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

by Creswell, R. J. (Robert J. )

  lit was built of large oak logs. The dimensions were twelve feet by sixteen and eight feet high. Straight tamarack poles formed the timbers of the roof. The roof itself was the bark of trees, fastened with strings of the inner bark of the basswood.

  A partition of small logs divided the house into two rooms. The ceiling was of slabs from the old government sawmill at St. Anthony Falls. The door was made of boards, split from a tree with an axe, and had wooden hinges and fastenings and was locked by pulling in the la4;ch-string. The single window was the gift of the kind-hearted Major Taliaferro, the United States Indian ao:ent at Fort Snelling. The cash cost of the whole was one shilling, New York currency, for nails, used about the door. The formal opening was the reading of a porttion of Scripture and prayer. The banquet consisted of mussels from the

  Lake, flour and water. This cabin was the first house erected within the present Hmits of MinneapoHs; it was the home of the first citizen settlers of Minnesota and was the first house used as a school-room and for divine worship in the state. It was a noble testimony to the faith, zeal and courage of its buidders. Here these consecrated brothers inaugurated their greaf work. In 1839 it was torn down for materials with which to construct breastworks for the defense of the Sioux, after the bloody battle of Rum River, against their feudal foes, the Ojibways. Here amid such lovely natural surroundings were the very beginnings of this mighty enterprise.

  The first lesson was given early in May, by Samuel Pond to Big Thunder chieftain of the Kaposia band, whose teepees were scattered over the blufifs, where now stands the city of St. Paul. His chief soldier was Big Iron. His son was Little Crow, who became famous or rather infamous, as the leader against the whites in the terrible tragedy of '62. Later in May the second lesson was taught by Gideon Pond tO' members of the Lake Calhoun band. Both lessons were in the useful and civilizing art of plowing and were the first in that grand series of lessons, covering more than seventy years, and by which the Sioux nation have been lifted from savagery to civilization.

  While God was preparing the Pond brothers in the hill country of Connecticut for their peculiar life-work, and opening up the way for them to engage ifi it. He also had in training in the school of His Provi-

  dences, in Massachusetts and Ohio, fitting helpers for them in this great enterprise. In the early 30's, at Ripley, Ohio, Dr. Thomas S. Williamson and Mrs. Margaret Poage Williamson, a young husband and wife, were most happily located, in the practice of his profession and in the upbuilding of a liappy Christian home. To this young couple the future seemed full of promise and permanent prosperity. Children were born to them; they were prosperous and an honorable name was being secured through the faithful discharge of the duties of his most noble profession and of Christian citizenship. They regarded themselves as happily located for life.

  The mission call to Dr. and Mrs. Williamson was emphasized by the messenger of death. When the missionary call first came to them, they excused themselves on account of their children. God removed the seeming obstacles, one by one. The little ones were called to the arms of Jesus. "A great trial!" A great blessing also. The way was thus cleared from a life of luxury and ease in Ohio to one of great denial and self sacrifice on mission fields. The bereaved parents recognized this call as from God, and by faith, both father and mother were enabled to say, ''Here are we; send us."

  "This decision," says an intimate friend, "neither of them after for one moment regretted; neither did they doubt that they were called of God to this great work, nor did they fear that their life-work would prove a failure." With characteristic devotion and energy. Dr. Williamson put aside a lucrative practice,

  lo AMONG THE SIOUX.

  and at once, entered on a course of preparation for his new work for which his previous Hfe and training had already given him great fitness.

  In 1833, he put himself under the care of the Presbytery of Chillicothe, removed with his family tO' Walnut Hills, Cincinnati, and entered Lane Seminary. While the Pond brothers in their log cabin at Lake Calhoun were studying the Sioux language, Dr. Williamson was compJeting his theological course on the banks of the beautiful river. He was ordained to the office of the gospel ministry in 1834. And in May, 1835, he landed.at Fort Snelling with another band of missionaries. He was accompanied by his quiet, lovely, faithful wife, Margaret, and one child, his wife's sister, Sarah Poage, afterwards Mrs. Gideon H. Pond, Mr. and Mrs. Alexander G. Huggins and two children. Mr. Huggins came as a teacher and farmer. During a stay of a few weeks here. Dr. Williamson presided at the organization of the first Protestant congregation in Minnesota, which was called the Presbyterian church of Sit. Peters. It consisted of officers, soldiers, fur-traders, and members of the mission families—twenty-one in all; seven of whom were received en confession of faith. It was organized at Fort Snelling, June II, 1835, ^^d still exists as the First Presbyterian church of Minneapolis, with more than five-hundred members.

