Stories of early American history

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Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Christopher Columbus 1

II. John Cabot and Americus Vespucius 15

Chapter I Christopher Columbus

Over 800 years ago, long before it was known there was such a place as A-mer'i-ca, a war broke out between the peoples of western Eu'rope and those of western A'sia.

The peoples of western Europe were followers of Christ, while those of western Asia were followers of Ma-hom'et. The Ma-hom'et-ans held the Holy Land where Christ had lived, and the Christians wished to get it back.

This war was followed by others. For nearly 200 years they never wholly died down, but the hard fighting was at eight different times. The wars were called the Cru-sades', or Wars of the Cross, because the Christian soldiers wore crosses on their coats.

Millions of men lost their lives in this dreadful struggle, Init many lived to go back to their homes in Europe. They told wonderful tales of the strange lands where they had fought, and of the curious and l)eautiful things they had seen there. They told of beasts and l)irds, fruits and flowers, peoples, dress, houses, furniture, and customs that seemed very strange.

How do you suppose this made the people feel who had stayed at home? Of course, they also wanted to visit these lands, and many who had never loeen far from home began to travel to Asia.

They had known nothing of the great world outside of the little place where they had grown up. Imagine how surprised they were to find that the people of the East understood many arts of which they themselves knew nothing.

They found soft, fine silks and other rich cloths to wear, spices which made their food taste better, rugs to warm and soften the floors, and man}" of the comforts of life.

Wishing to take some of these things back home, they traded for them things they themselves had made. This business of trading kept growing, as time went on. In Ven'ice and Gen'o-a there were merchants and sailors who took a large part in it. Look at your maps and see if you can tell why boys growing up in those cities should take to the sea.

From these two cities great merchant fleets saiknl out, and returned loaded with goods from the East. These goods had to he brought on the l^acks of camels, horses, and mules, all the w^ay from Per'sia, InVli-a, and Chi'na, down to the ports where the ships were waiting for them. Picture to yourself long lines of these beasts of l)urden as they wound along their way to the sea-coast.

At one time there were three main routes by which the

CHRISTOPHER coLr:\rnr's caravans reached the sea. All were costly and full of daii<2;(M', for it was the custom of the Turks to pluiid(M' the carax ans or to force them to give up a part of their goods Ix'fore they would let them go on.

The most northern route. led through the Black Sea by way of what is now southern Russia. But in 145:^ the Turks captured Con-stan-ti-no'ple and cut off this route. This was a hard blow to Genoa, for that city had always used the northern route.

But it was a blow felt l)y all Europe, for other nations had become eager for a share in the Eastern trade. It happened, too, just when the desire for Eastern goods was growing very fast.

For a long time men had been trying to find a way to reach India, China, and Japan by water, so as to escape the dangers l:>y land. Now they felt that such a route must be found.

Por'tu-gal and Spain were the two nations whose sailors went most to sea. So they took the lead in the search for this all-water route.

Portugal set out to find it by sailing down the west coast of Africa. It was very slow work, luit at last a brave sea

Christopher Cohimbus.

captain of that country, A'as'co da Gam'a; reached the

most southern end of Africa.

He called it the "Cape of Storms." You can guess why.

But the King of Portugal said, "It shall be called the Cape

of Good Hope." Can you think why he gave it that name?

When Portugal had found her route by sailing south, Spain dared not sail over it herself for fear of trouble with Portugal.

So she had to find another way.

The man who showed her how was Chris'to-pher Colum'bus. He was not a Spaniard. Let us see how it came about that Spain was the

countiy to send him out and get the glory for what he did. Columbus was born in Genoa. His father was a poor man,

who earned his living by making wool ready for the spinners. We do not know much about the boy Christopher, but

we can well believe that he was fond of playing on the

He was fond of playing on the wharves.

whan'es near his home. Here he could see hundreds of vessels coming and going. We may be sure that he spent many hours watching their white sails. Most likely he was fond of the water and learned while he was quite young to swim and to sail boats.

But he did not play all the time. He had work to do like other boys. He learned his father's trade, and he also went to school, where he learned reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and map-drawing. All these were of great use in his later life.

He must have heard older people talk a great deal about the loss of the Eastern trade after the Turks had shut up the Black Sea route, and about the need of finding a new route over the ocean.

YEARS OF TRIAL FOR COLUMBUS

Many years later, when he had become a grown-up man, he went to live in Lis'bon, which, you know, is the capital of Portugal. Here lived one of his brothers, and here, as in Genoa, lived many sailors. Here again he must have heard much talk about finding a water route to India.

