Pioneers of Marion County by Wm. M. Donnel, 1872

Part II, Chapter IX

Red Rock Township continued - Names of some of the Early Settlers - John H Mikesell’s Indian Dress, Decorations,&c -
Kish-ke-kosh - His partiality for Clean Victuals - His Politeness - Feeding the Indians - Scooti!

Besides those already mentioned in connection with the history of Red Rock village, we note the names of John H. Mikesell, Joel and David B. Worth, James Scott, Israel Nichols, William Williams with his sons, John, George, Joshua and James M.; John W. and Elihu Alley, Claiborn Hall, S. B. Matthews, Nathan Tallman and Druillard Shoemaker, as a few of the early settlers in the township. Only a few of them are still residents of the county, and we shall give such notice of , individually, as we have been able to obtain.

John H. Mikesell was born in Franklin county, Va., June 27th, 1802. In 1804 his parents moved to Montgomery county, Ohio, and in ‘25 to Franklin county, Ind., where they resided three years, and then returned to Montgomery county, Ohio. From thence Mr. M. moved to St. Joe county, Ind., in ‘35, and from thence to Iowa in ‘42, landing in the territory on the 18th of October, and took a winter lease at the forks of Skunk river, about ten miles from Brighton, Van Buren county, paying for it by building a cabin on the land.

That winter was one of considerable severity, on account of the great depth of snow, and the family lived mostly on “hog and hominy,” together with the milk of one cow that, with her calf, shared the little cabin with them during the coldest weather.

On the 28th of April, ‘43, Mr. Mikesell and two of his oldest boys set out for the “New Purchase,” intending to make a claim and prepare a place for the family, previous to moving. But their progress was interrupted by high waters, so that they did not reach their destination till about the 7th or 8th of May. This was in section 25, about a mile north-east of the present site of Red Rock village. Here he selected a claim, and then returned for the remainder of the family, leaving the boys and a man named Thomas Martin, who had come with them, to hold the claim and build a house.

No great amount of labor was required to build such a house. It consisted of light logs or poles put up in the shape of a shed, with an open front and a bark roof sloped but one way. By some this temporary sort of structure was called a cat-faced or half-faced camp, or by the Indian term, wickeup. This house stood at the foot of the hill on which stands the more commodious brick dwelling erected by Mr. M. many years after.

On the 29th of the month he arrived with the family and took possession of their new home, and occupied the shanty most of the summer, or till another log cabin containing two rooms, was built on the site of the present house.

During the first two years of Mr. Mikesell’s pioneer life he was engaged principally in trading with the Indians. Since then he has resided constantly on his farm, or till soon after the death of his wife, which occurred very suddenly on the night of 23d of March, 1869, after which he went to the village.

Through the intercourse of trade Mr. Mikesell became quite intimate with the Indians, and from him we have a number of incidents illustrating the character of this peculiar people, their manners, customs, etc.

The rude life led by these savages is, perhaps, already so well known that any additional description of it might be considered superfluous in a local history; yet we venture to insert a few items that seem sufficiently interesting for preservation even here.

The dress of these people - particularly of the men - was about as scant during summer as decency would admit of, consisting of a breech cloth about the middle and a pair of moccasins on their feet. In cold weather they added leggings, a shirt and a blanket. Ornaments, consisting of beads and rings, were quite popular with the men, and especially with the chiefs and others who could afford them. Some of the chiefs had their ears quite covered with rings, and sometimes are suspended to the nose. Profuse quantities of various colored beads were strung about their necks, some stran s descending quite low on the breast. Their moccasins were also frequently decorated with these gewgaws. They were supposed to denote the rank of the wearer - the more rings and beads the bigger Indian. They had also a feminine fancy for feathers and paint, and would - though only on special occasions - decorate their topknots with long feathers plucked from the tail or wing of fowls, and smear their faces with lines of red and black paint, giving them at once a most hideous and comical aspect. From this brief description the reader may draw, in his imagination, a full fledged warrior chief.

Unlike their white sisters, the squaws were not so much given to those decorations; but their bodies were at all times better covered than those of their masters. But even this was scant enough for female apparel, consisting mostly of a piece of blue cloth bound about the waist, descending to a little below the knees, and something like a sacque or shirt to cover the chest. They seldom had any covering for their heads. And even of this cheap and simple wardrobe they did not often have a change, unless they happened to be the wives or daughter of a chief or other wealthy brave.

