Fig. 780.
Fig. 780. The Dakotas joined the whites in an expedition up the Missouri river against the Rees. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1823-’24.
White-Cow-Killer calls it “Old-corn-plenty-winter.”
The union line between the Indian and the white soldier shows that on this occasion they were allies.
Fig. 781.
Fig. 781. United States troops fought Ree Indians. The-Swan’s Winter Count, 1823-’24.
This and the preceding figure are signs of a specially interesting expedition, a condensed account of which follows taken from the annual report of J. C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, November 29, 1823:
Gen. William H. Ashley, a licensed trader, was treacherously attacked by the Arickaras at their village on the west bank of the Missouri river, about midway between the present Fort Sully and Fort Rice. Twenty-three of the trading party were killed and wounded, and the remainder retreated in boats and sent appeals for succor to the commanding officer at Fort Atkinson, the present site of Council Bluffs. This officer was Col. H. Leavenworth, Sixth United States Infantry, who marched June 22, with 220 men of that regiment, 80 men of trading companies, and two 6-pound cannon, a 5½-inch brass howitzer, and some small swivels, nearly 700 miles through a country filled with hostile or unreliable Indians, to the Ree villages, which he reached on the 9th of August. The Dakotas were at war with the Arickara or Rees, and 700 to 800 of their warriors had joined the United States forces on the way; of these Dakotas 500 are mentioned as Yanktons, but the tribes of the remainder are not designated. The Rees were in two villages, the lower one containing seventy-one dirt lodges and the upper seventy, both being inclosed with palisades and a ditch and the greater part of the lodges having a ditch around the bottom on the inside. The enemy, having knowledge of the expedition, had fortified and made every preparation for resistance. Their force consisted of over 700 warriors, most of whom were armed with rifles procured from British traders. On the 9th of August the Dakotas commenced the attack and were driven back until the regular troops advanced, but nothing decisive resulted until the artillery was employed on the 10th, when a large number of the Rees, including their chief, Gray Eyes, were killed, and early in the afternoon the survivors begged for peace. They were much terrified and humbled by the effect of the cannon, which, though small, answered the purpose. During the main engagement the Dakotas occupied themselves in gathering and carrying off all the corn to be found.
See also the record of Lean-Wolf’s expedition in Fig. 452.
Lafitau (b) gives the following account, translated with condensation, of the records of expedition, battle, etc., made by the Iroquois and northeastern Algonquins:
The designs which the Indians have tattooed on their faces and bodies are employed as hieroglyphics, writing, and records. When an Indian returns from war and wishes to make his victory known to the neighboring nations through whose country he passes, when he has chosen a hunting ground and wishes it to be known that he has selected it for himself and that it would be an affront to him for others to establish themselves there, he supplies the lack of an alphabet by those characteristic symbols which distinguish him personally; he paints on a piece of bark, which is raised on a pole by a place of passage [trail], or he cuts away some pieces from a tree trunk with his hatchet, and, after having made a smooth surface, traces his portrait and adds other characters, which give all the information that he desires to convey.
When I say that he draws his portrait, it will be understood that he is not skillful enough to delineate all the features of his face in such a manner that it would be recognized. They have, indeed, no other way of painting than that monogrammatic or linear painting, which consists of little more than the mere outlines of the shadow of the body rather than of the body itself—a picture so imperfect that it was often necessary to add below the name of the object which was intended to be represented in order to make it known.
The Indian then, to represent his portrait, draws a simple outline in the form of a head, adding scarcely any marks to indicate the eyes, nose, ears, or other features of the face. In place of these he draws the designs which are tattoed upon his own face, as well as those upon his breast, and which are peculiar to him and render him recognizable not only to those who have seen him, but even to all who, knowing him only by reputation, are acquainted with his hieroglyphic symbol, as formerly in Europe an individual was distinguished by his device and as we to-day know a family by its armorial bearings. About his head he paints the object which expresses his name; the Indian, for example, called the Sun paints a sun; at the right he traces the animals which are the symbols of the nation and family to which he belongs. That of the nation is above the one representing the family, and the beak or muzzle of the former is so placed that it corresponds to the place of his right ear, as if this symbolic figure of his nation represented its spirit, which inspires him. If this Indian is returning from war, he represents beneath his portrait the number of warriors composing the party which he leads, and beneath the warriors the number of prisoners made and those whom he has killed by his own hand. At the left side are indicated his expeditions and the prisoners or scalps taken by those of his party. The warriors are represented with their weapons or simply by lines; the prisoners by the stick decorated with feathers and by the chichikoue or tortoise-shell rattle, which are the marks of their slavery; the scalps or the dead by the figures of men, women, or children without heads. The number of expeditions is designated by mats. He distinguishes those which he has accompanied from those which he has commanded by adding strings [of wampum] to the latter. If the Indian goes as an ambassador of peace all the symbols are of a pacific nature. He is represented below his portrait with the calumet in his hand; at the left is seen an enlarged figure of the calumet, the symbolic figure of the nation with which he goes to treat, and the number of those who accompany him on the embassy.
The same author, on page 194 of the same volume, explains how the mat or mattress came to mean war:
The Iroquois and the Hurons call war n’ondoutagette and gaskenrhagette. The final verb gagetton, which is found in the composition of these two words, and which signifies to bear or to carry, shows, verily, that heretofore something was borne to it [i. e., to war], which was a symbol of it [i. e., of war] to such a degree that it [war] had assumed its [the symbol’s] designation. The term ondouta signifies the down [the wool-like substance] which is taken from the ear [cat-tails] of marsh reeds, and it also denotes the entire plant, which they use in making the mattresses [nattes] upon which they lie; so that it appears that they applied this term to war because every warrior in this kind of expeditions carried with him his own mattress; in fact, the mattress is still to-day the symbol employed in their hieroglyphic picture-writing to denote the number of their campaigns.
Mr. J. N. B. Hewitt, in Science, April 1, 1892, has gone deeper into the etymology of the words quoted, but coincides generally with Father Lafitau in the explanation that they were denotive of the custom of the Iroquoian warrior to carry his mattress when on the warpath.
Figs. 782 and 783 are reproductions of Lafitau’s (c) illustrations, which were explained as follows by him:
Fig. 782.—Record of battle.
Fig. 782 shows that the Indian called Two-Feathers, a b, of the Crane nation c, and the Buffalo family d, accompanied by fifteen warriors h, has made one prisoner f, and taken three scalps g, on his sixth expedition k, and on the fourth, when he commanded it, i.
Fig. 783.—Record of battle.
Fig. 783 relates that the Indian named Two-Arrows a, of the nation of the Deer c, and the Wolf family d, has gone as an ambassador bearing the calumet of peace to the Bear nation e, accompanied by thirty persons h. In both figures the Indian is not only represented by his “hieroglyph,” but he is also pictured at full length in the first with his arms, and in the second holding the calumet and the rattle.
A historical record relating to a fight between the Ojibwa and the Dakota ninety-one years ago is given in Fig. 784. The following narrative was given by the draftsman of the record, an Ojibwa:
Ninety-one winters ago (A. D. 1797) twenty-five Ojibwa were encamped on a small lake, o, called Zi'zabe'gamik, just west of Mille Lacs, Minnesota. The chief’s lodge, a, was erected a short distance from the lake, m, where the Indians had been hunting, and as he felt unsafe on account of the hostile Sioux he directed some of his warriors to reconnoiter south of the lower lake, where they soon discovered a body of three hundred of their enemies. The chief of the reconnoitering party, b, sent back word for the women and children to be removed to a place of safety, but three of the old women refused to go. Their lodges are represented in c, d, and e. Five Ojibwa escaped through the brush, in a northwest direction (indicated in f).