Columbus listened earnestly to sailors' stories; he studied maps and charts; he thought a great deal.

It seemed to him that the earth must be round like a globe, instead of flat as many others supposed. He tried to get all the proofs he could of this. He also took many voyages himself.

After many long years of study, he felt sure that he could get to India by sailing straight across the Atlantic Ocean. He would go right in the opposite direction from that in which India lay. "The way to the East is ])y the West," said he.

If he should be able to reach India in this way, he would prove that the earth was round and would bring the wealth of the Indies to Europe.

The more he thought about this great plan, the more he longed to carry it out. In fact, he thought of it by day and dreamed of it by night.

But he was poor and he had few friends. How could he get money and help to make his great dream come true?

At last he laid his plan before King John of Portugal. But the king would not promise to help him.

Columbus then took his little son Diego (de-a'go) by the hand and started across the mountains to Spain. We may picture father and son hurrying along the rough mountain roads. Columbus could hardly stop to see whether his little boy was tired, so eager was he to find some one to help him.

When he came to a place near the town of Pa'los, he left Diego with an aunt, and set out alone in search of the king and queen, Fer'di-nand and Is'a-bel-la.

At that time a war was going on in the south of Spain between the Spaniards and the Moors. So Columbus had a hard time getting them to listen to him.

At last they gave him a hearing. They liad asked a number of wise men to be present. Some of them laughed at Columbus for saying that the earth was round like a globe. Others said, "We lielieve he is right."

But the king and queen would not help him. Sick at heart, therefore^ he planned to leave Spain and go to France.

Up to this time he had failed. He was poor and had few friends. Men said, ''He is a crazy dreamer." When he walked through a \'illage with sad face and threadbare clothing, the l^oys laughed at him.

But Columbus did not give up hope. He had faith in his plans, and believed that sometime he should succeed. He started l^ravely, therefore, for the court of France, taking Diego with him.

At that time, we are told, Columbus was a fine-looking man. He was tall and strong, and had a noble face with keen blue eyes. His white hair fell in long wavy locks about his shoulders. Although his clothing was plain and perhaps shabby, there was something in his manner that made people like him.

After father and son had walked about a mile and a half, they stopped at the Convent of St. Maiy. Perhaps they wanted some bread and water. Just then the good Pri'or of the Convent was passing by and the two men began to talk together.

Columbus reasoned well about his plans. The Prior listened closely, and then wrote at once to Queen Isabella, who knew him and believed in him as a wise and good man. This letter proved a help to Columbus, for a little later the queen told him she would furnish him with men and vessels for the voyage.

Santa Maria Piiita Nina

The Fleet of Christopher Coliimbus.

But even with the queen's help, he still had many trials before him. The ocean was unknown. The sailors were afraid to go out far from land upon the deep, dark waters.

In the course of time, however, three small vessels with one hundred and twenty men were ready to start. The vessels were not larger than many of our fishing-boats to-day. The largest was the San'ta Ma-ri'a and was commanded by Columbus. It was about ninety feet long, and was the only vessel of the fleet which had a complete deck.

A half hour before sunrise on Friday morning, August 3^ 1492, the little fleet sailed out of the port of Palos. It was a sorrowful time for the poor sailors and their friends. All ])elieved that the vessels would be lost, and that the sailors would never again see home and family.

When, about a month later, they left the Canary Islands and the furthest land known to them faded from sight, the sailors cried like children.

Fresh worries lay before them. At the end of a week the compass needle no longer pointed to the North Star. Of course, the poor sailors were in great fear.

A few days later the fleet entered a vast stretch of seaweed. Again the sailors were much troubled. They feared that the vessels would stick fast in the grass, or run upon rocks lying just below the surface of the water. But when the wind blew up a little stronger, the vessels passed on in safety.

Later on they entered the belt of trade-winds, which blew them steadily westward. They said: "We are lost! We can never see our friends again!" They begged Columbus to turn about and steer for home.

He refused. They became angr}^, called him crazy, and even wished to kill him. One of them said: "Let us push him overboard some night when he is looking at the stars."

Columbus knew his life was in danger, but he would not give up. He still had faith and hope. The greater the danger, the more firmly he set himself to meet it with an iron will and a high puipose.

At last, on October 11, signs of land such as birds and l:)roken bits of trees appeared. That night no one slept.

