Q S POOR LO! EARLY INDIAN MISSIONS, BY WALTER N. WYETH, D. D., PHILADELPHIA, PA. Hundreds of men lie dying, dead; Brothers of ours, though their skins are red; Men we promised to teach and feed O, dastard nation, dastard deed! H.H. PHILADELPHIA, PA. W. N. WYETH, PUBLISHER, 3920 Fainnount Aveiiue. 1896. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1896, by W. N. WYKTH, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. Electrotyped, printed and bound by C. J. KRHHBIEL & Co., 602 Walnut Street, Cincinnati, O. To MAY AND FANNIE, RETBESENTING THE FAMILY OF OTHER YEARS. Very affectionately, THEIR FATHER. NUMBER SEVEN is now offered to the reader. It con- tains sketches of men and women who gave the best, if not all, of their working years to the needy Red Men. The native Indian, rescued and consecrated to his Savior in earnest service, particularly the higher type, is also introduced. The field before the writer was very en- ticing, and he trusts that his] gatherings will engage the attention of the public, and increase individual sympathy for Christian work and the lowly subjects of it still roam- ing through the West. It is hoped that these annals will be found faithful to the facts; though the principal events and the main char- acters only are made prominent, while they contain but little of history later than 1850. -Another volume may follow. For the great favor the series has thus far received, the author presents his thanks. W. N. W. 3920 Fairmount Ave. PHILADELPHIA, PA., April i, 1896. PAGE. I. THE NORTH AMERICAN IN HIS NATIVE WILDS; SEEKING HIM; EARLY HEROES, 7 II. THE CHEROKEES EAST AND SOUTH ; FIRST EFFORTS AND TROPHIES; "FOUR WAGONLOADS OF MISSION- ARIES," 15 III. THE CHEROKEES CIVIL COMMOTION; MEASURES FOR REMOVAL ; THE MARCH OF DOOM ; A MOVING AND GROWING CHURCH, 26 IV. PRINCES, WHITE AND RED EVAN JONES; ELIZA- BETH L.JONES; JOHN B. JONES; JOHN WICKLIFFE; OGANAYA; JESSE BUSHYHEAD; OUCHALATTA, 49 V. THE CREEKS, OR MUSKOGEES IN THE EAST; RE- MOVAL; FIRST CHURCH IN THE INDIAN TERRITORY; INDIAN MISSION ASSOCIATION ; GREAT AWAKENING ; JOSEPH ISLANDS, 64 VI. THE CHOCTAWS BEGINNINGS; VOYAGING; THE "ARK"; HORRORS OF REMOVAL; STARTING IN THE WKST; PHENOMENAL PROGRESS, 84 VII. THE SEMINOLES FEATURES; RESISTING REMOVAL; FRIGHTFUL FIGHTING ; OSCEOLA AND " BIG KNIFE "; IN THE WEST; JOHN JUMPER; NOTES BY DR. G. J. JOHNSON AND DR. J. S. MURROW, 96 VIII. THE FIVE NATIONS, STOCKBRIDGES, AND DELA- \VAHKS-CAREDFOR; MOVING WEST; AMONG THE WYANDOTS; CHIEF JOURNEYCAKE, FAMILY AND CHURCH, 115 IX. THE"0" TRIBES OTTAWA; MISSIONARY ASSAILED. OJIBWA ; ABOUT THE LAKES. OSAGE ; CHARACTER AND DESTINY. OTOES; MR. AND MRS. MERRILL. OMAHA; HOPE DEFERRED, 134 X. THE SHAWANOES FIRST EFFORTS; FRIENDS TRY; MR. AND MRS. ROLLIN; MR. AND MRS. BARKER; DAVID GREEN, NATIVE; CHIEF BLACKFEATHER ; HOPE REALIZED, 152 XI. THE MIAMIS IN INDIANA ; TREATIES ; REMOVAL WEST; HOME MISSIONS; FRANCES SLOCUM'S HIS- TORY, 165 XII. THE PUTAW ATOMIES ORIGIN OF THE MISSION; SET- TLING THE INDIANS; J. LYKINS, R. SIMERWEI.L, ELIZA McCoY; ENTERING INTO THEIR LABORS, 174 XIII. THE WEAS MR. AND MRS. D. LYKINS; Miss S. A. OS- GOOD; HIGH TRIBUTK, 186 XIV. INDIAN OLIO JAMES A. RANALDSOTS- ; SAMFKT, MAST MAN; HONOR TO WHOM HONOR; A Ilci-i:i n. CATSK; A CHRISTIAN CHIEF; ENDS OF THE EARTH MEET,... 192 The graves of Harriet Newell and Mrs. Judson are hal- lowed as the shrines of the saints, and their memory made a watchword among Christians; yet the Western valley is full of green and nameless graves, where patient, long-enduring wives and mothers have lain down, worn out by the privations of as severe a missionary field, and "no man knoweth their sepulchre." HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. POOR LO! i. HIS NATIVE WILDS; SEEDING HIM; EARLY HEROES. people named Indians are the original Amer- icans. History does not trace an earlier living race on the Western Continent. They were met by the early settlers of the " New World " as the real and only inhabitants of it, but with whose type of charac- ter they were not familiar. They found them disposed to be friendly ; willing to divide their coarse fare, their shelter and fire in time of extremity, and to aid in re- covering children or others astray in the deep wilds. There was no ground for suspicion with either party, except as it was created by false or unwise steps ; and then safety was assured only by strictest vigilance or careful conciliations. In large and small tribes the Indians were spread over the country, from the Atlantic ocean to the Pa- cific. They were quite numerous ; much more so than they have been since. Their domains have been dimin- ishing continually, until, instead of being considered the proper inhabitants of North America, as formerly, they are mentioned as remnants of the aborigines, shut within very limited territories, and treated as wards, if not as prisoners. Some of them are met in various towns or cities, appearing as lost or strayed. 7 8 POOR L,O ! They are not " Indians " in any proper sense, though this early name is the one by which they are known. They are "Savages," and for great periods were so called, though by reason of association with civilized people they have put away many of their barbarous habits. Their nature is toned down, partly through consanguinity, but more by the hand of cul- ture applied to them. They recognize the superiority of the " white face," and readily incline to accept his friendly proffers of guidance into better ways ; more so as the years pass. In the classification of races they are named "North Americans"; the other, the dominant race, " Europeans." The encroachment of the newcomers upon their possessions, however far from leaving them destitute of hunting grounds, and of room for all the tribal expansion of which they were susceptible, eventually excited jealousy, fear, and animosity, with every dan- gerous element of their nature. They wished to hold the forests, streams, and hills to which they had be- come accustomed, with the graves of warriors and sires, rather than to remove to unfamiliar regions. They knew the courses of the game, with the lairs and the " licks " it frequented. And these were their cherished possessions, acquired by discovery, and held by right of undisputed inheritance. How many centuries of untroubled dominion over the primitive wilds of our country the Indians enjoyed there is not much means of ascertaining. But the time came for others' fires to glow in the forests ; other and improved huts and hamlets to spring up in the wilderness, and a race to occupy them that A MEMORIAL. 9 would " see God in the clouds, and hear Him in the wind," in a better sense and to greater benefit than they had been able to do that knew the Great Spirit in reality, and would worship Him in spirit and in truth. Whoever else may have landed on the coast, these were not here for conquest, and were only too glad to impart liberty rather than to take it away the inalienable right of the human soul to life, and the pursuit of good, with freedom to worship God. The loss to the Indians by what they supposed to be trespass was, in part, compensated for by a bless- ing of which they had no conception. Though hav- ing the universal belief of nations and races in the existence of a God, whom they ignorantly worshiped, if at all, they had only the faintest idea of the way in which He revealed Himself to men, and knew not how He became to them wisdom, sanctification, and eternal redemption. The way to the traditionary " Happy Hunting-ground " had not been shown to them. Language was a medium of communication not to be left out of the necessary means, and when learned it opened 'the way to a knowledge of the Indian's religion, and laid the learner under the law of char- ity toward him to disabuse his mind of false views, and to teach him saving truth. The early endeavors to rescue the perishing In- dians of New England are among the most credit- able to be found in the entire history of missions. They furnish a record of fortitude and privation rarely exceeded in Christian annals, while the fruits testified that Ihey were not in vain in the L,ord. 10 POOR 1,0! It is stated by unquestioned authority that " the first settlement of New England was a missionary en- terprise. The Pilgrims had escaped persecution by retiring to Holland. They left Holland and came to this continent for the sake of preserving their rights as Englishmen by settling under English jurisdiction; of preserving their descendants from the contagion of false doctrines and corrupt examples ; and, above all, of extending the Redeemer's kingdom in lands where Christ had not been named. . . . Efforts for the conversion of the natives were not delayed. . . . It was, indeed, impossible, during a few of the first years of their contest with hardships and privations, to make such public and systematic efforts for the conversion of the Indians as were desirable, but indi- viduals, both ministers and laymen, appear to have seized such opportunities as they could command, to make known and recommend the Gospel to their * heathen neighbors, and in this way much was done toward diffusing a knowledge of Christianity and pro- ducing an impression in its favor. A few of the natives even gave satisfactory evidence, living and dying, of real conversion to God." This endeavor began very soon after the settle- ment of New England, at Plymouth Colony, in 1620. As early as 1621 it was reported to friends in Eng- land that " many of the Indians, especially of their youth, were found to be of a very tractable disposi- tion, both to religion and humanity" a statement that could not have been made if the subject of re- ligion had not been brought to their attention. After the initial years (in 1636) the influence of A MEMORIAL. II Christianity and its adaptation to the needs of the Indians were found to be such that "the govern- ment of Plymouth Colony enacted laws providing for the preaching of the Gospel among them." And after ten years more (in 1646) the legislature of Massa- chusetts passed an act for the same purpose ; and in the same year the celebrated John Eliot, who had been studying the native language for five years, be- gan his labors at Nonantum, now Newton. Earlier than Eliot, however (1643), labors were begun by Thomas Mayhew, who, after three years of successful work, sailed for England to solicit aid, and the ship was lost in the voyage. His father (same name) was proprietor and governor of the island on which the son had labored Martha's Vineyard and taking up the missionary work he prosecuted it for many years, and until his death, which occurred at the ripe age of ninety. During Eliot's time a number of men, not less than ten, gave themselves to the cause of the Red Man, and their service entitled them to be mentioned, as they were, "with distinguished honor." By the close of the century, or with the dawn of A. D. 1700, the religion of Christ was pervading large sections, as was also the spirit of civilization. There were twenty-five to thirty churches, with about as many native preachers, and, perhaps, two thousand "praying Indians." And the incidental benefits at- tending Christian labor were many and important. The men became farmers ; the women learned to spin and weave, to sew and knit ; children were gathered into schools and taught by educated Indians. Early in the new century the work spread into Connecticut 12 POOR 1,0 ! and Rhode Island, though some effort had been made previously. In 1734 a notable movement was made by Mr. John Sergeant, a tutor in the Yale College, who re- signed his position there that he might give the at- tainments of his young manhood to the ignorant sav- ages. He began a mission at Stockbridge, Mass., in behalf of the wandering Mohegans, who thereafter took the name of Stockbridge Indians. He soon ob- tained a strong influence over them, greatly improv- ing their habits and vocations, thus causing a great increase of material good, and elevated them greatly by means of churches and schools. " In about three years he was able to preach in the Mohegan language, into which he afterward translated nearly the whole New Testament, considerable parts of the Old, and some religious works." He was removed by death in his prime, after fifteen years of such great usefulness. " The Indians, who had learned to love him as a father and a friend, thronged around his deathbed, where he reminded them of his past instructions, and charged them to remember and practice what he had taught, that they might meet him in peace in another world." He had a helper in the educational work, a Mr. Woodbridge, who took charge of the mission tempo- rarily. Then came to the field a great man, Jona- than Edwards, who was not without sympathy for the object of the mission, but whose mind was so thoroughly enlisted in intellectual pursuits as to pre- vent attention to the details of the Indian service, and thus to limit his success. It was here that he wrote his treatises on Original Sin, and Freedom of A MEMORIAL. 13 the Will strange birthplace for such scholastic pro- ductions ! After six years he was discovered in the solitary wilds he had chosen, and was taken and made president of Princeton College, New Jersey. Among the successors another John Sergeant, son of the one named above, entered the field ; and in time the war of the Revolution came on, and the Mohegans were divided and scattered, and the mission was tempora- rily suspended. In this period appeared the wonderful David Brain- ard, whose brief career was signalized by a self-denial and a devotion to the work that have few parallels in the whole range of Christian endeavor. If there ever was " madness in the missionary enterprise," it was manifested by him. And if there ever was " romance in missions," it may be found in his peculiar life. Four years of service, only, were allotted to him, but these were filled with marvelous experiences, and he made an ineffaceable impression upon the tribes scattered through New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. The crowning of his earthly career took place in the home of Dr. Jonathan Edwards, at Northampton, Mass., under circumstances romantic and religious in a high degree. He had returned, " by easy jour- neys," from the Indian country, conscious of his in- ability longer to survive the ordeal, and was cordially welcomed, with hands and heart, by the one with whom he had hoped to unite his life in the Indian service Jerusha Edwards, second daughter of the distinguished divine. He felt that he must visit Boston to secure some recruits for the work he could no longer prosecute, and his affianced accompanied 14 POOR 1,0! him as his sole companion and nurse an evidence of her brave and generous love. A biographer, Dr. Thomas Brainard, says : The two on horseback, everything to each other, wending their way over hills and valleys for one hun- dred miles to Boston, would be a fine subject for a poet's pen or the painter's pencil. The tall, attenuated, yet striking form of the missionary ; his brilliant eye but blanched cheek; his worn features, on which labor and suffering had put at the age of twenty-nine the stamp of years ; his hallowed reveries ; his deep spiritual com- munion; his pensiveness, often interrupted, checked and humanized by the conscious presence, the blooming cheek and radiant eye, the musical voice and cheerful bearing of the healthful, hopeful, and affectionate being at his side what a scene for canvas ! what a theme for poetry ! But, perhaps, poet and painter have shrunk back in de- spair at their inability to depict earth's highest hopes paling and dying under the brighter gleamings of Heav- en's nearing glory. The youthful hero accomplished his object, but his disease increased. After six weeks he was re- ceived again to the Edwards home, with the added assistance of a young brother in traveling, having averaged sixteen miles a day. Death came, but it had no sting. Then the grave in the old graveyard at Northampton, marked by a plain monumental slab, and found by means of a well-worn pathway yet in the resurrection it will be seen that it had no vic- tory. And the multitude of saved savages that have felt the missionary impulse of his warm heart, trans- mitted through the generations, will join him in as- criptions of praise to the L,amb. A MEMORIAL. 15 II. (&hev0kee# EAST AND SOUTH; FIRST EFFORTS AND TROPHIES; "FOUR WAGONLOADS OF MISSION- ARIES. 1 ' THE Cherokees, with musical name, formerly had a home in the southern part of the United States ; and there, also, resided the Choctaws, Creeks, and Chickasaws the four" C " tribes that are usually as- sociated in Indian history. The territory of the Cher- okees embraced sections of southern Tennessee, north- ern Georgia, and western North Carolina, a few hun- dred miles square, at the junction of those States. Like the tribes of the great Mobilian nation, farther south, they gave names and memories to the regions they inhabited and the places of their exploits. Where the Cherokees came from, and why they settled in the locality mentioned, like other questions as to the origin of the Indian race, can not be an- swered. But their history, so far as traceable, con- tains matter of much interest, particularly that part of it relating to their religious interests. Christian people were not behind the Government in caring for them. They, rather, went before, and were the means of se- curing relief from the Government, in the adoption of measures for their benefit, while they gave to them 1 6 POOR I,O! such missionary labors, in material and spiritual things, as resulted in greatly improving their condi- tion for time, and in saving the souls of a great many of them. In 1 80 1 a Moravian mission was established at a place afterward called Springplace. " And," said Dr. Rufus Anderson, in 1825, " very commendable exer- tions in support of a school among the Cherokees were also made for a few years subsequent to 1803, by the Rev. Gideon Blackburn. Excepting these ef- forts, there was, until the year 1816, nothing done for the Cherokees by the Christian Church ; nothing by the civilized world. They inhabited a country which is described as susceptible of the highest cultivation. But most imperfect was their agriculture. They pos- sessed a language that is said to be more precise and powerful than any into which learning has poured richness of thought, or genius breathed the enchant- ments of fancy and eloquence. But they had no lit- erature. Not a book existed in the language. The fountains of knowledge were unopened. The mind made no progress," From the same high authority it is learned that in 1816 Rev. Cyrus Kingsbury was sent to the Chero- kees by the American Board, with an offer to estab- lish schools among them. The offer was favorably received, and thus was begun the first of extended efforts by that Board for this interesting people. An institution was started, named Brainard, for the dis- tinguished missionary. Information concerning this new movement was rapidly spread, and, reaching a bright young woman A MEMORIAL. I'J of the tribe, living one hundred miles from the school, it stimulated her ambition, and created in her mind an intense desire to have its advantages. Obtaining consent from her parents, she entered the school, July, 1817, when about seventeen years of age. She was very prepossessing, comely and modest, yet was char- acteristically fond of dress and ornaments. Knowing God only as a being existing somewhere in the sky, and with no knowledge of a Savior, she came slowly, yet surely, into possession of the truth concerning them, and after six months from the time of her en- trance to the school she was a devout believer, and an assistant in religious work for others. In the same period of time she had advanced from ability to read in syllables of three letters to ability to read well in the Bible and other books. Her advancement in religion was equally rapid. She established and conducted evening prayer with the girls in the school, after only ten months of ex- perience in a religion of which, before, she had never heard. And such was her conscientiousness that the " profusion of ornaments in her ears," of which she had been fond and proud, was reduced to a single drop in each ear ; and, moved by the good example of pious women of whom she had heard, she devoted the rest to the missionary cause. Her activity in be- half of souls was such that afterward, when she was teaching and living with her parents, she was per- mitted to see her father and mother, a brother, and two or three sisters, with others, publicly profess faith in Christ. This case is brought forward to show that the 1 8 POOR IX) ! possibilities for good, found in the white race, are found also in the Indian, and that the work of the Spirit is the same. Her moral character previously to her conversion was irreproachable. " This is the more remarkable," says her biographer, "considering the looseness of manners then prevalent among the fe- males of her Nation, and the temptations to which she was exposed when, during the war with the Creek Indians, the army of the United States was stationed near her father's residence. . . . Once she even forsook her home and fled into the wild forest to preserve her character unsullied." She remained away until the danger was over. General Jackson, who commanded in this war, remarked to Dr. Ander- son that "she was a woman of Roman virtue and above suspicion." The impression she made upon others was not only positively good, but deep, and widely felt. In her school work the soul's interests were supreme. Such a heavenly character, rising from her own bar- barous race, became an object of wonder and admira- tion. When her earthly work was finished, the ad- miration and love continued. In a final journey to Huntsville (or Limestone), to obtain aid from her loved physician, it was necessary that she be borne upon a litter to the Tennessee River, six miles, con- veyed by boat down the river to Trienna, forty miles, and thence on a litter about five miles to her desti- nation.' Added to "a general and loud lamentation" at the place of starting, was the demonstration of af- fection along the way. " Small groups of her acquaint- ance were frequently seen on the road, waiting her A MEMORIAL. 19 approach. When she arrived where they were, they would hasten to the side of the litter, take her by the hand, and, often, walk away without speaking a word, the tears all the while rolling down their cheeks." She did not live to return. Thus, after some weeks, " the mission was bereaved of this valuable assistant, CATHARINE BROWN, the first fruit of its labors, and, perhaps, the idol of the mission and its patrons." Her life and character, with the circumstances, were thought of sufficient in- terest and importance to justify a memoir of her; and a small volume was prepared by the secretary of the American Board, Rev. Dr. Rufus Anderson, quoted in this brief account. It is evident that this memoir was read by Sarah B. Hall, at that period in her youth when she entertained a special interest in the Indians, and hoped to become a missionary to them. How much it did toward preparing her to become the wife of Geo. Dana Boardman, and, afterward, of Adoniram Judson to be a consecrated Christian and a missionary may not be known in time. To learn its immediate effect, peruse her tender verses on " Catharine's Grave," found in the second of the Mis- sionary Memorials, entitled " Sarah B. Judson," page 174. One great, or good, life acts for the improve- ment of another, both in character and usefulness, when properly brought before the mind. The piety of even the "lone Indian" in western wilds bears fruit in the deeper wilds of the East. In 1810 the Cherokees numbered 12,395. They had large flocks and herds, and many industrial im- plements and establishments, their advantages having 20 POOR 1,0 ! rapidly increased after the introduction of educational labors by Mr. Blackburn. Partaking of the spirit and habit of their latitude, they were owners of negro slaves, as were many other Indians to the time of the Emancipation. They intermarried with the whites, to some extent, as they always have done, but did not practice the vice of mixing their blood with that of the Africans. Under these conditions they gave an example of an increasing population, and would have sustained it ' had favoring conditions continued. The necessity for national decay was imposed upon them. " Among this people Mr. Kingsbury commenced the first mission of the American Board to the In- dians of this continent. At first food was purchased in Tennessee, and transported with great labor and expense, some for forty or fifty miles, to the mission. To obviate this inconvenience, and to teach the pu- pils the arts and habits of civilized life, a farm was purchased on the Chicamauga creek." The station was Brainard. This beginning was followed by con- stant and varying endeavors, both east and west, by a large number of laborers, and with gratifying re- sults. It dates from January, 1817. After nine or ten months the Baptists enter the same field, and to their toils and triumphs attention will be directed, as the main object of this narrative. Rev. Humphrey Posey has the honor of the first appointment, by the Baptist Board, to the Indians of the South, as Rev. Isaac McCoy has to those of the North. Each entered the work at his own door in his own State, thus giving to it the benefit of an ante- cedent knowledge and sympathy. And the appoint- A MEMORIAL. 21 ing of the two occurred in the same autumn McCoy, September 5, 1817, and Posey, October 13, 1817. Mr. Posey proceeded at once to his work in North Carolina, his native State, where thousands of Chero- kees lived and thrived. Having established a few schools, he felt called to do some exploring in the regions west of the Mississippi, doubtless with a view to locating his work there. His protracted absence caused a loss of interest in the schools ; also a nec- essary suspension of them. On his return, early in 1820, he established a missionary station at Valley Towns, on the Hiwassee river, just within the south- ern line of the State. About eighty acres of land were inclosed for a mission farm, and put under cultiva- tion. Mr. Thomas Dawson was appointed assistant. Three buildings were erected for the schools, the family, and farming purposes. Ere long forty chil- dren were under daily instruction in the Scriptures, in reading, writing, arithmetic, and the practical duties of civilized life. They were fed and clothed also. Soon a day-school was started at Tinsawattee, sixty miles southeast from Valley Towns, in the State of Georgia. Successful labor in that part of the country by Georgia brethren, and their aid in this enterprise, gave assurance of success. The pupils were docile and amiable, and gave evidence of improvement. Some of them said to the stay-at-homes, " You will be of no account if you do not go to school." In September of this year, 1821, a number of mis- sionaries were sent out to reenforce the mission at Valley Towns. They were Thomas Roberts, super- intendent, Isaac Cleaver, a blacksmith, and Evan 22 POOR LO ! Jones, teacher, with their wives and families, and John Farrier, farmer and weaver all from the old, historic church of Great Valley, Pa., west of Philadelphia. They were "set apart by prayer and other solemni- ties," in the Sansom Street Church, Philadelphia, Sep- tember 21 ; and with them Elizabeth Jones, Mary Lewis, and Ann Cleaver " excellent teachers." In- cluding the children, there were twenty-five persons in the company ; " four wagonloads of missionaries," wrote Dr. Staughton, the secretary. The Latter-Day Luminary, a quarterly, published in Philadelphia by a committee of the Board of Man- agers of the General Convention of the Baptist de- nomination in the United States, gave a report of this occasion that brings up the age of romance and rigor- ous reality in missions. It states : " Ten or twelve ministering brethren led the serv- ices by singing, prayer, and exhortation. The instruc- tions of the Board were publicly read, and an affec- tionate farewell taken by the shaking of hands of the ministers and missionaries. The meeting was power- ful and melting ; every eye seemed to say, ' the I^ord is in this place of a truth.' ",The following morning, at 1 1 o'clock, the mission- aries collected themselves, by appointment, at the Cen- ter Square. Four or five hundred brethren and sisters from the different churches met them. There, under open sky, the praises of God were sung, for the growth of the empire of the Messiah. The missionaries were again, by prayer, commended to God and the word of His grace, when, amid a thousand wishes for their pros- perity, they ascended their wagons and departed." A MEMORIAL. 23 % The first news from this interesting embassy of the churches to the Cherokees was written by Mr. Roberts, dated near Newbern, N. C., October 27, one month after the departure. It was full of notes of .continued health and good cheer "cheerfulness depicted on every countenance, and the missionary flame burning brighter every day." Prosperity attended the mission, though amid diffi- culties. Liberal assistance was granted the school by the Government, for erecting buildings and supporting the native children ; also by Christian women in Balti- more and New York, in contributions^ clothing and other articles. In the coldest weather a valuable dona- tion of clothing reached the station from New York, and the necessity compelled a distribution of it on the Sabbath, after the public worship. The smiles and tears of children that were well-nigh perishing beneath a garment of tow, or with less, were calculated to bring gratification to the benevolent, and to melt the hearts of the selfish. A letter from Mr. Roberts, dated August, 1822, spoke of the school as still increasing, and as awakening in- terest and receiving supplies. The Latter-Day Lumi- nary, published in Philadelphia (" five numbers a year ; profits sacred to the cause of missions "), was very helpful in creating sympathy. In midsummer of this year another school was commenced at the town of Nottle (or Nottley), sixteen miles southwest, where Mr. Roberts had been preaching once a month. He also wrote : f " We are now engaged in translating " The Philadel- phia Sunday-School Spelling-Book," and, if health be 24 POOR 1,0 ! o spared, we hope to have it ready for the press in six weeks. As this excellent book contains nothing but the pure word of God we may reasonably hope that the same divine blessings which followed its progress through cities and villages inhabited by the whites will not be withholden from the humbler dwellers of the cabins and wigwams. " * A remarkable and important circumstance occurred in this period. It was the invention of an alphabet for the Cherokees, and by one of their own number. George Guess (Sequoyah), a half-breed, born in 1770, and living to be seventy-three years of age, enjoys this unequaled honor among his people. Though without education and a knowledge of any language except his own, his genius enabled him to form a "syllabic Cherokee alphabet," "solely from what he had heard of the ' talking leaf of the white man." He applied it to writing, with unparalleled success. It contained eighty-five characters, and by it young Cherokees learned in three days to write letters to their friends. " Many hymns were composed in the language," says Gammell, " which the Cherokees com- mitted to memory and delighted to sing, both in their own lodges and at the meetings for public worship ; and in 1825 the New Testament was translated and written out according to the alphabet of Guess, by * Mr. Roberts resigned after about three years, and for some time was employed to raise funds for the mission. He baptized Evan Jones, who will have a prominent place in these sketches ; was copastor with Rev. David Jones, of Great Valley Church, and then its pastor. Also, after returning from the Indian country, he was pastor of Lower Dublin Church, Pennsylvania, and of Middletown Church, New Jersey. He died at Middletown, September 24, 1865, aged eighty-four years. A MEMORIAL. 25 David Brown, then deemed the. best-educated man in the Nation." It was brought to maturity in 1826 ; and two years thereafter a newspaper, called The Cherokee Phoenix, was established and published in Cherokee, with an English translation. " When Guess first announced his discovery his coun- trymen were incredulous; but repeated and careful ex- periments soon convinced them of its reality. Many came to him to be instructed; one who had learned taught another; the art spread rapidly through the Na- tion, and in the course of a very few years a majority of adult Cherokees had learned to read their own language; and, though elegant penmen are scarce everywhere, yet everyone who can read can, by taking pains enough, write so that others can read his writing." 26 POOR III. -CIVIL COMMOTION; MEASURES FOR REMOVAL; THE MARCH OF DOOM; A MOVING AND GROWING CHURCH. THE Cherokee country at the beginning of this century was much larger than it was afterward. It was reduced by sales to the United States, for the benefit of the State of Georgia, from about eleven thousand square miles to about eight thousand square miles. It was well watered by living springs in the mountains on the north, which had the appearance of natural, elevated reservoirs, and beautiful streams in the fertile and wooded plains of the south part. Herds and flocks of domestic animals, of all the principal kinds, and in great numbers, were raised and put to all the ordinary uses by the Indians, proving their tendencies to the ways of civilized life, while the ex- tensive products of the soil, and the exportation of cotton of their own raising and in their own vessels, showed their capacity for commercial pursuits. They manufactured cotton and woolen goods, and cultivated the mechanic arts. They had public roads, villages, tav- erns, and other accommodations, and presented well- laden tables to the hungry. A MEMORIAL. 