Description and History of the Pueblo Indian Tribes

The word pueblo in Spanish means simply “town;” but in American ethnography, it has obtained a special signification from the aboriginal structures so-called, whose remains are found in profusion in Arizona and the neighboring localities over an area about 350 miles from east to west and 300 miles from
 north to south. These are buildings several stories in height, either of stone or of adobes, communal in character, that is, intended to accommodate a whole gens or clan, and usually with certain peculiarities of finish and plan. The adobes are generally large, some four feet long by two feet wide, and were often made upon the wall itself, the clay or gravel being carried in a moist state in baskets of this size and deposited upon the wall till the mass dried. When stones are employed, they are held together by a mud mortar. The most celebrated of these adobe edifices are perhaps the Casas Grandes in the valley of the San Miguel river, in northern Chihuahua. They have frequently been described and do not differ except in size from hundreds of other ruins in the Gila basin.

In connection with the pueblos stand the “cliff-houses,” structures of stones usually carefully squared and laid in mortar, found in great numbers and over an area of wide extent in the deep gorges or cañons of the Colorado, the Gila and the upper Rio Grande, and their numberless affluents. They are perched upon the ledges of the precipices, which often descend almost perpendicularly for thousands of feet, and access to many of them could have been only by ladders or ropes. Prominent points are frequently surmounted by round or square stone towers, evidently for purposes of observation. The disposition
 of the cliff houses renders it certain that their plans and positions were selected with a view to make them safe retreats from marauding enemies.

As descriptions of these interesting ruins have often been introduced to support vague and extraordinary theories concerning ancient America, I would emphatically say there is nothing in any of the remains of the pueblos, or the cliff houses, or any other antiquities in that portion of our continent, which compels us to seek other constructors for them than the ancestors of the various tribes which were found on the spot by the Spaniards in the sixteenth century, and by the armies of the United States in the middle of the nineteenth. This opinion is in accordance with history, with the traditions of the tribes themselves, and with the condition of culture in which they were found. When, in 1735, Pedro de Ainza made an expedition from Santa Fé against the Navajos, he discovered tribes dwelling in stone houses “built within the rocks,” and guarded by watchtowers of stone. The Apaches still remember driving these cliff-dwellers from their homes, and one of the Apache gentes is yet named from them “stone-house people.” As for the pueblos, seven or eight of them are occupied to-day by the same people who built them, and whose homes they have been for many centuries.

It is a significant fact that these people do not all belong to the same stock. On the contrary, the “Pueblo Indians” are members of a number of wholly disconnected stems. This proves that the Pueblo civilization is not due to any one unusually gifted lineage, but was a local product, developed in independent tribes by the natural facilities offered by the locality. It is a spontaneous production of the soil, climate, and conditions, which were unusually favorable to agricultural and sedentary occupations, and prompted various tribes to adopt them.

Of these different peoples, those of the Moqui Pueblo belonged to the Shoshonee branch of the Uto-Aztecan stock, and is the only existing Pueblo which is peopled by that widespread stem. We have good reason to believe, however, that the Pimas of the Sonoran Group of the same stock once occupied a number of adobe Pueblos, and quite likely were the constructors of the Casas Grandes.

The natives of the remaining Pueblos belong to three independent stocks, known as the Kera, the Tehua, and the Zuñi families. No relationship has been discovered between either of these and any tribe outside the territory I have referred to.

The culture of the Pueblos, both ancient and modern, bears every mark of local and independent growth. A knowledge of metals, other than to a
 limited extent for ornament, is nowhere evident. Tillage of the fields in a rude manner was the main source of the food supply. Pottery of fine temper and in symmetrical forms was manufactured by the women. That they had any other domestic animal than a fowl, and sometimes a dog, has not been shown. Mats and clothing were woven of the fibres of bark and grass, and the culture of cotton was at one time common, especially among the Moquis and Pimas. The arts of weaving feathers and working shells into decorative objects are not yet lost. Apart from the development of the art of architecture, there was little in the culture of the Pueblo tribes to lift them above the level of the Algonkins. The acequias, or irrigation trenches, about which much has been written, were a necessity of their climate, and were in use among their southern neighbors in Sonora, and the Navajos.

LINGUISTIC STOCKS OF THE PUEBLOS.