COLUMBUS

TIliST YOVA(iE, 1492-3

•Ql'Or.TCl RICO

O C E A. N

PA C I F I (I C E A y

The First Voyage of Columbus, and Places of Interest in Connection with His Later Voyages.

Every one was straining his eyes to catch the first glimpse of the distant shore.

About ten o'clock in the evening Columbus himself saw a moving light in the distance. It looked like a torch in the hand of a man who was running along the shore.

COLUMBUS AND THE NEW WORLD

Earl}' in the morning little boats were lowered, and eveiybody went ashore. Columbus, dressed in a rich robe of bright scarlet, carried in his hand the royal flag of Spain. As soon as he reached the land, he fell on his knees. With tears in his eyes he kissed the earth and thanked God for the safe voyage.

Columbus called the dark-skinned natives Indians, because he thought he was in the East Indies. At first the Indians ran into the woods because they were afraid, but soon they came back, curious to learn about these strange visitors.

They worshipped the white men, thinking the}' were beings from the sk}-. They believed the vessels were great birds, and that the sails were great white wings.

Columbus called the island upon which he had landed San Salvador, which means Holy Saviour.

Sailing on, he reached the coast of Cuba.

Now he thought he was in Japan, and called the island Ci-pan'go (Japan) ; and he kept on the lookout for the cities of Asia. In them he expected to find the gold, spices, and jewels he was looking for. But he found no cities; and he found no gold, no jewels, and no spices.

On Christmas morning he had a serious mishap. While it was still dark, one of his little vessels ran ashore on a sand-bar and was knocked to pieces by the waves. Another of his vessels had already deserted the fleet, so now he had but one left.

On Januaiy 4, 1493, he sailed for Spain. After a very stormy voyage, on March 1") he entered the harbor of Palos.

It AMIS a jo}'ful day for the people and the}' stopped all business to give a welcome to Columbus. His praise was now on every man's lips.

Soon he went to Bar-ce-lo'na, where he was honored by a street parade. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella sent for him, and when he came into their presence they honored him by rising. As he knelt to kiss their hands, they commanded him to rise and sit with them as an equal.

The idle dreamer had become a great man. Everybody was eager to share his honor and his fame. It was now easy to get the most powerful men in the country to join him on a second voyage.

In September, 1493, he sailed with a fleet of seventeen vessels. This time he had with him 1,500 men, and many of them were from the best families in Spain. They meant to stay in the "Indies" long enough to become rich men, and go l3ack to Spain to live as grandees. They expected to use gangs of the natives to dig gold for them.

On reaching Hayti Columbus built a little town, and then started to explore the new country. But troul^le met him on every hand. The Indians were not always friendly, and his own men were often unwilling to obey him. They had not come to do hard, rough work, but to make fortunes at once.

At the end of three years, he sailed back to Spain. During a long and trying voyage all the food on l^oard was used up, so that he and his men almost starved. But at last he reached home.

A few years later he sailed on a third ^'oyage. More troubles were waiting foi- him. When he reached the little town which he had built in Hayti, he found things were going badly. The Indians were unfriendly, and serious quarrels had broken out among the settlers themselves.

For two long years Columbus tried to make things right, but he could not. At length an officer was sent from Spain to see how things were going in the colony.

He unjustly put Columbus in chains and sent him back to Spain.

Queen Isabella sent for him to come to court, and

he appeared before her still l^ound in chains. When she saw him she wept, and he also broke down and wept at her feet.

Having been set free, a few years later he went on a fourth voyage. Again he met trouble after trouble. First, his ship was wrecked, and then he spent a long, painful year of hardship and misery.

Columbus in Chains.

At last he sailed back to Spain, where he arrived only a short time before Queen Isabella died. He lived only eighteen months after this, for he was broken in health and felt that he had little to live for.

On May 20, 1506, he died of a broken heart. Up to the very last he thought he had sailed only to the Indies. He never knew that he had discovered a new world.

1. Why (lid Spain and Portugal wish to find an all-water route to

India, China, and Japan?

2. How did Columbus come to believe that he could reach the Far

East by sailinji' west across the Atlantic?

3. Imagine yourself with him on liis first voyage and tell all you can

about his trials.

4. What land did he think he had reached? What was his great

work?

5. What do you admire in Columbus?

Chapter II John Cabot And Americus Vespucius John Cabot •

At the time when Columbus sailed on his first voyage, another sea-captain, born in the very same city as Columbus, was planning to sail westward in search of the In'dies. This was John Cab'ot. He was born in Genoa, had his home later in Venice, but was now living in Bristol, England.

