After refreshing ourselves we resumed our journey, and, striking the Laramie River, we passed on through the Park, and then crossed the Sweet Water River into our own territory, where we were safe. We fell in with Long Hair’s village before we entered our own, with whom we had a good time. Before parting we gave them five hundred horses. From thence we went down to the fort in quest of our own village, but learned they were about twenty miles out, encamped on the Rose Bud. The inmates of the fort thought it must have rained horses, for such a prodigious drove they never saw driven in before. We made them a present of a Camanche horse all round, and, having stayed one night with them, the next morning we journeyed on to our village.
We found them all dancing and rejoicing over the success of the other war-parties, who had reached home before us, and our arrival increased their joy to such an extreme that there was no limit to their extravagant manifestations.
We had not parted from the fort more than two or three hours when Big Bowl called there, also in quest of the village, bringing two thousand seven hundred horses, which he had taken from the Coutnees.
Tulleck informed him that his son had but just left for the village with a large drove.
“Yes,” said the old, man, “but I can laugh at him this time.”
“No, no,” replied Tulleck, “he has beat you; he has twice as many as you.”
“Ugh!” exclaimed the old brave; “his medicine is always powerful.”
We must have started with five thousand horses, for many gave out on the way and were left behind, besides a number that must have straggled off, for the Cheyennes afterward informed me that they picked up a considerable number which had undoubtedly belonged to our drove.
My father, after presenting them with a horse all round at the fort, whipped his drove up, saying that he would yet overtake the Medicine Calf before he reached the village.
He arrived just before sunset, when the joy was at its height.
We had horses enough now to eat us out of house and home, about eight thousand head having been brought in during the last ten days.
When the rejoicing was through, I divided my village, sending two hundred lodges round to start the buffalo toward the mountain, while I took one hundred and seventy lodges, and made a circuit in the direction of the fort, encamping in the bottom close by. I had with me eight or nine hundred warriors, besides my division of the women and children.
While staying in the vicinity of the fort we were usually very careless, never apprehending any attack, but on the third day of our encampment here we were suddenly assailed by nearly fifteen hundred Black Foot warriors, who were probably aware that we had divided our village, and had followed us as the smallest party. Myself and several other warriors were in the fort when the attack was made, but we soon hastened to join our warriors. The contest became severe. The Black Feet fought better than I had ever seen them fight before. The Crows, being outnumbered by their enemies, were sorely pressed, and every man had to exert himself to the utmost to withstand the assault. The men at the fort, seeing our situation, brought out to our aid a small cannon on a cart. The enemy, seeing them bring it up, charged on it and carried it, the Frenchmen who had it in charge running back to the fort with all possible speed. The Crows, seeing what had happened, made a furious charge on the captors of the cannon, and succeeded in retaking it, though not without the loss of several killed and wounded in the conflict. The gun was loaded with musket-balls, and, when finally discharged, did no damage to the enemy.
I was in another quarter, encouraging my warriors to protect our lodges, and we at length succeeded in beating them off, although they drove away over twelve hundred head of our horses with them, without any possibility of our wresting them from them, at least at that time. We lost thirteen warriors killed, twelve of whom were scalped, and about thirty wounded. It is a wonder we did not suffer a loss three times more severe. But the Black Feet are not steady warriors; they become too much excited in action, and lose many opportunities of inflicting mischief. If bluster would defeat a foe, their battles would be a succession of victories. Had we in the least mistrusted an attack, by being in readiness we could have repulsed them without the least effort. But they caught us totally unprepared; there was not a man at his post until they were about to fall upon us. The enemy lost forty-eight scalps in the encounter, besides a number of dead and wounded they carried away with them without our being able to lay hands upon them. They had also over one hundred horses shot under them.
We suffered a severe loss in the death of the veteran brave Red Child, the hero of a hundred fights, who was killed and scalped at his lodge door. His wife, who was by, struck the Indian who scalped him with a club, but she did not strike him hard enough to disable him. The loss of the old brave was severely felt by the whole nation. The crying and mourning which ensued pained me more than the loss of our horses. After spending the night in mourning, we moved on to the other division, to carry the woeful tidings of our reverse. When we rejoined them there was a general time of crying. I took a great share of the blame to myself, as it was upon my proposition that the village had been divided and the disaster sustained. I suggested it with a view to facilitate business, never dreaming of an attack by such an overwhelming force. When the excitement had subsided, I determined to wash their faces or perish in the attempt. I ordered everyone that could work to engage in the erection of a fort in the timber, sufficiently large to hold all our lodges, laying out the work myself, and seeing it well under way. I directed them, when they had finished the construction, to move their lodges into it, and remain there till my return, for, thus protected, they could beat off ten times their number.
I then took nearly seven hundred of our best warriors, and started for the Black Feet, resolved upon revenge, and careless how many I fell in with.
