Pages 58-61

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I will give a short sketch of one of the most remarkable Indian families that ever lived in Fulton county. I am sure no other family of Indians ever caused so much gossip and so much bitter denunciation from the female part of the community, both white women and squaws, as did the conduct of an Indian chief called "Captain John." He was a large, fine-looking Indian about six feet, four inches tall, and was one of the most prominent chiefs in the Potttowatomie tribe. It was told by some of the Indians who had known him before he came to Fulton county that he had taken the side of the British against the Americans in the war of 1812, and that it was while he was amongst the British soldiers that he obtained the name of "Captain John." He and his squaw had learned to speak some words in the English language. The first we knew about them they had their wigwam on Big Creek near the road that ran from Lewistown to Totten’s Prairie (now Smithfield). Their wigwam was about three miles northwest of Lewistown close by the dismantled little village of Milton. It

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appeared from what the Indians told that "Captain John" had at one time became jealous of his squaw, and in his wrath, while under the influence of bad whisky, had bitten off her nose. She wore a buckskin patch over it, and it gave her a most hideous appearance. To add insult to injury, "Captain John" took to himself two young wives. They were handsome young squaws about twenty-two and twenty-four years old, and he took a good deal of pride in dressing them up in the most gay and gorgeous style. No squaws in all that part of the country were able to dress as fine as "Captain John’s" young squaws. They had long black hair which they braided and left to hand gracefully over their shoulders, with the ends tied in bows of gay ribbon. They wore large silver earrings, and four or five strands of large glass beads around their necks. Their dresses were of gay color with a row of silver brooches down the front. Their skirts were of the finest quality of blue cloth. They wore bands of silver clasped on their wrists, and their fingers were decorated with many rings. Their moccasins were ornamented with beads and fine needlework. "Captain John" appeared to be very proud of his young squaws. But the lot of the old squaw was a hard and bitter one. She went poorly dressed, much below the average of the other squaws that came to town. "Captain John" and his three squaws were in the habit of coming to town about once every week to trade at Phelps’ store, and they always passed by my father’s house. "Captain John" always appeared at the head of the procession, a fine and stately figure; next came his two young squaws in all their finery, and the poor old squaw brought up the rear with a package of peltry strapped across her shoulders and bending pitifully under its weight. She was compelled to do all the hard work. The white women and some of the squaws were so indignant at "Captain John" and his two young squaws for the way they treated the old squaw that they would have liked very much to have mobbed all three of them, but "Captain John" was a big chief. And they were afraid of him. But as the country began to settle up with white men the story became current among them that "Captain John" had been identified with the British army, and fought against the Americans in the war of

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1812, and also that the British officers had paid a bounty to the Indians for American scalps; and they were disposed to believe that all the money "Captain John" was spending in dressing his young wives so gorgeously had not been obtained by selling deer-skins and furs, but that it had been paid to him for his services against the Americans, and perhaps for some of the scalps of their white brethren. Adding these things to the cruel treatment of the old squaw, of which everybody was cognizant, a very bitter feeling was aroused against him among the men as well as amongst the women. It was very seldom that an Indian had more than one squaw. I have known one or two instances where an Indian had one or two squaws, but never before where they had as many as three. So bitter was the life of this poor old squaw that she often wished that she could leave this cruel world and go to the Indian’s happy hunting ground where she would be no longer tormented with rival wives and a cruel husband. The only relief the poor old thing had from her sorrows was to drown them in whisky. She had no trouble to find some person who would let her have whisky, for it was the general impression that the only comfort she ever had was when she was hilariously drunk. In that condition she would tell in broken English the story of her hard lot—what a bad Indian "Captain John" was, among them that "Captain John" had been identified with the British army, and fought against the Americans in the war of 1812, and also that the British officers had paid a bounty to the Indians for American scalps; and they were disposed to believe that all the money "Captain John" was spending in dressing his young wives so gorgeously had not been obtained by selling deer-skins and furs, but that it had been paid to him for his services against the Americans, and perhaps for some of the scalps of their white brethren. Adding these things to the cruel treatment of the old squaw, of which everybody was cognizant, a very bitter feeling was aroused against him among the men as well as amongst the women. It was very seldom that an Indian had more than one squaw. I have known one or two instances where an Indian had one or two squaws, but never before where they had as many as three. So bitter was the life of this poor old squaw that she often wished that she could leave this cruel world and go to the Indian’s happy hunting ground where she would be no longer tormented with rival wives and a cruel husband. The only relief the poor old thing had from her sorrows was to drown them in whisky. She had no trouble to find some person who would let her have whisky, for it was the general impression that the only comfort she ever had was when she was hilariously drunk. In that condition she would tell in broken English the story of her hard lot—what a bad Indian "Captain John" was, what a good squaw she had always been, how "Captain John: had got drunk and bit off her nose, that his two young squaws were not good, that they would not work, and that she had all the work to do, etc., etc.

So it came about that "Captain John" found that it was not safe for him to stay in that part of the country any longer; and he packed his goods on some ponies and with his three squaws moved up to the Rock river country among the Black Hawk tribe. I never heard from "Captain John: and his squaws after that time.

It is probable that there is no other country in the United States in which the Indians so delighted to live and which they were so sorry to leave as the beautiful hunting grounds embraced in the counties of Fulton, Schuyler and Mason. It was a perfect paradise for them. They could find about everything that their

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hearts could desire, and it was about as good a place for the poor white man as it was for the Indian. The deer roamed through the country by the thousands. It is not an exaggeration to say that I have seen 500 deer in the woods and prairies in a single day. Every other kind of game and fowl was abundant, and the rivers and small streams were full of fish. The bee trees were so numerous that white settlers and Indians could get all the honey they wanted, and there were groves of sugar trees all over the country from which an abundance of maple sugar was made. The wild fruit was equally wonderful, there being no limit to the plums, crabapples, grapes, black and redhaws, gooseberries, blackberries, dewberries, and strawberries. Acres upon acres of wild onions could be found in the woods, and wild potatoes in great abundance. Potato creek, south of Spoon river, received its name from the great abundance of wild potatoes that grew on its bank. The hard freezing in the winter did not affect them and they were about as good to eat as Irish potatoes. There was another valuable plant that grew in the woods, called ginseng. The roots resembled very much the parsnips familiar in our gardens. Ginseng grew in the wood in the rich loam, and great quantities of it would be dug and sold to the merchants, who would sack it and send it to St. Louis. It was used for medical purposes and brought a good price. The Indians had a large traffic in digging ginseng and wild potatoes, which they sold to the merchants and setters. But when the hogs became very numerous in the woods, they soon exterminated both the ginseng and the wild potatoes.

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