THE
MAKING OF IOWA
CHAPTER VII
OTHER INDIAN CHIEFS
There are two pictures included with this chapter: Poweshiek
(Fox Chief) and Appanoose (Sac Chief)
Of course besides Black Hawk and Keokuk there were
many Indians in Iowa who were well known to the early settlers, and whose names
are closely associated with the growth of the state.
There was a Mahaska, chief of the Iowas, and
Rant-che-wai-me, his beautiful and gentle wife. Mahaska means "White
Cloud," and Rant-che-wai-me means "Female Flying Pigeon";
the people of her tribe also called her
"beautiful-female-eagle-that-flies-in the-air." For a long time
Mahskas lodge was on the Des Moines River, about one hundred miles from its
mouth.
In 1824 he, with some of his braves, visited
Washington. His party had gone ahead of him. He was overtaking
them, and one night stopped to roast some venison. A blow on the back
startled him. He turned around and saw his wife, Rant-che-wai-me, with
uplifted Tomahawk. She said: "Am I your Wife? Are you my
huspband? If so I will go with you to Maw-he-hum-ne-che (the
American big-house) and see and shake the hand of In-co_ho-nee
(great father)."
Mahaska replied: "Yes, you are my wife;
I am your huspband; I have been away from you a long time; I
am glad to see you; You are my pretty wife and a brave man always loves
to see a pretty woman."
So Rant-che-wai-me went with her huspband to
Washington, and attracted great attention there. She saw much in the
white woman that she thought was wicked, and when she returned to her village
she called all the squaws around her, and told them about it, as a warning,
that should not try to imitate their white sisters.
Rant-che-wai-me appears to be a noble woman.
She was benevolent and tender hearted and charitable, and prayed much to
the Great spirit. Her huspband had six other wives, but he liked her best
of all.
Mahaska was a famous warrior. His father,
Man-haw-gaw (wounding arrow) was a slain treacherously by the Sioux, near
the mouth of the Iowa River. The son was then quite young, but he
immediatley avenged the chief's death, for during a battle he slew the Sioux
who had murdered Man-haw-gaw.
Mahaska himself was shot from ambush by some of his
own men whom had caused to be arrested on complaint by the government.
The deed was committed in what is now the Southeastern part of Cass
County. Mahaska was then fifty years old. The murderers were caught
and executed by the Otoes and Omahas.
Before this Rant-che-wai-me wa had been killed by a
fall from her horse. Her son, young Mahaska, succeeded his father as a
leader of the Iowas. Other Iowa chiefs were Na-che-wing (No heart
of Fear), Nue-mon-ga (Walking Rain), and He-wa-tho-cha (One
who sheds his hair). But old Mahaska was the greatest of all.
Mahaska County preserves his memory.
Winneshiek was a noted Winnebago chief. His
true Indian name was Wau-kon-chaw-koo-kah. He was not very friendly
toward the whites, but was popular with his people, and was brave in danger.
When he was a boy of fifteen, during hostilities with the whites, he was
captured by troops, in Wisconsin. He refused to surrender, but sat
defiantly on his horse, his gun in his hands. Colonel Dodge, in command
of the soldiers, rode up to him and took away the gun.
Winneshiek was with Black Hawk's forces in the
Black Hawk War. When made prisoner he declined to tell where Black Hawk
was. Colonel Dodge reminded him of the formal time when he had been
saved, but Winneshiek replied that it would have been better had he died then.
He was made head chief in 1845. He used
liquor moderately. He was a thorough Indian, in religion and in all the
ways of life. Winneshiek County is named after him.
Waukon-Decorah was another distinguished chief of
the Winnebagoes. His name means "White snake." He was
only about five feet in height. He was an orator, and at times when
trouble seemed at hand he persuaded his people to remain at peace with his
whites. In Iowa his village was on the banks of the Upper Iowa River,
near the site of the present town of Decorah. It was on this spot that he
died, when very old, and his grave s in the public square of Decorah.
His son, termed "One-eyed Decorah,"
had only the left eye. He was one of the Winnebagoes who delivered
Black Hawk to the authorities, after the great Sac's conflict with the United
States.