27 This, in brief, was the general condition of a nation of " savages " when enjoying the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It was well organized, with a legislature and laws guarding it against cor- ruption by white people who were near by and to some extent among them. The whites had privileges, except those of voting and holding office, but were denied the right to bring in spirituous liquors, and to marry the Cherokee women otherwise than accord- ing to local law, which prohibited polygamy and the inheritance of the wives' estates. A fundamental law provided that no land should be sold to white people without authority of a majority of the Nation ; the vio- lator to be punished with death. The Cherokees, from the earliest days of the Re- public, were treated by the United States as an in- dependent nation ; yet, though situated in the very bosom of the Republic, and numerically weak, no effec- tive measures were taken to protect them against in- trusion. And their prospects were blighted by the avarice of the stronger, after they were well prepared to live. A recital of the circumstances of the ruin of the Cherokee Nation east of the Mississippi seems necessary to a full interest in the missionary work per- formed in their behalf. The State of Georgia, which had been aided by the Government of the United States in obtaining a considerable part of the territory of the Cherokees, be- came greedy for the remainder. It tried to induce the Government to adopt measures for a forcible posses- sion of it, and, failing in this, undertook to gain it in a more direct way under cover of law ; itself mak- 28 POOR LO ! ing the laws for the purpose. It ordained that " all the laws of Georgia are extended over the Cherokee country"; also, that all Cherokee laws, usages, and customs are null and void, and that not one of the Na- tion " shall be deemed a competent witness or party to any suit in any court where a white man is a de- fendant." By thus reaching around the Indian Nation it could arbitrarily strangle it in its offensive coils; having taken pains to make laws to which it could not sub- mit. The action was in violation of the Constitution of the United States, and intended to extinguish an in- nocent people's title to home and native land. Filled with alarm, the Cherokees remonstrated against their oppressors in the strongest terms, and were met with the contempt which the strong naturally feel for the weak. They took the case to the Supreme Court, with Chief Justice Marshall on the bench, and obtained a unanimous verdict in their favor. It was maintained by William Wirt that Georgia, after cooperating with Christian zeal for the intellectual and moral elevation of that people, found in their improvement a ground of alarm, and accused other states of interfering with its sovereignty by raising up an independent govern- ment within its chartered limits by means of mission- ary work. The Nation numbered at this time about eighteen thousand. A party spirit arose, in spite of the decision of the Supreme Court, promoted if not originated by designing persons favorable to Georgia. And some Indians on each side thought it expedient to sell out completely and seek a new home in the West. Kach A MEMORIAL. 29 party had its leader; one, Mr. John Ross, 'possessed of good talents and education, with broad views upon many subjects, making him prominent; the other, Major Ridge, popular but not gifted with the stamina requisite to a patriot. Georgia proceeded to enforce its wicked laws, in the face of the decision of the Supreme Court. And, finding the Indians very stubborn in their resistance, choosing to suffer rather than lose their country, they resorted to corruption of some of the chiefs with money. The clamor and confusion were such that Government, represented in Gen. Jackson, President, who was favorable to removal, made an attempt to treat with the Indians for their emigration. The President's agent, Mr. Schermerhorn, went to their country and with difficulty obtained a hearing with the chiefs, but utterly failed in his mission, for they would not treat for the sale of their home-land. An attempt was then made by the agent to in- fluence some of the chiefs with money, and, by mak- ing a treaty with them, to bind the rest. He suc- ceeded in forming the treaty, by which "the whole country was to be given to the whites within two years from the time it should be ratified by the Sen- ate of the United States." But the Nation rose in its might and majorities, and met the proposition, when it appeared at Washington, with an astounding memo- rial, protesting in the strongest terms against it, as false and not authorized. Yet the treaty, with little variation, was published as the act of the Cherokee Nation. To prevent a ratification of the treaty twenty 30 POOR LO ! picked men of the Cherokees proceeded to Washing- ton to meet those favorable to it. It became appar- ent there, that if they would not sell their country for what it was the pleasure of the Government to give, they would be driven from it without anything ; therefore all that was left for them to do was to get the best terms they could. And it was finally agreed by the authorized delegation that they would abide by such an award as the Senate might make for their lands, provided that when it should be laid before the Indians it would be consented to by them. The "award" was rushed through at midnight, as the Senate was finally adjourning its annual session, and was not very definite in its terms. The delegation laid the matter before the Nation, and the award was unanimously rejected. But Gen. Jackson, seeing some reason for the removal influ- enced, too, it may be, by his own experience with In- dians in war had determined that it should be ac- complished. When he found the mass of Cherokees reluctant to accept the terms, his giant will rose to the occasion, and he instructed the Secretary to inform them that " no propositions for a treaty would here- after be made more favorable than those now offered. The sum of five millions of dollars was fixed upon by the Senate as an ample equivalent for the relinquish- ment of all their rights and possessions ; that most assuredly the President would not sanction any ex- pectation that more favorable arrangements would hereafter be held out to them ; that this was the last proposition the President would make them while he was President, and they might abide the consequences; A MEMORIAL,. 31 that they need not expect either branch of the Govern- ment would ever do any more, and that, therefore, they need not expect another dollar." The House of Rep- resentatives consented by a bare majority to what the Senate and President had determined to do, and an- other state paper, giving instructions to the command- ing general sent to effect the removal, completed the Executive's formalities in the case. The Cherokees had agreed that if ever they sold their lands, or any part of them, it should be to the United States; an agreement, however, that did not oblige them to sell at the option of the other party. In 1802 they owned 7,152,110 acres of land within the limits of Georgia; and afterward ceded to that State 995,310 acres. This disposition of territory nat- urally stimulated emigration, and many voluntarily moved to Arkansas. But meantime it stimulated the greed of Georgia, which desired a more rapid removal and full possession of the departing people's lands. While action of Government was pending, the representative Cherokees made various deliverances which, in strength of utterance and depth of pathos, have few equals. Thus, in closing their memorial, they say : " It is not for us to vindicate or attempt to vindicate our great Father, the President. He does not need an Indian's aid nor an Indian's eulogy. But however we are bound to love him, yet it is due to justice to state that we have been often pained, and especially of late, at the earnestness with which he has pressed upon us the subject of ceding our lands. Why he has acted thus, we are at a loss to conceive. We are not ignorant of the nature of the Convention \ 32 POOR LO ! of 1802. We know every one of its promises. If, however, these are to be violated, and the fell war- whoop should ever be raised against us, to dispos- sess us of our lands, we will gratify the delegation of Georgia, in their present earnestness to see us re- moved or destroyed, by adding additional fertility to our land by a deposit of our body and bones ; for we are resolved never to leave them (the lands) but by parting from them and our lives together." " Such was the resolution of the Cherokees at this period," says the historian Drake. " But fifteen years of suf- fering overcame them, and they were compelled to submit to a fate they could not avert." There had been a difference among the Chero- kees in respect to the pursuits of life, some prefer- ring the hunter's roving habits and others the settled life of farmers. A partition of their country was talked of, the former to take the hill country and the latter the plains.' Eventually some four or five thousand of the lower-town natives emigrated to Arkansas, where they led a miserable existence, some being swept off by disease and others in wars with the Osages, while a few got back to their old country. Such results of testing a new country quieted those of a roving disposition in the upper towns, and ren- dered it impossible for commissioners to treat suc- cessfully with any of the tribe as to their removal. And so all attempts in that direction ceased for some years. The agitation was very perplexing to the admin- istration of James Monroe, President (1817-1825). Georgia was pressing for extinguishment of all In- A MEMORIAL. 33 dian titles to lands within the borders of that State ; and while Mr. Monroe recommended removal and civilization of the Nation, he declared that an attempt to remove by force would be unjust. Meantime the State of Georgia made a bold at- tempt to exert an authority that it did not possess, and to wrest from the Indian domain its possessions. Answering a clamor which came from a certain coun- ty, an injunction against the Indians was granted, commanding them to desist from digging gold within their own limits. Some were fined and imprisoned for continuance in working the mines, after being subjected to seizure and destruction of tools and ma- chinery, and conducted fifteen, and even seventy-five, miles to court. At the same time thousands of in- vaders, unmolested, were engaged in robbing the mines and thus defrauding the owners. The administration of John Quincy Adams, Pres- ident (1825-1829), was characterized by the upright- ness for which, personally, he was noted. Georgia assumed to put things in readiness for a complete seizure of the Cherokee country by appointing com- missioners to make a topographical survey of it. This course being against the express will of the Cherokee council, and without an order from the Secretary of War, brought on a wordy conflict of the general Government with that of the State. But the latter, being informed that its high-handed act would not be tolerated, subsided, until Mr. Adams' honor- able official career had closed. He had spoken, in his message of 1827, in the following exalted strain: 34 POOR LO! It is my duty to say that if the legislative and execu- tive authorities of the State of Georgia should persevere in acts of encroachment upon the territory secured by solemn treaty to the Indians, and the laws of the Union remain unaltered, a superadded obligation, even higher than that of human authority, will compel the Executive of the United States to enforce the laws and fulfill the duties of the Nation by all the force committed for that purpose to his charge. In 1831 eleven persons were arrested and tried for the crime of living among the Cherokees with- out taking an oath to obey the laws of Georgia. All were found guilty, and all pardoned on taking the oath, except two missionaries of the American Board. These, Messrs. Worcester and Butler, would not con- fess and accept pardon, and were committed to the penitentiary, where for one year and four months they performed " hard labor "among felons. Prison clothes were put upon them, bearing about the waist the initials of their names in large red letters. The Supreme Court of the United States cited the offend- ing State to appear for trial. It ignored the call. The case was argued, however, and Chief Justice Marshall pronounced a decision in favor of the missionaries, declaring the laws of Georgia extending jurisdiction over the Cherokee country to be repugnant to the constitution, treaties, and laws of the United States, and therefore null and void. " State rights " were then asserted, and the complication seemed to in- crease; but, a mediator appearing, each party, the State government and the two prisoners, withdrew proceedings and the missionaries were released and again went about their Master's business. A MEMORIAL. 35 The story of the Cherokees, with its many shades, can not fully be told in this narrative. It is mainly one of success on the side of the stronger, and con- sequent loss to the weaker. Georgia, understanding the advantage it had over a limited nation shut within its lines, and knowing that the chief executive, An- drew Jackson, who had succeeded Mr. Adams, had set his iron will for removal, became very confident of success, as well as unscrupulous as to the means of attaining* it. Its perseverance in pushing the Indians was only what might have been expected ; while the weakening of their resolution naturally accorded with their circumstances. The treaty was very offensive to the Cherokees generally, and their delegation hovered about Wash- ington endeavoring to secure a substitute or modifi- cation. They felt and declared that they could not emigrate under its provisions. And^Government, see- ing their sullenness, prepared to execute it by force. Georgia was glad to cooperate. It had already laid its lawless hand upon The Cherokee Phoenix, the first newspaper published by them and influential for good in all directions, and silenced its voice because it would not uphold the wicked course of that State. , During the winter of 1838-9 thousands of United States troops were sent into the Cherokee country, and in the spring Gen. Winfield Scott was sent to command them, for the removal of the natives. On arriving, the General issued his proclamation, entreat- ing the Cherokees to yield without resistance, and spare him the painful necessity of shedding blood. The 23d of May was the day fixed for starting. The 36 POOR army began its operations in small detachments, mak- ing prisoners of one family after another, and gather- ing them into camps. The manner of the proceeding gave no ground of complaint. Through the good disposition of the army, and the provident arrangement of its commander, says a histo- rian, less injury was done by accidents or mistakes than could reasonably have been expected. By the end of June nearly the whole Nation were gathered into camps, and some thousands commenced their march for the West. The extreme heat of the season prevented any further emigration till September. Meanwhile Mr. John Ross, an intelligent chief, and other principal men returned from Washington, and ar- rangements were made for conducting the remainder to their new home in a manner more satisfactory to them- selves. They were to go in successive detachments of about one thousand each, under leaders selected from among themselves, attended by physicians, with wagons or boats for supplies and for conveying the infirm. On the i pth of August, which was the Sabbath, the church at Brainard (American Board) gathered for the last time in that place around the Lord's Table. Soon after, the whole Nation, amounting to about sixteen thou- sand people, were on their march in fourteen companies. One was conducted by Evan Jones, of the Baptist mis- sion ; another by Mr. Bushyhead, a Baptist native preach- er; another by Stephen Foreman, native preacher in the service of the American Board ; another by Mr. Taylor, member of the Brainard church. Several missionaries of the Board accompanied them on their way. Their jour- ney of six hundred or seven hundred miles was per- formed in four or five mouths. The best arrangements for their comfort appear to A MEMORIAL. 37 have been made, and they received many acts of kind- ness from those in whose vicinity they passed ; but in such a work suffering and death were unavoidable. In the ten months which elapsed from May 23, when the work of their removal commenced, to the time when the last company completed its journey, more than four thou- sand persons more than one fourth of the whole number sunk under their sufferings, and died. The following statement is found in their history : "On the 3ist of October, 1837, as the steamboat Mon- mouth, with six hundred emigrating Indians, was as- cending the Mississippi, it was run into by another vessel, and three hundred and eleven of those miser- able creatures drowned ! That such a number should have been crowded into one boat is incredible, and we are informed that the boat was an old, condemned vessel. It was probably hired cheap by the contrac- tors for removing Indians." Such is the brief account of this sorrowful bit of history, compiled chiefly from the published and un- published accounts of the American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions, which was vitally interested in the whole affair. Turn to the records of the Baptist mission, which was immediately concerned in the same tragic events. The work had prospered. The school at Valley Towns had been as full as it could have been, and many ap- plicants for admission were necessarily disappointed. Additions to the church were frequent, and some of the converts became successful preachers. Nothing seemed necessary to an extensive work of grace ex- cept liberty to plan and labor without interference. 38 POOR 1,0! The school at Tinsawattee also continued to prosper, but was removed to Hickory L,og, about ten miles; the little church at that place continuing to receive the care of its faithful pastor, the teacher, Rev. Dun- can O'Bryant. In 1831 the congregations of the two places, em- bracing about eighty families, removed to the Arkan- sas Territory, and persuaded their minister to accom- pany them. They settled near the northern line of that Territory, in a rich and abundantly productive district, and promptly provided themselves with means to a comfortable living. "A sawmill and gristmill were soon erected on an unfailing stream of water. The missionary was equally thoughtful for their spirit- ual welfare. Before he had finished his log house he opened it on the Sabbath, and collected the little con- gregation for religious worship. ... In the course of the year a house for worship and the use of the school was built. ... In 1834 Mr. O'Bryant died, after an illness of eleven days. He was a zealous missionary, and possessed the confidence of all who knew him." He was succeeded by Rev. Samuel Al- drich, from Cincinnati, Ohio, who died after one year of service. Whisky could be procured on the Ar- kansas line, two miles distant, and therefore became an obstacle to the progress of the Gospel. The work under Rev. Evan Jones, at Valley Towns and vicinity, widened and deepened ; at no previous time so manifestly as in the summer of 1831, when there were seventy-eight professed Christians. The revival then enjoyed was long continued, and it dif- fused its salutary influence throughout the Indian A MEMORIAL. 39 Nation. " The Christian Indians were diligent in en- deavoring to extend the knowledge of the Gospel ; and numbers in remote places, who had never heard a sermon, became anxious for their salvation." Re- quests for visits from the missionary came twenty, and even forty, miles. For four years the record was one of progress and thanksgiving. The native disciples were temperate, and organized into temperance societies; they main- tained family worship, and met on the L,ord's Day for public worship when without a minister ; they erected hewn-log sanctuaries a novelty in the forests with- out suggestion from a white man ; and a native min- istry arose Jesse Bushyhead, John Wickliffe (Kanee- da) and Oganaya, in particular, through whom much was accomplished. The baptisms at Valley Towns had reached the number of two hundred and sixty, and the net membership in 1835 was two hundred and twenty-seven. " During the year 1834-5, the minds of the In- dians were increasingly agitated by the measures of the United States Government in relation to their removal. Many had acquired a competent property by their own industry; they were a community of farmers, possessed of all the necessaries and many of the conveniences of life. Notwithstanding their dark- ened prospects, and the continual provocations they were obliged to endure, they were patient toward all men. The revival still continued, and though there were fewer conversions than in the three previous years, almost every sacramental occasion witnessed the addition of some to the church." 40 . POOR u>! In the trying ordeal to which the Indians were being subjected by the unauthorized treaty which ceded all their lands to the United States, the cause of morals and religion declined. Bushyhead and Oganaya were out of their loved employ as preach- ers of the Gospel for six months, having been in Washington for that time as members of the delega- tion for the adjustment of difficulties with Georgia. The letter of the former, from the capital, bewailing the depression that had come upon his people, moral and spiritual, is very affecting, while his intelligent view of Providence and grace, in all human expe- rience, is not less touching. On his return, though a bearer of sad news to his countrymen, he lifted up his voice in the wilderness with his old-time evange- listic fervor. Taking into the fellowship of work a young native preacher, Beaver Carrier, a circuit of about two hundred and forty miles was formed, over which they traveled and labored with marked suc- cess. The excitement concerning the removal was reach- ing its height (1836), and Rev. Evan Jones and his interpreter, Stephen Foreman, were arrested by the United States troops, and compelled to leave the Cherokee country. Mr. Jones found a retreat in Ten- nessee, and from it continued to visit the churches. He visited the principal places in rotation, preaching, conversing with inquirers, receiving members and regulating the discipline of the churches, touching minor places in going and returning; .and one day in the week he gave to instructing the native preach- ers. The attendance upon this circuit work was of A MEMORIAL. 41 the rousing sort. The natives traveled thirty to ninety miles to be present, and some of them returned as "baptized believers." Hospitality corresponded, the preachers being principal givers rather than receiv- ers of it. Mr. Bushyhead, a public man and of noble type, on one occasion fitted up his large barn with seats and pulpit, and otherwise provided liberally for the people. Sixty or seventy were entertained at his own house during the series of meetings. Wickliffe and Oganaya also entertained great numbers who came from a distance to attend their meetings. Many were baptized on these occasions, and the hearts of the laborers were so filled with joy that their perse- cutions had but little effect to disturb their minds. They did not cease to teach and preach Jesus Christ in any circumstances. Some of the Cherokees became mediators for peace between the United States and the Seminoles in Florida; and when the latter had been thrust into prison at St. Augustine unjustly, while under a flag of truce, Mr. Bushyhead took oc- casion to preach to them the Gospel of love and mercy. A council was held in this year (1837) at Red Clay, in which the Indians took a firm stand against the treaty of New Echota, disposing of their lands. And' notwithstanding the excitement which such an occa- sion must have created, the council was conducted with decorum, and religious worship maintained. Morning worship was attended daily in the council- house, and preaching almost every evening. On Sun- days congregation convened three times, thousands in number ; no disturbances except such as were caused 42 POOR to! by the whisky of the white smuggler. A discourse by Mr. Jones, translated into Cherokee by Mr. Bushy- head, is described as moving the translator, and through him the vast congregation, as preaching sel- dom moves the hearts of men. Their hymns, the old songs of Zion in Cherokee, were sung with remark- able correctness and effect. The words and tunes had been learned from the missionaries, and practice in public and private had given them great power in song. In the midst of trouble they were in a constant state of revival, and souls were added unto the Lord. In May, the month in which the removal was to begin, Mr. Jones visited the Christians of the moun- tain region. He found them " calm, devout, and more than ever interested to hear the truths of the Gospel." They set apart the i6th as a day of fasting and prayer, and meetings were appointed in nine different places in the mountains, in view of their sad destiny. But they did not forget the spiritual welfare of those around them. In one place the members entered into a sys- tematic plan for visiting the destitute, establishing meetings in their behalf. On the 23d (or 24th) " the Indians were obliged to quit their pleasant homes, their fields of corn, their cattle and horses, and most of their movable property for anyone who might choose to take possession. In many instances individual rapacity forbade them to take even their money, or anything but the clothes they wore. One thousand and one hundred com- menced their sad journey together on June 17, to join four thousand more who were collected at Ross' Landing. They offered no resistance, but quietly yielded to their oppressors." A MEMORIAL. 43 A report from Camp Hetzel, June 16, states: "The Cherokees are nearly all prisoners. They have been dragged from their houses and encamped at the forts and military posts all over the Nation. In Georgia, especially, multitudes were allowed no time to take anything with them except the clothes they had on. Well-furnished houses were left a prey to plunderers, who, like hungry wolves, follow in the train of the captors. These wretches rifle the houses, and strip the helpless, inoffending owners of all they have on earth. Females, who have been habituated to com- forts and comparative affluence, are driven on foot before the bayonets of brutal men. Their feelings are mortified by vulgar and profane vociferations. It is a painful sight. The property of many has been taken and sold before their eyes for almost nothing the sellers and buyers, in many cases, being com- bined to cheat the poor Indians. . . . The poor captive, in a state of distressing agitation, his weep- ing wife almost frantic with terror, surrounded by a group of crying, terrified children, without a friend to speak a consoling word, is in a poor condition to make a good disposition of his property, and is, in most cases, stripped of the whole at one blow. And this is not a description of extreme cases. . . . " These savages, prisoners of Christians, are now all hands busy, some cutting and some carrying posts, plates, and rafters, some digging holes for posts, and some preparing seats for a temporary place for preach- ing tomorrow. There will also be preaching at an- other camp, eight miles distant. We have not heard from our brethren in the mountains since their cap- 44 POOR LO ! ture. I have no doubt, however, but the grace of God will be sufficient for them, and that their confi- dence is reposed in the God of their salvation. My last accounts from them were truly cheering. In a few days they expected the victorious army to sweep them into their forts, but they were going on steadily in their labors of love to dying sinners. " The principal Cherokees have sent a petition to General Scott, begging most earnestly that they may not be sent off to the West till the sickly season is over. They have not received any answer yet. The agent is shipping them off by multitudes from Ross' Landing. Nine hundred in one detachment, and seven hundred in another, were driven into boats, and it will be a miracle of mercy if one fourth escape the expo- sure to that sickly climate. They were exceedingly depressed and almost in despair. . . . " The work of capturing being completed, and about three thousand sent off, the General has agreed to suspend the further transportation of the captives till the first of September. This arrangement, though but a small favor, diffused universal joy through the camps of the prisoners. . . . " Brethren WicklifFe and Oganaya, and a great number of the members of the church at Valley Towns, fell into Fort Butler, seven miles from the mission. They never relaxed their evangelical labors, but preached constantly in the fort. They held church meetings, received ten members, and on Sabbath, by permission of the officer in command, went down to the river and baptized them. They were guarded to the river and back. Some whites present affirm it to A MEMORIAL. 45 have been the most solemn and impressive religious service they ever witnessed. " As soon as General Scott agreed to suspend the transportation of the prisoners till autumn, I accom- panied Brother Bushy head, who, by permission of the General, carried a message from the chiefs to those Cherokees who had evaded the troops by flight to the mountains. We had no difficulty in finding them. They all agreed to come in, on our advice, and sur- render themselves to the forces of the United States. "On our way we met a detachment of thirteen hundred prisoners. As I took some of them by the hand, the tears gushed from their eyes. Their hearts, however, were cheered to see us and to hear a word of consolation. Many members of the church were among them. At Fort Butler we found a company of three hundred, just arrived from the mountains, on their way to the general depot at the Agency. Several of our members were among them, also. I believe that the Christians, the salt of the earth, are pretty generally distributed among the several detach- ments of prisoners, and these Christians maintain among themselves the stated worship of God, in the sight of their pagan brethren, and of the white hea- thens who guard them." Amid this dire distress and confusion the Gospel made advances unprecedented in the history of the Cherokees. At a place near to Columbus, Tenn., Mr. Jones and Mr. Bushyhead, as a result of a sudden out- pouring of the Spirit, baptized fifty-five in one day, and followed the ordinance with a commemoration of the Savior's death, for the last time in that country. 46 POOR 1,0 ! Mr. Jones says : " In making arrangements for maintaining religious exercises in the journey, the brethren acted with entire disinterestedness, and cheer- fully left their friends and connections to go into the detachments in which we thought they were most needed and could be most useful. Brother Beaver Carrier left the detachment embracing his neighbor- hood, and went on to overtake one which had already started, in order to preach to them on the journey and after their arrival at the place of their destina- tion. Brother Bushy head also left the detachment comprising his own vicinity, and all the friends and associates of his family, with whom they would have been much more comfortable, for the double purpose of conducting a detachment in the vicinity, of which there was no one competent to take the charge, and to accompany that portion of the members of the Valley Towns church who resided on the ValleyRiver and among the mountains of Dseyohee, north and east, to the North Carolina line." These examples had many imitators. Mr. Jones himself was forward to lead and endure privation for the general good. He separated from his family, leav- ing them in Tennessee, while he accompanied the Cherokees to the Indian Territory. Crushed hearts were fragrant with piety ; heartless treatment did not quench zeal for God ; and Christian history may be searched in vain for better illustrations of the Chris- tian graces in bearing calamities, when only the most barefaced injustice of man was the cause of them. The track of these emigrants was by the way of Nashville, Tenn., in the vicinity of which city they A MEMORIAL,. 4f were detained two or three days. There were four detachments, with seven others behind, each number- ing about one thousand. In the two parties con- ducted by Mr. Jones and Mr. Bushyhead there were upwards of five hundred Baptists. The leaders and several others were received by their brethren of the city, at the churches, and by their public addresses and private interviews added much to the interest in missions to the Indians. By their songs in the Cher- okee tongue, and tears of sympathy for their poor countrymen, the hearts of the hearers melted. The company under Mr. Bushyhead left the old country on October 5, and reached the new on the 23d of February. The winter season was less favor- able to some epidemics, yet it presented an ordeal of suffering in other particulars. This detachment was detained one month at the Mississippi by the ice. Eighty-two qf the company died on the way. Sixty- six were Baptists, and of this number two were se- lected to keep up regular worship during the journey. These did so by holding prayer meetings and exhort- ing the brethren on evenings during the week and on Lord's Day, whenever the weather would admit of it. The company rested every Sunday, except that on one it traveled five miles to get forage for the teams. The rule of rest was due to Christian leadership. The statutes and promises of the Lord were the songs of that dreadful pilgrimage. The religious interest existing when these Indians were made prisoners continued throughout the hard jaunt. Attention was given to the Gospel messages, and some were baptized by the way. The church at 48 POOR to! Valley Towns considered itself to be in organized form a veritable church in the wilderness and it observed the ordinances with due propriety. It con- stantly sought the salvation of sinners, and was re- warded in welcoming some to its fellowship, while some passed on to the church above, dying in the full triumph of faith. Where in the annals of the church militant may be found another example of evangelism like this?* Temporary accommodations for the churches were at once provided. Mr. Bushyhead wrote with explicit- ness and clearness as to the situation and necessities. He said: " Books are greatly needed among the Cher- okees. The progress of the Gospel and the course of providential discipline through which they have passed, have given such a stimulus to the mind of the people that they manifest increased eagerness for information, and it is all-important that the knowl- edge they receive should be of a healthful kind." Stimulus was also given to the powers of evil, and vicious habits had been introduced ; yet the soldiers of the Cross felt no fear as to the ultimate result of the war against sin. *It seems that another church, the Amohee, was also represented in this detachment, and shared in the responsibilities and privileges of membership. The two moved as churches, and were finally located apart, a great distance. A MEMORIAL. 49 IV. anfc |Ufc EVAN JONES ; ELIZABETH L. JONES; JOHN B. JONES; JOHN WICKLIFFE; OGANAYA; JESSE B USHYHEAD ; O UCHALA TTA. (JEtmn |tjcrn*# EVAN JONES is a name that will not fade from the annals of an intelligent and grateful Chris- tian denomination. The man who bore it was a Welshman by birth and rearing, but an American by choice and sympathy. He espoused the cause of the original American, the Aborigine, and for fifty years bated not in consecration to his interests. He was born in Brecknockshire, Wales, May 14, 1788, and was educated in the Welsh and English languages preparatory to mercantile pursuits. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to a linen-draper, and spent a number of years in the store. It was there that he became acquainted with the young woman also a clerk whom he chose for his wife, and who responded with a choice of his companion- ship for whatever circumstances Providence had for them. After some years, and with a little family, they came to America. Early in 1821 they arrived at Phila- delphia, and settled in the village of Berwyn. At the 50 POOR LO ! close of their first summer they were fully prepared, by conviction,' to offer themselves for membership to the Great Valley Baptist Church, in the vicinity. Their reception was cordial, and occurred at the time when the pastor, Rev. Thomas Roberts, and others were preparing to enter upon a mission to the Cherokee Indians in the South. This mission, with but one Baptist missionary pre- ceding, and no records of heroism to inspire, appealed with great power to Mr. Jones' sympathetic nature. He had left the formal Church of England, had been quickened by union with English Methodism, and had satisfied his conscience by becoming a Baptist. He was then ready to do, to dare, and to suffer for Christ. His zeal for God was consuming. Only one month remained before the departure of the missionaries, but he was ready to be numbered with them the most ready man of the company, as events proved, for he held out by far the longest. While his pastor took the office of preacher, another man the occupa- tion of blacksmith, and another that of farmer and weaver, he modestly assumed the duties of a teacher, with some devoted women to occupy this and other spheres. Teaching the untutored Indian was thought to be a matter of minor difficulty, and requiring but little ability in the teacher ; yet he was willing to con- secrate himself to the lowly " children of Nature," and accept the hardships of frontier life in order to do it. The experience of this missionary band continued with fair success for about three years, when all re- tired from the work except Evan Jones and his wife. With almost unexampled fortitude the greater be- A MEMORIAL. 51 cause their solitariness was intensified by the loss of associates they girded themselves to t"he task of sus- taining all departments of the mission. The teacher began to preach ; he labored for the salvation of his pupils, and in the conversion of a few the utter moral night of the benighted Cherokee seemed to be passing away. Still, in the few spindlings of dawn he saw how sweet must be the full day, and, by contrast, how deep the darkness going before and even then hanging upon the people. Mr. Jones had succeeded in teaching quite a large number of the youth to read and write, and in giving them some knowledge of the English language. Yet, after six years of faithful schoolwork, only a very few of them and a few white people had made a profession of religion. He felt that another plan, more in accord- ance with the Great Commission, was necessary for him, and, having given the school into other hands, he went everywhere preaching the Word. "As he had not a thorough knowledge of the language of the na- tives, he took with him one of his pupils as interpreter, and with him he rode in all directions over mountains and through forests and across streams preaching Jesus and Him crucified to men and women into whose minds the light of the Gospel now, for the first time, began to dawn." His son, J. B. Jones, thus quoted, further says : " That was the turning point in favor of success in one of the most successful missions ever planted among the Indians of the American continent. He traveled from village to village, and visited them from house to house, talked to them one by one or in groups about their eternal salvation. He ate with 52 POOR 1,0 ! them in their cabins, and slept upon his bearskin.which he carried with him. Sometimes, for weeks together, he would get nothing but such fare as they gave him in their wigwams. Soon he succeeded in gathering them into small congregations under the shade of the trees, and there he preached unto them ' Jesus and the Resurrection.'" Mr. Jones proved to be admirably adapted to the Indian work to which he found himself fully com- mitted]without the customary time for preparation, and without expectation of becoming a leader in spiritual things. His nature was full of sympathy, a trait which the suffering race very readily appreciated. He entered into their trials with the heart of a woman, and their secular concerns with the mind of an interested busi- ness man. His usefulness was many-sided. He framed their laws and treaties, and aided Chief John Ross in his arduous duties; identifying himself with the business of removal to the new country, and the settlement of their difficulties after arrival. Nor did he forsake them during the War of the Rebellion, but only sought to save himself and his family while the tempest was passing. In personal association he conversed freely in their tongue, but for the truest impression in preaching he invariably spoke through an interpreter. In common with others of his years, who do not incline to perfect themselves in languages not their own, he did not cul- tivate the natives dialect. And yet, cherishing the de- sire found in the hearts of many missionaries to fully identify their children with the interests of the people whose cause they have espoused, he spared no pains to A MEMORIAL. 53 have his son John trained in the use of the Cherokee. It became to him a " mother tongue," and from the time he was thirteen years of age he interpreted his father's sermons, and made various translations of Scripture and standard writings. The two conducted the valuable little bi-monthly called The Cherokee Mes- senger, which was read with avidity by the natives, though destroyed in the time of the war. Evan Jones and son were sent by the Nation to Washington in 1861, and also in 1866, to aid in obtain- ing a new treaty, which resulted in securing Cherokee annuities, and was a lasting benefit to several tribes. In grateful recognition of this service, the Indians gave to them and their heirs, citizenship, and to Evan Jones three thousand dollars in money. Father and son served as chaplains in the first and second Indian regi- ments through the war. In 1870 the father, over four score, and no longer able to work, went to live with his son, and united, so far as possible, in loving service for the people of his former charge. He had a large fam- ily, most of whom passed away before his death. A daughter-in-law makes this tender reference to him in closing a brief account of his life : " I always loved father Jones, he was such a dear, good man. He and mother Jones were very good to me, and I had the care of both of them as they passed joyfully away to their home. " I have the honor to be the widow of John B. Jones, whose last words were ' O, how glorious! ' " 54 POOR LO ! Mr. Jones was bereaved of his noble wife, Elizabeth Lanigan, February 5, 1831. She was the companion of his youth in Wales, and of his young manhood in crossing the ocean ; the participant in the joy attend- ing their accession to the Baptist ranks, and immediate consecration to the welfare of the Indians ; the cheer of the tedious wagoning to the South, and the helpmeet of his home in the wilderness ; the mother of a mighty man of valor, John B. Jones, and superin- tendent of the mission school at Hiwasse, from its es- tablishment. " She was a woman of good judgment and education, and possessed an eminently devout and benevolent spirit. Her labors, and often her priva- tions, were very severe, but she 'endured as seeing Him who is invisible.' " Except in the matter of time, it might be questioned whether her toils and sacrifices were not equal to those of her more distinguished husband. Ten years of service in the Indian cause, longer than the average term, and continuance in the country until removed by death, proved her faithful- ness. What might not have been her record had she been spared to her husband during his term of fifty years ! John Buttrick Jones is a strong character in the history of western missions and civilization. He was identified with the Cherokees as completely as the place of his birth and a long and useful career among them could cause him to be. He was a son of Rev. Evan Jones, whose eminence in the Indian cause was A MEMORIAL. 55 shared by him, and was born at Valley Towns, Chero- kee County, North Carolina, December 24, 1824, about three years after the parents entered the Indian mis- sion. At twenty years of age he was baptized by John Wickliffe, native preacher. In his twenty-third year he went to Madison University, New York, and after the academic course and one collegiate year there, he entered the University of Rochester, graduated in 1855, and was ordained in that city July 14, 1855. He was married to Miss Jennie M. Smith, and in October fol- lowing entered the Cherokee mission and labored with his father, under the Missionary Union. His birth and early life among the Cherokees nat- urally imparted to him their language. A knowledge of it, with a good university education, qualified him for the literary work which he felt called to perform. He edited a magazine in their tongue, called The Cherokee Messenger, corresponding to The Cherokee Phcenix, which had been published in the country east of the Mississippi. Also, he translated into the Cherokee language a large part of the New Testa- ment, a part of the Old Testament, " Pilgrim's Prog- ress," portions of " Parley's School History," sermons, and tracts. At the same time he preached in almost every part of the Cherokee Nation, and aided his father in the instruction of native preachers. Thus he continued to the time of the breaking out of the war, when he was compelled to leave the Nation on account of his Union sentiments. His feel- ings were not bitter, yet a tone of disappointment and grief is manifest in the calm survey of the situa- tion which he gives, as quoted by The Baptist Beacon : 56 POOR 1,0! In the year 1855 I entered the service of the mission. I knew all about the difficulties and the dangers into which I was going, but I could not shrink back ; for duty to God and man seemed to require me to labor among the Cherokee people. It was the field to which I had been looking for many years, and it seemed that I was better fitted for that work than anyone else. I could speak their language as my vernacular, and was ac- quainted with the people and their customs. So I entered upon my work of preaching Jesus and Him crucified, to the children of the forest. I said just as little about slavery as our opposers would let me. But I rode into all parts of the Nation, and preached where there were churches and where there were not ; where we had members, and where we had none. During inter- vals of preaching I was engaged in instructing our native preachers, and young men would gather around to have difficult passages of Scripture explained. We also had a printing press, and I spent part of my time translating portions of the Bible, " Pilgrim's Progress," sermons, etc. But the wealthy people among the Cherokees, instead of being rejoiced because the poor of their people were being enlightened, grew more and more jealous, and their opposition to the Baptists became hotter and hotter. It is stated that bills were frequently introduced in the council to break up the mission, and banish the mis- sionaries from the Nation. Taking advantage of the absence of members, such a bill was passed, but it was vetoed by the chief. Evan Jones had been cited by the Indian Agent to answer the charge of propagating abo- lition sentiments, and the affairs of the Nation were in commotion. John B. Jones fled to Illinois, and fixed his residence at Upper Alton. His journey was one of A MEMORIAL. 57 much severity, requiring, first, a jaunt of two hundred and fifty miles through the wilderness to a railroad. While settled at Upper Alton, in the atmosphere of Shurtleff College, he spent six months in continuing his translations. Then he removed to Jefferson County, New York, and took charge of two churches, and in the second year of the war entered the Union Army as chaplain of the Second Indian Regiment of Kansas. He was of special service in winning the Cherokees from the Confederate to the Union Army, and, finally, in unifying them, and continued in the service of his country to the close of the war. Dr. G. J. Johnson, in a graphic description of his visits to the Cherokees, and of the work accomplished for their salvation, pays tribute, incidentally, to this noble man. After a ponyback ride of thirty miles in six hours, on a hot afternoon in June, he was called upon to preach at a Cherokee camp-meeting. He says : I preached that night to several hundred well-behav- ing, taciturn and sober-faced Indians, Brother Jones inter- preting for me as I proceeded, sentence by sentence, into their language. The Gospel never seemed more precious to me than that night. Ten inquirers presented them- selves for prayers, of whom several found hope. The next day I was permitted to baptize four of these new disciples one an old man, tall and straight as an arrow, a lad, and two young women. A procession was formed at the camp- ground, and marched, two and two, to the sweet rolling strains of a Cherokee song, about a quarter of a mile dis- tant to a beautiful stream ; and there, under the shade of the trees, and after a prayer by Brother Jones, offered while all were kneeling upon the bank, I administered 58 POOR 1,0 ! the ordinance. It surely seemed as though that Trinity that attended upon John's honored administration in the Jordan, eighteen centuries before, was also present here. It is due here to say that the Cherokees owe much, and appreciate too, their indebtedness to Rev. J. B. Jones, whose life has been devoted to their evangelization. Born among them, the Cherokee is his vernacular, and he is said to be the most correct and intelligent speaker of the language now living. And, withal, he loves his Nation, and has laid his all, a willing sacrifice, upon the altar for their salvation. But we fear our brother's work is nearly or quite done. His health has broken under the load of labor of love he has long carried, and he is now contem- plating, unless there is an early change, as a last resort for his declining health, a removal to Colorado. Glorious have been the fruits that have followed the labors of these two Joneses, to whom, probably, more than to all the rest of the world beside, the Cherokees are in- debted for their Christianity and their civilization. Rev. B. F. Stamps, editor of The Baptist Beacon, Muskogee, Indian Territory, who has aided the author in obtaining material for these sketches, gives the following items touching the close of this career of consecrated, conspicuous service to God and man : John B. Jones secured a transfer of the mission site from the old Baptist Mission to Tahlequah, where, in 1867-8, he secured one hundred and sixty acres of valu- able land reaching almost to the heart of the Capital City. Here he built the present mission-house, contributing seven hundred and fifty dollars out of his own funds for that purpose. During the time he lived in the building he paid rent on it to the amount of twelve hundred dol- A MEMORIAL. 59 lars, while working on salary as Indian Agent, and all the time doing missionary work, preaching the Gospel "with- out charge." In 1875 he resigned his position as Indian Agent, and went to Denver, Colorado, for his health. There, on the morning of June 13, 1876, as he lay upon his bed, his dy- ing eyes fell upon the first rays of the rising sun as they touched his window fit symbol of the Sun of Righteous- ness. And as he gazed upon the spot with rapture he ex- claimed : " Oh, how glorious ! " and Jesus took him to him- self. The native ministry became a very important ele- ment of power at an early stage of the work. Con- verts, from time to time, proved the oneness of Chris- tian experience in all nations by having first given themselves to the Lord, and then to his commissioned men to be led into ways of special usefulness. They could but speak the things which they had seen and heard. When Evan Jones had fully separated from the school work, that his heart's desire to evangelize might be satisfied, he was obliged to employ others to inter- pret his sermons to the natives. John Tinson, the first Indian converted (1823), acted as interpreter, and he and his wife, who also became pious, proved to be very valuable helpers. He was able to conduct a meeting with much profit, and was frequently trusted to do so. In 1829 a most interesting case of conversion came to view ; that of another Cherokee, with his wife, who had been awakened by hearing preaching on the suf- ferings of Christ, and the perusal of a little book con- taining hymns, and a few chapters of the Bible in Cher- 60 POOR LO! okee. Both were received by the church at Hiwassee, N. C., after a year of experience. Mr. Jones was ordained pastor of this church but a few years previously. He became greatly interested in the man just mentioned, and soon enlisted him in his service as an interpreter and assistant; and such was his character, he gave him the name of John Wick- liffe, by which he was known for the rest of his days. He took him into his plans, taught him the way of the Ivord, and made him a preacher of power in his Nation. They traveled together on long preaching tours, and made themselves remembered for what they accom- plished, both east and west of the Mississippi. Mr. Wickliffe (Kaneeda, his original name) was the first native preacher among the Cherokees, and a great credit to them. He sustained his good name and per- formed ministerial service for twenty-six years, when he died, November 22, 1857. Another, named Oganaya, to whom no patronizing name was given, belonged to the same period, and bore similar honors. He was regarded as " a man of much influence, deep piety and great usefulness." He had returned from Washington as a delegate of his Nation on some important business' with the Government, and being taken with cholera at Jefferson City, Mis- souri, he there died. A missionary from the States wrote : " I am afraid it will be a long time before one can be found to fill his place." The tidings of his death produced deep sorrow among the churches. And another, likewise deeply lamented, dying just afterward, bore the name Dsulasky. "Jesse Bushyhead learned Christianity from the A MEMORIAL. 6l teachings of the Bible alone, and apart from all other instructors had embraced the salvation which it offers, with an intelligent conviction and earnest faith, which, combined with his own superior understanding, ren- dered him a Christian of no ordinary stamp. He was baptized by a minister from Tennessee in 1830, and it was not till he had collected a large Christian con- gregation at Amohee, the place of his residence, that he became acquainted with the missionaries at Valley Towns. In the spring of 1 833 the mission was visited by Hon. Heman Lincoln, of Boston, the treasurer of the General Convention; and during his visit John Wickliffe and Jesse Bushyhead were ordained to the Christian Ministry." In a very sickly season Mr. Bushyhead died. Mr. Gaminell, quoted above, says he was " the ablest and most successful of the native preachers, and one of the ablest and most energetic men of the Nation to which he belonged. He was one of its earliest pio- neers in civilization, and one of the noblest exempli- fications of Christian character it has ever produced. With the interest of an intelligent patriot in its for- tunes, he engaged earnestly in attempting to avert the troubles which threatened it, and participated in many of the most important negotiations relating to its removal beyond the Mississippi. In addition to his services as a missionary he was also appointed Chief Justice of the Cherokees after their settlement in the new territory, and in this station, which he still held at the time of his death, through many trying periods of national affairs, he was always distinguished for his wise administration of evenhanded justice. His 62 POOR 1,0 ! memory will long be cherished in the Nation'with the respect that is due to a highminded counselor and magistrate, and a faithful minister of the Gospel." Another, having full knowledge, wrote of him as " one of the noblest-looking men, and noblest-souled men that ever lived. He was a chief of the Chero- kees, and at the time of his death Chief Justice of their Supreme Court." He died July 12, 1844, aged about fifty. Lewis Downing deserves mention as among the most useful native preachers. He and D. M. Foreman, na- tive, were helpers of Rev. Evan Jones, and partook of his spirit of sacrifice for the salvation of their race. The tidings of their success were very cheering; often very affecting. Crowds attended upon their ministry. Mr. Downing and Oganaya accompanied Mr. Jones to the Anniversaries of 1852, held in Pittsburg, Pa., and were seen and heard with supreme gratification. The report on Indian Missions, on that occasion, was not only encouraging, but even jubilant. It made mention of the entire extinction of the evil and guilt of slavery in the churches of the Cherokee Mission. On his latest visit to this tribe, in which he had the company of preachers and United States officials, Dr. Johnson was prominent in the ordination serv- ices of another eminent member of it, of whom he speaks as follows: Chief Ouchalatta (English, Charles Thompson) is a full-blood native Cherokee, well framed and of medium size, and about fifty years of age, distinguished for integ- rity of character and eloquence said to be the most elo- quent orator in his tribe, though he can not understand A MEMORIAL. 63 nor scarcely speak a word of English. He has just been elected chief, after a spirited contest between contending parties, and has succeeded already in restoring peace and harmony throughout the Nation. He was, years ago, con- verted and baptized, and for several years has been a licensed preacher, and probably would long since have been ordained but for the prejudices that existed against him because of his profession as a practitioner in law. But now, as he proposes to give himself to the ministry, in connection with his duties as chief, his brethren were all earnest and hearty that he should be ordained. The usual examination was conducted through an in- terpreter, and, though necessarily brief and imperfect, was entirely satisfactory. Ten ministers laid the ordaining hands upon him, eight of them Indians; and Major G. W. Ingalls, U. S. A. Indian Agent, a Baptist, made a lengthy and impressive address, followed in brief by a Presbyte- rian gentleman and by the Chief himself. The entire serv- ices, which included a call for and attention to inquirers, and a general hand-shaking at the close, held all attentive for nearly four hours. A sumptuous dinner in an adjoin- ing apartment was " the last of the feast," and about one hundred partook of it. 64 POOR V. REMO VAL ; FIRST CHURCH IN THE INDIAN TERRITORY; INDIAN MISSION ASSOCIA TION ; GREA T A WAK- ENING; JOSEPH ISLANDS. THE Creeks (Muskogees) were one of the confed- eracies of the great Mobilian Nation, which once stretched along the Gulf of Mexico from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River, and spread northward to Ohio. Their name is said to have been given to them by the English, on account of the number of streams found in their fertile country parts of the States of Georgia and Alabama. They were adopted as subjects of missionary labor by recommendation of prominent Baptists of the South. The Mission Board of the Georgia Baptist Association, on December 17, 1819, resolved to attempt to establish a mission in the Creek Nation. The tribe had suffered greatly, and been much diminished by war with the white people. It perished by the sword which it drew, having encountered Gen- eral Jackson in many a bloody battle. But its mis- fortunes tended to increase Christian sympathy in its behalf. A MEMORIAL. 65 In 1822 Rev. L,ee Compere, of South Carolina, founded a mission on the Chattahoochee river, the line between Georgia and Alabama, and continued it until 1829. It was named Withiugton, in remem- brance of a liberal giver to missions. " The Creeks," we are told, " were far behind their neighbors, the Cherokees and Choctaws. The darkness in which the missionary found them was Egyptian. Their firm attachment to the customs of their fathers, their ex- treme mental apathy and physical indolence, their mutual quarrels and bitter animosities all combined to present a formidable barrier to the introduction of religion and the improvements of civilization. Added to this was the disastrous influence of whisky-traders and other designing whites, and the depressing state of their relations with the Government of the United States." Mr. Compere's school was fairly prosperous, and a few were converted. The Agent for Indian Affairs, on visiting the station, "expressed his decided ap- probation of the method used by Mr. Compere for the benefit of the Indians, and his conviction of the fitness, both of the missionary and his family, to exert a good influence upon the natives." One of the con- verts, John Davis, became a preacher of some note, and an interpreter for Mr. Compere in his round of duty. He emigrated with his people to the West, and in 1830 received an appointment as missionary. The mission at Withington was relinquished in 1829, owing to the unpromising state of public affairs. The emi- gration of fourteen hundred of the tribe, westward, at this time, included some of the lads who had been 66 POOR 1,0 ! pupils in the school, and who retained the good habits they had acquired. A large proportion of the Creeks had been removed by the year 1832. Their situation was more favor- able to their improvement than it had been in the East, though the whisky-dealer and various opponents of religion still attended them. "Mr. Davis for three years was their only religious teacher. Not being ordained, he made no attempts to gather a church, but held meetings regularly at four different places, taught school three days in the week, and visited and conversed with the Indians at their homes. He en- gaged in his work with great zeal and discretion, and ' the common people heard him gladly.' " He con- tinued under the Board until 1839, faithful and true, and died two or three years later, loved and lamented. The time for organizing a church was at hand, however. The arrival of an ordained minister from New York, as missionary to the Creeks, with other favoring circumstances, justified its formation, which took place in September, followed by a good acces- sion of more than fifty before the close of the year. The Sunday-school numbered seventy-four, and the congregation on the Sabbath three hundred. A meet- inghouse, schoolhouse and other buildings for the mission were erected the next year, and the station was named Ebenezer. The site was three miles north of the Arkansas River, and fifteen west of Fort Gibson, in the midst of a dense Indian settlement. The great pioneer, Isaac McCoy, was permitted to be present at the formation of this, the first Baptist Church in the Indian Territory, which occurred Sep- A MEMORIAL,. 67 tember 9, 1832. How deeply he was affected by the joyous occasion is learned from his own words : " We retired from our meeting, not only with solemn coun- tenances, but many faces, both black and red, were suffused with tears, and every heart seemed to be filled. For myself I felt like seeking a place to weep tears of gratitude to God, for allowing me to witness a Gospel church formed under such auspicious cir- cumstances in the Indian Territory, towards which we have so long directed our chief attention with deep solicitude." The mission was reenforced in 1833 by the com- ing of Rev. David B. Rollin and family, with two assistants, who brought it out of a decline caused by a blighting sickness, and made the vine to flourish again. But disturbances arose, and they were advised that it was not safe for them to stay in the Nation, though they were finally freed from the charges pre- ferred against them. Indians came from the East in large numbers. " Chiefs and warriors, old and young, were chained in couples until they reached the west side of the Mississippi. This was done by hostile In- dians, aided by the whites." The descendants of the notorious Creek warrior, William Mclntosh, were jeal- ous of the new people, and in asserting their own supremacy declared that they had no right in the country. In such circumstances it was difficult to save the mission from extinction, especially as the Creek council declared by vote that it was inexpe- dient. And yet, in 1838, Rev. Charles R. Kellam, un- der government appointment as teacher, settled at Ebenezer, and was enabled to promote the growth of the church. 68 POOR LO ! By " poetic " or other justice, three of the sons of Gen. Mclntosh became Baptist ministers. This was an honor he did not deserve, yet it might have been much greater had they found in him that sympathy for their calling which encourages young preachers to do well. Rev. James O. Mason, D. D., accepted an appoint- ment of the Board in 1838, and was useful in many ways ; very acceptable to the native Christians, but not to the chiefs, who had become opposed to all mission- aries in their country. As early as January, 1840, " the enmity of a portion of the Creeks resulted in an at- tempt upon the life of Mr. Mason. While walking at a distance of two hundred yards from his house, he was approached by three or four Indians, one of whom discharged a gun at him. The ball passed through his clothes within two inches of his heart. Another In- dian rushed toward him with a bowie-knife. He es- caped them, and immediately made the affair known to the Agent, and through him to the chiefs, who denied all previous knowledge of it. Having no security for himself or his family for a single hour, Mr. Mason made arrangements for an immediate removal from the Na- tion. Thus nearly came to a martyr's end one who was afterward prominent in the ministry for fifty years. Some apology for the hostility of the Creeks may be made on the ground of their serious and almost anni- hilating defeats in battles with the whites, particularly in encountering General Jackson. The disposition of the Aborigine, individual or tribe, when soured is not soon sweetened. Great interest in the Ebenezer church and station A MEMORIAL. 69 was felt by the Board, and in 1842 Rev. Evan Jones was requested to visit it. He was "received with great affection and joy. They said they had long hoped their fathers in the East would not utterly for- sake them, and that they believed this visit was in an- swer to prayer. The religious meetings," Mr. Jones adds, " are conducted by two black men, both slaves. The oldest, Jacob, is ordained, and has the reputation of a devoted Christian, both in the family to which he belongs, and in the country generally. The other, called Jack, is also a steady man, and bears a good character. He is a blacksmith, and is employed as a public smith. He and Brother Jacob are allowed one day in the week to support themselves and families in food and clothing. These days they devote to the serv- ice of the church, and hire the working of their little corn and potato patches. I found Brother Jack to be a good interpreter, and had the pleasure of ready and free communication with the people through him." Thus Ethiopia stretched out its hands to help, rather than be helped. The Council of the Nation was almost unanimously opposed to the preaching of the Gospel within its bounds, the feeling having been embittered by the whites ; yet one of the chiefs declared to Mr. Jones that he had not the least objection, and that popular feeling was not unfavorable. So, in 1843, another visiting missionary, Mr. Kellam, reported work performed, and a revival in progress from the commencement of the year, which had spread nearly through the Nation. About one hundred had been baptized by Jacob. " Red, white, and black attend the meetings," it was yo POOR 1,0 ! reported. " Jake preaches in the morning in English, Jack in the afternoon in Indian, and James Marshall at his own house in the evening; then there are prayer meetings in various parts. At the north fork Canadian River a meeting is held almost every night. Some twenty ' doggeries ' are shut, we hope forever." About two hundred were baptized during the year. Jacob was ordained by Messrs. Kellam and Mason ; James Ferryman, interpreter, also ordained. A church of one hundred and seventeen members was organ- ized, of such as first met approval ; two thirds of the number, native Creeks. A little later the Creeks held a national council, and enacted a law that no Indian or negro should preach in the Nation on penalty of whipping, and that no white man should preach except by express permission. This greatly distressed the Christians, but they said that " they hoped they should pray on, and that none could rob them of their religion without taking away their hearts." Rev. Eber Tucker, experienced as In- dian teacher, and appointed missionary to the Creeks about this time, held several meetings just outside of the Creeks' country. He wrote : " There are two places in the Cherokee country, near the line of the Creeks, where missionaries can be located so as to take the supervision of the two Creek churches, and another location in the Seminole country. The Seminole agent said that his people would not consent to the law passed by the Creek Council." Mr. Tucker made a second tour to the Creeks, oc- cupying twenty-six days, and traveling four hundred and thirteen miles, during which he did much and A MEMORIAL. ! learned much. There was a considerable awakening on the subject of religion, and " the people had built a meetinghouse twenty feet square, with a good chim- ney, convenient seats, and a preacher's stand." He had the consent of the principal chief, Roily Mclntosh, and none molested. A number of the influential men assured him that they would use every lawful means to secure the passage of a law admitting the free preach- ing of the Gospel. " In the event of refusal, they say they will build houses in the Cherokee Nation, ad- jacent to the line, at their own expense, if the Board will send them missionaries; and the Cherokees say they will give permission." The opposition continuing, and Mrs. Tucker's health declining, Mr. Tucker thought it advisable to retire from the field. His work was productive of great good. Two churches had been organized, Ebene- zer and Canadian River; the first containing about one hundred members, and the second two hundred and twenty. The last year of his appointment he baptized twenty in the Nation, and as many in the adjoining country. The Board stated that the prospects of use- fulness were inviting, but that the state of the funds did not admit of immediate reinforcement. The oppo- sition would not have stood before a vigorous, onward movement by the Lord's hosts, and it is painful to state that the work was suspended, especially as the final word in 1845 was: "The progress of religion in the Nation is cheering. Five individuals have been cruelly scourged, but abide faithful." The school funds of the Nation at this time amounted to four thousand dollars a year, with land resources, the income of 72 POOR 1,0 ! which would have been as much more, and which the tribe proposed to appropriate in the same direction. This means the Creeks desired some society to aid them in managing. The story of missions to the Creeks does not end here. The privations of missionaries and the scourg- ings of submissive saints were had in remembrance on High, and were not to be without their reward and fruit. Though the church was in captivity in the wilderness, yet deliverance was provided in another quarter. The Canadian River alone separated the Creeks from the Choctaws, and to the latter there was free access. The missionaries crossed the river, and, perhaps, having acquired the Indian habit, hov- ered along the border of the country they wished to subdue for Christ. Great meetings were held, and numbers were baptized. Yet a strong though silent movement, destined to bring great things to pass, was starting in a distant State. The unforgetting and unforgotten hero, Isaac McCoy, had seemed to retire from the Indian country, but only that he might organize a new effort for its redemption. Finding a welcome in the locality from which he went out, in his early manhood, he chose the city of L,ouisville as a strategic point, and there garrisoned his force. First, an informal meeting in that city to consider the advisability of organizing an association which should have for its exclusive aim an evangelizing and civilizing movement among the Aborigines ; then, the presentation of its conclusions to the notable gathering in Cincinnati, known as the Western Baptist Convention, in October of the same A MEMORIAL. 