  Early in July, Dr. Williamson pushed on in the face of grave difficulties, two hundred miles to the west, to the shores of Lac-qui-Parle, the Lake-that-speaks. Here they were cordially welcomed by Joseph Ren-

  The Old Fort Snelling Church Developed.

  ville, that famous Brois Brule trader, the half-breed chief who ruled that region for many years, bv force of his superior education and native abilities, and who ever was a strong and faithful friend of the missionaries. He gave them a temporary home and was helpful in many ways. Well did the Lord repay him for his kindness to His servants. His wife ibecame the first full-blood Sioux convert to the Chri&tian faith, and his youngest son, John Baptiste Renville, then a little lad, became the first native Presbyterian minister, one of the acknowledged leaders of his people.

  June, 1837, another pair of noble ones joined the ranks of the workers by the Lakeside. These were the Rev. S.tephen Return Riggs and his sweet Nevv-England Mary. He was a native of the beautiful valley of the Ohio; she was born amid the green hills of Massachusetts. His father was a Presbyterian elder of Steiibenville, Ohio; her mother was a daugliter of New England. She herself was a pupil of the cultured and sainted Mary Lyon of Mount Holyoke.

  They were indeed choice spirits, well-fitted by nature and by training for a place in that heroic band, which God was then gathering together on the shores of Lakes Calhoun and Harrielt and Lac-qui-Parle, for the conquest of the fiercest tribe of prairie warriors that ever roamed over the beautiful plains of the New Northwest. He was a scholar and a linguist; courageous, energetic, firm, diplomatic; she was cultured, gentle, tactful, and withal, both were intensely spiritual and deeply devoted to the glorious work of soul-vvdnning. Both had been trained as missionaries, with

  China as a prospective field of service. Step by step m the Providence of God, they were drawn together as life companions and then turned from the Orient to the Western plains.

  During these years of beginnings, Dr. Williamson fomied the acquaintance of Stephen R. Riggs, then a young man, which culminated in a life-long alliance of love and service. During his seminary course, Mr. Riggs received a letter from his missionary friend, to which, he afterwards referred thus: ''It seems to me now, strange that he should have indicated in that letter the possible line of work open to me, which has been so closely followed. I remember especially the prominence he gave to the thought that the Bible should be translated into the language of the Dakotas. Men do sometimes yet write as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. That letter decided my going westward rather than to China." It was a lovely day, the first of June, when this young bride and groom arrived at Fort Snelling. Though it was their honeymoon, they did not linger long in the romantic haunts of Minnehaha and the Lakes; but pressed on to Lac-qui-Parle and joined hands with the toilers there in their mighty work of laying foundations broad and deep in the wilderness, like the coral workers in the ocean depths, out of sight of man.

  What a glorious trio of mission family bands were then gathered on Minnesota's lovely plains, on the shores of those beautiful lakes ! Pt»nd, Williamson
, Riggs. Names that will never be forgotten while a Sioux Christian exists in earth or glory.

  When the American Mission Hall of Fame shall be erected these three names will shine out high upon the dome like "apples of gold in pictures of silver," Pond, Williamson, Riggs. ''And a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name. * * * And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels."

  Chapter 11.

  In 1836, within one year from the arrival of Dr. Williamson and his missionary party at Lac-qui-Parle, a church was organized, with six native members, which in 1837, consisted of "seven Dakotas, besides half-breeds and whites, and, within five years, had enrolled forty-nine native communicants. Of this congregation Alexander G. Huggins and Joseph Renville were the ruling elders.

