Houston County, Minnesota - Chapter 19: Early Missions Among the Ojibway8 and Dahkotah8 of Minnesota, 1882

Chapter 19: Early Missions Among the Ojibway8 and Dahkotah8 of Minnesota

Jesuit Minions not permanent - Presbyterian Mission at Mackinaw - Tbit of Rev. A. Coe and J D. Stevens to Fort SneUinf - Notice of A yen, Hall, and BoatweU - Formation of the word Itasca - The Brothers Pond - Arrival of Dr. Williamson-Presbyterian Church at Fort SneUinf - Mission st Lake Harriet - Mourning for the Dead - Church at Lac -qui pari e - Father Rarous - Mission at Lake Pokegume - Attack by the Sioux - Chippeway attack at Pig's Eye - Death of Rev. Sherman Hall - Methodist Missions Rev. S. W. Pond prepares a Sioux Grammar and Dictionary Swiss Presbyterian Mission.

Bancroft the distinguished historian, catching the enthusiasm of the narratives of the early Jesuits, depicts, in language which glows, their missions to the Northwest; yet it is erroneous to suppose that the Jesuits exercised any permanent influence on the Aborigines.

Shea, a devoted member of the Roman Catholic Church, in his History of American Catholic Missions writes : " In 1680 Father Engalran was apparently alone at Green Bay, and Pierson at Mackinaw. Of the other missions neither Le- Clerq nor Hennepin, the Recollect writers of the West at this time, make any mention, or in any way allude to their existence.77 He also says that " Father Menard had projected a Sioux mission ; Marquette, Allouez, Druilletes, all entertained hopes of realising it, and had some intercourse with that nation, but none of them ever succeeded in establishing a mission."

Father Hennepin wrote: " Can it be possible, that, that pretended prodigious amount of savage converts could escape the sight of a multitude of French Canadians who travel every year? * * * * How comes it to pass that these churches so devout and so numerous, should be invisible, when I passed through so many countries and nations ? "

After the American Fur Company was formed, the island of Mackinaw became the residence of the principal agent for the Northwest, Robert Stuart a Scotchman, and devoted Presbyterian.

In the month of June, 1820, the Rev. Dr. Morse, father of the distinguished inventor of the telegraph, visited and preached at Mackinaw, and in consequence of statements published by him, upon his return, a Presbyterian Missionary Society in the state of New York sent a graduate of Union College, the Rev. W. M. Ferry, father of the present United States Senator from Michigan, to explore the field. In 1823 he had established a large boarding school composed of children of various tribes, and here some were educated who became wives of men of intelligence and influence at the capital of Minnesota. After a few years, it was determined by the Mission Board to modify its plans, and in the place of a great central station, to send missionaries among the several tribes to teach and to preach.

In pursuance of this policy, the Rev. Alvan Coe, and J. D. Stevens, then a licentiate who had been engaged in the Mackinaw Mission, made a tour of exploration, and arrived on September 1, 1829, at Fort Snelling. In the journal of Major Lawrence Taliaferro, which is in possession of the Minnesota Historical Society, is the following entry: "The Rev. Mr. Coe and Stevens reported to be on their way to this post, members of the Presbyterian church looking out for suitable places to make missionary establishment for the Sioux and Chippeways, found schools, and instruct in the arts and agriculture."

The agent, although not at that time a communicant of the Church, welcomed these visitors, and afforded them every facility in visiting the Indians. On Sunday, the 6th' of September, the Rev. Mr. Coe preached twice in the fort, and the next night held a prayer meeting at the quarters of the commanding officer. On the next Sunday he preached again, and on the 14th, with Mr. Stevens and a hired guide, returned to Mackinaw by way of the St. Croix river. During this visit the agent offered for a Presbyterian mission the mill which then stood on the site of Minneapolis, and had been erected by the government, as well as

Formation Of The Word Ita8Ka Chippeway Missions

Upon the 30th day of August, 1831, a Mackinaw boat about forty feet long arrived at La Pointe, bringing from Mackinaw the principal trader, Mr. Warren, Rev. Sherman Hall and wife, and Mr. Frederick Ayer, a catechist and teacher.

