Chapter 18

Meeting with Hodgkiss Misfortunes of the Nez Perces Schemes

of Kosato, the renegado His foray into the Horse Prairie-

Invasion of Black feet Blue John and his forlorn hope Their

generous enterprise-Their fate-Consternation and despair of the

village- Solemn obsequies -Attempt at Indian trade -Hudson's Bay

Company's monopoly-Arrangements for autumn- Breaking up of an

encampment.

HAVING now a pretty strong party, well armed and equipped,

Captain Bonneville no longer felt the necessity of fortifying

himself in the secret places and fastnesses of the mountains; but

sallied forth boldly into the Snake River plain, in search of his

clerk, Hodgkiss, who had remained with the Nez Perces. He found

him on the 24th of June, and learned from him another chapter of

misfortunes which had recently befallen that ill-fated race.

After the departure of Captain Bonneville in March, Kosato, the

renegade Blackfoot, had recovered from the wound received in

battle; and with his strength revived all his deadly hostility to

his native tribe. He now resumed his efforts to stir up the Nez

Perces to reprisals upon their old enemies; reminding them

incessantly of all the outrages and robberies they had recently

experienced, and assuring them that such would continue to be

their lot until they proved themselves men by some signal

retaliation.

The impassioned eloquence of the desperado at length produced an

effect; and a band of braves enlisted under his guidance, to

penetrate into the Blackfoot country, harass their Villages,

carry off their horses, and commit all kinds of depredations.

Kosato pushed forward on his foray as far as the Horse Prairie,

where he came upon a strong party of Blackfeet. Without waiting

to estimate their force, he attacked them with characteristic

fury, and was bravely seconded by his followers. The contest, for

a time, was hot and bloody; at length, as is customary with these

two tribes, they paused, and held a long parley, or rather a war

of words.

"What need," said the Blackfoot chief, tauntingly, "have the Nez

Perces to leave their homes, and sally forth on war parties, when

they have danger enough at their own doors? If you want fighting,

return to your villages; you will have plenty of it there. The

Blackfeet warriors have hitherto made war upon you as children.

They are now coming as men. A great force is at hand; they are on

their way to your towns, and are determined to rub out the very

name of the Nez Perces from the mountains. Return, I say, to your

towns, and fight there, if you wish to live any longer as a

people."

Kosato took him at his word; for he knew the character of his

native tribe. Hastening back with his band to the Nez Perces

village, he told all that he had seen and heard, and urged the

most prompt and strenuous measures for defence. The Nez Perces,

however, heard him with their accustomed phlegm; the threat of

the Blackfeet had been often made, and as often had proved a mere

bravado; such they pronounced it to be at present, and, of

course, took no precautions.

They were soon convinced that it was no empty menace. In a few

days a band of three hundred Blackfeet warriors appeared upon the

hills. All now was consternation in the village. The force of

the Nez Perces was too small to cope with the enemy in open

fight; many of the young men having gone to their relatives on

the Columbia to procure horses. The sages met in hurried council.

What was to be done to ward off a blow which threatened

annihilation? In this moment of imminent peril, a Pierced-nose

chief, named Blue John by the whites, offered to approach

secretly with a small, but chosen band, through a defile which

led to the encampment of the enemy, and, by a sudden onset, to

drive off the horses. Should this blow be successful, the spirit

and strength of the invaders would be broken, and the Nez Perces,

having horses, would be more than a match for them. Should it

fail, the village would not be worse off than at present, when

destruction appeared inevitable.

Twenty-nine of the choicest warriors instantly volunteered to

follow Blue John in this hazardous enterprise. They prepared for

it with the solemnity and devotion peculiar to the tribe. Blue

John consulted his medicine, or talismanic charm, such as every

chief keeps in his lodge as a supernatural protection. The oracle

assured him that his enterprise would be completely successful,

provided no rain should fall before he had passed through the

defile; but should it rain, his band would be utterly cut off.

The day was clear and bright; and Blue John anticipated that the

skies would be propitious. He departed in high spirits with his

forlorn hope; and never did band of braves make a more gallant

display-horsemen and horses being decorated and equipped in the

fiercest and most glaring style - glittering with arms and

ornaments, and fluttering with feathers.

The weather continued serene until they reached the defile; but

just as they were entering it a black cloud rose over the

mountain crest, and there was a sudden shower. The warriors

turned to their leader, as if to read his opinion of this unlucky

omen; but the countenance of Blue John remained unchanged, and

they continued to press forward. It was their hope to make their

way undiscovered to the very vicinity of the Blackfoot camp; but

they had not proceeded far in the defile, when they met a

scouting party of the enemy. They attacked and drove them among

the hills, and were pursuing them with great eagerness when they

heard shouts and yells behind them, and beheld the main body of

the Blackfeet advancing.

