The Adventures of Captain Bonneville

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When Captain Sublette arrived, he urged to penetrate the swamp and storm
the fort, but all hung back in awe of the dismal horrors of the place,
and the danger of attacking such desperadoes in their savage den. The
very Indian allies, though accustomed to bushfighting, regarded it as
almost impenetrable, and full of frightful danger. Sublette was not to
be turned from his purpose, but offered to lead the way into the swamp.
Campbell stepped forward to accompany him. Before entering the perilous
wood, Sublette took his brothers aside, and told them that in case he
fell, Campbell, who knew his will, was to be his executor. This done,
he grasped his rifle and pushed into the thickets, followed by Campbell.
Sinclair, the partisan from Arkansas, was at the edge of the wood with
his brother and a few of his men. Excited by the gallant example of the
two friends, he pressed forward to share their dangers.

The swamp was produced by the labors of the beaver, which, by damming
up a stream, had inundated a portion of the valley. The place was all
overgrown with woods and thickets, so closely matted and entangled that
it was impossible to see ten paces ahead, and the three associates in
peril had to crawl along, one after another, making their way by putting
the branches and vines aside; but doing it with caution, lest they
should attract the eye of some lurking marksman. They took the lead by
turns, each advancing about twenty yards at a time, and now and then
hallooing to their men to follow. Some of the latter gradually entered
the swamp, and followed a little distance in their rear.

They had now reached a more open part of the wood, and had glimpses of
the rude fortress from between the trees. It was a mere breastwork, as
we have said, of logs and branches, with blankets, buffalo robes, and
the leathern covers of lodges, extended round the top as a screen. The
movements of the leaders, as they groped their way, had been descried
by the sharp-sighted enemy. As Sinclair, who was in the advance, was
putting some branches aside, he was shot through the body. He fell on
the spot. "Take me to my brother," said he to Campbell. The latter gave
him in charge to some of the men, who conveyed him out of the swamp.

Sublette now took the advance. As he was reconnoitring the fort, he
perceived an Indian peeping through an aperture. In an instant his rifle
was levelled and discharged, and the ball struck the savage in the eye.
While he was reloading, he called to Campbell, and pointed out to him
the hole; "Watch that place," said he, "and you will soon have a fair
chance for a shot." Scarce had he uttered the words, when a ball struck
him in the shoulder, and almost wheeled him around. His first thought
was to take hold of his arm with his other hand, and move it up and
down. He ascertained, to his satisfaction, that the bone was not broken.
The next moment he was so faint that he could not stand. Campbell took
him in his arms and carried him out of the thicket. The same shot that
struck Sublette wounded another man in the head.

A brisk fire was now opened by the mountaineers from the wood, answered
occasionally from the fort. Unluckily, the trappers and their allies, in
searching for the fort, had got scattered, so that Wyeth, and a number
of Nez Perces, approached the fort on the northwest side, while others
did the same on the opposite quarter. A cross-fire thus took place,
which occasionally did mischief to friends as well as foes. An Indian
was shot down, close to Wyeth, by a ball which, he was convinced, had
been sped from the rifle of a trapper on the other side of the fort.

The number of whites and their Indian allies had by this time so much
increased by arrivals from the rendezvous, that the Blackfeet were
completely overmatched. They kept doggedly in their fort, however,
making no offer of surrender. An occasional firing into the breastwork
was kept up during the day. Now and then, one of the Indian allies, in
bravado, would rush up to the fort, fire over the ramparts, tear off a
buffalo robe or a scarlet blanket, and return with it in triumph to his
comrades. Most of the savage garrison that fell, however, were killed in
the first part of the attack.

At one time it was resolved to set fire to the fort; and the squaws
belonging to the allies were employed to collect combustibles. This
however, was abandoned; the Nez Perces being unwilling to destroy the
robes and blankets, and other spoils of the enemy, which they felt sure
would fall into their hands.

The Indians, when fighting, are prone to taunt and revile each other.
During one of the pauses of the battle, the voice of the Blackfeet chief
was heard.

"So long," said he, "as we had powder and ball, we fought you in the
open field: when those were spent, we retreated here to die with our
women and children. You may burn us in our fort; but, stay by our ashes,
and you who are so hungry for fighting will soon have enough. There
are four hundred lodges of our brethren at hand. They will soon be
here--their arms are strong--their hearts are big--they will avenge us!"

