Lives of Famous Indian Chiefs

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Title: Lives of Famous Indian Chiefs
From Cofachiqui, the Indian Princess and Powhatan, down
to and including Chief Joseph and Geronimo

Author: Norman B. Wood

Release Date: January 27, 2019 [EBook #58781]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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Footnotes have been placed to immediately follow the paragraphs referencing them.
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LIVES of FAMOUS

INDIAN CHIEFS

FROM COFACHIQUI, THE INDIAN PRINCESS, AND

POWHATAN; DOWN TO AND INCLUDING

CHIEF JOSEPH AND GERONIMO.

Also an answer, from the

latest research, of the query,

WHENCE CAME THE INDIAN?

Together with a number
of thrillingly interesting

INDIAN STORIES AND ANECDOTES FROM HISTORY

COPIOUSLY AND SPLENDIDLY ILLUSTRATED, IN PART,

BY OUR SPECIAL ARTIST.

By

NORMAN B. WOOD

Historian, Lecturer, and Author of "The White Side of a Black Subject" (out
of print after twelve editions) and "A New Negro for a New Century,"
which has reached a circulation of nearly a hundred thousand copies.

PUBLISHED BY

AMERICAN INDIAN HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY

Brady Block, Aurora, Ill.

Copyrighted in 1906 by American Indian Historical Publishing Co.,

Aurora, Illinois.

All rights of every kind reserved.

PRINTING AND BINDING BY THE HENRY O. SHEPARD CO.

ENGRAVING BY THE INLAND-WALTON CO.

CHICAGO.

TO

THEODORE ROOSEVELT,

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,

Who has observed closely and recorded justly the
character of the Red Man, and who, in the words
of Chief Quanah Parker, "is the Indian's President
as well as the white man's," this volume is respectfully
dedicated by

THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS

page

Introduction,
11

CHAPTER I.

Cofachiqui, The Indian Princess,
21

CHAPTER II.

Powhatan, or Wah-Un-So-Na-Cook,
41

CHAPTER III.

Massasoit, The Friend of the Puritans,
65

CHAPTER IV.

King Philip, or Metacomet, The Last of the Wampanoaghs,
85

CHAPTER V.

Pontiac, The Red Napoleon, Head Chief of the Ottawas and Organizer of the First Great Indian Confederation,
121

CHAPTER VI.

Logan, or Tal-Ga-Yee-Ta, The Cayuga (Mingo) Chief, Orator and Friend of the White Man. Also a Brief Sketch of Cornstalk,
173

CHAPTER VII.

Captain Joseph Brant, or Thay-En-Da-Ne-Gea, Principal Sachem of the Mohawks and Head Chief of the Iroquois Confederation,
191

CHAPTER VIII.

Red Jacket, or Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha, "The Keeper Awake." The Indian Demosthenes, Chief of the Senecas,
237

CHAPTER IX.

Little Turtle, or Michikiniqua, War Chief of the Miamis, and Conqueror of Harmar and St. Clair,
283

CHAPTER X.

Tecumseh, or "The Shooting Star," Famous War-chief of the Shawnees, Organizer of the Second Great Indian Confederation and General in
the British Army in the War of 1812,
317

CHAPTER XI.

Black Hawk, or Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak, and His War,
363

CHAPTER XII.

Shabbona, or Built Like a Bear, The White Man's Friend, a Celebrated Pottawatomie Chief,
401

CHAPTER XIII.

Sitting Bull, or Tatanka Yotanka, The Great Sioux Chief and Medicine Man,
443

CHAPTER XIV.

Chief Joseph, of the Nez Perces, or Hin-Mah-Too-Yah-Lat-Kekt, Thunder Rolling in the Mountains, The Modern Xenophon,
497

CHAPTER XV.

Geronimo, or Go-Yat-Thlay, The Yawner, The Renowned Apache Chief and Medicine Man,
529

CHAPTER XVI.

Quanah Parker, Head Chief of the Comanches, With, an Account of the Captivity of His Mother, Cynthia Anne Parker, Known as "The
White Comanche,"
563

CHAPTER XVII.