The second chief wavered a little at the sight and proposed an

instant retreat. "We came to fight!" replied Blue John, sternly.

Then giving his war-whoop, he sprang forward to the conflict.

His braves followed him. They made a headlong charge upon the

enemy; not with the hope of victory, but the determination to

sell their lives dearly. A frightful carnage, rather than a

regular battle, succeeded. The forlorn band laid heaps of their

enemies dead at their feet, but were overwhelmed with numbers and

pressed into a gorge of the mountain; where they continued to

fight until they were cut to pieces. One only, of the thirty,

survived. He sprang on the horse of a Blackfoot warrior whom he

had slain, and escaping at full speed, brought home the baleful

tidings to his village.

Who can paint the horror and desolation of the inhabitants? The

flower of their warriors laid low, and a ferocious enemy at their

doors. The air was rent by the shrieks and lamentations of the

women, who, casting off their ornaments and tearing their hair,

wandered about, frantically bewailing the dead and predicting

destruction to the living. The remaining warriors armed

themselves for obstinate defence; but showed by their gloomy

looks and sullen silence that they considered defence hopeless.

To their surprise the Blackfeet refrained from pursuing their

advantage; perhaps satisfied with the blood already shed, or

disheartened by the loss they had themselves sustained. At any

rate, they disappeared from the hills, and it was soon

ascertained that they had returned to the Horse Prairie.

The unfortunate Nez Perces now began once more to breathe. A few

of their warriors, taking pack-horses, repaired to the defile to

bring away the bodies of their slaughtered brethren. They found

them mere headless trunks; and the wounds with which they were

covered showed how bravely they had fought. Their hearts, too,

had been torn out and carried off; a proof of their signal valor;

for in devouring the heart of a foe renowned for bravery, or who

has distinguished himself in battle, the Indian victor thinks he

appropriates to himself the courage of the deceased.

Gathering the mangled bodies of the slain, and strapping them

across their pack-horses, the warriors returned, in dismal

procession, to the village. The tribe came forth to meet them;

the women with piercing cries and wailings; the men with downcast

countenances, in which gloom and sorrow seemed fixed as if in

marble. The mutilated and almost undistinguishable bodies were

placed in rows upon the ground, in the midst of the assemblage;

and the scene of heart-rending anguish and lamentation that

ensued would have confounded those who insist on Indian stoicism.

Such was the disastrous event that had overwhelmed the Nez Perces

tribe during the absence of Captain Bonneville; and he was

informed that Kosato, the renegade, who, being stationed in the

village, had been prevented from going on the forlorn hope, was

again striving to rouse the vindictive feelings of his adopted

brethren, and to prompt them to revenge the slaughter of their

devoted braves.

During his sojourn on the Snake River plain, Captain Bonneville

made one of his first essays at the strategy of the fur trade.

There was at this time an assemblage of Nez Perces, Flatheads,

and Cottonois Indians encamped together upon the plain; well

provided with beaver, which they had collected during the spring.

These they were waiting to traffic with a resident trader of the

Hudson's Bay Company, who was stationed among them, and with whom

they were accustomed to deal. As it happened, the trader was

almost entirely destitute of Indian goods; his spring supply not

having yet reached him. Captain Bonneville had secret

intelligence that the supplies were on their way, and would soon

arrive; he hoped, how-ever, by a prompt move, to anticipate their

arrival, and secure the market to himself. Throwing himself,

therefore, among the Indians, he opened his packs of merchandise

and displayed the most tempting wares: bright cloths, and scarlet

blankets, and glittering ornaments, and everything gay and

glorious in the eyes of warrior or squaw; all, however, was in

vain. The Hudson's Bay trader was a perfect master of his

business, thoroughly acquainted with the Indians he had to deal

with, and held such control over them that none dared to act

openly in opposition to his wishes; nay, more -- he came nigh

turning the tables upon the captain, and shaking the allegiance

of some of his free trappers, by distributing liquors among them.

The latter, therefore, was glad to give up a competition, where

the war was likely to be carried into his own camp.

In fact, the traders of the Hudson's Bay Company have advantages

over all competitors in the trade beyond the Rocky Mountains.