Mrs. Hall attracted great attention, as she was the first white woman who had visited that region. Sherman Hall was born on April 30, 1801, at Wethersfield, Vermont, and in 1828 graduated at Dartmouth College, and completed his theological studies at Andover, Massachusetts, a few weeks before he journeyed to the Indian country.

His classmate at Dartmouth and Andover, the Rev W. T. Boutwell still living near Stillwater, became his yoke-fellow, but remained for a time at Mackinaw, which they reached about the middle of July. In June, 1832, Henry R. Schoolcraft, the head of an exploring expedition, invited Mr. Boutwell to accompany him to the sources of the Mississippi.

When the expedition reached Lac la Biche or Elk Lake, on July 13, 1832, Mr. Schoolcraft, who was not a Latin scholar, asked the Latin word for truth, and was told "Veritas." He then wanted the word which signified head, and was told "caput." To the astonishment of many, Schoolcraft struck off the first sylable, of the word ver-i-tas and the last sylable of ca-put, and thus coined the word Itasca, which he gave to the lake, and which some modern writers, with all gravity, tell us was the name of a maiden who once dwelt on its banks. Upon Mr. BoutwelTs return from this expedition he was at first associated with Mr. Hall in the mission at La Pointe.

In 1833 the mission band which had centered at La Pointe diffused their influence. In October Rev. Mr. Boutwell went to Leech Lake, Mr. Ayer opened a school at Yellow Lake, Wisconsin, and Mr. E. F. Ely, now in California, became a teacher at Aitkin's trading post at Sandy Lake.

Sioux Missionaries

sixth of May, 1834, happened to be on a visit to Fort Snelling. While there a steamboat arrived, and among the passengers were two young men, brothers, natives of Washington, Connecticut, Samuel W. and Gideon H. Pond, who had come, constrained by the love of Christ, and without conferring with flesh and blood, to try to improve the Sioux.

Samuel, the older brother, the year before, had talked with a liquor seller in Galena, Illinois, who had come from the Red River country, and the desire was awakened to help the Sioux ; and he wrote to his brother to go with him.

The Rev. Samuel W. Pond still lives at Shakopee, in the old mission house, the first building of sawed lumber erected in the valley of the Minnesota, above Fort Snelling.

Missions Among The Sioux A. D.

About this period, a native of South Carolina, a graduate of Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, the Rev. T. S. Williamson, M. D., who previous to his ordination had been a respectable physician in Ohio, was appointed by the American Board of Foreign Missions to visit the Dahkotahs with the view of ascertaining what could be done to introduce Christian instruction. Having made inquiries at Prairie du Chien and Fort Snelling, he reported the field was favorable.

The Presbyterian and Congregational Churches, through their joint Missionary Society, appointed the following persons to labor in Minnesota: Rev. Thomas S. Williamson, M. D., missionary and physician; Rev. J. D. Stevens, missionary; Alexander Huggins, farmer; and their wives; Miss Sarah Poage, and Lucy Stevens, teachers; who were prevented during the year 1834, by the state of navigation, from entering upon their work.

During the winter of 1834-36, a pious officer of the army exercised a good influence on his fellow officers and soldiers under his command. In the absence of a chaplain of ordained minister, he, like General Havelock, of the British army in India, was accustomed not only to drill the soldiers, but to meet them in bis own quarters, and reason with them' " of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come."

Explobebs And P10Neeb8 Of Minnesota

were hospitably received by the officers of the garrison, the Indian Agent, and Mr. Sibley, Agent of the Company at Mendota, who had been in the country a few months.

On the twenty-seventh of this month the Rev. Dr. Williamson united in marriage at the Fort Lieutenant Edward A. Ogden to Eliza Edna, the daughter of Captain 6. A. Loomis, the first marriage service in which a clergyman officiated in the present State, of Minnesota.

On the eleventh of June' a meeting was held at the Fort to organize a Presbyterian Church, sixteen persons who had been communicants, and six who made a profession of faith, one of whom was Lieutenant Ogden, were enrolled as members.

Four elders were elected, among whom were Capt. Gustavus Loomis and Samuel W. Pond. The next day a lecture preparatory to administering the communion, was delivered, and on Sunday, the 14th, the first organized church in the Valley of the Upper Mississippi assembled for the first time in one of the Company rooms of the Fort. The services in the morning were conducted by Dr. Williamson. The afternoon service commenced at 2 o'clock. The sermon of Mr. Stevens was upon a most appropriate text, 1st Peter, ii :25 ; " For ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls." After the discourse, the sacrament of the Lord's supper was administered.