This speech was translated two or three times by Nez Perce and creole
interpreters. By the time it was rendered into English, the chief was
made to say that four hundred lodges of his tribe were attacking
the encampment at the other end of the valley. Every one now was for
hurrying to the defence of the rendezvous. A party was left to keep
watch upon the fort; the rest galloped off to the camp. As night came
on, the trappers drew out of the swamp, and remained about the skirts of
the wood. By morning, their companions returned from the rendezvous with
the report that all was safe. As the day opened, they ventured within
the swamp and approached the fort. All was silent. They advanced up to
it without opposition. They entered: it had been abandoned in the night,
and the Blackfeet had effected their retreat, carrying off their wounded
on litters made of branches, leaving bloody traces on the herbage. The
bodies of ten Indians were found within the fort; among them the one
shot in the eye by Sublette. The Blackfeet afterward reported that they
had lost twenty-six warriors in this battle. Thirty-two horses were
likewise found killed; among them were some of those recently carried
off from Sublette's party, in the night; which showed that these were
the very savages that had attacked him. They proved to be an advance
party of the main body of Blackfeet, which had been upon the trail of
Sublette's party. Five white men and one halfbreed were killed, and
several wounded. Seven of the Nez Perces were also killed, and six
wounded. They had an old chief, who was reputed as invulnerable. In the
course of the action he was hit by a spent ball, and threw up blood; but
his skin was unbroken. His people were now fully convinced that he was
proof against powder and ball.

A striking circumstance is related as having occurred the morning
after the battle. As some of the trappers and their Indian allies were
approaching the fort through the woods, they beheld an Indian woman, of
noble form and features, leaning against a tree. Their surprise at
her lingering here alone, to fall into the hands of her enemies, was
dispelled, when they saw the corpse of a warrior at her feet. Either
she was so lost in grief as not to perceive their approach; or a proud
spirit kept her silent and motionless. The Indians set up a yell, on
discovering her, and before the trappers could interfere, her mangled
body fell upon the corpse which she had refused to abandon. We have
heard this anecdote discredited by one of the leaders who had been in
the battle: but the fact may have taken place without his seeing it, and
been concealed from him. It is an instance of female devotion, even to
the death, which we are well disposed to believe and to record.

After the battle, the brigade of Milton Sublette, together with the
free trappers, and Wyeth's New England band, remained some days at the
rendezvous, to see if the main body of Blackfeet intended to make an
attack; nothing of the kind occurring, they once more put themselves
in motion, and proceeded on their route toward the southwest. Captain
Sublette having distributed his supplies, had intended to set off on
his return to St. Louis, taking with him the peltries collected from
the trappers and Indians. His wound, however obliged him to postpone his
departure. Several who were to have accompanied him became impatient of
this delay. Among these was a young Bostonian, Mr. Joseph More, one of
the followers of Mr. Wyeth, who had seen enough of mountain life and
savage warfare, and was eager to return to the abodes of civilization.
He and six others, among whom were a Mr. Foy, of Mississippi, Mr. Alfred
K. Stephens, of St. Louis, and two grandsons of the celebrated Daniel
Boon, set out together, in advance of Sublette's party, thinking they
would make their way through the mountains.