  An adobe church edifice was erected in 1841, which for eighteen years met the wants of this people. In its belfry was hung the first church bell that ever rang out over the prairies of Minnesota, the sweet call to the worship of the Savior of the human race. The services of the church were usually held in the native language. The hymns were sung to French tunes, which were then the most popular. At the beginning, translations from the French of a portion of Scripture were read and some explanatory remarks were made by Joseph Renville.

  The first school for teaching Indians to read and write in the Dakota language, was opened in December, i
  attendance small and irregular, but in the course of three months, they were able to write to each other on birch bark. Those who learned to read and wTite the langutige properly, soon became interested in the gospel. The first five men, who were gathered into tlie church, were pupils of this first school. Of the next twenty, three were pupils and fourteen wxre the kindred of its pupils. Among their descendants were three Dakota pastors and many of the most faithful and fruitful communicants.

  One large log-house of five rooms, within the Renville stockade, furnished a home for the three mission families of Dr. Williamson, Rev. Stephen R. Riggs and Gideon H. Pond. One room was both church and school room for years. Under this roof the missionaries met frequently for conference, study and translation of the word of God. Here, September 30, 1844. the original Dakota Presbytery w^as organized.

  For several years most of the members of this congregation were women. Once in the new and then unfinished church, edifice, more than one hundred Indian men were gathered. When urged to accept Christ and become members of this church, they replied that the church was made up of squaws. Did tlie missionaries sui)pcse the braves avouM follow tbe lead of squaws ? Ugh ! l ^^h "

  For the first seven years, at Lac-qui-Parle, mission work was prosecuted, with marked success in .spite nf many grave hindrances. But for the four years following—1842-46—the work was seriously retarded].

  H) AMONG THE SIOUX.

  The crops failed and the savages charged their misfortunes to the missionaries. They became very ugh', and began a series of petty yet bitter persecutions a-gainst the Christian Indians and the missionaries. The children were forbidden to attend school; the women who favored the church had their blankets cut to pieces and were shut away from contact with the mission. The cattle and horses of the mission were killed, and for a season the Lord's work was stayed at Lac-qui-Parle. Discouraged, but not dismayed His serv-antfe were watchful for other opportunities of helpful service.

  In 1846, the site of the present, prosperous cit}' of St. Paul, was occupied by a few shanties, owned by "certain lewd fellows of the baser sort," sellers of rum to the soldiers and the Indians. Nearby, scattered over the bluffs, were the teepees of Little Crow's band, forming the Sioux village of Kaposia. In 1846, Little Crow, their belligerant chieftain, was shot by his own brother, in a drunken revel. He survived the wound, but ai)parently alarmed at the influence of these modern harpies over himself and his people, he visited Fort Snelling and begged a missionary for his village. The United States agent stationed there forwarded this petition to Lac-qui-Parle with the suggestion that Dr. Williamson be transferred to Kaposia. The invitation was accepted by the doctor, so in November, 1846, he became a resident of Kaposia (now South St. Paul). To this new station, he carried the same energy, hopefulness and devotion, he had shown at the beginning. Here he remained six years, serving not only the In-

  dians of Little Crow's band, but also doing great good to the white settlers, who were then gathering around the future Capital City of Minnesota. Here in 1848, he organized an Indian church of eight members. It increased to fifteen members, in 1851, when the Indians were removed.

  Then followed the treaty of 1851, which was of great import, both to the white man and to the red man. By this treaty, the fertile valley of the Minnesota was thrown open for settlement to the whites. This took away from the vSioux their hunting-grounds, their cranberry marshes, their deer-parks and the graves of their ancestors. So the Dakotas of the Mississippi and lower Minnesota packed up their teepees, their household goods and gods, some in canoes, some on ponies, some on dogs, some on the women, and slowly and sadly took up their line of march towards the setting of the sun.