At a meeting of the Session on the thirty-first of July, Rev. J. D. Stevens, missionary, was invited to preach to the church, " so long as the duties of his mission will permit, and also to preside at ail the meetings of the Session." Captain Gustavus Loomis was elected Stated Clerk of the Session, and they resolved to observe the monthly concert of prayer on the first Monday of each month, for the conversion of the world.

Two points were selected by the missionaries as proper spheres of labor. Mr. Stevens and family proceeded to Lake Harriet, and Dr. Williamson and family, in June, proceeded to Lac qui Parle.

As there had never been a chaplain at Fort Snelling, the Rev. J. D. Stevens, the missionary at Lake Harriet, preached on Sundays to the Presbyterian church, there, recently organized.

" Yesterday a portion of this band of Indians, who had been some time absent from this village, returned. One of the number (a woman) was informed that a brother of hers had died during her absence. He was not at this village, but with another band, and the information had just reached here. In the evening they set up a most piteous crying, or rather wailing, which continued, with some little cessations, during the night. The sister of the deceased brother would repeat, times without number, words which may be thus translated into English: 'Come, my brother, I shall see you no more for ever.' The night was extremely cold, the thermometer standing from ten to twenty below zero. About sunrise, next morning, preparation was made for performing the ceremony of cutting their flesh, in order to give relief to their grief of mind. The snow was removed from the frozen ground over about as large a space as would be required to place a small Indian lodge or wigwam. In the centre a very small fire was kindled up, not to give wtfrmth, apparently, but to cause a smoke. The sister of the deceased, who was the chief mourner, came out of her lodge followed by three other women, who repaired to the place prepared. They were ail barefooted, and nearly naked. Here they set up a most bitter lamentation and crying, mingling their wailings with the words before mentioned. The principal mourner commenced gashing or cutting her ankles and legs up to the knees with a sharp stone, until her legs were covered with gore and flowing blood ; then in like manner her arms, shoulders, and breast. The others cut themselves in the same way, but not so severely. On this poor infatuated woman I presume there were more than a hundred long deep gashes in the flesh. I saw the operation, and the blood instantly followed the instrument, and flowed down upon the flesh. She appeared frantic with grief. Through the pain of her wounds, the loss of blood, exhaustion of strength by fasting, loud and long-continued and bitter groans, or the extreme cold upon her almost naked and lacerated body, she soon sunk upon the frozen ground, shaking as with a violent fit of the ague, and writhing in apparent agony. 1 Surely,' I exclaimed, as I beheld the bloody

A Roman Catholic Missionary

The little church at the fort begins to manifest something of a missionary spirit Their contributions are considerable for so small a number. I hope they will not only be willing to contribute liberally of their substance, but will give themselves, at least some of them, to the missionary work.

44 The surgeon of the military post, Dr. Jarvis, has been very assiduous in his attentions to us in our sickness, and has very generously made a donation to our board of twenty-five dollars, being the amount of his medical services in our family.

" On the nineteenth instant we commenced a school with six full Indian children, at least so in all their habits, dress, etc.; not one could speak a word of any language but Sioux. The school has since increased to the number of twenty-five. I am now collecting and arranging words for a dictionary. Mr. Pond is assiduously employed in preparing a small spelling-book, which we may forward next mail for printing.

On the fifteenth of September, 1886, a Presbyterian church was organized at Lac-qui-Parle, a branch of that in and near Fort Snelling, and Joseph Renville, a mixed blood of great influence, became a communicant. He had been trained in Canada by a Roman Catholic priest, but claimed the right of private judgment. Mr. Renville's wife was the first pure Dahkotah of whom we have any record that ever joined the Church of Christ. This church has never become extinct, although its members have been necessarily nomadic. After the treaty of Traverse des Sioux, it was removed to Hazlewood. Driven from thence by the outbreak of 1862, it has became the parent of other churches, in the valley of the upper Missouri, over one of which John Renville, a descendant of the elder at Lac-qui- Parle, is the pastor.

