully engaged were prevented by a want of time, or by 
 some other equally imperious circumstance. 
 
 On the 7th of April I returned to Washington, where the 
 advocates and opponents of the colonizing plan were warmly 
 debating its merits. Mr. Evarts, the corresponding secretary 
 of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 
 was present, and, as on all occasions, manifested untiring vigi 
 lance in promoting opposition to the removal of the Cherokees. 
 He not only spoke against the measure, but wrote and published 
 some pieces which had much influence in strengthening the op 
 position. He frequently urged me to unite the influence which 
 I might have with theirs, in favour, as he termed it, of the 
 Cherokees. I took precisely an opposite view of the interests 
 of the Cherokees and of all other Indians, and supposed that 
 he was unconsciously doing them all possible harm. Our inter 
 views were always friendly, but each employed what strength 
 he possessed in opposite directions. The advocates of the plan 
 did not manage their side of the question, either in debate or in 
 public prints, as well as the subject admitted. The truth was, 
 
400 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 the matter was agitated chiefly for the purpose of attaining 
 other ends than the welfare of the Indians. 
 
 A bill was before Congress, to the decision of which all looked 
 as a test of the strength of the two great political parties upon 
 the subject of Indian colonization. Should this bill pass, one, 
 and the first substantial measure towards settling the policy of 
 colonization would be adopted by the Government. Should it 
 fail, the advocates of the measure would have great reason to 
 doubt their success in any reasonable time in future. The bill 
 passed the Senate by a vote of twenty-eight to twenty. In the 
 House of Representatives, upon several of the questions pre 
 liminary to the final vote, the House was equally divided. On 
 the 26th of May it passed the House by a vote of one hun 
 dred and two to ninety seven. The debates on this bill exci 
 ted intense interest. Long and strong speeches were made 
 on both sides, and many of them were published in pamphlet 
 form and scattered through the country. Doubtless, much that 
 passed for sound argument at that time will be viewed very dif 
 ferently by the historian who may narrate the whole affair. 
 
 This bill, because its adoption was the first efficient step taken 
 by the Government towards settling the policy of colonizing 
 the Indians, became notorious as the " act of May 26, 1830." 
 The first section authorized " the President of the United States 
 to cause so much of any territory belonging to the United States 
 west of the river Mississippi, not included in any State or organ 
 ized territory, and to which the Indian title had been extin 
 guished, as he might judge necessary, to be divided into a 
 suitable number of districts, for the reception of such tribes or 
 nations of Indians as might choose to exchange the lands where 
 they then resided, and remove there, and to cause each of 
 said districts to be so described by natural or artificial marks as 
 to be easily distinguished from every other." 
 
 Section second authorized him " to exchange such districts 
 with any tribe then residing within the limits of any of the 
 States or Territories." 
 
 Section third made it '* lawful for the President solemnly to 
 assure the tribe or nation with which the exchange should be 
 made, that the United States would forever secure and guar 
 anty to them, and their heirs and successors, the country so ex 
 changed with them; and if they preferred it, the United States 
 would cause a patent to be executed to them for the same." 
 The sum" of five hundred thousand dollars was appropriated, to 
 carry into effect the provisions of the bill. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 40 i 
 
 About this time the President informed rue that he (It-signed 
 to place the ten thousand dollar annual appropriation for Indian 
 reform in my charge, to apply to the support of schools, &c., 
 in the West. This, indeed, would have been a great favour, 
 had a judicious location of the tribes been made, but it ap 
 peared that the measures which required first attention were 
 such as related to a just apportionment of land to each, and the 
 security of the same to them, respectively, and my friends de 
 sired that my attention be directed to this matter. I therefore 
 declined accepting the trust of applying the chilizalion fund, 
 as it was called. I, received instructions to survey the lands 
 which had lately been assigned by a treaty to the Delawares. 
 This was undertaking an arduous v\ork, but it was one likely to 
 afford a greater opportunity of applying influence on matters of 
 vital importance to the success of the experiment of colonizing 
 the tribes than any situation which at that time presented itself. 
 It was also a great favour to receive some business by which I 
 could obtain something for the support of my family. My 
 funds had become exhausted, so that, to enable me to leave and 
 to get back to my family, I had been obliged to request Governour 
 Cass to send me a portion of the amount allowed as my annual 
 salary, on account of my connection with Carey, and which I 
 had been applying to the support of that station. 
 
 Mr. Lykins, on recovering from his severe sickness, in the 
 autumn of 1829, proceeded to our missionary station in Michi 
 gan, agreeably to his original design. A part of his business 
 was to select, by authority from Government, fifty-eight reser 
 vations of land, allowed at the treaty of 1826, to the Indian 
 youths who were or had been connected with our schools. He 
 accomplished his work in the early part of 1830. After a se 
 paration from my family of nearly seven months, I set out to 
 return to them on the 5th of June. 
 
 My son, Dr. Josephus McCoy, who had agreed to labour 
 gratuitously for some time to come, in promotion of our mis 
 sionary interests, and who had gone to Michigan upon business of 
 the mission in November, had been twice, during the preceding 
 summer and fall, attacked with bilious fever. He was in poor 
 health when he accompanied me on my last tour of exploration, 
 and was not well when he started from Missouri to Michigan. 
 While crossing the extensive prairies in the State of Illinois, the 
 weather became so cold that the mercury sunk below zero. 
 The snow was pretty deep, and travelling on horseback through 
 a wilderness was rendered tedious and uncomfortable. He con 
 tracted cold, and was attacked with pleurisy. He lay six day? 
 51 
 
402 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 at Chicago, and on becoming able to sit upon bis horse, he 
 resumed his journey, having hired a man, in addition to his 
 Indian, to help him on through the wilderness, the snow remain 
 ing deep, and crusted, so that travelling was almost impractica 
 ble. He suffered exceedingly from sickness, cold, and fatigue, 
 before he reached Carey, and one of his horses failed on ac 
 count of fatigue and the scarcity of food, and perished. 
 
 He continued unable to attend to business, and remained at 
 Carey until the 29th of April, when Mr. Lykins made an 
 effort to convey him to Missouri in a carriage. In the State 
 of Illinois he became too unwell to travel, and Mr. Lykins 
 sent to Missouri for my eldest son, Dr. Rice McCoy, to come 
 to their assistance. They took .a steamboat down the Illi 
 nois and Mississippi, to St. Louis, which place they left in a 
 boat on the morning of the 18th of June. I reached that place 
 later in the day, and riding across the country fell in with them 
 at St. Charles, and ascended the Missouri in the boat with them. 
 On the 21st we met Mrs. McCoy and our third son, Calvin. 
 We were in a fragile old boat, which had been a common keel, 
 worked by ores or poles, which was now propelled by steam. 
 The whole voyage was attended with frequent alarms, and once 
 we fastened on a snag in the middle of the river ; the boat turn 
 ed across the stream, and was rapidly capsizing, when, through 
 the mercy of Him who controls the winds and waters, the snag 
 broke and allowed the boat to right again. This was the most 
 anxious moment of my life, rendered more so on account of the 
 presence of Mrs. McCoy and our sick son. Had the snag on 
 which the boat hung remained unbroken two seconds longer, there 
 would have been no apparent possibility of escape from a watery 
 grave. Discovering, as soon as I entered the boat, that it was 
 not seaworthy, I had entreated the captain to purchase a skiff 
 or canoe, at my expense, on account of my sick son. This he 
 promised, but without the design of fulfilling it, and we were 
 now without a small boat to be used in an emergency. After 
 loosing from the snag, the boat was hurried down by a rapid 
 current amidst many snags, and it was with imminent hazard and 
 great difficulty that a landing was effected ; in doing it, some of 
 the men had to leap into the water and swim ashore, carrying the 
 end of a rope. Our perilous situation was discovered at a house 
 on the opposite side of the river, and two men in a skiff hasten 
 ed towards us, but did not reach us till we had fastened to the 
 shore. 
 
 We arrived at our residence in Fayette on the 24th of June, 
 and on the 30th our dear Josephus breathed his last. This was 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 403 
 
 another severe stroke, the weight of which was increased by our 
 peculiar circumstances ; but we wiped the tear of grief, in the 
 confident belief that our son had gone to heaven. Our hopes 
 of his future usefulness in a work to which we had devoted our 
 poor lives, had been sanguine, but wisdom had directed other 
 wise. 
 
 Difficulties had so accumulated around Mr. Sirnerwell at 
 Carey, that when Mr. Lykins left that station in April, he was 
 fully convinced of the propriety of closing operations there as 
 soon as practicable ; and on the 27th of July, he, with his wife 
 and child, started again for that country, with the view of effect 
 ing this, and of obtaining assistance in commencing missionary 
 labours in the West. He attended the valuation of the improve 
 ments at Carey, agreeably to an arrangement we had made with 
 the Secretary of War, which valuation was made on the 1st of 
 September, 1830, by Charles Noble, Esq., of Michigan, and 
 Mr. Simonson, of Indiana. The improvements were appraised 
 at $5,080, and the growing crop, after reserving enough for 
 the use of Mr. Sirnerwell, was appraised at $641 50; in all, 
 $5,721 '50. This sum was paid to the board of missions in 
 Boston, by the Government, to be applied in establishing the 
 mission in the West. The value of the improvements had been 
 greatly enhanced by an orchard of apple and peach trees, to 
 the culture of which early attention had been given, in anticipa 
 tion of this event. We had previously obtained leave of Gov 
 ernment for Mr. Simerwell to occupy a portion of the buildings 
 until he could make arrangements for another temporary resi 
 dence in that country. It was desirable that he should remain 
 a while in those parts, because the Putawatomies were still 
 there. The school was discontinued, with the exception of 
 seven or eight Indian children, whom Mr. and Mrs. Sirnerwell 
 kept with them. They remained at Carey a few months, and 
 then located in another place in the same neighbourhood. Mr. 
 Simerwell employed his time in the study of the Putawatornie 
 language, and in taking care, as well as he could, of our scatter 
 ed flock. It was then hoped that he might leave that country 
 in the course of seven or eight months ; in this we were also 
 disappointed. 
 
 The affairs of the Thomas station had for some time remain 
 ed nearly stationary, but were not flourishing. Miss Eleanor 
 Richardson, who had joined the mission in 1828, left it in May, 
 1829, on account of ill health, and returned to Cincinnati. Her 
 health having improved sufficiently to justify returning to the 
 missionary field, Mr. Meeker met her in Cincinnati, where 
 
404 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 united in marriage, in September, 1830, arid immediately re 
 turned to their missionary station. Miss Susan Thompson join 
 ed this mission in 1828, and with poor health left the station in 
 September, 1830. Rev. Mr. Cone, of New York, was a friend 
 who never forgot us, whether we were near or far off, who kept 
 himself informed of our circumstances, and whose generosity 
 \vas equal to his zeal. About this time we had become so 
 scarce of funds that we were obliged to borrow money to fit 
 out Mr. Lykins for Michigan, and for the support of our fami 
 lies, though I hoped to be able to pay out of my earnings from 
 Government, when I should receive it. Mr. Cone, knowing 
 that we must necessarily be scarce of funds, and that we were 
 in a land of strangers, wrote us, saying that if we were in want 
 we might draw on him. We were happy that by credit in our 
 place we were not under the necessity of availing ourselves of 
 liis liberality. Some time afterwards I accepted of a similar 
 offer, and received of him a considerable ^sum, all of which I 
 was afterwards enabled to return. 
 
 The interval between the 24th of June and the 16th of 
 August, I was allowed to spend with my family. While pre 
 paring for another long separation from them, I wrote consider 
 ably on Indian matters, for publication in a religious paper in 
 Philadelphia, and a political paper in Washington. 
 
 From the time of our reaching Fayette, my eldest son had 
 been employed in the practice of medicine, and his prospects 
 were flattering, but he cheerfully consented to gratify my desire 
 to see him labouring in some manner in the Indian country, and 
 took an appointment as assistant surveyor. My third son, though 
 scarcely grown, was taken with me also, and on the 16th of 
 August we set out to make the surveys for the Delavvares, as I 
 had been instructed by the Secretary of War. Upon this tour 
 we were absent in the wilderness one hundred and three days ; 
 ninety-six nights in succession were spent without being shel 
 tered by the roof of a house. 
 
 As we passed through the Shawanoe settlements adjoining the 
 line of the State of Missouri, through the politeness of Major 
 John Campbell, United States' Indian agent, acting for the Shaw- 
 anoes and Delawares, I had an interview in council with up 
 wards of twenty Shawanoes, on the subject of establishing a 
 mission amono; them. The celebrated Shawanoe prophet, the 
 brother of Tecumseh, who figured in the last war, was present, 
 and, in behalf of the rest, responded to my remarks, professedly 
 approving the proposition, though no doubt he secretly was op 
 posed to every thing like education or religion. They were 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 405 
 
 desired to reflect on what I had proposed, and to be prepared 
 to answer me, as I would repass their place on my way home. 
 
 A white man by the name of Fish, who had lived with the 
 Shawanoes from a small boy, and was in all respects identified 
 with them, had become a principal of a clan which had lived 
 many years in the State of Missouri, and which was in a good 
 degree civilized. I took Fish to the house of Captain Anthony 
 Shane, a half breed, and who was the United States' interpreter ; 
 and on his informing me that he and his party desired a school 
 for the instruction of their youth, I assured him that he should 
 be furnished with one ; and. whatever might be the answer of the 
 rest of the nation to my proposals, he might rely upon the 
 establishment of a school for his party. 1 would immediately 
 begin to make preparation for it, and on my return his wishes 
 should be met with as little delay as possible. Two others of 
 the party at the same time urged me to establish the school. 
 
 On the 22d of November I returned to this place, when 
 Captain Cornstalk and Captain William Perry, chiefs, met me, 
 to deliver the decision of the nation, which was favourable to 
 the establishment of the school proposed. These chiefs, how 
 ever, and most of the Shawanoes, consented to my propositions 
 rather through courtesy, than on account of a desire really to 
 enjoy the advantages of education. Like most Indians, not 
 much advanced in civilization, they felt little desire for schools, 
 and still less to hear preaching. With Fish and his party 
 it was otherwise ; they appreciated in a good degree the 
 former, and were favourably inclined to the latter, and through 
 them I had hoped that access could be successfully obtained to 
 the main body of the nation. But unfortunately for my plan, 
 while I had been absent in the wilderness, the Reverend Mr. 
 McAllister and the Reverend Thomas Johnson, of the Metho 
 dist denomination, visited the Shawanoes, and made similar pro 
 positions. The main body of the Shawanoes objected, t( be 
 cause," they said, " they intended to accept the proposals I had 
 made them." The result, however, was an agreement that the 
 Methodists should establish a school with Fish's party. In this 
 matter I felt a disappointment which I could not remedy; but I 
 was still resolved to carry out the design of establishing a mis 
 sion in the nation. About the same time I made an arrange 
 ment with Major John Dougherty, United States 7 Indian agent, 
 for the establishment of missions among the Otoes, Omahas, 
 and Pawnees, of his agency, high up the Missouri river. Mr. 
 Cone was informed of this, and requested to bring the matter 
 
406 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 to the consideration of the board. The result of these efforts 
 will be subsequently noticed. 
 
 Agreeably to a previous arrangement, while we were proceed 
 ing to make the Delaware survey, we were joined at the agency 
 by an old Delaware, whose English name was John Quick, who 
 had been appointed by the nation a commissioner to attend the 
 surveying of their lands. As we passed the Shawanoes council 
 house, we found thirty-five Kauzaus about to enter into council 
 with the Shawanoes. The latter invited me to attend, to which I 
 had no objection. 1 was pleased with the friendship implied in the 
 invitation, and my work leading me near to the Kauzau villages, 
 it was necessary that I should give them some explanations of 
 our designs, in order to save ourselves from injury from them ; 
 and this was now a favourable opportunity for making those ex 
 planations. We completed our council on the following day. 
 We had to ford the Kauzau river where it was so deep that our 
 baggage could not be kept entirely dry; some of our horses 
 mired in the quicksand, and some of us had to dismount in the 
 river and wade out. 
 
 Our business would lead us much further into the wilderness 
 than we had gone in any one of the three exploring tours. For 
 our protection, the Secretary of War had ordered an escort of 
 soldiers to attend us. But, owing to the churlishness of the 
 commanding officer at Fort Leaven worth, only fifteen men were 
 ordered to accompany us, most of whom we needed as labour 
 ers. We were all armed, and kept up a sentinel at night; but 
 our business compelled us often to separate through the day, so 
 that we were frequently not prepared to defend ourselves. For 
 several years the Pawnees had been troublesome, and not a year 
 passed in which they did not commit robberies on the whites. 
 Being under the necessity of passing near to some of their vil 
 lages, and of going very far beyond them, it was requisite that we 
 should have an interview before entering their country; therefore, 
 while we were employed at some distance from them, Major 
 Dougherty, the agent, had the goodness to send two men ex 
 press, and invite their chiefs into council at Fort Leavenworth. 
 He also accompanied us to the Kauzaus, to see them again, 
 and to use his influence to prevent them from robbing or other 
 wise injuring us. We held a council with them near their vil 
 lages, on the 2d and 3d days of September. A party had recent 
 ly stolen from the Pawnees nine horses, which they seemed not 
 inclined to give up, notwithstanding they were demanded by 
 the agent. At that time, two other companies of Kauzaus were 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 407 
 
 gone to commit depredations on the Pawnees. As much of 
 our work lay between those two tribes, these circumstances in 
 creased our danger. We had reason to fear, that if the Kau- 
 zaus, in their descent upon the Pawnees, should not come off to 
 their satisfaction, they would undertake to supply the deficiency 
 from our company; and if they should injure the Pawnees, that 
 the latter would follow them, and be led on to us with no better 
 feelings than the Kauzaus. We afterwards frequently met with 
 Kauzaus, but were not molested, though, about the same time, 
 they stole a horse or two from some traders passing through the 
 same neighbourhood. 
 
 On the 16th of September three hunters were sent out, two 
 of whom got lost, and, though we set fire to the prairie grass 
 several days in succession, in hopes that they would discover 
 the smoke, were unable to find their way back to us. After 
 wandering some time separately, they, at different periods, 
 reached Fort Leaven worth. 
 
 I went into Fort Leavenworth on the 24th of September, 
 1830, to meet in council one hundred Pawnees, who had come 
 in agreeably to the message sent by express a few weeks before. 
 They were informed that I was surveying the lands of the Dela- 
 wares, but not that I should pass near their villages, because 
 their knowledge of the latter would have exposed us to danger. 
 We ascertained at what time they would be absent on their 
 autumnal buffalo hunt, and that time we embraced to pass 
 through the part of the country which was near their towns. 
 On this occasion, our Delaware commissioner, John Quick, in 
 terchanged peace speeches with them, in behalf of his people 
 who were about to settle in this country. 
 
 The treaty which had fixed the boundary of the Delaware 
 country made no provision for reserving to the use of the 
 United States the site of Fort Leavenworth, and to make the 
 survey according to my instructions would have rendered the site 
 ineligible. 1 therefore assumed the responsibility of making an 
 arrangement with Quick, who acted in behalf of his people, by 
 which a suitable tract was reserved for the use of the garrison. 
 This measure was afterwards approved by the Secretary of War. 
 
 While negotiating as above, Quick intrusted to me a commu 
 nication to the Government, in which, among other things, he 
 requested, in behalf of his people, that their lands in this coun 
 try, from which they desired never to remove, should be secured 
 to them by the United States Government, by the same instru 
 ment by which land was secured to its own citizens. This is 
 supposed to be the first instance of an Indian tribe asking for a 
 
40 S 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 patent for its land, and it may be easily imagined that this Dela 
 ware chief was prompted to make the request by persons who 
 desired that here the Indians should have a permanent home. 
 John Quick then left us, and returned to his people. 
 
 The ancient artificial mounds and fortifications, so common in 
 the western States, are seen less frequently as we go west from 
 the Mississippi river, and they disappear in the prairie country 
 assigned to the Indians. About a mile west of Fort Leaven- 
 worth, on a hill which commands a fine prospect in every direc 
 tion, we discovered eight mounds near to each other, which, 
 from their relative position and their structure, attracted our 
 particular attention. They were about twenty-five feet in di 
 ameter at base, six of them nearly in a direct line, about thirty 
 feet asunder, and the other two were on each side of the line 
 opposite to each other near the centre. They were composed 
 of stones and earth ; the former placed in a circle. One of 
 these mounds we excavated, and in the hollow within the circle 
 of stones we found a few human bones, some of which had be 
 longed to adults, and others to children. Excepting the pieces 
 of the skulls, they were so much decayed that, with the 
 assistance of Dr. Rice McCoy, and Dr. Bryant, surgeon 
 of Fort Leavenworth, it was not easy to discover to what 
 part of the human body they belonged. They had been under 
 the action of fire, and were mixed with charcoal, burnt earth, 
 and stones that had been heated with fire. It appeared that 
 after the bodies had been subjected to the action of fire, 
 without being consumed entirely, they were covered with earth. 
 
 Some Indians on the Columbia river burn their dead ; but 
 whether they ever leave any portion of the bones in the place 
 of burning, I have not been informed. The place where these 
 mounds were erected, and their internal appearance, favoured the 
 conjecture that human sacrifices had there been offered. 
 
 On the 18th of October we encountered a storm of wind 
 and sand, and burnt grass, of a character of which I have not 
 heard any one else speak who has been on those vast prairies. 
 Dr. McCoy had gone in advance, with his compass and survey 
 ing hands, and my second son and I, with others, were following 
 on their trail with our horses and baggage, when we discovered 
 to the northward an unaccountable appearance, somewhat like 
 an indication of an approaching rain. The clouds seemed to 
 roll along upon the earth, but we had not long to conjecture, be 
 fore we were enveloped in a black cloud of dust, brought with 
 a violent wind. During many weeks, scarcely any rain had 
 fallen. We had never witnessed such a severe drought in any 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 409 
 
 place. The fire, in the course of a very few days, burned 
 up the dry grass on the prairies so completely, that not one acre 
 to a thousand escaped. The ashes, like those of burnt straw, 
 covered the face of the country. This, in connection with the 
 dust and sand from the bare prairies, was raised by the sudden 
 and severe wind, until the day became as dark as twilight. It 
 seemed like suffocating our lungs and blinding our eyes. We 
 soon became as black as colliers, and the frightfulness of our 
 aspects was increased by each rubbing his watery eyes, by 
 which means he washed the dust from a little circle around them. 
 The trail of the surveyors instantly disappeared. It was too 
 dark and dusty to follow a pocket compass, and we felt in great 
 danger of not being able to find the company. We kept close 
 to each other and made towards lower ground, and at length 
 reached a small watercourse along which was a little timber, 
 which afforded a partial alleviation of our troubles. Here we 
 were able to discover where the surveyors had crossed, and 
 about the same time we fell in with one sent to inform us that 
 the company, unable to proceed, had halted about a mile 
 ahead. 
 
 Having now regained somewhat the use of my eyes, T no 
 ticed particularly the course we should steer. The man with 
 great confidence proposed to pilot us back the way he had come, 
 but in a few yards bore north instead of west. I discovered 
 that he was lost, and directed him to follow me. He was ex 
 ceedingly loth to do so, fully believing that I was in error. We 
 remained in camp the remainder of the day, and though we had 
 chosen a place where we derived great advantage from rising 
 land around us, and a grove of wood, yet, until near night, we 
 were distressingly annoyed by dust. 
 
 On the 5th of November, we encountered a storm of the 
 same kind, but much more severe. We were then more than 
 two hundred miles west of the State of Missouri ; the weather 
 exceedingly dry, the day fair and calm, until within two or three 
 hours of sunset. We had reached the extremity of our survey 
 west, and turned back on to a small creek, which we were de 
 scending in search of grass for our horses. The Doctor had 
 gone to make some mineralogical examinations on the creek 
 above, when, swift as the wind, a cloud of sand, dust, and ashes, 
 came upon us, so thick that a man could not be distinguished 
 more than thirty or forty yards. The first impressions were 
 fears of suffocation. I had left my second son with the main 
 body of our company, and with two men had proceeded down 
 
 52 
 
410 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 the creek, with one man on each side, in search of a place at 
 which we might encamp. My first object was to call the two 
 men to me. The wind blew so hard that a man's voice could 
 be elevated so as to be heard but a very short distance. 1 was 
 afraid the company might become scattered, and that some of 
 them would get lost ; for, in this event, little advantage could 
 be derived from hallooing, or the firing of guns, and the prints 
 of the horses' feet were instantly obliterated, so that a trail could 
 not be followed. Unable to remain on my horse, I alighted, 
 drew a silk handkerchief over my face, and led my horse, against 
 the wind, back towards the company; he could hardly be forced 
 forward by the men in his rear, until we succeeded in finding 
 the larger company. My son, when first overtaken by the 
 storm, had wheeled the horses and company into a low place, 
 where, with the storm on their backs, they awaited my return. 
 The doctor and his men on foot also took shelter beneath the 
 bank of the creek, and afterwards joined us. The wind in 
 creased in violence, but the dust was most oppressive during 
 the first hour. It was with great difficulty that we pitched our 
 tents, though we had selected, in a streak of wood on the creek, 
 the lowest ground we could find. Very soon our tent was pros 
 trated by the wind ; cooking could not be performed, and the 
 sand and ashes from the prairie found their way into every place 
 which could be reached by the wind. It was with us a dismal 
 night, and no better for our poor horses, of which we had nine 
 teen ; for we were in a place where scarcely a particle of grass 
 could be obtained, the prairies on all sides having been burnt 
 off bare. The wind was* from the north, and by the following 
 morning it was freezing cold. So much of the sand had become 
 deposited by this time, that the atmosphere was somewhat clear, 
 and travelling was practicable, especially as the wind was not 
 directly in our face. 
 
 We were at this time in a buffalo country. In passing a 
 place at which a large body of Indians had encamped, some 
 time before, we noticed a great many buffalo skulls, which had 
 been laid together. The Pawnees, Otoes, Omahas, and some 
 others who hunt the buffalo extensively, believe in charms, by 
 which their huntings are rendered successful. Some of these 
 consist in collecting skulls, and disposing of them in certain 
 modes. Placed in a certain manner, they will bring the buffalo 
 to the company, when likely to suffer from unsuccessful hunting; 
 in some other order, they will produce some other equally de 
 sirable effect. The collection of skulls which we saw had, no 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 4 1 t 
 
 doubt, been brought together under some such superstitious 
 notion. 
 
 The sand beaches along the Kauzau river and some of its 
 tributaries, and some low grounds in prairies, were, at this time, 
 while with salt, cbrystallized by the sun. On the Solomon 
 river, a middle branch of the Kauzau, is a salt spring, which is 
 a great natural curiosity. About one hundred yards from the 
 bank of the river, in an extensive level prairie, is a mound of 
 stone, formed by a deep ravine which surrounds it; it is one 
 hundred and seventy yards in circumference at its base, and it 
 rises above the bottom of the ravine thirty feet, and is level on 
 the top, with a diameter of one hundred and twenty feet. The 
 ravine, on one side, is about forty yards wide, and on thfe other 
 ten. The summit of the mound is about a foot and a half higher 
 than the adjacent plain. No stone of any kind is seen in the 
 vicinity of the place, except that which composes the mound, 
 which appears to be a secondary, shelly, and porous limestone. 
 The sides of the mound, being stone, form a striking contrast 
 with the outer bank of the ravine, which is only earth. The 
 salt water forms a stagnant pool in the centre of the mound, 
 fifty-five feet in diameter, and rising to a perfect level with the 
 summit, so that a wind from any quarter causes the water to run 
 over the opposite side of the basin. About half-way up one 
 side issues salt water, which runs off in a small rivulet into Solo 
 mon river. Along this rivulet, and generally on the sides of the 
 mound, salt is chrystallized in such quantities that it might be 
 collected for use. The pool on the top is deep. Solomon 
 river is, by the Kauzaus, called Nepaholla meaning, water on 
 the hill and derives its name from this fountain ; but the foun 
 tain itself is by them called Ne Woh'kon'daga that is, "Spirit 
 water." The Kauzaus, Pawnees, and other tribes, in passing 
 by this spring, usually throw into it, as a kind of conjuring 
 charm, some small article of value. 
 
 The structure of the mound may be accounted for, by sup 
 posing that the source of the water at a distance is higher than 
 the plain which immediately surrounds the mound. The qual 
 ity of the water has produced the rock formation, and the resort 
 of buffalo and other animals, and the descent of rains, have 
 formed the ravine around it. 
 
 We have elsewhere expressed the opinion * that a fair com 
 parison of language, and of modes of thinking, would result in 
 favour of the supposition that the tribes had all originally sprung 
 from the same root. In the name given by the Kauzaus, and 
 
 * Introductory remarks, page 17. 
 
412 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 other tribes indigenous to this country, to this fountain, and their 
 superstitious veneration for it, there is a striking coincidence of 
 thought with the tribes originally resident eastward ; the Dela- 
 wares, for instance, who lived on the shores of the Atlantic, and 
 who were unknown to the Kauzaus until lately. The singular 
 ity of this fountain would have induced the Delawares, or any 
 other of the Eastern tribes, to call it " Spirit water." The 
 Putawatomies, for instance, would call it Minato-n'beesh, and, 
 on passing it, would make some offering. 
 
 On account of the grass on the prairies being so generally 
 burnt, it was difficult for us to get our horses back into the set 
 tlements, one of which was left to perish with hunger. After 
 we turned to come in, we were twenty days in reaching the 
 State of Missouri. 
 
 Early in the year 1829, we had made a proposal to the Gov 
 ernment to establish a mission among the Kauzau Indians. As 
 we passed towards home, I called on the agent for that tribe, 
 General M. G. Clark, and conferred with him in relation to our 
 designs and plans. Here was, and still is, a favourable open 
 ing for usefulness. We could have obtained some help from 
 the Government towards the support of the mission, and per 
 haps nearly the whole cost ; but we have not yet found a mis 
 sionary to labour there ! I returned to my family in Fayette, 
 Missouri, the 28th of November. Mr. and Mrs. Lykins were 
 still absent in the lake country, looking after missionary matters 
 there. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Journey to Washington. Origin of missions among the Choc- 
 taws. Station established among the Shawanoes. Difficult 
 journey to Arkansas. Councils with Cherokees and Creeks. 
 Exploration. Severe storm. Alarm given the Osages. 
 Sickness and deaths. Origin of the church among the 
 Creeks. Exploration. Massacre of Delawares. Journey 
 to Missouri. Location among the Shawanoes. Mission 
 aries to Sault de St. Marie. Journey to Washington* 
 Address to the 'public. 
 
 On the 30th of December, 1830, 1 again left home, and on the 
 29th of January, 1831, t arrived at Washington. This journey, 
 six or seven hundred miles of which had to be made on horse- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 413 
 
 back, was unpleasant. The cold and fatigue were more than a 
 slender constitution could bear, and I was some days confined 
 by indisposition, and under medical treatment. On this, as on 
 former occasions, I was much favoured by men in authority, in 
 being allowed to plead with them in behalf of the Indians, and 
 to employ my pen as well as my tongue. At this session, also, 
 thousands petitioned Congress in favour, as they supposed, of 
 the Indians; but their policy, as others confidently believed, and 
 as facts suhsequently manifested, was directly opposite to the 
 interests of the Indians. 
 
 1 left Washington on the 21st of March, 1831, and returned 
 to my family in Missouri the 8th of April. I reached home 
 barely in time to allow an infant son to die in my arms, whom 
 we buried on the following day. The expenses of this journey, 
 and of the maintenance of my own and Mr. Lykins's family, 
 were paid out of rny earnings from Government; but this source 
 of support having failed, by the expiration of my commission, 
 some time since, I found myself in debt beyond my means, 
 while Mr. Lykins was still absent at the stations of Carey and 
 Thomas, and it was uncertain what his necessities would require. 
 Under these circumstances, it was natural to feel uneasy. Not 
 many weeks afterwards, the board made a liberal yearly allow 
 ance for the support of Mr. Lykins; and another commission, 
 which would produce a living, was forwarded to me from the 
 Secretary of War. 
 
 Our plan was for me to locate in the southern part of the 
 Indian territory, and Mr. Lykins in the northern. The board 
 directed him to bestow such attention upon the matters of the 
 Carey station, and its removal to the West, as circumstances 
 should require, and, as soon as convenient, to locate among the 
 Shawanoes in the Indian territory, agreeably to the arrangement 
 made with them and their agent in 1830. 
 
 I was required by the commission to explore the Indian coun 
 try west of the State of Missouri and Territory of Arkansas, as 
 far west as it was habitable, with referenee to the permanent set 
 tlement of Indians therein ; to adjust the boundaries of tribes in 
 some instances, and to cause actual surveys to be made in others. 
 For the performance of the latter, I was at liberty to appoint 
 two assistant surveyors. This commission afforded me an op 
 portunity of exerting a greater influence on such Indian affairs 
 as were of importance in regard to their future prosperity, than 
 any other that could have been given me. 
 
 Some time before this, a treaty had been made with the Choc- 
 taws, by which they were entitled to a given amount annually, 
 
414 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 for tho support of schools in their country, to be under the su 
 pervision of the Government of the United States. The De 
 partment of Indian Affairs had directed that three of these 
 schools should be of a higher order than common, with a salary 
 to each teacher of $833 per annum ; but nothing had yet been 
 done towards bringing them into operation. While I was at 
 Washington the last time, the Honourable John H. Eaton, Secre 
 tary of War, informed me of the design of the Department in 
 relation to them, and offered me a situation in connection with 
 this matter, and assured me that if the salary allowed for the 
 office should be inadequate, there would be special duties as 
 signed me, for the discharge of which I should be paid, so that 
 a competent salary would be ensured. This situation would 
 have afforded me a quiet home in the Indian country, at which 
 1 could have enjoyed the society of my family, and have em 
 ployed all my time in labours comparatively light, and congenial 
 to the desires of a Christian missionary; nevertheless, I felt it 
 to be my duty to decline the appointment. The fast and most 
 important of all matters in relation to Indian reform, at that time, 
 appeared to be the judicious location and permanent settlement 
 of all the tribes, where they could " sit under their own vine 
 and fig tree without fear." Without this, the success of future 
 missionary labours would be rendered precarious ; and to pro 
 mote this permanent location had been a prominent object of 
 our labours for the preceding eight or nine years. I saw none 
 among the benevolent of any denomination willing to take hold 
 of this part of the work of Indian reform ; and under these cir 
 cumstances I could not innocently abandon it. Yet my labours 
 in this department were not in accordance with my natural tem 
 perament, nor congenial to my feelings as a Christian. They 
 were, moreover, arduous, and attended with great privation ; and 
 withal my appointments were merely temporary, so that I had 
 no certain income for support. But I supposed that strength 
 would be proportioned to the work, and that He who fed the 
 fowls of heaven would give us bread. Though I deemed it not 
 expedient to locate in the Choctaw country myself, I made ef 
 forts to introduce others. The subject was without delay brought 
 to the consideration of the board, and this was the origin of Bap 
 tist missions to that tribe, of which we shall speak hereafter. 
 
 Among other acts of the Secretary of War with which I 
 was gratified, was his consent that a tract of suitable dimen 
 sions, and in a central situation, should be reserved for the seat 
 of government of the Indian territory, on which individuals of 
 any tribe might reside 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 415 
 
 My first business led me into the southern part of the Indian 
 country, three hundred miles, through a wilderness, from Fay- 
 ette. I appointed Mr. John Donelson, nephew of the then 
 recently deceased Mrs. Jackson, of the Hermitage, and my son, 
 Doctor R. McCoy, assistants. The latter accompanied us on 
 our wilderness journey, which we commenced on the 6th of 
 June, 1831. Mr. Lykins had not yet returned from Carey, but 
 to our great joy he overtook us on the morning of the second 
 day. Having halted, and spent the day and night together, ar 
 ranging matters for future operations, on the following day he 
 left us for the field of his labours. Heavy rains fell, and made 
 our travelling and encamping at night unpleasant and dangerous 
 to health, especially the health of Mrs, McCoy and our little 
 children. Our seventh day's journey brought us to Grand 
 river, which, though usually fordable, was not so at this time. 
 The only method by which we could possibly prosecute our 
 journey, was to make a canoe of a large tree. With all the in 
 dustry we could employ, we commenced in the afternoon, and 
 by twelve o'clock on the following day we had our canoe in the 
 river. It was, indeed, a clumsy, and not a very safe boat, and 
 we had some narrow escapes from drowning when we were cross 
 ing this rapid current. Our stock of horses and cattle, some of 
 which had to be held by the side of our canoe, were made to 
 swim through. In twenty-four hours we had all crossed. On 
 the 15th of June we reached Harmony mission, on the bank of 
 the Osage river. Here we swam our stock across, and procuring 
 a very small canoe, we fastened logs on each side, and con 
 structed a kind of raft, on which, by several passages, we carried 
 over our persons, carriages, and baggage. The missionaries at 
 this station were the Reverend Mr. Jones, Mr. Austin, and Mr. 
 Bright. They were all pious good men, and 1 was extremely 
 sorry to find them all opposed to the colonization of the Indians. 
 I could not believe that they judged for themselves, but I sup 
 posed that their opinions had been prompted by their patrons, 
 the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. 
 The 16th of June was a day of much rain, and we were com 
 pelled to spend the night in the open prairie, where it was diffi 
 cult to find within reach of us wood sufficient for a small fire, and 
 for poles on which to stretch our tents. The earth was filled, 
 and in many places overflowed with water, and the grass a foot 
 and a half high. Under such circumstances, the prospect, as 
 night approached, of providing comfortable lodgings for a family, 
 was rather gloomy. 
 
 At Little Osage river, on the 17th, we again had to construct 
 
416 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 a raft, by fastening logs to the side of a small canoe. Ten miles 
 further, at Marmaton river, on the 18th, we met with similar ob 
 structions, which were overcame by the same means. This 
 method of ferrying was extremely troublesome. Our carriages 
 had to be taken to pieces, and only a small weight could be car 
 ried across at a time, while the currents of these small rivers, 
 enlarged by rains, were violent. Near the Osage villages we 
 called on the Reverend Mr. Dodge, a missionary, who had not 
 long before come out from the Harmony station, and who had 
 erected here pretty comfortable buildings. He preached by an 
 interpreter ; he was a pious good man, but was unsuccessful in 
 this undertaking ; and after spending two or three years at that 
 place, abandoned it, and retired from missionary labours. 
 
 On account of deep water, it was with some difficulty that 
 we crossed the Neosho river into the principal village of the 
 Osages; men, women, and children, came about us in such 
 crowds, that it was difficult to make our way through them. The 
 poor creatures were constantly importuning for something, but we 
 could not grant their entreaties beyond the distribution of some 
 tobacco, which I had taken with me for such occasions. We em 
 ployed one of them to accompany us the remainder of the day, 
 to assist in preventing others from purloining. As we moved off 
 from the village, which we did with as little delay as possible, 
 every now and then, an Indian, by a severe race, would over 
 take us. In order to get rid of him, we would give him a piece 
 of tobacco, and our assistant Indian would employ his powers of 
 reasoning in our favour. As we receded, these unwelcome calls 
 became less frequent ; and when our helper was left alone with 
 us, he enjoyed himself well, and was satisfied with the reward 
 we gave him for his services. A heavy rain added nothing to 
 the convenience of encamping, or the comfort of lodging in 
 open prairie. 
 
 June 23d, we were obstructed by the deep water of a creek, 
 and were overtaken by a heavy thunder storm, which lasted 
 during the day and the following night. We found it impossible 
 to keep dry; the rain beat through upon us ; and though we 
 ditched around our tents, the water, which lay several inches 
 deep, continued to flow in. This was the most distressing time 
 on account of rain that we had ever experienced in our journey- 
 ings iii the wilderness. On the following day Doctor R. Mc 
 Coy and one of our hands swam across the creek, and on a raft 
 we had constructed of logs, their saddles, &ic., were taken over. 
 They proceeded twelve miles down the river to a trading-house, 
 in the hope of obtaining a canoe, which might be brought up to 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 417 
 
 our assistance, but were disappointed. After remaining in this 
 unpleasant situation more than two days, we were compelled to 
 turn off into the pathless wilderness, to ascend the creek so near to 
 its source that it might be passed. We found a place which did 
 not quite swim our horses, but the bank was so steep that thfc 
 carriages had to be unladed and let down with ropes. The men 
 were several hours in the water before we got all across. The 
 exposures of the journey had overcome my strength, and I was 
 about this time a good deal indisposed, and scarcely able to 
 travel. 
 
 On the 26th of June we were again stopped by high water, 
 and we had no alternative but to wait until it fell. We made a 
 raft of logs, sufficient to bear a couple of saddles, and the Doctor 
 and one of our hired men again swam across, and proceeded to 
 Fort Gibson, forty miles, to put things in readiness for future 
 operations. We lay at this place two days, and then drove 
 through the creek when the water was so deep that' it run into 
 our carriages, the men wading and guiding them, to prevent them 
 from capsizing. Twice afterwards we had to leave the road, to 
 head creeks that were too deep to be forded. 
 
 At Union mission establishment we hired a house for the ac 
 commodation of the family, and were happy to be in com 
 fortable lodgings again, after an unpleasant journey of twenty- 
 three days. The Reverend Mr. Vail, Reverend Mr. Mont 
 gomery, Doctor G. L. Weed, and Mr. Redfield, of this mission, 
 were liberal-minded Christians; and when I was at the place 
 often afforded me the privilege of preaching. 
 
 I made a journey of fifty or sixty miles, and on the 6th of 
 June met the agent for the Cherokees, Captain G. Vashon, and 
 twenty-five Cherokee chiefs and principal men, with whom an 
 adjustment was made of an unsettled boundary, and an under 
 standing had that they would send some of their people to at 
 tend the surveying of the lines of their country. Having stop 
 ped in the woods to prepare our breakfasts, on the morning of 
 the 6th, I was stung on the end of a finger by a scorpion, the 
 first I had seen. I desired my servant to scarify the place with 
 my penknife, which he appearing unwilling to do, it was omit 
 ted. I kept my finger wrapped in wet tobacco, and the pain 
 and soreness nearly disappeared in the course of twenty-four 
 hours. Early on the following morning a negro boy was bitten 
 on the great toe by a rattlesnake. In the space of three or four 
 minutes the pain and swelling had extended to the body. His 
 master, a Cherokee, desired me to prescribe. I scarified about 
 the wound, and rubbed so as to bring blood pretty freely ; after 
 53 
 
418 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 which I wrapped it in tobacco kept moist, and bathed it in salt 
 and water for some time, rubbing the member incessantly down 
 wards from the body. In the course of two hours the violence 
 of the symptoms had abated, and the patient suffered very little 
 afterwards. 
 
 A few weeks after this, I was stung by a scorpion, near the 
 root of the nail of a great toe. In this case, the application of 
 tobacco to the wound proved too inefficient. In a few minutes 
 after the wound was inflicted, I felt the effects on my lips and 
 the end of my tongue, and became very sick at the stomach. A 
 local application and an internal use was made of the spirits of 
 hartshorn. I lay as quietly as possible about seven hours, when, 
 on attempting to rise, I found that I could not control the joints 
 of my lower limbs. It was two or three days before I reco 
 vered. : ^ : 
 
 On the 8th of July I had a council with about fifty Creeks, 
 in the presence of their agent, General John Campbell. On the 
 9th of July, with the two assistants, Mr. Donelson and Dr. Mc 
 Coy, I left my family, for a tour in the wilderness. Our second 
 son was sick with ague and fever, and our youngest with bilious 
 fever. I separated from the two assistant surveyors on the 
 18th of July, at which time Dr. McCoy was so much indis 
 posed that 1 regretted the necessity of leaving him. He grew 
 worse, and about a week afterwards he started for home, which, 
 in six days, he reached almost exhausted. 
 
 With a hired coloured man, and for interpreter a half breed 
 Osage, whose English name was Stephen Van Rensselaer, I pro 
 ceeded from the camp of the surveyors on a tour of exploration, 
 with the view of ascertaining the suitableness of the country 
 for the location of the Chickasaws, and for other purposes in 
 relation to Indian settlement. The horse-flies are sometimes 
 exceedingly troublesome on the waters of the Arkansas, and on 
 account of them travellers frequently lie by during the day, and 
 travel at night. Never before this time had I felt any fear that 
 flies would really kill horses, as had been reported. Most of 
 our travelling was in prairie, where they were worse than in the 
 woodlands. We fastened vines and small boughs of shrubbery 
 behind and before the saddles, to keep them off, but wherever a 
 part of the poor suffering animal remained uncovered, flies 
 would fasten in swarms. 
 
 Two or three hours before night, on the 21st of July, it 
 commenced raining. We turned down a valley, for the purpose 
 of finding timber in which we might encamp for the night, but 
 could reach only a cluster of plum bushes and other shrubbery, 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 419 
 
 covering about half an acre of land. The small ravine which 
 passed through it had very little water in it, and this was stag 
 nant. We pitched our tent immediately on the bank, and 
 kindled a fire amidst a heavy fall of rain. Refreshed by a warm 
 supper, and somewhat sheltered by our tent, we esteemed our 
 condition comparatively comfortable. Though the rain de 
 scended like a torrent, we rested well until about one o'clock in 
 the morning, when I discovered that the water was coming un 
 der us. I removed to another side of the tent, but before I 
 could adjust my blankets, I discovered that the little stream, on 
 the bank of which we lay, was rapidly overflowing our sleeping 
 place. I caught up my gun, saddlebags, and other articles of 
 most value, as much as I could carry, and left the place for 
 higher land, directing the other two to follow as fast as possible 
 with what they could carry. It was excessively dark, and the 
 quick flashing lightning was our only lantern. We waded 
 through water half leg deep on to the prairie, where we placed 
 in a heap the articles we had brought. I remained, to endea 
 vour to save them as much as possible from wet, and hurried 
 the men back for other articles, but the water rose so fast that 
 several were lost. Our horses happened to be near, and by the 
 time we could loose the hobbles from. their legs and mount them, 
 not even waiting to girth our saddles, the water was again rising 
 around us. The land for some distance was nearly level. Be 
 tween a fourth and half a mile we found a slight elevation in 
 the open prairie, where we again stacked our baggage, and I 
 seated myself upon it, and required the men to place blankets 
 around me, by which the few articles which were still dry might 
 be preserved from the water, and by which my chilliness might 
 be mitigated. Stephen and the black man wrapped themselves 
 in their blankets, and got on the baggage, to keep out of the 
 water, but by this time we were all thoroughly drenched. The 
 rain continued to pour down in torrents, and the thunder pealed 
 with fearful rapidity. 
 
 When day appeared, Stephen and the black man were so 
 benumbed with the wet and cold that it required a considerable 
 effort on my part to arouse them to action. We had lost seve 
 ral articles almost indispensable in travelling in the wilderness, 
 and most of our provisions for food were damaged. Timber 
 was to be seen at a distance, but being invariably on low ground, 
 we were unable to reach it, as the creeks and hollows were now 
 "filled with water too deep to be crossed with our horses. On 
 account of the rain from above, and the deep waters we rode 
 through, I frequently alighted to empty the water out of my 
 
420 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 boots. Becoming very much chilled by being so long wet, I 
 doubled a piece of flannel which I had contrived to keep dry 
 in my saddlebags, and placing it on my stomach, derived great 
 benefit from the warmth it afforded. 
 
 We rode five hours before we could reach timber, where we 
 could make a fire to dry ourselves, and to our grief, when we 
 reached the wood, it was in bottom land, a foot and a half, or 
 deeper, under water; we therefore had to wade in the water for 
 wood, and having lost our axe the previous night, it was not an 
 easy matter to find within our reach dead limbs of trees which 
 we could break with our hands for fuel. We collected some, 
 and retired to an elevation in the prairie, and kindled a fire. 
 The rain had ceased, and we here warmed and refreshed our 
 selves with food, after which we proceeded a short distance, and 
 were again stopped by a deep creek, which, having slept on 
 the bank during the. night, we found fordable on the following 
 morning. By a great effort we reached the house of the mis 
 sionary, the Rev. Mr. Dodge, in the evening. Here we were 
 allowed to dry our baggage and assort our provision, much of 
 which we had lost. 
 
 Sabbath, July 24th, I accompanied Mr. Dodge, and, through 
 his kindness, preached to about forty Osages, Stephen interpret 
 ing both the discourse and the prayer. In the afternoon I 
 preached in English at Mr. Dodge's, which was, by him, re 
 peated, through an interpreter, to some Osages present. 
 
 July 25th, we replenished our stock of provisions and re 
 paired some other damages which we had sustained by the late 
 freshet, and, at the Osage agency, received an escort from Fort 
 Gibson, sent at my request by General M. Arbuckle, consisting 
 of twenty-five soldiers, commanded by Captain Hawkins, and 
 attended by Dr. Baylor. 
 
 We had proceeded from camp only about two miles, on the 
 28th of July, when we halted, on account of a sick soldier. 
 We had been discovered at a distance by some of the Osages, 
 who foolishly imagined that we might be a war party of Paw 
 nees. We had not stopped an hour with our sick man, when 
 between one and two hundred Osage warriors, naked, and 
 armed for battle, came rushing after us. They took advantage 
 of a rise of land, by which means to approach us as near as pos 
 sible without being discovered ; and when they discovered who 
 we were, they ran to us at full speed, hallooing at the highest 
 pitch of the voice, and seemed overjoyed that they had an op 
 portunity of shaking hands instead of scalping. They crowded 
 thick about us, and inquired for the chief of our party. A 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 421 
 
 chief instantly told me to require our people to take care of. 
 their baggage, lest some of his should steal something. This 
 precaution I had taken as they approached, and had directed 
 my two men to stack our baggage and stand over it. I had 
 previously desired to proceed, and thought the case of the sick 
 soldier was not one that made it really necessary for us to lie 
 by; but I had yielded to the wish of others, who felt less 
 anxious to go forward than 1 did ; but in this matter my mind 
 was soon relieved. A very few minutes after the Indians had 
 mixed up with us, a soldier complained that his rammer had 
 been stolen, another cried out that the cartridges had been taken 
 out of his box which was swung behind him, another com 
 plained of the loss of something else, and so on until all appeared 
 as willing to proceed as I had been before the Indians came to 
 us. While the uncouth appearance of these savage warriors 
 attracted the attention of the men, the shrewd rogues improved 
 the opportunity of purloining small articles which could be con 
 cealed. I complained to the principal chief that his people 
 were not treating our men well, and desired him to endeavour 
 to recover the stolen property, and to prevent future depreda 
 tions. This he did, and several articles of small value, though 
 of much use to our party, were restored. 
 
 On the 6th of August- we turned towards Fort Gibson. On 
 the 10th, my coloured man sickened, and it was with some diffi 
 culty that I took him into our home. He was frequently com 
 pelled to lie down on the earth and rest. On the 12th, we 
 halted at an Osage village, the French name of the principal 
 chief of which was Cleremont. Here we had a brief council, 
 and I distributed some tobacco. The Osage huts are crowded 
 closely together in their villages, and the filth in and about their 
 towns is exceedingly unpleasant, especially in warm weather. 
 My horses had failed, and Stephen had been obliged to walk a 
 part of the time. Tired of this mode of travelling, though he 
 had not previously complained, he remained with his people at 
 the village. 
 
 Near midnight of the same day I entered my own door, and 
 to my grief was informed that our dear little Charles, whom I 
 had left sick, had expired on the 21st of July. I was not at 
 home when he came into the world, and I was absent when he 
 left it. He was four years old, and was the sixth child that had 
 deceased since we had been missionaries, four of whom had 
 died in my absence. Of Mrs. McCoy's trials, none can so 
 well judge as a bereaved mother; and then the peculiar circum 
 stances under which those bereavements occurred should be 
 
422 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 considered. Dr. McCoy had been exceedingly low, and was 
 still confined to his bed. The health of our second son had 
 improved. 
 
 Mr. Lykins, after we separated from him in Missouri, took 
 his family to the Shawanoe settlements, and procured for them 
 a temporary residence in the house of the sub-agent, Major 
 Campbell. On account of the time consumed in corresponding 
 with the board at so great a distance, an appropriation to enable 
 him to erect buildings was delayed until circumstances com 
 pelled him to find quarters of his own. A serious hinderance 
 was also found in the tardiness of the movements of the Shawa- 
 noes, especially in a matter in which they, in reality, felt little 
 interest. No alternative appeared left him but to purchase a 
 small tract of United States' land, immediately on the line of 
 the State of Missouri, and put up buildings at his own cost. 
 This was immediately adjoining the Shawanoe settlements. 
 
 About this time the small-pox appeared among the Shawanoes 
 and Delawares, and Mr. Lykins was enabled to afford great 
 relief by vaccination. He had not graduated as a physician, 
 but his reading, and the practice which necessity had urged 
 upon him in our remote residences, had given him a respectable 
 reputation as a physician. 
 
 It appeared to us, at this time, that uncommonly favourable 
 opportunities were offered to the Baptist denomination to extend 
 its usefulness, by missionary operations among the Indians; but 
 the subject did not attract the notice, or elicit the interest, that 
 we had a right to expect. Indian missions were invariably 
 thrown into the shade, in all benevolent operations. It was a 
 favourable time, because, by a kind of common consent, a home 
 was about being given to the Indians, where the labours of the 
 missionary would not be interrupted by the scattering of his 
 flock. They who from office were required to take part in the 
 affairs of Government, felt that the policy of the whites bore 
 hard upon the natives, and had denied them the rights to which 
 the original inhabitants of our country had been entitled. The 
 Indians had a right to complain of the past, from the time of 
 their first acquaintance with white men to feel that their re 
 moval to the West was a great hardship, and to distrust the 
 propositions of the Government in future. On these accounts, 
 Government would have favoured any plans of benevolence by 
 which the feelings of these unfortunate people would have been 
 soothed, and that which was painful to them rendered easy. 
 The Baptists had been placed prominently and favourably 'be 
 fore the Government, in relation to the colonizing of the Indians : 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 423 
 
 so that, for the sake of carrying out its plans, the Government 
 would have given them a full share of its patronage in support 
 of benevolent operations. The board, it was true, had been 
 prevailed upon to propose to the Government the establishment 
 of a mission among every tribe then within what we denomi 
 nated the Indian territory ; but this they had done more through 
 acquiescence in the wishes of others, than from the impulse of 
 their own desires. There appeared favourable openings for 
 doing good in most of the tribes, and, in relation to many of 
 them, we could have obtained from the Government all, or 
 nearly all, the support needed for the missionaries ; so that, in 
 support of missions, which we desired to multiply, the benevo 
 lence of individuals and societies would have been but lightly 
 taxed. But so little was said by the board, respecting those 
 points which would produce effect on the public mind, that 
 comparatively little was known and felt in favour of Indian mis 
 sions, within the sphere of the influence of the board, and few 
 candidates for missionary labours came forward and offered for 
 this service. Of this backwardness of the board, some of us 
 often complained. The answers of influential members of the 
 acting board were, in substance, that " they were unwilling to 
 commit themselves upon the great and disputed subject of In 
 dian emigration." They were told that they had already com 
 mitted themselves, and that some of us had, from the first, been 
 avowed advocates of the measure ; but we could more easily get 
 the better of the argument, than produce a different practice, 
 and one favourable to the cause of Indian reform. The board 
 did not hesitate to publish general remarks about the Indians, 
 or the story of a missionary relative to his local operations in 
 teaching, fee. ; but the points which would have borne with 
 weight upon the minds of such as desired to enter a missionary 
 field were not prominently stated. 
 
 The impression was lamentably extensive, that a mal-admin- 
 istration of public affairs had introduced some new system of 
 cruelty towards the Indians, and that, while the latter were 
 greatly to be pitied, they could not be helped ; " their council 
 fires were expiring," and the people perishing ; hence, candi 
 dates for missionary labours were inclined to seek fields which 
 promised a more fruitful harvest. 
 
 The Secretary of War, the Hon. John H. Eaton, had kindly 
 consented to make himself pretty thoroughly acquainted with 
 our wishes in regard to benevolent labours for the Indians, &c., 
 and cherished what we esteemed to be correct views upon the 
 subject of Indian reform, and was influenced by a praiseworthy 
 
424 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 disposition to promote proper measures. About this time, how 
 ever, he resigned his secretaryship, and was succeeded in office 
 by his Excellency Lewis Cass, late Governour of Michigan Ter 
 ritory. On his coming into office, no time was lost in laying 
 before him our plans and wishes ; in doing which, copies of com 
 munications made to his predecessor were brought to his notice. 
 Governour Cass had a kind heart in relation to Indian reform, 
 but a doubting head* He was willing the experiment should 
 be made, because it was the offspring of benevolence ; but he 
 believed that, after all that could be done, the Indians would 
 ultimately perish. 
 
 Dr. McCoy was still confined by sickness, when, on the 5th 
 of September, 1831, his brother, who had taken his place as 
 assistant surveyor, and Mr. Donelson, again set out on a survey 
 ing tour, on which I accompanied them. We were also accom 
 panied by a Cherokee, whose English name was Little John, 
 who had been commissioned by the nation to attend the running 
 of some of their boundary lines. 
 
 On the first night I was taken sick in camp, and we were 
 compelled to lie by the following day and night. We had much 
 rain upon us, which occasioned great exposure of health. On 
 the second day one of our hands sickened, and was sent back 
 to Our house. Several others at divers times became so unwell 
 as to require the use of physic. September the llth, Little 
 John, the Cherokee commissioner, sickened. About the time 
 of the attack, he had exposed himself much by remaining long 
 in a river engaged in fishing, chiefly for his amusement. In the 
 afternoon of the 16th, he died in our camp, and on the follow 
 ing day we buried him in the wilderness. With some inconve 
 nience we were able to excavate the earth, and instead of a 
 coffin we split timber, and placed it around and over the corpse, 
 after which we heaped stones upon the grave. A good deal of 
 sympathy was manifested by our men on this occasion, and each 
 seemed to desire the privilege of contributing something towards 
 dressing the dead. 
 
 In my absence, Dr. McCoy had so far recovered his health 
 as to start in a carriage to the State of Missouri, three hundred 
 miles through a wilderness. My then youngest son had nar 
 rowly escaped the loss of life by a fall from a tree, by which 
 he broke an arm, which has ever since been partially crippled. 
 At this time Mr. William Requa and Mr. George Requa, both 
 worthy men, were occupying a missionary station, which was an 
 appendage of the Union mission, and a few miles from it. They 
 very properly made it a prominent object to teach the Osages 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 425 
 
 habits of industrv. In the month of September, I applied to 
 the Secretary of War in their behalf, and desired that they might 
 be appointed agriculturists for the Osages, by virtue of an exist- 
 ing treaty. Neither the success of this application, nor the 
 success of their labours, equalled the merit of those pious 
 Presbyterians ; and both subsequently retired from missionary 
 labours. 
 
 Some of the Creeks expressed a desire that a Mr. Redfield, 
 who was a member of the Union mission, should reside among 
 them and teach a school ; it was also hoped that some religious 
 benefits would result from his labours. The United States' 
 agent for the Creeks, for reasons not distinctly understood, was 
 averse to the location of Mr. Redfield in the Creek country, 
 unless he would disconnect himself from the Union mission a 
 requisition with which it was not convenient for Mr. R. to com 
 ply. The design was about being defeated, when, with more 
 success than had attended rny good will towards the gentlemen 
 Requas, I interposed, and to the agent remonstrated against his 
 unreasonable demands. The result was the establishment of 
 Mr. Redfield in the Creek school. It was, however, not long 
 before he retired, and was succeeded by Doctor Weed, a worthy 
 man, also from Union mission. He was for a year or two physi 
 cian for the Creeks, when he retired from missionary labours, 
 and was succeeded by the Reverend Mr. Fleming, who, some 
 time after, abandoned the station altogether. 
 