73 year (1842). The organization was effected on the latter occasion, and Mr. McCoy made its chief execu- tive Corresponding Secretary and Agent and Louis- ville, Kentucky, its seat. The field-marshal of twenty-five years, known in the seaboard cities, familiar at the seat of Govern- ment, and recognized by his denomination as the un- tiring friend of the helpless Indians, was the man to administer, in connection with a sympathizing Board, the important affairs of the American Indian Mission Association. His own hardships assured in him a deep sympathy for every missionary, while his knowledge of the Indians aided him in forming plans for their relief and formulating appeals to the public in their behalf. The Association was willing to assume the Indian mission work of the Indian Territory, operated by the Baptist General Convention of the United States, and the most of it was transferred to it. It began the list of appointments with the names of Rev. Johnston Lykins, who already had been in the Indian mission for twenty-five years, and his wife Delilah, daughter of the secretary, Mr. McCoy, and one of his earliest gifts to the cause. Mrs. Ivy- kins was also the first of the Association's missiona- ries to be released from earth. The Master received from her renewed evidence of fidelity to the cause of the lowly, in one more year of consecration, then bade her enter into His rest. She went to Louis- ville, seeking recuperation in the arms of her parents and by the aid of physicians, and when it became ap- parent that she was incurable, nothing could deter her from hastening back to the Indian country, that 74 POOR 1,0! she might make her grave with those for whom she had cherished a pitying interest from her childhood. The next appointment was for the benefit of the, Creeks and Choctaws ; that of Rev. Sidney Dyer, Ph. D., widely and favorably known in the denomination. He was received with remarkable favor, traveled long dis- tances, and preached to large assemblies ; " but, owing to the ill health of himself and family, he left after a residence of a few months." The people were widely scattered, and many of them came twenty miles to the worship ; came on Saturday and camped. The church on Canadian River had two preaching- places, and was thriving. At one of these places wor- ship was first held in an evacuated storehouse. An opposer to religion, though living a mile from it, said "they made so much noise in worship that it hurt his ears," and he pulled down the rude sanctuary. But one brother remarked that "the sky was very large, and they could worship under it " as they did, with only a shade made of bushes. There was a great awakening among the Creeks at North Fork Town, about thirty miles distant, which had been considered the very worst settlement in the Nation. An old colored man, named Jesse, was the righteous one for whose sake it was saved from perdition. Through him an evil spirit, a fiddler, who led in wickedness, was converted, broke his fiddle, and spent his time in warning others. Many were converted by his influence; the whisky shops were closed, and instead of Harry's fiddle were heard the songs of the redeemed. Mr. Dyer, visiting and aiding in this meeting } A MEMORIAL. 75 makes notes as follows : "I preached twice at Broth- er Islands'. As it was the season when they hold their annual Green Corn Dance, it was thought not prudent to excite their passions by assembling in great numbers in their immediate vicinity. So we crossed over into the Choctaw country, and built a camp by the side of a pond sufficiently deep for a baptistery ; and here on Friday the people assembled, about two hundred in number. We held a prayer meeting and retired for the night. But soon the heavens grew black and poured forth incessantly their streams of fire; then followed the howling storm and drenching rain. Having no shelter, we were compelled to receive it on our crouching forms. It rained during the night very severely. Sleep, of course, was out of the question, but the nature of the objects on which the mind dwelt enabled me to pass the night very pleasantly." Next day twenty-two were received for baptism. On Sunday, with a greatly increased crowd of four nationalities, and after three sermons, by the aid of two interpreters, the ordinance was administered to the above, adding one to the number an old African, said to be one hundred and twenty years of age. A church of the baptized was then constituted, called the North Fork Baptist Church. Subsequently Mr. Dyer visited the Creek Nation again, and held a two-days' meeting. The natives faced the danger of persecution, so earnest were they for the soul's welfare. Some came a distance of sixty miles. The camp, composed of five hundred or six hundred horses, a large number of tents, and a great 76 POOR 1,0 ! concourse of people, was a wonderful spectacle to the sons of the forest, many of whom united in the wor- ship of God. On Sabbath forty-four were baptized, thirty of whom were added to North Fork Church, now numbering fifty-four, six weeks after its formation. The remaining fourteen were added to an old church at Tuckabatchee, twelve miles above, on the Canadian River ; another instance of an organization that sur- vived removal from the country east of the Mississippi. It was constituted by Rev. Thomas Mercer in 1817, and though the ordinances had not been administered the organization had been maintained. Its members came to the meeting with its original articles of faith in hand, and returned with approval of the brethren, and recruits for the membership. What a witness to the Lord's watchcare is such a little church in the wilder- ness! One of the first persons converted in this meeting was Joseph Islands, native Creek, who became eminent for usefulness among his people. He immediately began to preach the way of life as he had learned it ; without a teacher he took the Bible in hand, praying for divine guidance, and for another to come and administer the ordinances. Imagine his joy when Mr. Dyer appeared ! He was repeatedly forbidden to preach Jesus, and threatened with whipping and the destruction of his goods if he did so. Yet, testified Mr. Dyer, he gave full evidence of his courage, zeal, self-denial, and piety. He did not cease to warn men day and night to flee from the wrath to come. He moved out of a good house into a small log cabin, and filled the former with seats, that he might have a place A MEMORIAL. 77 to seat the people when he called them together. He performed the main duties of a successful ministry for two years before he had an opportunity of being bap- tized. He declined to accept a draft of fifty dollars from the Board, because of a well-grounded fear that a knowledge of it would prejudice the natives against his work, and begged that, instead, he might be pro- vided with " some books that would bring me (him) to the knowledge of the Gospel." And when Mr. Dyer left the field he begged the Board to " send some other man some man who is not afraid to die for Christ's sake." He was ordained, the books furnished him, and tw r o years later he was mentioned in the report of the Board as " one of the most devoted and self-denying men living." In his peculiar, ingenuous fashion he describes the proceedings of a general council of the Nation, at which the law against " praying people " was pro- claimed by one of the principal chiefs, the council being hastily dismissed without giving the people an opportunity to speak ; then adds: " We have had great persecution here, which Brother Smedley has informed you. Brother Jesse received fifty stripes, and Broth- er Bitly received the same ; and Brother O-Sah-he- na-hah, a native, received fifty stripes. These three brothers belong to our Church. One colored man, a member of the Methodist Church, has received fifty stripes, and one native sister, of the same, received fifty stripes, and it was supposed that she would die, for they whipped her until she fainted, but she re- covered. They commenced with the intention to whip all we leading ones, saying that would stop all the 78 POOR rest of them. They said we were the ones that's causing all the people to pray. They wanted to whip me and brother Harry; and on one Saturday the opposing chief sent out and gathered his people to come to our meetinghouse on the Sabbath to whip us ; but God restrained their wrath, and some feared to come upon us ; and from that time they never whipped any more." All legal objections to religious proceedings were finally removed, and the Gospel continued to pre- vail. Brother Islands was minister of the North Fork Church and general evangelist. Yet his career was short. In 1847 he attended the annual meeting of the Indian Association at Nashville, Tenn., and " excited much interest by his modest piety and warm addresses in behalf of his people. His worn and at- tenuated form too plainly gave evidence that his work on earth was nearly done." He visited L,ouisville, and, like David Brainard at Boston, obtained the assurance that one would take his place, and returned to his home with the glad intelligence. His successor, Rev. A. L. Hay, from Georgetown College, promptly fol- lowed, and found that his work was already finished. He thus speaks of his last sufferings and triumph : Patiently he bore his afflictions. His religious enjoy- ments were as great as at any period in his Christian his- tory ; his pains, however great, did not lessen the deep interest he took in religion. When I returned from church meeting he immediately inquired if any were re- ceived for baptism. When religious papers came he was anxious I should read to him whatever I thought inter- esting ; would inquire whether there were any revival A MEMORIAL. 79 intelligence from the United States or from any other land. When writing a letter for him to Brother Potts, our fellow laborer, he wished me to say, " I am wholly devoted to the cause of Indian*Missions." . . . Before his dissolution he wished to leave with me what he supposed would be his last words. He said : " I shall soon pass through the dark valley of the shadow of death, but fear no evil. I am happy, happier than ever before. You will succeed me in the ministry here." He then offered a prayer that I might be sustained. " Warn the people of the terrors of hell ; tell them of the joys of heaven ; persuade them to flee the wrath to come ; say to them that I could not meet my sufferings as I do, if it were not for the grace of God; say to them that I already enjoy heaven ; and tell them so to live that they may meet me there." After much long and intense suffering he died March 8, 1848. The house and yard were thronged; the entire com- munity were his friends, and the members of his church, numbering one hundred and seventy, were all here. At the announcement of his death there was one general burst of grief, and an Indian's lamentation is mournfully touching. The " good Indian " was, in this case, the dead In- dian ; good in Christ, and in the hearts of his country- men ; freed from persecution and pain, and forever with the Lord. Mr. Hay was greatly prospered in the work from his entrance upon it. In midsummer of his first year a camp-meeting of four days was held, this being a method of evangelizing fully approved, and free from the abuses it often suffers among the " civilized." There were sixty camps on the ground, and on Sunday about one thousand people, from five principal tribes. So POOR I/)! At sunrise a prayer meeting was held, and preaching service at eleven o'clock, and in the afternoon and evening. Twenty united with North Fork Church ; one of them, Gen. Chilly Mclntosh, the most talented chief in the Nation, who gave an experience, in the hearing of the great congregation, which had influence with the people, while it showed the identity of convic- tion and conversion wherever realized. This awaken- ing resulted in many blessings, among which were the accession to the church, also, of Chief Mclntosh's son, the father of the lamented Islands, and the conversion of another chief who had been the ringleader in sinful amusements. At this time there were three other churches raised up in connection with the above, and entirely under the missionaries of the Association, and they also had enjoyed refreshing, and received large numbers to mem- bership. And this was the section where, but three years before, some of the disciples were beaten with fifty stripes for presuming to pray, sing, and preach the Gospel. The Council even opened its doors for preach- ing, and Mr. Hay was permitted to address the " dig- nities " with the words of Life. He conducted a school also, by means of which many became able to read the Scriptures for themselves and to others. Mr. Hay and wife retiring from the service, Rev. Samuel Wallace and wife took the position early in January, 1850. Mr. Wallace expected to make teach- ing a specialty, and to organize a manual-labor school, but the sentiment of the Board having undergone a change, looking to the giving of greater prominence to preaching of the Gospel, " as more Scriptural, effica- A MEMORIAL. 8l cious, and much less expensive," he turned his atten- tion to the latter. His labors were at once and greatly prospered. The North Fork Church, constituted of twenty-two members, on a rainy Sabbath, in the dark wilderness, and under the bans of persecution, now numbered its hundreds, and had within its fold some of the chief men of the Nation, with freedom to wor- ship God. Rev. Chilly Mclntosh and Rev. William Mclntosh were native assistants. Rev. Sidney Dyer, with some experience as agent for the Association when it was first organized, and with considerable knowledge of the Indian cause, de- rived from actual missionary service, was chosen suc- cessor to the lamented McCoy, as corresponding secre- tary, and held the office for several years. The master- workman had died, yet the work went on. Rev. G. J. Johnson, D. D., whose privilege it was to make several tours to the Indian country, and who has a characteristic and keen appreciation of Chris- tian work, favors the author with a free use of his notes of observation ; and from these this memorial is rendered more informing and animated than other- wise it would be. Concerning experiences among the Creeks, he says : I was present in 1872, with Drs. S. W. Marston, of St- Louis, and S. L. Helm, of Louisville, Kentucky, at the camp-meeting in the Creek Nation, when the Muskogee Association was organized ; and such was the impression made upon all our minds, as visitors, of the glorious work of the Gospel accomplished among that people, that we were astonished that we had known so little concerning it before, and that so little interest was felt in it by the 82 POOR LO ! outside world. Here were before us the representatives of something like a score of Indian Baptist churches, and two thousand members, all of whom, within, at most, a quarter of a century, had been gathered into the King- dom of Christ. But no part of the exercises of the several days' camp- meeting among the Creeks interested those of us who are visitors more than their animated, melodious, and uni- versal congregational singing. These Creek Indians have peculiarly rich and musical voices ; much more so, I think, than any other of the tribes I have heard ; and though, while in their wild and un-Christianized state they never sing, yet, so soon as converted, they seem intuitively to understand that singing of holy songs is a part of Chris- tian worship, and therefore a Christian duty, and hence they all, immediately upon beginning a Christian life, be- gin to sing. My emotions can not be described, as on the Lord's Day I sat before that vast congregation, numbering fully one thousand, all closely seated under an arbor, and listened to song after song rolling heavenward, every voice in the vast assembly seemingly joining in the grand chorus. I felt sympathy with the remark made to me just then by Dr. Helm, who sat at my side : " I feel as though I never want to hear white folks sing again, after hearing this." Dr. Johnson comments as follows : " The prominent agent in accomplishing this great work among the Creek Indians is Rev. H. F. Buckner, D. D., who, for most of twenty-eight years, has been a devoted and untiring missionary among them. It will be enough to say of him, that so is he appreciated among the thousands of our denomination, more es- pecially in the Southern States, where he is better A MEMORIAL. 83 known, that when the denomination was called upon, on the recommendation of the two brethren just named, to build him a house as a testimonial of their esteem and his usefulness, two thousand six hundred dollars, in the course of about a year, came flowing in from all parts of the land, and a beautiful house was erected for him, which he now occupies, that would become the suburbs of Philadephia even, or any other city of our country." 84 POOR VI. BEGINNINGS; VOYAG- ING; THE "ARK"; HORRORS OF RE- MOVAL; STARTING IN THE WEST; PHENOMENAL PROGRESS. THE Choctaws, says a historian, possessed a fertile country between the Alabama and Mississippi Rivers, containing fewer brooks and rivers than that of the Creeks. This circumstance was regarded as a hindrance to their prosperity, because in war a knowl- edge of swimming gave great advantage to their ene- mies. They were Flat-Heads in fact, as some Pacific Coast Indians now are in name. When a child was born, the nurse provided a wooden case, or mold, into which it was placed, prostrate upon its back ; then a bag of sand was laid on its forehead, in order to flat- ten the head, and in this situation it was borne about until the proper shape was assured. The race in- creased to the time of the outbreak of the civil war (1861), when it numbered twenty-five thousand. It was largely consumed in the war ; the facts proving in this, as in the history of other tribes, that the decay of the Indian nations is due to the white race rather than to causes within themselves. A mission to the Choctaws, under the American A MEMORIAL. 85 Board, was begun at Eliot, east of the Mississippi, in 1818; Messrs. Cyrus Kingsbury and L. S. Williams, missionaries, reenforced by a number from New York and New Jersey. The facilities for transporting sup- plies disappointed them, and some sickness prevailed. " Still they persevered without repining, and in their toils and sufferings laid the foundation of much good to the people to whom they had been sent." A school was opened and an unexpected pressure manifest to enter it ; eight children being brought one hundred and sixty miles before accommodations were ready. At the close of the year it contained sixty pu- pils, of whom sixteen could read the Bible with pro- priety and ease. The Choctaws made liberal appro- priations to it, a chief leading with a gift of two hun- dred dollars from his Nation's annuity ; and a council of lyower Towns voted two thousand dollars annually for the support of a school in that district. The report to the Secretary of War, specifying the reception of cows, calves, and swine, and the improvements of the premises within a year, proved that there was great and increasing interest in the mission, and that the Indian's appreciation of real benefit, sincerely be- stowed, is equal to that of anyone. The hardships of the missionaries were such as pioneers usually experience. Supplies had to be pro- cured at great distances ; some so far as fifteen hun- dred miles. Letters lodged seventy-five to one hun- dred and fifty miles from their destination. In explor- ing for another site, in February, Mr. Kingsbury and his local assistants were frustrated in efforts to reach a house where they might lodge, and having collected 86 POOR 1,0! some dry grass for a bed, without food or fire, and with no covering but the branches of the forest trees, they took their rest in this exposed fashion ; but God made them to sleep in safety. And this spot was the one selected for the mission station. God was in the place, and they knew it not ; and the pillar that was set up to commemorate the experience was called May- hew noted as a missionary center. A reenforcement of seven, with children, embarked at Pittsburg in 1820. They chose the waterway the Ohio, Mississippi, and Yazoo Rivers taking the craft, then in common use, known as the "ark." " It was fifty-six feet long, fourteen wide, and six high. The bottom was perfectly flat, the roof convex, and the walls at the sides and ends straight and perpendicular. It had two long oars at the sides, and one at the stern to serve as a rudder. The inside was divided into three apartments. In one was a cow; one was a kitchen and sitting-room ; and in the other, during the three months of their descent, a school of ten children was taught." Much good was jlone on the voyage by preaching to the crews of other arks, holding service at landings, and distributing tracts. On arriving at the mouth of the Yazoo (Vicksburg), they took leave of their ark to undertake an ascent of that river for about two hundred miles. The company divided. The first party went through the wilderness in a wag- on to Mayhew, occupying"about six weeks ; a second reached Eliot two months later by land ; and the third ascended the Yazoo in a bateau, accompanied by a man sent out from Eliot to aid them. After toiling three weeks at the oar, the eldest son of the family aboard, a A MEMORIAL. 87 youth of fifteen, became sick, and after languishing a week, died, being more than one hundred miles from any human habitation. The trial thus early experi- enced will be more fully understood when it is stated that his father was obliged to assist in digging the grave and burying the body. He peeled the bark from a large tree to mark the place. After stemming the current about three weeks longer, with frequent peril of life, the women taking turn at the helm, the little band in the bateau arrived at Eliot, its destina- tion. The interests of the two stations, Eliot and May- hew, were so advanced, and drew so large an attend- ance of native pupils as to make it expedient to estab- lish a number of others. In this way there would be less concentration and confusion. Conversions at- tended labor, and the prospects were bright indeed. Hope revived among the Choctaws that they would not be removed, but this was followed by the depressing intelligence that they must go. They met the inexor- able fate more calmly than did the Cherokees. They looked at the religious aspects of the case, and peti- tioned that the missionaries might be permitted to accompany them, which was granted. "Towards the close of the year" (1831), says the narrator, "the removal actually commenced. The season was unusually severe, and great suffering en- sued. In gathering up all the inhabitants of an Indian town, old and young, sick, lame, and destitute, agd marching them five hundred miles through forests in the winter, it could not be avoided. One body of several hundreds passed through the Chickasaw 88 POOR i/) ! country, and halted a short time near Martyn. The contractor seemed to do all in his power to render them comfortable, but it could not be done. More than nine tenths of the women, it was believed, were barefooted, and a great majority of them obliged to walk. One party came to Martyn and begged an ear of corn for each, to appease their hunger. . . . " The removal of the Choctaws went on, and the amount of unavoidable suffering was great. Some, in crossing the swamps of the Mississippi, were sur- rounded by the rising waters, from which there were no means of escape. The captain of a steamboat took off one company who had been confined six days in this perilous condition, and were near perishing with hunger. He saw at least one hundred horses standing frozen, dead, in the mud. Many persons died of sick- ness brought on by exposure and fatigue, and many by the cholera. The Christian Choctaws had morning and evening worship in their tents or boats, and re- fused to labor on the Sabbath, or to travel, unless com- pelled. The captain of a boat that carried one party remarked that they were the most religious people he ever had to do with ; another said that ' their singing and praying made the passage appear like a continued meeting' ; and an Agent, who had the best opportunities for judging, said that the trouble of removing those who had been under missionary instruction was less by one half than that of removing the others." The schools naturally ceased to be, and were not revived, nor were the farming enterprises in the new country for several years. Some missionaries retired from the service, and the government annuity was re- A MEMORIAL. 89 linquished. The Nation was broken up. The two missionaries longest in the Choctaw mission remained in the old country to settle its concerns, and dispose of the property that remained. The children were gone, and there was no school ; yet one of the missionaries labored in preparing a grammar and dictionary, and the native Christians who still lingered about Mayhew were cared for. Early in the autumn of 1833 the last company of Choctaws departed for the West. The whole number removed was about fifteen thousand. Some remained in the old country, but only as indi- viduals scattered among white people, and estimated at three or four thousand. Their territory in the West, lying just north of Texas, was divided, politically, into three districts. On their arrival from the East they divided, religious^ into two parties one favorable to Christianity and one opposed. Rev. Charles E. Wilson, from Lower Dublin Church, Philadelphia, began the Baptist mis- sion to the latter in 1832, with Rev. Sampson Burch, native Choctaw, as preacher. Locating at the Agency on Arkansas river, Mr. Wilson opened a school, but, on account of an epidemic, relinquished the position, and gave himself to house-to-house work, caring for the sick and for the needs of the souls about him. After two or three years he left the work, and it was taken up by Rev. Joseph Smedky and wife, and by Rev. Eber Tucker and Dr. Alanson Allen, a little later all under appointment of Government, yet holding advisory relation to the Board of the Triennial Con- vention. Ramsey D. Potts and wife, elsewhere men- tioned, were also in the Choctaw work at this period, 90 POOR Lo! as teachers, sustained, as were others, by the United States. Mr. Potts was ordained in 1837, and made a good record, as did his consecrated wife, of Indian extraction, and already in the service when he entered it. A fatal rage of smallpox in 1839 interrupted all mission effort, and, though emigration from the East continued, the actual number of inhabitants dimin- ished. An interest arose under the labors of Mr. Potts at a station ten miles west of Fort Towson and five miles north of Red River.' He had been ordained; and a week afterward, October 15, 1837, a church was organ- ized at that station, consisting of four members. It was the first Baptist Church in the Choctaw territory, and was named Providence. It soon increased to a membership of eight. Miss lyucy H. Taylor, of Water- ville, New York, entered the field as teacher, and in- cluded instruction in needlework and music. Hope seemed to have dawned, yet the Dayspring from on High was the special need of the wilderness, and, to secure this, missionaries were required who could devote their time exclusively to the spiritual wants of the community. The chariot of the L,ord moved slowly, and for some years little appeared to result; yet early in 1841 there occurred what Mr. Potts gratefully acknowledged as a " glorious display of the grace of God." " While at the water side, bap- tizing, the Holy Spirit came down with power. The stoutest hearts were subdued, the tear was seen in every eye." About eighteen were thought to have been converted, yet, baptism not being hastily admin- istered, the church at the close numbered but sixteen. A MEMORIAL. 91 In their joy the workers felt that the number of the disciples had been greatly multiplied. God caused the hope of the righteous to be gladness, and after a few months Mr. Potts reported the baptism of twenty- one at Providence and in the State of Texas, near by, where he established a branch. A church had previously been formed under his labors in Texas, and another was constituted in the Territory, thirty- five miles distant, making four. To all these he min- istered, riding forty to ninety miles and preaching three to six times every week, leaving an invalid wife, besides teaching at the home station. Under the circumstances his appeal to the Board for laborers was quite pathetic, his sincerity and con- secration being evinced by an offer to "throw his sal- ary (as U. S. teacher) into the common stock." And a committee of Choctaws seconded the appeal with a strong one of their own, in which they expressed the fear that they would be left destitute unless the Board came to their rescue. The appeal closed with these urgent words: " There is an increasing anxiety among our people to be taught the truth of the Gospel ; and we believe that if we had sufficient laborers the Gospel would spread throughout the Choctaw Nation. We wish you could know how much good has been done within a few years past, and how much would be done in the future. We believe if you knew our situation here you would not hesitate to send help immediately." In 1843 the number of the Providence church and its branches was eighty-three ; and two native mem- bers had been licensed to preach. The school con- tained twenty pupils ; eleven of them boarded by Mr. 92 POOR 1,0 ! Potts, and five of the same at his expense. The work of evangelizing enlarged upon his hands ; an assistant teacher was procured, and he gave himself wholly to it, with the help of the native preachers, Holmes and Worcester, who were very zealous and successful. He had made a tour to the eastern states, and having re- turned with renewed encouragement he performed more religious labor than before. He made long tours among the Indians, hundreds of miles each, traveling four of every five weeks, and witnessing a deep relig- ious interest. " Four years ago," he reported, " this place was a wilderness ; now the song of redemption is echoing through woodland and prairie. . . . Pres- ent number of the church, ninety-eight ; the number of preaching places, twelve." Later: "The improve- ment of the people for the last few years is great, in industry, temperance, cleanliness, thrift, etc." Whole number of members in the two Indian districts, Poshe- mata and Arkansas, about one hundred and sixty. It was in the period of these cheering successes that the American Indian Mission Association was formed. And within the Indian Territory the Choc- taws and Chickasaws became merged in one, under the title of the Choctaw Nation. They adopted a con- stitution of civil government similar to the Constitu- tion of the United States. And Mr. Potts, recognizing the prosperity of mission work and the greater open- ing at this time presented, desired an additional ap- propriation that the Board did not feel prepared to grant. By unanimity on the part of all concerned, he and Mrs. Potts were commissioned at once by the new Association. A MEMORIAL. 93 The Choctaws (the united Nation) were estimated as numbering 16,500. Their settlements indicated in- dustry, comfort, and prosperity, while their civil, so- cial, and literary institutions were in a high degree creditable to them, above those of the original race in North or South America ever before known. A few years later they were reckoned at twenty thou- sand, and half civilized, with eight Baptist missionaries lifting them still higher in the scale of being. The church called Canadian River had sprung into existence through the persecution of the Christians in the adjoining Creek Nation. It first had the services of Rev. Joseph Smedley, but only for a short time, when his children became motherless by the death of his wife, requiring his removal to a more favorable sit- uation in the State of Arkansas. But he was teacher and missionary there a sufficient length of time to win the highest regards of the natives. After ten years, the Indian Association invited him to return to that church and settlement. Interest seemed to have cen- tered there, which was very gratifying, in view of the opposition previously manifested toward the " uptalk- ers," as Christians were called. Mr. Smedley made Pleasant Bluff his home and center, and resumed the work with great zeal, or- ganizing it into four or five important preaching sta- tions, and adding visits to the Creeks, Cherokees, and whites. And after a year he reported interest in edu- cation as " ten times greater " than when he was first there, with some special religious gains. The chief of the district, Peter Folsom, became a worthy member of the church, and gave his aid and influence to the cause 94 POOR LO ! most cheerfully. He felt a desire to do missionary work, and expressed a preference for it above the office of chief. The Board appointed him, and the Yellobu- sha Association of Mississippi assumed his support. A year later, Mr. Smedley ascribes to his influence the conversion and baptism of a number of " full bloods," in a section where great opposition to the Gospel had been manifested. This brings the narrative forward to 1852, when the cause was found to be in a hopeful condition. In 1844-45 a movement was on foot for establish- ing an academy in the Choctaw country, and with good promise of success. The Nation was entitled to an annuity for educational purposes, which it proposed to intrust, in large part, to the Association, and the latter was to supplement it with a considerable amount. A superintendent, Mr. R. D. Potts, assumed the headship; prepared and cultivated forty acres of land, and in sub- sequent years a larger amount, by the aid and for the benefit of the students. The institution was named Armstrong Academy, in honor of a government agent who had favored it, and secured the general respect. P. P. Brown, Jr., and his wife, with Mr. and Mrs. Potts and Miss Chenoweth, did the teaching, and Mr. H. W. Jones operated the farm. All seemed to be interested in the final aim of the school the salvation and up- lifting of the natives and worked to that end with di- rectness and success. L/arge numbers were baptized. Changes occurred in the teaching force ; some native assistants were added, and a healthful tone of relig- ious feeling maintained. An Indian school was opened in 1818 at Blue A MEMORIAL. 