He had travelled much, and had spent some time in western Asia, where he had seen a caravan loaded with spices. After he returned to England, he asked King Henry VII if he might go on a voyage of discovery, and the king gave his consent.

But it was not until May, 1497, nearly five years after Columbus had first sailed, that Cabot put out to sea with only one small vessel and eighteen men. He sailed straight west and landed on the coast of Lab'ra-dor.

He was the first sea-captain to reach the mainland of North America, for Columbus did not do this until his second voyage in 1498.

On Cabot's return to England he was called the " Great Admiral." He was treated with much honor. The simple sea-captain now dressed in fine clothing like the noted men of those days.

The following year, with six vessels, he made another voyage. Where he went, what he found, whether he ever came back, we do not know. But it is rather likely that he

Jolin Cabot in London.

went to what is now Flor'i-da. On the strength of what England declared that he had discovered, she at a later time claimed all of North America.

AMERICUS VESPUCIUS

From what you have learned, you will probably think that the New World should have been named after Columbus. The reason why it was not can be told in a few words.

After Columbus had led the way, many other explorers sailed for the West. Among them was A-mer'i-cus Vespu'cius.

How many voyages he made, and just when he made

JOHN CABOT AND AMERICUS VESPUCIUS them, we do not know. But it is thought that he sailed along the coast of Bra-ziK, or perhaps along a part of the eastern coast of South America lying south of Brazil. He wrote letters also in which he told what he had seen in his voyaging, and what he said in these letters was the first printed account of the mainland of the New World.

The good accounts that Vespucius wrote of what he had seen were read by German geographers. They liked the accounts because they were so interesting. One of these geographers also supposed that Americus Vespucius was the first man to discover the New World. So the land that Columbus discovered came to be called America.

Americus Vespucius.

1. Who was John Cabot? What was he the first man to do?

2. Why was the New World called America?

Chapter III The American Indians

As we have learned, Columbus called the people of the New World Indians. They did not live close together like the people in Europe, but were scattered all over the country. Yet many of them were related, so that really they formed five great groups, or families.

Those which we must know about are the three living east of the Mis'sis-sip'pi River. These were the South'ern Indians, the Tro-ciuois, and the Al-gon'quins. Let us take our maps and see where each of these three lived.

The Southern Indians lived, mostly, in a belt lying between the Ten-nes-see' River on the north and the Gulf of Mex'i-co on the south. This belt extended from the Mississippi River clear to the Atlantic Ocean.

The Iroc|Uois Indians were made up mainly of the five tribes, or Five Nations, as they were called, of central New York.

Leaving out the Iroquois, all the other tribes spreading east from the Mississippi and north from the Tennessee clear up into Can'a-da were called Algonquins.

Although the Indians of the different tribes did not look alike, we may say that, as a rule, they had straight black hair, small black eyes, high cheek-bones, and coppercolored skins.

The women wore their hair long. The men in most of

In each wigwam lived a wliole family.

the tribes shaved their heads, except at the top, where they left a scalp-lock.

The dress of the Indian was made largely of the skins of wild animals. Instead of leather shoes, like ours, he wore moccasins made of skins.

An Iroquois "Long House.'

The pieces of the moccasin were sewed together, although the Indians had no needles and thread. What do you think they used? Their needles w^re small sharp fish-bones,

and their thread the tough sinews of deer or some other wild animal.

Many of the Indians lived in little villages.

In some tribes these villages were made up of wigwams, in each of which, small as it was, lived a whole family.

The wigwams were tents, covered inside and out by skins, mats, or bark. Sometimes a l3ear's hide was used for a door. There was no floor except the bare earth. Here, in the centre of the wigwam, the fire was built, and the smoke was let out through a hole at the top. There was no carpet, but soft skins kept the feet out of the mud or off the frozen ground.

Some tribes had other kinds of dwellings than wigwams. The Iroquois built huge log cabins called ''long houses," with side rooms screened off by skins. Some of these houses were one hundred feet long, and as many as twenty families with all their relatives could live in one of them.

The Indians of the Southwest had the strangest dwellings of all. They were made of a-do'be, or clay baked in the sun, and were called pueb'los. The chief ones were many times larger than the ''long houses," and the people of a good-sized town of to-day could live in a single pueblo.

Sometimes these strange pueblos were perched high on the cUfls.

There was one large enough to furnish homes for five thousand persons. Indeed, each pueblo was a kind of apartment house, town, and fort all in one.