KERA STOCK.	Pueblos of Kera or Queres, Cochiti, Laguna, Acoma, Silla, etc., on the upper Rio Grande, Jemez and San Juan rivers.
TEHUA STOCK.	Jemez, on the Jemez river.
	Piros, on Rio Grande and in Chihuahua.
	Tanos, near Albuquerque, New Mexico.
	Taos, at Taos Pueblo.
	Tehuas, at Tesuque and neighboring Pueblos.
ZUÑI STOCK.	At Zuñi Pueblo.

The Dakota Sioux History and Description

The western watershed of the Mississippi River was largely in the possession of the Dakota or Sioux stock. Its various tribes extended in an unbroken line from the Arkansas River on the south to the Saskatchewan on the north, populating the whole of the Missouri valley as far up as the Yellowstone. Their principal tribes in the south were the Quapaws, Kansas and Osages; in the central region the Poncas, Omahas and Mandans; to the north were the Sioux, Assiniboine and Crows; while about Green Bay on Lake Michigan lived the Winnebagoes.

The opinion was formerly entertained that this great family moved to the locations where they were first met from some western home; but the researches of modern students have refuted this. Mr. Dorsey has shown by an analysis of their most ancient traditions that they unanimously point to an eastern origin, and that the central and southern bands did not probably cross the Mississippi much before the fourteenth century. This is singularly supported by the discovery of Mr. Horatio Hale that the Tuteloes of Virginia were a branch of the Dakotas; and further, the investigations of Catlin among the Mandans resulted in showing that this nation reached the Missouri Valley by traveling down the Ohio. They therefore formed a part of the great easterly migration of the North Atlantic tribes which seem to have been going on for many centuries before the discovery
. In the extreme south, almost on the gulf coast of Louisiana, lived some small bands of Dakotas, known as Biloxis, Opelousas, Pascagoulas, etc. They were long supposed to speak an independent tongue, and only of late years has their proper position been defined.

Their frames are powerful, and the warriors of the Sioux have long enjoyed a celebrity for their hardihood and daring. The massacre of General Custer’s command, which they executed in 1876, was the severest blow the army of the United States ever experienced at the hands of the red man. With reference to cranial form they are dolichocephalic, sixteen out of twenty-three skulls in the collection of the Academy offering a cephalic index under 80.

The northern Dakotas do not seem to have had the same system of gentes which prevailed in most of the eastern tribes. Mr. Morgan was of the opinion that it had existed, but had been lost; this, however, requires further proof. There are many societies among them, but not of the nature of clans. Their chiefs hold their position by hereditary descent in the male line, though among the Winnebagoes the early traveller, Carver found the anomaly of a woman presiding over the tribe. The central bands, the Mandans and Minnetarees, recognized gentes with descent in the female line; while among the Poncas and Omahas there were also gentes, but with descent in the male line. The condition in this respect, of the members of this family, as also of that of the Athabascan, seems to prove that the gentile
 system is by no means a fixed stadium of even American ancient society, but is variable, and present or absent as circumstances may dictate.

A few members of this family, notably the Mandans, attained a respectable degree of culture, becoming partly agricultural, and dwelling most of the year in permanent abodes; but the majority of them preferred depending on the bounties of nature, pursuing the herds of buffaloes over the boundless pastures of the plains, or snaring the abundant fish in the myriad streams which traversed their country.

The mythology of the Dakotas is concerned with the doings of giants in whom we recognize personifications of the winds and storms. One of these is Haokah, to whom the warrior sends up an invocation when about to undertake some perilous exploit. The thunder is caused by huge birds who flap their wings angrily and thus produce the portentous reverberations. The waters are the home of Unktahe, a mighty spirit who lurks in their depths. Indeed, to the Dakotas, and not to them alone, but to man in their stage of thought, “All nature is alive with gods. Every mountain, every tree is worshipped, and the commonest animals are the objects of adoration.”

DAKOTA LINGUISTIC STOCK.