95 Springs, near Great Crossings, Scott County, Ken- tucky, called Choctaw Academy, designed to be both literary and industrial. It was under the superin- tendency of the Kentucky Mission Society, while Col. R. M. Johnson, the noted civilian, and the Government were much concerned in its affairs. The Indians did not readily become interested in it, because it was not situated in the Indian country. An agent was neces- sary to a supply of pupils, and only with persuasion could they be obtained. The religious element was effective in leading some to Christ. Its career was re- spectable but brief. Afterward a school described as " near the Lead Mines in Illinois, near the Mississippi River" was understood to be the same. Some effort was made, as early as 1821, for the im- provement and salvation of the Chickasaws, once numbering ten thousand, and dwelling, mostly, with- in and south of Tennessee. The American Board took the work thus begun, in 1827 ; and after seven years of devotion to it the schools were closed and the mission property sold because removal west was the order of the Government. The Nation was merged with the Choctaws. The Baptist Board did but little in their behalf while they continued east of the Missis- sippi, and there is no distinct record of effort for them in the West, except in connection with the Choctaws. 96 POOR 1,0! VII. *smin$l*#FATC/XES; RESISTING REMOVAL; FRIGHTFUL FIGHTING; OSCEOLA AND "BIG KNIFE"; IN THE WEST; JOHN JUMPER; NOTES BY DR. G.J. JOHNSON AND DR.J. S. MUR- ROW. THE Seminoles are the fifth and the smallest of the five Nations now recognized as constituting the main population of the Indian Territory. In the days when " the Injuns " were a public plague and a fright to every home, this tribe was one of the most notorious and troublesome. It is said to have been, originally, a vagrant branch of the Creek Nation. Its euphonious name, and its location among the pines and everglades of Florida, taken with its tragic his- tory, excite great interest in the minds of those who read of it, while believers in missions naturally inquire what has been done for the souls of this people, and by whom. The following description is by Mr. John Mclntosh, who writes as one of the line of the noted Wm. Mcln- tosh, Cherokee chief, and of Florida birth : " The Sem- inoles, or I^ower Creeks, inhabited formerly east and west Florida. They enjoyed a superabundance of the A -MEMORIAL. 97 necessaries of life ; contented and undisturbed, they appeared as blithe and free as the birds of the air, and like them as volatile and active, tuneful and vocifer- ous. The visage, action, and deportment of a Seminole are the most striking picture of happiness in this life. Joy, contentment, love, and friendship without guile or affectation, seem inherent iu them, or predominant in their vital principle ; for it leaves them but with the last breath of life. On the one hand you see among them troops of boys, some fishing, some shooting with the bow, some enjoying one kind of diversion, and some another ; on the other hand are seen bevies of girls wandering through orange groves and over fields and meadows, gathering flowers and berries in their baskets, or lolling under the shades of flowery trees, or chasing one another in sport, and trying to paint each others' faces with the juice of the berries." In 1705 the Seminoles aided in driving the Appa- laches from Florida. In 1817 they united with the Creeks and some negroes, who had taken refuge with them, and ravaged the white settlements on the fron- tiers of Alabama and Georgia, plundering plantations, and carrying off" slaves whom they refused to surrender. Gen. Gaines was sent to restore order, and having failed, for want of a sufficient force, Gen. Jackson was ordered to collect an army and conquer them. Fol- lowing his own counsels, he made the warfare to merge in an expedition to capture some of the Spanish forts in Florida. This he declared to be necessary to the suppression of the savages. His success led him to proceed with a high hand, and to make all stand in awe of him. The Indians called him Big Knife. And 98 POOR the Spanish Government concluded it would be wise to make peace with him and his country ; and this it did by ceding to the United States the whole territory of Florida, receiving some territorial consideration therefor. The Semineles were much affected by this trans- action with Spain. Having been subdued, they could easily read their doom on the clouds, or hear it in the winds that moaned through the pines. "A treaty was made by which they consented to relinquish to the United States by far the better part of their lands, and retire to the center of the peninsula a quarter consist- ing for the most part of pine barrens of the worst de- scription, and terminating toward the south in unex- plored and impassable marshes." The object was to relieve the white settlers of their depredations and the fear of them. Yet the expectation was not realized, for negroes followed and sought refuge with them, giv- ing constant annoyance to their masters. The Indians retired peaceably to the territory assigned them, but not without a council of war, and a show of resistance on the part of some. The Government made liberal pro- visions for them, adding gifts of the necessaries of life, and requiring, only, that they should not harbor ref- ugee slaves, and should strive to save their owners from losing them. Harmony and satisfaction prevailed for some time. Then the Seminoles were annoyed by much intrusion on the part of the blacks, and much complaint from the whites for not sending them back. Difficulties fol- lowed for several years, then it was determined that some means should be employed to remove these In- A MEMORIAL. 99 dians from Florida. "Accordingly, in 1832, on the 9th of May, a treaty was entered into on Ochlawaha River, known by the name of the treaty of Payne's Landing, by which they stipulated to relinquish all their posses- sions in Florida, and emigrate to the country allotted to the Creeks west of the Mississippi ; in considera- of which the Government was to pay fifteen thousand four hundred dollars on their arrival at their new home, and give to each of the warriors, women, and children one blanket and one homespun frock. The whole removal was stipulated to take place within three years after the ratification." Ere long it became apparent that the Indians did not mean to be removed. The territory of Florida was in the hands of the United States, and the Gov- ernor, Mr. Duval, had substituted a chief, Hicks, who was supposed to be favorable to removal, and who fell into the hands of the suspicious Indians and was exe- cuted. His successor, Charles Omathla, shared a sim- ilar fate for the same reason. Nine warriors came into the council of the latter, and there shot nine bullets through his heart. An undoubted character, chieftain and warrior, was then chosen, named Louis, of known hostility to the whites. Gen. Wiley Thompson, Government Agent, con- vened a council composed of several distinguished chiefs; one of them the noted Osceola (Sun War- rior) a half-breed, of warrior build, young, daring, implacable. After Gen. Thompson had harangued the council, as to the advisability of removal, point- ing out the wrongs to which they were then liable, Osceola bade all to remain firm, and with singular im- IOO POOR I ! Zachary Taylor. It was one of the many instances of hommock and swamp warfare, and was disastrous to both sides. It being necessary to abbreviate this narrative, the fate of the notorious, perhaps illustrious, Osceola will only be mentioned. Shortly after his capture he was taken to Charleston and confined in the fort in the harbor, until, with others, he should be sent to the West. And there, in Fort Moultrie, on January 30, 1838, he died of catarrhal fever. Dr. J. S. Murrow states that he died of a broken heart. Dead, but not dis- graced by being " shipped " to Arkansas. His name will stand in the South as does that of Philip of Poca- noket in the East a name on which to build a story of bravery and bloodshed for country and kindred, scarcely excelled. This year, 1838, General Jesup and other officers were beginning to contemplate more seriously the difficulties in the way of removing the Seminoles, notwithstanding their own successes; and a com- munication was addressed to the Secretary of War, suggesting that they be permitted to remain in that part of Florida where " no one else could live." The suggestion met with no favor, and the process of se- curing squads of m5u, women, and children Indians and negroes went slowly on. Gen. Jesup was ordered to proceed with them to the Cherokee country, leaving Gen. Taylor in command in Florida. Many of the chiefs had been sent out of the country, and some were aboard his transports. Of the latter, two did not live to reach their destination Jumper, dying at the barracks in New Orleans April 19, and King Philip, A MEMORIAL. 107 who died on his boat in July, below Fort Gibson. The former was buried under arms, and with much cere- mony ; the latter, on shore, with the honors of war one hundred guns being discharged over his grave. In October seven thousand regular troops were sent to Florida, and Gen. Taylor, being authorized, sent to Cuba for a large number of bloodhounds, to scent out the Indians, and for Spaniards to manage them. The expedient was moderately successful, and had its humorous as well as tragical features. A more humane method was also tested. A deputa- tion of those Seminoles who had been living for some time beyond the Mississippi was sent for, with a hope that they would be able to persuade their countrymen to remove to the West. Fourteen chiefs, and others of high standing, among them the noted chiefs Alligator, Holatoochee, and Micanopy, representing those who had been violently opposed to removal, undertook the hopeless cause. To prove their sincerity, they left their wives and children and made a march of four days, one hundred miles, and made the effort in good faith. Six days were occupied in conferences, without any known stirring of " bad blood "; then, in the night and very unceremoniously, all of the Florida Indians in council left for their old haunts, and their absence was not discovered until morning. Those from Ar- kansas were " utterly astonished " at this outcome. And Gen. Armistead, commanding there (Fort King), despairing of a successful termination of the war by pacific measures, immediately ordered the command- ers of regiments to put their troops in motion. Slaughter and removal proceeded, as either became 108 POOR LO! possible, until eight years of the terrible business had passed, when, it may be said, though with a double meaning, that the Seminoles were " removed." Hun- dreds and thousands fell in conflict; a considerable number fell on their westward journey, and died without a country, while others became the victims of disease and crime in their new situation. And thus all were "removed." Who gained the victory? Death ! Speaking of " the proper fruits " of evangelizing among the Indians, Dr. G. J. Johnson, after a personal visit, says : " When John Jumper, the chief of the Seminoles, first became a believer and rejoiced in the Christian's hope, he said ' I want all my children to know about this '; meaning, by his ' children/ the peo- . pie of his tribe. And from that time he has been an earnest Christian, and not only in his private life done what he could, but as a minister and pastor also has been somewhat active notwithstanding the duties of head chief were, at the same time, for many years required of him." He observes that Indians build meetinghouses, as the four good ones he helped to dedicate testify. They do a little in support of pas- tors, colporter, missionary and Sunday-school work, notwithstanding their poverty, enforced, in part, by lack of incentive to labor for permanent homes. As to credit for these fruits he says : " The greater credit for this work done in the In- dian Territory, so far as Baptists are concerned, should be given to our brethren of the Southern Baptist Con- vention. They have, more fully than our brethren in the North, believed in the possibility and hopefulness A MEMORIAL. lOQ of Indian evangelization, and have done much more in supporting missionaries, building houses and aiding other work there. And this was fit and proper, for a large proportion of these Indians have always been Southern in their sympathies ; many of the Indians were slaveholders in the days of that institution, and during the War of the Rebellion espoused the cause of the Confederacy, and some enlisted in its army." It is through the immediate observation of the writer of the above that the reader is favored with a definite and reliable characterization of this illustrious Seminole. His name will always appear in the Indian annals, and be cherished by the denomination whose principles he conscientiously embraced and firmly maintained. Dr. J. states, in substance : " John Jumper, a nephew of the old war chief Jump- er, is a noble specimen of an Indian man, a Christian, and a Baptist minister. He is a full-blooded Seminole, fifty-five years old, with slight gray tinging his jet black hair, six feet and four inches in height, and weighs two hundred and twenty-five pounds. His features indicate fair intelligence and strong will, and yet great benevolence, all of which are said to prom- inently characterize him. He is earnest and active as a Christian, and loves the work of the ministry. Withal, he is somewhat wealthy, and is, therefore, in his circumstances, as well as by constitution, a natural leader among the people of his tribe. He has held the position of head chief of the Seminoles for about twenty-five years, until a few months since, when he declined a reelection, that, as he said, he might devote himself more fully to the preaching of the Gospel among his people." no POOR LO! The above is well sustained in a personal notice by Rev. J. S. Murrow, D. D., Superintendent of Mis- sions in the Indian and Oklahoma Territories, writ- ten twenty years later, and published in The Home Mission Monthly, viz.: " John Jumper emigrated to In- dian Territory with the first bands of Seminoles who came west. He was then about twenty-five years old. Soon after he was elected principal chief of the semi- noles, which position he held for twenty-five or thirty years. He is a man of fine sense, impartial judgment and excellent administratrive tact and capacity. The Seminoles, though the smallest of the five civilized tribes, have maintained a respectable and influential position, chiefly through Jumper's leadership. He has been to Washington City several times in the interest of his people, and always won the respect of the lead- ing public men of that city." He became a Christian in 1855, and united with the Presbyterian Church. Afterward witnessing the administration of baptism in Canadian River, by Dr. Murrow, he was led to investigate the subject. The result was that in 1860 he became a Baptist, and in 1865 was ordained. Dr. Murrow further states: "He has ever since been a tower of strength to our Baptist interests among the Muskogees, Seminoles, and the wild tribes on the western border of this Territory. John Jumper is a deep thinker. I have heard him deliver in his own language sermons that abounded in profound thought; solid truth, delivered in the most tender and pathetic style. . . . His last days are being spent in securing a correct translation of the New Testament into his native tongue, the com- mon language of the Muskogees and the Seminoles." A MEMORIAL. Ill A glimpse of later experiences of the Seminoles embraces further accounts of their religious history ; and without this the foregoing would scarcely be satis- factory to the reader. Still, these sketches, as a whole, can not be made to reach a point later than the mid- dle of the century. To do more requires another vol- ume. The following letter is self-explanatory. The writer of it, who speaks with modesty, is awarded special recognition by the friends of missions, for the important and leading part he has maintained in the cause of the Seminoles. ATOKA, INDIAN TERRITORY, March 10, 1896. Rev. W. N. Wyeth, D. D. DEAR BROTHER : Prof. W. P. Blake has referred to me your letter to him requesting a brief history of the mis- sion work among the Seminoles, with a request that I reply. I am familiar with the history of that nation, being almost the father and founder of it. I hastily dictate the following data. The Seminoles sold all their lands in Florida in 1832, and agreed to move within three years to the West. Many of the Creeks, or Muskogees, had already moved to this country. The Creeks and Seminoles are one people. The Seminoles came, 1833 to "36. They settled on Ah-chin-na- hut-che (Little River) in western portion of Creek Nation. At that time both these tribes were bitterly opposed to the introduction of Christianity among them. They brought with them many negroes, most of whom were slaves. Among these negroes were a few Christians. The Indians would not permit these negroes to hold religious meet- ings. They were watched closely, and when the Indian light horseman discovered any number few or more in 112 POOR 1,O! secret Christian meeting, they were severely punished by being tied to trees or posts, *and whipped fearfully on the bare back. This gradually passed away. Some of the In- dians became interested in Christianity. The laws against " praying " were repealed. Missionaries were allowed to settle in both Nations, and the Indians and negroes per- mitted to hold meetings and organize churches. The Presbyterians were the first to begin mission work among the Seminoles. Rev. John L,illy and Rev. Robert Ramsey established a mission on Little River in 1852. For several years it was quite successful. There was a good school, and a church was organized. About the same time Rev. Monday Durant, a negro Baptist preacher among the Creeks, began visiting and preaching to the negroes among the Seminoles. He was not a slave; was an earnest Christian and good preacher. A church was organized in 1854, at first composed wholly of negroes. The first Seminole convert was James Factor, quite a prominent man, a good interpreter, and a warm friend of the chief, John Jumper. The Seminoles were very indig- nant. Factor was arrested and brought before a large council. Some advocated that he be shot; others, that he be expatriated ; and others, that he be severely beaten and compelled to renounce Christianity. He remained firm, and declared that he would never renounce his new-found joy and hope. Chief Jumper had himself secretly become interested in Christianity, through the Presbyterian mis- sionaries, and sought to release Factor. The trial was put off from time to time, until public indignation was al- layed, and Factor was pardoned. Some time after, Jumper was converted, and united with the Presbyterians. About this time, 1855, Rev. John D. Bemo, a half-breed Seminole, who had been partially educated by the Presbyterians in Philadelphia, was sent out by their Board to ..einforce the work in the Creek and A MEMORIAL. 113 Seminole Nation. He settled among his own people. Af- terwards he met Rev. H. F. Buckner, Baptist missionary, and some of the Creek Baptist preachers, became converted to Baptist faith and practice, and was baptized and or- dained. In 1857 J. S. Murrow was sent out by the Southern Board, from Georgia, and settled among the Seminoles on Little River. Bemo and Murrow worked together, and the Holy Spirit blessed their labors abundantly. Several churches were organized among the Creeks. In 1859-60 the Seminoles moved sixty miles farther west, upon a reservation set apart by the U. S. Government. In this new country, in the spring of 1861, Mr. Murrow organized the first Baptist Church among the Seminoles. It was called E-su-hut-che (Ash Creek). Chief John Jumper was one of the first to unite with it by baptism after its organization, he having become converted from Presbyterian ism to Baptist faith and practice. The his- tory of his conversion is quite interesting. The church grew rapidly. Baptisms were frequent. But, alas ! the dark days of war drew near. The Indians were forced to take sides. Half of the Seminoles chose to remain loyal to the United States. They removed fled to Kansas with their wives, children, stock, and all else they could carry. The warriors of the other half were mustered as soldiers in the regular Confederate Army. Ere long their families, too, were compelled to become refugees. They removed south, towards Texas. The whole country was full of outlaws. White guerillas from both sides, led by a few Indians of like lawless disposition, made the Territory a common raiding ground. Stock of all kinds was driven both north and south, and sold to the armies. // was an mi'ful time. Robbery, murder, lawlessness were rampant. The passions of red and white were given loose rein. Each side devastated the possessions of the other. Even the 114 POOR LO ! missionaries were divided. Mr. Bemo went north, Mr. Murrow south. The Seminole church was nearly all with the southern wing. Churches among all the Indian tribes were broken up, because all the tribes, except the Choc- taws and Chickasaws, were divided and had become ref- ugees from their homes. The Seminole church, however, continued intact. Mr. Murrow remained with -his people. There were several thousand Seminoles and Creeks, and he . was appointed, by the Confederate Government, Sub- sistence Agent for these destitute Indian women, children, and old men. He bought large quantities of beef, cattle, corn, meal, flour, salt in Texas, and distributed the same to them. . At the same time the mission work was uninterrupted. The camps were necessarily moved every few months. The erection of a large arbor in the center of the camp was usu- ally one of the first things attended to. Meetings were held regularly. Only one Lord's Day, during three years of this camp-life, was there no service. Mr. Murrow bap- tized over two hundred Indians during those years. Fi- nally the war closed. Messrs. Jumper and Factor were ordained, and returned with their people to [their devas- tated country. Mr. Murrow settled among the Choctaws, frequently visiting the Seminoles. In 1874 Rev. A. J. Holt, of Texas, settled among the Seminoles as missionary. He remained less than two years, and removed to Anadarko, among the Blanket Indians. There are now four Indian, and two or three negro churches, with about four hun- dred members, among the Seminoles. Yours, J. S. MURROW. There is an important institution of learning, also, the Seminole Academy, under the principalship of Prof. W. P. Blake. A MEMORIAL. 115 VIII. CARED FOR,- MOVING WEST,- AMONG THE WYANDOTS; CHIEF JOURNEYCAKE, FAMILY AND CHURCH. AT the beginning of the last century (A. D. 1700) there existed in western New York a confederacy of Indians known as the Five Nations. These were the Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Oneida. The league seems to have been formed without for- mality and without a date. It was a growth. The Mo- hawk, being the oldest and strongest Nation, drew to itself younger and weaker ones. The Tuscaroras from Carolina entered the confederacy later, causing it to be called, also, the Six Nations. It had prominence for a long period, not s6 much in its federate form as in its racial character. When Indians were Anakims and numerous they attracted attention and excited fear ; but since the white race has multiplied most, and out- stripped them on all lines of civilization, they are now neither feared nor followed, and are less and less estimated as elements of American life. It is barely known that remnants of those "Nations" still occupy places in tue State of New York. n6 POOR 1,0! But in the early part of the present century (A. D. 1800) they drew from Christian people that regard which the teaching of Jesus Christ requires. Being regarded as heathen, efforts for their evangelization began at religious centers. First, by the New York Missionary Society, in 1801. Then, in 1807, by the " L,ake Baptist Missionary Society," having head- quarters at Hamilton, New York, near the heart of the State. The latter town was a radiating center of religious power, and expedients for helping the help- less were there devised and put into effective use. The Society was chartered as the " Hamilton Baptist Mis- sionary Society." It sent the best preachers it could obtain to the front ; some to the Five Nations. In the same year (1807) the Spirit that called up- on the Church at Antioch to separate Paul and Barna- bas for a mission to the heathen, was inspiring young men at Williams College to undertake similar work in the East. There were two centers at which special acts of consecration were witnessed by the Omniscient One at about the same time. The one in a meadow near the above college, and at the side of a stack of hay, where a few students met to fast and pray, and consider their duty to the benighted nations of Earth ; the other, on the brow of a hill where now stands Colgate University, and where a saint of God bowed at the side of the first tree felled upon his farm, and gave himself and his entire possessions, with what he might acciimulate, to God and to truth. A church, an institution of Christian learning, a radiating center of truth, bestowing its blessings upon the darkened habi- tations of all lands, attended the consecration. The A MEMORIAL. 117 bended knee upon the cold ground, in both cases, drew the divine benediction. Eastward and westward flew the angels of mercy, sent and supported by these nurseries of piety, upon which came the blessing of those neglected and ready to perish. The Five Nations felt the power at Hamilton, which, in other forms, has continued to this hour. Though they have lost their national significance, they are better in every respect by reason of those who have carried to them the glad tidings ; while numbers, once identified with them, are, doubtless, shouting hosannas in the heavenly world by reason of what was done for them in this. Baptist missions were main- tained for the Tuscarora and other tribes in northwest- ern New York for fully forty years 1809-1850. Other denominations have had a large force of workers on the same field. The dispersion of the Five Nations, the ceding of their lands to the United States in the early part of the present century, and the loss of the racial ambition represented in the great Cayuga chief, Logan, and in the Seneca chief and giant, Red Jacket, resulted in diminutive reservations within the State of New York, and a lessened missionary zeal in their be- half. As early as 1824 a mission was established at Tona- wanda, New York (not far from Niagara Falls), by the Genesee Baptist Missionary Society, to benefit a com- pany of Indians composed of remnants of the Seneca and Tuscarora tribes. The station was placed just outside the limits of their possessions, to avoid an ap- pearance of seeking to gain their lands. Many chil- dren were supported and instructed. Buildings were n8 POOR 1^0! erected and some conversions secured. Abel Bingham and his wife, and Miss Sophronia L,yncoln were en- gaged in carrying on the school. After about ten years, or in 1833, this mission is observed to be prospering, and under the supervision of a Board appointed by the Baptist Convention of the State of New York ; Rev. Eli Stone, Superinten- dent. Its property at that time consisted of one hun- dred and twenty-four acres of land, with buildings, in- cluding a schoolhouse. The church was composed of thirty members ; besides, the missionary family had a house and maintained regular worship. From twenty- five to thirty-five children were usually taught, fed, and clothed at the station ; many of them being able to read the Bible with ease and propriety. " Should this people ever emigrate to the West," wrote Mr. Stone, " they will carry the Bible and the Savior." After another decade Rev. A. Warren, preacher and superintendent, with Mrs. Warren and two other female assistants the mission seems to have had suc- cess in leading the Indians to Christ. A good number had been baptized at the main station, and a still larger number in a neighboring settlement. Yet Indian churches do not become large, owing, in part, to the migratory, or nomadic, life of the natives. The boys had been taught practical agriculture, and the girls housewifery ; and there was an increase of industry and temperance. The Stockbridge Indians are remembered as a Mas- sachusetts tribe, and subjects of missionary effort by John Sargeant, Jonathan Edwards, and others, about the middle of the eighteenth century. Their "star" A MEMORIAL. 1 19 .moved westward, of course, and they settled in the State of New York, where, in 1828, the American Board met them with a vanguard of missionaries, whose work is traceable for ten years. In 1838 the tribe is found, in whole or in part, in Wisconsin. The annals of Isaac McCoy contain the following interest- ing facts: A band of Stockbridge Indians in Wisconsin Territory, originally from the State of New York, treated with the United States in September (1838), and sold half their land, and about one half of them agreed to remove to the West. These, anticipating the ratification of their treaty by the vSenate of the United States, emigrated on their own re- sources, and reached the country of the Delawares in De- cember. They removed under a belief that Govern- ment was prepared to give them land, and immediately on their arrival called on me to ascertain where they could find a suitable location, when it appeared that in their treaty there was no stipulation providing a home for them. They are somewhat related to the Delawares, and they ap- plied to them for permission to settle on their lands, which was granted upon the condition that the United States would add somewhat to their tract. The Stockbridges then applied to me to endeavor to get an amendment to their treaty, by the United States Senate, to provide land as desired by them and the Delawares. The two parties propose to occupy the same tract in common, and that the Stockbridge shall become merged in the Delaware tribe. Among these late immigrants are several who are pious, and the brethren Lykins, Barker, and Blanchard have estab- lished religious meetings among them in their encamp- ment in the wilderness, the exercises of which have been very satisfactory. I2O POOR LO ! Henry Skiggett, native assistant in the Delaware mission, had been visiting the Stockbridges in Wis- consin, and had met a fellow Christian there, with whom he united in religious services in their behalf. And on their journey they had prayers, and other relig- ious exercises, to which zeal and fidelity may be at- tributed the conversion of some of them, who, not long afterward, were baptized, and became members of the Delaware church. From 1840 Stockbridge became one of the stations of the Shawauoe mission, which, on January 31, 1842, was organized, and authorized to elect officers through whom the Board might transact business. Rev. and Mrs. J. G. Pratt were authorized to remove to Stockbridge at the earnest solicitation of the Indians of that place, taking the printing press and a lady teacher ; the natives engaging to aid in erecting a printing office and a schoolhouse. This prospect of enlargement was clouded, through that peculiar disposi- tion common to humanity jealousy. The Delawares, on whose territory they were, professed to fear "lest the Stockbridges become too wise, and outwit their great-grandfather, the Delaware chief." Yet Mr. Pratt continued to visit them from Sabbath' to Sabbath, thirty miles distant, often accompanied by the teacher, Miss Jane Kelly. Eventually the way was opened for settlement there, and it was effected under auspicious circumstances. The congregations were large, some- times composed in part of white settlers, and acces- sions of Stockbridges from Green Bay were fre- quent. Messrs. Pratt and Blanchard, teachers, were formally set apart to the work of the ministry. And it was at about this time that there appeared one of A MEMORIAL. 121 the most important factors with which the Indian mis- sion has been favored a Delaware chief, Charles Jour- ney cake. The Christians at Stockbridge were constituted an independent church in 1845, and continued as such, in good internal condition, though but for a short time. The claims of the Delaware station were peculiar, and made it seem expedient that Mr. Pratt and Miss Morse assume its care. The Stockbridge station was discon- tinued, and the community declined. Members of the church there transferred their membership, or church attendance to Delaware. The Delawares, one of the most interesting and prominent of all the tribes, have a mythical and a real history. The latter, only, is of importance. The orig- inal name is given as Lenni Lenape, and Lin-nop-pe. The present name is derived from that of Lord De La War. They came into general notice while they popu- lated the region of the Delaware and Potomac Rivers, once having been the principal inhabitants of the state of Pennsylvania, and those with whom William Penn made his treaty. With the advancement of the white population they, with others, were urged westward, and are now found in the Indian Territory. The country assigned them has a peculiar shape. It lies in the fork of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers; the former coming in from the west, and the latter from the northwest. The north line, beginning at the confluence of the two rivers, follows the course of the Missouri, northward, for twenty-three miles, to Fort Leavenworth ; then breaks westward. The south line takes nearly the same course ; and the two, running 122 POOR parallel from the bend westward, inclose a strip two hundred and eight miles long and but ten miles wide. The ordinary rifle, stdfck and barrel, may represent its shape and proportions, the shoulder piece abutting upon the Missouri. The inhabitants occupy the east- ern end, near the confluence ; have good cabins, en- close their fields, and cultivate them. Though not the high-spirited, powerful, and war-going people that their ancestors were, they have the aids and some of the fruits of civilized life. The Delaware station was from its beginning a part of the Shawanoe mission. As early as 1831 a single woman, Miss Mary Walton, of Massachusetts, commenced work for the Delawares, and has the first place on the list of those who, in the West, conse- crated themselves to their good. She continued her lonely life among savages for some years, when she was married to a teacher, Mr. Ira D. Blanchard, and lived to continue her work during the many years of his connection with the mission. The missionaries at Shawanoe had preached for some years to the Dela- wares, beginning as early as 1833, and on their appli- cation Mr. Blanchard was appointed by the Govern- ment, they supervising his work. He began with forty-four pupils, a large proportion of whom soon learned to read on the new system. A year later, 1835, an arrangement was made, with the positive approbation of the chiefs, for the permanent establish- ment of an English school. This was entrusted to Miss Sylvia Case, and Mr. Blanchard devoted a large part of his time to a new translation of a Harmony of the Gospels, or L,ife of Christ, first translated by Mr. A MEMORIAL. 