That huge monopoly centers within itself not merely its own

hereditary and long-established power and influence; but also

those of its ancient rival, but now integral part, the famous

Northwest Company. It has thus its races of traders, trappers,

hunters, and voyageurs, born and brought up in its service, and

inheriting from preceding generations a knowledge and aptitude in

everything connected with Indian life, and Indian traffic. In the

process of years, this company has been enabled to spread its

ramifications in every direction; its system of intercourse is

founded upon a long and intimate knowledge of the character and

necessities of the various tribes; and of all the fastnesses,

defiles, and favorable hunting grounds of the country. Their

capital, also, and the manner in which their supplies are

distributed at various posts, or forwarded by regular caravans,

keep their traders well supplied, and enable them to furnish

their goods to the Indians at a cheap rate. Their men, too, being

chiefly drawn from the Canadas, where they enjoy great influence

and control, are engaged at the most trifling wages, and

supported at little cost; the provisions which they take with

them being little more than Indian corn and grease. They are

brought also into the most perfect discipline and subordination,

especially when their leaders have once got them to their scene

of action in the heart of the wilderness.

These circumstances combine to give the leaders of the Hudson's

Bay Company a decided advantage over all the American companies

that come within their range, so that any close competition with

them is almost hopeless.

Shortly after Captain Bonneville's ineffectual attempt to

participate in the trade of the associated camp, the supplies of

the Hudson's Bay Company arrived; and the resident trader was

enabled to monopolize the market.

It was now the beginning of July; in the latter part of which

month Captain Bonneville had appointed a rendezvous at Horse

Creek in Green River Valley, with some of the parties which he

had detached in the preceding year. He now turned his thoughts

in that direction, and prepared for the journey.

The Cottonois were anxious for him to proceed at once to their

country; which, they assured him, abounded in beaver. The lands

of this tribe lie immediately north of those of the Flatheads and

are open to the inroads of the Blackfeet. It is true, the latter

professed to be their allies; but they had been guilty of so many

acts of perfidy, that the Cottonois had, latterly, renounced

their hollow friendship and attached themselves to the Flatheads

and Nez Perces. These they had accompanied in their migrations

rather than remain alone at home, exposed to the outrages of the

Blackfeet. They were now apprehensive that these marauders would

range their country during their absence and destroy the beaver;

this was their reason for urging Captain Bonneville to make it

his autumnal hunting ground. The latter, however, was not to be

tempted; his engagements required his presence at the rendezvous

in Green River Valley; and he had already formed his ulterior

plans.

An unexpected difficulty now arose. The free trappers suddenly

made a stand, and declined to accompany him. It was a long and

weary journey; the route lay through Pierre's Hole, and other

mountain passes infested by the Blackfeet, and recently the

scenes of sanguinary conflicts. They were not disposed to

undertake such unnecessary toils and dangers, when they had good

and secure trapping grounds nearer at hand, on the head-waters of

Salmon River.

As these were free and independent fellows, whose will and whim

were apt to be law -- who had the whole wilderness before them,

"where to choose," and the trader of a rival company at hand,

ready to pay for their services -- it was necessary to bend to

their wishes. Captain Bonneville fitted them out, therefore, for

the hunting ground in question; appointing Mr. Hodgkiss to act as

their partisan, or leader, and fixing a rendezvous where he

should meet them in the course of the ensuing winter. The brigade

consisted of twenty-one free trappers and four or five hired men

as camp-keepers. This was not the exact arrangement of a trapping

party; which when accurately organized is composed of two thirds

trappers whose duty leads them continually abroad in pursuit of

game; and one third camp-keepers who cook, pack, and unpack; set

up the tents, take care of the horses and do all other duties

usually assigned by the Indians to their women. This part of the

service is apt to be fulfilled by French creoles from Canada and

the valley of the Mississippi.

In the meantime the associated Indians having completed their

trade and received their supplies, were all ready to disperse in

various directions. As there was a formidable band of Blackfeet

just over a mountain to the northeast, by which Hodgkiss and his

free trappers would have to pass; and as it was known that those

sharp-sighted marauders had their scouts out watching every

movement of the encampments, so as to cut off stragglers or weak

detachments, Captain Bonneville prevailed upon the Nez Perces to

accompany Hodgkiss and his party until they should be beyond the

range of the enemy.

The Cottonois and the Pends Oreilles determined to move together

at the same time, and to pass close under the mountain infested

by the Blackfeet; while Captain Bonneville, with his party, was

to strike in an opposite direction to the southeast, bending his

course for Pierre's Hole, on his way to Green River.

Accordingly, on the 6th of July, all the camps were raised at the

same moment; each party taking its separate route. The scene was

wild and picturesque; the long line of traders, trappers, and

Indians, with their rugged and fantastic dresses and

accoutrements; their varied weapons, their innumerable horses,

some under the saddle, some burdened with packages, others

following in droves; all stretching in lengthening cavalcades

across the vast landscape, making for different points of the

plains and mountains.