• Arkansas, on lower Arkansas river.
• Assiniboins, on Saskatchewan and Assiniboin rivers.
• Biloxis, in Rapides Parish, Louisiana.
• 
  Crows, on Yellowstone river.
• Iowas, on the Iowa river.
• Kansas, on the Kansas river.
• Mandans, on the middle Missouri river.
• Minetarees, on the Yellowstone river.
• Ogallalas, sub-tribe of Sioux.
• Omahas, on the Elkhorn river.
• Osages, on Arkansas and Osage rivers.
• Ottoes, on the Platte river.
• Poncas, on the middle Missouri river.
• Quapaws, on lower Arkansas river.
• Sioux, on upper Mississippi and affluents.
• Tetons, sub-tribe of Sioux.
• Tuteloes, on upper Roanoke river, Va.
• Winnebagoes, western shore of Lake Michigan.
• Yanktons, on upper Iowa river.

 

 

Description of the Athabascan Indians 

Few linguistic families on the continent can compare in geographical distribution with that known as the Athabascan, Chepewyan or Tinné. Of these synonyms, I retain the first, as that adopted by Buschmann, who proved, by his laborious researches, the kinship of its various branches. These extend interruptedly from the Arctic Sea to the borders of Durango, in Mexico, and from Hudson Bay to the Pacific.

In British America this stock lies immediately north of the Algonkins, the dividing line running approximately from the mouth of the Churchill river on Hudson Bay to the mouth of the Fraser, on the Pacific. To the north they are in contact with the Eskimos and to the west with the tribes of the Pacific coast. In this wide but cold and barren area they are divided into a number of bands, without coherence, and speaking dialects often quite unlike. The Loucheux have reached the mouth of the Mackenzie river, the Kuchin are along the Yukon, the Kenai on the
 ocean about the peninsula that bears their name, while the Nahaunies, Secaunies and Takullies are among the mountains to the south. The Sarcees lived about the southern head-waters of the Saskatchewan, while other bands had crossed the mountains and wandered quite to the Pacific coast, where they appear as Umpquas near Salem, Oregon; as Tututenas on Rogue river; and in California as Hupas, on and about Trinity river. These are but a small fraction of the great southern migration of this stock. The Navajos belong to it, and the redoubted Apaches, who extended their war parties far into Mexico, and who were the main agents in destroying the civilization which ages ago began to reveal fair promise in the valleys of the Gila and its affluents, and who up to very recent years defied alike the armies of both Mexico and the United States. Their southern migrations beyond the valley of the Gila probably do not date far back, that is, much beyond the conquest. Although the Mexican census of 1880 puts the Mexican Apaches at ten thousand, no such number can be located. Orozco y Berra mentions one of their tribes in Chihuahua, which he calls Tobosos; but Spanish authors refer to these as living in New Mexico in 1583. The only Apache band now known to be in Mexico are the Janos or Janeros in Chihuahua, made up of Lipans and Mescaleros. (Henshaw.)

Wherever found, the members of this group present a certain family resemblance. In appearance they are tall and strong, the forehead low with prominent superciliary ridges, the eyes slightly oblique, the nose prominent but wide toward the base, the
 mouth large, the hands and feet small. Their strength and endurance are often phenomenal, but in the North at least their longevity is slight, few living beyond fifty. Intellectually they rank below most of their neighbors, and nowhere do they appear as fosterers of the germs of civilization. Where, as among the Navajos, we find them having some repute for the mechanical arts, it turns out that this is owing to having captured and adopted the members of more gifted tribes. Their temperament is inclined to be gloomy and morose; yet in spite of their apparent stolidity they are liable to panic terrors, to epidemic neuroses, temporary hallucinations and manias—a condition not at all rare among peoples of inferior culture.

Nowhere do we find among them any form of government. Their chiefs are chosen without formality, either on account of their daring in war or for their generosity in distributing presents. The office is not hereditary, there is rarely even any war chief, their campaigns being merely hurried raids. A singular difference exists as to their gentile systems, and their laws of consanguinity. Usually it is counted in the female line only. Thus among the Takullies of the north a son does not consider his father any relation, but only his mother and her people. When a man dies, all his property passes to his wife’s family. The totems are named from animals, and as usual a wife must be selected from another totem. This does not stand in the way of a son being united to his father’s[71] sister, and such a marriage is often effected for property reasons. Among the Sarcees the respect for a mother-in-law is so great that her son-in-law dares not sit at a meal with her, or even touch her, without paying a fine. Among the Navajo and Apache tribes the son also follows the gens of the mother, while in the Umpqua and Tutu branches in Oregon he belongs to that of his father. In all the southern tribes the gens is named from a place, not an animal. Marriage is polygamous at will, wives are obtained by purchase, and among the Slave Indians the tie is so lax that friends will occasionally exchange wives as a sign of amity. Usually the position of the woman is abject, and marital affection is practically unknown; although it is said that the Nahaunies, a tribe of eastern Alaska, at one time obeyed a female chief.

