The Indian tribes of North America, volume 1
McKenney, Thomas Loraine, 1785-1859
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PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY OLIVER AND BOYD LTD., EDINBURGH CONTENTS paok Introduction by Frederick Webb Hodge. vii Thomas L. Me Kenney, portrait in photogravure. vii James Hall, portrait in photogravure .... xxiii War Dance ....... 1 Red Jacket, a Seneca War Chief .... 5 Kishkalwa, a Shawnee Chief. .33 Mohong^o, an Osage Woman. .44 Shingaba W’Ossin, a Chippeway Chief. .50 Pushmataha, a Choctaw Warrior. .62 Tenskwautawaw, or The Prophet. .75 Eshtahumbah, Sleepy Eyes, a Sioux Chief. .104 Waapashaw, a Sioux Chief. .106 Metakoosega, Pure Tobacco, a Chippeway Warrior. 115 Wesheubb, TAe a Chippeway Chief. .120 Little Crow, a Sioux Chief. .125 Sequoyah, or George Guess, Inventor of Cherokee Alphabet 130 Nawkaw, Wood, a Winnebago Chief. .146 Shaumonekusse, or LTetan, an Oto Half-Chief. .156 Hayne Hudjihini, The Eagle of Delight, wife of Shaumonekusse 165 Quatawapea, or Colonel Lewis, a Shawnee Chief. .168 Pay takootha, F’/yiwg a Shawnee Warrior. 172 Kiontwogky, Cornplanter, a Seneca Chief. .174 Pashepahaw, The Stabler, a Sauk Chief. .194 Caatousee, a Chippeway. .197 V VI CONTENTS PAGE Chippeway Squaw and Child. .199 Petalesharro, a Pawnee Brave. .201 Ohoncape, or Big Kansas, an Oto Chief. .218 Wanata, The Charger, a Sioux Chief .... 223 Peahmuska, a Fox Chief. ..... 231 Catahecassa, Black Hoof, a Shawnee Chief. 235 A Chippeway Mother and her Child. 248 Okeemakeequid, a Chippeway Chief .... 253 Waemhoeshkaa, a Chippeway Chief .... 258 McIntosh, a Creek Chief. ,. .261 Ongpatonga, The Big Elk, an Omaha Chief. .273 Mahaskah, White Cloud, an Iowa Chief .... 283 Bantchewaime, Female Flying Pigeon, an Iowa Woman. 296 Young Mahaskah, Chief of the lowas .... 301 Nesouaquoit, The Bear in the Forks of a Tree, a Fox Chief. 312 Moanahonga, Great Walker, an Iowa Chief. .318 Shauhaunapotinia, The Man who Killed three Sioux, an Iowa Chief ........ 326 Tahchee, “Dutch,” a Cherokee Chief .... 330 Anacamegishca, Foot Prints, a Cree Chief. 344 Wabishkeepenas, The White Pigeon, a Chippeway. 348 Tshusick, a Chippeway Woman. .353 Major Ridge, a Cherokee Chief ..... 368 Lappawinsoe, a Delaware Chief ..... 403 Tishcohan, He who Never Blackens Himself, a Delaware Chief. 409 Tokacou, He that Inficts the first Wound, a Yankton Sioux Chief. 415 Moukaushka, The Trembling Earth, a Yankton Sioux Chief. 417 Shahaka, The Big White, a Mandan Chief. Thomas Loraine McKenney, eldest son of William and Anne (Barber) McKenney, sturdy and consistent Quakers, was born on the old family plantation, “ Hopewell,” in Somerset County, Maryland, March 21, 1785, and died in New York City, February 20, 1859. He attended school at Chestertown, Maryland, married Aditha Cleaves, and while still a young man, settled in Georgetown, District of Columbia, where he became interested in two mercantile establishments, which he disposed of in 1814.^ Notwithstanding his strict Quaker training, he became adjutant of the First Legion of the Militia of the District of Columbia, and acted in that capacity to a detachment of volunteer 1 The writer desires to express his indebtedness to Miss Ella Loraine Dorsey, of Washington, grand-niece of Colonel McKenney, for information respecting his family and his early life. Vlll INTEODUCTION companies in service under the command of Colonel (afterward General) J. Thompson, of Washington, at Piscataway, Maryland, in the summer of 1813, during the war with Great Britain. Later he became one of the aides of Major-General John P. Van Ness, who resigned his commission, thus dissolving McKenney’s connection as aide. The latter, however, followed his brigade on foot, and became a private in a company of Georgetown riflemen, under Captain J. I. Stull. Subsequently he was invited by General Walter Smith to become one of his aides, and receiving permission to accept the appointment, continued as a staff officer to the end of the campaign, which resulted in the defeat of the Americans at Bladensburg, near Washington, August 24, 1814, leaving the way open to the capture of the capital and the burning of some of the public buildings by the British forces under General Boss and Admiral Cockbm-n, on the following day.