The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1899-04-18
RUNNING GTHEGAUNTLET
TREATMENT OF PRISONERS AFTER
THE FORT DEARBORN MASSACRE.

The Recital Of Simon Poka9oE, Son OF
tho Chief Poka.on, Who Was Present
The Terrible Trials of n Young Mother
Her Rescue and Return to Her Homo.
One special feature Of Harper's
Magazine is al article entitled The
Massacre of Fort Dearborn at Chica-
go. Gathered from Traditions OF the
Indian Trioes Engaged in the Mas.
sac.e, and the Published Accounts" >"
The article derives exceptional inter-
est from the fact that it is written b.
Chief Simon Pokagon who is a son
OF the Chief Pokagan who was pres
ent al the massacre. The author OBJ
tanned most Of the material for his
article from an Indian Of his tribe
who was present at Fort Dearborn,
and who died two years ago at the ad-
vanced age Of ITO years. After de-
scriloing the massacre, he says:
Nearly all the rest OF the prisoners
We're taken north to Green Bay, Wis
consin. In order not to shield my
own people ftom blame, give the
following account Of their usage and
t.lal disposal. We must fancy our
selves at the Pottawatomie village on
Green Bay, Wisconsin, two hundred
miles from Chicago. Ten days have
rassed since the battle. There comes
along the winding trails from the
south long line of dusky warriors
on their return home. They have in
guard several white prisoners. Among
them is fair young pale-faced moth.
er, carrying an infant child about five
months old. The inhabitants Of the
village have been informed they are
coming, and are swarming out to meet
them. They learn from them that
many Of their friends have been
killed or the warpath. Hark! hear
their wailing and cursing; and see
they now seek revenge by pulling the
prisoners hair and cutting them. The
Tie women end children of the vii
lage come marching out Of the camp
with sticks and clubs. They are form.
ing in two long single lines, facing
eIch other few feet apart They
have ordered the prisoners to run the
gauntlet. One by one they rush down
between the lines Of the women and
children, while savage blows are rained
down upon them thick and fast, amid
Laughing, yelling and cursing. There
stands near the head Of the lines, ap-
parently unmoved. the young mother
with her child. Is it possible they
will compel her to run the gauntlet,
too? Yes, see. they are ordering her
forward now! Sne looks down be-
tween the long lines of uplifted sticks
and clubs, folds her blanket close
Silent prayer: Then size hy6sshfF g6ss, fan=
ming between the lines while the
blows ell thick upon her head and
shoulders. Therace is run; she passes
the goal bruised and bleeding, but the
child, thank Heaven! remains un-
touched. There she stands, without
a sigh, without a tear, expecting no
pity and asking no mercy. But look
once more! An elderly Indian woman
goes running towards her, puts her
arms about her, and whispers in her
ear, "Come, go with me-" They go
into q wigwam; The Indian feeds her,
binds up her wounds, kindly cares for
her and saves her life.
During the fall and winter that
young mother, carrying her child, ac-
companied by several other prisoners
and the Indian warriors, set out from
the village on Green Bay with the
promise of being delivered over to the
Americans under the regulations OF
war. They went south around Lake
Michigan, then north through the
wilderness of Michigan to Mackipaw
Island, which she found in the hands OF
the English and Indians. From there
she was taken through deep SHOWS,
half starved and less than half clothed,
still carrying her child, to Detroit. To
her disappointment, that place was
found in the hands Of the English, the
race to whom she belonged. Instead
Of receiving and taking care of her,
thy allowed her to go away with the
Indians to Fort Meigs, where General
Harrison was in command of the
United States troops. She was de-
livered to him, aud was finally sent
home to her parents in Ohio. This
young mother and the other prisoners
travelled over nine hundred miles on
foot, carrying her child through a
wilderness Of deep SHOWS and fierce
billiards. No reasonable excuse has
ever been given by the English at
Mackinaw for forcing her to be
dragged three hundred miles through
the woods; and, again, no reasonable
excuse has been given by those at
Detroit for suffering her to be dragged
to Fort lMeigs. She was held as
prisoner OF war by the allies of the
English, and should have been 1es-
cued and taken care Of at the first
English military station. It does not
seem possible that an woman could
live through what that mother en-
511ra1