Minnesota weekly times. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1859, 1855-12-15
FRIDAY DEC. Il, 1856.

- 30
~ ny. :. ,. aasss. E1isss -. Lszsss..
Read tBoss " BIaoriesl ssseisty on Thursdey
Epening, Dec. l3.
when, and for whas cause, the Dakotas and
.Oiihvss became enemies, are questions, which,
at this day, cannot, probably, be satisfactorily
answered. The Detesas living a present, gem
orally regard this snmity ~ having bssu handed
DOM from generations long gone by: Il has be-
come ssthej inheritance Of fathers" Now the
charge Of having been the first to commence hos
tilitiss, which have so long sontinued, can be
made By each party against the other, and With
about the same probability Of truth.
, The Daxotas say the Ojibwas are towards and
they themselves sre bravs-thst their enemies are
treacherous while they themselves arc true
The following facts, however, viii ahov that tho
cowardice il not all on one side, and that treaeh
cry has been reasrtsd to By one well ~ the 9TH
er. Our Indians confidently assert that the reason
why their northern and eastern enemy has, within
twenty years past, hunted upon their land and at
last sold portion of it to the United States Gov
ernment, is not because they are afraid Of tho
Ojibwas, but because they have listened to the
eounsels Of the Indian agents, traders, and mis-
sionaries-have often made peace with their enc
mics, which they have taken advantage Of only to
make further aggressions. In this there may be
somc truth. sifss -ssz -a ~
A story Of peace Of this kind, the ending of
which, however, does not reflect much credit upon
the Dakotas, the writer had often heard from
some of the prinoipaL actors in the affair. It
took place before the commencement of the mis-
sionary operations, perhaps about twenty years
ago. Through the influence Of Mr.. Renvlle and
perhaps others, the Indians in this part of tho
Minnesota Valley had made peace with some of
the bands of the Ojbwas. 1t was the time for
the fall hunt, and Mr.. Renvlle in giving credit to
the Indians, as is customary, urged upon the prin-
cipal men, to keep the peace, and gave some
blankets to few Of the more energetic young
men, with special instructions to punish the irst
individual who violated it.
In a few weeks the Warpetonwans had encamp-
ed in the region of country now occupied by the
Winnebegoes, and the camp of Hole-in. the-day,
father of the present chief bearing that name, and
his band, were not far distant. The young men
from each camp occasionally met in their hunting
excursions. One evening an Ojibwa brave had
accompanied some of the Dakota hunters homo
and was now in the soldiers lodge. They were
camped near lake. Most of the hunters bad al
ready arrived at home and were eating of what
they had brought in, when the camp was sudden
" thrown into commotion by the shout of victory
coming across the lake. A Dakota young man,
whose name was Muahoodan, (Black- haw- bush,)
had killed an Ojibwa, and coming home
shouting. Before reaching the camp be was met
by Marpeyasna, (Rattling- clouds,) who demanded
his gun, that he might break it, saying that he had
come for that purpose. Black bush refused
to be punished in this way for what he consider
ed glorious deed, declaring that no would die
before he would give up his gun. 1t was, howev-
er, wrested from him and broken. He then
drew his knife and ran to the soldiers lodge and
commenced cutting it, in defiance of his agree
ment which had there been entered into, to keep
the peace. He was however, prevented from do
ing much injury and was finally sent home.
council was held to decide whether Muahoo-
dan should live or die. The next morning some
young men were sent to escort the Ojibwa, who
had spent the night with them, a short distance
on his way home. He was requested to come
back with others Of the Ojibwa braves, IN three
case. In the meantime, in the Dakota camp they
came to the determination to deliver up Mua-
hoodan to the will of the Ojibwas. The evening
Of the appointed day, company Of men were
seen coming across the lake. Before they reach
ed the camp, they fred of their guns, and were
| soon met and escorted home by the Dakotas.-
That night the proposition was made to the Ojib-
wa braves that they should kill Muahoodan.-
They refused, asserting that if they did so, it
would only bring on renewed hostiities. The
| Dakotas assured them that that would not be the
case, but they very wisely persisted in refusing.
| They were then told to come back to that place
again in three days, when they would see the ev-
idence Of the desire Of the Dakotas to live IN
peace with them. ~"
The next evening council of war was called.
and a. they sat around in q circle and smoked the
pipe in the soldiers lodge, the exciting question
of sswho will be the executioner 70 went round
once and again, but no one said "Ho." At
length Marpeyasna took up his gun, and in the
presence Of them all, loaded it, declaring that if
no one else was brave enough to execute the SEN
tence. he would do it. An hour after Muahoo-
dan was shot in his own tent by Marpeyasnn, and,
by the command of the old men, was placed upon
poles the next morning. A sadness and gloom
had now gathered over the camp and a. soon as
the above ceremony was performed, the Dakotas
struck their tents, and moved towards home. And
in few weeks awar party was made up against
the Ojibwas, - the only means Of allaying the
excited stats of feeling whichha been created
among themselves. II sia3 ,le8eeL lt1
The Dakotas relate an instances Of base treach-
cry on their own part as having taken place some
time sitter the aboye., The Ojibwasl bad made an
aggressive attack and taken few scalps. The
Dakotas Immediately raised war party and
went 70 seek their snsmics. IN the meantime the
latter had enclosed themselves in . wooden fort,
and when the former came to them they were per-
fectly safe. The Dakotas seeing this, fred OF
their guns and raised = Gag Of peace. The Ojib-
was, trusting to the truth Of there professions,
came out and number Of them were cot TO pieces
BY tie knives Of their enemies. est-H .sou9i
The Ojbwas continued to hant on land
claimed by the Dakotas, and often were these
hunting excursions cut short by the use Of the
scalping knife on one side or the other. In
the fall Of 1887 the. calumet was smoked by
them again, when Hole in-tbe-Day promised
to meet the Indiana fIsm Lscquiparle at the
time Of their spring hunts, and make fhem
some presents for the privilege Of lhupting in
their country. With The expectation that this