The arts were in a primitive condition. Utensils were of wood, horn or stone, though the Takully women manufactured a coarse pottery, and also spun and wove yarn from the hair of the mountain goat. Agriculture was not practised either in the north or south, the only exception being the Navajos and with them the inspiration came from other stocks. The Kuchin of the Yukon make excellent bark canoes, and both they and their neighbors live in skin tents of
 neatly dressed hides. Many of the tribes of the far north are improvident in both clothing and food, and cannibalism was not at all uncommon among them.

The most cultured of their bands were the Navajos, whose name is said to signify “large cornfields,” from their extensive agriculture. When the Spaniards first met them in 1541 they were tillers of the soil, erected large granaries for their crops, irrigated their fields by artificial water courses or acequias, and lived in substantial dwellings, partly underground; but they had not then learned the art of weaving the celebrated “Navajo blankets,” that being a later acquisition of their artisans.

In their religions there was the belief in deified natural forces and in magic that we find usually at their stage of culture. The priests or shamans were regarded with fear, and often controlled the counsels of the tribe. One of their prevalent myths was that of the great thunder-bird often identified with the raven. On the Churchill river it was called Idi, and the myth related that from its brooding on the primeval waters the land was brought forth. The myth is found too widespread to be other than genuine. The Sarcees seem to have had some form of solar worship, as they called the sun Our Father and the earth Our Mother.

The Navajos, who have no reminiscence of their ancestral home in the north, locate the scene of their creation in the San Juan mountains, and its date about seven centuries ago. Their story is that the
 first human pair were formed of the meal of maize brought by the gods from the cliff houses in the cañons.

The Athabascan dialects are usually harsh and difficult of enunciation. In reducing them to writing, sixty-three characters have to be called on to render the correct sounds. There is an oral literature of songs and chants, many of which have been preserved by the missionaries. The Hupas of California had extended their language and forced its adoption among the half-dozen neighboring tribes whom they had reduced to the condition of tributaries.

ATHABASCAN LINGUISTIC STOCK.

• Apaches, in Arizona, Chihuahua, Durango, etc.
• Ariquipas, in southern Arizona.
• Atnahs, on Copper river, Alaska.
• Beaver Indians, see Sarcees.
• Chepewyans, north of the Chipeways.
• Chiricahuas, in southern Arizona.
• Coyoteros, in southern Arizona.
• Hupas, in California, on Trinity river.
• Janos, in Chihuahua, near Rio Grande.
• Jicarillas, in northern New Mexico.
• Kenais, on and near Kenai peninsula, Alaska.
• Kuchins, on Yukon and Copper rivers, Alaska.
• Lipans, near mouth of Rio Grande (properly, Ipa-ndé).
• Loucheux, on lower Mackenzie river; most northern tribe.
• 
  Mescaleros, in New Mexico, W. of Rio Grande.
• Montagnais, north of Chipeways.
• Nahaunies, on Stickine and Talton rivers, Alaska.
• Navajos, northern New Mexico and Arizona.
• Sarcees, on upper Saskatchewan and at Alberta.
• Sicaunies, on upper Peach river.
• Slaves, on upper Mackenzie river.
• Tacullies, head waters of the Fraser river, Brit. Col.
• Tinné, synonym of Athabascan.
• Tututenas, on Rogue river, Oregon.
• Umpquas, Pacific coast near Salem, Oregon.

Origin of the Apache Indians

ORIGIN OF THE APACHE INDIANS

In the beginning, the world was covered with darkness. There was no sun, no day. The perpetual night had no moon or stars.

There were, however, all manner of beasts and birds. Among the beasts were many hideous, nameless monsters, as well as dragons, lions, tigers, wolves, foxes, beavers, rabbits, squirrels, rats, mice, and all manner of creeping things such as lizards and serpents. Mankind could not prosper under such conditions, for the beasts and serpents destroyed all human offspring.

All creatures had the power of speech and were gifted with reason.

There were two tribes of creatures: the birds or the feathered tribe and the beasts.[Pg 4] The former were organized under their chief, the eagle.