A Sheaf of Good Indian Stories From History,
589

CHAPTER XVIII.

Indian Anecdotes and Incidents, Humorous and Otherwise,
673

CHAPTER XIX.

Whence Came the Aborigines of America?
721

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

page

1 Frontispiece.
2 Cofachiqui, The Indian Princess,
19

3 American Horse, Sioux Chief,
29

4 Powhatan,
39

5 Captain Smith and Pocahontas,
49

6 Pocahontas, or Lady Rebecca,
59

7 Ope-Chan-Ca-Nough,
69

8 Massasoit and Pilgrims,
79

9 Nellie Jumping Eagle,
89

10 King Philip, or Metacomet,
99

11 Philip Rejecting Elliot's Preaching,
109

12 Pontiac, The Red Napoleon,
119

13 Montcalm at Massacre of Quebec,
129

14 Hollow-Horn Bear, Sioux Chief,
139

15 Major Campbell and Pontiac,
149

16 Hollow Horn,
159

17 Starved Rock,
169

18 Logan, The Mingo Orator,
179

19 Logan and the Two Hunters,
189

20 Joseph Brant, Mohawk Chief,
199

21 King Hendrick, Mohawk Chief,
209

22 Sir William Johnson and the Mohawks,
219

23 Leading Hawk,
229

24 Red Jacket, Seneca Chief and Orator,
239

25 Massacre at Wyoming,
249

26 Corn Planter, Seneca Chief,
259

27 Adolph Knock and Family,
269

28 Red Jacket Presenting Deer,
279

29 Little Turtle, Miami War-chief,
289

30 Little Turtle's Warriors Chasing St. Clair's Scout
299

31 Ouray, Late Principal Chief of Utes,
309

32 Tecumseh, The Noblest Indian of Them All,
319

33 Tecumseh Rebuking Proctor,
329

34 The Prophet, Brother of Tecumseh,
339

35 Red Cloud, Noted Sioux Chief,
349

36 Death of Tecumseh,
359

37 Black Hawk, Sac and Fox Chief,
369

38 Buffalo Hunt,
379

39 Keokuk, Sac and Fox Chief,
389

40 Shabbona, "The White Man's Friend," Pottawatomie Chief,
399

41 Fort Dearborn Massacre,
409

42 Annie Red Shirt, Indian Beauty,
419

43 Waubonsie, Pottawatomie Chief,
429

44 Plan of Sitting Bull's Tepee,
440

45 Sitting Bull, Noted Sioux Chief and Medicine Man,
441

46 Sitting Bull's Family,
451

47 Chief Gall, Sioux War-chief,
461

48 Chief One Bull and Family,
471

49 Rain-In-The-Face, Noted Sioux Warrior,
481

50 Sitting Bull's Autograph,
486

51 Indian Village,
491

52 Chief Joseph, of the Nez Perces, Greatest Indian Since Tecumseh, 501
53 Buckskin Charlie, War-chief of Utes,
511

54 "Comes Out Holy," Sioux,
521

55 Geronimo, Noted Apache Chief and Medicine Man,
531

56 Group of Apaches,
541

57 Naiche, Apache Chief,
551

58 Quanah Parker, Comanche Chief,
561

59 Quanah Parker and Two of His Wives,
571

60 Comanche Indians Stealing Cows,
581

61 Needle Parker, Indian Beauty,
591

62 The Mohawk's Last Arrow,
601

63 Lone Wolf, Orator and Principal Chief of the Kiowas,
611

64 Kiowa Annie, Noted Indian Beauty,
621

65 Se-Quo-Yah, The Cherokee Cadmus,
631

66 Big Tree, Second Kiowa Chief,
641

67 Satanta, Kiowa Chief and Noted Orator,
651

68 Chief Simon Pokagon, Pottawatomie,
661

69 Dr. Charles A. Eastman,
671

70 Dr. Carlos Montezuma,
681

71 The Last Shot,
691

72 Chief Charles Journey Cake,
701

73 Indian Maiden in Japanese Costume,
713

74 Japanese Maiden in Indian Costume,
725

75 Map Showing How America Was Peopled,
737

76 Japanese Man in Garb of Indian,
749

77 Indian Man in Japanese Garb,
761

INTRODUCTION.

