On our return toward home the captives were, as usual, gloomy for an hour or two; but they very quickly brightened, and amused us with their smiles and conversation during the whole of the journey. In four days we reached the village, and were received with “thunders of applause.” Four of the prisoners were adjudged my prizes, who, according to Indian customs, became my sisters. For my services in this expedition I was honored with the name of Boah-hish-a (Red Fish). Our prisoners were kindly received, and treated with becoming attention. I carried my four sisters to my lodge, and distributed them among my relatives. They were all married to Crow braves, and added materially to the strength of my band of relatives; for it is esteemed a great honor to marry the sister of a great brave, which appellation I had long borne.
Pine Leaf had captured two prisoners, and offered me one of them to wife. I answered, “You once told me I had already wives enough. I will not add to their number until I marry the heroine of the Crow nation.”
“Ah, you have found the red-handed Indian, then,” she said, laughing mockingly.
She always received my advances with this unsatisfactory nonchalance, that it was with some unpleasantness of feeling I approached the subject. But the more I saw of her lofty bearing, and witnessed the heroic deeds that she performed, the more ardent became my attachment to her. When she was by my side in battle, it seemed as if I had increased strength and courage; when she was away, which happened rarely, I felt a vacancy which no other warrior could supply. There was none bolder than herself, and she knew it; there were others of greater strength, but her deficiency in muscular power was more than indemnified by her cat-like agility, and she would kill her man while others were preparing to attack.
There was one thing that irritated the noble girl’s curiosity, and that was the war-path secret. Having killed many in battle, having followed where any dared to lead, “Why am I debarred from that important communication?” she would ask. “Why am I sent off with the women and children, when that secret is told the warriors of but one battle?”
I would tell her that the misfortune of her sex rendered it impossible that she could ever have the secret unveiled to her; that, should she break her trust, she would surely pay the forfeit with her life. She would become angry at such representations, and her black eyes would glow like fire.
Soon after this capture, a band of Black Feet made reprisals by breaking our enclosure and taking seven hundred horses. I immediately collected a small party and went in pursuit. We speedily overtook them, and recovered all the horses except sixty, bearing the enemy, who precipitately fled, leaving two of their party dead. On our return we were received with the usual demonstrations of joy, and the horse-dance was performed by the village, together with the scalp-dance, which lasted nearly all night.
About this time my allied friend raised a war-party, and went in quest of the enemy; the heroine, ever active and prepared, accompanying him. I stayed behind. They returned in a few days, bringing eight scalps of the Coutnees — one of the bands of the Black Feet. They had lost two of their warriors, much to the annoyance of the heroine, as she was prevented from dancing, although she had counted two coos. She then declared that she would go to war no more, except in my company; but she had to break her word, and the next time she engaged in fight she received a severe wound. She wished me to raise a force immediately, and go and kill an enemy, so that she could wash her face. I declined, however, on the ground that I was soon to go to the fort, and that I would engage in no hostile encounters until my return.
When a war party loses one of its members, the survivors are compelled to wear their mourning-paint, until that same party, or an individual member of it, has wiped out the blot by killing one of the enemy without incurring loss of life. Thus it not unfrequently happens, when no opportunity of avenging a loss occurs, that the mourners wear paint for months, regularly renewing it as it wears off.
Small parties were continually going out and returning with varying success. The grand total of horses stolen by the Crows from all other tribes during that year amounted to near six thousand head. During the same period, however, they lost a great number stolen from them.
I visited the fort again in October, with three hundred lodges of the Indians, the remainder following us in a few days. A great number of the Indians had been busy with their traps for about two months, and we took into the fort a great quantity of peltry, which procured for the Indians everything they needed, besides finery for the women.
When I arrived, I was informed that the head-hunter of the fort had been killed during my absence.
“Now,” said Pine Leaf, “you will go to war for one of your people, and I will go with you, so that I can wash my face.”
The fort had been subject to alarms during the whole time of my absence, but had only lost the man here referred to.
As soon as the Indians had finished their trading, I directed them to move to the Yellow Stone, as far up as “Pompey’s Tower,” telling them that I would join them in four nights. Then, as soon as I could get ready, I loaded twelve pack-horses with goods for retail, and, taking two Canadians with me, I went on and joined the village at the appointed place.
This much performed, I then attended to the frequent solicitations of the heroine, by leading a party, and going in pursuit of the Black Feet to chastise them, as I told the Crows, for killing the white hunter. We were absent eleven days, and returned with only four scalps and seventy-four horses. I received an arrow in my head; and there were three other warriors wounded, but none killed. The heroine then washed her face of the mourning paint, which she had been grieving about so long.
At this time I was third counselor of the nation, having been fifth and fourth previously. In the Crow nation there are six counselors, and by them the nation is ruled. There are also two head chiefs, who sit with the counsel whenever it is in session. The office of first counselor is the highest in the nation, next to the head chiefs, whose authority is equal. If in any of these divisions, when a matter is brought to the vote, the suffrages are equal, one of the old pipe-men is summoned before the council, and the subject under discussion is stated to him, with the substance of the arguments advanced on both sides; after hearing this he gives his casting vote, and the question is finally settled.
