Memoirs, official and personal : with sketches of travels among the northern and southern Indians : embracing a war excursion, and descriptions of scenes along the western borders

Front matter

MEMOIRS,

OFFICIAL AID PERSONAL

y

Preface To Vol. I

No traveller expects, when he sets out upon a journey, to meet only with smooth roads, cultivated fields, lovely gardens, wide-spread and magnificent scenery, a clear sky, and, at every stopping-place, inns filled with comforts, but goes forth prepared to have all these diversified with rugged roads, desolate fields, weedy and odorless gardens, lowering skies, and the inconveniences and discomforts of road-side accommodations. I cannot promise in my book more than is contained in the combined volumes of art and nature.

Should any one, on opening this volume with the intention of reading it, expect to find everything in it captivating, or even agreeable, he will find himself mistaken. A good deal of the contents will, I fear, prove to the general reader wholly uninteresting ; but this portion of the work may not be so regarded, by kind, and generous, and sympathizing friends. I have reference to those parts that are wholly personal to myself. I would gladly omit them, if, with justice to myself, or to those who cherish an interest in my reputation and destiny, as also to those who bear my name, and who are connected with me by the ties of consanguinity, I could do so.

Apart from these personal references, may I not hope that the reader will be repaid for the time spent in following me ? And especially do I trust, that much may be found to interest, when, having got fairly in among the

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Preface

scenes of nature — vast — wild — boundless — I shall attempt a reflex of them ; and when the incidents and events, which, in my journeyings, I have witnessed, are attempted to be portrayed, in which the Red Man of the forest is the chief actor, and wherein will be seen his habits, his principles, his occupations, and whatever attaches to him in his wilderness home.

But, even at the hazard of offending some — and really I shall not write a word with any such intention — I have concluded to cast these Memoirs upon the patronage, and kind indulgence of an enlightened and liberal public.

T. L. M’K.

Cape Cottage , February , 1845.

DEDICATION OF YOL. I.

To Mrs. James Madison.

Madam — There is such a thing as the memory of the heart. It is kept fresh and odorous by being cherished. Mine for your illustrious husband can never die. I delight in the contemplation of his purity — his patriotism — his statesmanship — and in his polished and beautiful writings. All these, and more, adorn his name, like gems, which time, instead of dimming, is every day making brighter and more glorious.

My first call to the performance of civil duties, in connection with the government, and to the discharge of a highly responsible trust, was from James Madison. I am proud of the honour of the confidence of such a man, and shall cherish, to my last hour, a grateful sense of it.

Your fame, madam, is so delicately and beautifully mingled with his, as to become identified with it. Such a blending I have never witnessed, in anything, except in the rainbow. In ease, and in dignity, in purity and patriotism, in the admiration and affection of millions, in the glory shed upon the highest place in the republic — all these, in the view of your countrymen, you shared, and continue to share, with him. If his is the column that sustains the capitol, yours, madam, is the cap that ornaments it.

Entertaining such views, and cherishing such feelings, how could I do else than ask the privilege, and covet the honor, of dedicating these memoirs to you ? The offering I know is a poor one : I wish it were more worthy

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DEDICATION, ETC.

of your acceptance ; but it is an offering of the heart, and your permission, so kindly granted, to dedicate them to you, forms another link of friendship in the chain that binds me to you, and to the memory of James Madison.

THOMAS L. M’KENNEY.

Cape Cottage , February , 1845.

CONTENTS OF VOL I

Chapter I. Public Office — Its Duties, Difficulties And Dangers

First appointment to office — System of government trade with the Indians — Trading companies and individuals — Contrast between the two systems — American Fur Company — John Jacob Astor — Missouri Fur Company — Difficulty of supplying the factories during the war — Unsuitable stock on hand at its close — Loss in disposing of it — Satisfaction of the Indians on receiving the new supplies— Clerks in the office — Miles, the trusty messenger — Inestimable value of competent and faithful clerks — Folly and wickedness of proscription — Transfer of the property of the Indian trade establishment — Increase of the capital — Assailed by Mr. Benton — The reply — Mr. Monroe’s opinion — Payment of Indian annuities — Caution in keeping the accounts — Charged with defalcation — Mysterious disappearance of vouchers — Duplicates produced — Accounts settled — Charges of defalcation reiterated — Rules adopted in purchasing articles for the Indians — Anonymous charges of favoritism — Discomforts of office — Accounts kept open 17

CHAPTER n.