 John Davis was a full blooded Muscogee, (Creek,) who had 
 become a pious member of a Baptist church, on the east of the 
 Mississippi, and had there commenced exhortation and preach 
 ing. He had emigrated with his people to the Arkansas, in 
 1829. In December, 1830, the Baptist board of missions took, 
 him under its patronage, and gave him a small salary of two 
 hundred dollars a year, to aid him in doing good to his people. 
 On coming into the Arkansas country we found him preaching 
 to his people, and piously labouring to teach them the way to 
 heaven, though he had not yet even been licensed by a Baptist 
 church to preach the gospel. There were some five or six 
 Baptists in that country, all of whom, excepting Mr. Davis, 
 and perhaps one other, were coloured slaves belonging to the 
 Creeks. They had not been congregated into a chureh, and 
 no Baptist minister was near enough to afford them assistance. 
 There were also among the Creeks a few Methodists and Pres 
 byterians, chiefly slaves. In the absence of Methodist and 
 Baptist preachers, all of those belonging to these two denomi 
 nations, excepting Mr. Davis, united with the Presbyterians in 
 54 
 
426 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 a little church, organized by the Reverend Mr. Vaill and Rev 
 erend Mr. Montgomery. He remained alone in respect to 
 church membership. He spent a good deal of his time at 
 Union mission, and those Paedo-Baptist brethren treated him 
 with much kindness, and were ever ready to afford him all the 
 instruction in their power. He commonly attended and took 
 part in public exercises which they performed in the Creek 
 country, and sometimes served them as interpreter. Mr. Da- 
 vis's labours were not unsuccessful ; but all the fruit was neces 
 sarily gathered into the Presbyterian church. In 1831 he mar 
 ried a pious Creek woman, who had been educated at Union 
 mission, and whose improvement reflected great credit on the 
 institution. After his marriage he settled permanently among 
 his people, where his good sense and piety, and devotion to the 
 welfare of his people, entitled him to great respect. He was 
 labouring under many discouragements, and I felt myself par 
 ticularly favoured in being allowed to afford him some assist 
 ance and encouragement. His salary was inadequate, and at 
 my particular request the board generously enlarged it. It was" 
 not long after this, as will be seen hereafter, that a Baptist 
 church was organized among the Creeks. 
 
 On the 21st of October, escorted by Lieutenant Dawson and 
 eight soldiers, and taking for my assistance a white man and 
 two Indians, I again started on an exploring tour. On the next 
 day, among a few straggling Delawares encamped on the Ar 
 kansas, we saw a woman of that tribe who had, with some dif 
 ficulty, escaped a massacre by the Pawnees. Two men and 
 women and one child, had been attacked in a hunting camp by 
 Pawnees, and three of them instantly killed. This woman, 
 with her child, happened at the time of attack to be a little dis 
 tance from camp, and escaped. She travelled six days through 
 a pathless wilderness barefooted, and subsisted herself and child 
 on grapes and berries. 
 
 The 24th of October was a day of cold rain, and in the 
 evening snow fell, and adhered so much to the herbage and 
 shrubbery, that it was exceedingly uncomfortable. We encamp 
 ed on the bank of the Arkansas, and near dark heard the report 
 of a gun on the opposite side. Supposing it to be a signal to 
 ascertain whether we were a war party or not, we instantly an 
 swered by the discharge of a gun. Presently three Osage men 
 and one woman waded the Arkansas river, and remained at our 
 camp during the night. We loaned to each a small article, to 
 assist in keeping them from the wet earth, with which, and with 
 a piece of a poor blanket wrapped around the naked body of 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 427 
 
 each, these poor creatures slept soundly around our fire, not 
 withstanding rain and sometimes snow were moderately falling 
 on them through the night ; and the time was so cold that 1 
 could scarcely keep warm in my tent, under two blankets and a 
 cloak. In order to prevent them from being troublesome to one 
 of my surveying parties, which would pass that way in the 
 course of a few days, I desired them to give notice to the rest 
 of their company, that my son, with a few men, would ere long 
 pass up the river, and that as they were on business of the Gov 
 ernment, and were not hunting, they would be glad to receive 
 some provisions from the Osage encampment. They took pains 
 to see the party, but instead of offering them food as I had re 
 quested, informed my son that his father had been there, and 
 had left orders for him to divide with them his eatables ; and it 
 was with a good deal of decision and some risk that he got rid 
 of them without being robbed of his supplies. 
 
 Doctor McCoy, who, in poor health, had gone into the State 
 of Missouri for us in the month of September, had become so 
 sick as to be unable to return. Not knowing fully his situation, 
 and hoping that I might be able to bring him home, and also 
 urged by other business, I started to the State of Missouri on 
 the 16th of November, 1831. Our way was mostly through 
 open prairie, and the season becoming exceedingly cold, I was 
 made to fear perishing. I had a young man to attend me, who 
 was much hardier than I was, with whose assistance I wrapped 
 about me as 1 sat on my horse four blankets, which were put 
 over my cloak and ordinary preparations for riding in the cold ; 
 and thus bundled up I could neither get on nor off ray horse 
 without help. The Doctor was unable to return with me, and 
 was left at Mr. Lykins's, among the Shawanoes. I remained 
 there only one day, when, with one of my daughters, who, with 
 her sister, had just arrived from Lexington, Kentucky, where 
 they had been at school, I started back to Arkansas in a car 
 riage. We had in company five men, three of whom we had 
 employed to re-enforce our surveying parties. 
 
 November 25th, the snow fell so fast in the prairies that we 
 could not perceive the character of the country around us, and 
 we lost our way. I felt some uneasiness for our situation on the 
 bleak prairies. The men in company soon became so bewildered^ 
 that they knew not in what direction we ought to steer, and had 
 they been left to themselves, they would have proceeded in a 
 direction opposite to that which was right. We lost half a day 
 by this misfortune. On the 27th, one of the men had to go 
 into the water to help one of our carriages out of the Osage 
 
428 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 river. Tlie day was very cold, and to prevent him iVoin perish 
 ing 1 had him divested of his wet clothes as soon as possible, 
 and taking him into a carriage, wrapped him in blankets. Our 
 lodgings at night were necessarily on the earth, which was now 
 covered several inches deep with snow. We reached our place 
 on Arkansas the 2d of December. 
 
 The alarming indisposition of Doctor McCoy interrupted the 
 plans we had devised relative to our residence on Arkansas ; and 
 it being necessary for me about this time to visit Washington, 
 we resolved that Mrs. McCoy, and the rest of the family 
 with her, should repair to Mr. Lykins's station at the Shawanoe 
 settlements, and remain with our afflicted son, while 1 would 
 make the tour to Washington. While preparing for this jour 
 ney, we were visited by Mr. J. Meeker, late of Thomas station, 
 in Michigan. A few months before this time 1 had received a 
 letter from him, in which he informed me that he had retired 
 from missionary labours, and had resumed the business of print 
 ing, in Cincinnati, Ohio ; and he desired me to procure and send 
 him a letter of dismission from our church, to enable him to 
 join a church in Cincinnati, which place he now considered as 
 his home. The reason he assigned for adopting this course 
 was, that his mother looked to him for her support, and also 
 greatly desired to enjoy his society; and, under the strong influ 
 ence which these causes might be expected to produce, had re 
 quested her son to return to her, in terms which could not be 
 disregarded. He had despaired of success at the Thomas sta 
 tion, and had some time before abandoned it, intending to esta 
 blish himself elsewhere in the Indian country; and with this 
 design was on his way to obtain a personal interview with the 
 board, when he met the letters from his mother, alluded to 
 above, and which induced him to retire from the missionary field 
 altogether. 
 
 Instead of sending him a letter of dismission from the church, 
 as he had desired, I reminded him of the want of missionaries 
 in the Arkansas country, and the favourable openings which 
 now invited faithful missionaries to come forward, which they 
 might do in the Indian territory with the prospect of affording 
 the Indians substantial benefit, and urged him to resume his 
 missionary labours. In order to obviate the difficulty which was 
 connected with the comfort of his mother, I took the liberty of 
 suggesting the means by which she might be comfortably pro 
 vided for. The result was a change of Mr. Meeker's design. 
 He broke up housekeeping in Cincinnati, and leaving Mrs. 
 Meeker and his mother at a comfortable place, came on to us 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 429 
 
 on Arkansas, a distance, by water, of more than one thousand 
 miles. The last twenty-five miles he had made on foot, almost 
 wholly through open prairie. The day was exceedingly cold, 
 and the wind in his face. On the way he met a stranger who 
 informed him that his face was freezing a circumstance which, 
 till then, Mr. Meeker had not apprehended. Fortunately for 
 him, the stranger was able to direct him to a fire in a grove, 
 which some other sufferer had kindled. He reached us on the 
 18th of December. 
 
 The plan arranged for Mr. Meeker was, for him to spend 
 some two or three months on Arkansas, chiefly in company of 
 Mr. Davis, our Creek missionary, and then return and bring on 
 his family. To meet present necessities I became responsible, 
 and, for the future, Mrs. McCoy and I assured him that we 
 would divide our support with him and his family as long as 
 they should need it. In the mean time I was to make an effort 
 at Washington to procure the means of putting a printing press 
 in operation among the Cherokees of Arkansas, under the man 
 agement of Mr. Meeker, and another person who we would 
 endeavour to associate with him. Our design was to issue a peri 
 odical, which we believed would exert a happy influence upon 
 our missionary operations. By it, the true condition of the In 
 dians could be made known to the people of the United States 
 something could be contributed towards giving a healthful tone 
 to public sentiment, eliciting sympathy, and enlisting mis 
 sionaries. 
 
 Mr. Meeker did not bring his family to the Indian country as 
 soon as was then expected, and the design of establishing the 
 printing press in the Cherokee country and of issuing a periodi 
 cal failed. This failure, the cause of which could not be attri 
 buted to necessity, but to the apathy of the Baptist denomi 
 nation in the support of missions to the Indians, we deeply 
 regretted. 
 
 It would seem that Mr. Meeker had not at that time fully 
 appreciated the favourable changes in relation to Indian im 
 provement which were connected with their permanent location 
 in a country of their own. He had acquired a pretty correct 
 knowledge of the Ottawa language, which is virtually the same 
 as the Chippevva and Putawatomie, and therefore, after return 
 ing to Cincinnati, he yielded to a desire to labour among a 
 people with whom he could converse. Some of us, who hoped 
 for the completion of the colonizing plan, of course anticipated 
 the location within the Indian territory, of the Ottawas, Puta- 
 watomies, and a portion of the Chippewas ; but much less was 
 
430 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 said in favour of this plan in the regions of Cincinnati and Ohio, 
 than was felt by a few within the Indian territory. Moreover, 
 the location of these three tribes within the territory was op 
 posed by many, and perhaps by all men holding offices con nect- 
 ted with Indian affairs in the country in which these tribes re 
 sided. 
 
 Mr. Meeker, therefore, instead of coming direct to the Indian 
 territory, as had been expected, concluded to ascend the lakes 
 and labour among the Chippewas. The board approved of the 
 design, and afforded its patronage. In the autumn of 1832, he 
 set off, with Mrs. Meeker, for Sault de St. Marie, between Lakes 
 Huron and Superior. At Detroit he was joined in company by 
 the Rev. Moses Merrill and Mrs. Merrill, of the State of Maine, 
 who, under the patronage of the board, were proceeding to a 
 similar enterprise in the same region. They respectively en 
 tered upon missionary labours, in conjunction with Mr. Bing- 
 ham, at Sault de St. Marie, where, for the present, we leave 
 them, and return to Arkansas. We had been animated with 
 the prospect of Mr. Meeker's labouring in the Indian territory, 
 and felt much disappointed by his change of views, and could 
 not but deeply regret a measure which we fully believed to be 
 injudicious. 
 
 December 19th, 1831, I started with my family from Arkan 
 sas, for the Shawanoe missionary station. The two assistant 
 surveyors accompanied us, with some of their hands. We were 
 in all seventeen persons. This was another unpleasant journey 
 of three hundred miles, at an inclement season, when on part 
 of the road we had to encamp on the snow. In proportion to 
 our inconveniences were our efforts to get beyond them. We 
 reached the Shawanoe station on the 29th of December, where 
 we were kindly received into the house of Mr. Lykins, in which 
 lay our afflicted son. 
 
 Pretty soon after our arrival, several of us sickened, apparently 
 with colds ; Mrs. McCoy, two daughters, a son, a servant, and 
 myself, were all sick. Mr. and Mrs. Lykins were also afflicted. 
 On the 1st of February I had become able to ride on horseback, 
 and, my business compelling me, I left for Washington leaving 
 some of our family still indisposed, and particularly Dr. McCoy, 
 who was evidently declining. I reached Washington on the 2d 
 of March, which was the completion of a journey, reckoning 
 from Arkansas, of more than two thousand miles. 
 
 At this time the Delawares expressed a desire to have 
 schools located among them ; and the Weas and Peorias not c nly 
 expressed a similar desire, but wished us to furnish them, be- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 cause, as they said, they had been acquainted with us when our. 
 mission embraced their tribe (the Miarnies) at Fort Wayne, 
 many years before. In view of the extended and still widening 
 field for missionary efforts, Mr. Lykins had with more zeal than 
 success sought for more missionaries. Two ministers in the 
 State of Missouri were addressed on the subject, but without 
 effect. 
 
 I took with me to Washington, and published, the following 
 address : 
 
 " Address to philanthropists in the United States generally, 
 and to Christians in particular, on the condition and pros- 
 pects of the American Indians. 
 
 " The day for cold speculations, and tedious theories, respect 
 ing the fate of the aborigines of America, has gone by. It is 
 our fortune to live in a time of doing in reference to them. 
 Most of the tribes are changing places, and are concentrating in 
 one territory, where the relation which they are to sustain to 
 one another, and to the United States, is to be new. Under 
 these changes we apprehend a crisis in their condition is ap 
 proaching, and speedily it is to be made either better or worse. 
 The design of this address is to develop some facts which, it 
 is believed, prefer strong claims upon our philanthropy and our 
 prayers. 
 
 " It is unnecessary to consume time in discussing the merits 
 of questions which relate to the settlement of the Indians in the 
 country west of the State of Missouri and Territory of Arkan 
 sas. It is sufficient for our present purpose to announce the 
 fact that the work is actually in progress. 
 
 " It has been many years since different statesmen of dis 
 tinction avowed themselves in favour of the scheme of forming 
 the Indians into a civil community ; and more than eight years 
 since many Christians, actually engaged in the work of Indian 
 improvement, have not only laboured to promote the design, but 
 have declared their preference for the place which has been 
 chosen for its ultimate execution ; and it has been more than 
 six years since the Government of the United States entered 
 upon the plan of collocating the tribes in the country in which 
 I am writing. N 
 
 " In a retrospect of three centuries, we perceive little else in 
 
 , the history of American Indians, than their decline and misery. 
 
 In this state of things, their destruction being inevitable, it has 
 
 been deemed expedient to change the policy in relation to 
 
432 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 them, notwithstanding the new state of things might be a mere 
 experiment. 
 
 " Early in the progress of this business, a question arose as 
 to the most eligible location for the settlement. Under the ad 
 ministration of Mr. Monroe, the territory between Lake Michi 
 gan and the Mississippi river was spoken of as a suitable place 
 for, at least, a portion of the tribes. Since that time, the choice 
 of public authority has become undivided, and has settled down 
 upon the region west of Arkansas Territory and west of the 
 State of Missouri, as far north as the Missouri river, and upward 
 on the southwest of that river, embracing a country of about 
 six hundred miles from south to north, and two hundred miles 
 in width. 
 
 "In the favourable portions of the last four years much has 
 been done towards the examination of this region, with a view 
 to ascertaining its real character. While those who have ex 
 plored it have reported defects which they believed existed, 
 (having never seen a country without defects,) they have been, 
 nevertheless, fully persuaded that it was adequate to the pur 
 poses designed. While the evidences of the frailty of human 
 judgment admonish us of the possibility of mistake, we are con 
 soled by the reflection that the country is here, open to inspec 
 tion, and at all times ready to speak for itself. 
 
 " All Indian tribes which now reside or ever have resided east 
 of the Mississippi, are, or have been, within the claims of some 
 State or Territory of the United States. Here no such claim 
 exists. Hitherto the several tribes have not been united to one 
 another, nor to the United States. Here they are to be united 
 in one common bond of civil community, and constituted an 
 integral part of the United States. Consequently, in the ab 
 sence of all claims, excepting those of the United States, their 
 rights to the soil can be made as secure as are those of other 
 citizens within the United States and Territories ; for they may 
 hold their lands by the same tenure. This course of things 
 has recently been commenced. The Choctaw and the Seneca 
 tribes, which have each received an assignment of land in the 
 Indian Territory, are to hold the same by patent. 
 
 " Last spring orders were issued, through the Secretary of 
 War, for the examination of the country more thoroughly, and 
 for carrying on the actual survey of the lands of the several 
 tribes, so that each might be judiciously located. The propriety . 
 of this course is too obvious to need remark. 
 
 " Here, then, we have before us the country, with fourteen 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 433 
 
 tribes, or parts of tribes, already in it. The remaining tribes, or 
 parts of tribes, are, some of them, emigrating, and others pre 
 paring to emigrate ; and, notwithstanding the present objections 
 of some, it is believed that emigration will continue until few, if 
 any, will be left within the United States. 
 
 " Few of the original inhabitants have made any advances in 
 civilization. The Osages are, by circumstances, prepared to 
 exchange their precarious mode of obtaining subsistence, for one 
 more certain. Among them, among the Kauzaus, and among 
 the Omahas and Otoes, schools, and other operations for the 
 benefit of both body and soul, might be instituted with ease, and 
 under prospects of great usefulness. The dreadful evil of in 
 temperance has, as yet, made little progress among them, and 
 the Kauzaus and Osages are the most humble and manageable 
 wild Indians that I have ever seen. 
 
 " The Delawares, Shawanoes, Weas, and Peorias, have all 
 requested schools, and other aids. The Cherokees, Creeks, and 
 Choctaws, are in condition similar to that of their kindred seve 
 rally on the east of Mississippi, making the necessary allow 
 ance for the newness of their settlement. Their readiness to 
 improve by schools, preaching, and the like, may also be con 
 sidered equal to that of their relations, with an honourable ex 
 ception in favour of the Creeks, who have evinced a greater 
 desire to profit by these things than the portion of their tribe 
 east of the Mississippi ever did. 
 
 " The Presbyterians have two missionary stations among the 
 Osages, four among the Cherokees, and one among the Creeks. 
 The Methodists have one station among the Shawanoes, and 
 they have determined to extend their labours to others as soon 
 and as extensively as practicable. The Baptists have one sta 
 tion among the Shawanoes, and one among the Creeks, besides 
 a missionary whose labours are not stationary, but who has been 
 between three and four years employed generally in preparing 
 the way for multiplying and extending missionary operations 
 among the Indians. They have undertaken to establish mis 
 sions among all ,the tribes within the territory, excepting the 
 Senecas. 
 
 "I repeat it, the Indians are concentrating in this country, 
 and circumstances which I need not here detail will, without 
 doubt, occasion emigration to continue until, with slight excep 
 tions, they will all be here, whether Government afford them aid 
 or not. Their emigration cannot be restrained without the inter 
 vention of an armed force. No one ever imagined that the 
 mere location of them in this country would rescue them from 
 55 
 
484 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 ruin. Hopes for their deliverance from degradation and wretch 
 edness have been predicated upon the supposition, that here 
 they would be placed under circumstances which would allow 
 ample scope to the influence of means which should be em 
 ployed for their improvement ; that Acre they might be brought 
 to feel such incentives to virtue, industry, and enterprise, as in 
 all ages have been necessary to save frail man from deterioration 
 and misery. 
 
 " Unhappy differences of opinion upon this subject have 
 already retarded the operations of Government, to the great in 
 convenience of some of these unfortunate people. Circum 
 stances, therefore, require us to answer, under an awful respon 
 sibility, to the inquiries, shall we aid in supplying these poor 
 people with the means necessary for the improvement of their 
 condition, and endeavour to promote the plans of Government, 
 which are obviously necessary to the attainment of this end ? 
 Or, shall we do nothing towards improving the favourable op 
 portunities for doing them good in the new state of things ; or, 
 what would be still worse, will we clog the measures of Govern 
 ment which are calculated to promote their present and future 
 welfare ? 
 
 " It seems difficult for us to divest ourselves of our original 
 opinions respecting the character and disposition of the In 
 dians, however erroneous these opinions may be. We have 
 always overrated their passion for war, and their attachment to 
 their institutions. These have been among our mistaken no 
 tions of the principal obstacles to their improvement. I notice 
 this subject here, in order to obviate difficulties which present 
 themselves to our imagination, and to prevent mistakes in the 
 application of means for their improvement. 
 
 " The Indians have been frequently engaged in war, because 
 they have not had an opportunity of accustoming themselves 
 to better pursuits. Many tribes have become more and more 
 warlike, by the example and the repeated aggressions of white 
 men. The history of the early settlements of the Spaniards, 
 and of all other Europeans, in this country, shows that they 
 were not a warlike people. The' Osages, Kauzaus, Pawnees, 
 Camanches, Kiawas, and others in these western wilds, are per 
 petually engaged in predatory warfare ; nevertheless, few lives 
 are lost. The condition of their villages and hunting parties is 
 generally such that, were the stronger party resolute and fierce, 
 they could at once exterminate the weaker. But this does not 
 happen, notwithstanding that, in the course of the same year, 
 different tribes may occupy the same hunting ground. United 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 435 
 
 Slates' troops may be necessary to prevent impositions upon 
 them by lawless persons from among ourselves, and to defend 
 their frontiers against occasional injuries by war parties from 
 remote tribes ; but not to preserve peace among those who are, 
 or shall be, located within the territory. Here it will be their 
 interest to be at peace among themselves. United in one com 
 munity, war among themselves would be as unnatural as war 
 between so many counties of one of our States. Here arrest 
 and punishment for violence to each other's persons, or depre 
 dations upon their property, can be exercised with the same 
 salutary effects as in our States and Territories. 
 
 " Man is naturally a religious being, and consequently forms 
 some notions of futurity, and adopts some ceremonies of devo 
 tion. With the Indians, these are as few and as flexible as 
 human nature admits. 1 have never met with arxy dogma in 
 their superstition against which I thought it necessary to preach, 
 but I have deemed it sufficient to teach them the plain unso 1 - 
 phisticated doctrines of Christianity. No uncommon aversion 
 to these truths has been manifested by them, and so far as they 
 have been brought to bear upon them, their own religious cere 
 monies have appeared to them unreasonable and futile. A se 
 rious Pulawatornie- once asked me if it would be improper to 
 attend an Indian dance and festival ? I replied, that these cus 
 toms of the Indians were like the amusements of children. I 
 did not respect them, because the Bible had taught me lo put 
 away childish things, and such would be the natural conse 
 quence with all who should be brought under the influence of 
 Christianity. This reply had its desired effect. From their 
 fondness of war, the influence of their superstition, or their at 
 tachment to any of their institutions, no formidable obstacle to 
 their improvement should be anticipated. 
 
 " Government is dividing this country among them, and pro 
 viding measures to place them completely within the influence 
 of religious, literary, and other instructions ; and philanthropists, 
 especially those who are Christians, are called upon to perform 
 their part in this noble enterprise. This is a new era in Indian 
 affairs. None of the natives have heretofore been placed under 
 circumstances similar to these. Missionaries among the several 
 bands scattered through the States and Territories have the 
 discouragement to find the people of their charge annoyed with 
 vexatious evils, originating in the proximity of a population of 
 different interest, the influence of which will here scarcely be 
 felt. There they find their people diminishing in numbers ; 
 
436 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 here their numbers are augmenting. There they know not 
 whither to direct, upon the completion of their courses, those 
 whom they have instructed in letters, labour, and religion ; 
 here the dilemma is obviated. Have any of the pupils of 
 Indian schools been taught to perform the service of day 
 labourers upon the farm ? Here they may find immediate and 
 profitable employment. I could point them to places in the 
 neighbourhood in which I write, where Indians would give them 
 good wages for such service ; or, here they may make their 
 own farm, and possess it without fear of molestation. Are any 
 of them blacksmiths ? many such are needed here. Are they 
 millwrights? Indians are here actually engaged in the erection 
 of mills. Are they carpenters? here they would receive abun 
 dant employment. I know an Indian in this neighbourhood 
 who has sent two hundred and eighty miles to hire hands to 
 assist him in his labours. All who have acquired a knowledge 
 of the more useful arts would here find employment, and the 
 demand for their services will increase. Are any of them quali 
 fied to attend a store ? Here are Indian merchants, with shops 
 of goods assorted to suit their customers, and prosecuting their 
 business with success. Have any been taught the healing art ? 
 Here they are greatly needed. Among the Cherokees, one of 
 their own tribe, who has been favoured with a regular medical 
 education, has at this time an extensive practice. The Creeks 
 last year voluntarily paid nearly one thousand dollars to a white 
 physician who practised among them. Have any acquired some 
 knowledge of the science of civil government ? Here are the 
 rudiments of a community which already presents flattering 
 prospects to a few, and which will shortly require the services of 
 many, in its various departments. The Cherokees and Creeks 
 earnestly seek information upon these subjects, from all white 
 men who pass among them, from whom they can hope to obtain 
 it. They are endeavouring to assimilate all their laws and in 
 stitutions to those of the United States. 
 
 " We cannot overlook the fact, that not a single tribe, or part 
 of a tribe, at this time exists in any of the States or Territories, 
 under easy, improving, or promising circumstances. Here the 
 circumstances of the case are as favourable as could be hoped 
 for in this incipient state of the subject. Here new settlements 
 are forming, the number of inhabitants increasing, and the state 
 of society either improving, or susceptible of improvement, 
 much the same as occurs in new settlements of our white citi 
 zens upon our frontiers. Let me entreat you, as friends of 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 437 
 
 man as friends of the souls of men to lend your attention to 
 this subject, which, in the sacred names of justice and human 
 ity, appeals to your praying hearts and helping hands. 
 
 " In speaking of this country, and the people within it, 1 do 
 not rely upon report. This has been the field of my labours 
 since July, 1828. These people cannot present themselves 
 before you ; I am now among them, in sight of their wants, and 
 witnessing their readiness to avail themselves of offered assist 
 ance. I could not innocently hold my peace. I entreat you, 
 by all that may be dreaded in destruction, and by all which may 
 be hoped for in prosperity, to come forward to the aid of these 
 people. 
 
 " In presenting this subject to-your consideration, I beg leave 
 to refer you to their probable number before they saw the face 
 of white men, and to the probable number of them now. Is it 
 a small matter that the once numerous aborigines of America 
 should perish from off the face of the earth ? and can that be 
 a work of little interest which is designed to rescue these rem 
 nants from ruin, and to place them upon an equality with the 
 most favoured people upon earth ? The philanthropist and the 
 Christian need only to be pointed to suffering humanity the 
 doctrines which give them name will elicit their help. 
 
 "It may be inquired, what can be done? I answer, every 
 citizen of the United States may contribute to the prosperity of 
 these people. All, as citizens, by their favourable countenance, 
 may foster judicious measures of Government in regard to their 
 location ; and all may, in like manner, encourage the adop 
 tion of salutary Government measures among them when lo 
 cated ; while such of the benevolent as would approach nearer 
 to them should send among them their teachers of religion, of 
 literature, and of mechanic arts. May we not hope that there 
 are many pious men who would esteem it their highest privi 
 lege to be allowed to employ their labours and their lives in 
 this country, for the benefit of the Indians ? and dare we doubt 
 that with equal readiness the requisite means, beyond that which 
 Government would supply, would be furnished by those who 
 find pleasure in pitying the poor and helping the needy? 
 
 " It is our peculiar felicity to feel assured that, in regard to 
 civil government, we are the most favoured people that have 
 ever inhabited the earth. We admire the policy of not leaving 
 the improvement of the condition of the Indians merely to the 
 operation of political measures, but of applying appropriations 
 of Government for schools, &c., in conjunction with funds and 
 labours of benevolent societies, so that the almoners of Govern- 
 
488 
 
 HISTORY OF BAI'TIST 
 
 rnent funds for these purposes may be accountable, not only to the 
 Government itself, but also to the several churches and benevo 
 lent associations under the special authority of which they labour. 
 
 "The plan of collecting the tribes into one body, and placing 
 them in this country under the circumstances embraced in the 
 scheme of the Government, is precisely what has been prayed 
 for and sought, by numerous Christians, for many years. It is 
 a mistake, which some prints have, it would seem, unintention 
 ally fallen into, that it is a measure deprecated by all Chris 
 tians, as fraught with mischief to that unhappy race. Different 
 views of expediency have existed upon this, as upon all sub 
 jects of interest; but it is a fact, which there can be no motive 
 for concealing, that deliberative bodies of Christians, of more 
 than one denomination, have at different times recorded their 
 predilection in favour of the plan under consideration. Memo 
 rials have been presented to Congress, praying for its speedy 
 adoption, and one of them as early as the year 1827. 
 
 " While the adoption of this plan by our Government meets 
 the deliberate wishes of some Christians, it is my happiness to 
 hope that those who have heretofore entertained different views 
 in relation to the emigration of the Indians will, since emigra 
 tion is actually going on, and cannot be arrested, cordially unite 
 in improving the condition of this people when here. Upon 
 the propriety of helping them here, one would suppose there 
 could be no difference of opinion among us. Are we what we 
 profess to be THE FRIENDS OF THE INDIANS? Tiien let us 
 manifest our faith by our works. 
 
 " On taking my leave for the present, permit me, with reve 
 rence for the commands of Him whom we profess to serve, to 
 remind you of the probability of our again being in conference. 
 I allude to the time when the people who are the subjects of 
 this appeal will be present, not to solicit your assistance, but to 
 meet their destiny. How shall we then bear the reproaches of 
 that neglected people, or hope for pardon from our God, if 
 now we refuse to do them good? if now we should allow 
 political partialities, and sectional prejudices, to stop our ears, 
 and should refuse to listen to the importunities of suffering 
 humanity? Rather let us strengthen the feeble, bind up the 
 broken-hearted, and wipe away the tear of wo. Conscience 
 will approve the deed, and Heaven will confer a full reward. 
 " Your fellow-citizen, and your brother, 
 
 " ISAAC McCoY. 
 "Surveyors' Camp, Neosho river, > 
 
 Indian Territory, Dec. 1, 1831." 5 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 439 
 
 Of the foregoing address a pretty large edition was printed, 
 and distributed gratuitously among members of Congress and 
 heads of Departments at Washington, and to others throughout 
 the United States. 
 
 My report to the Hon. Lewis Cass, Secretary of War, of 
 February 1st, 1832, was, by a resolution of Congress, called 
 for and ordered to be printed, of which I had seven hundred 
 extra copies printed at my own expense, for gratuitous distribu 
 tion. The report covered fourteen large pages. Besides stating 
 the amount of work done under my instructions, it embraced a 
 description of the country in general, and particularly in relation 
 to the claims of each tribe ; a brief statement of the condition 
 and prospects of each, and a confirmation of the opinion that 
 the country was fully adequate, in extent and resources, to the 
 purposes contemplated in Indian settlements. It was also ac 
 companied by a large map. The recommendation was reiterated, 
 that the remote tribes, particularly the Camanches, whose war 
 parties hovered about the settlements of the immigrants within 
 the Territory, should be visited, and such an acquaintance formed 
 with them as would render them peaceable. This, it was fully 
 believed, could be done without bloodshed. An adjustment of 
 the boundaries of the Otoes, Pawnees, and Omahas, by a treaty 
 with them, by which other tribes would be more suitably pro 
 vided for, was a second time recommended. It was also again 
 recommended that a suitable tract for the seat of Government 
 of the Indian territory should be reserved from cession to any 
 particular tribe, and which should be open for the occupancy of 
 individuals of any tribe. The importance of a general council 
 of the tribes, for the purpose of making them acquainted with 
 the relation which they would hwe sustain towards one another, 
 and towards the United States, was again brought to view, and 
 in connection with this, the establishment of such a superintend- 
 ency as would virtually amount to an organization of the terri^ 
 tory was again earnestly urged, and a modification of the agency 
 system, and measures to prevent destruction by small-pox, were 
 recommended. The Osages were a poor, neglected, and suffer 
 ing people, many of whom were at this time not on their own 
 lands. It was recommended that they should be located upon 
 their own lands, and assistance given them in the making of 
 fields, and in furnishing live stock, by virtue of a treaty provi 
 sion of 1825, a portion of which had been expended without 
 benefit to the tribe. 
 
410 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Creek treaty. Small-pox intentionally communicated. Chero 
 kee difficulties. Triennial convention. Appointment of two 
 missionaries. Death of Dr. R. McCoy. Settlement near 
 the Shawanoes. Journey ^to Arkansas. Muscogee Baptist 
 church constituted. Baptisms. School opened among the 
 Shawanoes. Additional baptisms among the Creeks. Re 
 port to commissioners. Location of a missionary among 
 the Choctaws. Baptism at Shawanoe. Proposed mission 
 to the Kickapoos. Kickapoo prophet. Missionary appointed 
 to the Choctaws. Arrival of missionaries at the Shawanoe 
 station. 
 
 At this time, (March, 1832,) a delegation of Creeks from 
 the east of the Mississippi was at Washington, negotiating with 
 reference to their removal west, to join their kindred on the 
 Arkansas. While these negotiations were pending, I addressed 
 the following letter to the President and to the Secretary of 
 War, the latter being the commissioner to negotiate on the part 
 of the United States : 
 
 " Washington, March 20, 1832. 
 
 "SiB: I know that the Mclntosh party of the Creeks now 
 on Arkansas are anxious to have schools established among 
 them, as I stated in my late report. No Government provision 
 has been made to help them in this matter; they need encou-- 
 ragement. While other tribes have been assisted in matters of 
 education, they have hoped that some arrangement would also 
 be made for extending to then^the hand of help. They have 
 looked forward to the time when the portion of their tribe on 
 the east would negotiate for removal, as favourable for the adop 
 tion of such regulations. 
 
 " May I be allowed respectfully to request, which I do sin 
 cerely and most fervently, that the subject receive your favour 
 able notice. It is not an ordinary case. Schools could be 
 located advantageously in many settlements. There is a full 
 Creek, who is a Baptist minister, now preaching to them, a man 
 of unblemished character, who receives a small salary from the 
 Baptist Board of Missions, who desires to connect a school 
 with his other labours. The Baptists have resolved to extend 
 their missionary operations among them, and among the whole 
 tribe, when those on the east of the Mississippi shall have ar 
 rived. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 441 
 
 " We earnestly hope that the subject of providing for the 
 education of the Creek youth, embracing those of both sides of 
 the Mississippi, will receive the countenance of those who may 
 negotiate with the eastern party for their removal. 
 " Respectfully, your humble servant, 
 
 " ISAAC McCoy, 
 " General ANDREW JACKSON, 
 
 " President of the United States." 
 
 Whether the foregoing letter had any influence or not, it could 
 not be otherwise than gratifying to find the following stipulation 
 in the treaty which was at that time concluded, viz: "three 
 thousand dollars [per annum,] to be expended as the President 
 may direct, shall be allowed for the term of twenty years, for 
 teaching their children. 1 ' 
 
 From the commencement of the trade from the State of Mis 
 souri to Santa Fe, within the Spanish dominions, and which was 
 carried on by means of large caravans across more than a thou 
 sand miles of almost one continued woodless prairie, the Paw 
 nees, Camanches, and other remote tribes, had been very trou 
 blesome. The respective companies were obliged to be con 
 stantly prepared for defence. With all possible vigilance many 
 lives were lost, and a vast amount of property in mules and 
 horses taken from them. Companies of Rocky mountain trap 
 pers suffered in a similar manner. The consequence was, a 
 hatred of those remote Indians, equal to the dread of death and 
 depredation which they occasioned. 
 
 In 1831, some of the white men belonging to one of these 
 caravans, under the influence of a disposition which it would 
 seem had its origin in a worse world than ours, conceived the 
 design of communicating the small-pox to those remote tribes ! 
 I have in my possession the certificate of a young man who was 
 employed as one of the company, and whom, having since be 
 come well acquainted with him, I know to be a man of veracity, 
 in which he states that he heard it declared by several of the 
 company, that such was their design ; that they had brought 
 with them from the white settlements the virus of small pox ; 
 that they designed to communicate it on a present of tobacco to 
 Indians whom they might fall in with ; or, if such an opportu 
 nity should not offer, an infected article of clothing should be 
 left on the prairies, in a situation to be found by an Indian. 
 They did fall in with Indians, who were admitted into camp, 
 and it was said afterwards that the contagion of small-pox had 
 been communicated to them according to the design previously 
 
 56 
 
442 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 conceived. Not long after this the Pawnees on the Great Platt 
 river were most dreadfully afflicted with small-pox, and they 
 said that the disease had been contracted by some of their peo 
 ple on an excursion in the south ; their report corresponding 
 with the account of the plan stated in the certificate in my pos 
 session. 
 
 It was on the 23d of March, 1832, that I received informa 
 tion from Mr. Lykins, of the dreadful havoc making among the 
 Pawnees by this grievous scourge of man. He informed me 
 that an official statement of the distress had been made by Ma 
 jor Dougherty, the United States' agent for the Pawnees, on 
 the 29th of the preceding October, arid which 1 was sorry now 
 to learn had produced no action of Government for relief. The 
 following are extracts from the letter of the agent: 
 
 *' Cantonment Leavenworth, October 29, 1831. 
 
 " SIR : I have the honour to inform you that I have returned 
 from a visit to the four Pawnee villages, all of whom I found in 
 a most deplorable condition ; indeed, their misery defies all de 
 scription. I .am fully persuaded that one-half of the whole num 
 ber will be carried off by this frightful distemper. They told 
 me that not one under thirty years of age escaped, it having 
 been that length of time since it visited them before. 
 
 " They were dying so fast, and taken down at once in such 
 large numbers, that they had ceased to bury their dead, whose 
 bodies were to be seen in every direction lying in the river, 
 lodged on the sand-bars, in the weeds around the villages, and 
 in their old corn cashes, [excavations in the earth in which corn 
 had been housed.] Others again were dragged off by the hun 
 gry dogs into the prairie, where they were torn to pieces by the 
 more hungry wolves and buzzards. 
 
 " I am, very respectfully, &c., 
 
 " JOHN DOUGHERTY, Indian Agent. 
 " General WM. CLARK, 
 
 " Supt. Indian Affairs." 
 
 On hearing of these calamities among the Pawnees, I imme 
 diately addressed a letter to the Secretary of War, of which the 
 following is an extract : 
 
 " Washington, March 23, 1832. 
 
 " SIR : The claims of humanity, in a case peculiarly affect 
 ing, compel me to ask leave to trouble you with this. I have 
 this moment received information from Mr. Lykins, near Kauzau 
 river, dated February 25, that the Indian agent believed that 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 443 
 
 among the Pawnees, Omahas, Otoes, and Puncahs, over four 
 thousand persons had died of the small-pox. Of the three lat 
 ter tribes only about one hundred and sixty had died, when the 
 progress of the disease was somewhat checked by vaccination. 
 There is reason to fear that the mountain tribes, as well as the 
 Sioux and other northern Indians, will contract the disease, un 
 less measures speedily be adopted to prevent it, 
 
 " May I entreat your early consideration of this subject. I 
 would respectfully suggest the inquiry, whether measures could 
 not speedily be adopted to arrest this destroying plague by vacci 
 nation ? Those Indians would submit to the operation, and if 
 the necessary protection of Government could be afforded, men 
 would be found who would penetrate the forests in search of 
 every horde of these despairing sufferers, for no higher reward 
 than the satisfaction derived from the circumstance of having 
 rescued thousands of men, and women, and children, from this 
 awful calamity. 
 
 " I am, most respectfully, &tc., 
 
 " ISAAC McCoy, 
 " Hon. LEWIS CASS, Secretary of War" 
 
 On the 27th of March I addressed another letter to the Secre 
 tary of War, respecting the prevalence of the small-pox, of 
 which I had just been informed, between Lake Michigan and 
 the Mississippi river. The Secretary of War recommended the 
 subject to the consideration of Congress. A scheme for carry 
 ing out the design was draughted; and, in order to hasten the 
 action of Congress, many influential members were waited upon, 
 and assured that it was a case which preferred strong claims 
 upon humanity. A law was passed authorizing the Executive 
 to extend the benefit of vaccination to the Indian tribes, and 
 making an appropriation to meet the expense. But it was the 
 misfortune of this matter, that the Secretary of War felt it to 
 be his duty to make a kind of general distribution of the bene 
 fits of the law among the various Indian tribes around our bor 
 ders. The consequence was, that the appropriation was ex 
 hausted, without doing as much as was requisite in any one 
 plac^. Nevertheless, it was a salutary measure, and the law 
 was so framed that it authorized vaccination on subsequent oc 
 casions, as will be hereafter noticed. 
 
 About this time the Supreme Court of the United States 
 made a decision which favoured the claims of the Cherokees to 
 the right to exercise the functions of civil government. By this 
 decision, the Cherokee question, as it was called, assumed an 
 
414 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 aspect which seemed to threaten the tranquillity of the .union 
 of the States, arid which was exceedingly perplexing to the Ad 
 ministration. The decision involved the questions of Indian 
 sovereignty, State rights, and State sovereignty, the authority of 
 the Federal Government, and the powers, belonging to the Su 
 preme Court. If the doctrine of the Supreme Court should be 
 carried out and applied to all other tribes as well as to the 
 Cherokees, more than twenty independent, sovereign govern 
 ments would be formed within the Government of the United 
 States. Still worse ; if the right of sovereignty should, at this 
 late day, be conceded to the Cherokees, and, as a consequence, 
 to all other tribes, each tribe, or remnant of a tribe, would have 
 an unquestionable claim upon all the lands, not only of what 
 they now occupy, but all that their ancestors had claimed ; be 
 cause it could not be made to appear that such claims as these 
 under consideration had, perhaps, in one single instance, been 
 liquidated by a fair bargain, made by parties meeting upon such 
 an equality as to render it binding. The white man had held 
 treaties with the Indian, which bore a slight resemblance to a 
 bargain ; but every body knew that the white man invariably 
 controlled the terms of the contract. He was resolved to have 
 the land, whether the Indian consented or not; and while he 
 offered the terms of a contract with one hand, he held in the 
 other the sword to enforce a compliance, should the Indian hesi 
 tate. A bargain made under such circumstances, could not 
 possibly be lawfully binding. Therefore, admit that the Indians 
 were the real owners of the soil, nothing would remain to the 
 United States. The Delawares, for instance, at present about 
 one thousand in number, would appear to be the rightful owners 
 of a vast territory along the Potomac, including Washington, 
 Baltimore, &c. But, supposing that the matter would not ope 
 rate retrospectively; what is to be done ? was, at the time of 
 which I speak, a serious question. 
 
 Must Georgia lose part of her territory within her chartered 
 limits? Must the Cherokee and every other tribe be admitted 
 to be each an independent sovereignty, each surrounded by the 
 citizens of the United States, each making its own laws, to which 
 a citizen of the United States would become subject the mo 
 ment he set his foot within the line of one of these small inde 
 pendent governments. Will the State of Georgia acquiesce in 
 the decision of the Supreme Court? If not, will she be com 
 pelled to do so by force of arms? If so, who will go there to 
 contend with the Georgians in favour of the friendless Indians ? 
 If Georgia should not be coerced into measures, but should be 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 445 
 
 allowed to nullify the decision of the Supreme Court, will not 
 oilier similar acts of nullification occur, unlil the Supreme Court 
 itself shall become a nullity ? &LC. 
 
 All these were momentous questions, which at this time ap 
 peared to be particularly embarrassing ; but if, while they were 
 pending, the Cherokees could be induced to remove peaceably, 
 the answer would be found for them all ; for, notwithstanding 
 similar oppressions bore with equal weight upon other tribes, in 
 proportion to their numbers, yet none seemed to care for them. 
 When the cry of "cruelty to the Indians" was reiterated, the 
 meaning was, " cruelly to the Cherokees." It therefore became 
 so exceedingly desirable that they should consent to remove, 
 that the Government was prepared to extend to them uncom 
 mon liberality in a treaty. This being known, sundry members 
 of Congress, most conspicuous in opposing emigration, were re 
 minded of the fact, and that the present was the time for ihe 
 Cherokees lo make the best bargain; and, as all knew that 
 whatever might be the existing views of justice or injustice, of 
 cruelty or kindness, in relation to the subject, their removal at 
 no distant day was inevitable, they were entrealed to advise the 
 Cherokees, whose confidence they possessed, to remove. A 
 delegation of Cherokees, from the main body of the nation, was 
 at this time in Washington. 
 
 About the same time it was understood, by a few, that the 
 Cherokee delegation would consent that their nation should 
 come into a treaty with the United States, provided a certain 
 gentleman, who was extensively known among both the Chero 
 kees and in the United States to be a man of sterling worth, 
 should be one of the commissioners. What the result of such 
 a treaty would be was uncertain, but it was hoped that, with this 
 gentleman connected with the commission, the terms would 
 be such as to quiet the disturbed state of public feeling. 
 Such a treaty promised, at that time, great advantages to both 
 the Cherokees and the United States, particularly the former ; 
 and somewhat in proportion to its supposed importance were 
 the desires of some to consummate it. The gentleman, whose 
 presence in the commission would be a sine qua non with the 
 Cherokees, was consulted, and consented to serve. The Chero 
 kee delegation was encouraged to confer with him. The second 
 person to be connected with the commission was named, and, 
 thus far, there appeared just grounds to expect a favourable 
 issue. But sanguine as were the hopes indulged, obstacles to 
 the appointment of a commissioner presented themselves, which, 
 
446 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 notwithstanding the efforts made to remove them, proved insur 
 mountable, and the design failed. 
 
 In 1830, Mr. Lykins opened a correspondence with the Rev. 
 A. Evans, of the State of Indiana, relative to his enlisting as a 
 missionary to the Indians. Subsequently, a similar correspond 
 ence took place with Mr. Daniel French, of Ohio, who, on be 
 coming religious at the Carey missionary station, had proposed 
 to enlist as a missionary. Up to April, 1832, the board had 
 not made an appropriation to enable Mr. Lykins to erect mis 
 sionary buildings among the Shawanoes ; and while in Wash 
 ington I received a letter upon these subjects, of which the 
 following is an extract : 
 
 "Boston, April 16, 1832. 
 
 "Sin: We had this morning a meeting of the board, when 
 your communications were presented. I take much pleasure in 
 informing you that your propositions were unanimously agreed 
 to. Mr. Evans and Mr. French were appointed missionaries, 
 and an order was passed authorizing the erection of buildings by 
 Mr. Lykins, as you had suggested. 
 
 " I am, my dear friend and brother, most truly yours, 
 
 " H. LINCOLN. 
 "Rev. I. McCoy." 
 
 Under date of one day later than the foregoing letter, the 
 Rev. Dr. Bolles, Corresponding Secretary, wrote me as follows : 
 
 " I hope you may be able to procure [from the Government] 
 the place for a school teacher among the Choctaws. We should 
 certainly try to furnish a good minister for the situation," &c. 
 
 Between the 24th of April and the 4th of May, I attended 
 a meeting of the Baptist Triennial Convention in the city of 
 New- York, and a meeting of its board of managers. The Rev. 
 Charles E. Wilson and the Rev. D. Lewis were appointed 
 missionaries, the latter to labour among the Choctaws, though" 
 he afterward^ located among the Creeks ; and the former to 
 enter the Indian territory among the Shawanoes, and afterwards 
 to labour as circumstances should direct. 
 
 Owing to the peculiar condition of the Indians, missions 
 among them are liable to be affected by politics. The Govern 
 ment of the United States controls the affairs of the Indians, 
 and in proportion as the benevolent feel interested in their wel 
 fare, is the facility with which political parties can make hobbies 
 of Indian questions. About this time, political excitement was 
 at an alarming height; the parties were preparing themselves 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 447 
 
 for a vigorous contest at the Presidential election, which was to 
 take place the ensuing autumn. With politics it was not my 
 business to meddle, and hence 1 approached the members of 
 both political parties with the same confidence in reference to 
 measures, and urged with equal freedom the reasons which in 
 duced me to think that they were, right or wrong ; but, for the 
 reasons alluded to, it was difficult to produce any right action, 
 either of the Government or of benevolent associations. 
 
 The board of missions at this Convention submitted a report, 
 agreeably to custom, and in this report they spoke of the affairs 
 of all their Indian missions, excepting those within the Indian 
 territory. The same omission had occurred in their annual re 
 port of the preceding year. This omission was deeply regretted 
 by some, because, the tribes in the territory were finding per 
 manent homes, in lieu of those which were precarious a coun 
 try in which every man would be on an equality with his 
 neighbours, and where they could cultivate the arts and sciences 
 under circumstances affording facilities similar to those enjoyed 
 in new settled countries of white people ; and especially, be 
 cause that here the missionary could keep his flock together, 
 and enjoy the satisfaction of seeing its numbers increase with 
 his years. It therefore appeared proper for the board to tell 
 the story to the public plainly, and encourage missionaries to 
 enter this inviting field. 
 
 Mr. Cone, who was President of the Convention, and second 
 to none in promoting Indian missions, made a judicious selection 
 of a Committee on Indian missions. It consisted of the Rev. 
 Gentlemen J. L. Dagg, Chairman, Elon Galusha, David Jones, 
 Adiel Sherwood, and L. Farwell, Esq. This committee made 
 an able report, which set the affairs of the Indian territory in a 
 clearer light than any thing of the kind which had previously 
 appeared.* As might be expected, this report was not accept 
 able to the acting members of their board, who resided in Mas 
 sachusetts and Rhode-Island. It was objected to by a very 
 small minority, who were too tenacious of their views to cheer 
 fully acquiesce in the judgment of the majority. They first 
 pleaded for amendments, and, through the forbearance of a 
 large majority, whittled down the report, greatly to its disad 
 vantage. At length, every sentence having been examined, 
 and every thing being in apparent readiness to take the final 
 vote upon its adoption, it was proposed to substitute a few lines, 
 written in general terms. The advocates of the original report 
 now stood forth manfully in its defence, and made some noble 
 
 * See this rejected report in the Appendix. 
 
448 
 
 HISTORY OK BAPTIST 
 
 speeches in favour of placing Indian affairs fully before the pub 
 lic, and enforcing the claims of the Indians on the benevolent 
 attention of the Convention. Among those who distinguished 
 themselves were the Rev. Messrs. J. L. Dagg, Elon Galusha, 
 Luther Rice, David Jones, and Stephen Chapin, D. D. A very 
 small minority, indeed, appeared on the side of the substitute, 
 one of whom moved the indefinite postponement of the subject, 
 and argued that it could do no harm, should the Convention 
 make no report on Indian affairs. The result was, the majority, 
 by'a stretch of lenity more consistent with Christian courtesy 
 than with the interests of the Indians, yielded to the admission 
 of an invalid report. The substance of the plea of the minor 
 ity was, that to report the condition and prospects of the Indians 
 in their territory, would be construed to be a political measure. 
 But for these fears there appeared no just ground ; because the 
 Convention would appear before the public as it had for many 
 years, in favour of giving to the tribes a permanent and pros 
 perous home. On the contrary, its silence would appear like 
 changing its ground, and, with plausibility, might be ascribed to 
 the influence of the political party which opposed the settlement 
 of the Indians in the West. 
 
 Still hoping that we should find missionaries to enable us to 
 extend our operations among the Indians, we had, at various 
 times, proposed to the proper authorities of Government the 
 establishing of missions in divers places, and asked for help from 
 certain funds provided for educational purposes. The scheme 
 was fully explained to the board, who resolved to second the 
 efforts which had previously been made, and accordingly ad 
 dressed a communication to the Secretary of War, and trans 
 mitted it by Thomas Stocks, Esq., and Rev. Adiel Sherwood, 
 both of the State of Georgia. 
 
 Believing, as some of us had done for several years, that it 
 would i>e for the advantage of our Indian missions for them to 
 be placed under the patronage of a board of managers appointed 
 specially for Indian affairs, I resolved on a third attempt to 
 sever the existing connection between the missionaries and the 
 present board, and prepared a resolution to that effect, to be 
 submitted to the consideration of the Convention ; but after 
 conference with some friends, in whom I placed great confi 
 dence, the communication was withheld, because it was feared 
 that a competent number, sufficiently interested in Indian affairs, 
 could not be found within a convenient distance for the transac 
 tion of business. 
 
 Under date of May 21, 1832, additional instructions were 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 449 
 
 given ine by the Secretary of War, in reference to the exami 
 nation of the Indian country, and the adjustment of Indian bound 
 aries, &c. In the discharge of these duties I was authorized 
 to appoint an assistant, and I employed John Donelson, Esq., 
 who had previously been one of my assistant surveyors. A bill 
 was at this time under consideration in Congress, providing for 
 the appointment of three commissioners to attend to matters in 
 the Indian territory for the two subsequent years. I was in 
 structed to report ail my proceedings to these commissioners, on 
 their arrival. 
 
 I was now animated with the prospect of speedily terminating 
 a most painful separation from my family. 1 had left my son, 
 Doctor McCoy, sick on the 1st of February, when there was 
 reason to fear that I should see him no more. Intelligence after 
 received from home assured me that those fears were too well 
 founded; still a faint hope remained that I might be allowed to 
 attend his dying moments. I left Washington on the 2 1st of 
 May. In Cincinnati, Ohio, I met a letter from Mrs. McCoy, 
 which left no hope of seeing my son again. My slender con 
 stitution now sunk somewhat, under incessant anxiety and toil. 
 My health became not a little impaired, and was not restored 
 for several months. At St. Louis, by a letter from my afflicted 
 wife, I was informed that our dear Rice had died five days, pre 
 viously. A note in my journal reads: " I reached Mr. Ly- 
 kins's, the place of my afflicted family, June 8th. This was a 
 meeting never to be forgotten. For some time scarcely a word 
 was spoken, while every face was suffused with tears, and every 
 bosom heaved with sighs. O, what distress sin has introduced' 
 into the world !" This was the seventh child of which we had 
 been bereaved, all of whom died after we had become mission 
 aries, the decease of five of whom my wife had attended in my 
 absence. This circumstance added poignancy to the pain of 
 bereavement. My pain was greatly augmented in this last case, 
 by the great anxiety which our son had expressed to see me 
 before he died. Moreover, I was not quite satisfied that I had 
 done right in leaving my wife to bear alone this additional afflic 
 tion. True, I had not left home on any of those afflictive oc 
 casions, without her approbation ; and we had concluded that 
 when the interests of our missions demanded my separation from 
 my family, it would be most safe to go, and leave the result with 
 God, trusting that that which seemed mysterious in Providence 
 now, would be joyously revealed in a better world. We felt 
 these afflictions the more keenly, too, because we had long been 
 separated very much from -society, and we often felt that our. 
 57 
 
450 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 circumstance?, in regard to the friendship of others, too nearly 
 resembled those of the people to whose relief we had conse 
 crated our lives, and whose sympathizing friends were few. 
 But God had ever been with us in our deepest afflictions. He 
 was present when our late son died. As he took his leave of 
 hrs sisters and brothers, and mother, the latter exclaimed, " O, 
 that his father were present!" He calmly replied, for her con 
 solation, " My heavenly Father will take care of me." Such 
 had been the state of his mind for some time, that no room was 
 left to doubt that his soul went to heaven, and we recorded 
 on our hearts and in our journal, " This is worth ten thousand 
 worlds ; ' O death where is thy sting ! O grave where is thy 
 victory !' ' How often infinite wisdom sees fit to disappoint us ! 
 Now, two sons, from whom we had hoped to obtain much assist 
 ance in the arduous work of Indian reform, and whose qualifica 
 tions were doubtless of superior order, were gone. 
 
 Soon after my return home, the Shawanoes were informed by 
 Mr. Lykins and myself, that the former had been put in posses 
 sion of the means of erecting missionary buildings. Mr. Evans 
 had arrived, who would teach a school, &tc. The site was se 
 lected, and Mr. Lykins proceeded to erect buildings. 
 
 At this time my family was without any settled place of resi 
 dence. My business extended widely over the Indian territory, 
 and sometimes to the eastern parts of the United States, and, 
 all things considered, it was thought best to purchase a small 
 piece of land, worth only fifty dollars, near the line of the State 
 of Missouri, and adjoining the Shawanoes, and- on it to erect 
 dwellings. In order to facilitate the work, we pitched our tent 
 in the wilderness, on the ground we had chosen for our build 
 ings. We employed a considerable number of labourers, and, 
 in the space of four weeks, we exchanged our tents for the roofs 
 of log dwellings; they were ordinary, it is true, but in this place 
 they were esteemed comfortable. As in the case of Samson's rid 
 dle, nourishment is sometimes derived from an unexpected source. 
 The spirits and health of -both Mrs. McCoy and myself had for 
 some time, apparently, been sinking under protracted anxieties. 
 The circumstances of spending four weeks in a tent, and of build 
 ing us a house, while managing our missionary matters, furnished 
 a variety, in scenery, in thought, and in act, promotive of both 
 health and spirits. 
 
 In the latter part of July and fore part of August, I made a 
 tour of a few days in the wilderness, for the purpose of selecting 
 lands for the Ottawas, and of giving directions to the surveyor. 
 
 On the 10th of August, 1832, the Rev. Charles E. Wilson, 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 451 
 
 who had been appointed by the board of missions the preceding 
 spring, arrived. On the 27th 1 left home on business on the 
 Arkansas, (three hundred miles.) The Rev. Mr. Dodge and 
 the Rev. Cephas Washburn, the latter from Dwight mission, 
 among the Cherokees, were holding religious meetings among 
 the Osages, as I passed their villages, and very affectionately in 
 vited me to take part in the exercises. Probably two hundred 
 Osages attended public worship on the forenoon of the 3d of 
 September ; in the afternoon there were fewer. It was in tha 
 hearts of these good Presbyterians to do them good ; but the 
 success of labours for that people, if it be proper to employ the 
 term success in relation to them, was small. 
 
 Mr. Lewis, whose appointment to missionary labours had been 
 made by the board the previous spring, was designed at the time 
 to locate among the Choctaws. But the board had left the mat 
 ter of location to me, and to attend to this was a prominent 
 reason for making this tour. I found him among the Creeks, 
 near Mr. Davis, the Creek missionary; and here it was ulti 
 mately decided that he should locate. The necessary permis 
 sion from the United States' agent, General Campbell, was ob 
 tained for him, a site selected for his location, and a workman 
 engaged to erect buildings for his residence and a school. He 
 was without funds, and so remote from the board, that remit 
 tances to him were often attended with unavoidable delay. I 
 advanced to him what money I could spare, and afterwards re 
 mitted to him at different times, all which was afterwards repaid 
 to me. Mr. Lewis was expected to open a school for the in 
 struction of Creek youth ; and as soon as practicable it was de 
 signed to employ another school teacher, so that he as well as 
 Mr. Davis, might give themselves to ministerial labours. On 
 the 9th of September, I constituted the Muscogee Baptist 
 Church, consisting of Mr. Lewis and wife, Mr. Davis, and three 
 black men, who were slaves to the Creeks. In the afternoon 
 we worshipped in another place in the neighbourhood. On both 
 occasions the exercises were interesting, and few, if any, ap 
 peared to leave the places of worship without feeling that it 
 was good to have been there. 
 
 This was the first Baptist church formed in the Indian terri 
 tory, and 1 felt thankful to God that he had allowed me the 
 satisfaction of witnessing the constitution of one church in this 
 land, towards which some of us had long looked with such 
 deep solicitude. 
 
