The Old Santa Fé Trail, etc

Front matter

THE OLD SANTA FE TRAIL COLONEL HENRY INMAN, Late of the U. S Army. THE OLD SANTA FE TRAIL The Story of a Great Highway BY COLONEL HENRY INMAN LATE ASSISTANT QUARTERMASTER, UNITED STATES ARMY Neto Jfork THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON : MACMILLAN <fc CO., Ltd. 1897 AU rights reserved Copteisht, 1897, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Nottoooti litres J. S. Cushing St Co. - Berwick * Smith Norwood Mass. U.S.A. To honourable ŒKttliam dL (sotou '•Buffalo Bill " <Tt)is Folume is (Srattfullo EnsrribcO AS A SLIGHT TRIBUTE TO A GENEROUS NATURE AND A NOBLE MANHOOD Topeka, Kansas, Feb. 13, 1S97 PKEFACE As we look into the open fire for our fancies, so Ave are apt to study the dim past for the Avonderful and sublime, forgetful of the fact that the present is a constant ro mance, and that the happenings of to-day which Ave count of little importance are sure to startle somebody in the future, and engage the pen of the historian, philosopher, and poet.

Accustomed as we are to think of the vast steppes of Russia and Siberia as alike strange and boundless, and to deal Avith the unknown interior of Africa as an impene trable mystery, Ave lose sight of a locality in our oaa'ii country that once surpassed all these in virgin grandeur, in majestic solitude, and in all the attributes of a tremendous AA'ilderness. The story of the Old Santa Fe" Trail, so truthfully recalled by Colonel Henry Inman, ex-officer of the old Regular Army, in these pages, is a most thrilling one. The vast area through which the famous highway ran is still imperfectly knoAvn to most people as " The West " ; a designation once appropriate, but hardly applicable now ; for in these days of easy communication the real trail

Preface

VIII region is not so far removed from New York as Buffalo Avas seventy years ago. At the commencement of the " commerce of the prai ries," in the early portion of the century, the Old Trail was the arena of almost constant sanguinary struggles between the Avily nomads of the desert and the hardy Avhite pioneers, Avhose eventful lives made the civilization of the vast interior region of our continent possible. Their daring compelled its development, Avhich has resulted in the genesis of great states and large cities. Their hard ships gave birth to the American homestead ; their deter mined will Avas the factor of possible achievements, the most remarkable and important of modern times. When the famous highway Avas established across the great plains as a line of communication to the shores of the blue Pacific, the only method of travel Avas by the slow freight caravan drawn by patient oxen, or the lumbering stage coach Avith its complement of four or six mules.

There was ever to be feared an attack by those devils of the desert, the Cheyennes, Comanches, and Kiowas. Along its Avhole route the remains of men, animals, and the wrecks of camps and wagons, told a story of suffering, robbery, and outrage more impressive than any language. Noav the tourist or business man makes the journey in palace cars, and there is nothing to remind him of the danger or desolation of Border days ; on every hand are the evidences of a poAverful and advanced civilization. It is fortunate that one is left to tell some of its story who Avas a living actor and had personal knoAvledge of

PREFACE.

IX many of the thrilling scenes that were enacted along the line of the great route. He Avas familiar with all the famous men, both Avhite and savage, Avhose lives have made the story of the Trail, his oavii sojourn on the plains and in the Rocky Mountains extending over a period of nearly forty years. The Old Trail has more than common interest for me, and I gladly record here my indorsement of the faithful record, compiled by a brave soldier, old comrade, and friend. W. F. CODY, "BUFFALO BILL." PAGE vii CONTENTS Preface by AV. F. Cody

Introduction

The First Europeans who traversed the Great Highway — Alvar Nunez Cabeca de Vaca — Hernando de Soto, and Francisco Vasquez de Coronado — Spanish Expedition from Santa F6 east- Avardly — Escape of the Sole Survivors 1

