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Sault Ste. Marie, Sept. 21, 1831.

To Elbert Herring, Esq.

Office of Indian Affairs, War Department.

Sir,

In compliance with instructions to endeavour to terminate the hostilities between the Chippewas and Sioux, I proceeded into the Chippewa country with thirteen men in two canoes, having the necessary provisions and presents for the Indians, an interpreter, a physician to attend the sick, and a person in charge of the provisions and other public property. The commanding officer of Fort Brady furnished me with an escort of ten soldiers, under the command of a lieutenant; and I took with me a few Chippewas, in a canoe provided with oars, to convey a part of the provisions. A flag was procured for each canoe. I joined the expedition at the head of the portage, at this place, on the 25th of June; and, after visiting the Chippewa villages in the belt of country between Lake Superior and the Mississippi, in latitudes 44° to 70°, returned on the 4th of September, having been absent seventy-two days, and travelled a line of country estimated to be two thousand three hundred and eight miles. I have now the honor to report to you the route pursued, the means employed to accomplish the object, and such further measures as appear to me to be necessary to give effect to what has been done, and to ensure a lasting peace between the two tribes.

Reasons existed for not extending the visit to the Chippewa bands on the extreme Upper Mississippi, on Red Lake, and Red River, and the river De Corbeau. After entering Lake Superior, and traversing its southern shores to Point Chegoimegon and the adjacent cluster of islands, I ascended the Mauvaise River to a portage of 8¾ miles into the Kaginogumac or Long Water Lake. This lake is about eight miles long, and of very irregular width. Thence, by a portage of 280 yards, into Turtle Lake; thence, by a portage of 1,075 yards, into Clary’s Lake, so called; thence, by a portage of 425 yards, into Lake Polyganum; and thence, by a portage of 1,050 yards, into the Namakagon River, a branch of the river St. Croix of the Upper Mississippi. The distance from Lake Superior to this spot is, by estimation, 124 miles.

We descended the Namakagon to the Pukwaewa, a rice lake, and a Chippewa village of eight permanent lodges, containing a population of 53 persons, under a local chief called Odabossa. We found here gardens of corn, potatoes, and pumpkins, in a very neat state of cultivation. The low state of the water, and the consequent difficulty of the navigation, induced me to leave the provisions and stores at this place, in charge of Mr. Woolsey, with directions to proceed (with part of the men, and the aid of the Indians) to Lac Courtorielle or Ottowa Lake, and there await my arrival. I then descended the Namakagon in a light canoe, to its discharge into the St. Croix, and down the latter to Yellow River, the site of a trading-post and an Indian village, where I had, by runners, appointed a council. In this trip I was accompanied by Mr. Johnson, sub-agent, acting as interpreter, and by Dr. Houghton, adjunct professor of the Rensselaer school. We reached Yellow River on the 1st of August, and found the Indians assembled. After terminating the business of the council (of which I shall presently mention the results), I re-ascended the St. Croix and the Namakagon to the portage which intervenes between the latter and Lac Courtorielle. The first of the series of carrying-places is about three miles in length, and terminates at the Lake of the Isles (Lac des Isles); after crossing which, a portage of 750 yards leads to Lac du Gres. This lake has a navigable outlet into Ottowa Lake, where I rejoined the advanced party (including Lieutenant Clary’s detachment) on the 5th of August.

Ottowa Lake is a considerable expanse of water, being about twelve miles long, with irregular but elevated shores. A populous Chippewa village and a trading-post are located at its outlet, and a numerous Indian population subsists in the vicinity. It is situated in a district of country which abounds in rice lakes, has a proportion of prairie or burnt land, caused by the ravages of fire, and, in addition to the small fur-bearing animals, has several of the deer species. It occupies, geographically, a central situation, being intermediate, and commanding the communications between the St. Croix and Chippewa Rivers, and between Lake Superior and the Upper Mississippi. It is on the great slope of land descending towards the latter, enjoys a climate of comparative mildness, and yields, with fewer and shorter intervals of extreme want, the means of subsistence to a population which is still essentially erratic. These remarks apply, with some modifications, to the entire range of country (within the latitudes mentioned) situated west and south of the high lands circumscribing the waters of Lake Superior. The outlet of this Lake (Ottowa) is a fork of Chippewa River, called Ottowa River.