 The first act of the church, after organizing, was to order a 
 written license, as a preacher, to be given to Mr, Davis, tho 
 
452 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 Creek missionary, and I was directed to prepare the same. Mr. 
 Davis was interpreter for others in preaching, and also preached 
 and exhorted himself, in his mother tongue. 
 
 On the 16th of September two Indian men were baptized. 
 After which, the Lord's supper was administered, and we re 
 tired under a happy impression that another meeting of two 
 days had been profitable to many. 
 
 Christians of all denominations are prone to open too widely 
 the doors of their churches for the admission of members, and 
 take into fellowship the unregenerate. Missionaries to the hea 
 then are more liable to fall into this error than Christians in 
 civilized countries. They feel uncommon anxiety for the con 
 version of the people of their charge, which is opposed by 
 uncommon obstacles. Rules of discipline must be more lenient 
 towards heathen, whose habits have been unrestrained, and 
 whose minds are uncultivated,-than is indispensable in countries 
 denominated Christian. In the ardour of the missionary, he is 
 too liable to endeavour to persuade himself and others that they 
 are Christians when they are not. This is an evil from which, 
 I think, no denomination of Christians is free. When we hear 
 of conversions in revivals of religion in our own country, or of the 
 conversion of the heathen, a fear that many of those who have put 
 on Christ, by profession, are still " in the gall of bitterness and 
 bonds of iniquity," is a heavy drawback upon the happiness 
 which such intelligence would otherwise impart. I might quote 
 many cases in the Indian country, confirmatory of the reason 
 ableness of these fears ; but the following shall suffice. 
 
 Among the Creeks were a few members of a respectable de 
 nomination who gave evidence of genuine piety. J\ot many 
 weeks before my present visit to that country, a camp meeting 
 was held in the Creek settlement by that denomination. But 
 little of the public services were interpreted to the Indians, and 
 few understood English. In the progress of the exercises, pub- 
 tic notice was given that they were ready to receive members 
 into the church. The religious males were directed to take all 
 the males who desired to join the church, and stand upon one 
 side of the congregation, and the pious females were requested 
 to do likewise with all the females who desired to become mem 
 bers. This done, the minister went around among them and 
 took the name of each on paper, and on the following day they 
 came to the Lord's table ! 
 
 Another denomination, not less respectable than the first, had 
 increased the number of its members among the Creeks to 
 about sixty. At our late Baptist meetings, many of these. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 453 
 
 chiefly coloured slaves, came forward and offered their mem 
 bership, and desired to be immersed, and, much to our grief, few 
 of them could give any thing like a satisfactory account of a 
 work of grace upon their souls. Ten persons who offered 
 themselves at one time were turned away, and many others ap 
 pearing to be waiting for an opportunity to come forward for a 
 similar purpose, the meeting was dismissed, but not without ad 
 vice to them all respecting repentance. 
 
 On all suitable occasions I entreated Mr. Lewis and Mr. 
 Davis not to admit to fellowship in the Baptist church any who 
 could not give satisfactory evidence of their conversion to God.. 
 This was enforced by arguments based upon the awful, respon 
 sibility that rested upon us when dealing in matters relating to 
 the souls of our fellow-men, especially the souls of the heathen, 
 who acknowledged their ignorance and placed confidence in our 
 judgment. I urged these considerations until I was ashamed to 
 repeat them. Notwithstanding all which, I had too much rea 
 son to fear that Mr. Lewis indulged this awful error. 
 
 Among the Cherokees east of the Mississippi the Baptist 
 board of missions patronised the Rev. Evan Jones and the 
 Rev. Duncan O'Bryant. in the summer of 1832, the latter 
 removed to the Cherokee country, within the Indian territory, 
 in company of some Indian members of his church. On hear 
 ing of his arrival, 1 opened a correspondence with him, and re 
 quested him to attend an association of missionaries, which we 
 hoped might be had the following January. Such meetings 
 were desirable, in order to consult the best measures for mission 
 ary operations, and to harmonize our views, and at which also 
 we might encourage each others' hearts, and strengthen each 
 others' hands; but this design was not perfected. 
 
 I returned to my family on the 24th of September. By this 
 time matters under the management of Mr. Lykins had so far 
 advanced, that public religious exercises were held in the mis 
 sion buildings, for the benefit of the Shawanoes, and a small 
 school of Indian children attended, to receive instruction from 
 Mr. Evans. We had inclined to the opinion that Mr. Wilson 
 ought to commence a mission among the Osages, but about this 
 time he located among the Delawares. 
 
 Some of the Weas had requested us to' establish a mission 
 among them, and the opening for usefulness appeared favour 
 able. About this time a treaty was being held with them in St. 
 Louis. Also, a treaty was about to be held with the Putawato- 
 mies of Indiana. Both these treaties Mr. Lykins had desired 
 lo attend, in order to encourage the adoption of stipulations in 
 
454 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 favour of education, but he found it impracticable. He wrote, 
 however, respectfully requesting that provision should be made 
 for educational purposes, which effort of his was seconded by 
 letters, on my return from Arkansas ; but no such provision 
 was made in either treaty. 
 
 I was allowed only eleven days to remain with my family, 
 when it became necessary for me to make another tour to Ar 
 kansas, in order to report to the three commissioners on Indian 
 affairs, who had recently been appointed, viz : Messrs. H. L. 
 Ellsworth, M. Stokes, and J. F. Schermerhorn. Under exces 
 sive fatigue, an injury which a lower limb had received, by the 
 fall of my horse four years before, was aggravated, and subject 
 ed me to much inconvenience for upwards of a year. 
 
 On the 14th of October thirty-seven persons were baptized 
 at a meeting of the Muscogee Baptist Church, eight or ten of 
 whom were Creeks, and the rest, excepting one, coloured per 
 sons, and all slaves. On the 10th of November nine were 
 baptized, three of whom were Indians. On the same day a 
 Sunday-school was commenced under auspicious circumstances. 
 At this period missionary matters at this station were truly pros 
 perous. 
 
 [ urged Mr. Davis to submit to ordination. He was a man 
 of respectable talents, but such was his modest diffidence that 
 he lacked confidence in himself, and fora while hesitated. He 
 was, however, ordained to the work of the ministry not long 
 after. 
 
 Previous to this time, Mr. Donelson, who had been associ 
 ated with me in Indian affairs, resigned. I made a report to the 
 commissioners of the affairs in the Indian territory, so far as I 
 had knowledge of them, and recommended such measures as I 
 thought ought to be adopted. After which I left Arkansas for 
 my home on the 14th of November, having with me a hired 
 black man. On the 17th it rained on us all day. The follow 
 ing was the Sabbath, which we spent with Mr. Dodge, among 
 the Osages. The storm had been increasing in severity, and on 
 Monday morning the snow was deep, the weather cold, and the 
 wind high. As the cold had increased, the rains which were 
 falling, froze, until every spear of grass was literally braced up 
 by a coating of ice, and every twig of a tree or shrub, half 
 an inch in circumference, was increased to the size of a min's 
 finger. Our whole, day's journey lay through open prairie, ex 
 cepting two or three small groves of timber, of a few hundrt?d 
 yards each. I was afraid to set out with no more assistance 
 than my coloured man, and employed a hardy young white man 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 455 
 
 to accompany us. I rode in a small two horse wagon. We 
 had not proceeded more than five miles before we regretted 
 that we had left a shelter. The wind blew the light snow off 
 the prairies until we were so enveloped as scarcely to be able to 
 perceive which way to proceed. In places it was drifted until 
 it was very deep. The waters had been swollen by the rains 
 with which the storm had commenced, and were now covered 
 with ice. The wind being upon our backs, to turn and retrace 
 our steps would require us to face it, which we were afraid to do, 
 lest we should freeze before we could reach the house of Mr. 
 Dodge which we had left. We therefore went forward, and 
 halted in the first grove. By this time the coloured man, who 
 had been riding on horseback, was much chilled, and fancied 
 himself so nearly dead, that it was with difficulty that I could in 
 duce him to stir on his feet. Every thing combustible was 
 covered with ice, so that the prospect of making a fire appeared 
 to us all very gloomy, but most so to the poor negro. Anticipa 
 ting our dangers from cold and the difficulty of procuring fire, 
 I had prepared for the contingency by bringing in our little 
 wagon some dry hay and wood. We found a place where part 
 of a large fallen tree was a little elevated above the ground, 
 under which there was less ice and snow than elsewhere, and 
 where we succeeded in making a fire, by the side of which we 
 pitched our tent, and remained through the day and the follow 
 ing night. In most of our wilderness journeyings, it is our cus 
 tom to prepare and eat breakfast before or at the opening of 
 day. We reached home on the 23d of November, 1832. 
 
 On the departure of some of us from Carey, in 1828, our 
 church had become so much scattered, that its meetings were 
 unavoidably omitted. Its first meeting had taken place in my 
 late absence, at the Shawanoe mission house. Mr. D. French, 
 who, some months previously, had been appointed a mis 
 sionary by the board, had by this time arrived. Mr. Lewis, 
 who was originally designed to occupy a station among the 
 Choctaws, having located among the Creeks, it was now de 
 cided that Mr. Wilson, who had lately gone among the Dela- 
 wares, should repair to the Choctaws ; and he accordingly left 
 the Delawares on the 13th of December. 
 
 We resolved, however, not to abandon the Delawares, but 
 to afford them such assistance as our opportunities would allow. 
 It was the 23d of February, 1833, when Mr. Lykins, accom 
 panied by Mr. French, made a visit of three days among them, 
 with a view of instituting preaching regularly, and of establish 
 ing a school. He wrote the board, proposing to employ a 
 
456 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 school teacher, and to hire an Indian family, with which he had 
 lormed an acquaintance, to prepare a little food once a day for 
 such scholars as should attend from their homes. A young 
 man, Mr. 1. D. Blanchard, though not a member of our church, 
 had gone among the Dela wares from henevolent motives, and 
 was studying the Delaware language with the view of being 
 useful to them. Him Mr. Lykins designed to employ as teacher. 
 We also sought and obtained the necessary permission from the 
 Government. These movements were submitted to the consi 
 deration of the board, and approved. On the 21st of April Mr. 
 Blanchard was baptized. 
 
 We attached much importance to the establishment of a 
 printing press in the Indian territory. Mr. Cone, of New- York, 
 was addressed, and inquiry made of him, whether an association 
 could be formed with a view of sustaining a press by contribu 
 tion, if it could not be made to support itself. I wrote also to 
 Cincinnati, Ohio, and elsewhere, on the same subject, and also 
 at different times pressed its consideration on the board. 
 
 While our mission at Carey, Michigan, was in successful 
 operation, a Kickapoo, denominated " the Prophet," sent us a 
 request, by one of our former Indian pupils and a white trader, 
 that we would furnish his party with a school, &tc. The party 
 was then on the Illinois river, some one hundred miles from 
 Carey, and we could not at that time comply with their request. 
 Subsequently, the Kickapoos removed to the Indian territory, 
 and among them came the Prophet and his party, who passed 
 my house about the middle of May, 1833. 
 
 Of the religious opinions, forms, and ceremonies of the Pro 
 phet and his party, we knew very little ; but the circumstance 
 of his once having requested us to favour his party with a mis 
 sion, and the report that they abstained from the use of ardent 
 spirits, induced us to make an effort to do that for them at this 
 time which they formerly requested. We had already com 
 menced preparations for a mission to each of the earlier emi 
 grant tribes, and help from Government, applicable to the sup 
 port of a school for the Kickapoos, by virtue of a treaty stipu 
 lation, had been asked for, and we had proposed that Mr. French 
 should labour among them. 
 
 On the arrival of the Prophet and his party, Mr. Lykins 
 visited them, and made known to them our design to help them ; 
 and I being at the time confined to my bed by indisposition, the 
 Prophet was brought to my house. For a few weeks, it was 
 hoped that the religious disposition of the party would facilitate 
 our labours among the tribe generally, but in this we soon dis- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 457 
 
 covered that we had been mistaken. The Prophet's religion, 
 as they denominated it, appeared to be a step from savage 
 blindness into greater absurdity. Mr. French spent a short 
 time among the Kickapoos, when, from the smallness of their 
 number, and the design of the Methodists to establish a mission 
 among them, we concluded that Mr. French could be more 
 useful elsewhere, and the place was abandoned. 
 
 Kenekuk, the Prophet, claimed the honour of being the 
 founder of his own sect, which he had been enabled to do by 
 divine inspiration. His adherents were about four hundred 
 souls, about half of whom were Putawatomies. He professed 
 to receive all that he taught immediately from the Great Spirit, 
 by a supernatural agency. He taught abstinence from the use 
 of ardent spirits, the observance of the Sabbath, and some 
 other good morals, though, in point of practice, the morals of 
 the party were scarcely, if any better than those of their disso 
 lute kindred. 
 
 The religious opinions of Indians who have received no im 
 pressions from other people are remarkably uniform, excluding 
 the absurdity of idol worship, and embracing the fundamental 
 truths of the existence of God and his overruling providence, 
 man's accountability, the immortality of the soul, future re 
 wards and punishments, a consciousness of guilt for offences 
 against God, &c. Their external ceremonies embrace sacrifices 
 for the purpose of propitiating the Deity, and festivals, accom 
 panied with music, dancing, speeches, unmeaning noises, &LC. 
 
 The formula of the Prophet had evidently not been framed 
 from ideas purely Indian, and they more nearly resembled 
 those of the Catholics than any other sect. Congregational 
 worship was performed among them, and the exercises lasted 
 from one to three hours. They heard speeches from the Pro 
 phet, and all united in articulating a kind of prayer, expressed 
 in broken sentences often repeated, in a monotonous sing-song 
 tone, equalling in length about two measures of a common 
 psalm tune. All in unison engaged in this ; and, in order to pre 
 serve harmony in words, each held in his or her hand a small 
 board, about an inch and a half broad and about ten inches 
 long, upon which was engraved arbitrary characters, which they 
 followed up with their finger until the last character admonished 
 them that they had completed the 'prayer. These characters 
 were five in number. The first represented the heart ; the 
 second, the heart, affections, and flesh ; the third, the life ; the 
 fourth, names ; the fifth, kindred. During the service these 
 characters were gone over several times ; the first time, the per- 
 
 58 
 
458 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 son spoke as ifhe supposed himself on earth ; the second, as if 
 he were approaching the door of the house of God ; then at the 
 door, &c. Putting their finger to the lowest character, they 
 would say, " O, our Father, think of our hearts as thou dost 
 think about the door of thy house, &c. O, our Father, bless our 
 heart and its clothing, [the body,] make it like thine, as strong 
 as thine, &c. Make it like thy house, like the door of thy 
 house, like the ground about thy house, like thy staff, &cc. O, 
 our Father, put our name with thy name, think of it as thou dost 
 of thy house, the door, the ground about thy house, thy staff," 
 &LC. The repetitions were exceedingly frequent, almost the 
 same words of a short sentence being repeated many times, 
 and all apparently unmeaning. Certain persons were appointed 
 to use the rod, for the purpose of maintaining order in religious 
 worship. The application of tlje rod to offenders, by these 
 whippers, was used as a kind of discipline in all cases of offen 
 ces. The offender, whose crime might be known only to him 
 self, was taught that it was his duty to apply to one of the four 
 or five whippers, and state that he had committed an offence, 
 for the punishment of which he desired that so many stripes 
 might be inflicted upon his bare back. Having received the 
 flagellation, which often brought blood, the penitent would shake 
 hands with the executioner, and others near, returning thanks 
 for the favour done him, and declaring that he felt relieved of a 
 heavy burden. 
 
 The Prophet had two or three wives ; and other vices, such 
 as gambling, &c., were not punishable. The party became 
 connected in some way, not distinctly understood, with the 
 Methodists, and nearly four hundred of them received baptism 
 (by sprinkling) from the Methodist missionaries, in the course 
 of two or three days, and the Prophet was licensed to preach. 
 But while little, if any, improvement has been made in the 
 morals of the party, excepting in the respects already noticed, 
 the Prophet's influence has made them more industrious than 
 they formerly were. They are now improving in comfort, and 
 consequently are getting into circumstances more favourable for 
 receiving religious instructions. 
 
 In the pamphlet entitled " Remarks on Indian Reform,'"' 
 published in 1827, and afterwards reprinted, it was proposed, as 
 an improved course, that instead of the usual mode of our Gov 
 ernment taking Indian lands and allowing them annuities, the 
 value of which was trifling, compared with the worth of the 
 lands, and which annuities often proved injurious to the Indians, 
 rather than beneficial, the lands should be surveyed and sold as 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 459 
 
 United States' lands usually are, and, after defraying all the cost 
 of survey and sale, the nett proceeds should belong to the In 
 dians. This, it would seem-, they were justly entitled to; and 
 if they had not received ample justice upon any former occa 
 sion, they were entitled to even more than this. This rule for 
 paying Indians for their lands would secure to some tribes greater 
 sums than they could usefully apply at the times of payment. 
 It was proposed, therefore, that a moiely above their Immediate 
 wants should be invested in productive stock, for their use. 
 
 Similar views of propriety, in cases of extinguishment of In 
 dian title to land, were not manifested by the Government until 
 March 1st, 1833, at which time a treaty, then recently made 
 with the Chickasaws, was ratified by the Senate of the United 
 States, in which the price of lands ceded by the Chickasaws 
 was to be paid precisely according to the above plan, and also 
 investments made. By this mode of taking pay, the Chicka 
 saws have become immensely wealthy. The same principles 
 have since been adopted in several other cases. 
 
 On reporting to the three Commissioners on Indian Affairs, 
 in the autumn of 1832, my services under Government termi 
 nated. In respect to pecuniary matters, I was then barely even 
 with the world. I was constantly employed in missionary af 
 fairs, but had no income to meet the expenses of my family. 
 During eight months I realized not a little anxiety; I durst not 
 indulge a thought of entering upon any business unconnected 
 with the welfare of the Indians, and, by attention to them with 
 out income, a debt was accumulating upon me that was well 
 calculated to occasion uneasiness. Having applied all my extra 
 earnings from the Government, which had been considerable, to 
 the support of a cause ostensibly under the patronage of the 
 board of missions, and as I was employing all my time in sup 
 port of the same cause still, I might have preferred a just claim 
 upon the board for support; but this I declined. My necessi 
 ties, however, became so great, that I took measures to remind 
 them of our wants, and I did it in the hope that some relief 
 would be offered to us ; but the result was not what we had 
 hoped for. Our embarrassed circumstances occasioned more 
 toil than we were well able to bear, and we had to labour some 
 times with our own hands harder than our strength justified. It 
 also added to our difficulties, that, within the period of anxiety 
 of which 1 write, I was twice confined for a considerable time 
 to my bed by sickness. 
 
 About this time another circumstance occurred which was 
 far from adding to my happiness. The annual report of the 
 
HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 Baptist Board of Missions for April, 1833, through a mistake, 
 the cause of which I did not understand, stated that I was " not 
 in the service of the board." This statement, though from its 
 connection with expressions of approbation of my labours was 
 not liable to be imputed to unkind feelings, was calculated to do 
 me substantial injury. Some would be liable to suppose that I 
 had departed from the work of a missionary a thought favour 
 able to which I have never indulged since I became one ; and 
 in the Indian country it was probable that the supposition that I 
 was unconnected with- any society, and with the missionaries, 
 would abridge my opportunities for doing good. On discover 
 ing the report, I immediately wrote Dr. Bolles, the correspond 
 ing secretary of the board, inquiring when my services had 
 terminated, and on what account? and how the fact happened 
 to be published to the world before any intimation of it had been 
 given to me ? The acceptance of my late commission from 
 Government could not have affected the relation between us, 
 because they had directed me to do so, believing that I could 
 work more efficiently in the cause of missions with such a com 
 mission, than without it; and, moreover, I had almost constantly 
 held a commission of some kind under Government, ever since 
 I had been a missionary, to the advantages of which, in the sup 
 port of their missions, the comfort of my fellow missionaries 
 bore ample testimony. Charity required me to attribute the 
 statement to an oversight, and, if 1 was correct, I desired that 
 the mis-statement should be corrected, which was done in a sub 
 sequent number of the Baptist Magazine, the print in which it 
 had appeared. 
 
 The importance which I attach to the character of a mission 
 ary has induced me to be thus particular in noticing this matter, 
 lest the error in the report might fall into the hands of some 
 who might not notice that my connection with the board, with 
 the missionaries, and with the entire subject of missions, has 
 not been changed, excepting that for many years I have met 
 the expenses of support for myself and family, still adhering to 
 the pledge given in the " Mission Family Rules," in the appli 
 cation of money or property coming into my hands.* 
 
 On the retiring of Mr. Lykins and myself from Michigan to 
 the Indian territory, the Catholics, who with jealous eye had 
 watched every step we had taken, with a view to embarrass our 
 labours, introduced a priest and some nuns into the neighbour 
 hood of our late establishment at Carey. It was known that 
 our desire was, that those Indians should remove, as soon as 
 
 * See page 170. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 461 
 
 possible, from that land in which they were now rapidly perish 
 ing, to what we hoped would prove a permanent and prosperous 
 home. The Catholics desired them to remain where they were, 
 on some small tracts of land which they had not yet sold to the 
 United States. After the exploration of the delegations of Pu- 
 tawatomies and Ottawas, in 1828, many of those tribes desired 
 to emigrate, provided we should establish ourselves in the Indian 
 territory. In order, therefore, to promote an unwillingness 
 among the Indians to follow us, calumny was resorted to. A 
 worthless fellow, not a Catholic, whose tongue, as far as he was 
 personally known, could not injure any body, was prompted to 
 publish a pamphlet, complaining of mismanagement of affairs 
 at Carey during its existence. This poor creature had, no 
 doubt, been encouraged to hope that he could sell his pamph 
 lets, so as to realize some moneyed " reward of iniquity," in 
 which he doubtless was disappointed. The style of the book 
 was wretchedly bad, and the story contained its own refutation ; 
 and we could not, therefore, notice it by a reply. About the 
 same time, a scurrilous piece appeared in " The Catholic Tele 
 graph," published in Cincinnati, Ohio, embracing a communi 
 cation from the author of the pamphlet. The source whence 
 this emanated was such as admitted of notice, but the malignity 
 of the writers had evidently got the ascendancy of their discre 
 tion, and led them to do themselves an injury by an effort to 
 cast blarne upon others where no ground of blame existed. It 
 was not deemed expedient for either Mr. Lykins or myself to 
 enter upon a newspaper controversy, merely for the sake of ex 
 posing the spirit which had induced a publication that could 
 do us no harm. Mr. French, however, who had lived long at 
 Carey before he became a missionary, and whose opportunities 
 had furnished him with an extensive knowledge of its manage 
 ment, forwarded a communication for the public, in reference to 
 the calumny, to be published in the Baptist Journal of Cincin 
 nati ; but some friends of missions in that place, upon consulta 
 tion, deeming the Catholic piece unworthy of notice by any one, 
 advised that Mr. French's reply should not be published. 
 
 Mr. Evans, who, with his family, arrived at the Shawanoe 
 mission house about a year before the time of which we speak, 
 took the thought into his head that he could be more useful 
 among the Choctaws than among the Shawanoes. The board 
 referred the matter pretty much to the opinion of his fellow 
 missionaries. The latter perceived no good reason for his 
 changing places, but many strong reasons for his remaining 
 where he was. He, however, adhered to his own plans, and 
 
462 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 upon his own responsibility left the Shawanoe station, with his 
 family, on the 18th of June, 1833. He barely entered the 
 Choctaw country, when he became discouraged, and turned off 
 into the white settlements of Arkansas, from which place he 
 wrote Mr. Lykins, expressing a wish to return, and desiring to 
 know whether he coulo 1 be cordially received by the mission 
 aries. While the latter pitied the weakness which had prompted 
 the late injudicious movement, they felt much sympathy for Mr. 
 and Mrs. Evans, and instantly wrote him a letter congenial to 
 his wishes. He, however, anticipated the communication, and 
 reached the Shawanoe station a few days after his own letter. 
 The board also kindly yielded to the entreaties of the mission 
 aries that Mr. Evans might be reinstated. 
 
 There was a Choctaw educated in Kentucky, who was there 
 baptized, and by a Baptist church ordained to the work of the 
 Gospel ministry, who opened a correspondence with me in the 
 spring of 1833, and whom we encouraged to return to his people 
 within the Indian territory, and preach to them the Gospel of 
 God. On the 8th of July, 1833, he arrived at our house, on 
 his way to the Choctaw nation on the Arkansas and Red rivers. 
 I advanced him funds to enable him to prosecute his designs as 
 a missionary. He remained about two months with us, and 
 then proceeded to the field of labour pointed out to him. In 
 the mean time the board was written to in his behalf, and its 
 patronage obtained. 
 
 The board had appointed the Rev. Moses Merrill and Mrs. 
 Merrill missionaries to the Chippewas of Lake Superior, in 
 
 1832. In August of that year, they left the State of Maine, 
 and, accompanied by Miss Brown, who had also been appointed 
 a missionary by the board, arrived at Sault de St. Marie the 
 October following, in which place they designed to spend the 
 winter in labouring with Messrs. Bingham and Meeker, and, on 
 the following summer, to ascend the lakes further, and establish 
 a station near the northwestern extremity of Lake Superior. 
 With similar designs, Mr. and Mrs. Meeker, as we have already 
 seen, reached Sault de St. Marie at the same time. Early in 
 the spring of 1833, the board justly conceived that it would be 
 better to extend its operations in the Indian territory, than to be 
 wasting life, labour, and money, on Indians unsettled, and in 
 structed Mr. Merrill and Mr. Meeker to abandon the mission to 
 Lake Superior, and to proceed immediately to the Indian ter 
 ritory. Mr. and Mrs. Merrill left Sault de St. Marie in May, 
 
 1833, and arrived at the Shawanoe mission house on the 13th 
 of the following July. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 463 
 
 On the 16th of July, I received orders from Government to 
 make some further surveys for Indian tribes within the territory. 
 I employed an assistant, and was glad to have an opportunity 
 to earn something to enable me to pay debts which 1 had been 
 obliged to contract for the support of my family, and something 
 towards future support. Left as we had been to provide for 
 our own support, and in the midst of great necessity, He who 
 feeds the sparrows responded to his own gracious inquiry 
 "Children, have you any food?" and relieved us for the pre 
 sent from painful anxieties, which had brooded over us eight 
 months. 
 
 Between the 28th of July and the 17th of August I was on 
 a tour in the wilderness. Nevertheless, 1 sometimes employed 
 my pen at camp in promotion of missionary matters elsewhere. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Baptisms. Tour in the wilderness. Arrival of missionaries. 
 Mission established among the Otoes. Arrival of other 
 missionaries. Journey to Arkansas. A missionary retires 
 from labour. Baptisms. Tour in the wilderness. Jour 
 ney to Washington. Enlistment of missionaries. Printing 
 press. New system of writing. Baptism. Tour in the 
 wilderness. Resignation of a missionary. Publication of 
 the Annual Register. Death. Apostacy of a missionary. 
 Arrival of missionaries at the Creek station. Death of 
 two missionaries. Arrival of missionaries among the Choc- 
 taws. Newspaper in Shawanoe. Books in Creek and 
 Choctaw. Baptism and missionary appointment. 
 
 On the llth of August, 1833, two Delawares were baptized, 
 and on the 24th another; all of whom gave satisfactory evidence 
 of genuine piety. Our scattered church, which once met at 
 Carey, was now able to assemble fifteen members at the Shaw 
 anoe mission house, and the sixteenth was added by the baptism 
 of a Delaware female on the 25th of August. The missionaries 
 held regular meetings for religious worship among the Dela 
 wares, and at the Shawanoe mission house. Besides which, 
 preaching was frequent at different houses among the Shawa- 
 noes, religious visits were extended to the Indians, and a small 
 school kept at the mission house, the pupils of which were almost 
 entirely supported by the mission. About this time we enjoyed 
 
464 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 some very comfortable religious meetings, \vliich seemed the 
 more gratifying because they followed the desolations which un 
 avoidably attended emigration from Michigan. 
 
 From the 13th of September to the 17th of October, I was 
 on another surveying tour Jn the wilderness. Among other 
 privations attending these wilderness excursions, was the loss of 
 Christian society. We rested and had some religious exercises 
 on the Sabbath in our camp. Nevertheless, those days seemed 
 long and lonesome. Our tour extended so far west that, to pre 
 vent injury from marauding bands of hostile Indians, we were 
 all well armed.* This was our invariable practice when our 
 business led us far into the wilderness, and in proportion to our 
 supposed danger was our vigilance in posting out sentinels at 
 night, and in sleeping with our clothes on, and our guns, &c., at 
 our sides. Resting on the 6th of October, which was Sunday, 
 occasioned us to occupy the same encampment two nights in suc 
 cession, and this delay afforded an opportunity for an increasing 
 number of neighbouring wolves to become acquainted with our 
 sleeping place. On the second night they approached quite to 
 our tent. A young man, on awaking, noticed one standing near 
 us, and shot him, so that he fell dead within fifteen feet of our fire. 
 In the morning we discovered that they had had possession of one 
 of the men's hats; and, whether for food or from fancy we could 
 not ascertain, they had made some important alterations in its 
 fashion, which the owner was unwilling to admit were improve 
 ments. Some unwelcome depredations had also been commit 
 ted upon ropes and other materials used in tying meat and other 
 articles on the pack horses, and which had thereby become 
 oiled. j 
 
 In my absence, Mr. and Mrs. Meeker, and Hiss C. Brown, 
 arrived. Mr. Meeker, on leaving Sault de St. Marie for the 
 Indian territory, passed Cleveland, in Ohio; at which place 
 Mrs. Meeker remained, while her husband proceeded to Bos 
 ton, to confer with the board of missions. Before they finally 
 left Cleveland, they buried at that place an infant daughter. 
 It was now resolved that Mr. and Mrs. Merrill should locate 
 among the Otoes, on the Great Platte River, and commence a 
 mission, the preliminaries of which we had entered upon three 
 years before, for the benefit of Otoes, Pawnees, and Omahas. 
 We afterwards made application to the Government, and obtain- 
 
 * Marauding war parties on those prairies seldom attack a company of 
 white men who they discover are prepared for defence, but commonly ap 
 proach them peaceably. Therefore, to appear in their country unarmed 
 would be inviting them to murder us. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 465 
 
 ed for Mr. Merrill the appointment of school teacher, according 
 to a provision of a treaty. In consequence of this commission, 
 Mr. Merrill received from Government a salary of nearly five 
 hundred dollars per annum, which enabled him to support him 
 self without further cost to the board. Miss Brown accompa 
 nied them, and they left the Shawanoe station on the 25th of 
 October, 1833. The distance to their station was about two 
 hundred miles, and the journey was performed in twenty-four 
 days. The nights were, of course, spent in the open air, with 
 out the roof of a house, and the journey was attended with the 
 usual hardships and privations of such tours in the wilderness. 
 
 The missionaries found buildings for their accommodation at 
 a place which had previously been occupied as-a trading post, 
 where they remained about a year and a half. At this place 
 resided a few Frenchmen with Indian families, and one family 
 not related to the Indians. From these families the missiona 
 ries collected a small school. They had also a Sabbath school 
 and a Bible class, and at the same time public religious exer 
 cises were duly attended to. Early in 1834, favourable religious 
 impressions were manifestly made on the minds of some of the 
 pupils, and in April of that year Mr. Merrill baptized one of 
 the white children, about twelve years of age. 
 
 The village of the Otoes was, at that time, about thirty miles 
 from the station, but a smithery, for their benefit, having been 
 established at the latter, many were attracted thither ; so that 
 the missionaries were favoured with opportunities of imparting 
 religious instruction. They very properly directed their atten 
 tion, as far as practicable, to the acquisition of the Otoe lan 
 guage, and having prepared some Scripture lessons, by the help 
 of an interpreter, Mr. Merrill, in May, 1834, visited their vil 
 lage, and read to them at suitable opportunities. In speaking 
 of this visit, Mr. Merrill says, " On my arrival at the village, I 
 was directed to the lodge oif the first chief, where his wives, of 
 whom he had five, immediately took care of ray horse and bag 
 gage. After the salutation of shaking hands, I was seated on 
 the ground by the side of the chief. It was not long before a 
 wooden bowl, containing a kind of bread of pounded maize and 
 beans, was placed before me, and in less than an hour I was 
 invited to a meal of buffalo meat, at the lodge of the second 
 chief." 
 
 This village consisted of about fifty houses, of earth, which 
 were circular, and from twenty-five to forty feet in diameter. 
 The wall narrows to a point at the top, and presents the form 
 of a cone, and is sustained by wooden posts and poles within. 
 
 59 
 
466 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 The smoke escapes through an aperture in the top, w^ich 
 answers the double purpose of window and chimney. Within 
 them is neither chair, table, nor bedstead. 
 
 In the summer of 1835, the mission was removed a few miles 
 to a more eligible site, and buildings were there erected by the 
 board for a permanent station, near to which the Otoes located 
 in the following year. At their new residence Mr. and Mrs. 
 Merrill collected a school of Otoe youths, most of whom had 
 reached maturity, and taught them in their own language, upon 
 the new system. They had thirty-six in attendance, though 
 not regularly; first in their village, and afterwards at the mission 
 house. These people were not prepared to appreciate the ad 
 vantages of education, and supposed that a favour was conferred 
 on the missionaries by their attendance to receive instruction. 
 For their encouragement, the missionaries gave them a dinner 
 once a week, of which the chiefs were also invited to partake. 
 These people were about half the year absent on their buffalo 
 hunts, which was greatly to their disadvantage in reference to 
 the labours of the missionaries. Notwithstanding the many ob 
 stacles to their improvement, those who could be prevailed upon 
 to feel somewhat interested in learning, have read all the prints 
 that have yet been made in the Otoe language. These con 
 sist of two small school books, some hymns, and a part of the 
 New Testament, equal to about one-half of the gospel by John. 
 These have been prepared by Mr. Merrill, and printed at the 
 Shawanoe mission. 
 
 In February, 1839, the missionaries collected at their house 
 a school of Otoe children, whom they instructed in English, and 
 both Mr. and Mrs. Merrill being in poor health, and compelled 
 to attend too much to labours necessary for their personal com 
 fort, on account of the inconvenience of hiring help at their 
 remote place, they could not, as previously, attend to teaching 
 native adults in their own language. They made a school of 
 fifteen Otoe children, from eight to twelve years of age, who 
 belonged to the families of chiefs and other principal men. These 
 children were furnished at the mission house with one meal a 
 day, and their improvement would have been further promoted 
 by supporting them at the station, had the missionaries possessed 
 the means of doing so. 
 
 At first, religious instruction was imparted by reading portions 
 of Scripture in the Otoe language, written, as before stated, 
 upon the new system, and sometimes through the medium of 
 an interpreter. In 1838, Mr. Merrill commenced preaching to 
 his people in their own language, without the help of an inter- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 467 
 
 preter. In 1839, he baptized a black woman, who resided in 
 his family. 
 
 The board had directed Mr. Lykins to exercise a kind of 
 general superintendence over missionary matters in the Indian 
 territory, and, as a measure that would facilitate his usefulness, 
 the following was obtained for him from the Secretary of War: 
 
 "Permission is hereby granted to Mr. Johnston Lykins to 
 visit the Indian country west of the Mississippi, under the au 
 thority of the Baptist Board of Missions, with a view to collect 
 and report information interesting to that board in carrying into 
 effect their views in the selection of sites for missionary estab 
 lishments and schools in that region. He is recommended to 
 the attention of all officers of the Government, and they are de 
 sired to communicate to him such information as may be useful 
 in the discharge of his trust. 
 
 " Given under my hand and the seal of the War Department, 
 at Washington, this tenth day of September, A. D. 1833. 
 
 " LEWIS CASS." 
 
 About this time, Mr. Ellsworth, one of the Commissioners on 
 Indian affairs, held important treaties with the Pawnees, Otoes, 
 and Omahas, in which provisions favourable for education were 
 made. Upon these subjects Mr. Lykins enjoyed the privilege 
 of bestowing some attention, which we had the satisfaction of 
 knowing was successful. 
 
 November 13th, 1833, Mr. and Mrs. Sirnerwell arrived. 
 After leaving Michigan, they had sickened on the road, and had 
 been compelled to lie by several weeks. Their sufferings on 
 the way had been considerable, and we all felt grateful to Him 
 who had accompanied them with his gracious care. 
 
 Mr. Wilson, on going to Arkansas, entered a field of labour, 
 among the Choctaws, which we deemed uncommonly promis 
 ing. But he was alone, and on some account, not well under 
 stood, his spirits and courage failed. He was a worthy young 
 man, of respectable talents; but he seemed to lose confidence in 
 himself, and to be unable to hope for success. We wrote him., 
 for his encouragement, but without success. 
 
 In December, 1833, a letter reached us from Mr. Lewis, 
 among the Creeks. He also had become discouraged, and 
 desired to leave the country. He and his family, at the time, 
 were suffering much by sickness. He had been exceedingly 
 imprudent in his secular affairs, and had gone in debt beyond 
 his means of paying. He had spent money unnecessarily, and 
 drawn on the board for funds without authority, to pay debts 
 
468 
 
 H1STOIIY OF BAPTIST 
 
 foolishly created. Finding that he had been some time running 
 into these evils, I had urged him, by the most pressing entrea 
 ties, to a different course. He now desired me to lay his case 
 before the board, and ask them for money to pay his debts, and 
 to enable him to leave the country. 
 
 These and other matters, affecting the interests of our mis 
 sions, induced Mr. Lykins to set off, on the 25th of December, 
 1833, on a tour to Arkansas, and it being inconvenient for one 
 man to pass through the wilderness alone, Mr. French accom 
 panied him. Mrs. Lewis was at this time exceedingly sick, and 
 died while he was in that country. Mr.* Lewis and his son 
 were not yet in good health. Notwithstanding the difficulties 
 which surrounded the station, it appeared that the opportunities 
 for doing good among the Creeks were altogether favourable. 
 Mr. Davis was a substantial man, who was doing well. Mr. 
 Lykins advised him to locate on the Canadian River, which he 
 did some time afterwards. Notwithstanding the indiscretion of 
 Mr. Lewis, it was hoped that he would be useful. At Mr. 
 Lykins's request, I united with him in desiring the board to con 
 tinue him in their employ, to which he had consented, and in 
 expressing the opinion that, notwithstanding his bad manage 
 ment would make him an expensive missionary, yet he had 
 better be continued, in the hope that he would do good. The 
 board generously extended to him its indulgence. 
 
 Mr. Lykins found Mr. Wilson labouring under great discour 
 agement, when the prospects of usefulness around him were well 
 calculated to animate the missionary; but he left the country 
 soon afterwards, and retired from missionary labours. Mr. Ly 
 kins also visited Mr. O'Bryant's station, among the Cherokees, 
 and had the satisfaction of contributing not a little to the promo 
 tion of his operations. 
 
 While clouds hung around our affairs, occasionally beams of 
 light gladdened onr hearts. On the 8th of December, an Osage 
 woman, married to a Delaware, was baptized, and on the 15th of 
 the same month another Delaware female was baptized. Public 
 religious meetings were at this time held regularly in two places 
 among the Delawares* 
 
 From the 18th of December, 1833, to the 9th of January, 
 I was, most of the time, on a surveying expedition in the wil 
 derness. We usually avoided, as much as possible, long ex 
 cursions in the wilderness in winter, on account of the cold. 
 Necessity required us to encounter no little inconvenience of 
 this character on this occasion. Our business lay along the 
 Missouri river-. In orcter to subsist our horses, we sought 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 469 
 
 for bottom lands of rushes, which, remaining green all winter, 
 afforded a nutritious, though sometimes an unhealthy food. 
 When rushes could not be found, we sometimes cut down the 
 cotton wood, upon the bark of which horses would feed, and 
 which was moderately nutritious. 
 
 The 1st of January, 1834, was a dismal day. It snowed on 
 us incessantly, with a pretty high wind. The trail of the sur 
 veyors could not be followed by the pack-horses which I was in 
 charge of, and on account of the difficulty of proceeding in 
 the snow in the bottom lands, and being separated from the 
 surveyors, there appeared, for some time, reason to fear that 
 some of one or of both parties would perish with cold. We 
 had the good fortune, however, to get all together by dark, and 
 to reach a place where we could make a large fire of logs. 
 One of the men was somewhat frostbitten. On account of the 
 severity of the weather, we remained in our camp two . days, 
 and then, in a pretty deep snow, set off for home. On the fol 
 lowing morning, January 5th, the mercury sunk twenty-five 
 degrees below zero. I submitted it to the choice of the com 
 pany, either to remain in camp, or to travel. They had be 
 come so weary of the uncomfortableness of a camp in such 
 severe weather that they chose to risk the frost in travelling. 
 Two men were sent about half a mile to bring in some horses. 
 Before they returned we became much alarmed lest they had 
 become lost and would perish. One of them was somewhat 
 frostbitten. 
 
 I shall never forget that on that dreadful day we met a Puta- 
 watomie Indian and his wife, each on horseback, passing on 
 through a pathless wilderness, to a place at which they hoped to 
 catch some game, and obtain food, both of whom appeared to 
 be cheerful, and under no apprehensions of perishing. Those 
 nights were so severe, that upon the frozen earth, with our means, 
 the most hardy of our company were exposed to much suffer 
 ing. My constitution was naturally slender, and had become 
 much impaired by various means, and I suffered most. A per 
 son who has never realized a lodging under such circumstances 
 cannot easily conceive the difficulty of effectually fencing 
 against a cold wind. On this occasion I could not keep myself 
 sufficiently warm to allow of sleep, but by wrapping myself in 
 my blankets, and then having them secured in that position by 
 tying all up with a cord. 
 
 On the 9th of January, 1834, I received the following from 
 the board : 
 
470 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 " Boston, December 5, 1833. 
 
 " DEAR SIR : At the suggestion of our mutual friend, the Rev. 
 S. H. Cone, the board, at its late meeting, took into considera 
 tion the expediency of your spending some time this winter at 
 Washington, and resolved to request you to do so. They sup 
 pose that the interests of the Indians, and views of the board as 
 to their civilization, may be promoted by your counsels and ex 
 ertions. Knowing so well as you do the best time to be at the 
 seat of Government, we shall leave it to your discretion. The 
 necessary expenses of the journey we shall expect to meet. 
 Please to advise us as to the time you will be at Washington. 
 " Most affectionately, yours, 
 
 " L. BOLLES. 
 " Rev. Isaac McCoy." 
 
 I left home, for Washington, on the llth of February, 1834. 
 I was one month in making the journey. Exposure had im 
 paired my health, and for some time after my arrival in Wash 
 ington I could scarcely stir abroad. 
 
 The three commissioners on Indian affairs who had been ap 
 pointed in 1832, held their offices two years. It was expected 
 that a lengthy report, respecting measures in future, would be 
 made by them to the present session of Congress. In making 
 my report to them in 1832, I had been full in recommending 
 future measures, together with the reasons why I conceived 
 them proper, &ic. Anxious that these statements should be 
 known, in the hope of their exerting some influence, whether 
 the commissioners should report in accordance with them or not, 
 I had forwarded a copy of the report unofficially to the Secre 
 tary of War. Up to the middle of March, the commissioners 
 had not reported. But a judicious plan relative to the organi 
 zation of the Indian territory had been submitted to the con 
 sideration of Congress by the Secretary of War, Mr, Cass. 
 His annual report had also highly recommended the organization 
 of the territory, as the only feasible plan of saving the Indian 
 race from extinction. The favour which the design received 
 from the Secretary of War was the more gratifying, because 
 the time bad been when even his pen had been employed, not 
 in blaming the kindness which prompted the experiment, but 
 in exposing and urging its supposed impracticability. He had 
 been heard to say that " the tribes never would be colonized. 
 The nature of their relation to our Government was such that 
 the Government could not be induced to adopt and carry out 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 471 
 
 such a measure. It was a scheme of Mr. , which could 
 
 not be accomplished," &tc. These things are not mentioned to 
 the discredit of the Secretary of War, but as a specimen of 
 sentiments which prevailed extensively among the wisest and 
 best men of the nation. No man had so much influence on 
 the subject of Indian affairs as the then Secretary of War. 
 Hence, any thing from him, which appeared to favour measures 
 to which we attached infinite importance, was as gratifying as 
 the reverse was alarming. 
 
 About the 20th of March, I set off on a hasty visit to New- 
 York, for the purpose of obtaining a personal interview with 
 our substantial friend, the Rev. S. H. Cone, in relation to our 
 operations. In conference with the excellent Mr. Dagg, of 
 Philadelphia, he spoke of some in his city, who, he thought, 
 might be enlisted as missionaries. We were particularly anxious 
 to find one to fill the place of Mr. Wilson, among the Choc- 
 taws, and we also needed others to fill at least four other favour 
 able openings for missionary labours which presented themselves 
 within that interesting tribe of Indians. Mr. Dagg and I visited 
 two persons, one of whom I felt inclined to advise not to em 
 bark in missionary labours ; but the other, who was the Rev. 
 Mr. Smedley, with Mrs. Smedley, we encouraged to enlist. 
 
 Some Presbyterian missionaries, under the patronage of the 
 Western Foreign Missionary Society, had found some difficulty 
 in the establishment of a mission among the lowas. Through 
 Mr. Lykins their wishes were communicated to me. On the 
 1st of April I obtained from the agent for that tribe, who was 
 then in Washington, the requisite recommendation in favour of 
 forming the establishment, after which I obtained the authority 
 to do so from Mr. Herring, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. 
 This mission is now in successful operation. 
 
 I returned to my family on the 10th of May. Mr. Meeker 
 had brought with him, to the Indian territory, a printing press 
 and types, according to the directions of the board, which were 
 put into operation among the Shawanoes instead of the Chero- 
 kees, as had been originally designed. By the 10th of May, 
 a small book in Shawanoe, and another in Delaware, had been 
 printed, according to the new system of writing and reading ; 
 and instruction upon this plan had been introduced with a pros 
 pect of success. Several adults as well as youths had become 
 capable of reading in their own language a few weeks after they 
 had been furnished with books, and with little attention from 
 instructors. 
 
 This system deserves greater attention than it has yet re- 
 
472 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 ceived. One learns to read his own language with so much 
 ease upon this plan, that it ought to be introduced among all 
 nations destitute of a written language. The simplicity of this 
 method of writing and reading, or, in other words, the facility 
 with which the learner acquires a knowledge of these, has been 
 the principal reason why it has not attracted greater notice. 
 We are slaves to habit. We have acquired a knowledge of the 
 art of printing our thoughts on paper, so that they could be 
 understood by others, by the tedious process of spelling, and 
 hence we are ready to ridicule the idea of a system which 
 wholly excludes spelling, and which enables the learner to paint 
 his thoughts on paper, with precision, as soon as he acquires a 
 knowledge of a number of characters about equal to the Eng 
 lish alphabet. 
 
 " To each Indian language, and to each dialect of language, be 
 long peculiar sounds, which cannot be obtained by the use of the 
 English alphabet. To designate syllables which could not be 
 spelt, or sounds which could not be obtained by the ordinary 
 use of letters, writers who would write intelligibly have been 
 compelled to introduce arbitrary characters, ach according to 
 his fancy. It can easily be conceived that serious inconvenience 
 attended this course of things. 
 
 " Mr. Guess, a Cherokee, had discovered that the language of 
 his tribe could be written with about eighty syllabic characters. 
 Guess's plan was tried in relation to some other languages, and 
 found to be inapplicable, because characters would be multiplied 
 beyond the bounds of convenience. 
 
 " To remedy the evils which attended the ordinary methods 
 of writing Indian, and the complexity which would attend the 
 universal application of Guess's system, the idea suggested itself 
 to Mr. Meeker, then at Sault de St. Marie, of using characters 
 not to designate syllables, but certain positions of the organs of 
 speech. His first writing was rather a combination of this new 
 principle with the syllabic system and the system of spelling." 
 
 When the press was put into operation at the Shawanoe mis 
 sion house, the missionaries among the Shawanoes and Dela- 
 wares took up the new principle of Mr. Meeker, and reduced 
 it to a system, excluding entirely the syllabic or hieroglyphic 
 system, and also that of spelling. 
 
 By spelling, we mean that process by which the learner is 
 required to familiarize the memory with certain names of cha 
 racters, [letters] and then, after combining these in a certain 
 order, a sound [syllable] must be uttered not one produced by 
 the combination, but altogether arbitrary. This sound, unmean- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 473 
 
 ing in itself, must be borne in mind until, by a similar process, 
 a second, third, or fourth, be obtained; and, lastly, these sounds 
 must be combined, in order to form a word. 
 
 Upon the new system, every uncom pounded sound which can 
 be distinguished by the ear is indicated by a character. These 
 sounds, in Indian languages, usually amount to about eight or 
 ten, the greater part of which, but not all, are what in the sys 
 tem of spelling would be denominated vowel sounds ; other 
 sounds are such, for instance, as the hissing sound of the letter s, 
 in which consists its real value, the sound obtained by ch t as in 
 church, &c. The other characters, usually in number about 
 twelve or fourteen, merely indicate the positions of the organs 
 of speech preceding or following the sounds, by which the be 
 ginning or ending of sounds is modified ; thus, this character, p y 
 would require the lips to be pressed together with a slight pres 
 sure within; this, o, would indicate a sound which could be heard 
 by the ear say the short sound of o; this, t, would require the 
 end of the tongue to be pressed hard to the roof of the mouth. 
 Now, if the sound of o intervenes between the pressure of the 
 lips and the pressure of the tongue, as above indicated, the word 
 pot is necessarily pronounced ; transpose the characters, and 
 adhere to the same rule, and the word top is unavoidably pro 
 nounced. 
 
 Hence, as soon as the learner acquires a knowledge of the 
 uses of the characters, more than twenty-three of which have 
 not yet been found necessary in writing any Indian language, he 
 is capable of reading; because, by placing the organs of speech, 
 or uttering a sound, as is indicated by each character as it oc 
 curs, he is actually reading. 
 
 The uses of the characters are never varied, and they can be 
 learned about as soon as the names of so many letters of the 
 alphabet. If men speak alike, they will upon this system write 
 alike ; because each character denotes invariably either a simple 
 sound heard by the ear, or the position of the organs of speech 
 by which that sound is modified ; hence, what would appear as 
 bad spelling cannot occur. This system is the simple painting 
 of speech upon paper. It differs from the system of orthogra 
 phy, because, by that, words are obtained arbitrarily: by this, 
 they are obtained necessarily. For example, the learner would 
 never of himself conceive that, after repeating the names of the 
 letters t o p, he ought to articulate the word top. After he has 
 been told the names of the letters, he must be taught the word, 
 and hence one name for a letter would be nearly equal to an 
 other. Upon the new system, the learner is taught merely the 
 60 
 
474 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 uses of the characters, and in using these lie unavoidably pro 
 nounces the word designed by the order in which they are 
 placed. This system differs from the hieroglyphic, because, in 
 that, the characters indicate combinations of sounds, or modified 
 sounds : either a sentence, a word, or a syllable, is indicated by 
 the character. In this, the characters denote the mechanical 
 operations of the organs of speech, and which operations as 
 certainly produce words, as the mechanical operations of the 
 hand holding the pencil produce figures. 
 
 For characters the English types are used, because they an 
 swer as well as characters of any other shape, and by so doing 
 the expense of making new types is avoided; and, further, be 
 cause the English scholar can more easily learn to read with 
 these than with newly invented characters. If a key of about 
 twenty lines accompany a book in an Indian language, explain 
 ing the uses of the characters, an English scholar with an 
 hour's study will be enabled to read, understandingly, to those 
 acquainted with the language, whether he understands it or not ; 
 and he can, without any knowledge of the language himself, 
 teach others to read it. 
 
 The system is applicable to any language the least so to 
 the English of any in which a trial has been made, because the 
 English embraces more sounds, and modifications of sounds, 
 than other languages. If a language consisted of so small a 
 number of words that each could be represented by a hiero 
 glyphic, without swelling the number beyond the strength of 
 memory, this, of all others, would be the most convenient 
 method ; or, if the number of syllables in a language could be 
 represented by a convenient number of hieroglyphics, it would 
 be a great convenience. This, however, is not the case ; the 
 Cherokee is the only language to which it is known that the 
 system of Guess will apply, and this is written with about eighty 
 characters. Experiments made in other Indian languages have 
 demonstrated that the number would be increased so much as 
 to render the application impracticable. 
 
 If a nation is in possession of a written language, it had bet 
 ter continue its method of writing, though it be not the most 
 convenient, because the innovation of introducing the new sys 
 tem would be attended with many serious inconveniences. All 
 who can read books written in any language, upon the principles 
 of orthography, can read books written upon the new system ; 
 but they who understand only the latter cannot read the former. 
 But any people destitute of a written language, and conse 
 quently without books, ought to adopt the new system, because, 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 475 
 
 1st, they would write with the greater accuracy. There are 
 sounds and modulations of the voice peculiar to each unwritten 
 language, which cannot be obtained by the orthographical use 
 of letters, as they are employed in any existing written lan 
 guage. This remark will be well understood by every one who 
 has attempted to write an Indian language ; and if the Karens 
 in Burmah, or other Asiatic nations destitute of books, speak a 
 language radically different from their neighbours who have 
 books, it will be understood by all who attempt to write those 
 previously unwritten languages. 2d, The new system should 
 be adopted, because a knowledge of reading can be acquired in 
 a few days say, within the time required to learn the English 
 alphabet. The facility with which a knowledge of reading can 
 be acquired would bring instructive books within the reach of 
 thousands, and tens of thousands, who otherwise would never 
 be able to read a sentence. Many of the Shawanoes, and 
 others near them, have learned to read without any regular in 
 struction from any one. They have occasionally fallen in com 
 pany with some of their people who could read, and from them 
 have received some instruction relative to the uses of the charac 
 ters, and soon became readers themselves. 3d, This system 
 should be introduced, because it would rapidly widen the door to 
 the introduction of religious tracts and other useful prints among 
 unlettered nations, by means of missionaries. Among most of 
 the aborigines of America, and among some nations of other 
 countries, tracts cannot be introduced, because the people can 
 not read them, and only one in a hundred, or in ten hundred, 
 may be in a situation to learn to read, even in his mother tongue, 
 by the tedious process of spelling ; almost all adults must be 
 excluded from this privilege. But, upon the new system, the 
 missionary who would accompany a band of Indians on a buf 
 falo hunt of three months, for the sake of improving himself in 
 a knowledge of their language, could carry with him his tracts, 
 and teach scores to read them, as they would be occasionally 
 resting in their encampments. 4th, Writing upon the new sys 
 tem covers a great deal less space than upon the principles of 
 orthography, because all redundancies are excluded, and many 
 advantages would obviously result from this fact. Evidently, 
 incalculable benefits would result from the general adoption of 
 this system among the tribes of American aborigines, and among 
 other nations destitute of books; nevertheless, we have vviih 
 much pain, witnessed a backwardness, on the part of our fellow- 
 labourers for the benefit of the heathen, to avail themselves of 
 
476 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 the facilities which this unexpected favour in Providence* offers 
 them. 
 
 Pretty soon after we had issued a few prints upon the new 
 system, from the press at the Shawanoe mission house, two in 
 fluential Presbyterian missionaries from among the Choctaws 
 visited us. They had published a few books in the Choctavv 
 language, written upon the principles of orthography. Pecu 
 liar sounds could not be obtained by the use of the English, or 
 any other alphabet, and to remedy this evil they had invented 
 new characters, and procured new types to print them. The 
 superiority of our cheap, and expeditious, and correct system, 
 over their worse than old-fashioned plan, was so obvious to us, 
 that we hoped for their ready and hearty co-operation in intro 
 ducing it into common use in the Indian country. In this we 
 were grievously disappointed ; and, to add to our mortification, 
 they zealously urged us to reject our system, as futile. No rea 
 son, however, was offered, only that they had written a little in 
 Choctaw, and all our prints ought to be uniform. They seemed 
 to overlook the fact that the Cherokees by their side wrote by 
 syllabic hieroglyphics, and that we could not, even with the use 
 of the new characters introduced by them in order to obtain 
 peculiar sounds in Choctaw, write in Delaware, Shawanoe, &,c., 
 without introducing others to represent sounds peculiar to these 
 languages respectively. 
 
 A Presbyterian missionary among the Weas compiled a 
 small book, which was printed upon our press. He knew it 
 would be rejected by the Indians, as unnecessarily obscure, if he 
 wrote wholly upon the plan of spelling, yet, so tenacious was 
 he of what had appeared right to his brethren from the Choc 
 taw country, that he introduced some of their new formed cha 
 racters ; and as we neither possessed nor desired to possess such 
 types, having no use for them, he furnished them himself. He 
 therefore approached so nearly to the new system as to make 
 his book acceptable to the Indians, and yet departed so far that 
 it was not fully the same. 
 
 About the same time we invited our Presbyterian and Me 
 thodist missionary brethren to meet with us at the Shawanoe 
 mission house, for the purpose of religious exercises, and for the 
 consideration of the most eligible measures by which we could 
 work most harmoniously and successfully, hoping by such meet 
 ings to encourage each others' hearts and strengthen each others' 
 hands. 
 
 At this meeting a careful examination of the new system was 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS, 
 
 477 
 
 requested, in the hope that a favourable expression of the meet 
 ing might be obtained, to encourage its adoption by other mis 
 sionaries. But our Methodist brethren were not disposed to 
 show it any public countenance. This was indeed the more sur 
 prising to us, because they had adopted it themselves. This, 
 however, they had not done so much from inclination, as from 
 the necessity of gratifying a popular desire of the Shawanoes. 
 Hymns, and some other prints, prepared by the Baptist mis 
 sionaries, were used advantageously by Shawanoes, Delawares, 
 Peorias, and Weas, in the Methodist connection. 
 
 But if we have reason to grieve on account of the little 
 favour which has been shown to the new system by the Pres 
 byterians and Methodists, we have still greater cause of grief on 
 account of the indifference of our own (Baptist) denomination 
 to this important matter. The board, it is true, has allowed its 
 missionaries to write books and teach upon this plan, but in its 
 prints it has never brought the subject before the public in a 
 favourable point of view. It would seem from these prints that 
 little, if any, interest has been felt by the members of the board 
 in the subject. We are not aware that any member of the 
 board has taken so much interest in it as to make himself suffi 
 ciently acquainted with it to enable him to give an explanation 
 to an inquirer. Some of the missionaries have repeatedly em- 
 ployed'in its favour both the tongue and the pen; but as the 
 patrons of these missionaries seem not to regard it as a matter 
 of importance, it is natural that others should feel indifferent. 
 
 There is a pride in human nature that makes a man averse 
 to innovations on established customs, unless the proposed 
 change emanates from a source which would make its adoption 
 honourable. If a proposed improvement in writing were to ema 
 nate from a college of celebrity, it would receive attention in 
 the world. Men would make themselves acquainted with the 
 subject, and the arguments for and against it. But the public 
 would as soon expect some "good thing to come out of 
 Nazareth," as for an improvement in the art of reading to be 
 originated among missionaries to the Indians. Moreover, the 
 simplicity of the plan they propose is, in common estimation, 
 to its discredit. To tell of a system which excludes orthogra 
 phy, and on which adult savages, whose age requires them to 
 use spectacles, and who never knew a letter or understood the 
 principle by which, as they would say, " a paper had been 
 made to talk," could learn to read a book in his mother tongue 
 by a few days' study, must, they think, be an error originating 
 in a want of scientific discrimination. The system, however, will, 
 
478 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 we are confident, outlive its misfortunes; and many good men, 
 both white and red, in our own country, and good men in some 
 others, will regret that its introduction among unlettered nations 
 had not received earlier attention. The number of Indian 
 languages into which this system has been introduced, the num 
 ber of books printed, &c., will be noticed hereafter. 
 
