[Pages 111-126:]
The Seneca tribe of Indians, traditionally the most savage of the "Six Nations"
of the historic Iroquois, held that portion of their "reservation" which
they mostly chose to occupy, on the south-eastern confines of the city.
Early in the thirties and previously, if their character had been what their ancient reputations had taught us to believe, the people of Buffalo might have thought themselves to be living under a "reign of terror," from the Ursa Major which lived next door. For while the people of the infant city were peacefully pursuing their usual vocations, unconscious of harm from an approaching earthquake, its rumblings or growls might at any moment be heard in their midst.
It was no uncommon sight during the middle hours of any fair day to see ranging
or loitering on our streets as many native American Indians; chiefs, warriors,
squaws and papooses as "Yengeese," *as the natives would persist in calling
our citizens or strangers among us. The reader can readily imagine our
defenceless condition and danger from such a source in those early days;
if the warriors of the tribe and their allies should have pounced down upon
us very early, some fine morning, and
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in their war paint, raided the town, sacked and burned it! But this was not
thought of nor heeded by us, or the Indians. They were not bugbears nor phantoms
to be feared, even by the white children. The traders and shopkeepers cultivated
their good will; most of them could be captured with a jug of "fire water,"
[rum]. Our children amused themselves freely with them and were delighted
to obtain their miniature bark canoes, snow shoes, snow snakes, and bows
and arrows.
The Indians enjoyed congregating in groups in some sunny spot about the town. The greensward of the Terrace Hills in sunny spring days or during the autumn, was a favorite resort, where the older men and warriors of the tribe loved to linger and talk over their early wanderings. They would lounge on the steps of the "Old First Church," where they could look at our young men playing wicket ball in front of the church; [no fences there then], and this was a favorite ball ground. They would gather along the curb-stones [where there were any], in front of the shops, and notwithstanding their reputation for reticence, among the sages and warriors, except for an occasional "Ugh!" the larger number seemed mighty fond of airing their jargon, with an interjectional remark from a silvery tongued squaw. Now and then you would see an old chief or eagle eyed warrior, with his "far away look," in whom it would seem an effort to smile, it appeared to be natural in him to look sober and dignified; but the ordinary Indian had an easy, good natured way with him, though rather dull. I do not remember ever hearing a man of them guilty of a free and hearty laugh and I have known man in my youth.
The men, nearly all of them, were remarkable for their erect bearing and stately walk; not as with many white men, crook-backed, stoop-shouldered, many walking as if their stomachs were weak -- and I presume they were -- but the Indians performed no manual labor. In walking, the Indians did "toe in," as the American young man does today, to imitate the English dude, so as to appear "quite English you knaw."
The deterioration or degeneracy of these Indian tribes, must, as I think, have been due in great measure to a too free intercourse with the white people. They were tamed and petted as you would the wolf whelp. They had the natural greed for gain; would bargain with a considerable degree of shrewdness. As temptations became more numerous they would barter their articles of use or ornament to obtain the tempting goods they fancied. They would barter their honor or virtue to satisfy their covetous desire for gew-gaws, gay ornaments of display, or that devil of all the world [rum, "fire water"]. The females, like all the sex, from those recorded in the Pentateuch to our latest Parisian bulletin, the savage, the civilized, the heathen and christian; all colors and races, the illiterate and learned, the noble and servile, all, all love to adorn themselves. It is the instinct of the sex to attract and please the masculine branch of humanity. Does it not show effeminacy in man to desire to ornament himself?
Many of the merchants and business men of the town could talk quite freely with the Indians in their own dialect. The words and phrases of the Indian dialect were all gained, taught, learned through the ear by the native sound; you caught the names of men and things in Kintergarten fashion or object mode of expression and sign language, without regard to correct orthography, orthoepy or syntax. Books of the Indian language did not exist, or if they did they wee rare and unobtainable. The indians, particularly the squaws, in their utterances, seemed not to move their jaws, their ejaculations and talk came from the chest or was gutteral. For example: if you wished to get rid of a drunken Indian, you said to him "jaog-go," at which he would no doubt utter, ugh!
Among the questions asked an applicant for a clerkship in a store or shop,
at that time, or fifty years ago, was: "Can you talk with the Indians?" Some
of our traders who were quite familiar with them, their talk and ways, did
a thriving trade with them; bartering tobacco, rum, *Mackinaw three and a
half point blankets,
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broadcloth [staesh], for their smoke-tanned deer skins, furs, bows and arrows,
axe helves, baskets, mococks of maple sugar, moccasins, and varieties of
the squaws' handiwork.
