History of Hillsdale county. Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers.

14

HISTORY OF HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

ings which might arise among the people. There was no
positive law compelling obedience.
Even when war was declared there was no way by which
the braves could be compelled to take the war-path. Any
war-chief could drive a stake in the ground, dance the wardance around it, strike his tomahawk into it with a yell of
defiance, and call for volunteers to go forth against the foe.
If his courage or capacity were doubted, he obtained but few
followers. If he were of approved valor and skill, a larger
number would grasp their tomahawks in response to his appeal; while, if he were a chieftain distinguished far and wide
for deeds of blood and craft, the whole nation would spring
to arms, and all its villages would resound with the terrific
notes of the war-song, chanted by hundreds of frenzied
braves.
With followers few or many, the chief went forth against
the foe. But he could not compel their obedience a moment longer than they chose to give it, and no punishment
but disgrace awaited the recreant who deserted his leader
in the hour of his utmost need. The most extreme penalty
only consisted in giving the dishonor due the dastard a
visible form, by enveloping him in the garments of a woman
and compelling him to perform the menial labors usually
performed by the weaker sex. But to an Indian, accustomed to look down on his squaw as infinitely below him,
this would be the most terrible of inflictions.
As is well known, the original weapons of the Indians
were bows and arrows (the latter tipped with flint), warclubs, stone tomahawks, and scalping-knives, also made of
sharpened flints. But, stubborn as they were in repelling
all the arts of civilization offered by the whites, they
grasped eagerly at the formidable implements of war
brought across the Atlantic. Iron tomahawks and scalping-knives could be cheaply manufactured, and soon an
ample supply of them was furnished by the Dutch and
English to the Iroquois, and by the French to the numerous tribes of the Algonquin race under the influence of
that subtle people.
Guns and ammunition were more costly, but the Indian
longed for them with a love second only to his passion for
whisky, and, despite occasional prohibitions by the colonial
authorities on either side, the best warriors and hunters in
the various tribes were soon provided with these deadly instruments of slaughter. In fact, whenever war was threatened between the French and English, both parties were
eager to enlist all the Indian allies they could, and furnished
muskets and gunpowder with a free hand.
Armed and equipped, clad only in a breech-clout, but
covered from head to foot with paint disposed in the most
hideous figures, his head crested with feathers of the wild
birds he had slain, the Indian went forth on the war-path.
If the band was a small one, it lurked in the vicinity of the
hostile villages until a still smaller number of the enemy
could be caught at a distance from their friends. These
were, if possible, shot down from an ambush (for under no

circumstances will an Indian run any risk which it is possible to avoid), their scalps were stripped off with eager
haste, and the victors fled towards their homes at their
utmost speed.
If the whole nation turned out in arms, they might

attempt the total destruction of their enemy; but even then
surprise was generally an essential element of success.
Hurrying forward by unfrequented paths, or plunging
through the trackless forest, guided only by the sun and
the well-known courses of the streams, the little army
reached the neighborhood of the foe. Carefully concealing their approach, they waited an opportunity for attack,
which was usually made at night. When their unsuspecting victims were wrapped in slumber, the whole crowd of
painted demons would burst in among them, using musket,
knife, and tomahawk with furious zeal, and striking terror
to every heart with the fiendish sound of war-whoops
shrieked from a thousand throats. The torch was applied
to the frail cabins of the unhappy people, and men, women,
and children were stricken down in indiscriminate slaughter
by the lurid light of their blazing homes.
When the first fury of savage hate had been satiated,
prisoners were taken, but these were frequently destined
to a fate far more terrible than the speedy death from which
they had escaped. Bound with thongs and loaded with
burdens, they were urged on with remorseless speed toward
the home of their captors, and if, enfeebled by wounds or
sickness, they lagged behind, the ready tomahawk put an
end to their miseries. But if the prisoner, withstanding
the hardships of the march, was brought alive to the wigwams of the victors, and especially if he were a well-known
warrior, human fancy never painted a more awful doom
than that which awaited him, save where it has described
the tortures of the damned in another world.
As a sportive preliminary the victim was required to run
the gauntlet, when a hundred malicious foes, both male
and female, ranged on either side, flung stones, clubs, tomahawks, and every other possible missile at his naked form,
as he dashed with the energy of despair between their
furious ranks. Then, unless he was saved by unexpected
lenity, came the fiercer agony of the stake, prolonged sometimes for hours and even for days, accompanied by all the
refinements of torment which a baleful ingenuity could
invent, yet supported with unsurpassable fortitude by the
victim, who often shrieked his defiant death-song even
amid the last convulsions of his tortured frame.
Yet women, children, and youths were frequently saved
from this horrible fate to be adopted into the tribe of their
captors, and even men sometimes shared the same lenity.
What is remarkable is that as soon as it was decided thus
to receive a captive into the tribe, all appearances of hate
seemed immediately to disappear; the best of all the forest
luxuries was placed before the honored guest, the costliest
blankets were spread over his shoulders, and the softest
couches of fur were spread for his wearied limbs. Either
because the change was so great from the expected torture
to the kindly adoption, or because the captors knew so well
whom to choose as recipients of their indulgence, it was
very seldom that the latter attempted to escape from their
new alliances. Nay, even young white men and women,
thus adopted into the ranks of the savages, frequently
became so well satisfied with forest life as to resist every

inducement afterwards offered them to return to their countrymen.
Such were some of the salient characteristics of the