Narrative of the Captivity of William Biggs among the Kickapoo Indians in Illinois in 1788Biggs, William
History
Narrative of the Captivity of William Biggs among the Kickapoo Indians in Illinois in 1788
Biggs, William
Indian captivities; Kickapoo Indians
Matocush, meaning a French trading town on the Wabash river. When the
Indians caught me I saw Mr. Vallis about one hundred yards before me on
the road--he had made a halt. They shot him in the left thigh about
seven or eight inches above the knee, the ball came out just below his
hip, his horse was not injured--he rode an elegant horse which carried
him out of all farther danger--his wound mortified, he lived six weeks
after he was wounded, then died. I understood their language, and could
speak a little. They then told me to march; an Indian took hold of each
of my arms, and led me back to where they shot at me, and then went
about half a mile further off the road, where they had encamped the
night before and left their blankets and other things. They then took
off my under coat and tied my hands behind my back, and then tied a rope
to that, tying about six or seven feet long, we then started in a great
hurry, and an Indian held one end of the rope while we were marching.
There were but eight Indians marched in company with me that morning
from the camp. The other eight took some other route, and never fell in
with us again, until some time after we got to their towns. We had
marched about three or four miles from that camp when Vallis arrived at
the fort, about six miles from where they caught me, where they fired a
swivel to alarm the people who were out of the fort--when the Indians
heard the swivel they were very much alarmed, and all looked that way
and hallowed yough, yough. They then commenced running, and run in a
pretty smart trot of a run for five or six miles before they halted, and
then walked very fast until about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, when they
separated, I supposed to hunt, having nothing to eat. The old chief and
one of the other Indians kept on a straight course with me, we traveled
about three miles, when we got a little way into a small prairie and
halted about fifteen minutes, there one of the party fell in with us, he
had killed a bear and brought as much of the meat with him as he could
carry. We then crossed the prairie and came to a large run about one
mile and a half from where we had halted to rest. By this time three
Indians had joined us. We halted there, made a fire and roasted the bear
meat, the other two Indians staid behind as spies. Whilst the meat was
cooking, the Indians held a council what they would do with the Indian
that wanted to kill me. He was a young fellow about 19 years of age and
of a different nation, being a Pottowatema. They did not want him to go
to war with them; they said he was a great coward and would not go into
danger till there was no risk to run, then he would run forward and get
the best of the plunder, and that he would not be commanded; he would do
as he pleased; was very selfish and stubborn; and was determined to kill
me if he could get a chance. They determined in their council to kill
him. It is a law with the Indians when they go to war, if an Indian will
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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