Chapter I

Quaint Descriptions of Old Santa Fe" — The Famous Adobe Palace — Santa F£ the Oldest Town in the United States — First Settlement — Onate's Conquest — Revolt of the Pueblo Indians — Under Pueblo Rule — Cruelties of the Victors — The Santa Fe" of To-day — Arrival of a Caravan — The Railroad reaches the Town — ■ Amusements — A Fandango .12

Chapter II

The Beginning of the Santa ~F6 Trade — La Lande and Pursley, the First Americans to cross the Plains — Pursley's Patriotism — Captain Ezekiel Williams — A Hungry Bear — A Midnight Alarm 27

Chapter III

Captain Becknell's Expedition — Sufferings from Thirst — Auguste Chouteau — Imprisonment of McKnight and Chambers — The Caches — Stampeding Mules — First Military Escort across the Plains — Captain Zebulon Pike — Sublette and Smith — Murder of McNess — Indians not the Aggressors 38 CONTENTS PAGE

Chapter IV

The Atajo or Pack-train of Mules — Mexican Nomenclature of Paraphernalia — -Manner of Packing — The "Bell-mare" — Toughness of Mules among Precipices — The Caravan of Wagons — Largest Wagon-train ever on the Plains — Stampedes — Duties of Packers en route — Order of Travelling with Pack-train — Chris. Gilson, the Famous Packer 55

Chapter V

Narrative of Bryant's Party of Santa Fe Traders — The First Wagon Expedition across the Plains — ■ A Thrilling Story of Hardship and Physical Suffering — Terrible Fight with the Comanches — Abandonment of the Wagons — On Foot over the Trail — Burial of their Specie on an Island in the Arkansas — Narrative of William Y. Hitt, one of the Party — His Encounter with a Comanche — The First Escort of United States Troops to the Annual Caravan of Santa Fe" Traders, in 1829 — Major Bennett Riley's Official Report to the War Department — Journal of Captain Cooke 67

Chapter VI

The Expedition of Texans to the Old Santa Fe^ Trail for the Purpose of robbing Mexican Traders — Innocent Citizens of the United States suspected, arrested, and carried to the Capital of New Mexico — Colonel Snively's Force — AVarfield's Sacking of the Village of Mora — Attack upon a Mexican Caravan — Kit Carson in the Fight — A Crime of over Sixty Years Ago — A Romance of the Tragedy ........ 93

Chapter VII

Mexico declares War against the United States — Congress authorizes the President to call for Fifty Thousand A7olunteers — Organization of the Army of the West — Phenomenon seen by Santa 76 Traders in the Sky — First Death on the March of the Army across the Plains — Men in a Starving Condition — Another Death — Burial near Pawnee Rock — Trouble at Pawnee Fork — Major Howard's Report ....... CONTENTS XIII PAGE 180

Chapter VIII

The Valley of Taos — First White Settler — Rebellion of the Mexicans — A Woman discovers and informs Colonel Price of the Conspiracy — Assassination of Governor Bent — Horrible Butcheries by the Pueblos and Mexicans — Turley's Ranch — Murder of Harwood and Markhead — Anecdote of Sir AVilliam Drummond Stewart — Fight at the Mills — Battle of the Pueblo of Taos — Trial of the Insurrectionists — Baptiste, the Juror — Execution of the Rebels 113

Chapter IX

Independence — Opening of Navigation on the Mississippi — Effect of Water Transportation upon the Trade — Establishment of Trading-forts — Market for Cattle and Mules — Wages paid Teamsters on the Trail — An Enterprising Coloured Man — Increase of the Trade at the Close of the Mexican AVar — Heavy Emigration to California — First Overland Mail — How the Guards were armed — Passenger Coaches to Santa Fe' — Stage-coaching Days .......... 141

Chapter X

The Tragedy in the Caiion of the Canadian — Dragoons follow the Trail of the Savages — Kit Carson, Dick AVooton, and Tom Tobin the Scouts of the Expedition — More than a Hundred of the Savages killed — Murder of Mrs. White — White AVolf — Lieutenant Bell's Singular Duel with the Noted Savage — Old AVolf — Satank — Murder of Peacock — Satanta made Chief — Kicking Bird — His Tragic Death — Charles Bent, the Half-breed Renegade — His Terrible Acts — His Death 160