I had intended to proceed from this lake, either by following down the Ottowa branch to its junction with the main Chippewa, and then ascending the latter into Lac du Flambeau, or by descending the Ottowa branch only to its junction with the North-West fork, called the Ochasowa River; and, ascending the latter to a portage of sixty pauses, into the Chippewa River. By the latter route time and distance would have been saved, and I should, in either way, have been enabled to proceed from Lac du Flambeau to Green Bay by an easy communication into the Upper Ouisconsin, and from the latter into the Menomonie River, or by Plover Portage into Wolf River. This was the route I had designed to go on quitting Lake Superior; but, on consulting my Indian maps, and obtaining at Ottowa Lake the best and most recent information of the distance and the actual state of the water, I found neither of the foregoing routes practicable, without extending my time so far as to exhaust my supplies. I was finally determined to relinquish the Lac du Flambeau route, by learning that the Indians of that place had dispersed, and by knowing that a considerable delay would be caused by reassembling them.

The homeward route by the Mississippi was now the most eligible, particularly as it would carry me through a portion of country occupied by the Chippewas, in a state of hostility with the Sioux, and cross the disputed line at the mill. Two routes, to arrive at the Mississippi, were before me—either to follow down the outlet of Ottowa Lake to its junction with the Chippewa, and ascend the latter to its mouth, or to quit the Ottowa Lake branch at an intermediate point, and, after ascending a small and very serpentine tributary, to cross a portage of 6,000 yards into Lake Chetac. I pursued the latter route.

Lake Chetac is a sheet of water about six miles in length, and it has several islands, on one of which is a small Chippewa village and a trading-post. This lake is the main source of Red Cedar River (called sometimes the Folle Avoine), a branch of the Chippewa River. It receives a brook at its head from the direction of the portage, which admits empty canoes to be conveyed down it two pauses, but is then obstructed with logs. It is connected by a shallow outlet with Weegwos Lake, a small expanse which we crossed with paddles in twenty-five minutes. The passage from the latter is so shallow, that a portage of 1,295 yards is made into Balsam of Fir or Sapin Lake. The baggage is carried this distance, but the canoes are brought through the stream. Sapin Lake is also small; we were thirty minutes in crossing it. Below this point, the river again expands into a beautiful sheet of water, called Red Cedar Lake, which we were an hour in passing; and afterward into Bois Francois, or Rice Lake. At the latter place, at the distance of perhaps sixty miles from its head, I found the last fixed village of Chippewas on this stream, although the hunting camps, and other signs of temporary occupation, were more numerous below than on any other part of the stream. This may be attributed to the abundance of the Virginia deer in that vicinity, many of which we saw, and of the elk and moose, whose tracks were fresh and numerous in the sands of the shore. Wild rice is found in all the lakes. Game, of every species common to the latitude, is plentiful. The prairie country extends itself into the vicinity of Rice Lake; and for more than a day’s march before reaching the mouth of the river, the whole face of the country puts on a sylvan character, as beautiful to the eye as it is fertile in soil, and spontaneously productive of the means of subsistence. A country more valuable to a population having the habits of our North-Western Indians, could hardly be conceived of; and it is therefore cause of less surprise that its possession should have been so long an object of contention between the Chippewas and Sioux.

About sixty miles below Rice Lake commences a series of rapids, which extend, with short intervals, 24 miles. The remainder of the distance, to the junction of this stream with the Chippewa, consists of deep and strong water. The junction itself is characterized by commanding and elevated grounds, and a noble expanse of waters. And the Chippewa River, from this spot to its entrance into the Mississippi, has a depth and volume, and a prominence of scenery, which mark it to be inferior to none, and superior to most of the larger tributaries of the Upper Mississippi. Before its junction, it is separated into several mouths, from the principal of which the observer can look into Lake Pepin. Steamboats could probably ascend to the falls.

The whole distance travelled, from the shores of Lake Superior to the mouth of the Chippewa, is, by estimation, 643 miles, of which 138 should be deducted for the trip to Yellow River, leaving the direct practicable route 505 miles. The length of the Mauvaise to the portage is 104; of the Namakagon, from the portage, 161; of the Red Cedar, 170; of the Chippewa, from the entrance of the latter, 40. Our means of estimating distances was by time, corrected by reference to the rapidity of water and strength of wind, compared with our known velocity of travelling in calm weather on the lakes. These estimates were made and put down every evening, and considerable confidence is felt in them. The courses were accurately kept by a canoe compass. I illustrate my report of this part of the route by a map protracted by Dr. Houghton. On this map our places of encampment, the sites and population of the principal Indian villages, the trading-posts, and the boundary lines between the Sioux and Chippewa, are indicated. And I refer you to it for several details which are omitted in this report.

The present state of the controversy between the Sioux and the Chippewas will be best inferred from the facts that follow. In stating them, I have deemed it essential to preserve the order of my conferences with the Indians, and to confine myself, almost wholly, to results.