A small party had recently come in with two scalps, which they had obtained near the head of Lewis’s Fork, Columbia River. They reported a large village of eight hundred lodges, from which numerous war-parties had departed, as they had crossed their trails in coming home. They knew the direct road to the village, how it was situated, and all about it, which was of great service to me. I therefore took them with me, and employed them as scouts. Every warrior was well provided for hard service; each man had a riding-horse, and led his war-horse by his side.
On the seventh day we came in view of their village, but we deferred our attack till the next day. The enemy had chosen a very good position; they were encamped on a large bend of the river, at that time shallow and fordable everywhere. I detached fifty of my warriors for a feint, while I stole round with the main body to the high ground, taking care to keep out of sight of the enemy. Having gained my position, I signaled to the light division to feign an attack, while my men were so excited I could hardly restrain them from rushing out and defeating my purpose. My plan succeeded admirably. The Black Feet, having suffered themselves to be decoyed from their position by the flight of the fifty warriors, I sounded a charge, and my men rushed upon the unprotected village like a thunderbolt. We swept everything before us; the women took to the bush like partridges; the warriors fled in every direction. They were so paralyzed at our unexpected descent that no defense was attempted. I threw myself among the thickest group I could see, and positively hacked down seventeen who pretended to be warriors without receiving a scratch, although my shield was pretty well cut with arrows. If my warriors had all come to their work according to the example that even the heroine set them, not one of the Black Feet who ventured to show fight would have escaped. The heroine killed three warriors with her lance, and took two fine little boys prisoners. We found but about a thousand warriors to oppose us, while there were lodges enough to contain three times the number. We only took sixty-eight scalps after all our trouble — a thing I could not account for. We took thirty women and children prisoners, and drove home near two thousand head of horses, among which were many of our own.
As I had never seen the Black Feet fi
ght so well as at the fort, I expected an equal display of valor on this occasion, but they offered nothing worthy the name of defense. I learned from my prisoners that my old father-in-law was in that village, whose daughter I had nearly killed for dancing over the scalps of the white men. We had only one warrior wounded, who was shot through the thigh; but it was not broken, and, like all Indian wounds, it soon got well. We reached home in less than four days; and, after our arrival, singing and dancing were kept up for a week.
In taking prisoners from an enemy we gain much useful information, as there are always more or less of their tribe domiciliated with us, to whom the captives impart confidence; these relate all that they hear to the chiefs, thus affording much serviceable information that could not otherwise be obtained. The women seem to care but little for their captivity, more particularly the young women, who have neither husbands nor children to attach them to their own tribe. They like Crow husbands, because they keep them painted most of the time with the emblems of triumph, and do not whip them like their Black Foot husbands. Certain it is that, when once captured by us, none of them ever wished to return to their own nation. In our numerous campaigns that winter we also took an unusual number of boys, all of whom make excellent Crow warriors, so that our numbers considerably increased from our prisoners alone. Some of the best warriors in the Crow nation had been boys taken from the surrounding tribes. They had been brought up with us, had played with our children, and fought their miniature sham-battles together, had grown into men, become warriors, braves, and so on to the council, until they were far enough advanced to become expert horse-thieves.
That winter was an exceedingly fortunate one for the Crow nation; success crowned almost every expedition. Long Hair’s warriors achieved some great triumphs over the Black Feet, and in one battle took nearly a hundred scalps.
When Long Hair heard of our misfortune at the fort, he sent a messenger to our village to offer some of his warriors to assist us in retrieving our reverse. But before the arrival of the messenger we had been and returned, and were all in the height of rejoicing. He hastened back to his village to impart the glad tidings, in order that they might rejoice with us.
We then engaged in trapping beaver and hunting buffalo for the next three weeks, during which time we suffered no molestation from any of our enemies.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Deputation from the As-ne-boines.—Characteristic Speech of Yellow Belly.—Visit to the Fort.—Visit to Fort Union.—Rescue of Five White Men from Starvation.—Arrival at Fort Cass.—Departure for the Village.—Visit of the Snakes to the Crows.
WE received another deputation from the As-ne-boines to sue for a renewal of peace. We had lost a warrior and two women, who had been massacred when away from the village, and on discovery of the bodies we followed the trail of the perpetrators in the direction of the Black Foot country. We eventually discovered that many petty outrages, which we had charged upon the Black Feet, were in reality committed by the treacherous As-ne-boines. On their return from their thievish inroads they were in the habit of proceeding very near to a Black Foot village, with which they were at peace, and then, turning obliquely, would cross the Missouri into their own country. Becoming acquainted with this oft-repeated ruse, we determined to chastise them. I accordingly crossed the Missouri with a force of eight hundred and fifty men, and invaded their territory with the determination to inflict upon them such a chastisement as should recall them to a sense of decency. We encountered a small village, only numbering forty lodges, on their way to Fort Union, and within a few hundred yards of the fort. Seeing our approach, they intrenched themselves in a hollow, rendering our assault a work of danger. But we stormed their position, and killed twenty-six warriors (all of whom we scalped); the remainder we could not get at, as we found their position impregnable.