The Sioux surrounded the lake and the fight took place on the ice. Twenty of the Ojibwa were killed, the last to die being the chief of the party, who, from appearances, was beaten to death with a tomahawk; g represents three bearskins; h, i, and j, respectively, deer, grouse, and turtle, the kinds of game hunted there during the several seasons. The canoe k indicates the manner of hunting along the shore and the stream connecting the lakes, l, m, and o.
The Ojibwa frequently spent part of a season at the middle lake, m, and at another time had been engaged in a skirmish with the Sioux farther north, on the small lake indicated at o. The Ojibwa had been scattered about, but when the attack was made by the Sioux the former rapidly came to the rescue both by boat, p, and on foot, q, so that the enemy was gradually driven off. In the first mentioned battle 70 Sioux were killed, their bodies being subsequently buried in the lake by cutting holes through the ice. The openings are shown at r, the lines representing bodies ready to be cast down into the water.
Baron Lahontan (b) says:
When a Party of (Algonkin) Savages have routed their enemies in any Place whatsoever, the Conquerors take care to pull the Bark off the Trees for the height of five or six Foot in all Places where they stop in returning to their own Country; and in honour of their Victory paint certain images with Coal pounded and beat up with Fat and Oyl. These Pictures continue upon the peel’d Tree for ten or twelve Years, as if they were Grav’d, without being defac’d by the Rain.
The same author, on page 86, et seq., of the same volume, gives an illustration, with descriptive explanation, of a pictographic record supposed to be made by the Canadian Algonquins. The explanation is useful as indicating the principles of pictography adopted by the North American Indians for a record of that character, but it is not deemed proper to reproduce the illustration here. It has often been copied, but it is misleading in its artistic details. It is obviously drawn by a European artist as his own interpretation of a verbal description of the record.
The more valuable parts of the explanation are condensed as follows, the quaint literation of the early translation being retained:
The Arms of France, with an Ax above. Now the Ax is a Symbol of War among the Savages as the Calumet is the Bond of Peace: So that this imports that the French have taken up the Ax, or have made a Warlike Expedition with as many tens of Men as there are Marks or Points Round the Figure. These marks are eighteen in number and so they signifie an Hundred and eighty Warriors.
A Mountain that represents the City of Monreal and the Fowl upon the Wing at the top signifies Departure. The Moon upon the Back of the Stag signifies the first Quarter of the July Moon which is call’d the Stag-Moon.
A Canow, importing that they have travel’d by Water as many Days as you see Huts in the Figure, i. e., 21 Days [the huts undoubtedly mean stopping places for night shelters].
A foot, importing that after their Voyage by Water they march’d on Foot as many Days as there are Huts design’d; that is, seven Days Journeys for Warriors, each Days Journey being as much as five common French Leagues, or five of those which are reckon’d to be twenty in a Degree.
A Hand and three Huts, which signifie that they are got within three Days Journey of the Iroquese Tsonnontouans [Senecas], whose Arms are a Hut with two trees leaning downwards, as you see them drawn. The Sun imports that they were just to the Eastward of the Village.
Twelve marks, signifying so many times ten Men like those last mentioned. The Hut with two Trees being the Arms of the Tsonnontouans, shows that they were of that Nation; and the Man in a lying posture speaks that they were surpris’d.
In this row there appears a Club and eleven Heads, importing that they had kill’d eleven Tsonnontouans, and the five men standing upright upon the five Marks signifie that they took as many times ten prisoners of War.
Nine Heads in an Arch [i. e., Bow] the meaning of which is, that nine of the Aggressors or of the Victorious side were kill’d; and the twelve Marks underneath signifie that as many were Wounded.
Arrows flying in the air, some to one side and some to the other, importing a vigorous Defence on both sides.
The arrows all point one way, which speaks the worsted Party either flying or fighting upon a Retreat in disorder.
The meaning of the whole is: A hundred and eighty French soldiers set out from Montreal in the first quarter of the month of July and sailed twenty-one days; after which they marched 35 leagues over land and surprised 120 Senecas on the east side of their village, 11 of whom were killed and 50 taken prisoners; the French sustaining the loss of 9 killed and 12 wounded, after a very obstinate engagement.
Fig. 785 is a reproduction of a drawing by a Winnebago Indian of the battle of Hard river, fought against a large force of Sioux by Gen. Sully’s command, with which was a company of Winnebagos.
a. Gen. Sully’s camp, on the left bank of Hard river, from which camp the company of Winnebagos were sent across the river.
b. The Winnebagos skirmishing with a party of hostile Sioux. Two Winnebagos, having gone ahead of the main party, came first upon about thirty Sioux, who immediately gave chase. The two Winnebagos are represented endeavoring to escape arrows from pursuing Sioux flying about them, and the blood from the horse of one of them flowing over the ground. The rest of the Winnebagos are coming to rescue their companions.
c. Gen. Sully’s entire force, after crossing Hard river, were assailed by a number of Sioux. Gen. Sully’s forces formed in hollow square to repulse the Sioux, who with loud yells went galloping about them, trying to stampede horses or throw his men into confusion.
d. The camp of the Sioux, the women and children escaping over the hills. One squaw was left in the camp and with her papoose is seen. One of the Sioux previously wounded was found dead and was scalped, a representation of which operation the artist has given.
Fig. 786 is a copy of a birch-bark record made and also explained by the leader of the expedition referred to.
In 1858 a war party of Mille Lacs Ojibwa Indians, a, under the leadership of Shahâsh'king, b, went to attack Shákopi’s camp, c, of Sioux at St. Peter’s river, d. Shákopi is represented at e. The Ojibwa lost one man, f, at the St. Peter’s river, while the Ojibwa killed five Sioux, but succeeded in securing only one arm of an Indian, g.
The line h is the trail followed between Mille Lacs, a, and Shákopi’s camp, c. The spots at c designate the location of lodges, while the vertical line with short ones extending from it, i, signifies the prairie with trees growing near camp.
Fig. 787 is the pictorial story of Megaque’s last battle, drawn on birch bark by the Passamaquoddy chief, Sapiel Selmo, with his interpreted description.
In the old times there was a certain Indian chief and hunter. He was so cruel and brave in time of war and his success in conquering his enemies and taking so many scalps was so great that he was called Megaque, or the Scalping Man. In hunting seasons he always went to his hunting grounds with his warriors to defend and guard their hunting grounds from the trespassing of other hunters. He was well known by other Indians for his bravery and his cruelty to his prisoners. He conquered so many other warriors and tortured them that he was hated, and they tried to capture him alive. Some of the warriors from other tribes gathered an army and marched to his hunting grounds when they knew that he could not escape from their hands. When they come near where he is they send messengers to him and notify him of the approaching army; he is out hunting when they reach his camp, but they make marks on a piece of birch bark, a figure of an Indian warrior with tomahawk in one hand and spear in the other, similar to that seen in g, which is put up in a village of wigwams, i. When Megaque returned from his hunt and found someone had visited him during his absence, he also found the pieces of bark which read to mean a band of warriors. He has no time. He was so brave and proud he did not try to escape. In a day or two the band of warriors had reached him. After fighting, when he killed many as usual, he was finally captured and taken to the enemy’s country to be tortured. He can stand all the usual tortures bravely and sing his usual war songs while he is tormented. Finally he was killed.
The following is the explanation of the details: a, Megaque; b, his braves; c, the course by which the enemy comes; d, e, f, Megaque’s rivers and lakes; g, the enemy; h, their warriors; i, their village; j, river boundary line.