Chapter XI

Neglect of New Mexico by the United States Government — Intended Conquest of the Province — Conspiracy of Southern Leaders — Surrender by General Twiggs to the Confederate Government of the Military Posts and Munitions of War under his Command — Only One Soldier out of Two Thousand deserts to the Enemy — Organization of Volunteers for the Defence of Colorado and New Mexico —Battle of La Glorieta — Rout of the Rebels . CONTENTS PAGE 202 233

Chapter XII

The Ancient Range of the Buffalo — Number slaughtered in Thirteen Years for their Robes alone — Buffalo Bones — Trains stopped by Vast Herds — Custom of Old Hunters when caught in a Blizzard — Anecdotes of Buffalo Hunting — Kit Carson's Dilemma — Experience of Two of Fremont's Hunters — AVounded Buffalo Bull — O'Neil's Laughable Experience — Organization of a Herd of Buffalo — Stampedes — Thrilling Escapes

Chapter XIII

Big Timbers — Winter Camp of the Cheyennes, Kiowas, and Arapahoes' — Savage Amusements — A Cheyenne Lodge — Indian Etiquette — Treatment of Children — The Pipe of the North American Savage — Dog Feast — Marriage Ceremony

Chapter XIV

The Old Pueblo Fort — A Celebrated Rendezvous — Its Inhabitants — "Fontaine qui Bouille " — The Legend of its Origin — The Trappers of the Old Santa ~F6 Trail and the Rocky Mountains — Beaver Trapping — Habits of the Beaver — Improvidence of the Old Trappers — Trading with " Poor Lo " — The Strange Experience of a Veteran Trapper on the Santa Fe' Trail — Romantic Marriage of Baptiste Brown 251

Chapter XV

Uncle John Smith — A Famous Trapper, Guide, and Interpreter — His Marriage with a Cheyenne Squaw — An Autocrat among the People of the Plains and Mountains — The Mexicans held him in Great Dread — His AVonderful Resemblance to President Andrew Johnson — Interpreter and Guide on General Sheridan's A\7inter Expedition against the Allied Plains Tribes — His Stories around the Camp-tire 278

Chapter XVI

Famous Men of the Old Santa F6 Trail — Kit Carson — Jim Bridger — James P. Beckwourth — Uncle Dick AVooton — Jim Baker — Lucien B. Maxwell — Old Bill AVilliams — Tom Tobin — James Hobbs CONTENTS XV PAGE 341 389

Chapter XVII

Uncle Dick Wooton — Lucien B. Maxwell — Old Bill AVilliams — Tom Tobin — James Hobbs — William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) . CHAPTER XVI11 Maxwell's Ranch on the Old Santa Fe' Trail — A Picturesque Region — Maxwell a Trapper and Hunter with the American Fur Company — Lifelong Comrade of Kit Carson — Sources of Maxwell's AVealth — Fond of Horse-racing — A Disastrous Fourth-of-July Celebration — Anecdote of Kit Carson — Discovery of Gold on the Ranch — The Big Ditch — Issuing Beef to the Ute Indians — Camping out with Maxwell and Carson — A Story of the Old Santa Fe Trail 373

Chapter XIX

The Bents' Several Forts — Famous Trading-posts — Rendezvouses the Rocky Mountain Trappers — Castle AVilliam and Incidents connected with the Noted Place — Bartering with the Indians — Annual Feast of Arapahoes and Cheyennes — Old AVolf 's First Visit to Bent's Fort — The Surprise of the Savages — Stories told by Celebrated Frontiersmen around the Camp-fire