We do not propose to apologize for writing this book, for the reasons that those who approve would not consider it necessary and those

who oppose would not accept the apology. Therefore, we can only offer the same explanation as that made twenty-four centuries ago by the
"Father of History" when he said: "To rescue from oblivion the noble deeds of those who have gone before, I, Herodotus of Halicarnassus, write
this chronicle."

We deem it well, however, to mention a few of the many reasons which impelled us to attempt the somewhat laborious but congenial task of

preparing this work.

First of all, we were gratified and inspired by the kind reception accorded our first literary venture, "The White Side of a Black Subject,"

which is now out of print after reaching twelve editions. Added to this was the still more generous treatment of our second production, "A New
Negro for a New Century." Nearly a hundred thousand copies of this book have been sold up to date, and the demand is still increasing.

Having done what we could to vindicate the Afro-American, we next began to consider the First American, when by chance a copy of

Thatcher's "Indian Biography" fell into our hands. We read this book with much interest, and were impressed with two facts. First of all, we
noticed that while the author gave the lives of a few chiefs well known to this generation, he filled the book up with village or sub chiefs, of whom
even historians of this age never heard. Then, too, the book in question was seventy-four years old.

Thatcher's biography tended to create an appetite for that kind of literature, and we inquired for other lives of noted Indians, but, strange to

say, could only hear of one other book devoted to that subject. This was a small volume written by S. G. Goodrich, sixty-two years ago, and he
gave only short sketches of perhaps half a dozen Indians of the United States, but the greater portion of the contents was devoted to the Indians of
Peru and Mexico.

We now concluded that if there were only two books giving the lives of famous Indians, and both of these published so many years ago, there

was certainly room for another book on the subject, which should be confined to the Indian tribes of the United States and cover their entire
history from Powhatan to the present time.

We trust we will not be misunderstood. We know that many Indian books have been written since the date of those mentioned, but they

were on "The Indian Wars," "The Pioneer and the Indian," "The Winning of the West," "The Manners and Customs of the Indian," "Folklore
Tradition and Legend," and many other phases of the question. We know that Pontiac, Brant, Red Jacket, Tecumseh, Shabbona, Black Hawk,
Sitting Bull, and perhaps others, have had their lives written, but in each of these cases an entire book is devoted to one Indian and his war. Our
claim is that we have written the only book giving in a condensed form the lives of practically all the most famous Indian chiefs from the Colonial
period to the present time.

Lest it be thought that we have an exaggerated idea of our people's interest in the Indian, we will digress long enough to prove the statement

to our own satisfaction, and we trust also to that of the reader.

Mrs. Sigourney has well said with reference to this point

"Ye say they all have passed away,
That noble race and brave,
That their light canoes have vanished
From off the crested wave
That 'mid the forests where they roamed
There rings no hunter's shout,
But their name is on your waters
Ye may not wash it out.

"Ye say their cone like cabins
That clustered o'er the vale
Have fled away like withered leaves
Before the autumn gale.
But their memory liveth on your hills,
Their baptism on your shore;
Your everlasting rivers speak
Their dialect of yore."

We have ventured to add a third verse

Ye say no lover wooes his maid,
No warrior leads his band.
All in forgotten graves are laid,
E'en great chiefs of the clan;
That where their council fires were lit
The shepherd tends his flock.
But their names are on your mountains

And survive the earthquake shock.

The mark of our contact with the Indian is upon us indelibly and forever. He has not only impressed himself upon our geography, but on our

character, language and literature.

Bancroft, our greatest historian, is not quite right when he says, "The memorials of their former existence are found only in the names of the

rivers and mountains." These memorials have not only permeated our poetry and other literature, but they are perpetuated in much of the food we
eat, and every mention of potatoes, chocolate, cocoa, mush, green corn, succotash, hominy and the festive turkey is a tribute to the red man, while
the fragrance of the tobacco or Indian weed we smoke is incense to their memory.