The figures now following are those notices of battle pictured in the several Winter Counts which have been selected as being of more than ordinary interest either from the importance and notoriety of the events or from their mode of delineation:
Fig. 788.
Fig. 788.—The Oglalas killed three lodges of Omahas. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1785-’86. The Omaha is prostrate and scalped.
Fig. 789.
Fig. 789.—The Omahas made an assault on a Dakota village. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1802-’03. Bullets are flying back and forth. The single rider represents the whole of the troop. He is partially covered by the shield and the horse’s neck, behind which he hangs in a manner common among the Indian horsemen. The ornamented shield with its device of a displayed eagle, and the lance with eagle feather for a pennon, recalls the equipments of chivalry.
Fig. 790.
Fig. 790.—The Dakotas and Pawnees fought on the ice on the North Platte river. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1836-’37. The Dakotas were on the north side (the right-hand side in the figure), the Pawnees on the south side (the left in the figure). Horsemen and footmen on the left are opposed to footmen on the right. Both sides have guns and bows, as shown by the bullet-marks and the arrows. Blood-stains are on the ice.
Fig. 791.
Fig. 791.—The Dakotas fought the Pawnees across the ice on the North Platte. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1836-’37. The man on the left is a Pawnee. This is a variant of the preceding figure, far less graphically expressed.
Fig. 792.
Fig. 792.—The Dakotas fought with the Cheyennes. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1834-’35. The stripes on the arm are for Cheyenne, as before explained.
Fig. 793.
Fig. 793.—White-Bull and thirty other Oglalas were killed by the Crows and Shoshoni. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1845-’46.
Fig. 794.
Fig. 794.—Mato-wayuhi, Conquering-Bear, was killed by white soldiers, and thirty white soldiers were killed by the Dakotas, 9 miles below Fort Laramie. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1854-’55. The thirty black dots in three lines stand for the soldiers, and a red stain at the end of the line, starting from the pictured discharge of a gun, means killed. The head covered with a fatigue cap further shows the soldiers were white. Indian soldiers are usually represented in a circle or semicircle. The gesture-sign for white soldier means “all in line,” and is made by placing the nearly closed hands, with palms forward and thumbs near together, in front of the body and then separating them laterally about 2 feet.
Fig. 795.
Fig. 795.—The Dakotas killed one hundred white men at Fort Phil. Kearny. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1866-’67. The hats and the cap-covered head represent the whites; the red spots, the killed; the circle of characters around them, rifle or arrow shots; the black strokes, Dakota footmen; and the hoof-prints, Dakota horsemen. The Phil. Kearny massacre occurred December 21, 1866, and eighty-two whites were killed, including officers, citizens, and enlisted men. Capt. W. J. Fetterman was in command of the party.
Dr. Charles E. McChesney, acting assistant surgeon, U. S. Army, has communicated a most valuable and unique account, both in carefully noted gesture-signs and in pictographs, of the battle, now much discussed, which was fought in Montana on June 25, 1876, and is popularly but foolishly styled “Custer’s massacre.” If the intended surprise, with the object of killing as many Indians as possible, had been successful instead of being a disastrous defeat, any surviving Indians might with some propriety have spoken of “Custer’s massacre.” The account now presented in one of its forms, was given by Red-Horse, a Sioux chief and a prominent actor in the battle. The form which gives the relation in gesture-signs and shows the syntax of the sign-language perhaps better than any published narrative, will be inserted in a work now in preparation by the present writer to be issued by the Bureau of Ethnology. The narrative, closely translated into simple English, is given below. Accompanying the record of signs are forty-one sheets of manila paper, besides one map of the battle ground, all drawn by Red-Horse, which average 24 by 26 inches, most of them being colored. These may either be considered as illustrations of the signs or the signs may be considered as descriptive of the pictographs. It is impossible to reproduce now this mass of drawing on any scale which would not be too minute for appreciation. It has been decided to present, with necessary reduction from the above-mentioned dimensions, the map and nine of the typical sheets in Pls. XXXIX to XLVIII. Indeed, without considering the space required, there would be small advantage in reproducing all of the sheets, as they are made objectionable by monotonous repetitions.
Here follows the story of Red-Horse. Pl. XXXIX is the map of the Little-Bighorn battlefield and adjacent territory, embracing part of Montana and the Dakotas, drawn at Cheyenne River agency, South Dakota, in 1881. The map as now presented is reduced to one-sixteenth from the original, which is drawn in colors on a sheet of manila paper. The letters were not on the original and are inserted only for reference from the descriptive text, as follows:
a, Wind River mountains, called by the Sioux “the Enemies’ mountains.”
b, Bighorn mountains.
c, Missouri river.
d, Yellowstone river.
e, Bighorn river.
f, Little Bighorn river, called by the Sioux Greasy Grass creek and Grass Greasy creek.
g, Indian camp.
h, battlefield.
i, Dry creek.
j, Rosebud river.
k, Tongue river.
l, Powder river.
m, Little Missouri river.
n, Cheyenne river, called by the Sioux Good river. The North and South Forks are drawn but not lettered.
o, Bear butte.
p, Black hills.
q, Cheyenne agency.
r, Moreau or Owl creek.
s, Thin butte.
t, Rainy butte.
u, White butte.
v, Grand or Ree river.
w, Ree village.
x, White Earth river.
y, Fort Buford.
Five springs ago I, with many Sioux Indians, took down and packed up our tipis and moved from Cheyenne river to the Rosebud river, where we camped a few days; then took down and packed up our lodges and moved to the Little Bighorn river and pitched our lodges with the large camp of Sioux.
The Sioux were camped on the Little Bighorn river as follows: The lodges of the Uncpapas were pitched highest up the river under a bluff. The Santee lodges were pitched next. The Oglala’s lodges were pitched next. The Brulé lodges were pitched next. The Minneconjou lodges were pitched next. The Sans Arcs’ lodges were pitched next. The Blackfeet lodges were pitched next. The Cheyenne lodges were pitched next. A few Arikara Indians were among the Sioux (being without lodges of their own). Two-Kettles, among the other Sioux (without lodges). [Pl. XL shows the Indian camp.]
I was a Sioux chief in the council lodge. My lodge was pitched in the center of the camp. The day of the attack I and four women were a short distance from the camp digging wild turnips. Suddenly one of the women attracted my attention to a cloud of dust rising a short distance from camp. I soon saw that the soldiers were charging the camp. [Pl. XLI shows the soldiers charging the Indian camp.] To the camp I and the women ran. When I arrived a person told me to hurry to the council lodge. The soldiers charged so quickly we could not talk (council). We came out of the council lodge and talked in all directions. The Sioux mount horses, take guns, and go fight the soldiers. Women and children mount horses and go, meaning to get out of the way.
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY TENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XLI
BATTLE OF LITTLE BIGHORN. SOLDIERS CHARGING INDIAN CAMP.
Among the soldiers was an officer who rode a horse with four white feet. [From Dr. McChesney’s memoranda this officer was Capt. French, Seventh Cavalry.] The Sioux have for a long time fought many brave men of different people, but the Sioux say this officer was the bravest man they had ever fought. I don’t know whether this was Gen. Custer or not. Many of the Sioux men that I hear talking tell me it was. I saw this officer in the fight many times, but did not see his body. It has been told me that he was killed by a Santee Indian, who took his horse. This officer wore a large-brimmed hat and a deerskin coat. This officer saved the lives of many soldiers by turning his horse and covering the retreat. Sioux say this officer was the bravest man they ever fought. I saw two officers looking alike, both having long yellowish hair.