"One-eyed Decorah" was a drunkard, and
unworthy of his father.
Among the Pottawattamies when they lived in Iowa
the most prominent man was Sau-ga-nash (Englishman), a half breed whose
father was an English colonel named Caldwell and mother a Pottawattamie.
He was near Tecuseh when the chief was killed and was a captain in
the British army. He also was a justice of the peace of Chicago in 1826.
Besides, he was chief of the Pottawattamies. He was commonly called
Billy Caldwell. He died in what is now Pottawattamie County, Iowa,
September 28, 1841. He was about sixty years old.
Pash-e-pa-ho was a head chief of the Sacs. He
signed the treaty of 1804, which so angered Black Hawk and other Sacs.
His name signifies "stabber." He was so titled because he
was ready with the knife and spear, and took revenge by those methods. He
was exceedingly vindictive in disposition, and not a pleasant man to have around.
But he was a skillful warrior, and under his leadership the Sacs and the
Foxes won a great victory over the Iowas. He was intemperate, and died in
Kansas, and his tribe had removed there from Iowa.
Wapello was a head chief of the Foxes. The
name means "chief," but a treaty he signed as "Waupella"
gives the definition "He-who-is-painted-White." In Iowa his
village was at first on Muscatine Slough, and later near the present town of
Wapello, in Louisa County, where he lived until the summer of 1836.
He was a favor of peace with the Whites, and while
not so fine in appearance as Keokuk, he was almost as great an orator in
his manner of speech. He was quite short and stout. His son was
killed by the Sioux. When the Wapello heard the news he was on the Skunk
River opposite the mouth of Crooked Creek, in the northeastern part of
Jefferson County. He swam the river, traded his horse for a barrel of
whiskey, and invited all his people to aid him in drowning his sorrow.
He was not a bad Indian, however, and was much
beloved. His favorite hunting grounds were along the Skunk River.
After he had removed his village to the Des Moines River, near Ottumwa,
he left it, to visit the Skunk again. But he died in camp on Rock Creek,
in Jackson Township, Keokuk County, in March, 1842.
He had requested that he be buried beside Gen.
Joseph M. Street, an Indian agent whom he had liked, and so his remains
now rest in Wapello County not far from Agency City. Keokuk and other
chiefs attended the funeral. Wapello County and city remind us of him.
Ap-pa-noose means "a chief when a child,"
and the owner of the name presided over a band of the Sacs. He was a
quiet man, and friendly with the whites. He had a village near the
present city of Ottumwa, and the limits of the municipality now include what
were formerly the Indian corn fields. Ap-pa-noose went to Washington, and
while stopping in Boston, in the course of a speech, replying to the Governor,
he said:
"As far as I can understand the language of
the White people appears to me that the Americans have attended a very high
rank among the White people. It is the same with us, though I say it
myself. Where we live, beyond the Mississippi, I am respected by all
people, and they consider me the tallest among them. I am happy that two
great men meet and shake hands with each other."
Then he reached out and shook the hand of the
Governor.
Appanoose County bears his name.
One of the head chiefs of the Foxes or
Musquakies was Powashiek (Roused Bear). He was superior in rank to
either Wapello or Appanoose. He was quite a large man, weighing over two
hundred and fifty pounds. He was of good character, truthful and just,
and ruled his Indians with an iron hand. For many years his villages were
on the Iowa River, in what are now Pleasant Valley and Iowa City Township,
Johnson County. He was one of the last to leave the Iowa River for the
Des Moines, after the Sacs and Foxes had been ordered there. It if
believed he died in Kansas.
He is called to mind by the County of Powashiek.
Tai-mah, or Tai-o-mah
(man-whose-voice-makes-the-rocks-tremble) was a minor chief of the Foxes,
and was the medicine man of the fraternity. He lived in a village above
the mouth of Flint Creek, near Burlington. The village was there in 1820,
and afterwards for some year.
Hard-Fish, or Wish-e-co-ma-que, secceeded Black
Hawk as leader of the band of turbulant Sacs and Foxes, and exercised
considerable judgment in controlling the braves. On the Des Moines River
his village in Wapello County, where Eddyville now is. From 1843 to 1845
he lived at the mouth of the Raccoon River.