^ During this period, McKenney held an interest in the mercantile firm of J(oseph) C. Hall & Co., of Washington City; but in 1816, having been tendered the appointment of the Superintendency of Indian Trade, he relinquished this interest, and entered on his new duties, April 12th of the year named, succeed- ing General John Mason. At this time every Indian tribe within the domain of the United States was regarded as if a sovereign power, with which the United States entered into solemn treaty, and the chief interest which the Government manifested in the Indians was for the maintenance of peace and the promotion and regulation of trade. As early as 1776, the 1 See McKenney, Narrative of the Battle of Bladensburgh, in a Letter to Henry Banning, Esq. [n. p.], 1814; also, his Reply to Kosciusko Armstrongs Assault, pp. 13, 27 (New York, 1847). INTRODUCTION IX Congress of the Confederation enacted a law for granting licences and regulating trade among the Indians ; but it was not until ten years later that the United States entered into regular trade relations with the various tribes by establishing factories, or trading posts, on the frontier, and providing for the appointment of a “ Super- intendent of Indian Trade.” It was to this office that McKenney was called by President Madison in 1816, and to which he was reappointed by President Monroe in 1820. The position was one of trust and of great responsibility, involving the expenditure of large sums of money for purposes of trade as well as in the distribution of annuities. Goods were purchased in open market in the several cities and shipped to the frontier posts, where they were traded to the Indians, without expectation of profit to the Government, for furs and peltries ; these in turn were shipped to the commercial centres and sold. This trade was conducted under McKenney ’s Superin- tendency for six years ; but the large private fur companies meanwhile steadily increased their own trade by the introduction of spirituous liquors, until finally, by Act of Congress of May 6, 1822, the Government trade was brought to an end, and George Graham was appointed to close the affairs of the Superintendency. McKenney was repeatedly charged with corruption in the administration of his office, especially by Senator Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri, whom McKenney char- acterised as the legitimate organ ” of the Missouri Fur Company ; but there is no doubt of McKenney’s integrity, while almost his entire life affords ample proof of his sympathy for the Indians. For thirty years he had been an intimate friend of John Ross {GuwisguwV, com- monly Cooweescoowee), the celebrated chief of the X INTEODUCTION Cherokee, among whom McKenney was known as “White Eagle,” in allusion to his strong features and his shock of white hair. In an examination into his official conduct by the Committee on Indian Affairs of the House of Repre- sentatives in 1823, McKenney said : “My good name was, and yet is, myall. Money is not the god of my idolatry, as those who know me will attest. It had been better for me to-day, perhaps, had I worshipped a little more devotionally at this shrine. My good name I have laboured hard to preserve. I received it as a legacy from parents who died ^ and left me little else with which to combat the roughnesses of this bleak and cheerless world ; and the business of my life has been, and I trust will ever be to its close, to preserve that legacy, and to hand it over untarnished to an only son,^ to whom, although I may have little more to give, it may constitute a source of the most agreeable reflections ; and, by a reference to the example which this very inquiry furnishes, he may be induced the more diligently to guard it, and hand it over in perfect purity to his posterity. I am concerned for its preservation. I will not, I could not, disguise it ; but I shall expect it to be protected, on this occasion, only on the ground of my having demonstrated that it has been unrighteously assailed.”^ During his Superintendency, in 1818 or 1819, McKenney 1 McKenney’s mother died when he was ten years of age. 2 The son, William, was still alive, and unmarried, in 1857, after which all trace of him is lost. It may be said here that Colonel McKenney was a devout churchman, becoming a strong Wesleyan after having passed through his experience as a “fighting Quaker.” 3 American State Papers, Indian Affairs, II., 424 (Washington, 1834), INTRODUCTION XI addressed a circular to those friendly to the Indian cause, in an endeavour to rescue them “ from the sad condition in which they were everywhere known to be.” As a direct result of this appeal, Congress in 1819 appropriated $10,000 “for the civilisation of the Indian tribes adjoining the frontier settlements ” — the beginning of an educational policy that now involves the expenditure of millions of dollars annually. After being legislated out of office, in August 1822, McKenney established at the capital a newspaper known as The Washington Republican and Congressional Examiner^ which continued until July 10, 1824, when it was sold to Peter Force, who conducted it under the name of The National Journal, At the outset the paper advocated the election of John C. Calhoun to the Presidency in 1824. In recognition of the confidence reposed in him by President Monroe and by the Secretary of War, John C. Calhoun, McKenney was next assigned to “the duties of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.” This office was not created at this time by Act of Congress, but was organised by the Secretary of War, with the approval of the President, for the better administration of Indian affairs. All the means at the Secretary’s disposal which, wrote McKenney, “he could make applicable to my salary, were sixteen hundred dollars. This I declined to accept, upon the ground that it was inadequate to my support, and would not be a just equivalent for the services which I knew the office would require at my hands. He admitted the justice of both — but added, the President would recom- mend, in his next message to Congress, the organisation of an Indian Department, with a salary equal to that paid to auditors [then $3000], expressing a hope that this would be satisfactory. I finally consented, and on the XII INTEODUCTION 11th of March 1824, had assigned to me the duties of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.”