Early Life Among the Indians
Copyright 1891 B.G. Armstrong & T.P. Wentworth, Ashland, WI.
1892 Press of A.W. Bowron, Ashland, Wis.


PREFACE

This undertaking I begin, not without misgivings about my ability to finish a well-connected history of my recollections. I kept no dates at any time, and must rely wholly upon my memory at seventy-one years of age.

Those of my white associates in the early days, who are still living, are not within reach to assist me by rehearsals of former times.

Those of the older Indians who could assist me, could I converse with them, have passed beyond the Great River, and the younger ones, of whom there are many not far distant, could not assist me in the most essential portions of the work.

Therefore, without assistance and assuring the reader that the dates will be essentially correct, and that a strict adherence to fact will be followed, and with the hope that a generous public will make due allowance for the lapse of years, I am, Your obedient servant

-THE AUTHOR


CONTENTS:

CHAPTER I. - The Removal Order. - Treaties of 1837 and 1848. - Off For Washington. - In New York with Only One Dime

CHAPTER II. - In Washington. - Told to Go Home. - The "Great Father." - Reversal of the Removal Order - Treaty of 1854 and the Reservations

CHAPTER III. - Tidal Wave of Immigration. - Sharp Practices. - An Indian Shot. - President Lincoln's Promises

CHAPTER IV. - First Payment Under Treaty of 1854. - Death of Buffalo. - An Indian Tradition. - The First Log Cabin

CHAPTER V. - Early Settlers - Battle of the Brule. - The Scalp Lock. - The Sioux Revenge

CHAPTER VI. - The American Fur Co. - An Indian Law. - The Choice of a Wife. - Indian Courtship and Marriage

CHAPTER VII. - The Indians As They Were In the Old Days. - Birch Bark and Its' Uses

CHAPTER VIII. - The Influence of Whiskey. - Stay and Departure of the Traders. - Annuity Payments.

CHAPTER IX. - Origin of the Chippewa Tribes. - Early Missionaries. - Black Hawk's Capture

CHAPTER X. - Excitement Among Whites and Indians - The Ghost Dance - The Headwaters of the Mississippi

CHAPTER XI. - Source of the Great River. - The Indians There in 1842. - "Don't Eat Moose Till You Catch Him"

CHAPTER XII. - Two Languages. - Religious Beliefs. - A Secret Order. - The Mysterious River. - 'Happy Hunting Grounds

CHAPTER XIII. - Prominent Chippewa Chiefs. - Buffalo as a Chief. - A Chief's Daughter

CHAPTER XIV. - Father Baraga. - Source of the Chippewa Religion. - The Chippewa Church.

CHAPTER XV. - King of the Apostle Islands.' - Organization of Ashland County. - Up a Tree

CHAPTER XVI. - The Chippewa Valley - Pioneer Settlers and Early Lumbermen. - Justice in the Early Days

CHAPTER XVII. - A Mysterious Disappearance. - An Introduction to the Family of Mr. Bruin

CHAPTER XVIII. - The Beginning of the Indian Troubles and Their Causes. - Spiritualism and Its Origin

CHAPTER XIX. - The Chippewa Language

Biographical

 

Contributed and used with permission on this site by Timm Severud. The Lac Courte Oreilles Historical Preservation Office created this reproduction.Timm Severud manually typed it in and some minor changes to text have been made from the original, to correct spelling mistakes, and slight grammar mistakes. There is no copyright on this book or this reproduction. Feel free to use and share with others. Enjoy what I consider the best historical biography I have ever read. T.L.S.

 

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