IMPROVEMENT, MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL, OF THE INDIANS. PRESIDENT MONROE.

ANECDOTES ILLUSTRATING HIS CHARACTER.

Fourth of July address — Subsequent reflections — Wrongs of the Indian — Correspondence with Mr. and Mrs. Gambold — The Cherokees — Their reluctance to intercourse with the Whites — Capacity for improvement — Plan for elevating their condition — Appropriation by Congress for this purpose — Effects of this plan — David Brown’s letter — Progress of civilization among the Cherokees — Commission annulled — Re-appointed — Fourth Auditor Treasury, almost — Mr. Monroe’s scruples — His sensitiveness to reproach — Interview with him just before his death — Charged with undermining General Armstrong — Facts in the case — The British forces in the Chesapeake — Affair of Bladensburg — General Armstrong vindicated — Mr. Monroe’s personal efforts and sacrifices in 1814 — The General Post-office — Mr. M’Lean’s appointment — What led to it 32

Vlll

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

Chapter III

THE BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFATRS. COMMISSIONS TO TREAT WITH THE INDIANS.

VOYAGE ON THE LAKES. GREEN BAY. BUTTE DE MORTS.

Organization of the Bureau of Indian affairs — Dilatory legislation — Living on half pay — Effects of severe labors upon health — Appointed commissioner to negotiate a treaty with the Indians at Fond du Lac — Other commissioners to the Choctaws, Chickasaws and Creeks — Arrival at Detroit, and departure for Green Bay — First steamboat ascent of the Neebish Rapids — Sault de St. Marie — White fish, and the fishery — Canadian voyagers — Gale on the Lake — Sea-sickness— Boat aground — Detention at Green Bay — Le Petit Butte de Morts — Return to Mackinac — A patient — Doctor Monroe and lady — A contrast — A romantic wife — Return to Green Bay — Hazardous voyage — A night on shore — Another patient — The medicine-man superseded — A cure — Arrival at Green Bay — Alarm in the fort — Allayed by the arrival of General Cass — Apprehensions of an attack — The big gun brought up — Portage at the Grand Kockalas — “ Short guns” — An experiment — Lighting an Indian’s pipe with the sun — Firing at a target in the lake — Indians coming in — Toils of the women — An exception — An Indian’s gratitude — Passage of the Rapids of the Grand Kockalas— Talk with the Winnebagoes — Anecdote of General Leavenworth. . . 56

Chapter IV. Incidents Of The Council At Le Petit Butte De Morts

Sabbath amid Nature’s solitudes — Christian Indians engaged in worship — Opening of the Council — A contrast — Treaty adjusted and signed — An alarm — Le Grand Butte de Morts — Indian tradition — Death of a medicine-man — Funeral ceremonies — Distribution of presents among the Indians — Breaking up of the encampment — Brutal attack upon a woman — Chargeable to whiskey — The man transformed to a woman — Moral effects of this punishment — Awful evils of the whiskey trade — Embarkation — Ascending the Fox river — Dangers of the way — Some of my party return — Number of our men — Incidents by the way — A chase 80

Chapter V

EXPEDITION AGAINST THE WINNEBAGOES. SURRENDER, RECEPTION, AND APPEAR- ANCE OF “ RED-BIRD.”

Encampment at Rush lake — Windings of the Fox river — Major Whistler and Rolette — A successful mediation — Remarkable celestial phenomenon — An omen — The snake and the bear — Ceremony of taking them — A fine position on the Fox river — Shooting a crane — Arrival at the portage — Encampment — Disarming and detention of a party of Winnebagoes — Object of the expedition— Indian diplomacy — Surrender of the murderers — Heroism of the act — Their arrival and reception — Noble appearance and dignified deportment of “ Red-Bird” — Solicitude of his people for him — His brief talk — Miserable appearance of We-kau, his accomplice — Mode of catching the rattle-snake — Preventive against his bite — Portage of the Ouisconsin 99