These tribes often held councils, and the birds wanted light admitted. This the beasts repeatedly refused to do. Finally the birds made war against the beasts.

The beasts were armed with clubs, but the eagle had taught his tribe to use bows and arrows. The serpents were so wise that they could not all be killed. One took refuge in a perpendicular cliff of a mountain in Arizona, and his eye (changed into a brilliant stone) may be seen in that rock to this day. The bears, when killed, would each be changed into several other bears, so that the more bears the feathered tribe killed, the more there were. The dragon could not be killed, either, for he was covered with four coats of horny scales, and the arrows would not penetrate these. One of the most hideous, vile monsters (nameless) was proof against arrows, so the eagle flew high up in the air with a round, white[Pg 5] stone, and let it fall on this monster's head, killing him instantly. This was such a good service that the stone was called sacred. (A symbol of this stone is used in the tribal game of Kah. They fought for many days, but at last the birds won the victory.

After this war was over, although some evil beasts remained, the birds were able to control the councils, and light was admitted. Then mankind could live and prosper. The eagle was chief in this good fight: therefore, his feathers were worn by man as emblems of wisdom, justice, and power.

Among the few human beings that were yet alive was a woman who had been blessed with many children, but these had always been destroyed by the beasts. If by any means she succeeded in eluding the others, the dragon, who was very wise and very evil, would come himself and eat her babes.

After many years a son of the rainstorm[Pg 6] was born to her and she dug for him a deep cave. The entrance to this cave she closed and over the spot built a camp fire. This concealed the babe's hiding place and kept him warm. Every day she would remove the fire and descend into the cave, where the child's bed was, to nurse him; then she would return and rebuild the camp fire.

Frequently the dragon would come and question her, but she would say, "I have no more children; you have eaten all of them."

When the child was larger he would not always stay in the cave, for he sometimes wanted to run and play. Once the dragon saw his tracks. Now this perplexed and enraged the old dragon, for he could not find the hiding place of the boy; but he said that he would destroy the mother if she did not reveal the child's hiding place. The poor mother was very much troubled; she could not give up her child, but she knew the power and cunning of the dragon, therefore she lived in constant fear.

[Pg 7]

Soon after this the boy said that he wished to go hunting. The mother would not give her consent. She told him of the dragon, the wolves, and the serpents; but he said, "To-morrow I go."

At the boy's request his uncle (who was the only man then living) made a little bow and some arrows for him, and the two went hunting the next day. They trailed the deer far up the mountain and finally the boy killed a buck. His uncle showed him how to dress the deer and broil the meat. They broiled two hind quarters, one for the child and one for his uncle. When the meat was done they placed it on some bushes to cool. Just then the huge form of the dragon appeared. The child was not afraid, but his uncle was so dumb with fright that he did not speak or move.

The dragon took the boy's parcel of meat and went aside with it. He placed the meat on another bush and seated himself beside it. Then he said, "This is the child I have[Pg 8]been seeking. Boy, you are nice and fat, so when I have eaten this venison I shall eat you." The boy said, "No, you shall not eat me, and you shall not eat that meat." So he walked over to where the dragon sat and took the meat back to his own seat. The dragon said, "I like your courage, but you are foolish; what do you think you could do?" "Well," said the boy, "I can do enough to protect myself, as you may find out." Then the dragon took the meat again, and then the boy retook it. Four times in all the dragon took the meat, and after the fourth time the boy replaced the meat he said, "Dragon, will you fight me?" The dragon said, "Yes, in whatever way you like." The boy said, "I will stand one hundred paces distant from you and you may have four shots at me with your bow and arrows, provided that you will then exchange places with me and give me four shots." "Good," said the dragon. "Stand up."

Then the dragon took his bow, which was made of a large pine tree. He took four arrows from his quiver; they were made of young pine tree saplings, and each arrow was twenty feet in length. He took deliberate aim, but just as the arrow left the bow the boy made a peculiar sound and leaped into the air. Immediately the arrow was shivered into a thousand splinters, and the boy was seen standing on the top of a bright rainbow over the spot where the dragon's aim had been directed. Soon the rainbow was gone and the boy was standing on the ground again. Four times this was repeated, then the boy said, "Dragon, stand here; it is my time to shoot." The dragon said, "All right; your little arrows cannot pierce my first coat of horn, and I have three other coats—shoot away." The boy shot an arrow, striking the dragon just over the heart, and one coat of the great horny scales fell to the ground. The next shot another coat, and then another, and the dragon's heart was[Pg 10] exposed. Then the dragon trembled, but could not move. Before the fourth arrow was shot the boy said, "Uncle, you are dumb with fear; you have not moved; come here or the dragon will fall on you." His uncle ran toward him. Then he sped the fourth arrow with true aim, and it pierced the dragon's heart. With a tremendous roar the dragon rolled down the mountain side—down four precipices into a cañon below.