 Mr. Evans, of whose unnecessary journey of three hundred 
 miles, to Arkansas and back, mention has already been made, 
 worked pretty well for a while after his return ; and, trusting that 
 experience had taught him some useful lessons, we hoped that 
 he might become the instrument of " turning many to righteous 
 ness." But his wild fancies again acquired the ascendancy 
 over his better judgment in the management of his missionary 
 labours, and the board dismissed him on the 1st of May, 1834, 
 and he left the Indian country. 
 
 There were mingling with the Kickapoos, on Missouri, about 
 forty miles from the Shawanoe station, four or five hundred 
 Putawatomies ; and other immigrants of the same tribe subse 
 quently stopped, and remained some months near the same place. 
 While Mr. Simerwell kept his family at the Shawanoe station 
 and in the vicinity, he frequently visited these Putawatomies, and 
 often remained among them several days at a time, for the pur 
 pose of imparting religious instruction, and of teaching a few to 
 read in their own language. He compiled, and had printed, a 
 small book in Putawatomie. About the commencement of his 
 labours I had an opportunity of affording him some assistance, 
 by introducing him personally to some white men at and near 
 Fort Leavenworth, whose attentions would be of service to 
 him. I was at the time on a tour of surveying, which occa 
 sioned a month's absence in the wilderness, during which we 
 found much difficulty, on account of high waters. Wolf river 
 was so narrow that a large fallen tree, which lay across it, 
 served as a bridge, over which we transported our baggage ; but 
 the water was swimming deep, and the banks so steep and 
 muddy that it was exceedingly difficult to get our horses across. 
 We placed some men on each side, and then tied a long rope 
 to the horse's bridle, the end of which was held by the men on 
 the opposite bank ; the horse was then forced down a steep 
 bank into the water, which was rather an alarming plunge to 
 the poor animal. Wthen he commenced swimming, the men 
 who held the rope commenced pulling him to the only place 
 where it was possible for him to get out. Having reached the 
 opposite shore, it required long and repeated efforts of the horse, 
 and the no less violent efforts of the men who were pulling at 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 479 
 
 the ropes, to get him up the bank ; this proved to be a labori 
 ous task before we got all across. 
 
 The following is from a note in my journal for June 20th, 
 1S34. " On reaching a mound in the prairie to-day, which we 
 erected in 1830, when my dear deceased son, Rice, was my 
 assistant surveyor, and my son Calvin the manager of my camp, 
 I realized feelings of deep solemnity. ' O, what scenes of sor 
 row and of joy, toils and privations, hopes and fears, have I 
 passed through since I, was here four years ago ! My son, who 
 then directed the erection of this mound, is now in eternity I 
 trust in heaven. I reached the place when my company were 
 not in sight of me, and when I was not embarrassed by the 
 presence of any human being in the indulgence of the feelings 
 peculiar to the occasion. I fell upon my knees, and returned 
 thanks to God for all his mercies, among which, the greatest 
 appeared to be that I had good reason to believe my dear 
 son was in heaven. Heaven seemed to be near. I entreated 
 that i and mine might continue to be objects of his gracious care 
 the little time we severally had to spend upon earth ; that we 
 might be prepared for heaven, and in the end rest with our 
 Redeemer." 
 
 During this summer, missionary operations progressed with 
 increasing interest, both among the Shawanoes and Delawares. 
 Many among both tribes learned to read in their own languages, 
 and the publishing and distribution among them of small books, 
 which many had become able to read, promised a happy result. 
 
 Still anxious to issue a print from the Indian territory, to be 
 circulated through the United States, for the purpose of eliciting 
 sympathy for the Indians, and promoting just views respecting 
 measures for their improvement, I issued, in August, proposals 
 for publishing a semi-monthly periodical, to be entitled " The 
 Indian Advocate." It appeared that the press at Shawanoe 
 would be so thronged with printing Indian books, that the work 
 could not issue regularly from it ; I therefore endeavoured to get 
 a printer and press specially for this new publication. I had 
 hoped that a printer could be found who, from kindness to the 
 Indians, would make his terms of compensation easy. I opened 
 extensive correspondences, with the view of employing such 
 an one, but without success. Among subscribers for the work 
 were some of the first men in the country ; nevertheless, the 
 subscription list was too small to meet the expense of publica 
 tion, and the design was necessarily postponed, but not aban 
 doned. 
 
 In the summer, of 1834, Mr. French made a visit to Ohio, to 
 
4SO 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 look after some of his personal matters, and while there resigned 
 his situation as a missionary. His resignation was a loss which 
 we regretted. He was a pious young man, and he \vas in a 
 field where he might have been useful. He had no good reason 
 for resigning, but, like Mr. Wilson, he suffered himself to be 
 come discouraged without cause. Missions to the Indians are 
 unpopular tilings, and he who does not possess resources within 
 himself to work alone, or with few associates, to sow much and 
 reap little, to work hard without the reward of worldly honour 
 or money, to remain poor all his life for the sake of making the 
 almost friendless Indians rich, and to wait for his pay until he 
 shall get to heaven, had better not enter upon a mission to the 
 Jndians. 
 
 In November, 1834, I put in circulation, for the purpose of 
 obtaining petitioners, a memorial to Congress, praying for a mail 
 route through the Indian territory, from the northern to the 
 southern extremity. To this considerable attention was after 
 wards given, as a measure that would be convenient and useful 
 to all in the Indian territory, both white men and red. At one 
 time we thought we had made sure the accomplishment of our 
 object, but the member of Congress to wbose charge we had 
 intrusted the business, through partiality for the white settlements, 
 laid the route within the State of Missouri, and in a zigzag 
 course, in order to accommodate frontier villages, so that our 
 petition was turned to the benefit of others, and little, if any, 
 to the advantage of those in favour of the original design. I 
 was at this time not in the employment of Government ; never 
 theless, my correspondence with some acquaintances, who were 
 in authority, afforded an opportunity of promoting what were 
 esteemed necessary measures, nearly the same as if I had been 
 in a situation to do it officially. 
 
 li Bread" may be "cast upon the waters," (or seed sown,) and 
 " seen many days" after the work of sowing has been forgotten 
 as unsuccessful. Evidence of the truth of this appeared in a 
 small matter in relation to the establishing of the station among 
 the Delawares. Operations were commenced there upon a 
 very moderate scale, but not long afterwards four or five Dela 
 wares were baptized. This circumstance evidently gave uneasi 
 ness to some old Delawares, who were tenacious of what they 
 called "the Indians' religion;" and some of their influential men 
 gave us to understand, that although they would consent to have 
 a school among them for the education of their youth, they 
 would prefer that we should take no measures to make prose 
 lytes to Christianity. Jealousies, also, unexpectedly appeared 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 481 
 
 among some white men, who had some influence among the In 
 dians, and who felt less interest in Baptist missions than we did. 
 In consequence of these rather intangible obstacles, it was be 
 tween two and three years before we could fully settle the pre 
 liminaries to full and unembarrassed operations of a school, and 
 of preaching, &c. In a conference with some Delaware chiefs 
 on this subject, on the 20th of November, 1834, the chief 
 Ketchum recollected my former visits to their tribe, then in the 
 State of Indiana, and spoke particularly; of some attentions 
 which I had bestowed upon three Delawares, when confined in 
 prison in Vincennes ;* on which occasion he said he was pre 
 sent ; but of this fact I was not aware until he informed me. He 
 manifested a lively sense of gratitude, and entire confidence in 
 the proposals I was making for their benefit. Being justly en 
 titled to great respect among his people, it is believed that the 
 confidence with which he was inspired in favour of the Baptist 
 missionaries, operated not a little to promote the success of their 
 designs. 
 
 Unable to get a printing press in operation, either in the 
 Cherokee or Shawanoe country, from which we could publish 
 a semi-monthly periodical, I resolved to supply its place, as far 
 as possible, by an annual publication, entitled " The Annual 
 Register of Indian Affairs within the Indian Territory." The 
 first number of this work was published in the fore part of 
 January, 1835. The first number was something less than 
 those that succeeded. The fourth embraces ninety-six large 
 pages. 
 
 The first number wa? prepared under circumstances extremely 
 disadvantageous. I was at the time attending the death-bed of 
 a daughter, and could seldom find as much time as an hour 
 without interruption, to prepare my materials or to write; and, 
 moreover, most of the work was performed in the midst of com 
 pany. The anxieties occasioned by our deep afflictions, and 
 the difficulties which attended writing, were sometimes exceed 
 ingly discouraging, and at one time I had almost concluded to 
 relinquish the undertaking. But believing that the interests of 
 our missions, and of the work of Indian reform generally, impe 
 riously required such a work, it was prepared. I published it 
 at rny own cost, and circulated it gratuitously. One was sent 
 to each member of Congress, and to each principal man in the 
 executive departments of Government. 
 
 I requested the board to allow it to be printed on their press, 
 and published without cost to me, upon the same principle upon 
 
 * See page 55, 
 
 61 
 
482 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 which they printed other missionary matters prepared hy other 
 missionaries; but this they declined. I therefore purchased the 
 paper, and paid IVlr. Meeker for printing. It is but just, how 
 ever, to state that the charges were more reasonable by about 
 twenty dollars, in the whole, than if the work had been perform 
 ed at another printing office. But had it been otherwise, I 
 should have preferred publishing at this, on account of its loca 
 tion being in the Indian territory, and the partiality which also 
 grew out of the agenpy which it had been my happiness to em 
 ploy in its establishment, and without which, it was probable, a 
 printing press would not have been in operation in the Indian 
 country. Nevertheless, rinding it difficult at times to support my 
 family from what I earned, when in the employment of Gov 
 ernment, it would have been gratifying if the cost of this and 
 of some other printing I had done about the same time, all of 
 course on Indian matters, had not devolved upon myself. This, 
 too, was a time of poverty, with us, particularly oppressive. 
 My commission under Government had expired about the 1st 
 of August, 1834, and from that time until the 1st of October, 
 1835, more than one year, I had no public business by which I 
 earned any thing, and before the printing of the Register, my 
 funds were nearly exhausted. 
 
 I constantly kept an account of my receipts and expenditures, 
 and on the 19th of December, 1834, at my particular request, 
 the missionaries made themselves acquainted with our pecuniary 
 affairs. After an examination to their satisfaction, at a meeting 
 convened for the purpose, they certified that they found in my 
 hands only one hundred and sixty-two dollars, besides the fur 
 niture, &c., necessary for house-keeping more than when I 
 became a missionary, seventeen years before. Out of this small 
 sum, too, my printing had to be paid for. The examination of 
 the condition of my secular affairs by my missionary brethren, 
 as above staled, was requested, in the hope that a development 
 of our wants would elicit relief; but such was not the result, 
 and a painful anxiety respecting support was continued. 
 
 Between the sub-agent for the Shawanoes and the Metho 
 dist missionaries was not much cordiality. The same had been 
 the case with the preceding sub-agent. Out of this circum 
 stance, and through the influence of some mischievous white 
 men, six chiefs and principal men of the Shawanoes were in 
 duced to apply to the agent for the removal of the missionaries, 
 at the same time declaring that they were opposed to the edu 
 cation of their children, and other missionary operations. It 
 was not known that they had any dislike to the Baptists ; but 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 483 
 
 had their design been successful, the result would have been 
 alike injurious to missions of all denominations. This matter 
 appeared to be assuming a serious aspect, when, after several 
 consultations with the Shavvanoe agent, Mr. R. W. Cummins, 
 and agreeably to the request of Mr. Lykins and of a neigh 
 bouring Indian agent, I wrote Mr. Herring, the Commissioner 
 of Indian Affairs, January 19, 1835, on the subject; whose 
 answer was quite satisfactory, and all became tranquil. 
 
 A few Ottawas were, by this time, located in the Indian ter 
 ritory, and Mr. Meeker having acquired a knowledge of their 
 language, and still desiring to labour for that tribe, we had made 
 application to the Department of Indian Affairs for the formal 
 authority requisite in such cases to establish a mission among 
 them. About the 1st of February, 1835, we received, through 
 the excellent Dr. Chapin, President of Columbian College, and 
 who was at all times ready to promote the interests of our mis 
 sions, information of the success of our application. 
 
 Soon after we circulated the Annual Register of Indian Af 
 fairs, in the hope that it would awaken so much attention to 
 Indian matters as to allow us to be heard on those subjects. We 
 wrote to sundry correspondents, especially editors of religious 
 periodicals, pleading our want of more missionaries, and in proof 
 of this, referring to the facts stated in the Register. But we 
 had the mortification of classing this extra effort with many other 
 unsuccessful ones of a similar character. 
 
 March 2d, 1835, our daughter, Mrs. Givens, who had long 
 lingered in a consumption, died in our house. This was another 
 heavy stroke. She was the eighth child of which we had been 
 bereaved. But our griefs were much assuaged by the confident 
 belief that she had followed her kindred to eternal rest. Among 
 those left to mourn her loss were an affectionate husband and an 
 infant daughter. The former survived only a few months, in 
 which time his health was firm ; he professed to become a dis 
 ciple of the Lord Jesus, and was suddenly called away from 
 earth. 
 
 It has been noticed that when Mr. Lykins visited Mr. Lewis, 
 in the latter part of the year '1833, the latter was in deep afflic 
 tion on account of sickness, and that the affairs of the mission 
 were not a little deranged. Mr. Lewis recovered his health, 
 but appeared daily to diverge from the path of a circumspect 
 missionary. Notwithstanding the frequent admonitions given 
 him to the contrary, he became more indiscreet and reckless in 
 the management of his secular affairs. He CFeated debts, and 
 drew upon the board without authority. The board paid his 
 
484 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 drafts, until fidelity to those who had made them the almoners 
 of their munificence forhid it, and a draft of five hundred dollars 
 was protested. About this time he manifested an aberration of 
 mind bordering on insanity. He left the missionary station, and 
 spent some time in the white settlements in the State of Arkan 
 sas, having left the work of a missionary, but still professing to 
 be a gospel minister. Finally, he made a journey to Cincin 
 nati, in the State of Ohio, and informed Mr. H. Miller, who 
 had been in the habit of accommodating the board and its mis 
 sionaries in moneyed matters, that he had come to sell a draft 
 on the board for five hundred dollars, for the benefit of himself, 
 and another for Mr. Davis, of the same amount, not having 
 been able, on account of the scarcity of money in the Indian 
 country, to get his drafts cashed. Mr. Miller, who had not 
 yet heard of his disorderly deportment, and not doubting 
 his being, as formerly, the missionary of the board, advanced 
 him one thousand dollars. Lewis had left Cincinnati a few 
 days only, when Mr. Miller received intelligence of his apos- 
 tacy. He was followed to New-Orleans, but escaped ; hav 
 ing subjected himself to an execrable memory, and inflicted 
 a d<3ep wound upon the cause of religion and missions. It had 
 occasioned great satisfaction, and often great boldness, in the 
 face of opposition, to be able to state that, among the many who 
 had quit the missionary field, none had wounded the cause of 
 religion by infidelity in pecuniary matters. Now we were con 
 founded, and the enemy seemed to say, triumphantly, " Aha, 
 so would we have it." 
 
 Soon after Lewis had left the missionary station, and before 
 his final apostacy, the Rev. David B. Rollin and Mrs. Rollin, 
 Miss Rice, and MissColburn, arrived at the Creek station, under 
 appointments to missionary service from the board. This was a 
 welcome arrival to Mr. Davis, who was still at his post, contend 
 ing with the superadded difficulties occasioned by the recent 
 aposlacy. 
 
 Mr. Rollin and the female missionaries reached the Creek 
 country in December, 1834. The affairs of the mission again 
 became prosperous. A few disorderly members of the church 
 were excluded, other backsliders were reclaimed, and a fresh 
 impetus seemed to be given to the operations of the mission ; 
 public worship became well attended, and a small school was 
 resumed. After a few months, Miss Rice, on account of im 
 paired health, and with the advice of the board, retired from 
 the Indian territory, and some time afterwards became located 
 at the station at Sault de St. Marie, 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 485 
 
 In 1834, Mr. O'Biient, missionary among the Cherokees, 
 died, leaving Mrs. O'Brient in charge of a large family of chil 
 dren. The beard extended to her some pecuniary assistance, 
 after the decease of her husband, but she soon left the Indian 
 country. 
 
 Rev. J. Aldrich, by appointment of the board, succeeded 
 Mr. O'Brient in the occupancy of the station. He, like his 
 predecessor, became ripe for heaven soon after the commence 
 ment of his labours in the Indian territory. He died in 1835. 
 A short time previous to his death, the Rev. Chandler Curtis, 
 under an appointment of the board, reached the station, and 
 became temporarily associated with Mr. Aldrich, and on the 
 death of the latter, was left alone in charge of the station. 
 
 In 1834, the Rev. Joseph Smedley and Mrs. Smedley, from 
 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, reached the Choctaw country, to 
 fill the vacancy in the station occasioned by the resignation of 
 the Rev. Mr. Wilson. Mr. Smedley was appointed United 
 States' school teacher, and received for his support a salary 
 from the United States' Government of five hundred dollars per 
 annum. 
 
 About the beginning of 1835, Mr. Ramsay D. Potts and 
 Mrs. Potts reached the Choctaw country, and he \vas appoint 
 ed by the United States' Government a school teacher, with a 
 salary of eight hundred dollars per annum. Hence he supported 
 himself without cost to the board of missions. The reader will 
 recollect that Mrs. Potts had been associated with the mission 
 aries at Carey and Thomas, and that she was united to Mr. 
 Potts in marriage while the latter was United States' Indian 
 agent, and a boarder in the mission family. Mr. P. was not at 
 that time a professor of religion, and on account of the marriage 
 connection, her relation to the board, as a missionary, was neces 
 sarily changed. It was therefore doubly gratifying to us now to 
 have them both associated with us in the work of missions in 
 the Indian territory. 
 
 In the same year, 1835, Dr. Alanson Allen and Mrs. Allen 
 entered the Choctaw country, and he was also favoured with an 
 appointment from the Department of Indian Affairs as school 
 teacher, with a salary, which he applied to his support, of five 
 hundred dollars a year. Doctor Allen, being a physician, has 
 afforded great relief to the afflicted Choctaws around him. 
 
 About the same time, also, the Rev. E. Tucker and Mrs. 
 Tucker arrived, and he received a similar appointment, as a 
 school teacher for Choctaws, with a salary of the same amount ; 
 
486 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 so that these stations were all sustained without cost to the funds 
 which benevolence provided for missionary purposes. 
 
 March 1-st, 1835, the first number of a semi-monthly news 
 paper, printed at the Shawanoe mission house, in the Shavvanoe 
 language, was issued. This was the first newspaper ever pub 
 lished exclusively in an Indian language. It was entitled Shau- 
 wau-nowe Kesauthwau, [Shawanoe Sun.] It was small, only a 
 quarter sheet, was written upon the new system, and edited by 
 Mr. Lykins. The disadvantages under which it was prepared 
 for the press were great, and the labour considerable ; which 
 accounts for its diminutive size. 
 
 Many of the Shawanoes had, by this time, become readers of 
 their own language, and in this periodical they soon took a deep 
 interest, and sometimes contributed matter for it from their own 
 pens. These writers were adults, who lately had been wholly 
 ignorant of letters in any language, and who had recently learn 
 ed to read and write their own. This they had done without 
 regular attendance on instruction, which, in their circumstances, 
 could only be imparted by occasional visits. The facility with 
 which they acquired a knowledge of reading, and some of them 
 of writing, was alone attributable to the simplicity of the new 
 system. 
 
 It will be recollected that in 1830 we made some arrange 
 ments with the United States' agent for Pawnees, Otoes, and 
 Omahas, for the establishment of missions among them. After 
 that time, Mr. Merrill located among the Otoes. In our efforts 
 to obtain missionaries, a gentleman in the State of Indiana con 
 sented to become a missionary to the Omahas ; the board ap 
 proved him, and we obtained for him an appointment from the 
 Government as school teacher. His salary as teacher would 
 have relieved the board of all expense for his support ; but, to 
 our great mortification, he afterwards declined entering upon 
 missionary labours. 
 
 Feeling the importance of introducing the new system of wri 
 ting among the tribes as early as possible, in order that they 
 might become capable of reading religious tracts and other use 
 ful prints, an effort was made in reference to this subject among 
 the Creeks and Choctaws. In November, 1834, Mr. Lykins, 
 with the consent of the board, wrote to Mr. Davis, among the 
 Creeks, inviting him to come to the Shawanoe station, for the 
 purpose of preparing some prints on the new system, which he 
 might introduce among his people. A similar request was also 
 made of the Choctaw missionary. Mr. Davis, jp compliance 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 487 
 
 with the request, started on the journey to the Shawanoe sta 
 tion; but the distance being about three hundred miles, through 
 a country mostly open prairie, and with scarcely any inhabitants, 
 and the weather becoming exceedingly cold, he was induced 
 to turn back. 
 
 On the 1st of April, 1835, the request was renewed, and an 
 express was sent to Mr. Davis, with our communication. The 
 subject was also presented to the consideration of brethren Rol- 
 lin, Smedley, Potts, and Aldrich, suggesting the propriety of 
 their introducing the new system among the people of their 
 respective charges. 
 
 On the 2d of May Mr. Davis arrived, accompanied by the 
 Choctaw. They remained at the Shawanoe station about three 
 months ; in which time Mr. Davis and Mr. Lykins compiled a 
 school book in Choctaw, and translated into that language the 
 Gospel of John, both of which were printed. Also, Mr. Lykins, 
 with the assistance of the Choctaw, compiled a book in that 
 language, which was also printed by Mr. Meeker, all upon the 
 new system. 
 
 These Indian brethren were furnished with a small wagon, in 
 which they transported their books to their respective places. 
 Mr. Davis, on his return, had the mortification to find the intro 
 duction of his books injo use among his people opposed by the 
 
 Rev. Mr. , a missionary of another denomination in his 
 
 immediate neighbourhood, who had formed an unfavourable 
 opinion of the utility of the system. Mr. Davis, however, 
 succeeded so far as to make an experiment, which fully satis 
 fied him and others interested that the utility of the system, 
 should it be fairly tried, would far exceed their first anticipa 
 tions. 
 
 The book in Choctaw was not brought into use. While it 
 was preparing for the press, we received information that the 
 moral character of the Choctaw had been impeached by reports 
 among his own people. The board, at our instance, discon 
 tinued him in their employ, after the expiration of one year. 
 The honour of religion seemed to require this for the present, 
 though we were not in possession of evidence that he was blame- 
 able ; it was, therefore, deemed expedient that, for the purpose 
 of inquiring into this matter, of giving permanency to the ope 
 rations of some other stations, and of promoting in various ways 
 our missionary matters generally in the Arkansas and Red river 
 countries, I should visit those regions. But this design failed, 
 through the pressure of other business. The Choctaw brother 
 was, not long afterwards, called to the other world. 
 
488 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 For some months, we were so embarrassed for want of the 
 means of support, that Mrs. McCoy and I both laboured hard 
 with our own hands, whenever the imperious calls of mission 
 ary labour would admit. 1 endeavoured to procure bread by 
 cultivating a little land. About the 1st of June, 1835, our 
 necessities became so great, that I was compelled to post books 
 for a neighbouring store, in order to earn a little money to meet 
 our pressing wants. We also took a few persons to board, for 
 the same purpose. This was turning our time into a channel 
 very different from that in which the whole current of our feel 
 ings had run for the last eighteen years, and one which rendered 
 us very unhappy. Our unhappiness was increased, on account 
 of the pressing necessity which existed for missionary labours. 
 We were at this time pleading with the Baptist denomination 
 to send us twenty missionaries, all of whom, we believed, could 
 immediately enter upon labours of much promise. To be com 
 pelled, at such a juncture as this, to lose time in labouring for 
 bread, could not be otherwise than distressing to us. Moreover, 
 in the department of the missionary enterprise in which it had 
 been deemed expedient that I should employ rny time for the 
 last seven or eight years, no one, either of the Baptist or of any 
 other religious denomination, was labouring. We struggled on 
 in this way for a while, when we resolved to abandon all busi 
 ness which should materially interrupt our missionary labours, 
 and that we would not depart from this course until, for the 
 procurement of that which was indispensable to the support of 
 life, we had consumed the last article of furniture or property 
 which was necessary to common convenience in living. 
 
 Miss Mary Walton, who, under an appointment from the 
 board, spent a few months at the Thomas station, while it was 
 in charge of Mr. Meeker and Mr. Slater, was compelled, by 
 want of health, to return to New-England. Subsequently, she 
 became the wife of Mr. Blanchard, who returned with her to 
 the Delaware station in June, 1835. They were accompanied 
 by Miss Sylvia Case, who was not at that time a member of the 
 Baptist church. Subsequently, she was baptized, and, at the 
 request of the missionaries, was appointed to missionary service 
 by the board. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 489 
 
 Boarding schools. Ordination of a missionary. Indian hos 
 tilities. Journey to Washington. Boundaries of Arkansas. 
 Ottawa treaty, important amendment in favour of the 
 Thomas station. Pulawatomie delegation. Cherokee treaty. 
 Fruitless effort to effect a better treaty^. Bill for the organ 
 ization of the Indian territory. Indian notion of religion. 
 Sickness. Journey to Indiana. Appointment of mission 
 aries to the Creeks. Missionaries leave the Creek country. 
 
 Our operations at the respective stations, within the Indian 
 territory, were far less successful than they had been at Carey, 
 in Michigan, before that station was materially injured by the 
 proximity of a white population. This disparity was owing to 
 the want of flourishing schools. There we had a large number 
 of scholars boarding at the mission house, and, besides impart 
 ing religious instruction to them, we found access, on their ac 
 count, to their relatives and acquaintances; and, moreover, the 
 education of their children, and their instruction in manual 
 labour, and their improvement in comfort and in manners, were 
 all benefits which were obvious to the Indians not delayed, or 
 left to the uncertainty of the future, but promptly put into their 
 possession. They felt that they had undoubted evidence that 
 we were both willing and able to help them. Here, within the 
 Indian territory, we have not had schools of a character to pro 
 duce these desirable results. 
 
 After the seat of the board of missions was located in Boston, 
 the acting members manifested an unyielding aversion to board 
 ing schools. First, they were objected to on account of the 
 expense attending them ; and secondly, because the proper 
 work of the missionary was spiritual, and a boarding school 
 would involve too much of that which was secular. The mis 
 sionaries viewed the subject differently; they supposed it would 
 be really a saving of expense, because, by having a few scho 
 lars boarded, many others could be obtained, who would be 
 chiefly supported by their parents, and the success of schools 
 would have a tendency to increase the number of attendants 
 generally upon religious instruction, and in every way would 
 add to the usefulness of the missionary; so that a few upon this 
 plan would accomplish more for the benefit of the Indians, than 
 a .much greater number without schools, and the difference 
 in this respect would make the imparting of a given amount of 
 62 
 
490 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 benefit to the Indians less expensive to the board than could 
 otherwise be accomplished. With regard to the spirituality of 
 the work, all agreed that the ultimate object of our labours was 
 to get the Indians to heaven ; but we supposed that if a mission 
 ary, by encountering the labours of a school, and especially of 
 a boarding school, could secure the attention of ten persons to 
 religious instruction, for one without the school, that he ought to 
 indulge no scruples about the spirituality of his work. 
 
 Boarding schools are exceedingly burdensome to missionaries; 
 by them their toils and anxieties are often increased three or 
 four fold : hence some missionaries have appeared too ready to 
 admit the doctrines of the board, that boarding schools were in 
 compatible with true missionary labours; but those who have 
 been unwilling to waste their time, but desired that it should be 
 so employed as to produce the greatest possible amount of good, 
 have generally felt the importance of boarding schools. They 
 are, however, only indispensable in the savage state of the In 
 dians; as they improve in civilization, the necessity for them 
 diminishes until it disappears, and the improved condition of the 
 Indians will allow schools to operate upon the same principles 
 that they do among other civilized people, and when attention to 
 religious instruction can be secured by the same means that it 
 is in Christian lands. 
 
 Schools were opened among the Shawanoes and Delawares, 
 but few of these people sufficiently appreciated education to 
 compel their children to attend from their homes any longer 
 than they chose to do so. Moreover, few were either so com 
 fortably or so decently clothed as to make it pleasant for them 
 to attend school. This was even an obstacle to Sunday schools. 
 The board was, therefore, often entreated to allow a few scho 
 lars to be supported in the mission families, and that a small 
 amount of means might be allowed to enable them to give one 
 meal a day to children who should attend school from their 
 homes, and occasionally a garment to one who could not attend 
 without it. Among the Shawanoes and Delawares it was the 
 more necessary, because the Methodists in the same neighbour 
 hood had adopted this course, and the delinquency of the Bap 
 tist missions in this respect was greatly to the disadvantage of 
 the latter. In two or three instances, very small sums were 
 allowed by the board for this object, but enough could not be 
 obtained to admit of any systematic or regular course. 
 
 While we remained at the Carey station, and before we lo 
 cated there, we kept up an extensive correspondence with the 
 public. The result was, in regard to support for schools, that 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 491 
 
 donations of bedding and clothing often second-handed, it was 
 true, but, nevertheless, of great benefit to the Indian youth 
 were made by benevolent individuals and societies, and some 
 cash was also contributed to the funds of the board, specially 
 for the use of that station. At the same time the missionaries 
 managed their secular affairs so as to contribute much towards 
 support, to which they added their salaries from Government, 
 and completed, during four or five of the last years, the provi 
 sion necessary to meet the expenses of their operations ; and 
 doing so, they assumed to act, in the matter of schools, in ac 
 cordance with their own views. But now the condition of the 
 missionaries had become different ; the acting board at Boston 
 thought it best for contributors to their funds not to specify par 
 ticular objects to which the donation should be applied, but to 
 leave its application to the discretion of the board, which, being 
 able to take a view of all the missions at the same time, could, 
 as they thought, more certainly apply means to those stations 
 which were most needy ; and this desire of the board appeared 
 in print before the public more than once. At the same time, 
 the board requested us not to appeal to the public for help, only 
 as we did it through them. The consequence was, that our 
 missions became more and more shut out from the view of the 
 Christian public. The amount of donations in clothing, books, 
 cash, &tc., for the Indians, diminished until scarcely any thing 
 was thus received. 
 
 We were distressed, also, because very much was lost for 
 want of missionaries to fill favourable openings which we had 
 with much labour provided in different places, and in which 
 support, as teachers of schools, could be obtained from the 
 Government of the United States. In view of these things, in 
 the summer of 1835, most of the missionaries became much 
 discouraged ; and on the 27th of June, Messrs. Lykins, Simer- 
 well, and Meeker, united in requesting the board to direct me 
 to travel a few months as an agent, to collect clothing and other 
 articles for the support of schools, and to enlist missionaries, and 
 generally to give information of the condition of Indian missions, 
 in the hope that they would be better sustained. The objects 
 sought, it was believed, would be obtained without the loss of a 
 dollar of contribution to missions in foreign lands, and without 
 diminishing the number of applicants for foreign missionary ser 
 vice. The board were distinctly informed that the agency would 
 be performed without cost to them. The missions being re 
 ported as being under the patronage of the board, it was neces 
 sary that an agency of this kind should be under its authority, 
 
492 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 and ils approbation was all that was asked for; but, to our grief, 
 this was withheld. The cause we well understood to be the 
 groundless fear which they had long indulged, that Indian 
 missions would be made to attract so much attention, that a 
 proper share of public munificence would not be left for foreign 
 missions. 
 
 Dr. Bolles's letter, in answer to the above request, was writ 
 ten with studied respect, and it contained the following resolu 
 tion of the Board : 
 
 "In reference to a visit to Washington during the next winter, 
 if, in his, (Mr. McCoy's) judgment, the interests of the Indians 
 require it, he is hereby authorized to go thither, for the promo 
 tion of those interests ; and that the expenses of the journey 
 be defrayed by the board." 
 
 Our next hope was, that we might find some others who felt 
 sufficient interest in Indian missions to induce them, in their 
 journeyings, to give a clear exposition of their affairs, and pro- 
 vail upon the board to appoint them RS agents. With this 
 view, and even in the hope that their labours might be made 
 further useful in the cause of missions, a correspondence was 
 opened with the Rev. Mr. Thomas and the Rev. Mr. Duncan, 
 both worthy men, in the State of Missouri. The former visited 
 the Indian country, and at one time seemed strongly inclined to 
 enlist as a missionary, but all ended in disappointment* 
 
 On the 18th of October, 1835, Mr. Lykins was ordained to 
 the work of the gospel ministry. 
 
 For two years little had been done by the Government for 
 the benefit of the Indians, and we had occasion to regret many 
 occurrences which, it seemed, originated in the deranged state 
 of their affairs. About the first of December, a party of ten 
 or twelve Delawares returned from a hunting expedition, with 
 eleven scalps. They reported that they had detected twelve 
 Pawnees in the act of stealing their horses, and attacked them; 
 that the Pawnees fled, and endeavoured to shelter themselves in 
 a hollow place in the earth, from which only one was allowed 
 to escape, and him they let go to tell the bloody story to his 
 people. 
 
 In December, 1835, the second number of the Annual Regis 
 ter of Indian Affairs was published, and the expense defrayed 
 by the board. On the 8th of January, 1836, I again set off 
 for Washington. My health had been poor for some time, and 
 my circumstances, in regard to support for my family, were dis 
 tressing; the board would meet my travelling expenses only. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS, 
 
 493 
 
 I greatly dreaded to repeat this long journey in co uncomfort 
 able a season of the year; but urged by some of the Indians, by 
 my missionary brethren, and by others whose opinions were en 
 titled to respect, T complied. The following note is found in 
 our journals: "Mrs. McCoy consented to take the management 
 of our little matters at home, under great disadvantages, in order 
 that I might go, because the interests of the cause, to the pro 
 motion of which we have consecrated our lives, obviously re 
 quired it. So many bereaving providences and deep afflictions 
 have occurred in my absence from home, that I hardly could 
 summon fortitude to start. I set off with a heavy heart; but I 
 durst not omit what appeared to be duty, merely because the 
 performance of it would be attended with inconvenience. When 
 realizing fatigue, hunger, and cold, 1 have endeavoured to bear 
 in mind that I was labouring for the benet of people in far 
 worse condition. I have reflected on the awful responsibilities 
 which devolved upon me in relation to them, commending my 
 family to the mercy of my God, and praying for success on our 
 poor yet best efforts to promote the welfare of an afflicted and 
 almost friendless people." On this journey, in crossing the Ohio 
 river on the ice in the night, I fell, and injured rny right shoul 
 der; from which I never fully recovered. In exceedingly cold 
 weather, I travelled three weeks on horseback before I reached 
 a stage that was running. 
 
 By a treaty with the Cherokees, in 1828, the Territory of 
 Arkansas had been curtailed on its western side forty miles, to 
 make room for the location of immigrant Creeks and Cherokees. 
 This arrangement was not altogether satisfactory to the citizens 
 of that Territory, and afterwards, when they fonned a State Con 
 stitution, a hope seemed to exist that this tract, forty miles wide, 
 might some day be restored to the State. Some of the bound 
 aries of the State, in the parts affecting this matter, were de 
 scribed in rather ambiguous terms, and a " Declaration," which 
 required the action of Congress, and which accompanied the 
 Constitution, provided that when the Indian title to a tract on 
 the west of the State (embracing the said tract of forty miles in 
 width) should be extinguished, the same should belong to the 
 State of Arkansas. Had Congress sanctioned this provision, it 
 would have seemed that the removal of the Indians from this 
 country had been contemplated. 
 
 These movements in the Convention in Arkansas gave great 
 uneasiness to some of the Indians, and to their friends. It ap 
 peared to be laying a foundation for future difficulties, similar 
 to those existing between the State of Georgia and the Chero- 
 
494 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 kees, and it was well calculated to prevent the improvement of 
 those tribes, and, indeed, of all the tribes in the territory, by 
 compelling them to feel that they were not secure in their 
 present possessions. A communication on this subject, from a 
 gentleman in the Indian country, reached Washington about 
 the 20th of March, 1836, and was placed in my hands. The 
 causes of alarm were immediately communicated to some influ 
 ential members of Congress, and also a definite description of 
 the boundaries between the whites and the Indians. Happily, 
 these measures, which would have thrown doubt around the 
 permanency of Indian settlement, were defeated. 
 
 About this time the Government desired to extinguish the 
 title of the Ottawas, and of some of the Chippewas north of 
 them, to a large tract of country in the northwestern part of 
 the Territory of Michigan, and a delegation from La Arba- 
 croche, on Lake Michigan, was induced to visit Washington on 
 this business. The main body of the Ottawas was on Grand 
 river and in its vicinity, and these strongly objected to selling 
 any of their country. Twice they met in council, near the 
 Thomas missionary station, and each time resolved that their 
 country should not be sold. But being informed that the dele 
 gation from La Arbacroche would probably cede away the whole 
 without the consent of the nation, they resolved to send a dele 
 gation to Washington to prevent it. In order to appear aloof, as far 
 as possible, from any thing that would look like making a treaty, 
 they selected for all the members of the delegation, excepting 
 one, such men as were not chiefs, and who consequently were 
 incompetent to treat. For the assistance of this delegation in 
 preventing the cession of their country to the United States, 
 Mr. Slater was requested to accompany them. If these Ottawas 
 could have been induced to go west to a permanent home, the 
 extinguishment of their claims in Michigan could not have been 
 regretted, provided it were done by fair and honourable means. 
 But it was pretty soon discovered that a design existed ajuong 
 those who would have much influence in fixing the terms of the 
 treaty, to induce them to sell so much of the country as to secure 
 large annuities, &c., and then keep them still in Michigan, cir 
 cumscribed to lands reserved for that purpose ; and as all knew 
 that the proximity of white inhabitants would soon compel them 
 to leave these reservations, it evidently appeared that a perma 
 nent home for them was not contemplated, but that they were 
 expected to be removed northwestward, up the lakes. 
 
 If these plans should prove successful, the effect would be : 
 the Ottawas would be detained in Michigan a few years, more 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 495 
 
 crowded and injured by a white population than they had been 
 previously; their deterioration would daily become more rapid, 
 and then another treaty would be demanded, for the extin 
 guishment of their claims to these reservations. These trea 
 ties were looked to by many hangers-on about the Indians as 
 times when large sums of money could be obtained under the 
 title of claims, or something else. And lastly, they would follow 
 these degenerating Ottawas up the lakes to their new homes, 
 for the sake of fleecing them of their annuities. 
 
 Pending the negotiation, the delegation, which was accom 
 panied by Mr. Slater, presented, through him, to the Commis 
 sioner, a written communication, signed by all the chiefs of 
 Grand river, excepting one who happened to be absent, remon 
 strating against the ceding of any portion of their country. As 
 usual on treaty-making occasions, many of those hangers-on 
 noticed above were present, expecting to profit by the treaty. 
 These appeared to be much offended at Mr. Slater, who was 
 supposed to influence his delegation to persevere in their objec 
 tions to a sale of their country. On the 24th of March, Mr. 
 Slater came to me, apparently much distressed, and solicited my 
 advice respecting the course he should pursue. I entreated 
 him to remain faithful to the obligations he had come under to 
 the Ottawas in council before he left home. It had been inti 
 mated to him that if the treaty could be effected, provision could 
 be made for him of several thousand dollars. 1 entreated him 
 to reject every such wicked offer; reminded him that mission 
 aries, who generally exercised great influence over the Indians, 
 could many a time have enriched themselves, as traders and many 
 others had often done, by inducing certain treaty stipulations for 
 land or money, but that they had never stooped to accept of a 
 personal favour of one dollar, and that such an act would be 
 far beneath the piety of the Christian and the honourable high- 
 mindedness of the missionary. In these sentiments he appeared 
 most heartily to concur. I advised him to write immediately to 
 the President of the United States, stating the circumstances of 
 the unwillingness of the Ottawas to sell any land, and to send 
 him a copy of the remonstrance submitted to the Commissioner. 
 He requested me to write the form of such a communication as 
 I thought ought to go to the President. This I did, but it was 
 not submitted ; and, to my extreme grief and mortification, the 
 treaty was concluded, and signed by the very delegation that 
 was sent to Washington to prevent it. 
 
 Mr. Slater's plan now appeared to be to take as many Otta 
 was as would follow him, and purchase land with his money, and 
 
496 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 their annuities, within the white settlements, and there form a 
 settlement of Indians. To enable him to do this, an article was 
 inserted in the treaty, which resulted in placing in his hands six 
 thousand four hundred dollars. His plan has been carried out, 
 and he has a settlement of Ottavvas, consisting of about one 
 hundred and forty souls, around him, in the State of Michigan. 
 To heads of families, respectively, are assigned small farm lots, 
 perhaps twenty acres. He has a school, and continues to im 
 part religious instruction to the people of his charge. While it 
 is hoped that his desire and efforts to do good to the Ottawas, 
 and the matters of his settlement, will result in his satisfaction, 
 his missionary brethren think that he has erred so as to require 
 them, for the present, to suspend the usual attachments of their 
 fraternity. 
 
 Mr. Slater had never concurred with us in our views of se 
 curing to the Indians a permanent home in the West. We 
 commenced the establishment on Grand river, in the hope that^ 
 during its continuance, its influence would bear in favour of that 
 measure ; but, from the time Mr. Slater arrived his influence was 
 thrown into the other end of the scale. During his residence 
 at the station, several Ottawas made profession of religion, who 
 were believed to be genuinely pious. With this exception, it 
 is thought that it would have been better for the Ottawas if the 
 station had been discontinued about the time we closed our affairs 
 at Carey. 
 
 The experience of two hundred years has shown to every 
 body, that Indians cannot prosper on small tracts of country, 
 surrounded by people of other colour, other prejudices, and 
 other interests. If Mr. Slater's people should become the 
 owners of land, others will contrive to bring them in debt, and 
 get possession of their lands, with whatever improvements may 
 have been made thereon. It will be seen presently, that subse 
 quent arrangements made it necessary for the Ottawas, except 
 ing such as might have purchased land and settled as citizens, 
 to leave that country in the course of five years from the date 
 of the treaty. About the time that the Ottawas shall be urged 
 to leave the country, it will not be surprising if Mr. Slater's 
 settlement of Indians should increase for the moment. For 
 various reasons, some will be inclined to remain in the country, 
 and this settlement will furnish an opportunity for them to do so. 
 On this account, the formation of the settlement is greatly to be 
 regretted, because it will be keeping them from a comfortable 
 and a secure home, which has been provided for them in the 
 Indian territory, and, judging from the history of the past, they 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 497 
 
 will, during their stay, be sinking deeper and deeper in degrada 
 tion and, wretchedness. 
 
 Seeing that the treaty was likely to be made in such a form 
 that the Ottawas would be kept in an unsettled state, I visited 
 the Secretary of War, and entreated him to order things more 
 favourably. He desired me to visit the Commissioner who was 
 negotiating the treaty, and communicate my views and wishes 
 to him. This 1 declined. I wrote the Commissioner, and re 
 quested that, in the treaty, provision should be made to remu 
 nerate the board for the expenses they had incurred in erecting 
 missionary buildings, &c. The treaty, when made, provided 
 that the value of the improvements should be paid to the board ; 
 but as those improvements had been made in early times, under 
 great disadvantages, it was not to be expected that the bare 
 valuation of them at this lime would be a fair remuneration ; I 
 therefore visited each member of the Committee on Indian Af 
 fairs in the Senate of the United States, and told them the story, 
 and desired them to so modify the treaty that, in lieu of the 
 value of the improvements, the board should be allowed the 
 nett proceeds of the sale of one hundred and sixty acres of land, 
 embracing the improvements. In the mean time, the board, at 
 my request, forwarded, to rny charge, a memorial on the same 
 subject. This, with a written communication of my own, came 
 before the Committee. The result was, the treaty was amend 
 ed as we had requested. And it was also further amended, by 
 which provision was made for the Ottawas to take a permanent 
 residence in the Indian territory, after the expiration of five 
 years. This latter was an unwelcome amendment to many. 
 The treaty provided that very large sums of money should be 
 paid to the Ottawas, or in various ways expended in reference 
 to them ; and it was the wish of many to keep them in the re 
 gions of the lakes, receding constantly from the advancing set 
 tlements of the white man, becoming poorer and fewer, and 
 more degraded every day, and consequently more easily cheated 
 out of their money. 
 
 White settlements had by this time approached within a 
 fourth of a mile of the mission premises, and the value of the 
 land allowed for the remuneration of the expenses of the board 
 was very considerable, though it has not yet been realized. 
 This we pledged ourselves, both in the memorial of the board 
 and in my communication, should all be applied to the benefit 
 of the Ottawas, for educational and other missionary purposes 
 in future. Many considerations having caused me to feel a 
 deep interest in the welfare of the Ottawas, I was exceedingly 
 63 
 
498 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 gratified to find some very objectionable features in tbe treaty 
 corrected by tbe Senate, especially such as would have subjected 
 them to a lingering decline as a people, while the merciless 
 crew which hover about Indians who have money corning to 
 them, like buzzards about a carcass, would pick them bare. 
 
 Besides the two delegations from Michigan, which were in 
 Washington at this time, there was another from the Putawato- 
 mies, a people nearly allied to the Ottawas and Chippewas. 
 These latter came to plead with the Government to allow them 
 to remain on the northeast side of the Missouri river. The 
 poor creatures had misapprehended the country which had been 
 provided for them by treaty, and were praying for the privilege 
 of remaining on the northeast side of the Missouri, in a tract of 
 country from which, if their request had been granted, they 
 would soon have been crowded by white population. By treaty, 
 a place had been assigned them high up on the Missouri, on the 
 same side, by persons who did not understand the character of 
 the country. On many accounts, it was desirable that they 
 should not be located there, particularly because there their 
 residence would not be permanent. Measures w T ere introduced 
 with a view of locating them at once in a suitable country within 
 the Indian territory. In the promotion of these measures, the 
 Hon. John Tipton, United States' Senator from the State of 
 Indiana, took an active part. But action was unaccountably 
 delayed, and the Putawatomies for the present remained in their 
 encampment unsettled. 
 
 On the 23d of May, 1836, the famous, or as it has been 
 called by many, the infamous treaty with the Cherokees was 
 ratified. The carrying into effect of the conditions of this 
 treaty resulted in the entire removal of that tribe from the east 
 to the w r est of the Mississippi. It had been negotiated in the 
 autumn of 1835, by the Rev. J. F. Schermerhorn and General 
 William Carroll, commissioners on the part of the United States. 
 General Carroll endorsed the treaty, though he had been unable 
 to attend the negotiations. A delegation from a small minority 
 of the nation accompanied Mr. Schermerhorn to Washington, 
 and at the same time a delegation from the majority appeared, 
 who declared that the treaty had not been made with the Chero 
 kee nation, or by its authority, but with a small, unauthorized 
 minority. 
 
 It is not my business, in this place, to give the history of the 
 " Cherokee case," as it has been emphatically styled. It would, 
 of itself, form a large volume ; and is referred to for the sake of a 
 few facts only. Both delegations of Cherokees were composed 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 499 
 
 of men of sound judgment, and both were averse to removal. 
 The party which had signed the treaty said they had acted 
 under the ; nfluence of necessity in choosing between two evils 
 which hung over their nation. Notwithstanding their removal 
 was a severe oppression, they believed that far greater evils 
 would follow if they refused to go. The majority appeared to 
 rely upon the intrinsic justness of their cause. They made 
 good their plea by exhibiting the names of many thousands who 
 declared the treaty to have been unauthorized. 
 
 It was somewhat to the disadvantage of the majority that 
 they had more names to their memorials than there were per 
 sons in the nation of sufficient age to understand them. Never 
 theless, nothing need be more plain than that the treaty had 
 not really been made by the proper authorities of the Cherokee 
 nation; and hence, upon principles of strict justice in the case, 
 few, if any, could possibly believe that the treaty ought to be 
 ratified by the Government. But what could be done ? Most 
 of the Cherokee country had already been surveyed, and the 
 ownership of that which lay within the State of Georgia had, by 
 the laws of that State, become vested in individual citizens, and 
 the period had been fixed when each should be authorized to 
 take possession of his lot, at which time a fearful scene of 
 misery and bloodshed must take place, the very thought of 
 which was sickening to every mind. In vain was the inquiry 
 made, Have the citizens of the States interested in Cherokee 
 lands become so corrupt that they will force the Cherokees 
 from lands they have never legally alienated ? The answer was, 
 It is not that those citizens have become corrupt it is the effect 
 of a corrupt policy which existed among the whiles before the 
 formation of our Government, and was entailed upon it by that 
 Government which preceded ours ; a corruption which has pre 
 vailed in all the States of the Union, and has resulted in either 
 ridding them of an Indian population, or of subjecting the In 
 dians to a servility and degradation more hurtful to man than 
 African slavery;* a corruption by which every State has not 
 only been influenced- within its own jurisdiction, but which they 
 have unitedly authorized in the States in question. 
 
 Equally vain was the inquiry, Cannot our General Govern 
 ment protect the Cherokees from oppression by their nearer white 
 neighbours? The answer, in capitals, presented itself to every 
 man, NO. Who among the citizens of the United States are 
 willing to shed their blood and treasure in defence of Indian 
 
 * Negro slaves, under all their hardships, are prolific, The Indians vvithiu 
 tli6 States rapi lly diminish in number. 
 
500 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 rights, when not one State has admitted that they possessed the 
 rights in question? But suppose other States should enforce 
 upon the State of Georgia a more righteous policy than they 
 had themselves respectively exercised towards their Indians, 
 how would those States resist the claims of Indian tribes which 
 would pour in upon them, for lands illegally taken from them ? 
 claims not in the least differing from those of the Cherokees. 
 That no such effort would be made, or could be made, in de 
 fence of the claims of the Cherokees, was obvious to every well 
 informed unprejudiced mind among the citizens of the United 
 States. The alternative, therefore, lay between ratifying a 
 treaty which, in itself considered, nobody believed ought to be 
 ratified, or in leaving the Cherokees to perish under the miseries 
 which would soon be forced upon them. 
 
 In this painful dilemma, the resolution was formed by a few 
 to make another effort to procure a treaty which should be less 
 unfair, and less obnoxious to the Cherokees as a nation. Such 
 a proposition could not emanate from the Executive, because it 
 would imply a doubt respecting the existing treaty, incompatible 
 with its ultimate enforcement, should circumstances require it ; 
 but, under the impression that but one opinion respecting the 
 unfairness of the existing treaty prevailed in the hearts of our 
 citizens, and that any thing better would be readily adopted by 
 the Government, the responsibility was assumed, by some indi 
 viduals, of approaching the delegation from the main body of 
 the Cherokees, at the head of which was Mr. John Ross, who 
 was a man of superior talents. In the management of this 
 matter, a Senator of the United States, than whom none under 
 stood Indian affairs better, took the lead. The matter was kept 
 within a confidential circle. Several interviews with Mr. Ross, 
 or with individuals of his delegation, took place, and for a few 
 days matters seemed to promise a happy issue; and it was 
 hoped that Mr. Ross and his party would yield to the necessity 
 of the case, as a few of the nation had already done, make a 
 better bargain than the former, and secure some alleviation of 
 the sufferings of their people. It was hoped that a treaty would 
 be made which would harmonize the feelings and action of the 
 two parties, which the existing treaty had created among the 
 Cherokees. None, indeed, on the part of the Government, had 
 been authorized to treat ; but what was wanted was to know if 
 the Cherokees would agree to certain terms, to which it was 
 believed the Government would consent, in preference to the 
 enforcement of the terms of the existing treaty. But somewhat 
 suddenly, and for reasons not easily conjectured, the Cherokees 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 501 
 
 manifested an unwillingness to make a treaty, until the existing 
 one should be declared null and void. This the Government 
 could not do, without the probability of opening the door to all 
 the calamities which would attend the taking of the Cherokee 
 country by force of arms, by their white neighbours. All hope 
 of obtaining a treaty less uncongenial to the feelings of good 
 men having vanished, the treaty was ratified by the Senate in 
 the course of a day or two. 
 
 Of all others, this was the most favourable time for the Chero- 
 kees to have made their bargain relative to removal. Why they 
 did not avail themselves of the opportunity, was rather unac 
 countable, unless we suppose that, as the treaty had been long 
 before the Senate, and was not yet ratified, it was thought that 
 it might possibly be rejected. If this was the hope of the dele 
 gation, it is probable it was prompted by men who were capable 
 of giving them better advice not for the benefit of the Chero- 
 kees, but to answer some political purpose. It is believed that 
 that delegation, if left to its own good sense, possessed too much 
 information to form such a vague conjecture. 
 
 A subsequent effort in Congress developed the probability 
 that the Cherokees had been induced to hope that, even if the 
 Senate should ratify the treaty, the House of Representatives 
 would withhold an appropriation to carry it into effect, and that 
 it would be rendered inoperative, for want of means, on the part 
 of the Executive. An effort, doubtless with more apparent 
 vigour than sincerity, was indeed made to withhold the requisite 
 appropriation. It afforded a favourable occasion for party invec 
 tive, and, to a stranger to Indian affairs, it might have appeared, 
 from the long lists of bitter complaints of the cruelties recently 
 exercised towards the Cherokees, that the whole design of the 
 treaty would be thwarted by a very large majority ; but when 
 the vote was taken, the poor Cherokees learned that .although 
 party zeal ran high, the streams of sympathy and regard for 
 the Indians were "low, and that their real friends were not to 
 be distinguished by the lines which divided political disputants. 
 An overwhelming majority voted for an appropriation to carry 
 into effect the provisions of the treaty. 
 
 The bill for the organization of the Indian territory, which 
 had been before Congress the two preceding sessions, was, in 
 the opinion of some who took a deep interest in the matter, very 
 exceptionable in many particulars. To such it was a matter of 
 much consolation, that at this session the bill was so framed as 
 to embrace the subject pretty fairly. A report on the subject 
 of the bill was also made by the Hon. John Tipton, of the 
 
502 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 Committee on Indian Affairs in the Senate, which presented the 
 matter in a just light. This, it was believed by many, advanced 
 the soundest doctrine, and the most rational argument in favour 
 of ameliorating the condition of the Indians, of any thing of the 
 kind that had emanated from a member of our national legisla 
 ture. Mr. Tipton acquired great credit for the bill and the 
 accompanying report. Among the other members of the Com 
 mittee entitled to credit for this document, the name of the Hon. 
 Hugh L. White, of Tennessee, deserves to be known. Of this 
 bill, and the accompanying report, I obtained at my own cost 
 many hundreds of copies, which were distributed in various 
 parts of the United States. 
 
 Notwithstanding the reasonableness of the ground taken in 
 favour of the organization of the Indian territory, no law for 
 that object was passed. These delays were, perhaps, not at. all 
 on account of objections to the design, but owing to the pre 
 vailing indifference to the interests of the Indians. A question 
 of interest to the Indians simply, unattended by other interests, 
 usually received little attention, and was crowded out of the 
 way by other business. 
 
 Another obstacle to the passage of the bill, at this time, ap 
 peared to be a war that was raging between the Government 
 and the Seminole and Creek Indians. I fully believed that not 
 a little of the distresses of these wars were justly attributable to 
 the misdirected zeal and indiscretion of missionaries, and the 
 societies which patronised them, though among them there 
 were honourable exceptions. They had resolved, if possible, to 
 establish the Cherokees in an independent sovereign govern 
 ment of their own, on the east of the Mississippi; and they had 
 entered upon the work, and followed it up with a zeal which 
 implied a hope of success. The influence of the society most 
 conspicuous in this affair was very great, and caused newspapers 
 to teem with matter in favour of the object of their wishes ; 
 books were printed, and the tables in Congress were loaded 
 with memorials. The Indians had among and about them those 
 who communicated intelligence of these efforts, and the poor 
 creatures were deluded into the hope that they could remain a 
 little civil government within a government. The matter was 
 never fairly explained to them ; they were taught to attribute 
 their misfortunes to an unkind disposition of the President of 
 the United States, and not, as would have been proper, to a 
 ruinous policy enforced by all the States. 
 
 Of evils which cannot be remedied, we ought to choose the 
 least; and it would have, indeed, been an act of greater kindness 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 503 
 
 to those poor Indians, to have informed them that necessity 
 would compel them to go west, that neither the President nor 
 the Congress of the United States had power to prevent it, and 
 therefore they ought to make the best possible arrangement for 
 doing so, rather than to cherish false hopes of repose within the 
 States. 
 
 On no occasion had it appeared more necessary for judicious - 
 efforts to be made for the promotion of Indian interests, than on 
 the present. In aid of these matters, the Rev. Dr. B. T. 
 Welch visited Washington, and manifested not only a laudable 
 zeal for the welfare of the almost friendless Indians, but also 
 great sympathy for some poor anxious missionaries, who felt as 
 though they were labouring almost single-handed. 
 
 In the month of April, 1836, I made a hasty visit to New- 
 York, to confer with Mr. Cone on the matters of our missions. 
 One object of this tour was to prepare the way for the insertion 
 in public prints, of such Congressional and other documents as 
 were calculated to enlighten the public mind on the subject of 
 Indian affairs, and to promote a healthful action in relation to 
 them. While at Washington, I made application to the Depart 
 ment of Indian Affairs for the requisite authority for Mr. Simer- 
 well to prosecute his missionary labours among the Putawato- 
 mies, and for Mr. Rollin to be appointed school teacher among 
 the- Creeks; but the latter took a view of this matter different 
 from others, and declined the appointment. 
 
 Nearly two years had elapsed since 1 had earned any thing, 
 by services to the Government, for the support of my family. 
 Our embarrassments were well calculated to cause me much 
 distress. During my long separation from my family, under 
 these trying circumstances, Mrs. McCoy was struggling on in 
 our affairs alone. The thought of being compelled to leave our 
 missionary labour when it seemed most needed, merely for the 
 sake of earning bread by some other business, was intolerable. 
 
 Within the preceding two years, some surveys of boundaries 
 of Indian tribes had been intrusted to me, by which I should 
 have profited in a pecuniary point of view, had* not the cause of 
 Indian reform required me to make the present visit to Wash 
 ington. But the circumstance of leaving home compelled me 
 to intrust the business to another; and, while I was held account 
 able to the Government for its performance, I derived no bene 
 fit from the compensation. It was, indeed, something of a trial 
 of faith to relinquish a business which would have afforded some 
 relief when I was in debt, and daily getting deeper, for the 
 necessaries of life ; but, excepting the doubts which arose on 
 
504 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 account of our necessities, it appeared evident that I ought to 
 make the journey; and discovering that He who fed the fowls 
 had not abated his care for them, we thought he knew our cir 
 cumstances, and that it would be safe to trust him in this case. 
 
 In the midst of these painful anxieties, on the 13th of June, 
 1836, some Cherokees from the West demanded of the Govern 
 ment a patent for their land, according to treaty provisions. 
 The matter was referred to me by the Secretary of War, and 
 brought pecuniary relief, which allowed me to continue my mis 
 sionary labours without loss of time. If we except the request 
 of John Quick, the Delaware chief, in 1830, who asked for a 
 patent, but whose request was prompted by another person, this 
 was the first instance of an Indian tribe asking for a patent for 
 their land. It was a measure which we had often urged upon 
 various tribes of Indians, and one to which the Government 
 could have no objections. This tenure is very different from 
 that arising out of treaty stipulations. The latter has been 
 variously construed ; the former is unquestionable. We there 
 fore hailed this event as the appearance of another star, indi 
 cating the dispersion of the clouds which had obscured the 
 Indians' atmosphere. 
 
