28 POTOWATOMIES. 



1843. Shortly after his arrival he entered the camp of his old ene- 

 mies, the Osages. The old chief, Black Dog, and some six of his 

 warriors were seated upon the ground, busily engaged in mending 

 their moccasins, and did not for some time perceive him. After main- 

 taining silence for some time, and gazing upon the timeworn visage 

 of the Osage chief, he asked him, through the interpreter, if he recol- 

 lected the facts above alluded to. Black Dog replied, that he re- 

 membered the circumstance well ; he then told him that he was the 

 warrior who led the party upon that occasion. Black Dog and his 

 party immediately sprang to their feet, and each in his turn shook 

 the venerable chief by the hand, and assured him that hereafter they 

 would be firm and lasting friends. The pipe of peace was then lit, 

 and they sat down to enjoy a friendly smoke. 



This little circumstance tends to show the friendly feeling that 

 existed among the several tribes assembled upon that occasion. 



" In 1812, he and his tribe were among the allies of Great Britain, 

 and actively engaged against the United States. But at the treaty 

 held at Greenville, in 1814, he was one of those, who, in the Indian 

 phrase, took the seventeen fires by the hand and buried the toma- 

 hawk. He has ever since been an undeviating friend of the Ameri- 

 can government and people. 



" He was one of the chiefs who negotiated the treaty of the Wa- 

 bash in 1836. At the close of the treaty, and while encamped on 

 the bank of the river near the spot where the town of Huntingdon 

 now stands, he engaged in a frolic, and indulged too freely in ardent 

 spirits. A mad scene ensued, such as usually attends a savage revel, • 

 in the course of which, a wan-ior who had the station of friend or aid 

 to Wa-bon-seh, accidentally plunged his knife deep in the side of the 

 chief. The wound was dangerous, and confined him all winter ; but 

 Gen. Tipton, then agent of our government in that quarter, having 

 kindly attended to him, he was carefully nursed, and survived. His 

 sometime friend, fearing that he might be considered as having for- 

 feited that character, had fled as soon as he was sober enough to be 

 conscious of his own unlucky agency in the tragic scene. 



" Early in the spring, Gen. Tipton was surprised by a visit from 

 Wa-bon-seh, who came to announce his own recovery, and thank the 

 agent for his kindness. The latter seized the occasion to effect a n 

 conciliation between the chief and his fugitive friend, urging upon 

 the former the accidental nature of the injury, and the sorrow and 

 alarm of the offender. Wa-bon-seh replied instantly, ' You may send 



