INTRODUCTORY ACCOUNT OF THE OBJECT OF THE EXPEDITION, AND THE PERSONS WHO COMPOSED IT.
For several years past the government of the United States, as is well known, has been engaged in removing the Indian tribes, resident within the States, to tracts of wild but fertile land, situated beyond the verge of white population. Some of the tribes thus removed, however, when they came to hunt over the lands assigned them, encountered fierce opposition from the aboriginal tribes of the prairies, who claimed the country as their own, and denied the right of the United States to make the transfer. The migratory tribes were thus placed in a disastrous predicament: having sold their native lands to the United States, they had no place to which they might retreat; while they could only maintain a footing in their new homes, by incessant fighting.
The government of the United States hastened to put an end to the bloody conflicts thus engendered, by purchasing the contested lands, and effecting treaties of peace between the jarring tribes. In some instances, however, the aboriginals remained unappeased. This especially was the case, with a fierce and numerous tribe of Pawnees, inhabiting the banks of the Platte river, and who were backed in their hostilities by their allies the Otoes, who, though less numerous, were even more daring than themselves. These two tribes laid claim to all the land lying between the Platte and Kanzas rivers; a region comprising several hundred square miles. It had long been their favourite hunting ground, in which it was death for a strange hunter to intrude. This forbidden tract, however, had been granted by the United States to the Delawares; and the latter had made it the scene of their hunting excursions. A bitter feud was the consequence. The tract in question became a debateable ground in which war parties were continually lurking. The Delawares had been attacked, while hunting, by the Pawnees, and many of their tribe had fallen. The Delawares, in revenge, had surprised and burnt one of the Pawnee towns, while the warriors were absent on a buffalo hunt.
The hostile feelings, thus awakened among the aboriginal tribes of the prairies, had been manifested toward the white men. Several trappers and traders had been massacred by the Pawnees, who looked upon them as intruders; and who were too far from the settlements, too confident of their own prowess, and too ignorant of the power of the whites, to care much either for their friendship or their enmity.
In this state of things, the commissioners, appointed by government to superintend the settlement of the migratory tribes, were instructed to proceed to the region in question, purchase the contested lands of the Pawnees, and induce them to remove to the north of the river Platte, and effect a treaty of peace between them and their new neighbours. For this purpose, in the summer of 1833, Mr. Ellsworth, the same commissioner who in the preceding year had explored a tract of the hunting grounds between the Arkansas and the Grand Canadian[A], set out from Washington for Fort Leavenworth, a frontier post on the Missouri river, about forty miles beyond the boundary line of the State of Missouri, where he was to await the arrival of one of his fellow commissioners, before proceeding to visit the hostile tribes. In this expedition he was accompanied by the writer of the following pages, who was glad of the opportunity to visit strange scenes and strange people, of which he had only heard wild and exaggerated rumours. There was another volunteer, a Scotch gentleman, travelling for information and amusement; and a son of the commissioner (Mr. Edward Ellsworth), who acted as secretary to the expedition, made up our party.
At St. Louis we hired two servants to accompany us throughout the expedition. One was a half breed, a cross between the Creek Indian and the Negro; he was named Mordecai, and inherited the lazy propensities of both races, but entertained a high opinion of his own merits. The other was a tall awkward boy, with a low forehead, and a dull, sleepy countenance, nearly hidden by elf locks. His name was Joseph. He spoke a mixture of French and English, and would fain have passed for a full blooded white; but his mother was a thorough squaw, wife to a little Creole Frenchman, named Antoine or Tonish, who had accompanied the commissioner on the preceding year, in his expedition to the Arkansas frontier.[B] Joseph inherited from his father a gasconading spirit, and an inveterate habit of lying. Like him, too, he was a first-rate horseman, and a hard rider, who knocked up every horse entrusted to him. To add to his hereditary qualities, he inherited from his mother an inveterate habit of stealing. Though a downright coward, he boasted much of his valour, and even told me, in confidence, “that he could lick his daddy.” Being of an obstinate disposition, he was wisely appointed by the commissioner to drive a dearborn waggon, drawn by two mules; and many a stubborn contest took place between him and his fellow brutes, in which he was sure to carry the day.
Such was our party when we left St. Louis, on our route to Fort Leavenworth.