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

IX

Chapter VI. Passage Down The Ouisconsin And Mississippi Rivers

Passage down the Ouisconsin — An accident — Scenery of the Ouisconsin — A parley with the Indians — Visit to their village — Distribution of presents — Meeting with General Atkinson at Le Petit Roche — Difficulties of navigation— Changes in the river — Junction with the Mississippi — Prairie du Chien — Origin of the name — Description of the Prairie — Scene and story of “ the murders”— Apprehensions of another attack — Mystery of “ Red-Bird’s” outrage explained — Passage down the Mississippi — Grave of Julian Du Buque — Galena — The lead-mines — Trespass upon Indian lands — Causes of the Black Hawk and Seminole wars — Rents at Galena enormously high — Rock Island — Exceeding beauty of the place — Boundary between civilized and savage life — Familiar sounds — Wrecks in the river — Fort Edwards — Encampment on an Island — Visit to the farm-house of a settler — A peep at the newspaper — Pelican Island — Shooting-r-Panic of the inhabitants — The milk-sickness 117

Chapter VII

SOJOURN AT ST. LOUIS. PASSAGE DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI. HARD JOURNEY FROM MEMPHIS TO CHICKASAW BLUFFS.

Mouth of the Missouri — A toast — The French count- — Meeting of the waters — St. Louis — General Clark — Hospitalities — Sudden illness of the count — Kindness of Mrs. Clark — Departure and destination — Compagnons de voyage — Screw-mills — The channel ever shifting — Abrasion of the banks of the Mississippi— A town falling into the river — The cause explained — Sawyers — Planters— Duty of government to remove them — Profits of two acres of onions — Memphis — Journey to the Chickasaw bluffs — Missionary stations — Drunken Indians — Power of General Jackson’s name — Halt in the middle of a stream — Ti-esh-ka — Tockshish — Monroe — Barren tract of country — Arrival at Colbert’s— An Indian’s gratitude and regard — Designs of the government at that time — Different principles afterwards adopted — Jeremiah Evarts, and his papers, signed “ William Penn” — A “ blow-gun” — Counting time — “ Red-sticks” — Anecdote of Tecumthe — Preparations for the grand council 142

Chapter VIII

INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL FROM THE CHICKASAW BLUFFS, THROUGH THE CHOCTAW COUNTRY TO TUSCALOOSA — THENCE, THROUGH THE CREEK COUNTRY, HOME.

Opening of the council at Colbert’s house — Its results — On the way to the Choctaws— Beauty of the Prairie — A Choctaw “ rain-maker” — Espy out-done — The secret of the art — A thunderbolt wrapped up in a blanket — The sorcerer — On the wrong track — Ben in a prairie — An Indian camp surprised — A bar-

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CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

gain — In difficulty — A false guide — A night among the cane-brake — A copperhead-snake for a pillow — A new guide — Safe arrival at Folsom’s — Opposition of Indians to selling their lands — Colonel James Johnson — His brother, Richard M. — Proof that Tecumthe was killed by R. M. Johnson — Result of the Choctaw council — A burnt child — Great Indian ball-playing — Columbus — A beautiful sufferer — Governor Adair — Passing by the Cherokees — Horrible roads — Woods on fire — Guide to Tuscaloosa — A Sabbath of rest — Journey to the Creek agency on the Chattahoochee — Results of conference with the Creeks — Two Indian boys adopted — Home-sickness — Effect of a change of dress — Scene at a public house — Subsequent history of the Indian boys. . . 167

Chapter IX

RETURN TO WASHINGTON. CHANGE OF ADMINISTRATION. POLITICAL EXCITEMENT.

CORRUPTION AND FAVORITISM IN HIGH PLACES.

Arrival at Washington — Mr. Barbour’s estimate of my services — Adjustment of my accounts — Political agitation — Personal abuse — Duff Green’s account — His “ mark” — The work of proscription going on — Pledges honestly given — How fulfilled — Duff Green’s first appearance at Washington — How he went ahead — Strife for office — Interview with President Jackson — Charges — Satisfactorily answered — Result — A call at my office — An office not wanted — The office of Indian affairs — General Eaton and Duff Green — General Houston — “ Proposal” — A second and third interview — Proposals for contracts to supply the Indians — Ben Hawkins, alias General Houston — A rat behind the curtain — “ Bids” — Actual cost of rations, and removal of the Indians — Extracts from documents — Bold favoritism — General Houston in a rage — A scene with my clerks — Almost displaced.. 191

Chapter X

PLANS FOR IMPROVING THE CONDITION OF THE INDIANS. HINDRANCES IN THE WAY OF THEIR EXECUTION.