Before the attack the Sioux were camped on the Rosebud river. Sioux moved down a river running into the Little Bighorn river, crossed the Little Bighorn river, and camped on its west bank.
This day [day of attack] a Sioux man started to go to Red Cloud agency, but when he had gone a short distance from camp he saw a cloud of dust rising and turned back and said he thought a herd of buffalo was coming near the village.
The day was hot. In a short time the soldiers charged the camp. [This was Maj. Reno’s battalion of the Seventh Cavalry.] The soldiers came on the trail made by the Sioux camp in moving, and crossed the Little Bighorn river above where the Sioux crossed, and attacked the lodges of the Uncpapas, farthest up the river. The women and children ran down the Little Bighorn river a short distance into a ravine. The soldiers set fire to the lodges. All the Sioux now charged the soldiers [Pl. XLII] and drove them in confusion across the Little Bighorn river, which was very rapid, and several soldiers were drowned in it. On a hill the soldiers stopped and the Sioux surrounded them. A Sioux man came and said that a different party of soldiers had all the women and children prisoners. Like a whirlwind the word went around, and the Sioux all heard it and left the soldiers on the hill and went quickly to save the women and children.
From the hill that the soldiers were on to the place where the different soldiers [by this term Red-Horse always means the battalion immediately commanded by General Custer, his mode of distinction being that they were a different body from that first encountered] were seen was level ground with the exception of a creek. Sioux thought the soldiers on the hill [i. e., Reno’s battalion] would charge them in rear, but when they did not the Sioux thought the soldiers on the hill were out of cartridges. As soon as we had killed all the different soldiers [Pl. XLIII shows the fighting with Custer’s battalion] the Sioux all went back to kill the soldiers on the hill. All the Sioux watched around the hill on which were the soldiers until a Sioux man came and said many walking soldiers were coming near. The coming of the walking soldiers was the saving of the soldiers on the hill. Sioux can not fight the walking soldiers [infantry], being afraid of them, so the Sioux hurriedly left.
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY TENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XLIII
BATTLE OF LITTLE BIGHORN. SIOUX FIGHTING CUSTER’S BATTALION.
The soldiers charged the Sioux camp about noon. The soldiers were divided, one party charging right into the camp. After driving these soldiers across the river, the Sioux charged the different soldiers [i. e., Custer’s] below, and drove them in confusion; these soldiers became foolish, many throwing away their guns and raising their hands, saying, “Sioux, pity us; take us prisoners.” The Sioux did not take a single soldier prisoner, but killed all of them; none were left alive for even a few minutes. These different soldiers discharged their guns but little. I took a gun and two belts off two dead soldiers; out of one belt two cartridges were gone, out of the other five.
The Sioux took the guns and cartridges off the dead soldiers and went to the hill on which the soldiers were, surrounded and fought them with the guns and cartridges of the dead soldiers. Had the soldiers not divided I think they would have killed many Sioux. The different soldiers [i. e., Custer’s battalion] that the Sioux killed made five brave stands. Once the Sioux charged right in the midst of the different soldiers and scattered them all, fighting among the soldiers hand to hand.
One band of soldiers was in rear of the Sioux. When this band of soldiers charged, the Sioux fell back, and the Sioux and the soldiers stood facing each other. Then all the Sioux became brave and charged the soldiers. The Sioux went but a short distance before they separated and surrounded the soldiers. I could see the officers riding in front of the soldiers and hear them shouting. Now the Sioux had many killed. [Pls. XLIV and XLV show the dead Sioux.] The soldiers killed 136 and wounded 160 Sioux. The Sioux killed all these different soldiers in the ravine. [Pl. XLVI shows the dead cavalry of Custer’s battalion.]
The soldiers charged the Sioux camp farthest up the river. A short time after the different soldiers charged the village below. While the different soldiers and Sioux were fighting together the Sioux chief said, “Sioux men, go watch the soldiers on the hill and prevent their joining the different soldiers.” The Sioux men took the clothing off the dead and dressed themselves in it. Among the soldiers were white men who were not soldiers. The Sioux dressed in the soldiers’ and white men’s clothing fought the soldiers on the hill.
The banks of the Little Bighorn river were high, and the Sioux killed many of the soldiers while crossing. The soldiers on the hill dug up the ground [i. e., made earthworks], and the soldiers and Sioux fought at long range, sometimes the Sioux charging close up. The fight continued at long range until a Sioux man saw the walking soldiers coming. When the walking soldiers came near the Sioux became afraid and ran away. [Pls. XLVII and XLVIII show the Indians leaving the battle ground.]
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY TENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XLVII
BATTLE OF LITTLE BIGHORN. INDIANS LEAVING BATTLE GROUND.
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY TENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XLVIII
BATTLE OF LITTLE BIG HORN. Indians Leaving Battle Ground.
Fig. 796 is a pictorial account of the migrations of the Ojibwa, being a reduced copy of a drawing made by Sika'ssigĕ'. The account, especially in its commencement, follows the rule of all ancient history in being mixed with religion and myth. The otter was the messenger of Mi'nabō'zho and led the Âni'shinabē'g, who were the old or original people, the ancestors of the Ojibwa, and also of some other tribes which they knew, from an island, which was the imagined center of the world as bounded by the visible horizon, to the last seats of the tribe before interference by Europeans. The details of the figure were thus explained by the draftsman:
a. The circle signifies the earth’s surface, bounded by the horizon, as before described, and the dot in the center is the imagined island or original home of the human race. b. A line separating the history of the Midē'wiwin, that is, the strictly religious tradition from that of the actual migration as follows: When the Otter had offered four prayers, which fact is referred to by the spot c, he disappeared beneath the surface of the water and went toward the west, in which direction the Âni'shinabég followed him, and located at Ottawa island, d. Here they erected the Midē'wigân and lived for many years. Then the Otter again disappeared beneath the water, and it a short time reappeared at A'wiat'ang (e), when the Midē'wiwin was again erected and the sacred rites conducted in accordance with the teachings of Mi'nabō'zho. Afterwards an interrupted migration was continued, the several resting places being given below in their proper order, and at each of them the rites of the Midē'wiwin were conducted in all their purity. The next place to locate at was Mi'shenama'kinagung—Mackinaw (f); then Ne'mikung (g); Kiwe'winang' (h); Bâ'wating—Sault Ste. Marie (i); Tshiwi'towi' (j); Nega'wadjĕ'ŭ—Sand mountain (k), northern shore of Lake Superior; Mi'nisa'wik [Mi'nisa'bikkăng]—Island of Rocks (l); Kawa'sitshĭŭwongk'—Foaming rapids (m); Mush'kisi'wi [Mash'kisi'bi]—Bad river (n); Sha'gawâ'mikongk—“Long sand bar beneath the surface” (o); Wikwe'dânwong'gan—Sandy bay (p); Neâ'shiwĭkongk'—Cliff point (q); Neta-wa-ya-sink—Little point of sand bar (r); Ân'nibis—Little elm tree (s); Wikup'bin-minsh—Little island basswood (t); Makubin'-minsh—Bear island (u); Shage'skike'-dawan'ga (v); Ne'wigwas'sikongk—The place where bark is peeled (w); Ta'pakwe'-ĭkak [Sa'apakwe'shkwa'okongk]—The place where lodge-bark is obtained (x); Ne'uwesak'kudĕze'bi [Ne'wisak'udĕsi'bi]—Point dead wood timber river (y); Anibi'kanzi'bĭ [modern name Ashkiba'gisi'bĭ] rendered by different authorities both as Fish Spawn river, and “Green Leaf river” (z).
