150 



BLACKBIRD BLACK HAWK 



[b. a. b. 



a chief of that name, which formerly 

 existed on Tittibawa^see r., Saginaw co., 

 lower Michigan, on a reservation sold in 

 1837. (.1. M.) 



Blackbird (Mukatapenaise). A Pota- 

 watonu chief who lived in the early part 

 of the 19th century. He was conspicuous 

 at the massacre of the garrison at Ft 

 Dearborn, Chicago, in Aug., 1812. 



Black Bob. The chief of a Shawnee 

 band, originally a part of the Hatha- 

 wekela division of the Shawnee, q. v. 

 About the year 1826 they separated from 

 their kindred, then living in e. Missouri 

 on land granted to them about 1793 by 

 Baron Carondelet, near Cape Girardeau, 

 then iu Spanish territory, and removed 

 to Kansas, where, by treaty with their 

 chief. Black Bob, in 1854, they were given 

 rights on the Shawnee res. in that state. 

 Under Black Bob's leadershiji they re- 

 fused to remove with the rest of the tribe 

 to Indian Ter. in 1868, but are now 

 incorporated with them, either in the 

 Cherokee Nation or with the Absentee 

 Shawnee. See Shawnee, and consult 

 Halbert in Gulf States Hist. Mag., i, no. 

 6, 1903. (j. M.) 



Black Dog. An Osage village, named 

 from its chief, 60 m. from the Mission, in 

 Indian Ter., in 1850; pop. 400.— Smet, 

 West. Miss, and Missionaries, 355, 1863. 



Black drink ( "Carolina tea" ; Catawba 

 yaupon; Creek dssi-luputski, 'small leaves,' 

 commonly abbreviated dssi). A decoc- 

 tion, so named by British traders from 

 its color, made lay boiling leaves of 

 the Ilex casshie in water. It was em- 

 ployed by the 

 tribes of the 

 Gulf states and 

 adjacent re- 

 gion as "medi- 

 cine" for cere- 

 monial purifi- 

 fication. It 

 was a power- 

 ful agent for 

 the produc- 

 tion of the 

 nervous state 

 and disordered imagination necessary to 

 "spiritual" power. Hall (Rep. Nat. Mus., 

 218, 1885) says that among the Creeks 

 the liquid was prepared and drank before 

 councils in order, as they believed, to in- 

 vigorate the mind and body and prepare 

 for thought and debate. It was also used 

 in the great ' ' busk ' ' or annual green-corn 

 thanksgiving. The action of the drink in 

 strong infusion is purgative, vomitive, and 

 diuretic, and it was long thought that this 

 was the only effect, but recent investiga- 

 tion has shown that the plant contains 

 caffeine, the leaves yielding a beverage 

 with stimulating qualities like tea and 

 coffee, and that excessive indulgence 



REPARiNG Black d 



produces similar nervous disturbance. 

 The plant was held in great esteem by the 

 southern Indians, and the leaves were 

 collected with care and formed an article 

 of trade among the tribes (Griffith, Med. 

 Bot. , 1847 ) . The leaves and tender shoots 

 were gathered, dried, roasted, and stored 

 in baskets until needed. According to 

 Gatschet the Creeks made three potions 

 from cassine of differing strength for 

 different uses. In its preparation the 

 leaves, having been roasted in a pot, were 

 added to water and boiled. Before 

 drinking, the Indians agitated the tea to 

 make it frothy. Tea made from the Ilex 

 cassiue is still sometimes used by white 

 people in localities where the shrub 

 grows. Personal names referi'ing to the 

 black-drink ceremony were very com- 

 mon, especially among the Creeks and 

 Seminole. The name of Osceola (q. v.), 

 t^e noted Seminole chief, is properly 

 Asi-i/ahola, 'Black-drink Singer.' The 

 drink was called dssi-luputski by the 

 Creeks. C. C. Jones (Tomochichi, 118, 

 1868) calls the drink "foskey." See 

 Gatschet, Creek Migr. Leg., ii, 56, 1888, 

 and works therein cited; Hale, Ilex Cas- 

 sine, Bull. 14, Div. Botany, U. S. Dept. 

 Agriculture, 1891. (w. ii.) 



Blackfoot, Middle, North, and South. Di- 

 visions of the Siksika proper, q. v. 



Black Fox (IndU). A principal chief 

 of the Cherokee who, under the treaty 

 of Jan. 7, 1806, by which the Cherokee 

 ceded nearly 7,000 sq. m. of their lands 

 in Tennessee and Alabama, was given a 

 life annuity of $100. He was then an old 

 man. In 1810, as a member of the na- 

 tional council of his tribe, he signed an 

 enactment formally abolishing the cus- 

 tom of clan revenge hitherto universal 

 among the tribes, thus taking an impor- 

 tant step toward civilization. — Mooney 

 in 19th Kep. B. A. E., 87, 1900. 



Black Hawk {Ma'katavumeshekd'kd", 

 from iii<('k(it(iivi 'it is black, mMii 'big,' 

 kd'kd'i- 'chert,' the name referring to the 

 description of a bird, or sparrow hawk. — 

 W. J. ). A subordinate chief of the Sauk 

 and Fox Indians and leader in the Black 

 Hawk war of 1832. He was born at the 

 Sauk village at the mouth of Rock r., 111., 

 in 1767, and l)elonged to the Thunder 

 gens of the Sauk tribe. When only 15 

 years of age he distinguished himself in 

 war; and before he was 17, at the head 

 of a war party of young men, he attacked 

 an Osage camp of 100 persons and came 

 away safely with the scalp of a warrior. 

 The next party that he led out, however, 

 he brought to a deserted village, on ac- 

 count of which all except 5 of his ]iarty 

 left him; but with these he kept on and 

 brought away 2 scalps with which to 

 efface his disgrace. At the age of 19 he 

 led 200 Sauk and Foxes in a desperate 