Along the borders of Lake Superior, comparatively little alarm was felt from the hostile relation with the Sioux. But I found them well informed of the state of the difficulties, and the result of the several war-parties that had been sent out the last year. A system of information and advice is constantly kept up by runners; and there is no movement meditated on the Sioux borders, which is not known and canvassed by the lake bands.

They sent warriors to the scene of conflict last year, in consequence of the murder committed by the Sioux on the St. Croix. Their sufferings from hunger during the winter, and the existence of disease at Torch Lake (Lac du Flambeau), and some other places, together with the entire failure of the rice crop, had produced effects, which were depicted by them and by the traders in striking colours. They made these sufferings the basis of frequent and urgent requests for provisions. This theme was strenuously dwelt upon. Whatever other gifts they asked for, they never omitted the gift of food. They made it their first, their second, and their third request.

At Chegoimegon, on Lake Superior (or La Pointe, emphatically so called), I held my first and stated council with the Indians. This is the ancient seat of the Chippewa power in this quarter. It is a central and commanding point, with respect to the country lying north, and west, and south of it. It appears to be the focus from which, as radii from a centre, the ancient population emigrated; and the interior bands consequently look back to it with something of the feelings of parental relation. News from the frontiers flies back to it with a celerity which is peculiar to the Indian mode of express. I found here, as I had expected, the fullest and most recent information from the lines. Mozojeed, the principal man at Ottawa Lake, had recently visited them for the purpose of consultation; but returned on the alarm of an attack upon his village.

The Indians listened with attention to the message transmitted to them from the President, and to the statements with which it was enforced. Pezhickee, the venerable and respected chief of the place, was their speaker in reply. He lamented the war, and admitted the folly of keeping it up; but it was carried on by the Chippewas in self-defence, and by volunteer parties of young men, acting without the sanction of the old chiefs. He thought the same remark due to the elder Sioux chiefs, who probably did not sanction the crossing of the lines, but could not restrain their young men. He lived, he said, in an isolated situation, did not mingle in the interior broils, and did not deem himself responsible for acts done out of his own village, and certainly not for the acts of the villages of Torch Lake, Ottawa Lake, and the St. Croix. He had uniformly advised his people to sit still and remain at peace, and he believed that none of his young men had joined the war-parties of last year. The government, he said, should have his hearty co-operation in restoring peace. He referred to the sub-agency established here in 1826, spoke of its benefits, and wished to know why the agent had been withdrawn, and whether he would be instructed to return? In the course of his reply, he said, that formerly, when the Indians lived under the British government, they were usually told what to do, and in very distinct terms. But they were now at a loss. From what had been said and done at the treaty of Fond du Lac, he expected the care and protection of the American government, and that they would advance towards, instead of (as in the case of the sub-agency) withdrawing from them. He was rather at a loss for our views respecting the Chippewas, and he wished much for my advice in their affairs.

I thought it requisite to make a distinct reply to this point. I told him that when they lived under the British Government, they were justified in shaping their course according to the advice they received; but that, on the transfer of the country, their allegiance was transferred with it. And when our government hoisted its flag at Mackinac (1796), it expected from the Indians living within our boundaries the respect due to it; and it acknowledged, at the same time, the reciprocal obligations of care and protection. That it always aimed to fulfil these obligations, of which facts within his own knowledge and memory would afford ample proofs. I referred him to the several efforts the government had made to establish a lasting peace between the Chippewas and Sioux; for which purpose the President had sent one of his principal men (alluding to Gov. Cass), in 1820, who had visited their most extreme north-western villages, and induced themselves and the Sioux to smoke the pipe of peace together at St. Peters. In accordance with these views, and acting on the information then acquired, the President had established an agency for their tribe at Sault Ste. Marie, in 1822. That, in 1825, he had assembled at Prairie du Chien all the tribes who were at variance on the Upper Mississippi, and persuaded them to make peace, and, as one of the best means of ensuring its permanency, had fixed the boundaries of their lands. Seeing that the Chippewas and Sioux still continued a harassing and useless contest, he had sent me to remind them of this peace and these boundaries, which, I added. you, Perikee, yourself agreed to, and signed, in my presence. I come to bring you back to the terms of this treaty. Are not these proofs of his care and attention? Are not these clear indications of his views respecting the Chippewas? The chief was evidently affected by this recital. The truth appeared to strike him forcibly; and he said, in a short reply. that he was now advised; that he would hereafter feel himself to be advised, &c. He made some remarks on the establishment of a mission school. &c., which, being irrelevant, are omitted. He presented a pipe, with an ornamented stem. as a token of his friendship, and his desire of peace.