Immediately storm clouds swept the mountains, lightning flashed, thunder rolled, and the rain poured. When the rainstorm had passed, far down in the cañon below, they could see fragments of the huge body of the dragon lying among the rocks, and the bones of this dragon may still be found there.

This boy's name was Apache. Usen taught him how to prepare herbs for [Pg 11]medicine, how to hunt, and how to fight. He was the first chief of the Indians and wore the eagle's feathers as the sign of justice, wisdom, and power. To him, and to his people, as they were created, Usen gave homes in the land of the west.

Early Native American Remains Unearthed on Manhattan Island New York

Early Native American Remains Unearthed on Manhattan Island New York

History of West Chester County, New York  1900
    In the immediate section of the country to which the County of Westchester belongs such traces of the ancient inhabitants as have been found are in no manner reducible to system. There are no        venerable monumental ruins, nor are there any of the curious " mounds " of the west. Various sites of villages occupied by the Indians at the time of the arrival of the Europeans are known, as also of some of their forts and burial grounds. Great heaps of oyster and clam shells here and there on the coast remain as landmarks of their abiding places. Aside from such features, which belong to an ordinary historical association rather than to the department of archaeological knowledge, few noteworthy " finds " have been made. Several years ago much was made in the New York City newspaper press of certain excavations by Mr. Alexander C. Chenoweth, at Inwood, on Manhattan Island, a short distance below Spuyten Duyvil. Mr. Chenoweth unearthed a  variety of interesting objects, including Indian skeletons, hearthstones blackened by fire, implements, and utensils. There can be no doubt that these remains were from a period antedating the European discovery. But they possessed no importance beyond that fact. With all the other traces of the most ancient inhabitants which have been found in this general region they show that hereabouts Indian conditions as known to history did not differ sharply, in the way either of improvement or of degeneration, from those which preceded the beginning of authentic records.

A Short History of the Pottawatomie Indians

SHORT HISTORY OF THE POTTAWATOMIE INDIANS

Me-Te-A, a Pottawatomie Chief. 

Pottawatomie as they appear to have been anciently known, are a branch of the 
Chippewas [Ojibwasj and trace their ancestral line back to the primitive family 
of the Algonqutns. The name, by common repute, about the middle of the sev- 
enteenth century, was understood to be a nation of tire-makers, the present form 
of the word being derived, etymologieally, from Pa-ta-wa, to expand or inflate the 
cheeks, as in the act of blowing a fire to kindle it, and mc. a nation, hence the 
name — from the apparent facility with which they kindled the council fire. 

The first notice we have of them was in 1641, when it is stated that they 
abandoned their own country (Green Bay), and took refuge among the Cbippewas, 
so as to secure themselves from their enemies, the Sioux, who, it would seem, 
having been at war with had well-nigh overcome them. In 1660, Father Allouez, 
a French Missionary, speaks of the Pottawatotuies as occupying territory 
extending from Green Bay to. the head of Lake Superior, and southward to the 
countries of the Sacs, Foxts and Miamis, and that traders had preceded him. 
Ten years later, they returned to Green Bay and occupied the borders of Lake 
Michigan on the north. Subsequently, about the beginning of the eighteenth 
century, they had traced the eastern coast of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the 
river St. Joseph, where, and to the southward of Lake Michigan, a large body of 
them held possession toward the middle of the nineteenth century. Their occu- 
pancy of this territory by the Pottawatomies was at. first permissive, only, on the 
part of the Miamis, but, in the course of'time, their right was acknowledged by 
giving them a voice in the making of treaties, involving also the right of cession. 

Being somewhat migratory they have acquired, as a consequence, the character of 
being aggressive, while they quietly take possession of territory, the right to 

which is subsequently acknowledged. And, while it may be true that they sometimes 
occupied territory without permission, as a rule, it is true, also, that such 

change of locality is the result of forcible retirement from their own country, 

as was thefact upon their first removal from Green Bay. 