This locality is described as being at Sandy lake, Minnesota, where the Otter appeared for the last time, and where the Midē'wigân was finally established. The Ojibwa say that they have dispersed in bands from La Pointe, as well as from Sandy lake, over various portions of Minnesota and into Wisconsin, which final separation into distinct bodies has been the chief cause of the gradual changes found to exist in the ceremonies of the Midē'wiwin.
Reference may be made to a highly interesting record of migration in Kingsborough, Codex Boturini, being a facsimile of an original Mexican hieroglyphic painting from the collection of Boturini, in twenty-three plates.
In this group are presented some figures from the Dakota Winter Counts, which record events of tribal or intertribal importance not included under other heads.
Fig. 797.—Origin of Brulé Dakota.
Fig 797.—The-people-were-burnt winter. Battiste Good’s Winter Count 1762-’63. He explains the origin of the title “Brulé” Dakota as follows:
Some of the Dakotas were living east of their present country, when a prairie fire destroyed their entire village. Many of their children and a man and his wife, who were on foot some distance away from the village, were burned to death. Many of their horses were also burned to death. All the people that could get to a long lake which was near by saved themselves by jumping into it. Many of these were badly burned about the thighs and legs, and this circumstance gave rise to the name, si-can-gu, translated properly in to English as Burnt Thigh and by the French abbreviated as Brulé, by which latter name they have since been generally known.
Fig. 798.—Kiyuksas.
Fig. 798.—The Oglalas engaged in a drunken brawl, which resulted in a division of the tribe, the Kiyuksas (Cut-Offs) separating from the others. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1841-’42.
Fig. 799.—First coming of traders.
Fig. 799.—Nine white men came to trade with the Dakotas. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1800-’01.
The hatted head stands for a white man and also indicates that the eight dots over it are for white men. According to this count the first whites came in 1794-’95, and the party now depicted succeeded them and were the first traders.
Fig. 800.—First coming of traders.
Fig. 800.—The Good-White-Man came. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1800-’01.
He was the first white man to trade and live with that division of the Dakotas of which Cloud-Shield’s chart gives the early records.
Fig. 801.—First coming of traders.
Fig. 801.—A trader brought the Dakotas their first guns. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1801-’02.
Fig. 802.—First coming of traders.
Fig. 802.—The Dakotas saw wagons for the first time. Red-Lake, a white trader, brought his goods in them. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1830-’31.
The earliest traders came by the river, in boats.
Fig. 803.—Boy scalped.
Fig. 803.—Some Crows came to the Dakota camp and scalped a boy. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1862-’63.
This is represented also in the next figure.
Fig. 804.—Boy scalped alive.
Fig. 804.—The Crows scalped an Oglala boy alive. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1862-’63.
This unusually cruel outrage renewed the violence of warfare between Dakota and Absaroka.
Fig. 805.—Horses killed.
Fig. 805.—All of Standing Bull’s horses were killed. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1832-’33.
Hoof-prints, blood-stains, and arrows are shown under the horse. It may be remarked with regard to the name-device for Standing-Bull, that the quadruped can stand on two legs, but cannot run or even walk with that limitation, so that the exhibition of two legs only may properly signify standing, though for convenience the fore legs are depicted.
Fig. 806.—Annuities received.
Fig. 806.—They received their first annuities at the mouth of Horse creek. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1851-’52.
A one-point blanket is depicted and denotes dry goods. It is surrounded by a circle of marks which represent the people.
Fig. 807.—Annuities received.
Fig. 807.—Many goods were issued to the Dakotas at Fort Laramie. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1851-’52.
The goods were the first they received from the United States Government. The blanket which is represented stands for the whole issue.
White-Cow-Killer calls it “Large-issue-of-goods-on-the-Platte-river-winter.”
This is a more conventionalized form of the preceding figure.
Fig. 808.—Annuities received.
Fig. 808.—The Dakotas received annuities at Raw-Hide Butte. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1856-’57.
The house and the blanket represent the agency and the goods.
Fig. 809.—Mexican blankets bought.
Fig. 809.—The Dakotas bought Mexican blankets of John Richard, who bought many wagon-loads of the Mexicans. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1858-’59.
Fig. 810.—Wagon Captured.
Fig. 810.—They captured a train of wagons near Tongue river. The men who were with it got away. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1867-’68.
The blanket protruding from the front of the wagon represents the goods found in the wagons.
Fig. 811.—Clerk killed.
Fig. 811.—The Oglalas killed the Indian agent’s (Seville’s) clerk inside the stockade of the Red Cloud agency at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1873-’74.
Fig. 812.—Flag staff cut down.
Fig. 812.—The Oglalas at the Red Cloud agency, near Fort Robinson, Nebraska, cut to pieces the flagstaff which had been cut and hauled by order of their agent, but which they would not allow him to erect, as they did not wish to have a flag flying over their agency. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1874-’75.
This was in 1874. The flag which the agent intended to hoist was lately at the Pine ridge agency, Dakota.
Fig. 813.—Horses taken.
Fig. 813.—Horses taken by United States government. The Flame’s Winter Count, 1876-’77.
This figure refers to the action of the military authorities of the United States toward the Indian tribes which had been connected with or suspected of favoring the outbreak which resulted in the defeat of the force under Gen. Custer. A body of troops swept the reservations on the Missouri river and took away all the ponies of the tribes, thereby depriving them of their means of transportation for hostile purposes. The hatted man with a star above his head is the brigadier-general in command of the United States forces. The hoof prints without marks of horseshoes indicate the Indian ponies as usual. The black blurs among them probably refer to the considerable number of the ponies that fell and died before they reached Bismark and other points of sale to which they were driven. It was promised that the amount realized from the sale of the drove should be returned to the owners, but the latter received little.
Pictographs under this head may be grouped as: 1st. Continuous record of events in life. 2d. Particular exploits or events. Pictographs of both of these descriptions are very common. An excellent collection is published in the George Catlin Indian Gallery in the U. S. National Museum, with memoir and statistics by Thomas Donaldson, a part of the Smithsonian Report for 1885, Pls. 100 to 110.
An authentic and distinct example of a continuous record is the following “autobiography,” which was prepared at Grand River, Dakota, in 1873, in a series of eleven drawings, by Running-Antelope, chief of the Uncpapa Dakotas. Seven of these, regarded as of most interest, are now presented. The sketches were painted in water colors and were made for Dr. W. J. Hoffman, to whom the following interpretations were given by the artist.
The record comprises the most important events in the life of Running-Antelope as a warrior. Although frequently more than one person is represented as slain, it is not to be inferred that all included in the same figure were killed at one time unless it is so specified, but that thus they were severally the victims of one expedition, of which the warrior was a member or leader. The bird (Falco cooperi?) upon the shield always borne by him, refers to the clan or band totem, while the antelope always drawn beneath the horses, in the act of running, identifies his personal name.
Fig. 814.—Killed two Arikara.
Fig. 814.—Killed two Arikara Indians in one day. The lance held in the hand, thrusting at the foremost of the enemy, signifies that Running-Antelope killed him with that weapon; the left-hand figure was shot, as is shown by the discharging gun, and afterwards struck with the lance. This occurred in 1853.
Fig. 815.—Shot and scalped an Arikara Indian in 1853. It appears that the Arikara attempted to inform Running-Antelope of his being unarmed, as the right hand is thrown outward with distended fingers, in imitation of making the gesture for negation, having nothing.
Fig. 816.—Killed ten men and three squaws in 1856. The grouping of persons strongly resembles the ancient Egyptian method of drawing.
