BANCROFT LIBRARY , THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA t * MEMOIRS, OFFICIAL AND PERSONAL; WITH SKETCHES OF TRAVELS AMONG THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN INDIANS ; EMBRACING A WAR EXCURSION, AND DESCRIPTIONS OF SCENES ALONG THE WESTERN BORDERS. BY THOMAS L. M'KENNEY, LATE CHIEF OF THE BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, AUTHOR OF "THE HISTORY OF THE INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTH AMERICA," ETC., ETC. TWO VOLUMES IN ONE. VOLUME I. NEW YORK: PAINE AND BURGESS, 60 JOHN-ST. 1846 Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1846, By PAINE & BURGESS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. PREFACE TO VOL. I. No traveller expects, when he sets out upon a journey, to meet only with smooth roads, cultivated fields, lovely gardens, wide-spread and magnificent scenery, a clear sky, and, at every stopping-place, inns filled with comforts, but goes forth prepared to have all these diversified with rug- ged roads, desolate fields, weedy and odorless gardens, lowering skies, and the inconveniences and discomforts of road-side accommodations. I cannot promise in my book more than is contained in the combined volumes of art and nature. Should any one, on opening this volume with the in- tention of reading it, expect to find everything in it capti- vating, or even agreeable, he will find himself mistaken. A good deal of the contents will, I fear, prove to the gen- eral reader wholly uninteresting ; but this portion of the work may not be so regarded, by kind, and generous, and sympathizing friends. I have reference to those parts that are wholly personal to myself. I would gladly omit them, if, with justice to myself, or to those who cherish an in- terest in my reputation and destiny, as also to those who bear my name, and who are connected with me by the ties of consanguinity, I could do so. Apart from these personal references, may I not hope that the reader will be repaid for the time spent in follow- ing me ? And especially do I trust, that much may be found to interest, when, having got fairly in among the IV PREFACE. scenes of nature vast wild boundless I shall attempt a reflex of them ; and when the incidents and events, which, in my journeyings, I have witnessed, are attempted to be portrayed, in which the RED MAN of the forest is the chief actor, and wherein will be seen his habits, his principles, his occupations, and whatever attaches to him in his wilderness home. But, even at the hazard of offending some and really I shall not write a word with any such intention I have concluded to cast these MEMOIRS upon the patronage, and kind indulgence of an enlightened and liberal public. T. L. M'K. Cape Cottage, February , 1845. DEDICATION OF VOL. I. To MRS. JAMES MADISON. Madam There is such a thing as the memory of the heart. It is kept fresh and odorous by being cherished. Mine for your illustrious husband can never die. I delight in the contemplation of his purity his patriotism his statesmanship and in his polished and beautiful writings. All these, and more, adorn his name, like gems, which time, instead of dimming, is every day making brighter and more glorious. My first call to the performance of civil duties, in con- nection with the government, and to the discharge of a highly responsible trust, was from JAMES MADISON. I am proud of the honour of the confidence of such a man, and shall cherish, to my last hour, a grateful sense of it. Your fame, madam, is so delicately and beautifully mingled with his, as to become identified with it. Such a blending I have never witnessed, in anything, except in the rainbow. In ease, and in dignity, in purity and patri- otism, in the admiration and affection of millions, in the glory shed upon the highest place in the republic all these, in the view of your countrymen, you shared, and continue to share, with him. If his is the column that sustains the capitol, yours, madam, is the cap that orna- ments it. Entertaining such views, and cherishing such feelings, how could I do else than ask the privilege, and covet the honor, of dedicating these memoirs to you ? The offer- ing I know is a poor one : I wish it were more worthy VI DEDICATION, ETC. of your acceptance ; but it is an offering of the heart, and your permission, so kindly granted, to dedicate them to you, forms another link of friendship in the chain that binds me to you, and to the memory of JAMES MADISON. THOMAS L. M'KENNEY. Cape Cottage, February, 1845. ^ >J 3 >*- 2 ^ W si GENERAL CONTENTS, CHAPTER I. PAGE Public Office its Duties, Difficulties, and Dangers, ... 17 CHAPTER II. Improvement, Moral and Intellectual, of the Indians President Mon- roe Anecdotes illustrating his character, .... 32 CHAPTER III. The Bureau of Indian Affairs Commissions to Treat with the Indi- ans Voyage on the Great Lakes Green Bay Butte de M*s, 56 CHAPTER IV. Incidents of the Council at Le Petit Butte de Morts, . . .60 CHAPTER V. Expedition against the Winnebagoes Surrender, Reception, and Ap- pearance of " Red-Bird," . 99 CHAPTER VI. \ * Passage down the Ouisconsin and Mississippi Rivers, . . .117 CHAPTER VII Sojourn at St. Louis Passage down the Mississippi Hard Journey from Memphis to Chickasaw Bluflfe, % 142 Vlll GENERAL CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. PAGE Incidents of Travel from the Chickasaw Bluffs, through the Chicka- saw and Choctaw country, to Tuscaloosa ; thence, through the Creek country, home, . . . . . . /i ..'' . 167 CHAPTER IX. Return to Washington Change of Administration Political Excite- ment Corruption and Favoritism in high places, . . .191 CHAPTER X. Plans for Improving the Condition of the Indians Hindrances in the Way of their Execution, . . . ... . .224 CHAPTER XI. Abominable Abuse of Power in our Relations with the Indians, . 256 MEMOIRS. CHAPTER I. PUBLIC OFFICE ITS DUTIES, DIFFICULTIES AND DANGERS. First appointment to office System of government trade with the Indians Tra- ding companies and individuals Contrast between the two systems American Fur Company John Jacob Astor Missouri Fur Company Difficulty of sup- plying the factories during the war Unsuitable stock on hand at its close Loss in disposing of it Satisfaction of the Indians on receiving the new sup- plies Clerks in the office Miles, the trusty messenger Inestimable value of competent and faithful clerks Folly and wickedness of proscription Transfer of the property of the Indian trade establishment Increase of the capital As- sailed by Mr. Benton The reply Mr. Monroe's opinion Payment of Indian annuities Caution in keeping the accounts Charged with defalcation Mys- terious disappearance of vouchers Duplicates produced Accounts settled Charges of defalcation reiterated Rules adopted in purchasing articles for the Indians Anonymous charges of favoritism Discomforts of office Accounts kept open. I OWE my first connection with our Indian relations, and the first civil trust conferred upon me, to the confidence of PRESIDENT MADISON, who, unsolicited by myself, and, so far as I know, by any one for me, honored me, on the 2d April, 1816, with the commission of " Superintendent of the United States Indian Trade with the Indian Tribes." I had been informed, a few days previous, of the intention of President Madison to call me to the discharge of the duties of this office, but had never spoken to him on the VOL. I. 3 18 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. subject, nor he to me. My commission* was brought to me by Hon. William Jones, Secretary of the Navy. The plan of a United States government trade with the Indians dates as far back as the year 1796. The system was one of pure humanity, embracing a supply of the wants of the Indians without reference to profit; and receiving, in exchange from them, their furs and peltries, at fair prices ; the law governing this trade contemplating nothing more than the preservation of the capital employed in it. The convenience of the Indians was consulted in the establish- ment of factories along the border, and at such distances from each other, as to approximate upon the one hand, as near to the hunting grounds of the Indians as was conve- nient ; upon the other, with the readiest access to them by water, or otherwise, for the transportation of the annual supplies. Suitable and competent persons, as factors, clerks, and interpreters, were appointed to carry on this trade. There were in operation, at the same time, two other systems of trade with this people. One of these was con- ducted by individuals, the other by companies. The con- trast between these and the government trade, will not * (COPY.) THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA To all who shall see these presents, Greeting : KNOW YE, That reposing special trust and confidence in the integrity, ability, and diligence of Thomas L. McKenney, of the District of Columbia, I do appoint him superintendent of Indian trade, and do authorize and empower him to execute and fulfil the duties of that office, according to law ; and to have and to hold the said office, with all the powers, privileges and emoluments to the same of right appertaining, unto him the said Thomas L. McKenney, during the pleasure of the President of the United States, for the time being. Given under my hand at Washington, this second day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixteen, and in the fortieth year of the Independence of the United States. JAMES MADISON. By command of the President of the United States of America. WM. H. CRAWFORD, Secretary of War. MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 19 fail to strike the most casual reader. The leading features of the government trade were protection and justice, based in humanity. Its tendencies were kind and merciful. The bane of the Indian was wholly excluded from the United States trade ; not a drop of brandy, rum, or whiskey, being permitted to pass through the factories. Not a cent of profit was contemplated, as has been stated. With no other system but this, or others in harmony with it, the In- dians would have been protected, and blessed, and pre- served. Many of the bloody strifes with one another, and of wars between tribes and bands, and the probability is, the greater portion of these border difficulties between the Indians and our people, would never have been heard of; whilst the Indians, preserved from the double action upon them of these wars, and the consuming effects of the " fire- water," would have retained their native strength and dig- nity, and not wasted away and perished, as they have done. I can conceive of no contrast more decided than that which marked the United States' treatment of these ex- posed people, and that which characterized the traffic car- ried on with them by private individuals, and companies. To sum it up in few words, the first was a shield to pro- tect, and a fountain to sustain, and refresh, and bless the Indians; the last two operated to place them amidst the unobstructed, full, and unmitigated blaze of a consuming avarice! No profits were sought by the government nothing but gains were contemplated by the traders. No consuming, and strife, and war-kindling agencies, were em- ployed by the first, to attract and lure the unhappy victim; no laws could be enacted by Congress, and no regulations framed, of adequate force or vigilance, to prevent the em- ployment, by the traders, of these lures, and of this bane. No one who has not witnessed it, can conceive the sacri- fices an Indian will make for whiskey ; how far he will trav- el, laden with the returns of his winter's hunts ; how little he foresees, or regards the consequences to himself, or any 20 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. body else, of his indulgence in this fatal poison. The awaking from his delirious dream, and finding his furs and peltries gone, and in their places a few worthless articles, unsuited in quality or quantity to screen himself and his family from the winter's cold, may distress him, and kindle his revenge, for the time being, but it is forgotten when- ever a new occasion happens in which he can indulge in the same excess ! Of all men, an Indian is the most im- provident, and furnishes the most painful example of a reckless disregard to the impoverishing and life-consuming effects of intemperance. Many fortunes have been made in the trade with the Indians. The company that has flourished most, and be- come most enriched by it, is the "American Fur Compa- ny," at the head of which, for many years, as owner and manager, was JOHN JACOB ASTOR. This sagacious and wonderful man pushed this trade wherever the beaver, the otter, or the muskrat, could be found in sufficient quantity to authorize the adventure, until the range east of the Rocky Mountains becoming too limited for his enterprise, he doubled the Cape, and felt his way up the Columbia river, opening a trade with the natives of that far-off region. Next in enterprise and success, was the "Missouri Fur Company," whose operations were, and are yet, conducted by the sagacious CHOUTOU'S. It was to make the range of this company's operations wider, and secure to it, mainly, the unobstructed way to a monopoly of the trade within the limits of its range, that the United States system was, by act of Congress, broken down. In the discharge of my trust, I found it necessary, almost from year to year, in my annual reports, to refer to the manner in which these companies carried on their operations ; protesting against the use of whiskey, and urging the adoption of more rigid regulations to prevent its being carried into the Indian country. For this was the charm, and the trading house at which the poor MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 21 Indian was most certain of meeting with this beverage, was sure of his custom. It was not so much a competi- tion in blankets, and strouds, and calicoes, and beaver- traps, and other articles that were necessary for the trade, or their prices, as v in whiskey. My reports were not regarded in the light of very friendly interpositions, and from these