 For a few days before I left Washington I was sick, during 
 which time the kind attentions which I received from the Rev. 
 Dr. Chapin and his lady, and their amiable sons and daughters, 
 deserves a prominent notice. I returned to the circle of my 
 family the 26th of July, after a separation of nearly seven 
 months. 
 
 Mr. Lykins, the preceding winter, while engaged in transla 
 ting the Gospel by Matthew into the Shawanoe language, had 
 been attacked with a nervous affection of the head, occasioned, 
 perhaps, by too close application to study, which has ever since 
 rendered him almost an invalid. This was a severe drawback 
 upon our missionary operations. The work of writing, reading, 
 and printing, was advancing with increasing interest both to the 
 missionaries and the Indians, when it sustained a sudden check 
 by this affliction. Mr. Meeker, however, proceeded with the 
 work, but had too much upon his hands. 
 
 On the 6th and 7th of August, at the request of Mr. Blan- 
 chard, I attended at that station among the Delawares, with a 
 view of obviating some difficulties which the prejudices of those 
 people threw in the way of missionary operations. Indians, in 
 their original condition, differ from almost all other heathen, in 
 that they do not worship idols, and have no regularly established 
 system of mythology. This may be chiefly attributed to their 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 505 
 
 erratic habits in obtaining subsistence by the chase, by fishing, 
 and from the spontaneous productions of the earth which cir 
 cumstances almost wholly exclude the existence of society 
 among them. True, they have some religious ceremonies, but 
 these are as few as rational man can allow, and their observance 
 very lax. These unmeaning ceremonies have so little influence 
 upon the morals of the people, either for the better or the worse, 
 that we had never found it necessary to inveigh against them, 
 as we would against the worshipping of an idol, and many other 
 abominable practices among other heathen. We had always 
 deemed it sufficient to preach to them the plain truths of the 
 Gospel, and had always found that, in the light of the lamp of 
 life, the trifling character of their ceremonies became so glaring 
 that they were deserted. 
 
 Some other missionaries have taken a different view of this 
 matter, and supposed, that as they were among heathen, they 
 must take an avowed stand against all that was heathenish, and 
 that much was accomplished when they could get a party to 
 abandon what they termed the Indian religion, and draw a line 
 between the Christian party and the pagan party; when, in fact, 
 the appearance of true piety was about as faint in one party as in 
 the other. We hear of a Hindoo renouncing caste, and a Bur- 
 man forsaking the Pagoda; and because these are justly esteem 
 ed encouraging victories of truth, we are inclined to an imitation 
 of them among those who are pupils of nature and not of priest 
 craft ; not duly considering that the Indian has no more of any 
 thing like religion than he, as a rational being, is obliged to 
 have. 
 
 These views had occasioned a neighbouring mission, among, 
 the Delawares, to use the distinguishing terms of the Christian 
 party and the heathen party. This circumstance alarmed the 
 majority of the Delawares. They considered the presence of 
 the missionaries a great evil, if by them their nation was to be 
 divided into parties. " The carnal mind is enmity against 
 God" among savages as well as among civilized people; and 
 to this natural aversion to religious truth the Delawares added 
 their objections to preaching in their country, growing out of the 
 evil of creating divisions unnecessarily. They were informed, 
 at our meeting, that it was a part of our business to pray and 
 preach, and that, were we to omit these duties we should be 
 unworthy to teach even their children, and that for such delin 
 quency we should be expelled from the country by the Govern 
 ment and by our Society. The exercise of religion was the 
 64 
 
506 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 result of choice. All should be at liberty, but none compelled to 
 hear us preach. While we would instruct children in all good 
 things, we would take none of them into our church until capa 
 ble of understanding and choosing for themselves. We received 
 none into church fellowship until we believed them to be good 
 enough in heart and in life to go to God at death. To such as we 
 esteemed to be good we gave the hand, immersed them in water, 
 and occasionally sat with them at table, to taste bread and wine. 
 All this we did because the book of God required it. Never 
 theless, in all the social relations in life, we made no difference 
 between the members of our church and other people. We did 
 not desire to divide the Delawares into parties. The Bible did 
 not require it. Among the whites we had some who were reli 
 gious and some who were not ; but nobody ever thought of de 
 scribing them as the heathen or sinful party, and the Christian 
 party. On the contrary, we were one people, as citizens and 
 neighbours. We desired the Delawares to remain one people, 
 and ever to be kind and affectionate to one another. They 
 were desired to notice the instruction imparted in schools and 
 by preaching, and were assured that they would never hear any 
 thing that would be hurtful ; and that in the nineteen years that 
 we had been preaching to the Indians, and otherwise instruct 
 ing them, none had pointed out any improper instruction which 
 we had given them. We were happy to find that they imbibed 
 juster notions of the duties of missionaries than those w ? hich had 
 lately given them uneasiness, and that they were apparently 
 much gratified to discover their mistake. 
 
 Henry Skigget was a Delaware, who had become a member 
 of the church, and who, during three or four years, had mani 
 fested a laudable desire to promote the cause of religion among 
 his people. Aware of the advantages which natives possess 
 over others of doing good to the Indians, we encouraged him to 
 greater exertion. On the 30th of August, 1836, we put into 
 his hands some money, &c., to enable him to employ two- 
 thirds of his time in missionary labours, while, for the present, 
 the other third might be employed in matters necessary for 
 the support of his family. In the mean time we recom 
 mended him to the board, which gave him an appointment for 
 one year. He was a modest, unassuming young man, and, as 
 we thought, calculated to commend to his countrymen the reli 
 gion of the Lord Jesus. For reasons, not distinctly understood, 
 he was not reappointed by the board a circumstance which 
 we regretted though a hope is still indulged that his services 
 may be obtained. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS, 507 
 
 Mr. Lykins had not entirely recovered from the severe attack 
 of the preceding winter, and Mrs. Lykins was also in bad health. 
 In the hope that travelling would be beneficial, they both set 
 out on a journey to Indiana and Michigan, on the 15th of Sep 
 tember. At the same time an important trust was confided to 
 him, relative to the selection of the one hundred and sixty acres 
 of land, the proceeds of which had been secured to missionary 
 purposes by the Ottawa treaty. About this time, also, Mr. 
 Meeker's health became poor, so that he could not work in the 
 printing office, and was not able to do much any place. On 
 account of the afflictions of Mr. Lykins and Mr. Meeker, the 
 operations of the mission among tlje Shawanoes were in a de 
 plorable condition. Miss Brown, who had accompanied Mr. 
 and Mrs. Merrill to the Otoes, was about this time married to a 
 gentleman not connected with the mission, and of course her 
 connection with it ceased. 
 
 In the summer of this year the Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Kellam 
 were appointed missionaries, and sent to Arkansas, with the de 
 sign of strengthening the Creek mission. On account of an 
 other cloud of difficulty which appeared to be gathering about 
 the mission, Mr. Kellam stopped in the vicinity of the superin 
 tendent, and laboured some months among the Chociaws, and 
 partly in conjunction with Mr. Smedley. 
 
 On the 4th of November, 1836, Mr. Rollin and family ar 
 rived at our place, having left the Creek country under the fol 
 lowing circumstances. A report had been put in circulation that 
 
 a Mr. I , a Methodist missionary who taught a school in the 
 
 Creek nation, had conducted very improperly. This report was 
 seized by three white men, two of whom resided in the Creek 
 country in the character of traders, and the other was married to a 
 Creek woman, and urged upon the Indians as a reason why all the 
 missionaries should be expelled from the Creek country. Mr. 
 Rollin was at this time quietly and successfully prosecuting his 
 missionary labours. The Rev. Mr, Fleming and Dr. Dodge, 
 two Presbyterian missionaries, were located in the vicinity of 
 Mr. Rollin. These three being men of unblemished character, 
 whose reputations could not be reached by such charges as that 
 
 propagated against Mr. I , the expedient was resorted to 
 
 of persuading the Indians, some of whom owned negro slaves, 
 that these missionaries taught the slaves that they were entitled 
 to their freedom. Although the missionaries regretted the 
 existence of slavery in the Indian country, they had prudently 
 forborne to meddle with the subject. Mr. Rollin had been so 
 
508 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 scrupulously precise upon this point, that lie had refused to 
 teach the slaves to read in his Sunday school, notwithstanding 
 they had often entreated him to instruct them. 
 
 Oh the 31st of August a council of the Creeks was convened, 
 ostensibly for objects unconnected with the present matter. 
 While on the ground, some of the chiefs were taken into the 
 woods, apart from the company, by the three white men alluded 
 to above, and a paper, written by the clerk of one of the traders, 
 was presented to them for their signatures. This purported to 
 be a communication from the chiefs to the commanding officer 
 at Fort Gibson, requesting the immediate removal of all the mis 
 sionaries from the Creek country, assigning for reasons the crime 
 
 alleged against Mr. I , and charging all with the crime of 
 
 teaching their slaves that they were entitled to liberty. As this 
 sweeping request involved Mr. Rollin and the two Presbyterian 
 missionaries, whom all the Indians believed to be good men, and 
 against whom not the shadow of crime, nor even of indiscretion 
 in the matter of slavery, had been proven, the chiefs shrunk from 
 the act of signing the paper presented to them, and it was some 
 time before the most subtle arguments which mischievous minds 
 could invent induced them to sign the communication. The 
 particulars of this transaction were, soon afterwards, confiden 
 tially communicated to us by an eye witness of undoubted veraci 
 ty, and whose name could not be made known without exposing 
 him to personal injury. 
 
 This spurious communication reached the acting superin 
 tendent of Creek affairs, who was then at Fort Gibson, and a 
 few days afterwards a letter from him found its way into the 
 Creek country, of which the following is an extract : 
 
 " Fort Gibson, September 9, 1838. 
 
 tl To the missionaries within the Creek Nation : 
 
 " GENTLEMEN : I enclose you a letter from the chiefs, &tc. I 
 am aware that it has always been the object of the Government 
 to encourage and protect missionary labours among the Indian 
 tribes, and I regret that your labours have not been such as to 
 satisfy the Indians. The charges set forth are of such a cha 
 racter that- 1 cannot advise the Indians for your continuance. 
 The fact that Mr. I , a missionary, &tc., [stating the crime 
 of which he was accused,] is so revolting to the sacred charac 
 ter of the missionary cause, that I cannot but deeply regret it. 
 Under the excitement which J know exists among the Creeks, 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 509 
 
 it is my duty to state to you, frankly, that your situation is not 
 safe. I would therefore hope that you would not add further 
 difficulties by remaining, and that you will see the necessity of 
 withdrawing from the nation. 
 
 " Respectfully, &c., 
 
 To Mr. J I , 
 
 " And other Missionaries in the Creek Nation." 
 
 Only one copy of this was sent, and that, it will be perceived, 
 was addressed to Mr. I , with whom the Baptist and Pres 
 byterian missionaries had no more connection than the author of 
 
 the communication. It was not even sent *to Mr. I , but 
 
 found its way to Roily Mclntosh, the principal chief of the 
 Creeks ; and it had been in his possession some days, when the 
 rumour of its existence reached Messrs. Fleming and Dodge, 
 who called and took a copy of it. Some hundreds of the males 
 of a party of two thousand three hundred Creeks, who had 
 recently emigrated from the seat of the Creek war, on the east 
 of the Mississippi, had been carried to the West in irons. 
 Great fear was felt at Fort Gibson that the unkind feelings which 
 these Creeks, just forced from the land of blood, under these 
 grating considerations, would enkindle a war in the Arkansas 
 country. The circumstances were so alarming that the com 
 manding officer at Fort Gibson called on the Governour of the 
 State of Arkansas for military assistance. It was during the 
 existence of such fears as these that the Indians ascertained 
 that the missionaries were without protection. The latter, 
 without delay, left the country. In this they erred. Instead 
 of leaving, they ought to have appeared before the superin 
 tendent immediately, and stated to him that they were the 
 agents of respectable societies, peaceably discharging their 
 duties under the authority of the Government, and, as such, 
 claimed his protection as the agent of the Government. This, 
 under a proper appeal, he could not have withheld. The 
 charges had not been investigated, to ascertain whether any one 
 was guilty or innocent ; nor were they asked if they had any 
 thing to say in their justification. 
 
 Before Mr. Rollin left with his family, the Creeks held a 
 council at his school house, and declared there, in public coun 
 cil, that Mr. Rollin was innocent of all charges implied in their 
 former communication to the superintendent. 
 
 The following winter, while I was in Washington, Dr. Bolles, 
 
510 
 
 HISTOltY 0V BAPTIST 
 
 Corresponding Secretary, under date of February 8th, 1837, 
 requested me to apply to the Department of Indian AiFairs for 
 justice to be done to the board and to their missionary, Mr. Rol 
 lin. I accordingly addressed a letter to the Commissioner of 
 Indian Affairs, of which the following is an extract : 
 
 " Washington, D. C., March 8, 1837. 
 
 " SIR : The Rev. Dr. Bolles, Corresponding Secretary, &LC., 
 having inquired of you the reasons which induced the expulsion 
 of their missionary, the Rev. D. B. Rollin, from the Creek 
 country, I addressed you, on the 13th of February last, request 
 ing that, agreeably to the desire of Dr. Bolles, your reply to his 
 letter should be communicated to me, 
 
 " I now beg leave, respectfully, to state that I am not aware 
 that any just grounds for the expulsion of Mr. Rollin existed. 
 So far as 1 have been able to inform myself, he stood per 
 fectly fair. His morals were good, his conduct discreet and 
 unassuming, and his ministry was, in an uncommon degree, suc 
 cessful. I am not aware that any specific charge has been 
 made against him, either by the Indians or any one else. I 
 have seen a paper, signed by chiefs the 31st of August, 1836, 
 in which they say that " the missionaries told their slaves that 
 they should be free." Mr. Rollin says that, so far from doing 
 any thing to render their slaves uneasy under their bondage, his 
 course has been precisely the reverse. Though often impor 
 tuned by slaves, he has refused to teach one of them to read, 
 either in a Sunday school or in any other way. 
 
 " You will perceive that the intercourse law, for the removal 
 from the Indian country of persons not authorized to remain 
 there, does not apply to the case of Mr. Rollin. He was au 
 thorized to stay there, as the agent of the Baptist board of mis 
 sions, performing labours at a station authorized and patronised 
 by the Government, so long as he conducted himself properly. 
 
 " The operations of the board were so successful that, prior 
 to hearing of the expulsion of Mr. Rollin, it had sent another 
 missionary [Rev. Mr. Kellam] to labour in conjunction with 
 him. A large church, a considerable portion of the members 
 of which are natives, has been deprived of the ordinary benefits 
 of a gospel ministry, by the unfortunate occurrence under con 
 sideration. We have no doubt that it is the design of our 
 Government, that all under its control should be allowed to 
 worship God according to the dictates of their conscience, and 
 under this impression t appeal to your goo.dness, sir, to give 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 511 
 
 the subject your favourable consideration. I make this appeal 
 with the more satisfaction because of my firm belief that there 
 will be found no obstacle to prevent the board of missions from 
 reoccupying their missionary station. 
 
 " Please to direct your crmmunication to the Rev. Dr. 
 Bolles, Boston. 
 
 "" I have the honour to be, &c., 
 
 " ISAAC McCoY. 
 "C. A. HARRIS, Esq., 
 
 " Commissioner of Indian Affairs.'' 1 
 
 The following is an extract of a letter that followed : 
 
 " War Department, Office of Indian Affairs, May 12, 1837. 
 
 "SiR: Your letter of February 8th, requesting to be fur 
 nished with the reasons that induced the removal of Mr. Rollin 
 from the Creek country, was duly received. Several commu 
 nications were received from Mr. McCoy, on the same subject, 
 during his visit in this city. 
 
 " The petition of the chiefs imputed to a missionary in their 
 country a crime which called for his immediate expulsion. As 
 a natural consequence, a feeling of disaffection towards all 
 the missionaries was excited in the minds of the Indians. Look 
 ing to the extent and degree of this feeling, the acting super 
 intendent advised them all to withdraw. In approving this 
 advice, it was by no means my intention that all means and 
 efforts to improve the Indians would be abandoned, or that the 
 residence of teachers and missionaries among them would be 
 prohibited. But it seemed obvious that but little good, if any, 
 would be accomplished while the feelings of the Indians were 
 unchanged. Desirous that the stipulations for the benefit of 
 the Indians shall be carried out to their full extent as soon as 
 circumstances will permit, I have this day addressed a letter to 
 
 , [the acting superintendent] on this subject, of which I 
 
 enclose a copy, and which, I trust, will be satisfactory to you 
 and your associates. 
 
 " Very respectfully, &ic., 
 
 "C. A. HARRIS, 
 " Commissioner of Indian Affairs. 
 
 " Rev. Lucius BOLLES, Boston, Massachusetts" 
 
 The following is an extract from the letter referred to in the 
 foregoing : 
 
512 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 " War Department, Office of Indian Affairs, May 12, 1837. 
 
 " SIR: The recommendation given by you to the mission 
 aries in the Creek country to withdraw from it, in consequence 
 of the excitement existing against them in the minds of the In 
 dians, was approved at the time, from the obvious consideration 
 that they could render but little service while that excitement 
 lasted. But as a specific charge has been made against only 
 one of the number, it seems unreasonable to persist in the ex 
 clusion of the others, out of regard to an undefined feeling of 
 dislike entertained by the Indians. The great duty of the Go 
 vernment is to apply, in the most beneficial manner, the means 
 placed at its disposal, by treaties or otherwise, for the advance 
 ment of the Indians; and I regard the permanent establishment 
 of schools, and the residence of competent teachers among them, 
 as the most important of these means. You will impress these 
 views on the minds of the chiefs, and also the unreasonable 
 ness of depriving their people of all instruction because one of 
 the instructers had behaved improperly. You will inquire par 
 ticularly into the causes of their aversion to the settlement of 
 teachers in their country, and if you find that there is no spe 
 cific allegation, you will say to them, distinctly, that the teachers 
 will be invited to return and resume their labours, under the 
 protection of the Government. 
 
 " Very, &c., 
 
 " C. A. HARRIS, Commissioner." 
 
 [Directed to the Acting Superintendent.] 
 
 Under date of August 7th, 1837, the board requested me to 
 attend to this matter, in person, on Arkansas. The propriety 
 of Mr. Rollin's conduct, while he was a missionary in that coun 
 try, was confirmed ; but having been a considerable length of 
 time labouring among the Shawanoes, the expediency of his 
 returning to the Creek country, irrespective of former consider 
 ations, had become doubtful. Mr. Kellam was about this time 
 appointed, by the acting superintendent, United States' school 
 teacher, according to a treaty stipulation, and resumed the occu 
 pancy of the mission buildings, and again put things into opera 
 tion ; and Mr. Rollin remained among the Shawanoes. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 513 
 
 Cherokee station. Omahas. Death. Journey to Washing 
 ton. Treaty with Putawatomies. Baptisms. Tour in the 
 wilderness. Seat of government of the Indian territory, 
 fyc. Missionaries arrive at Shawanoe. A design to get 
 the Indians' lands. Periodical account published. Annual 
 Register. Establishment of the Ottawa station. Establish-- 
 ment of the Putawatomie station. Half-breed lands. Bill 
 for organizing the Indian territory laid before the different 
 tribes. Putawatomies divided. Baptisms. Three delega 
 tions examine the country. 
 
 Mr. O'Brient, though a worthy good man, had made an inju 
 dicious selection of a site for his station, on his entering the 
 Cherokee country. He had, no doubt, been misled by the ad 
 vice of some in whom he placed too much confidence, and who 
 afterwards turned out to be troublesome neighbours. He soon 
 found himself unpleasantly situated. Mr. Aldrich, who lived 
 to occupy the station a short time only after the death of Mr. 
 O'Brient, was in the same manner annoyed by some who lived 
 near, who were inimical to the institution. On the decease of 
 Mr. Aldrich, Mr. Curtis soon had to contend with the same 
 difficulties. There were neighbourhoods among the Cherokees 
 favourable for usefulness, but buildings having been erected at 
 considerable cost, the missionaries were reluctant to quit them. 
 
 Mr. Curtis, however, soon found his solitary situation there 
 so unpleasant, being without an associate, that he abandoned the 
 station, and, early in the spring of 1836, came on to the Sha 
 wanoe station. Mr. Lykins proposed that he should locate 
 among the Omahas, in which place we had been endeavouring 
 to establish a mission during the last six years, and which design 
 had been prevented only by the want of missionaries. He ob 
 tained for Mr. Curtis the appointment of United States' school 
 teacher, with a salary of four hundred and eighty dollars a year, 
 to date from the commencement of his actual services on the 
 ground. Shortly afterwards, he and Miss Colbourn were mar 
 ried. On the 12th of November, they left the Shawanoe sta 
 tion for the Omahas, a distance to the northwest of about three 
 hundred miles. They stopped at Mr. Merrill's station among 
 the Otoes, and spent the winter there. It was to be regretted 
 that, up to the spring of 1837, various causes had prevented 
 65 
 
514 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 Mr. Curtis from performing any useful labour in the Indian 
 country. 
 
 The affairs of our missions, at this time, were such as could 
 not be contemplated with satisfaction. The Cherokee station 
 had been abandoned ; the Creek station nearly broken up ; two 
 of the stations among the Choctaws were under a cloud ; Mr. 
 Lykins, on account of ill health, was absent from the Shawanoe 
 and Delaware mission ; Mr. Meeker was afflicted with a breast 
 complaint, which was a great hinderance to him ; the unaccount 
 able delay of the Government to locate the Putawatomies kept 
 them in an unsettled state, which made the obstacles to Mr. 
 Simerwell's efforts for their benefit great, the amount of his 
 labour small, and his actual usefulness still less. These discou 
 raging circumstances were not only felt by the missionaries, but 
 by the board. Under date of November llth, 1836, Dr. Bolles 
 wrote as follows, (after speaking of the difficulties among the 
 Creeks, &tc.) : " Whether we shall ever be able, amidst the 
 adverse influences which pervert the Indians, and render them 
 hostile to their best friends, and to measures for their improve 
 ment, finally to do them permanent good, is more and more 
 doubtful." The discouraging circumstances which had prompted 
 these doubts of the corresponding secretary were well under 
 stood, and keenly felt, by us. We inquired, as appears from a 
 note in the journal : " What is to be done, when clouds of ob 
 stacles thicken around us? Shall we give up all for lost, and 
 sit down in despair? No ! Lord help us to hold on to the work 
 of Indian reform with both hands ; and should they, by adverse 
 matters, become tied so that we cannot use them, let us cling to 
 the subject in any way by which it can be reached ; and should 
 we be forced from it beyond the reach of efficient effort, let us 
 die with eyes directed towards this wretched race, and hearts 
 praying to thee to show them mercy." 
 
 The anxieties of Mrs. McCoy and myself were greatly aug 
 mented by the severe indisposition of our daughter, Mrs. Ward, 
 who, 'by a pulmonary affection, appeared to be rapidly drawing 
 near her end. She had come to our house to allow us the 
 opportunity of realizing the painful satisfaction of her society in 
 her last illness ; and now, to add poignancy to all our griefs, 
 matters again seemed imperiously to call rne to Washington. 
 The board had kindly offered to pay my travelling expenses, 
 should I go ; and with us all, only one opinion prevailed relative 
 to the necessity of the case, excepting the doubts which arose 
 from the probability that I should meet my daughter no more, 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 5 i 5 
 
 until the morning of the resurrection. Of eight deaths among 
 our children, five had occurred in my absence, ana 1 in three in 
 stances 1 had left them on their death-beds. Now to repeat 
 this heart-rending self-denial, though in a cause which seemed 
 to justify a great sacrifice, required more fortitude than could be 
 collected from earth. For many weeks we sought direction 
 from Heaven by prayer, and the painful separation was deferred 
 lor eight days after all things were in readiness for my departure. 
 Our daughter understood the urgency of the call for me to leave 
 her, and, from regard to the interests of that Cause which lay 
 near all our hearts, she cheerfully consented to give me the 
 parting hand a few days before she extended it to others. 1 
 left home on the 17th of December, 1836. I saw her no 
 more she died on the 10th of February. Still it was evidently 
 safe to trust in God. Though our daughter died under bodily 
 pains, which for many days were so acute as to press to the 
 extreme the tenderest sympathies of those around her, it seemed 
 that the blessedness of heaven reached her bed of suffering as 
 distinctly as the rays of the sun extend to earth, and that on a 
 beam of glory from Paradise she ascended towards a brighter 
 world, as she receded from this. 
 
 My journey eastward was commenced in inclement weather, 
 and attended with difficulty the whole distance of sixteen hun 
 dred miles. Across the State of Missouri I travelled sometimes 
 on horseback and sometimes in the stage. December the 20th, 
 and the nights preceding and following, the mail carrier lay by, 
 on account of the severity of the cold storm in the prairies. 
 Twice I found great difficulty in crossing the Missouri on the 
 ice. I reached St. Louis by a circuitous route of fourteen days' 
 journey. Stages were not running in the States of Illinois and 
 Indiana, and by some means the quantity of ice in the Missis 
 sippi diminished so much as to induce boats to run. I took one, 
 but shortly it was obstructed by ice, so that passengers were 
 compelled to abandon it. By the hiring of horses, I reached 
 Louisville in eleven days after I left the boat. I reached Wash 
 ington, after a wintry journey of more than five weeks, on which 
 I had been twice upset in the stage. 
 
 We had long lamented that the Putawatomies should unne 
 cessarily be kept in an unsettled state. A delegation of that 
 tribe from Michigan, to which one was added from the Missouri 
 river, was in Washington on business. Believing this to be a 
 favourable occasion for the adoption of measures for their bene 
 fit, in reference to their future and permanent location, I con 
 ferred with the Hon. .1. Tipton, United States' Senator from 
 
516 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 Indiana, who had already taken a deep interest in this matter, 
 and now was glad to find an opportunity of accomplishing a 
 measure which he had in vain hoped for from resolutions intro 
 duced into the Senate two years before. A treaty with the 
 delegation was concluded on the llth of February, 1837, in 
 which it was stipulated that a country on the Osage river, within 
 the Indian territory, of sufficient extent, &ic., should be con 
 veyed to the Putawatomies by patent. This measure, we 
 rightly judged, would place that tribe in a suitable place, where 
 Mr. Simerwell might make a permanent location among them, 
 and render himself more useful than he had been for a few 
 years previously. 
 
 Some matters of interest in Indian affairs received attention 
 during this session of Congress, but the bill for organizing the 
 Indian territory of all others the most important measure was 
 not passed. The only difficulty appeared to be a want of suffi 
 cient interest in the subject, to bring it to a vote. Could Con 
 gress have been induced to act upon it, there was good reason 
 to believe that their action would have been in favour of the 
 bill. 
 
 About eighty miles from my family, as I was -returning to 
 them, I had a severe attack of sickness, on the 20th of March, 
 1837, which for some hours threatened to deprive me of the 
 pleasure of seeing them ; and I was compelled to lie by until 
 1 was met by Mrs. McCoy and my son, and conveyed home 
 in a carriage. Mr. and Mrs. Lykins were still absent. Mis 
 sionary affairs had improved. One Shawanoe, and two Sha- 
 wanoe females, and one Delaware, had been baptized. Some 
 obstacles to a school, in English, among the Delawares, taught 
 by Mr. Blanchard, had appeared ; nevertheless, teaching in the 
 Indian language had been prosecuted with success, and about 
 thirty had, within a short time, learned to read on the new 
 system. 
 
 Within the last seven years we had repeatedly requested the 
 proper authority to reserve within the Indian territory a tract of 
 land for the seat of Government, embracing land enough for the 
 formation of a considerable settlement, in which Indians of any 
 tribe might locate. This year I received instructions to make a 
 selection of a suitable tract for this purpose. With this object 
 in view, and for the purpose of fixing a location for an agency, 
 and of acquiring information of the country, preparatory to the 
 permanent location of the Putawatomies, I left home on the 20th 
 of April, 1837, on a tour of thirteen days in the wilderness. On 
 this tour I was accompanied by Mr. Simerwell and Mr. A. L. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 517 
 
 Davis, United States' Indian agent, both of whom were interest 
 ed in the objects for which the tour had been undertaken. 
 
 The extent to which ideas may be communicated by signs, to 
 and from some Indian tribes, w 7 ould appear almost incredible to 
 one who has had no experience in this mode of intercommunica 
 tion. As Indians become acquainted with white men and acquire 
 a few words of their language, their skill in this matter diminishes. 
 Among the Choctaws, Cherokees, and Creeks, the traveller will 
 frequently fall in with an Indian whom he cannot induce to speak 
 English, and who probably understands very little, with whom 
 it will be exceedingly difficult to exchange ideas by signs. The 
 Osages and Kauzaus are remarkable for their skill in these signifi 
 cative communications. On the 25th of April I left the prin 
 cipal part of our company in camp, and with a few men made a 
 day's tour of observation in the surrounding country. We fell 
 in with an Osage hunter, who was wholly ignorant of English ; 
 and I knew nothing of his language, excepting the name of his 
 tribe and the name of the river Neosho. Nevertheless, upon 
 inquiry, I received from him the following information, in nearly 
 the same length of time in which it could have been communi 
 cated by words, viz : The Little Osage village was beyond the 
 river, at a distance which I was made pretty well to understand, 
 with one tributary stream on this side of the river and two 
 beyond it, intervening between us and the village. He had left 
 his home about ten o'clock on the morning of that day, [the de 
 scribed height of the sun gave the time,] and he had since been 
 hunting in places described. He then inquired of me where I 
 had encamped on the preceding night, and where I intended to 
 encamp on the following night, and requested permission to en 
 camp with us; to all which 1 gave him satisfactory answers. 
 In travelling back to our camp, a distance of several miles, he 
 proposed turning off, for the purpose of hunting, when I repeat 
 ed to him information respecting the place of our encampment, 
 which he well understood, and came and spent the night with 
 us. In the performance of duties enjoined by instructions, I 
 sent my son Calvin, the 25th of April, on a long tour in the 
 prairies, for the purpose of completing the survey of the exte 
 rior boundaries of the Cherokee country. 
 
 May the 14th, 1837, Mr. J. G. Pratt and Mrs. Pratt, from 
 Massachusetts, under appointment of the board, arrived. Mr. 
 Pratt was a printer, and came to take charge of the printing 
 office, in place of Mr. Meeker, who was preparing to settle 
 among the Ottawas. On the 17th, Mr. and Mrs. Lykins re- 
 
518 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 turned from llieir long absence ; the health of whom was some 
 what improved, but not confirmed. 
 
 In the preceding winter an attempt, on a small scale, had 
 been made to introduce into the Indian territory a principle 
 which, in its effects, would have become subversive of all that 
 gives security to the Indians in the possession of their lands. A 
 man, whose opportunities had given him reputation and influ 
 ence, conceived the idea of improving his circumstances, which, 
 through bad management, had become much embarrassed, by 
 obtaining a location among the Delawares. By his address he 
 had acquired a great influence over them ; he professed great 
 regard for them, pointed out ways in which he could promote 
 their interests, and proposed that they should lease to him, for a 
 given length of time, a mile square of land within their country. 
 To a measure of this kind the consent of the Government of the 
 United States was necessary. Four Delawares, therefore, two 
 of whom were chiefs, were induced to accompany him to Wash 
 ington, to present to the Department of Indian Affairs the re 
 quest that the Government would allow the conveyance to be 
 made, to which they attached some other requests. To a gen 
 eral council of Delawares these matters had been presented in 
 a' manner so plausible that the council Had agreed to pay the 
 expenses attendant on the journey out of the next annuity which 
 'they would receive from the United States. In the mean time, 
 their flattering friend was to advance money on loan to them. 
 
 Soon after the departure of the delegation, the propriety of 
 what they had done was questioned by the tribe. They in 
 formed me of the circumstance, and that they had even gone 
 so far as to request the Secretary of War to advance to the dele 
 gation what funds they should need, and deduct the amount 
 from the annuities due the Delaware nation. They now repent 
 ed sorely of their error, and wrote a letter, through their agent, 
 to the Secretary of War counter to the former. 
 
 It was evident, that if the Delawares, or any other Indians, 
 should be allowed the liberty of leasing land to white people, 
 their country would soon be tilled with the latter, and they would 
 be crowded out. If liberty should be given to lease for a feiv 
 years, the same principle would admit of a lease of many years ; 
 and if allowed to lease to one man^ they would be allowed to do 
 the same to another. The consequence would be, that valuable 
 tracts of land would be wrested from them. First, such as lay 
 nearest the white settlements would be secured to white men, 
 who, by paying the chiefs liberally, or to their satisfaction, even 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 5 19 
 
 should the consideration be ardent spirits, would purchase their 
 consent to lease these lands. The principle of leasing would, 
 in fact, he tantamount to the privilege of selling. 
 
 Such attempts as this to break over the partition wall between 
 the white and Indian settlements, which we believed the Gov 
 ernment had not yet made sufficiently secure, were alarming to 
 the friends of the Indians ; and there were some who felt it to 
 be their duty to be ever on the alert to detect them, and nip 
 them in the bud. Contrary to the high expectations of the 
 delegation and their conductor, the Department of Indian Af 
 fairs refused to transact any business with them. Their petition 
 was received, and they were informed that an answer should be 
 returned to their nation, not through the delegation, but through 
 their agent at their home. They now found themselves without 
 the means of returning to their homes, the resources of their 
 conductor having become exhausted. At the request of the De 
 partment of Indian Affairs, I brought them to their homes at 
 my own expense, which the nation afterwards reimbursed to me. 
 On the 20th of May I attended a council among the Delawares, 
 when this matter was finally settled, and a mischievous design 
 against the Indians was once more frustrated. 
 
 We had hoped, more than once, that arrangements had been 
 made which would early result in the permanent settlement of 
 the Putawatomies, among whom Mr. Simerwell might resume 
 his labours with success , but difficulties hung upon the subject, 
 which required the utmost vigilance to obviate. On the 31st of 
 May, a party called to make inquiry respecting the country to 
 be assigned to them, and, after much conversation with them, 
 they proceeded on their way to examine it, and Mr. Lykins 
 accompanied them. He was also appointed by the agent, Mr. 
 Davis, to assist in the management of .affairs for a while, in refer 
 ence to getting them into the country suitable for them. We 
 had already perceived that a design had been conceived by 
 some, who desired to profit by the misfortunes of these people, 
 to get them to a remote place to the north, unsuitable, because 
 none could hope that they would there be allowed a secure resi 
 dence ; and, in event of their settling there, we should not have 
 thought it expedient to incur the expense of preparing mission 
 buildings for Mr. Simerwell. We therefore felt a deep interest 
 in the judicious location of these people, for whom we had so 
 long laboured. 
 
 In the fore part of June, I put in circulation a pamphlet of 
 fifty-two pages, entitled " Periodical Account of Baptist Mis 
 sions in the Indian Territory." This was printed on o,ur press 
 
520 
 
 HISTORY OP BAPTIST 
 
 at the Shawanoe mission, at my own cost. It was circulated 
 gratuitously in the different States in the Union, and was design 
 ed to supply, in some measure, the information which the public, 
 and the Baptist denomination in particular, needed, respecting 
 the condition of missionary affairs. The design of the work will 
 be understood by the following extracts from the u Introduction." 
 
 " This work has not been undertaken to gratify a fondness 
 for writing, but because such a work is obviously needed. In 
 'the American Baptist Magazine, which is the chief vehicle of 
 missionary intelligence of the board of managers of the Baptist 
 General Convention, there is little room for matters relating to 
 missions among the aboriginal inhabitants of our country. The 
 operations of the board in Asia, Africa, and Europe, have be 
 come so extensive, that a monthly pamphlet of twenty- four 
 pages, is scarcely sufficient to keep before the eye of the public 
 the condition and prospects of missions in those countries, ex 
 clusive of accounts of missions among the Indians. It is true, 
 the Magazine does not wholly overlook Indian missions, and 
 some extra publications are also issued, embracing reports of the 
 proceedings of the General Convention, and of its board ; but 
 still there has not been room, in the publications which have 
 heretofore appeared, for such an exhibition of Indian missions 
 as is necessary to a just understanding of their condition. 
 
 " We believe we may safely state, as a fact, that the condi 
 tion, wants, and prospects of Baptist missions among the Indians 
 have not, at any time since their commencement in 1817, been 
 fully held up to public view. This is necessary for eliciting 
 energetic efforts in support of them, and, for want of it, they 
 have not been liberally sustained. Besides some three or four 
 of the acting members of the board, and the missionaries, we 
 believe there is not a person in the United States who possesses 
 a tolerably correct knowledge of the history of our Indian mis 
 sions, or who could at this time give to an inquirer a correct 
 account of the number, location, condition, and prospects of the 
 stations, or who could point out the places at which missiona 
 ries are needed, or the extent of the demand for more mission 
 aries. We should be happy to find that we have been mistaken 
 in this matter, and the discovery would relieve us from the 
 labour of the present undertaking. But we are lamentably cer 
 tain that we are not mistaken. We have been in the missionary 
 field ever since 1817, and have carefully noticed every item of 
 information presented to the public, that has come within our 
 reach. We have been so situated that, we believe, nothing 
 material has escaped our notice ; and we feel confident that he 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 521 
 
 who would write even a brief history of Indian missions, or 
 who would exhibit a faithful account of them, as they at present 
 exist, would be obliged to have recourse to other sources of 
 information than public prints hitherto issued. 
 
 " We bring no accusation against any one. We barely state 
 what we believe to be undeniable facts ; and these facts prove 
 the need of a publication devoted chiefly or exclusively to In 
 dian missions. Public journals must have their limits. They 
 can contain a given amount of matter, and no more. If, then, 
 while existing journals are well filled, some things of importance 
 remain unnoticed, we feel the necessity for an additional peri 
 odical. The judicious selection of matter for the public jour 
 nals of the Baptist General Missionary Convention cannot 
 have failed to be gratifying to the whole denomination. In 
 looking into those prints, we find nothing that ought to be 
 omitted. We may, therefore, pretty safely say there is not 
 room in them for accounts of Indian missions. No doubt, if 
 missionaries to the Indians were to compile a few numbers of 
 the Magazine, and of some other religious journals, they would 
 increase the number and length of articles relating to the almost 
 friendless people among whom they labour ; but this does not 
 argue that the publishers ought to depart from the course which 
 has hitherto appeared to them proper. Though those prints 
 contain clear evidence that their authors have strong partialities 
 for foreign missions, yet they are such partialities only as men 
 have a right to exercise. 
 
 " When missions are brought to view, whether in a plain his 
 torical account, or in a pathetic appeal to the benevolent for 
 help, in men or means, Indian missions appear to occupy only 
 a second, a third, or a tenth place in the estimation of the writer. 
 There are many causes which operate to produce this partiality, 
 of some of which we shall take occasion to speak at another 
 time. It is sufficient for our present purpose to mention that 
 such is the fact ; and that in this fact is seen the necessity for 
 some other periodical, on the subject of missions, than has yet 
 appeared. We do not think that too much attention has been 
 bestowed on foreign missions ; and we should write with a 
 trembling hand, if we thought that, by praying for more assist 
 ance to Indian missions, the amount of support to the former 
 would be diminished. 
 
 " We do think that too little has been done for the In 
 dians. Of this we feel so well assured, that we cannot suppose 
 any one will undertake to say that we are mistaken. We are 
 equally confident that increased efforts in favour of Indian rnis- 
 
 66 
 
522 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 sions, so far from injuring, will promote those in foreign lands, 
 as certainly as the latter are promoted by the Home missionary 
 cause, or by Bible societies, both of which, it is well known, 
 promote the cause of foreign missions. 
 
 " We shall hardly be accused of having entered upon our 
 present work rashly, when it is understood that for about nine 
 teen years we have struggled under the disadvantages which 
 necessarily result from a want of information on the part of the 
 public, on the subject of Indian missions ; and that now, in the 
 twentieth year, these evils are, in proportion to the sum of mis 
 sionary operations generally, greater than they were during the 
 first three or four years of our service. The inconveniences of 
 which we speak have been common to all among the Indians. 
 
 " It will appear in the sequel, that men are more needed than 
 means. The want of the latter (we mean food and raiment 
 for missionaries) is often lessened by the industry and economy 
 of the consumers. By their personal efforts, also, means are 
 sometimes obtained from the Government of the United States, 
 and from benevolent societies and liberal individuals. This de 
 ficiency of missionaries in the Indian department shows a want 
 of something to enlist the sympathies of such as have a thought 
 of devoting their lives to missionary labours. Such persons, in 
 looking around for a field for future operations, naturally con 
 sult the public prints ; and their choice is not a little influenced 
 by the apparent interest which the Convention takes in the 
 several missions. Moreover, in the absence of definite informa 
 tion respecting Indian missions, they read glowing accounts of 
 missions to other nations, and pressing calls for labourers, with 
 extended prospects of usefulness. Amidst these justly anima 
 ting matters, a few poor ignorant Indians are almost or entirely 
 forgotten. Seldom do we hear any thing more encouraging in 
 relation to them, than a sigh, or a despairing exclamation 
 " Poor creatures ! They have been very much oppressed ; we 
 ought to do them all the good in our power. * Be ye warmed 
 and be ye filled.' ' Here the matter begins and here it ends. 
 Few give themselves the trouble of looking into either the 
 cause or the extent of their sufferings ; and, generally, con 
 science is quieted by a kind of cold consent, that they may live 
 and get to heaven, if they can do it without our agency. Un 
 der these circumstances, it must be expected that there will be 
 but few candidates for missionary service among the Indians. 
 
 " In bringing before the public this periodical, we arrogate no 
 privilege, nor do we assume a different attitude from that which 
 we have long sustained. If the course which we have pursued 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 523 
 
 in our missionary efforts has not been the best, yet it has been 
 such as conscience dictated, and such as our dearest friends in 
 missionary matters approved. To the work of Indian reform 
 we have consecrated the little all we possess, of * time, talent, 
 and resources.' We have but a piece of a short life re 
 maining the only life we are to live upon earth ; the hand 
 which writes these words must soon be paralyzed. We have 
 a ' long time,' in a manner, * holden our peace,' partly because 
 we knew that others could, and hoped they would speak, while 
 we, being in the missionary field, might perform labours which 
 they could not ; and partly because the labours in which we 
 were employed seemed not to allow of time to enter upon such 
 a work as this. 
 
 "The Indian territory is the principal field for missionary la 
 bour. The propriety of colonizing the nearer tribes, and of doing 
 it upon this ground, is now generally admitted. Here, under 
 some very important changes of circumstances, which we think 
 encourage the hope of ultimate success, an experiment is to be 
 made in Indian reform. When the effects of our present ope 
 rations shall have been somewhat developed, new fields of 
 labour may be entered. 
 
 " The work is issued gratis, because the price of a small 
 pamphlet, appearing only once a year, would be too inconsider 
 able to be worth the cost and trouble of collecting. 
 
 " While we have the satisfaction to believe that in the -publi 
 cation of this periodical we have the hearty acquiescence, both 
 of our missionary brethren here and of our brethren abroad, 
 it is proper to state, that we alone are responsible for its appear 
 ance and for its contents. 
 
 " As a writer, we have no reputation to lose, nor are we in 
 great trouble on account of its being equally certain that none 
 will be acquired. We write for the benefit of more than four 
 millions of our fellow beings, who are incapable of pleading for 
 themselves, who are perishing under evils to which no other 
 people upon earth have been exposed, and evils not at all under 
 their control, but fully under the control of white men. They 
 are the original inhabitants of our country, and, as such, have 
 peculiar claims upon us. Their condition, depraved and 
 wretched as it may be, is only what ours would have been, had 
 we been placed under similar circumstances. The kind hand of 
 Providence has graciously made us to differ ; and in this differ 
 ence is found a solemn obligation to help them. In the discharge 
 of this obligation, we have, among other things, undertaken this 
 work : intending to tell our own story, and to tell it in our own 
 
524 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 way ; and that way shall be such as we believe will most faith 
 fully exhibit the facts of which we treat." 
 
 About the 1st of July, 1837, the third number of the Annual 
 Register of Indian Affairs was issiTed. In this number we r re 
 commended that measures should be taken to ascertain the 
 number and condition of the remote tribes, of whom little was 
 known. We have narratives of journeys, &c., among the 
 remote tribes, but few are faithful. Most of them have been 
 written with an air of romance, for the sake of pleasing the 
 fancy, and not for the instruction of the mind. Much that is 
 written is not true. First, it is not the design of the writers of 
 some of these works to state the truth, but, to make a book 
 that will feed the imagination ; and, secondly, few traverse those 
 regions who are not engaged in the fur trade, and these seldom 
 have either time or inclination to make such observations as 
 would be useful in the work of Indian reform. For example, if we 
 desire to civilize the remote tribes, it is desirable to know whether 
 they occupy a country favourable for the residence of civilized 
 man for agricultural pursuits, for instance. Now, we have no 
 knowledge of a book in existence, which would enable a farmer 
 in one of our States to form a correct idea of the suitableness 
 of any country west of the Rocky mountains for agricultural 
 purposes. The accounts of various persons, so far as we have 
 them, are discordant ; and even the statements of individuals, 
 in this respect, are often contradicted by their own story. More 
 over, it is important that we contemplate the Indians as a whole, 
 and not as small detached bands, in reference to which, the inter 
 est felt in their improvement seems to be limited by the paucity 
 of their numbers. 
 
 With a view of collecting such information as it was believed 
 the cause of Indian reform required, respecting the locations, 
 numbers, and condition of the tribes, and the character of the 
 countries they inhabit, so that the schemes of benevolence for 
 their improvement might be carried forward more efficiently, it 
 was proposed "to commence a series of tours, which would pro 
 bably require several years to complete. It was thought that 
 the scientific and other information which could be acquired 
 would, in its publication, ultimately compensate the loss of time 
 and money, though, at the commencement, considerable sa 
 crifices would be made. This design was approved by several 
 respectable periodicals and many private correspondents, and 
 two gentlemen, well calculated for the service, offered them 
 selves, but a sufficient number of competent persons have not 
 yet been found to enter upon the work. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 525 
 
 Mr. Meeker had long desired to be at liberty to employ his 
 time wholly among the Ottawas, a knowledge of whose lan 
 guage he had acquired. The arrival of Mr. Pratt, to take 
 charge of the printing office, afforded an opportunity for grati 
 fying this desire; and he, with Mrs. Meeker, left the Shawanoe 
 station, and took up their residence among the Ottawas, in June, 
 1837. About the same time, also, Mr. and Mrs. Simerwell 
 located among the Putawatomies, within the Indian territory. 
 This was an event to which we had long looked with deep 
 solicitude. We considered this station to be a continuation of 
 the Carey mission, transplanted from Michigan to this place. 
 
 It is a fact, in which has originated many obstacles to the 
 securing of the Indians in their possessions in the Indian terri 
 tory, that they who have negotiated treaties with them have 
 paid little regard to giving permanency to their new settlements. 
 Treaty stipulations in relation to the territory have commonly 
 been made merely with a desire to make an arrangement to re- 
 moye the Indians out of the way of white settlements, and to 
 grant them an abode only until % the approach of white settle 
 ments shall require another removal. 
 
 Among other circumstances which were liable to result in 
 injury to the Indians, by the ingress of whites west of the line 
 of demarcation, was a reservation of one hundred and forty-three 
 thousand acres within the territory, made at a treaty in 1830, 
 and which land had been provided for certain half-breeds of dif 
 ferent tribes. The treaty made it necessary that the claimants, 
 if they required it, should respectively receive patents for their 
 land. Now, it was feared that it would turn out that some of 
 these claimants were more of white blood than of Indian, and 
 holding their individual tracts by patents, and these tracts lying 
 immediately adjoining lands subject to settlement by white 
 people, that white men might be lawfully introduced on to them, 
 or that the claimants would be authorized to sell their respective 
 claims to citizens of the United States ; in either case, the door 
 would be opened to the ingress of a white population into the 
 Indian territory, and, most likely, without the possibility of 
 again closing it. This subject had been submitted to the con 
 sideration of Mr. Harris, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 
 who had instructed me to look to it to ascertain who were the 
 proper claimants, and to decide whether it would or would not 
 be expedient to subdivide the reservation among them, and give 
 to each a patent. 
 
 I reported in favour of marking the exterior boundaries of 
 the entire tract, so that it might not embarrass assignments of 
 
526 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 land to be made to others; and these surveys I caused to be 
 made, but the subdividing of the land, and the issuing of patents, 
 I believed, would be followed by the worst of consequences ; 
 and, in order to obviate all difficulties which attended the sub 
 ject, 1 recommended that measures be taken, without delay, to 
 extinguish the claims of the claimants, none of whom resided 
 on the land, or ever expected to do so, and very few of whom 
 were within the Indian territory. This course was adopted, and 
 a gentleman was sent to negotiate for the extinguishment of the 
 claims of the owners. To find them, and negotiate with each, 
 or with his guardian or proper representative, would require 
 some labour; but as the work had been assigned to an agent 
 who was under yearly pay, and whose other duties would not 
 hinder the discharge of these, it was hoped that the matter 
 would speedily be adjusted. But when his report was made, it 
 unfortunately appeared to the Department of Indian Affairs 
 that his purchases had not been made of the real owners, or 
 their legal representatives, and hence the negotiations were not 
 submitted to the Senate for ratification. By this means an" un 
 desirable delay has occurred in the settlement of this affair 
 important, because the one hundred and forty-three thousand 
 acres are needed for emigrants; and still more so, because it in 
 volves a principle in its tendency subversive of Indian interests, 
 and well calculated to render the settlements within the Indian 
 territory precarious. 
 
 On the 16th of June, I reported to the Department of Indian 
 Affairs proposed locations for the Putawatomies, Ottawas,* 
 United Putawatomies and Chippewas, New- York Indians, Wy- 
 andauts, and Miamies. These selections were confirmed by the 
 Department, and surveys ordered to be made as far as the cases 
 at that time required. About the same time, I selected a site 
 for the Osage river sub-agency, and a valuable tract of about 
 seven miles square, in a central portion of the territory, for the 
 seat of government, which tract 1 caused to be immediately 
 surveyed. 
 
 It had been supposed to be a necessary measure to bring to 
 the consideration of the respective tribes the bill which, for seve 
 ral years, had, in some shape, been before Congress, for the 
 organization of the Indian territory. Hence, the Department 
 of Indian Affairs had been induced to instruct me to perform 
 this duty. The first council on this subject was among the 
 
 * A wiiall band of Ottawas had received an assignment of land, which I 
 had caused to be surveyed in 1832. None, of the other tribes referred to Jiad 
 yet entered the country designed for them. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 527 
 
 Delawares, on the 28th of June, 1837. The languages of In 
 dian tribes do not embrace a word which properly means law, 
 because they have ever been destitute of laws. It may, there 
 fore, easily be conceived that the technicality which would 
 necessarily be attached to a law of Congress, of seven or eight 
 sections, could not fully be understood, without presenting the 
 substance in a form better suited to the Indians' modes of think 
 ing. In order to bring the subject fairly before them, such a 
 form as the case called for was prepared, and accompanied the 
 bill itself. The substance of this condensed document, though 
 written somewhat in detail, may be inferred from the following 
 response of the Indians, showing in what manner they under 
 stood it : 
 
 " C. A. HARRIS, ESQ,., 
 
 " Commissioner of Indian Affairs. 
 
 "Sin: We, the undersigned, chiefs and headmen of . . . . , 
 met in council, have heard read to us, by Isaac McCoy, a paper 
 which you had sent h-irn, and which has been under considera 
 tion in Congress, for the benefit of the Indian tribes within this 
 western country, to which, through the same person, we now 
 return our answer, which we request you to lay before Congress. 
 
 " The substance of the paper to which we allude, we under 
 stand to be as follows, viz : 
 
 " 1st. The country between the Puncah and Red rivers, 
 and southwest of Missouri river, and west of the States of Mis 
 souri and Arkansas, to the distance of two or three hundred 
 miles, is to be set apart exclusively for the use of Indians, 
 excepting the amount necessary for military posts, roads, and 
 public highways, and for the residence of such persons as may 
 be allowed to reside in the Indian country, by the laws regula 
 ting intercourse with the Indian tribes ; and that the lands 
 granted to the tribes, severally, shall be secured to them by 
 patents from the Government of the United States, under such 
 restrictions as shall secure the lands from becoming the property 
 of an adjoining State or Territory, or of either individuals or 
 companies of white persons. 
 
 " 2d. The superintendent of the Indian district shall call into 
 general council, once a year, or oftener, a prescribed number of 
 chiefs or principal men, appointed by their respective tribes, ac 
 cording to directions given them. That in this council the 
 tribes, by their representatives, shall unite for purposes of peace 
 and friendship, and shall make such regulations for the benefit 
 of the confederacy as may, from time to time, appear necessary ; 
 
528 
 
 HISTORY OK BAPTIST 
 
 the said regulations to be submitted to the consideration of the 
 President of the United States, and not to take effect until ap 
 proved by him. That all tribes within the territory be at liberty 
 to join the confederacy, and that none be required to do it with 
 out its consent; and that each tribe may make its own internal 
 regulations, consistently with those of a general nature. 
 
 " 3d. That the confederation shall send an Indian as its dele- 
 gale to Washington, to remain there during each session of 
 Congress, to attend to such matters as the interests of the con 
 federation or of the tribes, and individuals, severally require, 
 whose pay and emoluments shall be equal to those of a member 
 of Congress. 
 
 " With the foregoing propositions we are well pleased, and 
 we do earnestly request the President and Congress of the 
 United States to carry them into effect as soon as practicable." 
 
 This subject was brought to the consideration of the Dela- 
 wares, Shawanoes, Kickapoos, Putawatomies, Kauzaus, Sauks, 
 loways, Weas, Piankashas, Peorias and Kaskaskias, and Otta- 
 was, respectively, and a similar response obtained from each, 
 addressed to the Department of Indian Affairs, in the form of a 
 petition that the plan should be carried out. 
 
 At the councils held for the above objects, tobacco was freely 
 distributed. The first thing to be done in council is to place 
 the tobacco on the floor, in the centre. During the council, 
 any one uses it that chooses; and at the close they appoint a 
 man to divide it, so that each may obtain a piece. 
 
 Every tribe, excepting the Kauzaus, seemed to attach very 
 much importance to the subject, and seriously considered it. 
 The Shawanoes, after the matter was presented to them on the 
 first day, remained in council among themselves, deliberating on 
 the measure, all the succeeding night. This series of councils 
 furnished an exemplification of what has been remarked in an 
 other place that little difficulty would attend the transaction of 
 business with Indians, when it is designed to do them justice, 
 were it not for mischievous white men who are always found 
 hovering around them, so that it may properly be said that it is 
 the management of those white men that occasions difficulty in 
 Indian negotiations. I endeavoured to obtain a council of the 
 Delawares and of the Shawanoes, before the matter had become 
 so notorious as to afford an opportunity for the intrusion of mis 
 representations by white men. In this I was successful among 
 the Delawares, and with them there were no scruples respecting 
 the propriety of the measures proposed ; but before a second 
 council could be convened, which took place among the Shawa- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 529 
 
 noes, that tribe had been told that my object was to purchase 
 their country from them, and to propose their removal. They 
 came into council expecting to hear me make propositions to 
 extinguish their claims to the country they inhabited. When, 
 therefore, they heard propositions precisely the reverse, and it 
 was explained to them to be a measure necessary to their future 
 security and prosperity, they were astonished, and it was thir 
 teen days afterwards before they gave me an answer, within 
 which time they had been in council four different times. Hav 
 ing satisfied themselves that the reports they had heard respect 
 ing the design of the plans of the Government were erroneous, 
 they sent a messenger to inform me that they were ready to 
 meet me in their council house and deliver their answer, and 
 requested me at the same time to bring to the council a pretty 
 liberal present of eatables. I returned answer, that although I 
 was delivering to them a talk from the President, I had no pre 
 sents to make, because they were not required to yield any 
 thing; the propositions were for their benefit, without asking 
 them to relinquish any thing ; nevertheless, I would afford them 
 an opportunity of smoking freely. 
 
 Almost all white men who mingle with the Indians, in the 
 Indian country, are opposed to the plan of organizing an Indian 
 territory, and of rendering the Indians secure in their possessions. 
 First, there are white men married to Indian women, who iden 
 tify themselves with the Indians as much as possible, and are 
 permitted to remain in the Indian country. Those who have 
 preferred savage to civilized society do not desire the improve 
 ment of the former. Secondly, traders can make more profit 
 able speculations on poor, ignorant, suffering Indians, oppressed 
 beneath their wants and woes, than upon a people in more com 
 fortable circumstances ; and hence they prefer the present con 
 dition of the Indians to one improved. And, thirdly, the agents 
 employed by the Government easily perceive, that by the im 
 provement of the condition of the Indians they will become capa 
 ble of managing their own matters, and that the necessity for 
 agents will vanish. None, in either of the three classes, would ven 
 ture upon open opposition to Government, which would afford 
 a tangible ground of complaint, and might occasion their removal 
 from the Indian country. Nevertheless, there are a thousand 
 ways in which these men can keep an influence continually bear 
 ing upon the Indians, dampening, in its tendency, to all improve 
 ment. In reference to the measures under consideration, I am 
 acquainted with few exceptions among the traders and agents. 
 
 Most of the tribes have each a council house. That of the 
 67 
 
580 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 Shawanoes is a hewn log building, erected by themselves, about 
 thirty feet wide and eighty feet long, and one story high. It con 
 tains one apartment only, without either upper or under floor. 
 There is a door in each end, but no window, excepting three 
 small holes on each side, about as high as a man's head when 
 seated, resembling the apertures for the use of small-arms in a 
 block-house. Openings in the roof allow the smoke of the fires 
 on the earth, in the centre, to escape. The roof is a kind of 
 very ordinary shingling with boards. The only seat is a con 
 tinuation of hewn logs, laid along the walls. The sides of the 
 building are kept in place by cross beams, resting upon two rows 
 of wooden pillars. On one side of one of the pillars, nearest one 
 of the doors, is carved in relievo the figure of a rattlesnake, about 
 five feet long ; and on the other side, the likeness of a snake, 
 without the rattle. On two opposite sides of one of the pillars, 
 nearest the other door, are carved, in relievo also, uncouth 
 resemblances of the human face, somewhat larger than life, par 
 tially painted, and with a twist of tobacco tied to the pillar, cross 
 ing immediately above each figure. On each of two opposite 
 sides of a pillar, in the interior, is carved, as above, the figure of 
 a turtle, coloured, so as to increase its resemblance to the living 
 animal. Metal is inserted for eyes; from which, on the late 
 occasion, I discovered a person wiping the dust, and increasing 
 their brilliancy by rubbing. 
 
 The Delawares had lately taken two scalps from some re 
 moter tribes, with whom they ought to have remained at peace, 
 and the Shawanoes, being their allies, were presented with one 
 of them. This was brought into the council by the principal 
 war chief, suspended to the end of a wooden rod, about five feet 
 in length, and which was stuck into the wall, and projected so 
 as to render the scalp conspicuous. Both the rod and the scalp 
 were stained with red paint, the emblem of blood. 
 
 Mr. Curtis, who had left the Shawanoe station in the autumn 
 of 1836, wkh the view of establishing a mission among the Oma- 
 has, had stopped and spent the winter at Mr. Merrill's station, 
 among the Otoes. By this indiscreet course the time had all 
 been lost he having in that place no opportunity of studying 
 the Omaha language, or of forming an acquaintance with them ; 
 and, moreover, his salary from Government, as teacher, would 
 not be allowed until he actually commenced his labours among 
 the tribe. His delay, therefore, had unnecessarily occasioned 
 expense to the board for his support during the time. On the 
 21st of May, 1837, he arrived at our place, ostensibly with the 
 design of employing workmen to erect the requisite buildings 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 531 
 
 for his station. He spent more than two months in our neigh 
 bourhood ; within which time it was plainly perceived that he 
 was disinclined to go to the Oinahas, and would prefer a loca 
 tion among the Delawares. Mr. Lykins was superintendent of 
 affairs among the Delawares, and united with some others in be 
 lieving that it would be better for Mr. Curtis to adhere to the 
 original design of locating among the Omahas, and encouraged 
 him to do so. The board had placed in the hands of Mr. Ly 
 kins money for the erection of buildings for the Omaha station, 
 and he employed workmen, &,c,, and Mr. Curtis was prevailed 
 upon to set off again, with the view of making the location. 
 
