William W. Warren: The Life, Letters, and Times of an Ojibwe Leader (American Indian Lives)

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William W. Warren

WILLIAM WARRENlayout.indd 1

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American Indian Lives e d i tor i a l b o ar d General Editor A. LaVonne Brown Ruoff University of Illinois at Chicago (emerita) Kimberly Blaeser University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Brenda J. Child University of Minnesota R. David Edmunds University of Texas at Dallas Clara Sue Kidwell University of Oklahoma Daniel F. Littlefield University of Arkansas Tsianina Lomawaima University of Arizona Gerald Vizenor University of California, Berkeley


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William W. Warren The Life, Letters, and Times of an Ojibwe Leader

theresa m . sc h en c k

University of Nebraska Press • Lincoln & London


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© 2007 by Theresa M. Schenck All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-inPublication Data Schenck, Theresa M. William W. Warren : the life, letters, and times of an Ojibwe leader / Theresa M. Schenck. p. cm. — (American Indian lives) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn-13: 978-0-8032-4327-9 (cloth : alk. paper) isbn-10: 0-8032-4327-8 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Warren, William W. (William Whipple), 1825–1853. 2. Ojibwa Indians—Biography. 3. Indian authors—Biography. 4. Indian legislators—Biography. 5. Ojibwa Indians—Treaties. 6. Ojibwa Indians—Relocation. I. Title. e99.c6w2957 2007 977.6004'97333092—dc22 [B] 2006021622


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Contents

List of Illustrations . . vi Preface . . vii Acknowledgments. . xvii 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

Family and Childhood . . 1 Education . . 11 Interpreter . . 19 William W. Warren and the Treaty of 1847 . . 35 Clerk, Farmer, Interpreter, Author . . 46 The Chippewa-Sioux Warfare . . 71 The Removal of 1850 . . 82 Legislator . . 98 The Removal of 1851 . . 123 Final Struggles . . 156 Aftermath . . 173 Appendix a: Letters of William W. Warren . . 177 Appendix b: Published Works of William W. Warren . . 179 Notes . . 181 Selected Bibliography . . 197 Index . . 201


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Illustrations

Warren Family Genealogy . . 2 Maps Ojibwe country of Wisconsin and Minnesota . . xx Minnesota Territory showing the original counties, 1849–1851 . . 31 Figures Following page 34 William Whipple Warren Truman A. Warren, brother of William W. Warren George Warren, cousin of William W. Warren William Vincent (Tyler) Warren, son of William W. Warren Mary Warren English, sister of William W. Warren Sophia Warren, sister of William W. Warren Hole-in-the-Day, ca. 1855 St. Paul in 1851 A page from one of William W. Warren’s letters


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Preface

William Whipple Warren has long been known as the author of the History of the Ojibway People, first published in 1885 by the Minnesota Historical Society, and still considered a standard work on the people also known as the Chippewa. As the son of an American trader and his Ojibwe-French wife, Warren was a person of mixed ancestry who devoted much of his short life (1825–1853) to explaining Ojibwe history and culture to non-Indians. He was among the first to recognize aboriginal people as authorities on their own history, and it is for this that he is remembered today. His work was the earliest attempt to give order and structure to the personal stories and tribal traditions told by Ojibwe elders during the long nights of a Lake Superior winter. It was also his intent to preserve these traditional stories from oblivion, a fate feared at that time not only by scholars but also by many Indians themselves. To his contemporaries, however, Warren was recognized for other accomplishments. He had become an interpreter for the Ojibwe (Chippewa) of the La Pointe Agency in Wisconsin at the age of seventeen, and quickly grew to be acknowledged as the foremost interpreter of the Ojibwe language. His numerous writings published in Minnesota newspapers won him recognition as the best-informed person in matters of Ojibwe history and culture. By his pleasing personality and serious demeanor, he earned the respect of his peers, and in 1850 he was elected to the second legislature of the Minnesota Territory. And finally, at a time when Indians were seen as obstacles to the progress of the American way of life, he was considered to be their friend and defender. To the Ojibwe, he was not only a friend and interpreter but also


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an advisor. They could call on him whenever they needed to consult with the agent or the governor, when they needed a letter written to someone in authority, or when they wanted advice on government directives. Even when they knew that he disagreed with them, as in the matter of their removal from their traditional lands to the headwaters of the Mississippi River, they were aware that they could rely on him to relay their message faithfully and accurately. He was their son, their brother, their grandson, related to many of them through his maternal grandmother, the daughter of Waub-ij-e-jauk, chief of the Crane totem of the Chequamegon region of Lake Superior, and through his maternal grandfather, whose mother was a daughter of the Awause, or catfish totem. Although Warren always acknowledged his Indian ancestry, he did not consider himself an Indian, and this puzzles, even angers, many today. Like Indians and whites of that time, however, he knew that identity is not determined merely by descent, but by upbringing and culture, by where and how one lives. He was, in his own words, a “mixed blood,” a “quarter (or half) breed,” a “half Indian,” expressions not at all unusual at that time and place, expressions that then signified people whose way of life was neither wholly one nor the other. While his earliest years were spent at La Pointe, Lake Superior, surrounded by an extensive and loving Ojibwe family, some of the most influential years of his life were spent in eastern schools, especially the Oneida Institute in Whitesboro, New York, which he attended from age twelve to fifteen. There, in a school that accepted all students regardless of race or ability to pay, and did not even keep records of the racial backgrounds of its students, he learned that a man’s worth is measured by his achievements, not by his color. In the frontier communities of the mid-nineteenth century, there was often a problem of how to recognize and treat people of mixed Indian and white descent. Questions arose as to their right to vote, to own property, to receive Indian annuities. Was the mixed blood an Indian or a white? Among the southwestern Ojibwe, there were already mixed bloods of every kind: those whose life was wholly Indian, like Sha-go-bai, of Snake River; those who seemed to be clearly a part of Euroamerican society, like Clement H. Beaulieu; and those who consistently shared both worlds, like Alexis Corbine and William W. Warren. These latter did not form a separate society, a “new people,” viii

prefac e


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but rather moved easily between the two cultures and identified with both. By their close relationship to the Indians, and as long as they lived a la façon du pays, these mixed bloods also shared in their privileges. In the end, when it became necessary to choose, most of them elected to remain with their Ojibwe relatives. Warren was a product not only of his family but also of the time in which he lived, and it is in this context that he must be understood. His short life spans the second quarter of the nineteenth century, a period characterized by colonial intrusion into Ojibwe lands, the intensification of the Dakota-Ojibwe warfare, the disintegration of the American Fur Company, and the rise of new, less powerful trading houses. By birth and residence, Warren was positioned in the midst of these events, each one requiring him to take a stand. And he did. He explained and defended the Ojibwe in their long years of warfare against the Dakota. He waged a personal war against the power and influence of the American Fur Company, which he believed had destroyed his father. He championed the unpopular cause of prohibition in Minnesota because he saw the destructive effects liquor brought among the Indians. But it was in the removal effort that Warren was most reviled and maligned. As an employee of the Office of Indian Affairs, and as one who had seen the power of the American nation, Warren believed that the government’s plan to remove the Ojibwe, as well as other tribal peoples, to an area west of the Mississippi would be carried out with certainty and that it was useless to resist. In the first attempt to remove the Ojibwe from Wisconsin in 1850, Warren went at the call of the Chippewa River bands, and not in the government’s employ, only to escort and support them. He encouraged them to go and at least see the country in which they were being asked to live. When this removal failed and another one was undertaken in 1851, Warren was still convinced that the Ojibwe would have to remove. This time he was in the employ of the government and had been consulted in the relocation destination. But unknown to the government officials, he had conceived a plan not only to remove the Wisconsin bands but also to unite them with their relatives in their new lands as one strong tribe. He therefore undertook to assist the Ojibwe of the interior in their removal, only to have it again fail through a series of misunderstandings and what he believed to be deliberate deceptions. In the aftermath, he lost all respect and p r e fa c e


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credibility among the people who had organized and supported the removal. There was nothing left for him but the hope of publishing the book to which he then turned all his efforts in what would be the last year of his life. What kind of man was he, this son of a Yankee fur trader and an Ojibwe-French mother? His letters reveal him to be an intense person, one who felt deeply and reacted quickly if not always wisely. He was a family man whose family comprised not only his parents, brother and sisters, wife and children, but also his cousins. Taking full responsibility for this family since the age of twenty-two when his father died tragically, he often expressed concern about his ability to provide for them. Separated as they were by necessity, he was always extremely lonely when apart from them during his life in Minnesota. He was not strongly religious, although he had been exposed to Presbyterian or Congregational religious training both in his father’s house at La Pointe and in his boarding school education in New York. Throughout his nine years of schooling, he had become familiar with the Bible, and believed it offered many answers to fundamental questions of human history, but he also questioned its infallibility. He understood and admired Indian belief and traditions, calling them both “beautiful and natural,”1 yet he remained an observer rather than a practitioner during his entire life. Finally, it is evident that he carried grudges, never forgetting the damage done to his family by the American Fur Company and admitting, in his last letter to the Minnesota Democrat, that the company’s attempt to ruin both him and his father had kindled a flame in his heart that would ever burn against them. In order to situate Warren in his time, it has been necessary to explicate the events surrounding the treaties of 1842 and 1847 and the removals of 1850 and 1851. Warren’s early work as interpreter concerned the aftermath of the La Pointe Treaty of 1842, and because no official notes were taken during the treaty negotiations, his interpretation becomes essential in reconstructing the events surrounding this treaty. Moreover, he played a significant role in the Treaty of Fond du Lac in 1847, and most certainly influenced the inclusion of Article 4 of this treaty, an article that continues to resound today as an important source for understanding mixed-blood identity. Finally, in his function as adviser and conductor of the Ojibwe in the two dix prefac e


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sastrous attempts to remove them from Wisconsin, he became one of the most notorious figures of early Minnesota political life and, thereby, in the eyes of many, a failure and a fraud. The accumulation of failures and disappointments that he faced during most of his adult life would have destroyed a weaker man. At a time when men often inherited the business of their fathers and followed in their footsteps, there was nothing for young William to inherit but the care of his four younger sisters, his brother, and a female cousin—that and his extraordinary ability to speak and understand the Ojibwe language. Equally at home in a native lodge or in the Minnesota territorial legislature, he turned to collecting Ojibwe narratives and writing them for publication. Because he suffered from consumption during the last six years of his life and had little hope of ever seeing his children grow to adulthood, he was always deeply concerned that he would not be able to provide for them. Yet throughout a lifetime of personal disasters and losses, the amazing thing about him was that he never lost hope. William Whipple Warren cannot be seen merely as a nineteenthcentury collector of anecdotes about his mother’s people. Nor should he be remembered only as the author of a highly respected book, albeit one with recognized weaknesses. He was first and foremost an interpreter, in the true and complete sense of the word. Not only could he express Ojibwe thoughts and words in English and English words in Ojibwe, but he could also explain the Ojibwe world to outsiders, which he did through his writings, even as he himself strove to understand it better. It is as an interpreter, an intermediary, that he must be judged; one whose whole adult life was dedicated to the people whose “language, thoughts, beliefs and blood” he admittedly and proudly shared.2 It is most unfortunate that he did not get to finish what he intended to be his life-work, dying at the age of twentyeight after a failed attempt to find a publisher in New York. His plans for a complete ethnographic study of the Ojibwe people, a collection of Ojibwe myths and traditional stories, and a biography of the principal chiefs all came to naught. By the time his History of the Ojibway was published in 1885, he was almost forgotten, save by his family, who were then living on the White Earth Reservation in northwestern Minnesota. Even his grave could not be found. p r e fa c e


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Sources Most of what has been known of Warren’s life until now has been gleaned from J. Fletcher Williams’s “Memoir of William W. Warren,” which appears in the front of the History of the Ojibway People, and from letters written by his sisters, Julia and Mary, more than fifty years after his death. Memories fade, families tend to exalt; they consulted few sources, if any, and therefore whatever studies of his life do exist contain little about his work in the Indian Department, his time as a legislator, or his difficulties with his superiors. Yet surprisingly, sources for William W. Warren’s brief life abound. There are at least thirty-three extant letters written by him, many in the Archives of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, others in the National Archives, Records of the Office of Indian Affairs. Two are in the Henry Rowe Schoolcraft Papers in the Library of Congress, and several are in collections of the Minnesota Historical Society. I have based much of this work on Warren’s own letters, including most of them in the text in order to allow him to speak for himself and to portray his growth as a person and as a man. Minnesota newspapers of 1849–1852 are also valuable resources, for not only did he publish articles and write letters to them, but much of the vituperative correspondence between him and his enemies played out in the journals of the period. And finally, Records of the Office of Indian Affairs contain important reports and letters pertaining to Warren during his ten years of service to the La Pointe Agency, the Winnebago Agency, and the Sandy Lake Agency. I have also consulted family letters in the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, the Minnesota Historical Society, and the Becker County (Minnesota) Historical Society. A list of his letters and other writings appears in the appendixes to this book. By situating the letters within the context of his life, I intend the reader to enter into the mind and heart of William Whipple Warren. These letters, therefore, are by far the most important component of this work. In them we see a young man forced to mature before his time, who began as a collector of stories, and ended as a proponent of Indian rights and a preserver of oral histories. A biographer can narrate and interpret events, but only the subject of the biography can reveal his own innermost thoughts. Editorial Procedures Because these letters were not written for publication, I have had xii prefac e


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to make some editorial decisions about their format. Although the young William boasted to his father in his first extant letter, written in 1837, that he “can spell any word,” spelling was not necessarily his strong suit. He did not follow the i before e rule that is so familiar to us today, and he insisted on always placing e before i, even in words such as “chief” and “view.” I have corrected most of Warren’s spelling in order to make the letters easier to read, leaving only a few of the words in their original form in order to give the flavor of the original text. Since there was no standard orthography of the Ojibwe language in the nineteenth century, spelling of Ojibwe words varied according to the ear and language of the writer. I have used Warren’s own spelling of Ojibwe names, and often enclosed other spellings of that name in brackets. Like many writers of the nineteenth century, Warren did not use apostrophes to indicate possession, and this I have not corrected. As for capitalization, I have made his sparing use of capital letters more in accord with current usage. In Warren’s correspondence, often hurriedly written, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish a period from a comma, and in many instances I have had to determine just exactly where a sentence ends. Paragraphing is quite another matter. At times, every sentence is a paragraph. I have therefore tried to combine related sentences into a single paragraph whenever possible. Finally, there are words that cannot be deciphered at all, or places where the letter has been torn. If the word can be guessed from context, I have enclosed the probable word in brackets. If the word is missing or illegible, I have left the brackets empty. I have also used brackets to identify people whose names might not otherwise be familiar to the readers. All parentheses and underlines within the letters are Warren’s own. There is also a question of how to denominate the people who are the main subjects of Warren’s work. He himself used both “Ojibway” and “Chippeway” throughout his letters and works, to ensure the proper pronunciation of the final syllable. Many today are confused by the apparently distinct names. However, “Chippewa” (Chippeway) and “Ojibwe” (Ojibway, Ojibwa) are in reality close approximations of the same word. Whether the initial palatal is rendered ch (unvoiced) or j (voiced), the sounds are very close, as are the unvoiced bilabial p and the voiced bilabial b. The o is a remnant of the earliest rendition p r e fa c e


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of the word as it was heard by the seventeenth-century French missionaries, who wrote “outchibouec” to indicate inhabitants of Sault Ste. Marie.3 Nevertheless, in my mind I can still hear my Ojibwe grandmother pronouncing it “Chippway,” with a slight hint of the sound o before the word. Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the name has been variously rendered, but “Chippewa” was most often used and is the form found in treaties made by the U.S. government. “OdjibweAnichinabe” is used by Joseph Gurnoe, author of the bilingual petition made by a delegation of Ojibwe to the commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1864, “Anichinabe” indicating Indian.4 Maude Kegg of the Mille Lacs Reservation in Minnesota used “Ojibwewanishinaabeg” in her Ojibwe language narrative of the stories told by her grandmother, and she used “Anishinaabeg” only to mean Indians.5 Wub-e-ke-niew (Francis Blake Jr.), of the Red Lake community in Minnesota, maintained that the correct name is “Anishinahbæótjibway.”6 I have left the form as I found it in the documents referred to; hence the variation of spelling throughout the text. The use of the name “Sioux” also presents a problem. The name itself comes from the Ojibwe word “nadowessiwag,” written by the French as “nadouesiouek,” and related to the Ojibwe word “nadowe,” serpent.7 These people who lived west of the Ojibwe, then, were enemies, “like unto serpents.” More correctly they were Dakota, many of whom still live in Minnesota. I have retained the use of both names as they are found in the documents of the period, and as they are still used today. I apologize to anyone who objects to the use of the name “Indian” to refer to the original people of North America and their descendants. The name is so ingrained in our daily as well as our official usage that it is accepted by most native people whom I know and is even preferred by many over “Native American,” “First Nations,” “aboriginal,” and “indigenous.” Naming is usually done by the other; each Indian ethnic group had names for all their neighbors, but not always for themselves; they were merely “people,” or “human beings.” The Ojibwe, as well as other closely related groups, have long called themselves Anishinaabeg. Although the most common term for people of mixed Indian and European ancestry in the nineteenth century was “half-breed,” the xiv

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term “mixed blood” was also used. I have chosen to use the latter term, which is considered less offensive, although biologically inaccurate, today. The term “métis” was not in usage at that time, except to refer to a specific group of people of mixed ancestry in the British territories to the north. “Wissakodewinini,” the word used by the Ojibwe, meant “burned forest men,” or bois brulés in French, so called because half-breeds were like the wood of a burned forest, which is often half burned on one side, and light on the other.8 This work, as the title indicates, is intended to be not merely a biography of William Whipple Warren. It is rather a study of the man in relation to the times and the events that touched him or in which he played a role. It describes a period in the history of Wisconsin and Minnesota that is little known because it concerns a people whose voice was seldom heard. These people come alive in the letters and speeches I have found, and once again they will have a voice, with William W. Warren as their interpreter. And although this book is the biography of William W. Warren, mixed blood, it also offers insights into the thoughts and actions of the Ojibwe of the mid-nineteenth century even as it situates him historically in the time and place in which he lived. His was a short life, but one that left a rich and lasting heritage for posterity. It is a life that is especially relevant today, when treaties are being revisited, and native people, like so many other Americans, are returning to their cultural roots.

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Acknowledgments

This book is the result of many years of research. It has taken me from New England to Portland, Oregon, and to numerous archives in between. None of this would have been possible without the help and encouragement of many people. One of those who was ever strong in her interest and support was William W. Warren’s great-granddaughter, Elizabeth Mary Heddle Doyle. I am sorry that she did not live to see the completion of this work. I owe an immense debt of gratitude to two people. The first is Douglas A. Birk, who has always been ready to share his great knowledge and love of Minnesota with me, and who has taken me to all the sites where William W. Warren lived. The other is Jennifer S. H. Brown, whose support and encouragement have always amazed me, and whose thoughtful suggestions have greatly contributed to the final version of this work. I am also grateful to other scholars who have read and commented on the manuscript along the way: J. Rand Valentine, my colleague in American Indian Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Lawrence Martin of the University of Wisconsin– Eau Claire, and Ojibwe journalist Mark Anthony Rolo. Special thanks are due to the many people who contributed to this work. Frances Doyle Gonyea, Ralph Ermatinger, Budd Parker, and Carol Warren generously shared their family records and photos with me. Milton Sernett of Syracuse University kindly allowed me free access to his outstanding collection of material on the Oneida Institute. Hazel Kleinbach, Clarkson town historian, graciously made her records available to me. I am also indebted to the staff of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and the staff of the Minnesota Historical Society Archives


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for their cooperation and assistance throughout this project, and especially to Steve Nielsen, who helped me in the selection of photos and with many last-minute questions. I gratefully acknowledge a New Faculty Seed Grant from Washington State University and research funding from the Graduate School of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. The financial support from these institutions enabled me to visit archives and collect all the necessary material for this book. And finally, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my husband, Lonny Schenck, whose constant love and support make it possible for me to continue the work I love.

xviii ackn owledg ments


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William W. Warren


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1. Family and Childhood

W

illiam Whipple Warren was a lineal descendant of Richard Warren, one of the Mayflower Pilgrims, and a great-grandson of Waub-ij-e-jauk, one of the last chiefs of the Crane clan of Shauga-waum-ik-ong, or La Pointe, Wisconsin. He was a mixed blood, as persons of mixed descent were sometimes known, a citizen of two worlds, an intermediary whose life and works form a bridge between two distinct nations. William’s father, Lyman Marcus Warren, was born in Lanesboro, Massachusetts, on 9 August 1794, the second son of Lyman Warren and Mercy Whipple. In 1799 his family, which then included two brothers, Stephen (1793–1807) and Norman (1797–1802), and one sister, Julia (1796–1827), moved to Champlain, New York. There Lyman Sr. established himself as the first tanner and shoemaker of the village, and sometimes worked for a wealthy landowner, Pliny Moore, who also had business interests in La Prairie near Montreal.1 A fifth child, Truman Abraham, was born on 12 March 1800, and another daughter, Nancy Beaumont, two years later.2 On 14 August 1803 the Warrens took their five surviving children (one son, Norman, had already died) to be baptized in the newly formed Congregational Church of Champlain. Four more children, Sophia (1804–1837), Tyler (1808– 1829), Benjamin (1810–1819), and Henry (1812–1820), were born to the couple before Mercy Whipple Warren died on 4 October 1813.3 By this time the family was living twenty miles north of Champlain in Sherrington, Quebec, where Pliny Moore had one of his textile mills, and where Lyman worked as a tanner and currier. Soon after the death of his wife, Lyman Warren Sr. married again; his second wife was Rebecca Sweet (1777–1859). One son, James


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(1796–1827)

=J. Lockwood

(1794–1847)

=M. Cadotte

Warren Family Geneology

8. Harriet (1842)

7. Sophia (1837–1933)

6. Mary (1835–1925)

5. Julia (1832–1925)

4. Charlotte (1829–84)

3. Nancy (1825–87)

2. George (1823–84)

1. Edward (1823–49)

=2) C. Cadotte

2. John (1820–95)

3. Truman (1827–88)

1. James (1819–1905)

2. William (1825–53)

=1) M. Bazinet

(1800–25)

Truman

1. Julia (1823–24)

(no issue)

Julia

Lyman M.

Norman

(1797–1802)

Stephen

(1793–1807)

4. Mary

3. Joseph

2. Julian

1. Warren

=E. Lockwood

(1802–56)

Nancy

Tyler

Benjamin

(1804–37) (1803–29) (1810–19)

Sophia

Mercy Whipple = Lyman Warren =

Henry (1812–20)

(no issue)

=S. Spaulding

(no issue)

=O. Crary

Delia (1818–82)

(1814–88)

James Henry

= Rebecca Sweet

Henry (1814–1888), and one daughter, Delia (1818–1872), were born of this union. The Warrens continued to live in Canada until 1819, when the family moved to East Clarkson, New York. There the elder Lyman again opened a tannery and engaged in the manufacture of shoes.4 On 29 April 1816 Congress passed a law that henceforth only U.S. citizens could be granted licenses to trade with Indians within the territorial limits of the United States.5 The promulgation of this act aroused the interest of many Americans in a profession long monopolized by the French and the British, and was of special interest to those people who lived near the Canadian border and who already had familial ties in the fur trade. Among those caught up in the excitement were the two eldest Warren sons, Lyman Marcus and Truman Abraham. Although many of their old acquaintances from Champlain, such as Samuel Ashmun and John Fairbanks, were to join John Jacob Astor’s American Fur Company one year later, the Warren brothers, then living in Sherrington, signed contracts to work for Charles Oakes Ermatinger, an independent Canadian trader at Sault Ste. Marie who, in order to circumvent the stipulations of the Trade and Intercourse Act of 1816, needed Americans to work for him. That summer they set off for Mackinac and a life of adventure in the fur trade.6 At first the young Warrens were employed as clerks under George Ermatinger, who managed his brother’s business in the western posts of Lake Superior. Lyman spent the first winter at Mackinac, and later was employed at Leech Lake, a dependency of Ermatinger’s Fond du Lac post in present-day Minnesota. Truman was stationed at Ermatinger’s Lac du Flambeau post, where he took a wife, Margaret Bazinet, the mixed-blood daughter of Jean-Baptiste Bazinet, another member of the outfit. A son, James Henry, was born to them on 7 September 1819, at the trading post located near the mouth of the Montreal River. A second son, John, was born two years later.7 By 1819 the Warren brothers had enough confidence in their newly acquired experience that they arranged to purchase Ermatinger’s Lac du Flambeau post and its trade for a sum of between $1,000 and $1,100. It was soon evident, however, that independent traders could no longer compete with the American Fur Company, which had already acquired a monopoly in the Lake Superior region. Therefore, while in Mackinac in the summer of 1821, they made an arrangement fami ly a n d c h i l d h o o d


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with Astor’s enterprise to work “piece against piece” in the Lac du Flambeau district, and to sell their outfit to the company at the end of the 1821–1822 season. Hence, on 22 July 1822 they sold their Lac du Flambeau outfit, “Merchandise, Houses, Crops, Canoes etc. appertaining to the post,” to the American Fur Company for $1,142.84, although they had not even completed their payments on it. Lyman joined the Fond du Lac outfit as a trader at an annual salary of $600, while Truman continued with the Lac du Flambeau outfit at the same salary, and by 1825 they had repaid what they owed to Ermatinger.8 No one who lived and worked in the western Lake Superior region in the early nineteenth century could fail to make the acquaintance of Michel Cadotte Sr., an independent trader who lived on Michael’s (now Madeline) Island across from Point Chequamegon on Lake Superior, and whose sons were employed in the American Fur Company’s Lac du Flambeau outfit. Cadotte’s trade had once extended to all the headwaters of the Chippewa River, but was now largely reduced by losses incurred in 1807 and throughout the War of 1812. Married to the daughter of Waub-ij-e-jauk (White Crane), chief of the Crane clan of the Chequamegon region, Cadotte, himself of Ojibwe-French descent, remained a respected and influential trader. In the same year that they entered the American Fur Company as traders, both Warren men also formed an alliance with the Cadotte family: Lyman, with Marie (Mary), then the eldest unmarried daughter, and Truman with Charlotte, the youngest, although he already had two sons by Margaret Bazinet.9 The Warrens made their headquarters near their father-in-law’s home, on a rise at the southwestern end of Michael’s Island. Children were born to both Warren brothers in 1823. On 10 May Charlotte gave birth to twins, George and Edward. Later that fall a daughter, Julia Mary, was born to Lyman and Marie, but she lived only six months.10 The following year, when the Warrens made their annual trip to Mackinac, they found that a Protestant mission had been established there. Under the influence of the Reverend William M. Ferry, Truman took back with him to La Pointe some religious readings or tracts, which he shared that winter with his brother. Together they “determined to make Religion the business of their lives.”11 Lyman and Marie’s second child, William Whipple, was born at La Pointe on 27 May 1825.12 Within a month of his birth his father 4

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and his uncle made their annual journey to Mackinac with their furs. Truman, who had been suffering all winter from a pulmonary complaint, decided to go to Detroit for medical help, but he died on 21 July on board the schooner Asiaranth, not far from his destination.13 Later that fall his widow, Charlotte, give birth to their last child, a daughter whom she named Nancy Beaumont after her father’s younger sister. Lyman now took responsibility for his brother’s widow and his five children. In the summer of 1826 a council of Chippewa was called at Fond du Lac at the western end, or head, of Lake Superior. Thomas L. McKenney, the superintendent of Indian Affairs in Washington dc, was himself coming to conclude a treaty with the Chippewa of northern Wisconsin and northern Minnesota, to confirm the boundary lines agreed upon in 1825 at Prairie du Chien. On his way to Fond du Lac he stopped at the Cadotte compound on 25 July, and was amazed at what he saw. Arrived at Michael’s Island, a trading post, about an hour by sun, having come some seventy-five miles since twelve o’clock last night, and visited several Indian lodges by the way. On nearing the shore, (which was grateful to my feelings beyond the power of language to express; for it looked green, and had the evidences of civilized life, in houses, horses, and cattle, and fences, which I had not seen since I left the Sault) the Indians, to the number of seventy, set up a whooping and yelling, and ran down to the beach, each armed with a rifle or gun, and fired a salute of several rounds. Never were poor starving creatures more overjoyed. They had been here, on their way to the treaty, for six days, and had taken in that time but forty fish! The first question I asked on landing, was to know of Mr. Cadotte, who has lived here twenty-five years, if he had any milk, and was rejoiced to get the answer “Oui Monsieur.” I never enjoyed this article before. It tasted like nectar—and I thought I should never get enough of it. The Governor and the barges arrived about an hour after sun-down. We were received by this worthy French trader with great cordiality. His houses were thrown open for us, and all he had was put freely at our disposal. He has an Indian wife, a worthy, well disposed woman, and several children, several sons and two daughters, grown. His daughters both married traders. This is the only spot that has brought gladness to my heart, the associations of home and of civilized society, during a voyage of four hundred miles—since we left the fami ly a n d c h i l d h o o d


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Sault. It looks like a fairy scene, and everything about it is enchantment. Yet the houses are of logs; but are lathed and plaistered.14

The next day McKenney wrote: A beautiful morning! This together with the green slope of the island, and its fences—some twenty acres of it being cleared—its comfortable houses; its picketted garden, where cabbages, and potatoes, and onions, are growing; and where a few peas are just beginning to blossom; and where I see horses and cows, and chickens, and hear the “cock’s shrill clarion,” and the songs of birds, and see “the straw built shed,” makes the intelligence which I have just received, grateful—for indeed I do not wish, yet awhile, to leave this place. It is, that one of the barges requires caulking; and that, in consequence, we shall be delayed till ten or eleven o’clock. I employed my time in walking over these cleared grounds, and in visiting the groups of domestic animals and their haunts, the chicken house, and even the cow-pen, and in indulging in those delightful associations which a sight of them inspires. . . . I inquired if there was no orchard?—There is none. No fruit of any kind grows in those regions, except the wild strawberry, the sand cherry, and the whortleberry. And but little grain, except oats. Potatoes are grown, and of the finest quality; they are the bread of the traders. The gardens on such an island, and such an exposure as this, produce a few peas—and squashes—and cabbages; and, where the trader is a Frenchman, there is sure to be some garlic. I wished to have visited the seat of the Jesuit mission, but was told there were no remains of it. It is north-west from Cadotte’s, and distant about three-quarters of a mile. Cadotte’s residence is on the south side of the island, and near its southern termination.15

McKenney continued on to Fond du Lac, where he met with the assembled chiefs of the Chippewa nation to agree on a boundary line between them and their inveterate enemies, the Dakota Sioux. In addition, he intended to persuade the Indians to include a clause in this treaty providing sections of land for their mixed-blood relatives. It was believed at this time that the “civilization” of the Indians could be effected by the example of mixed bloods settled near or among them. Thus Article 4 of the treaty granted to each of these children of the traders and to their Chippewa wives 640 acres of land at lo6



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cations to be determined. William Warren was one of the few children mentioned by name. This article, however, and another that provided for an annual payment of $2,000 to the tribe were not ratified by the Senate.16 In the summer of 1826 Lyman Warren did not attend the council at Fond du Lac, but instead went to Mackinac to see to his religious needs as well as his business. “He thought he had made a little progress in Religion but having had every thing to learn & alone too, he had not got far but had a trembling hope,” wrote John Hudson to Jeremiah Everts.17 Not only had he raised a subscription among his men, enough money to join the Society of the American Board of Foreign Missions for life, but he had also made up his mind to leave the Indian trade. He would go back for only one year. He has a ½ Indian wife and one child. (T.W. had 4—2 are with us) & leaves a lucrative trade for conscience sake. [He] said he had been thinking how he might by the assistance of a sister do something to instruct the Indians.18 When I told him that Mackinac was not designed to be (as he supposed) the outpost of Miss[ionar]y enterprise but that we were looking for an opening all along to the Pacific Ocean He instantly said I have a house 60 ft by 24 containing 3 large rooms & 5 bedrooms a considerable store house & other buildings that are at your service until you wish to build. The Island on which I am 2 miles from the main is say 50 miles in circumference the ½ of which belongs to M. Cadotte & his heirs, which include mine & my brother’s children. The land is productive & well timbered & the fishing ground good just at my door. As much land as you want therefore is also at your likewise plenty of wild hay a good range for cattle & deep bay partly between us and the main which is an excellent harbour. Wild rice also may be had not far distant. About 40 Indian families live on the Isle & a large body of them inhabit the district which looks to this as the center of trade.19

Such was the setting in which William Warren spent his childhood, surrounded by loving parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, all his family in the Indian way. Although his father communicated with him in English, and his grandfather often spoke French, the principal language of the community was Ojibwe, for his mother, his grandmother, his aunts, and his cousins spoke no other. Furthermore, his fami ly a n d c h i l d h o o d


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grandmother’s brother, Tug-waug-aun-e, who had succeeded his father as chief of the Crane clan, lived nearby and spent considerable time with his grandnephew, his grandson according to Ojibwe custom. A second son, named Truman after his deceased uncle, was born to the Warrens on 19 April 1827. Lyman soon gave up all thoughts of resigning from the Indian trade and began to devote his efforts to the establishment of a mission with a school on the island. To this end he persuaded his father-in-law, Michel Cadotte Sr., to deed over to him a portion of land on the island for this purpose. In order to strengthen his claim, based on his perception of his mother-in-law’s rights to a portion of the land, he renamed the island Magdalen, having first entered into a formal marriage with Mary Cadotte.20 He began immediately to solicit the Church Missionary Society for a teacher, and even went to New York and Boston later that year to make his request in person. At this time there took place a reorganization of the American Fur Company’s Northern Department. Lyman M. Warren became one of six partners in the Lake Superior Outfit, with his headquarters still at La Pointe. The other partners were Samuel Ashmun (also from Champlain, New York), Daniel Dingley, John Holiday, Charles Oakes, and Isaac Butterfield. In 1828 each partner received $715.56 in profit, and the following year, $1,134.97.21 In the meantime Warren was concerned about the education of his brother’s sons, already old enough to begin school. In 1825 he accompanied his eldest nephew, James, to the Reverend William Ferry’s school in Mackinac, and the following year he brought John. In 1829 Truman’s twin sons, George and Edward, began their education there, for there was still no school, not even a mission station, at La Pointe. Upon their arrival in Mackinac, Amanda Ferry gave them their middle names, so they now became Edward Fisk and George Parsons Warren.22 During the winter of 1830 the Presbyterian missionary-teacher Jedediah D. Stevens visited La Pointe and spent a great deal of time in dialogue with the trader and his family. He found Warren “in a state of much uncertainty as to his own personal condition,” yet had reason to hope for his salvation. Mary Warren, however, and other members of the Cadotte family, being Catholic, were on “the very 8



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threshold of destruction,” and he was unable to “remove the veil from their hearts and the scales from their eyes.”23 That summer Lyman M. Warren and his fellow trader Daniel Dingley were received into the church at Mackinac.24 In July 1831 Warren made his annual trip to Mackinac with his department’s furs. There his wife and her sister, Charlotte, were baptized in the Catholic Church, and he enrolled his eldest son, William, only six years old, in the Protestant school at Mackinac.25 When he returned to La Pointe, he was accompanied by the first missionaries, the Reverend Sherman Hall and his wife, along with Frederick Ayer and Elizabeth Campbell, a mixed blood who would serve as interpreter. They arrived at their destination on 30 August and found comfortable quarters in Warren’s house, two rooms with fireplaces and small bedrooms adjoining, all without charge.26 The following year Henry R. Schoolcraft stopped briefly at La Pointe on his way to explore the sources of the Mississippi River. Lieutenant James Allen, leader of the military detachment that accompanied him, left a thorough description of Warren’s post at this time. Mr. Warren has lived for a number of years at his present residence on the island of La Pointe, and has given to this little spot an appearance of civilization. He has built a large, comfortable dwelling, a storehouse, and eight or ten outhouses, which, with the houses of a Mr. Cadotte and family, and those of the subagent, formerly at La Pointe, make almost a village. All the buildings are handsomely situated, on a rise of ground, about two hundred yards from the lake, and immediately back of them are cultivated and enclosed fields, in which oats, peas, beans, potatoes, etc. were growing finely. . . . The soil of the island . . . produces a good luxuriant grass . . . which, I observed, Mr Warren had appropriated in the raising of horses and cows.27

Another member of the Schoolcraft expedition was the Reverend William Boutwell, who returned to La Pointe in August to open the first school there. William, George, and Edward left the mission school at Mackinac to attend it. After one year Boutwell described his class in his annual report to agent Henry Schoolcraft. “I never instructed children more ready & prompt to learn. . . . There are eleven in all who read in the N. Test.—two in arithmetic & one, the boy from the Mack. Mission & who acts as our interpreter, in histofami ly a n d c h i l d h o o d


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ry & chemistry & four who are learning penmanship.”28 One wonders if the interpreter was young William Warren. There are no other glimpses of William’s early life in La Pointe. He may have accompanied his father on some of his trading voyages to the interior. He most certainly participated in the annual trip to the sugar bush, a traditional family activity. George Johnston, who served as Indian subagent at La Pointe for a time, wrote in his journal that the Cadotte and Warren families went together in 1827 to the sugar bush camp, located a considerable distance from La Pointe, up the east branch of the Montreal River, and stayed nearly two months.29 Four more children were born to the Warrens at La Pointe: Charlotte (1829–1884), Julia (1832–1925), Mary (1835–1925), and Sophia (1837– 1933). One last daughter, Harriet, was born to the couple in 1842, but she died at the age of three months.

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2. Education

F

amily letters suggest that Lyman Warren Sr. had made a trip to western Lake Superior sometime prior to 1834 to visit his son and his grandchildren at La Pointe. Although the two men had thereafter been out of touch for some time, they seem to have resumed correspondence in 1834.1 At the invitation of his son, the elder Warren again traveled to La Pointe in the summer of 1836, and returned to Clarkson, New York, with two of his grandsons, William, age eleven, and Truman, age nine. Also accompanying them was nineyear-old Roger Aitken, son of William Aitken, trader at Sandy Lake. According to a letter written by Lyman Warren Sr. to his son in La Pointe, they had a rough passage home with a near-tragic experience. On 29 August, at the entrance of the St. Clair River, about forty miles above Detroit, their schooner the White Pigeon capsized in a sudden squall. All on board were thrown into the water, and saved by people who had seen the disaster from the shore.2 Unfortunately, their possessions went down with the vessel. The elder Warren especially lamented the loss of his “hat, bare skin and shoggar” (probably maple sugar), and noted that the moccasins that his daughter-in-law Mary Warren had made for his wife and daughter were spoiled.3 Their itinerary would have taken them by boat from La Pointe across the south shore of Lake Superior, south on Lake Huron to Detroit, and thence across Lake Erie to Buffalo, New York. From there they would have traveled inland to the Erie Canal, taking a packet boat as far as Brockport, just a few miles from Clarkson. Upon their arrival in Clarkson on 8 September 1836 the three boys settled in at the Warren home, where their grandfather acknowledged them to be very content, writing that they did not want to return any time


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soon to Lake Superior. They entered the Clarkson Academy almost immediately, and within a short time the principal, Rev. Norris Bull, reported that their conduct was good and that they learned “beyond all expectation.” Meanwhile, at their new home, the elder Warren patiently taught them the rules of proper behavior both at home and in public. He wrote his son that the boys were “greeted with admiration by the most respectable people.”4 At the end of the school year young William, proud of the progress he had made, wrote what appears to be his first letter to his father, giving an account of his academic successes and greeting the various members of his family in La Pointe.5 The last letter you sent we received it the 10th of May. I was glad to hear that you was all well, and I was glad to receive your letter you sent me and I could not answer it for the want of time, and as my Grand Father told you about our voyage and suspecting I hope you want me to tell you in this letter about my lessons. You will be sorry to see what bad improvement I have made in writing. I began to go to school the 12th of Sep. I studied Arithmetic, Geography and Spelling. In Arithmetic I was put in a class of 20 boys. They begun before I did but as I was determined to learn, I soon found myself at the head of my class 2 weeks after. I beat them and I ketched up with a boy of 14 years old. I soon beat him and got through the book first and I got master of the book and I believe I can answer every one of them question without truble. So I was put in another higher class of which I was the smallest of them. It was pretty hard to keep up but I did keep up all the way through the book. Now I begin in Geography. I was put in a class of 18 boys who had begun before I did but when the examination day came the school master told us that who would make a better map of the United States would have a shilling and When the examination was over the master said I had the best map so I had the prize. And in spelling I can spell any word, but now I am studying Latin with 5 boys. The master says who will beat will have a premium and my Grand father says he will make me a pair of pumps if I shall beat them and there is no question but I will beat them. I hope you will be glad to hear of my improvements. Truman studys Geography Arithmetic and spelling and has made some improvement. He generally speaks to me in English. I have forgotten my French. 12

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I better live here than home, we have been all well this winter. I scarcely ever hear Truman speak of home. Truman and I send our love to all our Relations and the Doctor. Tell him that I have not forgotten him. He will expect a letter from me. Please tell us in a letter of the Cadotte family. My Grandfather says that he will give Truman, Roger and I a piece of land to plant corn and have roast corn instead of Freshfish next fall. He says that he will help us work on it. He has got an old mare to plough it. You said in your letter that we might not nean [need] our minds in that place but I do not nean [need] my mind in that place but we are contented and days past without thinking of home. We have enough of everything to get on here and we do chores in the morning and work to keep us healthy. And when I think of my native home and then think of this home what difference what great improvement we have made in working and studys. Give our particular respect to Mother, Mary, Charlotte, and Juliann and my Friend Doctor Borup. We attend meetings every time we have a meeting in this neighborhood. From Your Affectionate Son William W. Warren

At the end of the letter he added: I have wrote this letter without any help but excuse me for bad writing. Do not expect such bad writing next time.

During this period William’s father, perhaps seeing the eventual demise of the fur trade, began to seek other sources of income to support his family. In March 1837 he, along with Henry Sibley of Prairie du Chien and William Aitken of Sandy Lake, succeeded in obtaining a grant of timbered land on the St. Croix River from the Chippewa of St. Croix and the Snake River.6 Their intent was to build a sawmill and profit thereby for a term of ten years. In July 1837 Warren accompanied Daniel Bushnell, Indian agent at La Pointe, to attend treaty negotiations with the Chippewa at St. Peter’s (Fort Snelling) on the Minnesota River. Warren and other traders who had married Indian women hoped to get allowances for their mixed-blood children from this treaty, and to insert claims against the Indians for unpaid debts in order to recuperate some of their losses. They were e d u c at i o n


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successful on both counts. The Chippewa of Lake Superior and the Mississippi sold their lands south of a line extending from the mouth of the Crow Wing River eastward to Lac du Flambeau and Plover Portage on the Wisconsin River for a sum of $800,000, mostly in goods and services. Of this amount, $100,000 would go to the mixed bloods. An additional $70,000, not part of the sale price, would go to traders. By far the largest amounts were to be paid to William Aitken, $28,000, and to Lyman Warren, $25,000, both as agents of the American Fur Company, which, in reality, received the money.7 It is clear that not all the Indians understood that the money to pay off their debts would be taken from the money they should have received for the sale of their lands. As Flat Mouth recognized in the negotiations for the treaty of 1837, the traders owed them as much as they owed the traders. Many of those who owed the debts were now dead, killed off by the Sioux while they were hunting for the traders. Besides, he said, the food that the traders ate and the wood that they burned were taken from Chippewa land. “And they talk to us about paying our debts?”8 But none of the chiefs was willing to oppose the Great Father in this matter.9 In November 1837 Lyman M. Warren went to New York on company business and made a brief visit to Clarkson to visit his sons. Seeing the progress that William had made, and learning of a Presbyterian church–affiliated school in Whitesboro, New York, which accepted students of all races, he decided to send the boys to the Oneida Institute. The school was founded in 1827 to prepare young men for missionary work among the western tribes, but since the presidency of Rev. Beriah Green in 1833, it had developed a strong abolitionist agenda. William and Truman were enrolled in the Juvenile, or Preparatory, Department, where students under fifteen years of age followed a course of studies common to Latin grammar schools of the time. In addition, manual labor was required of all students.10 Although Lyman Warren had set out from New York in December, he did not arrive home until 20 February 1838, having been detained one month in Prairie du Chien waiting for the ice to form so he could travel north. Once back in La Pointe, he found himself in serious trouble on all sides. He had begun to neglect his duties as agent of the American Fur Company at La Pointe as his interest in the lumber business grew, and had made some costly mistakes in establish14

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ing the company’s new fishing business out of La Pointe. Subagent Bushnell accused him of violating the 1832 Trade and Intercourse Act by trying to have the relations of his wife donate land to his children, thereby triggering a federal court case to be heard in Mineral Point, Wisconsin Territory. To exacerbate matters, the church that he had worked so hard to bring to La Pointe found it necessary to excommunicate him, a hitherto respected elder, on the grounds of lewdness.11 Meanwhile, he was considering a complete withdrawal from the American Fur Company so he could devote himself wholly to the lumber mill at the falls of the St. Croix River. Before he could resign, however, American Fur Company president Ramsay Crooks visited La Pointe and found so much evidence of mismanagement that he terminated Warren and replaced him with Charles Borup, a Danish doctor and trader already in the employ of the company.12 Warren and his brother-in-law Michel Cadotte Jr., who was also accused in the indictment, were taken under armed guard to federal court in Mineral Point. There, after several months, the case was finally dismissed on the grounds of insufficient evidence of criminal intent.13 Before leaving La Pointe, Warren arranged for his wife, four daughters, and Truman’s three younger children to travel to New York to spend the winter with his father and stepmother. They arrived in Clarkson on 14 September 1838. The elder Warrens gave Mary and the girls their room, adding a trundle bed and a stove to make them more comfortable. The three older girls were to attend school in Clarkson, while the boys, George and Edward, joined William and Truman at the Oneida Institute. The living conditions at the Warren household must have been somewhat crowded, for soon Charlotte was sent to live next door with Mrs. Crary at a cost of $1.50 per week. Truman’s eldest son, James, was also there in Clarkson, described by his grandfather as “a fine young man he hardly knows what to do.” Lyman Warren Sr. eventually arranged for him to study surveying under one of the teachers at the Clarkson Academy.14 The Warrens were very good to their daughter-in-law, taking her to Brockport to purchase cloth for a dress “in Inglish fashion,” which their daughter Delia would help her make, and broadcloth for pantaloons for the boys. Mary said she understood some English, and would begin to speak it once she got settled. Charlotte, Julia, and their cousin Nancy had already begun to improve in reading and writing English e d u c at i o n


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at the Clarkson school, and even the two younger girls were learning the language.15 However, in the seven months she spent with her inlaws, Mary Warren was never able to converse with them. Meanwhile, the Oneida Institute was undergoing serious difficulties. Beriah Green’s experiment in interracial education was opposed by many northern abolitionists, including some of the members of the Whitesboro Presbyterian community. This led eventually to the ecclesiastical trial of one of Green’s accusers, and the exodus of Green and his followers to form an Independent Congregational church. But the unfavorable publicity of the trial and the subsequent schism had done their damage. Student enrollment decreased from a high of 140 in 1837 to 105 in 1838. The following year there were only 91 students. Much of the funding and support from outside sources was beginning to be withdrawn, a serious concern for a school dependent on donations from “friends of humanity.”16 Once the federal case against Lyman M. Warren had been dropped, and while his family was in New York, he turned to the only source of income left to him, a lumber mill on the Chippewa River in which he had been offered a share by the owner, Hercules L. Dousman of Prairie du Chien, in exchange for his share of the mill at St. Croix Falls.17 His wife and their two youngest daughters returned to La Pointe in early summer, and from there went to take up residence on the Chippewa River. Before they left La Pointe, Lyman sent a draft to Reuben Hough, treasurer of the Oneida Institute, to pay $150 to the credit of his two sons and $100 to the credit of his two nephews.18 Lyman M. Warren hoped that the mixed-blood payment from the treaty of 1837 would help him overcome some of his financial setbacks. The commissioner appointed to determine eligibility was Lucius Lyon, a former U.S. senator from Michigan. He arrived in La Pointe in August 1839 with instructions to admit only those who had been born on and who continued to maintain roots in the ceded land. After interviewing nearly 200 claimants representing more than 800 mixed bloods, he determined that in the entire Warren family, only Truman’s wife, Charlotte (married to James Ermatinger since 1830), and Lyman’s wife, Mary, were eligible. Truman’s five children and Lyman’s six children were not born on the ceded land, and their ties were too remote.19 They were eventually admitted, however, when the chiefs made the final decision, and each received a pay16

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ment of about $258. For Lyman, this was some small recompense for the loss of the $25,000 awarded in the treaty of 1837, and withheld from him by the American Fur Company. In the aftermath, he returned to the mill at the falls of the Chippewa River, now the sole means of support for his family. William would remain at the Oneida Institute for one more year, but no longer kept his father informed of his activities. On 4 April 1840 a frustrated Lyman M. Warren wrote his two sons, asking them, “What is the matter with you, have you no Ink, Pens and Paper in that country?” He gave them news of all their relatives then living with him at the Chippewa mill: not only their mother and sisters but also cousins, aunts, and uncles. He intended to visit them in August when he would pay all he owed the institute in tuition, room, and board. He encouraged them to work hard to improve in their studies and to “defray a little of your expenses by your manual labor.” He hoped to find George and Edward sufficiently advanced in their studies to secure for them a suitable place in some business.20 When classes ended in the fall of 1840 it was decided that the school would suspend operations for one year, due to lack of funds. William returned to Clarkson, where he appears to have sown some wild oats. Instead of going to his grandfather’s, he went to board with one of the teachers in the village. James Henry explained the situation in a letter to his half brother. “I fear that the money I understand you sent to him has had a bad influence which has got him somewhat unsteady but he has disposed of it all. I think he is better without any money at all, so that now he attends to the school.” The other boys remained in Whitesboro with one of their teachers and were attending another school there. It was hoped that George, who had learned the printing business, would be able to find a place in the spring, but Edward, who had not learned a trade, would find it more difficult to get employment. Both boys now realized that they would have to begin earning a living as Lyman could no longer afford to send them money, even for clothes.21 In February James Henry was able to secure a situation for George in a printing office in Rochester, and sent him the necessary money and directions to take the stage to Clarkson. Edward was to follow later when a situation in the same office was available.22 Later that summer Lyman M. Warren requested that his brothere d u c at i o n


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in-law, James Ermatinger, who was to journey east to take care of some family business, go to Clarkson and Whitesboro to pay some of Warren’s debts. He specifically directed that money be paid to the teacher who had boarded Truman during the winter, to the man who kept William, to Nancy’s school, and to Mrs. Crary for Charlotte and Julia. Ermatinger never arrived, and the debts went unpaid.23 Finding himself in financial straits, Lyman Warren wrote to Henry Sibley, asking him to reduce his one-half share in the Chippewa Mills, as he could not meet the annual payment of $3,000. He explained that he could not make enough profit as the shares were then divided and that he was having difficulty keeping his children in school.24 He would soon find out that his eldest son had already relieved him of one financial burden.

