Having Been Taken Prisoner Many Years
Before And Adopted By A Squaw In Place Of A Son Whom She Had Lost, He
Had Forgotten His Old National Antipathies, And Was Now Both In Act
And Inclination An Ogallalla.
It will be remembered that the scheme of the grand warlike
combination against the Snake and Crow Indians originated in this
village; and though this plan had fallen to the ground, the embers of
the martial ardor continued to glow brightly.
Eleven young men had
prepared themselves to go out against the enemy. The fourth day of
our stay in this camp was fixed upon for their departure. At the
head of this party was a well-built active little Indian, called the
White Shield, whom I had always noticed for the great neatness of his
dress and appearance. His lodge too, though not a large one, was the
best in the village, his squaw was one of the prettiest girls, and
altogether his dwelling presented a complete model of an Ogallalla
domestic establishment. I was often a visitor there, for the White
Shield being rather partial to white men, used to invite me to
continual feasts at all hours of the day. Once when the substantial
part of the entertainment was concluded, and he and I were seated
cross-legged on a buffalo robe smoking together very amicably, he
took down his warlike equipments, which were hanging around the
lodge, and displayed them with great pride and self-importance.
Among the rest was a most superb headdress of feathers.
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