Organization of “ the Indian Board” at New York — Address before the Indian Board — Claims of the Indians presented — Massasoit — Pocahontas — Benevolent designs of the Pilgrims — Obstacles to be overcome — The Indian vindicated — The Indian a victim to the vices of civilization — Some of the obstacles to his improvement removed — His anticipated progress — Destiny of our country — Duty to the Indians — Views of President John Quincy Adams — Different views of emigration — Diminution of the tribes — Some wholly exterminated — An erroneous impression corrected — Terms of the proposed removal — Imaginary talk with the Indians — Conclusion — Letter of “ the Indian Board” to the Executive — Reply by General Eaton — Comment upon this correspondence — Total failure of the objects of this organization — The causes of this failure — Protection promised the Indian — Promise fulfilled by force 224

CONTEXTS OF VOL. I.

XI

Chapter XI. Abominable Abuse Of Power In Our Relations With The Indians

Protection guarantied by treaty to the Indians — Some extracts from these treaties— How interpreted by Mr. Calhoun — Trampled upon by General Jackson — A Circular Address to the Indians — A very essential modification — A thrust at the Cherokees — Newspaper comments — Dr. Randolph in the fidgets — Leave of absence — Dismissed from office — Charges of defalcation — Four years persecution— Mr. Berrien’s influence in the treatment of the Cherokees — The treaty (?) of New Euchota — Repudiated by the Cherokees — Force to be employed — General Scott — Ridge’s apology for the New Euchota treaty — Formation of a new government west of the Mississippi — The Ridges and Boudinot killed — Refusal to recognize the Cherokee delegation at Washington — My interview with Mr. Poinsett — A new treaty proposed — Mr. Van Buren’s objections — A diplomatic way of getting round them — A plan proposed to bring the Seminole war to a close — More diplomacy, ending in treachery — Vindication of John Ross — Further developments of the injustice done to the Cherokees — The treaty of Payne’s Landing — Jackson’s “ talk” — Outrages upon the Florida Indians — Indian talk — Micanopy — Jumper — Osceola — The mad policy which provoked the Florida war 256

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

VOLUME I. page

Frontispiece, Author’s likeness, ..... 1

Chapter I. — The Rescue, . . . . . . .16 “ II. — Indian School, 32

“ IV. — Siloue — Rescue of Col. Boyd, ... 80

“ VI. — Indian Battle, 11 7

“ X. — Scalp Dance, 224

“ XII. — Panic in a Thunder-Storm, .... 256

VOLUME II.

Frontispiece, Pocahontas, 1

Discourse I., Part I. — Skenandoah, 9

“ I., " II. — Capt. Smith rescued by Pocahontas, 31

“ II., “ II. — Primitive Wilderness, ... 52

“ II., “ II. — Transition from Primitive Wilderness, 53

Death of Pushmataha, .106

MEMOIRS.

CHAPTER I.

PUBLIC OFFICE ITS DUTIES, DIFFICULTIES AND DANGERS.

First appointment to office — System of government trade with the Indians — Trading companies and individuals — Contrast between the two systems — American Fur Company — John Jacob Astor — Missouri Fur Company — Difficulty of supplying the factories during the war — Unsuitable stock on hand at its close — Loss in disposing of it — Satisfaction of the Indians on receiving the new supplies— Clerks in the office — Miles, the trusty messenger — Inestimable value of competent and faithful clerks — Folly and wickedness of proscription — Transfer of the property of the Indian trade establishment — Increase of the capital — Assailed by Mr. Benton — The reply — Mr. Monroe’s opinion — Payment of Indian annuities — Caution in keeping the accounts — Charged with defalcation — Mysterious disappearance of vouchers — Duplicates produced — Accounts settled — Charges of defalcation reiterated — Rules adopted in purchasing articles for the Indians — Anonymous charges of favoritism — Discomforts of office — Accounts kept open.

I owe my first connection with our Indian relations, and the first civil trust conferred upon me, to the confidence of President Madison, who, unsolicited by myself, and, so far as I know, by any one for me, honored me, on the 2d April, 1816, with the commission of “ Superintendent of the United States Indian Trade with the Indian Tribes.” I had been informed, a few days previous, of the intention of President Madison to call me to the discharge of the duties of this office, but had never spoken to him on the

VOL. I. 3

MEMOIRS, &c., &c.

subject, nor he to me. My commission* was brought to me by Hon. William Jones, Secretary of the Navy.

