Among the Sioux : a story of the Twin Cities and the two Dakotas Read online

  Among the Sioux : a story of the Twin Cities and the two Dakotas

  Creswell, R. J. (Robert J.)

  This book made available by the Internet Archive.

  DEDICATION.

  TO NELLIE,

  (MY WIFE)

  Who, for forty years has been my faithful companion in the toils and triumphs of missionary service for the Freedmen of the Old Southwiest and the heroic pioneers of the New Northwest, this volume is affectionately inscribed.

  By the Author,

  R. J. Creswell.

  INTRODUCTION

  By the Rev. David R. Breed, D.D.

  The sketches which make up this little volume are of absorbing interest, and are prepared by one who is abundantly qualified to do so. Jlr. Creswell has had large personal acquaintance with many of those of whom he writes and has for years been a diligent student of missionary effort among- the Sioux. His frequent contributions to the periodicals on this subject have received marked attention. Several of them he gathers together and reprints in this volume, so that while it is not a consecutive ' history of the Sioux missions it furnishes an admirable survey of the labors of the heroic men and women who have spent their lives in this cause, and furnishes even more interesting reading in their biographies that might have been given upon the other plan.

  During- my own ministry in Minnesota, from 1870 to 1885, I became very intimate with the great leaders of whom Mr. Creswell writes. Some of them were often in my home, and I, in turn, have visited them. [ am familiar with many of the scenes described in this book. I have heard from the missionaries' own lips the stories of their hardships, trials and successes. f have listened to their account of the great massacre, while with the tears flowing down their cheeks they told of the desperate cruelty of the savages, their defeat, their conversion, and their subsequent fidelity tc the men and the cause they once opposed. I am grateful to Mr. Creswell for putting these facts into permanent shape and bespeak for his volume a cordial reception, a wide circulation, and above all, the abundant blessing of God.

  David R. Breed. Allegheny, Pa., January, 1906.

  PREFACE.

  This volume is not sent forth as a full history of the Sioux Missions. That volume has not yet been written, and probably never will be.

  The pioneer missionaries were too busily engaged in the formation of the Dakota Dictionary and Grammar, in the translation of the Bible into that wild, barbaric tongue; in the preparation of hymn books and text books:—in the creation of a literature for the Sioux Nation, to spend time in ordinary literary work. The present missionaries are overwhelmed with the great work of ingathering and upbuilding that has come to them so rapidly all over the widely extended Dakota plains. These Sioux missionaries were and are men of deeds rather than of words,—more intent on the making of histbr}^ than the recording of it. They are the noblest body of men and women that ever yet w^ent forth to do service, for our Great King, on American soil.

  For twenty years it has been the writer's privilege to mingle intimately with these missionaries and wnth the Christian Sioux; to sit with them at their great council fires; to talk with them in their teepees; to visit them in their homes; to meet wdth them in their Church Courts; to inspect their schools; to worship with them in their churches; and to gather with them on the greensward under the matchlesis Dakota sky and celebrate together with them the sw^eet, sacrcmen-tal service of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.

  lie was so filled and impressed by what he there saw and heard, that he felt impelled to impart to others somewhat of the knowledge thus gained; in order that they may be stimulated to a deeper interest in, and devotion to the cause of missions on American soil.

  INTRODUCTION

  By the Rev. David R. Breed, D.D.

  The sketches which make up this little volume are of absorbing interest, and are prepared by one who is abundantly qualified to do so. Mr. Creswell has had large personal acquaintance with many of those of whom he writes and has for years been a diligent student of missionary effort among- the Sioux. His frequent contributions to the periodicals on this subject have received marked attention. Several of them he gathers together and reprints in this volume, so that while it is not a consecutive " history of the Sioux missions it furnishes an admirable survey of the labors of the heroic men and women who' have spent their lives in this cause, and furnishes even more interesting reading in their biographies that might have been given upon the other plan.