^ Perhaps for the reason that McKenney’s appointment had not been made by direct authority of law, the treaties of peace entered into at Washington, August 4, 1824, with the Sauk and Foxes, and with the Iowa, were negotiated by William Clark, “ Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and sole commissioner specially appointed for that purpose,”^ McKenney serving merely as a witness. He witnessed also the treaty with the Choctaw, concluded at Washington, January 20, 1825. The President was faithful to his promise, and McKenney himself prepared a Bill for the organisation of an Indian Bureau, but it lingered before Congress for several sessions, McKenney meanwhile eking out an existence on his meagre salary until his term of service was terminated. He made an attempt in later years to obtain the promised compensation for what he regarded as his “unrequited labours,” but to no avail. In addition to the more practical business of his office, McKenney aided in every way the few students of the period in- terested in ethnologic and linguistic researches. Among these was Dr C. S. Rafinesque, of Transylvania University, whom he joined, under date of August 22, 1825, in drafting a circular letter asking information respecting the languages of the tribes. 1 His salary as Superintendent of Indian Trade, at the time the office was abolished, was $2000 per annum — the same as that of the agent for the Creek Indians, who in addition received an allowance for rations. 2 So reads the preamble to the Sauk and Fox treaty. That with the Iowa reads “ . . . between William Clark, superintendent of Indian affairs, being specially authorized by the President of the United States thereto.” — See Treaties between the United States of America and the Several Indian Tribes, from 111 ^ to 1837. Washington, 1837. INTEODUCTION Xlll “ Such were my labors,” he later wrote, ‘‘ so coustant and oppressive, and so weighty the responsibilities which devolved on me, as to have very nearly cost me my life. My health gave way under the pressure,” and, but for the confidence of President Adams, and of Mr Barbour, the Secretary of War, “I should, in all probability, have died at my post.” On June 1, 1826, McKenney started from Georgetown, D.C., on a journey to Lake Superior, for the purpose of negotiating, jointly with Lewis Cass (later Secretary of War), a treaty with the Chippewa Indians, of whom, at that time, the afterward celebrated Henry E. Schoolcraft was agent. This important treaty, by which the copper deposits of Lake Superior were opened to the whites, was successfully carried out on August 5, 1826, at Fond du Lac, and was proclaimed February 7 of the following year. Another result of McKenney’s journey to the Indian country is an illustrated octavo volume bearing the title : Sketches of a Tour to the Lakes, of the Character and Customs of the Chippeway Indians, and of Incidents con- nected with the Treaty of Fond du Lac. By Thomas I. McKenney, of the Indian Department, and joint Com- missioner with his Excellency Gov. Cass, in negotiating the Treaty. Also, A Vocabulary of the Algic, or Chippeway language, formed in part, as far as it goes, upon the basis of one furnished by the Hon. Albert Gallatin. . .. Ornamented with Twenty-nine Engravings, of Lake Superior, and other Scenery, Indian Likenesses, Cos- tumes, &c. Baltimore : published by Fielding Lucas, jun’r, 1827. (8°, 493 + 1 pp., 29 plates.) The book consists of a series of letters (the first dated Georgetown, D.C., May 31, 1826 ; the last, Baltimore, October 6, 1826) that were addressed to the Honourable XIV INTRODUCTION James Barbour, Secretary of War (to whom the volume is dedicated), although the reader is left to surmise the person to whom they were written. In his ^‘To the Reader,” McKenney disavows any expectancy at the outset that the letters would be published, but states that he wrote them merely “ in compliance with the request of a friend.” The letters are interesting, nevertheless, both by reason of the personality of the writer which they reflect, and because of the new light shed on a country then but little known. Writing to Schoolcraft in March 1827, McKenney said: “It is rather a ladies’ book. 1 prefer the sex and their opinions. They are worth ten times as much as we, in all that is enlightened, and amiable, and blissful. ” ^ Most of the illustrations with which the volume is “ornamented” are from the pencil of J. 0. Lewis, who accompanied McKenney and Cass, and witnessed the treaty of Fond du Lac, and some of whose portraits, copied by King, illustrate the present work.