During the progress of the Nicholas conspiracy, in 1747, the Pottawatomies 
were generally on the side of the French against the English, as were the Otta- 
was. In a communication from M. de Lougueuil, Commandant at Detroit, to 
the Canadian Governor, giving in review the situation of civil and military affairs

in Canada in 1747,

While the conspiracy of Pontiac was in process of development, the Potta- 
watomies, with other tribes heretofore occupying relations of amity with the 
French, were visited by the agents of Pontiac, or by the chief in person, to secure 
their influence in the "furtherance of his plans. It required but little to arouse 
the feelings of these people in favor of their common ally, the French, and elicit 
the deep interest incident to the former relations existing between them. A 
fresh impetus was given to the current of sentiment prevailing amongst them, in 
the act of the surrender of the French garrison at Detroit to the English, which 
occurred on the 10th of November, 1760. At that place, the Pottawatomies and 
Wyandots were encamped below Detroit, on the opposite side of the river, and, 
seemingly, witnessed the transfer with indifference, preferring to await the issue 
of events speedily to follow. The mutteriugs of the impending storm were dis- 
tinctly heard in the early summer of 1751. 

Early in the spring of 1763, after the garrison at Fort Miami, on the Mau- 
mee, had been surrendered to the English, the commandant was warned of the 
contemplated uprising of the Indians. A conference of the adjacent chiefs, held 
at his suggestion, developed the true situation, an account of which was com- 
municated to the English commandant at Detroit. This latter officer, resting in 
confidence upon the quiet demeanor of the Pottawatomies surrounding the post, 
discredited the report. He was soon, however, made only too conscious of his 
criminal disbelief. In the gatherings of the tribes which followed, the Pottawat- 
omies were in the front rank, anxious to participate in the coming conflict. 

On the 25th of May, of that year, the old post at St. Joseph fell into the 
hands of the conspirators, the Pottawatomies bearing Pontiac's order for the sac- 
rifice of the garrison. No further impulse was required to insure the prompt 
execution of the order. Two days later, the same determined band, in the 
further execution of orders, captured the fort at Kekionga, by the methods used 
in Indian warfare — treachery, with the accompaniments of human sacrifice. 

Passing to the results of the expedition of Gen. Wayne, in 1794, the Pot- 
tawatomies "following the course of events, participated in the conference and 
treaty at Greenville,'" in August, 1795, and allied themselves with the promoters 
of peace along the frontiers of the Northwest. They maintained that relation, 
with few exceptions, until the period of Tecumseh's effort at. confederating the 
tribes, and his subsequent alliance with Great Britain, in 1S1 2, during which 
time their peace propensities were conveniently laid aside. 

After the close of that war, amicable relations were again resumed, and, on 
the 18th of July, 1S15, the Pottawatomies concluded a treaty or peace with the 
United States, which was agreed to be perpetual. 

Metea was a war chief of the Pottawatomies, who, in the course of his career 

achieved a somewhat enviable notoriety. His tribe, during the greater part of the 

last century, inhabited the region to the northward of the present site of Fort 

Wayne. 
About the period of the war of 1812, Metea was at the zenith of his power and 
influence, among the kindred tribes. " His villages were on the Little St. Joseph 
river, one on the table-land where Cedarville now is, near the mouth, but on the 
north side of Cedar Creek ; and the other about seven miles from Fort Wayne, 
on the north side of St. Joseph, on a section of land granted by the Miami 
Indians at the treaty held in 1826, at the mouth of the Mississinewa, at Paradise 
Springs (Wabash) to John B. Bourie, which section was described so as to 
include Chop-a tie village, perhaps better known as the ' Bourie Section.' On 
the 10th of September, 1812, when Gen. Harrison's army was forcing its 
march to raise the seige which the Indians were then holding over Fort Wayne, 
Me-te-a, and a few of his braves, planned an ambush at the Five Mile Swamp, 
where Wayne's trace crossed it, and perhaps where the present county road 
crosses it, five miles southeast of this city. Having made an ambush on both 
sides of the road, in a narrow defile where the troops would have to crowd 
together, they laid in wait for the army; but Maj. Mann, a spy of Gen. 
Harrison, with a few avant courier*, discovered it in time to save the effusion of 
blood in the army. Metea, having located himself behind a tree, left his elbow 
exposed as it laid over the breech of his rifle, resting on his left shoulder. This

