The History of Minnesota and Tales of the FrontierFlandrau, Charles E. (Charles Eugene)
History
The History of Minnesota and Tales of the Frontier
Flandrau, Charles E. (Charles Eugene)
Frontier and pioneer life -- Minnesota; Minnesota -- History
The experience of these good missionaries had taught them that
civilization was the most potent auxiliary to religion, and, for the
success of either, the other was a necessary aid and adjunct when
dealing with these primitive people. So they set themselves to work to
devise plans to instill into the Indians the elemental principles of
government based on law. They organized a little state or community
among them, through which they endeavored to prove to them the
advantages of civilized rule through the agency of officers of their own
choice and laws of their own making. They called their state "The
Hazelwood Republic," which embraced all the missionary establishment,
and all the Indians they could induce to unite in the enterprise. They
drew a written constitution, the provisions of which were to govern and
direct the conduct of the members and the workings of the community. Of
course, the fundamental principles upon which the whole fabric rested
were similar to those taught by the ten commandments. The Indians, with
the advice of the missionaries, elected a president for the young
republic, and the choice fell upon a wise and upright man, about fifty
years of age, whose name was Ma-za-cu-ta-ma-mi, or "The man who shoots
metal as he walks," and to give the matter a more pronounced
ecclesiastical aspect, they added a scriptural name by way of a prefix
to the names of all the officers. For instance, they called the
president, Paul Ma-za-cu-ta-ma-mi, and one of the deacons, Simon
Ana-wang-ma-ni, which means "The man who can keep up with any moving
object;" or, as things turned out in the end, it could well have been
translated into the "Fast Man."
The first act necessary for initiation as a citizen of the republic was
cutting off the long hair universally worn by the Sioux, and if any act
could be taken as indicative of sincerity, this one seemed to be
conclusive. It is quite as much of a sacrifice for an Indian to cut off
his hair as it would be for a young lady in society possessed of a
splendid suit of hair to cut it off short and appear at a grand ball
with her head thus denuded.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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