^ Most of the 1 Schoolcraft, Personal Memoirs, p. 264, 1851. Of the book, School- craft also writes (p. 254) : — In his ‘ sketches ’ of his recent tour, he seeks to embody personal and amusing things which daily befell the party — matters upon which he was quite at home. I had mentioned to him, while here, that the time and labour necessary to collect informa- tion on Indian topics, of a literary character, imposed a species of research worthy of departmental patronage ; that I was quite willing to contribute in this way, and to devote my leisure moments to further researches on the aboriginal history and languages, if the Government would appropriate means to this end. INTRODUCTIOiSr XV illustrations are lithographs, atrociously reproduced ; the few on copper are far more creditable^ McKenney has little to say of Lewis, aside from commending the faith- fulness of some of his sketches and his fine singing, which often entertained the party, both afloat and ashore, during their sojourn in the Lake country. For the appended Chippewa vocabulary, based on the schedule furnished by Albert Gallatin, McKenney acknowledges his indebted- ness to Henry E-. Schoolcraft, later noted for his great work, in six volumes, on the Indian tribes. In 1827, McKenney and Cass were again selected as joint commissioners, this time to treat with the Chippewa, Menominee, and Winnebago tribes. In McKenney ’s case his political friends, including a dozen senators and repre- sentatives in Congress (among the former being William Henry Harrison), made a strong appeal in his behalf, urging the appointment partly on the ground that “he possesses more the confidence of the Indians than any person in the United States who could be so easily employed for this desirable object. He has perhaps, likewise, equal, if not a superior knowledge of the Indian character and disposition than any person who would likely undertake this work.” The treaty was negotiated at Butte des Morts, Michigan Territory, August 11, 1827, and was proclaimed February 23, 1829. In July 1829, the Secretary of War responded to a call made upon him by an association of distinguished citizens (chiefly clergymen and laymen of the Dutch Reformed Church) of New York, for McKenney’s pres- ence in that city, and his services in aiding them in the formation of “The Indian Board, for the Emigration, Preservation, and Improvement of the Aborigines of America,” an organization that evidently superseded “The American Society for Promoting the Civilization and General Improvement of the Indian Tribes within the United States,” organized at Washington about 1822, of whose Committee of Ways and Means McKenney was a member.^ Of the later organization McKenney was appointed a member of a committee to draft a constitu- tion, and the Honourable Stephen Van Rensselaer was elected president. On August 12, McKenney delivered before the Board an address which appears in Docal- ments and Proceedings relating to the Formation and Progress of a Board in the City of New York, for the Emigration, Preservation, and Improvement, of the Aborig- ines of America (New York : Vanderpool & Cole, printers, 1829; 8°, 48 pp.), and is published also, with changes in verbiage, in McKenney’s Memoirs 229-248). Neither Association seems to have accomplished anything; they possibly became exhausted from sheer weight of name. McKenney had ever been the subject of attack by his political enemies, as has been intimated. The news- papers of the day gave ready circulation to charges against ^ See Jedidiah Morse, Report to the Secretan/ of War, Washington, 1822, App., pp. 284-290. VOL. I. b xviii INTEODUCTION the Indian commissioner. On one occasion? he was accused a of connivance with business firms in illegally supplying goods for the Indian service, but the charge could not be substantiated ; at another time he was charged with extravagance in having Fiirst design an Indian medal ; and again we hear of his gross wastefulness of the public money in paying as much as thirty-three dollars to King and Ford for a single Indian portrait ! Always a power in Congress, Senator Benton bore no small part in the abolishment of the Superintendency of Indian Trade^ resulting in the transfer of the traffic with the Indians to private hands, and the increased debauchery of the native tribes through the introduction of liquors. McKenney’s strict integrity in the administration of the Indian affairs- made an enemy also of Samuel Houston, later President of Texas, who had become interested in contracts for supplying rations to the Southern Indians during their removal beyond the Mississippi, the difficulty, according to McKenney’s own statement, arising from Houston’s request for his influence in