AMONG THE SIOUX

A Story of The Twin Cities and The Two Dakotas

BY

THE REV. R. J. CRESWELL

Author of "WHO SLEW ALL THESE," ETC.

Introduction by

THE REV. DAVID R. BREED, D.D.

1906

THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.

OUR PLATFORM.

For Indians we want American Education, American homes, American rights,—the result of which is American citizenship. And the Gospel is the power of God for their salvation!

DEDICATION.

TO NELLIE,

(MY WIFE)

Who, for forty years has been my faithful companion in the toils and triumphs of missionary service for the Freedmen of the Old Southwest and the heroic pioneers of the New Northwest, this volume is affectionately inscribed.

By the Author,

R. J. Creswell.

INTRODUCTION

By the Rev. David R. Breed, D.D.

The sketches which make up this little volume are of absorbing interest, and are prepared by one who is abundantly qualified to do so. Mr. Creswell has had large personal acquaintance with many of those of whom he writes and has for years been a diligent student of missionary effort among the Sioux. His frequent contributions to the periodicals on this subject have received marked attention. Several of them he gathers together and reprints in this volume, so that while it is not a consecutive history of the Sioux missions it furnishes an admirable survey of the labors of the heroic men and women who have spent their lives in this cause, and furnishes even more interesting reading in their biographies that might have been given upon the other plan.

During my own ministry in Minnesota, from 1870 to 1885, I became very intimate with the great leaders of whom Mr. Creswell writes. Some of them were often in my home, and I, in turn, have visited them. I am familiar with many of the scenes described in this book. I have heard from the missionaries' own lips the stories of their hardships, trials and successes. I have listened to their account of the great massacre, while with the tears flowing down their cheeks they told of the desperate cruelty of the savages, their defeat, their conversion, and their subsequent fidelity to the men and the cause they once opposed. I am grateful to Mr. Creswell for putting these facts into permanent shape and bespeak for his volume a cordial reception, a wide circulation, and above all, the abundant blessing of God.

David R. Breed.

Allegheny, Pa., January, 1906.

PREFACE.

This volume is not sent forth as a full history of the Sioux Missions. That volume has not yet been written, and probably never will be.

The pioneer missionaries were too busily engaged in the formation of the Dakota Dictionary and Grammar, in the translation of the Bible into that wild, barbaric tongue; in the preparation of hymn books and text books:—in the creation of a literature for the Sioux Nation, to spend time in ordinary literary work. The present missionaries are overwhelmed with the great work of ingathering and upbuilding that has come to them so rapidly all over the widely extended Dakota plains. These Sioux missionaries were and are men of deeds rather than of words,—more intent on the making of history than the recording of it. They are the noblest body of men and women that ever yet went forth to do service, for our Great King, on American soil.

For twenty years it has been the writer's privilege to mingle intimately with these missionaries and with the Christian Sioux; to sit with them at their great council fires; to talk with them in their teepees; to visit them in their homes; to meet with them in their Church Courts; to inspect their schools; to worship with them in their churches; and to gather with them on the greensward under the matchless Dakota sky and celebrate together with them the sweet, sacramental service of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.

He was so filled and impressed by what he there saw and heard, that he felt impelled to impart to others somewhat of the knowledge thus gained; in order that they may be stimulated to a deeper interest in, and devotion to the cause of missions on American soil.

In the compilation of this work the author has drawn freely from these publications, viz.:

• The Gospel of the Dakotas, Mary and I, By Stephen R. Riggs, D.D., LL.D.
• Two Volunteer Missionaries, By S. W. Pond, Jr.
• Indian Boyhood, By Charles Eastman
• The Past Made Present, By Rev. William Fiske Brown
• The Word Carrier, By Editor A. L. Riggs, D.D.
• The Martyrs of Walhalla, By Charlotte O. Van Cleve
• The Long Ago, By Charles H. Lee
• The Dakota Mission, By Dr. L. P. Williamson and others
• Dr. T. S. Williamson, By Rev. R. McQuesten

He makes this general acknowledgment, in lieu of repeated references, which would otherwise be necessary throughout the book. For valuable assistance in its preparation he is very grateful to many missionaries, especially to John P. Williamson, D.D., of Grenwood, South Dakota; A. L. Riggs, D.D. of Santee, Nebraska; Samuel W. Pond, Jr., of Minneapolis, and Mrs. Gideon H. Pond, of Oak Grove, Minnesota. All these were sharers in the stirring scenes recorded in these pages. The names Dakota and Sioux are used as synonyms and the English significance instead of the Indian cognomens.

May the blessing of Him who dwelt in the Burning Bush, rest upon all these toilers on the prairies of the new Northwest.

R. J. Creswell.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, January, 1906.

PART I.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.

The Pond Brothers.—Great Revival.—Conversions.—Galena.—Rum-seller Decision.—Westward.—Fort Snelling.—Man of-the-Sky.—Log Cabin.—Dr. Williamson.—Ripley.—Lane Seminary.—St. Peters Church.—Dr. Riggs.—New England Mary.—Lac-qui-Parle.

CHAPTER II.

The Lake-that-Speaks.—Indian Church.—Adobe Edifice.—First School.—Mission Home.—Encouragements.—Discouragements.—Kaposia.—New Treaty.—Yellow Medicine.—Bitter Winter.—Hazlewood.—Traverse des Sioux.—Robert Hopkins.—Marriage.—Death.—M. N. Adams, Oak Grove.— J. P. Williamson, D.D.

CHAPTER III.

Isolation.—Strenuous Life.—Formation of Dakota Language Dictionary. —Grammar.—Literature.—Bible Translation.—Massacre.—Fleeing Missionaries.—Blood.—Anglo Saxons Triumph.—Loyal Indians.—Monument.

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