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October 12th.
Accordingly, after breakfast, we [Lewis, Clark, Gass went on shore to
the house of the chief of the second village, named Lassel, where we
found his chiefs and warriors. They made is a present of about seven
bushels of corn, a pair of leggings, a twist of their tobacco, and seeds
of two different kinds of tobacco. The chief then delivered a speech
expressive of his gratitude for the presents and good counsels which we
had given him; his intention of visiting his great father, but for fear
of the Sioux; requested us to take one of the Ricara chiefs up to the
Mandans and negotiate a peace between the two nations. To this we
replied in a suitable way, and then repaired to the third village. Here
we are addressed by the chief in nearly the same terms as before, and
entertained with a present of ten bushels of corn, some beans, dried
pumpkins, and squashes. After we had answered and explained the
magnitude and power of the United States, the three chiefs came with us
to the boat, We gave them some sugar, a little salt, and a sun-glass.
Two of them left us, and the chief of the third [village], by name
Ahketahnasha or Chief of the Town, accompanied us to the Mandans. At two
o’clock we left the Indians, who crowded to the shore to take leave of
us, and after making the 7 ½ miles landed on the north side, and had a
clear, cool, pleasant evening.”
The three villages which we have just left are the residence
of a nation called Ricaras. They were originally colonies of Pawnees,
who established themselves on the Missouri below the Chayenne, where the
traders still remember that twenty years ago they occupied a number of
villages. From that situation a part of the Ricaras emigrated to the
neighborhood of the Mandans, with whom they were then in alliance. The
rest of the nation continued near the Chayenne till the year 1797, in
the course of which, they were distressed by their wars with the Sioux,
they joined their countrymen near the Mandans, in consequence of which
the former came down the river to their present position. In this
migration, those who had first gone to the Mandans kept together, and
now live in two lower villages; they may hence be considered as the
Ricaras proper. The third village was composed of such remnants of the
villages as had survived the wars; and as these were nine in number, a
difference of pronunciation and some difference of language may be
observed between them and the Ricaras proper, who do not understand all
the words of theses wanderers. The villages are within the distance of
four miles of each other, the two lower ones consisting of between 150
and 200 men each, the third of 300.
The Ricaras are tall and well proportioned, the women
handsome and lively, and as among other savages to them falls all the
drudgery of the field and the labors of procuring subsistence, except
that of hunting. Both sexes are poor, but kind and generous, and
although they receive with thankfulness what is given to them, do not
beg as the Sioux did; though this praise should be qualified by
mentioning that an ax was stolen last night from our cooks. The dress of
the men is a simple pair of moccasins, leggings, and a cloth around the
middle, over which a buffalo-robe is occasionally thrown; their hair,
arms, and ears are decorated with different ornaments. The women wear
moccasins, leggings, and a long shirt made of goat’s skins, generally
white and fringed, which is tied round the waist; to these they add,
like the men, a buffalo-robe without the hair, in summer.
These women are handsomer than the Sioux; both of them are,
however, disposed to amorous, and our men found no difficulty in
procuring companions for the night by means of the interpreters. These
interviews were chiefly clandestine, and were of course to be kept
secret from the husband or relations. The point of honor indeed is
completely reversed among the Ricaras; that the wife or the sister
should submit to a stranger’s embraces without the consent of her
husband or brother is a cause of great disgrace and offense, especially
as for many purposes of civility or gratitude the husband and brother
will themselves present to a stranger these females, and be gratified by
attentions to them. The Sioux had offered us squaws, but we having
declined while we remained there, they followed us with offers of
females for two days. The Ricaras had been equally accommodating; we had
equally withstood their temptation; but such was their desire to oblige
us that two very handsome young squaws were sent on board this evening,
and persecuted us with civilities. The black man York participated
largely in these favors; for, instead of inspiring any prejudice, his
color seemed to procure him additional advantages from the Indians, who
desired to preserve among them some memorial of this wonderful
stranger. Among other instances of attention, a Ricara invited him into
his house and, presenting his wife to him, retired to the outside of the
door; while there one of York’s comrades who was looking for him came to
the door, but the gallant husband would permit no interruption until a
reasonable time had elapsed.