Admonished by this chastisement, they sent another deputation to us to treat for the re-establishment of peace. But their propositions were unfavorably received, and Yellow Belly favored them with his sentiments in the following rather unpalatable and characteristic strain:
“No,” said he, in answer to their representations, “we make peace with you no more. You are dogs — you are women-slayers — you are unworthy of the confidence or notice of our people. You lie when you come and say that you want peace. You have crooked and forked tongues: they are subtle like the tongue of the serpent. Your hearts are corrupt: they are offensive in our nostrils. We made peace with you before because we pitied you; we looked upon you with contempt, as not even worthy to be killed by the Sparrowhawks. We did not wish for your scalps: they disgrace our others; we never mix them even with those of the Black Feet. When we are compelled to take them from you on account of your treachery, we give them to our pack-dogs, and even they howl at them. Before, we gave you horses to carry you home, and guns to kill your buffalo; we gave you meat and drink; you ate, and drank, and smoked with us. After all this, you considered yourselves great braves in scalping two of our women. Our women would rub out your nation and put out all your fires if we should let them loose at you. Come and steal our horses when you think best, and get caught at it if you want to feel the weight of our tomahawks. Go! we will not make peace with you; go!”
After this very cordial reception, we had no more intercourse with the As-ne-boines for some time.
Shortly after the departure of this delegation, we set out for the fort to trade away our peltry, which amounted to a considerable number of packs. On arriving there, I found a letter from a Mr. Halsey, who then had charge of Fort Union, the head-quarters of the American Fur Company. The letter was couched in rather strong terms, and was evidently written when he was under the influence of temper. The company had their trading-posts among every tribe with which the Crows were at war, and for many months past there had been a great falling off in trade. The Indians had brought in but little peltry, and the universal complaint among all was that it took all their time to defend themselves against the Crows. The Crows had killed scores of their warriors; the Crows had stolen all their horses; the Crows had captured their women and children; the Crows had kept them mourning and crying; their trappers dare not go out to trap for fear of the Crows; their hunters dare not, and could not, kill buffalo for fear of the Crows; in short, by this letter it appeared that the poor Crows were the constant terror of all the surrounding tribes.
He concluded his epistle, “For —’s sake, do keep your d—d Indians at home, so that the other tribes may have a chance to work a little, and the company may drive a more profitable business.”
I knew perfectly well that these incessant wars were very prejudicial to the company’s interest, but it was impossible for me to remedy the evil. Other tribes were continually attacking the Crows, killing their braves, and stealing their horses, and, of course, they were bound to make reprisals. In justice to the Crows I must say, that other tribes were generally the aggressors, until the policy was forced upon me of endeavoring to “conquer a peace.” I thought, if I could make the Crow nation a terror to all their neighbors, that their antagonists would be reduced to petition for peace, and then turn their battle-axes into beaver-traps; and their lances into hunting-knives.
Our villages, having made their purchases, left the fort, but stayed in the vicinity, engaged in trapping and making robes. The letter I had just received from Halsey requested my attendance on him that spring. I left my people, and went down the river to Fort Union. On arriving, I found a large body of the As-ne-boines encamped near the fort. Their chiefs immediately came to me, wishing me to conclude peace with them as representative of the Crow nation. They attempted to palliate their late misdeeds by throwing the blame on a few As-ne-boine desperadoes, who had acted without the authority or the cognizance of the national council, and that they had been severely punished by the tribe for their excesses.
In answer, I told them that I had no authority to conclude peace; that, even if I had, they would not observe a peace longer than one moon; that I thought
the Crows would throw difficulties in the way of entertaining their propositions, but that they could apply to the council again, and learn how they were inclined. Mr. Halsey and all the sub-traders present interceded with me to exert myself in establishing a peace between the two nations, which request I promised to comply with. The chiefs inquired whether we would take their lives in the event of their visiting us on such a mission. I assured them that the Crows would hold their lives sacred; that they were not dogs, as many nations were, but that they were a great and magnanimous nation, whose power was predominant, and who killed no enemies but in battle.
I remained at the fort about three weeks, and, as most of the sub-traders, clerks, and interpreters were in, we had a glorious time. It was at least three or four years since I had last visited there; for, though I fought a battle outside its walls lately, I did not see fit at that time to make them a call.
The boats being ready to return, I started with them, but their progress was so slow and wearisome on their way up to the Yellow Stone that I leaped ashore, intending to make my way over dry land. I have always rejoiced that I was prompted to take that step, for I became instrumental thereby in performing a merciful deed among so many that might be termed unmerciful.
I had not traveled more than three miles when I came across a white man, named Fuller, in a famishing condition. I had a companion with me, whom I started off to the boats to bid them prepare something suitable to recover the poor fellow, and to order them to touch on shore when they came to where he lay. Fuller was quite delirious. I had discovered him just in the nick of time, as he could not have survived many hours longer. My companion was not long in performing his errand, and, when the boat touched for him, we carried him on board, and gave him tea and warm restoratives. He shortly revived, and then gave me to understand, in a very incoherent manner, that he had four companions in a similar condition near to where I had found him.
The Life and Adventures of James P Beckwourth Page 29