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3. Interpreter

I

n July 1841 William, then aged sixteen, left Clarkson to return to Lake Superior, without the knowledge or approval of his father. His cousin Edward, still unable to find a situation, accompanied him, while George left Rochester to seek employment on the Ohio Canal for the season. Only Truman stayed behind in the charge of his tutors, although the three eldest Warren girls, Nancy, Charlotte, and Julia, were still in Clarkson. When Lyman came into La Pointe from his residence at the Chippewa Mills and learned that the three eldest boys were no longer in school, he expressed his displeasure in a letter to his half brother, James Henry.1 He was “far from being pleased” at the manner in which William had left Clarkson, as also with the $170 the boys had cost him. He would find a good situation for Edward, but, he wrote, “William I will keep with myself.” George, who was working somewhere on the Erie Canal, it was presumed, was to go to Oberlin College in Ohio, a school similar to the Oneida Institute in its support of interracial education. There he should continue his studies and help pay his own expenses by working in the printing office. Truman was to stay in Clarkson and board with a suitable family, but remain under the supervision of his uncle. Lyman M. Warren was especially concerned about the girls, who were staying with their grandparents, exactly where he did not want them, hinting that there was some situation there that was unsatisfactory. He asked that Nancy be removed immediately and put in the care of Mrs. Bellinger or some other “genteel family.” Charlotte and Julia were then also living in the elder Warrens’ home under the supervision of their aunt Delia, who was soon to move out. Lyman would have preferred that they board with another family, but he left


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the decision entirely up to James Henry, reminding him that “the girls will always embibe some of the habits of those with whom they live, good or bad.” He wanted only that they be placed with someone who was kind and would treat them with motherly care.2 Warren must have been both frustrated and relieved. His daughters Charlotte and Julia, along with their cousin Nancy, would remain in Clarkson to finish their education, boarding with “genteel” families, and Truman would return to Clarkson Academy and remain under his uncle’s supervision. George, he hoped, would be able to work in order to stay in school, and Edward and William were already home. He had given up part of his interest in the Chippewa Mills to Henry Sibley and Hercules Dousman, even as he continued to work there, but he still had his home on the Chippewa River north of the falls. The $25,000 that he had hoped to collect from the treaty of 1837 had been paid directly to the American Fur Company, although he would later try through legal means to have $10,000 paid to him. Never had his financial situation looked more dismal. As he told his brother, “I am confoundedly hard pressed in cash business.”3 On 2 October 1841 Lyman M. Warren was appointed farmer for the Ojibwe at the Falls of the Chippewa River at an annual salary of $400, as provided for in the treaty of 1837. The government would furnish seeds and implements, and as farmer he was to help the Indians raise corn and potatoes. Nevertheless, as subagent Daniel P. Bushnell wrote, “Every effort to induce these Indians, as they are now circumstanced, to cultivate for themselves, appears to be almost hopeless.” It fell largely to the farmer to do the work for the Indians, and to deliver supplies to them in times of need and scarcity. One year later it was reported that the farm on the Chippewa yielded “about 400 bushels of Potatoes and 200 of corn, besides some pumkins and squashes.”4 During Lyman M. Warren’s visit to La Pointe in the fall of 1841, Bushnell had told him that he expected to be removed. By January 1842 complaints about Bushnell’s mismanagement led James D. Doty, governor of the Wisconsin Territory, to remove him from office. Warren, who had hoped to receive the appointment, was passed over. When Doty’s first choice as a replacement declined the nomination, and the second choice was not approved by the commissioner of Indian Affairs, Doty turned to the Methodist missionary, Alfred Brunson of Prairie du Chien.5 Brunson did not receive the appoint20

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ment until early October, and thus did not attend the negotiations for a new treaty with the Chippewa, which began at La Pointe on 29 September and concluded on 4 October.6 Lyman M. Warren did attend, however, and probably even young William, who would have witnessed his old acquaintance from the Mackinac Mission school, Henry Blatchford, as one of the interpreters.7 The U.S. government originally envisioned the treaty of 1842 as the means of acquiring the mineral-rich lands of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and appropriated $5,000 to conduct treaty negotiations. As the time of the treaty neared, however, Robert Stuart, acting superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Mackinac Agency, suggested to the secretary of war that since the mineral district extended into northern Wisconsin, it would be desirable to purchase all the land east of Fond du Lac at the head of Lake Superior and north of the line established by the treaty of 1837. “It will not be necessary to remove the Indians until the land shall be required for settlement,” he wrote, and, although the soil was reported to be of very good quality, they did not expect settlement to begin any time soon.8 Stuart was appointed commissioner for the treaty. Stuart conducted the business of the treaty in only three days of meetings with the Indians. On the first day, 30 September, he made his proposal, describing the land the government wished to purchase, and telling them that they had already given up the right to the minerals on the land by the treaty of 1837. For the present, he said, the whites did not intend to settle on these lands, and the Indians would be permitted to continue to live on them, as they were then doing. The Ojibwe had no chance to question him. Their turn to speak came on the next day. Fond du Lac chief Shingup spoke first, demanding to see the paper that gave permission to take their minerals. When Stuart read the article of the treaty, the chiefs all agreed that they had been deceived, that they did not understand what they signed. Even then, the La Pointe chief Buffalo thought the commissioner was “urging them forward a little to[o] fast in their deliberations.” Still, they promised to reflect on what the commissioner said, and were anxious to hear what he would offer for the land. The next day being Sunday, there was no meeting. On Monday, 3 October, the Indians gathered on the council grounds once again. The chiefs who spoke expressed their willingness to sell the land, if the government’s proposals were interpreter


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agreeable. But three of them, Shingup of Fond du Lac, Buffalo of La Pointe, and White Crow of Lac du Flambeau, expressed their wish to have the half-breeds provided for. As for the traders, White Crow did not want to pay them back, maintaining that they “ought to pay us back instead of bringing us in debt.” Stuart replied with his offer of $625,000, which would be paid in money and goods over a period of twenty-five years and would be connected to the annuities of the treaty of 1837, so that all the Ojibwe could benefit, united as “one nation, like one happy family”; $75,000 would be allowed for the traders’ debts and $15,000 for the half-breeds as a one-time payment. The selling price was little more than four cents an acre. More than half the money allowed for traders went to Stuart’s friend and former employer, John Jacob Astor.9 On Tuesday, 4 October, the council assembled for the last time. Mixed-blood trader Clement Beaulieu expressed his gratitude for the appropriation allowed the half-breeds. Several of the chiefs expressed their reluctance to sign the treaty, and one refused, saying “he regarded it as a lying, cheating concern, the whole of it.” Ignoring the latter’s outburst, Stuart proceeded to explain the conditions of the treaty and the boundaries of the land cession. “You are to have the privilege of living on your lands to hunt & fish, till your father requires you to remove, you understand he does not want the land now, it is only the minerals he wants.” White Crow signed reluctantly, concerned about the removal clause. He wanted only to stay on “a small tract of land where his forefathers have lived & died.”10 The commissioner comforted him, saying the land “would not probably be wanted during his lifetime.” Buffalo still thought Stuart “too much in haste” to get the signatures, but signed anyway, expressing his disappointment at having so little for his relatives, the half-breeds.11 Long after the commissioner’s departure the Indian leaders continued to mull over and regret the treaty. On 29 October Buffalo had a letter written to Lyman M. Warren, then at his home on the Chippewa River, in which he explained his dissatisfaction with the treaty, and requested that he write a letter to the president, “and ask him whether it was his will & wish thus to oppress his children in this remote country.”12 Warren later gave the letter to Alfred Brunson. Although he was not present at the treaty negotiations, Brunson would be deeply affected by its outcome. Commissioner of Indian 22

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Affairs Thomas H. Crawford wrote Brunson on 14 October 1842, appointing him subagent for La Pointe, indicating that he would report to Governor Doty, from whom he would receive all the instructions necessary for the performance of his duties.13 When he received his commission Brunson immediately began to arrange his affairs so that he could make his first visit to the seat of his subagency. Robert Stuart, although acting superintendent of Indian Affairs for Michigan, still had an interest in the Chippewa Subagency of La Pointe because it was an important post of the American Fur Company. Thus he wrote Brunson with a suggestion that he hire William Warren as his interpreter. “I am informed that Mr. L. M. Warren’s son is a fine young man, & will with very little practice make an excellent interpreter.”14 He would rue this suggestion before long. When Brunson finally set out for La Pointe in late November, his route took him up the Chippewa River with Jean Brunet and a group of lumbermen heading for Chippewa Falls with their stock of winter provisions. It was already early December when he arrived at the mills operated at the falls by Warren and Brunet. He then accompanied Warren to his residence five miles north, where the farm was located, and where he found “comfortable buildings, shop, barn, etc.” He remained there three weeks waiting for ice to form for easier travel. Warren’s wife, he wrote, was “an excellent cook, and a neat housekeeper, though she could not speak a word of English.”15 Thus, in spite of the several months she had spent at her father-in-law’s home in Clarkson, New York, and her intention to learn English, she had never acquired her husband’s language. During the three weeks that Brunson remained as a guest of the Warrens, William had his first experience as government interpreter. There were at this time numerous Ojibwe bands along the Chippewa River, drawn there, as they had been for nearly a century, by the excellent opportunities for year-round subsistence as well as by the challenge of living so close to danger: the contested zone between the Dakota and the Ojibwe.16 On 18 December White Crow, the principal chief of the Lac du Flambeau bands, and the Marten, chief of Lac Courte Oreille (now officially Courte Oreilles), visited the new subagent at Warren’s home. With William as interpreter, both men expressed their dissatisfaction with the recent treaty, regretting that the mixed bloods had not been provided for sufficiently. White Crow interpreter


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was also clearly upset over the prospect of removal, which he did not agree to, and over the threat of rule by the majority, a concept totally foreign to the Ojibwe. (He had been told that if the majority of the chiefs signed the treaty, the land would be sold, so it made no difference whether he signed or not.) The Marten expressed his understanding that “we should be permitted to live on the land as long as we behaved well & are peaceable” and asked that the half-breeds be provided for equally with the Indians.17 Thus it was early in his career that Brunson learned of the Ojibwe concern for their mixedblood relatives. His espousal of their cause would cost him his position before the year was over. Brunson, Warren, and young William, now Brunson’s interpreter, finally set out for La Pointe on 26 December 1842, traveling by horse train up the Chippewa River, across Lac Courte Oreille(s) and up a branch of the St. Croix River, across a chain of portages and small lakes to the Bad River. When they reached La Pointe on 3 January 1843 Brunson went to the home of Dr. Borup, Warren’s successor as agent of the American Fur Company, while the Warrens would have gone to one of their Cadotte relatives on the island. Immediately Buffalo, chief of the La Pointe band, called on the new subagent and asked for a council. With William W. Warren again interpreting, the Indians explained their wants and wishes, including their dissatisfaction with the provisions of the treaty they had made in the fall. Buffalo, in particular, complained that he had no intention of selling the land, and that the commissioner had stopped him from speaking. In the two weeks he was there Brunson took time to write five letters to Governor Doty in which he reiterated the Indians’ concerns about the treaty and its failure to provide for the mixed bloods, as well as the quality of treaty goods and the time and place of payment. Once the agency business was completed, Brunson and the Warrens returned home, accompanied by Mary Warren’s sister and her husband (either Julia and Joseph Dufault or Charlotte and James Ermatinger). They reached the Warren home near Chippewa Falls in six days.18 While resting and waiting to return to Prairie du Chien, Brunson made use of Lyman Warren’s “large and select library,” marveling at the variety it contained, even books he had never seen before. He also became acquainted with Michel Cadotte Jr. (“Michons”), Mary Warren’s brother, who had been born in 1787 at his father’s trading 24

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post on the Chippewa River below the Warren home and was then living and working with Warren. During this time William killed a deer and brought it to the house, where Brunson himself dressed and skinned the animal, believing his method of butchering superior to that of the Indians. As soon as things were ready for the return journey, Brunson and the elder Warren left for Prairie du Chien, arriving there on 8 February 1843. William remained at home.19 Meanwhile, excerpts of the letters that Brunson had been sending to Governor Doty had reached Robert Stuart in Mackinac. Brunson’s espousal of the Indians’ cause and his support of the mixed bloods were especially galling to Stuart, who accused Brunson of being “influenced by a few whining halfbreeds,” blaming the Cadottes, who were linked by marriage to the Warrens. He took Brunson’s criticisms of the treaty of 1842 as accusations against himself and as signs of disloyalty.20 To Brunson, it must have seemed that he was serving two masters: he reported to Doty, who paid his salary, but he received orders from Stuart, who generally favored the traders of the American Fur Company over the Indians. Brunson had no ties to any traders, and seemed genuinely concerned for the needs and wants of the Ojibwe in his agency. In his letters to Doty Brunson had consistently echoed the Indians’ complaints: the unfair conditions under which the treaty was signed, the failure to provide sufficiently for the mixed bloods, and the inconvenient time and place of the annuity payments. To Stuart, it appeared that Brunson was being manipulated by the mixed bloods, and particularly by Lyman Warren, who had long represented the interests of his mixed-blood children and relatives.21 There is abundant evidence, however, that the Ojibwe were sincere in their desire to allow mixed bloods to share in money from the sale of land, and that this desire originated from the Ojibwe themselves. As for the accusation of mixed-blood influence, it is an insult to deny native people the faculty to make their own decisions. Brunson remained in Prairie du Chien long enough to complete his reports for the Office of Indian Affairs. He returned to La Pointe in late spring with his son and a group of twelve miners on their way to the copper mines of Lake Superior. William joined the party as they crossed the Chippewa River above the falls, and thereafter Indians were frequent visitors as they made their way north. Their route led interpreter


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them near the red pipestone hill from which the Ojibwe obtained the material for their pipes, a location they regarded as sacred. As a special favor to Brunson, the Indians agreed to allow a young Indian to show his son and the interpreter the source of the pipestone, but they were requested not to let the other Indians know that they had led white men to their sacred site.22 William, as a mixed blood, was not considered Indian, for he lived the life of a white man. This was an important distinction in the years to come. Although annuity payments had been scheduled for 10 September, Brunson and William arrived in La Pointe in June, hoping for an early delivery of money and goods as the agent had requested. While they were waiting, James Ord, the subagent at Sault Ste. Marie, sent word that the mixed bloods of his district, as well as those on the Canadian side, were plotting violence at the payment. William also warned Brunson that something would happen, but could not say what.23 In one instance of what appeared to be Stuart’s interference in the affairs of the La Pointe Subagency, he ordered Brunson to close the two posts at Chippewa Falls and Pokegama, the former because of proximity to whites and whiskey, the latter because of proximity to the Sioux. But when Stuart made new appointments that deliberately left out Lyman M. Warren, Brunson became irate and wrote Stuart a letter that sealed his fate. It seemed to him that the Mackinac superintendent was interfering with his own prerogative to appoint farmers and blacksmiths in his own jurisdiction. “I have not recd the first line of instructions from the Dept. that you had the Superintendency of this Agency, nor that you had the appointment or nomination of these laborers,” he wrote to Stuart. Moreover, he strongly objected to the removal of the Indians from the Chippewa River, where, according to his census, one-third of the Ojibwe in his agency resided.24 Stuart replied that he (Stuart) was better suited than Doty to make appointments and intimated that Brunson’s interpreter had been tampered with. Brunson reluctantly notified Lyman M. Warren of his removal from his position as farmer, effective 1 September. Stuart, meanwhile, had sent Brunson’s correspondence to the commissioner of Indian Affairs in Washington, with a veiled accusation of insubordination.25 Throughout much of the winter and spring Mary Cadotte Warren had been ill, perhaps related to the birth and death of their last child, 26

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Harriet (17 August–28 November 1842). Although it appeared for a while that Mary was improving, as William had written to his uncle in Clarkson, New York, she died at Chippewa Falls on 21 July 1843. This was a severe blow to Lyman after the loss of so much: his position with the American Fur Company, his mill, his post as farmer in the Indian Department, and even his membership in the La Pointe church. Perhaps the one bright spot for the Warrens at this time was William’s marriage on 10 August to Matilda Aitken, daughter of trader William Aitken and his first Ojibwe wife. William was then eighteen years old, his wife twenty.26 Just when it seemed that there were no more controversial issues stemming from the treaty of 1842, a new controversy erupted. As Brunson, with William’s help, was preparing a list of names for the annuity payments, a question arose about the Grand Portage band’s eligibility for inclusion in the payments. Were they to be included therein? And had the Ojibwe ceded Isle Royale along with the other islands in Lake Superior? Brunson maintained that Charles Borup had said that the island was not included. The Reverend Frederick Baraga, after a visit to Grand Portage in July and August for the purpose of establishing a school there, informed Brunson that the Indians did not consent to the sale of the island, but he thought that they would be satisfied if permitted to share in the treaty payment with the other Lake Superior bands.27 Walter Cunningham, agent of the U.S. Mineral Agency who went to Isle Royale in August, was convinced that the island was included in the treaty, whether the Grand Portage band was part of it or not.28 The issue would be discussed at the annuity council on 13 September. By 10 September most of the Ojibwe had reached La Pointe to receive their annuities. The first order of business was a petition from the Chippewa River bands to receive their payment at the Falls. For this, as for all the transactions of the council, Warren was Brunson’s interpreter. Brunson forwarded the petition to Governor Doty with the recommendation that they be paid as they requested only if the “the power of Govt. could keep floods of whiskey from the place of payment.”29 It is sometimes thought that keeping the Ojibwe bands on the Chippewa River was solely in the interest of the Warren family, for Lyman Warren, although only a farmer, maintained an establishment there that rivaled the subagency in La Pointe. This, interpreter


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however, is to deny the volition of the Ojibwe, who had been hunting there for more than seventy-five years, and whose numbers, according to Brunson’s census, already exceeded 800.30 Next it was to be decided how the $15,000 would be distributed to the mixed bloods. The council of Ojibwe chiefs and headmen determined that the money would be distributed “to their half breed relatives who live within their country, by whose fires they warm themselves, & at whose tables they eat; and who had received nothing in the former half breed payments.” They also decided that the mixed bloods could share with them in this payment, but not in future payments.31 This was a difficult decision for the Indians to make, because many of them had relatives as far away as Sault Ste. Marie and the Red River in British territory. When the mixed bloods from Sault Ste. Marie arrived the next day (14 September), threatening violence, Crow Wing chief Hole-in-the-Day (the Elder), with his warriors, protected the storehouse from their depredations and, by his oratory, encouraged the chiefs to remain firm in their decision.32 Finally, on 20 September the chiefs in council were presented with a project dear to the heart of Alfred Brunson, a treaty of peace with the Sioux. The centuries-old warfare between the two peoples had lately escalated. On 14 July Brunson had written a letter to Amos Bruce, subagent at Fort Snelling on St. Peter’s River, suggesting that efforts be made to establish peace between the two nations.33 The Dakota Sioux, along with certain Ojibwe residing west of the Mississippi, had already met in council on 3 August at Fort Snelling and signed the document. During the council at La Pointe, it was presented to the Lake Superior bands, who added their signatures to those of their western relatives on 20 September. At the end of the payments Brunson and Warren would take the document back to the St. Peter’s Agency on the Mississippi, where it was appended to the earlier Treaty of Peace on 14 November.34 By now Brunson had had enough of Stuart’s high-handed policies, and determined to resign. He wrote to Crawford in Washington, explaining his interpretation of the instructions given to him, and announced that he would resign as soon as he completed his reports. But Stuart and the commissioner beat him to it. On 24 October John Hulbert of Sault Ste. Marie was appointed successor to Brunson, who received notice of his dismissal on 30 November. Hulbert was later 28

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transferred to Saginaw without ever having assumed his post at La Pointe, and replaced by James P. Hays.35 The discussion over Isle Royale continued until 1844. Some unnamed person, possibly William W. Warren, encouraged the Indians to demand $50,000, but Stuart was adamant that the island had been included in the treaty of 1842. He went to La Pointe to meet with the Grand Portage chiefs. According to the agreement, which William interpreted, the island was indeed included in the treaty, but nevertheless the band would receive $400 in gunpowder and $100 in fresh beef in return for their conclusion of the matter.36 William and Matilda Warren’s first child was born on 1 July 1844 and named Alfred after Matilda’s older brother, who had been killed in 1836 while trading on the upper Mississippi River. The infant was baptized on 11 August by Rev. Baraga in St. Joseph’s Catholic Church at La Pointe. Pierre Cotte and Magdalena Pechabanskwe (Matilda’s mother) were godparents. William was just nineteen years old. A second child, a daughter, was born to the young couple on 26 July 1846 and named Anna when she was baptized on 23 August by the Reverend Otto Skolla. (She was later known as Delia, and her father listed her as Cordelia in the census of 1850.) Her godparents were Warren’s cousin J. B. Cadotte and Margaret Beaulieu.37 Although he himself was not a Catholic, William honored his wife’s faith and that of his mother-in-law. William’s father had been in severe financial difficulties since 1838. His last hope had been the claim that he had inserted in the treaty of 1837, but which was paid directly to the American Fur Company. Lyman M. Warren believed that $10,000 of the $25,000 should be paid to him, and included this stipulation in his letter of severance.38 During his trip to Prairie du Chien with Brunson in February 1843, someone (possibly Brunson himself) persuaded him to initiate a lawsuit against the fur company to recuperate his loss. Company president Ramsay Crooks engaged Captain Benjamin Eastman to represent him in the matter. Due to a technicality, the case was continued until May 1844, but even before it went to the court, Lyman Warren withdrew it. Devastated by his wife’s death, broken in body and spirit, he wrote an apologetic letter to Crooks on 5 January 1845. He would never recover from this blow, and the effects of it would be felt by young William for the rest of his life.39 When Lyman’s two daughinterpreter


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ters returned home from New York in 1845, they and the two youngest girls boarded with Charles Borup’s family at La Pointe, as their father could no longer provide for them. Mary was later taken into the family of missionary Leonard Wheeler at Bad River. Nancy Warren went to live with her mother and her stepfather at Vermillion Falls (now Jim Falls) on the Chippewa River. In his remaining years at La Pointe William W. Warren continued to act as interpreter at the annual payments and in the daily workings of the agency. His duties left him time to visit with the local Indians, many of whom were his relatives, and he often spent the long winter nights exchanging stories with them. They were as entranced by his stories of Aladdin as he was by their stories of Manabozho. In an undated biographical note, Mary Warren English wrote that her brother was long remembered from these days at La Pointe as being “full of life, cheerfulness and sociability, giving bold descriptions, telling heroic incidents, wonderful fairy tales from the Arabian Nights, Robinson Crusoe, &c. to crowds of eager listeners, Indians of all classes, both old and young, and they in return would relate the oft told stories and traditions of the tribe.”40 During these years as agency interpreter, William began to show an interest in collecting stories of Ojibwe history, narratives of tribal warfare and conflict as well as individual stories of adventure and daring. He encouraged the old men to recount their deeds and memories of a glorious past, which he then wrote down for his own amusement, thus laying the foundations for his later writings. At first he found they would tell only of the greatness and renown of their ancestors, ending “in a mess of nonsense of events happening within my own recollection.” He noticed that there was considerable lack of agreement in the various accounts given even of the same incident, and wondered if he could ever arrive at the truth. He became so discouraged that he almost ceased his inquiries.41 In December 1846 subagent James P. Hays received a letter from Henry Dodge, the new superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Wisconsin Territory, asking him to ascertain how much of the country west of the Mississippi and north of the Crow Wing River was claimed by the Chippewa Indians.42 He requested Hays to visit that part of the country and consult with the chiefs to determine whether they would be disposed to allow the Chippewa east of the Mississippi 30

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to relocate there if they should sell their land. It was also contemplated at this time to remove the Winnebago from Wisconsin to some point between the Dakota and Chippewa where they could act as a buffer, and this land, too, had to be purchased. Hays set out with his interpreter and the usual accompanying voyageurs to visit all the wintering bands within his agency, a distance of about 1,500 miles through wilderness on horse and sled. On their return journey Warren left Hays at the mouth of the Chippewa River and proceeded home up the Chippewa with one of the men.43 Sometime during that winter trip Warren had received a severe injury, a blow on the chest, which weakened him for the remainder of his life, and eventually caused, or contributed to, his death. He was, in fact, unable to work in the months following his return to La Pointe.44 Warren’s sister Mary would later attribute the decline in her brother’s health to “frequent exposures, long and severe winter expeditions connected with the Indian service at that time.”45 When Hays arrived at the subagency office he submitted his report to Governor Dodge. He estimated the extent of land owned by the Ojibwe west of the Mississippi at twelve million acres, and the interpreter


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unceded lands east of the Mississippi at ten million acres. He did not think it feasible to purchase the land below the mouth of the Crow Wing River for the Winnebago as that would leave too little for the Ojibwe. He did believe, however, that there would be no difficulty in purchasing the land, but only in making immediate removal a part of the treaty stipulations.46 Warren returned to La Pointe in the spring of 1847 and immediately renewed his efforts to learn more of Ojibwe history. At a public council held in his home he explained to the chiefs and elders that he wanted to collect their stories and write them down “that they might last forever.” Buffalo, then the oldest and most respected chief, told him that earlier he had been but a child, too young to hear all they had to say, but now he was a man whose ears were open, who could write their words and make them last forever. Henceforth Warren would receive the oral traditions of the Ojibwe people, with the injunction that he preserve them for posterity.47 But for the present there would be no time to continue his research into Ojibwe traditions. Difficulties between subagent Hays and his interpreter broke out a few months after their return in an event that would alter the lives of both. On 26 June 1847 Hays suspended Warren from his position as interpreter for the La Pointe Subagency. Two days later Warren, in anger, penned off the following letter to Governor Dodge.48 I have been suspended from my duties as interpreter for Chippeways of Mississippi and Lake Superior for no good cause, and feeling that I owe it to my good character as a young man endeavoring to bear a good name. I have taken the liberty of writing you a few lines requesting your attention to the facts stated in the enclosed affidavits as causes which led Mr. Hays sub agent of La Pointe to suspend me. By his conduct of late he has lost the respect of both whites and Indians and he has pursued a course (allow me to say) most pernicious to the interests of the Government. For most shamefully abusing my family and insulting strangers under my roof, I have talked to him in a manner which he calls disrespectful and for which he has suspended me from my duties and wages as U.S. interpreter and otherwise endeavored to hurt me. As every man rich and poor alike is protected by the good laws of our country, I sincerely hope that your attention will be directed to this matter and as I have received a severe hurt in the Ind. Service I am 32

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at present not fit for other business than as interpreter especially as I have to support my poor father (L. M. Warren) who is insane. If I cannot get back to the place I have lost, I want my good name. My conscience tells me that I have ever done my duty faithfully. Your Most Obt Svt. William W Warren

Enclosed with the letter was an affidavit sworn by William’s cousin, Michel Dufault, before the justice of the peace of La Pointe County. He stated that on 24 June 1847 he had witnessed the subagent enter Warren’s house in his absence and commence to most grossly abuse the family, chasing and tearing the dresses of the women in a shameful manner and also endangering the lives of Mr Warren child by embracing with all his might the mother with her child at the Breast. And I also saw him lift his arm to strike Mrs Warren for resisting his attempts and endeavoring to choke her. I also swear that Mr Warren has been laboring under a disease of Bleeding from the Stomach caused as I believe from a Blow he received while under the service of Mr Hays which for the last three months confined him more or less at home.49

In another affidavit sworn at the same time, Henry Blatchford, interpreter for the Protestant mission, stated that he, too, had been present when the subagent, under the influence of liquor, entered the Warren home and “most shamefull and grossly abused and insulted” not only the interpreter’s wife but also her sisters. When Warren tried to remonstrate with him, Hays took pen and ink to write out his dismissal on the grounds of disrespect. Blatchford added that Warren had been sick for the past three months, having received a blow while in the service of the Indian Department, a blow that caused him to bleed from the stomach, and until that time he had always performed his duty “faithfully and well.”50 Young William Warren soon regretted his hastiness, he later told the Reverend Sherman Hall. In a formal statement Hall made two months after the incident he declared that Warren had told him that “Mr. Hays had always treated him and his family with great kindness with the above exception, and he regretted that he had ever forwarded the papers and wished the differences between him and Mr. Hays could be made up.” But once the papers were made out, he was adinterpreter


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vised to send them, even though he then changed his mind and wanted to recall them.51 Hays himself explained the incident to the acting superintendent of Indian Affairs for Michigan: “Mr. W. came into my office a few days after my return, expressed his sorrow that anything unpleasant should have occurred between us and repeated his common expressions respecting my kindness etc. to him.” Warren was also upset because he believed that Hays had told one of the La Pointe traders that it was not safe to trust him with credit, a charge that Hays denied, saying that he had always treated Warren with “kindness and friendship.”52 The realization that he had, perhaps, acted rashly came too late, however. Warren’s letter, along with the related affidavits, was sent by Governor Dodge to the commissioner of Indian Affairs in Washington, with the recommendation that subagent Hays be removed, for this was not the only complaint he had received concerning Hays’s frequent intoxication. Warren, he wrote, “is a half-breed Chippewa; his father now insane was for many years a respectable trader a man of good character and who professed in a high degree the confidence of the Chippewa Indians, and I have no doubt his son, the Interpreter, has much influence with these Indians, and in every respect well qualified for the office of Interpreter.” In addition, he recommended the reinstatement of Daniel Bushnell, the former subagent who had been removed from office through the machinations of Robert Stuart and traders of the American Fur Company.53 But because of the strong support for Hays from the La Pointe traders, Warren’s dismissal was not rescinded, and Hays was allowed to remain in office for another few months. Yet the very act that ended Warren’s career as interpreter enabled another door to open for him, and behind that door was another world. William Warren, historian of the Ojibwe, would soon emerge.

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William Whipple Warren. Photo by Pepper of St. Paul, courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society Portrait Collection Negative #cn2.

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(Above Left) Truman A. Warren, brother of William W. Warren. Courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Society, Image id: 28289. (Above Right) George Warren, cousin of William W. Warren. Courtesy of Ralph E. Ermatinger. (Left) William Vincent (Tyler) Warren, son of William W. Warren. Courtesy of Frances A. Gonyea. (Opposite) Mary Warren English, sister of William W. Warren. Courtesy of Becker County Historical Society.


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Sophia Warren, sister of William W. Warren. Courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society Portrait Collection Negative #cn1.


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(Right) Hole-in-the-Day, ca. 1855. Courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society Unique Images Collection, mhs Locator #e97.1p/p5, Negative #8327. (Below) St. Paul in 1851. Courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society, mhs Locator #mr2.9/sp1b/p16, Negative #3681.


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A page from one of William W. Warren’s letters. Courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Society, Image Number whi-37709.


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4. William W. Warren and the Treaty of 1847

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here had been great dissatisfaction on all sides ever since the treaty of 1842. Within five years the War Department decided that a new treaty must be made to move the Chippewa farther away from the deleterious effects of the traders, to make room for an incoming white population, and to provide land for two tribes whose removal had already been decided, the Winnebago (Ho-Chunk) and the Menominee. To this end Commissioner of Indian Affairs William Medill sent instructions to the man selected to be commissioner of the treaty, General Isaac Verplanck of Batavia, New York. The land chosen by the government for the Winnebago was west of the Mississippi and south of the Crow Wing River, a parcel containing an estimated 897,900 acres. Their trader, Henry M. Rice, had already negotiated unofficially with the Western Chippewa for this tract, and had agreed to pay a price of $80,000 for the land. But as Rice had no authority at the time, his informal treaty was nonbinding. Furthermore, the price, amounting to about nine cents per acre, was considered excessive. A second parcel of land between the Leaf and Long Prairie rivers, about 658,940 acres, was also to be purchased as a home for the Menominee. Both of these sections were thought to be “unoccupied and unused” by the Chippewa, and hence supposed to be without value to them. Had the land been occupied and valuable to the Indians, and important for the settlement of the white population, Medill conceded that ten cents an acre would have been a fair offer. In addition, he hoped to acquire all the land northeast of the headwaters of the Mississippi and extending to the boundary between the United States and the British provinces, because it was likewise “unoccupied by the Indians and therefore valueless to them.” He suggested a price


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not to exceed $400,000 for all three areas, but hoped they could obtain the cession for much less. If, however, they could not obtain all of the desired land, then they were to purchase at least the land for the Winnebago, at a price not to exceed six cents per acre.1 The government’s intention, as expressed by Commissioner Medill, was to remove and concentrate the Chippewa on the land west of the Mississippi as soon as possible. There they would soon be forced to turn to agriculture, an essential step in the government’s “benevolent” program “for the civilization and improvement of the red race.” Although he realized that the Chippewa traditionally acted in small bands, and not as a unified whole, Medill resolved to treat them as a single nation, as Stuart had attempted to do in 1842. He instructed the commissioner “to have them think themselves one united people, with possessions & interests in common, especially for the future.”2 The treaty for land occupied by only the western bands would therefore be made with all the Chippewa of Lake Superior and the Mississippi, even though Ojibwe organization and government was by band.3 Instructions for negotiating the treaty were sent to the commissioner, General Verplanck, along with his appointment, on 4 June 1847. Included was the directive to confer with the subagent at La Pointe, and “any other judicious person” who might be able to offer information or assistance.4 Charles Mix from the Indian Department was to be his assistant. The two men traveled together as far as Sault Ste. Marie, where Mix fell ill and was obliged to return to Washington. Fortunately for Verplanck, the Office of Indian Affairs had also sent a letter to trader Henry M. Rice, requesting him to proceed to La Pointe to assist the commissioner in negotiations. Rice, an associate of Pierre Chouteau, Jr. and Company, was familiar with both the Chippewa of the Mississippi and the Winnebago through his trade, and was already a known and respected figure in Washington. As soon as he received Medill’s letter he began his journey to La Pointe.5 On the way he met William Warren, who had left the island soon after his dismissal and was proceeding to the Mississippi, where his father-in-law had a trading post. Having heard Warren’s account, Rice asked him to return with him to La Pointe, where they arrived on 30 June and found that the subagent, unaware of the preparations for the treaty, had gone to Detroit. Rice wrote to Medill explaining the situation. 36

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I arrived here this morning and was somewhat disappointed in not meeting the commissioners. I met on my route many bands of Chippewa and have taken such precautions as I think will secure the accomplishment of the wishes of the Government. The Sub Agent Mr Hays, left here three days ago, after having been beastly intoxicated for three weeks. I am told that he took every paper belonging to the office with him. He suspended the Govt interpreter, Mr William W. Warren after shamefully abusing and assaulting his family. Mr Warren is a young man of irreproachable character, and the only correct interpreter in the Chippewa nation. I met him on his way to the Mississippi and knowing that his services would be indispensible, brought him back to this place. I hope you will lend your aid in seeing that Mr Warren does not suffer through the acts of Mr Hays.6

Commissioner Verplanck finally arrived at La Pointe on 5 July, and was disappointed at not finding the subagent there. Warren and others informed him that Hays had left La Pointe several days previously, and would not have been of much use to him anyway.7 Verplanck had originally intended to visit the Indians in their villages, but when he learned that they were already scattered on their summer hunts, he made arrangements to meet with the chiefs and principal warriors of as many bands as possible at Fond du Lac, far from the traders at La Pointe. To conclude the best treaty possible he relied on the cooperation and assistance of Rice and Warren, who were both promised remunerations for their services.8 Verplanck then left with Warren, while Rice stayed to arrange for the transportation of provisions. It was not until 30 July that all the Ojibwe finally arrived at Fond du Lac and the council commenced. Verplanck began with negotiations for the two tracts of land between the Crow Wing and the Long Prairie rivers. This cession was at first opposed by Hole-in-the-Day (the Younger), who had succeeded to the chieftainship of one of the Crow Wing bands after the death of his father in April. He claimed that the land belonged to him, on the basis that it was his band’s hunting ground, and in this he was supported by the other Mississippi bands. Finally, Hole-in-the-Day agreed to sell on condition that the Mississippi Indians receive the money, although the Lake Superior bands were now claiming that they owned the land in common with their Mississippi relatives. Then the discussion almost ended when Verplanck tried to offer the Indians william w. war r en and th e t r e at y o f 1 8 4 7


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less than the $80,000 Rice had offered in his earlier, unofficial negotiations, as Hole-in-the-Day insisted that “an additional sum should be paid for the land north of Long Prairie.” The commissioner was eventually successful in getting the Mississippi Chippewa to agree to the same amount they had agreed to previously. They objected, however, to sharing the payment with the Lake Superior bands, claiming that “they had nothing to do with selling the Mississippi lands.” Nevertheless, for lands sold west of the Mississippi, both groups would be paid $17,000 six months after the ratification of the treaty, but only the Mississippi bands would share in annual payments of the remaining $46,000 intended for the support of schools, blacksmiths, and farmers. By then it was thought that the Lake Superior bands would be removed to the remaining Chippewa land west of the Mississippi and north of the Crow Wing River, thereby forming one nation, all sharing in the “advantages” offered by the government. The rest of the land needed for the Menominee, the land between Leaf River and Long Prairie, was to be purchased later of the Pillagers, or Leech Lake Chippewa, who were considered to be a group separate from the Mississippi Chippewa.9 Commissioner Verplanck was unable to purchase the last of the Chippewa lands northeast of the Mississippi. The Indians asked for $1,000,000, far in excess of what was expected for land deemed “unused and without value.” By asking such a price, those bands residing there hoped that they would never again be asked to sell or leave their lands. They thought they would henceforth be left alone, so that “their bones should mingle with the bones of their Fathers.”10 Article 4 of this treaty states that “half or mixed bloods of the Chippewas, residing with them shall be considered Chippewa Indians, and shall, as such, be allowed to participate in all annuities which shall hereafter be paid to the Chippewas of the Mississippi and Lake Superior, due them by this Treaty, and by the treaties heretofore made and ratified.” Since the treaty of 1842, when the Office of Indian Affairs allowed only $15,000 to the mixed bloods, the traders and other interested parties, Warren among them, had figured out a way to receive payments: they would henceforth be considered Indians if they resided among the Indians. This was already an accepted practice among the Anishinaabeg. Those who wanted to benefit from this article of the treaty signed as chiefs or warriors. William W. Warren signed as first 38



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chief. Others who signed as chiefs were Peter Marksman, Alexander (Alexis) Corbin, Vincent Roy, and Louison Corbin.11 The Mississippi Chippewa requested the establishment of an agency on the Mississippi so they would no longer have to travel some 600 miles to receive their annuities, and arrive home poorer than when they set out. Verplanck agreed that such an agency should be established, and made it Article 5 of the treaty. This provision was vehemently opposed by the traders of the American Fur Company, who made most of their profits each year preying on the Indians at their annuity payments at La Pointe, and, through their powerful influence, the article was stricken out before ratification by the Senate.12 The treaty was signed on the last day of the council, 2 August 1847. According to Verplanck, it was a cold and uncomfortable day, and every Indian who came forth to sign made a speech before touching the pen. As it was getting late, the commissioner suggested that those who had not yet signed should go have supper, and then return to the house of the government farmer to sign the treaty, where the signatures were witnessed by the two interpreters, Peter Marksman and William W. Warren. The next day Warren, who had been required to witness the signatures far into the night, decided to return home on account of his health. Verplanck asked him to make a copy of the treaty from the one he had used in interpreting, and when he got back to La Pointe, to send it to the Office of Indian Affairs by the first mail.13 Warren did as he was asked, and with it he sent a letter explaining the additional signature of Nodin, chief of Snake River, who had not signed with the others, but came in to sign the next morning. He also informed Commissioner Medill that the annuity payment had not yet arrived, and that the agent had been absent for more than a month. The signature and approval of Amous, son of and successor to White Crow of Lac du Flambeau, was affixed to the back of the envelope.14 The treaty sent by Warren did not contain the signatures of the mixed bloods, although the official copy that Verplanck sent later did. Verplanck and Rice went on to Leech Lake, accompanied by George Bonga, another mixed blood, as interpreter, to treat with the Pillagers for the remaining tract of land lying between the Leaf and Long Prairie rivers. As Rice later explained to the commissioner of Indian Affairs, he did not make them an offer in money, so poor were they; william w. war r en and th e t r e at y o f 1 8 4 7


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rather, they agreed to accept much-needed goods annually for five years, goods such as blankets, cloth, twine, kettles, and tobacco, with a total estimated value of $11,000.15 The Pillagers, as a division of the Chippewa, were already eligible to receive annuities with the Mississippi Chippewa and the Lake Superior bands. Soon after his return to La Pointe, Warren sent to a friend in Dubuque, Henry A. Wiltse, for a special medication he needed. Wiltse did not send it, however, because he knew that Dr. Owen J. Norwood, a physician who had treated Warren previously, was on his way to La Pointe. Wiltse had learned from both Dr. Norwood and the trader Henry Sibley of Warren’s role in opposing the American Fur Company in the Fond du Lac treaty, and congratulated him for it. “It must have done your soul good to have met an opportunity of hurling back some of the indignity which your excellent and most unfortunate father had recd. at the hands of the ‘Company.’ You did yourself great credit in that matter.”16 He was no doubt referring to the provision in the treaty to have the agency moved to the Mississippi, where the agents of the American Fur Company would not be able to exploit the Indians. Many of the Indians who were present at Fond du Lac for the treaty went on to La Pointe where annuities from the treaties of 1837 and 1842 were to be paid before the end of the month. Medill had asked William A. Richmond, who had replaced Robert Stuart as acting superintendent of Indian Affairs for Michigan, to proceed to La Pointe to assist in the distribution of money and goods, especially since it was not known if subagent Hays would show up. While awaiting the annuity payment, the traders and other employees of the American Fur Company began to work out an organized opposition to the treaty. Their principal objections were to the establishment of an agency on the Mississippi and to the eventual removal of the western Chippewa to the headwaters of the Mississippi, for that would diminish, if not eliminate, the profits they could make at La Pointe. In documents that were later forwarded to the Indian Department, they attacked both William W. Warren’s interpretation and the method by which the signatures were obtained. They first persuaded nine Indians to sign a complaint to the president, saying that many of the signatures were not obtained in council, but at a private meeting; that threats were made by the interpreter (not named) that they must sign the treaty or be driven from their 40



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lands and deprived of their annuities; that some mixed bloods had signed the treaty; and that the Chippewa of Lake Superior would be paid less that the Chippewa of the Mississippi. Next they organized the mixed bloods, all of them employees of the company, to protest Warren’s interpretation. In a statement signed by ten of them, they accused Warren of telling them that the government would give the Chippewa of the Mississippi “several Blacksmiths and Farmers, one Carpenter and one Teacher for 10 years.” They added that a number of chiefs and headmen refused to sign the treaty, and that some of the Indians signed at a private meeting. Nearly all the Indians, they said, were dissatisfied after finding that the words of the treaty were different from the interpreter’s explanation. Another group of about one hundred mixed bloods, most from only sixteen families and many of them children, signed a petition in which they claimed that they did not want to be included in the treaty because they believed they would lose their rights as U.S. citizens. Two of the interested parties gave separate statements. Veteran trader Charles H. Oakes reiterated the accusations made by the mixed bloods, and his mixed-blood brother-in-law Clement H. Beaulieu mentioned the specific faults he found with Warren’s interpretation. He said he refused to sign the treaty “because the said Warren did not interpret the articles correctly, for instance he told them that out of the money to be paid the Indians, they might if willing pay their debts,17 he also promised the Indians on part of the Government several Blacksmiths and Farmers &c. words I did not see on the written paper.” He also said that several of the chiefs whose names appear at the end of the treaty “did not sign in open council but were induced to sign afterwards.”18 When Warren found out that the American Fur Company was acting to have the treaty declared invalid, he sent the following letter to Commissioner Medill on 1 September 1847.19 Allow me to inform you that the Traders and other persons interested in not having ratified the Treaty signed at Fond du Lac Augst 3 1847 have caused much trouble and useless anxiety in the minds of the Chippeway Indians. They have got papers written out, and signed by some few inferior chiefs, through bribes and threats, to forward to you with such mistruction as they only have the face to give. The making out of these papers is very disatisfactory to the Indian chiefs, and Indians generally and it is through their request that I william w. war r en and th e t r e at y o f 1 8 4 7


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now write you these few lines asking of you that no attention be taken of any papers purporting against the Treaty aforesaid till you hear from the Commissioners I A Verplanck and H M Rice. From your Obt Svt W W Warren Intpr for U States in Treaty

All the complaints were sent to the Office of Indian Affairs, along with a statement by Nodin, chief of Snake River, that he had been informed that the words on the paper were different from the words spoken by the interpreter. Upon receipt of these papers Commissioner Medill immediately sent them to General Verplanck, then at home in Batavia, New York, asking him to comment on the specific points raised. Verplanck wrote his reply on 1 November 1847. He was not at all surprised that the traders of the American Fur Company should oppose the treaty, and accused them of falsehood and misrepresentation. He assured the commissioner that there was “nothing whatsoever in the charges,” and that their principal objection was to the removal of the agency to the Mississippi. The traders, he believed, were “not alarmed without reason,” and he found it “somewhat strange considering the great interest they have at stake and the means which they have to influence the Indians that at the payment at La Pointe they were only able to induce seven Indians claiming to be chiefs and two warriors to sign a remonstrance.”20 There was no doubt, he wrote, that all the Indians understood the treaty. After Warren read the translation, Verplanck asked Clement Beaulieu (whom he knew to be opposed to it) to look it over and ascertain that it had been interpreted accurately. Beaulieu corrected Warren twice, and then pronounced it correctly interpreted, adding that he thought the Indians understood it. Verplanck had also spoken with many chiefs through different interpreters and found that they, like the half-breeds, understood the provisions of the treaty perfectly. He even sent with the letter a sworn statement by Beaulieu that he was satisfied with Warren’s interpretation. He further explained the conditions under which the treaty was signed in the house of the farmer, which was located adjacent to the council grounds, in a front room that was open and entirely public. Chiefs were entering and leaving as they pleased. “These Indians signed without any so42



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licitation on my part and without any conversation except that I again stated the terms of the treaty.” Warren, Marksman, and Smith Hovers (the farmer) were present throughout the evening. The next morning, before Warren left for La Pointe, both Nodin and Hole-in-the-Day went to the commissioner to sign the treaty; hence their names appear apart from the others. In conclusion, Verplanck was satisfied that the treaty, a treaty made “without presents, without providing for the debts claimed by the Fur Company, without any of the appliances usually resorted to induce Indians to sell their lands, was made without fraud and under a proper sense of responsibility in which I was placed.”21 Henry Rice, too, felt obliged to write the commissioner of Indian Affairs in regard to the American Fur Company’s efforts to prevent the ratification of the Treaty of Fond du Lac. On 6 November 1847 he wrote Medill from Prairie du Chien, explaining that “the Treaty was truly and faithfully interpreted.” Although at first there had been disagreement over ownership of the land to be ceded, the Lake Superior Chippewa eventually gave way to the Mississippi bands, who claimed it through conquest and use. The latter, however, were willing to share some of the money with the western bands, but insisted on keeping $46,000 for benefits that they had never received from previous treaties. Thus this money would be applied to the support of a blacksmith or a farmer. The American Fur Company, he said, had opposed the treaty even while it was being explained in council, although had some money been set aside for its claims, the company would have approved it. As it was, the company had sent its principal agent at La Pointe, Charles Borup, to Washington to try to prevent its ratification. Rice, however, found the treaty fair and clearly understood. “If the treaty had been misinterpreted, or had fraud or deception been used, it would have been more than my life is worth to have again made my appearance among them.”22 The treaty was ratified on 3 April 1848. The fifth article providing for the establishment of an agency on the Mississippi was stricken from the treaty. This had been the principal request of the Mississippi Chippewa, and its fulfillment would have been a severe blow to the American Fur Company. The Indians’ second request, that concerning the distribution of the $46,000, was left intact. Verplanck paid Warren $100 for his services. He later explained to Medill: Mr. Warren is the best Interpreter in the country and one in whom william w. war r en and th e t r e at y o f 1 8 4 7


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the Indians have great confidence. The La Pointe chiefs particularly requested that he should be employed and said they would trust no one else. Mr. Warren was very unwell & was under the care of Dr. Norwood, one of the Geological Surveyors in the employment of the Government. He thought it imprudent for Warren to go to Fond du Lac. I made the best terms I could with him & by offering him the price I paid I induced him to go. There was no man in the country who could have supplied his place.23

In spite of Warren’s work at the Treaty of Fond du Lac, the fact of his termination as agency interpreter remained unchanged. Upon his return to La Pointe in August for the annuity payment, James P. Hays was asked to explain the charges against Warren. In a letter dated 2 September 1847 to William Richmond, acting superintendent of Indian Affairs in Michigan, the agent defended his actions and explained the difficulties he had been having with his interpreter. The charge of abusing Mr Warrens family, I understand is sustained by the affidavit of a half breed boy, an inmate of Mr Warrens family [Michel Dufault]. The affidavit Mr W. himself interpreted to the boy when the oath was administered. I do not wish however to convey the idea that the boy did not state the substance of the affidavit, for I have never seen the document and know not what it contains or in what the abuse consisted. My conduct toward Mr Warren and his family instead of being characterized by abuse, has been universally that of kindness and friendship, more than I have ever shown to another not connected with me by the ties of kindred, a fact which is well known to everyone who is at all acquainted with the matter, and better known to Mr Warren himself than any other person, to use his own expression repeated often before and since the charges have been preferred against me, I have been to him “almost a father.” If I can possibly find time I shall endeavour to procure the statements of such persons as may be known to you and cognisant of the manner in which I have always treated Mr W and his family & transmit them herewith. Should I not be able so to do I will forward them by the next vessell. Mr W. came into my office a few days after my return, expressed his sorrow that anything unpleasant should have occurred between us and repeated his common expressions respecting my kindness &c to him. . . . 44



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I suspended Mr Warren not as he would wish to make it appear in a fit of drunkenness, and without cause. It was a thing I had contemplated for some time, and was done in perfect calmness and sobriety. If anyone states that I was intoxicated at the time I wrote the notice of suspension, or at the time I gave the notice to Mr Warren, he states an untruth. My reasons for his suspension which I will forward in full to his Ex. Gov Dodge by the same conveyance which bears this (having failed to get my letters aboard the Boat in which you left last night) are that I consider him unfaithful, and have lost all confidence in him as an interpreter. While Mr Warren was with me in the office matters which necessarily came within his knowledge and which no one except ourselves had any right to know, were as well known to those out of doors as myself, altho’ no injury to the interests of the Govt have occurred from this as they were generally matters of no very great importance, yet it has caused me to withold from him all information except such as it was absolutely necessary that he should have and has placed me often under very disagreeable and embarrassing circumstances.24

In addition to his own letter, Hays sent the favorable testimonials of several influential people: the Reverend Sherman Hall, missionary to the Bad River Chippewa; John Bell, justice of the peace; and trader Charles H. Oakes. Acting Superintendent Richmond also gave him a favorable evaluation. The commissioner was satisfied that Hays should be given another chance, since he seemed determined “to avoid wholly and forever the use of intoxicating drinks.” He was allowed to remain in his post as subagent at La Pointe until May 1848, when charges of intemperance were again brought against him, and he was dismissed.25 Young William Warren, however, his career as an interpreter now terminated, still had the care of his own family, his four younger sisters, and most of all, his father. Lyman Warren had never recovered from the blow dealt him by the American Fur Company in the loss of all his resources. He was, as William himself had so poignantly written, insane, probably as the result of depression brought about by public failure. Intending to go to Detroit for medical help, he left his home at Chippewa Mills, and made his way to La Pointe, where he died on 7 October 1847. William then accepted an offer from Henry M. Rice to work for him in his trading establishment on the Mississippi, at the mouth of the Crow Wing River. william w. war r en and th e t r e at y o f 1 8 4 7


