They Had Made Themselves Also, In A Manner, Factors For
The Upper Tribes, Supplying Them At Second Hand, And At Greatly
Advanced Prices, With Goods Derived From The White Men.
The
Sioux, therefore, saw with jealousy the American traders pushing
their way up the Missouri; foreseeing that the upper tribes would
thus be relieved from all dependence on them for supplies; nay,
what was worse, would be furnished with fire-arms, and elevated
into formidable rivals.
We have already alluded to a case in which Mr. Crooks and Mr.
M'Lellan had been interrupted in a trading voyage by these
ruffians of the river, and, as it is in some degree connected
with circumstances hereafter to be related, we shall specify it
more particularly.
About two years before the time of which we are treating, Crooks
and M'Lellan were ascending the river in boats with a party of
about forty men, bound on one of their trading expeditions to the
upper tribes. In one of the bends of the river, where the channel
made a deep curve under impending banks, they suddenly heard
yells and shouts above them, and beheld the cliffs overhead
covered with armed savages. It was a band of Sioux warriors,
upwards of six hundred strong. They brandished their weapons in a
menacing manner, and ordered the boats to turn back and land
lower down the river. There was no disputing these commands, for
they had the power to shower destruction upon the white men,
without risk to themselves. Crooks and M'Lellan, therefore,
turned back with feigned alacrity, and, landing, had an interview
with the Sioux. The latter forbade them, under pain of
exterminating hostility, from attempting to proceed up the river,
but offered to trade peacefully with them if they would halt
where they were. The party, being principally composed of
voyageurs, was too weak to contend with so superior a force, and
one so easily augmented; they pretended, therefore, to comply
cheerfully with their arbitrary dictation, and immediately
proceeded to cut down trees and erect a trading house. The
warrior band departed for their village, which was about twenty
miles distant, to collect objects of traffic; they left six or
eight of their number, however, to keep watch upon the white men,
and scouts were continually passing to and fro with intelligence.
Mr. Crooks saw that it would be impossible to prosecute his
voyage without the danger of having his boats plundered, and a
great part of his men massacred; he determined, however, not to
be entirely frustrated in the objects of his expedition. While he
continued, therefore, with great apparent earnestness and
assiduity, the construction of the trading house, he despatched
the hunters and trappers of his party in a canoe, to make their
way up the river to the original place of destination, there to
busy themselves in trapping and collecting peltries, and to await
his arrival at some future period.
As soon as the detachment had had sufficient time to ascend
beyond the hostile country of the Sioux, Mr. Crooks suddenly
broke up his feigned trading establishment, embarked his men and
effects, and, after giving the astonished rear-guard of savages a
galling and indignant message to take to their countrymen, pushed
down the river with all speed, sparing neither oar nor paddle,
day nor night, until fairly beyond the swoop of these river
hawks.
What increased the irritation of Messrs. Crooks and M'Lellan, at
this mortifying check to their gainful enterprise, was the
information that a rival trader was at the bottom of it; the
Sioux, it is said, having been instigated to this outrage by Mr.
Manuel Lisa, the leading partner and agent of the Missouri Fur
Company, already mentioned. This intelligence, whether true or
false, so roused the fiery temper of M'Lellan, that he swore, if
ever he fell in with Lisa in the Indian country, he would shoot
him on the spot; a mode of redress perfectly in unison with the
character of the man, and the code of honor prevalent beyond the
frontier.
If Crooks and M'Lellan had been exasperated by the insolent
conduct of the Sioux Tetons, and the loss which it had
occasioned, those freebooters had been no less indignant at being
outwitted by the white men, and disappointed of their anticipated
gains, and it was apprehended they would be particularly hostile
against the present expedition, when they should learn that these
gentlemen were engaged in it.
All these causes of uneasiness were concealed as much as possible
from the Canadian voyageurs, lest they should become intimidated;
it was impossible, however, to prevent the rumors brought by the
Indians from leaking out, and they became subjects of gossiping
and exaggeration. The chief of the Omahas, too, on returning from
a hunting excursion, reported that two men had been killed some
distance above, by a band of Sioux. This added to the fears that
already began to be excited. The voyageurs pictured to themselves
bands of fierce warriors stationed along each bank of the river,
by whom they would be exposed to be shot down in their boats: or
lurking hordes, who would set on them at night, and massacre them
in their encampments. Some lost heart, and proposed to return,
rather than fight their way, and, in a manner, run the gauntlet
through the country of these piratical marauders. In fact, three
men deserted while at this village. Luckily, their place was
supplied by three others who happened to be there, and who were
prevailed on to join the expedition by promises of liberal pay,
and by being fitted out and equipped in complete style.
The irresolution and discontent visible among some of his people,
arising at times almost to mutiny, and the occasional desertions
which took place while thus among friendly tribes, and within
reach of the frontiers, added greatly to the anxieties of Mr.
Hunt, and rendered him eager to press forward and leave a hostile
tract behind him, so that it would be as perilous to return as to
keep on, and no one would dare to desert.
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