 Prospects were such as promised a pleasant reward to discreet 
 missionary labours among that rude people. The favour of the 
 Government had been secured, and the appropriation of the 
 board, to meet the expenses of commencing the station, was 
 liberal. We had commenced the preliminaries for the formation 
 of a station there in 1830. One, whom both the board and the 
 Government had approved, had disappointed us by afterwards 
 declining to enter upon missionary labours, and we should have 
 been exceedingly mortified to have experienced an entire failure 
 in the present case. 
 
 The poor Putawatomies, in whose welfare we felt the deep 
 er interest, on account of some of us having laboured among 
 them several years, seemed destined to feel the consequences of 
 a bad management of their affairs. Dr. James was appointed 
 sub-agent for a band which some were endeavouring to take to 
 a country high up Missouri. They had been encamped about 
 a year near Fort Leavenworth, in charge of A. L. Davis, Esq. 
 He had, by a recent order, been directed to the site chosen for 
 him on the Osage river, and was likely to take all or nearly all 
 the Putawatomies with him to the home provided for them per 
 manently. But the appointment of Dr. James turned the cur 
 rent of their wishes. He was entreated by us to use his influ 
 ence to induce the Putawatomies to locate in a place from 
 which, it was believed, they would not have occasion to remove. 
 But he had resolved on taking as many of them as possible up 
 the Missouri. Nobody pretended to think that they would be 
 allowed to remain there ; but the agent argued that they could 
 not find any place from which they would not be forced by 
 white men. He was a pious, good man ; but, like many others, 
 had concluded that the Indians would inevitably perish, and 
 therefore their sympathies extended no further than to the alle 
 viation of [\\epains of dying, and to the erection of tombstones 
 
532 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 or monuments to their memory. He supposed that the idea oi' 
 giving a permanent home, civil institutions, &tc., to Indian tribes, 
 was chimerical. He found about the Putawatomies a class of men 
 ready to concur with him in his views, though actuated by very 
 different motives. Large annuities were provided for the Puta 
 watomies, and a large amount for improvements in farms, smith- 
 eries, &c., and for schools; and it was desirable to those men 
 to get the Putawatomies located in that remote place ; and while 
 they remained there, in their uncultivated condition, their annu 
 ities could be easily secured. They had a scheme on hand, 
 also, by which they hoped to monopolize their trade, and when 
 the time should come for Government to remove them, (having 
 made some landed improvements, which must be abandoned,) a 
 large amount of money would again be involved in the stipulations 
 of the treaty, of which these hungry parasites expected a boun 
 tiful portion. 
 
 Notwithstanding the views of their agent, the Putawatomies 
 hesitated to go up the Missouri ; but, to accomplish the purposes 
 of those who expected to enrich themselves by the measure, (in 
 which designs it is not believed that the agent participated,) a 
 report was put in circulation that the Putawatomies designed to 
 make war upon the neighbouring whites. Never was there an 
 attempt made to propagate a more unreasonable alarm. There 
 were about a thousand Putawatomies, including men, women, 
 and children, living^in camp, and receiving daily rations of food 
 from the Government of the United States, and destitute of 
 means to enable them to make war. Fort Leavenworth was 
 seven or eight miles to the west of them, and they were 
 completely surrounded by a white population. Under these 
 circumstances it would seem impossible for any man in his senses 
 to believe that they were about to make war upon their white 
 neighbours. 
 
 The protection of the frontier was in charge of General 
 Gaines. He, without waiting for orders from Washington, 
 gathered the Putawatomies together, and conveyed them up the 
 Missouri to the place contemplated. This removal occurred 
 between the 20th and last of July, 1837. It appeared that the 
 Department of Indian Affairs had not anticipated this removal 
 at that time, for, on the 21st of July, the Commissioner of In 
 dian Affairs, Mr. Harris, wrote General Atkinson, assigning 
 to him the matter of removal, and enjoining on him to endea 
 vour to get their consent to go to the country set apart for them, 
 within the Indian territory. Unfortunately, the Indians had 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 533 
 
 been taken up the Missouri before these orders came to hand. 
 A copy of the instructions to General Atkinson was forwarded 
 to me, for the purposes mentioned in the following letter : 
 
 " War Department, Office of Indian Affairs, July 21, 1837. 
 
 "SiR: I enclose, for your information and government, the 
 copy of a letter to General Atkinson, of this date, from which 
 you will learn the views of the Executive in relation to various 
 matters connected with the removal and location of the Puta- 
 watomie Indians ; and I have to request that you will co-operate 
 with the other officers of the Government in forwarding them 
 by all proper means. 
 
 " Very respectfully, &ic., 
 
 "C. A. HARRIS, Commissioner. 
 " Rev. ISAAC McCoY, Westportj Missouri." 
 
 The Putawatomie tribe had now become divided. Mr. Davis, 
 the agent for those within the territory, with Mr. Lykins tem 
 porarily appointed to assist him, was collecting as many as he 
 could within his agency, which embraced, also, several other 
 tribes. Those in favour of their locating on the Missouri were 
 vigilant, and, having no consciences to embarrass them, reported 
 to the Putawatomies, who had not yet decided at which place 
 they would settle, that the Government desired all to go up the 
 Missouri. Emigrants from Michigan and Indiana were still 
 arriving, and some pains were taken by us, and not without suc 
 cess, to let them know the nature of the instructions to Gen. At 
 kinson and others, which had emanated from the Department of 
 Indian Affairs, on that subject. Soon after this, the sub-agent 
 for the Missouri Putawatomies was transferred to the Osages, 
 and it is possible that the views he had taken of Putawatomie 
 affairs contributed not a little to this change of place. 
 
 From the 3d to the 15th of August I was in the wilderness 
 and at Indian villages, locating the settlements of the Sauks and 
 lowas, in which I was assisted by my son, and in holding coun 
 cils with them, and with the Kickapoos and Putawatomies. 
 
 In passing the burial ground of the lowas, it was singular to 
 see most of the corpses resting upon platforms constructed on 
 forked stakes four or five feet high. Each one was encased in 
 a temporary coffin, made of the bark of a tree, or by the exca 
 vation of the trunk of a tree, or by split timbers clumsily fas 
 tened around it. The ground was a prominent elevation, a 
 fourth of a mile from the village. I attempted to approach it, 
 but found it too offensive to admit of a careful examination. 
 We sometimes find the dead deposited in this manner among 
 
534 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 other tribes, but the cases are rare. Here it appeared to be the 
 common mode of disposing of the dead. 
 
 On returning from this tour, I spent a Sabbath at the Dela 
 ware station. Pretty early in the morning I found a young 
 Delaware in the house of worship, studying the new system of 
 reading. He understood very little English, and until a few 
 days before, had no knowledge of letters. Mr. Blanchard in 
 formed me that this was only the fourth time he had called to 
 spend a few hours in receiving instruction, and he was now 
 reading slowly, and was able to join us in singing hymns in the 
 Delaware language. We regret that these striking instances of 
 the facility with which the natives learn to read their own lan 
 guage should receive so little attention. It is probable that 
 upon the principles of orthography this young man would never 
 have exercised patience to learn to read. 
 
 Between the 15th and 20th of August, I held councils with 
 the Ottawas, Peorias and Kaskaskias, and Weas and Pianka- 
 shas. On the 27th, a Delaware was baptized, and also a white 
 woman who resided at the Delaware station. 
 
 From the 28th of August to the 6th of September, assisted 
 by my son, I was in the wilderness for the purpose of showing 
 delegations of Chippewas and Ottawas, from Saganaw, and 
 from Swan creek and Black river, between Detroit and Lake 
 Huron, the lands that had been set apart for them in this coun 
 try, and for the purpose of pointing out to the Putavvatomies 
 the place for their settlements. 
 
 The annual report of Mr. Davis, agent for the Putavvato 
 mies and several other tribes, for September of this year, recom 
 mended to the favourable consideration of the Commissioner of 
 Indian Affairs the new system of writing. This was the first 
 official notice taken of the system by an officer of the Govern 
 ment. 
 
 September 19th, the Rev. Mr. Schermerhorn arrived, with 
 a delegation of eighteen of the New- York Indians, some of 
 whom, however, had resided some time near Green Bay, in 
 Michigan. They came for the purpose of examining the coun 
 try set apart for them. On account of other duties which 
 could not be postponed, I could not accompany them, but the 
 country was pointed out to them on the map, and a sketch fur 
 nished them, with such other information as would enable them 
 to find their country. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 535 
 
 Mission to the Osages. Their deplorable condition. Ordina 
 tion. Death of a female missionary. Journey to Washing- 
 ton. Bill for the organization of the Indian territory passed 
 by the Senate. Baptist Convention. Death. Superstition of 
 the Chippewas. General council among the Cherokees. 
 Expedition to Florida. Journey to the Putawatomies. In 
 dian bill laid before the southern tribes. Improved, condi 
 tion of the Choctaivs. Delawares desire laws. Patent to 
 the Cherokees. 
 
 The Osages had been much neglected by the Government, 
 and by all interested in Indian affairs, and greatly imposed upon 
 by traders ; by the missionaries who had laboured for them they 
 had been abandoned, and never was a tribe of Indians in a con 
 dition more deplorable. When, according to custom, they 
 went on their buffalo hunts, they were compelled to penetrate 
 so far into the vast prairies before they found game, that they 
 were in danger of war parties of remote tribes, and the distance 
 was so great that little meat could be brought home for use in 
 their villages. They had not become agriculturists excepting 
 so far as to cultivate the small patches of vegetables usually cul 
 tivated even by uncivilized Indians; and they kept neither cattle, 
 sheep, swine, nor fowls, for domestic uses. They had stipu 
 lated, in a treaty in 1825, for agriculturists to aid them in the 
 transition from the hunting to the agricultural state. These 
 men had rendered them no service, and were no longer in their 
 country, and the traders who desired to enrich themselves by 
 furs and peltries, and to do it with the advantages which the 
 ignorance of savageism afforded, wished the nation to continue 
 to follow the chase, and discouraged the least intimation of im 
 provement. They had also stipulated for a smithery, but this 
 had been withdrawn. Their annuities, seven thousand dollars, 
 were not paid them in money, to be expended at their option. 
 A few traders had acquired such an ascendancy over them and 
 their affairs, that they advanced to them the amount of the 
 annuity in goods, powder, lead, &c., and when the money ar 
 rived they took possession of it. The Indians knew little of 
 the prices of the articles that were furnished them, and were 
 wholly incompetent to take account of them, or to keep or cal 
 culate accounts in relation to them. The matter was wholly 
 under the control of the traders, who gave them as much or as 
 
536 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 little as they pleased for the annuity, and for their peltries and 
 furs. They were reduced to protracted sufferings under the 
 pressure of extreme poverty, the burden of which increased 
 with each successive year, while they were incapable of fore 
 seeing the end of their wretchedness ; and without a friend, 
 either among the white or red men, whose sympathies they 
 could share, and from whom they could hear a consoling word, 
 or receive profitable advice. If anxieties, bordering t>n despair, 
 or pinching want, induced them to seek either the countenance 
 or the helping hand of a friend among neighbouring tribes, either 
 on their north or south, they were repulsed as troublesome visi 
 tants ; and if they entered the sparse white settlements within 
 the State of Missouri or Arkansas, in quest of food, where, from 
 time immemorial, they had been accustomed to take the quad 
 ruped and fowl, they were flogged and forced away. 
 
 They who had monopolized most of the profits of trade 
 among them, for thirty or forty years, had fostered an impression 
 in the United States, generally, among such as had heard of the 
 Osage Indians, that they were an uncommonly savage, warlike 
 race, among whom it was dangerous fora white man's face to be 
 seen, and who, of all the Indian tribes, were the most unmanage 
 able people. On rny first acquaintance with them, at their 
 towns, which was in 1828, I was astonished to find them the 
 reverse of what reports had represented them to be. I disco 
 vered that they were a poor, degraded, servile people, easily 
 managed, and who had been much abused by the superiority of 
 unprincipled white men. From that time I believed the calls 
 of benevolence were loud in their favour, and the prospects for 
 successful missionary effort among them uncommonly auspi 
 cious. Subsequently, the Presbyterians abandoned their mis 
 sions among them, and we resolved to embrace the earliest op 
 portunity of establishing a mission there. 
 
 In a number of the Annual Register of Indian Affairs some 
 thing had been said respecting the friendless and deplorable con 
 dition of these people, and the desire to extend to them the 
 benefits of a mission. This brief statement reached Miss Mar 
 tha Shields and her sisters, Mrs. Bouldin and Miss S. Shields, 
 of the State of Delaware, who had long been liberal in the pro 
 motion of Indian missions, and who instantly resolved to make 
 a contribution, to be applied to the establishment of a mission 
 for this suffering tribe as soon as possible. Fifty-five dollars 
 accompanied their request that a mission should be commenced, 
 with assurances, which, coming from them, could not be doubted, 
 that other sums would follow. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 537 
 
 Mr. Lykins was made the principal almoner in this case. He 
 employed Job Skigget, a Delaware youth, who, in obtaining an 
 English education at the Harmony (Presbyterian) mission, had 
 acquired a knowledge of the Osage language, and who was a 
 member of the Presbyterian church, to aid him in compiling a 
 small book in the Osage 'language, upon the new system. This 
 young man had been educated among a people who had aban 
 doned as hopeless their missions which had been undertaken for 
 the Osages, and had very naturally imbibed similar sentiments ; 
 but he was the only available person through whom we could, 
 at that time, hope to make a beginning. He was hired, at the 
 rate of fifteen dollars a month, to labour under our direction. 
 On the llth of October, 1837, I set out on a journey which 
 would lead me three or four hundred miles from home, for the 
 purpose of submitting to the consideration of the Cherokees, 
 Choctaws, Creeks, and some other tribes in the South, the plan 
 for the organization of the Indian territory. 1 took Job with 
 me, for the purpose of introducing him among the Osages, with 
 some of the small Osage books in his hands ; hoping that he 
 could introduce reading among them, and. as opportunity would 
 offer, give them some religious instruction, and that by this 
 means the way would be preparing for the prosecution of more 
 systematic and efficient efforts, as soon as we could obtain mis 
 sionaries. 
 
 We reached the vicinity of the Osage villages at a time when 
 a cloud of difficulties and distresses, uncommonly dark, was 
 gathering around these wretched people. They were in a state of 
 almost actual starvation, and, impelled by hunger, many of them 
 had come into the settlements of the whites, and killed some of 
 their cattle and hogs ; and in order to expel them, five hundred 
 citizens of Missouri had t>een embodied. 
 
 These difficulties closed the door, for the present, to the set 
 tlement of Skigget immediately within their villages. The Qua- 
 paw tribe, residing next neighbour to the Osage, was a branch 
 of the latter ; and, unwilling to be thwarted in a design like the 
 present, I found a place for him within that tribe, in the house 
 of S. B. Bright, Esq., who was in the employment of Govern 
 ment, and was a worthy Christian, of the Presbyterian order. 
 I was detained in the South a few weeks, and had hoped, on 
 my return, to take hirn to a more eligible place, in refer 
 ence to his future usefulness ; but by this time he had drunk so 
 deeply of the common feeling of despair, relative to the success 
 of benevolent efforts for this friendless people, that he could not 
 be induced to continue his labours. 
 68 
 
538 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 The white citizens on the frontiers united in endeavouring to 
 prevent the ingress of small hunting parties of Osages, accompa 
 nied by women and children. Hunger, which emboldens the 
 most timicl animals of the forest, produced a similar effect upon 
 these wretched people. They continued to come occasionally 
 within the line of the State of Missouri, and the frontier citizens 
 requested the assistance of the State authorities to repel them. 
 Some of the Indians had already been severely whipped, their 
 guns broken, and they driven from their camps. The army of 
 five hundred militia was scouring the line between the whites 
 and Indians while I was making this tour. They found in divers 
 places, within the State of Missouri, some eighty or ninety 
 Osages, consisting of men, women, and children. These were 
 conducted across the line, and the men severely flogged. I was 
 deeply affected with the sight of some fifteen or twenty of these 
 wretched people, who were peaceably hovering about some set 
 tlements of whke people, begging for something to keep the soul 
 and the body together, at a time when, without their knowledge, 
 they who were " hunting them like partridges " were within two 
 miles of them ; and I could not but be astonished at the hardness 
 of the heart that could force from the scanty means of subsist 
 ence to be obtained from charity, and the spontaneous produc 
 tions of nature, these hungry mothers and hungry children, of 
 squalid aspect, and beat the husband and the father for the crime 
 of endeavouring to keep them from actual starvation ! Once, 
 in passing an encampment of these suffering people, I exclaim 
 ed, O, that I had bread to give them ! for which I was sharply 
 rebuked by a fellow-traveller, who had been a missionary to a 
 southern tribe of Indians. His argument was, that these people 
 had neglected the offers of kindness of the missionaries who had 
 been among them, and that favours shown them would be abused, 
 and would only protract their suffering and their sinning ! 
 
 Before the army came into the country, I had visited some of 
 the citizens, to whom the Osages appeared most obnoxious, and 
 endeavoured to prevail on them to forbear further force, until 
 , Government could be properly informed of their condition, and 
 entreated to improve it. In these unsuccessful efforts I was 
 joined by a pious travelling companion, Dr. J. A. Chute, of the 
 Congregationalists. 
 
 I lost no time in reporting to the Commissioner of Indian Af 
 fairs, Mr. Harris, the miserable condition of the Osages, and in 
 recommending immediate measures for their relief. The sub 
 ject was acted upon with a promptitude which did credit to the 
 Department of Indian Affairs and to the Congress of the Uni- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 539 
 
 ted States. An act was passed allowing the Osages to take the 
 amount of their next annuity from the Government in articles 
 of food, instead of money, and making a liberal appropriation 
 for fencing and ploughing prairie land, furnishing them with a 
 few milch cattle, and affording them some assistance in farming. 
 Dr. James, the sub-agent for the Missouri Putawatomies, was 
 transferred to the Osages ; and lest some inconvenience should 
 arise from delays, which might happen, a gentleman, then in 
 Washington, was appointed specially to repair to their villages, 
 and not cease his operations until he had completed the fencing 
 and ploughing of five hundred acres of prairie land. 
 
 Thus far all appeared as it should be. The special agent 
 was of a respectable family, and a farmer by profession, and it 
 was believed would be a proper person to manage this matter. 
 Unfortunately for him, and still more so for the Osages, he knew 
 little of the fawning duplicity of some men who, from avaricious 
 motives, had long been hanging on the Osages with the tenacity 
 of the horse leech. These men soon acquired an ascendancy 
 over him, without his knowledge, and led him into a most ex 
 travagant management of the affairs of his agency. The appro 
 priation of Congress was exhausted, the summer wasted, and 
 not one panel of fence or one rail made. A very small amount 
 of almost useless ploughing was the result of all these well-meant 
 efforts. This was precisely as those who had long been extract 
 ing the very life-blood of the tribe desired. 
 
 In March, 1838, a party of Osages, consisting of about twen 
 ty souls, some of whom were women and children, again ven 
 tured into the white settlements. These were attacked in their 
 encampment by nineteen citizens, and in the skirmish two Osages 
 were killed, and two white men badly wounded, one of whom 
 died shortly afterwards. 
 
 The condition of the Osages, according to the representation 
 of their miseries in the autumn of 1837, made so deep an impres 
 sion upon the proper authorities of Government, that Congress 
 did not stop with the appropriation for immediate and partial 
 relief. At the same session an appropriation was made to meet 
 the expenses of a council with them, which bore the name of a 
 treaty, but the object really was to make provision for extend 
 ing further benefits to the Osages, without asking of them the 
 relinquishment of any thing. This design of the Government 
 was humane, and added to the reputation of those who had the 
 management of it in the Department of Indian Affairs and in 
 Congress. 
 
540 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 On reaching Fort Gibson, on the tour commenced, as has been 
 remarked, on the llth of October, 1837, I ascertained that a 
 copy of the bill of Congress with which I had been charged, 
 had been forwarded to the agents for those southern tribes, and 
 therefore I did not proceed to lay the subject before them, and 
 being exceedingly pressed with business, 1 hastened my return. 
 On this tour, which 1 had contemplated would be pretty exten 
 sive, 1 had hoped to visit several of the missionary stations, and 
 to collect much useful information respecting Indian affairs, to 
 be laid before the public in the next number of the Annual 
 Register. With some expense for his travelling, I prevailed on 
 my travelling companion, Dr. Chute, to make the whole tour, 
 and to collect information. By him I wrote the missionaries. 
 1 had hoped to visit Mr. Potts, and to assist in his ordination ; 
 and when I found I could not do so, I wrote Mr. Davis, entreat 
 ing him to accompany Dr. Chute, and to endeavour to prevail 
 on Mr. Potts to submit to ordination. Poor Mr. Davis was 
 found in deep affliction, on account of the recent death of his 
 wife, and could not visit Mr. Potts, at a distance of about one 
 hundred and forty miles. But, to our great satisfaction, we 
 learned that Mr. Potts, about the same time, visited the white 
 settlements in the State of Arkansas, and received ordination. 
 
 Mrs. Davis, whose death has just been noticed, was a Pres 
 byterian for several years after her marriage connection with 
 Mr. D. She was pious and sensible, and armed with much de 
 cision of character in regard to her religious sentiments, and was 
 very tenacious of the peculiarities of her denomination. Mr. 
 Davis very prudently forbore to make any efforts to proselyte 
 her to the Baptists. Nevertheless, she became a Baptist in sen 
 timent, and was immersed. She was attacked with pain of teeth 
 and swelling of the face, and died of hemorrhage of a blood 
 vessel which ruptured in her mouth. Her death was a severe 
 loss to the mission. She was a native Creek, and her place 
 could not be supplied by another of her tribe. Mr. Davis was 
 left in charge of three small children, in a country where their 
 comfort required so much of his attention as to hinder him 
 greatly from missionary labours. I visited his house some 
 months afterwards, and found him not a little discouraged. His 
 hinderances from preaching, &c., were so great, that he doubted 
 the propriety of continuing his connection with the board, merely 
 because he could not perform the amount of labour he desired. 
 He was encouraged to continue. 
 
 In October, 1837, Miss Taylor joined Mr. and Mrs. Potts, 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 541 
 
 and took charge of a female school. She remained a little over 
 a year, when she retired from missionary labours on account of 
 ill health. 
 
 In January, 1838, Mr. Simerwell's prospects among the Pu- 
 tawatomies appeared to be brightening, and many, chiefly adults, 
 appeared willing to learn to read in their own language ; but he 
 was alone, and having the affairs of his family to attend and 
 this, too, under the disadvantages consequent on a new settle 
 ment he was allowed too little lime to bestow on missionary 
 labours. He had an opportunity of hiring a half-Indian, to aid 
 him in teaching upon the new system, but he was without the 
 means. In this emergency, I advanced him funds to enable 
 him to hire the man a month or two, in which time the case 
 could be made known to the board, and an answer obtained ; 
 but the board did not authorize his employment, and so that 
 matter ended. 
 
 On the 2d of February, 1838, 1 again set out on the long jour 
 ney to Washington. On this tour I suffered extremely with 
 cold in crossing the vast prairies of Illinois, in what were termed 
 stages, which were open road-wagons, without seats. I was 
 the only passenger for more than three days and nights, because 
 few travelled, on account of the cold and the bad state of the 
 roads. To the clothing common for travelling in the most se 
 vere weather, I added two blankets. I had mittens of the buf 
 falo skin, with the hair side in. Notwithstanding all this, the 
 ends of nearly all my fingers were frost-bitten, which happened 
 when using my hands in wrapping my clothing about me. The 
 cold affected my eyes until they inflamed, and became very 
 troublesome. On account of ice, I found much difficulty, and 
 encountered some risk, in crossing the Missouri and Mississippi 
 rivers. This year I submitted to the Department of Indian 
 Affairs a corrected copy of the large map of the Indian terri 
 tory. It was believed that this map had contributed somewhat 
 to the fixing of the bounds of the Indian territory in the public 
 mind. 
 
 The Putawatomies had been induced to request the Govern 
 ment to subdivide so much of their lands as was needed for 
 immediate occupancy, so that each could hold land in severally. 
 I submitted iheir pelition to the Department of Indian Affairs, 
 and also a scheme, which I recommended, for carrying the same 
 into effect. Just views of this subject were taken by Mr. Poin- 
 sett, Secretary of War, and prompt attention given to it ; but, con 
 trary to what we had expected, the Committee on Indian Affairs 
 of the Senate, without doubting the importance of the measure 
 
542 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 in regard, to the interests of the Indians, doubted the propriety of 
 the Government undertaking to make these surveys, supposing 
 that it was a work which the Indians ought to do at their own 
 expense, and therefore reported unfavourably on the measure. 
 
 This failure we deeply regretted. We could not doubt that 
 formidable obstacles to the improvement of the Indians origin 
 ated in their community of right in the soil, and no point in the 
 business of life is more evident than that industry and enterprise 
 are promoted by individual right in landed property, by which 
 the owner is assured that his house, and his field, and his fruit 
 tree, are his own, and will be the property of his legal heirs. 
 Our regrets were the greater, too, because this was the first in 
 stance of an Indian tribe expressing a desire to hold land in 
 severally; it was a measure to which we attached great import 
 ance, and it could not reasonably be expected that so great a 
 change from the custom of ages could be effected without some 
 extraneous aid. The repulsion of this first effort, by withhold 
 ing the co-operation of Government, looked like nipping good 
 fruit in the bud. 
 
 In the latter part of April, the bill for organizing the Indian 
 territory was discussed, and it finally passed the Senate by a 
 majority of thirty-nine to six. On this occasion, some of the 
 best speeches were made, in favour of the bill, that had ever 
 been heard in Congress on that subject. There were a few 
 warm speeches, from men of talents, against the measure, but 
 they savoured so much of the cold-hearted ness of past ages to 
 wards the Indians, that they only served to elicit arguments of 
 greater force in their favour. Those most prominent in favour 
 of the measure were Messrs. Tipton, Lumpkin, White, Smith 
 of Indiana, and Linn. The speeches of the two former gen 
 tlemen were printed in pamphlet form, many hundreds of 
 which I procured and circulated through the United States, for 
 the purpose of imparting information, and of giving tone to 
 public sentiment. For some reason which appeared rather un 
 accountable, the member of the Committee on Indian Affairs, 
 of the House of Representatives, who had charge of this bill, 
 seemed now disinclined to urge its passage, and it was not called 
 up for the final action of the House. 
 
 While I was in Washington, the meeting of the Triennial 
 Convention of the Baptists was held in the city of New-York. 
 I had hoped for the pleasure of attending this Convention, but 
 business did not allow me to leave Washington at that time. 
 To the care of some worthy brethren who attended, I intrusted 
 some business with the Convention, among which was a repeli- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 543 
 
 tion of the request that they consider the propriety of consti 
 tuting a board specially for the management of Indian missions. 
 The subject was introduced and referred, but no action, either 
 of the Convention or of the board, has been had upon it. On 
 his way to the Convention I saw Mr. Kellam, of the Creek 
 mission. In the autumn of 1837, and not long after he entered 
 upon his labours among the Creeks, Mrs. Kellam sickened and 
 died, leaving an infant. This was another heavy stroke upon 
 that mission, which seemed destined to suffer many hinderances. 
 Mr. Kellam, after struggling on for some months, judged it 
 necessary to his future happiness and usefulness to make a jour 
 ney to the eastern States, to seek another companion of his 
 toils, in place of her of whom he had been bereaved. He left 
 his infant in charge of the excellent Presbyterian missionaries 
 at the Dwight station, among the Cherokees. Thus the opera 
 tions of this station were again suspended. Mr. Davis, whose 
 residence was forty miles distant, sometimes, but not often, visit 
 ed these destitute people. 
 
 About this time, the Rev. Dr. Welch again made a hasty 
 visit to Washington, to add his influence in favour of our Indian 
 affairs. For some months we had corresponded with a brother 
 in the western part of the State of New- York, who had pro 
 posed to become a missionary to the Indians, and had encou 
 raged him to come on without delay, and join us. There were 
 favourable openings for him in several places, in which mission 
 aries were much needed, and where he would be associated with 
 another missionary, and, we doubted not, would be useful. We 
 advised him, however, to make his case known to the board, 
 which he did, and, contrary to what we had expected, the board 
 deemed it inexpedient to give him an appointment. 
 
 From this tour of four months, I reached my family on the 
 8th of June, 1838. On the 14th of July, a delegation of twen 
 ty-six Ottawas and Chippewas arrived, and, on the 19th, I went 
 with them into the wilderness, to show them the country set 
 apart for them. We passed the station of Mr. Simerwell and 
 that of Mr. Meeker ; the latter, with his family, was in poor 
 health, chiefly on account of intermittent fevers. Mr. Meeker 
 was at this time beginning to receive some assistance, in his reli 
 gious labours among the Ottawas, from a young Ottawa who had 
 been baptized a few months before, who was a man of ardent 
 piety and exemplary deportment. 
 
 On the 24th, we halted at noon in the wilderness, to hold a 
 council. While adjusting our baggage, a large spotted rattle 
 snake was discovered, which, not satisfied with our arrange- 
 
544 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 ments, was about, to retire from the council ground, but it fell a 
 victim to the enmity which exists between man and the serpent. 
 None of our Indians had ever before seen any of this species of 
 rattlesnake. For medicine, connected with which there was, of 
 course, some kind of charm, they carefully collected all the 
 blood of the reptile that could be obtained by cutting off the 
 head. Next they extracted its fangs, through which the fatal 
 poison is injected by its bite, and cut off and preserved the rattle 
 on the end of the tail. Many of those northern Indians, instead 
 of killing one of this species of snake, when happening to meet 
 with it, present to it a piece of tobacco, for the purpose of con 
 ciliating that family of serpents, so that the Indians may not 
 suffer by them. On this occasion, their curiosity, and fondness 
 for marvellous medicines and charms, had led them to a viola 
 tion of the common courtesies subsisting between the femily of 
 his snakeship and themselves ; and, in order to repair the breach 
 as far as possible, they resolved that nothing should be wanting 
 in funeral attentions. The earth was excavated the full length 
 of the body of the snake, in which it was carefully deposited 
 with the head, and a piece of tobacco placed at each extremity. 
 A brief funeral oration was then pronounced, in which the 
 speaker expressed a hope that the friendship and peace, which 
 he desired should ever subsist between the two families name 
 ly, of Indians and rattlesnakes might not be disturbed by what 
 had recently happened. After which, the covering of the reptile 
 completed the ceremonies. 
 
 In the autumn of 1837, the Cherokees called a general coun 
 cil, to which neighbouring tribes were invited, and some attended. 
 This council was for the purpose of confirming existing friend 
 ship among them. The next autumn, 1838, they extended 
 their invitation to attend a general council to tribes further off. 
 All the tribes north of them, to the distance of about four hun 
 dred miles, were invited, excepting the Osages and the Kauzaus. 
 In their messages to the tribes, they did not state distinctly the 
 object of the contemplated council. They intimated some dis 
 satisfaction with the treatment they had received from the Gov 
 ernment of the United States, and expressed the opinion that 
 the Indians should consult their own interests unitedly, and 
 endeavour to take care of themselves. 
 
 The tenor of the message was such, that many of the tribes 
 suspected that it had originated in some hostile design, either 
 against the citizens of the United States, or the Osages and 
 Kauzaus, or both. Several tribes near me asked advice, whether 
 they should attend the council or not ; especially the Delawares 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 545 
 
 and Shawanoes, who called on me with some formality, and at 
 the same time stated their suspicions respecting the cause of the 
 invitation. They were advised to attend, and told that general 
 councils among the tribes ought to be held once a year, for the 
 preservation of peace ; and this accorded with the scheme which 
 the Government had proposed in relation to the organization of 
 the territory. Should they discover any improper feeling in the 
 council, they would be prepared to aid in suppressing it, which 
 they could not do, should they omit to attend. Their agent, 
 however, took a different view of the subject, and urged them 
 not to go. They would, nevertheless, have attended the coun 
 cil, as we believed, had it not been for scruples arising out of 
 other considerations than the advice of their agent. The Florida 
 war had been unaccountably protracted, and, in order to facili 
 tate its termination, it had been deemed proper to employ a 
 regiment of these northwestern Indians. About eighty Dela- 
 wares, and as many Shawanoes, prompted by fidelity to the 
 United States, and the promise of high wages, enlisted and per 
 formed a six months' tour in Florida. Jn reference to their pay, 
 a mistake occurred in copying the order at Washington, through 
 which the Indians were promised two hundred and seventy-two 
 dollars for six months' service, instead of seventy-two. Five 
 hundred Choctaws mustered for the same service, who, on be 
 coming acquainted with the mistake, returned to their homes. 
 But the Delawares and Shawanoes heard nothing of it until 
 they had proceeded on their way three or four hundred miles, 
 when they chose not to abandon the expedition. None went 
 to Florida, excepting these companies of Shawanoes and Dela 
 wares; and now, when invited to attend a general council, in 
 which they would probably come in contact with some of those 
 same Floridians, they no doubt conjectured that unpleasant con 
 sequences might ensue ; at any rate, they had reason to doubt 
 a cordiality of feeling. 
 
 It was, indeed, to be regretted deeply that the Government 
 had asked and obtained the assistance of Indians within the ter 
 ritory, to force the Seminoles on to the same ground, where the 
 parties, who had had no cause of quarrel between them, should 
 be compelled to live in the same neighbourhood, immediately 
 after they had been shooting at each other.* 
 
 * Cortez, I believe it was, who set the example in Mexico of inducing 
 Indians to make war upon their kindred Indians, and the example, we are 
 sorry to know, has been followed by every civilized people who have been 
 engaged in wars in America. The Spaniards, the Dutch, the French, the 
 English, the American Colonists, and the citizens of the United States, have 
 all been guilty in this matter. In the days of political darkness, such. as 
 
 69 
 
546 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 The Ottawas agreed that they would send two men to the 
 Cherokee council, but horses to ride, and money to bear their 
 expenses, were wanting : both which I furnished, and they at 
 tended. Two Putawatomies would have accompanied them, 
 but were prevented by sickness. 
 
 This council occasioned some unnecessary alarm among the 
 whites, who feared that measures of hostility were fomenting ; 
 but it was a measure entirely pacific in its character, and which 
 ought to be encouraged by our Government. 
 
 The greater part of the Putawatomies were yet in their ori 
 ginal places in the States of Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois. 
 Efforts were unremitted to get such as emigrated to locate in 
 the transient settlement formed by some of the tribe on the Mis 
 souri. Mr. Simerwell was located among those whom we con 
 sidered permanently settled within the Indian territory, and we 
 very much desired that as many as possible of these people, 
 among whom we had commenced our labours nearly twenty 
 years before, should be located within reach of the institution 
 continued for their benefit. Under these impressions, Mr. Ly- 
 kins was prevailed upon to accept a temporary appointment 
 under Government, to go to Michigan and conduct a portion of 
 Putawatomie emigrants, should they consent to remove. His 
 acquaintance with Indian affairs, and his personal acquaintance 
 with those Indians, fitted him, in no ordinary degree, for this 
 service. He left the Shawanoe station in May, 1838, and did 
 not return until the 5th of November, and he then returned 
 without Indians. He found them opposed to removal, and re 
 solved either to remain in that country, or to pass over to the 
 British possessions in Canada. He could not, of course, em 
 ploy any other means than honest argument; and this would, 
 no doubt, have succeeded with a considerable number, if not 
 with all, had it not been for the misrepresentations of mischiev 
 ous white men, who desired to profit by the poor, degraded 
 Putawatomies. 
 
 Notwithstanding all these obstacles, some would have accom 
 panied him, had it not been for the uncommon degree of sick 
 ness which prevailed in that country. During its prevalence, 
 emigration was impracticable. Mr. Lykins himself was attacked, 
 
 those in which the earlier settlements of America were made, it was less 
 surprising that these comparatively inoffensive tribes, without any cause of 
 their own, should bo induced to- destroy each other, merely to promote tho 
 interests of their invaders, than that the most enlightened and Christian 
 nations upon earth should, in later times, condescend to- such modes of war- 
 fare, against the Indians and against one another. Our own country, wo 
 know, is less guilty than some others, but it is not innocent. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 547 
 
 and brought so low by an epidemic fever, that his physicians 
 despaired of his recovery. His illness was protracted from the 
 1st of August to the 15th of October, and when he reached 
 home he was still feeble. During his most severe sufferings, 
 Moses Scott, Esq., whom he had appointed assistant, was with 
 him, and without whose unremitting attentions it is probable ha 
 would have died. Mr. Scott's kindness was the more deserving 
 of praise, because his own health was poor, and the circum 
 stances of his family were such as rendered his presence with 
 them desirable. Still he would not leave Mr. Lykins until the 
 latter had become convalescent. 
 
 The designs of the Government to organize the Indian ter 
 ritory had not, in 1837, been brought to the consideration of the 
 southern tribes, to the satisfaction of the Department of Indian 
 Affairs; and in the summer of 1838, Captain William Ann- 
 strong, acting superintendent of Indian affairs, and myself, were 
 instructed to attend to this matter. The following instructions 
 were forwarded to us jointly : 
 
 " War Department, Office of Indian Affairs, August 21, 1838. 
 <l GENTLEMEN : I have the honour to inclose a printed copy 
 of a bill that passed the Senate at the last session of Congress, 
 for the organization of a Government for the Indian territory* 
 An effort will be made at the next session to secure its passage 
 through both Houses. It is believed that this will be more 
 likely to succeed, if the assent to its provisions of the principal 
 tribes can be first obtained. It is important, therefore, that an 
 attempt should be made to gain this. You have been associated 
 together for this purpose, it being desirable to have the benefit 
 of your joint influence, and of the knowledge each possesses of 
 the subject; the one, [Captain Armstrong,] from his official 
 position and intercourse with the tribes ; the other, [Mr. McCoy,] 
 from his agency in originating the measure, and thus far prose 
 cuting it to a successful issue. The assemblies convened for 
 the payment of the annuities will, probably, afford the best oc 
 casions for attending to this business. You will please to for 
 ward your reports, so as to reach this office on or before the 
 first day of November next. 
 
 " Very respectfully, your most obedient servant, 
 
 " C. A. HARRIS, Commissioner, 
 " Captain WILLIAM ARMSTRONG, 
 
 " Choctaw Agency, west of Arkansas. 
 " Rev. ISAAC McCoy, 
 
 " Westport, Jackson county, Missouri" 
 
548 
 
 HIST OK* or BAPTIST 
 
 In obedience to the foregoing instructions, 1 left home on the 
 1 8th of September, and was absent nearly six weeks. This 
 was another wilderness journey, attended with the ordinary pri 
 vations. 1 had with me a hired man, and we drove a pack-horse 
 for the purpose of transporting our tent and supplies. Captain 
 Armstrong was sick at this time, and unable to attend to the 
 duties enjoined by our instructions, and I proceeded to the 
 Choctaws alone. Their annual council was in session, which I 
 reached on the 4th of October. To the organization of the 
 Indian territory, as proposed by the Government, the Choctaw 
 council objected, without assigning any definite reason. They 
 were careful that nothing should be wanting in courtesy, but 
 they declined meeting the matter fairly, and stating their rea 
 sons for or against the measure. They intimated, in their re 
 sponse, that they lacked confidence in the Government of the 
 United States. This, no doubt, was the reason why they de 
 clined any definite action in relation to the subject. 
 
 Notwithstanding we did not obtain such an answer as was 
 desired, this was a very interesting interview, from which we 
 not only derived personal satisfaction, but hoped for an impres 
 sion upon the public mind beneficial to the Indians generally. 
 Here was developed a career of improvement recently com 
 menced, and truly auspicious. 
 
 The system of chieftaincies, which belongs only to savage 
 life has been virtually abolished by the Choctaws. Chiefs and 
 jjrincipal men cannot now be convened by the Government of 
 the United States, who will feel authorized to transact business 
 in behalf of the nation by virtue of a vested right, as is claimed 
 and exercised by chiefs among uncivilized Indians. 
 
 The tribe denominates itself " The Choctaw Nation." It 
 has adopted a written constitution of Government, similar to 
 the constitution of the United States. Their declaration of 
 rights secures to all equal privileges, and liberty of conscience, 
 excluding all religious tests ; it secures trial by jury, and, in a 
 word, it provides for all that is felt to be necessary in the inci 
 pient stages of political existence. The Constitution may be 
 amended by the National Council. 
 
 Their country is divided into four judicial districts. Three 
 of these districts annually elect, by popular vote, each nine 
 members of the National Council, and the fourth elects, by the 
 same mode, thirteen members, in all forty. These are allowed 
 three dollars a day, while engaged in legislating. Within each 
 district, an officer, denominated a chief, is elected for the term 
 of four years. . The National Council meets, annually, on the 
 
INBIAN MISSIONS- 
 
 549 
 
 first Monday in October. It consists of forty members, the 
 necessary clerks, a light-horseman, (sergeant-at-arms,) and door 
 keeper. It is also attended by the chiefs, who have an hono 
 rary seat provided for them by the side of the Speaker, but 
 they have no voice in debate in council. Their signatures are 
 necessary to the passage of a law. They may veto an act, but 
 it may become a law, by a concurrence of two-thirds of the 
 Council, notwithstanding. The Council is styled " The Gene 
 ral Council of the Choctaw Nation." It adopts by-laws for its 
 government while in session, and elects a Speaker and other re 
 quisite officers, and appoints appropriate committees to adjust 
 matters for legislation. All writings are in English, but are read 
 off in the Choctaw language, and all their discussions are carried 
 on in the Choctaw language. Each member, when about to 
 speak, rises, and respectfully addresses the Speaker, using the 
 Choctaw word for Speaker, adding the syllable wzcr, which 
 nearly corresponds with the English Mr., or Sir. The question 
 is put in the form customary in legislative bodies, and the vote 
 is given by rising. The preliminary of a law is, "Be it en 
 acted by the General Council of the Choctaw Nation." In 
 future, the Constitution and laws will be printed in both the 
 Choctaw and English language. By the Constitution, the Go 
 vernment is composed of four departments, viz: Legislative, 
 Executive, Judicial, and Military. Three judges are elected 
 by the people in each district, who hold inferior and superior 
 courts within their respective districts. Ten light-horsemen in 
 each district perform the duties of sheriffs, and the sum of two 
 hundred dollars per. annum is allowed to each district for their 
 compensation. An act has recently been passed for the organi 
 zation of the militia. 
 
 Individual Indians have frequently become civilized, and sub 
 ject to the laws of white men ; but the Choctaws furnish the 
 first instance among the aboriginal tribes of America, of self- 
 government, divested of the barbarous customs which belong to 
 the savage state. It is truly gratifying that the laws of a com 
 monwealth have been established within the Indian territory, 
 so soon after the plan of organizing an Indian government has 
 been undertaken by the Government of the United States. It 
 evinces the capacity of the natives to think and act for them 
 selves, and it may be looked upon as a sure presage of the suc 
 cess, ultimately, of the design of the Government to place all 
 the tribes in the enjoyment of such blessings. 
 
 The following brief narrative of the manner in which our 
 business was attended to by the General Council, to which 
 
550 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 I presented for consideration the bill for the organization of the 
 Indian territory, does not fully comport with the design of this 
 work ; nevertheless, as it relates to a period which will be 
 marked as a new era in the history of the Indians, and as the 
 reader cannot feel perfectly satisfied with general remarks, be 
 cause, if we would understand the true condition of a people, 
 we must have before us an unvarnished story of their affairs in 
 common life, I will insert it. 
 
 On my arrival I informed a member of the Council that 
 I had been commissioned to transact business with the Choc- 
 taws, and inquired in what manner it could be brought before 
 them. He said a written notice must be sent to the Speaker; 
 and politely offered to serve me in presenting any papers that I 
 desired. A communication was accordingly conveyed to the 
 Speaker, who, in due form, submitted it to the consideration of 
 the Council. It was decided by vote that I should, at a given 
 time, be introduced into the Council. A seat was prepared, an 
 interpreter appointed, and a committee of two sent to inform me, 
 and to conduct me to my seat. Having received our communi 
 cation, the subject was for the present dismissed by the Coun 
 cil, to be considered in its proper place in the order of busi 
 ness. 
 
 There was in the vicinity only one house of public entertain 
 ment. For want of room in the tavern, and for the sake of 
 economy, a majority of the members, and of others in attend 
 ance, boarded themselves in camp. This session lasted much 
 longer than had been anticipated. The consequence was, some 
 inconvenience for want of supplies, and great anxiety to adjourn, 
 which, with many, was increased on account of their business 
 requiring their presence at their homes. Notwithstanding this 
 state of anxiety, on a Saturday night they unanimously voted 
 not to sit on the Sabbath, and by a unanimous vote invited 
 me to preach in the Hall, and appointed an interpreter, and 
 a committee to notify me. All this was done without a hint 
 from a white man to prompt it. A congregation never be 
 haved with more propriety under the preaching of a chaplain 
 in Congress-Hall than did this in the National Hall of the 
 Choctaws. 
 
 Our business was referred to a committee, which reported. 
 The Council, in the discussion of the subject, and in making out 
 its response, sat with closed doors. Their communication was 
 sent to me by a messenger. I then informed one of the mem 
 bers that I should be happy to take leave of the Council in a 
 formal and friendly manner. They passed a resolution, by 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 551 
 
 which they sent a member and invited me within the bar, and 
 heard from me a brief farewell address, at the conclusion of which 
 the Speaker and all the members rose from their seats, and re 
 mained standing until I had retired. 
 
 They sit in council with heads uncovered, excepting some 
 in Indian costume, who wear turbans. There were many ani 
 mated speeches. I could not understand a single sentence, but 
 was charmed with the gracefulness with which the speakers 
 disengaged themselves from their seats, and delivered their 
 speeches. Intonation of voice was sweet, and gesticulation ap 
 propriate ; both of them free from those extremes of high and 
 loWj of storm and calm, which too often injure speeches in legis 
 lative bodies. Some of those who were prominent in debate 
 were full-blooded Indians, in the Indian costume. Many of 
 the counsellors, no doubt, will soon figure as statesmen. I 
 forbear to mention names, because I should be compelled, either 
 to do injustice to some, or to fill up too much space. On one 
 occasion a very animated debate arose, in which two ardent 
 young men responded to each other, in two or three pretty long 
 speeches, in which they used written notes. 
 
 In passing through the Cherokee and Creek countries, it was 
 discovered that a general belief prevailed, that the design of 
 organizing the territory was in reality a design to rob them of 
 the country. This impression, no doubt, had been promoted 
 by mischievous white men. Our time was too short to correct 
 this erroneous impression, and we therefore did not submit the 
 bill to the consideration of those tribes. 
 
 The necessity for the organization of the territory had evi 
 dently been felt by the Cherokees, because the ostensible ob 
 jects of the General Council, which had recently been called by 
 them, were virtually such as related to such an organization. 
 They, however, would, no doubt, prefer that the measure should 
 come before the other tribes as one that had emanated from the 
 Cherokees, rather than as one from the Government of the 
 United States, because, by this means, they would be placed in 
 the attitude of leaders. It is probable that in some of the tribes 
 which are farthest advanced in civilization, principal men may 
 feel disinclined to adopt the plan of confederation, as has been 
 proposed in the bill for the organization of the Indian territory, 
 lest by being placed by the side of other men of respectable 
 talents and acquirements, their own may become somewhat 
 eclipsed. But the only formidable difficulty, in the minds of the 
 Indians, is their want of confidence in the citizens of the United 
 States. They feel that they have been injured, under the spe- 
 
552 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 cious show of friendship. Preambles to almost all treaties ex 
 press great regard for the Indians, and a desire to improve their 
 condition is a prominent reason assigned for making the treaty; 
 whereas they have learned, long since, that the benefit of the 
 Indians seldom has any influence in producing treaties. They 
 have learned, further, that many stipulations of treaties made 
 at divers times, promised the Indians what the General Govern 
 ment, then treating, could not perform. Take, for instance the 
 promises and concessions made to the Cherokees, by various 
 treaties, by which they were induced to believe that they might 
 remain in the peaceable enjoyment of their country, east of the 
 Mississippi, and that the United States would, when appealed 
 to, protect them in their rights. They made the appeal, and 
 found that the United States' Government had promised, partly 
 in direct terms, and partly by implication, what it could not 
 perform ; and now, when this same Government comes before 
 these same people and their kindred tribes, with propositions 
 prefaced with similar expressions of friendship and good will, 
 it is not surprising that the sincerity of those professions should 
 be doubted. The immigrants, however, as fast as they recover 
 from the pain of harrowed feelings, and become prepared to 
 take an enlarged and impartial view of the whole case, will per 
 ceive that uncontrollable causes, which the good citizens of the 
 United States, generally, deplored, worked their latter woes, 
 and that these causes do not reach them within the territory; 
 and that, because a bad policy, entailed upon us by the genera 
 tions which preceded us, brought us in debt to them, which 
 debts we could not pay in kind, it does not follow that we are 
 unwilling to make restitution in the only practicable method. 
 
 Returning to my home, on the 30th of October, 1838, I 
 found a delegation of Delawares, consisting of chiefs and prin 
 cipal men, who had with them the resolution of a large majority 
 of their tribe, expressed in full council, that they would enact 
 laws for their benefit, beginning with such as were most needed ; 
 and as intemperance was the greatest evil which they suffered, 
 their first laws should be for the purpose of suppressing that 
 ruinous practice. They bore a letter, addressed jointly to their 
 agent and myself, declaring their resolution, and asking our as 
 sistance in framing laws, and our advice, generally, in regard to 
 the proper mode for them to proceed. 
 
 The day before my arrival, they had presented this communi 
 cation to their agent, from whom they did not receive an answer 
 in accordance with their wishes. The poor Delawares felt this 
 repulse most keenly. Sensible of their want of information, 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 553 
 
 they had in an humble and very respectful manner asked assist 
 ance from those from whom they had a right to expect it, in 
 making an innovation upon the custom of ages of savage life, 
 and in favour of civilization. This was their first step, and it 
 had been taken tremblingly, and now a frown upon this first 
 effort was exceedingly mortifying. 
 
 I requested them not to be discouraged, and told them they 
 had turned their faces in a proper direction. Important matters 
 were seldom accomplished easily, and often it seemed that the 
 ultimate benefits of an enterprise were somewhat proportioned 
 to the difficulties which had opposed its accomplishment. I as 
 sured them that I would attend to their requests, and make them 
 a written communication on the subject, as soon as I could find 
 time to prepare it. Seldom have we seen Indians so much 
 elated as were those with this half success of their laudable 
 effort. 
 
 They afterwards called and received the documents promised 
 them, and went to work according to the mode recommended 
 to them. They were opposed by a small portion of the tribe, 
 among whom were two chiefs. They complained to the agent 
 that their rights had been invaded, and at length pleaded that 
 intemperance could as well be suppressed without written laws 
 as with them, and proposed the trial. Whereupon, the major 
 ity, by their figure of speech, replied, " Well, if you can pre 
 vent intemperance, we will, for the present, hang up our busi 
 ness which we have begun in relation to it." The effort, 
 though it was not carried out, in consequence of the views of 
 the United States' agent, nevertheless had a happy effect for 
 many months in diminishing the evil of intemperance. 
 
 Having been required to cause the Cherokee surveys to be 
 completed, &ic., with the view of giving them a patent for their 
 land, I was afforded an opportunity of pleading with the Gov 
 ernment that the instrument might be so framed that it would 
 be additionally difficult for the citizens of the United States, in 
 dividually, to get into the Indian country, to crowd the proper 
 owners out. I had manifested so much feeling upon this sub 
 ject, that the Department of Indian Affairs requested me to write 
 a projet of the form of a patent. This being the first given to 
 an Indian tribe, would be referred to as a precedent in future ; 
 on which account we felt the deeper solicitude in the case. This 
 form, accompanied by reasons for its peculiarity, was submitted 
 to the consideration of the Attorney-General of the United 
 States, the Hon. B. F. Butler, whose province it was to decide 
 questions of this character. In October, T. Hartley Crawford, 
 70 
 
554 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 Esq., who had succeeded Mr. Harris in the office of Commis 
 sioner of Indian Affairs, had the kindness to forward me a copy 
 of the patent, as fixed by the decision of the Attorney-General, 
 together with his reasons in favour of the form agreed upon. 
 The point of which I had been particularly tenacious had been 
 deemed inadmissible, not on account of its utility being doubted, 
 but because a stipulation in the Cherokee treaty forbid it. Here, 
 again, was a serious evil, growing out of that unfortunate treaty 
 of 1835. I regret to say, that the most serious difficulties at 
 tending the proper adjustment of Indian affairs, and placing them 
 on the highway of national prosperity, appear to be laid in the 
 blundering forms of their treaties. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Small-pox. Death. Journey to Washington. Difficulties at 
 the Creek station. Fourth number of the Annual Register. 
 The Indian bill again passes the Senate. Death of a mis 
 sionary. Baptisms. Missionaries appointed. Wyandots. 
 Stockbridges. 
 
 On my late tour among the Cherokees, Choctaws, Chicka- 
 saws, Creeks, and Seminoles, it was distressing to find the ex 
 istence of the small-pox among those tribes, occasioning great 
 distress and waste of life. There was imminent danger, too, of 
 its being communicated to others, and its havoc would probably 
 be most terrible among the remote tribes towards the southwest. 
 This dreadful scourge had nearly exterminated the Mandans, on 
 the Missouri, in 1837, and had been very destructive among 
 many other remote tribes in the northwest. This circumstance 
 had induced the Government to extend the benefits of vaccination 
 to some ; but, as it had happened in cases of vaccination which 
 immediately followed the passage of the law for that object in 
 1832, the effort was too feeble and unsystematic. The preva 
 lence of the disease among the southern tribes, at this time, 
 was represented to the Department of Indian Affairs ; and, also, 
 through its indulgence, a scheme was submitted for more effect 
 ually arresting the progress of the disease, and preventing its 
 recurrence in future. Measures were adopted in reference to 
 these ends, and physicians were employed to impart the benefits 
 of vaccination to various tribes. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 555 
 
 On the 25th of December, 1838, we realized another severe 
 trial, in reference to our oft repeated family afflictions. Mrs. 
 Donohoe, our youngest daughter, only about eighteen years of 
 age, had, for a twelvemonth or more, been declining in health, 
 and was at this time exceedingly low with a consumption, from 
 which no hope of her recovery could be indulged. The in 
 terests of our Indian matters appeared to require me to make 
 another journey to Washington, in language too imperious to be 
 disobeyed. My almost heart-broken wife strengthened herself 
 in the Lord, and our sick child acquiesced with religious cheer 
 fulness. All concerned concurred in opinion that the calls of 
 Indian interests were so loud, and distinct, and affecting, as to 
 require the sacrifice of separation. Alas! this parting hand was 
 the last given to my dear Eleanor. She died on the llth day 
 of January, and before I reached my journey's end. The sad 
 intelligence followed close upon my heels ; but the bitter bowl 
 contained a cordial too. Death had lost his sting, and the grave 
 had been disrobed of its horrors. She was religiously cheerful 
 to the last moment of her existence, and, apparently without 
 anxiety or dread, she endeavoured to inspire others around her 
 with similar sentiments. With lips which faltered more and 
 more, she said, " I am going home Jesus joy Jesus great 
 joy," and ceased to breathe ! She was the tenth child of whom 
 we had been bereaved, and all since we had been missionaries. 
 
 Mr. Kellam, who had left the Creek station in the spring of 
 1838, on a visit to the Eastern States, was unable to get back to his 
 post before November. I was in the Creek country in October, 
 and took some pains to have the furniture of the mission house 
 preserved from damage, to which it was exposed. When he 
 returned, a few weeks afterwards, he found not only his furniture 
 in bad condition, but the United States' agent had appointed 
 another Government teacher in his stead, who had taken pos 
 session of the buildings, which were the property of the board 
 of missions. While in Washington, a letter from Mr. Kellam 
 reached me, detailing these disasters, and about the same time 
 a similar communication was received by Mr. Lincoln, the trea 
 surer of the board, who was at that time in Washington. Ap 
 plication was immediately made to the Government for restitu 
 tion, which resulted in an order from the Commissioner of Indian 
 Affairs for reinstating Mr. Kellam. 
 
 I could not conveniently get the fourth number of the An 
 nual Register printed at our office at the Shawanoe station, and 
 the work was executed in Washington, which made its distribu 
 tion in the various parts of the United States convenient. It 
 
556 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 was published at my own cost, and, like all the preceding num 
 bers, issued gratuitously. 
 
 The bill for the organization of the Indian territory again 
 passed the Senate by a very large majority, but it was not 
 brought before the House of Representatives for final action,. 
 Some circumstances connected with Indian affairs induced the 
 belief, among some of the warmest friends of the measure, that 
 its passage had better be postponed. But this postponement 
 implied not the least doubt of the importance of the measure, 
 or the slightest indication of a disposition on the part of its ad 
 vocates to abandon it. Nevertheless, it may safely be supposed, 
 that they who had laboured sixteen years for the accomplish 
 ment of this object, regretted that any circumstance should pre 
 vent it. Although the step which ought to have been the first 
 in order taken by the Government, has not been taken at all, 
 the time and labour bestowed upon the subject have not been 
 wasted. About ninety-five thousand Indians, belonging to twen 
 ty-three tribes, have been collocated within the proposed Indian 
 territory. Plats of the boundaries proposed for it have been so 
 long kept before the public, that the contemplation of the lines 
 has become pretty uniform among men, when reflecting upon 
 the matters of the territory. Some have their land secured to 
 them by patent, and measures are in progress which will soon 
 secure the lands to all by the same indisputable title. Just 
 views of the causes of Indian decline and misery, and of the 
 means which ought to be employed for reclaiming them, and 
 our obligation to employ those means, have been promote^. 
 Most of the immigrants who have had time to recover from the 
 damage sustained in their removal, are improving their con 
 dition. A knowledge of the just ground laid for producing a 
 better condition is increasing and inspiring hope, and promoting 
 industry and enterprise. Even the indigenous tribes are im 
 bibing a spirit of improvement. Some tribes have already laid 
 a solid basis of civil and religious institutions ; others are follow 
 ing them at greater or less distance. The whole is assuming the 
 appearance, and customs, and enjoyments of a civil community; 
 and, as order is restored, and the social relations of life promo 
 ted, they are brought within the reach of religious instruction % 
 from regular attendance on which the unsettled state of their 
 affairs had prevented them ; and, what is worth more than all 
 other things, the religion of the Bible is steadily advancing 
 among them. 
 
