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

HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY

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after the peace of Ghent, Gen. Cass concluded a treaty with the
Indians, by which they gave up their claims to the land, except
some reservations, and received an annual bounty. There was an
Indian farmer appointed to teach them farming, but they made
very indifferent farmers. Gen. Cushway, a Canadian Frenchman,
was appointed as a blacksmith to repair their guns, and held his
appointment several years, dying within a few years, at quite an
advanced age. The Government also sent them two Methodist
preachers, but the Indians sent them back, saying they would
rather have another blacksmith. Kish-kaw-ko was subsequently
imprisoned in Detroit as a drunken vagabond, and while there
took poison, thus ending his unhappy life.
"The Indians in this Valley lost all political significance. Once
during the war of the Rebellion, the rumor was started that the
Indians were assembling and arming themselves, but it caused
very little alarm among the inhabitants of the Valley, as their
courage and fighting qualities are now held in utter contempt by
the white settlers.
"Indians, as we saw them thirty years ago, and longer, were
well built, swarthy, never handsome, prominentcheekbones, black
coarse hair, no whiskers nor beard; their covering being a dark
calico shirt reaching to the knees, the lower part of the legs
incased in woolen leggings, the feet covered with moccasins; no
covering of the head whatever, but now and then a long feather
stuck in the hair; while sometimes, but seldom, they had red,
yellow or blue streaks painted on their faces. The women, ugly
almost without an exception, wore a long calico dress, also moccasins, but nothing else. Their babies — 'papooses"-were encased
in narrow shingle boards strapped upon their backs. They were
very much given to loitering around, staring at everything, asking
for anything that pleased them, which was generally bread, pork,
and other things, but principally tobacco and whisky. They did
not steal, and were not quarrelsome, even when drunk; but were
altogether an inoffensive, harmless and worthless rabble, not at
all romantic or picturesque. They lived by hunting and fishing,
were considered very poor marksmen by the whites, who excelled
in rifle-shooting, sold cranberries, whortleberries, baskets and moccasins. The painting of their baskets with gay colors, and the
embroidering of moccasins was the only approach they made
toward the fine arts. They lived in their tents, or in huts made
from bark, some in shanties, and even in log houses. Their
farming consisted mostly of planting a little corn, by the 'squaws'
They spoke their own language, could understand English, and
even speak it, but usually denied their knowledge of it. Some of
them were Christianized by Methodistand Lutheran ministers, but
they seemed very indifferent to religion.
"Well, I am afraid 1 have devoted too much of my time to
them: only allow me to describe 'pay-day' among them, and
the conveying of the mail from Saginaw to Mackinaw in the win~ter season. 'Pay-day' was the great festival for the Indians, in
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