World of the Big KnivesI WAS scarcely old enough to know anything definite about the
“Big Knives,” as we called the white men, when the terrible
Minnesota massacre broke up our home and I was carried into exile. I
have already told how I was adopted into the family of my father’s
younger brother, when my father was betrayed and imprisoned. We all
supposed that he had shared the fate of those who were executed at
Mankato, Minnesota. |
|
Several warriors had observed from a distance one of the
first trains on the Northern Pacific, and had gained an
exaggerated impression of the wonders of the pale-face. They
had seen it go over a bridge that spanned a deep ravine and
it seemed to them that it jumped from one bank to the other.
I confess that the story almost quenched my ardor and
bravery. Two or three young men were talking together about this fearful invention. “However,” said one, “I understand that this fire-boat-walks-on-mountains cannot move except on the track made for it.” Although a boy is not expected to join in the conversation of his elders, I ventured to ask: “Then it cannot chase us into any rough country?” “No, it cannot do that,” was the reply, which I heard with a great deal of relief. I had seen guns and various other things brought to us by the French Canadians, so that I had already some notion of the supernatural gifts of the white man; but I had never before heard such tales as I listened to that morning. It was said that they had bridged the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, and that they made immense houses of stone and brick, piled on top of one another until they were as high as high hills. My brain was puzzled with these things for many a day. Finally I asked my uncle why the Great Mystery gave such power to the Washechu (the rich) — sometimes we called them by this name — and not to us Dakotas. “For the same reason,” he answered, “that he gave to Duta the skill to make fine bows and arrows, and to Wachesne no skill to make anything.” “And why do the Big Knives increase so much more in number than the Dakotas?” I continued. |
Keep up with all your new articles
and freebies. |
| “It has been said, and I think it must be
true, that they have larger families than we do. I went into
the house of an Eashecha (a German), and I counted no less
than nine children. The eldest of them could not have been
over fifteen. When my grandfather first visited them, down
at the mouth of the Mississippi, they were comparatively
few; later my father visited their Great Father at
Washington, and they had already spread over the whole
country.” “Certainly they are a heartless nation. They have made some of their people servants — yes, slaves! We have never believed in keeping slaves, but it seems that these Washechu do! It is our belief that they painted their servants black a long time ago, to tell them from the rest, and now the slaves have children born to them of the same color! “The greatest object of their lives seems to be to acquire possessions — to be rich. They desire to possess the whole world. For thirty years they were trying to entice us to sell them our land. Finally the outbreak gave them all, and we have been driven away from our beautiful country. “They are a wonderful people. They have divided the day into hours, like the moons of the year. In fact, they measure everything. Not one of them would let so much as a turnip go from his field unless he received full value for it. I understand that their great men make a feast and invite many, but when the feast is over the guests are required to pay for what they have eaten before leaving the house. I myself saw at White Cliff (the name given to St. Paul, Minnesota) a man who kept a brass drum and a bell to call people to his table; but when he got them in he would make them pay for the food! |
Travel the World, and get
paid for it |
| “I am also informed,” said my uncle, “but this I
hardly believe, that their Great Chief (President)
compels every man to pay him for the land he lives upon
and all his personal goods — even for his own existence
— every year!” (This was his idea of taxation.) “I am
sure we could not live under such a law. “When the outbreak occurred, we thought that our opportunity had come, for we had learned that the Big Knives were fighting among themselves, on account of a dispute over their slaves. It was said that the Great Chief had allowed slaves in one part of the country and not in another, so there was jealousy, and they had to fight it out. We don’t know how true this was. “There were some praying-men who came to us some time before the trouble arose. They observed every seventh day as a holy day. On that day they met in a house that they had built for that purpose, to sing, pray, and speak of their Great Mystery. I was never in one of these meetings. I understand that they had a large book from which they read. By all accounts they were very different from all other white men we have known, for these never observed any such day, and we never knew them to pray, neither did they ever tell us of their Great Mystery. “In war they have leaders and war-chiefs of different grades. The common warriors are driven forward like a herd of antelopes to face the foe. It is on account of this manner of fighting — from compulsion and not from personal bravery — that we count no coup on them. A lone warrior can do much harm to a large army of them in a bad country.” |
|
I was almost fifteen years old when my uncle presented me
with a flint-lock gun. The possession of the “mysterious
iron,” and the explosive dirt, or “pulverized coal,” as it
is called, filled me with new thoughts. All the war-songs
that I had ever heard from childhood came back to me with
their heroes. It seemed as if I were an entirely new being —
the boy had become a man! “I am now old enough,” said I to myself, “and I must beg my uncle to take me with him on his next war-path. I shall soon be able to go among the whites whenever I wish, and td avenge the blood of my father and my brothers.” I had already begun to invoke the blessing of the Great Mystery. Scarcely a day passed that I did not offer up some of my game, so that he might not be displeased with me. My people saw very little of me during the day, for in solitude I found the strength I needed. I groped about in the wilderness, and determined to assume my position as a man. My boyish ways were departing, and a sullen dignity and composure was taking their place. The thought of love did not hinder my ambitions. I had a vague dream of some day courting a pretty maiden, after I had made my reputation, and won the eagle feathers. One day, when I was away on the daily hunt, two strangers from the United States visited our camp. They had boldly ventured across the northern border. They were Indians, but clad in the white man’s garments. It was as well that I was absent with my gun. My father, accompanied by an Indian guide, after many days’ searching had found us at last. He had been imprisoned at Davenport, Iowa, with those who took part in the massacre or in the battles following, and he was taught in prison and converted by the pioneer missionaries, Drs. Williamson and Riggs. He was under sentence of death, but was among the number against whom no direct evidence was found, and who were finally pardoned by President Lincoln. |
The Seventh Man, by Max Brand Calamity Jane -- by herself Bull Hunter by Max Brand |
|
When he was released, and
returned to the new reservation upon the Missouri river,
he soon became convinced that life on a government
reservation meant physical and moral degradation.
Therefore he determined, with several others, to try the
white man’s way of gaining a livelihood. They
accordingly left the agency against the persuasions of
the agent, renounced all government assistance, and took
land under the United States Homestead law, on the Big
Sioux river. After he had made his home there, he
desired to seek his lost child. It was then a dangerous
undertaking to cross the line, but his Christian love
prompted him to do it. He secured a good guide, and
found his way in time through the vast wilderness. THE END |