On one occasion, according to Aesop, a man and a lion got into an argument as to which of the two was the stronger, and thus contending

they walked together until they came to a statue representing a man choking and subduing a lion. "There," exclaimed the man, "that proves my
point, and demonstrates that a man is stronger than a lion." To which the king of beasts replied, "When the lions get to be sculptors, they will have
the lion choking and overcoming the man."

The Indians are neither sculptors, painters nor historians.

The only record we have of many of their noblest chiefs, greatest deeds, hardest fought battles, or sublimest flights of eloquence, are the

poor, fragmentary accounts recorded and handed down by their implacable enemies, the all-conquering whites.

It is hard indeed for one enemy to do another justice. The man with whom you are engaged in a death struggle is not the man to write your

history; but such has been the historian of the Indian. His destroyer has covered him up in an unmarked grave, and then written the story of his life.

Can any one believe that the Spaniards, cruel, hard-hearted and remorseless as the grave, who swept whole nations from the earth, sparing

neither men, women nor children, could or would write a true story of their silent victims?

Is it not reasonable to believe that had Philip, Pontiac, Cornstalk, Tecumseh, Black Hawk or Chief Joseph been able to fling their burning

thoughts upon the historic page, it would have been very different from the published account?

We believe that God will yet raise up an Indian of intellectual force and fire enough to write a defense of his race to ring through the ages and

secure a just verdict from generations yet unborn.

In the preparation of this work we have honestly tried to do the subject justice, and have endeavored to put ourself in the Indian's place, as

much as it is possible for a white man to do.

We have prosecuted the self-imposed task with enthusiasm and interest from its inception to its completion. We fully agree with Bishop

Whipple when he said: "Our Indian wars were most of them needless and wicked. The North American Indian is the noblest type of a heathen man
on the earth. He recognizes a Great Spirit; he believes in immortality; he has a quick intellect; he is a clear thinker; he is brave and fearless, and until
betrayed, he is true to his plighted faith; he has a passionate love for his children, and counts it joy to die for his people. Our most terrible wars
have been with the noblest types of the Indians, and with men who had been the white man's friend. Nicolet said the Sioux were the finest type of
wild men he had ever seen. Old traders say it used to be the boast of the Sioux that they had never taken the life of a white man. Lewis and Clark,
Governor Stevens and Colonel Steptoe bore testimony to the devoted friendship of the Nez Percé for the white man."

One evidence that our Indian wars were unnecessary is seen in the fact that while our country has been constantly involved in them, Canada

has not had any; although our Government has spent for the Indians a hundred dollars to their one.

They recognize, as we do, that the Indian has a possessory right to the soil. They purchase this right, as we do, by treaty but their treaties are

made with the Indian subjects of His Majesty, the King, while our Government has enacted the farce of making treaties with Indian tribes or their
representatives, as if they were sovereign nations. Those tribes of blanket Indians, roaming the wilderness and prairie, living by hunting, trapping,
fishing or plundering, without a code of laws to practice, or a government to maintain, are not nations, and nothing in their history or condition
could properly invest them with a treaty-making power.

There are other lessons we can learn from Canada concerning the Indian question. They set apart a permanent reservation for them; they

seldom move them, while our Government has continually moved whole tribes at the demand of greedy white men who were determined to have
the Indian's land by fair means or foul, generally the latter. Moreover, the Canadian government selects agents of high character, who receive their
appointments for life; they make fewer promises, but they fulfil them; they give the Indians Christian missions, which have the hearty support of
Christian people and all their efforts are toward self help and civilization.

In 1862 Bishop Whipple visited Washington, and had a long talk with President Lincoln. Said he: "I found the President a willing listener. As I

repeated the story of specific acts of dishonesty (on the part of Indian agents of that period) the President said: 'Did you ever hear of the Southern
man who bought monkeys to pick cotton? they were quick; their long, slim fingers would pull out the cotton faster than Negroes; but he found it
took two overseers to watch one monkey. This Indian business needs ten honest men to watch one Indian agent.'" In speaking of this interview
with the Bishop, Lincoln afterwards said to a friend "As I listened to Bishop Whipple's story of robbery and shame, I felt it to my boots;" and,
rising to his full height, he added: "If I live this accursed system shall be reformed." But unfortunately he did not live to carry out his plans. However,
we are glad to note an improvement in the condition of our Indians, of recent years, which shows that the public conscience has at last been
aroused, and one object of this book is to further that good work.

