University of Virginia Library

Chapter III.

The aborigines of America, although divided into
many different tribes, inhabiting various climates, and without
a community of language, are yet assimilated to each
other in stature and complexion, more strikingly than are
the inhabitants of the different countries of Europe. The
manners and customs of one nation, are very much the
manners and customs of all; and although there be peculiarities
observable among all, yet are they fewer and less
manifest than those which mark the nations of the old
world, and distinguish them so palpably from each other.
A traveller might have traversed the country, when occupied
exclusively by the natives, without remarking among
them, the diversity which exists in Europe; or being impressed
with the contrast which a visit across the Pyrennes
would exhibit, between the affability and vivacity of a
Frenchman at a theatre or in the Elysian fields, and the
hauteur and reserve of a Spaniard at their bloody circus,
when "bounds with one lashing spring the mighty brute."

[26] Nor is there much in savage life, calculated to
inspire the mind of civilized man, with pleasurable sensations.
Many of the virtues practised by them, proceed
rather from necessity or ignorance than from any ethical
principle existing among them. The calm composure with
which they meet death and their stoical indifference to
bodily pain, are perhaps more attributable to recklessness
of life and physical insensibility,[9] than to fortitude or
magnanimity; consequently they do not much heighten
the zest of reflection, in contemplating their character.
The christian and the philanthropist, with the benevolent

design of improving their morals and meliorating their
condition, may profitably study every peculiarity and trait
of character observable among them; it will facilitate their
object and enable them the more readily to reclaim them
from a life of heathenish barbarity, and to extend to them
the high boons of civilization and christianity.

It has been observed that the different tribes of natives
of North America, resemble each other very much in stature
and complexion, in manners and customs; a general
description of these will therefor be sufficient.

The stature of an Indian, is generally that of the medial
stature of the Anglo Americans; the Osages are said
to form an exception to this rule, being somewhat taller.
They are almost universally straight and well proportioned;
their limbs are clean, but less muscular than those of the
whites, and their whole appearance strongly indicative of
effeminacy. In walking, they invariable place one foot directly
before the other—the toes never verging from a
right line with the heel. When traveling in companies,
their manner of marching is so peculiar as to have given
rise to the expression, "Indian file;" and while proceeding
in this way, each carefully places his foot in the vestige of
the foremost of the party, so as to leave the impression
of the footsteps of but one. They have likewise in their
gait and carriage something so entirely different from the
gait and carriage of the whites, as to enable a person to
pronounce on one at a considerable distance. The hair of
an Indian is also strikingly different from that of the
whites. It is always black and straight, hangs loose and
looks as if it were [27] oiled. There is a considerable resemblance
in appearance, between it and the glossy black
mane of a thoroughbred horse; though its texture is finer.

In the squaws there exist, the same delicacy of proportion,
the same effeminacy of person, the same slenderness
of hand and foot, which characterise the female of
refined society; in despite too of the fact, that every
laborious duty and every species of drudgery, are imposed
on them from childhood. Their faces are broad, and between
the eyes they are exceedingly wide; their cheek
bones are high and the eyes black in both sexes—the noses

of the women inclining generally to the flat nose of the
African; while those of the men are more frequently aquiline
than otherwise.

Instances of decrepitude and deformity, are rarely
known to exist among them: this is probably owing to
the manner in which they are tended and nursed in infancy.
It is not necessary that the mother should, as has been
supposed, be guilty of the unnatural crime of murdering
her decrepid or deformed offspring—the hardships they
encounter are too great to be endured by infants not possessed
of natural vigor, and they sink beneath them.

Their countenances are for the most inflexible, stern
and immovable. The passions which agitate or distract
the mind, never alter its expression, nor do the highest
ecstacies of which their nature is susceptible, ever relax its
rigidity. With the same imperturbability of feature, they
encounter death from the hand of an enemy, and receive
the greetings of a friend.