Fig. 817.—Killed two Arikara chiefs in 1856. Their rank is shown by the appendages to the sleeve and coat, which are made of white weasel skins. The arrow in the left thigh of the victor shows that he was wounded. The scars remained distinct upon the thigh of Running-Antelope, showing that the arrow had passed through it.
Fig. 818.—Killed one Arikara in 1857. Striking the enemy with a bow is considered the greatest insult that can be offered. See for a similar concept among the eastern Algonquians (Leland, b). The act entitles the warrior to count one coup when relating his exploits in the council chamber.
Fig. 819.—Killed two Arikara hunters in 1859. Both were shot, as is indicated by the figure of a gun in contact with each Indian. The cluster of lines drawn across the body of each victim represents the discharge of the gun, and shows where the ball took effect. The upper one of the two figures was in the act of shooting an arrow when he was killed.
Fig. 820.—Killed five Arikara in one day in 1863. The dotted line indicates the trail which Running-Antelope followed, and when the Indians discovered that they were pursued, they took shelter in an isolated copse of shrubbery, where they were killed at leisure. The five guns within the inclosure represent the five persons armed.
The Arikara are nearly always delineated in these pictures wearing the topknot of hair, a fashion specially prevalent among the Absaroka, though as the latter were the most inveterate enemies of the Sioux, and as the word Palláni for Arikara is applied to all enemies, the Crow custom may have been depicted as a generic mark.
Wiener (e) gives the following account of the tablet found at Mansiche, reproduced as Fig. 821, one-fifth actual size:
Fig. 821.—Peruvian biography.
It gives all the descriptive elements of the life of the deceased; in fact his biography. He was a chieftain of royal blood (vide the red planache with five double plumes). He commanded an entire tribe. He had a military command (v. the mace which he holds in his right hand). He had taken part in three battles (v. the three arms which three times proved his strength). He was a judge in his district (v. the sign of the speaking-trumpet in the center). He had under him four judges (v. the four signs of the speaking-trumpet in the corners). He had during his administration irrigated the country (v. the designs which surround the painting); and he had constructed great buildings (v. the checkers surrounding the meanders). He had busied himself besides all that in the raising of cattle (v. the indications of llamas). He had lived 42 years (v. the blocks, which indicate years, just as the rings indicate the age of trees). He had had five children, three sons and two daughters (indicated by the little drops of sperm). Such is the life of this person, written by ideography on a tablet, which at first would be taken as a fantasy of an infant painter.
Fig. 822.—Hunting record. Iroquois.
In the Doc. Hist. N. Y. (b) is an illustration, presented here as Fig. 822, of an Iroquois “returning from hunting, who has slept two nights on the hunting ground and killed three does; for when they are bucks they add their antlers.”
From the same volume, page 9, the following extract is made, describing Fig. 823:
b. This is the way they mark when they have been to war, and when there is a bar extending from one mark to the other it signifies that, after having been in battle, he did not come back to his village, and that he returned with other parties whom he met or formed.
c. This arrow, which is broken, denotes that they were wounded in this expedition.
d. Thus they denote that the belts which they gave to raise a war party and to avenge the death of some one, belonging to them or to some of the same tribe.
e. He has gone back to fight without having entered his village.
f. A man whom he killed on the field of battle, who had a bow and arrow.
g. These are two men, whom he took prisoners, one of whom had a hatchet and the other a gun in his hand.
gg. This is a woman who is designated only by a species of waistcloth.
Fig. 824 is taken from the Winter Count of Battiste Good for the year 1853-’54.
He calls the year Cross-Bear-died-on-the-hunt winter.
Fig. 824.—Cross-Bear’s death.
The character on the extreme left hand is a “travail,” and means they moved; the buffalo, to hunt buffalo; the bear with mouth open and paw advanced, cross-bear. The involute character frequently repeated in Battiste’s record signifies pain in the stomach and intestines, resulting in death. In this group of characters there is not only the brief story, an obituary notice, but an ideographic mark for a particular kind of death, a noticeable name-totem, and a presentation of the Siouan mode of transportation.
The word “travail” may require explanation. It refers to the peculiar sledge which is used by many tribes of Indians for the purpose of transportation. It is used on the surface of the ground when not covered with snow even more than when snow prevails. In print the word is more generally found in the plural, where it is spelled “travaux” and sometimes “travois.” The etymology of this word has been the subject of much discussion. It is probably one of the words which descended in corrupted form from the language of the Canadian voyageurs, and was originally the French word “traineau,” with its meaning of sledge. The corrupt form “travail” was retained by English speakers from its connection with the sound of the word “travel.”
Fig. 825 is taken from a roll of birch bark, known to be more than seventy years old, obtained in 1882 from the Ojibwa Indians at Red Lake, Minnesota. The interpretation was given by an Indian from that reservation, although he did not know the author nor the history of the record. With one exception, all of the characters were understood and interpreted to Dr. Hoffman, in 1883, by Ottawa Indians at Harbor Springs, Michigan.
a represents the Indian who visited a country supposed to have been near one of the great lakes. He has a scalp in his hand which he obtained from the head of an enemy, after having killed him. The line from the head to the small circle denotes the name of the person, and the line from the mouth to the same circle signifies (in the Dakota method), “That is it,” having reference to proper names.
b, the enemy killed. He was a man who held a position of some consequence in his tribe, as is indicated by the horns, marks used by the Ojibwas among themselves for shaman, wabeno, etc. It has been suggested that the object held in the hand of this figure is a rattle, though the Indians, to whom the record was submitted for examination, are in doubt, the character being indistinct.
c, three disks connected by short lines signify, in the present instance, three nights, i. e., three black suns. Three days from home was the distance the Indian a traveled to reach the country for which he started.
d represents a shell, and denotes the primary object of the journey. Shells were needed for making ornaments and to trade, and traffic between members of the different and even distant tribes was common, although attended with danger.
e, two parallel lines are here inserted to mark the end of the present record and the beginning of another.
The following narrative of personal exploit was given to Dr. W. J. Hoffman by “Pete,” a Shoshoni chief, during a visit of the latter to Washington, in 1880. The sketch, Fig. 826, was drawn by the narrator, who also gave the following explanation of the characters:
a, Pete, a Shoshoni chief; b, a Nez Percés Indian, one of the party from whom the horses were stampeded, and who wounded Pete in the side with an arrow; c, hoof-marks, showing course of stampede; d, lance, which was captured from the Nez Percés; e, e, e, saddles captured; f, bridle captured; g, lariat captured; h, saddle-blanket captured; i, body-blanket captured; j, pair of leggings captured; k, three single legs of leggings captured.
The figures in the following group represent some of the particular exploits and events in life which have been considered by the recorders of the Winter Counts of the Dakotas to be specially worthy of note:
Fig. 827.—Life risked for water.
Fig. 827.—While surrounded by the enemy (Mandans) a Blackfeet Dakota Indian goes at the risk of his life for water for the party. The-Flame’s Winter Count, 1795-’96. The interpreter stated that this was near the present Cheyenne agency, Dakota. In the original character there is a bloody wound at the shoulder, showing that the heroic Indian was wounded. He is shown bearing a water vessel.
Fig. 828.—Runs by the enemy.
Fig. 828.—Runs-by-the-Enemy. Red-Cloud’s Census. This figure suggests a feat of special courage and fleetness in making a circuit of a hostile force.
Fig. 829.—Runs around.
Fig. 829.—Runs-Around. Red-Cloud’s Census. This figure seems to indicate a warrior surrounded and shot at by a number of enemies, who yet escapes by his swiftness.