it was quite natural for the feelings they occasioned to glance off, and become personal. The consequence was, I was not in favor either with the private trade, or with the more formidable power con- centred in the companies. I shall take occasion, in the sequel, to refer again to the breaking down of the United States trade ; and to a part, at least, of the means employed to accomplish it. My immediate predecessor, General John Mason, a man of talents and integrity, had found it difficult during the war to procure suitable supplies, except in part, for the trade. Mackinac blankets, and strouding, two indis- pensable articles, were wholly beyond his reach ; made so by the war with Great Britain, on the one hand, and the infant state of our manufactures, on the other. For blank- ets, resort was had to a sort of cloth made of wool, united, without weaving, after the manner in which hats are made. It was these or none. These, with numerous other articles, as little adapted to the comfort of the Indians, were pur- chased and forwarded, and as little in accordance with their wants and tastes. But nothing better in the then condition of the country, could be done. I found, on entering upon the duties of this trust, a large portion of the capital absorbed in these unsuitable supplies, and the factories laboring under their weight. On the return of peace, the markets resumed their former ability to supply the demand, and were prepared, when I took charge of the department, to respond to my calls. But to make way for the new and appropriate supplies, it was necessary for me to get rid of the old and unsuitable ; 22 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. when I ordered the old stock to be got rid of, regardless of loss. It was customary to pack the supplies in water- proof tierces. In making up the outfit the first year of my superintendency, the quality of goods required for it was so large, that the tierces required for their transportation were found, on being measured, to extend in length over one mile and a quarter. The loss on the old stock was very great, and made, of course, a corresponding inroad upon the capital, and this required the adoption of a new scale of advances upon the articles sent, as also another for the regulation of the prices allowed the Indians for their furs and peltries. This scale was so graduated as to run through more than one season thus making the annual advance to bear easy upon the Indians. The prices of furs, &c., owing to the re-opening of our commercial relations after the war, having increased, enabled the government to allow an increase upon them so that the Indians felt very little of the advance which had been put upon the goods. Great satisfaction was expressed by these poor fellows, in being able once more to provide for themselves and families the substantial woven and almost weather-proof Mackinac blanket, and the almost water-proof and endu- ring strouding. I received letters from Governor Cass, whose office of governor of Michigan made him ex-officio superintendent of the Indians of .that Territory, as also from General William Clark, who was superintendent of Indian affairs for Missouri, conveying their high satisfac- tion at this new influx of the right sort of articles and assuring me that no such supplies, either in fitness or cheapness, had ever before found their way into their superintendencies. I owed this success mainly to others. I was assisted by clerks whose integrity and experience made them of great value, as well to the public as to myself; and I can never forget the obligations I was placed under, for zeal- MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 23 ous co-operations, and honesty of purpose, of my chief clerk, Jere W. Bronaugh; my book-keeper, Mr. Rich, and my copying clerk, Mead Fitzhugh nor should I be doing justice to my feelings, were I to omit to name Miles, my trusty messenger. Miles was honest, and he was faithful to his humble trust. He had a horror, some- how, of Indians. Miles was bald and Fitzhugh, being given to mischief, had almost persuaded him that he had, in some far-back period of his life, been scalped by Indians ; and sometimes, when the business of the day was over, I would, in passing, hear Fitzhugh urging upon Miles, this almost questionless fact j when the artless creature would raise his hand, place it well back, and then draw it over his forehead, and with a shake of his head, say " No, no Mr. Fitzhugh ; no, no" at the same time his looks betraying his own suspicions, if no more, that such might have been the case. One little anecdote may serve to show how the artlessness of Miles was blended with his fears, and how these were set off by his want of a better knowledge of his mother tongue. I was in the warehouse, during the packing season, overlooking this operation the operation, I mean, of separating and dividing articles, so as to make up the assortments and quantities, which were destined to Chi- cago, on the North ; to Fort Osage, in the West, and the Chickasaw Bluffs, in the South, and, in all, eight factories when Miles coming up to me in a great flurry, with hat in hand, said " Sir, there are eighteen hostile Indians at the office please come up, sir, directly." Nonsense, Miles, I replied, 4iostile Indians it cannot be so. " 'Pon honor," said Miles, giving a most knowing shake of his head, " it is true, for they are every one on horseback !" No one who has not experienced it can know how strong the ties become between the head of a department and his clerks, provided there is mutual zeal, and a cor- responding intelligence, to carry on the business entrusted 24 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. to each, in his sphere. And then the experience acquired after a long service in the various departments of the government, is of incalculable value, not to the govern- ment only, but to all having business with it. To dismiss from office, in those days, without cause and there could be no cause for turning an incumbent out of office except incompetency, neglect of duty, or dishonesty and especially the dismissal of a bureau officer or clerk, for any other than one or all of these causes, would have been deemed an outrage, no less against the public interests, than the party proscribed. Hence, competency, zeal, and honesty, being the characteristics of the clerks I found in the office of Indian trade, when I succeeded to its manage- ment, it no more occurred to me to turn them out, than it did to cut their throats. We met, and continued each to perform his appropriate duties, until death deprived me of the services of Mr. Rich, and the abolition of the office, by act of Congress, of further use for the services of the rest. We parted as we had met friends. The act abolishing the United States Indian trade estab- lishment, which was passed May 6, 1822, provided for the appointment of an agent to wind up the concern. George Graham, Esq., a most estimable citizen, was selected for this duty. When I succeeded General Mason, the entire property, in merchandise and cash, &c., was invoiced, and the amount credited to him, and charged to me. So, in like manner, when Mr. Graham succeeded me, all the mer- chandise and cash, &c., was charged to Mr. Graham, and credited to me. I gave back over thirty thousand dollars to Mr. Graham, more than I had received of G^ieral Ma- son everything being charged, both ways, at cost. But this was, perhaps, as much the result of accident, as of forecast or good management ; for the law having contem- plated no more than the preservation of the capital, if the business had been wound up immediately after the sacrifice that had been made on the sale of the unsuitable articles MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 25 which have been referred to ; or after one of those seasons which occasionally occurred, when the worms obtained the mastery, and the fragments of their ravages, not being worth the cost of transportation to market, were thrown into the lake or the Mississippi, the balance, even to a greater amount, might have been found on the other side of the ledger. In this case, a fruitful theme would doubt- less have been furnished, in which both my competency and integrity would have been assailed. As it was al- though I had, in my reports, urged the passage of laws for the protection of the system from the inroads made upon it by the whiskey traffic of traders, or, if Congress should not see fit to pass such laws, then that the system had bet- ter be abolished I was assailed by Hon. Thomas H. Ben- ton, of the United States Senate, with such severity and bitterness, as indicated a purpose not to abolish the factory system, only, but to demolish my humble self along with it. It was quite natural, perhaps, that Mr. Benton should kindle up into an uncommon zeal, and make war with extra energy upon whatever connected itself with the United States factory system, seeing that the Missouri Fur Com- pany had much at stake in the result, and he was the legit- imate organ of the individuals composing it. That gentle- man's speech, in the Senate, on his proposition to abolish the government trade, being marked with special rancor towards myself, personally, I felt called upon to reply to him, which I did, through the National Intelligencer. (See Appendix, A.) When President Monroe read Mr. Benton's speech, he said to a friend who communicated the fact to me, " I am made unhappy by this attack of Colonel Benton upon Colo- nel McKenney." On reading my answer, he said to the same person, "I am relieved. Colonel McKenney has completely vindicated himself. He is what I always be- lieved him to be. My confidence in him is unimpaired."' Besides the large disbursements made, annually, in the VOL. I. 4 26 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. purchase of supplies for the trade, it was made my duty, also, to disburse the sums due to the various Indian tribes, on account of the annuities due them ; nearly the whole of which, in those days, were paid, not in money, of which they were very certain to be robbed, but in useful articles of merchandise. This duty added very much to my la- bors and responsibility. I saw my position, appreciated its delicacy, and prepared against any possible contingency. One of my rules was, never to fill up and number a check for money, but to have this done by either my book-keep- er or chief clerk, whose duty it was made to hand the check to me, in company with the invoice, or whatever expenditure it was intended to pay, with the attest of the examining clerk, that the sum, and all the details, were cor- rect, when I signed the check. Another was, to keep sepa- rate my public and private accounts, and never, under any emergency, to touch, either for my own use, or the use of my friends, a cent of the public money. In not a single case were these rules departed from. Another was, to take triplicate vouchers, in all cases ; one set for the Trea- sury Department, one for my office proper, and the third for a safety vault. This latter precaution saved me from utter ruin, as the sequel will show. I took up a paper, one morning, and read, in substance, what follows : " Whenever Colonel McKenney's accounts shall be settled, he will be found a defaulter to the amount of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars /" I called up my chief clerk, Mr. Bronaugh, and showing him the paper, asked what it could mean. He did not know. Have not the quarterly returns been sent in? I asked. "Yes, sir." Who took them? "Mr. Rich, always, except on one oc- casion, when he being sick, I took them myself." I lost no time in going to the Auditor's office, taking Mr. Bro- naugh with me. To the inquiry, of the auditor Are my accounts settled, sir ? I was referred to his clerk. Of him I received for answer, " They are, sir, so far as they can MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 27 be." I soon learned the obstacle to be " the absence of vouch- ers /" I called for the returns, in which they were alleged to be missing. They were presented, when, sure enough, they were unaccompanied, in great part, by vouchers! Whereupon Mr. Bronaugh said, " These returns were made up by myself; and I am ready to swear, that when I brought them to this office, there was not omitted a single voucher" I saw the ties had been severed, and the whole package bore marks of mutilation; so without troubling the clerk with further inquiries, I directed Mr. Bronaugh to take up the package, which he did. I immediately made known the affair to the Secretary of War, telling him that I had, yet, duplicate vouchers. He rang his bell, sent his messenger for the auditor, who, on appearing, was requested to put his entire force on my ac- counts, and keep it there, until they were settled. I fur- nished duplicates, but did not feel at liberty to allow them to pass out of my clerk's hands, except as they should be admitted and entered. The remainder were brought away and taken back, from time to time, till all was settled, when this one hundred and twenty thousand dollars of alleged defalcation had no basis to rest upon, either in whole, or in part, and the books of the auditor so demonstrated it. And yet, as the rancor of the press of which this was only the premonitory symptom began to break forth, this assault upon my official integrity was kept going, whenev- er, and wherever, the party charging it thought there could be any political capital made out of it. I can never know, nor can any body ever know, the extent of the mischief which this aspersion produced, upon both my name and my circumstances. I was met by it everywhere ; and in many instances could see confidence in me giving way before its withering tendencies. Quite a formal disinterring of the charge was made as recently as 1840; and, pending the canvass which resulted in the election of General Harrison to the Presidency, I 28 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. was put to the trouble to exhibit the original document which testified that all my public accounts, as well those re- lating to the trade, as