When war is declared on any tribe, it is done by the council. If any party goes out without the authority of the council, they are all severely whipped; and their whipping is no light matter, as I can personally testify. It makes no difference how high the offender ranks, or how great his popularity with the nation — there is no favor shown; the man who disobeys orders is bound to be lashed, and if he resists or resents the punishment, he suffers death.
We raised a war-party of three hundred men to act against the Cheyennes, having one of the head chiefs as leader. We moved on foot toward their country, which was about two hundred and fifty miles from our village. In this expedition I acted in the capacity of head spy, and was of necessity continually in advance of the main party. Being near the enemy, according to our calculations, I was some distance ahead, with four other spies, when we discovered five of the Cheyenne warriors in the act of dressing a buffalo, which they had just killed. We crept slyly up within gunshot of them, and each singled out his man and fired. Four fell at the discharge; the other mounted his horse and fled. I mounted one of the other horses, and pursued him within sight of his village, when I wheeled and returned to the camp, well knowing that we should be pursued immediately after the fugitive communicated his news. I found the camp readily, and acquainted the chief with what had happened, although it is against orders for spies to commence any attack. I told him that we were compelled to fight them to save our own lives, as the enemy had discovered us. “That is all right,” he said, “but they will be soon after us, and we must retreat as fast as we can.”
We returned on our steps without losing a moment, and traveled all night. It was very cold, with considerable snow on the ground. In the morning we b
uilt a fire, and as soon as we had warmed ourselves we moved on. One man, who was lame, lingered by the fire after we had left, and he rejoined us in great alarm, telling us that the Cheyennes were on our trail in great force, and were but a short distance behind us. We then put our boys and horses into a deep gully close by, and also stepped in ourselves, as soon as we had discharged one volley at our pursuers, who were then within short gunshot distance. They numbered from fifteen hundred to two thousand warriors, all mounted, while we were but a very few warriors, and had not more than a dozen horses in all. We were in a strong position, however, one which they dared not to storm, even with their whole force. Frequently a few more daring cavaliers would advance to the edge of the bank, and hurl their lances into our midst; but they rarely escaped our bullets. We had killed and wounded a great number in this manner, which taught our foe to be more cautious in his approaches; when our chief, losing heart, declared there was no hope for us, and that we infallibly should be all “rubbed out.”
He addressed his son, a lad about sixteen years of age, in the following strain: “My son, we shall be all killed here. The Cheyennes are very brave, and they have a cloud of warriors before us. It must never be said that my son was killed by them, therefore I must kill you myself before I die. Die, my son, first!”
In an instant his son was a corpse, prostrate at the feet of his savage father. This, thought I, is the first time I ever saw a person killed to save his life. The actions of the old chief were wild throughout the whole proceeding. After killing his son, he rushed upon the top of the bank, and addressed himself to the enemy, an exposed mark to their arrows, as follows:
“Ho, Cheyennes! here I am! come and kill me! I am the great chief of the Crows. Come and kill me first, and then you can easily kill my warriors. Many of your braves have fallen by my hand; their scalps darken my lodge. Come! come and kill me!”
I was astonished at such rashness, and still more astonished at the enemy, who, on seeing him a fair mark for their bullets, even withdrew to a greater distance, and appeared to be perfectly paralyzed. After a while, our head chief descended, and took a long smoke at his pipe. The enemy retired without troubling us farther. In the night we decamped, and made all possible haste to our village, where we arrived in safety without any molestation from the enemy. The chief attributed our escape to the interposition of the Great Spirit, whom the sacrifice of his son had propitiated in our behalf.
We killed fourteen of the enemy while in our intrenchment , making eighteen, and wounded a great number. We had eight killed, including the chief’s son, and ten or eleven slightly wounded.
When we arrived at home there was great mourning, and we all assumed paint on our faces as usual. But we wore it only a short time before we took ample revenge. Pine Leaf did not accompany us on this expedition.
CHAPTER XVII.
Victory over the Cheyennes. —Treachery of the Snake Indians. —Loss of six Crow Warriors. —Victory over the Snakes and Utahs. —A Mountaineer killed. —Trouble in the Wigwam. —I am disgraced. —Great Sacrifice of my Father’s Property. —Three Whippings for violating Crow Morals. —Great Battle with the Re-ka-ras.
FOUR days after our return, our chief, still smarting at the sacrifice he had made for the salvation of his people, burned for revenge. He selected a body of over two hundred warriors, and started forthwith in search of the enemy.