  No sooner did the Indians move than Dr. Williamson followed them and established a new station at Yellow Medicine, on the West bank of the Minnesota river and three miles above the mouth of the Yellow-Medicine river. The first winter there, was a fight for life. The house was unfinished; a very severe winter set in unvisually early, the snows were deep and the drifts terrible; the supply-teams were snowed in; the horses perished, the provisions were abandoned to the wolves and the drivers reached home in a half-frozen condition. But God cared for His servants. In this emergency, the Rev. M. N. Adams, of Lac-qui-Parle, performed a most heroic act. In mid-v/inter, with the

  thermometer many deg-rees below 5:ero, he hauled flour and other provisions for the missionaries, on a hand sled, from Lac-cini-Parle to Yellow Medicine, a distance cf thirty-two miles. The fish gathered in shoals, an unusual occurrence, near the mission and both the Indians and the missionaries lived throug-h that terrible winter. Here, an Indian church of seventeen members was organized by Dr. Williamson. It increased to a membership of thirty in the next decade.

  In March, 1854, the mission houses at Lac-qui-Parle were destroyed by fire. A consolidation of the mission forces was soon after effected. Dr. Rigg's and other helpers were transferred from Lac-qui-Parle to a point two miles distant from Yellow Medicine and called Omehoo (Hazelwood). A comfortable mission home was erected. The native Christians remo^d from I.ac-qui-Parle and re-established their homes at Hazelwood. A boarding school was soon opened at this point by Rev. M. N. Adams. A neat chapel was also erected. A church of thirty members was organized by Mr. Riggs. It grew to a membership of forty-five before the massacre. These were mainly from the the Lac-qui-Parle church which might be called the mother of all the Dakota churches.

  There were now gathered around the mission stations, quite a community of young men, who had to a great extent, become civilized. With civilization came new wants—pantaloons and coats and hats. There was power also in oxen and wagons and brick-houses. The white man's axe and plow and hoe had

  been introduced and the red man was learning to use them. So the external civilization went on.

  But the great and prominent force was in the underlying education and* especially in the vitalizing and renewing powt>r of Christian truth. So far as the inner life was changed, civilized habits became permanent; otherwise they were shadows. Evangelization was working out civilization. It is doing its permanently blessed work even yet.

  About this time occurred the formation of the Haz-elwood Republic.

  This was a band of Indians somewhat advanced in civilization, who were or
ganized chiefly by the efforts of Dr. Riggs, under a written constitution and by-laws. Their officers were a President, Secretary and three judges, who were elected by a vote of the membership for a term of two years each. Paul Maza-koo-ta-mane was the first president and served for tw^o terms. This was an interesting experiment, in the series of efforts, by the missionaries, to change this tribe of nomads from their roving teepee life to that of peiTnan-cnt dwellers in fixed habitations. The rude shock of savag.? warfare, which soon after revolutionized the whole Sioux nation, swept it away before its efficiency could be properly tested. Surely it was a novelty—an Indian band, regulated by written laws and governed by officers, elected by themselves for a temi of years. It now exists only in the memory of the oldest of the tribesmen or tlie missionaries.

  In 1843, a new station was established at Traverse des Sioux (near St. Peter, Minnesota,) by the Rev.

  .'o AMONG THE SIOUX.

  Stephen R. Riggs. This station was doomed to a tragic history. July 15, 1843,, Thomas Longley, the favorite brother of Mrs. Mary Riggs, was suddenly swallowed up in the treacherous waters of the Minnesota and laid to rest under what his sister was wont to call the ''Oaks of weeping"—three dwarf oaks on a small knoll. In 1844, Robert Hopkins and his young bride> joined the workers here. In 1851, July 4, Mr. Hopkins was suddenly swept away to death by the fatal waves of the IMinnesota and his recovered body was laid to rest under the oaks where Thomas Longley had slept all alone for seven years. Thus the mission at Traverse des Sioux was closed by the messenger of death. It was continued, however, in the nearby frontier town of St. Peter, whose white settlers requested the Rev. M. N. Adams, one of the missionaries to the Sioux, to dcA'Cte his time to their spiritual needs. He complied and founded a white Presbyterian church and it is one of the strong Protestant organizations of Southern Minnesota.