 I returned to my afflicted family on the 21st of March, 1831X 
 Mr. Rollin bad not been very successful in his labours among; 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 557 
 
 the Shawanoes, and on my tour, in the autumn of 1838, 1 thought 
 I had discovered for him a more promising field among the Choc- 
 taws, which I designed to recommend him to enter. But, to our 
 great distress, his health was evidently failing. He continued 
 to decline under a pulmonary consumption, and having obtained 
 leave of the board to retire from missionary labours, on the llth 
 of April, 1839, he left our place for Michigan, with Mrs. Rollin 
 and three small children. For a while, travelling on a steam 
 boat seemed to improve his health. He reached the residence 
 of Mr. Read, the father of Mrs. Rollin, in Michigan, in a very 
 low state of health ; but survived only about one week. On 
 the 12th of May he finished his labours on earth. His life had 
 been religious, and his death was happy. His confidence in the 
 Redeemer remained unshaken. In the time of trial, when he 
 knew he must leave his amiable wife a widow, and his dear 
 children fatherless, and when he was himself about to give an 
 account of his stewardship, he derived substantial consolation 
 from the Gospel which he had laboured to make known to the 
 Indians. In endeavouring to secure to those poor people " du 
 rable riches and righteousness" he, with the disinterestedness 
 of a faithful missionary, had omitted to provide for the future 
 support of his family. He now left them poor, but left them in 
 charge of the Father of the fatherless and the widow's God. 
 He had been " faithful unto death," and has, no doubt, received 
 a " crown of life ;" and at the time of harvest, it is believed, 
 he will not be destitute of sheaves gathered from the steril 
 regions of Indian lands. 
 
 On the 12th day of May, an Ottawa female was baptized, 
 and also Mr. SimerwelPs eldest son, a lad of about thirteen 
 years of age. The Indian female had long lingered in declining 
 health, and was so low as to occasion doubts with the mission 
 aries respecting the propriety of her being baptized. She, how 
 ever, insisted on being baptized, and her husband accorded in 
 opinion and desire. When carried to the water, a considerable 
 number of Ottawas appeared, and objected; declaring their con 
 fident belief that immersion in water would be followed soon 
 by death. She requested to be taken near enough to them to 
 be heard, when she gave them a lecture that silenced all objec 
 tions. It was a favour in Providence that, for some time after 
 her baptism, her health appeared to improve. This favour ap 
 peared the greater, on account of the ignorance and superstition 
 of these people; who, no doubt, would have attributed a different 
 turn of the disease to the exposure encountered in baptism. 
 May the 22d, 1839, Miss Elizabeth F. Churchill arrived, 
 
558 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 under an appointment of the board to missionary service, and 
 located at the Shawanoe mission house. About the same time, 
 the Rev. Francis Barker, who had been about a year and a half 
 on the western frontiers, near the Indians, received an appoint 
 ment as a missionary, and made his residence at the Shawanoe 
 station. 
 
 On the 4th of July, the anniversary of American Independ 
 ence, a temperance meeting was numerously attended, in the 
 vicinity of Mr. Simerwell, among the Putawatomies, and a tem 
 perance dinner prepared by the contributions of sundry white 
 and red people in the neighbourhood. The meeting heard some 
 excellent speeches upon the subject of abstinence from intoxi 
 cating drinks, several of which were from Indians. A. L. 
 Davis, Esq., United States' agent, gave them a good speech, 
 but which was not superior to one delivered by Luther Rice, 
 alias Noaquett, a full-blooded Indian. On the 18th of August, 
 two Putawatomies were baptized, one of whom was a respect 
 able chief. 
 
 In the latter part of the year 1838, two Delawares, returning 
 to their homes from a hunting party, with three horses loaded 
 with peltries and furs, were robbed and murdered by the Otoes. 
 The Delawares, in the spring of the present year, were organ 
 izing a war party, to avenge themselves on the Otoes, when I 
 invited the chiefs into a conference, and prevailed on them to 
 suspend further movements towards hostilities, until their case 
 could be made known to the Department of Indian Affairs, at 
 Washington, and an answer obtained. I wrote without delay, 
 and received an answer which did credit to the heads and hearts 
 of those who manage Indian affairs in that Department, in view 
 of collisions between the tribes of which they are the national 
 guard'ians. 
 
 On the 23d of October, I had so far recovered from a severe 
 illness, that I was able to read to a delegation of six Delawares 
 the communication from the Department of Indian Affairs. They 
 were much gratified with what they heard in reference to the 
 measures which Government would pursue in such cases, to 
 make restitution to the sufferers for past injuries, and to prevent 
 future aggressions, and resolved not to take justice into their 
 own hands, but to await the action of Government in their 
 behalf. 
 
 In the latter part of October, I directed the location of a party 
 of immigrant Chippewas from Michigan, and early in November 
 I gave direction to a tour of exploration, by N. Boilvin, Esq., 
 made with a view to the future and permanent location of the 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 559 
 
 Winnebagoes. Though scarcely able to go abroad, on account 
 of my late sickness, I spent seven clays in the wilderness at the 
 commencement of this tour. With the view of selecting a loca 
 tion for their tribe, a delegation of five Wyandauts, from Ohio, 
 visited the Indian territory, and arrived at my place on the 25th 
 of July, of this year. ' They were inclined to choose a location 
 embracing portions of the lands of the Shawanoes and Dela- 
 wares, provided it could be obtained. They, however, returned 
 without any definite action on the subject. On the 7th of No 
 vember, another delegation, consisting of seven Wyandauts, 
 arrived on the same business. About the same time, the De 
 partment of Indian Affairs informed me that the Hon. W. H. 
 Hunter, of Ohio, had been appointed a commissioner to aid in 
 these negotiations, in which I was required to assist. Before 
 the arrival of the commissioner, the Wyandaut delegation mani 
 fested an inclination to return to their people, but were prevailed 
 on to remain. The negotiations were terminated in December. 
 For a given sum, to be paid by the United States, the Shawa 
 noes agreed to cede, for a residence for the Wyandauts, fifty-six 
 thousand acres of land. The Delawares also have said they 
 would cede for the same object about twelve thousand acres ; 
 hence it is probable that the Wyandauts will, ere long, be set 
 tled adjoining the Shawanoes and Delawares. 
 
 A band of Stockbridge Indians in Wisconsin Territory, ori- 
 ginfally from the State of New- York, treated with the United 
 States in the month of September, and sold half their land, and 
 about one-half of them agreed to remove to the West. These, 
 anticipating the ratification of their treaty by the Senate of the 
 United States, emigrated on their own resources, and reached 
 the Delaware country in December. They removed, under a 
 belief that Government was prepared to give them land, and 
 immediately on their arrival called on me to ascertain where 
 they could obtain a suitable location, when it appeared that in 
 their treaty there was no stipulation providing a home for them. 
 They are somewhat related to the Delawares, and they applied 
 to them for permission to settle on their lands, which was 
 granted, upon the condition that the United States would add 
 somewhat to their tract. The Stockbridges then applied to me 
 to endeavour to get an amendment made to their treaty, by the 
 United States' Senate, to provide land, as desired by them and 
 the Delawares. The two parties propose to occupy the same 
 tract in common, and that the Stockbridge shall become merged 
 in the Delaware tribe. Among these late immigrants are seve 
 ral who are pious, and the brethren Lykins, Barker, and Blan- 
 
560 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 chard, have established religious meetings among them in their 
 encampment in the wilderness, the exercises of which have 
 been very satisfactory. 
 
 Henry Skiggett, a Delaware, who laboured as a missionary 
 some time among his people, afterwards visited the Stockbridges 
 in Wisconsin, the principal chief of whom is his uncle. Some 
 uneasiness on his account was felt when he left our country, 
 lest, becoming separated from us, and liable to fall into irre 
 ligious society, he might sustain damage as a Christian; He 
 came with the late immigrants, and, to our great satisfaction, he 
 appeared to have grown in grace, and increased in zeal and use 
 fulness. In Wisconsin he found one of his people, named 
 Nevvcom, who was also a member of the Baptist church, with 
 whom he united in sustaining public religious meetings amon^ 
 the Stockbridges ; and on their journey they had prayers and 
 other religious exercises, whenever the situation of the party 
 admitted. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Condition of affairs at the dose of 1839. Puncahs. Omahcts. 
 Station abandoned. Pawnees. Otoes. loivays. Sauks. Kick- 
 apoos. Kauzaus. Delawares. Shawanocs. Books printed. 
 Ottawas. Weas and Piankashas. Peorias and Kaskas- 
 kias. Putaw atomies. Osages. Quapaivs. Senecas and 
 Shawanoes. Creeks. Cherokees. Choctaws. Obligation of 
 the Baptists. 
 
 In this chapter I shall proceed with the tribes geographically, 
 beginning with the most northern. 
 
 The Puncah is a small tribe of about eight hundred souls, 
 of the Omaha family, residing near the Missouri river, on the 
 northern extremity of the Indian territory. Their condition is 
 similar to that of the Omahas, and is unimproved. They have 
 never enjoyed the benefit of a missionary, and have been too 
 long neglected. 
 
 The Omaha tribe consists of about fourteen hundred souls. 
 Their settlement is on the Missouri river, about eighty miles 
 above where it receives the Great Platte river. Like all rude 
 tribes in the wilderness, they have received from the whites 
 some guns, iron tools, cooking vessels, and clothing. Neverthe 
 less, their minds and their habits may be said to be unimproved. 
 Their intercourse with traders has, no doubt, rendered obsta- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 561 
 
 cles to their improvement more formidable than they were be 
 fore their acquaintance with white men. They cultivate a 
 small amount of vegetables, but rely chiefly upon the chase for 
 subsistence. A hunting tour of about two months is made by 
 them, in quest of buffalo, in the early part of the warm season 
 of the year, and another in the latter part. At these times, 
 few, and frequently, none, are left remaining in the villages. To 
 avoid surprise by an enemy, they proceed with great caution 
 and some order, usually in two or three lines, fifty or one hun 
 dred yards apart. Spies are kept in advance, to look out for a 
 lurking foe, and to descry the buffalo before the animal becomes 
 affrighted.* 
 
 Their houses are constructed of earth, circular, and in form 
 of a cone, the wall of which is about two feet in thickness, and 
 is sustained by wooden pillars within. The floor is the earth, 
 and is usually sunk about two feet below the surrounding sur 
 face ; the smoke escapes through an aperture in the centre, 
 which answers the double purpose of chimney and window. 
 The door is low and narrow, and closed by suspending in it the 
 skin of an animal. An enclosed entry, extending from the door 
 proper six or eight feet, is sometimes made, which adds much 
 to the warmth of the dwelling within. These houses are des 
 titute of chair, table, or bedstead. The inmates coil about a 
 fire, on mats of flags, or skins of animals. Regularity of time 
 is not observed in preparing and participating of food. They 
 manufacture no cloth, do not enclose cultivated lands with fences, 
 keep no other live stock than horses, which are not applied to 
 draught. There are treaty stipulations, by which the United 
 States' Government is required to afford them some assistance 
 in relation to agriculture, smithery, education, &c., by which 
 they have not yet profited. 
 
 Mr. Curtis, who went among the Omahas in 1837, contrary 
 to what had been requested and expected, and for reasons not 
 known to us, made his location about twelve miles from the 
 people of his charge. He remained at his station a few months, 
 and left it without having accomplished any thing. The build 
 ings, which cost the board of missions a thousand dollars, have 
 been left without an occupant, in an uninhabited desert. This 
 is the unpleasant condition of this station, after nine years' effort 
 of some of the missionaries to put it iiato operation. The pros 
 pect of doing much good there, with little cost to benevolent 
 societies, has always been and still is good, provided energetic 
 
 * For an account of a buffalo hunt, see pages 355 6. 
 71 
 
5G2 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 and devoted missionaries could be found willing to labour there. 
 Mr. Curtis, and Mrs. Curtis, who is an amiable woman, and a 
 devout Christian, are still residing in those remote regions, near 
 the junction of the Missouri and the Great Platte rivers, but not 
 in an Indian settlement, and receiving no support either from 
 the board of missions or from the Government. He is not exert 
 ing any influence upon matters beneficial to the Indians. 
 
 The Pawnee tribe is on the Great Platte river, about one hun 
 dred miles from its junction with the Missouri river. Their 
 number is usually estimated at ten thousand souls, and their 
 condition is similar to that of the Omahas. By treaty with the 
 United States, they are entitled to smitheries, and agriculturists 
 to aid them, live stock, mills, &c., and some provision is also 
 made for educational purposes. 
 
 It was in 1827 that the Baptists made the first effort with 
 the Government of the United States to make an arrangement 
 for establishing a mission in the vicinity of the Pawnees, and 
 which was designed for their benefit, and that of other tribes 
 near. The commencement of the stations among the Otoes 
 and Omahas was in accordance with this design. For the Paw 
 nees, with twelve years' effort, we have found no Baptist mis 
 sionary willing to labour. Two Presbyterian missionaries, viz : 
 Messrs. Dunbar and Allis, with their wives, have undertaken a 
 mission for this tribe, under the patronage of the American 
 Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. In 1824, the 
 male missionaries mingled with the people of their charge, but 
 subsequently they took temporary residences on the bank of 
 the Missouri river, one hundred miles from them. The mis 
 sionaries have qualified themselves for future usefulness by the 
 acquisition of the Pawnee language, but have not been able to 
 impart any benefits to the tribe. This, for the last fifteen years, 
 has been an inviting field for missionary labours. 
 
 The Otoes number about sixteen hundred souls. They re 
 side on the Great Platte river, and a few miles only from its 
 junction with the Missouri. Until lately, their condition did not 
 differ from that of the Omahas and Pawnees. Since the es 
 tablishment of the Otoe mission, some indications of a spirit of 
 improvement have been seen among them. By treaty stipula 
 tions, the United States have provided for their assistance in 
 agriculture, smithery, schools, &c. ; these have been partially 
 applied, and not without success. Some of the Otoes have 
 been encouraged to use more industry in agriculture than for 
 merly. It would be difficult to repress a smile at the awkward- 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 563 
 
 ness of rude man, even while the tear of pity and good will 
 would steal over the cheek, to see the Otoe chief holding the 
 handles of his plough, while his wife or child led the horse. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Merrill have both acquired a pretty thorough 
 knowledge of the Otoe language, and they impart religious in 
 structions without an interpreter. The Indians give pleasing 
 attention to preaching when they are in their villages, which 
 unfortunately, as* it happens with all uncultivated tribes, is but 
 a small portion of the year. Little has yet been done in rela 
 tion to instruction in the English language. About thirty-six, 
 chiefly young men, receive instruction in reading in the Otoe 
 language, while they are within the reach of the place, to whom 
 boarding in part is furnished by the mission. 
 
 A temperance society has been formed among the Otoes, of 
 which thirty-six of that tribe became members. We fear that 
 the history of the society will testify more honourably to the 
 zeal of the missionaries than to the fidelity of the members. 
 Nevertheless, as missionaries to the Indians never find water 
 in which they can lie upon their oars, but are accustomed to 
 row against strong currents antl contrary winds, zeal in this case, 
 with the blessing of God, may accomplish much. 
 
 Humanly speaking, nothing seems to be wanting to ensure a 
 good degree of success, but the addition of more missionaries of 
 zeal equal to that of Mr. and Mrs. Merrill. Both of these 
 missionaries have suffered not a little from ill health, and there 
 is too much reason to fear that Mr. Merrill's declining health 
 will soon bring him to the grave. 
 
 When I first came to this country, in 1828, the Puncahs, 
 Ornahas, Pawnees, and Otoes, were almost strangers to the use 
 of intoxicating drink. At this time, vast quantities of whiskey 
 are consumed among them. In the summer of this year, 1839, 
 fifty barrels of alcohol were rolled off a steamboat at one time, 
 and deposited in a cellar at a trading house on the northwest 
 bank of the Missouri, above the mouth of the Great Platte river. 
 Spirits are commonly transported to the remote tribes, in the 
 form of alcohol, in order to save cost, and is afterwards diluted 
 -for use. Taking the above instance of deposite, as a sample of 
 the many which occur in those regions, what floods of this de 
 stroying liquor are those wretched savages drenched with in the 
 course of a twelve month ! The extent of the evils thus pro 
 duced could only be learned from a history of the infernal 
 regions. Where are the laws forbidding the introduction of 
 ardent spirits into the Indian country ? Where are the officers 
 of Government who have been stationed in the Indian country 
 
564 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 for the purpose of preventing infractions of law ? Where are 
 the bonds which traders give, with sureties and heavy penalties, 
 by which they bind themselves to obey the laws of the United 
 States ? Such mockery of law and justice might well produce 
 a blush upon the cheek of every citizen of the United States. 
 Of this murderous traffic, one cannot think without horror, nor 
 speak without indignation, tempting him to transcend the bounds 
 of moderation. We talk of Indians being distressed and de 
 stroyed by war ; but we destroy them much faster in times of 
 peace than in times, of war. If the bloody history of the Span 
 iards in the West-Indies and Mexico, in the sixteenth century, 
 is revolting to the feelings of the reader, what must we say of 
 our own countrymen, in this nineteenth century 1 They mur 
 dered by slavery in the mines, or by cross-bows and blood 
 hounds ; but we murder by poison, which, if more slow in its 
 effects, is more insidious, and certain, and dreadful. And can 
 no remedy be found ? If the laws of Congress cannot reach 
 the case, and arrest the destroyer, cannot Christians come and 
 arm the sufferers with the doctrines and influences of the Bible, 
 by which they will be rendered invulnerable to these satanic 
 assaults? There can be no other remedy than this. Laws 
 cannot effect a cure of the evil, because they cannot be execu 
 ted. By the introduction of civil institutions, the Indians must 
 be taught to love life, and respect themselves, and by an ac 
 quaintance with the Bible be made to love holiness and practise 
 it ; until the salutary influence of these principles shall predomi 
 nate, they will be exposed to their fell destroyer. Here, then, 
 upon Christians rests an awful responsibility. Can they withhold 
 their help and be innocent? Were it practicable, this interroga 
 tory should be extended to every Christian, of every denomina 
 tion, in the United States, and urged with the ardour which the 
 contemplation of eternal things inspires. 
 
 The lowas number about one thousand souls ; they reside on 
 the Missouri river. Their condition and habits are slightly im 
 proved. Government, by virtue of treaty stipulations, is afford 
 ing them some assistance in the erection of dwellings and mills, 
 the fencing and ploughing of land, in live stock, schools, &c. A 
 Presbyterian mission has been established among them, under 
 the patronage of the Western Foreign Missionary Society, 
 the good effects of which have been felt by the tribe, though 
 in a small degree. From this mission, two excellent mission 
 aries, Mr. and Mrs. Ballard, have lately retired, and it is at 
 present in charge of the Rev. Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Irving, Mr. 
 Bradley, and their wives. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 565 
 
 The Sauks are about five hundred in number, being only a 
 branch of the Sauk nation. They are located within a mile of 
 the loways, and are in a similar condition. They are also deriving 
 some benefit from the United States' Government, by virtue of 
 treaty stipulations for assistance in improving lands, schools, &c. 
 
 The Kickapoos are about forty miles lower down the Mis 
 souri river, and number about four hundred souls. Their 
 circumstances are more comfortable and their habits more im 
 proved than those of the lowas and Sauks. It may be said 
 that many of them are becoming agriculturists : they keep live 
 stock, and apply horses and oxen to draught. Government'has 
 assisted them materially in these improvements, and is still 
 assisting them. The Methodists have a mission among them 
 upon a small scale, under the management of the Rev. Mr. 
 Berryman ; and the Catholics, also, have a small establishment. 
 
 The Kauzaus are estimated atseventeen hundred and fifty souls. 
 Their villages are on the Kauzau river, about one hundred miles 
 from its junction with the Missouri. By treaty stipulations, the 
 United States' Government has promised to afford them assist 
 ance in agriculture, schools, &;c. From these provisions they 
 have derived some, though not much benefit. Their condition, 
 until very lately, was similar to that of the Pawnees and Oma- 
 has. Recently, a few have made some hopeful efforts at agri 
 culture. The Methodists have a mission among them, recently 
 established, and upon a small scale; the Rev. W. Johnson, mis 
 sionary. Here is a favourable opening for more missionary 
 efforts. 
 
 The Delawares are in the upper angle formed by the junction 
 of the Missouri and Kauzau rivers. Their number is stated at 
 nine hundred and twenty-one. Many of the tribe are scattered 
 in other sections of country. These are considerably advanced 
 in civilization, and are advancing with an increasing ratio of im 
 provement. They are pretty well supplied with cattle, horses, 
 and swine ; generally live in neatly hewn log houses, though 
 small, and without much furniture within ; have farms enclosed 
 with good rail fences, and enjoy a comfortable supply of sub 
 sistence- throughout the year. Their minds and morals are also 
 improving. Government has assisted them, and will continue 
 to do so for many years, in improving their circumstances. The 
 Methodists have had a mission among them several years, and 
 the United Brethren (Moravians) have recently transplanted a 
 mission of theirs among them from Canada to this place. The 
 Baptist station may be said to be prosperous. On the 7th of 
 July, 1839, two intelligent Dejawares of influence were bap- 
 
566 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 tized. Religious worship is usually pretty well attended ; and 
 also instruction in reading, to a limited extent, both in English 
 and Indian, is imparted by Mr. and Mrs. Blanchard, and Miss 
 Case. Here, also, missionaries are needed. 
 
 The Shawanoes in the territory are reckoned at eight hun 
 dred and twenty-three. Some of the nation are in other coun 
 tries. They live on the south side of the Kauzau river. My 
 wife and I hail from the Baptist station in this tribe, though our 
 business relates to every tribe. Our connection with the Gene 
 ral (Missionary) Convention has never been changed from the 
 first, excepting that within the last ten years we have been at 
 liberty to act, in many matters, upon our own responsibility, in 
 which cases the board is not accountable, either in regard to the 
 propriety of the measure, or the cost that may be occasioned. 
 We support ourselves, but should our resources (which are our 
 earnings in the service of the Government) fail, as they proba 
 bly will, our claims upon the board for support will be similar 
 to those of other missionaries. 
 
 The condition of the Indians is so closely connected with the 
 affairs of the Government, that, in order to procure facilities 
 essential to a successful prosecution of missions, it has appeared 
 necessary for some one to approach a little nearer to political 
 matters, than was strictly proper for a missionary society ; and 
 in making these advances beyond the proper sphere of the 
 society, prudence suggested that the latter should not become 
 liable to either cost or blame. All the advantages, however, 
 which these efforts produce, are secured to the board's missions. 
 We act in concert with other missionaries, and in harmony with 
 the views and designs of the board. 
 
 The station has suffered much on account of the poor health 
 of the missionaries. Mr. and Mrs. Pratt laboured under diffi 
 culties of this character, especially the latter, whose symptoms 
 of diseased lungs became so alarming, that they deemed it expe 
 dient to return to her kindred in New-England, respecting the 
 propriety of which measure their nearer neighbouring mission 
 ary brethren concurred in opinion. We feel sensibly the loss 
 of these young missionaries, especially in the printing depart 
 ment, in which Mr. Pratt's place has not yet been supplied, and 
 follow them with our prayers that they may yet be spared to 
 promote the interests of the Indians, to which they had ardently 
 devoted themselves at the commencement of their career in 
 useful life. All deeply regret the suspension of the operations 
 of the press, and the board have resolved to furnish another 
 printer as early as possible. The general health of Mr. and 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 567 
 
 Mrs. Lykins is not good hers, especially, is poor. In the lat 
 ter part of May, the scarlet fever made its appearance in the 
 neighbourhood, and each of them and their children suffered so 
 severely, that they could scarcely leave their house for five 
 months. Mr. Barker and Miss Churchill have also suffered by 
 sickness. On these accounts, little has been done among the 
 Shawanoes during many months. On the 23d of October, Mr. 
 Barker and Miss Churchill were united in marriage. They are 
 now collecting a school, with the prospect of success ; and the 
 operations of the station, excepting the printing department, are 
 evidently improving. In my own family some one was suffering 
 with fevers, mostly of alarming type, from the middle of July 
 until about the first of December. At one time, Mrs. McCoy's 
 recovery could scarcely be hoped for, and mine, during many 
 weeks, was almost despaired of. 
 
 By means of the press, the Shawanoe station has possessed 
 advantages superior to any other, in imparting substantial bene 
 fits to the Indians. There have been printed in the Delaware 
 language four books, three of which were small, and one large; 
 the latter being a Harmony of the Gospels, originally compiled 
 by the Rev. Mr. Zeisberger, of the Moravian church, now re 
 vised by Mr. Blanchard. In Shawanoe, three books have been 
 printed, and part of the Gospel by Matthew. A second edition 
 of one of these books has been printed ; also, one book in Sha 
 wanoe, for the Methodists. In Putawatomie, four books have 
 been printed ; in Otoe three, all small, one of which has been 
 reprinted for the use of the Presbyterians among the loways ; 
 in Choctaw, one book; in Muscogee, (Creek,) one school book, 
 and the Gospel by John ; in Osage, one ; in Kauzau, one for 
 the Methodists, and in Wea, one for the Presbyterians ; in Ot 
 tawa, two v ; besides a considerable number of hymns in different 
 languages, not included in the above list. All of the above 
 were upon the new system. Also, three numbers of the Annual 
 Register of Indian Affairs, and one number of Periodical Ac 
 count of Baptist Missions; besides which, there was issued, 
 until late difficulties occasioned a suspension, a small monthly 
 paper, of only a quarter sheet, edited by Mr. Lykins, entitled 
 " Shawanowe Kesauthwau" Shawanoe Sun. 
 
 These people, like the Delawares, are advancing in civiliza 
 tion, and are in similar circumstances, possibly a little in advance 
 of their neighbours. They also receive help from the Govern 
 ment, by virtue of treaty provisions. The Methodists and 
 Friends (Quakers) have each a mission among them? the 
 former under the superintendence of the Rev. Thomas John- 
 
568 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 son, arid the latter under the management of Friend Moses 
 Pearson. 
 
 The Ottawa settlements commence about thirty miles west 
 of the State of Missouri. Only three hundred and fifty have 
 yet reached this country. They receive help in improvement 
 from the Government of the United States ; they are not quite 
 so far advanced in civilization as the Delawares and Shawanoes, 
 but the indications of increasing industry and economy among 
 them presage a rapid rise to a prosperous condition. Mr. 
 Meeker has a small school, in which instruction is imparted in 
 the English language, and he receives pretty good attention to 
 preaching. David Green, an Ottawa, who has been baptized 
 within the last two years, takes a part in the performance of 
 public religious exercises, and acquits himself much to the satis 
 faction of the missionaries. To enable him to employ a portion 
 of his time in religious labours, some of the nearer missionaries 
 made a contribution of money from their means of support, re 
 spectively. In the mean time, the case of David was brought 
 to the consideration of the board of missions by Mr. Meeker. 
 The board resolved to patronise him, but its funds being low, 
 an amount sufficient only to enable him to employ one-third of 
 his time in missionary labours has as yet been allowed him. It 
 is hoped that this circumstance will not be long known by a 
 benevolent public, before it will furnish the means to enable this 
 promising young man to employ all his time in preaching Christ 
 to his countrymen. 
 
 Part of a small band denominated Chippewas, but scarcely 
 distinguishable fromOttawas, arrived in the autumn of this year, 
 and have located adjoining the Ottawas. 
 
 The Peorias and Kaskaskias make one small band of one 
 hundred and forty-two souls, who reside on the east of the Otta 
 was. Their condition is similar to that of the Ottawas, and is 
 improving, in which they receive help from the Government of 
 the United Slates. The Methodists have a mission among them. 
 
 The Weas and Piankashas constitute one band, computed at 
 three hundred and sixty-three souls, resident on the east of the 
 Peorias, and adjoining the line of the State of Missouri. They 
 are also aided by the Government of the United States, and are 
 in circumstances similar to the Peorias a'nd Ottawas. The Pres 
 byterians had a mission among them, but abandoned it at a time 
 when its usefulness was improving. A missionary, who could 
 eonsent to locate within a tribe so small as this, would here find 
 an inviting situation for usefulness. These four bands last 
 named are of the Miamie family, and the main body of that 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 569 
 
 tribe is expected soon to locate by the side of these bands. 
 This event will enlarge the field of labour. Our missionary 
 efforts in 1817 commenced among the Miamies; and when, for 
 want of missionaries, we were compelled to discontinue our la 
 bours among them, our regrets were augmented by their entrea 
 ties that we would not forsake them. It would be exceedingly 
 gratifying if missionaries could be found willing to labour among 
 these people. They would enter upon the work with the pros 
 pect (under the blessing of Heaven) of repairing the desolations 
 of many years, by which a once powerful tribe has been brought 
 to the brink of destruction. 
 
 The Putawatomies adjoin the bands last mentioned ; only 
 about sixteen hundred and fifty have yet emigrated to this place. 
 They have but recently arrived, and have not had time to make 
 themselves as comfortable as the Ottawas, and others of their 
 neighbours. As a whole, they are, perhaps, a little in the rear 
 of their neighbours in civilization, but they have among them 
 more men of talents, education, and enterprise, in proportion to 
 numbers, than either of the five bands last mentioned. Assist 
 ance to a considerable extent, in the common improvements of 
 civilization and education, has been secured to them by treaty, 
 from the Government of the United States. The Methodists 
 have a mission among them, on a small scale, and the Catholics 
 have a mission in which two priests are employed. 
 
 The Baptist station, transplanted from Michigan, is goinjj into 
 operation here, under auspicious circumstances. A small school 
 in English is taught a portion of the time, and some instruction 
 is imparted in the Indian language. The missionaries from the 
 nearer stations assist Mr. Simerwell, and attention to religious 
 instruction is very encouraging. A temperance society has been 
 formed, the Indian members of which have increased to about 
 sixty, a few of whom are Ottawas. Permanent and comfortable 
 mission buildings are now going up, under the superintendence 
 of Mr. Lykins. Missionary associates are very much needed 
 by Mr. and Mrs. Simerwell in their arduous labours. They 
 have suffered considerably by sickness. 
 
 The country of the Osages commences twenty-five miles 
 west of the State of Missouri. They number five thousand five 
 hundred and ten souls, and in regard to improvement are simi 
 lar to the Otoes. No tribe has been so much neglected by the 
 Government of the United States, so much imposed upon by 
 rapacious traders, or so grossly traduced by both white and red 
 men, as this wretched people, who have been incapable of 
 72 
 
570 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 pleading their own cause, or of telling their own story of suffer 
 ings. During the last eleven years, they have presented an 
 inviting field for missionary effort, which might be entered with 
 the prospect of imparting much benefit. Government has at 
 different times made liberal provisions for the assistance of these 
 people in improving their condition, but hitherto, for want of 
 regard for their interests, on the part of those who have mingled 
 with them for the purpose of applying the means of relief, no 
 benefit of consequence has been afforded them. The Baptists 
 have made an effort to establish a mission among them, and are 
 hindered only by a want of missionaries. The Presbyterians 
 had missions among them, but they have been abandoned. 
 
 The Quapaws, southeast of the Osages, are about six hundred 
 in number, and are a branch of the latter, separated from the 
 body many years since. They have made some advances in 
 civilization, and are assisted by the Government of the United 
 States. They have never been favoured with a missionary; 
 the field, though small, would be found " white for barvest." 
 
 The two bands denominated Senecas, and Senecas and Sha- 
 wanoes, have become partly blended in one. Their number is 
 four hundred and sixty-one. They are considerably advanced 
 in civilization, and Government helps them in improving their 
 condition. The Methodists undertook a mission among them, 
 but relinquished it. Here, also, a missionary would find encou 
 ragement to labour, though his sphere, unless extended to others 
 immediately adjoining, would be small. 
 
 The Creeks and Seminoles have become blended ; their 
 whole number is computed to be twenty-four thousand one 
 hundred. Their country commences about forty-five miles west 
 of the State of Arkansas. Many of these may properly be 
 denominated civilized, though a majority fall below that appel 
 lation. They have not yet recovered from the damage sustained 
 by emigration ; nevertheless, their prospects of becoming com 
 fortable, and of improving in industry and virtue, are very good. 
 Considered as a tribe, they are in these respects a little in the 
 rear of the Cherokees and Choctaws. By treaty provisions, 
 the United States' Government is bound to afford them assist 
 ance in improvement, schools, &,c. The Presbyterians and 
 Methodists have had missions among them, but have relinquished 
 them. 
 
 No mission within the territory has been more favoured, at 
 times, with animating prospects, than the Baptist mission among 
 these people, and none has been equally subject to unexpected 
 and sudden repulses. Our narrative on the preceding pages leff 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 571 
 
 Mr. Kellam and Mr. Mason, and their wives, on their way to 
 resume the labours of this station, as formerly pursued ; but 
 new difficulties were met, and neither of them resumed the 
 occupancy of the mission buildings of the first station. Mr. 
 Kellam took up his residence near Mr. Davis's, which is an 
 eligible situation for usefulness, and Mr. Mason remained for the 
 present within the State of Arkansas. The former retained his 
 commission as United States' school teacher, and collected a 
 school, which he instructed in English, at his new residence. 
 Within the summer of this year, he yielded to an invitation of 
 the United States' agent for the Creeks, and returned to his 
 former residence in the mission house at the first station, and 
 left his school on Canadian river in the charge of Mr. Davis, 
 who was appointed United States' school teacher. Thus both 
 stations were again put into successful operation. Mr. Davis 
 has married a second wife, which circumstance, it is hoped, will 
 relieve him from many domestic cares which lately were a great 
 hinderance to his usefulness ; and with his school in English, 
 and some instruction imparted also in the Creek language, there 
 is reason to hope that attention to his preaching will be improved. 
 In reference to this mission, we are reminded of what has else 
 where been stated, that the formidable difficulties which attend 
 the management of Indian affairs, or the management of mis 
 sions, do not originate with the Indians ; it is the influence of 
 white men about them that occasions the serious troubles. 
 Painful as it may be, the reader is not permitted to take leave 
 of this mission without being told that it is again under a cloud. 
 Mr. Kellam had not long occupied the mission buildings, to 
 which he returned from the vicinity of Mr. Davis, before new 
 disturbances arose between him and one of his white neigh 
 bours, and he retired to the white settlements in the State of 
 Arkansas. An effort will be made to occupy the station by 
 Mr. and Mrs. Mason. 
 
 The Cherokee country adjoins the State of Arkansas on the 
 north of the river of the same name. About six thousand have 
 been several years resident in that country, and, by late emigra 
 tions, their number has increased to about twenty-two thousand. 
 These may be denominated a civilized people, though less civi 
 lized, taken as a whole, than an equal number of white citizens 
 on the frontiers of our new States. At the same time, there 
 are many who are wealthy, and not a few who have attained a 
 state of refinement in manners which would render them re 
 spectable any where in the United States. They have some 
 
572 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 men of respectable education, and a still greater number of men 
 whose talents would not suffer by comparison with talented men 
 of our nation, and, what is worth more than all things else which 
 can be said in their favour, between five hundred and one thou 
 sand are believed to be genuinely pious. 
 
 To the Cherokees, also, the United States are bound, to a 
 considerable extent, to furnish assistance in their march of im 
 provement. A majority of them have recently emigrated to 
 their present location, a few of whom have become settled. 
 
 It is much to be regretted that in June, 1839, an angry dis 
 cussion occurred in a general council, respecting the future 
 organization of the Cherokee Government, between the original 
 settlers (including those who had yielded to the treaty last held 
 between them and the United States) and the majority, which 
 embraced the later immigrants. The parties separated with un 
 pleasant feelings, and within a very few days, John Ridge, Jun., 
 John Ridge, Sen., and Elias Boudinot, all distinguished men of 
 the smaller party, were murdered under shocking circumstances. 
 These difficulties are yet unsettled ; on which account we shall 
 leave to a future historian the task of stating them in detail. 
 
 The Presbyterians have long had several missionary stations in 
 this country, the most extended and useful of which is Dwight; 
 the minister at which is Rev. C. Washburn, who is associated 
 with Mr. Orr, and Messrs. J. and A. Hitchcock. Rev. Messrs. 
 Palmer and Worcester, and Mr. Newton, respectively, occupy 
 other stations in the Cherokee country. The Dwight station 
 has always sustained a large boarding school, which has given to 
 it stability of character, and opened the way to every part of the 
 nation for imparting religious instruction, by preaching and other 
 wise, to the extent of the whole time of the missionaries. They 
 have a printing press in operation at one of their stations. The 
 Methodists, also, have missions among those people. 
 
 The Baptist mission to the Cherokees was commenced in 
 their original residence, on the east of the Mississippi, in 1817. 
 The first missionary was Rev. Thomas Posey, who did not long 
 continue before he retired from missionary labours, as did also 
 several others who united in the mission soon after its com 
 mencement. The Rev. Evan Jones persevered, and has had 
 the happiness of reaping a rich religious harvest. His religious 
 instructions have been greatly blest. Two Baptist churches 
 have been constituted, which embrace more than five hundred 
 hopefully pious members, and among them several native preach 
 ers, the most noted of whom is Rev. Jesse Bushy head. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 573 
 
 The spiritual blessings which have descended upon the labours 
 of Mr. Jones and his native coadjutors, furnish materials for an 
 interesting volume, which we hope will not be long withheld 
 from the public. The members of the church belonged to the 
 party constituting the majority of the nation, and opposed to 
 emigration to the West. The aversion of the party to removal 
 being so great that they made no preparation to depart until 
 compelled by the presence of the United States' troops, there 
 was reason to fear that in the vexations and calamities of this 
 world they would think little about preparing for the next, and 
 that even Christians might lose much of their spiritual-minded- 
 ness. But it was not so. Up to the time of their assemblage 
 for removal, the labours of Mr. Jones and Mr. Bushyhead were 
 blest with improving success. Attendance on preaching im 
 proved, Christians became more zealous and united, and con 
 versions and baptisms more frequent; and after they were assem 
 bled in encampments, necessarily under many sufferings of body, 
 rich blessings continued to descend on their souls, considerable 
 numbers were baptized, and comfortable communion seasons 
 enjoyed. 
 
 Mr. Jones and Mr. Bushyhead were each made conductor 
 of a party of Cherokees. The former, after accompanying his 
 people to their country, in the Indian territory, returned to the 
 east side of the Mississippi, and whether he will again resume 
 his labours among the Cherokees is yet undetermined. But 
 his loss to that people would be great, and it is hoped that they 
 will be favoured with a continuation of his useful ministry. Mr. 
 Bushyhead continues his labours among his people in their new 
 home, in which he is assisted by his native brethren, John 
 Wickliffe, Oganaya, Dsusawala, Doyanungheeskee, and Oole- 
 dastee. 
 
 The Choc-taws are estimated at fifteen thousand, and are 
 the most southern tribe ; they adjoin the State of Arkansas on 
 the east, and Texas on the south and west. The Chicka- 
 savv tribe, numbering five thousand five hundred, is merged with 
 the Choctavv, making the whole number twenty thousand five 
 hundred. These are justly entitled to the appellation of a civi 
 lized people. Before the late difficulties, the Cherokee nation 
 was allowed to be in advance of all others. But the Choctaws 
 having had time, since their settlement in their permanent home, 
 to organize their civil government judiciously, must be said to 
 be, at this time, in advance of every other tribe. We say more: 
 No Indian tribe, since the discovery of America by white men, 
 
574 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 except the Choctaw, has fully exchanged the savage customs 
 for the institutions of civil government. Their existence, as a 
 civilized community, is in its incipient stages. Nevertheless, 
 the foundation appears to be permanently laid, for the promotion 
 of civilization, to the entire exclusion of the customs peculiar to 
 savage life in the management of public affairs. 
 
 The United States' Government is bound to afford consider 
 able assistance to the Choctaws and Chickasaws, in making them 
 comfortable, in schools, &c. The Methodists have missionaries 
 among them. According to the discipline of that church, their 
 missionaries frequently change places, so that new missionaries 
 may be introduced into the Indian country this year, in lieu of 
 those who served in the preceding year. The Presbyterians 
 have several stations, occupied by Rev. Messrs. Kingsbury, 
 Byington, Wright, Woods, and Hotchkin, and their wives, and 
 Messrs. Jones, Olmstead, and Austin, with their wives, and Mrs. 
 Barnes, Miss Clough, and Miss Burn ham. Mr. Kingsbury and 
 Mr. Byinglon are veterans in missionary labours. 
 
 The Baptists have four missionaries among them, who occu 
 py as many stations, viz: Rev. Messrs. Smedley, Potts, Hatch, 
 and Dr. Allen, all of whom have wives, excepting the first. 
 Each holds an appointment under the United States' Govern 
 ment, as teacher of a school, for which he receives a salary which 
 supports him without cost to the board of missions. A small 
 church has been organized at Mr. Potts's station, which is the 
 only Baptist church in the nation. Very favourable openings 
 for preaching the Gospel successfully and for teaching schools 
 appear in many places. 
 
 The Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees, and Creeks, are the 
 only tribes which manufacture cloth. As often occurs among 
 the citizens of the United States on the frontiers, there are, 
 among all tribes, more or fewer who spend too much time in 
 hunting. But there is not one tribe among the immigrants 
 which does not depend chiefly for subsistence upon their domes 
 tic supplies, procured by their own industry. The indigenous 
 tribes are the Quapaw, Osage, Kauzau, Otoe, Pawnee, Omaha, 
 and Puncah numbering, in the whole, twenty-one thousand six 
 hundred and sixty. The immigrants, seventy-three thousand 
 two hundred in number, are no longer tribes of hunters, but are 
 people subsisting themselves at their homes. 
 
 In their original condition, the Indians live in villages. As 
 they advance in civilization, they widen distances between 
 houses, until they form proper country settlements. As the 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 575 
 
 business of life increases, and mechanics and merchants multi 
 ply, convenience brings their shops nearer to each other, and 
 villages are formed. At present, the indigenous tribes reside 
 in villages, but not one village exists among the immigrants? 
 Among the southern tribes, the Choctaws in particular, a few 
 settlements are beginning to assume a village appearance. Esti 
 mates, upon the best data that are accessible, make the entire 
 Indian population of North America about five millions four 
 hundred thousand. 
 
 On account of erroneous opinions of Indian character, bad 
 measures of Government, and criminal neglect of Christians, 
 the condition of these people has hitherto appeared less hope 
 ful than that of any other upon the earth ; while, at the same 
 time, their vigour of intellect, and the absence of established 
 forms of worship, placed them in a condition more susceptible of 
 favourable impressions, tending to improvement, than any other 
 heathen nation. 
 
 The apathy of Christians upon this subject has been unac 
 countable. Of our own denomination we may speak with more 
 freedom than of others. The Baptists connect with their churches 
 none who are not supposed to be genuinely pious. Their num 
 ber, within the United States, is over five hundred thousand, and 
 yet they are, comparatively, doing nothing for the Indians. In 
 regard to the propagation of the Gospel in Asia, Africa, and 
 Europe, the denomination is liberal and enterprising; but for the 
 conversion of the aborigines of our own country it is but little 
 inclined to labour. It will be seen, by our history, that their 
 efforts have been few and feeble. Very favourable opportuni 
 ties for doing good have frequently passed away without im 
 provement, for want of missionaries, and the few who have been 
 in the field have not been amply sustained in their labours. 
 During the last ten or twelve years, scarcely any thing has been 
 contributed for the promotion of Indian missions. They have 
 been sustained almost wholly by means obtained from the Gov 
 ernment of the United States. This is a startling fact, of 
 which, it is probable, the denomination is not fully aware. 
 
 We have commenced inquiries, with a view of ascertaining 
 and stating to the denomination the amount of its charitable con 
 tributions for Indian missions within the last fifteen years, but 
 this work goes to press before the statement is prepared. It is 
 believed, however, that scarcely any thing above the amount 
 received from Government has been expended. It will also be 
 perceived that, from the first, there has been a distressing warn 
 
76 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 of funds. The want of means has been, to some extent, the 
 apology of the board of missions for not employing more mis 
 sionaries, and for not amply sustaining the few stations they have 
 established. The usefulness of these stations has been greatly 
 abridged by their poverty. Many of the missionaries, instead 
 of being allowed to apply all their energies in promoting the 
 proper object of their mission, are compelled to spend half their 
 time, or more, in securing the means of support for themselves 
 and families. Most of them labour with their own hands, and 
 when they can earn any thing from Government, by personal 
 service, apply it all to the promotion of the interests of missions, 
 leaving their own families poor. 
 
 The condition of the Indians is such as renders schools almost 
 indispensable to the success of missions; but, for want of means, 
 schools, in some instances, are small, and wanting in efficiency, 
 and in others wholly omitted. With a flourishing school by his 
 side, the opportunities of the missionary to impart religious 
 instruction to the people of his charge would be enhanced four 
 fold. But, with all his toils and privations, and the anxieties of 
 his soul on account of the poverty of his family, when by death 
 they may be deprived of his care, he has the additional mortifi 
 cation to feel that he labours under disadvantages which prevent 
 three-fourths of his success. 
 
 Missionaries, as well as means of support, are wanting. Can 
 didates for missionary service in other countries are not wanting; 
 but very few indeed offer themselves for this service. Here is 
 no dangerous ocean of thousands of miles intervening between 
 the Christian and the perishing heathen. No obstacle is pre 
 sented by the oppression of a vertical sun, or the sickliness of 
 climate. The bolts and bars of established heathen mythology 
 are not to be broken, in order to gain access to the people. 
 They possess acuteness and strength of mind, and docility of 
 disposition they are men of nature a kind of blank, which 
 may be either filled or blotted by us. Baptist brother, why 
 will you not come and help ? Or, if it be not convenient for 
 you to come into the Indian country, why will you not con 
 tribute something towards enabling others to come? The disco 
 very of the new system of writing and learning to read, makes it 
 comparatively easy to give religious tracts, the New Testament, 
 and other useful prints, to the whole Indian population, from 
 Mexico to the northern extremity of the Continent, could we 
 but find men willing to perform the labour, and the means to feed 
 and clothe them. The obligations arising out of this, and some 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 577 
 
 other considerations, press with peculiar force upon the Baptist 
 denomination, and none can be so blind as not to perceive that 
 the facility with which we may impart to every horde of natives 
 a knowledge of the Gospel, and the permanent character which 
 is given to the work of Indian reform by the system of coloni 
 zation, render the present an auspicious time to work, and such 
 as has never before occurred. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Encouragement to go forward in the work of Indian reform, 
 
 i 
 
 On the foregoing pages we have sketched the character and 
 condition of the Indians, from their supposed origin to the pre 
 sent time, and the progress of Baptist missions among them, 
 and finding ninety-five thousand of them already settled in a 
 country favourable to their future prosperity, and the experiment 
 of a change of measures, working well so far as it has advanced, 
 and with reason, observation, and Christian faith, clearly pre 
 dicting ultimate success, we ask those who, like Josenhus's 
 Prophet, on the walls of fated Jerusalem, are constantly sound 
 ing their woes around the aborigines, Why should they perish ? 
 
 Is it possible that a race of men has been brought into exist 
 ence possessing some innate self-destroying principle, which will 
 produce its own extinction ? If so, how did their numbers mul 
 tiply, until they spread over a quarter of the globe? How did 
 it happen that this baneful principle did not begin to develop 
 itself until they came in contact with the white man ? Why 
 has not nature violated her laws in relation to some other ani 
 mals? A nation of human beings, physically and mentally 
 organized like all other human beings, multiplying to millions, 
 and yet, unlike all other human beings, under the influence of a 
 self-destructive principle, too inveterate to be remedied, and 
 which will utterly destroy the whole race. 
 
 They who have given little attention to Indian affairs will 
 hardly believe that such gross absurdities are propagated in these 
 days, and in this country. They would ascribe them to a period 
 a century before our time. Yet, strange as it may appear, we 
 are sorry to say it is true. When we exult in the wonderful 
 march of mind in this favoured period, we must not exhibit the 
 
 73 
 
578 
 
 HISTORY OF HU'TIST 
 
 above specimens of logic in justification of our joys. The rea 
 soning of the most benighted of those aborigines would not 
 involve equal absurdities. 
 
 We have lately seen, in a periodical of considerable celebrity,* 
 the following premises and conclusions assumed : 
 
 " The North- American Indians are a strongly marked race 
 of men, constituting a distinct class, and maintaining their iden 
 tity as such, and their peculiarities, in every vicissitude of exist 
 ence, which neither circumstances nor time have conquered. 
 Wasted by wars, consumed by want, driven by the iron arm of 
 civilization from his native soil, and the places endeared to him 
 by hallowed associations, the Indian is the same that he was 
 when the white man first invaded his forests ; unchanged and 
 unchangeable in his nature, his habits, his physical constitution, 
 and distinctive traits of intellect. We see to what a point the 
 aboriginal intellect has advanced, and what have been apparent 
 ly the stern boundaries fixed by nature to its progress. The 
 narrow circle of Indian ideas has remained essentially the same, 
 
 since their first intercourse with Europeans They 
 
 have rejected the habits of civilized life, though, in some indi 
 vidual cases, they have proved themselves capable of adopting 
 them. It seems as if they were born to be hunters, and hunt 
 ers they were determined to die. The Christian religion has 
 made a temporary progress among some of the tribes, but time 
 has always removed the last traces of it from the savage mind." 
 
 If the sentiments we have quoted were limited to a few of our 
 countrymen, we might have passed them unnoticed ; but they 
 prevail extensively. They intrude themselves into the halls of 
 legislation, and by their hopelessness occasion indifference to the 
 enactment of wholesome regulations. They accompany the 
 execution of law, and too often occasion infidelity. They salve 
 the conscience of the avaricious, who pleads that, since the In 
 dians cannot profit by money appropriated for their use, he may 
 apply, it to^his own ; and they have a paralyzing effect upon 
 every scheme of benevolence for their assistance, both in the 
 Government and in the Church. 
 
 We are happy, however, in being able to meet the errors we 
 deprecate, by plain and notorious matters of fact. Of this un 
 questionable evidence is found in the accounts given of improve 
 ments in civilization and religion, of different tribes. With 
 peculiar satisfaction we refer to the account of the Choctaws. 
 There we see that savage customs have been abolished, and 
 
 * North American Review for July, 1898. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 579 
 
 civil institutions adopted in their place ; and this, too, has been 
 done by themselves. It is true, there have long been labouring 
 among them devoted missionaries, whose salutary influence has 
 been felt, in moulding the character of society in general ; but 
 the direct operations of these men have been chiefly limited to 
 religion and literature. And, moreover, the amount of mission 
 ary labour among the Choctaws has always been so small, that 
 it can, at best, be esteemed only an auxiliary in improvement. 
 
 The Cherokees have been hindered in improvement by diffi 
 culties attending a change of place, otherwise it is fair to sup 
 pose they would not have been behind the Choctaws in any 
 thing. Before the days of their late troubles on the east of the 
 Mississippi, they were undoubtedly in advance of all other tribes. 
 Then follow the Creeks, close in the rear of their neighbours. 
 Nearly by the side of the latter, in improvement, are the Shawa* 
 noes and Delawares, followed by Peoria.s, Senecas, VVeas, Otta- 
 was, Kickapoos, Sauks, and lowas. 
 
 These are the people said to * have been born to be hunters, 
 and hunters determined to die." A population of more than 
 seventy thousand of these natural born hunters are now living 
 by their industry at home, and having among them scarcely a 
 greater proportion of individuals who neglect the field or the 
 shop for the chase, than are found among the whites in the fron 
 tier settlements. Even the indigenous tribes, in the midst of all 
 the disadvantages under which they have laboured, have, almost 
 from the moment that they were informed improvement was 
 possible, been imbibing habits of civilization. When inspired 
 with the first ray of hope, they arose and took hold of the 
 plough. See the 'poor Otoe, who, a short time since, cultivated 
 his maize with the shoulder-bone of the buffalo, unable to. guide 
 both plough and horse, holding the handles of the former, while 
 his wife or child guides the latter. 
 
 This is the " race of men constituting a distinct class, and 
 maintaining their identity as such, and their peculiarities, under 
 every vicissitude of existence !" 
 
 Next look into the schools, and into the classes which have 
 been favoured with a place in the schools, and you must remain 
 silent on the subject of limited intellect. Go to the Choctavv 
 Hall of Legislation, and hear men, with true eloquence, plead 
 ing and establishing the cause of civil liberty. Follow them, 
 till in the ardour of friendly debate, yon find the speakers, en 
 larging beyond the limits of recollection, resorting for aid to 
 wriit.cn notes. Examine their constitution and their code of 
 
580 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 written laws, and then tell us " the narrow circle of Indian ideas 
 has remained essentially the same since their first intercourse with 
 Europeans." Lastly, approach the House of God, compared 
 with the importance of which, all specimens of improvement 
 sink into insignificance. Hear the native, with his bold and 
 pious eloquence, telling his countrymen that the victim of Cal 
 vary extends his hands even to them, to wipe their tears and 
 raise them to a better world. See hundreds surrounding the 
 sacramental board, to commemorate the death of the Redeemer. 
 Follow these disciples of Jesus, and witness their consistency of 
 profession, both in the closet and in their intercourse with their 
 fellow-men.* Mark the indications of grateful recollections of 
 those white men who brought to them the " balm of Gilead." 
 Then step to the brink of time, and see a Christian Indian die, 
 and tell us that " time has always removed the last traces of 
 the Christian religion from the savage mind !" 
 
 Further, let it not be overlooked that these improvements, 
 in their substantial form, commenced at the moment when, in the 
 nature of things, they were enabled to hope for better condition. 
 The hunter left the forest for the field, as soon as he knew that 
 he could enjoy the fruits of cultivation. The barbarous council 
 was dissolved, as soon as a secure home, and the prospect of 
 enjoying civil freedom, suggested the propriety of a legislative 
 assembly. Very few of the Choctaws had reached their present 
 homes in 1828. About the same time the Cherokees, and 
 Creeks, and Shawanoes, were making their first settlements. 
 
 * From among many interesting anecdotes which exhibit the salutary 
 influence of the Gospel upon the Indians, the following is selected : 
 
 In the autumn of the present year, 1839, a company of Delawares in- 
 vited Charles Johnnycake to accompany them on a trapping expedition in the 
 capacity of commander. Charles was a talented young Delaware, who had 
 acquired a knowledge of reading, and who had become a member of a Bap 
 tist church. He refused to accept of the office of leader, or even to join 
 the company, unless all would agree to attend prayers at camp every night 
 and morning ; to bring into camp all their traps on Saturday evening, and to 
 spend the Sabbath in rest and religious exercises. Only one, besides him. 
 self, professed to be pious, and he was a member of the same church. Never 
 theless, all agreed to Charles's propositions. They were in the wilderness 
 about six weeks, during which time all strictly adhered to their engagement. 
 Morning and evening prayers were regularly observed, at which times por 
 tions of the Scriptures were read, and hymns sung in the Delaware language, 
 and on Sundays, Charles read and expounded the Scriptures, and exhorted 
 his fellow-trappers to believe in the Lord Jesus, and not even their traps wern 
 allowed to remain set for catching beaver, lest unhallowed thoughts should 
 turn towards them, to the desecration of the Sabbath. 
 
 That same desert had been frequented by Indians from time immemorial, 
 but, perhaps, had never before resounded with the voice of prayer and praise. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 581 
 
 The Delawares and others arrived at later dates. Here, then, 
 as it were, with the fructifying influence of summer, the immi 
 grant tribes, without a single exception, from the moment that 
 they began to be relieved from despair, and to feel the influence 
 of hope, commenced improving, and are still advancing. 
 
 We admit that many formidable obstacles still oppose the 
 national salvation of this lately broken-hearted people. But the 
 hinderances are all in our own hand, and (with proper submission 
 to Him who rules the destinies of man) we perceive that we 
 have the power either to save or to destroy them. Upon us, 
 therefore, rests the responsibility. We perceive that with op 
 portunities which would enable any other people to improve 
 their condition, the Indians will be prosperous. 
 
 One difficulty, among others, and not the least serious which 
 is felt all over the Indian country, is the lamentation of some 
 among us for " the fate of the poor Indians, who are des 
 tined," they say, "to be driven still further west by our Gov 
 ernment." The tribes have, for very good reasons, felt their 
 removal to the West to be a great hardship. On this account, 
 and many others, it cannot be expected that they will soon have 
 entire confidence in the sincerity of our declarations, that they 
 shall not again be disturbed. They are not yet fully prepared 
 to appreciate the causes which have induced their removal; and 
 hence, judging from the past, they look with suspicion on the 
 future; and nothing so effectually checks the march of improve 
 ment as doubts concerning the permanency of their settlements. 
 Their fears are ever on the alert, and they watch, with jealous 
 anxiety, every movement of our Government in relation to them. 
 While, therefore, public prints and public speakers, professedly 
 mourning over the calamities of the Indians, predict that they 
 will still be driven from place to place, and protest that the tribes 
 are as insecure on the west, as they were on the east of the Mis 
 sissippi, they are fostering the groundless jealousies of the In 
 dians, and inflicting upon them positive and extensive injury. 
 
 For reasons to which we have referred, we can excuse the 
 Indian for his fears, but not the citizen of the United States, 
 who has an opportunity of contemplating the subject under cir 
 cumstances very different from the former. He must be blind, 
 indeed, who can perceive no difference in the tenure by which 
 Indians hold lands now, and that'by which they held lands with 
 in the chartered limits of States. It is beyond contradiction, 
 that the General Government never has had power, since its 
 organization, to give to any of the tribes a perpetual residence on 
 
582 
 
 H1STOKY OF BAPTIST 
 
 the east side of the Mississippi river. Here it has power to 
 secure them in their homes ferever. 
 
 Ci But the avarice of our citizens," you say, " is so strong 
 that they will covet the Indian lands, and their cruelty is so 
 great that they will wrest it from them." These assertions we 
 deny, and justify the denial by the fact that emigrations to this 
 territory, since the Government conceived the design of making 
 the Indians' residence permanent, have not been produced by 
 the avarice and the cruelty presupposed. That our citizens 
 have manifested avarice and cruelty, no one pretends to deny; 
 but these passions have never acquired strength to remove one 
 single tribe. The cause which produced removal was, that the 
 very existence of our Government was predicated upon the sup 
 position that the Indian had no landed rights on the east of the 
 Mississippi. By an European sovereign that country had all 
 been conveyed to his subjects, and, in changing masters, these 
 claimants never relinquished their claims. These claims were 
 recognised in the formation of our Government, and have been 
 confirmed by a continuous policy, in which every State in the 
 Union concurred. 
 
 We admit that our citizens might become so corrupt that they 
 would force the Indians from their homes without the sanction 
 of law. At the same time we deny that any such instance of 
 cruelty has occurred since the scheme of colonizing them has 
 been conceived. 
 
 Again, we do not live in an age of increasing cruelty to the 
 Indians. Public sympathy never was so much excited in behalf 
 of them as at present. Kindness of feeling in those who have 
 managed the affairs of our Government has been increasing 
 for many years, particularly since the feasibility of rescuing the 
 tribes from extinction has been perceived in the present plan. 
 In proof of this, we need only compare latter with former trea 
 ties. In these we discover an increasing liberality towards the 
 Indians. Now the Government will give half a million of dol 
 lars to a tribe for considerations which, twenty years ago, would 
 have been thought dear at twenty thousand. 
 
 When, therefore, the Government has it in its power to secure 
 the tribes in their settlements in the territory, while it is pursu 
 ing measures for this purpose, and while it is endeavouring to 
 make amends for past wrongs suffered by these people, by in 
 creasing kindness in future, it is exceedingly unfair, and, in regard 
 to the Indians, cruelly unkind, to cherish their fears that they 
 shall soon be driven from their homes. 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 583 
 
 Intimately connected with the views of precarious settlement 
 which we have noticed, is that to which we have already re 
 ferred, the tendency of which is similarly pernicious, to wit, the 
 supposition that the Indians are perishing, and that their decline 
 cannot be arrested. Lectures on the manners and customs of 
 the Indians, whether consisting of encomium or censure, usually 
 wind up with a prediction of the utter extinction of the race. 
 