 Maj. Mann discovered, and instantly took aim, and firing, broke the arm of the 
brave chief; and. discovering that he had not killed him, he sprang off in hot 
pursuit after Metea, who gathered up his swinging and crippled arm, fled with 
a loud 'Ugh ! ugh !' and. by the hardest effort, escaped to Fort Wayne in time 
to advise "the besieging Indians of the approach of Gen. Harrison's army, at 
which they prepared to leave, and left that afternoon. 

" The arm of the chief healed up, but the bone never knit, which left it 
entirely useless. He often told over the incident of his wound, and chase by 
Maj. Mann, and gave him great praise for being a brave and athletic man. .It 
was supposed that if Mann's men, who were with him as spies, had been as quick 
and courageous as he was himself, that Metea would have paid the penalty of that 
ambuscade with his scalp. 

" He was a brave, generous, and intelligent Iudian, who is described by 
those who knew him well, to have been not only an orator, but a powerful reasoner 
and practical man, especially at the treaties in which he took part. In addition 

He lived in this vicinity, as is known, from 1800 to 1827, in May of 
which hitter year, he came to his death by poison, said to have been surrepti- 
tiously administered by some malevolent Indians who were unjustly incensed at 
him for his adherence to the terms of the treaty of 1826, made at the mouth of the 
Mississinewa. The poison was -opposed to have been the root of the Mayapple. 

He, the night before his death, he was believed to have been poisoned, and, in the 
the morning, found dead, his tongue having swollen'to such an extent as to have 
protruded far through filling it so as to prevent breathing. He was 
then buried on the sand-hill overlooking the St. Mary's and between where Fort 
Wayne College now stands, at the west end of Wayne street and the west end of 
Berry street. * 

" In that unmarked spot sleeps, in an undisturbed state, all that was mortal 
of the Pottawatie chief Metea, who, for half a century or more, it is thought, 
prior to May, 1827, had been an occupant of this soil, which had been reclaimed 
with such an indifferent spirit on the part of the whites, as that they nearly for-get

 that it was once Indian territory, and since which death, on the spot where 
stood his and the Indians' beloved Ke-ki-ong-a I blackberry patch), has sprung 

up abeautiful city. But here comes a musing spirit; their day if past, their fires are 

out ; the deer no longer bounds before them ; the plow is iii their hunting-grounds

 the as rings through the woods, once only familiar with the rifle's report and the' 

war-whoop; the bark canoe is no longer on the river; the springs are dry; civil- 
ization has blotted out that race, 

'"And with his frail breath, his power has passed away, 
His deeds, his thoughts, are buried with his clay.' " 

WAU-BUN-SEE 

was another noted chief of the Pottawatomies— noted especially for his exhibi- 
tions of cruelty and revenge. He often indulged in liquor, and when thus 
excited, his appearance and manner were those of a demon, giving loose rein to his 
vicious temper. He was, however, reputed to be a brave and efficient warrior. 

" The year 1812," says Schoolcraft, " was noted as the acme of the outburst 
of every malignant feeling which appears to have been in the heart of Western 
Iudians. The black reverse of the American arms at Detroit, Hull's surrender 
— the horrid massacre of the retiring American garrison of Chicago, who were 
butchered like so many cattle on the sandy shores of Lake Michigan— the wild 
howl of the tribes along the whole frontiers, came like the fierce' rushing of a 
tornado, which threatens to destroy entire villages. Among the elements of this 
tornado was the wild samgium, or war-whoop of Wau-bun-see. He was a war 
chief of some note at Chicago, distinguished for his ferocious and brutal character." 
An exhibition of this is given in connection with a dispute between two of 
his squaws. One of them, to gain her point, went to the chief and accused the 
other of abusing his children. The accused one was peremptorily brought before 
him. Her he ordered to lie down upon the ground on her back, and directed 
the accuser to dispatch her with a tomahawk. A single blow smote the skull. 
" There," said the savage, " let the crows eat her," and left her unburied until 
persu i.lcd to do otherwise. Then he directed the murderess to bury her. This 
she did, but so shallow that the wolves dug up and partly devoured the body.