  During- my own ministry in Minnesota, from 1870 to 1885, I became very intimate with the great leaders of whom Mr. Creswell writes. Some of them were often in my home, and I, in turn, have visited them. [ am familiar with many of the scenes described in this book. I have heard from the missionaries' own lips the stories of their hardships, trials and successes. I have listened to their account of the great massacre, while with the tears flowing down their cheeks they told of the desperate cruelty of the savages, their defeat, their conversion, and their subsequent fidelity tc. the men and the cause they once opposed. I am grateful to Mr. Creswxll for putting these facts into permanent shape and bespeak for his volume a cordial reception, a wide circulation, and above all, the abundant blessing of God.

  David R. Breed. Allegheny, Pa., January, 1906.

  PREFACE.

  This volume is not sent forth as a full history of the Sioux ^Missions. That volume has not yet been written, atul probably never will be.

  The pioneer missionaries w^ere too busily engaged in the formation of the Dakota Dictionary and Grammar, in the translation of the Bible into that wild, barbaric tongue; in the preparation of hymn books and text books:—in the creation of a literature for the Sioux Nation, to spend time in ordinary literary work, ' The present missionaries are overwhelmed with the great work of ingathering and upbuilding that has come to them so rapidly all over the widely extended Dakota plains. These Sioux missionaries were and are men of deeds rather than of words,—more intent on the making of histbry than the recording of it. They are the noblest body of men and women that ever yet w^nt forth to do service, for our Great King, on American soil.

  For twenty years it has been the writer's privilege to mingle intimately with these missionaries and w^ith the Christian Sioux; to sit with them at their great council fires; to talk with them in their teepees; to visit them in their homes; to meet with them in their Church Courts; to inspect their schools; to worship with them in their churches; and to gather w^ith them on the greensward under the matchlesLS Dakota skv and celebrate together with them the sweet, sacremen-tal service of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.

  He was so filled and impressed by what he there saw and heard, that he felt impelled to impart to others somewhat of the knowledge thus gained; in order that they may be stimulated to a deeper interest in, and devotion to the cause of missions on American soil.

  PREFACE,

  In the compilation of this work the author has drawn freely from these publications, viz.:

  The Gospel of the Dakotas, Mary and I,

  By Stephen R. Riggs, D. D., LL. D.

  Two Volunteer Missionaries By S. W. Pond, Jr.

  Indian Boyhood By Charks Eastman

  The Past Made Present,

  By Rev. William Fiske Brown The Word Carrier By Editor A. L. Riggs, D. D.

  The Martyrs of Walhalla,

  By Charlotte O. Van Cleve

  The Long Ago By Charles H. Lee

  The Dakota Mission,

  By Dr. L. P. Williamson and others

  Dr. T. S. Williamson By Rev. R. McQuesten

  He makes this general
acknowledgment, in lieu of repeated references, which would otherwise be necessary throughout the book. For valuable assistance in its preparation he is very grateful to many missionaries, especially to John P. Williamson, D.D., of Gren-wood, South Dakota; A. L. Riggs, D. D. of Santee, Nebraska; Samuel W. Pond, Jr., of Minneapolis, and Mrs. Gideon H. Pond, of Oak Grove, Minnesota. All these were sharers in the stirring scenes recorded in these pages. The names Dakota and Sioux are used as synonyms and the English significance instead of the Indian cognomens.

  May the blessing of Him who dwelt in the Burning" Bush, rest upon all these toilers on the prairies of the new Northwest.

  R. J. Creswell.

  Minneapolis, Minnesota, January, 1906.

  AMONG THE SIOUX.

  PART ONE.

  SOWING AND REAPING.

  They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing

  Precious Seed, Shall doubtless come again

  With rejoicing.

  Bringing his sheaves.

  Chapter I

  Now appear the /low'rets fair Beautiful beyond compare And all nature seems to say, "Welcome, welcome, blooming May."

  It was 1834. A lovely day—the opening of the merry month of May!