The night following his departure, I also raised two hundred men, and started in a contrary direction. We proceeded on until we came to Laramie Forks, where Fort Laramie has since been built, and were in sight of a Cheyenne village. While we were surveying the village, eleven of their men, laden with meat, came up and encamped within a few hundred yards of where we were. We immediately threw ourselves flat upon the ground, resolved to wait until the coming of night, in order to make secure work of our attack on them, and prevent any of their number escaping to alarm the village. At a late hour we silently approached their camp when they were all sound asleep; a dozen guns were discharged at them in a moment, and we rushed in with our battle-axes to complete the work. We took their scalps, and were soon on the retreat, bearing away all the meat we needed, besides nineteen horses, and the slain warriors’ equipments. We returned to the village, and washed off the mourning-paint, making the whole village ring with our dancing and rejoicing. The additional name of Ar-ra-e-dish (the Bloody Arm) was conferred upon me.
The old chief came in three days subsequently, bringing fourteen scalps and equipments, without having lost a single man.
Many of my readers will doubtless wonder how a man who had been reared in civilized life could ever participate in such scenes of carnage and rapine. I have already related that I was brought up where similar outrages were committed upon the defenseless inhabitants of the new settlements. Impressed with the recollection of these early scenes, I hardly ever struck down an Indian but my mind reverted to the mangled bodies of my childish play-fellows, which I discovered on my way to the mill, barbarously murdered by the savages. In after years I have experienced the natural ferocity of the savage, who thirsts for the blood of the white man for no other purpose than to gratify the vindictive spirit that animates him. I have seen the paths of the trappers dyed with their blood, drawn from their hearts by the ambushed savage, who never knew mercy, but remorsely butchered all who came in his way. Such is Indian nature. When I fought with the Crow nation, I fought in their behalf against the most relentless enemies of the white man. If I chose to become an Indian while living among them, it concerned no person but myself; and by doing so, I saved more life and property for the white man than a whole regiment of United States regulars could have done in the same time.
Before I close this narrative, I shall take the liberty to express my opinions, and afford those having control of the War Department some counsel about the cheapest, most expeditious, and most certain method of quelling their Indian troubles, on which the newspapers are harping so much. I know that with five hundred men of my selection I could exterminate any Indian tribe in North America in a very few months. But so long as our government continues to enlist the offscouring of European cities into our army, and intrusts the command to inexperienced officers fresh from West Point, just so long will they afford food for the Indians in and about the Rocky Mountains. Encumbered as our army is with baggage-wagons and artillery, an Indian chief can move his whole community farther in one day than our soldiers can follow them in three.
When our victorious celebration was over, I started on a small trading expedition to the Snake Indians. I had received an invitation from their chief to trade among them, and I selected eight warriors to accompany me. On arriving at their village, I found that the Utahs had joined them, and a great number of them were thronging the village. Knowing that the Utahs and Crows were deadly enemies, I sedulously watched their movements, and very speedily felt distrust for the safety of myself and party, as the whole camp savored strongly of treachery. I mustered my little party around me, and found them without guns. On inquiring the cause, they informed me they had traded them away for horses. I suppose my looks expressed my disapprobation. Mistaking me, they said there was yet one fine horse left, which I could have at the price of my gun.
I had finished my traffic, and had disposed of everything except my gun, when the Snakes came to me and offered to trade for that. I said, “No; I never sell my gun, except when at home and among my own people.” The Snakes then told us to go, that things were bad in their camp. We sprang upon our horses, and struck out at full speed; but we soon discovered a large party of Indians were in close pursuit. We then found they had not sold us their fastest horses, as they gained on some of my party, and shot and scalped them without our ability to defend them. I succeeded in reaching the mountain with two of my men, having lost six noble young warriors in my flight. I knew there would be terrible mourning and loss of fingers, until I could teach the Snakes a lesson which would serve them to remember for a long time.
After devoting a s
hort space to bewailing my misfortune, I requested a council to be called, and never did I enlarge with such wrathful vehemence as I then fulminated against the Snakes, holding them up to the abhorrence of the fathers for their treachery in decoying our unsuspecting warriors into their camp, and then letting loose a pack of murderous savages at our heels, after we had, through their complicity, parted with our only means of defense. I demanded five hundred warriors to go and wipe out the stain, and inflict summary chastisement on the village for their duplicity.
My argument was listened to with the profoundest attention, and all I proposed was readily acceded to. “Let the Red Arm have all that he asks,” was the unanimous voice of the assembly.
My warriors rallied around me almost at a moment’s notice, and we mounted our horses and sped in the direction of the Snake country, on Green River. On the eighth day our scouts came in and reported that they had found a large number of the Snakes, scattered in small parties, who were engaged in killing buffalo. We held on until we came in sight of them. I distributed my warriors as the occasion suggested, ordering them to attack the various small camps, while I, with my party, should attack their main body. They were overthrown and dispersed by my brave warriors, with severe loss. We took over one hundred scalps, and a great quantity of guns and other warlike implements. We had sixteen men wounded, including myself (I received two slight wounds from arrows), but none of them dangerously. This blow brought the Snakes to their senses, and they immediately sent a deputation to our village to sue for peace.
The Life and Adventures of James P Beckwourth Page 18