awarding to him the coveted contracts, which, of course, McKenney indignantly refused. Another strong opponent was Duff Green, editor of The Washington Telegraph, who lost no opportunity to wield his sarcastic pen against the “Kickapoo Ambassador,” as McKenney had become known to his enemies after his successful negotiations as a treaty commissioner. These affairs had their effect on President Jackson, who had succeeded John Quincy Adams, March 4, 1829, and was now the ardent advocate of the “spoils system.” Duff Green was one of Jackson’s confidential advisers a member of his so-called “kitchen cabinet” while Houston had served under him in the Indian wars of the South; consequently, McKenney’s tenure had not INTRODUCTION XIX become the most secure after the elevation of Jackson to the Presidency. Such was the condition of affairs in the summer of 1830, when McKenney obtained leave of absence for the purpose of attending to some personal business connected with the publication of his large work, now in the hands of Samuel F. Bradford, a publisher of Philadelphia. Returning from New York to the latter city in August, McKenney found a letter from the acting Secretary of War, informing him of his dismissal, to take effect on October 1st, on the ground that he was not in harmony with Jackson’s views respecting Indian affairs. To those familiar with the Indian policy of President Jackson, especially with regard to the transfer of the Southern Indians to the territory beyond the Mississippi, it is rather to the credit of our author that his dismissal was based on such grounds.^ The removal of McKenney, it was later written, “was a marked era in Indian history, as the commencement of that encroaching, arbitrary, and oppressive policy which has cost the country millions of treasure, many thousands of valuable lives, and more reputation than a patriotic American likes to acknowledge,” .. 1 McKenney later addressed a series of letters, under the pseudonym of Aristides,” to the Pennsylvania Inquirer, published at Philadelphia under the editorship of Robert Morris, with the understanding that his name might be divulged in the discretion of the editor when the series (numbering twenty-nine in all) should have been completed. The letters are a vitriolic outburst against the attitude of the President and others toward the Bank of the United States, and were afterward printed in pamphlet form under the title. Essays on the Spirit of Jacksojiism, as exemplified in its Deadly Hostility to the Bank of the United States, and in the Odious Calumnies employed for its Destruction, By Aristides. . .. Philadelphia: Jesper Harding, printer, 1835. (8°, 151 pp.) 2 North American Review, vol. Ixiii., October 1846. XX INTEODUCTION After his dismissal, McKenney requested permission to take his adopted Yuchi and Creek boys with him to Philadelphia, but Jackson denied the request, and the Indians were returned to their people in the South. William Barnard, the Creek, later became involved in a murder, and fled to the Serninoles in Florida. Lee Compere, the Yuchi, was never heard from again. The fathering of these boys is not the only instance of McKenney’s kindness toward the race to which so much of his life had been devoted. While chief of Indian Affairs, his good offices were sought by James Lawrence McDonald, a Choctaw boy about fourteen years of age, whom he adopted, and placed under the instruction of the Eeverend James Carnahan, then principal of a classical school in Georgetown, later president of Princeton College. McDonald and McKenney’s son, William, a boy of the same age, became warm friends, and McKenney himself formed a strong attachment for his Indian charge, who soon became “bent on distinguishing himself.” McKenney gave the boy every advantage of his home, making no distinction between him and his own son, in dress or attentions. McDonald outstripped his fellow- students in Carnahan’s academy, where he remained for three years. On the recommendation of John C. Calhoun, that the young Indian become a lawyer, McKenney sent McDonald to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he entered the office of Judge John McLean, and in a remarkably short time was admitted to the Bar. He then departed for the Choctaw country, and became established at Jackson, Mississippi, where he made a proposal of marriage to a young white woman, and, being refused, committed suicide by leaping from a river bluff. It has been seen that McKenney had already in INTEODUCTION XXI contemplation the publication of a large illustrated work on the Indian tribes, but of the successive steps that were taken after 1830 to effect its publication little is known. Toward the close of the year named, McKenney announced by circular that he was about to establish a commercial house, or agency, on a general plan, for supplying articles designed for the Indian trade, and the sale of furs and peltries. Commenting on this, Schoolcraft {Personal Memoirs, p. 343, 1851) says : “ This