 Speakers in benevolent associations, after telling of the wrongs 
 the Indians have endured, and the sufferings to which they have 
 been subjected, and giving, perhaps, a florid description of the 
 noble traits of character which they fancy they have discovered 
 in the man of nature, often leave last and uppermost on the 
 minds of their audience the impression that these noble but 
 suffering people are doomed to utter destruction. The effect 
 of all this would be the less hurtful, were it not done under the 
 profession of great regard for the Indians. Well might all the 
 tribes adopt the prayer, " From the sympathies of such friends, 
 good Lord deliver us." They have much sympathy for the 
 poor Indians, and yet they can hinder them from making them 
 selves comfortable, by telling them that they will soon be driven 
 from their houses and fields. By discouraging improvement 
 among them, they cherish ignorance and wretchedness, and thus 
 increase their liability to be imposed upon. They check the 
 ardor essential to improvement, by predicting their constant de 
 cline and ultimate extinction; and they discourage our citizens, 
 whether statesmen or churchmen, from earnestly seeking the 
 relief of the Indians " for all efforts are to fail they must be 
 driven they must disappear." 
 
 The rhetorical flourish, borrowed from Indian life, has become 
 stale with time and use, that "the council fires of the tribes are 
 about to be extinguished." Yes. The council fires of the 
 Choctaws have already been extinguished, and those of other 
 tribes are expiring; but the tribes are neither dead nor dying. 
 They have exchanged the council fire for the legal institutions 
 of a civilized community. 
 
 Nothing is better calculated to cherish in the Indians hostile 
 feelings towards the United States than to persuade them that 
 we design to drive them from their present residences. Con 
 firm them in this belief, and war will be induced, and on their 
 part it would be a war of desperation. 
 
 Another error into which some good men have fallen is, that 
 the Indians must necessarily perish, because they are "driven 
 from the graves of their fathers." Or, if separation from the 
 
584 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 graves of their fathers should not be certainly destructive, it is 
 necessarily cruel. Better let them remain at the "graves of 
 their fathers " and die, than to go to a country of their own and 
 live. -Now, concerning the hardship of being compelled to leave 
 a place to which they had become attached by a long residence, 
 and to locate in one chosen for them by others, there can be 
 but one opinion. We all agree, too, that the whites started 
 wrong in Indian matters at first, and introduced an unjust policy, 
 which was the source and has been the support of all the evils 
 which have been particularly destructive to these people, not 
 even excepting the evil of intemperance. Happy would it 
 have been for us if our ancestors had corrected this error. But 
 they did it not; that work has been reserved for the present 
 generation. The reform has been commenced,, and it is pro 
 gressing in the only possible way that has been suggested, and 
 we rejoice that the deeply lamented evils real, not imaginary 
 evils involved in the matter of emigration from the east to the 
 west of "the Mississippi, are being overruled for good. Evils, 
 the force of which drove the pilgrim fathers from Europe to 
 America, were real. The laws which allowed of their perse 
 cution were unjust. These good men might have remained by 
 the " graves of their fathers," and have died under their oppres 
 sions, but they made a wiser choice, and soon discovered that 
 the evil was made to them a blessing. 
 
 While we have much to lament in the case of the Indians, 
 we have these substantial consolations, that their country is 
 good ; the latitudes they respectively inhabit nearly the same 
 as those from which they came; that the causes which occasion 
 ed their removal from their former residences do not reach their 
 present ones, and that notwithstanding it has been constantly 
 reiterated in their hearing, that " they need not try to live, 
 for the Indian race must become extinct they need not im 
 prove their lands, for they will soon be driven from them;" they 
 no sooner reach their country here, than they exchange the 
 hunter for the farmer. So far from being naturally averse to im 
 provement, as has been a thousand times reported, thev as 
 naturally commence improving as soon as they are placed in 
 circumstances which render it possible, as a bird expands its 
 wings for flight as soon as its cage is opened. 
 
 Here, then, we have the elements of that state of society 
 which all who desire their happiness wish to see established 
 among the Indians. In regard to the propriety of some mea 
 sures which have been employed to transfer these people to this 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 585 
 
 country, there have been honest differences of opinion in the 
 United States. These things are now matters of history. The 
 Indians are here, and afford an opportunity for action. In acts 
 of justice and humanity, all may unite. That it is our duty 
 now to endeavour to afford assistance, none can doubt, and it is 
 hardly possible for us to disagree in the choice of measures. 
 Only suppose Indians to be like all other human beings like 
 ourselves, for instance and all becomes plain and easy. We 
 have only to apply for their relief such measures as our own 
 citizens need when they locate in new and wilderness countries. 
 
 Suppose a population of ninety-five thousand of our citizens, 
 suddenly thrown together on some part of our frontiers ; that 
 which would seem to claim first attention would be the esta 
 blishment of rules of order the adoption of measures of law, for 
 mutual protection. It would not be sufficient for each prominent 
 man to form a clan and adopt laws for themselves, in all respects 
 distinct from others. Such local regulations might properly be 
 made, but they would not supersede the necessity for laws of a 
 more general nature, which would harmonize the whole commu 
 nity. In such a community as we have supposed, the institution 
 of schools and of religious worship would early claim attention. 
 Industry, as well as literature and religion, should be encouraged. 
 All this would be plain, in regard to ourselves, and the whole 
 would be equally appropriate for the Indians. Government, 
 for various reasons, exercises over them a general superintend- 
 ency and guardianship ; it is therefore proper that it should take 
 measures for uniting them harmoniously under the influence of 
 regulations of intercourse. The tribes have never been in this 
 manner united; it is not easy, therefore, for them to form an 
 union without assistance. 
 
 But leave them to remain in their present incoherent con 
 dition, and the result will be what we would expect from ninety 
 thousand of our own citizens, settled in a body, without law 
 difficulties" among themselves, and trouble to their neighbours, 
 which would end in destruction. In no other way than this can 
 the Indian be deprived of his country. Let quarrels arise be 
 tween the tribes, and liability to lose their country will follow. 
 
 The original inhabitants, who have reluctantly been yielding 
 their places to us for two or three centuries, and, as they re 
 ceded, diminished in numbers, and sunk deeper in accumulating 
 woes, have at length found a resting place ; and, like the bird 
 of Noah, have found the flood of their afflictions retiring, and 
 the olive emblem of peace and tranquillity accessible ; or, like 
 74 
 
586 
 
 HISTORY OF BAPTIST 
 
 the long imprisoned tenants of the ark, when they issued forth 
 with pious hilarity to plough and plant, the Indian unstrings his 
 bow, and gears his plough-horse. 
 
 The measures now contemplated by the Government will not 
 be limited in their salutary effects to the few broken Indian na 
 tions near us. They combine the elements of a grand scheme 
 of deliverance, embracing all the tribes. The vast region unin 
 habited by men of European descent, and lying westward and 
 northward of their long line of settlements, is the sphere des 
 tined to be filled. Success in the present experiment will arouse 
 benevolent enterprise to form colonies elsewhere, and it will 
 not be long in carrying messages of joy to the most distant and 
 degraded hordes. Once fully establish in practice the design 
 under consideration, and, like the prophet's rock from the moun 
 tain, imperishable in its nature, it will magnify commensurate to 
 the sphere of wretchedness for which it is adapted. Who would 
 not co-operate in a work so magnificent ! Shall we call it a 
 revolution ? It deserves a better name than one implying only 
 a change of one form of Government for another, or one corps 
 of rulers for another. Here is to be the establishment of Gov 
 ernment among men who never before enjoyed it. It is not a 
 mere improvement in condition, but a rescue from extinction. 
 The events of our own American revolution acquire interest as 
 time develops their importance to the world ; and the hand 
 which but tremblingly signed our Declaration of Independence 
 is now looked back upon with a kind of veneration, as if it had 
 been guided by some influence from Heaven. The excellence 
 of our institutions, then introduced, acquires brilliancy by having 
 led us to feel, and act, for others, far more distressed than we 
 were then to make them free and happy as ourselves. 
 
 Christians, will you awaken from your lethargy, and without 
 delay come forward, with prayer, and faith, and zeal, to the glo 
 rious work of elevating the depressed aborigines to the privi 
 leges of citizens and the virtues of Christianity ? Can you 
 imagine a crisis of more thrilling interest than the present ? 
 Should the experiment of an Indian colony, by opposing ob 
 stacles, fail, will not the predictions of 4t the fearful and unbe 
 lieving" be fulfilled in the extermination of the Indian race ? 
 But in its success an achievement of Christian enterprise is 
 anticipated, than which none is more noble. Here is latitude 
 for the exercise of sympathy, and the discharge of duties which 
 justice demands the payment of debts too long delayed. While 
 the scale trembles between hope and despair in the public mind, 
 
INDIAN MISSIONS. 587 
 
 cast in your influence of prayer, benevolence, and personal 
 effort. Missionaries, as well as means, are needed faithful, 
 energetic missionaries, divested of sinister motives, and devoted 
 to labours of disinterested benevolence. Both the preacher 
 and the layman can here find room to work to good advantage; 
 nor is the work of females in leading their red sisters in the 
 paths of virtuous refinement, and to the house of God, the least 
 important. Why do you stand aloof? Three centuries have 
 elapsed since the discovery of this country by our ancestors, 
 and what have we done for them ? Alas, what damage we have 
 done them ! What have they suffered at our hands ! Now, 
 ninety-five thousand implore assistance, which, if promptly and 
 amply afforded, will probably reach, in its living and spreading 
 influence, every horde of natives, from Mexico to the northern 
 extremity of the continent. The field is extensive and whiten 
 ing for harvest, and tens of thousands of this almost ruined race 
 stand ready to join you in shouting, " Hallelujah, for the Lord, 
 God, Omnipotent, reigneth ! " 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 [No.L] 
 
 Extracts from the speech of the Hon. WILSON LUMPKIN, in the 
 House of Representatives, in Congress, on the bill for the 
 removal of the Indians, May llth, 1830. See anterior 
 page 400. 
 
 MR. LUMPKIN said his life had never been free from care and 
 responsibility, but on no former occasion had he ever felt more 
 deeply impressed with a sense of that responsibility to'God and 
 his country, than he did at the present moment. The great 
 importance, said Mr. L., which I attach to the decision of the 
 House upon this bill now under consideration, does not arise 
 from any apprehension of material effects being produced in 
 relation to any of the States interested ; but to those remnant 
 tribes of Indians whose good we seek, the subject before you is 
 of vital importance it is a measure of life and death. Pass 
 the bill on your table, and you save them ; reject it, and you 
 leave them to perish. Reject this bill, and you thereby encou 
 rage delusory hopes in the Indians, which will never be realized. 
 They will be encouraged to acts of indiscretion, which will 
 bring upon them injury which will be deplored by every friend 
 of virtue and humanity. I therefore call upon you to avoid 
 these evil consequences while you may. Delay is pregnant 
 with great danger to the Indians ; what you do, do quickly, 
 before the evil day approaches. 
 
 [ differ from my friend in regard to Indian civilization. 
 
 I entertain no doubt that a remnant of these people may be en 
 tirely reclaimed from their native savage habits, and be brought 
 into the full enjoyment of all the blessings of civilized society. 
 We have too many instances of improvement among the various 
 tribes, to hesitate any longer in determining whether the Indians 
 are susceptible of civilization. Use the proper means, and suc 
 cess will crown your efforts. My views of legislation upon this 
 subject have been founded in an ardent desire to better the con 
 dition of these remnant tribes. At the same time, an object of 
 my solicitude and labour ha? been to relieve the States from the 
 
590 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 perplexities, heart-burnings, conflicts, and strifes* which are con 
 nected with this Indian subject. I introduced into the twen 
 tieth Congress a resolution, which resulted in an appropriation 
 to defray the expense of preparing for the emigration of the 
 Indians west of the Mississippi. The details of the exploring 
 tour of the agents who examined the country west of the Mis 
 sissippi, with a view of ascertaining the quality of the country 
 contemplated for the permanent abode of the Indians, having 
 been given by my friend, (Mr. Bell,) I will only say, a suitable 
 and sufficient country has been found a country admirably 
 adapted to the interest and condition of the emigrating Indians. 
 That there is a good country for all the Indians to emigrate to, 
 can no longer be doubted. 
 
 I am greatly surprised to hear the opponents of the proposed 
 policy speak of the measure as being fraught with danger and 
 ruin to the Indians. Mr. Monroe, [President of the United 
 States,] in his message of January 27th, 1825, says : " The 
 removal of the tribes from the territory which they now inhabit, 
 to that which was designated in the message at the commence 
 ment of the session, under a well digested plan for their gov 
 ernment and civilization, which would be agreeable to them 
 selves, would not only shield them from impending ruin, but 
 promote their welfare and happiness. Experience has clearly 
 demonstrated that, in their present state, it is impossible to 
 incorporate them in such masses, in any form whatever, into 
 our system. It has also demonstrated, with equal certainty, 
 that without a timely anticipation of, and provision against, the 
 dangers to which they are exposed, under causes which it will 
 be difficult, if not impossible, to control, their degradation and 
 extermination will be inevitable." 
 
 Such were the opinions of President Monroe in 1825, sup 
 ported by an able report by Secretary Calhoun. I will give the 
 following short extract from the report : " There are now in 
 most of the tribos well educated, sober, and reflecting individuals, 
 who are afflicted at the present condition of the Indians, and 
 despondent at their future prospects. Under the operation of 
 existing causes, they behold the certain degradation, misery, and 
 even final annihilation of their race, and, no doubt, would gladly 
 embrace any arrangement which would promise to elevate them 
 in the scale of civilization, and arrest the destruction which now 
 awaits them." 
 
 Mr. Adams, with great force of argument, \\hile President 
 of the United States, sustained, these doctrines and opinion-. 
 His two Secretaries, Govetnour Barbour and General Porter, 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 591 
 
 with great ability, repeatedly enforced the same doctrines and 
 principles. Our most enlightened superintendents and agents 
 of Indian affairs have all become converts to Indian emigration; 
 our most pious and candid missionaries have also added their 
 testimony in our favour. One of the most devoted and pious 
 missionaries, (the Rev. Isaac McCoy,) with whom I am ac 
 quainted, has said, " What plan will most likely be successful 
 in accomplishing the reformation of the Indians?" He answers, 
 " I offer for consideration the plan recommended to Congress by 
 Mr. Monroe, late President of the United States." The same 
 gentleman says, " We are well aware of some formidable obsta 
 cles opposed to the removal of the Indians: these will not derive 
 their origin or their support from the Indians themselves, but 
 both will be found in the avarice of white men, near to and 
 mingling with the Indians, whose interest it is for the Indians to 
 remain where they are, and in their present condition. I deeply 
 regret the necessity of mentioning this circumstance, but justice 
 to my subject, to the Indians, and to my own conscience, de 
 mands it of me. We may prepare to encounter a host of oppo- 
 sers, consisting of traders, both licensed and unlicensed, many 
 of them speaking the Indian language fluently, and in habits of 
 daily intercourse with them, often allied by marriage, and other 
 wise by blood ; and from many others who profit more or less 
 by a commission from our Government, for the performance of 
 services in the Indian department. Remove the Indians, and 
 the fountain fails. The story, perhaps, has never been, nor will 
 it now be plainly told, that scarce a treaty with the Indians oc 
 curs, in which the commissioners of the United States are not 
 obliged to shape some part of it to suit the convenience of some 
 of this class of persons." 
 
 I ask special attention to the foregoing extracts, as well as to 
 the source from whence they are taken. They are the deliberate 
 opinions of one of our most experienced, pious, and persevering 
 missionaries, who is resolved to devote his whole life in sustain 
 ing the missionary cause among the Indians. The Baptists 
 have, through their organs, the officers of their religious boards, 
 conventions, and associations, for years past, at every session of 
 Congress, reminded you of the interest they feel, and the 
 labours they have bestowed, towards the great object of Indian 
 civilization. Moreover, they have expressed their convictions 
 that your emigration plan affords the best and most permanent 
 prospect of success to their missionary efforts. 
 
 Whatever doctrines may have been advanced by theoretical 
 writers upon this subject, the practical comment of all nations 
 
592 APPENDIX. 
 
 will sustain the doctrines contained in the message of President 
 Jackson, at the commencement of the present session of Con 
 gress, as follows : 
 
 " The condition and ulterior destiny of the Indian tribes, 
 within the limits of some of our States, have become objects of 
 much interest and importance. It has long been the policy of 
 Government to introduce among them the arts of civilisation, in 
 the hope of gradually reclaiming them from a wandering life. 
 This policy has been coupled with another, wholly incompatible 
 with its success. Professing a desire to civilize and settle them, 
 we have, at the same time, lost no opportunity to purchase their 
 lands, and thrust them further into the wilderness. By this means 
 they have not only been kept in a wandering state, but have 
 been led to look upon us as unjust and indifferent to their fate. 
 Thus, though lavish in its expenditures upon the subject, Gov 
 ernment has constantly defeated its own policy, and the Indians 
 in general, receding further and further to the west, have retain 
 ed their savage habits. A portion, however, of the southern 
 tribes, having made some progress in the arts of civilized life, 
 have lately attempted to erect an independent government with 
 in the limits of Georgia and Alabama. These States, claiming 
 to be the only sovereigns within their territories, extended their 
 laws over the Indians, which induced the latter to call upon the 
 United States for protection. 
 
 " Our conduct towards these people is deeply interesting to 
 our national character. Their present condition, contrasted with 
 what they once were, makes a powerful appeal to our sympa 
 thies. Our ancestors found them the uncontrolled possessors of 
 these vast regions. By persuasion and force, they have been 
 made to retire from river to river, and from mountain to moun 
 tain, until some of the tribes have become extinct, and others 
 have but remnants to preserve for a while their once terrible 
 names. Surrounded by the whites, with their arts of civiliza 
 tion, which, by destroying the resources of the savage, doom 
 him to weakness and decay, the fate of the Mohegan, the Nar- 
 ragansett, and the Delaware, is fast overtaking the Choctaw, 
 the Cherokee, and the Creek. That this fate surely awaits 
 them, if they remain within the limits of the States, does not 
 admit of a doubt. Humanity and national honour demand that 
 every effort should be made to avert so great a calamity. It is 
 too late to inquire whether it was just in the United States to 
 include them and their territory within the bounds of new States, 
 whose limits they could not control. That step cannot be 
 retraced. A State cannot be dismembered by Congress, or re- 
 
APPENDIX. 593 
 
 stricted in the exercise of her constitutional power. But the 
 people of those States, and of every State, actuated by feelings 
 of justice and regard for our national honour, submit to you the 
 interesting question, whether something cannot be done, con 
 sistently with the rights of the States, to preserve this much 
 injured race. 
 
 " As a means of effecting this end, I suggest for your consi 
 deration the propriety of setting apart an ample district west of 
 the Mississippi, and without the limits of any State or Territory 
 now formed, to be guarantied to the Indian tribes as long as they 
 shall occupy it ; each tribe having a distinct control over the 
 portion designated for its use. There they may be secured in 
 the enjoyment of governments of their own choice, subject to 
 no other control from the United States than such as may be 
 necessary to preserve peace on the frontier and between the 
 several tribes. There the benevolent may endeavour to teach 
 them the arts of civilization, and, by promoting union and har 
 mony among them, to raise up an interesting commonwealth, 
 destined to perpetuate the race, and to attest the humanity and 
 justice of the Government. 
 
 "This emigration should be voluntary; for it would be as 
 cruel as unjust to compel the aborigines to abandon the graves of 
 their fathers, and seek a home in a distant land. But they should 
 be distinctly informed, that if they remain within the limits of the 
 States, they must be subject to their laws." 
 
 In all the acts first by the Colonies, and afterwards by the 
 State Governments the fundamental principle, that the Indians 
 had no right either to the soil or sovereignty of the countries 
 they occupied, has never been abandoned, either expressly or 
 by implication. The rigour of the rule for excluding savages 
 from the soil, to make room for agriculturists, has been mitigated. 
 Hence we find reservations made for the Indians in most of the 
 old States, as well as by the Federal Government. It is believed, 
 that no respectable jurist would risk his reputation by contend 
 ing that a right to land could be maintained before any of our 
 courts, State or Federal, where the title has been derived from 
 Indians, unless the lands had been granted or patented by the 
 Federal or State Governments. 
 
 The practice of buying Indian lands is nothing more than the 
 substitute of humanity and benevolence, and has been resorted 
 to in preference to the sword. When the Indians, in any Co 
 lony or State, were numerous, powerful, and warlike, it has been 
 the practice of all to conciliate them by entering into compacts 
 and treaties, and thus effect by prudence what they were unable 
 75 
 
594 APPENDIX. 
 
 to perform by force. By all the old States, except Georgia, 
 tliis kind of treaty legislation has long since been abandoned, 
 and direct legislation, for the control and government of the In 
 dians, substituted in lieu thereof. The opinion of the Supreme 
 Court, referred to by my friend [Mr. Bell] from Tennessee, I 
 believe is received and considered orthodox by every State in 
 the Union, in which the distinguished and learned Judge Spen 
 cer declared, " that he knew of no half-way doctrine on this 
 subject. If a State has jurisdiction at all, it has complete and 
 entire jurisdiction. The principle upon which jurisdiction is 
 assumed does not admit of division." 
 
 Much has been said and written with a view of maintaining 
 the doctrine of Indian sovereignty; and I admit many of the acts 
 of the General and State Governments may be selected, apart 
 from their general policy, which would seem to afford support to 
 this position. Yet, when we take the whole policy and history 
 of these Governments, as exhibiting an entire system, it must be 
 admitted they have never hesitated to extend their sovereignty 
 over the Indians, in their respective spheres, when it was deem 
 ed expedient to bring them under their laws and jurisdiction ; 
 unless, indeed, we find this hesitancy in the absence of physical 
 power. Here I will remark, that the only reason why any State 
 in this Union permitted the interference or sought the aid of 
 the General Government in the management and control of the 
 Indian tribes residing within their respective boundaries, has 
 been on account of their physical weakness ; and they have, 
 therefore, looked to this Government for that aid and succour, 
 to afford which it was established by the several States of this 
 Union. In all the States we find, so soon as the Indians were 
 reduced to a condition that no danger was to be apprehended 
 from their power and hostility, the States have invariably taken 
 their Indian affairs into their own hands, and no longer looked 
 to the federal arm for aid. While the population of a State is 
 small and its territory extensive, large tracts of country are per 
 mitted to remain, for the use and privilege of the Indians to hunt 
 and roam from place to place. They are also left to regulate 
 their own affairs according to their own customs, without any 
 interference on the part of the State. But when this state of 
 things becomes changed, the State is of necessity compelled to 
 assert and maintain her rights of sovereignty and jurisdiction. 
 
 While I would scorn to be heard in the tone of supplication, 
 in reference to the rights of my constituents, I would, neverthe 
 less, as the sincere and candid friend of the Cherokee Indians, 
 use the language of expostulation in their behalf. A crisis ha* 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 595 
 
 arrived which calls for action. Things can no longer remain 
 in their present state. Some acknowledged competent author 
 ity must be sustained in what is called the Cherokee country. 
 In its absence, we may daily expect to hear of anarchy and 
 blood. It is not only intruders from Georgia, but from various 
 other States, who have recently rushed into the Cherokee coun 
 try. Give your support to the bill under consideration. Hold 
 out no vain and delusive hopes to these sons of the forest. The 
 history of the past gives them strong claims on our sympathy, 
 benevolence, and liberality. Join us in this great effort to save 
 the remnant tribes of the aborigines. They are a peculiar 
 people. They look back to the time when they were the un 
 disputed masters of this mighty continent. They see in the 
 future no reward for ambition or exertion, unless you plant them 
 in permanent homes, where the extended views of their true 
 friends and benefactors may systematically go forward with some 
 prospect of success. 
 
 [No. 2,] 
 
 The following, with the exception of one unimportant para 
 graph, is the Report of the Committee on Indian Missions 
 of the Baptist General [Missionary] Convention of the Uni 
 ted States, submitted to, but not adopted by the Convention. 
 See page 447. 
 
 The progress and result of measures heretofore adopted for the 
 promotion of Indian reform awaken both gratitude and regret. 
 With devout gratitude to God, we, the Committee, have contem 
 plated the generous sympathies of the benevolent for the over 
 whelming sufferings of the aborigines of our country. They ap 
 preciate the energetic efforts which have been put forth to save 
 from utter extermination this injured, neglected, and perishing 
 race, and the untiring perseverance of your board and their mission 
 aries in the prosecution of their humane plans, though constantly 
 beset with difficulties and surrounded by discouragements. But 
 while they rejoice, with the angels of God, over a few penitent 
 natives rescued from the deepest degradation and the most com 
 plicated misery, who are now mingling their prayers with those 
 of the saints on earth, or swelling the song of the redeemed 
 in heaven, we are filled with regret to see the mass of Indian 
 population borne away by the unchecked tide of desolation. 
 That our laborious and expensive operations in behalf of this 
 iiuliiippy people have been attended with so limited success, is 
 
59G 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 a lamentable fact, which must be ascribed to the peculiarity of 
 their situation, to which the world affords no parallel. Deprived 
 of their ancient inheritance remote from the settlements of 
 their fathers cut off from their chosen employments abased 
 by dependance denied a rank among nations slighted by their 
 neighbours irritated by frequent insults wounded by repeated 
 injuries, their spirit has been broken down, and they have sunk 
 into sullen sadness, while an unbroken cloud of impenetrable 
 darkness has rested upon all their prospects. Thus situated, they 
 have had no spur to ambition, no inducement to effort, and we 
 have possessed no moral fulcrum by which to effect their eleva 
 tion. More than eight years ago it was perceived that little 
 hope remained of missionary operations conferring extensive and 
 lasting benefits on the Indians, until they should become united 
 among themselves and fixed in their residence. The Committee 
 are cheered by the prospect that so desirable an end is about to 
 be accomplished. The Government of the United States have 
 proposed to give them a permanent home in the region west of 
 Arkansas Territory and State of Missouri, and southwest of 
 Missouri river, embracing an extent of country six hundred by 
 two hundred miles, fertile and adapted to the production of all 
 the necessaries and most of the comforts of life where their 
 title to the soil is to be secured by the same tenure that gives 
 security to the possessions of white citizens of the United States, 
 and where no collision will exist between State and national 
 claims. Fourteen tribes, or parts of tribes, are already upon 
 the ground, viz: Choctaws, Cherokees, Creeks, Senecas, Osages, 
 Shawanoes, Kauzaus, Delawares, Weas, Piankashas, Peorias, 
 Otoes, Omahas, and Pawnees, while many thousands are emi 
 grating and preparing to emigrate. The rapid accumulation of 
 Indian population in that country is opening a wide and promi 
 sing field for missionary labours. This inviting prospect of use 
 fulness has already occasioned proposals to be made to, and aid 
 solicited from Government, to establish missions in nine tribes. 
 To supply these, twice that number of missionaries are requi 
 siteonly five of whom are yet provided. Thirteen, in arldi- 
 tion to the present number, are wanted immediately all of 
 whom, it is believed, could be employed under circumstances 
 peculiarly auspicious to their lasting usefulness. 
 
 The Committee are aware that, to enable the Board to avail 
 themselves of the favourable opening in the Indian territory, an 
 appeal must be made to the benevolence of our denomination, 
 Mor can they doubt the success of sue!) an appeal on so impor- 
 
APPENDIX. 597 
 
 tant an occasion. Such an opportunity for benefiting this long 
 neglected and deeply afflicted race has never before been pre 
 sented to our view, and if neglected may never recur. The last 
 experiment in this cause of benevolence is now demanded. A 
 solitary star of hope now gleams on the dark horizon of Indian 
 prospects the fond_ expectation is cherished of their being con 
 solidated into one friendly community, and ultimately becoming 
 a representative part of our great Republic. It is devoutly 
 hoped that the readiness of some to offer themselves for the 
 work of missionaries, and of others to furnish the means of their 
 support, will be proportioned to the urgency of the call. 
 
 The Committee are unable to suppress their sympathy for the 
 Pawnee tribe, more than half of whom have, within a short time, 
 perished by the ravages of the small-pox ; and are happy to 
 learn that Government will probably interpose an effectual bar 
 rier to its progress by vaccination. 
 
 Your Committee believe that it has been too common to 
 estimate our obligations to the aborigines of our country by their 
 number only, and to feel and act as if an equal number of hea 
 then in any quarter of the globe had an equal claim upon our 
 missionary efforts. But if the fact be considered that these tribes 
 numbered millions while in the peaceful occupation of the land 
 we now inhabit, and that by our injustice they have been almost 
 extirpated, it would appear that for us to neglect them at this 
 critical moment, when their preservation or total extinction 
 seems, under God, to depend on the part we shall act towards 
 them, would be to fill up the measure of our iniquity, and to 
 provoke the judgment of Heaven upon us ! 
 
 Your Committee would also express gratitude to God for 
 his protection of your valuable missionary, Isaac McCoy, in his 
 hazardous labours in surveying the Indian country, and the suc 
 cess of his efforts to procure for them a permanent home. 
 
 An intimation having been given that funds may be obtained 
 to establish a printing press in the Indian territory, your Com 
 mittee, fully impressed with the importance of so powerful a 
 means of enlightening that ignorant people, recommend the 
 adopting of the following resolution : 
 
 Resolved, That the Board be requested to establish a 
 printing press in. the newly acquired Indian territory, provided 
 it can be done without using funds appropriated to other ob 
 jects. 
 
 Your Committee recommend that agents be appointed in 
 various places to receive and forward such articles of clothing, 
 
598 APPENDIX. 
 
 bedding, books, &c., as will be needed at Indian stations; and 
 that information of tlieir appointments be given in the Baptist 
 periodicals. 
 
 Jn behalf of the Committee : 
 
 J. L. DAG e, Chairman. 
 
 [Nb. 3.] 
 
 Extracts from the speech of the Hon. A. H. SEVIER, of Arkan 
 sas, on the bill " to provide Jor the security and protection of 
 the emigrant and other Indian tribes west of the Stales of 
 Missouri and Arkansas," delivered in the Senate of the 
 United States, February 23, 1839. 
 
 MR. PRESIDENT : The object of the bill now under consider 
 ation is, what its title purports, "to provide for the security and 
 protection of the emigrant and other Indian tribes west of the 
 States of Missouri and Arkansas." And I might add, that its 
 object is also to provide for the security and protection of the 
 frontier settlements of those States, and for the civilization and 
 general welfare of the North American Indian race. 
 
 These, Mr. President, are the objects of the bill ; and, to ac 
 complish them effectually, the bill proposes to establish, in the 
 country set apart, by our laws and our treaties, for the perma 
 nent residence of the Indian tribes, an Indian Territorial Gov 
 ernment. 
 
 That such an organization, for such a population, under our 
 authority, is new, I am ready to admit; but should it appear, in 
 the progress of this discussion, that such an establishment, on 
 the score of efficiency and economy, is probably, of all others, 
 the best calculated to secure and protect the Indians against 
 each other, as well as our own citizens in their vicinity, I feel 
 assured that, though the measure may be new, it will receive, 
 as it did at the last session of Congress, the marked and decided 
 approbation of this body. The country proposed to be organ 
 ized into a territory is described in the first section of the bill. 
 This country, it will be perceived, is beyond the boundaries of 
 any State or organized Territory , or white settlement ; its average 
 breadth is something over two hundred miles, and its length 
 about six hundred. It contains an area of about eighty millions 
 of acres, and is healthy, well watered, and a great deal of it 
 remarkably fertile, and is well adapted for agricultural and pas 
 toral purposes. Lead ore, iron ore, coal, and sail springs, have 
 
A^^ENDIX. 599 
 
 been discovered in it. In short, all those who reside there, as 
 far as my knowledge extends, are well pleased with their situa 
 tion. This is a short description of the country, which is held 
 by them, by virtue of our treaties, in fee simple, and which, 
 consequently, is forever beyond our reach, except in the double 
 contingency of its abandonment by the tribes, or of their extinc 
 tion ; in either of which events, it reverts to the United States, 
 and comes once more into our possession, and is subject to our 
 disposal, as other public land. This perpetual tenure is re* 
 affirmed in the first section of this bill. 
 
 Until recently, a vast majority of these Indians resided within 
 the limits of the States, and, while in that condition, it was not 
 in our power to do much for them ; and the uncertain tenure 
 by which they held their lands, their embarrassment by State 
 legislation, and the constant encroachment upon their soil by 
 the whites, dissuaded them from doing much for themselves. 
 Most happily, these difficulties no longer exist. In pursuance 
 of a wise, humane, and salutary policy, these Indians have been 
 sent out from among us, and are placed, side by side of each 
 other in their new homes, beyond the reach of further encroach 
 ment or intrusion. In this location, for the first time since the 
 revolution, we feel ourselves unrestrained, in our legislation for 
 them, by any question of jurisdiction, or power, or policy; and, 
 on their part, they have imbibed a stimulus to exertion, in feel 
 ing that they have a permanent home in feeling untrammelled 
 by State laws, and unmolested by unwelcome intruders. Their 
 location is fortunate for us on another account. They are now 
 remote from any unfriendly foreign influence in time of war, 
 and in time of peace we find them a great convenience in 
 carrying on, through their country, a profitable commerce to 
 Santa Fe. 
 
 Being thus permanently settled, it now becomes our duty to 
 view them in their new position, and to shape our legislation 
 accordingly. We must now give up our temporary measures, 
 and place our relations with them upon a firm and solid basis. 
 We are bound by solemn treaty obligations to them we are 
 bound by duty to our own people in their vicinity to provide 
 permanently and effectually for the mutual peace and protection 
 of all parties; and, to succeed in the accomplishment of these 
 high national obligations, something else is required at our hands 
 than forts, and troops, and bayonets, or agencies, or superintend- 
 encies, or the potent eloquence of annuities ; and that is, the 
 adoption of some binding international laics or regulations, 
 for the amicable adjustment of all the differences which may 
 
eoo 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 occur among the respective tribes. The commission of fraud, 
 or trespass, or felony, by an individual of one tribe upon an 
 individual of another tribe, must cease to be a justifiable cause 
 for war among them ; these injuries must be redressed by law, 
 in a peaceable manner. 
 
 Sir, previous to the commencement of the policy of locating 
 the Indians west, it must be borne in mind that the indigenous 
 tribes of that region, from time immemorial, had been engaged 
 in wars not only among themselves, but with the tribes east of 
 the Mississippi river; with some of the identical Indians we 
 have located in their immediate neighbourhood. For example, 
 the Osages, who were once formidable, frequently sent out war 
 parties east of that river; and these tribes, thus assailed, in 
 their turn, invaded the Osage country west of that river. 
 
 The remembrance of these long-existing feuds and mutual 
 injuries is yet fresh in the recollection of all of them of the 
 present day, and these reminiscences but too frequently display 
 themselves in acts of open murder and secret assassination. 
 
 We have not only these indigenous tribes who have never 
 been substantially at peace to govern, but we have also some 
 seventeen or eighteen immigrant tribes to manage and control ; 
 and of the latter of these we have good reason to anticipate 
 some trouble, on account of the ill feeling some of them bear 
 us, arising from causes occurring previous to their removal ; and 
 these causes, whether real or imaginary, are not likely to be 
 soon forgotten. 
 
 The tribes now residing in this territory do not feel bound to 
 peace by the existence of any international law. The only 
 law at this time which they understand or appreciate is that 
 which, of all others, is the most destructive the law of retali 
 ation. 
 
 There are now in the territory about ninety-five thousand 
 Indians, belonging to twenty-two separate tribes, and speaking 
 as many different languages. Some few of these the Choc- 
 taws, the Chickasaws, and Cherokees have, to some extent, 
 written laws for the internal government of their respective 
 tribes; and the Delawares, I understand, are about imitating 
 their example. With these exceptions, the whole of these 
 ninety-five thousand Indians, who are divided into upwards of 
 twenty tribes, who speak different language?, who reside adjoin 
 ing each other, and many of whom entertain for each other 
 mutual hereditary animosities, have for their government no 
 international law. 
 
 To avoid the disastrous consequences which must inevitably 
 
APPENDIX. 601 
 
 result from this critical condition of things, this bill is proposed, 
 by which it is thought these twenty-two tribes may be induced 
 to adopt some general code by which their differences, of what 
 ever character, may be amicably adjusted. 
 
 This important object, the Committee on Indian Affairs be 
 lieve, can be effected under the auspices and influence of the 
 United States, and not without their countenance and support. 
 
 This important view of this subject seems to have been taken 
 by the proper department some years ago. In 1833, a corn- 
 mission was constituted by our Government, the object of which 
 was to promote harmony and good feeling among the Indian 
 tribes. In 1834, similar efforts for similar purposes were made 
 by the Government, and with some success. The chiefs of 
 different tribes were brought together in council, and, through 
 the instrumentality of our agent, mutual engagements of peace 
 and friendship were entered into by those chiefs, and, for twelve 
 or eighteen months, these engagements had a most salutary 
 effect; but for the last year or two, for some cause or other 
 unknown to me, these councils have ceased to command the 
 special attention of the Government; and, losing that support 
 and patronage, they have been abandoned by the chiefs them 
 selves, and hence depredations on property have been repeated, 
 and murders committed. 
 
 To show you, sir, to what extent these things are carried on 
 in that quarter, I will trouble you with reading a few paragraphs 
 from a work to which, in the course of my remarks, I shall have 
 occasion frequently to refer. The work is entitled "An Annual 
 Register of Indian Affairs in the Indian Territory," and is edited 
 by the Rev. Isaac McCoy, with whom it is my good fortune to 
 be 'acquainted : a gentleman of extensive information, of fervent 
 piety, of active enterprise ; one who has devoted the last twenty 
 years of his life in the laudable efforts of striving to civilize, 
 Christianize, educate, and improve the moral condition of the 
 Indian. It is from the printed work of such an author that I 
 will now read to the Senate a few paragraphs. He states 
 that 
 
 "In 1833, the Government convened councils of a general 
 nature, of delegates from various tribes, and induced them to 
 exchange mutual promises to be at peace with one another. 
 This measure, though it touched the subject but slightly, never 
 theless, produced a good effect. All parties, for some time, 
 abstained from depredation and murder. These councils not 
 being repeated, the parties felt less restraint, and ultimately re 
 turned to their former unkind treatment of one another, and 
 
 76 
 
602 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 thefts an<J murders have become more frequent with each suc 
 ceeding year. 
 
 " The Osages are accused of destroying hogs and cattle be 
 longing to the neighbouring tribes, to a considerable amount. 
 Horse stealing is frequent in divers places, carried on by the 
 worthless of different tribes. By some, the work is almost 
 reduced to system ; they will steal horses in the southern parts 
 of the territory, or in Texas, and convey them north, and there 
 steal others, and take back on their return. 
 
 " But, besides the renegadoes, whose crimes are disapproved 
 by their well principled countrymen, there are others engaged 
 in these and in worse practices, for which they are honoured by 
 their respective tribes, according to Indian custom. The Kau- 
 zaus have brought into their villages at least thirty stolen horses, 
 within the last summer and autumn. The Osages have stolen, 
 perhaps, a greater number, among which are some valuable 
 horses belonging to the citizens of the United States. In Au 
 gust last, a large drove of horses was stolen from one of the 
 Osage villages. 
 
 " In April, 1838, a few Pawnees made a friendly visit to the 
 Sauks and loways, on Missouri. As they were returning to 
 their homes, a party of Kauzaus fell in with them and attacked 
 them, and killed one. 
 
 " In August last, the Kauzaus and Osages sent out a war 
 party, consisting of about eighty warriors. They surprised a 
 party of Pawnees, and took eleven scalps. Four of their men 
 were killed, and two wounded. A few of the united party 
 separated from the main body. These, also, had a battle, and 
 took five scalps, making seventeen killed by those tribes, of 
 whom we have obtained certain information. Reports of other 
 murders committed by other tribes have been in circulation. 
 On the 1st September last, a war party of about twenty Kau 
 zaus were out, the result of which we have not heard. 
 
 " In the months of June, July, and August, the Rev. M. 
 Merrill, missionary to the Otoes, accompanied that tribe on their 
 buffalo hunt, which lasted more than two months.* They saw 
 three war parties of Pawnees ; the first was a party of thirty, 
 who had been to the Cheyennes to steal horses. They had, 
 first, a skirmish with the Cheyennes, and had been defeated, 
 with the loss of one killed and one badly wounded. They next 
 fell in with a party of Osages, and were again defeated, with 
 the loss of two men killed. 
 
 * This party consisted of eight hundred souls, men, women, and children. 
 They killed hundreds of buffaloes. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 603 
 
 "The second was a party of ten, which had started to the 
 Usage villages to steal horses. One of their party was bitten 
 by a snake, which induced them to return without accomplish 
 ing any thing. 
 
 "The third party said they were going to the Cheyennes to 
 steal horses, but it was believed that they designed committing 
 depredations upon the Osages. 
 
 "Near the western boundary of the Cherokee country, a 
 bloody battle was fought the last summer, (1838,) between the 
 Kiawas and Camanches on the one side, and the Cheyennes 
 on the other." 
 
 The Committee on Indian Affairs, viewing this subject in the 
 li^ht I have endeavoured to present it to the Senate, and wish 
 ing to furnish the remedy for the existing evil, offer this bill for 
 your acceptance. They offer it as a measure of peace, and one 
 which, in their opinion, is amply sufficient, if faithfully adminis 
 tered by the Executive authorities, to preserve from extermina 
 tion the wretched fragment of the Indian race. These are 
 among the leading objects of the bill, but they are not the only 
 objects. We desire something more. We desire to civilize and 
 improve the condition of the Indian, by imparting to him our 
 institutions, and religion, and our arts and sciences ; and to do 
 this successfully, he must have peace and repose. 
 
 Sir, when we remember who these Indians were, and what 
 they are, we anticipate, in this most noble, disinterested, and 
 benevolent enterprise, the efficient aid of the Senate. Let us, 
 upon this occasion, lift ourselves above our prejudices, and for 
 get the history of the bloody and exterminating wars which 
 were carried on upon this continent for several centuries, be 
 tween our ancestors and the natives of this country; contests, 
 as we all know, which have resulted in the subjugation and 
 overthrow of the one race, by the arms, and skill, and courage, 
 of the other. The millions of these natives who once inhab 
 ited the Atlantic coast are, at this day, no where here to be 
 found; and this extensive and invaluable country, which was 
 theirs, and for which they fought, is ours now. We hold undis 
 puted dominion over it ; we have derived it from them by gift, 
 or by purchase, or by conquest. No descendant of theirs, if 
 there be descendants of the original proprietors, is found to ques 
 tion our title to it. Let us remember the kind and hospitable 
 reception of our ancestors by the natives of this country a re 
 ception which has been perpetuated by carved figures in the 
 walls of the rotundo of the capitol. And in remembering these 
 things, let us this day step forward and do something for our 
 
604 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 wretched dependants, worthy of a great, a merciful, and gene 
 rous Christian people. Public sentiment will sustain us in such 
 an effort. Our intercourse with the Indian, which has met with 
 the approbation of our constituents, has undergone, during the 
 last few years, a very material change. We no longer purchase 
 his lands for beads, and tobacco, and paints, and strouding, and 
 beaver traps, and other such worthless gewgaws. No we 
 give him now a fair equivalent in something more substantial; 
 we give him implements of husbandry, cattle, hogs, houses, 
 farmers, mechanics, and teachers, and heap up to him money 
 in almost countless thousands. And what, Mr. President, have 
 been the happy results growing out of this new, though just 
 and liberal, policy ? It is most grateful to the heart of human 
 ity to contemplate it. Results have sprung from it which no 
 one, a few years ago, ever contemplated. 
 
 In 1817, a little upwards of twenty years ago, when the first 
 effective step was taken to colonize the Indians west of the Mis 
 sissippi, we find it stated in the preamble to the Cherokee treaty 
 of that date, that the object of this colonization, as understood 
 and expressed by both parties, was exclusively for hunting. 
 Improvement or civilization of these immigrants was not dream 
 ed of by the worthy negotiators of that instrument. We find 
 in the sixth article of that treaty these words : " The United 
 States do also bind themselves to give to all of the poor war 
 riors who may remove to the west side of the Mississippi, one 
 rifle gun and ammunition, one blanket, and one brass kettle, or, 
 in lieu of it, one beaver trap, which is to be considered a full 
 compensation for the improvements which they leave." They 
 went thither with the avowed purpose, and with the necessary 
 accoutrements, for remaining in their original barbarity and igno 
 rance, and to enjoy unmolested their savage propensities for war 
 and for the chase. 
 
 The number of those who emigrated was about three thou 
 sand. Instead of pursuing the chase, as was anticipated, they 
 went to work; and in 1835, in the space of about eighteen 
 years, they had increased to four thousand ; they had acquired 
 property, had become agriculturists, and had become civilized 
 to a great degree, as I will show you by referring again to the 
 Register of Indian Affairs. 
 
 Mr. McCoy says: 
 
 " They own numerous salt springs, three of which are worked 
 by Cherokees. The amount of salt manufactured is probably 
 about one hundred bushels per day. 
 
 " They also own two lead mines. Their salt works and their 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 605 
 
 lead mines are in the eastern portion of their country; and all 
 the settlements yet formed are within this eastern portion, which 
 embraces about two and a half millions of acres. 
 
 " Like the Choctaw, the Cherokee nation embraces all con 
 ceivable conditions between refinement, intelligence, and wealth, 
 and the opposite extremes, but little removed from the original 
 state. The earlier immigrants are, perhaps, in more comfort 
 able condition than the same proportion of any other tribe within 
 the territory. But with the large accession of late immigrants, 
 there has necessarily been an augmentation of uncomfortable- 
 ness. 
 
 " Some of them own immense herds of cattle. We counted 
 upwards of two hundred at one time within sight, grazing on the 
 prairies, belonging to one man ; and it was thought he owned 
 about one hundred more. It was thought by some intelligent 
 white men in their country, that within five years past, they had 
 sold between six and seven thousand head of cattle. 
 
 "They probably own three thousand horses, fifteen thousand 
 five hundred hogs, six hundred sheep, one hundred and ten 
 wagons, a plough, and often several ploughs, to each farm, sev 
 eral hundred spinning-wheels, and one hundred looms. 
 
 " They cultivate all kinds of culinary vegetables common to 
 the western country; raise corn in abundance, and have com 
 menced the growing of wheat. Their fields are enclosed with 
 rail fences. They have, generally, good log dwellings, (for a 
 new country,) many of which have stone chimneys to them, 
 with plank floors, all erected by themselves. Their houses are 
 furnished with plain tables, chairs, and bedsteads; and with table 
 and kitchen furniture, nearly or quite equal to the dwellings of 
 white people in new countries. 
 
 " They have seven native merchants, one regular physician, 
 and, unfortunately, several steam doctors. Several of them 
 have, at divers times, become partners in large contracts for fur 
 nishing the United States' army and immigrant Indians. The 
 traveller finds among them houses of public entertainment, with 
 neat and comfortable accommodations. 
 
 ' " The Cherokee Government, though highly creditable to 
 them, is not fully systematic and judicious, like that of the Choc- 
 taws. This may be accounted for by the unsettled condition of 
 the affairs of the Cherokees for some years past. The laws 
 extant in the Territory are such as have been adopted by the 
 earlier immigrants, since their settlement in this country, and 
 are not a transfer of the code to which the larger portion of the 
 tribe were subordinate on the east of the Mississippi. 
 
606 APPENDIX. 
 
 " Their settlements are divided into four districts, each of 
 which elects, for the term of two years, two members of the 
 national council, the title of which is, ' the General Council of 
 the Cherokee Nation.' By law, it meets annually on the first 
 Monday in October. They have three chiefs, which, till lately, 
 have been chosen by the General Council. Hereafter they are 
 to be elected by the people. The approval of the chiefs is 
 necessary to the passage of a law ; but an act upon which they 
 have fixed their veto may become a law by the vote of two- 
 thirds of the council. The council consists of two branches. 
 The lower is denominated the Committee, and the upper the 
 Council. The concurrence of both is necessary to the passage 
 of a law. The chiefs may call a council at pleasure, and in 
 several other respects they retain, in some degree, the authority 
 common to Indian chiefs. Two judges belong to each district, 
 which hold courts when necessary. Two officers, denominated 
 light-horsemen, in each district, perform the duties of sheriffs. 
 A company of six or seven, denominated light-horsemen, the 
 leader of whom is styled Captain, constitute a national corps of 
 regulators, to prevent infractions of the law, and to bring to jus 
 tice offenders." 
 
 This, Mr. President, is the present condition of those three 
 thousand Indians who in 1819 went, as I have already told you, 
 west of the Mississippi. These are they, the wildest of their 
 tribe, who, about twenty years ago, left behind them their own 
 people, their hallowed homes, and the graves of their forefathers, 
 because their offensive enemy, civilization, was successfully 
 approaching their wigwams. 
 
 The poorest and most miserable of the indigenous tribes 
 of that region, in consequence of a change in our policy towards 
 them, and in consequence of having a permanent home, and of 
 being undisturbed by our people, seem to have imbibed a spirit 
 of industry and improvement, and to be rapidly rising up from 
 their prostrated state of degradation. Yes, the poor Otoe, whose 
 naked body was never covered, until lately, with any other gar 
 ment than a buffalo skin, is now seen holding the handles of a 
 plough, and is to be seen busily engaged in tilling the earth, for 
 the subsistence of himself, his wife, and children. 
 
 The principal and most influential, and, with a few individual 
 exceptions, by far the best informed and civilized, of the tribes 
 within the limits of the proposed territory, are the Choctaws, 
 the Chickasaws, the Cherokees, and Creeks. Many of these 
 have learned our language, our religion, our literature, our agri 
 cultural pursuits, and mechanic arts. Some of them have 
 
APPENDIX. 607 
 
 studied our forms of government, and have organized their gov- 
 erumenf for their respective tribes, in imitation of ours. They 
 have printing presses among them ; they publish newspapers in 
 the English and Indian languages. They print their school 
 books and almanacs, &c. ; and Guess, a full-blooded Cherokee, 
 an untutored savage, has had the lasting honour of inventing for 
 the Cherokees their alphabet. Several of the tribes have pro 
 vided for the establishment of schools, several of which are now 
 in operation, and at which some hundreds of Indian youths are 
 annually educated. Some tribes have set apart large sums of 
 money, forever, of which our Government is the trustee, for pur 
 poses of education. These tribes have among them several 
 shrewd, intelligent, wealthy, native merchants, who annually 
 import into the country many thousand dollars worth of mer 
 chandise. 
 
 They have mills and gins, and cotton farms, and in 1837 the 
 Choctaws made and sent to market six hundred bales of cotton, 
 worth upwards of twenty thousand dollars. 
 
 They raise every year a large surplus of corn, hogs, and cat 
 tle, which they dispose of, in part, by contract, to Government, 
 to feed the emigrating Indians, and supply the troops of our gar 
 risons. But, as this inquiry must be interesting to the Senate, I 
 will be more particular, and read a few extracts from the work 
 1 have previously referred to. Speaking of the Choctaws, the 
 author of this work says : 
 
 " They are improving in civilization and comfort. Their 
 houses and fields indicate a good degree of industry. Many 
 have large farms. They own much live stock, such as horses, 
 cattle, sheep, and swine ; are pretty well supplied with farming 
 utensils. They own about six hundred negro slaves. 
 
 " They own three flouring mills, two cotton gins, eighty-eight 
 looms, and two hundred and twenty spinning-wheels. They 
 have thirteen native merchants, besides white men, engaged in 
 the same business. 
 
 " In respect to civilization, there is great difference among 
 them. Some have fully adopted the habits of civilized man, 
 many are in comfortable circumstances in life, and some may be 
 said to be wealthy. From these more favourable circumstances 
 all grades of condition exist, down to the Indian who is advanced 
 but little in civilization." 
 
 Of the Creeks, he states: "They cultivate corn, and all the 
 vegetables common to the climate and country. They spin, 
 weave, sew, and follow other pursuits of industry. Their fields 
 and dwellings resemble those of white people in new settlements. 
 
COS 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Many of them have large stocks of cattle. The contractors for 
 furnishing supplies to immigrant Indians have purchased of the 
 earlier immigrants vast quantities of corn ; among others, the 
 annexed amounts of purchases have been made from the follow 
 ing persons, prior to the crop of 1837 : 
 
 Of Lewis Ferryman, - - $3,650 worth of corn. 
 
 " Mr. Hardrich, - 4,500 " " 
 
 " Daniel Grayson, - 1,500 " " 
 
 " Richard Grayson, - - 1,500 " " 
 
 " George Grayson, - - 1,500 " " 
 
 " Mrs. J. Mclntosh, (widow,) - 1,400 " " 
 
 In all, $14,050 worth of corn. 
 
 " Before the crop of 1837 had been harvested, contracts were 
 made for upwards of $25,000 worth of corn. Vast quantities 
 still remain unsold. Even the latter immigrants, who arrived in 
 their country the winter and spring previous to the cropping 
 season of 1837, though they had to prepare new fields, in the 
 months of September and October, of the same year, sold to 
 the contractors $10,000 worth of corn. They have two native 
 merchants. 
 
 " Notwithstanding the Creeks, as a people, are in the rear of 
 the Choctaws and Cherokees, in regard to civilization, there is 
 much intelligence, refinement, and wealth, among them." 
 
 Mr. President, these are the people in whose behalf the Com 
 mittee on Indian Affairs invoke your legislation. These are the 
 people whom we desire, in the faithful discharge of our covenants 
 with them, to preserve from exterminating wars among them 
 selves. These are they whom we desire to civilize and im 
 prove, and to keep from falling back into their original state of 
 savageism, from which they have so recently and but so par 
 tially emerged. 
 
 Here, Mr. President, I should conclude my remarks, were it 
 not that an impression- seems to prevail in the minds of some 
 gentlemen that the Indians will not willingly accept of this bill, 
 or comply voluntarily with the terms it proposes. If no attempts 
 had been made to ascertain their sentiments upon this subject, 
 I should say, with great confidence, from my knowledge of the 
 Indian character, that such impressions are not well founded. 
 
 The Senate will recollect that this is the third time this bill 
 has been introduced into this body, and that the Indians have 
 been very minutely apprized of our movements upon this, as 
 they 'are, generally, upon all subjects connected with their inter- 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 C09 
 
 ests. Many of them have seen copies of this bill, and have had 
 its several provisions explained to them. Those who understood 
 it have given their assent to it in the most unequivocal manner. 
 Eleven of the tribes have assented to the terms of this bill, and, 
 should it become a law, are ready to comply with each and all 
 of its provisions. But it is true, as I understand, that the Choc- 
 taws look upon it with jealousy, and have been induced to con 
 sider it as the first step for their removal further towards the 
 " setting sun ;" and, on that account, disapprove of it. Sir, let 
 them understand this bill, and our motives in passing it, and I 
 will guarantee that they will accept of it most gratefully. Why 
 should they, of all others the most interested in such a measure, 
 refuse or be unwilling to meet their brethren in council, to form 
 a confederacy for general purposes ? I can see no good reason 
 for their refusal. 
 
 By the fifth section of this bill it is made the duty of the 
 superintendent to " invite the chiefs of the various tribes, or 
 parts of tribes, embraced in this act, to unite in a general coun 
 cil, for the purpose of forming a confederation, for regulating the 
 intercourse and preserving peace with each other, and for their 
 assent to such of the provisions of this act as may require their 
 co-operation or assent ; and such articles of confederation and 
 such assent shall not be binding on any tribe, unless subsequently 
 assented to by such tribe in council, or by its delegates duly au 
 thorized for that purpose. 
 
 Is there any thing in this section, Mr. President, (and this 
 section is the essence of the whole bill,) which looks like the 
 first step for driving them further to the west ? And by the first 
 section of the bill, after describing the boundary of the territory, 
 and giving it a name, it is stipulated that those lands " shall be, 
 and the same are hereby, reserved for the use of the various 
 Indian tribes who have, or may have, a right to the same ; and 
 the faith of the United States is hereby pledged, that such parts 
 of said Indian Territory as have been or shall be granted or 
 ceded to any of the Indian tribes, are and shall be secured to 
 them and their descendants; and the United States will cause 
 patents to be issued to said tribes, respectively, according to the 
 terms of such grants or cessions." Has this the appearance of 
 a disposition, on our part, of harbouring the treacherous design 
 of driving our red brethren further to the west ? No, sir ; no 
 such base treachery and violation of our plighted faith, I am 
 proud to say, has ever yet sullied the escutcheon of an American 
 Senate. The Senate is incapable of stooping to such degrada 
 tion, or of packing upon their consciences such a load of infamy, 
 77 " 
 
610 APPENDIX. 
 
 We have no such views ; our object is to benefit, and not to 
 injure ; to preserve, and not to destroy. Permit me to inform 
 my red brethren, that if ever they are intruded upon by our citi 
 zens, that intrusion will approach them from the west, or from 
 the shores of the Pacific, beyond the Rocky mountains. Let 
 them look for the " pale faces" in that direction, for they have 
 nothing to fear from them from any other quarter. In short, 
 they object to the bill, not for what it contains, but for what it 
 does not contain. 
 
 In any event, this will be a harmless measure, as it can ope 
 rate only upon those who voluntarily assent to it. And should 
 it be rejected, after fully understanding it, and, in consequence 
 of that rejection, the evils we anticipate should fall upon those 
 unfortunate human beings, it will, at least, be a consolation for 
 us to reflect that, as humane guardians, we have done our duty 
 in trying to avoid those calamities. 
 
 By the eighth section of the bill, we give to the confederated 
 tribes a delegate, to reside at the seat of Government. Being 
 a member of that committee whose duty it is to take cognizance 
 of all subjects relating to Indian affairs, I feel authorized in say 
 ing, that I have no doubt that the interests, both of the United 
 States and of the confederated tribes, would be promoted by 
 having a delegate here to consult and advise with. Such a boon, 
 addressed to aspiring ambition, it is thought, would also have a 
 happy tendency. 
 
 Before concluding my remarks, it is proper for me to say a 
 word or two upon the subject of administering the Indian Territo 
 rial Government. And upon this particular branch of the inquiry, 
 I beg leave to avail myself of the estimates of my friend and late 
 colleague upon the committee, [General TJPTON,] who, from 
 his superior knowledge, and the great time he has devoted to 
 the consideration of this subject, in all its various bearings, is 
 much more to be relied upon than are any calculations of mine. 
 
 " At the end of the first four years after the Territorial Gov 
 ernment goes into operation, one-half of the agents, sub-agents, 
 and interpreters, may be dispensed with ; and after the expiration 
 of eight years, every agent, sub-agent, and interpreter, may be 
 discharged, leaving to the superintendent, the chiefs, and the 
 general council, the management of the entire business of the 
 Territory. Among the immigrant tribes, there are a number of 
 young men of talent, well educated, and wanting employment. 
 These men, with the assistance of the superintendent and coun 
 cil, will be able to manage all the business for their people 
 within their Territory. Offices will be created for them to aspire 
 
APPENDIX. 611 
 
 to, and it will, 1 have no doubt, be found the interest of both 
 our Government and the Indians, at no distant day, to withdraw 
 every white man holding an office from the Territory, leaving 
 the Indians to manage their own concerns for themselves. 
 
 " The expenditures will soon be still further reduced, by dis 
 continuing the artisans at present employed among the Indians, 
 under treaty stipulations, as above stated, all of whom, except 
 ing two, are engaged for limited periods. Some of them have 
 been several years engaged, and may soon be discharged. In 
 the year 1859, the term of service for the longest engagements 
 will expire. At that period we can withdraw the last of our 
 mechanics from the service of the Indians, and it is proper that 
 we should do so. 
 
 " It will become the duty of the head of the Indian Department 
 to inform the Indians that our Government will, at the end of 
 the present engagements for white mechanics, discontinue them. 
 The superintendent and all other officers of the Territory will 
 see the necessity of placing Indian youths in workshops, either 
 within their Territory or elsewhere, to learn all branches of 
 mechanism, to be prepared for the time when our present en 
 gagements to furnish them will have expired." 
 
 

UNIVERSITY OF C/