Some were two stories high, some were four, and others as high as seven stories. Each story was set back a little from the one below it, so that the roof of the first became the sidewalk, or street, of the second, and so on to the top.

Nobody ever called out, "Don't slam the door," to the Indian boys and girls who lived in these pueblos. For eveiyone had to climb to the top of his home on a ladder and let himself in through an opening in the roof. Can you guess why they chose such a strange way of getting into their houses? It was because they thought that if the entrance was on top, it would not be easy for an enemy to surprise them.

Sometimes these strange pueblos were perched high on the cliffs to make it still harder for enemies to reach them. The people living in these strongholds were called cliff-dwellers. They built on high places because they were weak and afraid of their enemies.

The strong tribes always built their pueblos close to a river or lake. In this fish could be caught, and in the gardens nearby the squaws could till the soil.

THE INDIAN BRAVE AND THE SQUAW

You may sometimes hear it said that the squaw had to do all the work. People who say this believe that the Indian brave was lazy, and wished to make a slave of his wife.

But this is not true, for the man had his own work just as the woman had hers. Hunting and fishing were his share; and any tribe whose men did not keep themselves

=©^ 1 trained for fighting and on the watch for foes would soon have been killed or made slaves of by some other tribe.

The Indian brave was quite willing to make arrows, bows, canoes, and other tools which he might need. But he felt too proud to do what he thought was a squaw's work.

The squaw kept busy about the home clothing

1. Hunting Arrow. 2. Arrow for War. 3. Fish Spear.

Slioshonee Bow.

ITTS

She cooked the food and made the She tended the patches of corn, melons, beans, squashes, and pumpkins. In doing this she scratched the ground with simple tools like pointed sticks, or stone spades, or hoes. She also gathered wood, made fires, and set up the wigwam.

But the squaw's first duty was to care for the children. She had a queer-looking cradle, or cradleboard, for her little pap-poose', as she called her child, and used it till the baby was two years old or so.

The cradle was some two feet A Pappoose Case. long, and nearly a foot wide. It was covered with skins, the outer one forming a pocket which was hned with grass and moss, making a soft Uttle nest where the baby snuggled. She carried it on her back when walking. But when at work she stood it against a bush or rock or hung it on a low bough.

Perhaps you have heard your mother sing to the baby:

"Rock-a-bye baby upon the tree-top, When the wind blows, the cradle will rock; When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall — Down comes rock-a-bye baby and all."

This song came from the Indian mother's habit of hanging the cradle on a tree.

The Indian boy did not go to a school like yours. His lessons were learned out of doors, and his books were the

woods and the lakes and m the running streams about him. By watching, and listening, and trying, he learned to swim like a fish, to dive like a beaver, to climb trees like a squin^el, and to run like a deer.

As soon as he could hold a bow and arrow, he was taught to shoot at a mark and to throw the tomahawk.

He had also to learn how to set traps for wild animals

An Indian Pipe.

and how to hunt them. He learned to make the calls of wild birds and beasts. For if he could howl like a wolf, quack like a duck, and gobble like a turkey, he could get

nearer his game when on the hunt.

He had to learn how to track his enemies and how to conceal his own tracks when he wished to get away from his enemies. He had to become a brave, strong warrior, and be able to kill his foe and prevent his foe from killing him.

For, after all, the most important part of his work when he grew up was to fight the enemies of his tribe. If he did not make war upon them, they would think he was weak and would attack him. So whether he wished or not, he had to fight.

Most boys like to ''play Indian" and surprise those who they pretend are enemies. The real Indians were very

A light bark canoe, easily carried fond of this kind of fighting by ambush. They would hide in the woods and then suddenly rush out upon their foes as they passed or shoot them down.

They learned to keep so perfectly still and so completely out of sight behind the trees or in the bushes and tall grass that the enemj^ would not suspect there was anybody near. Thus many of the enemy would be killed or captured while they themselves lost very few men.

On returning home, the war party would often bring back captives. Some of these they might adopt into their own tribe, for often their numbers be-

Snow-shoes.

came much thinned by

war. But sometimes the captives were tortured and put to death. Does it not seem strange that any one could enjoy seeing people suffer?

The Indian's way of travelling from place to place was very simple. When he was looking for fresh hunting-grounds or new streams or lakes for fishing, or when he was with a war party, as a rule he went on foot. Sometimes he took a forest path or trail, but it was much easier to travel by water. Then he found his light bark canoe very useful. Two men could easily carry it, and even one could carry it alone over his shoulder.