Chapter XX

Pawnee Rock — A Debatable Region of the Indian Tribes — The most Dangerous Point on the Central Plains in the Days of the Early Santa ¥6 Trade — Received its Name in a Baptism of Blood — Battle-ground of the Pawnees and Cheyennes — Old Graves on the Summit of the Rock — Kit Carson's First Fight at the Rock with the Pawnees — Kills his Mule by Mistake — Colonel St. Vrain's Brilliant Charge — Defeat of the Savages — The Trappers' Terrible Battle with the Pawnees — The Massacre at Cow Creek . 403

Chapter XXI

AVagon Mound — John L. Hatcher's Thrilling Adventure with Old AVolf, the War-chief of the Comanches — Incidents on the Trail — A Boy Bugler's Happy Escape from the Savages at Fort Union CONTENTS XVI PAGB — A Drunken Stage-driver — How an Officer ot the Quartermas ter's Department at Washington succeeded in starting the Mili tary Freight Caravans a Month Earlier than the Usual Time — How John Chisholm fooled the Stage-robbers— "The Story of Half a Plug of Tobacco .422

Chapter XXII

Solitary Graves along the Line of the Old Santa ¥6 Trail — The AA'alnut Crossing — Fort Zarah — The Graves on Hon. D. Heizer's Ranch on the AValnut — Troops stationed at the Crossing of the AValnut — A Terrible Five Miles — The Cavalry Recruit's Last Ride 432

Chapter XXIII

General Hancock's Expedition against the Plains Indians — Terrible Snow-storm at Fort Larned — Meeting with the Chiefs of the Dog-Soldiers — Bull Bear's Diplomacy — Meeting of the United States Troops and the Savages in Line of Battle — Custer's Night Experience — The Surgeon and Dog Stew — Destruction of the A'illage by Fire — General Sully's Fight with the Kiowas, Comanches, and Arapahoes — Finding the Skeletons of the Unfortunate Men — The Savages' Report of the Affair .... 456

Chapter XXIV

Scenery on the Line of the Old Santa ¥6 Trail — The Great Plains — The Arkansas Valley — Over the Rocky Mountains into New Mexico — The Raton Range — The Spanish Peaks — Simpson's Rest — Fisher's Peak — Raton Peak — Snowy Range — Pike's Peak — Raton Creek — The Invasion of the Railroad — The Old Santa ¥6 Trail a Thing of the Past 480 INDEX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Colonel Henra Lnman ....... Frontispiece FULL-PAGE TLATES BY FREDERICK REMINGTON, FACING PAGK Coroxado's March 5 A Pack Train to Santa Fe, 1820 ...... 57 Troops going to Mexico, 1847 ....... 109 A Buffalo with the Pack ........ 209 Hunting on a Beaver Stream, 1840 ...... 203 Government Scouts — Moonlight ...... 367 A Citadel of the Plains ........ 413 A Traiter and his Pony 485 Map of the Old Santa Fe Trail 29 INITIALS AND TAIL PIECES BY THOMSON WILLING.

INTRODUCTION.

THE FIRST EUROPEANS AVIIO TRAVERSED THE GREAT HIGHWAY ALA7AR NUNEZ CABECA DE VACA HERNANDO DE SOTO, AND FRANCISCO VASQUEZ DE CORONADO SPANISH EXPE- DITION FROM SANTA FE EASTWARDLY ESCAPE OF THE SOLE SURA7IA70RS Ii^^^^^^^^Bn I j nun i ill in I In n I n I ries, a period extending i^^^^^J from to I torians believed, and so I announced to the liter- I ary world, that Francisco i^^^^^^^H Vasquez de Coronado, I the celebrated Spanish I explorer, in his search I for the Seven Cities of I Cibola and the Kingdom I of Quivira, was the first | European to travel over | the intra-continent region I of North America. In the last yearabove referred to, however, Buck ingham Smith, of Florida, an eminent Spanish scholar, and secretary of the American Legation at Madrid, dis- B covered among the archives of State the Narrative of Alvar Nunez Cabega de Vaca, where for nearly three hun dred years it had lain, musty and begrimed with the dust of ages, an unread and forgotten story of suffering that has no parallel in fiction.