I requested him to furnish messengers to take belts of wampum and tobacco, with three separate messages, viz. to Yellow River, to Ottawa Lake, and to Lac du Flambeau, or Torch Lake; and also, as the water was low, to aid me in the ascent of the Mauvaise River. and to supply guides for each of the military canoes, as the soldiers would here leave their barge, and were unacquainted with the difficulties of the ascent. He accordingly sent his oldest son (Che-che-gwy-ung) and another person, with the messages, by a direct trail. leading into the St. Croix country. He also furnished several young Chippewas to aid us on the Mauvaise, and to carry baggage on the long portage into the first intermediate lake west of that stream.

After the distribution of presents, I left Chegoimegon on the 18th July. The first party of Indians met at the Namakagon, belonging to a Chippewa village called Pukwaewa, having, as its geographical centre and trading-post, Ottowa Lake. As I had directed part of the expedition to precede me there, during my journey to Yellow River, I requested these Indians to meet me at Ottowa Lake, and assist in conveying the stores and provisions to that place—a service which they cheerfully performed. On ascending the lower part of the Namakagon, I learned that my messenger from Lake Superior had passed, and on reaching Yellow River, I found the Indians assembled and waiting. They were encamped on an elevated ridge, called Pekogunagun, or the Hip Bone, and fired a salute from its summit. Several of the neighbouring Indians came in after my arrival. Others, with their chiefs, were hourly expected. I did not deem it necessary for all to come in, but proceeded to lay before them the objects of my visit, and to solicit their co-operation in an attempt to make a permanent peace with the Sioux, whose borders we then were near. Kabamappa, the principal chief, not being a speaker, responded to my statements and recommendations through another person (Sha-ne-wa-gwun-ai-be). He said that the Sioux were of bad faith; that they never refused to smoke the pipe of peace with them, and they never failed to violate the promise of peace thus solemnly made. He referred to an attack they made last year on a band of Chippewas and half-breeds, and the murder of four persons. Perpetual vigilance was required to meet these inroads. Yet he could assert, fearlessly, that no Chippewa war-party from the St. Croix had crossed the Sioux line for years; that the murder he had mentioned was committed within the Chippewa lines; and although it was said at the treaty of Prairie du Chien that the first aggressor of territorial rights should be punished, neither punishment was inflicted by the government, nor had any atonement or apology thus far been made for this act by the Sioux. He said his influence had been exerted in favour of peace; that he had uniformly advised both chiefs and warriors to this effect; and he stood ready now to do whatever it was reasonable he should do on the subject.

I told him it was not a question of recrimination that was before us. It was not even necessary to go into the inquiry of who had spilt the first blood since the treaty of Prairie du Chien. The treaty had been violated. The lines had been crossed. Murders had been committed by the Chippewas and by the Sioux. These murders had reached the ears of the President, and he was resolved to put a stop to them. I did not doubt but that the advice of the old chiefs, on each side, had been pacific. I did not doubt but that his course had been particularly so. But rash young men, of each party, had raised the war-club; and when they could not go openly, they went secretly. A stop must be put to this course, and it was necessary the first movement should be made somewhere. It was proper it should be made here, and be made at this time. Nothing could be lost by it; much might be gained; and if a negotiation was opened with the Sioux chiefs while I remained, I would second it by sending an explanatory message to the chiefs and to their agent. I recommended that Kabamappa and Shakoba, the war-chief of Snake River, should send jointly wampum and tobacco to the Petite Corbeau and to Wabisha, the leading Sioux chiefs on the Mississippi, inviting them to renew the league of friendship, and protesting their own sincerity in the offer. I concluded, by presenting him with a flag, tobacco, wampum, and ribands, to be used in the negotiation. After a consultation, he said he would not only send the messages, but, as he now had the protection of a flag, he would himself go with the chief Shakoba to the Petite Corbeau’s village. I accompanied these renewed offers of peace with explanatory messages, in my own name, to Petite Corbeau and to Wabisha, and a letter to Mr. Taliaferro, the Indian agent at St. Peter’s, informing him of these steps, and soliciting his co-operation. A copy of this letter is hereunto annexed. I closed the council by the distribution of presents; after which the Indians called my attention to the conduct of their trader, &c.

Information was given me immediately after my arrival at Yellow River, that Neenaba, a popular war-leader from the Red Cedar fork of Chippewa River, had very recently danced the war-dance with thirty men at Rice Lake of Yellow River, and that his object was to enlist the young men of that place in a war-party against the Sioux. I also learned that my message for Ottowa Lake had been promptly transmitted through Neenaba, whom I was now anxious to see. I lost not an hour in re-ascending the St. Croix and the Namakagon. I purchased two additional canoes of the Indians, and distributed my men in them, to lighten the draught of water, and facilitate the ascent; and, by pushing early and late, we reached Ottowa Lake on the fifth day in the morning. Neenaba had, however, delivered his message, and departed. I was received in a very friendly and welcome manner, by Mozojeed, of the band of Ottowa Lake; Wabezhais, of the Red Devil’s band of the South Pukwaewa; and Odabossa, of the Upper Namakagon. After passing the usual formalities, I prepared to meet them in council the same day, and communicate to them the objects of my mission.

