SOURCE or ST. Peter's river. 4:i5 



chief while in the city of Washington, the former union of 

 the Winnebagoes and Otoes with his nation, was distinct- 

 ly asserted. This confirms the information obtained by 

 Mr. Say on the former expedition, (Vide Account of an 

 Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, vol. I. p. 338, 339, 

 and 342,) and disproves the assertion that the lavvas were 

 ever connected with the Dacotas. It may likewise be 

 questioned, whether the Omawhaws, whom Carver con- 

 nects, as well as the Shiennes and Arricaras, with the Nau- 

 dowessies of the plains, were not descended from a differ- 

 ent stock. 



Of the history of the Dacotas very little is known ; they 

 have been engaged from time immemorial in a destructive 

 war against the Chippewas. All the efforts of our govern- 

 ment have tended to produce but temporary suspensions 

 of arms, which have been in all cases violated within a 

 short time after they had been made. Lahontan informs 

 us, that they defeated a party of Iroquois, on an island of 

 the Mississippi, prior to the year 16S8. In 1697,* they 

 destroyed a party of Miamis, on the southern coast of Lake 

 Michigan, between St. Joseph and Kikalemazo rivers; 

 and Charlevoix states that in 1701,t the Sauks, Winne- 

 bagoes, Menomonies, Foxes, Potawatomis, and Kicka- 

 poos, assembled at Green Bay to go to war with them, 

 but that they were dissuaded from it by a French emis- 

 sary. The Chippewas informed Carver, in 1767, that a war 

 had continued without any interruption between them and 

 the Dacotas for upwards of forty winters. They appear to 

 have no tradition or knowledge of the Lenni-Lenape^ 



• Charlevoix's Hist, dela Noyv. France, torn. 3. p,310. 

 t Ibid, p. 405. 



Vol. I. 54 