  The Warrior, a Mississippi steamer, glided out of P'ever River, at Galena, Illinois, and turned its prow up the Mississippi. Its destination was the mouth of the St. Peters—now Minnesota River—five hundred miles to the north—the port of entry to the then unknown land of the Upper Mississippi.

  The passengers formed a motley group; officers^ soldiers, fur-traders, adventurers, and two young men from New England. These latter were two brothers, Samuel William and Gideon Hollister Pond, from Washington, Connecticut. At this time, Samuel the elder of the two, was twenty-six years of age and in form, tall and very slender as he continued through life. Gideon, the younger and more robust brother was not quite twenty-four, more than six feet in height, strong and active, a specimen of well developed manhood. With their clear blue eyes, and their tall, fully developed forms, they must have attracted marked attention even among that band of brawny frontiersmen.

  In 1831 a gracious revival had occurred in their na-

  tive village of Washing-ton. It was so marked in its character, and permanent in its results, that it formed an epoch in the history of that region and is still spoken of as "the great revival''. For months, during the busiest season of the year, crowded sunrise prayer-meetings were held daily and were well attended by an agricultural population, busily engaged every day in the pressing toil of the harvest and the hayfieJds. Scores were converted and enrolled themselves as soldiers of the cross.

  Among these were the two Pond brothers. This was. in reality with them, the beginning of a new life. From this point in tlieir lives, the inspiring motive, with both these brothers, was a spirit of intense loy-altv to their new Master and a burning love for the souls of their fellowmen. Picked by the Holy Spirit out of more t!lian one hundred converts for special service for th^ Lord Jesus Christ, the Pond brothers resolutelv determined to choose a field of very hard service, one to which no others desired to go. In the search for such a field, Samuel the elder brother, journeyed from New Haven to Galena, Illinois, and spent the autumn and winter of 1833-34 in his explorations. He visited Chicago, then a struggling village of a few hundred inhabitants and other embryo towns and cities. He also saw the Winnebago Indians and the Pbtta-watomies, but he was not led to choose a field of labor amongst any of these.

  A strange Providence finally pointed the way to Mr. Pond. In his efforts to reform a rumseller at Galena, he gained much information concerning the

  Sioux Indians, whose territory the rumseller had traversed on his way from the Red River country from which he had come quite recently. He represented the Sioux Indians as vile, degraded, ignorant, superstitious and wholly given up to evil.

  "There," said the rumseller, "is a people for whose souls nobody cares. They are utterly destitute of moral and religious teachings. No' efforts have ever been made by Protestants for their salvation. If you fellows are looking, in earnest, for a hard job, there is one ready for you to tackle on those bleak prairies."

  This man's description of the terrible condition of the Sioux Indians in those times was fairly accurate. Those wild, roving and utterly neglected Indian;s were proper subjects for Christian effort' and promised to furnish the opportunities for self-denying and stlf-sacrihcing labors for which the brothers were seeking.

  Mr. Pond at- once recognized this peculiar call as from God. After prayerful deliberation, Samuel determined to write to his brother Gideon, inviting the latter to join him early the following spring, and undertake with him an independent mission to the Sioux.

  He wrote to Gideon:—'T have finally found the field of service for which we have long been seeking. It lies in the regions round about Fort Snelling. It is among the savage Sioux of those far northern plains. They are an ignorant, savage and degraded people. It is said to be a very cold', dreary, storm-swept region. But we are not seeking a soft spot to rest in or easv service. So come on."

  Despite strong', almost bitter opposition from friends and kinsmen, Gideon accepted and began his prepara-tions for life among the Indians, and in March, 1834, he bade farewell to his friends and kindred and began his journey westward.

  Early in April, he arrived at Galena, equipped for their strange. Heaven-inspired mission. He found his brother firmly fixed in his resolution to carry out the plans already decided upon. In a few days we find them on the steamer's deck, moving steadily up the mighty father of waters, towards their destination. "This is a serious undertaking," remarked the younger brother as they steamed northward. And such it was. There was in it no element of attractiveness from a human view-point.