to the annuities, were settled, showing a balance in my favor. I shall insert this document in the sequel, But I was subjected to other, and scarcely le*ss injurious attacks. The amount of supplies which I purchased, an- nually > was great. My rule in regard to purchasing was a fixed one. It was, to give as wide a range as I could to the demand, its nature, and variety ; and to produce all the competition I could, I gave samples of the kinds of articles which were required in the Indian trade even, for the purpose of making them portable, to the cutting of guns in two. But I made no commitment to purchase of any one, except on the following conditions : First, that the importations should be in time. Second, that the quality and fitness of the article should be entirely acceptable; and Third, that the prices should be as low as like articles could, be elsewhere commanded. All this I knew involved contingences, on the part of the merchant, but these were often encountered. It rarely happened that any single importer ordered all the varieties, but all were ordered ; and the general result was, a market well stocked with ar- ticles, which, but for this policy, would have furnished very few of them, for the reason that almost all kinds of goods suited to the Indian trade, are wholly different from goods required by civilized communities. And this superior mar- ket was in the District of Columbia, where more suitable goods could be at all times had, than could be found in any of the cities of the Union. The mercantile principle, " that wherever a demand exists, there will be found a correspond- ing ability to supply it," was never more fully illustrated and established. But I could not deal with every body. There were mer- chants, some of whom went to Europe, expressly for the purpose, who, by a closer attention, and a more active ob- MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 29 servation of the nature of the supplies wanted, the time when wanted, and the value of the articles, would be better qualified to supply the demand, than were others who were less vigilant, and less intelligent. The consequence was, that anonymous letters were addressed to the committee of Indian affairs, of the House of Representatives, charg- ing me with partiality, and with making purchases of favor- ites, to the exclusion of persons who were prepared to sell to the public better, more suitable, and cheaper goods. I was summoned to appear before the committee. An inves- tigation, in due form, was made. The parties named by the anonymous prosecutors, were summoned before the committee, and questioned under the solemnities of an oath. With what success I escaped from this searching ordeal, the reader may see by referring to Appendix. (B.) A useful lesson may be drawn from these facts a lesson that may teach the numerous aspirants for public office, that there are not only duties to be performed, when the goal of their ambition is reached, but that priceless pearl, " a good name" is constantly in danger of being torn from them, no matter how cautious they may be, how honest, or how capable, or how devoted to the duties of the trust which they seek to encounter. Few men, somebody has said, bring out of office the same good character they took into it. It is not only the personal suffering which an assault upon one's good name causes, but a suffering coming from the sympathy of friends which combines with it, as well as the effects which are not unfrequently seen to desolate one's property. I was made to endure all these. Nor does the charge, like the destructive flash, exhaust itself in the explosion. If it did, it could be better borne, as well as endured with less suffering. A man's virtues may be heralded, and the remembrance of them soon dies ; but affix to his name and character a charge, of no matter 30 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. what sort, involving his reputation, and it never dies ! What if I did exhibit to thousands, and publish in the press, the utter falsity of the imputation that I was a government defaulter, as charged upon me in the manner stated ; did that wipe out the stain which the annuncia- tion implicating me in that charge, had affixed to my character ? As I have said, it was revived and circulated from the time it was made, till 1840, and its flickerings have not ceased to blaze up even to this day. About the time of my dismissal, by command of President Jackson, from my office, as Chief of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in August, 1830, the implication had new vigor imparted to it by the refusal to close my public accounts, which, being kept open, gave sanction to the assertion that all had not been right in my public disbursements, or in my accountability for the same. Four years, from 1829 to 1833, was this state of things continued ; when, at last, all the injury that could be done me, arising out the story of unsettled accounts, having been endured, an order was given to settle them. They were settled. How that settlement resulted, will be shown hereafter. It has always been a source of consolation to me, that this settlement was not made by officers connected with the political party of my preference but by those who occupied towards me relations of a totally different sort. There have been periods in the history of this government when political feelings were not permitted to mingle with official accountability and duty ; and when the moral sense of an ac- counting officer of one political party would not permit him to overlay, or blur, or delay the settlement of the accounts of a disbursing officer, because his political preferences did not happen to run in the same direction with his own. But this was before political intolerance was tolerated ; and before that " Hydra," as " Party" had been so characteris- tically denominated by General Jackson, had so severed MEMOIRS. &c.. &c. 31 the ties of a national brotherhood, and gathered round it its "friends" as to exclude from any participation in the government, if not the greater, yet a large portion of the purest patriotism, and most renowned wisdom and intelli- gence of the country. A ban was literally put upon it. 32 MEMOIRS, &c., your call is welcome to me. I am glad to see you. I have something to say to you, and hope you will allow me time. You see I am very feeble, and can say but little at a time, owing to this cough." He then proceeded to state, in substance, that it was among his most cherish- ed wishes to leave to his descendants a spotless reputa- tion ; that he had but little else left for them. " There is one thing," he continued, " which you must know some- thing of. I want to talk to you about it, and to get your knowledge of the case, embodied in a written form. I have reason for believing that General Armstrong indul- ges the belief that I was instrumental in causing his removal from the office of Secretary of War. I know I had no agency whatever in producing that result, but the general opinion being that he is writing a book, he may, if he really believes in the truth of this implica- tion, so state it ; and I may be regarded by posterity in that most unenviable light in which such a record would place me. Pray tell me all you know about the circum- stances that led to that change to his removal, I mean, or separation from the War Department." I gave him the following reply : My intercourse was frequent with General Armstrong, beginning with the arrival of the British forces in the Chesapeake. It was made my duty, from time to time, to report to him the arrival of troops, and their wants, in equipments, &c., &c. He appeared to me to doubt the intentions of the enemy to invade the capital ; and under the influence of this belief, in which I had no doubt he was sincere, I found some difficulty in procuring the necessary arms and equipments, &c., for troops as they came in. After Commodore Barney had been forced to blow up his flotilla in the Patuxet, and our troops being at the battalion Old Fields, and I had come in as a vidette, having rode along the enemy's flanks, for over a mile, and picking up, on my return to camp, two British deserters* MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 45 whom I brought in with me, I found on horseback, in our camp, President Madison, General Armstrong, and two or three other persons, to whom, in presence of the Commanding General, I stated the position of the enemy, and what appeared to be their numbers, and gave it as my opinion that they would be at our encampment before daylight next morning. To which General Armstrong replied, "They can have no such intention. They are foraging, I suppose ; and if an attack is meditated by them upon any place, it is Annapolis." The deserters were then interrogated, chiefly by President Madison. But they knew not who commanded them ; knew nothing of their destination, and as little of their numbers. I then asked them to look at our force, and say whether theirs was equal to it. They did so, and with a smile, said " We think it is." The President and party then rode off on the way to Washington ; and I was ordered to make another recon- noitre, which I did, when, as you know, sir, for I found you on your roan horse, observing the enemy, who was still advancing upon us, we continued to observe them, till they halted began to bivouac, sling their kettles, &c., &c., when I returned to battalion Old Fields, (you taking the road to Bladensburg) to report all this, and to say they were within a mile of us. Whereupon my commanding officer, General Smith, ordered formed a line of battle, Commodore Barney's artillery being in advance of our main line, and near the wood that intervened between the two armies. The line being formed, I was ordered to go in quest of General Winder, General Smith remarking, " I do not feel at liberty to take the responsibility of the fight, if the commander-in-chief of the forces can be had to give direction to it." Putting spurs to my horse, I lost not a moment in reaching what I had learned was the position of General Winder. I met him about eight miles from our encampment, delivered the message with 46 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. which I was charged, when, putting spurs to his horse, we galloped back to camp together. Riding round the field, and observing the line of battle, he remarked, "It is all well arranged, but the manifest object of the enemy is, to attack us in the night. We have not the material for a night fight." Whereupon he gave orders to take up the line of march ; cross the eastern branch bridge, and occupy the heights beyond. We did so. This was the evening of the 23d of August. The next day, the affair of Bladens- burg occurred. The result is known to every body. The enemy's next movement was upon Baltimore. Our forces were ordered to march for the defence of that city. We had not proceeded far, before a rumor reached us that the citizens of Washington and Georgetown did not feel safe, from causes of a domestic nature when General Smith's command was ordered to repair to the city, and encamp on Windmill Hill. Meantime, the British shipping were in the Potomac. Alexandria had been captured and sacked. Apprehensions being entertained that they might ascend the Potomac in their boats, for the purpose of des- troying the cannon foundry, &c., batteries were thrown up on the shore of the Potomac, at the foot of Windmill Hill. While engaged in this duty, General Armstrong, of whom we had heard nothing after the evening of the interview at the Old Fields, rode on the ground. The impression had become universal, that, as Secretary of War, he had ne- glected to prepare the necessary defences ; and that to this neglect, the capitol had been desecrated, and the glory of our arms tarnished. Indeed, many went further, openly and loudly. Charles Carroll, of Bellevue, the moment Gen- eral Armstrong rode upon the ground, met him, and de- nounced him, openly and vehemently, as the cause of all the disasters that had befallen the city when, with one impulse, the officers said to General Smith, " There, sir, are our swords ; we will not employ them, if General Arm- strong is to command us, in his capacity of Secretary of MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 47 War ; but we will obey the orders of any other member of the Cabinet." At the same mpment, the men at the batteries threw down their spades, avowing a like resolve. General Smith called me to him, saying, "You see the state of things ; I have just ordered Major Williams to re- port it to the President. Do you accompany him. Say to the President, that under the orders of any other mem- ber of the Cabinet, what can be done, will be done." We rode off in haste, and overtook President Madison, Richard Rush, (I believe,) and a third person, on F. Street, in Washington, on horseback the government having been again organized at Washington. The message delivered to President Madison, was in accordance with the above, to the letter the last sentence "But under any other member of the Cabinet, the most cheerful duty will be ren- dered" The answer by the President was, " Say to Gene- ral Smith, the contingency, (namely, that of any future orders being given by General Armstrong,) shall not hap- pen" A short time only had elapsed before it was known that General Armstrong had ceased to be Secretary of War, and that you had succeeded him. We learned, and I remember we confided in the source whence we derived our information, that President Madison suggested to Gen- eral Armstrong, in view of the state of things, as narrated, whether it might not be proper for him to suspend his functions as war minister, over the District of Columbia, but to exercise them elsewhere. To which the general was said to have answered, " he would be Secretary of War over the whole, or none." Mr. Madison receiving this as an inadmissible alternative, told him so, when Gen- eral Armstrong ceased to be Secretary of War. " This," said Mr. Monroe, " is all I want. It exonerates me from the charge of having undermined General Armstrong, by any agency