appears to me a strik- ing mistake of judgment. The colonel, of all things, is not suited for a merchant.” And Schoolcraft was quite correct. We have no evidence that the plan ever materialised ; but with his brother McKenney embarked in at least two other commercial ventures which practi- cally wiped out their fortunes. Meanwhile he turned his attention to the contemplated Indian book. McKenney’s interest in the welfare of the Indians by no means ceased with his official relations. In 1837 we find him at the Seneca village in New York, attending the dedication of a marble slab over the remains of the great Ked Jacket. In 1843-44, wdien the third volume of the History of the Indian Tribes was well advanced toward publication, he delivered a series of discourses in New England and the Middle States for the purpose of awakening “in the public mind an interest in behalf of the Indian race, and their destiny ; to give impetus to public opinion in regard to what ought to be done, and done speedily, for their welfare ; and when that opinion should be fully formed, bring it to bear on Congress, in connection with a plan for the preservation and well-being of the remnants of this hapless people.” The discourses were enthusiastically received. At Annapolis he addressed the Legislature of Maryland, and by a XXll INTEODUCTION vote of the House the use of the Capitol at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was granted for the same purpose. This series of addresses was published in 1846, under the title : On the Origin, History, Character, and the Wrongs and Rights of the Indians, with a Plan for the Preservation and Happiness of the Remnants of that Persecuted Race, forming Volume II. of his Memoirs, Official and Personal; with Sketches of Travel among the Northern and Southern Indians; Embracing a War Excursion, and Descriptions of Scenes along the Western Border. New York : Paine & Burgess, 1846 (8°, 136 pp., 13 pl.).^ The book is dedicated to Mrs Madison, and contains a letter of accept- ance in facsimile. The “war excursion” alluded to in the title of the book refers to the battle of Bladen sburg and the capture of Washington City in 1814, which McKenney introduces evidently for the purpose of discussing the causes that led to the resignation of General Armstrong as Secretary of War. This brought forth a Review of McKennefs Narrative of the Causes which, in 1814, led to General Armstrong's Resignation of the War Office," by Kosciusko Armstrong (New York, 1846), in which the son takes McKenney to task in an attempt to show that the late Secretary had been the victim of a plot ; whereupon McKenney, with his usual readiness to enter a controversy when he believed his veracity or judgment to be at stake, issued “A Card” bearing the title. An Opening Reply to Kosciusko Armstrong’s Pamphlet (sm. 4°, 2 11. ; dated Lyceum House, Brooklyn, N.Y., Dec. 18, 1846), followed by a Reply to Kosciusko Armstrong’s Assault upon Col. 1 A second edition was published in the same year, and in 1854 a third edition was issued under the title : Sketches of Travels amono- the Northern and Soidhern Lidians. New York : Daniel Burgess & Co., 1854 I I’; r it fcj * 1 * f m ' 1 In' V T I ■» sriife- INTRODUCTION XXlll McKemiey' s Narrative [etc.] (New York, 1847), which to the reader of to-day is a strong vindication of his attitude in the case, although answered in turn by Armstrong in an Examination of McKenney' s Reply to the ‘fieview ” [etc.] (New York, 1847). These pamphlets shed valuable light on this phase of the War of 1812. The last published writing by McKenney is “The Winnebago War of 1827,” printed, after his death, in the Report and Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Volume V., part II., pages 178-204 (Madison, 1868). The paper is based on personal information gained during his Tour to the Lakes. Two years or more before the appearance of the first volume of the Folio Edition, published at Philadelphia in 1836, by Edward C. Biddle, the services of Judge James Hall, of Cincinnati, had been enlisted. James Hall, son of John and Sarah (Ewing) Hall, was born at Philadelphia, August 19, 1793 ; and died near Cincinnati, Ohio, July 5, 1868. His grandfather came to Maryland with Lord Baltimore ; and his father, James Hall, in 1782 married Sarah Ewing, daughter of the Reverend John Ewing, provost of the University of Pennsylvania. James Hall the elder resided, after his marriage, first in his native State of Maryland, but about 1790 returned to Philadelphia, where he became secretary of the Land Office and United States marshal for the district of Pennsylvania. They lived in Lamberton, New Jersey, in 1801-1805, and again in Maryland until 1811, when they settled in Philadelphia. The wife (born Philadelphia, October 30, 1761 ; died there, April 8, 1830) was noted for her literary ability, and as a student of religious subjects. Four sons were born of this union : John Elihu (born December 27, 1783; died June 11, XXIV INTEODUCTION 1829), lawyer