In their intercourse with others, they seem alike insensible
to emotions of pleasure and of pain; and rarely
give vent to feelings of either. The most ludicrous scenes
scarcely ever cause them to laugh, or the most interesting
recitals draw from them more than their peculiar monosyllabic
expression of admiration.

In conversation they are modest and unassuming; indeed
taciturnity is as much a distinguishing trait of Indian
character, as it ever was of the Roman. In their councils
and public meetings, they never manifest an impatience to
be heard, or a restlessness under observations, either grating
to personal feeling or opposite to their individual ideas
of propriety: on the contrary they are still, silent and attentive;
and each is heard with the respect due to his
years, his wisdom, his experience, or the fame which his
exploits may have acquired him. [28] A loud and garrulous
Indian is received by the others with contempt, and a
cowardly disposition invariably attributed to him—

is as much and truly an apothegm with them as with us.

Their taciturnity and irrisibility however, are confined
to their sober hours. When indulging their insatiate thirst
for spirit, they are boisterous and rude, and by their obstreperous
laughter, their demoniacal shrieks and turbulent
vociferations, produce an appalling discord, such as
might well be expected to proceed from a company of infernal
spirits at their fiendish revels; and exhibit a striking
contrast to the low, monotonous tones used by them
at other times.

There can be no doubt that the Indians are the most
lazy, indolent race of human beings. No attempt which
has ever been made to convert them into slaves, has
availed much. The rigid discipline of a Spanish master,
has failed to overcome that inertness, from which an Indian
is roused only by war and the chase—Engaged in
these, he exhibits as much activity and perseverance, as
could be displayed by any one; and to gratify his fondness
for them, will encounter toils and privations, from which
others would shrink. His very form indicates at once, an
aptitude for that species of exercise which war and hunting
call into action, and an unfitness for the laborious drudgery
of husbandry and many of the mechanic arts. Could
they have been converted into profitable slaves, it is more
than probable we should never have been told, that "the
hand of providence was visible in the surprising instances
of mortality among the Indians, to make room for the
whites."

In their moral character many things appear of a nature,
either so monstrous as to shock humanity, or so
absurd as to excite derision; yet they have some redeeming
qualities which must elicit commendation. And while
we view with satisfaction those bright spots, shining more
brilliantly from the gloom which surrounds them, their
want of learning and the absence of every opportunity for
refinement, should plead in extenuation of their failings
and their vices. Some of the most flagrant of these, if
not encouraged, have at least been sanctioned by the
whites. In the war between the New England colonies
and the Narragansetts, it was the misfortune of the brave
Philip, after having witnessed the destruction of the

[29] greater part of his nation, to be himself slain by a Mohican.
After his head had been taken off, Oneco, chief of
the Mohicans, then in alliance with the colonists, claimed
that he had a right to feast himself on the body of his
fallen adversary. The whites did not object to this, but
composedly looked on Oneco, broiling and eating the flesh
of Philip—and yet cannibalism was one of their most savage
traits of character.

This was a general, if not an universal custom among
the Indians, when America became known to the whites.
Whether it has yet entirely ceased is really to be doubted:
some of those who have been long intimate with them,
affirm that it has not; though it is far from being prevalent.

The Indians are now said to be irritable; but when Europeans
first settled among them, they were not more irascible
than their new neighbors. In their anger however,
they differ very much from the whites. They are not talkative
and boisterous as these are, but silent, sullen and revengeful.
If an injury be done them, they never forget,
they never forgive it. Nothing can be more implacable
than their resentment—no time can allay it—no change
of circumstances unfix its purpose. Revenge is to them
as exhilarating, as the cool draught from the fountain, to
the parched and fevered lips of a dying man.