Formerly there was a county named
Kish-Ke-Kosh.
Now it is Monroe. It was called
Kish-Ke-Kosh in honor of a noted Fox brave and chief. The word means
"man-with-one-leg," but Kish-Ke-Kosh had two legs, and very good
ones. Once, in a fight with Sioux, he, with a single companion, charged
into the midst of the enemy, killed several warriors and bore back as a trophy
a Sioux headdress of a buffalo head. This feat made him much respected.
In a council at Washington he donned this headdress, and stood before a
party of Sioux delegates. The act caused the Sioux to scowl and whisper
together
Kish-Ke-Kosh was an athlete, and possessed a fine
figure. He was swift of foot, and a famous dancer. He had a village
in the eastern part of Mahaska County, and later, in 1843, 1844, and 1845 he
and his band lived on the bank of Skunk River in Jasper County, on the Des
Moines in Marion County, and near the present city of Des Moines.
Quash-qua-me, or Jumping Fish, was a Sac chief who
used to hunt in Southeastern Iowa before the Sacs and Foxes were removed from
their territory east of the Mississippi. He was not a great chief, nor a
very good Indian, but he was friendly with the Whites.
Chief in the Fox village that was located where
Dubuque City now stands was Pe-ah-mus-ka, a peaceable and well disposed Indian.
He did not pick quarrels, and wished to live without fighting, but
he and many braves were killed treacherously by Sioux and Menomonies in 1828,
east of the Mississippi just below the mouth of the Wisconsin River.
In return, a few days after, the Foxes killed twenty-five Menomonies.
Wa-pa-sha-shiek was village chief under control of
Powashiek, and had a village on the Iowa River near that of his superior.
He was respected by the whites because of his honesty and sobriety.
One of the latest chiefs of the Sacs in Iowa was
Pa-sish-somo-nw, who came into notice just before the tribes moved into Kansas.
He spent a summer on Skunk River, in Jasper County, and then had an
encampment on Four Mile Creek, east of Fort Des Moines, now Des Moines City.
Of the Sioux Wa-na-ta was a chief whose territory
was what is now Northern Iowa. He was recognized as the grand chief of
the Sioux nation. He was born in the last quarter of the eighteenth
century. He was over six feet high, and was very fond of bright colored garments.
Mon-ka-ush-ka (Trembling Earth) was another Sioux of renown.
He and Wa-na-ta in many encounters with the Iowas and Chippewas. He
died in 1851, and with two daughters lies buried on the lofty bluff near the
mouth of the Big Sioux River. War Eagle was a pilot on the Mississippi
River in 1830. He was a fine man physically, but drank to excess.
The worst chief was Si-dom-i-na-do-tah, of the
Sisseton tribe or clan. He was a leader in roving band that created much
disturbance in Northern Iowa after the settlers began to enter that territory.
His name means "two fingers." At first his
followers were four or five desperadoes who had been exiled from their own
people because they were so wicked and mean. Then others joined them,
until the party contained five hundred. Si-dom-in-na-do-tah and his
Indians frequented the country in Webster County, and Woodbury and
Cherokee Counties along the Little Sioux. Ink-pa-du-tah was second in
command. He was Si-dom-in-na-do-tah's brother, and was responsible for
the only Indian massacre Iowa ever had. Ti-kon-ka (Big Buffalo) was
another chief. Ink-pa-du-tah had a village where Algona, Kossuth County,
now is, and the settlers forced him and his men to leave.
Si-dom-in-na-do-tah was murdered in January, 1854,
by two dissolute Whites, Henry Lott and his step-son. Near the mouth of a
creek known as Bloody Run, on the west side of the east branch of the Des
Moines River, in Humboldt County, the old chief had his cabin. Lott
and his step-son told him there were some elk in the timber, and induced him to
mount his pony and go after them. Having decoyed him into the woods, the
two men shot him. Then they disguised themselves as Indians and returning
to the cabin murdered the chief's mother, his wife and four children.
The settlers would have made short work of Lott and
his step-son, even though Si-dom-i-na-do-tah had been a bad Indian, but the
murderers fled from the state.