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5. Clerk, Farmer, Interpreter, Author

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illiam W. Warren’s career as an author began during the year he worked for Henry M. Rice at Crow Wing on the Mississippi. In March 1847 the U.S. Senate passed a resolution to authorize the Indian Department to conduct an ethnological survey of the Indian tribes of the United States. To supervise this immense task they appointed Henry R. Schoolcraft, a former agent among the Chippewa, who had long been interested in studying the language, history, and customs of the aboriginal people of North America. Schoolcraft developed nearly 350 questions, along with census forms, and in July the Indian Department sent them out to superintendents, who were then to distribute them to their agents and to other persons who might have knowledge of specific groups of Indians. When Henry M. Rice, as a trader among the Winnebago and Chippewa, received the forms in February, he immediately gave them to Warren to answer for the Chippewa. As Rice wrote to Commissioner William Medill on 12 February 1848: “The book of inquiries you sent me did not come to hand until my return to Crow Wing. I have placed it in the hands of one of my clerks, who was born in the country, (educated East), and is perfectly competent to answer most of the questions, and when so answered I shall revise them, but not in time to be of use to the department.”1 Warren then began to work on the answers to the inquiries, a task to which he devoted much of his time in the ensuing year, especially during the winter of 1848–1849, interviewing the chiefs and old men of the various bands with whom he came into contact. The treaty of 1847 was finally ratified by the Senate on 3 April 1848, but without the article stipulating that the Chippewa of the Mississippi were to be paid their annuities on the Mississippi. Hole-in-the-Day,


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already a prominent chief in the Crow Wing area, asked Warren to accompany him to the Winnebago Agency in order to express his dissatisfaction with the changes in the treaty. The Winnebago agent, Colonel Jonathan E. Fletcher, was then in charge of the Western Chippewa until an agency could be established for them on the upper Mississippi. Hole-in-the-Day requested not only that payments be made on the Mississippi as agreed to in the treaty negotiations but that a blacksmith and a farmer be appointed, too.2 In spite of the Mississippi Indians’ pleas, the first payment under the new treaty was to be at La Pointe for all the Indians, a victory for the traders of the American Fur Company. Henry M. Rice suggested that William W. Warren go to La Pointe for the payment, and try to get appointed interpreter, in order to represent the interests of Rice’s trading house. He sent him with a letter of recommendation to the new agent, John S. Livermore, stating that he believed him to be “the best interpreter in the nation, he is well acquainted with the Indians and is a general favorite.”3 The influence of the American Fur Company still being strong, Warren did not get the appointment. The objections of Hole-in-the-Day seem to have been effective, however, and it was decided to move the payment of the Mississippi bands to Crow Wing. This would also be favorable to Henry M. Rice and other traders of Pierre Chouteau, Jr. and Company. The Warrens’ third child, a son whom they named William Vincent, had been born on 20 May 1848. While they were at La Pointe that summer, they had the infant baptized in the Catholic church on 20 August. Godparents were Vincent Roy Sr. and Angelique Larose.4 Likewise while Warren was at La Pointe he took advantage of the opportunity to interview Ojibwe elders and mixed bloods with reference to the inquiries he had been asked to answer. By December Warren’s financial prospects had begun to improve. He was now being paid a salary by Henry M. Rice, and was hired by the Ojibwe from time to time as an interpreter. His friend Henry Blatchford at La Pointe wrote of this in a letter to Warren’s cousin Edward: I heard from Wm Warren not long ago, he says that he is very smart and getting better all the time, and also he has received a little money from the Indians at Crow Wing, $500.00 from them and much more from the Traders but he did not state in his letter how much he got in c ler k , far mer , inte r p r e t e r , a u t h o r


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all, but I know this that whenever he writes, the theme of his letters is telling about he being so well off, he says that he is hired to the Ind Agt and also to Mr Rice and gets $300.00 a year from each.5

Nevertheless, Warren had been sick all winter, as he wrote on 1 March 1849 in a letter to his cousin George, who was then living at Chippewa Mills on the Chippewa River. This account differs considerably from the one he gave Henry Blatchford, for George was the one person to whom he revealed his true thoughts and feelings.6 I must own that I have been rather negligent in my correspondence with you this winter. I have not had any good news to relate is one reason I have not written before. My health has been poor all winter and of late I have been confined to the house. I don’t want to believe that I have the consumption, but I think I am hard on to it, and I have no doubt but my days are numbered. Through my ill health last fall I was not able to do as well as I expected at the payment. The Indians paid me about $400.00. The traders with the exception of Aitkens paid me none as they did not get paid to the full amt of their claims. So far as living is concerned I have got along quite well this winter. It cost me something to commence House Keeping and provisions have been dear, but I have lived well this winter and within means. My wife and children and the girls7 have enjoyed good health, but have been lonesome this winter. I have heard from Truman two or three times, he (got) had some trouble with Nettleton8 about a debt and has given his watch as security for $80.00, which sum I have concluded to send him by first chance. To tell the truth I don’t like this country as well as I do Chippeway and La Pointe. The Indians are better, and probably the reason is that my health is so bad and no relative near by. I am satisfied that were my health good I could make money, but under present state of health it is a charity in Mr. Rice to keep me in his employ. About the lumber business, the Indians here have placed it pretty much in my hands. Last fall a man by the name of Brown9 went up with eight men to cut logs and make shingle he left with me a contract wherein he offers $900.00 in money for the priviledge to the Indians for this winter but a jealousy has arisen among the chiefs how the money is to be divided. Complaints have been made to the Dept. 48

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and Brown is now ordered off and ordered to pay the full price of the lumber to the tribe in general not one band or bands. This is as it should be, and as I want it. A half Breed, as an Indian has a right to cut and sell. Whites are denied the right. A good business could be made at it without fail. Mr Steele10 has gone on to Washington for a charter for cutting lumber. By this you can judge of the importance of this business. At another time I will write more fully on this subject. About Martells Chiefs.11 They were according to last accounts dancing the pipe dance at St. Louis. They have been making monkeys of themselves to fill the pockets of some cute Yankee who has got hold of them. Black Bird returned from Cleveland where he caught the scarlet fever and clap. He has behaved uncommon well since his return. Respecting our friends the Winnebagoes. I was out to see them a few weeks ago. Uncle Sam feeds them and they do nothing but play poker night and day women and children. Their traders Lowrie young Rice and Olmstead are in the same bad way. They urged me to take a hand. At one time during a week I stayed I was $500.00 winner, but in the end came of with but $70.00 winnings. Charly Rice won one evening $1000.00 from Olmstead. Big game! Give my respects to Old Martin12 and the rest of them. I have no news to relate. Genl Fletcher broke Na guon abe [Mille Lacs chief] last fall and turned Doctor Borup out of the Payroom. The Chiefs here requested it. Bears Heart of Mille Lac was made chief instead of Na guon abe. Borup and his gang were small potatoes here. Tell Martin if they will buy me Gauthiers place I will come there to him.13

Our Love to Tobacco,14 and all the family. Your Aff. Cousin, W W Warren

Two weeks later he again wrote his cousin George, describing his health and the boardinghouse business he was then running in his Crow Wing residence. Still lonely and ill, he very much wanted to gather all his relatives around him.15 I suppose you have received my last letter, and I send you a few more lines just to say that I have written oftener than you, and to inform you of my health and matters generally. My bleeding fits come on as often as usual and I don’t think will stop till they take me to kingc ler k , far mer , inte r p r e t e r , a u t h o r


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dom come. I have been able to go about hunting this spring for ducks and fish some and have been enabled to set a good table for my Boarders. I have got to keeping the Boarding house at this place, keeping Mr Rices men and accomodating all comers. The fort is 6 miles from here and soldiers come most every day for the sake of getting a good meal. Today [we] had fifteen here for dinner, being Sunday. They pay me 3 shillings a meal. This business alone would give me a good living, if I am permitted by Mr Rice to continue in it which I have no doubt he will. Provisions and everything is high up here and it has cost me something to live the winter. Mr Morrison has gone to La Pointe to take Mr Cruttendens place and fetch the goods through here.16 Truman has been promised a situation and will come through. Charlotte and Sophia are well and so is the rest of the family. We are some lonesome for our family and relatives and you would be greeted right heartily were you to lose yourself some day to this part of the country. Don’t go to California. Think twice on it before. Your Aff Cousin, W Warren I will write again (soon as Mr Rice gets back and I can see ahead of me) more fully. Don’t forget to write me a few lines and remember me to your mother Edward and the girls. Yours Wm W Warren

Sometime during the latter part of May 1849 a group of British travelers stopped at Crow Wing on their way to Fort Garry and the Canadian West. Among them was the artist Paul Kane, who had only the year before returned from a visit to the western tribes. The stories he told of his encounters with the Cree and the Blackfoot were of great interest to Warren, who used some of Kane’s material in articles he would write later, and even in his History of the Ojibway People.17 In June 1849 Paul Beaulieu resigned his position as Chippewa farmer at Sandy Lake. Since Sandy Lake was now in the limits of Fletcher’s agency, this agent was asked to appoint a successor. The Chippewa requested that William Warren be appointed, and Fletcher concurred. “Mr Warren is well educated and is the best interpreter in the Tribe and in case he receives the appointment will without extra pay, render any service as interpreter, which may be required by the agent. Mr Warren has rendered me assistance in getting the Chippewas 50



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engaged in farming the present season, and as he has influence with them, I am satisfied that the interest of the tribe would be promoted by his appointment.”18 Fletcher also recommended that the position of farmer be transferred from Sandy Lake to Gull Lake, on the west side of the Mississippi River, where it was proposed to remove the main body of the Chippewa. The appointment of Warren was approved by both Governor Alexander Ramsey and Orlando Brown, the new commissioner of Indian Affairs, and before the end of July he had commenced his new position at Gull Lake.19 Another tragedy was to befall the Warren family on 7 July 1849. Edward Warren, the twin brother of George and cousin of William and Truman, was accidentally killed. According to one account, he was passing through a thicket carrying a loaded rifle when the trigger caught on a twig and discharged a shot into his chest, near the heart.20 George, who had been to Prairie du Chien on business, returned home to learn the sad news. He wrote to his employer, B. W. Brisbois, then at Prairie du Chien: On my arrival at the mill I received the news of my brother’s death. I hurried up to go & see the old folks & my sister. In place of the welcome greetings I was accustomed to meet on my arrival, this time was nought but bitter weeping through the whole establishment. My brother was shot through the heart by the accidental discharge of a gun on Saturday. I arrived at the Mill Sunday evening. I got up at the old man’s place several hours after they had buried him.21

William Warren learned of Edward’s death from his cousin Nancy and his sister Julia, who lived with the Ermatingers. Now lonelier than ever at Gull Lake, and so far removed from his relatives, he was devastated by the news of his cousin’s death. He wrote to George immediately.22 Happening to look in the letter Box at Crow yesterday I found two letters from you and one from the girls. Your letters were written at Lake Peppin on your way down and up. And the girls wrote from Chippeway. They write dreadful news. I have asked myself a hundred times can it be true. Has Edward our poor brother, has he left us. In the prime and vigor of manhood has he been snatched away from us thus suddenly. I cannot believe it. I have rolled on my bed all night long thinking. Can it be possible? I will not believe it till I c ler k , far mer , inte r p r e t e r , a u t h o r


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hear from you again. Let it be immediately. I had partly regained my health, but this matter has again knocked me under. I commenced bleeding again this morning. My mind cannot rest easy till I hear from you. This world is truly a vale of tears our nearest, dearest and worthiest, relatives are just falling around us till but one of us shall stand alone and lonely to withstand the Blasts and Storms of this world. We are but three the fourth has left us. Let this dire misfortune unite us with stronger ties of Brotherhood. Dear Cousin be comforted. Take good care of your own life, for the sake of those that feel deeply now doubly so, for your welfare. I shall try hard to live myself, and I will make you a visit before. Could I see the means of supporting my young ones I feel as though I could drop my business friends and prospects here and go and live near you, where I could see daily the few relatives God has still spared me. I say this from the bottom of my heart, for you cannot feel more lonely and lonesome than I do and I cannot rest satisfied till I see you. Try and answer this letter in person come yourself and pay us a visit it will conduce to draw away and distract your mind from dwelling too much on the dire calamity that has befallen us. I cannot write more on this subject. When my mind gets more settled, I will write more fully and inform you of our situation and welfare which has undergone great changes since I wrote you last. Truman is here helping me build. My family are all well. Give my love to my poor aunt. We shall be her sons in the place of those she has lost.23 Would to God we could fill their place. Remember me to the girls. They shall hear from us in a few days. Your Affectionate Cousin Wm W Warren

Two months later William Warren had still not recovered his health, nor had he recovered from the news of Edward’s death. Wishing to consult a doctor, he visited Long Prairie, the site of the Winnebago Agency under Jonathan Fletcher. From there he again wrote his cousin in Chippewa Falls; it was a letter filled with concern for the future of his little family, and the certainty of his approaching death.24 I wrote to you some time since, immediately after receiving the lamentable news of our poor Brother’s death, from Nancy and Julia. Since that time I have been very anxious to hear from you, but as yet not 52



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a line have I received corroborating the truth of that news or telling me of your whereabouts. Since the night I received the girls letters I commenced bleeding from the lungs and my health has been so poor that I have given up all hopes of living any length of time, probably not through the winter. The Doctors have told me this plainly and told me also that the only thing that might save me is to pass the winter in New Orleans or the West Indies, but I have not the means and no friends able to help me therefore I have determined to pass the winter here and await the consequences. My cold has settled in my lungs, and I am in a word in the consumption. Last July when Rice and Borup joined partnership I resigned my place under Mr. Rice and procured the situation of Farmer for the Mississippi Indians at $500 a year at Gull Lake 12 miles west of Crow Wing.25 Truman has passed the summer with me building my house which is already up shingled chimney made &c all but the floors not being able to find sawers to saw the lumber I however shall get in before cold weather. I intend to remain quiet this winter hiring a man to do my work, and thereby I hope to prolong my life as much as possible, but time looks dark ahead for my poor children. I have so induced the Indians to farm and work this summer that my conduct has met with the approval of the Agt and Gov. Ramsey. Doctor Borup & Clement Beauleau however are in the country and will pursue me to my grave with their enmity.26 Truman has been invited by Mr. Atkins to come and live at his place, Swan River to take charge of his business. It is a fine place and the old man makes money fast. Truman will come as soon as he has finished my house.27 I write you from Long Prairie where I have been invited by the Agt to do some writing and also to consult the Doctor. The Chippeways will be paid at Crow Wing on the 25th inst. I have sent messengers to call them in. Charlotte and Sophia, since I went to Gull Lake, have stopped at fort Gaines in the commanding officers family Capt Todd. Sophia as nurse and playmate to his two children and Charlotte as companion for his wife. It is a fine family and the girls are well off. They have asked me to adopt and bring up Sophia till of age, and not knowing how long I may live I have given my consent. She now speaks good English and has improved greatly. I hope my dear Cousin our correspondence will in future be more c ler k , far mer , inte r p r e t e r , a u t h o r


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frequent and regular since the sad accident that took from our sides a beloved brother and cousin. I feel as though the ties between us were redoubled and become stronger. Soon there will be but Truman and yourself left, and you must be linked together as two brothers. Help [one] another in adversity and I beg of you be kind to my poor children when they shall be thrown on the cold world fatherless and in poverty. Nothing lowers my spirits so much as to think of them. Were I alone in this world, God knows I would die more willingly, but as it is, it is hard to die and leave behind my little ones on a friendless community. You may be surprised to hear me speak in this manner, but I am satisfied that my disease has at last settled on my vitals. I may linger on a few months, with extreme care, maybe a year or two, but I think my days are numbered. With means sufficient I am satisfied a winter spent south might save me, but where I am I to look for those means. My family are all well, and remember me to your mother and the girls. Your Aff Cousin Wm W Warren

The “Answers to the Inquiries” that Warren had worked on during the winter of 1848–1849 had been given to his employer, Henry M. Rice, to be sent to the Office of Indian Affairs in Washington. To his great surprise, Warren found the first part published in the Minnesota Pioneer of 6 September 1849, submitted, no doubt, by Rice. Warren began to realize that he might have the potential to earn money through this research and writing, and wrote to Henry R. Schoolcraft to offer his services.28 From information obtained from a reliable source I am led to believe that you are the compiler of the Inquiries on the Origin, History, and Language of the different Indian tribes in the United States. During the past winter a copy of those Inquiries was put into my hands by my employer, H. M. Rice, Esqr to answer to the best of my knowledge. I passed part of the winter in making enquiries of the oldest Indians and mixed bloods in the Ojibwa tribe and wrote down the answers to most of the questions asked, no time being given me to revise my first rough copy, it was sent to my employer unfinished in that respect, and I see it publishing in a newspaper printed in this 54



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Territory. I am therefore led to believe that it has not been sent to the Dept as I had expected. Though being yourself well acquainted with manners and customs of the Ojibway about St. Maries & Mackinaw, obtained during your long connection with them, I was in hopes that in my answers, you might have gleaned some little information to have helped you in compiling your present work on the Indians. A deep interest I feel in this tribe of Indians leads me now to address you in these lines. I am myself a quarter breed29 being the son of Lyman M. Warren, with whom you have probably during your residence at Mackinaw become acquainted. On the maternal side I am descended from the Cadotte family. Was born at Lapointe Lake Superior and brought up for the most part among the Indians. I have ever felt an interest in collecting information respecting the Origin, History and Traditions of my relatives the Ojibways, as I see that they are fast degenerating under the influence of contact with the whites and in a few years it will be impossible to gain of them genuine information. I have read most of your literary works on this Branch of the Indian family and know thereby that you are deeply interested in bringing their history to light. Now if I can be of any help or service to you in giving information on certain heads I shall be at any time you request it at your service in giving you said information through the mail. Living as I do in the Indian country I have never succeeded in procuring any of your published works on the Indians (Algic Researches) &c30 and would be under obligations to you if you would be kind enough to send me by the mail copies of those works for which I will on recept of them send a remittance. Also inform me (if you consider these lines worthy your notice) if my Answers have been forwarded to the Dept. for your use, if not I shall endeavor to send you a copy in case you should want it. I am fully aware of my deficiency in composing and the only use I can be to you is through the advantages I possess in gaining information of the Indians. I am now connected more especially with Mississippi and Pillager Bands of Ojibwas. Your Obt Svt. Wm W Warren P. S. Direct, Crow Wing, Minnesota Ter.

The same part of “Answers to Inquiries Regarding Chippewas” was again published on 5 December 1849 in the Minnesota Pioneer, c ler k , far mer , inte r p r e t e r , a u t h o r


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and followed by more of Warren’s “Answers” in the next three weeks. Editor D. A. Robertson wrote in his introduction: The following description of the habits, customs, superstitions and peculiarities of the Ojibway (Chippewa) Indians, was written by Mr. Warren, a very intelligent man now living at Gull Lake, and was prepared at the solicitation of Mr. Henry M. Rice, while Mr. Warren was employed by the Fur Company. Mr. Warren has here given a more interesting and more reliable insight into Indian character, than any other person has ever furnished to the public. We commenced the publication of his article several weeks ago; but had not room then to complete it in the Pioneer. For this reason, we commence publishing it again, from the beginning, so that our readers may peruse it all in connection, to the end.31

In these four installments Warren answered only the first nine questions of the “Inquiries,” which concerned the general history of the tribe. Although he treated all nine of the questions, he did not treat them individually or in any particular order, and thus the article lacks the cohesion and flow of his later works. It was, indeed, as he expressed it in his letter to Schoolcraft, but his “first rough copy.” Yet his answers reflect research he did among both the La Pointe Indians and the Mississippi bands, as well as the mixed bloods of both areas, and provide an interesting contrast to his later History.32 Until this time it is likely that he had never thought about origins, a subject in which he was beginning to take an interest. Warren the storyteller was becoming Warren the historian. Warren’s work as farmer was receiving favorable notice from the agent. On 22 September 1849 Fletcher wrote in his annual report to Governor Ramsey: A farm was commenced last spring at Gull Lake by several bands who had decided on that location, and a valuable improvement was made. The plan adopted was to hire the Indians to do their own work, it succeeded well. Seventeen acres of timbered land were cleared by one of their half breeds on contract; in addition to this, twenty two acres have been cleared by the Indians themselves; this land they have cultivated in corn, potatoes, turnips, and garden vegetables: their crops look well, and they are well pleased with this their first attempt at farming. They have commenced building themselves dwelling houses of hewn logs, and are making arrangements 56



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to extend their farming operations. A team was furnished them and two men employed to assist them. They were also furnished with tools and with seed to plant. The improvements were made under the supervision of Mr. Warren farmer at Gull Lake.33

In the fall of 1849 annuities were again paid to the Mississippi bands of the Chippewa at Crow Wing, and Warren was called upon to assist in the payment. The Pillager payments were completed first, on 4 October 1849, and the rest two days later. The entire record of payment, including the names of all 577 heads of families, is in his handwriting. He listed himself and his family in Hole-in-the-Day’s band, his sisters Charlotte and Sophia in the Gull Lake band. His brother Truman is found in White Fisher’s band, along with his wife, Elizabeth; Roger Aitkens; and his sister, Ann. In addition, Warren wrote out a separate form for the band of Na-guoun-abe, one of the Mille Lac chiefs, using what he called hieroglyphics for the name (not the totems) of each head of family, and tick marks to indicate the number in each family. Agent Fletcher later sent this to Commissioner Brown for Henry Schoolcraft, who had it redrawn by Seth Eastman and included it in volume 2 of his Indian Tribes of the United States without acknowledging Warren as the source.34 In a letter dated 11 October 1849 and written by Warren, the bands of the Snake River and Pokagama petitioned the president to allow them to receive their payment at Crow Wing, too, for the distance there was shorter, and “there we see no fire water to tempt us to barter our annuities.” The request was forwarded to Governor Ramsey by Agent Fletcher, who recommended that the governor grant the petition.35 On 18 December Warren, then visiting his sisters at Fort Gaines, wrote his cousin at Vermillion Falls (now Jim Falls, Wisconsin), where George’s mother and his stepfather, James Ermatinger, lived.36 My intentions at present are these. In two weeks I am obliged to go to the Winnebago Agency to help the Agent fix his quarterly papers. I shall remain there till the first of January when my quarters pay is due me, $125.00. I shall ask a months furlough, leaving a man here to do my work, and if this is granted I shall take my horse and cutter and pay you a visit, if possible I shall join your party and attend our poor brothers remains to Lapointe. I consider it a sacred duty c ler k , far mer , inte r p r e t e r , a u t h o r


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due to my poor cousin, and God willing, I shall perform it. Expect me the 12th of Jan—if you do not see me by that time you need not look for me. If Charlotte is willing I shall take her along. Possibly Truman may go with me. I shall go by Still Water where I shall consult a lawyer respecting the Jews. I rather imagine they have burnt their fingers in their great greediness. If it is as I think I shall show them no mercy.37 My Dear Cousin, you are aware of my struggles during the past four years to support my family with a broken constitution, often standing on the verge of the grave. I have seen hard times, debts have accumulated against me, but in all I have tried to be honest. My conscience is clear at this moment of any intention to cheat or defraud my creditors. Dire necessity amid a host of enemies drove me from my birth place to pitch my tent amongst strangers. My health has been poor and I have been lonely notwithstanding bright hopes of pecuniary success. I have been barely able to support my family. Some of my debts I have paid off, and three hundred dollars given me by the Mississippi Chiefs I placed in Mr Rices Hands for my children but in his late crash with P. Choteau Jr & Co. I fear I shall lose it. I owe Blatchford $80.00 H. B. money which I had expected to pay out of this fund on the first good chance to send it. I was appointed Ind Farmer here on the 1st July. It took all of my first quarter pay to pay expenses of building &c. and nearly all of this quarter is due for winter’s supplies. These are at present my circumstances. In time I hope to be able to say that I owe no man one cent. Then indeed I shall be free. We are living in a comfortable house, one story and a half high. 30 feet by 18. A large chimney whose bright blaze helps to near [wear] away the long winter evenings. We have all the necessaries of life and need nothing. This is a pleasent place but lonely at present. We being the only family living here this winter excepting Indians. The Chiefs appropriated $2000.00 for this farm, which expenditure I have to superintend. 1000 has been already expended in clearing, tools, seed &c. 1000 will be expended this spring. Besides this I do all the writing and work for the Pillager & Chippeway payments, and flatter myself that I have the full confidence & friendship of the Agent. But my arch enemies Borup & Beauleau have followed me up and are doing their best to injure me; with the Indians I have 58



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the upper Hand and can defy them. They are hated here by every class of people. In case of a treaty I think with your influence at Chippeway & mine here and with the Pillagers we have the majority and can laugh in their faces. One of us has fallen but there is still three left and I hope those three will remember the wrongs of their family, let those three cherish and love one another, so long as God wills that we should walk in this vale of Tears. A dark cloud has passed over us, but hope on, there must be sunshine somewhere ahead. I am happy to see that you have stood the heavy blow so well, better than I expected. It has gone hard with us as with you. We have learnt to submit to our Makers will, it is useless to mourn for mourning will not bring to life. I could write you much more but have not space. Truman is living at Swan River with Mr Aitkins he makes a good living, but his wife is a poor cripple and always sick. Charlotte & Sophia live with Capt Todd at Fort Gaines 17 miles from here, comfortable and happy. My children and wife are well and wish to be remembered to you all. My love to your mother the girls and the children, don’t forget me to Wab egog.38 With hopes of seeing you all soon. I remain your Affectionate Cousin W. W. Warren

Written in the margin of the first page: Last winter I wrote a History of the Chippeways which is publishing in the Minnesota Pioneer paper in numbers. The Editor has request to print it in a book form.39

Unfortunately, Warren was not able to reach La Pointe due to the weather conditions at Willow River, and the funeral for his cousin Edward was held in the Catholic church there on 12 February.40 Throughout the winter of 1849–1850 he continued to develop his Ojibwe material, especially through interviews with the chiefs and elders of the Gull Lake bands and the Pillagers of Leech Lake. These latter were described by Agent Fletcher as a warlike people numbering about nine hundred, and occupying an extensive hunting ground. (According to the census taken at the annuity payment of 1849, they numbered 1,050.) The elderly chief of the Pillagers, Flat Mouth, became a friend and confidant of Warren, whom he called his grandc ler k , far mer , inte r p r e t e r , a u t h o r


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son, and was the source of many of his stories of the Ojibwe movement westward and their warfare with the Sioux. During this winter Warren also worked on a Pillager vocabulary of the 350 words that formed part of the Inquiries. This list was given to Agent Fletcher and sent to Schoolcraft with the notation that it was collected by Warren, but it was never published.41 In March he responded to an article in the Minnesota Pioneer that intimated that the Chippewa were inimical toward whites, all part of a campaign to support their removal from lands near white settlements. Believing there was no cause for alarm, and relying on the knowledge engendered by his many years of living among them, he rather gave examples of Chippewa friendship with whites, and included a recent incident related to him by his cousin George Warren at Chippewa Falls. He signed his letter “Ojibway.”42 After the rigors of winter at Gull Lake, Warren once again turned his thoughts to his financial prospects. He had already submitted one long article to the Chronicle and Register for publication, an exciting narrative of life among the Blackfeet, which he attributed to George D. Cameron, formerly of the Hudson’s Bay Company.43 Some of the background and content of this article, however, had been told to Warren not by Cameron, but by Paul Kane a year earlier. Now, having a large family for whom he was responsible, and knowing that his would not be a long life, Warren began to seek other possibilities of ensuring financial stability for them. One attractive possibility was in lumber, a business in which his father had been involved and in which his cousin George and his uncle James Ermatinger also made their living. While the commissioner of Indian Affairs in Washington had decreed that whites could not take lumber off Indian land, Warren believed that he, as a mixed blood living among the Indians, could. Hence this was an opportunity for him to get involved in the lumber business. Stopping at his father-in-law’s home at Swan River (Aitken’s Ferry), he wrote the following letter to his cousin to set before him the prospect of a joint business venture in lumber.44 Truman arrived four days since with the horse safe and sound. I am glad he went around by your place, which has made us acquainted somewhat with the state of your healths, prospects, &c. It is so long since I have seen or heard of my relatives that it does me good 60



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to hear from them, occasionally. I started last winter to go and pay you a visit but was obliged to return from Willow River on acct of no road, and deep snow. I hope soon to see you on the Mississippi, from what Truman says. I write this to request you not to make up your mind to any business till you have tried this part of the country. I have succeeded in making myself a home and enjoy a salary sufficient for a support. I have a large chimney in my house, that often as the big fire crackles, makes me think of old times and familiar faces. Rest assured that there is a place for you by that chimney hearth, and as long as a roof covers me that I own. It is yours also. You do not know how welcome you and the girls will be to this part of the country, you will not come among strangers, for you will find, if God spares me, the heart and door of a true brother to receive you. The present prospects in this country are at present flattering for us, in two lines of business. 1st There is a company who have built a mill at Little Falls on this river. They depend altogether on the pine in the Chippeway country for a supply, for two years past this mill and the mill at Falls of St. Anthony have paid large sums for priviledge of cutting logs. This spring on acct of certain difficulties on Sioux lands an order has been sent on to the Agts of Govt to stop all Whites from cutting or buying timber on Indian lands and a law passed denying a chief or set of chiefs the right of sale of standing timber to Whites.45 This has knocked the mills here in the head who will be obliged to wait for a Treaty in order to commence operations, which certainly will not be made for two or three years. Now all this operates to our benefit. By the Treaty of Fond du Lac Half Breeds are allowed the same right & priviledges to the soil and annuities as Indians, and no law can prevent us from cutting our own logs and selling them to Whites. We can monopolise the business and make money like dirt. The bands that live on the Pine lands I hold in my hand. They have begged and begged of me to come and live with them promising me a grant of pines and land, so in this quarter there is no difficulty. I have spoken to Capt Todd of Fort Gaines, who is a proprietor in the mill at Little Falls, and showed him that Treaty, telling him that if he would give me an outfit in Axen [oxen] tools and Provisions I would raise a party of industrious Half-Breeds c ler k , far mer , inte r p r e t e r , a u t h o r


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& Indians and cut him 5000 logs. He is very much pleased with the Idea, and has promised to do all he can. Now as I have a good situation already, and out of health, I propose that you come and undertake the business. Truman wishes to go in with you, and if you will let me [ ] it I will take a share also. We have [ ] & Tousaint here to work, and others can be procured, fetch along Michel Default [their cousin]. With a party of 8 men, & 6 yoke of oxen you can get out 4,000 logs, which will fetch $3.75 to $4.00 a thousand feet. Whites have been making money, even after paying 50 cents stumpage to the Indians, & every disadvantage. By making hay, building a shanty and taking up provisions in time, catching and salting fish, and trading a little, paying the men off in goods at profit, &c &c. we can clear on a winters operation at least $2000.00 above all expenses. There is another chance open for you but I have no space in this to mention it. I have said enough to induce you to come by all means, come at least and pay us a visit. Fetch along Nancy and Julia without fail they will find a home with me, I will be but too happy to receive them. I will write in a few days more fully on other and important topics. (A Treaty is in prospect,) Removal of payment and Lapointe Agency is determined on, payment to be made either at my place or Sandy Lake. Pineries mentioned above are but a few miles of my house. Four days ago Sioux killed a son of (Whitefishers) chef. More anon. Your Brother, W. W. Warren

On the side of the first page Warren wrote: Write immediately. When you will be up to St Paul with the girls I will go down with Pompey [his horse] to meet you. When you land there take them to Mr Basses, till I come.46

From Swan River, Warren went to Long Prairie. There he learned of the proposed removal of the Wisconsin Chippewa to the Minnesota Territory. Returning home, he stopped at Fort Gaines to see his sisters, and from there wrote his cousin with the news and prospects for the removal.47 Since I wrote you last I have been out to Long Prairie and saw Hon. Dav. Olmstead, who has confidentially informed me of the intend62



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ed Chippeway Removal. There is no doubt at all but the whole annuity will this year be paid on the Mississippi. Gov. Ramsey has the whole matter in charge, and is coming up to locate the agency &c. about 1st May. An appropriation has been made for the removal and subsistance. Olmstead recommends to the Gov. to pay 10 or 15 dollars a head and have the Indians removed by contract. What think you, cant we get a number to come this summer to their payment and if they did not like the country return in the fall. Hurra for a spec! Keep this in mind and act accordingly till you hear from me again.48 The country is not fit for our Indians to live on, and I apprehend difficulty unless a first Rate Treaty is made with them, a perpetual annuity &c The Govt will not do this unless they are forced to it by resistance &c on the part of the Indians. Rest assured that I am not sleeping but at work to carry the measure through. In case of a Treaty, I intend that the Half Breeds sell the right to soil & annuity which the Fond du Lac Treaty has given us, for a large sum, say $200,000 or more. Think on this and mention it to Corbin & Gauthier &c. Mr Olmstead wishes me to request you to make no definite arrangement with any one till you see him. He wishes to put in the charge of some one of our family his Chippeway & Menominee Trade. Therefore lose no time but come soon as possible, and on no acct leave the girls. In case you arrive at St Pauls before I send down or go, let them stop at Mr Basses. You will need a little money to clothe them respectable—& whatever you pay out for Julia I will refund. Trumans great Expenses on his trip has brought me low in cash, as I have to pay out of my last qr pay $60.00 Bring along your mare and Samy, you will absolutely need them here. Dont forget Websters Dictionary & Bible & saddle which Truman left at your place. If you can get a mate for old Pete tell him to come and try his fortune for this is getting to be some country. Michel [Dufault] and his father would also do well here building houses &c. Your Aff. Cousin Wm W Warren c ler k , far mer , inte r p r e t e r , a u t h o r


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The following letter seems to have been sent with the foregoing letter, but is not dated. It begins: Read the Enclosed First. Dr Cousin. “Mr Clement Beauleau wishes me to say to you that he earnestly wishes you to come to the Mississippi, and offers as agent for P. Choteau Company, any situation you will best prefer, either on salary or otherwise.” David Olmstead, who is one of our prominent men and best Traders, best men in this Territory an honest man and a man of means, who is President of the Council and will probably be Delegate to Congress next year, has treated me since I have been in this country like a son, he has done everything he could to befriend our poor family. He wishes to go into the Chippeway trade if the payment is removed to the Mississippi, and has offered me to undertake the business, as his agent to carry on the business to any extent or in any manner I think best. Now I do not wish to be a trader my ambition runs another way. You are more fitted for it, and when you have come here and examined that matter you will use your judgement in regard to it. I have come to this country, poor, humble, and sick. By good conduct & perseverance I have gained many strong friends and popularity among the whites and the Indians, and though still poor & sick I am able to help you my dear cousin as you would help me under similar circumstances. Borup & Oakes & Beaulieu49 have been unable to hurt me, and they have thought me and found me of sufficient consequence to try and make a friend of me. For some object of course. Their Enclosed offer to you is a proof. Of course they have an object in view, but rest assured that they nor other man will be able to throw dust in my eyes. I will not be a tool, and on the contrary they must be wide awake or I make a tool of them. If I find that they are sincere in their offers of friendship when you come we will consult together and mark out a line of conduct. You being older and wiser I shall be guided by your advice. And in the coming events I shall take no stand nor commit myself in any way till I see you. Come soon and don’t on any account leave the girls behind you. We will be amply able to support them. I have made a practice of writing occasionally for the news64



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papers, for a certain object which I have attained. You will receive in this mail a few papers containing specimens of my authorship. You will notice in one article I wrote under the name of O jib wa that I publish an extract from one of your letters. I have now some articles in the course of publication respecting the condition and prospects of the Chippeway of Wisconsin, causes why they will not remove, &c &c.50 They are very strong and will surprise you all. It will show people that I am not dead and Chippeways and Half Breeds that I am still their best friend and working for our common interest. Keep on the right side of your Indians. Remember me to them and tell them any thing for me that will most please them. Tell them to look out for the Sioux. The Indians here have taken up the War club and Blood will flow freely. Don’t fear White or Govt Interference. You shall hear from me again very soon. Your Brother W. Warren

The above letters are significant for what they reveal about Warren’s ideas concerning the soon-to-be-implemented removal. First, there was no doubt in his mind that the government would effect a removal. He believed, therefore, that the authorities should at least make an effort to get the Ojibwe to try the new country in the summer, so that if they didn’t like it, they could return to their own lands in the fall. He had already determined, however, that the upper Mississippi country was unsuitable for the Lake Superior bands, and that only an exceptionally good treaty with a perpetual annuity would make up for the loss of their traditional lands and way of life. But most important, he also recognized that the government would not make such a treaty unless forced into it by a strong Indian resistance. It was only the germ of an idea that would inform his actions in the months ahead. The history that Warren had been working on all winter was finally completed and sent to Agent Fletcher in the spring of 1850. It was, as he explained, a more thorough reply to the inquiries than that which he had hurriedly penned in 1848–1849. In the accompanying letter he explained how he came to collect the information for his work. It is a valuable document giving insight into his development as a historian.51 c ler k , far mer , inte r p r e t e r , a u t h o r


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In compliance with your request I have the honor of enclosing to you, the following brief sketch of the history of the Chippeways of Lake Superior and especially of the Mississippi, those more immediately under your agency. This is in answer to the comprehensive inquiries set on foot by the Indian Dept. of our Government respecting the “History, Present Condition and Future Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States.” Feeling a deep natural interest in their fate and welfare, I have for the past six years carefully gathered all the information I could, of the chiefs and old men of the Ojibways of Lake Superior and Mississippi. Under this head I include all the bands living on the shores of Lake Superior, on the Wisconsin, Chippeway and St. Croix Rivers, and on and over the head waters of the Mississippi and St. Louis rivers. These bands all living within the limits of the United States, all talk one language, and are members of one tribe. According to census that I have aided in taking, they number about eight thousand souls. I deem it not amiss here to notice the manner in which I have gained the information embodied in the following imperfect sketch. For the past seven years, I have acted as Government interpreter for these indians, and am a descendant of about the first white man that traded among them during the old French domination. And by blood I am related to nearly all the principle chiefs of the tribe.52 I was born at Lapointe Shag a waum ik and the first tongue I learnt to speak—my mother tongue—was their language. And talking it as well as themselves I have had every advantage to glean from their story tellers and tradition keepers, the principle events of past generations. Notwithstanding these advantages, I have found it a difficult and uncertain task to collect from the Indians themselves, events of their past history which can be relied on as facts. These events descend down from generation to generation, in the shape of oral traditions that must naturally lose in truth and correctness as they descend to our times; and I have discovered that even the traditions related by one indian, often differs materially from the version given of the same, by another. 66



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It is also to be regretted that the indians generally are reluctant in giving any information respecting their history to the White man. They are so, especially respecting the rites of their singular mode of worshipping the Great Spirit and the lesser spirits of their dreams and Medicines. During the course of my enquiries I have often been discouraged and would give over the attempt altogether. Five years ago while living at Lapointe, I made my first attempts to obtain information from Be she ke, or Buffalo the oldest present living chief in the tribe. He would commence by telling of the power and greatness of his own immediate ancestors and end off in a mess of nonsense of events happening within my own recollection. Thus I asked chief after chief who would also relate the renown of their own fathers, denying the tale of their fellow chiefs from beginning to end. Being thus discouraged I relaxed in my endeavors. At this time however I noted down an account (as given by the indians and oldest half breeds) of the first settlement on Lapoint by old French traders, a century and a half ago; and of the tragedy that conduced to break up their post on the island, the remains of which are still plainly visible.53 This document, meeting the eyes of –– Attree, a newspaper reporter, he borrowed for perusal and forgot to return. In the spring of 1847 I again renewed my enquiries, and by that time having gained the full confidence of the chiefs, and become more experienced in questioning, and drawing them out I succeeded rather better in my attempts than formerly. At this time I took occasion in public council, held in my house at Lapointe, to mention to the chiefs and old men my anxiety to collect all events of importance that had happened to their tribe in former times especially the battles that their ancestors had fought with their many and different enemies, and to write these events on paper, that they might last forever. In answer to me, the old chief Buffalo gave the following talk, which I noted down at the time and insert here to show the footing I at the time held with them. “My Grandson” said the old man “You have now become as one of us, you have now arrived to the age of thinking and discretion, and can see far around you. You are able to watch and guard over the interests of your poor ignorant relatives. We have found in you a guide in our blindness, and a support to our weak and tottering footsteps: c ler k , far mer , inte r p r e t e r , a u t h o r


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Since the White faces have come and resided among us our young men have become unsteady and foolish. They are fast forgetting the usages and customs of their fathers and when the Old men of the tribe who are fast falling into their graves, shall all have disappeared, the traditions and customs of their fathers shall be buried with them. The ties of blood that connects the wide spread bands of Ojibways will be forgotten; and the Council fire which has burnt at the root from which they spring and spread as springs and spreads the branches of the tall oak, shall have gone out forever! There shall be none to tell our little ones who are growing up, what our fathers have told us before they departed for the land of Spirits! “My Grandson” continued the old chief “you had often asked me what I knew of former times but I did not open my heart to you for you was then a child. You are now a man you know how to write like the whites you understand what we tell you. Your ears are open to our words and we will tell you what we know of former times. You shall write it on paper that our words may last forever.” The old man thus expressed his willingness to give me the information I desired. He talked on telling a long story materially different from any he had before told me. The ice of their reserve being thus broken I succeeded thereafter in procuring from them the traditions pertaining to their past history. Since the fall of 1848, I have left Lapointe and lived on the upper Mississippi, in the very midst of the different bands of Ojibways residing on this river.54 My intercourse with them has been close, and I have taken advantage of comparing their tales with those I had collected at Lapointe. I have found their traditions agree. I have discovered among the Pillagers and Mississippi Ojibways a new fund of information, respecting the bloody and exterminating war in which they have been immediately engaged with the Siouxs as the vanguard of the Chippeway nation in their westward advance. For the past century they have been in the very midst of a fire, and the country they have passed over to reach their present footing is strewed with the bones of their fathers, who have fell in numberless bat[tles], surprises, and massacres! The same can be said of the St. Croix and Chippeway river bands, 68



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among whom I resided two years (in 41 and 42). They with the Upper Mississippi Ojibways are but the remnants of what might now have formed a powerfull and numerous body. As it would require much more time than you appear willing to allow me to write an elaborate history of the whole tribe, to the present time, I have in the latter pages of the following account dwelt mostly on the branch of the tribe which now reside on and over the Headwaters of the Mississippi and more properly under your supervision. This portion of the tribe residing at their several villages of Leech, Sandy, Otter Tail, Gull, Po ke gum o, Winnipeg, Rabbit, and Mille Lakes, number about three thousand souls. I hope some future day to be able to finish the work that is herewith, but imperfectly sketched out. With respect, I remain Your Obedient Servant Wm. W. Warren

The history that Warren sent to the agent at Long Prairie was forwarded to the Indian Office on 17 May 1850 and handed over to Henry Schoolcraft, who included it in the second volume of his Indian Tribes of the United States as “Oral Traditions Respecting the History of the Ojibwa Nation.”55 The work is clearly a longer and more thorough response to the first nine questions of the inquiries initiated by Schoolcraft, and indicates that Warren had greatly expanded his research into Ojibwe history. The long-ago stories (getedibaajimowinan) of the old men were transformed into a chronological account of the Ojibwe people. On 29 July 1850 Minnesota territorial governor Alexander Ramsey wrote to Warren, asking him to furnish him with a history of the various Ojibwe bands for his annual report, due about the first of October, and promising him compensation.56 Although the letter was delayed in reaching him, Warren was happy to comply with the governor’s request, and soon sent off the history as requested. The article is largely an overview of the various bands of Chippewa from Lake Superior to Pembina on the Red River. It appeared as part of the second annual report of the Minnesota superintendency, dated 21 October 1850, in the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, wherein Ramsey acknowledged his indebtedness to Warren. c ler k , far mer , inte r p r e t e r , a u t h o r


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He was not paid, however, until 1852, when the governor gave him $20 for his work.57 As he saw his writings being published in newspapers, and his knowledge being sought by the governor and the Indian Department, Warren was gaining confidence in himself. He began to hope that he would someday be able to profit from this knowledge, and so, with the encouragement of D. A. Robertson, editor of the Minnesota Democrat, he began to lay the foundation for what would someday become a book. His first effort was “A Brief History of the Ojibwas,” which Robertson would publish in the Minnesota Democrat in seven installments from 11 February to 1 April 1851. It was the genesis of his History of the Ojibway People.

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6. The Chippewa-Sioux Warfare

T

here was great unrest and dissatisfaction at this time among the Ojibwe, the Dakota Sioux, and the Winnebago. An article in the Minnesota Pioneer on 13 March 1850 made reference to a league of the three groups against the whites, a league said to be instigated by the Winnebago, who were unhappy since their removal to Long Prairie. Warren wrote a response from Gull Lake, under the name of O-jib-way, in which he explained that, although the Ojibwe were generally docile, there was one instance in which a group of Ojibwe on the Chippewa River did suffer injustice at the hands of a group of whites. The incident had been recounted to him in a letter from his cousin George Warren.1 The previous summer an Ojibwe warrior had been murdered by “a number of drunken Americans” who were retaliating after the Indian had “slightly stabbed” a Frenchman in a scuffle. Warren explained that since the subagent at La Pointe had ignored the situation, it was indeed possible that the Ojibwe might “take the matter into their own hands.”2 It seems to be the purpose of his letter, written under a pseudonym, to inform the public that government officials were doing nothing to help the Ojibwe attain justice. In another version of the story recounted by Thomas E. Randall in 1875, the Indians were encamped near the falls of the Chippewa River, where there was also a saloon. An intoxicated Frenchman “attempted some liberties” with an Indian’s wife. The Indian then stabbed the Frenchman, whose profuse bleeding led the crowd to assume he was dying. They immediately hung the perpetrator. The Indians would have retaliated instantly had it not been for the influence of mill owner H. S. Allen, his wife, and the Ojibwe chiefs, especially young Hole-in-the-Day.3


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But it was the constant warfare between the Ojibwe and the Sioux that most residents of Minnesota feared. Although representatives of both tribes had signed a treaty of peace in 1843, the violence had not ceased. On 23 March 1850 the son of White Fisher, one of the Gull Lake chiefs, was killed and scalped by a Sioux warrior. Warren, at the request of White Fisher, asked General Fletcher, the agent at Long Prairie, for redress. When the agent brought the matter before Governor Ramsey, the latter did not “deem it expedient” to detain the young man, saying that he had “justifiable provocation and cause” for his act. Both his brother and his mother had been killed by the Ojibwe, and, in addition, the victim had been trespassing on Sioux ground when he was killed. While he would not consider the matter of arresting the murderer, the governor now began to believe that bringing together the two warring sides in council would be the only means of negotiating peace.4 Before the governor’s request for funds for this council even reached Washington, another more devastating incident occurred. On 2 April 1850 a war party of Mdewakanton Sioux from Little Crow’s village and Red Wing on the west side of the Mississippi below St. Paul crossed to the east side and attacked a small encampment of Ojibwe on the Apple River in Wisconsin, about twenty miles northeast of Stillwater, Minnesota. Fourteen Ojibwe, men, women, and children were killed. The next day the Sioux appeared in the streets of Stillwater, celebrating and dancing a scalp dance with one survivor, a child. The citizens of Minnesota were horrified. The next week A. Robertson, a trader among the Sioux, wrote an article in the Chronicle and Register in which he explained and defended them. The following week the editor offered space to anyone who wished to vindicate either group, or reply to anything already published in his paper. The first response was that of the Reverend Gideon H. Pond, a longtime missionary among the Sioux, who defended them as most often wronged, and blamed the Chippewa for initiating most of the violence. Warren responded in a two-part article, “Dakotah and Chippewa Wars,” published on 3 and 10 June 1850. Acknowledging his own personal connection by blood with the Chippewa, he nevertheless promised to try to present both sides fairly. And although the warfare between the two tribes had lasted for centuries, he would discuss only the principal events of the recent past, especially those connected with Hole72

the c hippewa- s ioux war far e


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in-the-Day (the Elder), details of whose life he had been collecting with the intention of writing a biography. Yet in almost every case he defended the actions of the Chippewa and warned that, although the whites had nothing to fear from them, the massacres would continue unless the government took control.5 On 14 May Warren wrote a long letter to the governor in which he reviewed the events leading to the current state of affairs and suggested that a council between the two tribes be called immediately.6 Considering it my duty, as an employee of Government, I lay before you the following facts, as you are naturally interested to know the movements and intentions of the Indians under your general supervision, especially since the renewal of their ancient feud between the Sioux and Chippeways, at a time when the Chippeways receiving annuities, considered the war at an end forever, deeming it impossible that the bloody scenes of former times could be carried on in the midst of the numerous whites now settled among them, and amidst garrisons of soldiers located purposely to keep peace among them, and also checked by the presence of their several agents. Through a variety of circumstances, needless here to mention, I enjoy the fullest confidence of the Chippeway tribe of Indians, and being ever present at their most secret councils become acquainted with their every wish, feeling, and movement. I have ever used my little influence among them for the promotion of their welfare and good. Two years ago at the first meeting between the Winnebagoes and Chippeways, at Sauk Rapids, I was present at a secret council held between the chiefs of the two tribes wherein a pipe, stem, a letter, and wampum from the Delawares, Toways, Kickapoos, Pottawattumees, Sacs and Foxes, was presented to the Chippeways. This was for the formation of a general league against the Sioux tribe who have promiscuously from time to time shed the blood of these different tribes. The answer of the Chippeways of Mississippi and Lake Superior was that they considered it peace between them and the Sioux, but should the Sioux, again break the peace they would join the league and never again bury the war club till they or their enemy was exterminated. Since the above circumstance, this past spring, the war club of the Sauks and Foxes, Pottawatumies and other tribes in league who the c hippewa -s i o u x wa r fa r e


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have assembled in Toway, have been sent up and is now going the rounds of the Chippeway villages. A certain time is mentioned when the war parties of these tribes shall proceed against the Sioux. And they wish the Winnebagoes and Chippeways of the north to march at the same time. The Chippeways will now join the league, the purposes of which they are beginning more fully to understand. The Pillagers have already sent down their war spear to the southern tribes, fully agreeing to their proposition. An answer is expected to come by the Winnebagoes who now are moving back to their new country, when the details of the league will be fully settled on. A portion of the Winnebagoes, are the main movers in this business. The loss they sustained from the Sioux four years ago, though apparently settled for, still rankles in their minds. They have sent their pipe and tobacco to the Pillagers and Chippeways of Mississippi to collect and come down to Long Prairie by the 15th of June, when they promise that in “whichever direction the national pipe stem shall be pointed they will join the Chippeway in going.” The Chippeways have sent runners from village to village, from Red Lake to Lake Superior and St. Croix River. Hole in the Day has personally visited Leech, Winnepeg, Pokagumo and Sandy Lakes, and by the 15th of June they will probably collect between four and five hundred warriors. Though aware of this movement, it would have been useless for me to have tried to prevent it, and under existing circumstances I think if they will collect, we might be better able to manage them than to prevent secret war parties from going against the Sioux. To this time I have had a great deal of difficulty in preventing small parties from making incursions into the Sioux country. As I am still in hopes that this business which will become a very serious difficulty can still be arranged. The warlike propensities of these tribes must be stopped, or serious consequences will be entailed in time on the people of this Territory. Thus far I have succeeded in stopping two war parties, and have just returned from Crow Wing in pursuit of a third, headed by Hole in the Day, who with three others have gone on a reconnoitering party to the St. Peter’s River. I did not succeed in catching them. Hole in the Day has gone contrary to his solemn promise and against the 74



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wishes of his Indians, who are exasperated at his conduct. Twenty Sioux scalps, could he take them, would not wash away the ill will this act engenders against him in the minds of his fellows. A number of the chiefs and warriors had promised me after the Chippeways had collected to offer to meet the Sioux at Sac Rapids in council, in pursuance with your plan as Genl Fletcher had written me. If the Sioux are unwilling to come up thus far, I am in hopes with the assistance of Mr Beauleau to induce them to go to St. Peters with us and there arranging the matter. If this plan is not adopted they will proceed to war. My great fear is, that small parties will slip off in the meantime and widen the present breech, so that this plan will be frustrated. Foreseeing the many evil consequences to follow the first act of aggression by the Sioux in killing Whitefisher’s son, I recommended to Genl Fletcher, as the only plan of preventing further bloodshed, the seizure of the Sioux leading that war party and his confinement at Fort Snelling till the difficulty could be arranged in a council of the two tribes. Had this plan been adopted, the massacre at Apple River would probably not have taken place, for had the Sioux by this example been led to see that they could not murder the Chippeways with impunity that war party would not have been formed. Believe me, sir, that since the massacre at Still Water and Rum River of 1838, the Chippeways have sustained the most loss of life and are in every respect the wronged party. As you will see and hear for yourself, when the chiefs of both tribes meet in your presence face to face. Excuse me for troubling you with this lengthy epistle, in consideration that I am prompted to it by a sense of duty and am deeply interested in the matter, not only by the relation I hold to the Chippeways but as a citizen of Minnesota Territory. Should you think proper to make use of the enclosed information in any way, I would request of you not to mention me as your informant, especially to persons interested as Chippeway traders. I ask this only in view of retaining the confidence of the Indians and rest assured that any movement worthy coming to your knowledge, I will faithfully transmit to you, if you so desire it. I remain, Your Humble & Obt Servant Wm W Warren Farmer & Intpr for Chippeway the c hippewa -s i o u x wa r fa r e


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Warren’s letter helped convince the governor to act even before the Office of Indian Affairs had approved funds for a council.7 He wrote to Warren, asking him to gather the Chippewa chiefs of the Mississippi and to accompany them to Fort Snelling in early June. Warren answered immediately.8 I have this moment received yours of May 15th and write this to inform you that I shall use every endeavor to comply with your request as soon as possible. By the 7th of June I shall be at Fort Snelling with Chippeway chiefs and warriors from Red Lake, Lake Winnipeg, Leech, Sandy, Gull and Mille Lakes. They are intending to collect at this place by the 15th of June to march against the Sioux villages, but I have sufficient influence among them to induce them to comply with your request. We shall be obliged to send messengers immediately to the different bands to quicken their movements and hope to be with them at Fort Snelling at the time specified. It is possible I cannot be there till the 10th, in which case I hope you will await us till then. It will be impossible to comply with your request to take down only the chiefs and headmen, as many of the young men will wish to go, and it is as well, as a Treaty of peace made in presence and by consent of all, is more likely to hold good. Should any circumstance happen, to cause a change in our plans I will send an express to inform you. With much respect I remain Yr Obt Svt Wm W Warren PS Hole in the Day with three young men started secretly from this place eight days ago, on a war party to St Peters. I had on two former occasions prevented him from going, and this time he went with Mine nor the knowledge of the Indians. I chased him on horse back as far as Crow Wing to turn him back, after I learnt his departure, but his travelling in the night, I could not catch up with him. W. It will be a difficult task to pacify the Chippeways, as they are very much exasperated.