The plan of a United States government trade with the Indians dates as far back as the year 1796. The system was one of pure humanity, embracing a supply of the wants of the Indians without reference to profit; and receiving, in exchange from them, their furs and peltries, at fair prices ; the law governing this trade contemplating nothing more than the preservation of the capital employed in it. The convenience of the Indians was consulted in the establishment of factories along the border, and at such distances from each other, as to approximate upon the one hand, as near to the hunting grounds of the Indians as was convenient ; upon the other, with the readiest access to them by water, or otherwise, for the transportation of the annual supplies. Suitable and competent persons, as factors, clerks, and interpreters, were appointed to carry on this trade.

There were in operation, at the same time, two other systems of trade with this people. One of these was conducted by individuals, the other by companies. The contrast between these and the government trade, will not

* (COPY.)

The President of the United States of America —

To all who shall see these 'presents , Greeting :

Know ye, That reposing special trust and confidence in the integrity, ability, and diligence of Thomas L. McKenney, of the District of Columbia, I do appoint him superintendent of Indian trade, and do authorize and empower him to execute and fulfil the duties of that office, according to law ; and to have and to hold the said office, with all the powers, privileges and emoluments to the same of right appertaining, unto him the said Thomas L. McKenney, during the pleasure of the President of the United States, for the time being.

Given under my hand at Washington, this second day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixteen, and in the fortieth year of the Independence of the United States.

James Madison.

By command of the President of the United States of America.

Wm.H. Crawford, Secretary of War.

MEMOIRS, &c., &c.

fail to strike the most casual reader. The leading features of the government trade were protection and justice, based in humanity. Its tendencies were kind and merciful. The bane of the Indian was wholly excluded from the United States trade ; not a drop of brandy, rum, or whiskey, being permitted to pass through the factories. Not a cent of profit was contemplated, as has been stated. With no other system but this, or others in harmony with it, the Indians would have been protected, and blessed, and preserved. Many of the bloody strifes with one another, and of wars between tribes and bands, and the probability is, the greater portion of these border difficulties between the Indians and our people, would never have been heard of; whilst the Indians, preserved from the double action upon them of these wars, and the consuming effects of the “ fire-water/’ would have retained their native strength and dignity, and not wasted away and perished, as they have done.

I can conceive of no contrast more decided than that which marked the United States’ treatment of these exposed people, and that which characterized the traffic carried on with them by private individuals, and companies. To sum it up in few words, the first was a shield to protect, and a fountain to sustain, and refresh, and bless the Indians; the last two operated to place them amidst the unobstructed, full, and unmitigated blaze of a consuming avarice! No profits were sought by the government — nothing but gains were contemplated by the traders. No consuming, and strife, and war-kindling agencies, were employed by the first, to attract and lure the unhappy victim; no laws could be enacted by Congress, and no regulations framed, of adequate force or vigilance, to prevent the employment, by the traders, of these lures, and of this bane. No one who has not witnessed it, can conceive the sacrifices an Indian will make for whiskey ; how far he will travel, laden with the returns of his winter’s hunts ; how little he foresees, or regards the consequences to himself, or any

MEMOIRS, &c., &c.

body else, of his indulgence in this fatal poison. The awaking from his delirious dream, and finding his furs and peltries gone, and in their places a few worthless articles, unsuited in quality or quantity to screen himself and his family from the winter’s cold, may distress him, and kindle his revenge, for the time being, but it is forgotten whenever a new occasion happens in which he can indulge in the same excess ! Of all men, an Indian is the most improvident, and furnishes the most painful example of a reckless disregard to the impoverishing and life-consuming effects of intemperance.

Many fortunes have been made in the trade with the Indians. The company that has flourished most, and become most enriched by it, is the “American Fur Company,” at the head of which, for many years, as owner and manager, was John Jacob Astor. This sagacious and wonderful man pushed this trade wherever the beaver, the otter, or the muskrat, could be found in sufficient quantity to authorize the adventure, until the range east of the Rocky Mountains becoming too limited for his enterprise, he doubled the Cape, and felt his way up the Columbia river, opening a trade with the natives of that far-off region. Next in enterprise and success, was the “Missouri Fur Company,” whose operations were, and are yet, conducted by the sagacious Choutou’s. It was to make the range of this company’s operations wider, and secure to it, mainly, the unobstructed way to a monopoly of the trade within the limits of its range, that the United States system was, by act of Congress, broken down.