of mine. So far as the facts were made known to me at the time, you state them correctly ; and the rest I have had from other sources since, and they corroborate 48 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. what you say." I promised to write out the narrative, as he had requested, and. did so. Mr. Monroe died a few days after this interview, and with him, the demand for a forthcoming of the facts. But I promised to shield him under such forms as might be in my power, from the charge ; and in incorporating the narrative here, I only make good that promise. The charge of traitor, which was lavishly employed against General Armstrong, I never believed. His whole fault lay in a total absence of faith in the intention of the British to attack Washington. And, indeed, the act struck every military mind then, as it does now, as one of the most unexampled temerity. An incur- sion, such as was made into a country densely peopled, without artillery or cavalry, exposing both flank and rear to the capacity of such a city as Baltimore, was one of that kind of onsets which secures success only by the general apathy arising out of the belief that nothing so desperate would be attempted. Another fact or two, illustrative of President Monroe's patriotism. No darker period in the history of our coun- try is known, save only that which marked occasional epochs of the revolution, than was that of the year 1814. Not only was the money, the sinew of war, in time of war, all gone, but with it also had departed the credit of the nation. The stock of the government, as well as its is- sues of every other sort, was held in little more estimation than would have been so much blank paper ; and yet the war was to be prosecuted ! The banks having advanced all they could advance, could come in aid of the govern- ment no further. There was not even money enough to buy fuel to keep the cadets at West Point from perishing, when resort was had, by them, to every old building and out-house, to fence rails, and shrubs and roots, until Gov- ernor Tompkins threw in five hundred dollars' worth of wood, which was met by the cadets on its way to the Point, and borne to their quarters on their shoulders. MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 49 It was at this dismal period that Mr. Monroe assumed the duties of the Department of War. He was advised against the undertaking, and the downfall of his prospects was predicted by his friends, who importuned him not to hazard his own ruin, by engaging in duties which must end in his overthrow. " It is when such dark prospects shroud the hopes of the people, that the country has the stronger claims upon her sons," replied the patriot Monroe ; " that which you urge upon me as a reason for declining to con- tribute my mite towards the rescue, is conclusive in deter- mining me to come to it. The day of my country's ad- versity is that on which my best energies are more freely at her service." With these views, and these feelings, he assumed the arduous duties of the War Department. There was mind enough, with all the appropriate quali- ties, and zeal enough for the right management of this arm of the nation's defence ; and there was justice on the side of the republic, and a consequent just reliance upon Hea- ven but there was no money ! Applications were made in all directions ; appeals to the patriotism of the people were heralded in all directions, and the most imploring calls uttered to come to the rescue. But the arm of the nation was paralyzed. There was no more money, and confidence was gone ! It was in this dark crisis that Mr. Monroe went in person to the Bank of Columbia, and made an appeal. Government securities were freely of- fered, and at great sacrifices, but in vain ; when he looked the cashier, William Whann, in the face, and throwing into his countenance all that was imploring and impressive, he said, " Mr. Whann, have you confidence in my honor ? Will you accept a pledge of that, backed by all my private fortune, that this sum, now so indispensable to the wants of the government, shall be made good ? I pledge them !" Mr. Whann repaired to the directors' room, and with a heart full of solicitude, reported all that had passed, when the amount wanted was placed at the disposal of the gov- VOL. I. 7 50 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. eminent. It was that very amount, obtained in that way, and which could have been obtained in no other way, that sustained Jackson's army, and enabled it to reach New Orleans ; and but for which, or an indispensable portion of it, it could not have moved at all. The world is entitled to a life of this patriot. The General Post-Office Department at Washington, was for a long time in a state of great dilapidation I refer to the period which preceded Mr. M'Lean's admin- istration of its affairs. At the time to which I refer, Mr. M'Lean was Commissioner of the General Land Office. Coming down Pennsylvania avenue one day, I met Mr. M'Lean, with whom I had been for a long time on terms of close intimacy, and thinking I saw something in his countenance that indicated depression of spirits, I asked him what was the matter. He replied, " I am going to leave Washington, and return to Ohio to practice law. My situation as Commissioner of the Land Office, being subordinate to the Treasury Department, is by no means agreeable ; besides, the salary is not adequate to the sup- port of my family, &c." I immediately said Why go to Ohio for these reasons ? A Post-Master General is about being appointed, and surely, if it is your pleasure to accept that office, there can be no difficulty in having it conferred on you. " You are mistaken," he replied ; " the Ohio delegation have been with the President this morning, and have ascertain- ed that he has fixed upon Mr. Anderson, of Kentucky, (then recently returned from a foreign mission.) There is no chance, therefore, of my being chosen for that place. We parted he to go to his residence, and I (without his knowing it) to the President's. I found Mr. Monroe at leisure. As usual, he was glad to see me, and began talking about foreign and other matters of like import, when I told him, by his leave, we would talk of these on some other occasion ; and if it were his pleasure, I would MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 51 refer to a subject interesting alike to himself as President of the United States, and the country. " You know, Colonel McKenney," replied this good man, " that any subject that concerns our country cannot be otherwise than interesting to me." Then, sir, I continued, have you so far made up your mind as to the citizen you are about to nominate for Post-Master General, as to preclude any reference to the subject? "I have," he answered, " thought of nominating Richard Anderson, of Kentucky, for that place." Is your determination final? " No it is not if I can hear any good reason for changing it." I proceeded to state, that I hoped he would not consi- der anything I might say as being unfriendly to Mr. An- derson for I was sure he possessed every qualification for the place except one, and that was an exception over which he had no control, nor had any body else. What is that ? inquired the President, with much earnestness. His health is too feeble for the toils which any man must endure who assumes to bring order out of that depart- ment, and so re-organize it, and administer it, as to make it what it ought to be an instrument of good to the peo- ple at large, for whose convenience it had been created. Mr. Anderson, I proceeded to say, cannot live a year ; he is now in such feeble health as to justify that opinion ; to call him to the discharge of such heavy duties as must devolve upon him, in the General Post-Office, would, should he attempt their execution, hasten his transit to the grave; if he should not, for lack of health, be able to attend to the duties of the station, then it had just as well remain as it is. A pause for a moment ensued when the President looked at me, saying "Colonel McKenney, I am very glad you have called" when, at the moment, the servant announced dinner. He asked me to accompany him, after which we would resume our conversation. I decli- 52 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. ned, having company to dine with me that day : when he called the servant, directing him to tell Mrs. Monroe not to wait for him. The conversation was continued for an hour longer, when I left him. The next day, when crossing Rock Creek bridge, which separates Washington from Georgetown, on my way home, I met George Hay, Esq., son-in-law of Mr. Monroe, on his roan horse. He spoke, saying, he was glad to meet me that he had been riding about all the morning, look- ing after Mr. M'Lean, and had not found him. "I will thank you, if you see him, to say the object of my search is, at Mr. Monroe's instance, to tell him that his name has been this morning sent into the Senate as Post- Master General ; and that it is Mr. Monroe's wish, that he would appoint you his First Assistant Post-Master Gen- eral." I told him we were to dine that evening at Foxall's, when I would deliver to him the message. On arriving at Foxall's, I found Mr. M'Lean was there, when, taking him into the office, I announced to him what Mr. Hay had charged me to make known to him. The President's reference to myself was responded to with great cordiality. The nomination was confirmed, of course, and Mr. M'Lean entered upon the discharge of the duties of his new station. Some weeks went round, when he referred to the relations that the President desired I should stand to the office and to himself saying he could not feel free to dismiss the incumbent without cause ; that Mr. Bradley was competent and efficient, although he had found the department in great disorder, &c.; that he would, on the first occasion, should any delinquency happen, make the change. I told him I respected his feelings and his principles, and had not a doubt he would find Mr. Bradley all he could desire ; and that, from that moment, to think no more of MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 53 me in relation to the appointment. He was put at ease, and we parted friends. The same organization that had given such efficiency to the War Department, introduced into it, for the first time, by Mr. Calhoun, was adopted by Mr. M'Lean for the government of the Post-Office Department. It proved no less operative. The entire plan consisted in dividing the business into appropriate parts, and assigning a bureau to each branch, with an officer at the head of each, who was held responsible for the right and prompt management of the duties assigned to him; all the bureaux connecting into one common centre, whose supervisory and control- ling power was in the head. If ever there was perfection carried into any branch of the public service, it was that which Mr. Calhoun carried into the War Department ; and it was the same admirable organization which made the War Department the most effective and most popular branch of the government. And it was the same system that imparted such efficiency to the General Post-Office. And yet neither would have produced the popular results that distinguished both, if each had not been governed by heads that comprehended, and knew how to give direction to both. The War Department was a literal chaos when Mr. Calhoun took it in hand ; and so was the General Post- Office, when Mr. M'Lean succeeded to its management. Both rose out of this chaos into order, and harmony, and usefulness. I have recorded this anecdote, if it may be called one, for the purpose of showing how personal predilections were made to give way, in Mr. Monroe, to the higher claims of public utility. Mr. Anderson was his choice, but Mr. M'Lean was the better qualified man to advance the public interests as Post-Master General, when, of course, all that was personal gave way, and the "general welfare" alone was consulted. A time came, at last, when Mr. M'Lean was considered 54 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. a stumbling block in the way of party. The "reward" and "punishment" system was to take the place of qualifica- tion, patriotism, and experience. Personal rewards, and not the public good, had now become the practice of the government. The friends of General Jackson were now to be " rewarded," and those who were not " of his party," were to be "punished." But how, it may be asked, could this system affect Mr. M'Lean ? Was he not favorable to the elevation of General Jackson ? The general im- pression was, that he favored the result. Then why was he moved upon ? Because, I answer, he declined to make the General Post-Office an instrument of party ; and to become an executioner, and chop off heads as he might be commanded. To the question asked of a member of the Hickory club in Washington What are you going to do with Mr. M'Lean ? the answer was, " D n him, we'll bench him." The alternative left for Mr. M'Lean, was to quit with an appointment as judge ; or quit without any thing. Nor would the office of judge have been tendered to him, if his popularity had not forbade his expulsion. So, at least, it was understood at Washington. The judge- ship was not, at that time, what best suited Mr. M'Lean. He had been long out of the practice of law, as member of Congress and commissioner of the General Land Office. But the same industry, sustained by moral rectitude, and strong natural talents, enabled him, in a few years, to oc- cupy a respectable position on the bench of the Supreme Court, and now to rank with its most able and honored members. Mr. Barry succeeded Judge M'Lean. There was one act, at least, of this functionary, that gave great notoriety to his official character as Post-Master General. It was the issuing of an order through the heads of the depart- ments, which was distributed among the several bureaux, by order of the secretaries, directing that no letters, from and after its date, should be sealed with wax, but with MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 55 wafers only ; wax, it being