123 David Zeisberger, Moravian. Native teaching pros- pered wonderfully. Those who learned to read im- parted the benefit they received, by sitting in compa- nies and reading " Jesus' Word " to their parents and friends. In a short time an hundred Indians could sing all the hymns contained in a small book that had been prepared. Miss Elizabeth S. Morse, Concord, Vermont, entered the mission in 1837 as assistant teacher. In 1851 she wrote a descriptive account of the station location, buildings, and daily occupations in which it was stated : ** Instruction was given to adults from books in the native language, the teacher passing from settlement to settlement, here teaching a little group and there a sin- gle individual, as the unsettled disposition of the people afforded opportunity. At the expiration of the first year twenty had learned to read their native tongue. In the course of a few years this mode of itinerant instruction was superseded, in part, by the opening of an English boarding-school of ten pupils, open to either sex. The site of the Delaware station was originally one mile from the Kansas River, on its northern bank, and fif- teen from its junction with the Missouri. It was deemed desirable, after a course of years, to remove the station from its low, damp, river bottom, to high, airy prairie. The site selected is seventeen miles from Fort L,eaven- worth, the headquarters of the United States military operations in the Northwest, and hear the great thor- oughfare to those inviting regions which stretch along the Pacific shore. New buildings were erected, and in the spring of 1848 the interests of the station were committed to the present incumbents. 124 POOR 1,0 ! The new premises were named " Briggsvale School," "intended," in the words of Miss Morse, "as a com- pliment to the president of the Missionary Union, Governor Geo. N. Briggs, whose unfaltering interest in its designs of love and mercy has won for him our highest esteem." A pictorial sketch represents them as very attractive ; a cluster of five buildings, of which the largest one is frame, fifty-six feet square, situated on fenced and cultivated grounds. There, quiet from the fear .of evil, except from the white man, the pupils were led into habits of early rising and morning wor- ship, housework and needlework, reading and mem- orizing the Old and New Testaments, with drill in the various common-school branches and attention to re- creation and manners. A year later Miss Morse had occasion to deplore the ravages of disease, and the paganism manifest in the views of it taken by many who suffered it, while she rejoiced that all the believers were passed over by the angel of death, and remained firm in the faith of the Gospel. " Each year," she added, " our con- viction deepens, that Indian youth possess natural ability to go as far in intellectual pursuits as their neighbors of fairer skin. Suitable opportunity is un- questionably the only thing wanting. . . . Out of school hours the scholars attend to work adapted to their years. The girls make and repair their own and the boys' garments, so far as time will permit. They use the needle with much skill and neatness. . . . Month after month, and year after year, I go on, hoping to aid in fastening some right principles in young minds, or to induce some of these prairie chil- A MEMORIAL. 125 dren to love and praise the L,ord Jesus, thus uniting their hosannas with those in the Temple, whose joy- ful praise He accepted in the days of His earthly so- journ." Later in the same year she had glad occasion to mention the larger fruition of her hopes'. A number of the girls, just becoming young women, became happy converts, and made a joyful baptismal occasion for the mission. "Our 'Jordan,' " she wrote, "is by no means a flowing stream, bearing on its banks the luxuriant growth of ages of vegetation, but a little pool in the prairie, canopied only by the sky. We made our way to the spot through the tall prairie grass, variegated by beautiful wild flowers, and found no difficulty in obeying the command of the Savior." " A valuable man," brother of the interpreter, also was baptized at this time. And a Wyandot woman was so impressed by the ordinance and the solemni- ties of the day as to give herself to Christ, and be baptized. The Delawares in 1859 owned a tract of country sixty miles east and west, and about twenty-four miles north and south, bounded on the south by the Kan- sas River, on the east by the Missouri River, or State of Missouri. The soil, timber, and water are very good. They depend for subsistence on their farms, mainly, which are good, and made to produce all the cereals and vegetables abundantly. The slow and reluctant migration of the Delawares from the Atlantic seaboard to the western wilds is a part of the memorable and sad Indian history. It required nearly a century for its accomplishment, and 126 POOR LO! that " a century of dishonor." The familiar complaint of broken treaties and of distrust and depression of spirits on the part of the Aborigines forms a doleful chapter in the life of this famous Nation. It was with weary feet that their painful march was made from their old haunts and hunting-grounds on the Poto- mac, the Susquehanna, the Delaware, and the Hudson, through mountain regions to a country of which they knew only what the distrusted white people told them. They stopped for a time in Ohio and Indiana, con- taining much of the territory ceded to them by the treaty. They centered first in three towns, Gnaden- hiitten being the principal one, all on the banks of the upper Muskingum, in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. But there was no rest for them there. Being largely Mo- ravian converts, and having their spiritual guides with them, they naturally acquired sentiments and habits of peace. But this circumstance, in a strange way, ex- cited contempt for them from the white settlers, who subjected them to terrible outrages, and forced their removal to Sandusky, Ohio. Some of them, pressed by want, returned to the Muskingum to secure the crops from which they had been driven, and there suf- fered still greater indignities than before. Ninety of them, it is said, were brutally massacred. Others fled to Canada. The settlement on the Sandusky occurred shortly before Col.' William Crawford's bloody campaign, which was attended with such dire disaster to his army and to himself personally. The Christian Indians who remained there were involved with the mass, and the consequences of war fell upon them without dis- A MEMORIAL. 127 crimination. One of these effects was disastrous to both sides ; the Indians' implacable jealousy and hatred of the whites acting to prevent Christian labor in their behalf stopping missionary effort, and shutting them- selves out of heaven. In the course of years, or at the beginning of this century (A. D. 1800), a Christrian Delaware was not to be found in the Sandusky coun- try. Time wore away some of the animosity, and changes occurred. The Methodists espoused the cause of the Wyandots, who adjoined and mingled with the Del- awares. A colored freeman, of Virginia, uneducated, but filled with the Spirit, was led to go northwest and proclaim the terms of the Gospel ; and, without being authorized by his denomination, he set out, " not know- ing whither he went." Finally arriving at a Delaware town on the Sandusky, " he was conducted to an In- dian cabin and seated." Not knowing the Indian language, he could not make himself at all interest- ing by conversation. A dance was the order of the evening, and, not familiar with Indian violence, the gyrations and gesticulations became so frightful as to alarm him. He was moved, however, to take his hymn book from his pocket, and sing. This excited deep attention. When he ceased, one said, in English, " Sing more." He complied, and then asked for an interpreter, through whom he delivered a religious discourse, which drew close attention. Then he was given refreshment and rest for the night. He went on to Upper Sandusky, and called upon the United States Sub-Agent for the Wyandots, who thought him to be a runaway, but afterward took him into his confidence 128 POOR I,O! and sustained him through a severe ordeal of discus- sion with opponents. By means of an interpreter he contended for the truth, against Romanism, Paganism, and Indian prejudices, and won a verdict for the Bible and religion, the Agent being umpire. The scene as described might engage a dramatic pen with great effect. All attempts upon the unlettered youth were unavailing. But " his toils, fasting, and fatigue laid the foundation for a premature death." Such was the beginning of evangelism among the Wyandots, prior to 1820, by John Steward, African. Rev. J. B. Finley, noted Methodist, took charge of the mission, and con- tinued in it for seven years. It gained a member- ship of three hundred, and inspired confidence in the possibility of Indian evangelization. Then, the West ! The West and extinction ! In the Sandusky country, and in the period and circumstances mentioned, there sprang a Delaware who was destined to build better than he knew. It was Charles Journeycake. His mother could speak the English and several Indian dialects, and became an expert interpreter. When the Methodist mission re- ferred to came into existence, in such a 'singular man- ner, and after several attempts made in the usual way had failed, she served it as interpreter. The mission- aries were invited to hold meetings in her home, and the Scripture learned while in their service proved to be seed sown on good ground. She is said tb have been the first Christian among the Delawares in this country. She immediately adopted Christian customs and stated times of family devotion. When the time came for removal to the reserva- A MEMORIAL. 131 the change with their people, only a few of whom ac- cepted the offer to remain and hold lands in sever- alty. It was then that their tribal existence ceased. They became identified with the Cherokees. Their chieftaincy was extinguished, and he who bore the honor with such credit until he was fifty years of age became a private citizen, and bore the dignity of a worthy Christian and useful minister to the end of his days. A Baptist Church was organized and a house of worship erected near his home, in which he felt the deepest interest. It became very prosperous. The first house was destroyed by a tornado, and another built, he paying a large part of the cost. Being adapt- ed to leadership, both by nature and by grace, his or- dination to the ministry was called for, and, after much reluctance on his part, it took place. He assumed the pastorate of his home church, and held it to the end of his life, though in his later years its duties were discharged by missionaries, and others, in great degree. His influence, which was powerful and widely felt, was due to his sterling integrity, sound judgment, calmness in deliberation, and deep interest in the cause of the Red Men. He was uniformly selected to visit the city of Washington in behalf of Indian interests. The love of hunting, riding, and driving remained in him to the last. Yet, after the death of his good wife (a full- blood, like himself), who had been his trusted coun- sellor and sympathizing companion for fifty-six years, he pined and had a far-away look, as if expecting soon to go to her. And thus it proved. Within one year of her death he departed January 3, 1894 leaving 132 POOR i/> ! a large, hospitable home and a wide domain, with the church he loved to the end, and the legacy of a life which those might covet who consider the only good Indian to be a "dead Indian." The testimony of the friend heretofore quoted will add interest to this chapter : As we intimated in a previous letter, the Delawares, who number about one thousand, also reside in the Cher- okee country, and are citizens of that Nation. They are the little remnant of that once vast and powerful tribe that originally had their home on the banks of the river from which they take their name, and thence were spread out over the wild country reaching toward the Hudson on the north, and the Potomac south, and with whom Wm. Penn made his celebrated treaty two hundred years ago. Driven before the advancing wave of civilization, they first removed into Ohio, then into Indiana, and at length to the wild territory beyond the Missouri, now Kansas. Here they long rested, but eight years ago they again gave place to the white man, and crossed over to another new home in the Indian Territory. The occasion of my third visit to the Territory was in the autumn of 1872, to attend the dedication of a new house of worship, erected by the Delaware Baptist Church a house that had cost about one thousand three hun- dred dollars, and at that time was much the best meet- inghouse in the Territory and the ordination of Bro. Charles Journeycake, familiarly known as " Charley Jour- neycake," as pastor of the church. Bro. Journeycake is a remarkable man, probably sixty-five years of age, tall in stature, and of amiable and intelligent looks. In 1838, when Rev. J. G. Pratt was sent out from Bos- ton, by the old Triennial Convention, as a missionary to the Delawares beyond the Missouri River, Journey- A MEMORIAL. 133 (^ J cake was then a young man, and knew nothing of Christ. His little girl attended the mission school and learned to read, and he, while holding his child in his lap, learned his letters from her, and finally became able to read, and developed a passion for reading and knowledge. He was soon converted and, continuing to advance, has finally be- come intelligent and somewhat wealthy. He is the sec- ond chief in his tribe, as well as pastor of the Baptist Church the only church among his people. G. J. John- son, D. D. 134 POOR IX. tt*nm; MISSIONARY ASSAILED. fUmm; ABOUT THE LAKES. CHARACTER AND DESTINY. -fl/ff. /IMP ;W?S. MERRILL. ma- lm; HOPE DEFERRED. Ottawas were made an object of missionary -*- exertion as early as 1823, by Rev. Isaac McCoy. They were then in Michigan, in the region of the pres- ent city of Grand Rapids. There they received kind and helpful attentions from William Polke, Rev. and Mrs. Leonard Slater, Rev. and Mrs. Jotham Meeker, Mr. and Mrs. R. D. Potts, and others, and were much improved mentally, materially, and religiously. Mr. Slater organized a second mission, Richland, about fifty miles northeast of Thomas, the first one, which was maintained for about eighteen years, and brought up to a very satisfactory state. Meantime Mrs. Slater died (June 24, 1850), after a useful service among the Indians of twenty-four years. The Thomas station was discontinued in 1836, the Indians having ceded their lands to the United States ; and the other ceased in 1854, because the chief and many others had re- solved to join their tribe west of the Mississippi, ex- pecting that their appropriation from Government A MEMORIAL. 135 would be continued there. The number of Ottawas in Michigan had diminished from five thousand to four thousand in twelve years ; though, previously, they had increased, in thirty years, from two thousand eight hundred to about double this number. Thus, again it appears that the Indian need not have been a diminish- ing race. The territory of the Ottawas in the West was, in 1840, about seven miles square, thirty miles west of the State of Missouri, and immediately south of the Shawanoes. The mission was one of the cluster named " Shawanoe Mission." Mr. Meeker settled there, forty miles south of Shawan.oe station, where he received a welcome on account of acquaintance formed with the same people, the Ottawas, in Michigan. He printed, at Shawanoe, a Reader in the Ottawa dialect, which created much interest, followed by increased at- tendance upon all the appointments of the mission. In the early part of that year (1840), and while the religious interest flourished, and baptisms were quite constant, opposition arose. The principal chief, Ot- to wukkee, took offense at " the boldness of Peter and John," missionary and native assistant, and measures were taken to break up the mission. The chief sent calls throughout the entire tribe, and to the Ojibwas, to meet in council at once at his house, where he lay sick. On the day of the council Mr. Meeker was sum- moned to appear. The ground was swept clean, out- side the house, and the natives seated thereon in a ring, with the chief lying on a bed, and Mr. Meeker opposite. Two American flags had been hoisted to impart dignity to the proceedings, and the counte- 136 POOR 1,0! nances of all betokened serious business. Chief Ot- to wukkee was able to arise, and introduce the subject, but being too sick to speak he called up one Komp- chaw, who proceeded to attack the missionary, saying that it was never the wish of the Indians that he should build and settle there; that he was doing great mischief by separating families and friends, following this statement with an enumeration of various crimes of which he was reported to be guilty. The accuser having finished his remarks, Mr. Meeker made his defense, without an interpreter, occu- pying about an hour in considering and refuting the several points, producing the authority of the Commis- sioner of Indian Affairs for his residence in the Nation, and closed with a discourse on the nature and doc- trines of Christianity. The chief interrupted, and also followed him in a defiant air, claiming the right of the Indians to do as they pleased in their own country, and reiterating the charge of fraud as practiced on them by the whites. Kompchaw again spoke, modi- fying his charges against Mr. Meeker, and entered an abusive complaint against the native assistant, David Green (Shong-gwesh Mink}, who replied with re- markable skill and courage. His accuser then admon- ished the Indians to not listen to anything calculated to create disturbance, and to do all they could to maintain their old customs. The council then closed a failure, except as the mission was vindicated in its proceedings. Wawindossunk, a new convert, said that he was all the time praying to the Great Spirit for the missionary. The Chief became more ill, through the excite- A MEMORIAL 137 ment of the council, and in a few days died, having thrown man}' of his conjuring enchantments into the fire, and declared that if he should recover he would pray as long as he lived. Conversions were taking place continually, and numbers were baptized in the Osage River, while the meetings were largely attended. The work progressed during the summer following, and in August Mr. M. could write as follows : Although opposers are almost constantly threatening to destroy our property, to injure our persons, and to drive us out of the country, still the killing of about a dozen hogs is all the injury they have done us. The cause of the Redeemer is gradually advancing ; the native brethren are all increasing in zeal and holiness of life, our meet- ings are full and interesting, and we have reason to hope that the good work of the Lord will still go on. The Christians have nearly all learned to read in their own language. ._ The Ottawas have taken surprising interest in edu- cation. An influential member, an Ottawa by adop- tion, Rev. John Tecumseh Jones, was prominent in the councils which established the University of Ottawa, Kansas, and for which they showed great liberality in a donation of lands. They declared a desire for the education of their children; a "unanimous and earn- est wish that when they grow up they shall assume the habits and customs, and be able to discharge the duties of American citizens." The Ojibwas, now Chippewas, inhabiting a region a little distance southeast of Lake Superior, attracted the special attention of Government in 1827. An an- nuity of one thousand dollars was proffered toward 138 POOR 1,0 ! their education, provided a missionary could be ob- tained to establish a mission, locating the work at Sault de Ste. Marie. Rev. Isaac McCoy had interested himself in the matter, and being in Washington and learning anew of the wish of the Government, he made another application for the occupancy of the place, promising to continue the work. It was grant- ed, and also the privilege of locating a mile square of land for the public school. The Board in Boston, though unable at first to avail itself of the offer, after one year took Rev. Abel Bingham from his post as teacher of the school at Tonawanda, New York, and placed him there. Besides teaching, he performed min- isterial duties to all classes ; establishing three serv- ices for the Sabbath in order to be all things to all men. In the morning he preached to the Indians by means of an interpreter ; in the afternoon to the sol- diers and families connected with the garrison ; and in the evening to the French population. In 1829 Mr. Bingham removed his family to the station, Sault de Ste. Marie, and his work was re- enforced by the accession of Miss Cynthia Brown, as- sistant teacher. The farming interests usually belong- ing to Indian missions did not exist in this case, yet the missionary's duties were very arduous, including visitations in the hospital, and the soldier's private apartments, among citizens in their homes and In- dians in their lodges. In 1830 two other assistants entered the mission Miss Mary Rice, of Boston, who served nine years; and Miss Eleanor Macomber, of L,ake Pleasant, New York, who, for her health, soon resigned this position and accepted an appointment A MEMORIAL. 139 to Burma, where she completed her career in four years of loving devotion to the Karens.* A similar instance was that of Miss Harriet H. Morse, of Massa- chusetts, who entered the Chippewa mission in 1842 ; retired on account of health, and entered the mission to Siam in 1847 ; went to Singapore seeking health in 1855, and, returning to the United States same year, entered the Indian service again as matron of the Del- aware school. The annals of missions show that the missionary spirit will lead one from America to the East, or from the East back to the wilds of America, according to circumstances, and will not admit of put- ting off the harness so long as one can work in it. A church was organized of six persons, and shortly afterwards a temperance society, which proved a means of sobering the natives, making them thoughtful, and thus preparing the way of the Lord. The Sabbath- school became increasingly interesting ; a library was provided, and deep seriousness came upon the people, followed by what was felt to be a "great revival of religion." Forty became members of the church, most of them soldiers, and others not Indians. Among these was a missionary of the Episcopal Board, Mr. James Cameron, who, on being baptized, became assist- ant to Mr. Bingham. The school, also, was unusually prosperous in both boarding and day departments. Dr. Edwin James, a surgeon in the army, who long had felt a deep interest in the improvement of the In- dians, translated the New Testament in the Chippewa * For an account of the life and character of this consecrated young woman, see No. 5 of this series of Missionary Memorials, entitled "A Galaxy in the Burmau Sky." 140 POOR 1,0! dialect in an approved manner, and a revision of the translation was printed under his supervision in Albany, New York, in 1833. A similar service was rendered by Mr. Cameron, who wrote two dozen Chip- pewa hymns, and translated Mark and L,uke into the same tongue. Rev. A. J. Bingham, son of Abel Bingham, became a teacher. He was succeeded by Miss Mary Leach, Augusta, New York, whose health soon failed. The school then was discontinued, but was organized a year later, with Charles D. Foster as teacher, and with Miss H. H. Morse, Miss Bingham, and Miss Warren as instructors, successively. Miss Lydia Lillybridge entered the school in 1846, and same year sailed for Burma in company with Dr. Adoniram and Emily C. Judson. Outstations were planted, and the work judiciously and prosperously conducted at Tikuamina and Michi- picaton, each one hundred and twenty miles from the Sault. Another school was established at Pendill's Mills, twenty-five miles distant, and a service at Nea- wike. In 1855 it was intimated that Government ap- propriations were about to cease, and Mr. Bingham re- moved, after a service of nearly thirty years, with the school at its full average prosperity. But Mr. Came- ron continued, aided by a native, until near the close of 1857, when, on account of sickness, it was suspended. The missionaries and teachers were devoted to the work they undertook, and may be said to have " fin- ished " it ; continued so long as it seemed expedient to sustain it. It prospered under their well -adapted methods. The military post, at which the mission A MEMORIAL. 141 was located, was at the falls of the river St. Mary, on the Michigan side. On the Canada side was the trad- ing post of the British Hudson's Bay Company ; and though there was much promise to work there, on ac- count of the prohibition of ardent spirits to the Indi- ans, they extended their efforts to that shore only oc- casionally, it being beyond their appointed bounds. With good insight of the disposition of the natives, they maintained such intercourse with them as was calculated to win their esteem. They went with them in their fishing and hunting excursions, sometimes for nearly one thousand miles, and on the way opened to them the Scriptures, and testified to the character and laws of God. Mr. Bingham, on a tour among the In- dians on the islands, accompanied by an assistant and an interpreter, was drawn with them by a train of four dogs. " They camped at night in the snow, spent the evenings in religious conversation, singing, and prayer, and slept by their fire in the open air. The Indians gave them a kind welcome, and assembled in their largest lodges every evening, and sometimes in the day, to hear preaching. They had not yet learned to make their farming a source of supply through the year, and had been unsuccessful in their hunting and fishing, and many of them were extremely poor; so that, instead of sharing their food, Mr. Bingham often supplied their necessities by giving them a portion of the provision for his journey. . . . "He continued his tours among the Indians scat- tered on the islands and borders of the lakes, Huron and Superior, and endeavored not only to impart relig- ious instruction, but also to teach them how to provide 142 POOR LO! for the support of their families. Their improved habits of labor, and consequent increased success in farming, together with proportionate improvement in morals, were rendering them much more comfortable." The Ojibwa mission, less conspicuous than some others of longer continuance, left its impress upon the generation of Indians for whom it was established. In a cold region the workers had to contend with ice and snow, and make their journeys like Laplanders, or in fragile boats. They were diligent and fearless, well qualified in a knowledge of God's Word, and skillful in teaching it. Mr. Bingham educated a son and a daughter at Hamilton, New York, who entered the mission as teachers. There was less suspiciousness of the whites, among the natives, than was experienced from other tribes. Mr. Cameron made himself strong- er among them by marrying a daughter of the native assistant, Shegud, and confidence in the missionaries was very general. The abiding faith of the first native convert im- parted great satisfaction to the toilers. Mr. Bingham found her at the point of death, eighty years of age, at her home some miles up the river from the mission. It was her request that the meeting to occur be held at her lodge, so that she might hear the Word. Accord- ingly an awning was made of the sails of the boat, be- fore the door, and the exercises were conducted there. " Her pathway brightened as she drew near to her journey's end. A little before her death, a candle standing not far from her to give light in the lodge, she said to her daughter, ' you may move that candle, for I have light enough from above.' " A MEMORIAL. 143 The Osage Nation also received the attention of missionaries in an early day. It is said to be a part of the Dacotah division of the Aborigines, and its his- tory places it west of the Mississippi. Its character is represented as being of a lower order than that of the average tribe. Dances and buffalo hunting are the occupations in which the Osages specially delight, while taking and displaying scalps of their enemies seems to be their glory. They are obedient to their chiefs and principal men, subservient to traders, and readily managed by the United States Agents. In the Annual Register of Indian Affairs Mr. Mc- Coy made reference to their friendless and deplor- able condition, and the importance of a mission to them. The statements reached some benevolent wom- en of Wilmington, Delaware, who had been liberal" in promoting Indian missions, and who instantly re- solved to make a contribution to that object. Some efforts in their behalf had been made, and yet these good women, Miss Martha Shields and her sisters, es- tablished a mission to be under the supervision of Mr. McCoy. He, having visited them and studied their charac- ter, testified : " I had never before seen Indians who gave more undoubted evidence of belief in God. In their speeches they make the references and appeals to the Great Spirit, common to all Indians on such oc- casions ; and a devotional exercise is observed among them which I have never heard existed among any others. At the opening of the day the devotee retires a little from his camp, or company, and utters a prayer aloud." 144 POOR LO ! In 1820 the United Foreign Missionary Society be- gan a mission for them which in 1826 was transferred to the American Board C. F. M. At the latter date there were among the Osages of the Neosho River two stations, with fourteen missionaries and assistants. These natives were without fixed habitations, the com- forts of civilization, and even the necessaries of life. After excessive labor and privations on the part of the missionaries, considerable land had been brought to a state of cultivation and made to yield quite boun- tifully. But disaster destroyed the crops, and fear of neighboring tribes caused a stampede to the prairies, and elsewhere, interrupting, yet not breaking up, the mission. Another interruption occurred later, when, by the removal act of the United States, the Chero- "kees came in like a flood and claimed the land. The station was removed and school work went on, but there were no conversions for fifteen years. Teach- ing and preaching were ultimately discontinued by this Board, and whisky came in and reduced the Osages to poverty and wretchedness. They are now " scattered and peeled." The Otoes, who inhabited the fork of the Great Platte and Missouri, south of the former and west of the latter, attracted attention of missionaries as early as 1830. Their character was strongly marked; they were more active, energetic, and kind, and less suspi- cious than many of the Aborigines. They worshiped the sun, moon, some of the stars, the earth, and some bodies of water. They lived in circular huts of un- usually large size, made of bark, limbs of trees, or mud, and without apartments ; and each was occupied by several families. A MEMORIAL. 145 In 1 833 the first religious effort in their behalf was made. In that year, one who proved to be a very serv- iceable and eminent missionary entered their country, with his efficient wife and a good lady teacher. The company consisted of Rev. and Mrs. Moses Merrill and Miss Cynthia Brown. They had journeyed from the East to Sault de Ste. Marie, under appointment of the Board to labor in the region of Lake Superior. But it soon appeared that effort there, with unsettled Indians, could not yield profitable results, compared with what was to be expected from an equal outlay of strength in the Indian Territory. Accordingly the Board sent them on, farther west. They reached Sha- wanoe in July (1833) .where they tarried, for perfecting arrangements, until October following. The Govern- ment, through Mr. McCoy, sent Mr. Merrill a commis- sion as teacher, and the humble trio of brave souls set out for the unbroken wilderness and untried service. The distance to their station from Shawanoe was about two hundred miles, requiring travel for twenty-four days. " The nights, of course, were spent in the open air, without the roof of a house, and the journey was attended with the usual hardships and privations of such tours in the wilderness." The missionaries found buildings for their accommo- dation at a place which had previously been occupied as a trading post, where they remained about a year and a half. At this place resided a few Frenchmen with Indian families, and one family not related to the Indians. From these families the missionaries collected a small school. They had, also, a Sabbath-school and a Bible-class, and at the same time public exercises were duly attended to. 146 POOR LO ! The village of the Otoes, Bellevue, was at that time about thirty miles from the station, but a smithery for their benefit having been established at the latter, many were attracted thither, so that the missionaries were fa- vored with opportunities for imparting religious instruc- tion. They very properly directed their attention, as far as practicable, to the acquisition of the Otoe language, and, having prepared some Scripture lessons by the help of an interpreter, Mr. Merrill visited their village and read to them at suitable opportunities. The village consisted of about fifty houses, of earth, which were circular, and from twenty-five to forty feet in diameter. The wall narrows to a point at the top, and presents the form of a cone, and is sustained by wooden posts and poles within. The smoke escapes through an aperture at the top, which answers the double purpose of window and chimney. Within there is neither chair, table, nor bedstead. Isaac McCoy. In 1835 the mission was moved a few miles to a more eligible site, buildings were erected and a large school was gathered, which was taught in the Otoe language. Two disadvantages were felt the regular absence of the people on their buffalo hunt for one half of the year, and the supposition prevalent among nearly all Indians, at first, that to patronize a mis- sionary school was to confer a favor on those who con- ducted it. Mr. and Mrs. Merrill, to allay this feeling, gave a dinner once a week, inviting the chiefs. Prog- ress was made. Books, prepared by Mr. Merrill in the Otoe language and printed at the Shawanoe mission, were eagerly read school books, hymn books and parts of the New Testament. The Otoes sang the hymns with great delight, and often. A MEMORIAL. 