It was just five days after the battle of the swamp that these seven
companions were making their way through Jackson's Hole, a valley not
far from the three Tetons, when, as they were descending a hill, a party
of Blackfeet that lay in ambush started up with terrific yells. The
horse of the young Bostonian, who was in front, wheeled round with
affright, and threw his unskilled rider. The young man scrambled up
the side of the hill, but, unaccustomed to such wild scenes, lost his
presence of mind, and stood, as if paralyzed, on the edge of a bank,
until the Blackfeet came up and slew him on the spot. His comrades had
fled on the first alarm; but two of them, Foy and Stephens, seeing
his danger, paused when they got half way up the hill, turned back,
dismounted, and hastened to his assistance. Foy was instantly killed.
Stephens was severely wounded, but escaped, to die five days afterward.
The survivors returned to the camp of Captain Sublette, bringing tidings
of this new disaster. That hardy leader, as soon as he could bear the
journey, set out on his return to St. Louis, accompanied by Campbell. As
they had a number of pack-horses richly laden with peltries to convoy,
they chose a different route through the mountains, out of the way, as
they hoped, of the lurking bands of Blackfeet. They succeeded in making
the frontier in safety. We remember to have seen them with their band,
about two or three months afterward, passing through a skirt of woodland
in the upper part of Missouri. Their long cavalcade stretched in single
file for nearly half a mile. Sublette still wore his arm in a sling.
The mountaineers in their rude hunting dresses, armed with rifles
and roughly mounted, and leading their pack-horses down a hill of the
forest, looked like banditti returning with plunder. On the top of some
of the packs were perched several half-breed children, perfect little
imps, with wild black eyes glaring from among elf locks. These, I was
told, were children of the trappers; pledges of love from their squaw
spouses in the wilderness.




7.

Retreat of the Blackfeet--Fontenelle's camp in danger--
Captain Bonneville and the Blackfeet--Free trappers--Their
character, habits, dress, equipments, horses--Game fellows
of the mountains--Their visit to the camp--Good fellowship
and good cheer--A carouse--A swagger, a brawl, and a
reconciliation

THE BLACKFEET WARRIORS, when they effected their midnight retreat from
their wild fastness in Pierre's Hole, fell back into the valley of the
Seeds-ke-dee, or Green River where they joined the main body of their
band. The whole force amounted to several hundred fighting men, gloomy
and exasperated by their late disaster. They had with them their wives
and children, which incapacitated them from any bold and extensive
enterprise of a warlike nature; but when, in the course of their
wanderings they came in sight of the encampment of Fontenelle, who
had moved some distance up Green River valley in search of the free
trappers, they put up tremendous war-cries, and advanced fiercely as if
to attack it. Second thoughts caused them to moderate their fury. They
recollected the severe lesson just received, and could not but remark
the strength of Fontenelle's position; which had been chosen with great
judgment.

A formal talk ensued. The Blackfeet said nothing of the late battle, of
which Fontenelle had as yet received no accounts; the latter, however,
knew the hostile and perfidious nature of these savages, and took care
to inform them of the encampment of Captain Bonneville, that they might
know there were more white men in the neighborhood. The conference
ended, Fontenelle sent a Delaware Indian of his party to conduct fifteen
of the Blackfeet to the camp of Captain Bonneville. There was [sic]
at that time two Crow Indians in the captain's camp, who had recently
arrived there. They looked with dismay at this deputation from their
implacable enemies, and gave the captain a terrible character of them,
assuring him that the best thing he could possibly do, was to put those
Blackfeet deputies to death on the spot. The captain, however, who had
heard nothing of the conflict at Pierre's Hole, declined all compliance
with this sage counsel. He treated the grim warriors with his usual
urbanity. They passed some little time at the camp; saw, no doubt, that
everything was conducted with military skill and vigilance; and that
such an enemy was not to be easily surprised, nor to be molested with
impunity, and then departed, to report all that they had seen to their
comrades.

The two scouts which Captain Bonneville had sent out to seek for the
band of free trappers, expected by Fontenelle, and to invite them to
his camp, had been successful in their search, and on the 12th of August
those worthies made their appearance.

To explain the meaning of the appellation, free trapper, it is necessary
to state the terms on which the men enlist in the service of the fur
companies. Some have regular wages, and are furnished with weapons,
horses, traps, and other requisites. These are under command, and bound
to do every duty required of them connected with the service; such as
hunting, trapping, loading and unloading the horses, mounting guard;
and, in short, all the drudgery of the camp. These are the hired
trappers.

The free trappers are a more independent class; and in describing them,
we shall do little more than transcribe the graphic description of them
by Captain Bonneville. "They come and go," says he, "when and where they
please; provide their own horses, arms, and other equipments; trap and
trade on their own account, and dispose of their skins and peltries
to the highest bidder. Sometimes, in a dangerous hunting ground, they
attach themselves to the camp of some trader for protection. Here they
come under some restrictions; they have to conform to the ordinary rules
for trapping, and to submit to such restraints, and to take part in such
general duties, as are established for the good order and safety of the
camp. In return for this protection, and for their camp keeping, they
are bound to dispose of all the beaver they take, to the trader who
commands the camp, at a certain rate per skin; or, should they prefer
seeking a market elsewhere, they are to make him an allowance, of from
thirty to forty dollars for the whole hunt."

