Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1880-04-09
. ..s,.t5i. THE HISTORY OF /.
NORRIS COUNTY,
WRITTEN m 1875 BY ORDER OF. THE
,BoARDoF. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AND
PUBLISH ED INtTHE 7 IRANsoRRT1NTHE
SAME YEAR. REVISED AND BROUGHT
DOWN 70 THE PRESENT TIME, >.5@s :, -. %-'
= By NATHAN RIcHARDsoN.

~ f
IContinued from Transcript Of March 10.
The Mile Laos Band of:Chippewa Indians,
who linhabit the adjoining country east q, this
county, aud have . small reservation at the
south end Of Mile Lads Lake, and who fre-
quently hunt and trap in this county and
come to Little Fails to trade, are, Jon account
Of their, manly sdeportment, at all times and
under allcircumstances, entitled to more than
a passing notice in this history Since have
known anything of. these Indians, during tbe,
past twenty five years, they have had two
principal Chiefs, one Of whom is Shah: osh-
kung, who is now about seventy years! Of age,
and generally resides On the y north II west side
ofMille Laos Lake with his, part Of! the band !;
and the other chief ID Moose ma na, who
is now about ifty.tsix years of age and is q
quite large; muscular and we'll builtman He
resides5niths his portion eg thei band on the
southeast side Of the Jake During the visit
that he is now makingfn Little Fails, get a
short sketch Of his life from himself, as fol-
lows: He was born on Snake river, east Of
the lake, and came over to live about tho lake
when small boy. It has always been coed
place to live, the lake always yielding
great abundance of the finest quality of fish,
wild rice was generally abundant and maple
sugar as much as they desired could be made
around the lake country. Wild geese and
ducks were always plenty in their season,
deer and other game were abundant until of
late years, but game and fur are getting lit
tie scarce. They cleared up land and planted
potatoes and corn on some Of the islands,.
where they frequently found the bones of
dead men: When young man., and while the
war lasted between them and the Sioux, he
went out occasionally with the war parties to
fight the Sioux. The principal battles that
he was in was one at Pigs Eye, about two
miles below St. Paul, in about l842, and one
at Shakopee in 1858. At the Pigs Eye bat
tie the Chippewas had l2o warriors, and the
Sioux about half that number. The Sioux
were led on by their great chief Little Crow.
In this fight the Chippewas lost but four, and
the Sioux about thirty, although the Chip
pewas succeeded in getting only eight scalps.
and killed in this battle son of Little Grow.
At the Shakopee fight the Chippewas had 1928
warriors, and the Sioux about the same num-
Der, but only about half on each side were en-
gagged. The Chippewas lost only Eve, while
the Sioux lost about forty. At that time the
country was we'll settled about Shakopee,
which was then quite large town, SO the
fight was witnessed by lsrge number of
white people, who had good view of the
battle from the bluff south of the Minnesota
river, the fight being on the north side. This
was the last fight he was in, and it was the
last battle of much note fought between the
two tribes. He was wounded several times,
once severely in the right knee. During his
career as a warrior ho took seven scalps, 70
each o. which he was entitled to place in his
head Dire ss the tail feather of war eagle. A
feather is placed;in their cap for each enemy
they kill and if the scalps are taken, it is de
noted by red paint and peculiar notching of
VIZ ASoSA0As A0 ShEo1 Will tucoS 1cdSuCT6
fixed in, are generally worn on important oc-
casions, and always at the war dances and as
an error. was made in printing my description
of the war dance heretofore, by inadvertently
leaving out some, will state that when the
Indian stops dancing and makes the war
whoop, be at the same time goes through a
sort of gymnastic performance, demonstrating
how he killed some of his victims by shooting
or stabbing and scalping, etc., Us the case
may be. He was called to Washington at
two different times to see his Great Father on
important business, in which his people were
interested. At thepresent time he has come
to Little Falls in company with six of his
people to ask favor, and to 10y before the
people Of Morrison county their grievances.
The other chief, Shab-osh-k had agreed
to come, but failed from some unknown cause.
Moose o-ma-na sent telegram to Louis Ro-
bare, of St. Paul, the principal trader among
them, to come up and meet them here, which
Mr.. Robare did on the 22nd day of March,
! 1880, bringing wit him reporter of the St.
Paul Globe: Quite large number of our
! people convened at the Vasaly House to hear
what their red brethren from Mile Laos
wanted, or might have to say. When the ap-
pointed hour arrived the meeting was called
to order, and 0. A. Churchill was elected
chairman, and II: c. Stivers secretary. Hon.
Peter Roy, Of this place, who is a balfbreed
and the especial custodian Of the visitors, re-
| marked before introducing the chief that they
came over to see us on very important bust
ness, and desired that Mr.. Richardson should
write down what they might have to say, as
they looked upon him as an old and reliable
friend. The chief, Moose. mana, On being
introduced, stepped forward and. as is the In
dian fashion on all such occasions, shook
hands with the president and secretary and
those sitting about the table, and said that he
wished to be understood as shaking hands
With all present. He then proceeded to speak
as follows, in the Chippewa tongue, Mr.. Roy
interpreting it into English:.': v v'".,sEt$ j
"0ur:people have deliberated in councils,
and have sent us here to represent them. At
the time when there. was trouble between the
Indians and the whites 10 this country we
were the friends ofthe white people. The n
dians that fought against the white people
were foolish, and they are driven away We
know not where. We are nov in trouble; We
hear bad reports and begin to believe them.
As We befiended the whites in time of trouble,
We now want our friends to repay our kind
ness. We want the white people here to take
up our cause, and show who are trying to
drive Us from our reservation. We have ,
father, the agens but We sec him only once /
year, just before the snow falls. He does not
go Us, his children, 70 advise us what to do,
# " could see bin, he might, sdyise US wh Il
So ID az -.