alleged, adding so much to the weight of the mails ! When I saw this order, I took it with me to Mr. Secre- tary Eaton, and asked if it was intended to apply to the correspondence of the Indian department. " Why not ?" he inquired. Because, I answered, much of that corres- pondence has to traverse the wilderness, and portions of it to be swam with over rivers, tied to the heads of Indians ; and in various other ways to be exposed to the weather, and to the rough usage of a border circulation. "I sup- pose," he answered, " the Post-Master General knows his own business best ; conform to the order." I was curious to know how much weight the mails were relieved of by this change, and ascertained it to amount to something less than five pounds, daily ! there being an av- erage of about a pound and a quarter of wax used in each of the four departments State, Treasury, War, Navy, and in the office of the Attorney General. There was much speculation at the time, as to the real object of this order. Nobody believed then, and nobody will believe now, that it was what it was avowed to be. 56 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. CHAPTER III. THE BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. COMMISSIONS TO TREAT WITH THE INDIANS. VOYAGE ON THE LAKES. GREEN BAY. BUTTE DE MORTS. Organization of the Bureau of Indian affairs Dilatory legislation Living on half pay Effects of severe labors upon health Appointed commissioner to negotiate a treaty with the Indians at Fond du Lac Other commissioners to the Choctaws, Chickasaws and Creeks Arrival at Detroit, and departure for Green Bay First steamboat ascent of the Neebish Rapids Sault de St. Marie White fish, and the fishery Canadian voyagers Gale on the Lake Sea-sickness Boat aground Detention at Green Bay Le Petit Butte de Morts Return to Mackinac A patient Doctor Monroe and lady A con- trast A romantic wife Return to Green Bay Hazardous voyage A night on shore Another patient The medicine man superseded A cure Arrival at Green Bay Alarm in the fort Allayed by the arrival of General Cass Apprehensions of an attack The big gun brought up Portage at the Grand Kockalas " Short guns" An experiment Lighting an Indian's pipe with the sun Firing at a target in the lake Indians coming in Toils of the women An exception An Indian's gratitude Passage of the Rapids of the Grand Kockalas Talk with the Winnebagoes Anecdote of General Leavenworth. IN the month of February, 1824, Mr. Calhoun being Secretary of War, that gentleman made known to me his wish, which was also the President's, to organize a Bureau of Indian Affairs, in connexion with the Department of War, and offered me the appointment of chief. He said the duties were peculiar, and required experience in their performance, and that I had that. I was engaged in the incipient stages of a departure for a trip to Mexico, and thanking him for his confidence, told him I did not think I could accept of the proposal. I made the offer known to some of my friends, who thought it better for me to forego my contem- MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 57 plated trip to Mexico, and resume under this new form, my relations to the government and the Indians. At another interview with Mr. Calhoun, I learned that all the means at his disposal, which he could make applicable to my salary, were sixteen hundred dollars. This I declined to accept, upon the ground that it was inadequate to my support, and would not be a just equivalent for the servi- ces which I knew the office would require at my hands. He admitted the justness of both but added, the Presi- dent and himself had talked the matter over, and that, if I would undertake the trust, the President would recom- mend in his next message to Congress, the organiza- tion of an Indian Department, with a salary equal to that paid to auditors, expressing a hope that this would be satisfactory. I finally consented, and on the llth of March, 1824, had assigned to me the duties of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.* * DEPARTMENT OF WAR, > March llth, 1824. $ SIR To you are assigned the duties of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in this department, for the faithful performance of which you will be responsible. Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Miller are assigned to you, the former as chief, the latter as assistant clerk. You will take charge of the appropriations for annuities and of the current expenses, and all warrants on the same will be issued on your requi- sitions on the .Secretary of War, taking special care that no requisition be issued, but in cases where the money previously remitted has been satisfactorily accounted for, and on estimates in detail, approved by you, for the sum required. You will receive and examine the accounts and vouchers for the expenditure thereof, and will pass them over to the proper auditor's office for settlement, after examination and approval by you ; submitting such items for the sanction of this department as may require its approval. The administration of the fund for the civilization of the Indians is also committed to your charge, under the regulations established by the department. You are also charged with the examination of the claims arising out of the laws regulating the intercourse with Indian tribes, and will, after examining and briefing the same, report them to this department, endorsing a recommendation for their allowance or disallowance. The ordinary correspon- dence with the superintendents, the agents, and sub-agents, will pass through vour bureau. I have the honor to be your obedient servant, [Signed] JOHN C. CALHOUN. THOMAS L. MCKENNET, Esq. VOL. i. 8 58 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. I found the business of our Indian relations greatly in arrears. It required the most laborious efforts, for nearly the whole of the first year, to bring it up. The President was faithful to his promise, and recommended the passage of an act for the organization of a department. At the request of the Chairman of the Committee of Indian Af- fairs, I prepared a bill, submitted it to the Secretary of War, who wrote on it, in pencil, " All right alter not a word." I left in it a blank for the committee to fill with the sum they might agree upon for the salary. It was filled with the sum of three thousand dollars. The bill was reported to the House, and passed to a second reading, and there it stopped, not from objection to it, or its pro- visions, but because it was taken precedence of, by other matters, deemed by Congress to be of more importance. This was its fate for several successive sessions ; I being left, meantime, to get along as well as I might on the half pay, which was at the disposal of the department. Afterwards, Governor Cass and General Clark, by direc- tion of the executive, drew regulations for the govern- ment, in detail, of the Indian department, which, however, contained little else than an embodiment of the system upon which the bureau had been previously governed. Still the salary was not reached, nor was it appropriated till my successor was in place, and ready to receive it. To him, and to his successors, it has been paid to this day. I addressed a letter to Mr. Calhoun, after he had left the department, calling his attention to my unrequited labors, and received from him the following answer : " No one better knows than myself, how inadequate your salary is, as a compensation for the varied and important duties of your office. There is no branch of business in the War Department, which requires more minute and laborious attention, or to which greater responsibility is attached. I would rejoice to see your compensation placed on a more respectable footing." Nothing, however, has T MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 59 ever been done to reimburse me, and I remain to this day without having received a copper towards the differ- ence between what I did receive, and that which, by every rule of equity and justice, I was, and yet am entitled to receive. Such were my labors, so constant and oppressive, and so weighty the responsibilities which devolved on me, as to have very nearly cost me my life. My health gave way under the pressure, and but for the confidence of President Adams and Mr. Barbour the latter, at the period to which I am referring, being Secretary of War in referring to me the duties of joint commissioner with Governor Cass to negotiate a treaty with the Indians at La Fond du Lac, Superior, and again with other tribes at Green Bay, the year following, I should, in all probability, have died at my post. Twelve senators and representatives in Congress united in a request to President Adams to join me in those commissions. The late President Harrison, being at that time senator, was one of them. (See Appendix, D.) It was not, perhaps, the state of my health that opera- ted to produce this request, so much as a belief which they expressed, in the benefit tha!%%uU result to the pub- lic service, from the information which jhto^ight obtain in a personal intercourse with the Indians, ana 1 which would give me greater power over the varied and complex duties of my office, when I should return to resume them. The first year's travels to Lake Superior restored me my health ; though it was not until some time after the expedition had entered that lake, that the officers in com- mand of the military escort gave over their more than half- made preparations to give me a magnificent burial on its shore. Of this kindness, however, I knew nothing at the time, but was often reminded of it after my health was re- stored. I threw together in a volume of some five hundred pages, under the title of " Tour to the Lakes" the incidents 60 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. of that expedition, which I dedicated to my friend and pa- tron, the Hon. JAMES BARBOUR, Secretary of War. Be- sides the duties enjoined on me, jointly with Governor Cass, in that year, it was made my duty, by special com- missions, after concluding our labors at Green Bay, to pro- ceed in my individual capacity, to the performance of others, as disclosed in the following commissions : DEPARTMENT OF WAR, > March 28, 1827. $ To COLONEL THOMAS L. MCKENNEY : SIR With the view of obtaining local and other information of the country between the lakes and the Mississippi, the condition and disposition of the Indian tribes which are scattered over it, and especially to ascertain the disposition of the tribes within the States, the Chickasaws and Choctaws, and, if practicable, the Cherokees, on the subject of emigration to lands west of the Mississippi, the President directs that after the council is closed at Green Bay, and the business entrusted to you and Governor Cass settled, that you will cross the country from Green Bay in such direction as you may esteem it to be the most eligible, either by way of Fox and Ouisconsin rivers, or by descending Lake Michigan to Chicago, down the Illinois to the Mississippi, and thence to the States, noting whatever incidents you may esteem valuable, and that in any manner may be connected with our Indian relations, and that may tend to enlighten the department in mat- ters pertaining to their judicious disposition and application. To your discretion is referred the best mode of approaching the Choctaws and Chickasaws, and, if you can reach them, the Cherokees, on the subject of emi- gration ; but any convention ypwmay make with them, will be understood to be only conditional, and subject to the approval of the President, to be afterwards confirmed by the more' 'formal stipulations of treaties. The extent to which you are to go in these visits and councils, will reach no farther than an ascertainment of the disposition and will of the Indians, and the nature and extent of the terms on which they will consent to emigrate ; which may be made binding on them, on being approved by the President, and thrown afterwards into treaty form. You will also visit agencies, and such Indian schools as may be within your reach, and inform yourself of their condition and prospects ; and generally collect such information as may be necessary to a prompt and efficient discharge of the duties arising out of our Indian relations. Your compensation will be fixed on your return, and made equivalent to the extent and value of your services. Your expenses, (together with any reasonable amount, not exceeding one thousand dollars, which you may find it necessary to expend among the Indians for the promotion of the objects in view,) will be borne, and a requisition will issue on your estimate of what they mav probably be, for which you will, as is usual, account on your return. I have the honor, &c., JAMES BARBOUB. MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 61 DEPARTMENT OF WAR, ) April 10th, 1827. $ To COLONEL THOMAS L. MCKENNEY : SIR Referring to my instructions to you of 28th March, I now add the par- ticular desire of the President, that if it be practicable for you to return by the way of the Creek country, that you do so, and that you employ all proper means in your discretion, to procure of the Creeks a cession of the remaining strip of land in Georgia ; and for this object the President hereby empowers you to act, either separately or jointly, as you may esteem it best, with the agent, Colonel Crowell, who will be, meanwhile, authorized if possible to accomplish this object. