James's Account of S. H. Long's Expedition, 1819-1820, part 1James, Edwin
History
James's Account of S. H. Long's Expedition, 1819-1820, part 1
James, Edwin
Indians of North America; Rocky Mountains; United States -- Discovery and exploration; West (U.S.) -- Description and travel
began to boil in my veins. Saukees, my heart was for war;
but my nation was too much for peace, and it was my business
to promote peace; therefore I gave them some tobacco, and
told them once more to sit down, and endeavour to restrain
their feelings: they did so; and I left them smoking their
pipes, and came away to see the great American Chief. After
I left them, you returned again to their land: you found
them asleep; you stole their horses, murdered their women
and children, took their scalps, and carried some of them
prisoners to your villages.
"How long, how long, Saukees, will you continue to disturb
the repose of other nations? How long will you (like the
serpent creeping through the grass) continue to disturb the
unsuspecting stranger passing through your country? Be
cautious how you disturb the red skins of Missouri; or your
women and children shall mourn the loss of husbands and
fathers--husbands and fathers shall mourn the loss of wives
and children.
"Yes, Saukees, the Otoes, Missouries, and Omawhaws, are
unwilling to be disturbed any longer. They will no longer
suffer you to make slaves of their children, and dance their
scalps in your villages.
"Saukees, be cautious; you live in the woods, and the game
of your country is nearly exhausted. You will soon have to
desert those woods in which the red skins of Missouri cannot
find you, and follow the buffalo in the plains, where the
red-skins are not less brave than you, and as numerous as
the buffalo. As long as you have the wood to conceal your
warriors, you may continue to disturb the women and children
of Missouri; but when hunger drives you from those woods,
your bodies will be exposed to balls, to arrows, and to
spears. You will only have time to discharge your guns,
before, on horseback, their spears will spill your blood. I
know that your guns are better than those of Missouri, and
you shoot them well: but when you reach the prairies, they
will avail you nothing against the Otoes, Missouries,
Omawhaws, and Pawnees. As you have seen the whirlwind break
and scatter the trees of your woods, so will your warriors
bend before them on horseback. (Here B. O'Fallon paused, to
give the Saukees an opportunity to reply; when one of their
most distinguished partisans arose and spoke with energy and
animation, recounting many of his feats in war. He mentioned
how often he had struck upon the tribes of Missouri, and
that the Otoes had killed his brother, whom he loved as a
father, and whose spirit could not be appeased as long as an
Oto walked erect upon the earth. He also spoke of the
difficulty of restraining his young warriors, who were
unwilling to die in obscurity. To which B. O'Fallon spoke to
the following effect:)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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