100 Indian Mounds and Earthworks. 



where, within the ruins of an ancient town or village, fortified 

 with walls, '' graves are found in abundance, from one to three 

 feet in depth, containing human bones. The bodies seem gen- 

 erally to have been buried in a sitting posture, with flat stones 

 placed around and over them." I observed a grave or sepulchre 

 of this kind on the summit of the natural hill, of limestone, called 

 Sinsinnawa mound, a few miles north of Galena. 



Whilst endeavoring to ascertain the origin of the animal forms, 

 adopted in the Wisconsin territory for monumental purposes, the 

 writer became early aware of the embarrassments attendant on 

 all researches in Indian archaeology. It has been suggested, that 

 they might be designed merely to record the achievements of cer- 

 tain chiefs in hunting. That they were sepulchral, and enclosed 

 the remains of human beings, has been proved by the recent ex- 

 amination of many earthworks which have the peculiar forms 

 noticed in the preceding pages. 



Concerning these ancient memorials of a by-gone people, view- 

 ing them as commemorative of the dead, it has occurred to me 

 that they may have served in some way to designate the respect- 

 ive tribes or branches to which the deceased, in whose honor the 

 structures were reared, belonged. Even at the present day it is 

 an undisputed fact, I believe, that certain, perhaps most, Indian 

 families and even tribes or branches, are distinguished from each 

 other by badges indicating particular animals, or objects ; or by 

 devices symbolical of some memorable national event or peculiar- 

 ity. In the same mode, and for the same purposes, many indi- 

 viduals also, among the more remarkable of their warriors, assumed 

 similar devices ; commemorative of personal prowess, of success in 

 the chase or in war ; and were further distinguished among their 

 friends and adherents, by titles equally characteristic. Thus have 

 we seen, even within the space of a few months from the time 

 of writing this article, the survivors of an Indian chief recording 

 at the head of his grave, by some rude hieroglyphics, the tribe 

 and attributes of the deceased. And this is Indian heraldry : as 

 useful, as commemorative, as inspiriting to the red warrior and his 

 race, as that when in the days of the crusades, the banner and the 

 pennon, the device and the motto, the crest, the shield and the 

 war cry, exercised their potent influence on European chivalry. 



In all times have nations adopted and men arranged themselves 

 under badges and symbols, to which custom and long cherished 

 associations endeared them. Yet were they of no higher import 