In the course of the conference at this place, I obtained the particulars of a dispute which had arisen between the Chippewas of this quarter, which now added to their alarm, as they feared the latter would act in coincidence with their ancient enemies, the Sioux. The reports of this disturbance had reached me at the Sault, and they continued, with some variations, until my arrival here. The following are the material facts in relation to this new cause of disquietude: In the summer of 1827, Okunzhewug, an old woman, the wife of Kishkemun, the principal chief of Torch Lake, a man superannuated and blind; attended the treaty of Butte des Morts, bearing her husband’s medal. She was treated with the respect due to the character she represented, and ample presents were directed to be given to her; among other things a handsome hat. The latter article had been requested of her by a young Menomonie, and refused. It is thought a general feeling of jealousy was excited by her good reception. A number of the Menomonies went on her return route as far as the Clover Portage, where she was last seen. Having never returned to her village, the Chippewas attributed her death to the Menomonies. Her husband died soon after; but she had numerous and influential relatives to avenge her real or supposed murder. This is the account delivered by the Chippewas, and it is corroborated by reports from the traders of that section of the country. Her singular disappearance and secret death at the Clover Portage, is undisputed; and whether caused or not by any agency of the Menomonies, the belief of such agency, and that of the most direct kind, is fixed in the minds of the Chippewas, and has furnished the basis of their subsequent acts in relation to the Menomonie hunting-parties who have visited the lower part of Chippewa River. Two women belonging to one of these parties were killed by a Chippewa war-party traversing that part of the country the ensuing year. The act was disclaimed by them as not being intentional, and it was declared they supposed the women to be Sioux.35 On a close inquiry, however, I found the persons who committed this act were relatives of Okunzewug, which renders it probable that the murder was intentionally perpetrated. This act further widened the breach between the two hitherto fraternal tribes; and the Chippewas of this quarter began to regard the Menomonie hunting-parties, who entered the mouth of the Chippewa River, as intruders on their lands. Among a people whose means of verbal information is speedy, and whose natural sense of right and wrong is acute, the more than usual friendship and apparent alliance which have taken place between the Menomonies and Sioux, in the contest between the Sacs and Foxes, and the murder by them jointly of the Fox chief White Skin and his companions at a smoking council, in 1830, have operated to increase the feeling of distrust; so much so, that it was openly reported at Chegoimegon, at Yellow River, and Ottowa Lake, that the Menomonies had formed a league with the Sioux against the Chippewas also, and they were fearful of an attack from them. A circumstance that had given point to this fear, and made it a subject of absorbing interest, when I arrived at Ottowa Lake, was the recent murder of a Menomonie chief by a Chippewa of that quarter, and the demand of satisfaction which had been made (it was sometimes said) by the Indian agent at Prairie du Chien, and sometimes by the commanding officer, with a threat to march troops into the country. This demand, I afterward learned from the Indians at Rice Lake, and from a conversation with General Street, the agent at Prairie du Chien, had not been made, either by himself or by the commanding officer; and the report had probably arisen from a conversation held by a subaltern officer in command of a wood or timber-party near the mouth of the Chippewa River, with some Chippewas who were casually met. Its effects, however, were to alarm them, and to lead them to desire a reconciliation with the Menomonies. I requested them to lose no time in sending tobacco to the Menomonies, and adjusting this difference. Mozojeed observed that the murder of the Menomonie had been committed by a person non compos, and he deplored the folly of it, and disclaimed all agency in it for himself and his band. The murderer, I believe, belonged to his band; he desired a reconciliation. He also said the measures adopted at Yellow River, to bring about a firm peace with the Sioux, had his fullest approbation, and that nothing on his part should be wanting to promote a result in every view so wise and so advantageous to the Indians. In this sentiment, Wabezhais and Odabossa, who made distinct speeches, also concurred. They confirmed their words by pipes, and all the assembly made an audible assent. I invested Mozojeed with a flag and a medal, that he might exert the influence he has acquired among the Indians beneficially for them and for us, and that his hands might thus be officially strengthened to accomplish the work of pacification. I then distributed presents to the chiefs, warriors, women, and children, in the order of their being seated, and immediately embarked, leaving them under a lively and enlivened sense of the good-will and friendship of the American government, on this first official visit to them, and with a sincere disposition, so far as could be judged, to act in obedience to its expressed and known wishes.