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and Chippewa signatory to the Treaty of Peace in 1843 to meet with him at Fort Snelling in early June.9 The Ojibwe arrived first, about ninety in number, with Warren as their chosen interpreter, accompanied also by Captain J. B. Todd of Fort Gaines (Ripley) and Clement Beaulieu of Crow Wing. They were received with due honor at the fort, as young Hole-in-the-Day spoke for the group. He was not particularly anxious to make peace with the Sioux, but following in his father’s footsteps he would listen to the wishes of the government of the United States. The meeting was to begin on Monday, 9 June, and the Ojibwe were already gathered on the plain adjoining the fort, when the Sioux sent word that they needed more time, and asked the governor to postpone the council until the following day. Hole-in-the-Day was convinced that the Sioux had requested the delay in order to collect a larger force, and thereby intimidate his people. Nevertheless, he consented to remain, and Warren furnished the names of the eleven Chippewa chiefs who would represent them at the council the next day. It was reported in the paper: “We have never seen a finer looking body of men assembled, than these Chippewas. There is scarcely one among them that would not be considered a model of grace and perfection by an artist. The Sioux will doubtless do their best, also, and make their appearance in full feather. It will be a sight worth seeing, and one that may not soon again present itself in our vicinity.”10 The Sioux, numbering about 300, entered the fort about noon on Tuesday, 10 June, “decked out in the most characteristic manner.” Some rode in on horseback, yelling and shouting as they galloped across the plain, presenting a sight that was described as “picturesque and beautiful.” The two sides faced each other, and advanced to meet half way for the ceremonial handshake, performed with noticeable suspicion and lack of cordiality. Then only the chiefs and headmen were invited into the meeting with the governor, as well as some of the leading citizens of St. Paul, both male and female. First, each side presented a statement of injuries inflicted by the other side. Then the governor spoke, stopping after each sentence so that the two interpreters might do their work. He told them that it was time “to bury the hatchet of war forever,” for the whites were tired and disgusted by their continued warfare. He assured them that the Great Father did not want their lands, only their happiness. He reminded them of the c hippewa -s i o u x wa r fa r e


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the Treaty of Peace of 1843 and told them they must abide by it, or make a new one, and suggested that each side appoint a few friends who would negotiate this decision for them. The Ojibwe appointed Warren, Beaulieu, Captain Todd, and the Episcopal chaplain at Fort Gaines, Rev. E. G. Gear, while the Sioux selected William H. Forbes, Oliver Faribault, Alexander Faribault, and Captain Monroe. Then the principal orator of the Sioux, Bad Hail, requested an adjournment, to which the Ojibwe consented. Some of the Sioux then left “in an ungallant manner” according to the reporter of the Chronicle and Register. When asked afterward why, some of them said that “they did not council with women.” Hole-in-the-Day, however, requested the ladies to remain “and cheer his tribe,” a gallantry appreciated by many of the spectators.11 The council reconvened on Wednesday morning. Hole-in-theDay submitted a plan that was read by Warren, demanding that the Sioux pay $29,000 in indemnity for the Chippewa lives they had taken. Bad Hail denounced the plan and stated that the Sioux refused to pay anything. The council was adjourned until 5:00 p.m. At this second meeting of the day, Hole-in-the-Day told the governor that they would leave it all to his decision, and after some deliberation, all agreed.12 Ramsey promised to have an answer in three months, and announced that the treaty of 1843 would remain in force. At Captain Todd’s suggestion, the names of ten chiefs from each tribe were submitted, to be given up as hostages should either side violate the treaty. The one problem acknowledged by both Bad Hail and the first Mille Lac chief, Na-guon-abe, was that not all bands were represented at this council, notably the Pillagers, and the rest of the Ojibwe did not want to be responsible for any of their violations. The council then ended in “a pleasant interchange of civil remarks,” and they all shook hands.13 Minnesota historian Edward D. Neill, who was present at the council, later described Warren as “rolling off the euphonious sentences in the Chippewa tongue with the utmost fluency.”14 Governor Ramsey ultimately decided that since the Sioux were the first aggressors after the Treaty of Peace was concluded in 1843, and since the Chippewa had lost the most people, a reparation of $5,000 would be reasonable, to be taken from their next annuity payment. This amount was later changed to $1,500, since, the governor explained, the amount was not so important as the fact of reparation.15 78



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The governor reported the total cost of the council to be $1,006.16, due largely to the transportation expenses for the Chippewa. Captain Todd had brought them down from and returned them to Fort Ripley by steamboat.16 The authorities did not have long to wait until the next altercation between the Ojibwe and the Sioux. On 10 August 1850 the Pillager chief Flat Mouth visited Fort Gaines and reported to Captain Todd that a party of Sioux had attacked some of his people near Otter Tail Lake. While the men were absent hunting, and the women were away gathering roots, the Sioux killed four children, and the Ojibwe now wanted redress. Todd pledged the government to punish the transgressors, and wrote to both the governor and the adjutant general of the United States, insisting that the government fulfill its promises to the Ojibwe.17 His request went unheeded, mainly because the parties involved were not parties to the council and the treaty. In a letter dated 28 August 1850 Warren complained to Ramsey of Todd’s methods of dealing with the Pillagers, making promises the government could not or would not fulfill.18 I have just received your communication dated July 29th after an unaccountable delay of a month. Since my little difficulty with Capt. Todd, my mail (besides other little annoyances) has been by some means much retarded. Your request for a brief account of the different bands of Chippeway would have been cheerfully complied with before this time had I received your letter. I shall try and furnish it in a few days. You have been informed by the commanding officer at Ft. Gaines that the Sioux or Winnebagoes have again fallen on the Pillagers at Otter Tail Lake and killed four children. I will mention here that I have seen the chiefs the persons most interested in this matter and their chiefs. I have found out that many promises had been made to them this spring by Capt. Todd to induce them to bury the war club. These promises are of a nature that I think the Govt will not fulfill. As coming from an officer of Govt the Indians consider us bound in common for their fulfillment, and should they be disappointed it will be hard to restrain them from anything hereafter. I have explained to them that you had personally made them no promises, as they had refused to attend your summons at St. Peters the c hippewa -s i o u x wa r fa r e


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this spring. That though you was anxious for a general peace between the two tribes and was determined in time to have one, yet in all you had said to them you had bound yourself by no promise of penalty between the Upper Sioux and Pillagers, and that had you made the promise you had the power to fulfill it. While the words of Capt. Todd were in this instance stronger than his power. It is possible they have misunderstood him. He promised in case the Sioux attacked them that he would march out with his men mounted, and punish the aggressors. He is at present relieved from doing this by the dragoons having been ordered away. He has induced the Pillagers to keep quiet till he hears from head quarters and if Govt will not redress them he will give them all the ammunition and necessaries they may want to attack the Sioux in turn. If I understand the policy of Govt aright I think such a course would be directly contrary to the fulfillment of this promise. I know that you have the idea of a general Treaty of peace in view between these two tribes and I have endeavored to mold the minds of the Indians gradually to the carrying out of this desirable object. I have promised the fathers of the murdered children to write to you and get your mind on this subject. They happen to be the two chief warriors of Otter Tail and Leech Lake, and are noted from bravery. They are men that will not let the matter rest. In view of peace, unless you can punish the murderers (which is doubtful) the only course I see is to heal the matter Indian fashion, paying in goods for the lives lost. I think rightly managed a small quantity would suffice. If this is not practicable the next best way is to not interfere in the matter either by finding ammunition or otherwise.

By this time Warren had acquired sufficient confidence in himself so as to feel secure in advising the governor on Indian affairs. His criticism of Captain Todd, however, led to an unfortunate rupture between the two men. In September Warren found employment taking the first U.S. census for the Minnesota Territory. In this capacity he visited three communities in Mankahto County: Long Prairie, the seat of the Winnebago Agency and home to twenty-six households, on 1 September; Fort Gaines, a military post, two days later; and his 80



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own community of Gull Lake on 10 September. There he recorded all the employees of the agency and men engaged in trade. His own family was the only one there: his wife, Matilda; his two sons, Alfred A., age six, and William V., age two; and his daughter, Cordelia H., age four. He had forty-three acres improved, one horse, one milk cow, six oxen, and 100 bushels of Indian corn.

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7. The Removal of 1850

T

he proximity of Indian warfare to white settlements throughout the 1840s prompted the citizens of the Minnesota Territory to agitate for removing the Indians far from their newly established towns and farming communities. On 11 October 1849, only seven months after the Minnesota Territory was created, the territorial legislature passed a resolution to revoke the Chippewa’s rights to hunt, gather, and fish in ceded lands as guaranteed in Article 5 of the treaty of 1837, and to remove them from all lands to which their title had been extinguished. The stated purpose was “to ensure the security and tranquillity of the white settlements in an extensive and valuable district of this Territory.”1 It was said to be for the Indians’ welfare to remove them far from white settlement, where they could not be corrupted by whiskey traders and where the government would devote its efforts to their moral advancement through missions and schools, and their economic improvement by teaching them to farm. President Zachary Taylor complied with their request by issuing an executive order on 6 February 1850, revoking the Chippewa’s privileges to hunt, fish, and gather on ceded land, as guaranteed in the treaty of 1837, and ordering their removal from lands ceded by the treaties of 1837 and 1842 to their unceded lands at the headwaters of the Mississippi.2 The Indians most affected by this order were, in fact, the Chippewa of Wisconsin, not those of Minnesota, but it was in the interest of the Minnesota traders to have the Indians concentrated near the Mississippi in order to line their own pockets at the annual payment of treaty money and goods. Orlando Brown, commissioner of Indian Affairs, put the entire matter into the hands of Minnesota territorial governor Alexander


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Ramsey, who was also superintendent of Indian Affairs for the territory. The Chippewa were to be notified early enough to remove and settle before winter, and a new place was to be selected for the reestablishment of the La Pointe Agency, preferably on or near the Mississippi. “The Indians should be given distinctly to understand that there will be no further payments of annuities at Lapointe, but that hereafter they will be paid, and all the goods and provisions to which they are entitled be distributed on the Mississippi; and that those who do not remove to and remain permanently within their own country, will not be allowed to participate therein; as, if they do not conform to their treaty obligations they will forfeit all rights so to participate.”3 Upon receipt of these instructions Ramsey forwarded them immediately (3 March) to the La Pointe subagent, John Livermore, ordering him to inform the Indians of the proposed removal, and apprising him that the annuities would be paid and the new agency established at Sandy Lake. He was authorized to select a competent person to superintend the removal, and other persons to accompany and advise each of the bands.4 But Livermore had already received word of the impending removal from the commissioner of Indian Affairs himself,5 and had, in accordance with his instructions, informed the local bands. Trader Charles H. Oakes arrived in St. Paul from La Pointe on 8 March with the news. “The Indians appear very much dissatisfied at this. They say they understood at the time of the treaty, (1842) that Government would not require them to move before a long time, or as it was expressed, long after the present generation had passed away. They say also that if they are to be removed, it will have to be done by force.”6 On 26 March 1850 John Livermore wrote to Governor Ramsey that he had convened a council of the Indians of his vicinity, and informed them that they would soon be asked to leave the lands that they had sold, as had been stipulated in the treaty. “I thought it better to give them this warning, than to have the blow come suddenly upon them,” he wrote. The Ojibwe objected, replying that they were told at the time of the treaty that it was likely that they would not have to move for many years, and could probably spend the rest of their lives here; this was confirmed by others who were present at the treaty negotiations. Livermore assured them that the government would treat them with justice, and that it would be folly to resist. Since then, he added, the r e m ova l o f 1 8 5 0


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“they are often smoking the subject over, some showing a disposition to oppose the wishes of the government, relative to removal, saying they will never go.” The agent recounted a few of the problems the Indians could expect to encounter in the process of removal: the transport and storage of provisions, the difficult terrain, and mostly, the time and distance involved. Not only were those who were subject to removal scattered over a large territory, but “they would want time to market their sugar and furs, and do up their dancing.” He predicted that some would go, but that some would hold back. Another important consideration was the fact that the Indians onto whose lands they were going did not participate in these treaties, and hence, their permission was needed. And finally, like Warren, Livermore had found that their very way of life demanded a much wider area than the one they would have to share with their relatives on the upper Mississippi. If 5,000 Indians were crowded into one small area, the government would be obligated to subsist them, or they would “flee back to their old haunts.” Livermore recommended Charles H. Oakes as superintendent of the removal, and suggested that delegates from each band first survey the country and select suitable locations.7 As early as 4 March Ramsey was expressing his concern that Congress might make the appropriations too late for the removal to be effected at a convenient time. On 26 March Commissioner Brown wrote that since appropriations could not be made until late in the season, it would be best to begin the removal when they were preparing to go for their annuities, usually in late summer or early fall. The government would sustain them during one winter out of their own annuity money. “If they are removed early in the season,” he wrote, “many will no doubt be inclined to wander back to their old haunts; & if provided with provisions in the summer or fall, they would of course expect them during the winter, and thus the expense of so aiding them would be greatly prolonged and increased.” He gave no definite instructions, however, saying that he merely offered suggestions to be considered, assuring Ramsey that Congress would make the necessary appropriations, but late in the season. He reiterated that “they will not be paid unless they take their families with them, and be prepared to remain there permanently.” Ramsey expressed his concern about this on several occasions, and yet he did not suspend the order for removal.8 84

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On 2 April Livermore sent a circular letter around to all the bands within his jurisdiction, notifying them officially of the removal. “Your Great Father has determined upon this measure, because he knows it will be for your good, as your near proximity to the whites has a great tendency to injure your prosperity.” He promised that they would receive provisions on the way: at La Pointe before they started out; at Fond du Lac (the southwestern end of Lake Superior), where they would stop before entering the portage; and at Sandy Lake, their destination. Those who did not remove permanently to this new location would no longer be eligible for annuities. Although the time of removal was not yet determined, they were encouraged to begin preparations so that they would be ready when the call came.9 Ramsey, meanwhile, was still hoping for “more detailed instructions” from the Office of Indian Affairs. Twice he wrote to the commissioner asking if he approved his plans for the number of men to be hired, the amount of provisions to be ordered, the places of their distribution, and the location of a temporary agency on the Mississippi.10 On 15 May Livermore reported to Ramsey that he had selected twelve competent persons to assist Charles H. Oakes with the removal; among them was George Warren, cousin of William W. Warren. He also mentioned that he had received answers to his circular. Ahka-wan-sa, chief of the Lac Courtereille (Courte Oreilles) band, told him they would obey, but were disappointed that they were not allowed more time. They expected to have another year to prepare. As to other bands, he wrote, “some will go willingly, some hesitate, and some will obstinately hang back.”11 In his letter of 26 March to Ramsey, Livermore had mentioned that he, too, was disheartened at the prospect of removing with his family “to a place so remote, and so difficult of access.” He was not to experience this unwelcome change. Through the machinations of Whig traders and statesmen in Washington, he was removed from his position as subagent at La Pointe on 22 April 1850, and the office was given to a former La Pointe trader, John S. Watrous of Ohio. Watrous assumed his duties on 3 June, and soon after made a journey to Sandy Lake to determine a temporary site for the new agency. Before leaving La Pointe he told the Indians there that a council would probably be held at Fond du Lac in a few months.12 the r e m ova l o f 1 8 5 0


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As early as 4 March 1850 Ramsey began to consider Leech Lake as a more appropriate place for the agency, it being “the very heart of Chippeway country,” where “fish and rice . . . are found in abundance” and the soil suitable for farming.13 While both agent Livermore and trader Clement Beaulieu concurred, they also foresaw the difficulties in getting the Leech Lake Ojibwe (who were not parties to the earlier treaties and received no annuities from them) to accept the thousands of treaty Indians who were to be removed from Wisconsin.14 In June, after the Chippewa-Sioux Council at Fort Snelling, Ramsey asked William W. Warren, missionary Sherman Hall, and the new agent, John Watrous, to accompany him to Leech Lake to ascertain the placement of the new Chippewa agency. They left from Sauk Rapids on the Mississippi, passed up the Crow Wing River and through Gull Lake where Warren was farmer, and reached Leech Lake on 25 June. There they met with Flat Mouth and other leaders, and verified all they had been told of the natural advantages of the area. They later admitted, however, that “a serious difficulty might occur were the two portions of the tribe to be concentrated on these lands” and that additional appropriations would be necessary to satisfy the Leech Lake bands.15 By the time Warren returned to his home at Gull Lake, he was convinced that the Wisconsin bands would never be happy in the northern forests of Minnesota, sharing resources with so many other Anishinaabeg; yet as an agent of the Indian Department and an opponent of the sale of liquor to the Indians, he would still try to assist in their removal. After a brief trip to La Pointe in July, Warren was back in Gull Lake in early August.16 Although he did not agree with the removal order, he believed that it was futile to resist. He considered Hole-in-the-Day the one chief who could influence the rest of the Ojibwe to cease their resistance to the order to remove. He thought a trip to Washington to see the “Great Father” and the large cities of the East might impress on him “the insanity on the part of his tribe in making a stand against the decrees of the President.”17 Warren would, of course, accompany him as interpreter, hoping that they might travel with Judge David Cooper, who was going to Washington soon. He presented his request to Cooper, who then passed it on to Ramsey. Ramsey sent the letters to the commissioner of Indian Affairs in Washington, acknowledging that the chief did have considerable influence among 86



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the Ojibwe, and that an interview with the president and the commissioner might be beneficial. He added that the department would have to make provision for the expense of the trip, which should probably be postponed until spring, since Hole-in-the-Day should be present if a general council were held in the fall.18 Warren apparently did not trust Ramsey to support the request, and sent a second copy of the chief’s letter to Colonel A. M. Mitchell, marshal of the Minnesota Territory who was then in Washington. Minnesota territorial delegate to Congress Henry H. Sibley considered the second letter evidence of Warren’s lack of confidence in Ramsey and thus injurious to the governor. Sibley wrote: “I have told Lea that Warren is a blatherskite with just enough education to make him mischievously disposed, and that no confidence can be placed in his statements.” The Indian Department did not approve the request.19 The whole issue of removal was still unresolved. It is clear from Ramsey’s letter of 16 July, as well as from other letters that followed, that he was aware that the success of the removal depended on the timing of the appropriation of the necessary funds by Congress. This was normally one of the last acts of Congress, Indian Affairs not ranking high in importance, and this was especially so in the summer of 1850. A new commissioner of Indian Affairs, Luke Lea, had been appointed to begin 2 July; the president had died shortly thereafter, and Congress was in the midst of an important debate over the extension of slavery laws into the new states. As early as mid-July Ramsey began warning the new commissioner about the necessity of early appropriations. Again on 9 August he reminded Lea that provisions were necessary to subsist the Chippewa during the removal, and on 21 August Ramsey wrote him that once steamboat navigation closed above St. Paul, it would be impossible to transport supplies to Sandy Lake. He requested a telegram authorizing him to purchase supplies. When Lea wrote to Ramsey on 26 August the appropriations still had not been made, but Lea did give permission to apply the $1,500 due the Chippewa in reparations from the Sioux to the necessary subsistence funds, even though subsistence during payment was to be at the government’s expense.20 It was still not clear to Ramsey, however, if the actual removal was to take place that fall, or if they would merely pay the annuities at Sandy Lake. From the time the governor had received the orthe r e m ova l o f 1 8 5 0


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der of the president dated 6 February, over five months had passed. During that time Ramsey had shown himself to be hesitant and unsure of himself in the matter of removal. From the viewpoint of the Department of Indian Affairs, the governor of the Minnesota Territory was in complete charge of the procedure. Yet Ramsey was frequently writing the commissioner, asking what he thought of his (Ramsey’s) actions and proposals. Assuredly, two major reasons for the problems were the distances involved from St. Paul to Washington, and from St. Paul to La Pointe, and also the lack of frontier experience first on the part of Ramsey, and then on the part of the commissioner. It remained unclear throughout the process whether this was to be a removal or merely a payment. From the Indians’ perspective, removal did not have to be permanent, although the authorities had tried to emphasize it as such. The Ojibwe word “gosiwin,” the word probably used by the interpreters, signified “removal, decampment, moving from one camp to another.”21 For the Chippewa, then, it was natural to consider removal as a seasonal encampment, one during which the government would sustain them, and after which they were free to return to their spring grounds. On 27 August Watrous wrote the governor from Sandy Lake that everything was in readiness for the removal, and that some Indians were already waiting at Fond du Lac, where they had been promised provisions for the journey across the St. Louis portage to Sandy Lake. Still, he was of the opinion “that an entire removal cannot be effected this year,” for surely some of the more remote Indians would remain behind. They would, however, be able to remove in the spring. He also warned the governor that the failure to furnish the promised winter subsistence to the Indians would prove fatal in the long run. Ramsey forwarded the letter to the commissioner.22 On 28 August Warren, still at Gull Lake, wrote to Ramsey, explaining that the Lake Superior and the Chippewa River bands had requested his presence, and asking the governor to cover his expenses.23 I have received communications from the Lake Superior and Chippeway River country informing me that the Indians in mass will not even come to payment, much less remove, but a few minor persons may attend. I am satisfied that unless some of the most noted and principle chiefs are present any measure you may propose 88



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to them for their own welfare, at payment will be frustrated and everything put off another year. The Chippeway River chiefs have expressed a desire to see me. And I have about concluded to start after Election to St. Paul with my canoe and two men, descend in a Steam Boat to the foot of Lake Peppin and go up Chippeway River and induce as many of the chiefs and principle men to go with me to payment, taking the Lake Superior route, collecting them as I go. The only drawback to this plan is a want of means, as a little would be required to pay expenses, and feed the Indians on their way out. Some such measures must be immediately resorted to or the Indians will not even attend payment to hear what they have to expect in future from your own lips. I hope you will write me a line as soon as possible if my plan meets your views, or the contrary, and what I may rely on. Your Obt Svt Wm W Warren

Warren waited two weeks before setting out to Chippewa Falls, as he took the territorial census for Mankahto County and participated in the second territorial election. Watrous, in the meantime, sent out messengers to the Lake Superior bands to assemble at Sandy Lake on 25 October.24 It was still not clear whether they were to remove, or merely to receive their annuities, but they had been told earlier that unless the whole family presented itself, they would not receive their payments. Warren arrived at Chippewa Falls about the first of October. (His sister gives the date of 1 September, but it is clear from the census records that Warren could not have been there on that date.) He went immediately to the home of his mother’s sister, Charlotte, and her husband, James Ermatinger. His sister Julia, then eighteen years old, was living with them at this time, and was persuaded by their aunt to accompany her brother on his journey back to Sandy Lake with the Chippewa. Nearly seventy years after the event she still recalled many of the details. She believed that Watrous had sent him to escort the male Indians to Sandy Lake for their annuities, and “to see that part of the country. If they liked it, the government would remove them all the next year.” She added that “they were all willing to go.” Her description of the journey follows. the r e m ova l o f 1 8 5 0


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There was a great many Chippewa at that time at Chippewa River. He had to send for all of them, and council with them for a few days, and when ready to start, issue out pork, flour, and tobacco to take with them on their journey. My brother was in very poor health. He was taken ill in St. Paul after leaving his home, but was feeling better. My aunt tried to persuade him not to start, until he felt stronger. She said she would feel better, if you would take your sister with you. She can take care of you, if you get sick on the way. He said he would be glad to take me with him. But I fear the trip will be too hard. We will have to walk so much, she will get tired out. I then told him if you can stand the walking, I certainly can. I am strong and healthy, I feel I ought to go with you to help and wait on you. My sister, I shall be glad to have you come with me. We were soon ready to start. My brother had bought a canoe and hired two stout men to paddle, and pack it through the woods. Two indians to pack our tent, bedding and food. We journeyed up the Chippewa River to Lake Cotra (Courte Oreilles) old French trading post with several mixed blood families dwelling there. The Lake de Flambeau Band of Chippewas were all waiting for my brother. We were there one day. Pork, flour and tobacco had been brought in canoes from the falls, to be issued to the indians that were going. The next day we started on our journey through the woods. The indians packing their canoes, they all had packs of some kind on their backs. We had to walk nearly all day. We came to a lake and camped for the night. Our tent was put up, with branches of spruce and cedar spread on the ground in the inside, which made it quite comfortable. In front outside of the tent, a small fire, where I cooked our evening meal. The Indians built several large camp fires, fixed places to hang their kettles over the fire, to cook their evening meal, which was large kettles of wild rice and flour soup, water thickened with flour seasoned with pork. It was always their evening meal, as it took a short time to cook. On each side of the fire they stuck small poles to hang long rush mats for a covering where they slept. A number of them were hunting through the woods as we traveled along. They killed all kinds of game such as deer, geese, ducks, and other game. Some of them would cook by the fire nearly all night, game they had killed during the day, and cooking legalet, bread made with salt, water, and flour, kneaded quite hard in round flat loaves fastened on sticks and placed before the fire. They did this when camping for the next day’s lunch. . . . When starting in the morning at noon we would rest for a short time and eat a cold lunch, when we walked all day we traveled only a few miles. We trav90



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eled along occasionally crossing lakes and rivers. After a few days reached St. Croix River after journeying through the wild country and dense forests of the then Wisconsin territory. We were there two or three days, waiting for the St. Croix and Pokegama Chippewas to come. We then started for Lake Superior. After a few days travel reached Iron River, which empties into Lake Superior. The river was dangerous with canoes. There was so many small rapids and rocks. Some of the Indians had traveled it so often, they knew exactly where to go. When we came to a bad place, one canoe would go ahead, and the rest follow, we arrived safely at the lake. We camped on a sand point opposite where the city of Duluth now is, with seven hundred Wisconsin Chippewas. My brother was taken ill with hemorrhage from the lungs that night. His friends the old chiefs were much worried about him. They did what they could. They were all very kind, they thought so much of him. My brother was quite ill. After keeping quiet and resting for four days he felt able to travel. The Indians had a good rest, with their nets caught all the fish they could eat, such as trout, whitefish, and game they killed. We were ready to start on our journey up St. Louis River to Fon du Lac. As the Indians were getting in their canoes, my brother told them to wait. He wanted to say a few words. Pointing towards where the city of Duluth now is, he said: “over there will be a very great city. The lake near it will be full of all kinds of vessels.” Pointing towards where Superior is, will be another city, but not so great as the city over here. I will not live to see those cities. Some of you young men will live to see them. I want you to remember what I am now telling you. Some of the old men and chiefs who were standing near him, shook their heads as if they thought he was losing his mind. It was hard for me to believe my brothers words, that a city would be built on such a desolate rough spot where the city of Duluth now is. We started for Fon du Lac which was a small village and trading post. We stopped there one day, then went from there to Sandy Lake. On our way we had to cross a three day portage. We traveled very slowly on my brother’s account. It took us nearly 5 days to cross the portage, when we at last reached Sandy Lake. After having pleasant weather all the time for three weeks my journey with the Chippewa Indians ended. I have often thought during the years that have passed away of that hard journey, and wondered how I ever went through it. I remember of being very very tired when we camped at night, after walking nearly all day, but never once regretted coming with my sick brother, the trip was much harder for him. We had to go in canoes across the lake [Sandy Lake] to the agency. All the the r e m ova l o f 1 8 5 0


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Mississippi Bands of Chippewas and Leach Lake Indians with their families were all there, waiting for the payment. When we came in sight of the agency there was great excitement amongst them. A great many jumped into their canoes, came to meet us. There were a great many Chippewas at that time, I don’t remember the exact number.25

When Warren with his Chippewa friends arrived at Sandy Lake in early November, he found his wife, children, and his sister Sophia living in a tent near the agent’s house. Watrous, however, was not there. Although the goods to be distributed at the annuity payment had been ready since late August, the annuity money recently appropriated by Congress had not yet been delivered to the St. Louis superintendency. On 6 October Watrous had left Sandy Lake to go to St. Louis to collect it. After a delay in St. Paul to meet with the governor, he arrived in St. Louis on 21 October and waited five days for the money, which did not come. The Indians, meanwhile, had already begun to assemble, and they had to be subsisted during the period before the annuities were paid. Due to the early onset of winter and the lack of sufficient food, there was a great deal of suffering. When Watrous returned to Sandy Lake on 24 November, again after a series of delays, he found that all the provisions furnished under treaty stipulations had been consumed by the more than 4,000 Indians assembled, and they were now subsisting on a daily ration of one pound of flour, some of it rotten, and a half pound of pork per person. Even the $1,500 allowed by the governor for wrongs committed against the Ojibwe by the Sioux had been expended on food. He acknowledged, moreover, that “measles and dysentary had broken out two weeks previous, and were yet raging to an alarming extent.”26 As sickness broke out and many began to die, Warren decided to take his family back to Gull Lake. Unfortunately, before they left his sister Sophia came down with the measles. She and Julia remained at Sandy Lake with the agent’s wife. William later returned to assist with the payment, and Truman came for the girls in December. After the distribution of annuity goods was completed on 2 December, Watrous called a council of the Wisconsin Ojibwe. He told them that they would have to remove the following year to the lands selected for them by the government, and that Sandy Lake would henceforth be their agency. Kichi-mah-in-gun (Big Wolf), identified by Julia Warren Spears as a Lac du Flambeau and Chippewa River 92



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chief, spoke for all: “We are all of one mind. We will not remove. We cannot leave our part of the country, where we have always lived, where our forefathers lived and died. We do not like Sandy Lake, nor this part of the country. We will never come to Sandy Lake for our annuities.”27 In his report to the governor Watrous estimated that no fewer than 150 Indians had died. The rest were sent home, and another attempt to remove them would be made in the spring. Acknowledging that “much suffering and some starvation will attend them before they reach their residences,” Watrous purchased flour, pork, and pemmican at high prices from the traders and distributed them to the Ojibwe.28 Much hardship would attend them on their way back, for the rivers were frozen, and they had to leave their canoes behind. Chief Buffalo of La Pointe later estimated that 170 had died during payment, and 230 more on the journey home.29 J. B. Todd, commandant at Fort Ripley, made his report to General R. Jones, adjutant general in Washington, on 15 December. The Lake Superior and other Indians who have hitherto been paid at Lake Pointe, were assembled here for the first time, with all the rigors of a northern winter upon them unprepared to meet them, as they had not expected to have been so long delayed, and so scantily supplied with provisions as to be scarcely kept from starvation. The natural consequence of these exposures and privations was disease, which made its appearance among them in the form of dysentery and measles, carrying off a great number of them, in three nights while I was there thirty of them died and I am told that one hundred and fifty will not cover their entire loss. The location of the agency at Sandy Lake has been an exceedingly unfortunate one as far as I can learn. The Indians themselves have a great prejudice and aversion to it, it is an exposed, bleak and dreary place, affording no facilities for hunting or fishing and they believe it to be unhealthy. They complained bitterly that they had been assembled and delayed so long, at a season of the year the most inclement and trying upon their women & children and also that that very season was the most profitable to them for their fall hunts, which had been entirely lost to them this year—their hunts they say are more valuable to them than the annuities they receive this year, in as much as their monied payment was not made and as the Government did not furnish the largest the r e m ova l o f 1 8 5 0


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portion of them with ammunition, they had not means of procuring it. I state these facts to you that you may understand the feelings of the Indians and I am firmly of opinion that when they are called upon in the spring to remove to the Mississippi, as they have been notified they would be, that these causes will be found to have had a very injurious effect upon them and unquestionably will materially deter them from emigrating. In consequence of these delays the agent had either to see them starve or provide for their necessities, the provisions allowed by treaty stipulations had been entirely consumed before his return. He was therefore obliged to purchase in the market what could be had, in order to complete the payment and allow them a small quantity to carry them to their distant homes—he consulted me upon the propriety of doing so, and I unhesitatingly advised him to do it. Not only was this course required by policy but humanity demanded that these people called together by authority of Government should not suffer from their compliance; it would have been the worst of cruelties not to have done so.30

A similar account of the events at Sandy Lake was written by the Reverend Sherman Hall to the Reverend S. B. Treat of the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions. He placed the blame for the disaster on the government, which did not fulfill its promises and treaty obligations to the Indians. Congress, of course, should have acted earlier, and the annuities should have been ready before the bands were called to Sandy Lake. They had been told not to plant, since it was expected that they would remove in the summer. When they finally arrived at Sandy Lake, there was insufficient food to sustain them for the month and more that they were there, and after the first two weeks, sickness prevailed, and many died. By the time the goods were distributed, winter had set in, their canoes were useless, and many had to trade their claims to annuities not received to traders in order to obtain costly provisions for the long journey home. “They all feel that what they received this payment has cost them more than it was worth. Many say they are resolved never to go to Sandy Lake to attend another. They are disgusted with the place and will remember their visit there a long time. Many talk of relinquishing their payments altogether, and are resolved to remain where they are.”31 94



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Governor Ramsey, meanwhile, whose failure to make decisions was most to blame for the disaster at Sandy Lake, went about his business, seemingly unconcerned, and tried to ignore the reports, even though Hole-in-the-Day himself had come in person to St. Paul on 29 October to request provisions.32 On 21 November there had been an article in the Minnesota Pioneer warning that starvation was the consequence of a delayed payment, and laid the blame on “the shameful negligence of the government.” News had come from the north that the Ojibwe, “generally a quiet, well-disposed people, went armed and seized several cattle belonging to the government and killed them for beef. No person, not a man, doubts but that they were impelled by hunger to do this. . . . Here now, it is winter, and not a dollar of their annuities, which by the solemn treaty stipulations of the government, ought to have been paid months ago, have any of these destitute tribes received.”33 On 17 December the Minnesota Democrat published an extract from a letter that claimed that at least eighty-five people had died at Sandy Lake, and that since the payment, five or six more die each night. The payment should have been made before winter set in, according to the demands of justice and humanity. But the Indians were helpless, without provisions, and all because of “the inefficiency of the present administration.”34 The article prompted Ramsey to investigate the accuracy of such “rumors,” although he expressed great doubt that the report was true. He left St. Paul on 20 December, and at St. Anthony he met the traders Charles Borup and Charles H. Oakes (the latter also the superintendent of the removal), who told him the Indians had died of disease. He continued north with his friends, seemingly unconcerned, perhaps even relieved that it was disease, not starvation, that had killed so many Indians. On 22 December he met Watrous and some other men who had been at the Sandy Lake payment, and they descended the Mississippi together, reaching St. Paul two days later, in time to enjoy the Christmas festivities.35 It was the Pillager chief Flat Mouth, however, who gave the most moving indictment of the governor. On the last day of the payment at Sandy Lake, Flat Mouth spoke for all his people, and asked that his words be written down and taken to the governor. He knew exactly who was responsible for the disaster.36 the r e m ova l o f 1 8 5 0


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My Friend: When I saw the Governor last spring in our own country, I listened attentively to all he said and believed he would make his word true. He saw our nakedness and wretchedness and promised he would help us. But now I am called upon to meditate. We have been called here, and made to suffer by sickness, by death, by hunger and cold. I lay it all to him. I charge it all to our Great Father the Governor. It is because we listened to his words that we have now suffered so much. We were poor before but we are poorer now because we have been called here to receive the small annuity of a blanket or so apiece to cover our nakedness. We have been taken from our country at the most valuable season of the year for hunting and fishing, and if we had remained at home we should have been far better off than we are now with our scanty annuity. I am not one that speaks of another behind his back. I say to his face all that I desire to say at all; and I would say to the Governor, if he were here, all that I say to you. I want you to write down the words I speak and carry them to him. Tell him I blame him for the children we have lost, for the sickness we have suffered and for the hunger we have endured. The fault rests on his shoulders. Why were our goods not given to us at Crow Wing? Why were we brought here to be made a laughing stock among the other Indians? Tell him I blame him for this. We charge all that has happened to us to him. I told him last spring that we got nothing to eat from our Great Father when we came to payment, but had to depend upon the charity of our fellow Indians to supply us. The Governor promised to feed us while here. He has not done it. We have been stealing all we have eaten from our fellow Chippewas: of this we have been accused and made a laughing stock thereby. I have always been friendly to the whites. I see nothing behind me to cause regret. I have always said what I thought and kept nothing back: it is for this reason I am not ashamed. I speak to our Great Father at a distance: the words that you now hear will be carried to him. When I saw him he spoke to us about farms and other matters of interest to us. I believed his words would be verified in this respect, but instead of this they have been falsified. And I blame him for this. My friend, it makes our hearts sore to look at the losses we have sustained while at Sandy Lake. You call us your children, but I do not think we are your children. If we were we should be white. 96



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You are not our Father and I think you call us your children only in mockery. The earth is our Father and I will never call you so. The reason we call the earth our Father is because it resembles us in color; and we call the sky our Grandfather. We did not sell the ground to our Great Father. We gave it to him in order that he might follow our example and be liberal to us.

Repercussions of this failed removal would resound throughout the following years, and the events are still spoken of in Ojibwe communities of Wisconsin and Minnesota.

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8. Legislator

B

y 1850 Warren had established himself not only as an interpreter for the Indians, interpreting from English to Ojibwe, but also as a writer who could present Ojibwe history and customs to a nonIndian audience, and an intermediary who could move easily between the two peoples. His name had become familiar through his articles that appeared in the newspapers, and he was attracting the attention of some of the principal Indian traders of Minnesota. During the summer of 1850, at a meeting of Benton County Democrats, Warren was elected secretary of the Benton County convention and delegate to the first Democratic Convention of the Minnesota Territory (see map 2, p. 31). He was also selected to run for the territorial legislature as one of the four representatives from the Sixth District, which then included the Crow Wing and Sauk Rapids precincts. In the election of 2 September he received the third highest number of votes cast.1 After the election and throughout the winter Warren became concerned that he would no longer be able to provide sufficiently for his family. He began to try to collect on his earlier service to the Indian Department, service for which he had not been paid. First he submitted a bill for his services as interpreter in the treaty of 1847. Commissioner Isaac Verplanck had paid him $100, $5 per diem for twenty days, but had promised to try to pay him more. Warren claimed he had worked from 28 June to 7 August, thirty-eight days, and thus he asked for an additional $90. Both Henry M. Rice and General Verplanck supported him in this. Verplanck wrote: “If the Department can allow Mr. Warren an additional compensation it would give me great pleasure. He was certainly of great use not only as interpreter but as one of the most influential of the half breeds and he used every effort in his power in aid of the commissioners.”2


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Next he submitted an account for the interpretation he did from 1 July 1848 to 30 June 1849, time during which he was employed as a clerk by Henry M. Rice, but often called upon to interpret for the Indian agent at Long Prairie. He asked for the going rate of $300 a year. His request was approved and supported by the agent, Jonathan Fletcher, who wrote that he “frequently had occasion to employ him in the settlement of the difficulties that have arisen between the Chippewas and the Sioux; and he has rendered important service to the Government by using his influence with the Chippewas and aiding me in carrying into effect my instructions from the department.” The commissioner of Indian Affairs allowed $250 for ten months of interpretation, and sent the money to Superintendent Mitchell in St. Louis, but it would take another year before the money was paid to Warren.3 On 7 December, in spite of his uncertain future, he resigned his position as Chippewa farmer at Gull Lake, effective 31 March 1851. His brother Truman would take over the farm for him in his absence. He moved with his family to St. Paul where, during the legislative session, he resided in the American House, a large and comfortable boardinghouse-hotel owned by Henry M. Rice at the corner of Exchange and St. Anthony. At noon on 1 January 1851 all eighteen members of the House met in Rice’s new brick building on St. Anthony Street and presented their credentials to the chief clerk of the last session. After some discussion as to the legality of the election of B. W. Randall and Alexander Faribault of the Seventh District (Dakotah County), the oath of office was administered by Judge Bradley B. Meeker. The next three days were spent in organizational issues. Party politics did not yet play a dominant role in this second territorial legislature, although twelve members were Democrats and only six were Whigs; rather it was often allegiance to a particular trading enterprise that determined the vote: the Sibley faction (heirs of the American Fur Company) and the Rice faction (independent traders).4 Michael E. Ames, a Democrat, was elected Speaker, W. B. Lott, chief clerk, and Rev. E. D. Neil, chaplain. Also elected were a messenger, fireman, and sergeant at arms. The following week committees were organized: Warren was appointed to the Committee on Territorial Affairs and the Committee on the Militia. l e g i s l at o r


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On Monday, 6 January, Warren reopened the discussion on the legality of the election of the Seventh District, calling for a resolution to examine the credentials of the representatives from the Seventh Council District, and the establishment of a committee to determine whether the members were entitled to sit in the House. It was not his intention, he said, to deprive the men of their seats, but to ascertain if their election was legal for the sake of his constituents in Benton County. The question was whether the Mendota results were valid, since some of the voting had taken place on unceded land (in this case Dakota). It was an issue that deeply affected the elections of Benton County, where residents in Indian country could vote, but only by traveling outside the unceded land. After some discussion it was decided to refer the subject to the standing committee on elections, which made its report on 27 January, declaring the election valid, and confirming the two members in their right to be seated.5 Warren then spoke in his first address to the House. Mr. Speaker, I oppose the resolution which has called forth this report merely for the purpose of obtaining information. It was a question in my county whether, after the passage of certain laws by the last legislature, we had any right to hold elections at the precincts established previously by the Governor in the Indian country. It was thought by our wisest men that we had not.6 The election was consequently confined to the ceded lands; notices issued by the County Commissioners, and returns made to the Register of Deeds, from whom the delegation obtained their certificates. When I arrived here I learned that the election at Mendota had been illegally conducted, and I thought the matter should be investigated. I am not, however, prepared to adopt without further enquiry, the broad ground that Indian territory is not entitled to representation. But I have arrived at the conclusion that the Mendota election was not carried on strictly according to law, nor the returns properly made, and shall therefore vote against adopting the report.7

Thus William Warren presented himself to the assembly as an intelligent, capable, well-spoken legislator, who would fearlessly represent the voters of Benton County. When the vote was finally taken on 29 January, the members from Mendota were allowed to retain their seats. The selection of a printer for legislative documents was an impor100

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tant issue early in the session. The printer for the previous session had been James Goodhue, editor of the Minnesota Pioneer. Because the first printing, that of the governor’s address on 7 January, had been awarded to Goodhue before the vote for the printer of the new session, some members, notably Edmund Rice, objected to the selection of Goodhue, and asked for an investigation of the process. A House committee was appointed to look into the possible bribery of some of the legislators regarding the choice of Goodhue. Warren was among those called before the committee on Saturday, 11 January, because Goodhue had written him a note offering him and his family room and board in his home at half the price he was then paying at the American House. In his sworn testimony Warren denied that he had been party to bribery, and that, when approached by Goodhue to vote for him as printer, he told him he would make no pledges, but that he was in favor of giving him a part of the printing. Goodhue insisted that Warren pledge himself to this, but Warren refused. The editor then demanded the note back, and this also Warren refused. Had the note come after the vote on the printer, Warren stated that “I should have considered it a great kindness, but coming at the time it did, I considered it an inducement to lay me under obligations to waive my determination on the printing question.”8 Nevertheless, in the vote in joint session on 14 January, James M. Goodhue was elected legislative printer for 1851. Warren and seven others voted for Daniel A. Robertson, editor of the Minnesota Democrat. Governor Ramsey wrote to his friend Henry Sibley in Washington: “This is one of the greatest triumphs that your friends have yet achieved—I would not say so to Goodhue, for between us, I have not confidence enough in him. The result was effected by the united vote of Whigs and Democrats.”9 One issue that remained before the public all winter was the failure of the removal effort. On the afternoon of 7 January the legislature had received an invitation to a speech by Hole-in-the-Day in the Presbyterian Church on the evening of 8 January. Many members of the legislature, as well as citizens of St. Paul, were present, and Warren served as interpreter. The chief’s speech was largely a recital of grievances about the treatment of his people, and especially the disastrous events at the Sandy Lake payment. He complained of the spoiled provisions given to the Indians at Sandy Lake, which caused l e g i s l at o r


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so many deaths, and of the long distances they had to travel to get their annuities. He also expressed his mistrust of the government in fulfilling its promises to the Chippewa, and warned that a crisis had come in the relations between the two peoples. “If the present state of affairs continues, the existing friendship between us will, I fear, turn to hatred.”10 When the chief finished speaking, Warren made a few remarks to the audience, explaining that the fault lay with Congress, which had made the appropriations too late, and not with the agent or with the Department of Indian Affairs. Ladies and Gentlemen,—By the young Chief’s talk, you will probably be disposed to lay the whole of the blame of the sufferings he has narrated, on the officers of the Territory, who are placed in charge of the Chippewas, by the General Government. It is true that this tribe have suffered severely, they have lost many lives and bad provisions have been dealt out to them. Many of them are under the impression that our Government wish to poison them off, to hurry their removal from Wisconsin. Things could not have happened more detrimental to the carrying out of the policy of our Government towards this tribe. The fault of this, mainly lies with Congress, at Washington, for making their Indian appropriations late in the fall. The Chippewas were summoned at their usual time, at Sandy Lake, and were unavoidably kept from their goods payment, for a long time. The measles and disintery, assisted by the cold, for want of their goods, and also through bad provisions, cut many of them off. Their agent had been summoned to St. Louis, to procure their money annuity. He was gone nearly two months, and returned without the money. It was not his fault. The bad provisions were taken to Sandy Lake, and dealt out to the Indians, while he was absent. On his return, it was too late to remedy the evil, but he immediately procured for them good provisions. Being aware of these facts, I have thought proper to make this explanation; it is a duty I owe to the officers, on whom some people are disposed to lay the whole blame of the sufferings of the Chippewas.11

After Warren’s speech it was suggested by one of those present that a collection be taken up to aid Hole-in-the-Day and his band, and a committee was appointed to solicit subscriptions. Still, many members of the legislature were unhappy with what they believed was inappropriate language in Hole-in-the-Day’s speech. The following evening, when the chief visited the governor with trader Allan 102

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Morrison, Ramsey reprimanded him for denouncing the government at a town meeting and accusing the authorities of failing to furnish the Chippewa with their fall annuities.12 In the legislature on 11 January Benjamin Brunson, a representative from St. Paul, offered an amendment to another delegate’s resolution to investigate possible abuses relating to the selection of Goodhue as printer, requesting that the same committee “be authorized to take into consideration any words of a threatening character that were uttered by Hole-in-the-Day in his speech last Friday.” On Monday, 13 January, it was announced that “no person has manifested sufficient interest in the remarks of the distinguished chief,” and the matter was dropped.13 But when Hole-in-the-Day was informed of the words spoken by Warren after his speech in the Presbyterian Church, presumably by Charles H. Oakes or his wife, he—or someone using the chief—challenged Warren in an open letter published in the Pioneer.14 Mr. Editor:—The day after my speech in the Presbyterian Church, I was informed that Mr. Warren, the interpreter, said that in justice to the Chippewa agent and the government officers, that it was not the provisions that were the cause of the sickness and death of the Indians. Had I understood Mr. Warren at the time, I certainly would have proved to the meeting, his double way of acting, which I will now state to let the public know, that I did not come to this place to impose on them a falsehood, as Warren says or insinuates. Mr. Warren, last fall, before he left for Chippewa river, urged me not to sign the receipts, telling me that if I did not sign them, that the agent would be obliged to give us good provisions instead of damaged stuff, &c.; and while at Sandy Lake, he came to me, and wished me to side with him, saying that if the agent made him lose his place as Indian farmer, that he would divulge how they acted at the agency and what they had done; but his language soon changed. The agent kept him in his place. Had Mr. Warren been turned out of his place, he would come out and state things as they were; he would have said that two hundred Chippewa lost their lives eating rotten flour; and of that, only one pound was issued to each person for three days. He would have said as he did two hours after my speech, at the American House, in the presence of several persons, that a dog had died from the effects of eating rotten provisions. He would have come as he ought to have done, and explained the truth l e g i s l at o r


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in favor of the Indians, who have given him bread since he has been born. To those very Indians he owes his livelihood, but no, he is one of those men who can be bought at any time for a small sum of money. I have said, and say still, that the bad provisions killed the Indians. I also say that the usual quantity of provisions we did not receive; I also say that the agent refused to have the bills and invoices compared with the goods and provisions brought to us. The Chippewas were compelled to sign papers through hunger and want. I hear this day, that the St. Croix Indians had to sell all their blankets on their way home. If all our provisions had been given us, we would have enough. All the Whites know me, and knew my father to be friendly with them; I wish them to know that I am still one of their friends, and hope that Warren’s words will have no weight with them. I am much obliged to all the Americans for the kindness they have shown me at all times. Nothing but the distress of my people brought me to this, with the hope that our grievances will be investigated, and not to tell a falsehood.”