Roman Catholic Mission Attempted

Father Ravoux, recently from France, a sincere and earnest priest of the Church of Rome, came to Mendota in the autumn of 1841, and after a brief sojourn with the Rev. L. Galtier, who had erected Saint Paul's chapel, which has given the name of Saint Paul to the capital of Minnesota, he ascended the Minnesota Rivery and visited Lac-qui-Parle.

Bishop Loras, of Dubuque, wrote the next year of his visit as follows : " Our young missionary, M. Ravoux, passed the winter on the banks of Lac-qui-Parle, without any other support than Providence, without any other means of conversion than a burning zeal, he has wrought in the space of six months, a happy revolution among the Sioux. From the time of his arrival he has been occupied night and day in the study of their language. * * * * * When he instructs the savages, he speaks to them with so much fire whilst showing them a large copper crucifix which he carries on his breast, that he makes the strongest impression upon them."

The impression, however was evanescent, and he soon retired from the field, and no more efforts were made in this direction by the Church of Rome. This young Mr. Ravoux is now the highly respected vicar of the Roman Catholic diocese of Minnesota, and justly esteemed for his simplicity and unobtrusiveness.

Chippeway Missions At Pokeottma

Pokeguma is one of the " Mille Lacs," or thousand beautiful lakes for which Minnesota is remarkable. It is about four or five miles in extent, and a mile or more in width.

In the year 1836, missionaries came to reside among the Ojibways and Pokeguma, to promote their temporal and spiritual welfare. Their mission house was built on the east side of the lake ; but the Indian village was on an island not far from the shore.

In a letter written in 1887, we find the following: "The young women and girls now make, mend, wash, and iron after our manner. The men have learned to build log houses, drive team, plough, hoe, and handle an American axe with some skill in cutting large trees, the size of which, two years ago, would have afforded them a sufficient reason why they should not meddle with them."

In May, 1841, Jeremiah Russell, who was Indian farmer, sent two Chippeways, accompanied by Elam Greeley, of Stillwater, to the'Falls of Saint Croix for supplies. On Saturday, the fifteenth of the month they arrived there, and the next day a steamboat came up with the goods. The captain said a war party of Sioux, headed by Little Crow, was advancing, and the two Chippeways prepared to go back and were their friends.

They had hardly left the Falls, on their return, before they saw a party of Dahkotahs. The sentinel of the enemy had not noticed the approach of the young men. In the twinkling of an eye, these two young Ojibways raised their guns, fired, and killed two of Little Crow's sons. The discharge of the guns revealed to a sentinel, that an enemy was near, and as the Ojibways were retreating, he fired, and mortally wounded one of the two.

According to custom, the corpses of the chief's sons were dressed, and then set up with their faces towards the country of their ancient enemies. The wounded Ojibway was horribly mangled by the infuriated party, and his limbs strewn about in every direction. His scalped head was placed in a kettle, and suspended in front of the two Dahkotah corpses.

It was not till Friday, the twenty-first of May, that the death of one of the young Ojibways sent by Mr. Russell, to the Falls of Saint Croix, was known at Pokeguma.

Mr. Russell on the next Sunday, accompanied by Captain William Holcomb and a half-breed, went to the mission station to attend a religious service, and while crossing the lake in returning, the half-breed said that it was rumored that the Sioux were approaching. On Monday, the twenty-fourth, three young men left in a canoe to go to the west shore of the lake, and from thence to Mille Lacs, to give intelligence to the Ojibways there, of the skirmish that had already occurred. They took with them two Indian girls, about twelve years of age, who were pupils of the mission school, for the purpose of bringing the canoe back to the island. Just as the three were landing, twenty or thirty Dahkotah warriors, with a war whoop emerged from their concealment behind the trees, and fired into the canoe. The young men instantly sprang into the water, which

The little girls, in their fright, waded into the lake; but were pursued. Their parents upon the island, heard the death cries of their children. of the Indians around the mission-house jumped into their canoes and gained the island. Others went into some fortified log huts. The attack upon the canoe, it was afterwards learned, was premature. The party upon that side of the lake were ordered not to fire, until the party stationed in the woods near the mission began.

There were in all one hundred and eleven Dahkotah warriors, and all the fight was in the vicinity of the mission-house, and the Ojibways mostly engaged in it were those who had been under religious instruction. The rest were upon the island.