and author, editor of The Port- Folio in Philadelphia from 1817-1827 ; Harrison (born November 5, 1785 ; died March 9, 1866), author, and publisher of The Port-Folio ; James, the subject of the present sketch ; and Thomas Mifflin (born February 27, 1798 ; lost at sea in 1828), naval surgeon. James Hall the younger received his early training at home, and, reared in a literary atmosphere, it is not surpiising that he ac(][uired a taste for letters, and became ‘‘the literary venturer on the untried sea of Western literature.” He first devoted himself to law, but in 1812, when nineteen years of age, abandoned it to become a vol- unteer in a company organized in Philadelphia, under the command of Condy Eaguet. He served throughout the war with Great Britain, commanding a detachment of his company at Chippewa ; and was present at the battle of Lundy’s Lane and at the siege of Fort Erie, receiving official commendation for his services. He then became a lieutenant of artillery, and was stationed at Fort Mifflin, Pennsylvania. In 1815 he accompanied Commodore Stephen Decatur on his expedition to Algiers, serving on the United States brig Enterprise. Eeturning in 1816 he was stationed at Newport, Ehode Island, and after- ward at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on duty in the Ordnance Department. At this last station, in September 1817, Hall was tried by court-martial for “unofficer-like conduct, disobedience of orders and neglect of duty, and conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman.” He was found guilty on many of the charges, and sentenced to be cashiered; but in consideration of his ‘‘fair char- acter in other respects, his brave and meritorious conduct during the late war, and in expectation that his future deportment will merit the lenity now extended to him ” INTRODUCTION XXV the punishment was remitted and he was restored to the ranks, but resigned June 30, 1818J Resuming his studies in law, he was admitted to the Bar in 1818, and two years later descended the Ohio and settled at V Shawneetown, Illinois, where he began to practise. In 1821 he was made State’s Attorney for a judicial circuit embracing about ten counties in south-eastern Illinois, then a frontier territory overrun by desperadoes and fugitives from justice who terrorised the community. Hall’s vigorous prosecution of these criminals restored security and respect for the law, and earned for him the election in 1825 as Judge of the same circuit, an office which he held until the legislative session of 1826-1827 repealed the Act creating it. Removing to Vandalia, then the State capital of Illinois, Hall became associated with Robert Blackwell, State printer, in publishing The Illinois Intelligencer, of which Hall became the editor. The Legislature of 1830-1831 elected him State Treasurer, and meanwhile he and Blackwell began the publication of The Illinois Monthly Magazine, in octavo form, the first periodical of a literary character issued in the State. But Hall already had entered on his literary career, having contributed to The Port- Folio, published by his brother in Philadelphia, as early as 1820, numerous articles descriptive of the West and its people, which were widely copied. These articles were afterward collected, and with additions were issued in London in 1828 as a volume under the title. Letters from the West; containing Sketches of Scenery, Manners, and Customs; and Anecdotes connected with the First Settlements of 1 See Trial and Defence of First Lieutenant James Hall, of the 0?'dnance Department, United States Army. Published by Himself Pittsburgh : Eichbaum & Johnson, printers, 1820 (xvi. [17] -98 pp,, 8°). xxvi INTKODUCTION the Western Sections of the United States (8°, iv., 385 pp.). The first number of The Illinois Monthly Magazine appeared for October 1830. Owing to the scarcity of labour and materials at Yandalia and the inaccessibility of that frontier town, the second and last volume (con- cluding September 1832) was published in part at St Louis, and in part at Cincinnati. In January 1833, Judge Hall revived the periodical at the latter place, conducting it under the name, The Western Monthly Magazine^ a continuation of the Illinois Monthly Magazine, remaining with it in that city (which he now made his home until his death, July 5, 1868) until June 1836, when the editorship passed to the hands of J oseph Eeese Fry. Before this time. Judge Hall issued at Cincinnati the first annual published in the Western States : The Western Souvenir, a Christmas and Neiv Year's Gift for 1829 (16°, 324 pp., 7 pi). In addition, he wrote the following, some of which are drawn largely from his Letters from the West and from his monthly periodicals : — Legends of the West. Philadelphia : Harrison Hall, 1832 ; second edition, 1833 (16°, 4 p.l, 265 pp.). Published also, with additions, by T. L. Magagnos, New York, 1854 (12°, xvii., 435 pp., pi). The Soldiers Bride ; and other Tales. Philadelphia : Key & Biddle, 1833 (16°, 9-272 