The Indians at Torch Lake being dispersed, and my message to them not having been delivered, from this uncertainty of their location, I should have found reasons for not proceeding in that direction, independent of the actual and known difficulties of the route at that time. I was still apprehensive that my appearance had not wholly disconcerted the war-party of Neenaba, and lost no time in proceeding to his village on the Red Cedar fork. We found the village at Lake Chetac, which in 1824 was 217 strong, almost totally deserted, and the trading-house burnt. Scattering Indians were found along the river. The mutual fear of interruption was such that Mr. B. Cadotte, sen., the trader at Ottowa Lake, thought it advisable to follow in our train for the purpose of collecting his credits at Rice Lake.

While at breakfast on the banks of Sapin Lake, a returning war-party entered the opposite side of it: they were evidently surprised, and they stopped. After reconnoitring us, they were encouraged to advance, at first warily, and afterward with confidence. There were eight canoes, with two men in each; each man had a gun, war-club, knife, and ammunition bag: there was nothing else except the apparatus for managing the canoe. They were all young men, and belonged to the vicinity of Ottowa Lake. Their unexpected appearance at this place gave me the first information that the war-party at Neenaba had been broken up. They reported that some of their number had been near the mill, and that they had discovered signs of the Sioux being out in the moose having been driven up, &c. In a short conference, I recited to them the purpose of the council at Ottowa Lake, and referred them to their chiefs for particulars, enjoining their acquiescence in the proposed measures.

I found at Rice Lake a band of Chippewas, most of them young men, having a prompt and martial air, encamped in a very compact form, and prepared, at a moment’s notice, for action. They saluted our advance with a smartness and precision of firing that would have done honour to drilled troops. Neenaba was absent on a hunting-party; but one of the elder men pointed out a suitable place for my encampment, as I intended here to put new bottoms to my bark canoes. He arrived in the evening, and visited my camp with forty-two men. This visit was one of ceremony merely; as it was late, I deferred any thing further until the following day. I remained at this place part of the 7th, the 8th, and until 3 o’clock on the 9th of August. And the following facts present the result of several conferences with this distinguished young man, whose influence is entirely of his own creation, and whose endowments, personal and mental, had not been misrepresented by the Indians on my route, who uniformly spoke of him in favourable terms. He is located at the most advanced point towards the Sioux borders, and, although not in the line of ancient chiefs, upon him rests essentially the conduct of affairs in this quarter. I therefore deemed it important to acquire his confidence and secure his influence, and held frequent conversations with him. His manner was frank and bold, equally free from servility and repulsiveness. I drew his attention to several subjects. I asked him whether the sawmill on the lower part of the Red Cedar was located on Chippewa lands? He said, Yes. Whether it was built with the consent of the Chippewas? He said, No; it had been built, as it were, by stealth. I asked him if any thing had been subsequently given them in acknowledgment of their right to the soil? He said, No; that the only acknowledgment was their getting tobacco to smoke when they visited the mill: that the Sioux claimed it to be on their side of the line, but the Chippewas contended that their line ran to a certain bluff and brook below the mill. I asked him to draw a map of the lower part of Chippewa River, with all its branches, showing the exact lines as fixed by the treaty at Prairie du Chien, and as understood by them. I requested him to state the facts respecting the murder of the Menomonie, and the causes that led to it; and whether he or any of his band received any message from the agent or commanding officer at Prairie du Chien, demanding the surrender of the murderer? To the latter inquiry he answered promptly, No. He gave in his actual population at 142; but it is evident that a very considerable additional population, particularly in men, resort there for the purpose of hunting a part of the year.

The day after my arrival, I prepared for and summoned the Indians to a council, with the usual formalities. I opened it by announcing the objects of my visit. Neenaba and his followers listened to the terms of the message, the means I had adopted to enforce it, and, finally, to the request of co-operation on the part of himself and band, with strict attention. He confined his reply to an expression of thanks; allusions to the peculiarity of his situation on an exposed frontier; and general sentiments of friendship. He appeared to be mentally embarrassed by my request to drop the war-club, on the successful use of which he had relied for his popularity, and whatever of real power he possessed. He often referred to his young men, over whom he claimed no superiority, and who appeared to be ardently attached to him. I urged the principal topic upon his attention, presenting it in several lights. I finally conferred on him, personally, a medal and flag, and directed the presents intended for his band to be laid, in gross, before him.