147 The natives were cordial to the missionaries, but ^f the great obstacle interposed by their fondness for ar- dent spirits was almost insurmountable. They would take their best furs a hundred miles on horseback, and dispose of them, and, perhaps, their horses, guns, and blankets also, to obtain whisky; and immediately afterward beg for food, and complain of starvation. This obstacle caused the missionary family to spend a part of every Saturday in fasting and prayer. " The Upper Missouri Temperance Society " was organized, and proved a means of staying the evil. The station was moved to the new Otoe village, on the Platte River, eight miles distant. One half of the tribe pitched their skin lodges there soon afterward, and put up thirty houses in one month. The other half went off for their winter hunt, after burning their vil- lage, in expectation of joining their .people at the new village in the spring. By the opening of 1837 Mr. Merrill was able to preach without an interpreter, and held services in Otoe and English alternately, same day. Also finished a translation of a part of the New Testament, and pro- cured the printing of it at Shawanoe. The Otoes had a summer and a winter hunt. Mr. Merrill sometimes accompanied them on their expedi- tions, to learn their language and customs, and to have opportunity to impart to them religious instruction. Men, women, and children went eight hundred at one time traveling hundreds of miles, with horses loaded with provisions and skin lodges. They traveled about twenty miles a day, and slaughtered hundreds, often a thousand or more buffaloes in a single season, taking 148 POOR LO ! them by bow and arrow while running at full speed. They dried the meat without salt, and packed it in bales, which were transported on the backs of horses and women sometimes of men, even ! Mr. Merrill had the confidence of these Indians, not excepting the chief, with whom he was invited to lodge. They often listened in little companies to his readings and explanations of the Scripture, and he was invited to minister to the sick. Yet the priva- tions and exposure of a long jaunt of two or three months impaired his delicate constitution, and brought on disease of a permanent character. He left a lasting impression on the rude Otoes, and is remembered as one of the noblest heralds of the Cross on western plains. With marked generosity he applied his salary, and a considerable part of his pri- vate property to th,e support of the mission. His la- bors were protracted and arduous, after the progress of the pulmonary disease he was suffering dictated cessa- tion from them. This perseverance was due, in part, to the longing he had for someone to take his place, and the hope he cherished that another missionary would be sent. But none came. He stayed on the field, and with the Indian cause till God took him. He gave a farewell address to the Otoes in favor of the religion of Jesus, exhorting them to seek it. " You see," said he, " it makes me so happy in the near approach of death." One of the most impressive seasons of prayer, near the end of the struggle, was that in which he begged that he might live until he had heard that another mis- sionary was on the way to supply his place. He had proposed that if means were wanting, he would divide A MEMORIAL. 149 his own with the one who should be appointed. This supreme devotion to their good was observed by the natives, and it deeply affected their hearts. He was known among them by two names.: one signifying, He who always speaks the truth, and the other, The patient man. After his decease they visited Mrs. Merrill, ex- pressing their condolence, and inquiring if he had not a brother of similar character and kindness who would take his place. " On the 6th of February, 1840, ' without a struggle or a groan,' he ceased to breathe. On the following day assistance was obtained, and his body conveyed about ten miles, to the opposite side of the Missouri River, where it was interred upon the lands of the Put- awatomies." A Baptist Church at Plattsmouth, Ne- braska, was named in honor of him. Rev. S. P. Merrill, of Rochester, New York, a wor- thy son of this noble man, makes the following state- ment: "I have the only copy of my father's trans- lation of Scripture into the Otoe language. It is a rare book indeed. I also have a copy of his hymn book in that language. It is a small pamphlet of some twelve pages or so. My father and mother established the first school, first temperance society, and my father had the first baptism, and organized the first church and Sunday-school in Nebraska. He married the first couple there also. The chimney of one of the mission- houses and the foundations of two others are still to be found on the Platte River. A memorial church at Plattsmouth is dedicated to his memory, in which I had a fine bell placed, with his name upon it. He acted as physician, as well as minister and teacher, and as helper of the Indian Agent." 150 POOR L,o! Mrs. Merrill was a fit companion to her heroic hus- band. After conversion, which took place in her twenty-fourth year, " her mind was at once turned to the subject of missions. A life of active Christian use- fulness alone seemed to satisfy her desires." She first gave attention to teaching, then to the founding of an orphan asylum, both in Albany, New York. After marriage and removal she did some teaching in Mich- igan and northern Indiana, while her husband per- formed missionary service in those regions. In the Indian country her experience was identified with that of her husband, as narrated, except that she survived him, and continued her efforts for the good of others. "The journal record of hardships, losses, dangers and narrow escapes with life, give reasons enough for the quick termination of this mission by the death of its leader. And the scenes of lust, drunkenness, law- lessness and murder, amid which the wife of this mis- sionary employed herself in teaching these savages, were enough to start the stoutest mind from its true center." But Mrs. Merrill survived her bereavement and the wreck of missionary hopes ; went east, and soon engaged in her favorite work of teaching, mak- ing another effort, also, to realize her former desire to establish an orphan asylum. Returning to the West with a son, her missionary ardor again took control of her mind, and, besides teaching, Sunday-school labors, and giving liberally of her earnings for relig- ious and educational purposes, she girded herself anew, and devoted another year, at her own charges, to the good of the Indians. She lived among them, became a member of their church, and aided them in A MEMORIAL. 151 building a meetinghouse. After various other changes she died at Rochester, New York, November 12, 1882, aged eighty-two. This character, though better brought to view than others, is but one of many equally interesting women, on the western mission field, who lie in name- less graves. By it, however, it is learned that while many break down early, some have a long and useful career, and, as it would seem, through the very deter- mination to live long and serve to the last. The prayer of the dying missionary was not en- tirely without an answer. In October Rev. Ambler Edson and wife, went on from Vermont as far as to St. Louis, and finding it impracticable to complete the journey in the closing months of the year, sojourned in the vicinity of that city and proceeded to Bellevue in the spring. They labored under much discourage- ment, and after two years and three months withdrew, and the mission was discontinued. The Otoes seem to have lost their identity, being no longer enumer- ated. The Omahas and Puncahs were associated with the Otoes, under the oversight of Mr. McCoy and Mr. L,y- kins. For six years they endeavored to establish a mis- sion among the Omahas, and when they had reached the point of success, as they supposed, the hope failed. The only man appointed, Rev. Chandler Curtiss, de- layed his entrance upon the work, and did not con- tinue in it long. The Puncah is a small tribe of the Omaha family long neglected. Both were settled on the Missouri, some eighty miles above its junction with the Great Platte. 152 POOR X. FIRST EFFORTS,- FRIENDS TRY; MR. AND MRS. ROL- LIN; MR. AND MRS. BARKER; DA VID GREEN, NATIVE; CHIEF BLACK- FEATHER; HOPE REALIZED. ^T^HK Shawanoes (Shawnees),as first known in this -- country, came from the South, and were sub- dued by the great Iroquois Nation, over two hundred years ago, and assigned lands in the region of the Susquehanna River. At some subsequent time they disappear in the East and are settled on a tract of their own, bounded on the east by the State of Mis- souri, and on the north by the Kansas River, meas- uring twenty-five miles north and south, and one hundred east and west. They became an agricultural people, and the improvements upon their farms re- sembled those upon the farms of the whites in a new country. Rev. Francis Barker, missionary to them, later, relates the following amusing circumstances at- tending first efforts in their behalf: " The Society of Friends were the first among the Christians who interested themselves, especially, in the condition of the Shawanoes after their allegiance to the United States. They were then a wild and fero- A MEMORIAL. 153 cious people, relying upon the chase for the means of subsistence. The Friends sent men to mingle with them in their daily life and to incline them, if pos- sible, to place their children under their instruction. Among other acts of kindness they built for them a mill, to encourage them more largely in the cultiva- tion of their corn patches. "The progress and immediate results of these efforts were somewhat amusing. After understanding that the mill was erected to be for them instead of a corn-pounder, they commenced bringing in their grists, consisting of a pint or a quart of corn, wrapped in a piece of deerskin. On finding it inconvenient to grind so small quantities they became impatient, and, in the absence of the miller, succeeded in starting the mill ; and with a larger grist gathered from mother earth, of pebbles and rocks, they spoiled the mill and captured its rigging, converting it with much hilarity to a more appropriate use, in their estimation, for strings to their bows to be employed in the chase. A similar fate at- tended the blacksmith shop built for them about the same time by the United States Government. The iron of it was converted into arrow points and the tools stolen away. Similar scenes accompanied the first gift of cattle by government agents, for the pur- pose of plowing and raising stock. No sooner were these agents out of sight than they commenced slaugh- tering them and preparing them for food, which they devoured in joyous circles, accompanied with the whoop, the drum, and dance, after the custom of In- dian festivals." Mr. Johnston L,ykins and family went from the 154 POOR 1,0 ! Carey mission in Michigan, and commenced one west of the Mississippi in 1831. Other missionaries were added, and a church was organized. A school was opened ; the children living at home, but taking their dinner at the missionhouse. The pupils learned rapidly in their own language, and adults were inspired to learn. A considerable number also learned to write, and became extremely fond of the use of the pen. A printing press, added to the facilities of the mis- sion, became the curiosity and pride of the natives. Books were published on "the new system," in the various dialects of Shawanoe, Putawatomie, Otoe, Choc- taw, Creek (Muskogee), Osage, Kauzau, Wea, Ottawa, and others. These were hymn books, Life of Christ, and portions of some of the Gospels ; the new system be- ing adapted to the several Indian languages. During the year ending with February, 1838, the publications in the several languages were reported to contain two hundred and thirty-six thousand four hundred pages. And thus the Shawanoe station assumed a promi- nence, and, by its superior advantages, imparted sub- stantial benefits to the tribes. The valuable writings of Mr. McCoy on Indian interests were likewise pub- lished here, with many schoolbooks. Yet the object of most exciting interest, perhaps, was the little month- ly newspaper named Shawanowe Kesauthwau Sha- wanoe Sun the first ever published entirely in an In- dian language. It exalted the natives, as they felt, because they could read a newspaper. Some wrote for it ; several, at times, for a single number. In 1835 a most cheering report was given by the Board of the Convention, concerning this interesting A MEMORIAI,. 155 mission. Mr. McCoy and family resided at the station, adding greatly to its influence among the natives. The church grew, and extended its usefulness across the line to the Delawares, many of whom were re- ceived to its membership. Capt. Blackfeather, a Sha- wanoe chief, had been impressed with the importance of the Gospel message for several years, and had de- clared his decision to renounce all Indian ceremonies, and become acquainted with the Christian religion ; at same time asking for a handshake in recognition of a promise to receive instruction. He encouraged six others to follow his example, and thereupon attention to religious worship greatly increased. In the house of Blackfeather and other chiefs preaching and teach- ing were conducted, and also instruction given from house to house in reading, writing, and singing. These several circumstances prove that under condi- tions in the least favorable the elevation of the Indi- ans, rather than their destruction, might have been ac- complished. During this period an excitement unfavorable to missionary exertion was created among the Creeks. They had been persuaded by Indian traders to sign a a memorial containing charges against the mission- aries, making it unsafe for them to remain with that tribe. The Shawanoes derived a benefit from this dis- turbance, in the person of Rev. David B. Rollin, who, though cleared of all charges in an open council of chiefs, took advice and came to this tribe. His fare- well service, remembering the prosperity attending his labors there, showed his character and fitness as a missionary. He wrote : " My own heart was dis- 156 POOR IX)! solved, and the assembly were melted into tears as I bade them adieu. An order from the Agent, Wm. Arm- strong, bids me depart, and I feel it duty to obey. And while I regret leaving these dear sheep and lambs of Christ's flock here in the wilderness, in the midst of wolves, for whom the sympathies of my soul have often been drawn forth, I rejoice that the great Shep- herd still cares for them, and will preserve them safe unto his heavenly Kingdom." His journey to the Shawanoe missionhouse, through the wilderness, occu- pied more than four weeks. Mr. Rollin began his labors, impressed, but not depressed, by the contrast in the number who waited on his ministry, in the two countries. On his first Sunday among the Shawanoes there was but one native present, besides the interpreter. But the audi- ence increased immediately. His hopeful and enlarg- ing work was terminated in 1839 by his death, though the department which he had manned was assumed by his associate, Rev. J. G. Pratt. Mr. Rollin had previously been employed at Tona- wanda, New York, and had now filled out a period of five years in behalf of the Indians of the West and these were years of great good to them, gratefully re- ceived. " His labors among the Creeks, though in- terrupted by frequent attacks of disease, were blessed to the conversion of many souls, and at Shawanoe the fidelity and plainness of his ministrations and his pious example were not without some signal tokens of the divine approbation." For months afterward " Indians who knew and felt his worth continued to inquire, with anxious solicitude, for their spiritual teacher." A MEMORIAL,. 157 He was highly valued by his missionary associates, one of whom, Mr. Pratt, speaks of the interest he im- parted to their religious conferences, and the uplift he gave to the faith and hope of others, and adds: "In his labors as a missionary, his plans for doing good were always subjects of much reflection, and, when matured, were prosecuted with the confidence and zeal of one who was conscious of being in the path of duty ; nor could he be turned from his pur- pose till convinced he was wrong, or that the object was of no importance. In his intercourse with In- dians he was ' apt to teach,' and the results show that his labors were blessed, in the improvement of the Indian character and the conversion of many." He did not give up until faced by certain death ; and then, with his family, he was barely able to remove to Michigan, where, in the town of Commerce, he died May 12, 1839. Let the graves of such self-denying missionaries receive loving attentions until broken by the resurrection call. Though the workmen die, the work goes on ; for the fall of one is the signal to another to rise and enter the ranks. Rev. Francis Barker, of Hanson, Massachusetts, under appointment, reached the station, and entered upon his duties as successor to Mr. Rollin, eight days after the latter's death. Miss Elizabeth Churchill, Kingston, Massachusetts, arrived and began work in the same month, and afterward was married to Mr. Barker, making the domestic status of the mission what it had been. Mr. and Mrs. Pratt, who had been absent for their health, returned from Boston, bringing, as a recruit, Miss Abigail Webster, 158 POOR i/> ! and a font of Cherokee types, in Guess characters, and additional English types, with other apparatus for the printing department. The " Mission to the Shawanoes " embraced labor for several other peoples, and the spiritual part of the work became very prosperous. The congrega- tions were large, and the little church was strength- ened by the accession of Blackfeather, the principal war chief, and the attendance and influence of the civil chief. But Satan came among them, and the mission was sorely tried and even endangered. On one or more occasions the missionaries were ordered away, on peril of their lives. "And that their ex- pulsion was not effected is to be ascribed to the good providence of God in conducting to Shawanoe, at the very crisis of the difficulty, the Rev. J. S. Bacon, whom the acting Board had especially deputed to the mission in view of its distressed condition." (Report of Board, 1843.) The next year the mission was reported increas- ingly prosperous. Mr. Barker extended his labors to the out-settlements, and the boarding-school was re- sumed and carried on with success. An incident of rain and flood shows to what this as well as other Indian mission stations was subject. The Osage River, on the bank of which the mission- house stood, swelled beneath the rains, ran over its banks, and around and into the house, driving the family to an adjoining hill, where they pitched tent. The consequences in part, were, the loss of stock, beehouse and contents, hennery, stable, crib and corn, fencing, crops, and even the soil, with the table and A MEMORIAL. 159 cooking outfit, leaving the dwelling and office naked and alone. It was late in the season, game scarce, and an appeal for help necessary, with dire distress as an outlook. In the great calamity the Ottawas, gener- ally, were involved, making sympathy from the mis- sion a necessity. A brother, recently baptized, went out with a canoe when the flood was at its highest stage, to try to save something from his house. In crossing the river, the current dashed him against a tree and upset his canoe. He swam to a small tree and cried for help. He was heard, but, it being about sunset, and there being no other canoe in the neighborhood, nothing could be done for him. He could not hear the voices on shore, on account of the roaring of the water. He called for about an hour ; no relief coming, he requested that a canoe be found and relief be sent in the morning, though he feared that he could not hang on so long. The sapling shook in the water, which was about twenty feet deep. He then sang, distinctly, in Indian : " Father, I stretch my bauds to Thee No other help I know," and continued about an hour in prayer, when all was silent. He was found at early dawn, still hang- ing to the tree, with no clothing on him, except a shirt. His coat and everything he brought from his house had gone with his canoe. In 1845 the boarding-school was reported as in- creasingly prosperous, and the spiritual interests as encouraging. A church had been formed, composed of resident Ottawas and Shawanoes, and soon nuin- 160 POOR LO! bered twenty-two. Increased harmon}' among the Indians prevailed; caste was giving way, and the prospect of the prevalence of Christian principle was cheering. By the middle of the year the membership of the church had doubled in number. But death had knocked at the Indian huts quite frequently, and in one case with most painful conse- quences. David Green, a Christian for seven years and native assistant, was drowned on June 26th, while trying to swim a creek to attend a prayer meeting. So shining an example of fidelity and usefulness de- serves the tender and affectionate words of one of the leading missionaries, Mr. Meeker, viz.: " There is no Ot- tawa whose death would have given such a universal shock in the Nation as the death of this brother. There is no one who has done so much as he in reforming the Nation. He has been looked up to as the main acting man in all their councils. All lov- ers of good order and righteousness loved him, while evil doers feared him more than any other man. He originated the adoption of laws in the Nation, stood in charge of the laws, and, until his death, held the highest office the Nation could give. He was the first Indian who attended our religious meetings ; was the first ever baptized in the Osage, which was May 6, 1838; has acted as my assistant in translating a book of eighty-four hymns, and the Gospels by Matthew and John. He has been, for some years, and was un- til his death, publicly recognized as an assistant mis- sionary. There is, I think, no house nor family in the Ottawa Nation where he has not repeatedly made religious visits; no adult person whom he has not A MEMORIAL. l6l warned of the consequences of continuing in sin and unbelief, and whom he has not directed to the Sav- ior. Many of the members of the Ottawa church were first awakened through his instrumentality, and can now bless God that they were permitted to hear warnings and invitations from him. " On the last Sabbath of his life he made very ap- propriate remarks at the close of my sermon from ' Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Ivord doth come,' and then selected and sang the hymn translated from ' On Jordan's stormy banks I stand.' On the last night of his life he slept none, but spent the whole night in reading and explaining the Scriptures to a cousin of his an irreligious man, ex- horting him, with all the powers of his soul, to be religious, and praying with and for him. " On the 2 yth I assisted the brethren, as also on the previous day, in hunting for the body of our de- parted brother, while the rain descended in torrents, and at about ten o'clock we found it in twenty feet of water, near where he sank. I then assisted in dig- ging the grave, preached the funeral sermon, and committed his remains to the silent tomb." This bereavement was succeeded by another, though not immediately, which so well indicates the possibilities of Christianizing the savage, even to a high degree, that a statement of it will add interest to this narrative. It is that of the death of Chief Black- feather (Ealammatahkah), venerable and illustrious. He was considered the successor of the celebrated Te- cumseh, and was the first convert baptized by Rev. Francis Barker, missionary to the Shawanoes. With J 162 POOR LO! but eight years in which to exemplify the religion of Christ, he developed a high-toned character, though obliged to struggle manfully against his besetting sins, particularly intemperance, which he fully conquered. " He was triumphant in his death. There seemed to beam upon his brightened vision the glories of the upper world. He spoke in his last hours of the great assurance he felt of the truth of the doctrines he had embraced, and continued recommending them, exhort- ing, entreating, and encouraging to the last. As wearied nature would again revive a little after a period of exhaustion, again his lips were filled with the praises of God. At the last religious meeting he at- tended he spoke with his usual energy until, fainting, he fell upon the floor ; and then reviving, he com- menced again, and finished his discourse. On the morning of his death he gave to each of his weeping relatives the parting hand. He wished them not to mourn for him, but for themselves ; and then, request- ing them to sing the hymn in his own language ex- pressive of the feelings of the dying Christian, he closed his eyes, and just as they finished he fell asleep." The protracted meeting, established and relied up- on for evangelistic work, became one of the most hope- ful opportunities for inculcating divine truth. The wilder part of the population attended, forming a strik- ing contrast to the regular worshipers, in being decked in the wild man's costume, and often painted, giving a grotesque appearance to the congregation. The meet- ing carried with it the idea of camping. The services were held in the house, while, for want of dwellings in sufficient number, the comers abode in tents. A A MEMORIAL. 163 blanket and a tent were among the indispensables of the occasion ; and the interested ones carried offer- ings of coffee, sugar, hominy, meat, vegetables, etc., with which to appease the appetites of not only them- selves, but likewise those whom they wished to win for Christ and Heaven. Cholera visited the station, and the population generally, this year (1849), as it had done before, but the shafts of death did not fall upon the mission. The boarding-school was sustained with encouragement, though amid some interruption by the epidemic. The parents of the pupils had come to see the benefits of the school, and were more helpful than previously. Translations of Scripture had been circulated, and both the local service and neighborhood prayer meet- ings maintained. Influences unfavorable to Christian- ity soon began to decline. Paganism, organized into worship, limiting its beastly performances to the day- time, discontinued its nightly orgies in deference to the Christians, and through the power of their religion. The report of the Board for 1850 says: "The re- sults of the labors of our missionaries connected with the Shawanoe mission are an illustration of the supe- rior advantages of mission labor in the Indian Ter- ritory. The people are advancing in the knowledge of civilized life, and of the Christian religion." About two years later Mr. Barker speaks of the Shawanoe station as gradually extending its influence among the less favored portions of the tribe. The principal employments of the people were farming and lumber business. A few of the younger men were engaged as teamsters to Santa Fe. The nearness of a 164 POOR L,O! portion of the tribe to the white settlements exposed them to the "liquid fire," but the Spirit of the Lc*rd raised up a standard against that flood of iniquity. He also says, as to the Indian character : " Very indefinite, not to say erroneous, ideas pre- vail respecting the character and condition of the Indians. To anyone sufficiently acquainted with their language to hold conversation with them much is disclosed worthy of admiration. The milder affections are active, especially in their domestic relations, and their hospitality to strangers is proverbial. Parental love is strong to a fault, and the death of a child is not unfrequently the occasion of extreme agony, though proportionally brief. . . . Most of the Shawanoes live comfortably in houses built by their own hands, and many of them enjoy the conveniences and some of the luxuries of life obtained by the cul- tivation of the soil. The more enlightened manifest a commendable zeal in extending a salutary influence over those who adhere to evil habits." A MEMORIAL. 165 XI. IN INDIANA; TREATIES; REMOVAL WEST; HOME MISSIONS; FRANCES SLOCUM'S HISTORY. THE Miamis were once a numerous and powerful tribe, composed of the Weas, Piankashas, Peorias and Kaskaskias. These branches of the great family are not conspicuous in history, except as bands. In the explorations and settlement of the West they are mentioned individually, but not as having the strong position and prevailing power once possessed by the united Nation, when east of the Mississippi. The relation of the Miamis to the United States was essentially like that of other tribes ; treaty after treaty having been made, followed by trouble. The body of the Miamis settled in Central Indiana, and received annuities from the Government to 1882, when its responsibility for their support expired by limitation. Mr. Thad Butler, of Wabash, was the Gov- ernment's Agent in making the final settlements, and, having closed the business, he gave an account of their early and later history that must be regarded of much value by historians. The author takes pleasure in acknowledging, on behalf of the reader, his indebt- edness to him, for the following facts : 166 POOR LO! Two hundred years ago, when the Great West had hardly known the presence of a white man, the Miami In- dians occupied a scope of country extending from the lakes and forests of Michigan on the north to the Ohio River on the south, and their scattered wigwams were to be found from the Scioto River on the east to the country of the Illi- nois savages on the west. The Miamis were of the Algon- quin family the tribe which welcomed the Pilgrim Fathers on the wild New England coast. A common language testified to their common origin. The Algonquins possessed the greater part of the continent east of the Mississippi and south of the lakes, and from the earliest known history of the aborigines the Miamis were a leading and powerful tribe of that mighty family. In 1658 their warriors were estimated at from eight to ten thousand, and they main- tained long wars with both the Iroquois and Sioux, and were, says Bancroft, the most powerful confederacy of the West. After ages of wandering through the Ohio Valley coun- try the Miamis finally made their headquarters near the present state line of Ohio and Indiana, and their council fires were held between the headwaters of the Maumee and the Wabash. Over fifty treaties were entered into between the Government and the Miami Nation between the years 1795 and 1840, one of which (the treaty of 1826) was made with- in the limits of the present city of Wabash, at what is known as Treaty Springs. These springs were called the " King Com-e-ong Springs" by the Miamis, signifying the " Springs of Paradise." In the treaty of 1818, at St. Mary's, O., the Indians retained what is known as the " Thirty-Mile Reserve." This reservation began at the mouth of the Salamonie, where it empties into the Wabash, and ran due south thirty-six miles, and due west with the Wabash the same distance to the mouth of Eel River. Afterward, in A MEMORIAL. 167 1826, the Indians were permitted to reserve six miles east and south of the forks of the Wabash " for quantity." When the treaty of 1826 was made, the United States, in consideration of a settlement of certain annual moneys due the Indians, agreed to pay the Miatnis a permanent annuity of twenty-five thousand dollars so long as they should exist together as a tribe. A treaty was made at the same time with the Pottawatomies, by which they were to occupy certain assigned territory north of the Eel River. In 1838 the Miamis made another sale of lands, re- taining only some individual reserves in Wabash, Grant, and Miami Counties, and in 1846, according to the terms of a treaty made in 1840, a portion of the tribe, with their families and possessions, were removed to hunting- grounds beyond the Mississippi. In this treaty it was stipulated as a reward for not following other Indians in taking sides with the British against the United States that the families of Richardville, Godfrey, and Me-shin- go-me-sia, together with the brothers of the latter, might remain upon reservations assigned them, and receive their annuities in Indiana. Their descendants are the Indians still residing there. One more treaty was made with the General Govern- ment after the treaty of 1840. In 1854 a delegation of both eastern and western Miamis visited Washington, the eastern delegation headed by Me-shin-go-me-sia, and the western by Nah-wah-lin-quah, or " Big Legs." George W. Manypenny was then the Indian Commissioner. By this treaty it was stipulated that $221,257.86 should be paid to the eastern Miamis at the expiration of twenty-five years, in lieu of the permanent annuity, the Government to annually pay five percent interest upon that amount, in the form of annuities, until the principal sum became due and was paid. These annuities were paid regularly 1 68 POOR LO ! for twenty-six years, except during the first year or two of the war, and the principal was paid in 1882, when the Miami ceased to be the ward of the United States and be- came a citizen. The removal of the Indians to their western homes, as agreed upon in the treaty of 1840, was not accomplished until 1846. Alexis Coquillard was the Government Agent for this purpose. As the time approached for their depar- ture, the Indians flatly refused to corhply with the terms of the treaty, and it was necessary to send troops to gather them at the appointed rendezvous, which was at Peru. Many ran away ; others claimed relationship to the favored bands of Richardville, Godfrey and Me-shin-go-me-sia, and were .permitted, when the claim was recognized, to re- main in Indiana. There are yet old citizens living who speak of their departure as a scene of inexpressible sad- ness. About five hundred Miamis, with their possessions, were loaded on canalboats. The route was up the Wa- bash Valley to Fort Wayne, thence to Toledo and Cincin- nati, and then beyond the Mississippi. Stoical as the race is, the air was rent with lamentations of the women, while the men moodily gathered their blankets about them, and, looking the picture of despair, watched from the decks of the boats the receding forests which for ages had been the homes of their ancestors. Of the five hundred Miamis who were sent west in 1846 not ten are alive of the original number, and the Western Miami tribe, residing in Qua Paw Indian Agency, under the care of Colonel D. B. Dyer, does not now number fifty (1882). Taken by force from the forests, their native country, and transplanted to the wild prairies of the West, heart-sick and weary, they never became reconciled to their lot, and many met death gladly. A few returned to Indiana despite the Government, and these were, in 1858, permitted by act of Congress to remain. A MEMORIAL. 