  They expected to go among roving tribes, to have no permanent abiding place and to subsist as those wild and savage tribes subsisted. Their plan was a simple and feasible one, as they proved by experience, but one which required large stores of faith and fortitude every step of the way. They knew, also, that outside of a narrow circle of personal friends, none knew anything of this mission to the Sioux, or felt the slightest interest in its success or failure. But undismayed they pressed on.

  The scenery of the Upper Mississippi is still pleasing to those eyes, which behold it, clothed in its springtime robes of beauty. In 1834, this scenery shone forth in all the primeval glory of ''nat'nre unmarred by the hand of man.''

  As the steamer Warrior moved steadily on its way

  SAMUEL VV. POND, 20 Years a Missionary to the Sioux.

  GiDFON H. POND^

  For Twenty years Missionary to the Dakotas.

  up the Mississippi, the rich May verdure, through which they passed, appeared strikingly beautiful to the two brothers, who then beheld it for the first time. It was a most delightful journey and ended on the sixth day of May, at the dock at old Fort vSnelling.

  This was then our extreme outpost of frontier civilization. It had been established in 1819, as our front-guard against the British and Indians of the Northwest. It was located on the high plateau, lying between the Mississippi and tlie Minnesota (St. Peters) rivers, and it was then the only im])ortant place within the limits of the present state of Minnesota.

  While still on board the Warrior, the brothers received a visit and a warm welcome from the Rev. William T. Boutell, a missionarv of the American Board to the Ojibways at Leach Lake, Minnesota. He was greatly rejoiced to meet "these dear brethren, who, from love to Christ and for the poor red man, had come alone to this long-neglected field."

  A little later they stepped ashore, found themselves in savage environments and face to face with the grave problems they had come so far to solve. They were men extremely well fitted, mentally and physically, naturally and by training for the toils and privations of the life upon which they had now entered. Sent, not by man but by the Lord; appointed, not by any human authority but by the great Jehovah; without salary or any prospects of
worldly emoluments, unknowm, unheralded, those humble but heroic men began, in dead earnest, their grand life-work. Their mission and commission was to conquer that savage tribe of fierce.

  prairie warriors, by the two-edged sword of the spirit of the living God and to mold them aright, by the power of the Gospel of His Son. And God was with them as they took up their weapons (not carnal but spiritual) in this glorious warfare.

  They speedily found favor with the military authorities, and with one of the most prominent chieftains of that time and region—Cloudman or Man-of-the-sky.

  The former gave them full authority to prosecute their mission among the Indians; the latter cordially invited them to establish their residence at his village on the shore of Lake Calhoun.

  The present site of Minneapolis was then simply a vast, wind-swept prairie, uninhabited by white men. A single soldier on guard at the old government sawmill at St. Anthony Falls was the only representative of the Anglo-Saxons, where now dwell hundreds of thousands of white men of various nationalities.

  Busy, bustling, beautiful Minneapolis, with its elegant homes; its commodious churches; its great University—with its four thousand students—; its well-equipped schools—with their forty-two thousand pupils—; its great business blocks; its massive mills; its humming factories; its broad avenues; its pleasant parks; its population of a quarter of a million of souls; all this had not then even been as much as dreamed of.

  Four miles west of St. Anthony Falls, lies Lake Calhoun, and a short distance to the south is Lake Harriet, (two most beautiful sheets of water, both within the present limits of Minneapolis). The inter-

  veiling space was covered by a gfove of majestic oaks.

  Here, in 1834, was an Indian village of five hundred Sioux. Their habitations were teepees, made of tamarack bark or of skins of wild beasts. Their burial ground covered a part of lovely Lakewood, the favorite cemetery of the city of Minneapolis. This band recognized Cloudman or Man-of-the-sky as their chief, whom they both. respected and loved. He was then about forty years of age. He was an intelligent man, of an amiable disposition and friendly to the approach of Civilization. Here, under the auspices of this famous chieftain, they erected for themselves a snug, little home, near the junction of Thirty-fifth street and Irving Avenue South, Minneapolis.