In the discharge of my trust, I found it necessary, almost from year to year, in my annual reports, to refer to the manner in which these companies carried on their operations ; protesting against the use of whiskey, and urging the adoption of more rigid regulations to prevent its being carried into the Indian country. For this was the charm, and the trading house at which the poor

MEMOIRS, dtc., &c.

Indian was most certain of meeting with this beverage, was sure of his custom. It was not so much a competition in blankets, and strouds, and calicoes, and beaver-traps, and other articles that were necessary for the trade, or their prices, as in whiskey. My reports were not regarded in the light of very friendly interpositions, and from these it was quite natural for the feelings they occasioned to glance off, and become personal. The consequence was, I was not in favor either with the private trade, or with the more formidable power concentred in the companies.

I shall take occasion, in the sequel, to refer again to the breaking down of the United States trade ; and to a part, at least, of the means employed to accomplish it.

My immediate predecessor, General John Mason, a man of talents and integrity, had found it difficult during the war to procure suitable supplies, except in part, for the trade. Mackinac blankets, and strouding, two indispensable articles, were wholly beyond his reach ; made so by the war with Great Britain, on the one hand, and the infant state of our manufactures, on the other. For blankets, resort was had to a sort of cloth made of wool, united, without weaving, after the manner in which hats are made. It was these or none. These, with numerous other articles, as little adapted to the comfort of the Indians, were purchased and forwarded, and as little in accordance with their wants and tastes. But nothing better in the then condition of the country, could be done.

I found, on entering upon the duties of this trust, a large portion of the capital absorbed in these unsuitable supplies, and the factories laboring under their weight. On the return of peace, the markets resumed their former ability to supply the demand, and were prepared, when I took charge of the department, to respond to my calls. But to make way for the new and appropriate supplies, it was necessary for me to get rid of the old and unsuitable ;

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when I ordered the old stock to be got rid of, regardless of loss. It was customary to pack the supplies in water-proof tierces. In making up the outfit the first year of my superintendency, the quantity of goods required for it was so large, that the tierces required for their transportation were found, on being measured, to extend in length over one mile and a quarter.

The loss on the old stock was very great, and made, of course, a corresponding inroad upon the capital, and this required the adoption of a new scale of advances upon the articles sent, as also another for the regulation of the prices allowed the Indians for their furs and peltries. This scale was so graduated as to run through more than one season — thus making the annual advance to bear easy upon the Indians. The prices of furs, &c., owing to the re-opening of our commercial relations after the war, having increased, enabled the government to allow an increase upon them — so that the Indians felt very little of the advance which had been put upon the goods.

Great satisfaction was expressed by these poor fellows, in being able once more to provide for themselves and families the substantial woven and almost weather-proof Mackinac blanket, and the almost water-proof and enduring strouding. I received letters from Governor Cass, whose office of governor of Michigan made him ex-ojjicio superintendent of the Indians of that Territory, as also from General William Clark, who was superintendent of Indian affairs for Missouri, conveying their high satisfaction at this new influx of the right sort of articles — and assuring me that no such supplies, either in fitness or cheapness, had ever before found their way into their superintendencies.

I owed this success mainly to others. I was assisted by clerks whose integrity and experience made them of great value, as well to the public as to myself ; and I can never forget the obligations I was placed under, for zeal-

MEMOIRS, &c., &c.

ous co-operations, and honesty of purpose, of my chief clerk, Jere W. Bronaugh ; my book-keeper, Mr. Rich, and my copying clerk, Mead Fitzhugh — nor should I be doing justice to my feelings, were I to omit to name Miles, my trusty messenger. Miles was honest, and he was faithful to his humble trust. He had a horror, somehow, of Indians. Miles was bald — and Fitzhugh, being given to mischief, had almost persuaded him that he had, in some far-back period of his life, been scalped by Indians ; and sometimes, when the business of the day was over, I would, in passing, hear Fitzhugh urging upon Miles, this almost questionless fact ; when the artless creature would raise his hand, place it well back, and then draw it over his forehead, and with a shake of his head, say — “ No, no — Mr. Fitzhugh ; no, no” — at the same time his looks betraying his own suspicions, if no more, that such might have been the case. One little anecdote may serve to show how the artlessness of Miles was blended with his fears, and how these were set off by his want of a better knowledge of his mother tongue.