When their government "annuities" were paid them, their money had to pay up the scores of the year past, which the trader had trusted the Indian or his squaw; this confidence in their word of honor, was seldom misplaced by the trader.
The embroideries and ornaments made by the squaws, and which they offered for barter for goods for wear and for the making of new work, were oftentimes ingeniously wrought, in original designs, very pretty and artistic patterns; they included smoke tanned buck and fawn skin moccasins for men, women and children, shapely made and comfortable to wear, and they were very generally worn by our people here, in the thirties. They were worked with various bright colored porcupine quills and beads ornamenting them; numerous other articles of their handiwork they produced: satchels, bags, wallets, purses, belts, cushions, buckskin leggins, mittens and gloves, and the like.
For this ingenious work, there was considerable demand by the squaws for scarlet broadcloth, red silk and ribbons, and imported beads of all colors, of which red, white and blue were the favorites.
The Seneca girls and young squaws were by no means unattractive in person or manners. They were usually neat, clean, and picturesque in their costumes, which were half savage, half civilized. The young girls of the tribe were really very pretty, with their shining purple black hair, of which they always had plenty, and it looked soft and glossy from the profuse quantities of pomatum with which they dressed it; their rich, rosy, copper-hued complexions, in which, when spoken to abruptly by some of us, you would plainly detect the maiden blushes spreading over their cheeks and foreheads, sometimes with tinges of pink and white blood, suspicions of a not very remote Anglo Saxon ancestor. Not much could be said of their forms, according to the made up artistic model of today; though there was never an angular or bony one among them, there was that supple swaying of graceful case, which untrammeled nature is wont to give to animal or vegetable life; they did not shew those forced good forms which the tailor dressed American girl now exhibits; no pads, no stays, no palpitators, no bustles, no French heels, cramped, pinched nor tortured those Wanita's, Wild Rose's or Wat-a-wah's:
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Their pretty little feet encased in pliant moccasins, handsomely embroidered with the quills of the "fretful porcupine;" well formed ankles, covered with loose cloth pantalets or leggins, gave them an easy, graceful step, with that peculiar turn of the foot called "toeing in," which in the white girl would be called "pigeon toed," but brought about in the Indian child by the cramped position of the legs and feet in the basket or cradle.
They did not shew that nervous excitability in action and movement, of their
white sisters; more of a gliding, undulating motion, rather the phlegmatic
in temperament.
Their dress, when arrayed in their best garments in town, was first, over whatever might have been the garment representing the chemise and other underwear; usually a short under gown, or jacket, of Turkey red, oiled calico, a class of goods they all were fond of. This gown, or jacket, was open in front like a coat of waistcoat, but lapped over and was fastened in front with a half dozen or more silver rings, with a cross bar like a buckle; leggins or pantalets, of fine, blue cloth, bordered with the listing woven with the cloth; above the listing were circular lines of silver rings, with the cross bar; as many lines of these bright rings as the taste and wealth of the wearer would permit, and also embroidered with fancy colored quills and beads. They wore a
short petticoat, called ga-ka-ah (with accents over the 'a'}, usually rather close-fitting, as if made from the least quantity of fine broadcloth possible; their fortunes being extremely limited, 'twas not to fit the fashion but their wistaw [money]. They were very fond of fine, listed blue broadcloths [which, at that time, were all imported from the west of England], as their white cousins were of silks. This skirt was simply made by folding one of the listed edges five or six inches above the other like folding a blanket so both the stripes would show. These lists were of variegated colors, different from the blue of the cloth, then belting it around the waist under the middle fold; thus these listed edges served as borders to, and around the bottom of the skirt; above both of these lists it was adorned with embroidery, silver ornaments or both. In some instances the daughter of a Chief might have one so elaborately decorated that you might fancy her an Oriental Princess. These embroidered decorations were almost always the colored porcupine quills and beads. Over the thus far dressed maiden, she wore a square of dark blue very broadcloth, used in lieu of the almost universal [among the Indians, bucks and squaws], Mackinaw three and a half point blanket. These broadcloth, or woolen blankets, they handled with native grace quite equal to the white lady with her cashmere shawl; nor was she averse occasionally to raising it, and so re-enfolding it upon her person as to show in the process, the pretty ornamentation of the jacket, ga-ka-ha (accent over the a) and leggins. The head gear was a black beaver or silk hat, the same as worn by the white gentlemen when in full dress on the street, often a "Leary," the then fashionable New York hatter. In place of the ordinary hat band, or over it, was a band of silver two inches broad, filigree or perforated work, the upper edge of the band being ratched, or like the upper edge of the conventional crown. When not having this silver band, a wide, pea green or sky blue ribbon was substituted. Sometimes, a belle more precious of her complexion than her sister belles, wore tied round the hat, a green berage veil; perhaps this was in imitation of the white ladies, wearing the hat and green veil when riding on horseback in rough or sunny weather; a wide, silver necklace, or rather band, was worn about the neck, with pendants which dangled over the bust, with one to four or five silver hoops or disks, pendant from the ears. This completed the costume of the Seneca belle of the "upper ten," with a moderated gradation, as might be their worldly condition in shekels.