Hole-in-the-Day’s accusations of duplicity and opportunism do not accord with what we know of the situation from other sources. Warren was indeed worried about the loss of his job, and he did try to support the Indian Department at this time, but the chief’s accusations seem to have been part of a concerted effort on the part of the traders to have the agent, John Watrous, removed. Warren’s reply was published two weeks later in the Democrat. As a loyal employee of the Indian Department, he was not ready to lay the blame on the governor, for he honestly believed that Ramsey had done all in his power to have the annuity money and goods delivered on time. He also recognized the machinations of the fur company at work.15 Mr. Editor:—I am but a poor writer, and fear I will not be able to acquit myself as well as the Pioneer’s new correspondent, Hole-inthe-day, has done, in his published letter of last week; and which it is my present intention to notice. My name is used in that epistle in a manner totally uncalled for. In my remarks after the young chief’s talk on the occasion he refers to, I did not deny that the Chippewas had suffered severely, and that damaged provisions had been dealt out to them at Sandy Lake; but being fully and officially aware of the facts in the case, and the impression having been made on the 104

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minds of the hearers that this state of things was all brought about by the government officers in this Territory, including the Governor, I felt in duty bound to rise, and by telling the plain truth exculpate these gentlemen from being the cause of such dire suffering and calamity. This conduct on my part, has called out the letter above referred to, and purporting to be written or caused to be written by Holein-the-day. Did I suppose for one moment that he dictated that letter, word for word, I would certainly answer him in his own way, and amongst his own people, where my word certainly goes as far, if not farther, than his own. But there is nothing at all Indian in some of the expressions used, and there are even whole sentences in the letter, which cannot well be interpreted from the Chippewa, and ideas that would not emanate from an Indian’s head. If Hole-in-the-day really signed that paper, he did not understand its full import, and he was certainly misinformed respecting what I had said after his talk. It is customary always to witness by signing your name, the signature or mark of the ignorant Indian; and had the writer of the article possessed manly feelings, or had he even thought that he was writing the truth, he would certainly have attested with his name to Hole-in-the-day’s letter. The truth, after all is, that the young chief has been urged to come down here, and has (to effect certain selfish objects of his own,) allowed himself to be made a tool of, in the hands of certain designing individuals to carry out certain interested plans and measures. They have caused him by advertising in papers and printed notices, to call together a town meeting, and to represent himself as head chief of the Chippewa nation, come here to tell their wrongs and sufferings, when in fact he is known to, and recognized as chief but by a fraction of the tribe. They had put words and lies in his mouth, which he would have uttered, could they have procured an efficient interpreter who would have served their purposes. His words were milder than they expected, and my concluding remarks in a measure defeated their objects; one of which is the removal of Mr. Watrous as agent for the Chippewas, and the appointment of one of their own minions and tools to the office. There is not a man in this Territory who is more intimately acl e g i s l at o r


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quainted with everything that occurred at Sandy Lake, during the whole trying time the Chippewas were there, collected for payment, than myself. I arrived there on the 25th of October, with a body of four hundred Lake Superior and Wisconsin Chippewas; I remained there nearly two months, and witnessed the first and last issue of provisions. I was witness to all the hunger, sickness, and cold that they endured. I suffered severely myself from sickness, and what, between my duties as interpreter, enroller, and the friend and adviser of the Indians and half-breeds, not one hour of either night or day could I call my own, the whole time I was there. Though not living on rotten flour, my children fell sick one after another, with the measles and dysentery, but through a kind Providence, their lives were spared. The agent’s children also, and the missionary’s, though living on the best the place afforded, were taken sick, and bro’t nigh to the grave. For nearly two months there were nearly three thousand persons collected at Sandy Lake. By treaty stipulations the Chippewas are entitled to four thousand dollars in provisions annually. Through the appropriations being made so late, they received but three-fourths of this amount, and it is also the fault of the general government mainly, that they were kept as long as they were. To make up their lack in provisions, the government expended the Sioux indemnity, for Chippewa blood, of $1,500, in pork and flour, and sent it up to Sandy Lake. Even this, not being sufficient, the agent on his return procured for the suffering Indians, provisions to the amount of $8,000, which he and Capt. J. B. S. Todd, of Fort Ripley, have requested of the general government, to pay from the public treasury, in lieu of the sufferings the Indians were made to endure, and as a return for the bad provisions they were at first obliged to eat. When the government shall have refused to pay this, then it will be time to complain. Hole-in-the-day and his advisors remained at Sandy Lake but a few days. They arrived there with the agent, who had been to St. Louis. Every opportunity was given them to object to the provisions or anything else they saw objectionable. The invoices were read repeatedly to Hole-in-the-day, both by myself and those he considered his friends, but he kept perfectly quiet, cheerfully signing the receipts and apparently satisfied. The only matter that he and his friends appeared to be anxious 106

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about, was to find means to bring me into trouble and disrepute, with the agent. I was accused, and letters were even written to the Governor, that I had broke chiefs, was about to make the goods payment, and was otherwise taking upon me the responsibilities of the absent agent, and misusing his name. Whole nights were spent in gathering fuel and charges against me, which, on a public investigation, were proved utterly false, and resounded on the heads of my accusers. They proved nothing against me, but that I had done my duty, both to the government and the Indians, but too well. I kept a journal of all the proceedings at Sandy Lake, which, when I find time to revise, I will lay before your readers. So much has been said of the sufferings of the Indians, and the causes, that people are doubtless anxious to know the truth. Respecting my backwardness in coming forward to proclaim the sufferings of the Chippewas, Hole-in-the-day and his present advisors labor under a great mistake. I can weave, and will weave and proclaim to the proper source, in the proper manner, and at the proper time, a tale, stronger, more truthful, and more moving, than the one he has presented to the public. A tale of over two hundred deaths from sickness, hunger, and privation. A tale of the heart-burnings of thousands, at the prospects of an immediate removal from the scenes of their youth, the clod of earth which covers the remains of their fathers; from a country endeared by a thousand pleasant reminiscences, and enriched with the blood of their ancestors as they battled for it in mortal strife. Yes, removal to a country, whose harvest thus far, has been nothing but hunger and death! Fools, to think that for the sake of keeping a paltry situation, I would hide the wrongs of a people, a great portion of whom look to me for advice and help in their present pressing and manifold difficulties. Hardly anyone will gainsay me when I say that I am a friend of the Chippewas, a tribe with whom I am linked by the strongest ties of blood and relationship. Instead of living on their scanty means, means which even they cannot live on, I have even divided with the hungry the last morsel of food in my house. An Indian has never come to me starving and naked, but I fed and clothed him to the utmost of my limited means. l e g i s l at o r


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I have carried this practice so far that I have sacrificed for my own children, many of the comforts of life; and although for a number of years past, enjoying an ample salary, it has not been sufficient to the support of my family. I have even sacrificed my personal interests for the general interests of the tribe, and have even felt an honest pride in their good name. In treating them thus, I but follow the example of my fathers for three generations back. . . . In conclusion I will remark, that the portion of the provisions which the Chippewas received at the commencement of their payment, and to which all the sickness and deaths have been attributed, was damaged while in the hands of the contractors who took it up from St. Paul to Crow Wing. These same contractors, or those connected with them, took the best of the flour while lying in their store house, and sent it to the Winnebago Agency, returning in its stead, damaged Winnebago flour. These same contractors sold for the use of the Indians at Sandy Lake, musty Pemmican, which probably had lain in their store houses for years, for seventeen cents a pound. This Pemmican aggravated immediately the disease amongst the Indians. It was this same Pemmican, a piece of which killed the dog spoken of in Hole-in-the-day’s letter. It is these same contractors, or those connected with them, that have persecuted me for the past several years, because I would not be their tool and slave. . . . These same men advised Hole-in-theday to the measures he has pursued, and have made him sign papers among which the letter above referred to is one. They are, and always have been since they came into the country, the worst enemies the Chippewas have ever been cursed with. In treaties and other matters of vital importance, sacrificing the best and future interest of the tribe, for their own. It is they that have mainly brought the tribe to such a state of wretchedness, and sorrow, that it would draw the tears from the eyes of any man who could see fully the present condition and prospects of the tribe, and the crisis to which they are being brought.

Warren was disappointed that his friend Hole-in-the-Day had succumbed to the influence of the traders, and relations between the two men remained strained for some time. Meanwhile, as the Gull Lake chief sought recognition as first chief of the whole Chippewa na108

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tion, Warren continued to reject the idea of a single or principal chief as entirely foreign to their traditions and practices.16 Nevertheless, throughout their relationship, Hole-in-the-Day always called William Ni-sah-yan, my elder brother.17 During the three months of the legislative session Warren continued to advise and encourage the Ojibwe. He was often called upon to interpret for them when they visited the governor. As usual, he shared his deepest thoughts and feelings with his cousin George, writing him soon after Hole-in-the-Day’s speech to describe his plan to organize and accompany a delegation of Ojibwe chiefs to Washington. Convinced that removal was necessary in order to preserve the Indians from the liquor that was destroying them, he was certain that they would remove willingly once they heard the words from the president.18 I have not heard from you since I received yours from Mr. Ely. We are at the present time enjoying pretty good health. Hole in the Day was down here to raise a contribution. He represented himself as Head Chief of the nation. For Mr. Aitkens sake I interpreted for him to a crowded church. He was so excited that he could not talk reason and I had to smoothe down his talk. After his speech I made a few remarks, and said that the Indians had suffered severely, and so much bad provisions had been given them that they really supposed the whites intended to poison them off instead of removing them in the ordinary manner. I said that the blame could not be laid so much to the Officers of Govt in this Territory as to the Dept and Congress at Washington. The matter should be investigated and immediate measures taken to remedy the Evils consequent to the sufferings the Chippeways had endured. I spoke in favor of the Wisconsin and Lake Superior Chippeways over whom, Hole in Day could claim no chieftainship, and a contribution or help given to him would not be made to help these bands who were the greatest sufferers. I made other remarks which Mrs. Oakes19 told to Hole in Day and wrote a letter which he signed abusing me, and had it published in the papers. Of course people knowing where it comes from, it does me more good than hurt, and the contribution for Hole in Day has been stopped. Gov Ramsey thanked me for the course I had taken and refuses any longer to recognise Hole in Day as chief. l e g i s l at o r


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I wish you to tell the Chippeway River Chiefs that I have seen Gov Ramsey and told him of their great sufferings. I have told him that in consequence of the Sandy Lake business, they will not remove, and he has asked their great father twenty five thousand dollars more to effect the removal and for soldiers to help him. I told him again that the chiefs were anxious to go and see their Great Father at Washington to tell him of their wrongs and to inform him how they had understood the Lapointe Treaty.20 And further informed him that they would not move till they had seen their Great father on any acct. I advised that a delegation be allowed to go of 12 persons early in the spring, that they were willing to pay their own expenses if allowed to from their coming annuity. The Gov. is satisfied that the wish should be granted and has requested me to write a report and recommend the measure strongly giving my reasons for it. He will send on my report with his strong recommendation and also to have the expense paid by the Govt. I am satisfied that this thing will be adopted and those persons that should go had better commence their preparations. We will start from this point by first navigation. I will probably recommend that the following persons go: Buffalo—Ah mous—Os ho gay—Na nuh aung abe Keesh ke tow ug—Ke wan see—Ka gua dash—Nug aun ub—Ash ka ba wis— Vincent Roy—Ed Conner—Alex Corbin—George Warren—and myself.21 Should you see proper to change this list inform me immediately. The object is to get (as many as) those whose influence can be made to operate in the removal to go. They have got to remove—and our only course is to get it done as well as we can and in manner which will conduce best for to the interests of the Indians as well as our own. If you have any advice to give me on this subject do so. The Gov has informed me that he will supply us for the removal. And I told him that I would not move a hand or say a word in the removal unless it was to be done in the right way, and unless my opinion was listened to and carried out. The first measure in my opinion is to take this delegation on to Washington. What say you? Come here as soon as possible without fail. You will not be sorry for it. Mr. Rice is anxious to see you. He is going in heavy at Red 110

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River this spring and says you are just the person he wants to take charge of his business there. Dont forget to bring Nancy with you. Dont let want of funds deter you. I have some and will divide with you. I board at a private house & have two fine rooms. Will be able to accommodate you. Love to all, Your Aff Cousin Wm. W. Warren

Thus Warren, who in August 1850 felt confident enough to advise the governor on removal, now felt confident enough to give him an ultimatum, much as he had given to the La Pointe agent James P. Hays in 1847. He would participate only if it was done “in the right way,” and if his opinions were “listened to and carried out.” His main concern was that there was not enough land to support all the Ojibwe in their traditional way of life. The Mississippi Ojibwe had already begun to complain of insufficient resources, of starvation and poverty. He knew (or expected) that this would be the final move for the Ojibwe of Wisconsin, and wanted to ensure that they would be paid sufficiently with a fund that would last beyond their lifetime, and that all the Ojibwe would have sufficient land. He also wanted to be certain that he would be paid for his services. He wrote another letter to George the same day, this one with some local news.22 Yesterday I witnessed a very bloody fight as our House adjourned in the forenoon—between the Editor of the Pioneer, Mr Goodhue, and a brother of Judge Cooper’s. Judge Cooper is gone away this winter, and Goodhue, who is an unprincipled scoundrel, wrote and published an article in his paper defaming him bitterly. He also attacked Col Mitchel and E. Rice and inserted an article in his paper signed by Hole in Day against me because I would not vote for him as public printer. Yesterday young Cooper met Goodhue near the steps of our House. He asked him if he had written that article. Goodhue immediately pulled out a pistol and pointing it at Cooper told him it was none of his business. C. pulled out a long revolver, at which moment persons stepped between and requested them to deliver weapons. Cooper gave up his revolver and Goodhue fired his pistol immediately at him but missing him he dropped it. Young Cooper ran at him and hit him with his fist. Goodhue turned and l e g i s l at o r


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ran, in doing so he pulled out another pistol and turned on Cooper who was following him up. As G. was about to fire Cooper hit him in the stomach with a stone. G. ran at C. pistol cocked again and when about to fire he slipped and fell. As he was rising Cooper ran at him, but someone caught him by the arm and Goodhue shot him in the side not three steps off. Cooper held his hand to his side and said he was shot. At the same time he pulled out a small dagger and running at Goodhue he stabbed him three times in the guts and back. Had he not been held he would have despatched him on the spot. I witnessed the whole performance. Both are badly wounded. Goodhue will probably kick the bucket, for young Cooper I hope he kill him. He is a brave man.23 The excitement in town against Goodhue has been great, and had he not been hurt, his printing office would probably have been mobbed. I have no other news of importance to write you. My letter respecting the delegation to Washington I wish you to answer immediately. Should you have a good early opportunity write a few lines to Henry Blatchford—Vincent Roy—and Edward Conner—also consult Alexis Corbin. Soft soap him well—he will make an effective man if used rightly. If we manage together and rightly we can making something out of the removal—and you know well that the Govt will have to use us in this business.24 If the chiefs are handy by you, write a strong letter for them to the Governor respecting the removal and delegation. Say in it that they have appointed me and certain other of their half breeds as advisors and persons to attend to their business and interests in this matter. The stronger confidence they express in me, is better for all of us. Mention also that Hole in the Day they do not recognise as being chief over them in any manner. That he refuses to share the country they own in common along the Mississippi with them. Direct this to Gov Ramsey as fully signed & attested. Remember us to all our relatives. Be of good cheer and don’t allow anything to trouble your mind. Particularly take care of yourself. Since the death of our brother Edward you owe it to your friends to guard well your life. My words are few but you comprehend my meaning fully. Yr Aff. Brother Wm W Warren 112

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One week later Warren wrote his report to the governor, as he had been asked to do, explaining his role in the last removal and outlining his plans for a successful removal in 1851.25 Feeling a deep and natural interest in the welfare of the Chippeway tribe of Indians, especially those at present residing in Wisconsin and Michigan, and now under the ban of immediate removal, I take this method of presenting to your attention facts connected with these people and the carrying out the policy of our Government of removing them from the lands they at present occupy: facts obtained by a long residence among them, and close personal observation. After the order for their removal had been signed by the President and promulgated among the different bands this past summer, I received pressing invitations from certain of their chiefs in Wisconsin, in which they intimated that they had determined not to obey the order for removal till they had seen their Great Father face to face and he had explained the promises made to them through his commissioners at the Treaty of Lapointe in 1842. Pursuant to their wishes, and apprehensive of their taking premature steps which would involve them in trouble, I left my home at Gull Lake October 17th26 and under a furlough from yourself allowing me to be absent for one month from my station as Indian farmer. I visited the principle villages on the Chippeway, accompanied by as many of their chiefs and headmen as I could prevail on to go to their payment at Sandy Lake. We proceeded in twenty five canoes by the Chippeway, Nama kagan, St Croix and Bois Brule rivers to Fond du Lac where by previous appointment we met the principle chiefs headmen and Half breeds of the Lake Superior bands. I found to prevail great dissatisfaction at the prospects of removal, and the change of their payground from Lapointe to Sandy Lake. Not only in their councils, but throughout the whole length of my journey, I heard in every village lodge and from the mouth of every man and woman a determination expressed not to remove. The principle reasons given in their general councils for this determination are (briefly) not only the great natural love of country inherent in the Indian’s breast, but in the apparent misunderstanding which have occurred between this tribe and our Government at the Treaty of Lapointe 1842 in concurrence of an article of which, the order for removal has been given. At this treaty the Indians unl e g i s l at o r


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derstood the commissioner to say, that “Their Great father did not want their lands but the copper abounding in their country.” He also guaranteed to them in words that they would not be removed at any rate during the term of their annuity and probably never. It was under this verbal understanding and only this, that the treaty was signed by the Chippeway chiefs. It is firmly engrafted on their minds. Another cause for their unwillingness to remove is the poverty, and total unfitness of the country they still own in common with the Mississippi Chippeways, lying in Minnesota and to which they would naturally be removed.27 No provision has ever been made in any of their Treaties contemplating their removal. Their own means are small and entirely insufficient, to support them in the miserable country they still own. Whether this will go to prove that their early removal has not been heretofore contemplated by our Government or is merely a want of foresight in the commissioners negotiating treaties with them, I will not presume to say. Many of the Lake Superior Chippeways, under the supposition that they would never be removed, have become partially civilized, living by agriculture, owning farms, and stock, living in houses and professing the religion of the whites.28 Of these the lowest estimate is four hundred souls, and to remove them is like throwing them back into the darkness, poverty and degradation from which the untiring efforts of their missionaries and natural advantages of their villages have gradually lifted them. These, Sir, I have found to be the principle causes which will tend to make a removal a matter of great difficulty. But they are all causes which can be done away with by our Government in a spirit of justice and liberality. Since the order for removal has been given an appropriation has been made to remedy in a measure the want of foresight in former Treaties. But in my humble opinion, it will require stronger and more liberal measures to effect an early removal and secure to these Indians a sufficient livelihood. They absolutely need a country more fitted for them than that which they still own. They need a large agricultural fund to be laid out and expended immediately, and a subsistence fund which will feed them in their new country till the fields can be made to supply 114

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them with food. Unless this is accorded them, it is misery, and almost certain death for the Chippeways of Lake Superior and Wisconsin numbering four thousand souls to remove. It is adding fuel to the war fever raging for centuries past between them and the Sioux because you force them to conquer a new country, or die. It is breeding a nursery in this Territory which will bring danger to pioneer frontiersman, and eventually lead to trouble mischief and bloodshed! Since the order for removal has been promulgated, other causes have unhappily arisen which has infinitely strengthened in the minds of the Indians a determination not to remove. I have reference to their being summoned to Sandy Lake to receive their annuity payment, where through unavoidable circumstances, they were detained on short allowance of provisions a long length of time, and during their best hunting season. They were made to suffer severely from the cold for want of their goods, which could not be paid to them till their agent had returned from St Louis where he had gone to procure their money annuity. Sickness, also, made its appearance amongst them, and in their totally destitute condition cut off nearly two hundred of their number. All this, together with the non-payment of their money, is looked on by them, but as a foretaste of the consequences of their removal, and of the country to which they believe they are to be removed. All this loss of life, and suffering they attribute to our Government, and a feeling of desperation, and revenge is fast engendering in their minds against us. I venture to say that none have a better chance and enjoys better opportunities of ascertaining these facts than myself. It is a duty I owe, not only to our own people but to the Indians themselves, to represent this matter to your attention, that you may early devise measures to prevent the strengthening of these feelings in the minds of our Red neighbors, to wipe off the ill will they at present bear towards our Government and consequently with less difficulty and expense carry out the policy of their removal. As a first step towards effecting this desirable object, I beg leave, to respectfully recommend a measure, the fulfilling of which, I know is dear to the hearts of the principle chiefs of the tribe. It is that a delegation of principle Chiefs Headmen and Half Breeds be allowed to visit their great Father at Washington early this spring. It was to l e g i s l at o r


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effect this object, which secured a respectable attendance of the tribe to their new payground, delegations were sent from the Lake Superior, Chippeway and Wisconsin River villages, to Sandy Lake with instructions from their respective bands to make a collection at the pay table from their moneyed annuity to defray the expenses of such a delegation. They are anxious to be heard by their Great Father in person, who has always been represented to them as their friend, and who they think will listen with a pitying ear to their wants and wishes. It is engrafted on their minds that he will revoke the order for removal, on hearing their words, and no reasoning from their friends can erase this false impression. It is the assertion of many that they will not obey the order of their Great father until they hear him renew it after he has listened to their remonstrance. I consider therefore, a delegation sent to Washington as the first step towards effecting a removal and a most necessary step towards erasing in the minds of these Indians, the hard feelings engendered toward us by untoward circumstances. The expenses could be paid, from the removal fund, already appropriated. A delegation of twelve principle chiefs, speaker and warrior and four of their most influential half breeds would consume but a small portion of this fund, and it certainly cannot be expended in a manner more sure and effective in carrying out the purpose for which it is intended. The expenses of each individual, including outfit in clothing, board while at Washington &c would be about one hundred and eighty dollars $180.00. The sum of three thousand dollars $3000.00 would cover all the expenses of such a delegation, including interpreter, and the objects to be gained are fully equivalent to this outlay. Much care should be taken in the choice of persons forming the Delegation. There are but few chiefs in the tribe, of extended or real influence, among these few stand Buffalo Head chief of the Lake Superior bands and Ah-mous—chief of Lac du Flambeau. Had the object of their visit to Sandy Lake been fulfilled, these two chiefs had been unanimously named in council of the tribe, as heads of the delegation. With them were named Osh ka-ba wis, chief of Wisconsin, Ke-wan-see, chief of Lac Coutereille, Nuh ang abe chief of Long Lake, Buffalo chief of the St. Croix, Ke noshay chief of Chippeway River, Osho gay speaker for the Lapointe band and Nug aun ub speaker for the Fond du Lac band: four leading half breeds 116

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had also been named to form part of the delegation, viz. Vincent Roy of Lapointe, Edward Conner of Wisconsin, George P. Warren of Chippeway and Alex. Corbin of Lac Coutereille. These gentlemen have an extended influence over the respective bands with whom they reside, and it will be indispensably necessary to attach them to the Delegation, indeed, I doubt if the chiefs would go without them. I would also respectfully recommend, in order to effecting a good understanding between our Government and the Pillagers, and between them and the Lake Superior Chippeways, that their Chief Flatmouth with two of his headmen or warriors including the Ottertail Lake chief [Waub-o-jeeg, White Fisher] be invited to join the Delegation. This step may conduce to secure measures, I am aware you have already recommended. There are jealousies and ill will existing between these two divisions of the same tribe which should be immediately done away with. It would be most desirable, should you find it convenient to take this delegation to Washington yourself, or at least be present with them while there. Should these suggestions be considered worthy of notice and adoption by yourself and the Indian Department, I hope an early notification to that effect will be made, so that the Delegation can be collected at this, or other more convenient point, to proceed on their journey by the first opening of navigation. In conclusion, I will remark, that I am satisfied in my own mind, and so is every enlightened person who feels an interest in the welfare of this tribe, that under their present circumstances in Wisconsin and Michigan, the laxity with which the intercourse laws of those states are carried out, especially the laws, prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors to the Indians, it is better for the Chippeways to remove, always provided, they are moved to a country adapted to their wants and habits, and with sufficient means for a livelihood thereon. A country in which they could live under the humane guardianship of our General Government, and which be guaranteed to them forever. Which last is in my opinion the first and necessary step towards their eventual civilization. Should this humane policy be pursued towards them, I, for one, (and I may speak the voice of my fellow half breeds) will be ready to use my utmost efforts, and whatever little influence I may posl e g i s l at o r


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sess over my Chippeway relatives, to carry out the policy of our Government towards this tribe. I shall be ready, as I have ever been, to help the officers of Government in performing with these Indians, the instructions of their Great Father. Respectfully, Yr Humble & Obt Svt, Wm W Warren

Governor Ramsey sent the above letter to Commissioner Luke Lea with the remark that “Mr. Warren is a gentleman thoroughly conversant with the affairs of the Chippewa Indians, and his suggestions are entitled to respectful consideration.”29 When Warren learned that his cousin had not received the letters and papers he had been sending from St. Paul, he wrote again, summing up much of the information in the earlier letters.30 I have just received your third letter and am very much surprised and chagrined to hear that you have not received the letters and papers I have sent you from this place every week since the 1st January. You should have a pile of them by this time, for besides writing you three or four long and important letters I have sent you every week copies of the “Democrat” “Pioneer” “Chronicle & Register” “Watab Reville” “Dakotah Friend” and other papers published in the Territory, to give you a regular run of news. I have also sent to Uncle Ermitinger and to the Corbins. I send directed to Chippeway falls. I will now briefly recapitulate to you what I have written to you about in full in my former letters. Mr. Watrous is not removed, but has gone down, either to Washington or St Louis—he has now been gone over one month and is expected daily. The Company have tried hard, and are still trying to have him removed, and have that old fool, Chas Oakes appointed, but they will not succeed. It is like jumping from the frying pan into the fire—and I prefer keeping in the frying pan, and have therefore thus far supported Mr Watrous. You are perfectly safe in carrying out your provision contract. I have seen Gov Ramsey on this subject. . . . Your goods are all arrived here and you should soon come after them. I should like very much to see you, and you will certainly be gainer by coming. I board at a private house, plenty of room and it will cost you nothing to come and spend two weeks here, and 118

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you may profit by it. H. M. Rice wants to see you very much and has a proposal to make to you. If possible bring Nancy along, dont fail. She will cost you nothing, and it is imperatively your duty to place her in good society.31 You can procure a most excellent place for her here. If you can procure a little wild Rice and dried venison, please bring us along a little, also Matilda’s Bible & Dictionary. Our Brother James has gone to California, married in New York &c. as a missionary I have seen his published letters, by last accts he had arrived at San Francisco and had made some noise as a preacher.32 Young Vincent Roy and the Jew33 arrived from Lapointe sometime since, and I heard from our friends there who are all well. Default recovered, Ash kin o ma’s wife & Bartheomes wife had died. I wrote long letters to Lapointe. Truman who I left at Gull Lake as Indian Farmer appears to be getting along very well. I am really in hopes my former letters and papers will reach you. I will direct after this “O Clar Post Office” The Commissioner of Indian Affairs has strongly recommended a general Treaty with the Chippeways and I have no doubt will be carried out during the coming summer.34 Col Mitchel I think will be one of the commissioners, if so, we have everything to hope for. He will make no Treaty unless he has plenty to gain and will do all he can for Half Breeds. $25,000 has been appropriated again for the removal, making now $50,000. The Removal will be pushed early in the Spring vigorously under Gov Ramsey, in person. Respecting the delegation to Washington I will not hear the Decision of the Dept till about the 10th of March. But it is as well that Ahmous and two others from your part of the country, besides yourself & Alex Corbin be prepared to be ready anytime you may be called upon to go. The Delegation will consist of 12 Indians, & 4 half breeds. You must pick out your own chiefs, but the less said to them at present the better as this thing may yet fail. What about the Gauthier case? Write soon on this and other subject, and by all means inform me when we may expect you here. Excuse bad writing, as I write by snatches while setting in the House voting on important questions.35 Remember us to your mother, Nancy &c. Your Aff Brother Wm W Warren l e g i s l at o r


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Soon after sending this letter Warren received word that a sum of $300 had been collected on a note owed to his father by Lucius Lyon, the note having been given at the time of the 1839 Half Breed Claims related to the treaty of 1837. Since Lyman M. Warren had been executor for the estate of Michel Cadotte Sr., the Cadottes were also interested in claiming some of this money. Warren, as executor of his father’s estate, wanted the matter investigated after the payment was received. He wrote to his cousin to convince his uncle, Michel Cadotte Jr., to wait until they had the money to submit his claim.36 Mr. Watsons of Detroit have collected on an order given by me as heir to Lyman M. Warren’s Estate a sum of money $300 on Mr. Lyons debt. And Bob Boyd37 has laid a claim on it for old Mishonse [Michel Cadotte Jr.] and the heirs of our deceased grandfather. Watson refuses to pay the money into the hands of my deceased fathers administrators unless we get a release from Mishons and the heirs. Under these circumstances neither party will get it. I want you to get Mishonse to sign the enclosed paper, and your mother [Charlotte Cadotte Ermatinger] if she will though it is not necessary. Tell him that not one cent of the money will be paid to any one after we get it from Watson until the whole matter is investigated and those will get it whose it is. If Michel Cadotte has a claim on it he will get his share. But if Watson keeps the money none of us will get a cent. Mishonse as the Books show is endebted to my deceased father, and he has made such a claim on Watson that if we take the law will get him into a bad snap. I depend on you to get this thing through to save a great deal of difficulty. Get him to sign by all means. Should any Indians want to come with you don’t let them, they are a damned bother.38 Your Cousin W W Warren

Added on the back of the letter: I think Michel Cadotte’s signature will be sufficient. This is the only way of getting this money out of Watsons hands and E. Rice will not pay one cent [ ] only to those who should have it.

Throughout the remainder of the session some important legisla120

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tion was enacted. It was decided to locate the capital at St. Paul, the university at the Falls of St. Anthony, and the prison at Stillwater, although Warren had tried to get it for Benton County. In this matter the Whig newspaper, the Minnesota Pioneer, hinted that “if this be done, we all know, from the habits and character of the Indian population, that they will furnish a large proportion of the inmates of the prison.”39 However, the Benton County newspaper, the Watab Reville, believed it was denied the prison by legislators who wished to prevent the settlement of the area.40 In spite of frequent illness, Warren had a fairly good attendance record in the Second Territorial Legislature, and generally came in to vote when called. He was once absent for six consecutive days when he returned to Benton County to obtain signatures for a proposal to allow his constituents to vote on the location of the county seat. He was unsuccessful in getting this bill to the floor.41 His outstanding ability as a public speaker was recognized when, on 7 March, at an organizational meeting of the Democratic Party, he was named to the Committee on Toasts.42 Since he had not yet collected any of the money for which he had applied to the Indian Department, Warren decided to try once more. This time he presented a claim through a St. Paul attorney for money he believed was owed him for his work in furnishing the statistical and historical information to Henry R. Schoolcraft while he was in the employ of the Indian Department, and Warren asked the former Winnebago agent to support him. Fletcher thought that he should receive some recompense. Mr. Warren has feeble health, and for several years past, has not been able to perform much hard labour. When he received the appointment of farmer for the Chippewas of the Mississippi, it was understood, and stipulated (verbally) that he should work to the extent of his ability, and instruct and encourage the Indians to work, that he should interpret at the annuity payments of the Chippewas and Pillagers, and at Councils with them and that he should perform such other duty connected with the Agency of said Indians, as should from time to time be required by the Agent.

Still, Fletcher hoped that the department would allow Warren the remuneration he sought, for “it would be to him a God send, he is poor, his health feeble, his family large and expensive.”43 l e g i s l at o r


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In his address to the legislature on 7 January 1851 the governor had recommended the reapportionment of the two legislative bodies based on the federal census of 1850. The proposal was much debated on the floor of the House between 20 and 29 March. Districts were redrawn, and the number of councilors of certain districts was revised. At the heart of the matter were three issues: the validity of the 1850 census for Pembina County, whether soldiers stationed at army garrisons in Indian Country should have representation, and even whether Indian Country was subject to territorial law. According to the final bill Benton and Cass counties became one district, eligible to elect one councilor and one representative. Pembina County was allowed one councilor and two representatives, although according to the bill’s opponents, it had fewer legal residents. Previously, Benton, Cass, and Pembina counties had constituted one district, with two councilors and four representatives. When the bill came up for the final vote on 29 March, the seven who opposed it absented themselves from deliberations, believing that without a quorum a vote could not take place. When the vote was taken anyway, and the bill passed 10–0 (S. B. Olmstead having been legitimately excused), the seven resigned from the House. Three of them, Gilman, Sloan, and Warren, were from Benton and Cass counties.44 At the close of the legislative term the Warren family returned briefly to Gull Lake, where William was able to continue for one more quarter in his position as government farmer, since Truman had accepted a position with trader George Nettleton at La Pointe. William then brought his family to live at Two Rivers, not far from his father-in-law’s trading establishment at Aitken’s Ferry. There, in a house set back from the Mississippi, Warren had to make some major decisions. Now at the age of twenty-five, he was jobless and without any resources other than his knowledge of the Chippewa language and history. Concerned about maintaining his family, he renewed his Ojibwe research and began to gather his materials into a book.

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9. The Removal of 1851

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lthough the failure of the attempted removal of 1850 was still being discussed throughout the winter, plans were already under way for a new effort to remove the Ojibwe from Wisconsin to the Minnesota Territory in 1851. Mindful of the previous year’s disaster, supposedly the result of a delayed appropriation by Congress, subagent John Watrous wrote to Governor Ramsey on 8 February asking for an early appropriation of money so that the traders and contractors could be paid. The next day he arrived in St. Paul and met with the governor to begin organizing the removal. Notices were sent to the newspapers seeking bids for supplies and provisions for the removal to be delivered at La Pointe, Fond du Lac, and Sandy Lake. In a letter dated 10 February 1851 Ramsey ordered the removal to begin about 1 May, as soon as the Ojibwe finished making sugar. He also asked Watrous to make sure that the farms established west of the ceded area increased production in the spring. This time, removal seemed a certainty.1 By 28 February Watrous had formulated his plans, and he wrote the governor of his intentions. He would enlarge the farms at Gull Lake and Sandy Lake, try to establish a farm at Fond du Lac, and select a site for an agency and farm west of Crow Wing, possibly on Leaf River. He was convinced that there was opposition to removal among the traders, men who would encourage the Indians to return home as soon as the payments were made. He therefore planned to inform the Indians early in the spring that they would not be paid unless they removed, and then delay the final payment until it was too late for them to return. Those who did not comply would be struck from the roll. He would supply them with fishhooks and twine, which


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would give them not only a means of subsistence but also a means of employment to which they were accustomed, and this “would serve to content them more than if they should be fed upon all the luxuries that the country could afford and be suffered to loiter around in idleness.”2 By 24 March word had been sent to the La Pointe band not to plant, for they would be furnished with all necessary provisions at Fond du Lac. The Reverend Sherman Hall reported the Indians less agitated than they were the previous summer, but still “very unwilling to remove.” The agent planned to notify the Indians formally in a council at La Pointe on 10 June, and require them to remove at least to Fond du Lac for the winter, although they would also have to go to Sandy Lake for their annuities. “No matter how averse they are to removing,” wrote Rev. Hall, “if they can be fed by going to Fond du Lac, they will surely be there. But my impression is, that the greater part of this band will be back here in the winter and will make their sugar at Bad River next spring as usual.”3 The Ojibwe at this time did not live in permanent, year-round villages. They traditionally moved according to the season to whichever location provided subsistence. Winter being always the most difficult time of the year, the Indians saw in what the government termed “removal” an opportunity to survive. It was not that they wanted to pass their time in idleness, as Watrous claimed, but that as their hunting territory was steadily invaded by white settlers, it was growing more and more difficult to exist on their traditional land. Moreover, since it was the U.S. government that had purchased their hunting grounds, it was only right that the U.S. government should furnish their subsistence. During that part of the year when they hunted, fished, made sugar, or gathered wild rice and berries, they had no intention of staying at Fond du Lac. In June Watrous began to appoint conductors for the removal, and he himself attempted to undertake the relocation of the St. Croix band to Mille Lacs. Their resistance delayed the beginning of removal elsewhere, as they kept telling him they needed more time, and thus he was not ready to meet the Ojibwe in council at La Pointe on 10 June as he had planned.4 On 9 June he appointed Clement Beaulieu assistant superintendent to collect and escort the Wisconsin and Lac du Flambeau bands to La Pointe, at $4 a day, payment to begin on the 124



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day he left La Pointe for the interior. On 14 June he appointed the Reverend William T. Boutwell assistant superintendent of the removal, also at $4 a day. He was to be located at La Pointe, where it was presumed that all the interior Indians would gather before going to Fond du Lac.5 Warren, meanwhile, thinking that he would not be appointed conductor, and ever anxious to earn money for his family, wrote the governor to ask to serve as interpreter for his coming trip to Red River, where he was to negotiate a treaty with the Pembina Chippewa.6 I take the opportunity to write you a line by Mr McLean, Sioux agent, to inform you of my improved health and readiness to serve you as interpreter in your proposed trip to Red River. I hope you will not forget me in making your arrangements for this voyage as I am quite anxious to accompany you and my health is now so far recovered that I think I can be of efficient service to your commission. Mr Watrous, in making his arrangements for removing Chippeways has concluded to do without me, in which case as this was the only impediment to my accompanying you to Pembina, I make bold to remind you of your promise made me last winter that I should be employed for one or the other service. My farming operations which have through my limited means been on a small scale are now nearly ended, and I must be doing something to procure food for my children, and relying on the condescending kindness and Friendship with which you have ever treated me, I hereby without hesitation ask it as a favor that you allow me to attend you on your Pembina journey in the capacity of French and Chippeway interpreter. Hoping to hear from you soon and wishing you continued health and prosperity, I remain your Obt. Svt. Wm W Warren

The governor did not accept Warren’s offer, but selected James Tanner instead as his interpreter. He also notified Warren that the Indian Department would allow him $250 of the $300 he had requested in payment for his work as interpreter from 1848 to 1849, and that the money would be remitted to St. Louis, and thence to the new agent at Long Prairie, Abram Fridley.7 Watrous, however, did eventually appoint Warren as “conductor of the removal from the r e m ova l o f 1 8 5 1


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the Interior,” naming the Chippewa River, Lac Coutereille (Courte Oreilles), Long Lake, Lac Chatac (Chetek), and Puk-wa-wone Lake (Pahquahwong) as the specific areas he was to be responsible for. He was authorized to purchase ten barrels of flour, three barrels of pork, two kegs of powder, and 100 pounds of shot for his Indians, and would have the assistance of Alexis Corbin and George Warren. His compensation would be $3 a day and actual expenses while employed, beginning at his arrival on the Chippewa River.8 Additional instructions were given to Warren that indicate a certain hesitancy, perhaps even mistrust, on the part of Watrous. “In making the selection to conduct and superintend the removal of these divisions, much care has been observed in selecting those who have been long acquainted in the Country, and who have influence among the Indians; and I trust that the selections that have been made may prove to be judicious ones, and that the results may show alike creditable to yourselves, the Department and the Country.”9 Warren must have replied immediately, for six days later Watrous sent him another letter saying how pleased he was to hear from him, “for to tell you the truth I had given up of either hearing from, or expecting any assistance from you in the removal.” In this letter Watrous mentioned that Warren should keep an account of his expenses from home to the Chippewa River, “and we can make it all satisfactory.” He added, making reference to Warren’s well-known problems with the traders of the American Fur Company: “The field is still left open to you, and many will look to see a good result from your labors, you have a fair chance of measuring yourself with your enemies and you have my best wishes that you may outstrip them. I am still your friend.” And then, with a hint of a previous disagreement between the two men: “I need not tell you that it becomes necessary for me to lay aside all personal feelings at this time to accomplish the removal, my views are not changed or altered.”10 Warren set out for the Chippewa River on 6 July, and three days later, from his sister’s home in St. Paul, he wrote his cousin George.11 I have just received your letter informing me that you have been employed for the removal, and that you are at La Pointe. Mr Watrous has appointed me to superintend the removal from the Chippewa River district and informs me that you and Alexis 126



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Corbin will act under my instructions. Being as yet ignorant of the location at the present time of the main body of our Indians I am at a loss to give you certain or direct orders. But at any rate you must come and meet me immediately at Lac Courtereille. I will remain some days at Vermillion Falls [Jim Falls] to collect the scattered sheep and make preparations for the trip to Lapointe by which route I propose to take them. If this letter reaches you soon and you quicken your movements I am in hopes that we may secure an early removal and consequently an early payment which the Indians need bad enough. I have been somewhat backward in joining my feeble efforts to this undertaking but now I have consented to help. I will do so to the utmost of my ability and sincerely hope you will second my exertions. Bad moves have evidently been made and promises already broken but I hope we will make all right and should Mr Watrous listen to my suggestions, I am in hopes he will effect much this season towards effecting a removal of his Indians. We have many difficulties to encounter. The Indians are averse to a removal. But deception must not in any case be resorted to to induce them to go. It is best to be up and down with them and they must be told exactly what is wanted of them and what they may expect. No promise must be made or intimated to them but what must be fulfilled. At the same time a deep interest in their welfare should be manifested and care taken for their comfort. Should Alex Corbin be at Lapointe these directions will also suffice for him and guide his movements. If nothing extraordinary prevents me I will be at Lac Coutereille about the 1st of August. Should you arrive there before me direct your efforts towards collecting there, the Lac Shatac and other bands in the vicinity. Yours etc. Wm W Warren Cond of Chip Removal

On the same day Warren wrote his cousin another letter marked “private,” which he enclosed with the previous letter. In this second letter Warren for the first time expressed his goal to unite the Ojibwe as a single tribe, which would then be able to bargain with the government from a position of strength. He also indicated that he hoped to meet with all the Lake Superior Ojibwe at La Pointe, and there to explain to them his plan for unity.12 the r e m ova l o f 1 8 5 1


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I wrote you a letter two days ago since at Sauk Rapids and sent it by way of Sandy Lake. I write again and send by way of St. Croix so you will be sure to receive one or the other. You are aware that I have been backward and in fact had refused to join the removal. Mr Watrous wrote me from Sandy Lake May 12th to meet him at St. Paul, to make arrangements to join him, but the letter was lost at Crow Wing. Mr Watrous waited for me 12 days and not hearing from me he supposed I would not assist him on any terms and he sent for Mr C. H. Beauleau and engaged his too willing services. Beauleau on arrival at Crow Wing openly bragged that he had agreed to help Watrous on condition that I or any of the Hateful Warrens should not be employed. At the same time Mr Watrous ordered Truman from Gull Lake to another station putting him to great loss and inconvenience. This caused me to believe Beauleau’s story, and when a few days after Mr Watrous again wrote a letter and sent it from Po ka guma by express, requesting earnestly my immediate help, I almost flatly refused. At any rate I made such terms that I believed he would not take me up, requesting $300 for the summer, that you and Alex Corbin should be employed and voyagers to carry me about, provisions and ammunition to give to Indians &c. He has taken me up in all but the pay but that he also promises to make up all right. He has appointed me to superintend the Removal from the Chippewa River district, and informs me that both you and Alex have been employed and will help me. He also sends a draft to pay part of my expenses. Notwithstanding all this I was somewhat dubious about taking the appointment, as I felt quite independent, having regained my health, a beautiful place and good crops to attend to and feed my children, a claim of $300.00 just allowed me by Govt to clothe me and buy stock, and having just completed an arrangement to take a stock of goods to payment, all this induced me to send the removal to the old Harry, but your letter from Lapointe which I received the same day with Watrous’ has changed my mind. And I have concluded to throw myself into the Breach. I perfectly understand and fully appreciate the cause which has induced you to the course which you have taken. I believe we both fully understand the arrangement and will act accordingly. My main object is a complete and full organization of the tribe—and Half breeds if possible after this year. “United action” must be our motto. 128



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On the 12th of this month I will be at your mothers, going across from Willow River. There I will remain about a week to collect the news and get the hang of things, also hire my men, get a canoe, tent made, buy provisions &c. I am much disappointed at your not being at home, and being perfectly in the dark as yet, especially about the number of Indians you took through, and the whereabouts of the rest that I cannot give you direct orders to where to meet me. You must use your discretion. Above all, arrange it so that not one Indian shall leave Lapointe till I get there and let waiting for us be their excuse. A great deal depends on our making a big show of influence (ahead) Lapointe will be the head quarters for councilling, and I there put such Ideas into the Indians Heads as will quicken their movement. I could say much more but I hope to see you in a few days. I will wait, and then we will understand one another perfectly. I write this from Charlotte’s house. She and Julia live in town, in good health. I left my family all well and perfectly happy and comfortable. Remember me to our relatives and friends. This letter is private. I send you an official one enclosed, which you can show to Mr Watrous. Your Affectionate Cousin, Wm W Warren

Warren arrived on the Chippewa River on 13 July and began the immense task of trying to convince the Ojibwe to remove. He summed up the situation he found and his own frustration in a letter to the governor from Chippewa Falls on 4 August 1851. He was honest about the delays, the problems, and his intent to take the Indians first to La Pointe.13 Sir. Allow me to trouble you with a few lines respecting the removal of the Chippeways, though aware that you are not the proper person to render a report to, of my proceedings. But I do so in this instance being led to believe that you feel an interest in the progress of this work, and will not blame me for informing you how matters stand at present. After repeated requests from Mr Watrous I consented for the nominal sum of three dollars a day to superintend the removal from one of the interior districts. My Division comprises five villages numbering 850 souls. I am ordered to take them to Lapointe a distance of the r e m ova l o f 1 8 5 1


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over 200 miles, over a most rugged and difficult route. I am allowed to feed them this distance and while collecting them to council but 10 Blls. flour 3 Blls Pork, 50 lbs powder & 100 lbs shot. At one glance your experience in Indian matters will tell you that this is far from sufficient to keep from actual starvation a body of 800 Indians for twenty days and travelling through a country entirely destitute of game encumbered with their baggage sick and infirm. Had I seen you as [I] passed St Paul to come and attend to this business these things should have been represented to you. But you was away from home attending to important duties and I have refrained from writing to you till I had seen my Indians and judged for myself everything relating to this removal. I have collected at a central point on this river about 200 Indians comprising the chiefs and principle men in my district. I have been councilling with them for some days and been intermitting in my attempts to obtain their consent to Removal. I have fed out to them nearly all of the small amount of provisions allowed me—and on my own acct—allowed them a little tobacco which is an indispensable article but which has not been allowed me by Mr Watrous. I have discovered that there is an extended league throughout the whole tribe (excepting only the St Croix villages) not to remove. Pipes wampum and tobacco have been sent from village to village to effect this purpose. The causes and reasons for this determination are as follows. 1st A misunderstanding in the Treaty of Lapointe Oct. 4th 1842. 2nd The impossibility of obtaining a livelihood by hunting in the country to which it is proposed to remove them 3rd The great mortality and extreme suffering they endured in attending their last years payment at Sandy Lake. 4th Loss of confidence from repeatedly broken promises in our Govt and its officers. Besides these general causes, there are minor difficulties pertaining more especially to my district. First and foremost—The want of sufficient provision to feed them to Lapointe, the nearest depot where provisions are promised them. 2. Sickness is very prevalent among them this summer. 3. The evil council of their whiskey traders, lumbermen and persons interested in preventing their removal. 4th Some of the St Croix Indians who were present at the council which Mr Watrous convened at Snake River—and saw medals distributed—Barrels of flour and Pork given out and promises made in the most liberal and 130



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free manner have come amongst these Indians and told the tale, which however exagerated still has its evil effects. Messengers were also sent among these villages late in May to call the chiefs and headmen to a council at Lapointe, where promises that boats and provisions would meet them on the Lake shore. Mr Watrous promising also to meet them in Council on the 10th June. One of the principle chiefs—and some headmen attended this summons in company with George Warren but not finding one single promise kept they returned and brought back the story of their disappointment. Excuse me, Sir, for enumerating all these causes with which we have to battle to effect a successful removal. But it is necessary that you should understand this business perfectly. I received my appt as conductor with instructions on the 6th July and receiving word from you at the same time that my acct for interpreting had been allowed, more through a feeling of gratitude to you than for the small sum at which my services are estimated I accepted the appt and on the 13th July I was on Chippeway River visiting and collecting the Indians. I have found the Indians much scattered, having come to the determination of not even attending payment they had left their villages and scattered all over the lower country hunting for deer by torch light. When I consented to help in this removal I foresaw all these difficulties and although I have since wished a thousand times that I had not undertaken it. But as I am in it, I will do my best and am determined to show what can be done through perseverance and some influence. With the efficient help of Messrs. Ermatinger, G. Warren and Alex Corbin who have been employed I am in hopes to succeed. Necessity obliges us to wait till the Indians have gathered Wild Rice sufficient to feed them to Lapointe. We could by pushing matters take through 200 immediately but it is best to wait a while when by perseverance we can make a clean business of it and take nearly the whole number 800. The chiefs have promised to follow our advise after repeated councils. The Whole Removal hangs upon our exertions here! By the latest accts. Mr Watrous had failed at Lapointe, and Mr. C. H. Beauleau at Lac du flambeau. And it is certain that if the Indians hold to their league not one Indian will start from those places till we take the chiefs and bands through from here. We form the centre. When that moves the wings are bound to the r e m ova l o f 1 8 5 1


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follow. Under these circumstances it were better to be more liberal here—and go to less expense on the Lake shore—where provisions are being dealt out freely and prematurely. The later the main body reach Fond du Lac, the more provisions they will have remaining for winter. It is a most economical procedure, if Mr Watrous will only take advantage. Had I twenty Bls flour, 10 Pork here at this time we could take the Indians through immediately. If you think the object to be attained of sufficient consequence to allow me this amt, your order will be sufficient to allow me to procure it at this place, @ $8.00 for flour, $24.00 for Pork. If this is too high you can send it me from St Paul or Galena delivered at Charles Reeds, Lake Peppin where on your notice I could go and send for it in canoes. If it is there by 20th of August it will be time enough. Otherwise if you do not wish to meddle in it, I can but promise you to do my best without means and am still sanguine that you will hear a good acct of me. I will be at Fond du Lac with my Division and take the Lapointe Indians as I go by 1st of October. Your Obt. Svt Wm W Warren Cond Removal