After a pause, Neenaba got up, and spoke to the question, connecting it with obvious considerations, of which mutual rights, personal safety, and the obligation to protect the women and children, formed the basis. The latter duty was not a slight one. Last year the Sioux had killed a chief on the opposite shore of the lake, and, at the same time, decoyed two children, who were in a canoe, among the rice, and killed and beheaded them. He said, in allusion to the medal and flag, that these marks of honour were not necessary to secure his attention to any requests made by the American government. And after resuming his seat awhile (during which he overheard some remarks not pleasing to him, from an Indian on the opposite side of the ring), he finally got up and declined receiving them until they were eventually pressed upon him by the young warriors. Every thing appeared to proceed with great harmony, and the presents were quickly distributed by one of his men. It was not, however, until the next day, when my canoes were already put in the water, that he came with his entire party, to make his final reply, and to present the peace-pipe. He had thrown the flag over one arm, and held the war-club perpendicular in the other hand. He said, that although he accepted the one, he did not drop the other; he held fast to both. When he looked at the one, he should revert to the counsels with which it had been given, and he should aim to act upon those counsels; but he also deemed it necessary to hold fast the war-club; it was, however, with a determination to use it in defence, and not in attack. He had reflected upon the advice sent to the Chippewas by the President, and particularly that part of it which counselled them to sit still upon their lands; but while they sat still, they also wished to be certain that their enemies would sit still. And the pipe he was now about to offer, he offered with a request that it might be sent to the President, asking him to use his power to prevent the Sioux from crossing the lines. The pipe was then lit, handed round, the ashes knocked out, and a formal presentation of it made. This ceremony being ended, I shook hands with them, and immediately embarked.

On the second day afterward, I reached the sawmill, the subject of such frequent allusion, and landed there at 7 o’clock in the morning. I found a Mr. Wallace in charge, who was employed, with ten men, in building a new dam on a brook of the Red Cedar, the freshet of last spring having carried away the former one. I inquired of him where the line between the Sioux and Chippewas crossed. He replied that the line crossed above the mill, he did not precisely know the place; adding, however, in the course of conversation, that he believed the land in this vicinity originally belonged to the Chippewas. He said it was seven years since any Sioux had visited the mill; and that the latter was owned by persons at Prairie du Chien.

The rapids of the Red Cedar River extend (according to the estimates contained in my notes) about twenty-four miles. They commence a few miles below the junction of Meadow River, and terminate about two miles below the mills. This extension of falling water, referred to in the treaty as a fixed point, has led to the existing uncertainty. The country itself is of a highly valuable character for its soil, its game, its wild rice, and its wood. We found the butter-nut among those species which are locally included under the name of Bois franc by the traders. The land can, hereafter, be easily brought into cultivation, as it is interspersed with prairie; and its fine mill privileges will add to its value. Indeed, one mile square is intrinsically worth one hundred miles square of Chippewa country, in some other places.

The present sawmills (there are two), are situated 65 miles from the banks of the Mississippi. They are owned exclusively by private citizens, and employed for their sole benefit. The boards are formed into rafts: and these rafts are afterward attached together, and floated down the Mississippi to St. Louis, where they command a good price. The business is understood to be a profitable one. For the privilege, no equivalent has been paid either to the Indians or to the United States. The first mill was built several years ago, and before the conclusion of the treaty of Prairie du Chien, fixing boundaries to the lands. A permit was given for building, either verbal or written, as I have been informed, by a former commanding officer at Prairie du Chien. I make these statements in reference to a letter I have received from the Department since my return, but which is dated June 27th, containing a complaint of one of the owners of the mill, that the Chippewas had threatened to burn it, and requesting me to take the necessary precautionary measures. I heard nothing of such a threat, but believe that the respect which the Chippewas have professed, through me, for the American government, and the influence of my visit among them, will prevent a resort to any measures of violence; and that they will wait the peaceable adjustment of the line on the rapids. I will add, that wherever that line may be determined, in a reasonable probability, to fall, the mill itself cannot be supplied with logs for any length of time, if it is now so supplied, without cutting them on Chippewa lands, and rafting them down the Red Cedar. Many of the logs heretofore sawed at this mill, have been rafted, up stream, to the mill. And I understood from the person in charge of it, that he was now anxious to ascertain new sites for chopping; that his expectations were directed up the stream, but that his actual knowledge of the country, in that direction, did not embrace a circumference of more than five miles.

The line between the Chippewa and Sioux, as drawn on the MS. map of Neenaba, strikes the rapids on Red Cedar River at a brook and bluff a short distance below the mill. It proceeds thence, across the point of land between that branch of the main Chippewa, to an island in the latter; and thence, up stream, to the mouth of Clearwater River, as called for by the treaty, and from this point to the bluffs of the Mississippi valley (where it corners on Winnebago land), on Black River, and not to the “mouth” of Black River, as erroneously inserted in the 5th article of the treaty; the Chippewas never having advanced any claims to the lands at the mouth of Black River. This map, being drawn by a Chippewa of sense, influence, and respectability, an exact copy of it is herewith forwarded for the use of the Department, as embracing the opinions of the Chippewas on this point. The lines and geographical marks were drawn on paper by Neenaba himself, and the names translated and written down by Mr. Johnston.