Fig. 830.—Goes through the camp.
Fig. 830.—Goes-through-the-Camp. Red-Cloud’s Census. This figure notes the successful passage of a spy through the enemy’s camp.
Fig. 831.—Cut through.
Fig. 831.—Cut-Through. Red-Cloud’s Census. Here a footman cuts his way through a line of hostile horsemen.
Fig. 832.—Killed in tipi.
Fig. 832.—Paints-His-Face-Red, a Dakota, was killed in his tipi by the Pawnees. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1837-’38. The right to paint the face red was sometimes gained by providing the ceremonial requirements for a commemoration of the dead, which were very expensive. There are two facts depicted by the figure. The man and his tipi are surrounded by a ring of enemies, who are shooting him, and, touched by the upper part of the ring, is the bottom of another and more minute tipi, marked with the sign of a fatal shot.
Fig. 833.—Killed in tipi.
Fig. 833.—Paints-His-Cheeks-Red and his family, who were camping by themselves, were killed by Pawnees. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1837-’38. This character tells the same story as the one preceding, but is more conventional.
Fig. 834.—Took the warpath.
Fig. 834.—Spotted-Horse carried the pipe around and took the warpath against the Pawnees to avenge the death of his uncle, Paints-His-Cheeks-Red. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1838-’39. This figure is the sequel to those immediately preceding.
Fig. 835.—White-Bull killed.
Fig. 835.—White-Bull and many others were killed in a fight with the Shoshoni. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1845-’46. This warrior seems to have lost more than the normal quantity of scalp.
Fig. 836.—Brave-Bear killed.
Fig. 836.—Brave-Bear was killed in a quarrel over a calf. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1854-’55. He was killed by enemies; hence his scalp is gone.
Fig. 837.—Brave-Man killed.
Fig. 837.—The-Brave-Man was killed in a great fight. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1817-’18. The fight is shown by the arrows flying to and from him. He is also scalped.
Fig. 838.—Crazy-Horse killed.
Fig. 838.—A soldier ran a bayonet into Crazy-Horse and killed him. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1877-’78. This was done in the guard-house at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, September 5, 1877. The horse in this instance does not distinctly exhibit the wavy lines shown in several other representations of the chief which appear among the illustrations of this paper. This omission is doubtless due to carelessness of the Indian artist.
Fig. 839.—Killed for whipping wife.
Fig. 839.—Striped-Face stabbed and killed his daughter’s husband for whipping his wife. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1829-’30.
Fig. 840.—Killed for whipping wife.
Fig. 840.—Spotted-Face stabs his daughter’s husband for whipping his wife. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1829-’30. This is another form of the preceding figure.
Fig. 841.
Fig. 841.—Kaglala-kutepi, Shot-Close. The Oglala Roster. This may refer to an incident in the warrior’s life in which he had a narrow escape, or may, on the other hand, refer to his stealing upon and shooting from near by at an enemy. The design, as often occurs, allows of double interpretation. The close shooting is not accurate markmanship, but with proximity as suggested by the arrow touching the head while still near the bow. This figure may receive some interpretation from the one following.
Fig. 842.
Fig. 842.—The-Swan’s Winter Count, 1835-’36. A Minneconjou chief named Lame-Deer shot an Assiniboin three times with the same arrow. He kept so close to his enemy that he never let the arrow slip away from the bow but pulled it out and shot it in again.
Fig. 843 consists of two stories pictured by Lean-Wolf, a Hidatsa chief, showing the attack made by Sioux Indians in search of horses and the result of the raid. In the upper figure, at the left end, is shown the Sioux camp from which the trail of the horse thieves extends to near the camp of the Hidatsa, at Fort Berthold, North Dakota. This village is indicated by the circular dirt lodges within a square inclosure. The Sioux captured some Indian horses and rode away, as indicated by the prints of horse hoofs. A series of short lines from the Hidatsa village indicates that Lean-Wolf and his companions followed on foot, subsequently overtaking the Sioux, killing one and taking his scalp. The scalp is shown above the figure of the human head, while the weapon with which he struck the Sioux is also shown. This is the war club. The lower division of the figure is similar to the upper. In the pursuit of the Sioux, who had come to Fort Berthold on another occasion to steal horses, Lean-Wolf assisted in capturing and killing three of the marauders. In the left-hand group of the three human heads he is shown to have killed an enemy; in the second he was the third to strike a Sioux after he was shot, but took his scalp, and in the third, or right hand, he was the fourth to strike the fallen enemy.
A record on ivory shown as Fig. 844 was obtained by Dr. Hoffman in San Francisco, California, in 1882, and was interpreted to him by an Alaskan native. The story represents the success of a hunt; the animals desired are shown, as well as those which were secured.
The following is the explanation of the characters:
a, b, deer; c, porcupine; d, winter, or permanent, habitation. The cross-piece resting upon two vertical poles constitutes the rack, used for drying fish; e, one of the natives occupying the same lodge with the recorder; f, the hunter whose exploits are narrated; g, h, i, beavers; j, k, l, m, n, martens; o, a weasel, according to the interpretation, although there are no specific characters to identify it as different from the preceding; p, land otter; q, a bear; r, a fox; s, a walrus; t, a seal; u, a wolf.
By comparing the illustration with the text it will be observed that all the animals secured are turned toward the house of the speaker, while the heads of those animals desired, but not obtained, are turned away from it.
The following is the text in the Kiatéxamut dialect of the Innuit language as dictated by the Alaskan, with his own literal translation into English:
Huí-nu-ná-ga | huí-pu-qtú-a | pi-cú-qu-lú-a | mus'-qu-lí-qnut. | Pa-mú-qtu-līt'
I, (from) my place. (settlement.) | I went | hunting | (for) skins. (animals) | martens
ta-qí-mĕn, | a-mí-da-duk' | a-xla-luk', | á-qui-á-muk | pi-qú-a | a-xla-luk';
five, | weasel | one, | land otter | caught | one;
ku-qú-lu-hú-nu-mŭk' | a-xla-luk', | tun'-du-muk | tú-gu-qlí-u-gú | me-lú-ga-nuk',
wolf | one, | deer | (I) killed | two,
pé-luk | pi-naí-u-nuk, | nú-nuk | pit'-qu-ní, | ma-klak-muk' | pit'-qu-ní,
beaver | three, | porcupine | (I) caught none, | seal | (I) caught none,
a-cí-a-na-muk | pit'-qu-ni, | ua-qí-la-muk | pit'-qu-ní, | ta-gú-xa-muk | pit'-qu-ní.
walrus | (I) caught none, | fox | (I) caught none, | bear | (I) caught none.
The imagination is stimulated and developed by the sense of sight more than by any other sense, perhaps more than by all of the other senses combined. The American Indians, and probably all savages, are remarkable for acute and critical vision, and also for their retentive memory of what they have once seen. When significance is once attached to an object seen, it will always be recalled, though often with false deductions. Therefore, like deaf-mutes, who depend mainly on sight, the American Indians have developed great facility in communicating by signs, and also in expressing their ideas in pictures which are ideographic though seldom artistic. This tendency has likewise affected their spoken languages. Their terms express with wonderful particularity the characters and relations of visible objects, and their speeches, which are in a high degree metaphoric, become so by the figurative presentation in words of such objects accompanied generally by imitative signs for them, and often by their bodily exhibition.
The statement once made that the aboriginal languages of North America are not capable of expressing abstract ideas is incorrect, but the tendency to use tangible and visible forms for such ideas is apparent. This practice was most marked in reference to religious subjects, which were often presented under the veil of symbols, as has been the common expedient of most peoples who have emerged from the very lowest known stages of human culture, but have not attained the highest.