There is an inferior order, who, either from prudence or poverty, come
to these dangerous hunting grounds without horses or accoutrements, and
are furnished by the traders. These, like the hired trappers, are bound
to exert themselves to the utmost in taking beaver, which, without
skinning, they render in at the trader's lodge, where a stipulated price
for each is placed to their credit. These though generally included in
the generic name of free trappers, have the more specific title of skin
trappers.

The wandering whites who mingle for any length of time with the savages
have invariably a proneness to adopt savage habitudes; but none more so
than the free trappers. It is a matter of vanity and ambition with them
to discard everything that may bear the stamp of civilized life, and to
adopt the manners, habits, dress, gesture, and even walk of the Indian.
You cannot pay a free trapper a greater compliment, than to persuade
him you have mistaken him for an Indian brave; and, in truth, the
counterfeit is complete. His hair suffered to attain to a great length,
is carefully combed out, and either left to fall carelessly over
his shoulders, or plaited neatly and tied up in otter skins, or
parti-colored ribands. A hunting-shirt of ruffled calico of bright dyes,
or of ornamented leather, falls to his knee; below which, curiously
fashioned legging, ornamented with strings, fringes, and a profusion of
hawks' bells, reach to a costly pair of moccasons of the finest Indian
fabric, richly embroidered with beads. A blanket of scarlet, or some
other bright color, hangs from his shoulders, and is girt around his
waist with a red sash, in which he bestows his pistols, knife, and the
stem of his Indian pipe; preparations either for peace or war. His gun
is lavishly decorated with brass tacks and vermilion, and provided with
a fringed cover, occasionally of buckskin, ornamented here and there
with a feather. His horse, the noble minister to the pride, pleasure,
and profit of the mountaineer, is selected for his speed and spirit,
and prancing gait, and holds a place in his estimation second only to
himself. He shares largely of his bounty, and of his pride and pomp of
trapping. He is caparisoned in the most dashing and fantastic style; the
bridles and crupper are weightily embossed with beads and cockades; and
head, mane, and tail, are interwoven with abundance of eagles' plumes,
which flutter in the wind. To complete this grotesque equipment, the
proud animal is bestreaked and bespotted with vermilion, or with white
clay, whichever presents the most glaring contrast to his real color.

Such is the account given by Captain Bonneville of these rangers of
the wilderness, and their appearance at the camp was strikingly
characteristic. They came dashing forward at full speed, firing their
fusees, and yelling in Indian style. Their dark sunburned faces, and
long flowing hair, their legging, flaps, moccasons, and richly-dyed
blankets, and their painted horses gaudily caparisoned, gave them
so much the air and appearance of Indians, that it was difficult to
persuade one's self that they were white men, and had been brought up in
civilized life.

Captain Bonneville, who was delighted with the game look of these
cavaliers of the mountains, welcomed them heartily to his camp, and
ordered a free allowance of grog to regale them, which soon put them in
the most braggart spirits. They pronounced the captain the finest fellow
in the world, and his men all bons garcons, jovial lads, and swore they
would pass the day with them. They did so; and a day it was, of boast,
and swagger, and rodomontade. The prime bullies and braves among the
free trappers had each his circle of novices, from among the captain's
band; mere greenhorns, men unused to Indian life; mangeurs de lard,
or pork-eaters; as such new-comers are superciliously called by the
veterans of the wilderness. These he would astonish and delight by the
hour, with prodigious tales of his doings among the Indians; and of
the wonders he had seen, and the wonders he had performed, in his
adventurous peregrinations among the mountains.