The squaws, young and old, often carried by a band round the forehead, a basket similar in size and shape to a peach basket, or rather more like a pannier with one side flat, resting against the back. This basket was of much use; was more or less decorated with knots of bright ribbons. The forehead band was of red staesh [cloth; a favorite goods with all the squaws], or woven in colors of moose hair, bright with embroidery, in which white and blue beads predominated, giving a pretty effect to the red band, these bands or straps were called o-a-ta-ose-ka (accents over the a) or burden strap; they were an inch or an inch and one-half broad. This basket was the receptacle for the requisite articles of their toilets and light parcels; and they utilized it also for bringing to market wild strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, wintergreen and huckleberries; wintergreen leaves tastefully tied with the tender green and red sprouts of the same; bunches of wild flowers, pond lilies and sweet flag. The old squaws would bring the various green herbs, catnip, summer savory, sorrel, water cresses, leeks, horseradish, sassafras root, and cow-slips. [They would sometimes bring in from the south-easterly part of the Reservation, bottles of oil, which our mothers called "Seneca Oil," which was a cure-all, for all the cuts, bruises, and aches and pains under the canopy -- especially for rheumatism. This oil was obtained by the Indians in the winter, by absorbing it in their blankets from the crust of the ice, where it had oozed out from the banks of the streams, more particularly on French Creek, and Oil Creek in Pennsylvania. Little did "Lo," or his white brethren, know the commercial value of that same oil (Petroleum) at that time.] The mothers would also carry their babies in those baskets, as they also carried them in a gaping portion of their blankets on the back of their necks between their shoulders.
The customary manner of young mothers of caring for their babies or papooses,
was this: a flat board, covered with a half-round basket work of the dried
inner bark of a tree [the hemlock or perhaps the pine], from the neck to
the ankles all wadded within, large enough easily to slip the papoose into
its wadded interior; a slight, half round platform, for the feet, when the
child is old enough. Over all, were two, three or four hoop bands or fenders,
one directly in front of the child's forehead, for protection from injury;
the head end of the board, or cradle, was rounded, and sometimes a hood of
wicker work extending to the hoop forehead band or fender; this was also
lined with red flannel and wadded. To complete its construction for use,
a tough, upright, bent hoop rose over the upper end of the board, removable
to substitute the embroidered forehead band of the mother. The cradle and
wrappings were bright with colors and decorations, according to the degree
of the mother's love. It was carried with ease by the young squaw, like the
baskets heretofore mentioned, by the band about their foreheads, or round
the neck over the shoulders. While shopping or otherwise employed they would
set the papoose aside in an inclined upright position. When halting by the
roadside or on the trail, or about the wigwam, they would hang the papoose
by the hoop of his or her cage or cradle to the branch of a tree, where it
would literally
To see and hear a bevy of those young squaws or Indian maidens, in the shops or on the walks, talking their Indian dialect in liquid, silvery tones, with their rippling, gurgling laughter, was an interesting sight and pleasant music to the ear.
The old squaws, as age environed them, gradually forgot or neglected their nobility of dress, or like civilized matrons, parted with their material jewels and gew-gaws to their jewels of daughters; they substituted the ordinary Mackinaw blanket for their embroidered broadcloth; their hats became ancient like themselves. They liked, however, to cling to their silver brooches and ear drops; but alas! for their ears which in youth were small, pretty and well formed, the practice of wearing these numerous, heavy pendants had torn down and slit the cartilages, destroying all semblance of their early form and beauty, adding another feature to the growing ugliness of increasing age of the squaw; she grew gross, and awkward, waddled in her gait; her countenance grew hideous, swarthy and rusty. This change resembled in more civilized life, the old women of another race of tribes, nomadic, like the indians, of whom it is said: the North American tribes are descendants of one of theirs lost!