The Ricara lodges are in a circular or octagonal form, and
generally about 30 or 40 feet in diameter. They are made by placing
forked pasts about six feet high round the circumference of the other
circle; these are joined by poles from one fork to another, which are
supported also by other forked poles slanting from the ground; in the
center of the lodge are placed four higher forks, about 15 feet in
length, connected together by beams; from these to the lower poles the
rafters of the roof are extended so as to leave a vacancy in the middle
for the smoke; the frame of the building is then covered with willow
branches, with which is interwoven grass, and over this [is placed] mud
or clay; the aperture for the door is about four feet wide, and before
it is a sort of entry about ten feet from the lodge. They are very warm
and compact.
They cultivate maize or Indian corn, beans, pumpkins,
watermelons, squashes, and species of tobacco peculiar to themselves.
Their commerce is chiefly with the traders, who supply them with goods
in return for peltries, which they procure only by their own hunting,
but in exchange for corn from their less civilized neighbors. The object
chiefly in demand seemed to be red paint, but they would give anything
they had to spare for the most trifling article. One of the men to-day
gave an Indian a hook made out of a pin, and received in return a pair
of moccasins.
They express a disposition to keep at peace with all
nations; but they are well armed with fusils, and being much under the
influence of the Sioux, who exchange the goods which they get from the
British for Ricara corn, their minds are sometimes poisoned and they
cannot be always depended on. At the present moment they are at war with
the Mandans.
We are informed by Mr. Gravelines, who had passed through
that country, that the Yankton or Jacques river rises about 40 miles to
the east or northeast of this place, The Chayenne branch of the Red
river about 20 miles further, passing the Sioux and the St. Peter’s
about 80.
October 13th. In the morning our visitors
left us, except the brother of the chief who accompanied us, and one of
the squaws. We passed at an early hour camp of Sioux on the north bank,
who merely looked at us without saying a word, and from the character of
the tribe we did not solicit conversation. At 10 ½ miles we reached the
mouth of a creek on the north, which takes its rise from some ponds a
short distance to the northeast. To this stream we gave the name of
Stoneidol creek; for, after passing a willow-and sand-island just above
its mouth, we discovered that a few miles back from the Missouri there
are two stones resembling human figures, and a third like a dog, all
which are objects of great veneration among the Ricaras.
Their history would adorn the Metamorphoses of Ovid. A
young man was deeply enamored with a girl whose parents refused their
consent to marriage. The youth went out into the fields to mourn his
misfortunes; a sympathy of feeling led the lady to the same spot, and
the faithful dog would not cease to follow his master. After wandering
together and having nothing but grapes to subsist on, they were at last
converted into stone, which, beginning at feet, gradually invaded the
nobler parts, leaving nothing unchanged but a bunch of grapes which the
female holds in her hand to this day. Whenever the Ricaras pass these
sacred stones, they stop to make some offering of dress to propitiate
these deities. Such is the account given by the Ricara chief, which we
had no mode of examining, except that we found one part of the story
very agreeably confirmed; for on the river near where the event is said
to have occurred we found a great abundance of fine grapes than we had
yet seen.
Above this a small creek, 4 ½ miles from Stoneidol creek,
which is 15 yards wide, comes in from the south, and received from us
the name of Pocasse or Hay [now Hunkpapa] creek, in honor of the chief
of the second village. Above the Ricara island the Missouri becomes
narrow and deeper, the sand-bars being generally confined to the points;
the current, too, is much more gentle; the timber on the low lands is
also in much greater quantities, though the high grounds are still
naked. We proceeded on under a fine breeze from the southeast, and after
making 18 miles camped on the north near a timbered low plain, after
which we had some rain, and the evening was cold. The hunters killed one
deer only.