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, JAMES BARBOUR. I left Washington in due season for Detroit, there to join Governor Cass, having in my suite a secretary, physi- cian, my son, and a servant ; where, on my arrival, I found all the preparations made, and a day appointed for our de- parture for Green Bay. Our conveyance was a steamboat, in which, besides a goodly number of passengers of both sexes, were Major General Scott and suite. General Scott was to make his first visit to the post at the Sault de St. Marie. It was proposed, on our way to Mackinac, and agreed to, to allow the captain some additional pay to try the ascent of the St. Marie, and test the power of his boat in a contest with the Neebish rapids. The bargain was concluded, and the experiment was decided to be made; when, leaving Mackinac, we were soon in the Detour, and very soon after amidst the whirl and agony of the rapids. The power of the descending water, and its whirlpool-like surges, would often bring the boat to a stand, then force her first to one side and then to the other, the rocks, mean- time, as seen through the transparent water, being often near aboard, when she would again shoot ahead, and again become stationary, like a thing taking repose, or gathering strength for another onset, and a new triumph. At last we reached the more level and tranquil surface, when com- ing suddenly in view of the village and its population, of the fort and garrison, and the Indians, an expression of universal astonishment marked every face, at this unlooked- for appearance of the first steamboat that had ever reached 62 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. that place. The inhabitants looked spell-bound, whilst the Indians eyed the boat in silence, and listened, half horror- struck, to the whizz and deafening roar of the steam, as it escaped from the vent. In every face was depicted a mute, but bewildered surprise, such as one might be supposed to feel if brought suddenly in contact with his Satanic Majes- ty, invested with all the trappings, and set off with all the appendages with which our youthful fancies were wont to invest that personage. Having been at the Sault the year before, when on my way to La Fond du Lac, Superior, I had made acquain- tances. Among these was the proprietor of the only pub- lic house in the village of which these remote regions could then boast, where I well remember the white fish was cooked in perfection. My first move was to this long, low, log house, where I forthwith requested a dinner to be prepared for our company white fish, that were then swimming in the rapids, to form part of it, and the princi- pal dish, of course. In a moment the order was passed, and in another moment the Indians, some of them boys, were out among the rapids, balancing their little bark ca- noes, with a foot upon each gunwale, and in their hands a scoop net, with its handle some ten feet long, reaching down into the whirling and foaming rapids, taking in the white fish as fast as they could be thrown into the canoe. Our repast was a sumptuous one. Taking a bark canoe and some voyagers, I gratified part of our company with a view of Lake Superior. These dexterous Canadians knowing the party, with an exception or two, to be unaccustomed to the canoe, and to its movements among the rapids, on our return, ran the frail vessel along the very edge of the curve, over which the water tumbles in its first plunge, but with a skill which only the voyagers can exert, enlivening the scene, mean- time, with their boat songs, and a jabbering of their Ca- nadian French. MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 63 Returned to Mackinac, and thence on to Green Bay. When off Lake Michigan, a terrible gale arose. Its seve- rity and duration were unusual, even in this region of storms. Such was its violence, that both anchors proved insufficient to keep the boat to her moorings, and being driven ashore ; when the steam was let on, and the wheels kept in motion, which alone, it was thought, saved us from being stranded. So billowy were the waters, as when the boat would wear round, and expose a quarter to the surge, it would strike her with such force as to roll her well nigh over, the bell, meantime, keeping up a continual toll, as if noting the time that was hastening to engulf us all. A fine opportunity occurred during the storm, for testing my skill in the management of that most prostrating of all afflictions, sea-sickness. We had three physicians on board, but they were all as dead men. Nearly all the passengers, and several of the hands and attendants, were paying the customary tribute to the gale ; myself and son, and faithful servant Ben, being excused from the contribution. Even the cabin girl, when making her way to the companion door, gave signs that her time also had come, for she had scarcely delivered to me a message from my cousin, Mrs. Doctor T-b-r-k, of New York, which she did by gasping out, " You're wanted down here" when she fell backwards flat on the cabin floor. Going down, I found some seven or more of the lady passengers also on the floor, having been tumbled from their berths, whilst others who had been able to keep their places, were not the less victims to the overwhelming nausea. Among the latter was my cousin, whose husband was among the helpless ones in the gen- tlemen's cabin. Those who were upon the floor, had arrived at that condition of helplessness, as to have no power over their movements not a muscle seconded their will to take hold and steady themselves. When the boat would lurch, they would roll across the cabin, and fetch up in one confused mass on the opposite side, to remain 64 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. there till another lurch from the other side would send them all across the floor in an opposite direction. I made signal to Ben, who with great effort reached me. I directed him to cut open a bale of blankets separate, and pass them to me as quick as possible. It was done ; when, holding a blanket in one hand, and with the other supporting myself, as the mass began to separate to find its lodgment on the opposite side of the cabin floor, I would, as the openings between the bodies were made, thrust in a blanket. I continued the process till I had the sufferers all wedged in, so as at last they became sta- tionary. Fresh air was indispensable, to obtain which, I hoisted one of the stern windows. A few moments after, a sea broke in, bringing with it enough of terror to arouse a few of the prostrate party to some extra efforts and these were accompanied by cries of " Oh, we're lost /" I next caused to be procured from my medicine chest, a bottle of laudanum, with another of brandy. I poured portions of each into a tea-pot all guess-work, for such was the rolling and pitching of the boat, as to make it difficult to hold on, much more so to count drops, or measure proportions and so, from various positions which I sought and obtained, to hold on to something with one hand, I employed the other in divers attempts, (in not over one in a dozen did I succeed,) to get the spout of the tea-pot into the mouths of the sufferers, always involving the hazard to pour in more than might be useful. In less than thirty minutes after I had gone the rounds, all my patients, except one, who was in a berth, were as tranquil and composed, and free from sickness, as the circumstan- ces would permit. I had my fears for the safety of that one an interesting young lady, a Miss S-b-n-s, from the South, who, in company with her aunt, was on her way to visit her sister, wife of Captain B., of the army, sta- tioned at Green Bay. Spasms had blackened her, and changed into this dismal hue, the hitherto rose and lily MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 65 tinge of her cheeks telling in language not to be mista- ken of suspended circulation, and threatening to stop it forever. I had no one to assist me, and my only alterna- tive was to tear (cut I could not, without danger, from the motion of the boat, of the knife's taking a direction other than the one intended) her corsets loose, which, being done, I applied bread saturated with laudanum and brandy to the pit of her stomach. A warm bath, my next re- source had this failed, could not of course be commanded. In a few minutes after the application of the laudanum and brandy had been made, and about a spoonful taken, the face resumed much of its natural color, and the suf- ferer gave signs of doing well. The storm having in part subsided, the anchors were weighed, and we were heading it on to Green Bay. When within some five miles of the village, and about two from the fort, the boat grounded ; and such was the rapid re- cession of the waters which the gale had blown into the bay and river, that before the appropriate means could be put in operation for heading her off, her paddles were out of water. We were conveyed to the village at Green Bay in boats. I thought I saw in this revulsion of the waters, the cause of the apparent tides that rise and fall, with an almost pe- riodical precision, in those lakes. The winds keep the waters in constant agitation, and force them in the direc- tion in which they blow. These falling or blowing from an opposite or any other direction, the waters fall back, seeking their level; and to this constant action, thus caus- ed, I attribute the ocean-like ebbing and flowing of the waters of these lakes. Every body, except the captain, was delighted at the stationary, and for some time at least, permanent situation of the boat. Our company had been so very agreeable as to make it quite hard to separate. This grounding of the boat gave us the opportunity to remain together some VOL. I. 9 66 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. days at Green Bay ; and but for it, all, except Governor Cass and myself, and suite, and a few who lived at the bay, would have the next day returned in the boat to Detroit. The ground which had been selected upon which to hold our treaty, was some thirty-seven miles above Fort Howard, on the Fox river, and just below the opening into the Lake Winnebago. There could have been no more beautiful position found in all that region. The rise to it from the river is gradual, and reaches to some thirty feet. The level, when reached, widens out into the form of an irregular circle of some three hundred yards in cir- cumference, and in nearly the centre is a mound called by the French, La Petit Butte de Morts ; the mound being conical in formj about a hundred feet in circumference, and some twelve feet high. To this spot, all our supplies in provisions for the treaty, and presents for the Indians, s&c., were forwarded ; and leaving our party to put up the necessary log houses in which to store the property, and to give time for the Indians to come in, Governor Cass and myself agreed to separate he to go to the Mississippi, and I to Lake Superior ; the chief object being to send runners among the Indians to secure a full attendance from as many bands as could be reached. The governor took to his bark canoe, and I, as far as Mackinac, to the steam- boat. Arriving at Mackinac, where I parted from friends in whose society I had enjoyed so much pleasure, I took with my company a barge conveyance to Drummond's Island and the Sault. The waters of Huron becoming a little billowy, another scene of sea-sickness was witness- ed, which made a longer pause at Drummond's Island, at that time a British post, than was contemplated necessary. I was, as before, the ministering physician. Arriving at the quarters of Captain Anderson, it was thought my fair patient could not survive. Indeed, so thought Doctor MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 57 Munroe, of the British army, who, with his accomplished lady, had just arrived, to exchange the polish of courts of Europe for a bark lodge on Drummond's Island, to which barren and desolate station he had been appointed sur- geon. About the doctor's neck, suspended by a riband, hung a medal, the badge of distinction which he had won at the battle of Waterloo. The previous remedies, with the addition of a warm bath, and the kind offices of Mrs. Anderson and Mrs. Mun- roe, succeeded in restoring the patient to health, and enough of strength to enable her the next morning to breakfast with Mrs. Munroe in her bark-thatched cottage. Rough as was this little lodge in its exterior for its sides, as well as its roof, were of bark there was an enviable comfort within. I could not refrain from questioning the accomplished Mrs. Munroe upon the state of her feelings, when, for the first time, and only a few days before, her eyes, were met by the rocky, barren, exposed, and inhos- pitable exterior of that island for so little of space was there upon the rock-wedged surface for the formation of earthy matter, and so little of vegetation of any sort out of which to form it, that, to have a garden at all, Captain Anderson had been compelled to employ his command in scratching about in crevices for earth, and conveying it in hand-barrows to a space which he had marked out for a garden. To my questions, this charming lady gave the most winning answers. " Oh," said she, " I am just where my fancy has often been before me. I love everything that is wild in nature. London has no charms for me, compared with this island ; and its palaces, smothered in smoke, fade away, to give place to these Indian wigwams, and this fresh air, and this delicious water, and this sweet and cozy little cabin." Happy man, I could not help ejac- ulating, to be blessed with such a wife ! I saw, in all her revelling amidst these new scenes, that there was a charm even more endearing than all beside, and that was derived 68 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. from the possession and presence of the man she loved; and how the presence and sight of such happy content- ment must have balanced the loss of that world of fashion, of taste, and luxury, which the accomplished Doctor Mun- roe had left. Arriving at the Sault, runners were put in motion, as they had been elsewhere, to invite the Indians to attend the treaty. This being done, I took a bark canoe, which, in honor of my fair cousin, I called " THE MARY or THE LAKES," and with eight Canadian voyagers, wended my way back to Mackinac and Green Bay the entire distance being some two hundred and fifty miles. At Mackinac I took in supplies, which, together with Ben and myself, and eight voyagers, left out of water, of this frail vessel, not over four inches, except at the bow and stern, of her beau- tiful form. All being ready, and just as I was going to embark, a storm arose. The good folks at Mackinac urged me not to attempt to put out. But my time had nearly expired, and there