Another object is to disprove the oft-quoted saying of General Sherman that "the only good Indian is a dead one." {FN} We have written the

biographies of twenty or more famous chiefs, any one of whom was a good Indian, or would have been had he received kind treatment from the
whites, who were almost invariably the aggressors. It makes one's soul sick to read of the white men selling the Indian "firewater," to brutalize and
destroy; of violated treaties; of outrageous treatment which aroused the worst passions of the Indian's nature.

{FN} General Sherman used this phrase at a banquet at Delmonico's, New York, in the winter of 1879.

In selecting the subjects for our biographical sketches, we were confronted with an embarrassment of riches. And while there are none in the

book which could well have been omitted, yet there are many outside richly deserving a place in it. There are so many famous chiefs, we found it
impossible to give them all a place in one volume. So we tried to select those who, in our judgment, were the greatest, those who for special
reasons could not be omitted, and those whom we thought would make the most interesting sketches.

We may say in this connection, that we refrained from writing the biographies of mixed breeds, such as Osceola Powell, Weatherford or Red

Eagle, simply because we knew, from our experience with other books, that people would be prone to say that their greatness was due to the
infusion of the blood of the superior white race. As far as we know, all of our subjects treated at length were full-blooded Indians, except
Sequoyah and Quanah Parker, and most of them, as we shall see, were nature's noblemen.

We have enjoyed peculiar facilities for prosecuting our studies on Indian biography and history, having free access to the four great libraries

of Chicago.

For the benefit of others interested in the same subject, we will mention a few of the many books we found helpful, in the preparation of this

work, besides the two already named.

At the head of the list we place Roosevelt's "Winning of the West," Parkman's "Conspiracy of Pontiac," Mason's "Pioneer History," Ellis's

"Indian Wars of the United States." In our judgment these are about the strongest books we have read on the subject, especially in relation to the
Indian, the pioneer, and the border wars.

In the next group we place Dunn's "Massacres of the Mountains," Finerty's "War-path and Bivouac," Helen Hunt Jackson's "Century of

Dishonor," and Eggleston's "Biographies of Brant, Red Jacket, Tecumseh," etc.

In addition to our library work, we spent much time traveling among the Indian tribes and making the acquaintance of many of the most

famous living chiefs, and cultivating their friendship, so we record many of the incidents in the book as an eye-witness.

We referred to the Indian in this introduction as a so-called "vanishing race." As a matter of fact the Indian is not vanishing at all but slowly

increasing in numbers. The census of 1890 gave the number of Indians in the United States as 248,258, while that of 1900 gave the total as
270,544, a net gain of 22,291 in ten years.

Another erroneous conception many people have of the Indian we can only call attention to here. They somehow have come to believe that

the Red Man is very dignified and solemn, has no appreciation of the ludicrous, or conception of a joke. Never was a greater mistake. No one
enjoys what he considers a good joke more than an Indian. You will find some evidence that he can be as funny as his white brother, in the chapter
on "Indian Anecdotes."

We determined to have the illustrations one of the very best features of the book, fully in keeping with the subject matter; and, wherever

possible, absolutely authentic. For this reason alone, the publication has been held back several months, the publishers sparing neither pains nor
expense in procuring pictures from photographers and collectors, who made a specialty of the Indian, such as D. F. Barry, Drake, the Field
Museum, the Newberry Library and the Ethnological Bureau at Washington; some of the latter being copies of paintings made before photography
was known. We also procured photographs of several rare paintings never published in any book before.

Should the book prove instructive in demonstrating that there is a brighter, better side to Indian life and character than is usually seen, the

author will feel that he has not written in vain, and he will be gratified if, in addition to this, it also gives pleasure.