pp.). The Harpe's Head; a Legend of Kentucky. Philadelphia: Key & Biddle, 1833 (16°, 10-256 pp.). Published also under the title, Kentucky : A Tale. London : INTRODUCTION • • XXVll printed for A. K. Newman & Co., 1834 (2 vols., 4-230, 2-242 pp.). Sketches of History, Life and Manners in the West; Containing . . . Descriptions of the Country and Modes of Life, in the Western States and Territories of North America. Cincinnati : Hubbard & Edmands, 1834 (1 vol, 12°). Another edition with the title : Sketches of History, Life, and Manners in the West. Philadelphia : Harrison Hall, 1835 (2 vols., 16°, viii., 13-282; 4-276 pp.). Statistics of the West, at the Close of the Year 1836. Cincinnati : J. A. James & Co., 1836 (12°, xviii., 11-284 pp.). Another edition, 1837. See Notes on the Western States (1838), below. ^ Tales of the Border. Philadelphia : Harrison Hall, 1835 (16°, 2 pi, [9] -276 pp.). A Memoir of the Public Services of William Henry Harrison, of Ohio. Philadelphia : Key & Biddle, 1836 (16°, 323 pp., portrait). Notes on the Western States ; containing descriptive sketches of their Soil, Climate, Resources, and Scenery. Philadelphia : Harrison Hall, 1838 (16°, xxiil, 13- 304 pp.). (Practically the same as his Statistics of the West, 1836, 1837.) See also The West, 1848. “Memoir of Thomas Posey, Major-General and Governor of Indiana.” (In The Library of American Biography, conducted by Jared Sparks, Vol XIX. (second series, Vol IX.). Boston, 1846 ; pp. 359-403.) 1 On the authenticity of this work from a Kentuckian’s point of view, see Mann Butler’s An Appeal from the Misrepresentations of James Hall, Respecting the Histomj of Kentucky. . . . Frankfort, 1837. XXVlll INTRODUCTION The West : Its Commerce and Navigation. CinciDnati : H. W. Derby & Co., 1848 (12°, vii., 328 pp.). (Paper* cover title : “ The Commerce and Navigation of the West. Cincinnati : H. W. Derby & Co., 1849.”) This work is substantially the same as Statistics of the West (1836), and Notes on the Western States (1838). The West : Its Soil, Surface, and Productions. Cincinnati : Derby, Bradley & Co., 1848 (12°, 260 pp.). The Wilderness and the War Path. New York and London : John Wiley, 1849 (2 p.l., 174 pp.). This work probably first appeared in New York in 1845, and in London in 1846. The Romance of Western History ; or. Sketches of History, Life and Manners, in the West. Cincinnati : Apple - gate & Co,, 1857 ( 12°, iv., 5-420 pp., portrait of author^). Republished by Robert Clarke & Co., Cincinnati, 1871. Legends of the West: Sketches Illustrative of the Habits, Occupations, Privations, Adventures and Sports of the Pioneers of the West. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co., 1874 (8°, 435 pp.). While in Illinois, Judge Hall married Mary Harrison Posey, daughter of the Revolutionary Major-General, and afterwards Governor of Indiana Territory, whose biography Hall subsequently prepared. Mrs Hall died in 1832. Before the sale of The Western Monthly Magazine, Judge Hall became cashier of the Commercial Bank of Cincin- nati, and after its reorganization in 1843, accepted its 1 Reproduced in the present work. INTRODUCTION XXIX presidency, which he retained until his death. In 1839 he married Mrs Mary Louisa Alexander, a daughter of the Revolutionary soldier. Major Richard Clough Ander- son. The four children of this marriage are : William A. Hall, James H. Hall, Mrs Thomas H. Wright, and Miss Kate Longworth Hall.^ About the time Hall relinquished the editorship of The Western Monthly Magazine, i.e., in the winter of 1835-1836, he met George Catlin, the noted Indian painter, in Cincinnati, where he invited the co-operation of the latter in the production of the proposed McKenney and Hall volumes, now seemingly^ well advanced. In February 1836, Hall, then in Philadelphia, addressed Catlin on the same subject, in a letter so interesting in the present con- nection that it is given here in full : “Philadelphia, February 12, 1836. “ Dear Sir, — I left home for this place shortly after I had the pleasure of seeing you, and did not write as I promised, in consequence of my expectation of meeting with you at Pittsburgh. When I got there I was much disappointed at finding that you had just left that place, and I then did not know where to write you, until to-day, when I learned from the papers that 1 For sources of information, consult Hiram W. Beckwith, ‘^The Illinois and Indiana Indians” (with sketch of Judge James Hall), in Fergus Historical Series, No, 23, pp. vi-viii (Chicago, 1884). Thomas Donaldson, “ The George Catlin Indian Gallery,” in Smithsonian Report /or 1885 (National Museum), (Washington, 1886). Historical and Philo- sophical Society of Ohio : A Partial List o f the Books in its Lihrarij relating to the State of Ohio (Cincinnati, 1893). Charles T. Greve, Centennial History of Cincinnati, vol. i., p. 808 (1904). XXX INTEODUCTION you were at Albany. I now write for the purpose of renewing the proposition which I suggested to you at Cincinnati. 