Written in the margin of this letter are the instructions to send a copy to Watrous, for his official information. It is clear from the above letter that Warren supported the removal efforts, although he was seriously constrained by the lack of sufficient provisions. He also had to battle the influence of whiskey dealers and others who wanted the Indians to remain in order to take advantage of them. Yet his strongest criticism, one that would have disastrous consequences, was for the agent who had failed to fulfill his promises to the Indians. While Warren was attending councils throughout the Chippewa River country, Watrous made his way to La Pointe to council with the Ojibwe there. He arrived on 13 July, four weeks late, and found only about 500 assembled. When he explained to them that they would have to go to Sandy Lake to be paid, they reacted “in sullen silence.” They demanded that their moneyed annuities be paid at Fond du Lac, and beyond that they would not go. Watrous was adamant that they should proceed to Sandy Lake for payment, even when Boutwell advised him to accede to their wishes. So obstinate were the Ojibwe that 132



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they even sent tobacco (“yes, the very tobacco we have given some of the inland chiefs to bring out their men”) to the Wisconsin River bands to remain where they were, and not listen to Beaulieu.14 During this time Watrous was beginning to be concerned about Warren. Watrous had heard nothing from him, not even the weekly reports he had requested him to send.15 On 9 August he wrote to “Friend Warren” that he was “anxiously awaiting” his arrival at La Pointe, and that he (Warren) should be there within ten days. Then he must go to Crow Wing for the payment to the Mississippi bands, and hoped for Warren’s assistance there. He told Warren to inform the Indians that if they were not here before he left, they would be struck from the roll. But Watrous still did not have confidence in Warren, and two days later he wrote to the governor that he had sent his interpreter and two other men to keep a close watch on him, “to effectually guard against any counter movements that he might be induced to make.”16 He had not yet received the copy of Warren’s letter to the governor in which Warren explained the lack of provisions and the need for the Indians to finish gathering their wild rice before they could leave. In addition, Watrous had forgotten his own failure to meet the Indians in council at La Pointe on 10 June because of delays in moving the Snake River bands, delays that, like those of Warren’s people, were due to the Indians’ need to provide their own sustenance, as well as their reluctance to leave their homeland. Thus while many traders, Henry M. Rice among them, were telling the Indians to go for the payment, but return to their homes later, it seems that Warren was convinced that they would have to remove for good, to distance themselves from the traders who plied them with liquor. His efforts to take the Indians to Washington so that they might hear the order for removal from the president himself, his letter of 4 August to Governor Ramsey, and his communications to his cousin all belie any subversive effort on his part to convince them to remain on their lands or to return after payment. It also seems that Watrous either did not trust Warren or that he thought Warren would work against the removal. It is true that Warren opposed removal on the grounds that there was not enough land northwest of the Mississippi to support all the Ojibwe, and because he believed it would not be guaranteed them forever. But he knew that the government could remedy this through negotiation, and besides, the r e m ova l o f 1 8 5 1


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in supporting the removal, he could not only earn money to support his family, but he could also gather the Indians in one location, away from the liquor traders, where they could form a single, united people. This was indeed a most novel, even radical, idea, one that guided his actions throughout the summer of 1851. Watrous remained at La Pointe throughout most of August, waiting for the interior bands to arrive. The Reverend Boutwell was still of the opinion that Watrous should allow the Lake Superior bands to be paid at Fond du Lac, and expressed his assessment of the situation in a letter to the Reverend Edmund F. Ely. “He (Watrous) says he shall pay no half breeds who do not remove with the Inds—let him go ahead & dash his brains out he will do it & ere long—there is not an Ind. here that has so much respect or confidence in him, as they had for Livermore.”17 Finally, on 12 August the agent agreed to pay the Lake Superior bands at Fond du Lac, after they told him that “they would rather starve and freeze than go where the agent wanted them to live.” Meanwhile, the L’Anse band, which had come to the council expecting to be paid at La Pointe, returned home, saying they would forfeit their annuities so they could remain where they were.18 After the arrival of Beaulieu’s division from the interior, Watrous began another series of councils, which lasted for several days. At first, according to Rev. Hall, the Indians refused to remove, maintaining that they had sold only the minerals, and not the land, and besides, they should not be required to give up the land before the government had paid them in full. When the agent threatened to remove them by force, they began to reconsider, and eventually accepted his proposal. They would be subsisted at government expense for one year in their new location, they would receive their cash payment at Fond du Lac, and Watrous would recommend in writing to the president that a delegation of chiefs be allowed to visit Washington and meet with the president. Those who did not remove would not be allowed to participate in the annuities. Soon after this agreement was reached, Watrous left for Crow Wing, and the La Pointe Indians began to leave for Fond du Lac, where they expected to be paid on 1 October.19 Warren’s plans to meet with and unite all the Ojibwe at La Pointe were beginning to unravel. Meanwhile, two conflicting directives reached Watrous. On 9 August Governor Ramsey had written to Watrous, reinforcing the order for 134



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removal, and reiterating that those who chose to remain permanently in their own country would no longer be entitled to their annuities. Five days later he wrote again, asking for a résumé of the removal operations. “Be of good cheer,” he wrote, “and try to conquer all obstacles in the way of removal.”20 But earlier, on 3 June 1851, unbeknownst to any of the Minnesota officials, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Luke Lea had written to the secretary of the interior recommending the suspension of removal. On 25 August James Abraham, acting secretary of the interior, informed the commissioner that he was authorized to instruct agent Watrous “to suspend the removal of the Chippewa Indians until the final determination of the President.” The telegram from Washington reached Boutwell at La Pointe on 3 September, but, as Hall later explained to Rev. S. B. Treat, “no material alteration in the plans of the Agent was made in consequence of the order to suspend the removal.” Watrous, like the governor, was fixed on the goal of removal.21 John Watrous made his official report to Ramsey on 20 September, affirming (somewhat prematurely) that the entire removal had been accomplished, except for the L’Anse and Vieux Desert bands, and some of the Pelican Lake and Wisconsin River bands who were suffering from measles and smallpox and would probably remove in the spring. There was little hope that the L’Anse band would remove at all, since they had purchased agricultural lands and were making rapid progress toward civilization. Besides, they had been excused from removal by the governor himself. In all, Watrous wrote, three thousand had been removed, and only seven hundred remained on the ceded land. He admitted, though, that it was still possible that those removed might return to their former homes.22 Removal, even for a year, was not a permanent state in the Ojibwe language. It was a far different report that Boutwell sent to the governor. According to his figures, by 18 September only 150 had left La Pointe for Fond du Lac, and 500 or 600 more would set out the following week. Warren’s group had not yet arrived. There had been great resistance to Beaulieu’s efforts in the interior, even when the chiefs sent messengers to gather the people, and many would not leave, pleading illness. After more than four weeks he was able to persuade only two or three chiefs and one hundred Indians to accompany him. In ten days of counciling at La Pointe, Boutwell wrote, the Lake Superior the r e m ova l o f 1 8 5 1


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bands absolutely refused to go, maintaining their right to the soil and saying that the treaty of 1842 had been a fraud. The success of the removal depended entirely, he believed, on whether the Indians were permitted to visit their Great Father and lay their grievances before him.23 Hall, too, wrote Rev. Treat that although most of the La Pointe and Bad River Indians would go to Fond du Lac for the payment, it was doubtful they would remain; “they have said since the Agent left, that they were coming back after getting their annuities.”24 On 22 September Watrous completed the cash payment of 1850 to the St. Croix Ojibwe at Crow Wing ($4 per person) and left for Sandy Lake to make the cash payments of 1850 and 1851 to the Mississippi bands, and to distribute the annuity goods to both the Mississippi and Lake Superior bands. Many of the latter would not even go so far for so little. He would then take his time going to Fond du Lac for the last cash payment, that to the Lake Superior bands who were still assembling there. It was his declared intention to delay making the payment until after the close of navigation “to throw every obstacle in the way of their returning to their old homes.”25 Three days later he again wrote the governor, this time informing him that the Rice faction (and in Watrous’s mind, this included Warren) had begun open war on him, and would abuse him mercilessly. By now most of the traders who dealt with the interior Indians vehemently opposed the removal, for whatever reasons come to mind: loss of trade, and hence financial gain; loss of laborers; and some, no doubt, through sympathy. There is no evidence, however, that Warren agreed with Rice, and, in fact, he may well have been torn between loyalty not to Rice, but to the Indians, who wanted to remain upon their lands, and concern about the abundance of alcohol made available to them by whites, be it at Fond du Lac or at Crow Wing.26 Watrous, however, had recently received information that Warren was telling the Indians to remain at Fond du Lac until after payment, and then to return to their homes. “I have no doubt of the correctness of the report, he was doing me so much injury by writing letters into the Indian country and sending the Indians in different directions with tobacco to stop them from removing that I was forced to give him a place in the removal hoping thereby to silence him in a measure or at least that he would be so situated that he could be held accountable for his course.”27 136



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The reasons for Warren’s delay are clear. In his letter to his cousin on 9 July he emphasized that George should keep the Indians at La Pointe until he got there with his group, so that they could then present a united front as a single nation with greater negotiating power. Again on 4 August, in his letter to Governor Ramsey, he told of his difficulties in getting the Ojibwe to agree to remove, and gave facts that largely accord with the description given by Boutwell to Ramsey on 18 September. Warren also acknowledged that he was waiting for the Indians to finish gathering their wild rice. By agreeing to pay the Indians at Fond du Lac, however, Watrous had disrupted his plan for a council at La Pointe. Thus instead of going to La Pointe to meet with a large group of Ojibwe, Warren was forced to proceed directly to Fond du Lac, most of the Chippewa River bands still behind him. Watrous waited at Fond du Lac until 17 October for Warren’s division to arrive from the Chippewa River country. When Warren arrived ahead of them, and told him that his people would be at Fond du Lac within a week, Watrous decided he could not wait any longer. He ordered Warren to go back to hurry them, and then left for Sandy Lake to finish making the goods payment to the Mississippi and Pillager bands, and to those of the Lake Superior bands who would go. Many of the La Pointe Indians returned angrily to La Pointe, announcing to their brethren whom they met on the way that Watrous was not going to pay them. Meanwhile, much to the agent’s dismay, a report was published in the Lake Superior Journal that the removal had been stopped.28 Word was also circulating that the L’Anse band had received a letter from the president that they would not have to remove. All this served only to turn back those who were on their way to Fond du Lac, and many of those who were already there left. Watrous was worried that this might diminish the number in his annual report by at least 1,000. It was some consolation, however, that by the time he finished the distribution of goods at Sandy Lake, it would be too late for the Lake Superior bands to return to their country.29 On 23 October Warren was invited to council with those Ojibwe who were still left at Fond du Lac. According to the testimony of Vincent Roy Jr. and George Warren, he advised them not to return to their homes, but to go to Sandy Lake for their annuities.30 Although he was discouraged by the situation at Fond du Lac, and the r e m ova l o f 1 8 5 1


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by what he now understood was the agent’s plan, he nevertheless accompanied them himself to Sandy Lake, where they expected their cash payment. Instead, they received only flour, pork, brown sugar, and tea. Warren was dismissed by the agent on 28 October, the day Warren arrived with his Indians from the interior. Angry and bitter, and more than ever convinced of Watrous’s duplicity, Warren then helped the Chippewa River bands draw up a letter to the governor, dated 8 November. They complained that the agent was more attentive to the interests of the traders than to theirs, and explained that they actually opposed receiving the payment at Fond du Lac because of the alcohol there. No longer believing or trusting Watrous, they asked the governor to send “some good and disinterested man” to witness the payment.31 The fact that Warren brought his division to Sandy Lake was not sufficient proof for Watrous that he supported the removal. The agent believed that Warren had been telling the Indians that they could return home after the payment, or at least that they could stay for the winter and be fed, and then go back to their own country for the maple sugar season. It is likely that, after he arrived at Fond du Lac, Warren fully realized the agent’s plot to trap the Ojibwe there once winter had set in, so they could not possibly return home with their families without running the risk of perishing en route, as so many had the previous year. It is certain, however, that between his arrival at Fond du Lac in mid-October and his experience at Sandy Lake in early November, Warren changed whatever support he had reluctantly given to Watrous. He then returned to La Pointe, and thence to the Chippewa River, to help the Indians oppose Watrous and his plans. The L’Anse band had already begun a formal complaint against the agent. On 3 November 1851 their chief, David King, had a letter written to the agent at Sault Ste. Marie in which he explained how he had been treated at Fond du Lac, and how payment had been refused his band because they were not removing. Attached to the letter was a request for Watrous’s removal, containing five accusations of misconduct.32 It is unlikely that Warren had a hand in this because he was probably at Sandy Lake at the time, and the letter appears to have been written from L’Anse. The La Pointe band also composed a letter to Commissioner Lea 138



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in which they recounted the events of this second attempt to remove them. In the Spring the Agent wrote to the Chief at La Pointe, telling him not to let his young men plant at Bad River, that he was going to plant for them at Fon du Lac. In the summer he came himself, and ordered us to arise quickly and go to Fon du Lac. We asked him by what authority he requested us to remove. He said it was the order of our Great Father himself, and if we did not promptly obey, we should soon see soldiers here to compel us to go. He said we were not required to go any farther than Fon du Lac, onto our own land, and if we would go there, he promised us that when we should arrive, we should find our money ready for us, and that farms should be opened, and stores of provisions be laid in, and everything be provided, by which we should be made comfortable and happy. He wished us to go to Fon du Lac with our families and go to Sandy Lake for our payment. We said we should not go there—when we die we will lay our bones at La Pointe. We told him if he would pay us well, we would go to Fon du Lac and no farther. He said he would pay us our money at Fon du Lac, both our last years payment and this years, but the goods had been ordered to Sandy Lake and could not be carried to Fon du Lac. He promised our chief Buffalo, that he should go to Washington to see our Great Father that he might hear with his own ears his words and tell him all about our affairs. He said he himself would go with our Chief, pay his expenses to Washington and back again, and would take good care of the Indians and see that they were well fed during our Chief’s absence. We went to Fon du Lac but we were not fed well. Our rations which were given us for four days were not enough for two, and to make them last, we could not eat but once a day. We told our Agent that we had come and now wanted our money. He asked us if we had all come, and brought our things with us. We told him we had not brought our kettles and some of our friends we had left behind sick. He said he should pay only those that had come and brought their things with them to stay. At the next council, we told him we wanted our last years payment, that our children were cold and we had no money to buy them clothing. He said he could not pay us till all the Indians had arrived, which were still behind. At the next council we took our half breed friends with us, and asked him to show us the the r e m ova l o f 1 8 5 1


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letter in which our Great Father had instructed him how to make the payment. He said, he should not do it, but should do as he himself pleased and immediately left the council. We went to him again and told him we were then going home and should not come there to suffer and be deceived again. We had been to him four times, and had received the same answer—he could not pay us. He had repeatedly said before we left La Pointe, that we should have our money payment as soon as we should arrive at Fon du Lac. He told us that if he did not fulfill his pledges we should have full liberty to return again to our own homes. We did not see them fulfilled. And when we saw that every thing was contrary to what we expected, and to what the Agent had promised, we arose and returned home. But not until he had left, and there was no more hope of our expectations being fulfilled.33

The La Pointe Chippewa asked only to have their future payments at La Pointe, and that a delegation of their own choice might be allowed to visit Washington. “Especially, would we like to have our friend and half breed child Wm. W. Warren, go. In his truth and friendship, we have confidence. He is well acquainted with our affairs and he has ever advised us to listen to the words of our Great Father.” The letter was signed by twenty-nine chiefs and headmen of the Lake Superior bands, and witnessed by missionaries L. H. Wheeler and Sherman Hall, interpreter Henry Blatchford, and mission teacher C. Pulsifer.34 Another statement was drawn up about this time, this one actually in Warren’s handwriting. It is not dated, and is signed by some of the same chiefs who signed the La Pointe letter. It is a request to remove Watrous from his position as Chippewa agent. There follows a list of five charges against him, the same as those found in the letter from the L’Anse band, and in almost identical words: he has broken his promises, he is guided by the traders’ interests, he had sold liquor to the Indians before his present appointment, he cohabits with Indian women, and he has attempted to make chiefs through bribery.35 This statement was later sent to Governor Ramsey along with the other statements and complaints drawn up in the first week of November 1851. When the letters and complaints against Watrous reached the governor, Warren’s influence was quickly seen. The Minnesota Democrat of 19 November 1851 charged that, once again, the Chippewa re140



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moval had been a failure. The Minnesotian, a new paper that supported the Whigs, immediately contradicted the report and claimed that “if the public were made aware of the author, no harm would be done.” The following week the same newspaper printed a story on the removal, accusing certain unnamed traders of interference with the agent’s efforts, and mentioning that “one of his principal assistants (a relative of the Indians) was no doubt deep in the counsels, if not the pay, of those most interested in preventing the removal.” The article went on to report that Warren had advised the Indians to stay and gather their crops, and store them in caches for the winter before they went to the payment, certainly evidence, if it is true, that he did not believe removal would work, but not evidence that he was working against it.36 The next week the Minnesota Democrat announced that it had just received a communication from Warren that “completely demolishes the Minnesotian account of the removal.” At the end of November he was in St. Paul, visiting the governor, “complaining very much of Agent Watrous in regard to the removal.”37 The Minnesotian then took up the attack, comparing Warren to Judas Iscariot and Benedict Arnold, and accusing him of plagiarism in his article on the Blackfeet adventures of George D. Cameron.38 He was “a man possessed of all the duplicity of the Indian race (which is, perhaps, inherent) rendered active and acute in practice by partial education, and association with the worst class of a frontier white population.”39 Warren’s letter to the editor appeared the next week in the Minnesota Democrat. In it he explained and defended his actions in the removal.40 In the Minnesotian of Nov. 29th, there is an article on the “removal of the Chippewa,” which reflects on myself, and which I feel called upon to answer. To those who are acquainted with the notorious character of the editor of that paper [John C. Terry], it is almost needless to state that every word he writes, or is made to write, in that article, is false. If the persons who gave him the information on which he makes such positive assertions, would only come out in propria persona, it would be an easy matter and a pleasure to answer their charges, but knowing their information to be a pack of lies, they dare not come out in their proper names, but hide themselves behind the handy and the r e m ova l o f 1 8 5 1


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unprincipled tool, who undertakes to do all their dirty work, and to shield them from the consequence of their most gross mismanagement and the most wholesale swindle on the government, which has yet been attempted on it by any of its officers in this Territory. I had not intended to have made a newspaper controversy of this subject, though I have considered myself in duty bound, both to our government and to the Chippewa Indians, to present the facts to the attention of the proper authorities at Washington. But as a public attack has been made on me, and an attempt made to charge me as the cause of the failure of the Chippewa removal, I feel called upon to defend myself, and it is with the greatest satisfaction that I shall present the true facts of the whole business to the people of this Territory. It is a subject of interest to our citizens, and I hope that the plain, unvarnished statement, backed by proofs such as I intend giving in a series of articles, will be acceptable to your readers. For the present I will state a few facts for the purpose of proving the utter falsity of portions of the article in the Minnesotian. It says, “Most of the bands of Chippewas in Wisconsin, we assert positively, have been removed this past season to Sandy Lake.” The truth is, not one solitary Indian has been removed to Sandy Lake. The few that have been removed at all, are at Fond du Lac. Here the men left their families with the permission of the Agent, and went to Sandy Lake to draw their goods annuity; returning again to Fond du Lac. I have worked hard all summer to secure the payment of the cash annuities due the Chippewas, amounting to $44,000, all at Sandy Lake, on the Upper Mississippi; and this was one of the main motives which led me to join the Chippewa removal. I knew it would benefit Benton County and the Territory at large. The money would naturally have found its way down the Mississippi, (the natural channel) and instead of hard times, we should have had easy times, and money would have been plenty. It was the wishes of the Indian department that the Chippewas should all be paid at Sandy Lake where the Agency is located. But it did not happen to suit the Agent and the traders with whom he is interested. The Fur Company did not want the Territory at large to share the money and profits with them, and the payment must be made at Fond du Lac, and then, not till the Indians had been forced through necessity to take up the full amount due them, in goods and credit at exorbitant rates, from 142



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one of the assistant superintendents of their removal, who is also an agent of the Fur Company [Clement Beaulieu]. Mr. Watrous did not pretend nor sincerely try to remove the Indians to Sandy Lake. He wanted them at Fond du Lac, where his old partner in the Indian trade, was fully prepared to catch their dimes, and where whiskey in any quantities could be procured by the Indians in exchange for removal twine and nets, the last blanket or shirt on their backs, or their last morsel of food. I delivered at Fond du Lac and got the certificate of delivery from the enrolling agent, 275 Indians, who came there with the bona fide intent of remaining in the country as long as they could stand it and live. The men came to Sandy Lake after their goods and demanded their cash payment there also, in nearly the following words, and in presence of numerous witnesses—speaking to the agent, their speaker said: “How is it that you want to pay us at two places? We have come here after all our payments. You told us last fall, that hereafter we should receive our payments at this place. We want it here. We do not wish to be paid at Fond du Lac, because there is plenty of fire water there and fear trouble from it.”41 While making this request, every attempt was made by the agent to confuse and brow beat the poor fellow, who dared to make a request contrary to his private plans and measures. The request was not granted, and those poor fellows are still at Fond du Lac waiting for money due them for the past two years. The only money paid at Sandy Lake was to the Mississippi Indians, numbering 1200 souls; they received $9 per head. They number nearly half of all the Indians enrolled this year. According to treaty stipulations, they are to share alike with the Lake Superior Chippewas. But they received only about one-fourth of all the money due. Of this I will speak more fully, in a future number. The rest of the money, with the exception of a few hundred dollars paid at Crow Wing, is yet to be paid at Fond du Lac, and every cent paid there is as good as so much paid out of the Territory. Respecting that portion of the removed Indians under my charge, the Minnesotian further says: “A portion of them went sufficiently far towards Sandy Lake, to meet some of the Lapointe Indians, whom they induced to return. the r e m ova l o f 1 8 5 1


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Thus stands Mr. Warren’s branch of the removal, which in reality has proved a complete failure.” This is also false, every word of it. The truth is entirely the other way; instead of my Indians turning back the Lapointe bands, the Lapointe Indians on account of the lies and promises the Agent used to induce them to remove to Fond du Lac, returned to their old homes, and meeting my Indians coming in, within 22 miles of the Chippewa country, caused the return of half my division, as the following certificates will prove. [Here is inserted a copy of the muster roll of Indians arrived at Fond du Lac on 28 October, conducted by Warren. He recorded a total of 275 Indians from nine bands.] The fact is, that after getting my reluctant consent to join them in the removal last Spring, they cramped me in means, and obstacles were thrown in my way to prevent my success. Notwithstanding all this, I succeeded much better than they or anyone else could have expected; as every disinterested person who knows all the facts of this business will vouch. In your next number, I shall commence a more minute statement of all these and other proceedings, which have come under my observation for the past two years, respecting the manner in which Chippewa affairs have been mismanaged; and I shall be prepared to substantiate with the strongest proofs, any assertion I may make. W. W. Warren

The day after Warren’s article appeared in the Minnesota Democrat, William T. Boutwell wrote a letter to the Minnesotian, intending to correct some of Warren’s “utterly false statements,” which he took personally. From his perspective, and all the records seem to bear this out, it was the Indians (at La Pointe) who insisted on being paid at Fond du Lac. Warren, of course, had no way of knowing this, and had convinced his division to go to Sandy Lake to avoid the liquor, but certainly not to stay. They had, after all, left their families in Fond du Lac. Boutwell also objected to Warren’s statement that “they cramped me in means, and threw obstacles in the way of my success.” Who did this? Boutwell? Beaulieu? Major Watrous? No, it was a barefaced, shameful lie, for the agent had furnished him with both money and 144



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means to do what was necessary. And what Warren called the agent’s “deception and false promises” was caused by Warren himself, who did not arrive at Fond du Lac on time for the payment, and it thus had to be postponed. In a final thrust, Boutwell wrote: “To those who are personally acquainted with Mr. Warren, and know him best, these corrections are unnecessary; as he is known to be a man devoid either of truth or moral honesty.”42 Warren was stung by those words, and the accusations of a man he had known for most of his life, a respected Christian minister. He composed a long reply that was published on 31 December in the Minnesota Democrat. Mr. Editor:—The “Minnesotian” of December 13th contains a letter signed by the Rev. William T. Boutwell, which I deem it my duty to answer. In that letter, without any justifiable cause or even plausible excuse, he abuses me in the most vindictive and personal manner. That a christian minister should descend from his high position and enter into the political or personal controversies of his time, is naturally shocking to the sense of all who have participated in the teachings of civilization and refinement; but that the Rev. William T. Boutwell should so descend and that, too, for the purpose of injuring one who has not only never injured him, but one whom he should be among the first to protect and befriend has overwhelmed me with surprise. Surely no friend of Mr. Boutwell residing in the Chippewa country will believe that he wrote that letter. I have known Mr. Boutwell from my boyhood. He was an intimate and cherished friend of my deceased father. I have ever regarded him as a good and honest man, and have ever entertained for him the feelings of a son towards a father. We have always been upon terms of mutual friendship and regard and Mr. Boutwell’s own expressions recently made to certain friends at Lake Superior led me to believe that I enjoyed his confidence and esteem. That any consideration, therefore, whether moral, political, or pecuniary should have induced him to attack, and to his utmost seek to ruin the orphan child of his deceased friend, struggling as Mr. B. knows he is, with feeble health, extraordinary worldly cares, and powerful enemies, is truly amazing. Nevertheless, since Mr. Boutwell has thought proper to array himself in this unaccountable manner, in the ranks the r e m ova l o f 1 8 5 1


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of those, who are engaged in the honorable cause of trying to crush an humble and unprotected (save by God and the truth) young man, it becomes me to defend myself against him as well as the rest, and this I will endeavor to do in a very different spirit from that which moved the writer of the letter dated the 11th December, to which Mr. Boutwell has affixed his name, and to the contents of which he has given the sanction of his character. So far as the facts set forth in the letter are concerned, I am willing to believe that Mr. B. was misled into giving publicity to them by John S. Watrous, Agent of the Chippewa Indians, who, having no good character of his own to protect him against galling truths seeks to shield the frauds and cruelties committed upon the poor Indians, placed in his charge, by the intervention of the name and fame of a respectable clergyman. Certainly the statements in the letter are without foundation in truth, as I can readily shew, and I challenge Mr. Boutwell and his coadjutors to refute that which I am now about to say. I do not mean that they shall refute my allegations by saying that I lie, or by making sweeping insinuations impeaching my veracity, but by opposing to them circumstances, susceptible of proof, shewing their falsity. In attempting to falsify my statement that Mr. Watrous was anxious to make the cash payment at Fond du Lac in order to further the interests of the Fur Company and his old partner in the Indian trade, Mr. B. says, “not an Indian would consent to remove to or go to Sandy Lake for their annuity—while all were willing to go to Fond du Lac.” This is a very lame assertion. Mr. Boutwell knew very well, that the Indians could not receive all their annuities at Fond du Lac, even if the Agent gave into them. The Agency is located at Sandy Lake, on the Mississippi, and the annuity goods, of which consists the major portion of the Chippeway payments, are freighted up said river, and the Indians were obliged absolutely, to cross over from Lake Superior to attain them: and was it not as easy for them to secure their cash payment to secure their cash payment at the same place and time. It did not require that they should be removed to Sandy Lake, to effect this object. They could have left their families at Fond du Lac, and only the men gone after the money as they eventually did after their goods. If Mr. Watrous had secured the goods as well as the specie payment at Fond du Lac, there might 146



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be some sense in Mr. Boutwell’s assertion: he says, again, “all were willing to go to Fond du Lac.”—Mr. Boutwell cannot mean what he says in this paragraph, and I am constrained to believe that it is a slip of the pen. Does he mean to say that all the 4000 Indians under the order of removal consented to remove to on these terms, or that the Ance and Ontonagon bands did so consent? He is mistaken also, in saying that “not an Indian would consent to remove to, or to go to Sandy Lake.” By fully explaining to my division of Indians, that they were unavoidably obliged to go to Sandy Lake for their goods, I succeeded in obtaining their consent to receive the money payment there also. They, numbering about 600 souls, consented to go even to Sandy Lake: though they had further to travel, and many more hardships to endure than the Lapointe band, whom, numbering 100, Mr. Boutwell probably designates as “all the Indians.” This matter will be more full explained in a full account I intend publishing of this removal. I think I have said enough to show that on this point Mr. Boutwell labored under a mistake. He says further that Mr. Watrous for two weeks absolutely refused, for fear of being blamed or censured by individuals to make the specie payment at Fond du Lac, and that it was only through his interference with the Governor and offering to “bear the odium of the measure,” that Mr. Watrous at last consented. This was just what he wanted him to do, and Mr. B. was the instrument of Mr. Watrous, without knowing it. I believe that a plan was concocted early in the spring when Mr. C. H. Beauleau an Agent of the Fur Company, received the appointment of Assistant Superintendent of the removal to make a secret and sudden payment at Fond du Lac: and when no one but the company and Mr. Watrous’s old partner in trade would be prepared to trade with the Indians. But he was afraid to become responsible for the measure, as it was certainly contrary to the wishes of the government, and prejudicial to the best interests of the Indians. Mr. Boutwell must have known that one of the main reasons for the removal of these Indians was to get them out of the reach of intoxicating liquors: and that making their payment at Fond du Lac, does not in the least tend to effect this desirable and humane object, but places them where they can get the accursed “fire water,” the r e m ova l o f 1 8 5 1


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in any quantity. This consideration alone should have induced him to think twice before he consented to hear “the odium of the measure.” His so doing certainly relieved Mr. Watrous from a heavy responsibility, and as I have stated, perfectly accorded with his private and interested plans. To prove that this thing was intended, before ever Mr. Boutwell was duped into bearing the odium of it, I will here insert a paragraph of a letter which Mr. Watrous wrote to me (in his own hand writing and with his signature,) dated May 22d, 1851, from Sandy Lake, in which he instructs me, as follows: “Say to the Indians of your division that I will pay them immediately on their arrival at Fond du Lac.” This letter with all my correspondance with Mr. Watrous will be subject to Mr. Boutwell’s perusal at any time, and will be published if necessary. His eyes may be opened thereby to the truth of every statement I have made, or will make. I do not impeach Mr. Boutwell’s motives for advising the agent into this measure. I believe he did it under the circumstances they were placed in at Lapointe, with an eye single to effecting a removal of the Lapointe Indians. Though attending to my portion of the removal on Chippewa River, 85 miles above Lake Peppin, yet I was made aware, through messengers, of the trouble that Mr. Watrous and his colleagues were having at La Pointe, with their Indians; and I have no hesitation in saying, and can prove it, that the trouble was mainly caused by their total want of confidence in their Agent. They would not take his word for anything: and demanded in writing (copies of which I have) the principal promises he made to induce them to go only as far as Fond du Lac. I wrote to Mr. Watrous not to promise a payment at Fond du Lac, till I had failed to induce my division to go to Sandy Lake, and that if my Indians consented to go, I was satisfied that the Lapointe Indians would follow them. His answer to my letter was that he had been “forced” to make the specie payment at Fond du Lac. My Indians in the same manner tried to force me to promise the same: but by perseverance and rightly explaining the matter to them they consented to go to Sandy Lake, and the Lapointe Indians—the men—would ultimately have gone there also, even after Mr. Watrous had been “forced” to promise a payment at Fond du Lac. Mr. Boutwell with a most unchristian expression denies that he, Mr. Watrous or Mr. Beauleau cramped me in means and threw ob148



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stacles in the way of my success, and affirms that money and means were furnished me by the Agent, with instructions to pursue a course according to my best judgment. I have made no such charge against Mr. Boutwell and he wrongs both me and himself, to understand me by what I have said, as so doing. When I penned that statement in answer to charges which Mr. Watrous had “officially” authorized to be published in the Minnesotian, I never thought of Mr. Boutwell: and far was it from my intention to even imply a charge of wrong doing on him, or to place him on a level with John J. Watrous, by whom I was cramped in means, and impediments were thrown in my way. All the money he gave me was $10 to pay expenses from my home to Chippewa river, and this he charged to my private account and deducted from my per diem. All the means he gave me was instructions to procure on credit, payable on presentation of my certificate, 10 bbls. flour: 3 bbls. pork: 50 lbs. powder, and 100 lbs shot. This was all he provided, wherewith to remove several hundred starving and naked Indians, nearly 300 miles up rapid streams: across rugged mountains, and through a country devoid of game, and they were encumbered with their baggage, their children, their sick and their infirm. This fact, is without precedent in the Indian removal experience of the United States government. To make this scanty provision of subsistence hold out under the circumstances, in which I was placed, required the power of performing miracles. And even this small amount of means has not to my knowledge been yet paid for by the Agent, to the individuals of whom I procured them on the strength of his official instructions. I carefully kept a daily journal of all that happened or was worthy of note, during my service in this removal. I took full notes of all that was said to the Indians by myself, and all they said to me in council, which can be certified to by responsible witnesses if required: and all of which is subject to Mr. Boutwell’s perusal, or I will publish, if you will give me space in your paper. If Mr. Boutwell had waited until I had made a full statement, accompanied with proofs of these matters and what I said respecting the deceptions of the Agent, before attacking me as he has, I doubt much, if he would have given me the “lie, barefaced, shameful.” Mr Boutwell concludes his letter by stating that I am known to the r e m ova l o f 1 8 5 1


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be “a man devoid either of truth or moral honesty.” If he is aware of any facts justifying such an assertion, I defy him to publish them. If he can point to a single instance in my whole life, of a departure by me either from truth or integrity, I challenge him to do so. Failing in this, Mr. B. will then have furnished me with proof that he is himself open to the interpretation that he has thus most wrongfully cast upon me. My character for truth and honesty I am entirely willing to leave to the arbitrament of my friends and those who know me best. What my enemies, the Fur Company and the hirelings thereof may say, is to me indifferent, since their good opinion could not serve nor their evil opinion injure me. To be praised by them would be indeed the strongest circumstance of suspicion that can be cast upon my character as an honest man. That I am censured and bitterly persecuted by them, is evidence enough that I am not worthy of a place in that category of persons who are to be found in the service of a concern the end of which is the accumulation of wealth by means of corruption and cruelty. William W. Warren Two Rivers, Dec. 22, 1851

While the division between Warren and Watrous was playing out in the Minnesota newspapers, the La Pointe Indians were still trying to get their payment. Watrous had refused to pay them at Fond du Lac in October when he was there, giving as an excuse that Warren’s Chippewa River division had not yet arrived. When the Indians insisted, he said that he would pay only those who had removed permanently. This they refused to do, and went back to La Pointe angry and dissatisfied, convinced that Watrous had broken his word. The only recourse left to them, then, was a meeting with the president in Washington.43 In a letter written to Governor Ramsey on 3 December 1851, and hand delivered to him by a Chippewa delegation on 16 December, the Reverend Sherman Hall, who was generally supportive of the government’s efforts, explained that the Indians did not really believe that the president would require them to remove, once he heard their case. They thought that removal was a scheme by their agent and some of the Mississippi traders as a money-making project. The La Pointe bands had agreed to go to Fond du Lac for their payment as long as certain conditions were fulfilled, but when they were not, 150



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they considered themselves no longer bound by any obligation to remain, and went home. They also complained that some Indians and half-breeds were paid at Sandy Lake, although they had not removed, and had no intention of doing so. “Why did not the agent keep his word?” they asked.44 For the Indians as also for William W. Warren, adhering to one’s word was of paramount importance. Ramsey, after consulting with Boutwell, decided that the La Pointe Indians should be allowed to participate in the money annuity of 1850 and 1851, but only after giving a pledge that they would remove early in the spring to what the government considered “their own lands,” that is, unceded land west of the Mississippi. Since the goods had already been distributed, however, there would be none for them. He also read them a letter to the president in which he asked for permission for a delegation to visit Washington. It was their “misconception,” he wrote to Watrous, that they were “released from all obligation to remove, by your not paying them promptly as you had promised.”45 Although the La Pointe delegation had asked for Warren to come to St. Paul to interpret for them, he did not come, or perhaps he was not even sent for.46 The governor openly supported Watrous against Warren, and the Indians’ visit to St. Paul was not long after Boutwell had published his scathing evaluation of Warren in the Minnesotian. The Indians, when they learned this, asked one of their mixed bloods, Jean Batise Roy, to write a letter for them to Ramsey.47 By the request of these Chippewas your children I take the liberty to write what they have to say to you. They say as follows. We the Chippewa your children have long thought of what we are going to say to you if anybody told us to do different we would not do it—long before we started from Lapointe our chiefs made the speech that was to be told to you. That is the reason they call for their half breed [Warren] to interpret for them for we all know he can talk good english and good indian. We heard after we arrived here that our halfbreed William Warren was not a good man. We say different. We never saw anything in him that could prove it and before we started from Lapointe our chiefs assembled and said we must have him to interpret for us; all the Whitemen at Lapointe know that the chiefs said so before we left. That is the reason we are determined to wait for him and we have yet one letter which was written by us poor Chippewas your children. When our Interpreter the r e m ova l o f 1 8 5 1


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arrives he will read this letter to you and then we your children will tell you all we have to say to you. I will tell you a little more what these Indians are going to say to you. They are going to ask if they can go to Washington to see the President. The reason I write you this letter is to let you know no person has told the Chippewas your children what to say perhaps you might think somebody has told them what to say again we speak. We do not want to do anything that is bad the reason we come here we want you to pity us all the Whitemen at Lapointe tell us you are good. We have seen all ready you have taken pity on the poor Chippewas your children that is all I have to say to you I write this by the request of these Indians I their half breed Jean Batise Roy

Although the Chippewa waited for more than a week, Warren did not come. The governor finally sent them home, and “took pity on them” before their departure on 25 December with an order for “65 lbs. pork, 130 lbs. flour, 30 lbs. sugar, 2 tea, 4 blankets, 4 prs. leggins, 4 lbs tobacco . . . to be presented to Watrous & paid out of removal fund.”48 They left with the understanding that they would promise to remove in the spring only if the president required it, and for this they hoped to go to Washington and either hear it directly from the president or convince him to rescind the order permanently.49 Watrous, meanwhile, learned that Rice had sent for Warren to come down to St. Paul, and hoped that the governor would prevail on the Indians to return to La Pointe before he could arrive. “I am fearful that the Hole-in-the-Day farce will again be reinacted.” He also informed the governor that Warren would be going to Fond du Lac by way of St. Paul and St. Croix, and asked him to prevent him if possible, “as he only goes to create difficulty.”50 Watrous still feared the influence Warren had among the Ojibwe. On 26 December Watrous received the governor’s letter ordering him to pay the La Pointe band. Still dragging his feet, Watrous now wanted to know if he should also pay the half-breeds. “I presume it was not intended they should be paid (which I approve) for should the privilege be extended to them others would set up their claims on the same ground, besides those that are now at Lapointe have not intended to remove.” Ramsey’s answer one week later was to “pay all the parties, Indians as well as halfbreeds.” He also informed the agent 152



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that he believed it was the government’s intention to allow the Lake Indians to remain.51 The Lake Superior bands were finally paid their moneyed annuities for 1850 and 1851 on 22–24 January 1852.52 In the open warfare between Warren and Watrous, Warren would make one more attempt to defend his good name. An article in the Minnesota Pioneer on 13 December 1851 had resurrected the accusation of false interpreting. Warren sent his reply to the Minnesota Democrat, which published it on 14 January 1852. It is Warren’s own account of the events leading to his dismissal in 1847. Mr. Editor:—In the “Pioneer” of December 13th, John S. Watrous, Indian Agent for the Chippewas, and Superintendent of their removal; authorizes the editor to state, that what I had written in answer to the first attack which had been made on me on the strength of his “official statements” in the Minnesotian, respecting the removal, was a “tissue of falsehoods;” and that I had been turned out of the office of interpreter, by sub-agent Hayes for false interpreting. Coming as these assertions do, from his direct authority, I am in duty bound to answer Mr. Watrous. In saying that I was turned out of the office of interpreter for false interpreting, Watrous utters a downright lie. James P. Hays, subagent for the Chippewas during the years of 1844–45 and 1846, was a noble hearted a man as God ever made, he was the best and most disinterested Agent the Chippewas ever had. During his whole career as Agent, the Fur Company agents at Lapointe, persecuted him, because they could neither buy nor corrupt him! But liquor, the bane of many a noble and good man, laid him in the dust. For insulting a lady under my roof and protection, when under the influence of intoxicating drink, I ejected him roughly out of my house, and rebuked him when sober in presence of witnesses and in the most bitter terms. For this, and nothing else— on the plea of disrespect—the next day he suspended me from my duties as interpreter. Affidavits of responsible witnesses to these facts (one of whom is Henry Blackford, of Lapointe mission, interpreter,) were forwarded in a letter to Gov. Henry Dodge, then Superintendent of Indian Affairs. Mr. Hayes was removed from office shortly after. Drunkenness was the main cause. I happen to have copies of these papers and they will be subject the r e m ova l o f 1 8 5 1


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to the perusal of any person who may feel an interest in that matter. A few weeks after my suspension, the commissioners appointed to treat with the Chippewas, for the lands which now form the home of the Winnebagoes and the intended home of the Menominees, arrived at Lapointe; and on the representations of my friends and the perusal of the above mentioned papers, I was appointed interpreter for the commission: this fact alone gives lie to Mr. Watrous’ assertion. In the treaty which followed at Fond du Lac, in the capacity of interpreter, I battled against the whole force and means of the American Fur Company, (whose agent opposed the treaty:) and with the help and support of my fellow half breeds, we laid the corner stone for building up Minnesota by effecting that treaty, which introduced the Winnebagoes with their large annuities into this Territory. The conception of the ideas and plans which led to that result, belongs to a deeper and wiser head than mine: to Minnesota’s best and firmest friend, Henry M. Rice. In the fall of 1846, after having failed in every attempt to buy or corrupt me, the Fur Company agent,—Dr. Borup—through his brother-in-law Clement Beauleau, presented written charges against me to subagent Hayes, for false interpreting, &c. Company clerks were placed to watch and spy me during the Indian payment. In making out the pay roll a company clerk continually peered over my shoulders. In council, company clerks surrounded me, ready to catch any slip of the tongue I might make, to substantiate their charges. That such charges had been presented to him, was kept secret from me by Mr. Hayes, till the hurry of the payment was over; when he informed me of the fact, and requested my answer thereto. I demanded an immediate trial which was granted, and Messrs. Beauleau and Borup were called upon to prove their charges. Witnesses were brought against me—all company clerks; but not a single charge could they prove, and the trial resulted to them in confusion, and in my complete acquittal by the Agent, who informed them that “had the least charge been substantiated he would have discharged me immediately; but that he would not countenance such apparent persecution, and no charge which they might thereafter bring against me, would even be noticed or believed by him.” 154



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As my veracity has been questioned; to prove what I have stated, I present the following certificate from a man who has a reputation in this Territory, for probity and truth, that none will question: “I certify that in the fall of 1846, immediately after the Chippewa payment, I was called with the late W. A. Aitkins into subagent Haye’s office, to witness a trial which Wm. W. Warren had demanded for charges preferred against him by the Agents of the American Fur Company at Lapointe, for false interpreting, &c. Clerks of the Fur Company, were brought as witnesses against him, but not a single charge could they substantiate against Mr. Warren, and he was fully acquitted by the Agent.”

a. morrison Crow Wing, Dec. 27, 1851 What made this attempt to crush and ruin me on the part of the Fur Company, most aggravating, was that at the time, with but the small salary of $300 per annum, I had my father (who had become hopelessly insane, mainly through the troubles, losses and persecution the Company had heaped on his poor head,) four young sisters and a family of my own to support and care for. To say the least of it, it was a most hellish attempt; and it kindled a flame in my heart, which has ever since, and ever will burn against them. W. W. Warren

After the failure of the second removal in 1851, the La Pointe missionaries took up more strongly than ever the cause of the Lake Superior Chippewa. The first voice heard was that of Rev. Sherman Hall. On 1 December 1851 he wrote an account of the removal efforts to S. B. Treat of the American Board Of Commissioners of Foreign Missions. Hall criticized both the plan for removal and the agent’s failure to respond to the order to suspend it. He explained the conditions laid down by the Indians for their removal, and affirmed that the agent had told them that “if they did not find the conditions fulfilled on his part, they were at full liberty to return to their homes.” Since they were not paid as promised, they considered themselves no longer bound to remove, and returned home.53 Meanwhile, for Warren, other struggles were about to erupt. the r e m ova l o f 1 8 5 1


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10. Final Struggles

W

hile William W. Warren was involved in collecting the Chippewa River Indians for removal in the fall of 1851, the election for the Third Territorial Legislature was taking place in Minnesota on 14 October 1851. When the first returns came in from Benton County, which now could elect only one representative, both the Democrat and the Minnesotian gave the election to Warren, 92-49. However, when the official returns were submitted on 24 October, Warren had lost to James Beatty 79-85. Although he had won by a large margin in the two largest precincts, Sauk Rapids and Swan River, he had lost in the three smaller precincts of Crow Wing, Elk River, and Nokaseppi.1 In January, after the legislature was already in session, Warren went to St. Paul to consult an attorney. On 20 January 1852 he presented a petition to the legislature contesting Beatty’s seat. The petition was referred to a select committee, which was authorized to send for “persons and papers, and if necessary, to send commissioners to Benton County to take testimony.”2 The committee made its report on 9 February in favor of Warren, finding that “James Beatty is not entitled to a seat in this House.” The next day, however, when the report was voted on, it was decided that “the claims set forth in the petition of Wm. W. Warren, are not sustained by testimony, and that further consideration of said petition be indefinitely postponed.” Warren’s attorneys were not allowed to be heard.3 On 18 February the Democrat took up Warren’s cause and published the findings of his attorneys, Rice, Hollinshead and Becker. In this claim it was alleged that in the Nokaseppi precinct where Beatty had received nineteen votes and Warren none, thirteen of the votes


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were illegal because they were cast by voters residing in Cass County, in fact, at Fort Ripley, and furthermore that “no poll book containing the names of the persons who voted at No-ka-sepe, was ever returned to the office of the Register of Deeds.” Yet Warren had lost by only six votes, and if the illegal votes were discounted, he would have won.4 It was in the winter of 1852, during what was probably the most distressing period of his life, that Warren made the acquaintance of William H. Wood, an attorney from the East who was newly arrived in Sauk Rapids. Wood and his wife, Julia, were already active in the political life of the county, and together they published a small local paper. Both also wrote occasionally for St. Paul newspapers, Julia sometimes under the name of Minnie Mary Lee. Warren had read her poem “My Home in the West,” which appeared in the Minnesota Pioneer on 18 December 1851, and was touched by her sentiments. One January evening he paid the young couple a visit. We are indebted to Julia Wood for this, the only contemporary description of Warren. One January night our silence was invaded by a knock on the door. As this had been preceded by no sound of steps, we were somewhat startled. Our visitor proved to be Mr. William W. Warren, a young man of note in this upper country, of whom we had heard often. I recall the favorable impression he made as he entered, his tall figure was enveloped in a graceful cloak; he doffed his hat, and made salutations with the polished ease of one accustomed to the usages of polite society. Naturally we gave cordial welcome to one who deserved deference from newcomers, on account of his father who had been a man of influence, and on account of his own worth, intelligence, and true manly dignity of character and manner. Almost the first words he addressed to my husband were these: You will pardon this intrusion, but on reading your wife’s poem on Minnesota in this week’s Pioneer I resolved to make your and her acquaintance, for I was prouder of Minnesota since a stranger can so clothe it in beauty and poetry. We spent a delightful evening. It was but the first of several that we afterward enjoyed. He was Indian on his mother’s side. He had been born and bred farther to the North, and I am unable to state how or where he acquired his good education. His father was a man of intelligence but I have an idea that his busy life would preclude the tutorship of his son. At fi n a l s t r u g g l e s


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all events young Warren was a student, a reader of many books, and at this time of our first acquaintance, was compiling a history of Minnesota as known by himself, and detailed by his father.5

It is evident from this, her earliest impression of William W. Warren, that he still lived with the memory of his father, spoke of him often, and even gave him credit for the work he had undertaken. Thus can be explained his burning and unceasing desire to take revenge on the fur company and the people who had destroyed Lyman M. Warren. In one last effort to recover money he believed was owed to him, Warren attacked John S. Watrous, the agent who had employed him in the removal of 1851 and who, since October, had become his nemesis. In testimony sworn before a justice of the peace in St. Paul on 21 January 1852, he accused Watrous of repeatedly postponing a settlement with him for his services in the removal, and of refusing to pay him his actual expenses therein, thereby causing him “much loss of time and means.” Warren added: “That while travelling in 1847, on the service of Government he received a hurt which has ruined his health and reduced him to a state of poverty, and having a family to support he needs all that is justly due him from the hands of the Chippeway Agent, who through private reasons of his own, does in this and in other instances keep him in trouble by denying to him his just and rightful dues.”6 At the heart of this issue was whether Warren should be paid, as he claimed, from 6 July to 17 November 1851, dates that would include his travel to and from the Chippewa River, or only from 13 July to 25 October, the dates of his actual service. In the formal letter from Watrous, Warren had been promised remuneration only from the time he actually reached the Chippewa River, and until he delivered the interior bands to Sandy Lake. But Watrous had also mentioned in a private letter that Warren should keep careful records of his expenses and that he (Watrous) would make everything right. The amount due Warren for the shorter period of service was $315, of which $120 had been paid on 2 November 1851. The remaining $195 was finally paid on 29 February 1852. Warren’s statement and claim for $603 were forwarded to the Indian Office in Washington. This new claim included not only an increase of twenty-nine days but also a per diem allowance of $1.50 for provisions and other expenses. Watrous was asked to explain the differences. He reiterated that he had offered remuneration only for the time Warren was actual158

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ly employed in the removal, which he said had ended on 25 October when Warren left Fond du Lac before his Indians arrived. (He failed to mention that Warren had gone after the Indians and did accompany them to Sandy Lake, arriving there on 28 October.) The $1.50 per diem expense Watrous considered both fraudulent and novel, and stated that Warren’s only reported expenses came to $38.50, and these he had paid out of his private funds. He also noted that Warren had failed to mention the fact that he had already been paid $315, although only $120 at the time of the affidavit. Governor Ramsey sent the agent’s report on to the Department of Indian Affairs, with the comment that he would be gratified if Watrous, who was soon to be in Washington, might review the matter and “allow something further to Warren.”7 In another affidavit sworn at the same time Warren accused Watrous of holding back the $250 he was awarded by the Indian Department in 1851, on the grounds that the money was still in St. Louis and he (Watrous) had not been fully instructed in the matter. “Much loss & vexation has accrued to him in credit and otherwise from the unaccountable and unfriendly manner with which John S. Watrous Chippeway Agt has treated him in refusing to pay him as he is rightly entitled to.” This amount was eventually paid to Warren on 10 May 1852 by Winnebago agent Abram Fridley.8 Warren was now more determined than ever to destroy Watrous. Consumed with a desire to take revenge on this agent, whom he saw as the source of so many of his problems, he initiated a formal complaint against him through the Indian Department. He had already collected (in November) statements from the Chippewa chiefs and headmen of La Pointe and the interior. Now, to their call for Watrous’s removal, he added his own in a sworn deposition given on 21 January 1852. Echoing Boutwell’s accusations against himself, Warren accused Watrous of being “a man devoid of virtue or principles of honesty and integrity.” He repeated the accusations brought by the Indians in their complaints: Watrous was a professed gambler, he sold liquor to the Indians, he cohabited with their women, and he sacrificed the interests of the Indians in favor of certain traders. “He has entirely lost their confidence and good will and is generally looked upon by them with contempt and detestation.” Calling him “totally unfitted to remain in the Indian country,” he warned the defi n a l s t r u g g l e s