When taking vengeance of an enemy, there is no
cruelty which can be exercised, no species of torture,
which their ingenuity can devise, too severe to be inflicted.
To those who have excited a spirit of resentment in the
bosom of an Indian, the tomahawk and scalping knife
are instruments of mercy. Death by the faggot—by
splinters of the most combustible wood, stuck in the flesh
and fired—maiming and disemboweling, tortures on which
the soul sickens but to reflect, are frequently practiced.
To an enemy of their own color, they are perhaps more
cruel and severe, than to the whites. In requiting upon
him, every refinement of torture is put in requisition, to
draw forth a sigh or a groan, or cause him to betray
some symptom of human sensibility. This they never
effect. An Indian neither shrinks from a knife, nor

winces at the stake; on the contrary he seems to exult
in his agony, and will mock his tormentors for the leniency
and mildness of their torture.[10]

[30] Drinking and gambling are vices, to which the
Indians, as well as the whites, are much addicted. Such
is their fondness for spirit of any kind that they are rarely
known to be sober, when they have it in their power to
be otherwise. Neither a sense of honor or of shame has
been able to overcome their propensity for its use; and
when drunk, the ties of race, of friendship and of kindred
are too weak, to bind their ferocious tempers.

In gambling they manifest the same anxiety, which
we see displayed at the card table of the whites. The
great difference seems to be, that we depend too frequently
on sleight and dexterity; whereas while they are shaking
their gourd neck of half whited plumbstones, they only
use certain tricks of conjuration, which in their simplicity
they believe will ensure them success. To this method of
attaining an object, they have frequent recourse. Superstition
is the concomitant of ignorance. The most enlightened,
are rarely altogether exempt from its influence—with
the uninformed it is a master passion, swaying
and directing the mind in all its operations.

In their domestic economy, Indians are, in some respects,
like the rude of all countries. They manifest but
little respect for the female; imposing on her not only the

duties of the hut, but also the more laborious operations
of husbandry; and observing towards them the hauteur
and distance of superior beings.

There are few things, indeed, which mark with equal
precision, the state of civilization existing in any community,
as the rank assigned in it to females. In the
rude and barbarous stages of society, they are invariably
regarded as inferior beings, [31] instruments of sensual
gratification, and unworthy the attention and respect of
men. As mankind advance to refinement, females gradually
attain an elevation of rank, and acquire an influence
in society, which smoothes the asperities of life and produces
the highest polish, of which human nature is susceptible.

Among the Indians there is, however rude they may
be in other respects, a great respect always paid to female
chastity. Instances in which it has been violated by
them, if to be found at all, are extremely few. However
much the passion of revenge may stimulate to acts of
cruelty, the propensities of nature never lead them to infringe
the virtue of women in their power.

The general character of the Indians, was more estimable,
when they first became known to Europeans, than
it is at present. This has been ascribed to the introduction
of ardent spirits among them—other causes however,
have conspired to produce the result.

The cupidity of those who were engaged in commerce
with the natives, too frequently prompted them to
take every advantage, for self aggrandizement, which they
could obtain over the Indians. In the lucrative traffic carried
on with them, the influence of honesty was not predominant—the
real value of the commodity procured, was
never allowed; while upon every article given in exchange,
extortion alone affixed the price. These examples
could not fail to have a deteriorating effect upon their untutored
minds; and we find them accordingly losing their
former regard for truth, honesty and fidelity; and becoming
instead deceitful, dishonest and treacherous. Many
of their ancient virtues however, are still practised by
them.

The rights of hospitality are accorded to those who
go among them, with a liberality and sincerity which
would reflect credit on civilized man. And although it
has been justly said that they rarely forgive an enemy,
yet is it equally true that they never forsake their friends;
to them they are always kind, generous and beneficient.

After the ceremony of introduction is over,[11] a captive
enemy, [32] who is adopted by them, is also treated with
the utmost humanity and attention. An Indian cheerfully
divides his last morsel with an adopted son or brother;
and will readily risk life in his defence. Such indeed, is
the kindness which captives thus situated invariably receive,
that they frequently regret the hour of their redemption,
and refuse to leave their red brethren, to return and
mingle with the whites.

