hopfman] ACCOUNT OF TOMAU' 55 



upon their hunting grounds, visited Green Bay, obtained a council and 

 hearing from Toman and his people, whom he addressed in a manner he 

 best knew how to do ; and in the course of which, in true Indian spirit, he 

 pictured the glory, as well as certainty of success, and as omens of this, 

 recapitulated to them his own hitherto prosperous career — the number of 

 battles he had fought, the victories he had won, the enemies he had slain, 

 and the scalps he had taken from the heads of warrior-foes. Tomah 

 appeared sensible of the influence of such an address upon his people, and 

 feared its consequence, for he was opposed to leading them into war. 

 His reply was in a tone to allay this feeling, and he closed with the remark 

 to them, that they bad heard the words of Tecumseh — heard of the battles 

 he had fought, the enemies he had slain, and the scalps he had taken. He 

 then paused; and wbilo the deepest silence reigned throughout the audi- 

 ence, he slowly raised his hands, with his eyes fixed on them, and in a 

 lower, but not less prouder tone, continued "But it is my boast that these 

 hands are unstained with human blood!" The effect is described as tremen- 

 dous — nature obeyed her own impulse, and admiration was forced even 

 from those who could not, or did not, approve of the moral to lie implied, 

 and the gravity of the council was disturbed, for an instant, by a murmur 

 of approbation — a tribute to genius, overpowering, at the moment, the 

 force of education and of habit. He concluded with remarking, that he 

 had ever supported the policy of peace, as his nation was small and conse- 

 quently weak; that he was fully aware of the injustice of the Americans 

 in their encroachments upon the lands of the Indians, and for them feared 

 its consequences, but that he saw no relief for it in going to war, and 

 therefore, as a national thing, he would not do so, but that if any of his 

 young men were desirous of leaving their bunting grounds, and follow- 

 ing Tecumseh, they had his permission to do so. His prudent counsels 

 prevailed. 1 



Toman' and probably a hundred of his warriors accompanied 

 Colonel Uobert Dickson, in 1812, in the capture from the 

 Americans of Fort Mackinaw, though they did not have any 

 fighting. During this expedition Osh'kosh, subsequently head 

 chief of the tribe, was placed under Tomau"s special care. He 

 and a number of chiefs also accompanied Proctor and Dickson 

 in the attack on the fort at Sandusky. In 1814, with about 

 eighty of his Menomini, he again accompanied Colonel Dick 

 son to Mackinaw. They took an efficient part in the battle in 

 which the American commander, Major Holmes, fell. 



Mr Biddle affirms that Tomau' had no hereditary claim to 

 the chieftaincy : 



This was held, at the time, by a man nearly as old as himself, who was 

 an idiot, but who they always took with them in their excursions. Tomau 

 merely ruled as the acknowledged strongest man of the nation, and this 

 he had continued to do for a great many years. 2 



There is a slight difference of opinion as to the date of the 

 death of Tomau', Jedidiah Morse 3 giving the date of this event 

 as July 8, 1818, Biddle 4 also observing that the tombstone on 



■ Col. Hist. Soc. of Wisconsin for 1854, vol. i, 1855, pp. 53, 54. 

 • 2 Ibid., p. 53. 



3 Report to Secretary of War, Xew Haven, 1822, p. 53. 

 * Op. cit.. i, p. 58. 