The costumes of the men were deer skin leggins, moccasins, a buckskin overshirt or jacket, and the blanket, sometimes worn like a coat, belted in by a red sash; perhaps an Indian dressed fur cap without visor, or a knitted toque, or feathers tied in the scalp locks. A young Indian, a brave or chief, would improve upon this dress by wearing belts of wampun or strings of shells or beads wrought into the belts, or the use of silver ornaments, snake rattles, wolf and bears' teeth, and other weird articles attached to their clothing, their moccasins, or the fringe of their buckskin leggins, creating musical sounds as they walked or loped, Indian-like, and which sounds warned you of their coming, without guile or with peaceful intention; nearly all wore the tomahawk in their belts. The scalping knife was commonly worn in a leather sheath on the left side as was the tomahawk on the right, but both were mostly used for peaceful purposes. But they were rapidly assimilating to the ordinary dress of their white neighbors.
We seemed here to be in an Indian atmosphere. Many of the Indians were known to our well-known residents; they were saluted on the streets, instead of "how de do," or "good morning" it was "togus" or "skaeno." The names of the chiefs or leading men among them, were as familiar to us as were those of Walden, Allen, Chapin, Pratt, Wells, Townsend, Porter, Bird, or Wilkeson. There was Red Jacket, Young King, Con-joc-ety, Seneca White, Steeprock, Captain Isaacs, Two Guns, Old Smoke, Kenedy, Tommy Jimmy, The Jamisons, and Farmer, with his erect and stately walk and eagle eye, long blue surtout coat, red sash and red turban; [the reader will not confound this man with "Farmer's Brother," a celebrated Chief of the Senecas, who died in 1815]; and a number of other chiefs and warriors.
Farmer lived in his lodge on Farmer's Point, a bend of Buffalo Creek, now used for business purposes.
The people would go out to the Indian Church for a Sunday drive or to Sulphur Springs and Jackberry Town to see their games, or the burning of the white dog, or a war dance, when the Indians had on their war paint for the occasion.
The young braves, when they came into town with their long hickory bows and quiver of arrows, would amuse our young men and maidens, shooting at "pennies" [the old-fashioned large cent], which were stuck up edgewise, half into the ground, at fifty or one hundred feet distant from the marksman. If they hit the penny, forcing it out of the ground, which they usually did, they put them in their wallets which hung by their sides, much like a game bag, as their captures; and with the utmost sang froid, as an old warrior would hang the scalp of his victim to his waist belt. These young braves did much mischief among the bushy-tailed black and gray squirrels, in the north woods above the town, with their bows and arrows, as also in the great pigeon roost to the south of us and west of the reservation.
In those days we were in autumn looking to the approach of "Indian Summer," which was due in this region the last half of October or first half of November; when we had that dreamy, hazy, yellow atmosphere, the sun setting each day like a ball of fire seen through the haze, the forest trees and foliage which was very affluent about here, were in their greatest glory, dressed in the gorgeous hues of the rainbow, the brightest colors of all the year.
Among the most noted of our traders with the Indians was one Griffin, a partner or assistant with Erastus Sparrow & Co., who did business in the brick store painted black next to the corner of Seneca Street, where the Bank of Buffalo building now stands. He was so well known and popular with the Indians that the tribe made it the place of rendezvous at the times of the payment of annuities. The quantities of cloth and blankets he sold at those times appeared fabulous. It would be a very "scalawag" Indian to whom he would answer tan-ta-gig-egac [no trust] when one asked him ese-gig-e-gac-e? [you trust me?]. He had traded with the Indians and associated with them so much, and was so familiar with their dialect, that, different from the rule of the leopard, he had begun to change his spots or complexion, getting to be quite red or copper colored! His popularity was so great among them that they never refused to give him all the wives he coveted, without the form of a marriage ceremony, nor did it matter whether the coveted squaw was a maid, widow or some other fellow's squaw. He or they cared little for that. The shop-keepers about the town sought to ingratiate themselves with the indians, to wean away their trade from Griffin, by courteous attention and frequent presents of trinkets to the squaws, and (typist changed word to: 'black') head tobacco and jugs of fire water [rum] to the men; and partially succeeded, but Griffin held the fort for a long time.
The curse of the Indian was rum; it overcame him much sooner than the white man. When the writer was a boy he often saw upon our streets a well-known Indian, "Captain Isaacs," in bad condition from too much imbibition of said rum. On one occasion he was surrounded by a gang of unruly urchins taunting him, until his maudlin endurance changed to angry bravado; bracing himself up, he struck his manly breast and said in stentorian tones: "Me, Captain Isaacs! Big Indian Me!" which of course created a shout with the boys.