In the evening, the free trappers drew off, and returned to the camp
of Fontenelle, highly delighted with their visit and with their new
acquaintances, and promising to return the following day. They kept
their word: day after day their visits were repeated; they became
"hail fellow well met" with Captain Bonneville's men; treat after treat
succeeded, until both parties got most potently convinced, or rather
confounded, by liquor. Now came on confusion and uproar. The free
trappers were no longer suffered to have all the swagger to themselves.
The camp bullies and prime trappers of the party began to ruffle up, and
to brag, in turn, of their perils and achievements. Each now tried
to out-boast and out-talk the other; a quarrel ensued as a matter
of course, and a general fight, according to frontier usage. The two
factions drew out their forces for a pitched battle. They fell to work
and belabored each other with might and main; kicks and cuffs and dry
blows were as well bestowed as they were well merited, until, having
fought to their hearts' content, and been drubbed into a familiar
acquaintance with each other's prowess and good qualities, they ended
the fight by becoming firmer friends than they could have been rendered
by a year's peaceable companionship.

While Captain Bonneville amused himself by observing the habits and
characteristics of this singular class of men, and indulged them, for
the time, in all their vagaries, he profited by the opportunity to
collect from them information concerning the different parts of the
country about which they had been accustomed to range; the characters
of the tribes, and, in short, everything important to his enterprise. He
also succeeded in securing the services of several to guide and aid him
in his peregrinations among the mountains, and to trap for him during
the ensuing season. Having strengthened his party with such valuable
recruits, he felt in some measure consoled for the loss of the Delaware
Indians, decoyed from him by Mr Fontenelle.




8.

Plans for the winter--Salmon River--Abundance of salmon west
of the mountains--New arrangements--Caches--Cerre's
detachment--Movements in--Fontenelle's camp--Departure of
the--Blackfeet--Their fortunes--Wind--Mountain streams--
Buckeye, the Delaware hunter, and the grizzly bear--Bones of
murdered travellers--Visit to Pierre's Hole--Traces of the
battle--Nez--Perce--Indians--Arrival at--Salmon River

THE INFORMATION derived from the free trappers determined Captain
Bonneville as to his further movements. He learned that in the Green
River valley the winters were severe, the snow frequently falling to the
depth of several feet; and that there was no good wintering ground in
the neighborhood. The upper part of Salmon River was represented as far
more eligible, besides being in an excellent beaver country; and thither
the captain resolved to bend his course.

The Salmon River is one of the upper branches of the Oregon or Columbia;
and takes its rise from various sources, among a group of mountains to
the northwest of the Wind River chain. It owes its name to the immense
shoals of salmon which ascend it in the months of September and October.
The salmon on the west side of the Rocky Mountains are, like the buffalo
on the eastern plains, vast migratory supplies for the wants of man,
that come and go with the seasons. As the buffalo in countless throngs
find their certain way in the transient pasturage on the prairies, along
the fresh banks of the rivers, and up every valley and green defile of
the mountains, so the salmon, at their allotted seasons, regulated by a
sublime and all-seeing Providence, swarm in myriads up the great
rivers, and find their way up their main branches, and into the minutest
tributory streams; so as to pervade the great arid plains, and to
penetrate even among barren mountains. Thus wandering tribes are fed in
the desert places of the wilderness, where there is no herbage for the
animals of the chase, and where, but for these periodical supplies, it
would be impossible for man to subsist.

The rapid currents of the rivers which run into the Pacific render the
ascent of them very exhausting to the salmon. When the fish first run
up the rivers, they are fat and in fine order. The struggle against
impetuous streams and frequent rapids gradually renders them thin and
weak, and great numbers are seen floating down the rivers on their
backs. As the season advances and the water becomes chilled, they are
flung in myriads on the shores, where the wolves and bears assemble to
banquet on them. Often they rot in such quantities along the river banks
as to taint the atmosphere. They are commonly from two to three feet
long.

Captain Bonneville now made his arrangements for the autumn and the
winter. The nature of the country through which he was about to travel
rendered it impossible to proceed with wagons. He had more goods
and supplies of various kinds, also, than were required for present
purposes, or than could be conveniently transported on horseback; aided,
therefore, by a few confidential men, he made caches, or secret pits,
during the night, when all the rest of the camp were asleep, and in
these deposited the superfluous effects, together with the wagons. All
traces of the caches were then carefully obliterated. This is a common
expedient with the traders and trappers of the mountains. Having no
established posts and magazines, they make these caches or deposits at
certain points, whither they repair, occasionally, for supplies. It is
an expedient derived from the wandering tribes of Indians.