As members of a community, they are at all times
willing to devote their every faculty, for the good of the
whole. The honor and welfare of their respective tribes,
are primary considerations with them. To promote these,
they cheerfully encounter every privation, endure every
hardship, and face every danger. Their patriotism is of
the most pure and disinterested character; and of those
who have made us feel so sensibly, the horrors of savage
warfare, many were actuated by motives which would reflect
honor on the citizens of any country. The unfortunate
Tecumseh was a remarkable example of the most ardent
and patriotic devotion to his country.

Possessed of an acute and discerning mind, he witnessed
the extending influence of the whites, with painful
solicitude. Listening with melancholy rapture, to the traditionary
accounts of the former greatness of his nation,
and viewing in anticipation the exile or extinction of his
race, his noble soul became fired with the hope that he
might retrieve the fallen fortune of his country, and restore
it to its pristine dignity and grandeur. His attachment
to his tribe impelled him to exertion and every nerve was
strained in its cause.

Determined if possible to achieve the independence of
his nation, and to rid her of those whom he considered
her oppressors, he formed the scheme of uniting in hostility
against the United States, all the tribes dwelling
east of the Mississippi river. In the prosecution of this
purpose, he travelled from Mackinaw to Georgia,[12] and with
wonderful adroitness practised on the different feelings of
his red brethren. Assuming at times the character of a
prophet, he wrought powerfully on their credulity and superstition.—Again,
depending on the force of oratory, the
witchery of his eloquence drew many [33] to his standard.
But all was in vain—His plans were entirely frustrated.
He had brought none of his auxiliaries into the field; and
was totally unprepared for hostilities, when his brother,
the celebrated Shawanese prophet, by a premature attack
on the army under Gen. Harrison, at an inauspicious moment,
precipitated him into a war with the United States.

Foiled by this means, Tecumseh joined the standard
of Great Britain in the war of 1812; and as a Brigadier
General in her army, lost his life, bravely supporting the
cause which he had espoused. He deserved a better fate;
and but for prejudice which is so apt to dim the eye and
distort the object, Tecumseh would, most probably, be
deemed a martyr for his country, and associated in the
mind with the heroes of Marathon and Thermopylæ.

To contemplate the Indian character, in a religious
point of view, is less gratifying than to consider it in regard
to the lesser morals. At the period of the settlement
of Western Virginia, excepting the Moravians, and a few
others who had been induced by the zeal and exertions of
Roman catholic missionaries to wear the cross, the Indians
north west of the Ohio river, were truly heathens. They
believed indeed in a First Cause, and worshiped the Good
Spirit; but they were ignorant of the great truths of
Christianity, and their devotions were but superstitious
acts of blind reverence. In this situation they remain

generally at the present day, notwithstanding the many
laudable endeavors which have been made to christianize
them.

Perhaps there was never a tribe in America, but believed
in the existence of a Deity; yet were their ideas
of the nature and attributes of God, not only obscure, but
preposterous and absurd. They believe also in the existence
of many inferior deities, whom they suppose to be
employed as assistants in managing the affairs of the world,
and in inspecting the actions of men. Eagles and Owls are
thought by some to have been placed here as observers of
the actions of men; and accordingly, when an eagle is seen
to soar about them by day, or an owl to perch near them
at night, they immediately offer sacrifice, that a good report
may be made of them to the Great Spirit.

They are likewise believers in the immortality of the
soul; and have such an idea of a future state of existence,
as accords with their character and condition here.
Strangers to [34] intellectual pleasures, they suppose that
their happiness hereafter will consist of mere sensual
gratifications; and that when they die, they will be translated
to a delightful region, where the flowers never fade,
nor the leaves fall from the trees; where the forests abound
in game, and the lakes in fish, and where they expect to
remain forever, enjoying all the pleasures which delighted
them here.[13]

In consequence of this belief, when an Indian dies,
and is buried, they place in the grave with him, his bow
and arrows and such weapons as they use in war, that he
may be enabled to procure game and overcome an enemy.
And it has been said, that they grieve more for the death
of an infant unable to provide for itself in the world of
spirits, than for one who had attained manhood and was
capable of taking care of himself. An interesting instance
of this is given by Major Carver, and furnishes at
once, affecting evidence of their incongruous creed and of
their parental tenderness. Maj. Carver says:

"Whilst I remained with them, a couple whose tent
was near to mine, lost a son about four years old. The
parents were so inconsolable for its loss, and so much
affected by its death, that they pursued the usual testimonies
of grief with such uncommon vigor, as through
the weight of sorrow and loss of blood, to occasion the
death of the father. The mother, who had been hitherto
absorbed in grief, no sooner beheld her husband expire,
than she dried up her tears, and appeared cheerful and resigned.

"As I knew not how to account for so extraordinary
a transition, I took an opportunity to ask her the reason
of it. She replied, that as the child was so young when
it died, and unable to support itself in the country of
spirits, both she and her husband had been apprehensive
that its situation would be far from pleasant; but no sooner
did she behold its father depart for the same place, and
who not only loved the child with the tenderest affection,
but was a good hunter and [35] able to provide plentifully
for its support, than she ceased to mourn. She added that
she saw no reason to continue her tears, as the child was
now happy under the protection of a fond father; and that
she had only one wish remaining to be gratified, and that
was a wish to be herself with them."[14]

In relation to the Indian antiquities so frequently met

with in America, much doubt still exists. When and for
what purpose many of those vast mounds of earth, so
common in the western country, were heaped up, is matter
of uncertainty. Mr. Jefferson has pronounced them to
be repositories of the dead; and many of them certainly
were designed for that purpose; perhaps all with which
he had become acquainted previous to the writing of his
notes of Virginia. Mr. Jefferson did not deem them
worthy the name of monuments. Since the country has
been better explored, many have been discovered justly
entitled to that appellation, some of which seem to have
been constructed for purposes other than inhumation.[15]
These are frequently met with in the valley of the Mississippi,
and are said to extend into Mexico. The most celebrated
works of this class, are believed to be those at Circleville
in Ohio, which have so frequently been described,
and are justly considered memorials of the labor and perseverance
of those by whom they were erected.

There is a tradition among the Indians of the north,
which if true would furnish a very rational solution to the
question, "for what purpose were they constructed?"
According to this tradition about "two thousand two
hundred years, before Columbus discovered America, the
northern nations appointed a prince, and immediately after,
repaired to the south and visited the Golden city, the capital
of a vast empire. After a time the emperor of the
south built many forts throughout his dominions, and extending
them northwardly almost penetrated the lake
Erie. This produced much excitement. The people of
the north, afraid that they would be deprived of the country
on the south side of the great lakes, determined to
defend it against the infringement of any foreign people;
long and bloody wars ensued which lasted about one hundred

years. The people of the north, being more skillful
in the use of bows and arrows, and capable of enduring
hardships which proved fatal to those of the south, gained
the conquest; and all the towns and forts, which had been
erected by their enemy, were totally destroyed and left in
a heap of ruins."[16]

The most considerable of those tumuli or sepulchral
mounds, which are found in Virginia, is that on the bottoms
of Grave creek, near its entrance into the Ohio, about
twelve miles below Wheeling, and is the only large one in
this section of the country. Its diameter at the base, is
said to be one hundred yards, its perpendicular height
about eighty feet, and the diameter at its summit, forty-five
feet. Trees, of all sizes and of various kinds, are
growing on its sides; and fallen [36] and decayed timber,
is interspersed among them; a single white oak rises out
of a concavity in the centre of its summit.[17]

Near to Cahokia there is a group (of about two hundred)
of these mounds, of various dimensions.[18] The largest
of these is said to have a base of eight hundred yards circumference,
and an altitude of ninety feet. These and the
one mentioned as being on Grave creek and many smaller
ones in various parts of the country, were no doubt places
of inhumation.[19] —Many have been opened, and found to
contain human bones promiscuously thrown together. Mr.