It is evidently the nature of savages when civilized, educated and cultivated by intercourse with refined people, to retrograde, to deteriorate from their acquired or improved condition. In my youthful days I formed a sort of romantic attachment to a young Indian boy, several years older than myself. At that time I was trying to acquire the Indian language or rather the Seneca dialect by oral process. This boy endeavored in a cursory manner to impart it to me; which, with my frequent trading with the Indians, I got to know quite a good deal of it; sufficient at any rate to carry on a trade conversation quite freely. He, "Nat," must have attracted the attention of influential whites, interested in the amelioration of the Indians, or his relatives were better off then the generality of the tribe, for the boy was education, sent to Yale College, graduated from there and returned to Buffalo to read law. If I remember correctly he did so in the office of Fillmore & Hall or Hall & Bowen. He had developed into full manhood and had the manners and polish of a gentleman, dressed in the usual style of the period: black coat, black satin vest, chin collar, with black Italian cravat, patent leather dress boots and regulation hat, his personal appearance was like a very dark, smooth-faced Italian or Spaniard, a little too rotund, or perhaps a gentleman from Hindostan. He was an hereditary chieftain of his tribe. He called upon me and we soon became quite chummy again. We occasionally of an evening, visited a cafe or wine cellar. With his other accomplishments he had learned to discuss the relative merits of the various brands of wines, could detect the appearance of furriness on the "Chateau Margaux," whether the temperature of the champagne was near to frappe, too dry, or too thin, or if the precious "Liebfraumilch" was genuine, or too picklish, was critical in selecting his charm of kanaster, or the Noreager's were too rank; and was quick at detecting the impurities in the leaf brought from the Queen Isle of the Antilles. He would order his woodcock or bottle with all the nonchalence of a New York or London swell.
Well, note the contrast. By degrees our intimacy subsided; now and then, at intervals which became less and less frequent, I would see him and detect in his breath the odor of rum or brandy; then, a seedy look about his habiliments; a growing bagginess about the knees of his black doeskin trousers; his dark, smooth face had assumed a more swarthy hue; his city hat had lost its lustre and grown a trifle rusty, and he wore it more a la Indian. The last time I saw him to meet him face to face and talk with him, there was a decided change, his dress had taken on a semi-Indian tone, his face looked bloated, sodden. He was not then under the immediate influence of rum, but his senses seemed misty, cloudy; there was the wild, roving, "far-away look" out of the windows of his soul, native to the Indian. Part of his tribe had been removed about this time to a reservation in Cattaraugus County. He dropped out of our city life; he disappeared from me. Long afterwards I heard of him as being on that reservation, but he and his habits had degenerated back to the typical Indian of the time; living Indian fashion, wearing the blanket, smoking the common clay or Indian pipe, using cut "(typist changed word to: 'black')-head" tobacco instead of the fragrant "Havana" of the earlier days. He died about 1883 or 1884. His portrait hangs conspicuously in one of the rooms of the Buffalo Historical Society. His name was Nathaniel T. STRONG.
To confirm this tendency or inclination in the character of the savage to retrograde, deteriorate, or fall away from his highest point of cultivated civilization. I will relate an instance told me by a friend, an officer in the United States Army, who had been stationed at several outposts among the western Indians. At one post, where the Arapahoes were numerous, two bright little Indian children of that tribe, were much noticed. The Indian commissioners, guardians and experimentalists took these girls by consent of their parents and the tribe, sent them to Philadelphia to school, clothed them in the ordinary dress of the white school girl, entirely separating them from their tribe. From the preparatory school they were promoted to a well known first-class "Young Ladies Academy," and taught the higher branches of female education. They were instructed in other accomplishments: music, drawing and dancing; they were furnished with fine wardrobes, silk dresses and the like, and in every way respected as parlour boarders. They were much admired for their brunette beauty, pleasing address and naivete. Through some change in their guardianship or patronage, they were returned back to their native tribe, then in the vicinity of a large Military Barracks or Fort. At first they bore themselves as well-bred young ladies; were visited by the officers and gentlemen about the Post. There was talk of their being married to some of the officers. But, in time, in associating with their tribe, their silks and finery dwindling away; their companions becoming more and more of the vulgar sort, they finally became the associates of the enlisted men of the barracks, until they assimilated with the common Indians of the tribes; wearing the semi-nude covering of the western squaws, until at last they reached the lowest rungs of the ladder of life, becoming outcasts of their own tribe, sans beauty, sans clothing, cleanliness, virtue, sans everything. Can the reader imagine a more pitiable, miserable condition for two, once enlightened human beings?
Why attempt to civilize the Indians, or ameliorate their supposed condition? Only teach them with the strong hand of power to fear our superior race and let them alone in their rapid decay, until like the Bison of the western prairies cotemporancous with them, they are obliterated from the earth, as one of the ancient, traditional races of men.
[Note: All words are spelled as written.]
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