169 A point of interest in Miami history is the forks of the Wabash River, near Huntingdon. As early as 1805 the Quakers of Maryland established a mission here, under the control of Dr. William McKinney. Twenty-five acres of land were cleared, and a row of double log cabins erected. The mission was backed by liberal support, and a judi- cious opening seemed to have been made for the work of civilizing the Indians. In the war of 1812, however, a detachment of troops burned the houses, devastated the fields, and destroyed the mission. No attempt was ever made toward its reestablishment. The same site was famous for many years as the payment ground, and be- came the favorite resort for traders and others who lived by traffic with the Indians. The village was regularly laid off, forming nearly a perfect square. The stores, bake- shops, gambling-dens, etc., were on one side of the square, and the stabling for the accommodation of the Indian ponies on the other. The buildings were not pretentious, ' and were constructed of small, round logs, covered with clapboards. Puncheons served as flooring, when any was laid. For weeks prior and subsequent to the payments there was always a lively trade, the rude, improvised struc- tures containing stocks of merchandise, each valued at from one thousand to five thousand dollars. Not less than six well-filled stores were running at one time, and everything that would contribute to the comfort and lux- ury of the Indians was to be had not at nominal prices, however. The national chief, Lafontaine, built a trading post after the forks ceased to be known as the payment ground, erected a good farmhouse and other buildings, and until the removal of Indians to the West it was a place of importance. Now the site is simply a farm resi- dence. The twenty-five-acre cornfield of the mission- ground is the homestead of Colonel I,. P. Milligan, of Sons of Liberty notoriety during the War of the Rebellion, 1861-5. Thad Butler. 170 POOR LO! The State of Indiana has been an arena of Indian missions as of Indian wars. The Indian Mission Asso- ciation, having headquarters at Louisville, Kentucky, derived support from it, and within the northern half of the State was organized a society to conduct mis- sions among the Miamis. This tribe, reduced by the removal of 1846 to about three hundred, occupied the Reserve on the Mississinewa River. The mission was named " Frances Slocum Mission," for that character whose life presents the finest combination of enchant- ing story and hard fact to be found in western an- nals. Property was purchased and otherwise secured, including a building and some land located southeast of Peru. Here various persons labored, with the usual discouragements and encouragements, principally Rev. 4 C. J. P. Babcock and Rev. James Babcock, who had the Miamis' confidence in an eminent degree. Mission work in their behalf had some immediate fruit. Thirty-three were reported as converted in a single year among them the renowned Bruriette, who became a Baptist preacher of great power. His tall form, like the forest tree, that was his pride and his symbol, towered impressively in the midst of his tribe, and added a weird effect to his eloquence. The General Association of Baptists in the State ultimately took the mission into its care, and after some years discontinued it. Yet labors for the Miamis continued. They came under the care of in- dividual ministers and churches, and numbers have been added unto the Lord in common with the white people among whom they have lived. The member- ship of two or three existing churches was once com- A MEMORIAL. 171 prised mainly of them ; but with the downward course of their destiny their proportion has become smaller, until it has but little significance. Poor L,o has be- come a poor, lone Indian, and feels that he is of " no account," even among the people of God. * locum** St*tov\t. The story of Frances Slocutn is familiar to all readers of history. She was the daughter of a Quaker who lived in the Wyoming Valley during the Revolution. She was stolen from her home when but five years of age, in 1778, by a band of marauding Delaware Indians, and the last sight her mother saw of her was when she was in the arms of a brawny savage, struggling, and calling piteously upon her parents to come to her rescue. Although her father was dead, killed by the Indians, the mother and her sons diligently sought for the stolen child through long years. The mother died in 1807, but the brothers never relin- quished inquiry. As in the case of Charley Ross, the search brought numbers of stolen children to light, but nothing was heard of Frances Slocum. In 1835 Colonel George W. Ewing, a gentleman con- nected with the Indian service, stopped over night at the Deaf Man's Village (sometimes called the Village of the White Woman), on the Mississinewa. The household con- sisted of a venerable woman and a number of children, all of whom treated her with the greatest of deference. The Colonel noticed particularly the color of her skin and hair, and, becoming convinced that she was a white woman, opened conversation with her. His surmises were correct. She said that she was stolen by the Indians when a very small child, and remembered the name of her father, which was Slocum. The Colonel knew of her abduction, and, when he reached Logansport, wrote letters for print, which a 172 POOR Lo! finally reached her friends at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. A scar upon one of her arms, bared for work, was noted by the visitor, it having been mentioned by the bereaved family as one of the means of identifying the child. The brother of Frances and one of her sisters came to see her, and made themselves known, but all entreaties to return to civilization were unavailing. They made a reception for her at Peru, hoping that they might interest her in a better life, and wean her from her associations. She was present, but indifferent to the festivities, and by reposing upon the floor of the veranda, on her blanket, showed that her Indian habits were unyielding. Frances had be- come an Indian in every essential except birth; had mar- ried an Indian warrior by the name of She-pay-con-na, and borne him four children. One of her daughters married Wah-pop-pe-tah, alias Peter Bondy, whose name appears as one of the makers of the treaty of 1854. Another married Tah-quac-yaw, a half-breed Pottawatomie, better known as Captain Bruriette, who was drowned in the Wa- bash River. Frances died in 1847, at her home at the Deaf Man's Village, and her descendants still live upon a por- tion of the land reserved for her by special act of Con- gress, a bill for that purpose having been introduced by John Quincy Adams about 1840. Her Indian name was Ma-co-za-quah, signifying the " White Female Bear." It is supposed that this name was given on account of the mo- rose temper caused by her distressed situation. The Miamis still have an individuality as a Nation, though greatly reduced and obscured. They have not been entirely neglected, as missionary records show. But whether they have received benevolent labor as Miamis, or under some other name, is not altogether clear. Rev. A. J. Essex, late general missionary in the Indian Territory, made the following reliable statement in 1892, in the Home Mission Monthly. A MEMORIAL,. 173 " The Miamis have fifty thousand acres or more of land allotted in the northeastern part of the Territory. The land is all valuable, and they are opening farms, and building good houses, and raising grain and stock. The Peorias lie adjoining, having nearly as much land, and are allotted and improving their lands. The Ot- tawas are adjoining also, on the south, and are allotted; they have many valuable improvements, and all these fragment tribes speak English, but about ten persons. The Qua Paws have also, northeast and adjacent, a val- uable reservation allotted, but are mainly Catholics, and are behind the other tribes. " There is quite a number of Baptists among the Miainis, and some also among the Peorias and Otta- was. The Ottawas have a little church, but there are very few members, and they are very weak. Once in a while there is a sermon at the Peoria schoolhouse, which was built large to accommodate preaching ; and the Miamis have meetings semi-occasionally at some- body's house, or at a schoolhouse." 1 74 POOR 1,0 ! XII. ORIGIN OF THE MISSION; SETTLING THE INDIANS; J. LYKINS, R. SIMERWELL, ELIZA McCOY; ENTERING INTO THEIR LABORS. THE Putawatomies first come to notice, in mission- ary annals, as inhabitants of southern Michigan and northeastern Illinois. A peculiar character, Me- nominee, had sprung up among them, and through some unknown impulse become a religious leader, without any human guide or adviser. His teaching, however, was in the line of morals only, yet very in- fluential for good a voice in the wilderness, prepar- ing the way for more complete and saving instruc- tion. This interesting person was mentioned to Isaac McCoy, not long after his settlement at Fort Wayne, by an Indian trader ; and he sent a message to him, with an invitation to make a visit at the mission. This was done by leader and followers in company, resulting in some words of commendation from the missionary, in writing. Menominee greatly rejoiced and declared that he would preach all his life to his people, telling them " My father says that I tell the truth." A MEMORIAL. 175 A desire to visit the Putawatomies naturally grew from this interview, strengthened by earnest and re- peated solicitations from them, that he would do so. The tour of one hundred and twenty miles was made, occupying about two weeks, and involving much hard- ship, yet creating in him a greatly increased interest in that part of the great Indian family. In parting with Menominee, after he had walked half a mile with him on his homeward way, begging a continua- tion of friendship, and avowing his determination to try to please God and do right, he could but voice the sym- pathetic exclamation : " Oh, compassionate Savior ! didst not Thou expand thy bleeding arms upon Cal- vary ? And is there not room in Thy bleeding bosom for these dear people ? And will not this desert soon begin to rejoice?" The Carey mission, in Michigan, founded by Mr. McCoy in 1822, was among the Putawatomies. It was very prosperous for six or seven years, when a treaty, of date September 20, 1828, looking to a re- moval of the tribe, and assignment to it of lands west of the Mississippi, caused an interruption of labor. Mr. McCoy was the prime mover in this great plan, but only for what he felt to be for the larger benefit of the Indians. His exertions were varied and unwearied, with the powers at Washington es- pecially, and deprived him of the supreme privilege of immediate and exclusive attention to the spirit- ual interests of the natives. He hoped to improve their circumstances and the missionary's opportunity. After the suspension of labor at Carey some of the missionaries there devoted their time to benefiting 176 POOR LO! other neighboring tribes, while Mr. and Mrs. Robert Simerwell took charge of affairs at the station. And in time the "treaty of Chicago," made in 1833, be- gan to have force. By it the Putawatomies agreed to move westward, accepting an extensive tract of country on the northeast of the Missouri River, above the State of Missouri. In 1834 a delegation conducted by a United States officer visited an unappropriated tract on the upper branches of the Osage River, ad- joining some of their allies, and chose that as the most desirable place for their residence. In 1835 an- other delegation visited the country assigned them, northeast of Missouri River, but without receiving satisfaction as to it. As a consequence a general dis- pleasure arose, and a decided aversion to settling in it. A band of about four hundred migrated with the Kickapoos, from the East, and continued with them for a considerable time, surly and unsatisfied. Later, about seventeen hundred came, and also remained in a wretched condition, waiting to be gratified in their selection of a home. The Shawanoe mission station became a center for the missionary force, located in the usual entrance- way to the farther West, and having Westport, Mis- souri (Kansas City), as its postoffice. The workers at Carey stopped there. One of these, Mr. Simerwell, while waiting adjustment of affairs, wrote some small books, and they were printed in the Putawatomie dia- lect. And in the same language he taught the na- tives by visiting their settlements. A large part of this disaffected tribe finally quieted down, without being settled, on the northeast of the A MEMORIAL. 177 Missouri, nearly two hundred and fifty miles from the country designed for them. The other part settled in the latter, according to their wishes a region at the sources of the Osage and Neosho Rivers, now in cen- tral Kansas. It commenced sixteen miles west of the State of Missouri, and extended westward two hun- dred miles, with a width of twenty-four miles. To this country Mr. and Mrs. Simerwell removed in 1837. There they found the people among which they first labored in Michigan, so prosperously, and some of whom were connected with the Carey station. Mr. L,ykins, looking backward, and forward to the new circumstances, writes hopefully : " We hope now to be able to collect into settlements many of our former pupils, now fathers and mothers of families ; and could we have an additional missionary for the station, we think that the prospects for lasting usefulness would be better than they were in the days of the most successful operation of the mission in Michigan." The Putawatomie station became one of four known as the Shawanoe mission, and progress was made in material and spiritual things. The disposi- tion to cultivate the soil increased, and teaching was successfully done. Mr. Simerwell accepted appoint- ment from the Government, as teacher, in the hope that the appropriation of the Board for missionary service would be granted to another person, and the general interests thus advanced. The Board failed to accept the opportunity, and ultimately sundered the nominal relation sustained to him, acknowledging his " mis- sionary fidelity." Subsequently he held an appoint- ment from the American Indian Mission Association, 178 POOR LO ! and we trace him as an influential friend of the In- dians and dwelling among them for about thirty years. He was a gift of Blockley Church, Philadelphia, Pa. A new interest was created in Indian missions by the formation of the new Association, which did not come too soon. It arrested the decline of zeal which had taken place while the demand for it was increas- ing on account of the extraordinary Indian migration westward. About ninety thousand, belonging to many tribes, were already west of the States of Arkansas and Missouri. A disposition to be civilized and cultivated was generally manifest. Said Mr. McCoy, "A desire for education is springing up, and the people have become accessible to the doctrines and teachings of the Bible ; and about one thousand within the Indian Territory are in the fellowship of the Baptist denomi- nation, besides many others who give evidence of genuine piety, who belong to other denominations of Christians." For the first year of its operations it had but two missionaries and their wives. At the second annual meeting it could report the employment of fifteen, three of them natives. Heading the list was Rev. Johnston Lykins, acting physician and preacher, who had lived and labored among the Putawatomies, in Michigan, securing their confidence and love to an eminent degree. When the state of Mrs. Lykins' health compelled him to leave their country, they begged him not to forsake them ; and their impor- tunities were such that he left his house furnished, ready for use, and in expectation of returning. But death intervened, and his affliction required a change of plan. A MEMORIAL. 179 One falls and another appears on the scene, that the work may go on. Mrs. I^ykins, deceased, had wit- nessed the rising, in her native State, Indiana, of a near relative, who was fitted and destined to do more service for the Putawatomies than she had been able to do. It was a young woman, a cousin, about five years younger than herself. She had sought such op- portunities to obtain an education as the time and cir- cumstances made possible. Respectable seminaries were within reach, and in two of these, one at Wil- mington, Ind., and the other at Charleston, Ind., she spent three or four years in mental discipline. Her sphere was at once presented, and she entered it with- out hesitation the care of her failing father and motherless home, with such teaching as safely could be added. And, yet, as one sphere may precede and prepare for another, it so proved in this instance. The missionary impulse, common to every true Christian, dominated her life, and ere long led her to a new con- secration of her cultivated heart and mind. Her uncle, Isaac McCoy, had a constraining influ- ence to draw her to a field of high endeavor. He had succeeded in founding the Indian Mission Association, and, its meetings being held in L,ouisville, not far from her home, she found it convenient to learn its aims, and a joy to partake of its spirit. His appeals in be- half of the decaying race presented such lofty views of Christian duty that they reached her loyal nature. And she responded : " Here am I, send me." This was Eliza McCoy, one of a number of Mc- Coys who have stood for righteousness and truth, and of which she was a cherished ornament. In August, i8o POOR to! 1844, at the meeting of Bethel Association, Indiana, she and the special companion pf her school life were set apart as missionaries to the wild West. The event was a great one, even in a community accustomed to pioneering and hardships, though not to voluntary sacrifice for others, with certain privations, and possi- ble early death. The day for separation came, September 24, 1844, and the two heroines, Misses Eliza McCoy and Sarah A. Osgood, boarded a steamboat for Westport, Mis- souri, bearing commissions from the Society, and the King Himself. It was a great undertaking for defense- less women dangerous boating on western rivers, amid wicked passengers and crew, for three weeks, and a laborious career for and among wild Indians as a further prospect, with no limit to it except that of the grave perhaps an early and nameless one. There were friends at or near Westport, and a brief stay with them was made before entering the wilder- ness. And while there they had an experience of a western tornado, which utterly demolished the house in which they were staying, wounding Miss McCoy and others severely, scattering the house fur- nishings, even to the treetops, and killing a number in the vicinity a rough introduction to their destined habitation, and calling for a fresh girding with super- natural strength. Under the circumstances it was try- ing for these mutual aids in the heart's needs to part, but the separation came ; the one going to the Puta- watomies, the other to the Weas, with hope that their loss of each other might be gain to those savages. Their first very thrilling experience, borne through A MEMORIAL. l8l life as an ever entertaining " story," was to be suc- ceeded by another before reaching their work. They started from Westport together. Arriving at the station of the Wea tribe, the only lodgment to be had was the rude cabin of the chief. " A pallet of straw was provided in a small room, and to that these two missionaries retired not to rest, but to spend the night. Without, the wolves kept a continuous howl all night. Within, homesickness, fear, and dejection brought bitter tears for their comfort, and dismal re- pinings for their cheer. Such was the first night within the circle of their future toil and usefulness." (McCormick.) That would have been hard fare for men ; and what must it not have been for two unpro- tected young women, for the first night on the field of their lifework ! Miss McCoy was promptly at her station, but not a moment too soon. Her cousin, Mrs. Delilah Lykins, already mentioned, finished her course the day before the recruits left Louisville, and she was much needed to console the bereaved the mission not less than the immediate family. Her work lay about fifty miles southwest of Westport, in behalf of those in the rear of some other tribes in point of improvement. The only school among them, except hers, was a Catholic boarding-school, and, owing to the Indians' hunting- excursions, which continued several months in the year, and included entire families, her school was quite small, and, having but five to twelve scholars, all of the most primary and primitive description, the lack of stimulus to her cultivated mind was one of her daily trials. 1 82 POOR 1,0 ! A severe epidemic of sickness, not unusual in the forest, interrupted her work during the second year, and after passing it and completing the school term she and Miss Osgood returned to Indiana for rest rest from life among savages. The testimonials of sympathy and affection they received among friends were of the simple and sincere sort, so characteristic of the time when missionaries were few and almost without facilities. But they chose not to stay amid cultivated flowers ; they accepted the fragrance of the wildwood instead, yet only that they might save some and enter into their Master's joy. In the year 1847 tne Putawatomies were moved to a location on the Kansas River, which removed Miss McCoy also, and placed her about sixty miles west from Westport. Dr. J. I/ykins, physician under Government, was also in the mission, as were Mr. and Mrs. Simerwell, in whose family the two former made their home. The place was called Kaw. The experi- ence of " moving " enabled Miss McCoy to tell her friends a story which the most tried and tempted of housekeepers could not equal: A snowstorm the first day, but counted a light affliction ; lodging the first night in an uncomfortable Indian house. Next night camped out in the snow ; Dr. I/ykins sick with chills and fever. The next, were obliged to camp early, to care for the doctor ; had a wet, " dreary, dreary place " ; the women sought grass to spread un- der the bedding ; with watching and nursing they sus- tained the doctor through the night, when he seemed likely to die, and resumed travel early in the morning, reaching their destination in the afternoon. Were A MEMORIAL. 183 ushered by circumstances into a dirty, dilapidated house, which the blast penetrated at its pleasure, driv- ing the inmates from corner to corner, and, betimes, sifting snow upon their heads and shoulders. The school gained in popularity, and some of the pupils embraced the Savior. But the occasion came for other changes. Miss Osgood died, leaving a re- quest that Miss McCoy should take the work among the Weas that she was about to leave. The wish had all the force of instructions, and was followed for one year, when Miss McCoy closed her nine-years' career in the Indian country, bearing to her old home the love of many who had first received her love. From this time, 1853, her ministry of good changed in its sphere, but abated not in its constancy and wise application, nor in the nobility of the motive prompting it. Hav- ing been faithful with few things a few untutored In- dian youth she was accounted worthy to rule over much, even a large estate, and so to enter into the joy of her Lord.* Others entered upon the difficult enterprise of car- rying the Word of Life to the Putawatomies. In 1848 Rev. J. M. Ashburn, late graduate of Georgetown Col- lege, Kentucky, took an appointment, but first gave a period of efficient service in raising funds for the mis- sion; then, with his wife, commenced the work of preaching and teaching at the station. Rev. and Mrs. B. W. Sanders, of Missouri, assumed similar duties. _ ^ "Her closing years were devoted to caring for those who needed her ministrations. One, her brother, in dying, committed to her the complete control of his estate, amounting to $145,795, all of which she disbursed, as a wise steward, for the good of others, and most especially for the cause of religion and learning. 1 84 POOR 1,0 ! An interesting appointment was that of Rev. N. Dille and his wife, of Oswego, Indiana; he to take charge of the mechanical and farming interests, and she of the do- mestic, while the higher duties of teaching and preach- ing, also, were to be discharged. These, with f he labor- ers already at the station, were thought to be an impor- tant acquisition. Yet Providence did not fulfill the ex- pectations cherished. lyate in the autumn Mr. and Mrs. Dille set off for their destination, but, in a long and tedious journey, in which Mrs. Dille's feet were frost- bitten, and severe snowstorms hindered, they were unable to go farther than to Westport until February. From that point forward there was a trackless waste to be passed, with dangers, occupying two days; yet all, other missionaries having joined them, arrived in safety. School was resumed and the mission promised well, when cholera broke out and discomfited them for the time being. Mr. Dille was compelled to leave on account of domestic affliction. The large mission- building was unfinished, and the work upon it ceased. Still the remaining missionaries " held on, determined not to be thwarted in their efforts for the poor Puta- watomies." The improvements and building were reported the next year as completed, and faith and patience rewarded by greatly increased prosperity in all departments. Dr. J. Lykins was superintendent of all affairs at the station, and to his faithfulness and integrity successes were largely due. The next year another preacher was registered among the laborers Rev. I. F. Herrick, of Alabama, with Mrs. Herrick as teacher. And the superintend- A MEMORIAL. 185 ent was able to give a flattering report of the con- dition and prospect. The school had grown to near one hundred pupils, with others seeking admission, and plowed fields been added to the resources of the home. But in January the appearance of smallpox entirely arrested the operations. It seemed that the Indians were to be redeemed only through much tribu- lation. 1 86 POOR XIII. MR, AND MRS. D. LYKINS; MISS S. A. OSGOOD ; HIGH TRIBUTE. THE Weas, one division of the once great Miami Nation, claimed early attention from the new Indian Association. On March n, 1843, it was de- cided to establish a mission for their benefit, and Rev. David L,ykins and his wife were appointed the ' missionaries. He was a young man, of some expe- rience among the neighboring Shawanoes, and had married Miss Abigail Webster, who had served under the Triennial Board, with the same people, for two and a half years. The delay in fully occupying the situation, common in starting missions, was the less regretted because the services of a missionary were still urgently needed among the Shawanoes, and these Mr. L,ykins supplied. The Government had made a grant of a small, cultivated farm, with buildings, re- cently occupied by the Agency, on which to establish the Wea mission. Meantime a piteous demand was made by the Shawanoes, who were likely to be left destitute, and Mr. I^ykins continued with them while Rev. B. M. Adams, under appointment, went to the Weas. The Wea mission became one of peculiar interest, A MEMORIAL. 187 on account of the sacrifice upon its altar of Mrs. Ly- kins, and the companion of Miss McCoy, Miss Sarah A. Osgood. A boarding and manual labor school was commenced, with Miss Osgood as the teacher. It at once attracted attention, and the applications for ad- mission were far beyond its capacity, which the Board had not the means to enlarge. Besides per- forming strictly school duties, the teacher imparted religious instruction privately, or at her house, and by visits to neighboring women. Speaking of the work of lone women, the Secretary well says : " It re- quires much grace and devotedness to the service of God and the good of men, to sustain fortitude to per- severe under the discouragements and trials incident to their labors, and their peculiarly trying circum- stances." Mr. Adams retiring from the service, Rev. David Lykins took the post of preacher to the Weas, with Mrs. Lykins and Miss Osgood also in the mission. The greater part of the Miami tribes were removing from Indiana and about to settle with this division of the one great family, making the mission very im- portant. A new and commodious school and meeting- house was erected, and sixteen acres were added to the farm. Miss Osgood gives a cheering report of one term of 1847-8: All have been regular in attendance, and, while sev- eral have wept over their sins, one has enlisted in the service of Christ and mingles with us in prayer and praise. On the first Sabbath in this year Brother Lykins admin- istered the ordinance of baptism to Amanda. The day was very pleasant, the waters clear and still, and altogether i88 POOR LO! it was a lovely scene. The Indians came early, and filled our house to overflowing. All were seriously attentive during divine service, at the close of which our family and school, to preserve order, repaired to the water in procession, the Indians quietly following. Many drew near the water, and others seated themselves on an eminence to witness the first baptism administered in their streams. As in all other notes of progress, the " sound of the going " betokened a deep impression, which, had the occasion been improved by the denomination, might have given the Indian cause a place with the most successful evangelical movements of the century. Not a sufficient number of laborers was sent to encourage those who put their lives into the work, and to give opportunity for ascertaining who could endure the hardships of a protracted struggle ; while the amount expended, even upon those actually engaged, was so trifling as not to awaken in the givers much interest as to the use made of it. Then the Government's hand, though appropriating money, was not an advantage ; at least, not to the spiritual part of the work, nor was it stimulating to the denomination in charge of the enterprise. After another year seven additions were reported ; among them the head chief of the tribe and his wife, making a still more impressive baptismal occasion. The school shared in the fruits. And with Rev. T. L. Jackson and Miss S. G. Simerwell added to the work- ing force, the mission was thought to have unusual prosperity. After mentioning many points of encour- agement in school and religious activity, Miss Osgood adds : " More than twenty daily recite passages from A MEMORIAL. 189 the Word of God, and read every Sabbath in that pre- cious book." The Commissioner of Indian Affairs tes- tified as follows : " The influence of this mission un- der the management of that most worthy man, Rev. David Lykins, has not only tended to advance the con- dition of the children immediately under his charge, but may be found in every wigwam or house in the Territory. Much credit is also due Miss S. A. Osgood, who is at the head of the female department of this school ; she is a most estimable young lady, and is pe- culiarly well fitted for the position she occupies." The dial of the century showed high noon. It was 1850, and a good time to make a reckoning. The Bap- tist Missionary Magazine made the following state- ment as to the operations of the Indian Mission Asso- ciation, which had been organized less than eight years ; with four missionaries in the field, and receipts aggregating $3,000.35, for the first year, viz. : " Since 1842 the Association has been steadily extending its operations; the present number of missionaries and assistants being thirty-two, schools, five, number of per- sons baptized during the year, one hundred and seven- ty-four, receipts, $13,493.50." Communicants, about thirteen hundred. The year 1852, the time-limit of these sketches, brought changes and much sorrow to the young and hopeful Wea mission. Its first teacher, Miss Osgood, was taken from her loved employ to the Realm of Rest, January 9th, leaving a large number of admiring and advancing pupils to wonder why it should thus be. She proved her affectionate interest in them by a last request that her tried and trusted friend, Miss POOR I ! ' pared to the success of those who have maintained that the Gospel of Christ and its direct promulgation should be first in all missionary projects. It was this higher view that called Evan Jones from the tedium of limited schoolroom routine to the wider sphere of evangelical duty, and caused him to become the great man that he really was. His son, seeing the matter in the same light, followed him and entered into his joy. He had a fine appreciation of what anyone effected in Christian work, and hence the following tribute, to whom it was justly due : " This Society (A. B. C. F. M.) has constantly kept a strong force of white missionaries in the field, and they have always been very active and efficient in sus- taining schools among the Indians and in translating and printing portions of the Bible and other useful matter in the Cherokee language. Their books have been used by all other denominations, and have proved one of the most powerful means of civilizing and Chris- tianizing the people. Their churches have proved a great blessing to the Nation. " Besides the preaching at their stations, two of the missionaries, Rev. Wm. Chamberlain and Rev. Daniel S. Buttrick, devoted themselves exclusively to preach- ing. They traveled in various parts of the Nation, and visited the most neglected, inaccessible, as well as the more enlightened and favored of the people. Mr. Buttrick was remarkable in attachment to the Indians. Few have ever preached to them with a warmer heart, or a deeper sense of responsibility to God ; and there are few names that will be longer remembered or more warmly cherished by the Cherokees than that of this ; SANSOM STREET BAPTIST CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA. PA. A large circular Sanctuary, ninety feet in diameter, made resonant with the eloquence of Dr William Staughton, Pastor (181 1-1822), and Missionary Secretary ( 1 8 1 4- 1 826), and hallowed by services relating to the departure of many Missionaries, East and West. A MEMORIAL. 195 man. He rebuked them sharply, prayed for them fervently, and pleaded with them in tears, both in the pulpit and from house to house, and many, both in his own denomination and in others, are rejoicing in the hope of heaven, whose hearts were first melted by the word of truth which he preached. He began his labors in 1818. He labored hard during the early history of the mission in clearing up the ground and sowing the good seed, but was permitted to bring but a small portion of the sheaves with him. A premature feebleness of health weakened his energies for years, and finally God called him home. He was in the field over twenty years." As early as 1818 Rev. Humphrey Posey, with only one year of experience, testifies to the promise of the cause in the following terms : " The progress of the Indians surpasses my most sanguine hopes. I visited one school on the day after its commencement, and found a number able to show any letter in the alphabet, and name it. One man and his wife, in another school, who did not talk English at all, had learned in about nine days to spell the words of three letters. Their anxiety appears great to obtain information; they know there is something in the Bible to which they are strangers, and they want to understand it." The following authentic statement conveys evi- dence from the best of sources, after fifty years of In- dian missions ; some of them of an intermittent and indifferent character : 196 POOR i ' \ W. I'-- --- .' A 000 942 003 5