The fathers of the murdered girls, burning for revenge, left the island in a canoe, and drawing it up on the shore, hid behind it, and fired upon the Dahkotahs and killed one. The Dahkotahs advancing upon them, they were obliged to escape. The canoe was now launched. One layon his back in the bottom; the other plunged into the water, and, holding the canoe with one hand, and swimming with the other, he towed his friend out of danger. The Dahkotahs, ini furiated at their escape, fired volley after volley I at the swimmer, but he escaped the balls by putting his head under water whenever he saw them take aim, and waiting till he heard the discharge, he would then look up and breathe.

After a fight of two hours, the Dahkotahs retreated, with a loss of two men. At the request of the parents, Mr. E. F. Ely, from whose notes the writer has obtained these facts, being at that time a teacher at the mission, went across the lake, with two of his friends, to gather the remains of his murdered pupils. He found the corpses on the shore. The heads cut off and scalped, with a tomahawk buried in the brains of each, were set up in the sand near the bodies. The bodies were pierced in the breast, and the right arm of one was taken away. Removing the tomahawks, the bodies were brought back to the island, and in the afternoon were buried in accordance with the simple but solemn rites of the Church of Christ, by members of the mission.

Sioux Missionaries Before The Treaties

The sequel to this story is soon told. The Indians of Pokeguma, after the fight, deserted their village, and went to reside with their countrymen near Lake Superior.

In July of the following year, 1842, a war party was formed at Fond du Lac, about forty in number, and proceeded towards the Dahkotah country. Sneaking, as none but Indians can, they arrived unnoticed at the little settlement below Saint Paul, commonly called "Pig's Eye," which is opposite to what was Kaposia, or Little Crow's village. Finding an Indian woman at work in the garden of her husband, a Canadian, by the name of Gamelle, they killed her; also another woman, with her infant, whose head was cut off. The Dahkotahs, on the opposite side, were mostly intoxicated ; and, flying across in their canoes but half prepared, they were worsted in the encounter. They lost thirteen warriors, and one of their number, known as the Dancer, the Ojibways are said to have skinned.

In a little while Rev. Mr. Bout well removed to the vicinity of Stillwater, and the missionaries, Ayer and Spencer, went to Red Lake and other points in Minnesota.

Methodist Missions

In 1837 the Rev. A. Branson commenced a Methodist mission at Kaposia, about four miles below, and opposite Saint Paul. It was afterwards removed across the river to Red Rock. He was assisted by the Rev. Thomas W. Pope, and the latter was succeeded by the Rev. J. Holton.

Presbyterian Mi8Sion8 Continued

At the stations the Dahkotah language was diligently studied. Rev. 8. W. Pond had prepared a dictionary of three thousand words, and also a small grammar. The Rev. S. R. Riggs, who joined the mission in 1837, in a letter dated February 24, 1841, writes: "Last summer after returning from Fort Snelling, I spent five weeks in copying again the Sioux vocabulary which we had collected and arranged at this station. It contained then about 5500 words, not including the various forms of the verbs. Since that time, the words collected by Dr. Williamson and myself, have, I presume, increased the number to six thousand. ***** In this connection, I may mention that during the winter of 1839-40, Mrs. Riggs, with some assistance, wrote an English and Sioux vocabulary containing about three thousand words. One ot Mr. Renville's sons and three of his daughters are engaged in copying. In committing the grammatical principles of the language to writing, we have done something at this station, but more has been done by Mr. S. W. Pond."

Steadily the number of Indian missionaries increased, and in 1851, before the lands of the Dahkotahs west of the Mississippi were ceded to the whites, they were disposed as follows by the Dahkotah Presbytery.

The Rev. Daniel Gavin, the Swiss Presbyterian Missionary, spent the winter of 1839 in Lacqui-Parle and was afterwards married to a niece of the Rev. J. D. Stevens, of the Lake Harriet Mission. Mr. Stevens became the farmer and teacher of the Wapashaw band, and the first white man who lived where the city of Winona has been built. Another missionary from Switzerland, the Rev. Mr. Denton, married a Miss Skinner, formerly of the Mackinaw mission. During a portion of the year 1839 these Swiss missionaries lived with the American missionaries at camp Cold Water near Fort Snelling, but their chief field of labor was at Red Wing.