was barely enough left for me punctually to meet Governor Cass on his return to the bay ; and so I gave orders to embark. The kind friends with whom we had parted at the landing, or many of them, ran down to the point of the island, to see, as some of them afterwards told me they were sure they should, the canoe and all in it go to the bottom. I had no such fears, for I had the year before been billow and storm-tossed on Lake Superior, and had reached the conclusion that if there is anything specially secure in a gale of wind, when one happens not to be too far from shore, and not exposed to a rock-bound coast, it is in a bark canoe, thirty-six feet long, and five feet wide across the middle and these were the dimensions of mine managed by eight experienced Canadian voyagers. Night coming on, I ordered a landing made on the shel- tered side of an island. The canoe was soon in about two feet of water, her side to the shore, and a voyager MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 69 out, steadying her stern and bow, whilst myself and Ben were borne to the beach on the backs of two others. The provisions and baggage being conveyed on shore, the ca- noe was lifted out of the water, and conveyed there also where it was placed bottom upwards, furnishing beneath a shelter for these hardy men, who were soon under it, munching their raw pork and hard biscuit. My tent hav- ing been meanwhile put up, all was made right for the night. Presently I heard the barking of a dog. Stepping from my tent, and looking in the direction from which it came, I saw in the distance, amidst the thick foliage, a light. Advancing a little, I heard an Indian's drum. I knew from the beat upon it, what it betokened. Some- body was ill, and the medicine-man was engaged with his incantations, and drum, and mummeries, to drive out the bad spirit. Taking along with me Ben and an interpreter, I wended my way through the dark and tangled under- growth, till presently a full glare from a flambeau burst upon me, and the beat of the drum fell more distinctly on my ear, confirming my first impressions. The dogs had now all come out in full cry, and a tall Indian revealed himself by the torch-light at the door of the wigwam, ac- coutred in the habiliments of his tribe, with a rifle in his hand. He hailed us, and received from the interpreter, in his own language, the answer that we were friends, and on our way to the great treaty which was soon to be held at the foot of Winnebago Lake. The dogs were called in, when we met and shook hands. The pipe was lighted, handed round, and smoked. Upon a mat much worn, with nothing but the ground beneath it, lay a fine-looking Indian woman. On one side, near her head, sat, in pensive mood, a middle-aged man, and beside him a young man. On the other side sat two girls, and at the head stood the medicine-man, thumping his drum, and performing those mystic rites that belong to his craft. My sympathies grew strong for the sufferer, till 70 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. finding it impossible to remain longer a spectator of such a scene, and not employ what skill I had, and my means, to save life, I determined to interfere. I knew there was hazard in the attempt for I should have to encounter, first, the ire of the medicine-man, it being a no greater calamity to deprive such a one of his " occupation," than it was in the days of Shakspeare for Othello to lose his ; next, should the patient die on my hands, there might be an account to settle with the husband, who would have no difficulty in arriving at the conclusion that she had been killed by me. But my mind was made up ; so I said to my interpreter Tell this man, (the woman's husband,) if he will stop that drum, and allow me to medicine his squaw, I think I can make her well. These words were scarcely out of the interpreter's mouth, when the medicine- man threw upon me from his black eyes, which were shi- ning amidst the torch-light of the wigwam, and exceeding it in brightness, a look of fierceness, which nothing but my previous intercourse with the Indians could have enabled me, without great apprehension, to endure. The husband hesitated then looking at me, then at the medicine-man, and then at his suffering wife, said, " / will be glad;" when, making the signal, the drum was hushed, and the insulted operator, with a scowl at me, rushed from the wigwam, in all the fiery temperament that such a stroke at his art was so well calculated to enkindle. A brief examination of the case satisfied me that there was no time to be lost, and that the remedies must be of the most powerful class. My first impression was that the patient was laboring under puerperal fever ; but a further testing of the symptoms satisfied me that it was pleurisy. The inflammation was great, and the suffering extreme. Blood-letting gave partial relief. Warm applications, in the form of fomentations, not being at hand, I directed a hole to be dug at the door of the wigwam, and filled with water; meantime a large fire was kindled, and stones were MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 71 thrown into it, which, on becoming hot, were put into the water, till, by this means, it was sufficiently heated, when the patient was drawn down upon her mat, till her feet and legs were immersed knee deep. Blankets from my stores were then wrapped round and over her. In five minutes the perspiration literally rolled down her cheeks. Mean- time, I directed Ben to make a good bed out of blankets, with a pillow of the same, when she was drawn back again, and placed upon it, her ragged mat of a bed being left at the door of the wigwam, and then thrown away. Her symptoms were greatly improved, which, added to her more comfortable bed, caused this poor destitute daughter of the forest to look volumes of gratitude, though without uttering a word. Twelve grains of calomel that night, and a dose of magnesia in the morning, concluded the treatment, which I took care to sustain by light diet, in the form of tea, with crackers broken in it. All being so well, I left in the afternoon of the next day, placing by her a nourishing diet, with a superadded bottle of sweetened water, dashed with claret wine. Tea and crackers, bot- tled, which she was to warm before taking, was to be her food till what I left was gone, when a certain portion of the wine and water was, afterwards, to be taken. Dog- soup and fish were prohibited, until she felt very hungry, and then these were to be eaten in moderation. This be- ing all arranged, I embarked. Having lost time, I pro- posed to the voyagers to go on all night, which they agreed to, on condition of being paid additional rations, including, of course, tobacco. These hardy adventurous fellows never rose from their paddles, nor stopped, except to "pipe" from four o'clock, P. M., of one day, till eleven o'clock, A. M., of the next, a period of nineteen hours, without rest or sleep, filling the air with their chanting, and giving new life to their efforts by their choruses. In coasting along the southern shore of the bay, I saw ample evidence, in the uprooting of enor- 72 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. mous trees, that were lying in all directions, of the force and violence of the storm to which I have referred. My attention, as I neared the fort, was arrested by the sudden opening of the gates, and the running down the pier of the officers and others. I was at a loss to divine the meaning. My destination was to the village, three miles beyond ; but, on seeing this movement, I ordered my steersman to turn in, and bring up alongside the pier. It was done. When within speaking distance, I called to know if anything special was the matter. The answer was, " Seeing a canoe with a United States flag flying, and manned as this is, we thought it was Governor Cass, and are troubled to find that we are mistaken." What's the matter ? " Two runners have been in, bringing intel- ligence that, as he was passing down the Ouisconsin, just beyond the portage, he was fired into by Indians, his cook killed, two of his men wounded, and himself and the re- mainder taken prisoners !" Then why, I asked, has not the force of this place been employed to rescue the go- vernor and his party, and punish the outrage ? No satis- factory answer being given, I proceeded on to the village, receiving, however, the assurance that the fort would be left in charge of as much force as might be deemed neces- sary for its defence, and with the remainder, an ascent of the Fox river would be made, and pursuit given after the murderers. I agreed to accompany the expedition. On arriving at the village, I found the inhabitants in a state of the greatest alarm. Women were expressing their dread of an Indian incursion and massacre, and began to make ready to take refuge in the fort. I proposed a muster of the force of the place, an arming, and the throw- ing out of videttes, and stationing guards, &c. Prepara- tions for embarkation at the fort, and a plan of defence at the village, were going bravely on, when a canoe was seen coming up the bay, and in the direction of Lake Michigan. All eyes were fixed upon it. A flag was seen flying at its MEMOIRS, dec., &c. 73 stern. It drew nearer when, by the aid of a glass, Go- vernor Cass was recognized, his crew, the killed cook, and all ! The panic was ended, and the joy universal. There had been no attack made upon the governor ; but, on his arrival at Prairie du Chien, he found that murders had been committed there ; and apprehending a frontier war, he pushed on down the Mississippi in his bark canoe to St. Louis, had an interview with General Atkinson, who, with his command, was soon in motion ; then, continuing up the Illinois river, and through Lake Michigan to Green Bay, where our meeting took place, when our treaty ope- rations were commenced. Information had been conveyed to us by some of our people, that FOUR-LEGS, a distinguished Winnebago chief, and others, had shown symptoms of an unruly sort, and fears were entertained lest he might lead on an attack upon our party, and capture the property then on the treaty ground. On the receipt of this intelligence, I requested the commanding officer, Major Whistler, to have a six-pounder sent to the Butte de Morts. It was accordingly forwarded, and mounted just in front of the door of my tent, its muzzle pointing in the direction of Winnebago lake. On the route to Butte de Morts, voyagers are impeded by the rapids at the Grand Kockalas a shoot of water which stretches Diagonally across the river, of an average descent of some four or five feet, producing a whirl and tum- ble of rapids below, which do not find rest for the distance of a quarter of a mile. A portage is made here by all who ascend this river. During this process, and while the men were busy in carrying the baggage, &c., around the rapids, I sat under the shade of a large tree, amusing myself with picking with a bristle the nipples of a pair of pistols, which were just large enough to be conveniently carried in my vest pockets. A young Indian of about twenty-five years old, stood leaning over me, watching the VOL. I. 10 74 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. process. Presently he gave a shout and a laugh, saying, " Short gun my father may shoot me hurt nobody." I told the interpreter to tell him if he wanted to know what these short guns could do, just to go across Fox river and stand there, and if he desires to have a hole made through him, he can then be gratified. He shook his head and laughed, manifestly holding both myself, and my " short guns," in derision. I was compelled either to do something practically with my pistols, or forfeit the res- pect of at least one of those who were destined to be of the council at the treaty ground. There lay before me on the grass a bit of bark, some six inches long, and about four wide. I told Ben to put it in the ground, at about five paces from me. To the interpreter I said, now tell him I am going to let him see whether these " short guns" are to be laughed at. It was a desperate experiment, I knew ; for should I miss the bark, I should have subjected myself to the scorn and contempt of this doubting Indian. I took aim, seated as I was, and fired. The bark fell. The Indian sprang to it, took it up, and looked at it on the side that was exposed to my shot. The ball being only the size of a buck-shot, he could see no place of entrance, the filaments of the inner lining of the rougher outside having closed over the aperture. He laughed, and clapped his hand on his thigh, and pointed in derision at the pistol. I knew I had hit the bark, and felt satisfied that a piece had been split off on the opposite side, and so I told him to look at that side. He did so, and gave signs of astonishment. He then pushed his rifle-picker through the hole, and saw, sure enough, that it had been made by the shot from my " little gun," when he came up with a changed countenance, and asked permis- sion to examine it. He was gratified, and seemed to think there was something more about it than met his eye. An old Indian seated near me, took out of his pouch a bit of spunk, and flint and steel, and began to strike fire MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 75 to light his pipe. I directed the interpreter to tell him he need not be at that trouble, that I would bring down fire from the sun, and light his pipe with that. He looked at me awhile, and shook his head, as much as to say, non- sense ! I rose and went to him, drawing from my pocket a sun-glass, and, carefully concealing it from his view, drew through it the focal rays, and told him to smoke. He did so, when the tobacco being ignited, and the smoke from it filling his mouth, he first looked at me, then at the sun, then at his pipe, with eyes that danced in their sockets with amazement and awe. These two circumstances made of me almost a Manitou. One other event tended very much to confirm this be- lief. We had arrived at the treaty ground, and were waiting to give time for as many Indians to come in as might be on their way to