Many instances appear in this work in which pictures expressive of an idea present more than mere portraitures of objects, which latter method has been styled imitative or iconographic writing.
It is, however, impossible to classify with scientific precision the pictured ideograms collected, for the reason that many of them occupy intermediate points in any scheme that would be succinct enough to be practically useful. In the arrangement of the present chapter the division is made into: 1st. Abstract ideas expressed pictorially. 2d. Signs, symbols, and emblems. 3d. Significance of colors. 4th. Gesture and posture signs depicted. When any of the graphic representations of ideas have become successful, i. e., commonly adopted, it soon becomes more or less conventionalized. Chapter XIX is devoted specially to that branch of the general subject.
The first stage of picture-writing, as considered in the present chapter, was the representation of a material object in such style or connection as determined it not to be a mere portraiture of that object, but figurative of some other object or person. This stage is abundantly exhibited among the American Indians. Indeed, their personal and tribal names thus objectively represented constitute the largest part of their picture-writing so far thoroughly understood.
The second step was when a special quality or characteristic of an object, generally an animal, became employed to express a general quality, i. e., an abstract idea. It can be readily seen how, among the Egyptians, a hawk with bright eye and lofty flight might be selected to express divinity and royalty, and that the crocodile should denote darkness, while a slightly further advance in metaphors made the ostrich feather, from the equality of its filaments, typical of truth. All peoples whose rulers used special objective designations of their rank, made those objects the signs for power, whether they were crowns or umbrellas, eagle feathers, or colored buttons. A horse meant swiftness, a serpent life—or immortality when drawn as a circle—a dog was watchfulness, and a rabbit was fecundity. It is evident from examples given in the present paper that the American tribes at the time of the Columbian discovery had entered upon this second step of picture-writing, though with marked inequality between tribes and regions in advance therein. None of them appear to have reached such proficiency in the expression of connected ideas by picture, as is shown in the sign-language existing among some of them, which may be accounted for by its more frequent use required by the constant meeting of many persons speaking different languages. There is no more necessary connection between abstract ideas and sounds, the mere signs of thought that strike the ear, than there is between the same ideas and signs addressed only to the eye. The success and scope of either mode of expression depends mainly upon the amount of its exercise, in which oral language undoubtedly has surpassed both sign-language and picture-writing.
The examples now following in this chapter are by no means all the graphic representations of abstract ideas collected. Indeed many others are contained in the work under other headings, but the following are selected for grouping here with an attempt at order. In the popular definition, or want of definition, some of them would be classed as symbols.
Fig. 845.—Charge after.
Fig. 845.—Charge after; Red-Cloud’s Census.
Here is suggested the order in a charge upon an enemy, apparently a Crow. The concept is not the general charge of a number of warriors upon the Crows, but the succession between themselves of the men who made that charge. The person whose name is represented probably followed in but did not lead some celebrated charge.
Fig. 846.—Killed after.
Fig. 846.—John Richard shot and killed an Oglala named Yellow-Bear, and the Oglalas killed Richard before he could get out of the lodge; American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1871-’72. This occurred in the spring of 1872. As the white man was killed after the Indian, he is placed behind him in the figure. The bear’s head is shown.
Fig. 847.—Old-Horse.
Fig. 847.—Old-Horse; Red-Cloud’s Census. Here the old age is shown by the wrinkles and projecting lips.
Fig. 848.—Old-Mexican.
Fig. 848.—Old-Mexican; Red-Cloud’s Census. The man in European dress is bent and supported by a staff, thus depicting the gesture-sign mentioned in connection with Fig. 994. The Dakota had probably received his name from killing an aged Mexican.
Fig. 849.—Young-Rabbit.
Fig. 849.—Young-Rabbit, a Crow, was killed in battle by Red-Cloud. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1861-’62. Here the youth of the Rabbit is expressed by diminutive size and short legs.
Fig. 850.—Bad-Boy.
Fig. 850.—Bad-Boy. Red-Cloud’s Census. The boyhood is expressed by the short hair and short scalp lock.
Fig. 851.—Bad-Horn.
Fig. 851.—Bad-Horn. Red-Cloud’s Census. The bad quality of the horn is expressed by its decayed and broken condition and its distorted curve.
Fig. 852.—Bad-Face.
Fig. 852.—Bad-Face, a Dakota, was shot in the face. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1794-’95. The bad face may have been broken out with blotches of disease before the shot, or the scars may have been the result of the shot, which gave occasion for a new name, as is common. The idea of “bad” is often expressed by an abnormality, especially one which disfigures.
Fig. 853.—Bad. Ojibwa.
Fig. 853, taken from Copway (d), represents “bad.” The concept appears to be the preponderance of “below” to “above.”
Fig. 854.—Got there first.
Fig. 854.—Got there first. Red-Cloud’s Census. The figure portrays a successful escape of an unmounted Indian from a chase by enemies on horseback. The chased man gets home to his tipi before being overtaken by his pursuers, whose horses’ tracks are shown.
Fig. 855.—Big-Turnip.
Fig. 855.—Big-Turnip. Red-Cloud’s Census. The plant is also known as the navet de prairie. The large size of the specimen, as compared with the human head, is apparent.
Fig. 856.—Big-Crow.
Fig. 856.—A Minneconjou Dakota, named Big-Crow, was killed by the Crow Indians. Swan’s Winter Count, 1859-’60. He had received his name from killing a Crow Indian of unusual size. The bird is portrayed much larger than similar objects in the Winter Count, from which it is taken.
Fig. 857.—Grasp.
Fig. 857.—Grasp. Red-Cloud’s Census. Here the indication of size and strength of the hand is suggested by one hand growing out from another, a species of duplication. To have drawn two distinct hands would only have been normal and not suggestive of unusual power of grip.
Fig. 858.—Big-Hand.
Fig. 858.—Big-Hand. From Red-Cloud’s Census. Here the fingers are widely separated and displayed.
Fig. 859.—Big-Thunder.
Fig. 859.—Big-Thunder. From Red-Cloud’s Census. Here the size or power is suggested by implication. The double or two-voiced thunder is big thunder.
Fig. 860.—Big-Voice.
Fig. 860.—Big-Voice. From Red-Cloud’s Census. In this figure there are still more voices than in the preceding.
Fig. 861.—Center-Feather.
Fig. 861.—Upi-Yaslate. Center-Feather. The Oglala Roster. This is the indication of a particular feather, i. e., the middle tail feather of a bird, probably of an eagle, the tail feathers of which bird are represented in many pictographs in this paper. There was some reason for the selection of the center feather for the name, and to indicate the center three feathers were depicted with a line touching the middle one.
Fig. 862.—Deaf-Woman.
Fig. 862.—Wi-nugin-kpa, Deaf-Woman. The Oglala Roster. The ears are covered by a line, i. e., are closed, and the ear most in view is connected with the crown of the head, to show that the name is expressed.
This title has been selected as being the most comprehensive one for the five following figures. The first shows a moccasin with a serpentine track, at the farthest end of which is an angular design, indicating leadership as well as the direction taken. This suggests the leader of a war party conducting his band over an uncertain trail. The second is explanatory of the first. That the chief goes in front is indicated in a manner the reverse of that which would appear in the designs common in our military text-books. He is supposed to be in the opening in the angle of the advance and not at its apex. The third figure shows a steadfast leadership in the determined straight direction of attack against the enemy. This is still more ideographically represented by the single strong straight line showing that he “Don’t turn” in the fourth figure of this group.