Jefferson supposed the one examined by him, (the diameter
of whose base was only forty feet and height twelve) to
contain the bones of perhaps a thousand human beings,
of each sex and of every age. Others have been examined,
in which were the skeletons of men of much greater
stature, than that of any of the Indians in America, at the
time of its discovery, or of those with whom we have since
become acquainted.

It is a well known fact, that since the whites became
settled in the country, the Indians were in the habit of
collecting the bones of their dead and of depositing them
in one general cemetery; but the earth and stone used by
them, were taken from the adjacent land. This was not
invariably the case, with those ancient heaps of earth
found in the west. In regard to many of them, this singular
circumstance is said to be a fact, that the earth, of
which they are composed, is of an altogether different nature,
from that around them; and must, in some instances,
have been carried a considerable distance. The tellurine
structures at Circleville are of this sort; and the material
of which they were constructed, is said to be distinctly
different, from the earth any where near to them.

The immensity of the size of these and many others,
would induce the supposition that they could not have
been raised by a race of people as indolent as the Indians
have been, ever since a knowledge was had of them.
Works, the construction of which would now require the
concentrated exertions of at least one thousand men, aided
by the mechanical inventions of later days, for several
months, could hardly have been erected by persons, so
subject to lassitude under labor as they are: unless indeed
their population was infinitely greater than we now conceive
it to have been. Admitting however, this density
of population to have existed, other circumstances would
corroborate the belief, that the country once had other inhabitants,
than the progenitors of those who have been
called, the aborigines of America: one of these circumstances
is the uncommon size of many of the skeletons
found in the smaller mounds upon the hills.

If the fact be, as it is represented, that the larger skeletons

are invariably found on elevated situations, remote
from the larger water courses, it would tend to show that
there was a diversity of habit, and admitting their cotemporaneous
existence, perhaps no alliance or intercourse
between those, whose remains they are, and the persons
by whom those large mounds and fortifications were
erected, [37] these being found only on plains in the contiguity
of large streams or inland lakes; and containing
only the bones of individuals of ordinary stature.

Another and stronger evidence that America was occupied
by others than the ancestors of the present Indians,
is to be found in those antiquities, which demonstrate that
iron was once known here, and converted to some of the
uses ordinarily made of it.

In graduating a street in Cincinnati, there was found,
twenty-five feet below the surface of the earth, a small
horse shoe, in which were several nails. It is said to present
the appearance of such erosion as would result from
the oxidation of some centuries. It was smaller than
would be required for a common mule.[20]

Many are the instances of pieces of timber found,
various depths below the surface of the earth, with the
marks of the axe palpably visible on them.[21] A sword too,
said to have been enclosed in the wood of the roots of a
tree not less than five hundred years old, is preserved in
Ohio as a curiosity. Many other instances might, if necessary,
be adduced to prove, that implements of iron were in
use in this country, prior to its occupation by the whites.
Now if a people once have the use of that metal, it is far

from probable that it will ever after be lost to them: the
essential purposes to which it may be applied, would preserve
it to them. The Indians however, 'till taught by the
Europeans, had no knowledge of it.

Many of the antiquities discovered in other parts of the
country, show that the arts once flourished to an extent beyond
what they have ever been known to do among the Indians.
The body found in the saltpetre cave of Kentucky,
was wrapped in blankets made of linen and interwoven with
feathers of the wild turkey, tastefully arranged. It was much
smaller than persons of equal age at the present day, and
had yellowish hair. In Tennessee many walls of faced
stone, and even walled wells have been found in so many
places, at such depths and under such circumstances,
as to preclude the idea of their having been made by the
whites since the discovery by Columbus.

[38] In this state too, have been found burying grounds,
in which the skeletons seem all to have been those of pigmies:
the graves, in which the bodies had been deposited,
were seldom three feet in length; yet the teeth in the skulls
prove that they were the bodies of persons of mature age.

Upon the whole there cannot be much doubt, that
America was once inhabited by a people, not otherwise
allied to the Indians of the present day, than that they
were descendants of him, from whom has sprung the whole
human family.