As for their children, both sexes were permitted to go totally naked, with the exception of moccasins and leggins to protect them from snakes, till they were old enough for decency to demand some kind of covering for them. The boys were each supplied with a bow and arrow so soon as they were old enough to learn the use of it, and that became the principal part of his education. They were apt scholars, and young as they were, their expertness in marksmanship was a matter of wonder to those unskilled in the art. On one occasion a party of Indians were camped near Red Rock, and it was amusing to witness those naked young ones, bow and arrow in hand, wading about in the river, searching for fish and turtles. On discovering the game they were almost sure to put an arrow into it, notwithstanding the well known difficulty of hitting a mark under water.

In diet the Indians were about as crude as they were in dress, and by no means fastidious as to cleanliness, except in rare cases where intercourse with the whites had begotten in them some regard in this respect. An anecdote of the noted chief George Washington Kish-ke-kosh, will illustrate this statement:

Kish was a sub chief, and had accompanied Black Hawk as one of his suit of braves during the tour of that renowned chief through the east as prisoners of war. With his leader he had been hospitably entertained at hotels and other places, and had conceived a high appreciation for the sumptuous and cleanly looking fare that was set before them. How he was enabled, after such an experience, to return with a good stomache to the frugal diet and indifferent cooking of his own people, we are left to conjecture. At all events he retained his partiality for clean victuals, and was even over fastidious in this respect, as the following instance will show:

One night he, with his company of three or four braves, slept at the house of a white man with whom he was on very friendly terms, and were to remain for breakfast. Kish had an eye on the preparations for this meal, and observed one neglect that his tender stomach rebelled against. The lady of the house - perhaps she did it intentionally, for she was not a willing entertainer of her savage guests - neglected to wash her hands before making up the bread. Kish thought he would rather do without his breakfast than eat after such cooking, and privately signified as much to his followers, whereupon they mounted their ponies and left, much to the relief of their hostess. Arriving at Joel Worth’s, almost a mile and a half from where they had lodged, they got breakfast and related the circumstance.

Yet these people, though generally accustomed to the poorest fare, were not averse to the best that could be provided, and made themselves gluttons whenever they could get enough of it. Like the wolf, they seemed capable of enduring a long fast, and then of gorging themselves to very stupidity at a sumptuous feast.

On one occasion this same George Washington Kish-ke-kosh and his suit, consisting of several prominent personages of the tribe, being then encamped on Skunk river, came over to Mr. Mikesell on a friendly visit, and he treated them to a feast.

Besides Kish and his wife, this party consisted of his mother; Wykoma, son of Wappelo, and his two wives;* Masha Wapetine and his wife, and all their children. The old woman, on being asked by Mrs. M., how old she was, replied: “Mack-ware-renaak-we-kauk,” (maybe a hundred); and indeed, her bowed form and hidiously shriveled features would justify the belief that she was even that old. Kish’s wife was a person of ladylike appearance, and so were the two pretty young wives of Wykoma, though they were somewhat under medium size, and were also sisters. They were all dressed in a rather more than usually becoming style, perhaps out of respect for their host and his family.

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*Poligamy was not an uncommon practice among these people. It is related that the chief Pasishamone, during the encampment of his tribe near Red Rock, married a second wife to supply the place of the other, who was disabled by a snake bite.
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Mr. Mikesell, knowing something of the voracious appetite of his visitors, had made ample preparations for them.

When the table was surrounded, Kish, who had learned some good manners as well as acquired a taste for cleanliness, essayed to perform the etiquette of the occasion before eating anything himself. With an amusingly awkward imitation of what he had seen done among the whites, he passed the various dishes to the others, showing the ladies special attention, and helped them to a part of everything on the table with much apparent disinterested consideration.

But when Kish came to help himself his politeness assumed the Indian phase altogether. He ate like a hungry person with a bottomless stomach, taking in everything in his reach, without regard to what should come first or last in the course of dessert, so he liked the taste of it. At length, after having drank five or six cups of coffee, and eaten a proportionate amount of solid foods, his energy in the gastilary exercise began to slacken. Seeing this, Mr. Mikesell approached him and, with apparent concern for his want of appetite, said, ‘Why, Kish, do eat your dinner! Have another cup of coffee and eat something.” In his reply to this urgent appeal, Kish’s Indian politeness was again dominant. Leaning back on his seat, he lazily shook his head, drew his finger across his throat under his chin, to indicate how full he was, and then, in further explanation of his satisfied condition, he opened his capacious mouth and thrust his finger down his throat as far as he dared, as much as to say he could almost touch the victuals. Of course the others had each eaten a like proportion, making the most of what they did not get every day.