it. The delay caused, in those who had been there for several days, as is always the case, a tedium. To call them off from this state of idleness, I directed an empty barrel to be anchored in the direction of Winnebago lake, at a distance of about a quarter of a mile, and then summoned the Indians round to witness the power of the six-pounder. Very few of them had ever heard a report louder than the crack of their rifles. Every- thing being ready, I invited several of our party to take turns in firing. Each had a shot at the barrel. All missed it, but the w^ater was ploughed up by the balls in columns and sheets, the foam and spray often for awhile obscuring the barrel from our view. I then said I would try. The gun being loaded, I drew what I thought was a true sight, fired, and shivered the barrel to atoms ; when, turning short about, I walked leisurely to my tent, leaving the Indians to their own reflections many of whom came to my tent and looked in upon me, not doubting what I knew to be quite an accidental affair, was something su- perhuman; and especially did those arrive at this conclu- sion who had heard of my hitting the bit of bark with a 76 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. gun not larger than their little finger, and of my having lighted the old chief's pipe with the fire drawn from the sun, which latter circumstance I found had been much talked of. The Indians were now pouring in their canoes looking like fleets some by the way of Winnebago lake, others by that of the Fox river below. I was seated in my tent- door observing these little fleets, and watching the move- ments of the Indians as they landed ; the squaws labori- ous and busy, plying their paddles to reach the shore of their destination, and then foremost in the work of unload- ing, and conveying their poor stores and lodge-poles, and bark to cover them, their kettles, &c., to the beach when they would take the canoe by one or more of the cross-bars, and walk with it out of the water to some se- cure place, where they would turn it bottom upwards, and then return for the materials for their lodges, convey them to some spot which their quick glancing eye would .light upon, and then begin and end the process of putting up their place of repose during the continuance of the treaty ; their lords, meantime, looking on with but seeming little concern ; or, with blankets about their hips, standing or sitting, indulging in the luxury of the calumet. It was in the midst of all this that I saw a canoe coming up the river, worked by two men, the woman and two girls doing nothing. This was so new a circumstance, as to call my attention from the general movements, to this single arrival. I thought there must be a sprinkling of civilization there ; and that the men had been led by it to regard the women with a more appropriate tenderness. As soon as the canoe had approached the shore near enough for the party to step out, the men, I remarked, carried out this principle of tender regard for the sex, and were the first to step into the water, and the first to com- mence the process of unloading ; in a word, the woman and the girls were but lookers on. All the articles, with MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 77 the canoe, being disposed of, I saw the man stoop down and pick up a white fish of uncommon size ; when he step- ped forward, followed in Indian file by the rest, including some half dozen dogs. He wound round the little bluff upon which my tent was pitched, and when I saw him again rising to nearly a level with me, his eyes were in motion, looking in every direction, till presently they fell on me, when he made a short angle, followed still by his family, walked up to me, and stooping, laid the fish at my feet then gracefully rising, he turned and walked away to the place where his canoe and his effects had been placed, and commenced putting up his lodge. This was the family from the island, and the woman was the same I had cured; the man was her husband, and the young man and girls were her children. This offering of the white fish, was an INDIAN'S GRATITUDE ! Noble trait ! Where this feeling has place, in no matter what bosom, whether it be red, or white, or black, all beside is apt to be right. Yes, and there is no doubt but if this poor Indian had possessed silver and gold, these richer offer- ings would have been as freely made, and in the same way. This was another proof, further confirming my previously conceived belief, that this noble race was never intended by their Maker to be trodden down and persecuted, after the manner in which this work of extermination has been carried on by our race. I made a couple of trips to the village and fort before the council was opened. In one of them I prevailed on one of my voyagers the rest declining to go with me over the shoot, and down the rapids of the Grand Kocka- las. There was one place which had been worn more smooth than the rest, of about ten feet wide, over which, at high water, barges descending the river could go. But it was low water now, yet enough remaining, over the shoot, to pass a bark canoe. My voyager was firm. I saw him to be so when, taking my seat on the bottom of 78 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. the canoe, and about midway, he pushed boldly out ; then the current striking the canoe, a contest was begun be- tween the skill of my brave, and this rush of waters. At last he had the head of the canoe on a line with the shoot, when down and over she went, with the velocity of an ar- row, making a plunge of some four or five feet the skill and self-possession of my voyager having governed him in making a single stroke with his pole, at the instant when it was required, just as the leap was about to be made, thus preventing the turning of the canoe's side to the cur- rent, and a consequent wreck. Never before had I seen anything upon the waters dance and bounce about as did this canoe, when fairly down amidst the rapids and break- ers. The thing seemed like a joyous bird, after having escaped the toils of the fowler ; or like some little bloom- ing beauty of a child, after the restraints had been cut loose, and she was fairly in among her happy and delighted playmates. We were prepared to open the council on Wednesday, the first of August, 1827, but concluded to defer it one day longer, and until tidings should reach us of the movements of General Atkinson. Meantime, however, we thought it proper to hold a talk with the Winnebagoes, of whom there were some five hundred present, and inform them that the murders that had been committed, were by indi- viduals of their tribe, and urge upon them the surrender of the guilty persons, and thereby save themselves from the consequences of a war for their capture. At the mo- ment when orders were about to be given to convene those present of the Winnebago tribe, we learned they were ma- king ready for a feast we therefore postponed assembling them until the next day. The following morning the talk was made, and they were urged to give up the murderers, it being no part of their Great Father's wish to punish the innocent; but that if their people would so far forget them- selves as to kill our people, they must expect a road to be MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 79 made through their country, not with axes, but with guns. The chief, Four-Legs, vindicated his band, asserting their in- nocence, and referring the murders to those living on the Mississippi. He did not think it just to bring guns among the innocent. This fine-looking chief occupied, with his village, the tongue of land which runs out between Win- nebago lake, on the one side, and the Fox river on the other. When General Leavenworth, some years previous, was ascending the Fox river with troops, on his way to the Mississippi, on arriving at this pass, Four-Legs came out, dressed in all his gewgaws and feathers, and painted after the most approved fashion, and announced to the general that he could not go through ; " the lake" said he, " is locked" " Tell him," said the general, rising in his bat- teaux, with a rifle in his hand, " that THIS is THE KEY, and I shall unlock it, and go on." The chief had a good deal of the better part of valor in his composition, and so he replied, " Very well, tell him he can go." Still anxious to hear from General Atkinson before we opened, formally, our councils, we deferred yet longer the opening of our negotiations, and sent a Winnebago run- ner with despatches, to meet that officer. 80 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. CHAPTER IV. INCIDENTS OF THE COUNCIL AT LE PETIT BUTTE DE MORTS. Sabbath amid Nature's solitudes Christian Indians engaged in worship Open- ing of the Council A contrast Treaty adjusted and signed An alarm Le Grand JButte de Morts Indian tradition Death of a medicine-man Funeral ceremonies Distribution of presents among the Indians Breaking up of the encampment Brutal attack upon a woman Chargeable to whiskey The man transformed to a woman Moral effects of this punishment Awful evils of the whiskey trade Embarkation Ascending the Fox river Dangers of the way Some of my party return Number of our men Incidents t)y the way A chase. THE Sabbath of the 5th of August broke upon us in great beauty, and with an air tempered and calm. I have never been able, in my forest rambles, to disengage from my mind the impression that the Sabbath and these solitudes are in close affinity with one another. How rarely has it happened, in the course of my experience, that this holy day has been vexed with the strife of ele- ments. On the contrary, all is still ! The voice of their Maker would seem to have hushed river and forest into silence, and then to have bade the sun to wheel himself up from his depths in the east, and pour over all, unobscured by clouds, a tempered heat, and crown the world with spe- cial loveliness. The dawn of this morning was peculiarly beautiful. " Rosy fingers" did indeed seem, as Milton has it, to " unbar the gates of light." Violet and purple, with a wide and widening circle of " orient pearl," all met my eye with their charming and chastening influences and then there was such silence ! Not a leaf rustled, and the ttfll i ;Ai MEMOIRS, &c., &c. 81 waves broke in softer murmur on the shore. The tree- tops now began to revel in the beams, and then the high- lands to drink in the falling glory, till the entire circuit of the heavens was full of the tempered splendors .of this Sabbath morn ! Yet all this silence was broken in upon this morning for just between the time when the eastern sky was made mellow with the sun's light, and when the light began to tip the tops of tree and mountain, and all was so quiet, my ears were greeted by sweet sounds of music ! They came from a lodge of Christian Indians, which was hard by, in the woods. They had risen with the day, to " worship God !" They sang in three parts, base, tenor, and treble, and with a time so true, and with voices so sweet, as to add harmony even to nature itself. Notes of thrush and nightingale sound sweeter when poured forth amidst the grove ; so sounded those of these forest warblers, in the midst of the green foliage, and in the stillness of the woods. I attended their worship, and was present again with them in the evening ; and as I listened to their songs of praise, and their prayers, I felt humbled, and ashamed of my coun- try, in view of the wrongs it had inflicted, and yet continues to inflict, upon these desolate and destitute children of the forest. There were flowers and gems there which needed only to be cultivated and polished, to insure from the one, the emission of as sweet odors as ever regaled the circles of the civilized; and from the other, a brilliance as daz- zling as ever sparkled in the diadem of queenly beauty. And yet they were, and are, neglected, trodden down, and treated as outcasts ! At twelve o'clock on Monday, the signal gun for the as- sembling of the council, was fired when were seen coming in from all directions, the great multitude of the sons of the forest, to hear what their fathers had to say to them. The bands represented were Chippewas, Menomonies, Winnebagoes, Wabanackies, &c., &c. in all, about one VOL. I. 11 82 MEMOIRS, &c., &c. thousand all attired in their best apparel, ornamented and painted after the most approved Indian fashion. The council square, towards which all who were entitled to a seat in it were wending their way, was covered with boughs of evergreen, resting on a frame-work of timber, supported by posts inserted in the ground. Seats of any sort would have been useless appendages ; for Indians, who are not civilized, prefer the ground to sit on, and knowing nothing of the luxury of a sofa, or chair, or of the " three- legged stool," on which, as Cowper sings -The immortal Alfred sat, And swayed the sceptre of his infant realms," would have studiously avoided enjoying either, had the ground been covered with them. A few slabs, resting on pungeons driven in the ground, served to accommodate those who were not so familiar with the earth's surface as are the Indians. These were placed around a rude table, at one end of the square, on which the necessary papers and writing apparatus were placed, and where the minutes of the proceedings were taken by the secretary, and at the head of which sat the commissioners. Everywhere over the ground, in the woods, and on the open plain, were seen moving about in all direc- tions squaws, and papooses, and dogs; of the two first, some were busy with their fires, over which kettles were slung, for boiling their pork and beans ; others were nurs- ing, whilst others again were running every way after the more than half-naked children of larger growth, to bring them in, preparatory to the breaking up of the council, to be in readiness for the meal that was to be eaten ; whilst the dogs were not idle, some fighting, and others busy in the more agreeable occupation of smelling about for the fragments of the last meal all of them gaunt as half- starved wolves, and not unlike them in form and action. MEMOIRS, &c.,