It is obvious that the adjustment of this line must precede a permanent peace on this part of the frontiers. The number of Chippewas particularly interested in it is, from my notes, 2,102; to which, 911 may be added for certain bands on Lake Superior. It embraces 27 villages, and the most influential civil and war chiefs of the region. The population is enterprising and warlike. They have the means of subsistence in comparative abundance. They are increasing in numbers. They command a ready access to the Mississippi by water, and a ready return from it by land. Habits of association have taught them to look upon this stream as the theatre of war. Their young men are carried into it as the natural and almost only means of distinction. And it is in coincidence with all observation, to say that they are now, as they were in the days of Captain Carver, the terror of the east bank of this river, between the St. Croix and Chippewa Rivers. No other tribe has now, or has had, within the memory of man, a village or permanent possession on this part of the shore. It is landed on in fear. It is often passed by other nations by stealth, and at night. Such is not an exaggerated picture. And with a knowledge of their geographical advantages, and numbers, and distribution, on the tributary streams, slight causes, it may be imagined, will often excite the young and thoughtless portion of them to raise the war-club, to chant the war-song, and follow the war-path.

To remove these causes, to teach them the folly of such a contest, to remind them of the treaty stipulations and promises solemnly made to the government and to the Sioux, and to induce them to renew those promises, and to act on fixed principles of political faith, were the primary objects committed to me; and they were certainly objects of exalted attainment, according as well with the character of the government as with the spirit and moral and intellectual tone of the age. To these objects I have faithfully, as I believe, devoted the means at my command. And the Chippewas cannot, hereafter, err on the subject of their hostilities with the Sioux, without knowing that the error is disapproved by the American government, and that a continuance in it will be visited upon them in measures of severity.

Without indulging the expectation that my influence on the tour will have the effect to put an end to the spirit of predatory warfare, it may be asserted that this spirit has been checked and allayed; and that a state of feeling and reflection has been produced by it, which cannot fail to be beneficial to our relations with them, and to their relations with each other. The messages sent to the Sioux chiefs, may be anticipated to have resulted in restoring a perfect peace during the present fall and ensuing winter, and will thus leave to each party the undisturbed chase of their lands. The meditated blow of Steenaba was turned aside, and his war-party arrested and dispersed at the moment it was ready to proceed. Every argument was used to show them the folly and the insecurity of a continuance of the war. And the whole tenor and effect of my visit has been to inform and reform these remote bands. It has destroyed the charm of their seclusion. It has taught them that their conduct is under the supervision of the American government; that they depend on its care and protection; that no other government has power to regulate trade and send traders among them; finally, that an adherence to foreign counsels, and to antipacific maxims, can be visited upon them in measures of coercion. That their country, hitherto deemed nearly inaccessible, can be penetrated and traversed by men and troops, with baggage and provisions, even in midsummer, when the waters are lowest; and that, in proportion as they comply with political maxims, as benevolent as they are just, will they live at peace with their enemies, and have the means of subsistence for an increased population among themselves. The conduct of the traders in this quarter, and the influence they have exerted, both moral and political, cannot here be entered upon, and must be left to some other occasion, together with statistical details and other branches of information not arising from particular instructions.

It may be said that the Indians upon the St. Croix and Chippewa Rivers, and their numerous branches, have been drawn into a close intercourse with government. But it will be obvious that a perseverance in the system of official advice and restraints, is essential to give permanence to the effects already produced, and to secure a firm and lasting peace between them and the Sioux. To this end the settlement of the line upon the Red Cedar fork is an object which claims the attention of the Department; and would justify, in my opinion, the calling together the parties interested, at some convenient spot near the junction of the Red Cedar River with the Chippewa. Indeed, the handsome elevation, and the commanding geographical advantages of this spot, render it one which, I think, might be advantageously occupied as a military post. Such an occupancy would have the effect to keep the parties at peace, and the point of land, on which the work is proposed to be erected, might be purchased from the Sioux, together with such part of the disputed lands near the mills as might be deemed necessary to quiet the title of the Chippewas. By acquiring this portion of country for the purposes of military occupancy, the United States would be justified in punishing any murders committed upon it; and I am fully convinced, that no measure which could, at this time, be adopted, would so certainly conduce to a permanent peace between the tribes. I therefore beg leave, through you, to submit these subjects to the consideration of the honorable the Secretary of War, with every distrust in my own powers of observation, and with a very full confidence in his.

I have the honor to be, sir,

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. R. Schoolcraft.