October 14th. WE set out in the rain,
which continued during the day. At five miles we came to a creek on the
south, about 15 yards wide, and named by us Piaheto or Eagle’s Feather,
in honor of the third chief of the Ricaras. After dinner we stopped on a
sand-bar, and executed the sentence of a court martial, which inflicted
corporeal punishment on one of the soldiers. * This operation affected
the Indian chief very sensibly, for he cried aloud during the
punishment. We explained the offense of it. He acknowledged that
examples were necessary, and that he himself had given them by punishing
with death; but his nation never whipped even children from their birth.
After this we continued with the wind from the northeast, and at the
distance of twelve miles we camped** in a cove of the southern bank.
Immediately opposite our camp, on the north side, are the ruins of an
ancient fortification, the greater part of which is washed into the
river; nor could we distinguish more than that the walls were eight or
ten feet high. The evening is we and disagreeable, and the river, which
is somewhat wider than yesterday, continues to have an unusual quantity
of timber. The country was level on both sides in the morning, but
afterward we passed some black bluffs on the south.
*Private John Newman, U.S. Infantry. Newman was a good man, and his case
a hard one. Clark C 28-31, Oct. 13th, 14th, has:
“One man J. Newman confined for mutinous expressions…We tried the
Prisoner Newman last night by 9 of his Peers they did ‘centence him 75
lashes & [be] Disbanded the party.’.. halted on a Sand bar & after
Dinner executed the Sentence of the Court Martial so far a [as] giving
the Corporal punishment, and proceeded on a few miles.” Lewis’ autograph
muster-roll, now in the War Department archives, is accompanied by a
letter in his hand, making certain commentaries on the roll (on which,
of course, Newman’s name does not appear, as he had disbanded from the
party); and I find the following magnanimous statement: “John Newman was
a private in the Infantry of the U’ States Army who joined me as a
volunteer and entered into an inlistment in common with others by which
he was held and Mustered as one of the permanent party. In the course of
the expedition, or shortly before we arrived at the Mandan Villages he
committed himself by using certain mutinous expressions which caused me
to arrest him and to have him tryed by a Court Martial formed of his
peers; they finding him guilty sentenced him to receive seventy five
lashes and to be discharged from the permanent party. This sentence was
enforced by me, and the punishment took place. The conduct of this man
previous to this period had been generally correct, and the zeal he
afterwards displayed for the benefit of the service was highly
meritorious. In the course of the winter while at Fort Mandan, from an
ardent wish to attone for the crime which he had committed at an
unguarded moment, he exerted himself on every occasion to become usefull.
This disposition induced him to expose himself too much to the intense
cold of that climate, and on a hunting excurtion he had his hands and
feet severely frozen with which he suffered extreme pain for some weeks-
having recovered from this accident by the 1st of April 1805.
He asked forgiveness for what had passed, and begged that I would permit
him to continue with me through the voyage, but deeming it impolitic to
relax from the sentence, altho’ he stood acquitted in my mind, I
determined to send him back, which was accordingly done. Since my return
I have been informed that was extremely serviceable as a hunter on the
voyage to St. Louis and that the boat on several occasions owed her
safety in a great measure to his personal exertions, being a man of
uncommon activity and bodily strength. If under these circumstances it
should be thought proper to give Newman the remaining third which will
be deducted from the gratuity awarded Paptiest [sic] La Page who
occupyed his station in the after part of the voyage I should feel much
gratified.”
This
letter is dated City of Washington, January 15th, 1804, and
addressed to General Henry Dearborn, Secretary at War.
**
North Dakota, close to 46o, at a creek now called
Thunder-Hawk. Piaheto (now Blackfoot) creek meanders the boundary of
South Dakota and North Dakota, but empties in North Dakota.
NOTE: This was directly copied from the text of the book. "The History of
Lewis and Clark Expedition"
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