The distinguished antiquarian unearthed the valuable manuscript from its grave of oblivion, translated it into English, and gave it to the Avorld of letters ; conferring honour upon whom honour Avas due, and tearing the laurels from such grand voya geurs and discoverers as De Soto, La Salle, and Coro nado, upon Avhose heads history had erroneously placed them, through no fault, or arrogance, however, of their OAvn. ( !abeca, beyond any question, travelled the Old Santa Fe Trail for many miles, crossed it where it intersects the Arkansas River, a little east of Fort William or Bent's Fort, and Avent thence on into NeAV Mexico, following the famous higliAvay as far, at least, as Las Vegas. Cabeca's march antedated that of Coronado by five years. To this intrepid Spanish voyageur we are indebted for the first description of the American bison, or buffalo as the animal is erroneously called.

While not so quaint in its language as that of Coronado's historian, a lustrum later, the statement cannot be perverted into an}7 other refer ence than to the great shaggy monsters of the plains : — "Cattle come as far as this. I have seen them three times and eaten of their meat. I think they are about the size of those of Spain. They have small horns like the cows of Morocco, and the hair very long and flocky, like that of the merino ; some are light brown, others black. To my judgment the flesh is finer and fatter than that of this country. The Indians make blankets of the hides of those not full grown. The}7 range over a district of more than four hundred leagues, and in the Avhole ex tent of plain over which they run the people that inhabit

INTRODUCTION.

3 near there descend and live on them and scatter a vast many skins throughout the country." It Avill be remembered by the student of the early his tory of our country, that when Alvar Nunez Cabeca de Vaca, a follower of the unfortunate Panphilo de Narvaez, and avIio had been long thought dead, landed in Spain, he gaAre such glowing accounts of Florida J and the neighbouring regions that the whole kingdom Avas in a ferment, and many a heart panted to emigrate to a land Avhere the fruits Avere perennial, and Avhere it Avas thought flowed the fabled fountain of youth. Three expeditions to that country had already been tried: one undertaken in 1512, by Juan Ponce de Leon, formerly a companion of Columbus; another in 1520, by Vasquez de Allyon ; and another by Panphilo de Narvaez. All of these had signally failed, the bones of most of the leaders and their followers having been left to bleach upon the soil they had come to conquer.

The unfortunate issue of the former expeditions did not operate as a check upon the aspiring mind of De Soto, but made him the more anxious to spring as an actor into the arena Avhich had been the scene of the discomfiture and death of the hardy chivalry of the kingdom. He sought an audience of the emperor, and the latter, after hearing De Soto's proposition that, " he could conquer the country known as Florida at his OAvn expense," conferred upon him the title of " Governor of Cuba and Florida." On the 6th of April, 1538, De Soto sailed from Spain Avith an armament of ten vessels and a splendidly equipped army of nine hundred chosen men, amidst the roar of can nons and the inspiring strains of martial music. It is not Avithin the province of this Avork to folloAv De Soto through all his terrible trials on the North Ameri- 1 The whole country watered by the Mississippi and Missouri was called Florida at that time. can continent; the wonderful story may be found in every well-organized library.

It is recorded, however, that some time during the year 1542, his decimated army, then under the command of Luis de Moscoso, De Soto having died the previous Ma}7, Avas camped on the Arkansas River, far upward toAvards what is now Kansas. It Avas this com mand, too, of the unfortunate but cruel De Soto, that saAv the Rocky Mountains from the east. The chronicler of the disastrous journey toAvard the mountains says : " The entire route became a trail of fire and blood," as they had many a desperate struggle with the savages of the plains, avIio " Avere of gigantic structure, and fought with heavy strong clubs, with the desperation of demons. Such was their tremendous strength, that one of these warriors was a match for a Spanish soldier, though mounted on a horse, armed Avith a sword and cased in armour !

