History of Saginaw county, Michigan; together with ... portraits ... and biographies ... History of Michigan ...

148

HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.

There were present some Ottawas of pure and mixed blood, and
although in our State papers the parties of the treaty are spoken
of as the United States on the one side, and the Chippewa nation
on the other, there are the names of chiefs and head men affixed
to the treaty who were of Ottawa descent. There were but three
regular councils or audiences held during the 10 or 12 days that
the negotiations were pending. At such formal councils only the
chiefs, warriors, head men and braves were called and admitted into
the council hall, although the sides being open and the opportunity
for hearing and seeing unimpeded, the Indian women and their
children gathered in timid groups close by. They were silent, but
by no means disinterested spectators of the solemn negotiations
proceeding within, which involved no less than a full and final
surrender of the burial places of their fathers, the ancient hunting
grounds of their people, the fair and beautiful heritage of forest
and corn ground, lake and river.
"At the first council Gen. Cass made known to the natives,
through Henry Conner and Whitmore Knaggs, experienced and
highly respected Indian traders, and as interpreters most competent, the object of his journey from Detriot and the general
purposes of our Government. He endeavored to impress upon
them the paternal regard which their ' Great Father' at Washington had for their welfare, and the hope that the peaceful
relations which had existed between them since the close of the
war should be rendered perpetual. He reminded them of their
condition as a people, the swelling of the wave of civilization
toward their hunting grounds, the growing scarcity of game, the
importance and necessity of turning their attention more to agriculture and relinquishing the more uncertain modes of living by
the chase, and the better condition they would ultimately be in by
confining themselves to reservations ample for the purpose of
agriculture, to be provided for them by the proposed treaty, and the
cession of the residue of the territory then occupied by those who
were there represented, upon such terms and guarantees as their
condition required, including therein stipulated annuities. He
was answered by their chief speaker with a gravity and eloquence
peculiar to Indian councils. Three chiefs of high repute acted as
speakers for the Indians, who survived for some years after the
treaty, and were known to some of the earlier settlers in the
valley. Their names were often pronounced by early traders
and pioneers differently, and are found in documents with different
orthography, but as they appear at the foot of the treaty they are
Mish-e-ne-na-non-e-quet, O-ge-maw-ke-ke-to, and also, at the first
council, Kish-kaw-ko. At the subsequent councils the latter was
not present, except at the last, and then merely to affix his totem
to the treaty after it had engrossed for execution. He had put
himself out of condition at the close of day by drinking, and
remained in a state quite unpresentable as a speaker for the
residue of the time. He was an Indian of violent temper, and in
excitement of liquor was reckless in the commission of outrage.