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partment that “his being retained in his present office is inflicting a cruelty and oppression on the Chippeways which is fast embittering their minds against the Whites, and may eventually lead to bloodshed.” Warren’s affidavit was forwarded to the Indian Department in Washington with the statements of the Chippewa chiefs of Lake Superior. Commissioner Luke Lea returned them to Ramsey to give Watrous an opportunity to respond.9 Since similar charges against the agent had been filed by the L’Anse Indians in November, Watrous had already begun to collect testimonials to support him. Rev. Boutwell, who had worked with him at La Pointe in the removal, stated that he simply did not believe the charges to be true. Rev. Sherman Hall was lukewarm in his support, having “no opinion” or “no knowledge” of most of the charges, but admitting that he had never found Watrous to be a person whose word could not be relied on, and knew he had tried to prevent the sale of intoxicating liquor to the Indians. Watrous himself believed the charges originated with Warren (who had not even been there at the time) and considered them too ridiculous to even consider.10 Watrous now had to consider the same charges a second time. From Captain J. B. S. Todd at Fort Ripley Watrous obtained a statement against Warren that “he has repeatedly interpreted falsely to me and to them” and that the captain “had no confidence in his veracity.”11 Watrous finally wrote a letter in his own defense to Governor Ramsey on 8 May 1852. He maintained that the charges were all duplicates, and “originated from the productive mind” of William Warren. Warren, it was known, was a man “destitute of all honesty and unworthy of belief,” as shown in the enclosed article written by Boutwell and by Captain Todd’s letter. “I never committed a greater error in my life than when I gave Warren a place in the Removal. I was induced to do so from his being related by blood to the Indians and his having much influence with them. I was of the opinion that it would flatter his vanity and would, for once in his life, stimulate him to do his duty, but I misjudged him, ‘A villain will remain a villain still.’”12 Ramsey was entirely supportive of Watrous in this matter as he sent the material on to Commissioner Lea, concluding that the agent “deserves the commendation rather than the censure of the Government.”13 One other voice was raised in censure of Watrous. The Reverend L. H. Wheeler, missionary at Bad River, writing the Reverend S. B. 160



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Treat on 2 March 1852, criticized the agent for his duplicity, his failure to provide for the Indians as promised, and the waste of $50,000 in the failed removal. Watrous, he wrote, had “neither education or ability, nor personal morality nor integrity enough to command respect without it,” and he (Wheeler) fully supported the Indians in their opposition to his tactics.14 Treat forwarded excerpts of Wheeler’s letter to Commissioner Lea, and once again the agent was obliged to defend himself. This time he could not blame the fertile imagination of William W. Warren, for these accusations came from one who had no financial interest or personal stake in the success or failure of the removal. As the turmoil raged around him, Warren seemed to withdraw from the fray. His verbal assault on Watrous would be his last battle. When an anonymous correspondent of the Democrat (now known to be William H. Wood of Sauk Rapids) visited him at his home in Two Rivers in late winter, he found Warren conversing with Flat Mouth, who had come to visit his grandson “for the purpose of advising him relative to the present condition and wants of the Chippewas . . . and to receive his counsels.” The old chief said that “he has watched attentively the course of his grandson, Mr. Warren, from his infancy up, and ever found him a true friend to him and his people; that his words have ever been true words.” There, in his house opposite the mouth of Two Rivers, Warren had returned to his interest in Chippewa legends and traditions, and was busily engaged in his research and writing.15 He was no longer interested in going to Washington, or perhaps he was too ill. In early spring 1852, when Buffalo and a group of chiefs from La Pointe set out for the nation’s capital with Benjamin Armstrong and Vincent Roy Jr. as interpreters, Warren scoffed, “All nonsense. They can effect nothing going off like fools with poor interpreters and representing only the Lapointe Band.”16 At Sault Ste. Marie they met with George Johnston, who composed a memorial for them to the president.17 They finally reached Washington at the end of June. According to Armstrong’s memoir written forty years later, they did meet with the president, who promised them he would revoke the order to remove.18 According to Wheeler, however, nothing was effected, and the Indians would be paid their annuities fi n a l s t r u g g l e s


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only if they removed.19 They left Washington on 30 June with agent Watrous, who had gone there to defend himself against the charges. According to one observer, “Lea sent Watrous off with flying colors, & the Indians with a flea in their ear.”20 Upon their return Buffalo and Oshogay addressed a letter to Ramsey, telling him that the decision was his whether they should remove.21 Ramsey’s answer was that it was still the president’s wish that they remove, but that they would have to go only as far as Fond du Lac.22 Throughout the spring Warren had remained at home in Two Rivers, regaining his health and working on the book he hoped to get published. His sister Julia Spears wrote that “his health was so poor, most of the time he lay in bed, propped up on pillows, writing all the time.”23 He was even too ill to take an active part in the vote to prohibit liquor in the Minnesota Territory, a cause dear to his heart. The vote took place on the first Monday of April, and the bill was passed in every county except Benton. It was soon declared null and void, however, on the grounds that the people of the territory had no legislative authority.24 On 24 June Warren wrote his cousin George. It was a letter filled with news and hope.25 You have doubtless by this time received my long letter in answer to yours of March. Yesterday I received another from you and make haste to answer, hoping that you will follow suit and write oftener. A letter from you is worth $5.00 to me any time. Mr. Watrous was at Washington on 6th June by a letter I saw from him. He was to remain till 10th inst trying to have the removal continued. While he has been gone the bid for Chippeway transportation of goods and provisions were left in little Gate’s hands and he opened Mr. Lynde’s bid to give the company a chance to underbid. The fraud has been found out and is the present scandal about the country. It will effect Watrous and may even remove him, it is a clue to the whole plan of his villany in partnership with the Company. I got a letter from Truman from Fond du Lac, he got through safe. Old Beauf [Buffalo] with others having V. Roy Jr for Intpr have gone on to Washington. All nonsense. They can effect nothing going off like fools with poor interpreters and representing only the Lapointe band. 162



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Patrick Conner has been poisoned by an Indian, his brother Joe shot the Indian dead soon after. If anything like a respectable delegation of Indians from your quarter visit St. Paul as you mention in your last come with them if possible if you cannot come stop them. They might do something respecting their annuities. If they can secure the payment at Crow Wing and only the chiefs and men be required to attend it is the most they can do, they can come by St. Paul with little expense and no danger. Try it, and if you want my cooperation I will meet you at St Paul any time before 1st Aug. with a delegation from here to give you a lift. I am going any way, and will probably be there by the 10th July. I am gaining strength bodily every day, and also in influence with the Indians. Take care of your Indians keep them under your thumb. I will attend to the Minnesota Chippeways. Truman may help us at Lake Superior and we will by this combination hold the great balance of power, and within a year or two reap a rich harvest. Think of my words for I mean more than I say. So try and pay me a flying visit, it will cost you but a few dollars. Any how write me once a week and I will do the same. My crop looks fine, and everything now seems to smile on me. I will write you again soon more at full and open to you a dream of mine. . . . Capt Todd is now a bitter enemy of the Co. and Watrous. He has found them out. Hole in the Day also, he has cringed around me till I have consented to make another trial of him. Old Flatmouth came and camped ten days at my house last winter. The old man is right. When these poor devils flock around a poor man like me from whom they can expect nothing but counsel, it means something. They often give me presents of mokoks of sugar and canoes, in fact they begin to know that I am their friend, without interest. If your Indians can only feel towards us like these here do I will consider that my trip last summer has not been thrown away. I will expect a letter from you in a few days, on account of the proposed delegation. We now have regular mails and stages and letters come quick. Your Cousin Wm W Warren fi n a l s t r u g g l e s


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Since their first acquaintance in early January, Warren had continued his friendship with William Wood, and even sought his advice on some of his legal problems. Once again we are indebted to Julia Wood for this glimpse into the Warren family. In the following summer [1852], he came down for Will to go up to his home, which was near Platt River. He wished his services in some matters that required legal settlement. He insisted that I also accompany them. Youthful as he was (hardly more than twenty five, I judge) he had been several years married. His wife was the daughter of an old Scotchman, Aitkin by name, well known to the Russells and the Oakes for many years. Like the rest of them, Aitkin had strayed out west, joined his fortunes with those of the great fur company, traded on his own account, taken to himself a dusky mate, reared a family, and become, like the others too, a man of prominence, where, among so few whites, each one was known to his widely separated comrades. . . . I found Mr. Warren’s wife to be rather an attractive woman, inheriting far more the nationality of her mother than that of her Scotch parent. Among the three small children, however, of Mr. and Mrs. Warren, nature was true to her eccentricities, in person of the eldest, a daughter, whose face was fair, eyes were pale blue, and whose head was crowned with bushy hair, that was of a fiery red. [Cordelia was actually the middle child.] The two baby boys [Alfred was then eight years old, and William Vincent, known as Tyler, was two] were dark as night. We looked with bewilderment at this apparent duck among chickens, observing which Mr. Warren smilingly remarked: No, she is our own child, and not adopted as you might believe. She is the perfect likeness of her grandfather, Mr. Aitkins, of whom you have doubtless heard. There is no accounting for the caprices of nature. Not one of Mr. Aitkins children resembled himself, but this child of ours is the second of his grandchildren who inherit his facial personality. For the same reason as insanity often overleaps a generation and developes in those that come later. While Mr. Wood accompanied our host to some town beyond—Fort Ripley, I think—I remained with the Warren family. As my hostess spoke very little English, and was loth to express herself in it at all, I would have passed a wearisome time had I not availed myself of books that were at hand.26

In September the Democratic Party of Benton County met to organize for the coming election, and make sure they had only one can164



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didate for each position. William H. Wood was nominated probate judge for the county, and Warren was one of those nominated for delegate to the territorial legislature. Although Warren won in the informal ballot, the slot for representative eventually went to George Egbert. It is likely that Warren was both sick at the time and absent from the meeting. Warren’s health did not improve, and he was still in dire need of money. On 1 November he wrote to the Indian agent at Long Prairie, Abram Fridley, asking for compensation for thefts committed by Winnebago Indians on his property in the spring. The letter indicates his failing health and his desire to go east in the coming year to consult doctors and to find a publisher for his manuscript on the Ojibwe.27 Pursuant to your request I enclose you my account for the assault on my house committed by a party of Winnebago Indians this past spring, and for thefts which they have at various times committed on me. I have always treated them kindly since they came up into this country, and have often rendered them services in creating a good feeling and understanding between them and the Chippeways. I have never sold or given them one drop of liquor, and I think it hard of them that they should molest me in the retirement to which ill health and powerful enemies have driven me. You may probably think my charge as to high and unreasonable, but I beg of you to imagine what would be your feelings and what you would consider an equivalent, were you to be attacked in the same manner while lying on a sick bed and surrounded by a helpless family. Should you think proper to pay me the acct it will confer a greater favor on me than the mere worth of the money as it will enable me to go East this winter for my health, as well as to secure the publication of a work on the Chippeways which has occupied my time and attention ever since I lost the ability of earning my bread by manual work. I will not be able to be present at the Winnebago payment, and would ask of you in consequence, to reserve the amount for me into your hands till such time as I may see you. I am aware that this long letter is unnecessary after the prompt remuneration you promised to make me when I first informed you of the wanton attack which the fi n a l s t r u g g l e s


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Winnebagoes had made on me. But supposing an insight into the almost absolute need in which I stand for the money might influence your feelings in my favor I have troubled you with these lines.

Although in 1852 the mixed bloods were not to be paid, and Warren could have no hope of receiving any money, he appears to have gone to Crow Wing for the annuity payment in late fall. Warren’s responsibilities were now for his immediate family only. His sisters Charlotte and Julia were both married, Charlotte to E. B. Price, a former laborer at Fort Ripley, and Julia to Duncan Stewart. The Prices were then living in St. Paul, while the Stewarts resided in Swan River. Mary was still boarding with the Wheelers at Bad River, and Sophia resided with Duncan and Julia Stewart, as did their cousin Nancy.28 By February Warren was ready to set out on his trip east. He went first to St Paul, where on 16 February he met with the governor and asked him for $10, for what reason it is not recorded. Ramsey gave him $5.29 Taking the lake route, he stopped at Bad River, near La Pointe, to visit his sister Mary and the Wheelers, and probably reached New York City in the first part of March. He immediately began to undergo a series of medical treatments, but remained weak and bedridden throughout much of his stay. On 19 March 1853 Warren wrote to Henry R. Schoolcraft, giving as his return address 15 Laight Street in New York City, the address of his physician. This letter ranks with two previous letters, that of 22 September 1849, also to Schoolcraft, and that of 1 May 1850 to Jonathan Fletcher, as what might be considered Warren’s manifesto. In this letter he explains his interest in the Ojibwe, describes his plans for further publications, and asks for suggestions in getting his work published. It is the letter of a young man to a respected older scholar, a letter full of hope and plans for the future.30 I have noticed that in your last volume of the National History of Indian tribes on which you are at present engaged, you have introduced an article from my pen written in 1850.31 Does not this at least entitle me to a copy of the work? If so, will you be kind enough to send me one to this city by express, as I need it immediately for reference. I have always felt the deepest interest in all that pertained to the Ojibways, and as I saw their old men fast falling into their graves, 166



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taking with them the traditions of olden times, and the rising generation contaminated by all the evils and vices of a bad white frontier population, I have felt it a duty to gather all the information concerning their past which advantages of close relationship and speaking their language has given me. For several years I have been collecting notes for their History, Biography of their Chiefs &c. and six years ago having received a bodily hurt which has made me an invalid, and reduced me to poverty with a large family on my hands, I have been forced to presume to become an author. I am now about to publish the result of my researches in a History of the Ojibway Tribe. From some of their sacred traditions, derived from their Me da we rite, I am enabled to trace their position and course for five hundred years back. I give an account of their wars with the Iroquois, Foxes, and Dakotas, and bring down the History in a series of original facts and incidents to the Treaty of Fond du Lac in 1847. Should this work, on which I have taken great pains and trouble, attract the attention of the literary world and such as feel an interest in the red race, and should its sale place me in an independent position, I shall go on in another volume to give a complete exposition of their religious and medicinal beliefs, which are incorporated in the grand rite of the Me da we, accompanied with their Hieroglyphics— giving an account of their manners and customs—I have also collected notes of the lives of their most noted chiefs and warriors. Esh ke bug e coshe or Flatmouth—Hole in the Day, and others which if written out would fill a book, and would have the merit of being the first purely Indian Biography, or obtained, from purely Indian sources, which probably has ever been published. The complete life and adventures of Man ab-o sho—their “great incarnation” would also be an entertaining and amusing work, giving a complete insight into their mode of thinking, and many of their beliefs. Being aware of the deep interest which you have always manifested for the Ojibways, I have thus addressed you respecting my labors in collecting all information pertaining to them, which in a few years more would have been too late to procure—judging from the present vast progress of their degeneration. fi n a l s t r u g g l e s


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Should you feel disposed to give me any suggestion as to the most proper manner of getting my book published, or in conducting my future labors, I shall receive them with great thankfulness, having full confidence in your vast experience. I had intended to have called on you at Washington, and presented my manuscripts for your examination, but illness, as well as the late crowded state of the city, prevented me from going there. I am now undergoing a course of medical treatment in this city, and as soon as I get strong enough to go about, I intend to look up a publisher. I have papers of strong recommendation from Gov. Alex Ramsey, and all the most prominent men in Minnesota Territory, and apprehend I shall have no trouble in negotiating for an early publication of my work. Hoping that you will not forget to do me the great kindness of forwarding a copy of the “Indian History” by Express, I remain with respect, Your Obt. Svt. William W. Warren

Warren’s letter reached Washington three days later. Schoolcraft, who was himself in ill health after only partially recovering from a stroke in 1845, answered immediately, offering both advice and encouragement.32 I entirely concur in your project of publication, & trust you may procure a good publisher, & establish such terms, by contract, with him, as may ensure a just share of the profits. Give the subject your best thoughts, judgment & efforts. It will derive its great value from its being a contribution to our knowledge of the Indians, from altogether reliable sources. We are not responsible for the opinions of the Indians, but, are so, for putting them accurately on record. Every labourer in this field is a public benefactor. We have recd so many apocryphal & erroneous things, stated about the Indians within 200 years, that it is refreshing to have genuine labourers in the field. With every wish for your success I am truly Yr friend & obt servt Henry R. Schoolcraft 168



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But Warren did not find a publisher, only one who suggested that Warren pay the cost of printing 1,000 copies, calculated at $350. Nor did he recover his health. Sick and without resources, he left his manuscript with his physician and returned to Minnesota in May. Before leaving New York, however, he borrowed $400 from two New York businessmen, William E. Wickes and Timothy Lyons, by offering them a deed for one of two quarter sections of land in Benton County on which he had a claim. “He represented the location as being very desirable and in close proximity to the one he should purchase.” Warren was interested in keeping the land away from liquor dealers, and retained the right to select a purchaser should Wickes and Lyons wish to sell it at a profit. He promised to send them the deed within four months.33 When Warren arrived in Chicago he heard that William G. Le Duc, the proprietor of a bookstore in St. Paul with whom Warren had an account, was on his way to New York. Warren had already consulted with him before leaving St. Paul in February, and now saw an opportunity to seek Le Duc’s assistance in getting his book published. On 19 May 1853 he addressed the following letter, his last, to Le Duc in New York City, in care of A. S. Barnes, 31 John Street.34 Accidentally hearing at this place that you was on your way to New York, I write you these lines. I was so sick and feeble while in New York that I could not do anything towards getting my work under way. Mr. Robertson interested Judge C. F. Daly to help me, but he was very busy on his own affairs and I became so anxious to go home before I lost all strength, that I left the matter in his hands at his own request. He lives at No. 9, St. Clements Place. Mr. Putnam received me very kindly but he had so much on his hands in the way of publishing that he could not take my work. He offered to have it stereotyped for me and get 1000 copies printed and bound, and act as my agent in the city for the sale of the Book, provided I paid the Expenses. I of course to own the whole concern and get all the profits. He calculated $350 to stereotype it. The offer is still standing. He gave me quite a present in Books. Appleton said that if you would order for 1000 copies he would publish the work. Redfield read the manuscript, was much pleased with it, told me to call on a certain day and he would tell me what fi n a l s t r u g g l e s


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he would do. I was too sick to call at the appointed time, and neglected it altogether.35 Now sir, if you will undertake to take the work in hand and publish it on your expense so that we own the whole concern, I will give you an interest of one half. If you cannot afford to do this, I want you to take the manuscript and bargain with a publisher as though it were your own. I give you full powers to act in my behalf. It will be alright between us. I want but 100 copies for subscribers who have addressed me. Quite a number of people in New York and different points are anxious to have the book come out and the moment it is advertised there will be plenty of orders for it. I left the manuscript in the hands of Dr. R. T. Trall, No. 15 Laight Street. I enclose you an order for it on mine. It may be well for you to see Judge Daly, as he has some letters [of] Dr. Trall’s respecting the work which might be of use to you. I leave the matter entirely in your hands. Truly yours, Wm W Warren

From Chicago, Warren returned to St. Paul, where on the morning of 1 June 1853 he suffered a sudden hemorrhage and died at the home of his sister, Charlotte Price. He was twenty-eight years of age. His funeral took place on the following day, the Reverend E. D. Neill officiating. He was probably buried in the Episcopal churchyard, the only cemetery at the time in St. Paul. In announcing his death the newspapers acknowledged that his passing would be “received with deep regret throughout the territory, for he had numerous warm friends, who appreciated his many virtues, and sympathized with his misfortunes.”36 Julia Warren Spears, who was then living near Two Rivers, recalled that Hole-in-the-Day, when he heard the news of Warren’s death, was heard to say that “he had lost his elder brother and best friend.”37 The rift between the two had been healed. The official obituary notice, written by his friend William H. Wood, was published in the Minnesota Democrat on 6 July 1853. The announcement of the death of this well known writer of Indian leg170



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ends, was received by the citizens of the county in which he resided, and the entire nation of Chippewa Indians with deep and unfeigned sorrow. Possessing, as Mr. Warren unquestionably did, talents of no common order, which he devoted unremittingly to the study of Indian character and customs in the Northwest for many years; exercising to the close of his life an influence over the entire nation of Chippewas possessed by no other person, his demise among us deserves more than a passing notice. The deceased was a quarter-breed Chippewa. His father, Mr. Lyman Warren, a native of Vermont, emigrated at an early period to Lake Superior, and for many years was extensively engaged in the Indian trade among the Chippewas. On the maternal side, the deceased was a direct descendant of the celebrated Cadotte, immortal in Indian history. He was born at La Pointe, on Lake Superior, and was educated at one of the best Literary institutions in New York. On his return from school, he again took up his abode among the Chippewas, and from that time, to the period of his death, for the most part resided among them. From his kindly and generous nature, he has ever been a favorite, especially with the chiefs and old men. He spoke their language with a facility unknown even to themselves; and permitted no opportunity to pass, of learning from the old men of the nation its history, customs and beliefs. Often has the writer of this tribute, found him seated at the foot of an old oak, with Flat Mouth the Pillager chief, noting down upon paper the incidents of the old man’s eventful life, as he related them. Having by his steadfast friendship to the Indians, won their confidence, they fully communicated to him, not only the true history of their wars, as seen by themselves, but also that of their peculiar religious beliefs, rites and ceremonies. Perhaps no man in the United States was so well acquainted with the interior life of the Indian, as was Mr. Warren. He studied it long and thoroughly. He was never satisfied with what he had learned of Indian tradition, but felt more and more, that a world of knowledge respecting the red man, yet remained to be revealed. He believed that knowledge full of interest and beauty. Investing Indian life with a romance perhaps too little appreciated by less imaginative minds, he devoted himself to the work of preparing and unfolding it, with great enthusiasm. Thus animated, he could not be otherwise than enthusiastically attached to the Indians and their interests. And so he was. He was their true friend. While from the treachery of some, and the cupidity of others, the Indians were often left with apparently no prospect but sudden destruction, in Mr. Warren they never failed of finding a brother, by whose kind words of enfi n a l s t r u g g l e s


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couragement and sympathy, their hearts were ever gladdened. In his endeavors to contribute to their happiness, he sacrificed all personal interests and convenience, he with his wife and children oftentimes dividing with them their last morsel of subsistence. With a true philanthropist’s heart, he literally went about them, doing good. For the last three years, Mr. Warren has been engaged in preparing a volume entitled “History of the Ojibwas.” In the early part of last winter, he went to New York to superintend its publication. Failing health required him to leave for home, before its publication. An arrangement, however, was made with Harpers & Brothers, and the work is now in press at the house of those celebrated publishers, and will, it is gratifying to learn, soon make its appearance. We may fairly infer the standard of excellence of this history of the Ojibwas, from the acknowledged talents of its author. Possessing so great a fund of accurate and minute information relative to the subject upon which he has treated; so deeply versed in Indian history; he was pre-eminently qualified for such a work. The history of a nation so celebrated as the Ojibwas, written by such a hand, may justly be regarded as a valuable acquisition to American literature, and cannot fail of meeting with general favor from the public. While we deeply lament the too early demise of our friend, we rejoice that he lived long enough to see his volume, prepared amid sickness and penury, completed, and in course of publication, first having received eminent testimonials of its superior excellence and value.

Wood, probably basing his information about the publication of the manuscript on letters written to him by Warren from New York, could not have known that, in the end, Warren was unsuccessful, and had left the manuscript in New York in the hope that someone, somehow, could get it published. Julia Wood, in her memoir, also remarked on the passing of their friend. I will add that the following winter . . . Mr. Warren spent in New York, supervising the publication of his book. We were aware that his health was delicate, that he was threatened with consumption, but, when we heard that he had died in St. Paul, on his return from the East, we were greatly shocked. We never forgot William W. Warren. We often recalled his genial nature, his fine imposing personality, his pleasing qualities, his friendship, and we mourned his too early death not only as a personal loss, but as a loss to community and Minnesota at large.38 172



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11. Aftermath

S

ometime after her husband’s death, or perhaps while he was absent in New York, Matilda Warren gave birth to their last child, a daughter whom she named Madeline. Another daughter, Lillie, was born in 1856, probably fathered by a Crow Wing trader, Samuel B. Abbe, as she herself wrote in 1914.1 In the federal census of 1857 for Cass County, Minnesota Territory, Matilda Warren and her five children are found living at the Gull Lake Agency, next door to Truman Warren and his wife. In 1868 they were among the first to remove from Gull Lake to the new reservation at White Earth.2 By this time Alfred, the eldest, was married to Elizabeth Roi and living at Leech Lake.3 William Vincent (also known as Tyler) and Madeline moved with their mother. Both William Vincent and Madeline later married, had children, and lived out their lives at White Earth. Delia was already married to Frank Winters, and they, too, moved to White Earth. William G. Le Duc did pick up Warren’s manuscript in New York, and returned with it to St. Paul. At the bottom of Warren’s last letter, dated 19 May 1853, Le Duc noted that he had loaned the manuscript to Henry Rice “to read and return at his leisure, and recommend some scheme for printing.” Rice eventually arranged for publication of the manuscript with J. Fletcher Williams, then secretary of the Minnesota Historical Society, and it was first published in 1885 in volume 5 of the Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society. Footnotes and probably some editorial changes were made by the Reverend E. D. Neill. Concerning the publication of the History of the Ojibways, as it was first called, Williams wrote to Daniel A. Robertson, former editor of the Minnesota Democrat, on 16 March 1885: “Warren’s book has been issued, and is well-received. I think it will do us good, and will


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be considered a valuable contribution. Very generous press notices of it have been made. I am afraid, however, we will have trouble and delay in working the edition off.”4 It has subsequently been reprinted at least four times. The bond of William Warren to William Wickes and Timothy Lyons for 160 acres of land ended up in the possession of William Le Duc. On 18 January 1854 Wickes wrote to Le Duc and asked for restitution of the money, which he quoted as $200. He also wrote that Warren had “ample funds” when he left New York besides the money he and Lyons had paid him, and supposed that he must have arrived home with the money untouched. Le Duc noted on the back of the bond that “Wicks and Lyons sent this to me and empowered me to act for them in settling with Warren, but Warren died on his way home & what became of the land warrant was never disclosed. I sent it to the Historical Society to file with Warren papers if any, as the MSS of his book which I had in possession for years & gave Mr Rice for publication.”5 Watrous was removed from his position as Chippewa subagent in 1853. Alexander Ramsey was replaced as appointed governor of the Minnesota Territory in the same year. He later served as Republican governor of the state (1860–1863) and U.S. senator (1863–1879). After making his fortune in St. Paul real estate, Henry Rice remained active in Democratic politics, and served six years as U.S. senator from Minnesota. Hole-in-the-Day, who had retained leadership of the Gull Lake bands, made six trips to Washington between 1855 and 1867. When it appeared that he would oppose the removal of the Gull Lake Chippewa to White Earth in 1868, he was killed by several of his own dissatisfied people, some say at the instigation of Clement Beaulieu and other mixed bloods.6 One of his daughters later married William Vincent Warren, grandson of William W. Warren through his son Tyler. One wonders what became of the notes Warren had taken on the biographies of prominent chiefs and the legends and histories of the Ojibwa elders. Some were probably left behind at his home (in reality, part of Henry M. Rice’s trading establishment) in Crow Wing when he left for Gull Lake in 1849. There they may have been discovered by trader Samuel B. Abbe or by his partners, David, George, or Alpheus Fuller, all of whom lived in the Sauk Rapids/Crow Wing 174

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area. It is also possible that Abbe, who appears to have fathered a child with Warren’s widow in 1856, may have acquired them through her. After his marriage in 1857 Abbe brought his young wife, Abby Fuller, to Crow Wing, where they may even have lived in the same house the Warrens had once occupied. At any rate, whoever discovered the notes recognized their value, and copied them into two account books that had once belonged to Colonel D. H. Dustin, a lawyer who was in the group that had come out with Abby Fuller from Connecticut in 1854. The notebooks now reside in the Abby Abbe Fuller and Family Papers (niece of Abby Fuller Abbe) in the Minnesota Historical Society. The copyist clearly acknowledges William W. Warren as the source. It is certain, however, that these are by no means the complete notes of the deceased author. On one scrap of paper inserted in the account book is written the following: There is a beautiful island near the western shore of Lake Superior, about 2 miles from the main land, called by the Ojibwas—Moning-nun-a kaming—or the island of the Golden-breasted woodpecker. A little more than 2 centuries since, the whole Ojibwa nation was congregated upon this island which the old historians or storyteller of the tribe call the Parent Root or [ ] which all their numerous and far scattered bands spring forth like branches. The primitive history of this nation is lost. Every authentic mark of their origin is buried in the mists of years! Only a few oral traditions, vague and unsatisfactory show the existence of the Ojibwa as a distinct independent nation beyond the period of a few centuries. Whence they came to their beautiful island home, or at what era of time must remain to the student and [ ] a vexed question forever. But while their early history is thus shrouded in fable or utterly lost, the events of the last 2 centuries are told with tolerable accuracy by the old men, who are the repositories of the national legends, and whose mouths are filled with tales of heroes and their wonderful exploits, tales which if written, would invest the name of the Ojibwa with interest when the last remnants of their tribes shall have passed away. But the old men of the Ojibwa are fast falling into their graves, and with them the traditions and occurrences of the past. Their history and their beliefs are becoming mixed with the beliefs and tales of the white man whose plough is already on their battle fields and whose spade is amid their monumental mounds. The story of the red man must soon be told, the records be made soon, or hereafter they will become vague and uncertain a ft e r m at h


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as the legends of the race they would memorialise. Wandering through the northwest, I have gathered up a few fragments of the story of the Ojibwa, and recorded a few of their legends and traditions. For these I am indebted to the Mss of the late W. W. Warren, Chippewa Interpreter, an educated half-breed of the tribe, and whose life-long residence with the nation beloved and recognized as his own, renders his records worthy of full belief. It is only to be regretted that the work of recording the history of his failing people, a work upon which he had entered with enthusiasm, should never have arrived at completion, as though oblivion jealous of the empire over the red race should bring death to strike at the brave heart that struggled at her supremacy, and stay the feet of the wanderer that roved from lodge to lodge and band to band to hear from the lips of the old men “tales from the times of old.”

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Appendix A: Letters of William W. Warren

Date

Recipient

Location

14 May 1837

Lyman M. Warren

Warren Family Papers, shsw

28 June 1847

Henry Dodge

oia, Letters Received, m-234,

10 August 1847

Commissioner Medill

Territorial Papers of the

1 September 1847

Commissioner Medill

oia, Letters Received, m-234,

1 March 1849

George P. Warren

Goldsmith Papers, shsw

13 April 1849

George P. Warren


30 July 1849

George P. Warren


21 September 1849

George P. Warren


22 September 1849

Henry R. Schoolcraft

Schoolcraft Papers,

18 December 1849

George P. Warren


29 January 1850

C. R. Smith

oia, Field Office Records,

Roll 388 United States, m-236, Roll 46 Roll 289

Library of Congress

m-842, Roll 390 27 March 1850

George P. Warren

31 March 1850

George P. Warren

Goldsmith Papers, shsw Goldsmith Papers, shsw

(sent with above)

George P. Warren


1 May 1850

Jonathan Fletcher

Schoolcraft Papers,

12 May 1850

Governor Ramsey


14 May 1850

Governor Ramsey

19 May 1850

Governor Ramsey

11 August 1850

Governor Ramsey

Library of Congress m-842, Roll 2 oia, Field Office Records, m-842, Roll 2 oia, Field Office Records, m-842, Roll 2 oia, Letters Received, m-234, Roll 390


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28 August 1850

Governor Ramsey

Ramsey Papers, Roll 5, mnhs

15 January 1851

George P. Warren


15 January 1851

George P. Warren


21 January 1851

Governor Ramsey

oia, Letters Received, m-234, Roll 767

4 February 1851

George P. Warren


12 February 1851

George P. Warren


10 June 1851

Governor Ramsey

Ramsey Papers, Roll 6, mnhs

9 July 1851

George P. Warren


9 July 1851

George P. Warren


4 August 1851

Governor Ramsey


20 December 1851

Governor Ramsey

24 June 1852

George P. Warren


1 November 1852

Abram Fridley

Fridley Papers, mnhs

19 March 1853

Henry R. Schoolcraft

Schoolcraft Papers,

29 May 1853

William G. Le Duc

m-842, Roll 3 oia, Field Office Records, m-842, Roll 8

Library of Congress Le Duc and Family Papers, mnhs

178

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Appendix B: Published Works of William W. Warren

Publications “Answers to Inquiries . . . ”

Minnesota Pioneer, 5, 12, 19, and 26 Dec. 1849

“Adventures among the Blackfeet”

Minnesota Chronicle and Register, 23 Feb. and 2, 9, and 16 Mar. 1850

“Sioux and Chippewa Wars”

Minnesota Chronicle and Register, 3 and 10 June 1850

“A Brief History of the Chippewa”

Minnesota Democrat, 11, 18, and 25 Feb., 4, 11, and 25 Mar., and 1 Apr. 1851

“The Rocky Mountain Leap”

Minnesota Democrat, 28 Oct. 1851

“Oral Traditions Respecting the History of the Ojibwa Nation” “Pillagers, or Mukkundwas”

Henry R. Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes of the United States, vol. 2, 1852, 135–167 Henry R. Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes of the United States, vol. 5, 1855, 184–191

Letters to Newspapers 13 March 1850

Minnesota Pioneer, in support of Ojibwe against Sioux; signed O-jib-way

28 January 1851

Minnesota Democrat, reply to Hole-in-the-Day

29 November 1851

Minnesota Democrat, explanation of his role in the removal

31 December 1851

Minnesota Democrat, response to Rev. Boutwell

14 January 1852

Minnesota Democrat, summary of events leading to his dismissal in 1847


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Notes

Preface 1. “A Brief History of the Chippewa,” Minnesota Democrat, 11 Feb. 1851. 2. William W. Warren, History of the Ojibway People (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1984), 55. 3. Reuben Gold Thwaites, ed., The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents (New York: Pagent, 1959), 51:61. 4. John D. Nichols, ed., “Statement Made by the Indians”: A Bilingual Petition of the Chippewas of Lake Superior, 1864 (London, Ont.: University of Western Ontario, 1988), 20. 5. Maude Kegg, “Nookomis Gaa-inaajimotawid: What My Grandmother Told Me,” Oshkaabewis Native Journal 1, no. 2 (1990): 36, 40. 6. Wub-e-ke-niew, We Have the Right to Exist (New York: Black Thistle Press, 1995), xiii. 7. Thwaites, Jesuit Relations, 51:53; R. R. Bishop Baraga, A Dictionary of the Otchipwe Language, Explained in English (1878; reprint, Minneapolis: Ross and Haines, 1966), 2:264. 8. Baraga, Dictionary of the Otchipwe Language, 2:421. 1. Family and Childhood 1. Book of Deeds, Liber 20, 665, Clinton County Courthouse, Plattsburg ny. See also L. Warren to P. Moore, 9 Nov. 1804, Pliny Moore Papers, McClellan Collection, Feinberg Library, suny-Plattsburgh. 2. The Beaumonts were among the original settlers of Champlain in 1788. William Beaumont, famous for his studies of the human digestive system, was an early schoolmaster of Champlain (1807–1810), and probably taught both Lyman M. and Truman A. Warren. It is not known if he was related to the original Champlain Beaumonts. 3. J. D. Stickney, The Warren Family History and Genealogy (St. Paul mn: McGillWarner, 1914), 15. This information was supplied to Stickney by James Warren, son of Truman Warren. See also the Register of Baptisms in the Congregational Church in the town of Champlain, Moore Papers. 4. Monroe County Register of Deeds, Liber 20 (Grantee Index), 665, 5 Aug. 1828, Monroe County Courthouse, Rochester ny. 5. United States Statutes at Large (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1848), 4:332–33.


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6. Contract of Lyman Warren to C. O. Ermatinger, 12 Feb. 1817; contract of Truman Warren to C. O. Ermatinger, 26 Apr. 1817, both in Greffes du notaire Henry Griffin, cn 601, s185, Archives Nationales du Quebec. 7. Special File 148, Territorial Papers of the United States, Wisconsin, 1836–1848, National Archives Microfilm (hereafter nam) m–236, Roll 41; S. Ashmun to B. Nye, 12 July 1819, Bartlett Nye Papers, Feinberg Library, suny-Plattsburg; James Henry Warren, Graduate’s Record Sheet, Knox College, Galesburg il. 8. R. Crooks to Hogel, 29 and 30 July 1821, American Fur Company (hereafter afc) Letterbook, Mackinac Island mi; afc Account Book, 22 July 1822, afc Papers, National Archives of Canada, Ottawa; Testimony of Robert Stuart, 10 July 1826, in Lyman M. Warren Family Papers, 1756–1907, State Historical Society of Wisconsin (hereafter shsw), Madison. 9. Margaret Bazinet, daughter of Jean-Baptiste Bazinet and his Ojibwe wife, later married Francis Morin. In 1839 they were living in Grand Haven, Michigan. Claim 154, Indian Claims and Petitions, Lucius Lyon Collection, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 10. She was probably buried at first near the Warren home but was later reburied next to her grandfather, Michel Cadotte Sr., in the Catholic cemetery. 11. John Hudson to Jeremiah Evarts, 4 Aug. 1826, American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (hereafter abcfm) Papers, Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge ma. 12. The name William does not appear in either the Warren or the Whipple ancestry, and may well have been given in honor of Dr. William Beaumont, Lyman’s former teacher, who was then stationed at Prairie du Chien. 13. Rochester Telegraph, 9 Aug. 1825. 14. Thomas L. McKenney, Sketches of a Tour to the Lakes, of the Character and Customs of the Chippeway Indians, and Incidents Connected with the Treaty of Fond du Lac (Minneapolis: Ross and Haines, 1972), 261–62. 15. McKenney, Sketches of a Tour, 263–65. 16. Charles J. Kappler, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties (Washington dc: Government Printing Office, 1904), 2:268–73. 17. Hudson to Everts, 4 Aug. 1826, abcfm Papers. 18. This was probably Julia Warren, who had married James H. Lockwood in 1824 and was then residing in Prairie du Chien. The Lockwoods were from Peru, New York, near Champlain. 19. Hudson to Everts, 4 Aug. 1826. 20. Mackinaw Book of Marriages, 25 July 1827, and Book of Deeds a: 221–24, 26 July 1827, Mackinac County Courthouse, St. Ignace mi. 21. afc Letterbook. 22. Children at Mackinaw School, 5 Apr. 1833, abcfm Papers, 18.5.7.1:36; A. Ferry to family, 29 July 1829, in “Frontier Mackinac Island, 1823–1834: Letters of William Montague and Amanda White Ferry,” Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society 26, no. 1 (1948): 121. 23. Jedediah D. Stevens diary, 5–15 Mar. 1830, Minnesota Historical Society (hereafter mnhs), St. Paul. 182

no te s to pag es 3– 9


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24. W. Ferry to David Greene, 13 Sept. 1830, abcfm Papers, 18.6.1. 25. St. Ann’s Church Register, Mackinac Island mi, 29 July 1831; Children at Mackinaw School, 5 Apr. 1833. 26. S. Hall to Aaron Hall, 7 Jan. 1832, Sherman Hall Papers, mnhs. 27. Lt. James Allen, “Journal,” in Schoolcraft’s Expedition to Lake Itasca, ed. Philip P. Mason (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1993), 185. 28. Boutwell to Schoolcraft, 6 Apr. 1833, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft Papers, Cont. 11, Library of Congress, Washington dc. 29. George Johnston Journal, 3 Mar.–30 Apr. 1827, photocopy in the Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant. 2. Education 1. L. Warren to L. M. Warren, 15 May 1834, Lyman Warren Papers in SpearsMee Collection, 1834–1851, Becker County Historical Society, Detroit Lakes mn; 14 Nov. 1835, Warren Family Papers. 2. The accident was reported in the Detroit Free Press, 7 Sept. 1836. 3. L. Warren to L. M. Warren, 10 Oct. 1836, Warren Family Papers. 4. L. Warren to L. M. Warren, 10 Oct. 1836. 5. W. Warren to L. M. Warren, 14 May 1837, Warren Family Papers. Spelling and punctuation have not been changed. 6. Contract of Chippewa chiefs with Henry Sibley, Lyman M. Warren, and William A. Aitken, 13 Mar. 1837, Henry H. Sibley Papers, Roll 1, mnhs. 7. Kappler, Indian Affairs, 2:491–93; Robert Stuart to L. M. Warren, 14 Aug. 1838, Warren Family Papers. 8. Proceedings of a Council with the Chippewa Indians, 28 July 1837, Documents Related to the Negotiation of Ratified and Unratified Treaties with Various Indian Tribes, 1801–1869, nam t-494, Roll 3. 9. For further discussion of this treaty, see Ronald N. Satz, Chippewa Treaty Rights (Madison: Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, 1991), 13–31. 10. Sketch of the Condition and Prospects of the Oneida Institute (Utica ny, 1834). This is the highest level of education that William Warren attained. 11. Hall to Greene, Oct. 1838, Northwest Mission Papers, 5:4, mnhs. 12. Crooks to Halsey, 5 Sept. 1838, afc Papers, New York Historical Society, New York. 13. Doty to Poinsett, 28 Dec. 1838, Correspondence of the Office of Indian Affairs, Letters Received (hereafter coia-lr) nam m-234, Roll 387. 14. L. Warren to L. M. Warren, 21 Oct. 1838, Warren Family Papers; L. Warren to L. M. Warren, 16 Dec. 1838, Warren Papers. 15. L. Warren to L. M. Warren, 16 Dec. 1838 , Warren Papers. 16. Milton C. Sernett, Abolition’s Axe (Syracuse ny: Syracuse University Press, 1986), 88–96. 17. Warren to Sibley, 18 Aug. 1838, Sibley Papers, Roll 1. 18. L. M. Warren to Hough, 25 Sept. 1839, Warren Family Papers. 19. Claim 156, Indian Claims and Petitions, Lucius Lyon Collection. 20. L. M. Warren to William and Truman Warren, 4 Apr. 1840, Warren Family Papers. note s t o p a g e s 9 – 1 7


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21. J. H. Warren to L. M. Warren, 27 Jan. 1841, Warren Family Papers. 22. J. H. Warren to George Warren, 13 Feb. 1841, Charles Francis Xavier Goldsmith Papers, 1821–1923, 1:4, Special Collections of the shsw, Area Research Center, McIntyre Library, University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire. 23. L. M. Warren to J. Ermatinger, 2 July 1841, Goldsmith Papers, 1:2. 24. L. M. Warren to Sibley, 10 Aug. 1841, Sibley Papers, Roll 3. 3. Interpreter 1. L. M. Warren to J. H. Warren, 24 Sept. 1841, Warren Family Papers. 2. L. M. Warren to J. H. Warren, 24 Sept. 1841. 3. L. M. Warren to J. H. Warren, 24 Sept. 1841. 4. Bushnell to Doty, 2 Oct. 1841 and 30 Sept. 1842, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 388. 5. Doty to Spencer, 28 Jan. 1842; Doty to Spencer, 12 Aug. 1842; Doty to Crawford, 24 Sept. 1842, all in coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 388. 6. Satz, Chippewa Treaty Rights, 37, incorrectly places Brunson at the treaty negotiations. 7. Kappler, Indian Affairs, 2:544. 8. Stuart to Spencer, 27 July 1842, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 425. As early as 1841 certain citizens of Wisconsin petitioned to have the Indians removed from the territory, and on 16 February 1842 the Wisconsin assembly passed a resolution in favor of removing the Indians permanently west of the Mississippi. Doty to Spencer, 19 Feb. 1842, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 949. 9. Blatchford Journal, in Wheeler to Greene, 3 May 1843, abcfm Papers; Sketch of Speech to the Indians by Robert Stuart, Commissioner, 29 Sept. 1842, enclosed in Stuart to Crawford, 29 Mar. 1844, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 389; Kappler, Indian Affairs, 2:542–44. See also Nichols, “Statement Made by the Indians”. 10. On 11 September 1847 Amous, eldest son of White Crow, drew a map of the land that his father intended to reserve for his people and gave it to George Johnston, asking him to deliver it to Henry Schoolcraft. It is the present-day Lac du Flambeau Reservation. coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 777. 11. Blatchford Journal. 12. Buffalo to L. M. Warren, 29 Oct. 1842, accompanying Paper a in Brunson to Doty, 6 Jan. 1843, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 388. 13. Crawford to Brunson, 14 Oct. 1842, Correspondence of the Office of Indian Affairs, Letters Sent (hereafter coia-ls), nam m-21, Roll 33. 14. Stuart to Brunson, 13 Oct. 1842, Brunson Letterbook, Alfred Brunson Papers, shsw. Although Warren was not hired until December, his pay actually commenced at the beginning of the last quarter of 1842. 15. Rev. Alfred Brunson, A Western Pioneer; or, Incidents in the Life and Times of Rev. Alfred Brunson (Cincinnati: Hitchcock and Walden, 1879), 2:144–47. 16. For a discussion of the contested zone in warfare between the Chippewa and the Dakota, see Harold Hickerson, The Chippewa and Their Neighbors (Prospect Heights il: Waveland Press, 1988), 64–90. 17. Papers accompanying Brunson to Doty, 6 Jan. 1843, Brunson Letterbook. 184



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18. Brunson, Western Pioneer, 157–62; Brunson to Doty, 6–10 Jan. 1842, Brunson Letterbook. 19. Brunson, Western Pioneer, 163–65. 20. Brunson to Doty, 6–12 Jan. and 10 Feb. 1843, Brunson Letterbook; Stuart to Crawford, 28 Feb. and 15 Mar. 1843, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 388. 21. Stuart to Crawford, 22 Mar. 1843, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 388. 22. Brunson, Western Pioneer, 165–70. Thomas E. Randall, History of the Chippewa Valley (Eau Claire wi: Free Press Print, 1875), identified the site as in Township 34 or 35, Range 10. 23. Ord to Brunson, 10 July 1843; Stuart to Brunson, 3 Aug. 1843, both in coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 388. 24. Stuart to Crawford, 2 June 1843; Doty to Brunson, 12 July 1843; Brunson to Stuart, 20 July 1843, all in coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 388. 25. Stuart to Brunson, 3 Aug. 1843; Stuart to Crawford, 5 Aug. 1843, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 388; Brunson to L. M. Warren, 14 Aug. 1843, Brunson Letterbook. 26. C. H. Beaulieu to Peter B. Barbeau, June 1843, Peter B. Barbeau Papers, 1:2, Sault Ste. Marie Public Library, Sault Ste. Marie mi; J. H. Warren to L. M. Warren, 14 Aug. 1843, Warren Papers; Records of the Protestant Mission Church, Madeline Island, Chicago Historical Society, Chicago. 27. Brunson to Doty, 20 Nov. 1843, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 388. 28. Walter Cunningham to James Madison Porter, 2 Oct. 1843, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 388. 29. Brunson to Doty, 30 Sept. 1843, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 388. 30. John Parker, ed., The Journals of Jonathan Carver and Related Documents, 1766–1770 (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1976), 127–32, 189; George Nelson, My First Years in the Fur Trade: The Journals of 1802–1804 (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2002), 122–32; Chippewa Census, 1843, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 388. 31. Brunson to Doty, 23 Nov. 1843, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 388. 32. Brunson to Doty, 23 Nov. 1843. 33. Brunson Letterbook, 85. 34. Treaty of Peace, 14 Nov. 1843, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 193; Brunson, Western Pioneer, 205. The fact that the Chippewa signatures were added several months later to the Sioux document has led some to believe erroneously that Warren was present at the Fort Snelling council on 3 August 1843. Bruce M. White, “The Regional Context of the Removal Order of 1850,” in Fish in the Lakes, Wild Rice, and Game in Abundance: Testimony on Behalf of Mille Lacs Ojibwe Hunting and Fishing Rights comp. James M. McClurken (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2000), 157. 35. Brunson to Crawford, 23 Sept. 1843; Porter to Doty, 24 Oct. 1843; Brunson to Doty, 30 Nov. 1843, all in coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 388. 36. 20 Aug. 1844, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 389. 37. St. Joseph’s Church Register, 11 Aug. 1844 and 23 Aug. 1846, Bayfield wi. 38. In Warren to Crooks, 30 Aug. and 6 Sept. 1838, afc Papers, New York Historical Society. notes t o p a g e s 2 4 – 2 9


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39. Dousman to Crooks, 26 Feb. 1843; Dousman to Crooks, 22 May 1843; Sibley to Crooks, 2 Jan. 1844; Warren to Crooks, 10 Jan. 1845, all in afc Papers, New York Historical Society. 40. Mary Warren English, Biographical Data on William W. Warren, mnhs. 41. Warren to J. Fletcher, 1 May 1850, Schoolcraft Papers, Cont. 25. Warren is sometimes criticized because of his reliance on men’s accounts, but it must be remembered that as a young man himself, he would naturally (and according to custom) approach the chiefs and elders, who were considered the repositories of the traditions of the people. 42. Dodge to Hays, 30 Nov. 1846, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 949. 43. Hays to Richmond, 2 Sept. 1847, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 389; Hays to Medill, 4 Feb. 1848, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 390. 44. Affidavit of Michel Dufault, 28 June 1847, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 389. See also Affidavit of William W. Warren, undated, Warren Papers. 45. English, Biographical Data on William W. Warren. 46. Reply to interrogations in Hays to Dodge, 13 Feb. 1847, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 949. 47. Warren to Fletcher, 1 May 1850, Schoolcraft Papers, Cont. 25. 48. Warren to Dodge, 28 June 1847, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 389. 49. Enclosed in Warren to Dodge, 28 June 1847. 50. Enclosed in Warren to Dodge, 28 June 1847. 51. Hall to Hays, 16 Sept. 1847, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 389. 52. Hays to Richmond, 2 Sept. 1847. 53. Dodge to Medill, 22 July 1847, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 389. 4. William W. Warren and the Treaty of 1847 1. Medill to Verplanck, 4 June 1847, coia-ls, nam m-21, Roll 39. 2. Medill to Verplanck, 4 June 1847. See also Medill to Dodge, 31 Oct. 1846, coia-ls, nam m-21, Roll 38. 3. Medill to Verplanck, 4 June 1847. George W. Clinton of New York had strongly urged this policy in a letter to Commissioner Medill, 2 Apr. 1847, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 389. 4. Medill to Verplanck, 4 June 1847. 5. Medill to Rice, 3 Nov. 1846, coia-ls nam m-21, Roll 39; Rice to Medill, 17 June 1847, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 389. 6. Rice to Medill, 30 June 1847, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 389. 7. Verplanck to Medill, 5 July 1847, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 389. 8. Verplanck to Medill, 10 July 1847, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 389. 9. Verplanck to Medill, 2 Aug. 1847, Territorial Papers of the United States, nam m-236, Roll 46. 10. Verplanck to Medill, 2 Aug. 1847. 11. Kappler, Indian Affairs, 2:567–69. 12. Kappler, Indian Affairs, 2:567–69. See also Warren to Medill, 1 Sept. 1847, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 389. 13. Verplanck to Medill, 3 Aug. and 1 Nov. 1847, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 389. 186