Another story of Indian gluttony deserves relating, though it occurred several years later than the period this history is intended to treat of.

A party of them numbering about fifteen or twenty men made their appearance in Red Rock, stating that they had been for some time camped on Skunk river, were out of provisions, in a state of starvation, and signified their intention of remaining a while in town to be gratuitously fed by the people. This was a contingency unlooked for, and by no means pleasant to contemplate, as nobody liked to take the dirty, unmannerly creatures into their houses. However, as they were not to be put off without more trouble than the people cared to risk, something had to be done for their accommodation. So they concluded to engage some one to supply them with one meal per day each, at fifteen cents per meal, and put the money into the hands of the Indians to pay their own fare. Mr. David B. Worth, who then kept a hotel in town, took upon himself the task of supplying the required food. And a task it was soon found to be. Mrs. W., not being acquainted with the surfeiting propensity of these human-shaped animals, furnished the table with the usual quantity and variety for common boarders, at the first meal. At the proper signal the long table was closely surrounded by the swarthy crowd, who fell to like famishing wild beasts and in an astonishingly short time, to the consternation and amazement of the hostess, swept the board of everything but the dishes. It was replenished again, and then again for the third time, before full satisfaction was attained; and this was when they were so full that they appeared in danger of choking, and would stroke their hands over their necks and breasts as if to press down the rising gorge. Then they would all move lazily away and stretch themselves in some sunny place, where they would remain almost motionless till the shades of evening would admonish them to seek shelter for the night.

This was repeated three or four days, every morning the Indians being on hand with appetites as keen as ever for the stipulated breakfast. Among other things they had a good relish for coffee, and of this they drank, at each meal, the three fillings of the largest kind of a boiler used for the purpose of making coffee at a hotel.

They used very little ceremony at the table, every fellow helping himself to what he liked best. One of them observing a glass dish containing some kind of fruit sauce, took a taste of if on the point of his knife. Finding it quite to his liking, he reached over, grasped the dish, emptied the whole of its contents upon his own plate, and then gobbled it up as any one might have done a dish of soup.

But to their credit we must say there was one redeeming circumstance connected with the affair: they all paid up promptly at the conclusion of each meal, the leader not permitting one of them to leave the table till each had paid his fifteen cents, not a cent more nor less.

In spite of this, however, the expense of feeding such a pack of wolves was deemed too unprofitable to be made a business of, and after two or three days’ trial was abandoned. The Indians were very much displeased at their dismissal, but went their way without giving any trouble.

We can scarcely afford to close this chapter without giving one more anecdote, which, though rather foreign to the main subject, show the simplicity of the Indians, and the disposition of some of the whites to annoy them:

As we have seen, companies of them were in the habit of stopping at Mikesell’s, where they would sometimes remain for a day or two, trading, drinking, feasting, or whatever else their lazy habits prompted them to do. At one time one of these wandering parties, composed of two or three families, were camped near the house and cooking a large kettle of soup for supper. One of the Mikesell boys, who entertained no special friendship for these visitors, conceived the idea of perpetrating a joke on them by seasoning their soup. So, unobserved by them, he deposited in the kettle a large handful of pulverized red pepper, and stirred it well in. When the time came to eat the soup was ladled out into wooden bowls and distributed around. The first fellow that swallowed a mouthful of it rolled up his eyes, opened his mouth, and began to pant with evident agony; but not experiencing any relief from this, he suddenly jumped up, ran some distance, threw himself on the ground, crying “scooti! scooti! scooti!” that is “fire! fire! fire!” at the highest key. The same symptoms were soon experienced by several more, who performed the same kind of antics, rolling and tumbling about in the most frantic manner; and the camp was filled with the alarm of fire. So soon as they had sufficiently recovered from the paroxysm to give an intelligible reason for it, they said the soup was poisoned, and their children would starve; but they were soon assured that the soup was only peppered, and materials were supplied them for another mess, that proved all right, after being cautiously tasted of previously to being eaten.

Transcribed by Mary E. Boyer, 12/06, reformatted by Al Hibbard 13 Oct 2013