" Moscoso Avas searching for Coronado, and he Avas one of the most humane of all the officers of De Soto's command, for he evidently bent every energy to extricate his men from the dreadful environments of their situation ; despair ing of reaching the Gulf by the Mississippi, he struck AA7estAvard, hoping, as Cabec.a de Vaca had done, to arriA'e in Mexico overland. A period of six months Avas consumed in Moscoso's march towards the Rocky Mountains, but he failed to find Coronado, Avho at that time Avas camped near Avhere Wichita, Kansas, is located ; according to his historian, " at the junction of the St. Peter and St. Paul " (the Big and Little Arkansas?). That point was the place of separation betAveen Coronado and a number of his folloAA' ers; many returning to Mexico, Avhile the undaunted com mander, Avith as many as he could induce to accompany him, continued easterly, still in search of the mythical Quivira. How far AvestAvard Moscoso travelled cannot be deter mined accurately, but that his route extended up the

INTRODUCTION.

5 valley of the Arkansas for more than three hundred miles, into what is iioav Kansas, is proA7ed by the statement of his historian, who says : " They saAV great chains of mountains and forests to the Avest, Avhich they understood were uninhabited." Another strong confirmatory fact is, that, in 1884, a group of mounds was discovered in McPherson County, Kansas, which Avere thoroughly explored by the professors of Bethany College, Lindsborg, avIio found, among other interesting relics, a piece of chain-mail armour, of hard steel ; undoubtedly part of the equipment of a Spanish soldier either of the command of Cabe^a de Vaca, De Soto, or of Coronado. The probability is, that it was worn by one of De Soto's unfortunate men, as neither Panphilo de Narvaez, De Vaca, or Coronado experienced any difficulty with the savages of the great plains, because those leaders were humane and treated the Indians kindly, in contradis tinction to De Soto, who Avas the most inhuman of all the early Spanish explorers.

He Avas of the same school as Pizarro and Cortez ; possessing their daring valour, their contempt of danger, and their tenacity of purpose, as well as their cruelty and avarice. De Soto made treaties Avith the Indians Avhich he constantly violated, and murdered the misguided creatures without mercy. During the re treat of Moscoso's weakened command cIoavii the Arkan sas River, the Hot Springs of Arkansas Avere discovered. His historian writes : " And when they saw the foam ing fountain, they thought it Avas the long-searched-for 'Fountain of Youth,1 reported by fame to exist some where in the country, but ten of the soldiers dying from excessive drinking, they Avere soon convinced of their error." After these intrepid explorers the restless Coronado appears on the Old Trail. In the third volume of Hakluyt's Voyages, published in London, 1600, Coronado's historian thus describes the great plains of Kansas and Colorado, the bison, and a tornado : — " From Cicuye they Avent to Quivira, which after their account is almost three hundred leagues distant, through mighty plains, and sandy heaths so smooth and Avearisome, and bare of Avood that they made heaps of ox-dung, for Avant of stones and trees, that they might not lose them selves at their return : for three horses were lost on that plain, and one Spaniard Avhich Avent from his company on hunting. . . .

All that Avay of plains are as full of crooked back oxen as the mountain Serrena in Spain is of sheep, but there is no such people as keep those cattle. . . . They Avere a great succour for the hunger and the Avant of bread, Avhich our party stood in need of. . . . "One day it rained in that plain a great shower of hail, as big as oranges, which caused many tears, AA'eakness and bowes. " These oxen are of the bigness and colour of our bulls, but their bones are not so great. They have a great bunch upon their fore-shoulder, and more hair on their fore part than on their hinder part, and it is like wool. They have as it Avere an horse-mane upon their backbone, and much hair and A7ery long from their knees doAvnward. The}7 have great tufts of hair hanging down on their foreheads, and it seemeth they have beards because of the great store of hair hanging down at their chins and throats.

The males have very long tails, and a great knob or flock at the end, so that in some respects they resemble the lion, and in some other the camel. They push Avith their horns, they run, they overtake and kill an horse Avhen they are in their rage and anger. Finally it is a foul and fierce beast of countenance and form of body. The horses fled from them, either because of their deformed shape, or else because they had never before seen them." "The number," continues the historian, " was incredi-

INTRODUCTION.