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14. Warren to Medill, 10 Aug. 1847, Territorial Papers of the United States, nam m-236, Roll 46. 15. Rice to Medill, 10 Sept. 1847, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 389; Kappler, Indian Affairs, 2:570. 16. Wiltse to Warren, 29 Aug. 1847, Warren Family Papers. 17. The words “if willing” bothered the traders. They wanted to make sure the Indians paid their “debts.” 18. Petitions, 21 Aug.–14 Sept. 1847, sent to Medill, 14 Oct. 1847, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 389. 19. Warren to Medill, 1 Sept. 1847. 20. Verplanck to Medill, 1 Nov. 1847, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 389. 21. Verplanck to Medill, 1 Nov. 1847. 22. Rice to Medill, 6 Nov. 1847, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 389. 23. Verplanck to Medill, Voucher 40, 29 Aug. 1848 rg 217, Indian Accounts of the Second Auditor, Box 545, File 11,010-b. 24. Hays to Medill, 2 Sept. 1847, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 389. 25. Hays to Richmond, 2 Sept. 1847; Richmond to Medill, 11 Sept. 1847; Medill to Richmond, 20 Oct. 1847, all in coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 389. 5. Clerk, Farmer, Interpreter, Author 1. Rice to Medill, 12 Feb. 1848, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 390. 2. Fletcher to Harvey, 17 July 1848, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 390. 3. Rice to La Pointe agent, 18 July 1848, Henry M. Rice and Family Papers, Box 5, mnhs. 4. St. Joseph’s Church Register, La Pointe wi, 20 Aug. 1848. 5. Blatchford to Edward Warren, 29 Dec. 1848, Goldsmith Papers, 1:4. 6. W. W. Warren to G. Warren, 1 Mar. 1849, Goldsmith Papers, 1:4. 7. His sisters Charlotte, eighteen, and Sophia, eleven, were then living with him. Julia, fifteen, was living with the Ermatingers at Chippewa Mills, as was their cousin Nancy, twenty-two. Mary, twelve, had been adopted by a missionary family, the Wheelers, at Bad River. 8. George E. Nettleton, a La Pointe trader. 9. Joseph R. Brown (1805–1870) was a prominent Minnesota businessman. 10. Franklin Steele (1813–1880) built the first lumber mill at St. Anthony Falls in 1848 and was prominent in Minnesota politics. 11. In the fall of 1848 John B. Martell, a mixed-blood trader, persuaded some Lake Superior chiefs to allow him to take them to Washington to present their cause to the president. See Mississauga Ojibwe missionary George Copway’s letter to Medill, 7 Feb. 1849, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 390. 12. This is Waub-ish-ash, or Marten, a Chippewa River chief. 13. Gauthier, a trader from the days of the Northwest Company, had retired to the Chippewa River, where he lived not far from Lyman Warren’s post. Warren suggested that he would go live on the Chippewa River if the Marten would buy him Gauthier’s old house. 14. Tobacco (Met a koo sega), a relative of the Cadottes. notes t o p a g e s 3 9 – 4 9


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15. W. W. Warren to G. Warren, 13 Apr. 1849, Goldsmith Papers, 1:4. 16. Allan Morrison, a Crow Wing trader, and J. D. Cruttenden, both employees of Henry M. Rice. 17. See Warren, History of the Ojibway People, 69–70; and “Adventures among the Blackfeet,” Minnesota Chronicle and Register, 23 Feb.–16 Mar. 1850. 18. Fletcher to Ramsey, 22 June 1849, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 932. 19. The Gull Lake farm was on a narrow strip of land between Gull Lake and Round Lake, near a stream joining the two lakes, according to Sherman Hall. Hall to Treat, Aug. 1850, Northwest Mission Papers, 15:6. 20. Randall, History of the Chippewa Valley, 74. 21. Private Journal of Chippeway River Outfit of 1848 and 1849, Goldsmith Papers, 1:5. 22. W. W. Warren to G. Warren, 30 July 1849, Goldsmith Papers, 1:4. 23. The Ermatingers had lost another son some time earlier. 24. W. W. Warren to G. Warren, 21 Sept. 1849, Goldsmith Papers, 1:4. 25. Warren was disappointed that his employer and patron had joined forces with a former representative of the American Fur Company. 26. Borup and Beaulieu had both been employed by the American Fur Company, which Warren believed was responsible for his father’s demise and his family’s misfortunes. Moreover, they had opposed him in the aftermath of the treaty of 1847. 27. On 4 March 1849 Truman had married Elizabeth Aitken, possibly a niece of William Aitken. Article of Marriage in Leonard Wheeler Papers, Box F, shsw. 28. Warren to Schoolcraft, 22 Sept. 1849, Schoolcraft Papers, Cont. 24. 29. William W. Warren was actually three-eighths Ojibwe, his mother being three-quarters. 30. The principal works of Henry R. Schoolcraft published up to this time (other than his two travel journals) were Algic Researches (1839), Oneota (1844), Notes on the Iroquois (1846), and The Indian in His Wigwam (1848). 31. Minnesota Pioneer, 5 Dec. 1849, reprinted in Minnesota Archaeologist 13, no. 1 (Jan. 1947): 5–21. 32. George Copway (Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh), a Mississauga Ojibwe from Ontario, inserted the first half of part 3 (Minnesota Pioneer, 19 Dec. 1849) in his Traditional History and Characteristic Sketches of the Ojibway Nation (1850; reprint, Toronto: Prospero Books, 2001), 59–65. 33. J. E. Fletcher, Annual Report, 22 Sept. 1849, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 438. 34. Chippewa Annuity Rolls, Roll 1, mnhs; Schoolcraft Papers, Cont. 51; Henry R. Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes of the United States (Philadelphia: Lippencott, Grambo, 1852), 2:211–13. 35. In Fletcher to Ramsey, 21 Nov. 1849, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 932. 36. W. W. Warren to G. Warren, 18 Dec. 1849, Goldsmith Papers 1:4. 37. Warren’s references here are not clear. There were at least two Jewish traders at this time at La Pointe, Julius Austrian and his brother-in-law, Samuel Leopold. 38. White Porcupine, a relative. 39. Warren is referring here to his “Answers to Inquiries,” which Daniel A. Robertson was then publishing in his paper, the Minnesota Pioneer. Thus it appears that it was at 188



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this point that Robertson gave Warren the idea of turning it into a book, not in 1851 as he later told J. Fletcher Williams. J. Fletcher Williams, “Memoir of William W. Warren,” in Warren, History of the Ojibway People, 16. 40. Register of St. Joseph Catholic Church, La Pointe. 41. Fletcher, Annual Report, 22 Sept. 1849, nam m-234, Roll 438. Warren’s vocabulary list of most of the 350 basic words requested by Schoolcraft is found transcribed in Schoolcraft Papers, Cont. 91. 42. Minnesota Pioneer, 13 Mar. 1850. 43. Minnesota Chronicle and Register, 16 Mar. 1850. For a discussion of this article, see Theresa Schenck, “William W. Warren’s Blackfeet Adventure,” in Papers of the Rupert’s Land Colloquium 2004, comp. David G. Malaher (Winnipeg: Centre for Rupert’s Land Studies at the University of Winnipeg, 2004), 409–18. 44. W. W. Warren to G. Warren, 27 Mar. 1850, Goldsmith Papers, 1:4. 45. Orlando Brown to Ramsey, 22 Jan. 1840, coia-ls, nam m-21, Roll 43. 46. Jacob W. Bass ran the St. Paul House on Third and Jackson streets in St. Paul. 47. W. W. Warren to G. Warren, 31 Mar. 1850, Goldsmith Papers, 1:4. 48. At this time the Office of Indian Affairs often contracted with traders to organize the removal efforts and to escort the Indians, paying so much per head, a sum that included their subsistence. Henry M. Rice had contracted for the removal of the Winnebago in 1847, and Warren no doubt saw that he could earn some money in the same way. 49. These three traders, along with Ramsay Crooks, had formed the Northern Fur Company after the failure of the American Fur Company. 50. Warren’s article, entitled “Sioux and Chippewa Wars,” would be published in the Minnesota Chronicle and Register on 3 and 10 June 1850. 51. Warren to Fletcher, 1 May 1850. 52. Affidavits from the Half Breed Claims of the treaty of 1839 show that, through his grandfather Michel Cadotte Sr., Warren was related to Nodin of the Snake River, Buffalo of La Pointe, and the Marten of Lac du Flambeau. Through his grandmother he was related to White Crow and White Fisher of Lac du Flambeau, Little Buck and Wet Mouth of the St. Croix, and Lone Man of the Snake River. Lucius Lyon Collection. 53. This account is found in Warren, History of the Ojibway People, 141–45. Earlier versions are found in “Answers to Inquiries,” Minnesota Pioneer, 19 Dec. 1849, and “A Brief History of the Chippewa,” Minnesota Democrat, 4 Mar. 1851. 54. Warren returned to La Pointe for a time in the late spring and summer of 1848. 55. In Fletcher to Schoolcraft, 17 May 1850, Schoolcraft Papers, Cont. 51; Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes of the United States, 2:135–67. 56. Ramsey to Warren, 29 July 1850, Alexander Ramsey Papers, Roll 5, mnhs. 57. Ramsey diary, 10 Jan. 1852, Ramsey Papers, Roll 38. 6. The Chippewa-Sioux Warfare 1. W. W. Warren to G. Warren, 31 Mar. 1850. 2. Minnesota Pioneer, 13 Mar. 1850. 3. Randall, History of the Chippewa Valley, 33–35. notes t o p a g e s 5 9 – 7 1


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4. Fletcher to Warren, 30 Mar. 1850, Office of Indian Affairs, Field Office Records (hereafter oia-for), nam m-842, Roll 2. 5. Minnesota Chronicle and Register, 6 and 13 Apr., 4 May, and 3 and 10 June 1850. 6. Warren to Ramsey, 14 May 1850, oia-for, nam m-842, Roll 2. 7. Ramsey to Lea, 3 June 1850, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 438. 8. Warren to Ramsey, 19 May 1850, oia-for, nam m-842, Roll 2. 9. Todd to Ramsey, 27 May 1850; Todd to Jones, 20 Aug. 1850, both in coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 2. 10. Minnesota Chronicle and Register, 10 June 1850. 11. Minnesota Chronicle and Register, 17 June 1850; Ramsey to Brown, 15 June 1850, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 438. 12. Ramsey to Brown, 15 June 1850. 13. Minnesota Chronicle and Register, 17 June 1850. 14. Edward D. Neill, History of Minnesota (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippencott, 1858), 530. 15. Ramsey to Brown, 13 July 1850, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 438. 16. Ramsey to Lea, 24 Sept. 1850, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 438. 17. Todd to Ramsey, 11 Aug. 1850, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 438; Todd to Jones, 20 Aug. 1850. 18. Warren to Ramsey, 28 Aug. 1850, Ramsey Papers, Roll 5. 7. The Removal of 1850 1. Joint resolution relative to the removal of the Chippewa Indians from the ceded lands within the Territory of Minnesota, 11 Oct. 1849, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 438. 2. Kappler, Indian Affairs, 5:663. 3. Brown to Ramsey, 6 Feb. 1850, coia-ls, nam m-21, Roll 43. 4. Ramsey to Livermore, 3 Mar. 1850, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 390. 5. Brown to Livermore, 5 Dec. 1849, coia-ls, nam m-21, Roll 42. 6. Minnesota Chronicle and Register, 9 Mar. 1850. 7. Livermore to Ramsey, 26 Mar. 1850, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 390. 8. Ramsey to Brown, 4 Mar. 1850, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 390; Brown to Ramsey, 26 Mar. 1850, coia-ls, nam m-21, Roll 43. 9. Enclosed in Livermore to Ramsey, 2 Apr. 1850, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 390. 10. Ramsey to Brown, 17 and 20 Apr. 1850, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 390. 11. Livermore to Ramsey, 15 May 1850, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 390. 12. Livermore to Ramsey, 26 Mar. 1850; Brown to Watrous, 22 Apr. 1850, coials, nam m-21, Roll 43; Livermore to Ramsey, 20 May 1850, Ramsey Papers, Roll 4; Watrous to Ramsey, 13 July 1850, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 390. 13. Ramsey to Brown, 4 Mar. 1850. 14. Livermore to Ramsey, 26 Mar. and 17 Apr. 1850, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 390; Beaulieu to Borup, 25 Apr. 1850, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 438. 15. Watrous to Ramsey, 2 July 1850; Ramsey to Lea, 16 July 1850, both in coialr, nam m-234, Roll 390. 16. Sam Crawford to Dousman, 26 and 29 July 1850, Hercules Dousman Papers, 1, 3, shsw. 190



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17. Warren to Ramsey, 11 Aug. 1850, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 390. 18. Ramsey to Lea, 16 Aug. 1850, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 390. 19. Sibley to Ramsey, 19 Feb. 1851, Ramsey Papers, Roll 5. 20. Ramsey to Lea, 16 July and 9 and 21 Aug. 1850, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 390; Lea to Ramsey, 26 Aug. 1850, coia-ls, nam m-21, Roll 43. 21. Baraga, Dictionary of the Otchipwe Language, 2:143. 22. Watrous to Ramsey, 27 Aug. 1850, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 390. 23. Warren to Ramsey, 28 Aug. 1850. 24. Watrous to Ramsey, 10 Dec. 1850, Chippewa Annuity Rolls 1, microfilm in mnhs. 25. Julia Warren Spears, “My Journey with the Chippewa Indians,” manuscript, Julia A. Spears and Family Papers, mnhs. 26. Watrous to Ramsey, 10 Dec. 1850, Chippewa Annuity Rolls, Roll 1. 27. Spears, “My Journey.” 28. Watrous to Ramsey, 10 Dec. 1850. 29. Chippewa Chiefs to Lea, 6 Nov. 1851, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 149. 30. Todd to Jones, 15 Dec. 1850, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 438. 31. Hall to Treat, 30 Dec. 1850, abcfm Papers, 18.4.1. 32. Ramsey diary, 29–30 Oct. 1850, Ramsey Papers, Roll 38. 33. Minnesota Pioneer, 21 Nov. 1850. 34. Minnesota Democrat, 17 Dec. 1850. 35. Ramsey diary, 18–24 Dec. 1850, Ramsey Papers, Roll 38. 36. 3 Dec. 1850, Ramsey Papers, Roll 5. 8. Legislator 1. Minnesota Pioneer, 15 Aug. 1850; Minnesota Territorial Records: Election Records, 1849–1857, mnhs. 2. Verplanck to Lea, 20 Jan. 1851, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 767. 3. Fletcher to Ramsey, 28 Dec. 1850, oia-for, nam m-842, Roll 2; Lea to Mitchell, 20 May 1851, coia-ls, nam m-21, Roll 44. 4. William Watts Folwell, A History of Minnesota (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1956), 1:372–73. 5. Minnesota Democrat, 7 Jan. 1851; Legislative Journal of the House of Representatives, Second Territorial Legislature, 6 Jan. 1850, mnhs; Minnesota Democrat, 6 Feb. 1851. 6. Associate Justice Meeker told Governor Ramsey that he believed that the Indian side of the territory was not entitled to representation. Ramsey diary, 1 Feb. 1851, Ramsey Papers, Roll 38. 7. Minnesota Pioneer, 6 Feb. 1851. 8. Legislative Journal, 48–49. 9. Ramsey to Sibley, 14 Jan. 1851, Sibley Papers, Roll 8. 10. Minnesota Democrat, 21 Jan. 1851. 11. Minnesota Democrat, 21 Jan. 1851. 12. Ramsey diary, 9 Jan. 1851, Ramsey Papers, Roll 38. 13. Legislative Journal, 43. 14. Minnesota Pioneer, 16 Jan. 1851. notes t o p a g e s 8 6 – 1 0 3


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15. Minnesota Democrat, 28 Jan. 1851. 16. For a discussion of traditional Ojibwe leadership, see Theresa Schenck, The Voice of the Crane Echoes Afar (New York: Garland, 1997), 71–83. 17. Reminiscence of a short history of the Chippewa chief Hole-in-the-Day, by Julia W. Spears, Spears and Family Papers. 18. W. W. Warren to G. Warren, 15 Jan. 1851, Goldsmith Papers, 1:4. 19. Julia Oakes was the sister of Clement H. Beaulieu. Elizabeth Borup, wife of Charles Borup, was also their sister. 20. For an Ojibwe explanation of their understanding of this treaty, see Nichols, “Statement Made by the Indians.” 21. Buffalo, Oshogay, and Keesh ke tow ug were from La Pointe; Ahmons from Lac du Flambeau; Na nuh aung abe from Long Lake; Ke wan see from Lac Courte Oreille; Ka gua dash from Yellow Lake; Nug aun ub from Fond du Lac; Ash ka ba wis from the headwaters of the Wisconsin River. The spelling of these names often varies, as there was no fixed spelling in Ojibwe. 22. W. W. Warren to G. Warren, 15 Jan. 1851. 23. The incident is likewise recounted in the Minnesota Chronicle and Register, 20 Jan. 1851. Neither Joseph Cooper nor James Goodhue died as a result of the affray. 24. In 1850 Henry M. Rice’s contract with the government to remove the Winnebago from Crow Wing to their new reservation promised him $70 per person. oia-for, nam m-842, Roll 4. 25. Warren to Ramsey, 21 Jan. 1851, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 767. 26. Warren probably means 17 September because he was already on the Chippewa River in early October. 27. Sela Wright, wife of one of the missionaries stationed at Red Lake, wrote on 1 Feb. 1851: “There has not been so hungry a time since we have been in this country, as the present winter. Sickness and starvation seem to be staring this poor people in the face.” Northwest Mission Papers, 16:1. 28. This was especially true of the L’Anse band, as well as of some of the La Pointe band. 29. Ramsey to Lea, 28 Jan. 1851, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 767. 30. W. W. Warren to G. Warren, 4 Feb. 1851, Goldsmith Papers, 1:4. 31. George’s sister Nancy was now twenty-three years old and had been living with her mother and stepfather at the Ermatinger trading establishment on the Chippewa River. 32. James Warren, after attending Knox College and Union Theological Society in New York, was ordained a Congregational minister in 1850 and went immediately to California, where he remained active until 1896. He died in 1905. 33. Probably Julius Austrian, a La Pointe trader. 34. There was no treaty until 1854. 35. Warren was at first absent on 4 February 1851, but then was called in to hear the reading of several bills and a message from the governor and to vote on a bill to dissolve a marriage. 36. W. W. Warren to G. Warren, 12 Feb. 1851, Goldsmith Papers, 1:4. 37. Husband of Julia Cadotte, daughter of Michel Cadotte Sr. 192



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38. When the Indians came to St. Paul, Warren was generally asked to interpret for them in their meetings with the governor, thereby losing time in the legislature. On 25 February 1851 it was noted in the Minnesota Democrat that Na guon abe and ten of his principal chiefs were in town, the fourth Chippewa delegation of the winter: “Mr. Warren, the interpreter, friend, and relative of the tribe, being here this winter as a member of the Legislature, has, no doubt, contributed to their friendly visits.” 39. Minnesota Pioneer, 30 Jan. 1851. 40. Watab Reville, 10 Feb. 1851. 41. Legislative Journal, 220. 42. Minnesota Democrat, 11 Mar. 1851. 43. Bryan and Cochran to Mix, 17 July 1851, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 933; Fletcher to Lea, 24 Oct. 1851, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 149. 44. Legislative Journal, 227–50; Minnesota Pioneer, 3 Apr. 1851. 9. The Removal of 1851 1. Watrous to Ramsey, 8 Feb. 1851, oia-for, nam m-842, Roll 3; Ramsey diary, 9 Feb. 1851, Ramsey Papers, Roll 38; Minnesota Chronicle and Register, 10 Feb. 1851; Ramsey to Watrous, 10 Feb. 1851, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 767. 2. Watrous to Ramsey, 28 Feb. 1851, oia-for, nam m-842, Roll 3. 3. Hall to Treat, 24 Mar. 1851, abcfm Papers 18.4.1(95); Hall to Treat, 19 May 1851, Northwest Mission Papers, 16:2. 4. Watrous Journal, 10–23 June 1851; Watrous to Ramsey, 17 June 1851, both in coialr, nam m-234, Roll 149; Hall to Treat, 23 June, Northwest Mission Papers, 16:2. 5. Watrous to Beaulieu, 9 June 1851, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 149; Watrous to Boutwell, 14 June 1851, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 168. 6. Warren to Ramsey, 10 June 1851, Ramsey Papers, Roll 6. 7. Affidavit of William W. Warren, 21 Jan. 1852, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 149; Lea to Ramsey, 20 May 1851, coia-ls, nam m-21, Roll 44. 8. Watrous to Warren, 24 June 1851, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 168. 9. Watrous to Warren, 24 June 1851. 10. Watrous to Warren, 30 June 1851, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 168. 11. W. W. Warren to G. Warren, 9 July 1851, Goldsmith Papers, 1:4. 12. W. Warren to G. Warren, 9 July 1851. 13. Warren to Ramsey, 4 Aug. 1851, oia-for, nam m-842, Roll 3. 14. Watrous to Ramsey, 28 July 1851, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 168; Boutwell to Ramsey, 29 July 1851, oia-for, nam m-842, Roll 3. 15. It is not known what happened to these reports. Warren still had copies of them in December 1851, but it appears that Watrous never received the originals. 16. Watrous to Warren, 9 Aug. 1851, Warren Family Papers; Watrous to Ramsey, 11 Aug. 1851, Ramsey Papers, Roll 6. 17. Boutwell to Ely, 11 Aug. 1851, Northwest Mission Papers, 16:2. 18. Wheeler to Treat, 13 Aug. 1851, Northwest Mission Papers, 16:2. 19. Watrous to Ramsey, 24 Aug. 1851, oia-for, nam m-842, Roll 3; Hall to Treat, 27 Aug. 1851, Northwest Mission Papers, 16:2; Watrous to Ramsey, 9 Sept. 1851, Ramsey Papers, Roll 6. notes t o p a g e s 1 2 0 – 1 3 4


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20. Ramsey to Watrous, 9 and 14 Aug. 1851, oia-for, nam m-842, Roll 8. 21. Charles E. Mix to William A. Graham, 23 Aug. 1851, Report Books of the oia, nam m-348, Roll 7; Abraham to Lea, 25 Aug. 1851, Records of the Indian Division of the Office of the Secretary of the Interior, Letters Sent, nam m-606, Roll 1; Boutwell to Ramsey, 18 Sept. 1851, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 168; Hall to Treat, 1 Dec. 1851, Northwest Mission Papers, 16:5. 22. Ramsey to Watrous, 9 Aug. 1851; Watrous to Ramsey, 20 Sept. 1851, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 168. 23. Boutwell to Ramsey, 18 Sept. 1851. 24. Hall to Treat, 20 Sept. 1851, Northwest Mission Papers, 16:4. 25. Watrous to Ramsey, 22 Sept. 1851, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 149. 26. Watrous to Ramsey, 25 Sept. 1851, Ramsey Papers, Roll 6. 27. Watrous to Ramsey, 25 Sept. 1851. There is no evidence of this in any other source. 28. White, “Removal Order of 1850,” 216. 29. Watrous to Ramsey, 25 Oct. 1851, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 149. 30. Certificate of Vincent Roy and George Warren, 3 Nov. 1851, Warren Papers. 31. Receipt of Sandy Lake Payment, 3 Nov. 1851, oia-for, nam m-842, Roll 3; Chippewa River Chiefs to Ramsey, 8 Nov. 1851, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 149. 32. King to David Aitken, 3 Nov. 1851, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 149. 33. Chippeway Chiefs to Lea, 6 Nov. 1851, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 149. 34. Chippeway Chiefs to Lea, 6 Nov. 1851. 35. Statement of La Pointe Chiefs, undated, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 149. 36. Minnesotian, 22 and 29 Nov. 1851. 37. Ramsey diary, 28 Nov. 1851, Ramsey Papers, Roll 38. 38. Warren attributed this story to George Cameron, but also acknowledged that, due to the length of time since he heard it, there may have been some discrepancies between the way he told it and what some of the older traders remembered. Minnesota Chronicle, 25 Feb. 1851. It is more likely that he had borrowed from Paul Kane’s description of Blackfoot and Cree customs, thereby embellishing Cameron’s story, in order to enlighten his readers on Indian warfare. 39. Minnesotian, 6 Dec. 1851. 40. Minnesota Democrat, 10 Dec. 1851. 41. The traders went to the annuity payments well supplied with liquor, which they then sold to the Indians in exchange for the little money they received. 42. Minnesotian, 13 Dec. 1851. 43. Hall to Treat, 1 Dec. 1851. 44. Hall to Ramsey, 3 Dec. 1851, Ramsey Papers, Roll 6. 45. Ramsey to Watrous, 19 Dec. 1851, oia-for, nam m-842, Roll 8. 46. It is more likely that Warren was ill at this time, as is indicated by his handwriting in a note to the governor from his home at Two Rivers on 20 December 1851. oia-for, nam m-842, Roll 8. 47. Roy to Ramsey, 21 Dec. 1851, Ramsey Papers, Roll 6. 48. Ramsey diary, 25 Dec. 1851, Ramsey Papers, Roll 38. 49. Wheeler to Treat, 2 Mar. 1852, Northwest Mission Papers, 16:7. 194



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50. Watrous to Ramsey, 22 Dec. 1851, Ramsey Papers, Roll 6. 51. Watrous to Ramsey, 26 Dec. 1851, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 168; Ramsey to Watrous, 2 Jan. 1852, oia-for, nam m-842, Roll 8. 52. Watrous to Ramsey, 4 Feb. 1852, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 149. 53. Hall to Treat, 1 Dec. 1851. 10. Final Struggles 1. Minnesota Democrat, 21 Oct. 1851; Minnesotian, 22 Oct. 1851; Territorial Records: Election Records, 1849–1857. 2. Minnesotian, 24 Jan. 1852. 3. Journal of the House of Representatives, 84–87; Minnesota Pioneer, 12 Feb. 1852; Minnesotian, 14 Feb. 1852; Minnesota Democrat, 18 Feb. 1852. 4. Minnesota Democrat, 18 Feb. 1852. 5. Julia A. A. Wood, Memoir, 50–52, William H. Wood and Family Papers, mnhs. 6. 21 Jan. 1852, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 168. 7. 21 Jan. 1852, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 168; Watrous to Ramsey, 6 May 1852, oia-for, nam m-842, Roll 4; Ramsey to Lea, 19 May 1852, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 168. 8. 21 Jan. 1852, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 149; Voucher to William W. Warren, 10 May 1852, File No. 13,451-a, Settled Indian Accounts and Claims, U.S. Treasury Department, Record Group 217, National Archives, College Park md. 9. 21 Jan. 1852, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 149; Lea to Ramsey, 28 Feb. 1852, oia-for, nam m-842, Roll 4. 10. Boutwell to Ramsey, 14 Mar. 1852, oia-for, nam m-842, Roll 4; Hall to Ramsey, 20 Mar. 1852, oia-for, nam m-842, Roll 8; Watrous to Ramsey, 25 Jan. 1852, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 149. 11. Todd to Watrous, 2 May 1852, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 149. 12. Watrous to Ramsey, 8 May 1852, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 149. 13. Ramsey to Lea, 15 May 1852, coia-lr, m-234, Roll 149. 14. Wheeler to Treat, 2 Mar. 1852. 15. Minnesota Democrat, 17 Mar. 1852. 16. W. W. Warren to G. Warren, 24 June 1852, Goldsmith Papers, 1:4. 17. 4 and 12 June 1852, coia-lr, nam m-234, Roll 149. 18. Benjamin G. Armstrong, Early Life among the Indians, dictated to and written by Thomas P. Wentworth (Ashland wi: A. W. Bowron, 1892), 30. There is no record of this meeting in any contemporary records. 19. Wheeler to Treat, 14 July 1852, Northwest Mission Papers, 17:1. 20. W. B. White to Ramsey, 1 July 1852, Ramsey Papers, Roll 7. 21. Buffalo and Oshogay to Ramsey, 23 July 1852, oia-for, nam m-842, Roll 8. If the president had indeed rescinded the order to remove, as Armstrong claimed, then there would be no point in sending this letter to the governor. 22. Ramsey to Buffalo and Oshogay, 10 Aug. 1852, oia-for, nam m-842, Roll 8. 23. J. W. Spears to N. Richardson, undated. Newspaper clipping in Warren Papers. notes t o p a g e s 1 5 2 – 1 6 2


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24. Return I. Holcombe, Minnesota in Three Centuries (St. Paul: Publishing Society of Minnesota, 1908), 462–65. 25. W. W. Warren to G. Warren, 24 June 1852. 26. Wood, Memoir, 52–56. 27. W. Warren to A. Fridley, 1 Nov. 1852, Fridley Papers, mnhs. 28. Nancy Warren to James Ermatinger, 10 Dec. 1852, Ermatinger Family Papers, privately held. 29. Ramsey diary, 16 Feb. 1853, Ramsey Papers, Roll 38. 30. Warren to Schoolcraft, Schoolcraft Papers, Cont. 52. 31. Warren’s article, “Oral Traditions Respecting the History of the Ojibwa Nation,” appears on pages 135–67 of Schoolcraft’s Information Respecting the History, Conditions and Prospects of Indian Tribes in the United States, vol. 2 (Philadelphia: Lippencott, Grambo, 1852). 32. Schoolcraft to Warren, 22 Mar. 1853, William Gates Le Duc and Family Papers, Box 4, mnhs. 33. Bond of W. W. Warren, 11 May 1853; Wickes to Le Duc, 18 Jan. 1854, both in Le Duc and Family Papers, Box 4. 34. Warren to Le Duc, 29 May 1853, Le Duc and Family Papers, Box 4. 35. It would appear that these are names of possible publishers Le Duc had given him. 36. Minnesota Democrat, 8 June 1853; Weekly Minnesotian, 11 June 1853. 37. Spears, “Reminiscence.” 38. Wood, Memoir, chapter 11. 11. Aftermath 1. Lillie McLean, responses to questions of Enrollment Commission, White Earth Chippewa, Minnesota, 1914. Her death record, however, lists Warren Fairbanks as her father. 26 Dec. 1947, Sterns County Vital Statistics, St. Cloud mn. 2. For further discussion of the events surrounding this removal, see Melissa L. Meyer, The White Earth Tragedy (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994), 43–49; and Mark Diedrich, The Chiefs Hole-in-the-Day of the Mississippi Chippewa (Minneapolis: Coyote Books, 1986), 25–54. 3. Records of the Crow Wing Catholic Church, 26 July 1868, mnhs. 4. Daniel A. Robertson and Family Papers, 1814–1933, mnhs. 5. Wickes to Le Duc, 18 Jan. 1854; Bond of W. W. Warren to W. Wickes and Timothy Lyons, 11 May 1853, both in Le Duc and Family Papers, Box 4. 6. Diedrich, Chiefs, 46.

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Selected Bibliography

Manuscript Collections American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions. American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions Papers. Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge ma. American Fur Company. American Fur Company Papers. New York Historical Society, New York; National Archives of Canada, Ottawa. American Fur Company. Letterbook. Mackinac Island mi. Barbeau, Peter B. Peter B. Barbeau Papers. Sault Ste. Marie Public Library, Sault Ste. Marie mi. Bartlett, William Warren. William W. Bartlett Papers. State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison. Brunson, Alfred. Alfred Brunson Papers. State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison. Dousman, Hercules. Hercules Dousman Papers. State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison. Ermatinger Family Papers. Privately held. Fridley, Abram. Abram Fridley Papers. Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul. Fuller, Abby Abbe. Abby Abbe Fuller and Family Papers. Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul. Goldsmith, Charles Francis Xavier. Charles Francis Xavier Goldsmith Papers. State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison. Hall, Sherman. Sherman Hall Papers. Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul. Johnston, George. Journal. Photocopy in Clarke Library, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant. Le Duc, William Gates. William Gates Le Duc and Family Papers. Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul. Lyon, Lucius. Lucius Lyon Collection. William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Moore, Pliny. Pliny Moore Papers. McClellan Collection, Feinberg Library, State University of New York–Plattsburg. Northwest Mission Papers. Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul. Nye, Bartlett. Bartlett Nye Papers. Feinberg Library, State University of New York– Plattsburg. Ramsey, Alexander. Alexander Ramsey Papers. Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.


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Robertson, Daniel A. Daniel A. Robertson and Family Papers. Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul. Schoolcraft, Henry R. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft Papers. Library of Congress, Washington dc. Sibley, Henry H. Henry H. Sibley Papers. Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul. Spears, Julia Warren. Julia A. Spears and Family Papers. Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul. Warren, Lyman. Lyman Warren Papers in Spears-Mee Collection. Becker County Historical Society, Detroit Lakes mn. Warren, Lyman M. Lyman M. Warren Family Papers. State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison. Wheeler, Leonard. Leonard Wheeler Papers. State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison. Wood, William H. and Family Papers. Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul. Government Records Correspondence of the Office Of Indian Affairs, Letters Received, 1824–1881; Special Files, 1807–1904; Letters Sent, 1824–1881. National Archives Microfilms. Minnesota Territorial Records. Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul. Office of Indian Affairs, Field Office Records. National Archives Microfilms. Records Relating to Indian Treaties. National Archives Microfilms. Settled Indian Accounts and Claims, U.S. Treasury Department, Record Group 217. National Archives, College Park md. Territorial Papers of the United States: Wisconsin, 1836–1848; Minnesota, 1849– 1858. National Archives Microfilms. United States Statutes at Large. Vols. 3–4. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1848. Church Records Records of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Crow Wing. Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul. Records of the Protestant Mission Church, Madeline Island. Chicago Historical Society, Chicago. Register of St. Ann’s Catholic Church. Mackinac Island mi. Register of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Madeline Island at Holy Family Catholic Church. Bayfield wi. Books Armstrong, Benjamin G. Early Life among the Indians. Dictated to and written by Thomas P. Wentworth. Ashland wi: A. W. Bowron, 1892. Baraga, R. R. Bishop. A Dictionary of the Otchipwe Language, Explained in English. 1878. Reprint, Minneapolis: Ross and Haines, 1966. Brunson, Rev. Alfred. A Western Pioneer; or, Incidents in the Life and Times of Rev. Alfred Brunson. 2 vols. Cincinnati: Hitchcock and Walden, 1879. 198

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Copway, George (Kah-ge-gah-gah-bowh). The Traditional History and Characteristic Sketches of the Ojibway Nation. 1850. Reprint, Toronto: Prospero Books, 2001. Diedrich, Mark. The Chiefs Hole-in-the-Day of the Mississippi Chippewa. Minneapolis: Coyote Books, 1986. Folwell, William Watts. A History of Minnesota. Vol. 1. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1956. Hickerson, Harold. The Chippewa and Their Neighbors. Prospect Heights il: Waveland Press, 1988. Kappler, Charles J. Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties. 5 vols. Washington dc: Government Printing Office, 1904. Mason, Philip P., ed. Schoolcraft’s Expedition to Lake Itasca. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1993. McClurken, James M., comp. Fish in the Lakes, Wild Rice, and Game in Abundance: Testimony on Behalf of Mille Lacs Ojibwe Hunting and Fishing Rights. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2000. McKenney, Thomas L. Sketches of a Tour to the Lakes, of the Character and Customs of the Chippeway Indians, and Incidents Connected with the Treaty of Fond du Lac. Minneapolis: Ross and Haines, 1972. Neill, Edward D. History of Minnesota. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippencott, 1858. Nelson, George. My First Years in the Fur Trade: The Journals of 1802–1804. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2002. Parker, John, ed. The Journals of Jonathan Carver and Related Documents, 1766–1770. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1976. Randall, Thomas E. History of the Chippewa Valley. Eau Claire wi: Free Press Print, 1875. Satz, Ronald N. Chippewa Treaty Rights. Madison: Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, 1991. Schenck, Theresa. The Voice of the Crane Echos Afar. New York: Garland, 1997. Sernett, Milton. Abolition’s Axe. Syracuse ny: Syracuse University Press, 1986. Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe. Indian Tribes of the United States. 5 vols. Philadelphia: Lippencott, Grambo, 1851–1855. Thwaites, Reuben Gold, ed. The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents. New York: Pagent, 1959. Warren, William W. History of the Ojibway People. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1984. Newspapers Detroit Free Press Minnesota Democrat Minnesota Pioneer Minnesotian Rochester Telegraph Watab Reville s elec t e d b i b l i o g r a p h y


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Articles “Frontier Mackinac Island, 1823–1834: Letters of William Montague and Amanda White Ferry.” Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society 26, no. 1 (1948): 101–27. Kegg, Maude. “Nookomis Gaa-inaajimotawid: What My Grandmother Told Me.” Oshkaabewis Native Journal 1, no. 2 (1990): 36–40. Schenck, Theresa. “William W. Warren’s Blackfeet Adventure.” In Papers of the Rupert’s Land Colloquium 2004, compiled by David G. Malaher, 409–18. Winnipeg: Centre for Rupert’s Land Studies at the University of Winnipeg, 2004. Warren, William W. “Answers to Inquiries Regarding Chippewas.” Minnesota Archaeologist 13, no. 1 (Jan. 1947): 5–21. ———. “A Brief History of the Ojibwas.” Minnesota Archaeologist 12, no. 3 (July 1946): 45–91. ———. “Sioux and Chippewa Wars.” Minnesota Archaeologist 12, no. 4 (Oct. 1946): 95–107. Pamphlets Sketch of the Condition and Prospects of the Oneida Institute. Utica ny, 1834. Stickney, J. D. The Warren Family History and Genealogy. St. Paul mn: McGillWarner, 1914.

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Index

Abbe, Samuel B., 173–75 Aitken, Matilda. See Warren, Matilda Aitken Aitken, Roger, 11, 13, 57, 59 Aitken, William, 11, 13–14, 27, 48, 53, 109, 155, 164 American Fur Company, 34, 126, 154–55; and La Pointe agency, 23; and La Pointe post, 24; Lyman M. Warren’s involvement in, 3–4, 8, 14–15, 27, 45; and treaty of 1837, 14–15, 17, 20, 29; and treaty of 1847, 39, 40–43, 47 Amous (Amons, son of White Crow), 39, 110, 116, 119 Armstrong, Benjamin, 161 Ashmun, Samuel, 3, 9 Astor, John Jacob, 3, 22 Ayer, Frederick, 9 Baraga, Rev. Frederick, 27, 29 Bazinet, Margaret, 3–4 Beatty, James, 156 Beaulieu (Beauleau), Clement H., viii, 22, 86, 174; as critic of Warren’s interpretations, 41–42, 154; and hostility toward Warren, 53, 58, 64, 128; as negotiator, 75, 77–78; and removal of 1851, 124, 128, 131, 133, 135, 143, 147 Beaulieu, Paul, 50 Be-she-ke. See Buffalo (Be-she-ke, La Pointe chief) Big Wolf (Kichi-mah-in-gun), 92


Blatchford, Henry, 21, 33, 47–48, 58, 112, 140, 153 Bonga, George, 39 Borup, Dr. Charles, 15, 24, 27, 30, 43, 49, 53, 58, 64, 95, 154 Boutwell, Rev. William T., 10, 125, 132, 134–35, 137, 144–51, 159–60 Brown, Orlando, 51, 57, 82, 84 Brunson, Rev. Alfred, 20, 22–29 Buffalo (Be-she-ke, La Pointe chief), 21–22, 24, 32, 67, 93, 110, 116, 161–62 Bushnell, Daniel, 13, 15, 20, 34 Cadotte, Michel, Jr., 15, 24, 120 Cadotte, Michel, Sr., 4, 6, 7–8, 10, 120 Cameron, George D., 60, 141 Chippewa Falls, 23, 26–27, 52, 89, 129 Chippewa River, ix, 31, 158; as area of removal, 113, 126, 128–29, 131–32, 148; bands, 27, 88–89, 110, 137–38, 150; and Cadotte’s trade on, 4; as contested zone, 23; Lyman M. Warren’s farm on, 20, 22; Lyman M. Warren’s mill on, 16–17, 48 Clarkson Academy, 12, 15, 20 Clarkson ny, 3, 11, 14–15, 17–20, 23, 27 Cooper, Judge David, 86, 111 Corbin (Corbine), Alexis, viii, 39, 63, 110, 112, 117–19, 126–28, 131 Corbin, Louis (Louison Corbine), 39, 118 Crawford, Thomas H., 23, 28 Crooks, Ramsey, 15, 29, 38

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Crow Wing: Chippewa-Sioux warfare around, 73–75, 76; establishing agency and farm at, 123; and Flat Mouth, 96; as legislative precinct, 98, 156; Paul Kane in, 50; and removal of 1851, 128, 133–34, 136, 143, 163, 166; and treaty of 1847, 46–47, 53, 57; as Warren’s residence, 49, 54–55 Crow Wing River, 14, 30, 32, 35, 37–38, 45, 86 Dakota Sioux: logging on lands of, 60–62; and usage in text, xiv; and warfare with Chippewa, ix, 7, 14, 28, 31, 65, 68, 71–80, 92, 99, 106 Dingley, Daniel, 9 Dodge, Henry, 30–32, 34, 45, 153 Doty, James, 20, 23–27 Dousman, Hercules L., 16, 20 Dufault, Michel, 33, 44, 62–63 Dufaut, Joseph, 24 Dufaut, Julia Cadotte, 24 Eastman, Benjamin, 29 Eastman, Seth, 57 Ely, Rev. Edward F., 109, 134 English, Mary Warren (sister of William W. Warren), xii, 10, 13, 30–31, 166 Ermatinger, Charles Oakes, 3 Ermatinger, Charlotte Cadotte, 4–5, 9, 16, 24, 89, 120 Ermatinger, George, 3–4 Ermatinger, James R., 16, 18, 24, 57, 60, 89, 118, 131

Fond du Lac, 3, 5, 7, 21–22, 37, 40–41, 44, 85, 88, 91, 113, 123–25, 132, 134–40, 142–44, 146–48, 150, 152, 154, 159, 162 Fort Gaines (later, Fort Ripley), 53, 57, 59, 61–62, 77–80, 93, 106, 157, 160, 164, 166 Fort Snelling, 13, 28, 75–77, 86 Fridley, Abram, 125, 159, 165 Goodhue, James, 101, 103, 111–12 Green, Rev. Beriah, 14, 16 Gull Lake: Chippewa-Sioux warfare around, 72; Chippewas of, 59, 69, 76; council at, 76; Warren as farmer at, 51, 53, 56–57, 99; Warren’s residence at, 60, 71, 81, 86, 92, 113, 122, 173–74 Hall, Rev. Sherman, 9, 33, 45, 86, 94, 124, 134–35, 140, 150, 155, 160 Hays, James P., 29–34, 37, 40, 45, 111, 153–55 History of the Ojibway People (Warren), vii, xi, xii, 50, 56, 70, 172–73 Hole-in-the-Day (the Elder), 28, 72–73, 167 Hole-in-the-Day (the Younger), and Chippewa-Sioux warfare, 71, 74, 76; and council with Sioux, 77–78; death of, 174; and removal of 1850, 86–87, 95, 101–3; and rift with Warren, 103–9, 111–12, 163, 170; and treaty of 1847, 37–38, 43, 46–47 Isle Royale, 27, 29 Johnston, George, 10, 161

Fairbanks, John, 3 Ferry, Rev. William M., 4, 9 Flat Mouth (chief of the Pillagers), 14, 59, 79, 86, 95, 117, 161, 163, 167, 170 Fletcher, Jonathan E., 47, 50, 52, 56–57, 59–60, 65, 72, 75, 99, 121, 166 202

Kane, Paul, 50, 60 Lac Courte Oreille(s), 23–24, 85, 90, 116–17, 126–27 Lac du Flambeau, 3–4, 14, 22–23, 39, 90, 92, 116, 124, 131

index


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La Pointe: and the American Fur Company, 8–9, 14–15, 42, 153, 155; annuity payments at, 26, 27, 39–40, 47, 83, 140, 150; death of Lyman M. Warren at, 45; and removal, 85, 113, 123–26, 129, 132, 134–35, 148; subagency at, 20, 26, 44, 71, 85; treaty negotiations at, 21–23, 28, 29; Warren family in, viii, 9, 10, 11, 15, 27, 30, 32, 171 Lea, Luke, 87, 118, 135, 138, 160–61 Le Duc, William Gates, 169, 173–74 Livermore, John S., 47, 83–86, 134 Long Prairie, 38, 52–53, 62, 69, 71–72, 74, 80, 99 Lyon, Lucius, 16, 120 Lyons, Timothy, 169, 174 Marksman, Peter, 39, 43 Martell, J. B., 49 Marten (Martin), 23–24, 49 McKenney, Thomas L., 5–7 Medill, William, 35–36, 39–44, 46 Menominee, 35, 38, 63, 154 Minnesota Chronicle and Register, 60, 72, 78, 118 Minnesota Democrat, x, 70, 95, 101, 104, 118, 140–41, 144–45, 153, 156, 161, 170, 173 Minnesota Pioneer, 54–56, 59–60, 71, 95, 101, 103–4, 111, 118, 121, 153, 157 Minnesotian, 140–41, 143–45, 149, 151, 153, 156 Morrison, Allan, 102–3 Na-guon-abe, 49, 57, 78 Neill (Neil), E. D., 78, 99, 170, 173 Nodin, 39, 42–43 Norwood, Dr. Owen, 40, 44 Oakes, Charles H., 41, 45, 64, 83–85, 95, 103, 118 Olmstead, David, 62–64 Oneida Institute, viii, 14–17, 19 Oshogay, 110, 116, 162

Pillagers (Leech Lake Chippewa), 38, 40, 55, 57, 59–60, 68, 74, 78–80, 117, 121, 137 Prairie du Chien, 5, 13–14, 16, 20, 24–25, 29, 43, 51 Price, Charlotte Warren (sister of William W. Warren), 10, 13, 15, 17–20, 50, 53, 57–59, 129, 166, 170 Ramsey, Gov. Alexander, 51, 53, 56, 57, 69, 140, 159–60, 174; and Chippewa-Sioux warfare, 72, 78–79; and Hole-in-the-Day, 103, 109; and removal, 63, 82–83, 84, 85, 86–88, 95–96, 104, 110, 118–19, 123, 134–35, 151 Rice, Henry M., 35–39, 42–43, 45–48, 50, 53–54, 56, 58, 98–99, 110, 119, 133, 136, 152, 154, 173–74 Richmond, William A., 40, 44–45 Robertson, Daniel A. (editor, Minnesota Democrat), 56, 70, 101, 169, 173 Roy, Jean Batiste, 151–52 Roy, Vincent, Jr., 39, 110, 112, 117, 119, 137, 161–62 Sandy Lake: bad provisions at, 101–2, 104, 106, 108, 110; and ChippewaSioux warfare, 74, 76; position of farmer at, 50–51; and removal of 1850, 83, 85, 87–89, 91–96, 115–16, 130; and removal of 1851, 113, 123, 132, 136–38, 139, 142–43, 146–48, 158–59 Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe, 9–10, 46, 54, 56–57, 60, 69, 121, 166, 168 Shingup, 21–22 Sibley, Henry, 13, 18, 20, 40, 87, 99, 101 Snake River, viii, 13, 39, 42, 57, 130, 133 Spears, Julia (Julian) Warren Stewart (sister of William W. Warren), xii, 10, 13, 15, 18–20, 51–52, 62, 89, 92, 129, 162, 166, 170 St. Croix River, 13, 15, 24, 66, 68, 74, 91, 113 index


203

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Stuart, Robert, 21–23, 25–26, 28–29, 34, 36 Todd, Captain J. S. B., 53, 59, 61, 77–80, 93, 106, 160, 163 Treat, Rev. S. B., 94, 135–36, 155, 160–61 treaty of 1826 (Fond du Lac), 7 treaty of 1837 (St. Peter’s), 13–14, 29, 40 treaty of 1842 (La Pointe), x, 21–22, 25, 27, 35, 38, 40, 110, 113–14, 130 treaty of 1847 (Fond du Lac), x, 37–44, 61, 63, 167 Treaty of Peace (1843), 28, 72, 77–78 Tug-waug-aune, 8 Verplanck, Gen. Isaac, 35–39, 42–44, 98 Warren, Alfred, 29, 81, 164, 173 Warren, Charlotte. See Price, Charlotte Warren (sister of William W. Warren) Warren, Charlotte Cadotte. See Ermatinger, Charlotte Cadotte Warren, Cordelia “Delia” (baptized Anna), 29, 81, 164, 173 Warren, Delia (half-sister of L. M. Warren), 3, 15, 19 Warren, Edward Fisk, 4, 9–10, 15, 17, 19–20, 47, 50–51, 59, 112 Warren, George Parsons, 4, 9–10, 17, 19–20, 48–49, 51, 57, 60, 71, 85, 109–11, 117, 126, 131, 137, 162 Warren, James Henry (half-brother of L. M. Warren), 1–3, 17, 19–20, 27 Warren, James Henry (son of Truman A. Warren and Margaret Bazinet), 3, 9, 15, 119

204

Warren, John, 3, 9 Warren, Lyman, 1–3, 11–12, 15 Warren, Lyman Marcus, 1–5, 7–10, 13–27, 29, 33, 45, 55, 120, 158, 171 Warren, Mary (Marie) Cadotte, 4, 8–11, 15–16, 23–24, 26–27 Warren, Matilda Aitken, 27, 29, 33, 80, 119, 164, 173 Warren, Nancy Beaumont (daughter of Truman A. Warren and Charlotte Cadotte), 5, 15, 18–20, 30, 51–54, 57–63, 92, 99, 119, 128, 162–63, 173 Warren, Sophia, 10, 50, 53, 57, 59, 92, 166 Warren, Truman (brother of William W. Warren), 8, 11–15, 18–20, 48, 50–54, 57–63, 92, 99, 119, 128, 162–63, 173 Warren, Truman Abraham (brother of L. M. Warren), 1–5, 7, 15–16 Warren, William Vincent (Tyler), 47, 81, 164, 173–74 Watrous, John S., 85–86, 88–89, 92–93, 95, 104–5, 118, 123–24, 126–38, 140–42, 144, 146–53, 158–63, 174 Waub-ij-e-jauk (White Crane), viii, 1, 4 Wheeler, Rev. Leonard H., 30, 140, 160–61, 166 Whipple, Mercy, 1 White Crow, 22–23, 39 Wickes, William E., 169, 174 Williams, J. Fletcher, xii, 173 Wiltse, Henry A., 40 Winnebago (Ho-Chunk), 31–32, 36, 46–47, 49, 52, 71, 73–74, 79–80, 108, 154, 165–66 Wood, Julia, 157, 164, 172 Wood, William H., 157, 161, 164–65, 170, 172

index


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