7 ble." When the soldiers, in their excitement for the chase, began to kill them, they rushed together in such masses that hundreds Avere literally crushed to death. At one place there was a great ravine ; they jumped into it in their efforts to escape from the hunters, and so terrible was the slaughter as they tumbled over the precipice that the depression Avas completely filled up, their carcasses forming a bridge, over which the remainder passed with ease. The next recorded expedition across the plains via the Old Trail was also by the Spaniards from Santa Fe\ eastwardly, in the year 1716, "for the purpose of estab lishing a Military Post in the Upper Mississippi Valley as a barrier to the further encroachments of the French in that direction." An account of this expedition is found in Memoires Historiques sur La Louisiana, published in Paris in 1858, but never translated in its entirety.

The author, Lieutenant Dumont of the French army, was one of a party ascending the Arkansas River in search of a supposed mass of emeralds. The narrative relates: "There was more than half a league to traverse to gain the other bank of the river, and our people AA7ere no sooner arrived than they found there a party of Missouris, sent to M. de la Harpe by M. de Bienville, then commandant general at Louisiana, to deliA7er orders to the former. Consequently they ga\7e the signal order, and our other tAvo canoes having crossed the river, the savages gave to our com mandant the letters of M. de Bienville, in Avhich he in formed him that the Spaniards had sent out a detachment from NeAV Mexico to go to the Missouris and to establish a post in that country. . . . The success of this expe dition was very calamitous to the Spaniards.

Their cara van Avas composed of fifteen hundred people, men, Avomen and soldiers, having Avith them a Jacobin for a chaplain, and bringing also a great number of horses and cattle, according to the custom of that nation to foiget nothing that might be necessary for a settlement. Their design Avas to destroy the Missouris, and to seize upon their country, and with this intention they had resolved to go first to the Osages, a neighbouring nation, enemies of the Missouris, to form an alliance with them, and to engage them in their behalf for the execution of their plan. Per haps the map which guided them was not correct, or they had not exactly followed it, for it chanced that instead of going to the Osages Avhom they sought, they fell, Avithout knoAving it, into a village of the Missouris, AA7here the Spanish commander, presenting himself to the great chief and offering him the calumet, made him understand through an interpreter, believing himself to be speaking to the Osage chief, that they Avere enemies of the Missouris, that they had come to destroy them, to make their women and children slaves and to take possession of their country.

He begged the chief to be Avilling to form an alliance Avith them, against a nation whom the Osages regarded as their enemy, and to second them in this enterprise, promising to recompense them liberally for the service rendered, and always to be their friend in the future. Upon this discourse the Missouri chief understood perfectly Avell the mistake. He dissimulated and thanked the Spaniard for the confidence he had in his nation ; he consented to form an alliance with them against the Missouris, and to join them with all his forces to destroy them ; but he represented that his people Avere not armed, and that they dared not expose them selves Avithout arms in such an enterprise. Deceived by so favourable a reception, the Spaniards fell into the trap laid for them. They received Avith due ceremony, in the little camp they had formed on their arrival, the calumet Avhich the great chief of the Missouris presented to the Spanish commander.

The alliance for Avar Avas SAVorn to by both parties ; they agreed upon a day for the execution of the plan which they meditated, and the Spaniards fur-

INTRODUCTION.

9 nished the savages with all the munitions which they thought Avere needed. After the ceremony both parties gave themselves up equally to joy and good cheer. At the end of three days two thousand savages Avere armed and in the midst of dances and amusements ; each party thought of nothing but the execution of its design. It was the evening before their departure upon their con certed expedition, and the Spaniards had retired to their camps as usual, Avhen the great chief of the Missouris, having assembled his Avarriors, declared to them his in tentions, and exhorted them to deal treacherously with these strangers Avho Avere come to their home only Avith the design of destroying them. At daybreak the savages divided into several bands, fell on the Spaniards, who expected nothing of the kind, and in less than a quarter of an hour all the caravan Avere murdered.