June 11, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



527 



furnished the writer by Mrs. Elizabeth Taylor Ayer, 

 a missionary lady who was a keenly interested par- 

 ticipant in most of the events reported. Among the 

 early writers of Minnesota, fragments of the same 

 narrative occur, presenting, however, different 

 phases of this history, and altogether lacking the 

 element of continuity. 



The Ojibwa band of aborigines settled about Lake 

 Pokegema, in what is now Pine county, Minn., in- 

 cluded in 1841 two Ojibwa braves, — one named 

 We-zhai-ma, ; the other called by the missionaries 

 stationed at that point Julius Caesar, both on account 

 of his distinguished bearing, and his prowess in bat- 

 tle. 



Some time in May, 1841, these two Indians were 

 despatched down the St. Croix valley to St. Croix 

 Falls for needful supplies. Upon reaching their 

 destination, they learned that their hereditary ene- 

 mies, the Sioux or Dakotas, were about to attack the 

 Pokegema Ojibwas, when, leaving their supplies be- 

 hind them, they hastened homeward to give warning 

 of the impending danger. 



During the return journey, they encountered the 

 war- party in question, under circumstances which 

 rendered advance and retreat alike dangerous. 

 Without a moment's hesitation, the young Ojibwas 

 fired upon the hostile party, Julius Caesar killing one 

 of the leaders of the expedition : the two then parted 

 from each other, and, in accordance with Indian 

 tactics, fled in opposite directions. 



The foe pressed hotly upon Julius. He threw his 

 gun lightly over one shoulder, and, with a backward 

 half- aim, shot dead a second Sioux warrior, who 

 proved to be a brother of the first. These two Sioux 

 braves were sons of Little Crow, senior, a prominent 

 and influential chief of the Kapota band of Dakotas, 

 at that time settled within a few miles of the present 

 site of the city of St. Paul. 



Julius himself immediately fell. His body was 

 dismembered. His limbs were literally hewed in 

 pieces and scattered to the four winds. His head 

 was scalped, detached from the trunk, placed in a 

 kettle with fragments of his person, adjusted with 

 the face turned toward the bodies of his victims 

 seated near, and left dangling from the bough of a 

 convenient tree. A friendly party eventually dis- 

 covered and identified the mutilated remains, and 

 conveyed intelligence of the disaster to the families 

 of the young men at Lake Pokegema. No traces of 

 We-zfoat'-nia's body could be found, but, as he had 

 completely disappeared, it was believed that he like- 

 wise had perished at the hand of the enemy. 



The Pokegema Indians apprehended further hos- 

 tilities in the immediate future. The better to guard 

 against surprise, such of them as were dwelling upon 

 the mainland abandoned their places, and took 

 refuge with friends upon a small island near the 

 centre of the lake. The sole approach to this spot 

 being by water, the Pokegemas withdrew their 

 canoes at night from the outer shore, and secured 

 them against capture upon the island. The women 

 had at the proper season planted potatoes, maize, 

 and other vegetables upon the mainland in large 

 open fields which they called gardens. These they 

 cultivated during the day, returning to their island 

 lodges by boat at nightfall. 



Three runners were soon despatched from Lake 

 Pokegema to acquaint friends at Mille Lacs with the 

 fate and supposed fate of Julius and We zhai-ma. 

 Early upon the morning chosen for their departure, 



they were set across the lake to the west, in canoes, 

 by two young girls of the band, who accompanied 

 them for the purpose of returning the boats used to 

 their owners at the island. A hostile force of Sioux 

 warriors had meanwhile succeeded in penetrating 

 secretly to Pokegema, and these were now ambushed 

 in two bodies upon the eastern and the western edges 

 of the lake. The larger division, of one hundred 

 fightiug men, was posted upon the eastern shore, in 

 the rear of the gardens, and was expected to make 

 the main attack upon the Ojibwas. The western 

 party, of thirty, comprising men and some women 

 and boys, was so stationed as to prevent the Ojibwas 

 from retreating across the lake during battle. The 

 latter force had been strictly charged to make no 

 sign until firing should be heard from the eastern 

 shore. 



One or two of the Sioux hotheads, however, could 

 not withstand the temptation to fire upon the canoes 

 as they reached the beach. The Ojibwa runners 

 promptly returned the fire, and made for the shore. 

 They finally escaped their opponents by plunging 

 into the forest, though all were more or less wounded. 



The two Indian maidens were small creatures of 

 only about twelve years, being pupils at the mission- 

 school. These girls spi ang out of the canoes, and in 

 their terror waded from the shore into the shallow 

 waters of the lake. They were pursued and captured 

 by the Sioux party. The men, dragging them to land, 

 butchered them upon the spot, their dying shrieks 

 ringing in the ears of the distracted parents at the 

 island. They were scalped, their heads were cut off, 

 a hatchet was sunk in the brain of each, their bodies 

 were mutilated, and the heads were set up in mock- 

 ery in the sands of the shore. 



In brief, the Sioux party lost two men killed out- 

 right, and one mortally wounded. So assured of 

 success in this expedition were they, that they had 

 brought with them a certain number of boys and 

 women to aid in carrying away their anticipated 

 spoils. In finally quitting the field, they possessed 

 themselves of a boat owned by the missionaries, and, 

 depositing their slain within it, moved two or three 

 miles up Snake River, where they landed. Here 

 they arrayed the dead in the best they could procure, 

 and left them seated in an upright position against 

 the trunks of trees. 



Two days after the fight, certain of the wild Poke- 

 gemas ascended the river in search of the dead bodies 

 of the enemy, which they found arranged as de- 

 scribed, and which they proceeded to hew in pieces, 

 and convey to the island for distribution among the 

 members of their band. All tho-e who had lost a rel- 

 ative at the hand of a Sioux were to be supplied with 

 a portion of a Sioux body, those recently bereaved 

 being the first to be served. 



The mother of one of the slaughtered girls was a 

 pagan. She received as her allotment the head of a 

 Sioux warrior. The mother and the wife of Julius, 

 who were no longer wild Indians, had appropriated 

 to them an arm each. The savage mother, frantic 

 with grief and rage, repeatedly dashed the head 

 vengefully among the stones, and tossed and spurned 

 it with her foot along the sands until weary, eventu- 

 ally leaving it to be eaten by the dogs, and to moulder 

 away among the refuse of the village. On the other 

 hand, the mother and wife of Julius accepted in 

 silence the customary mementos of victory, and with- 

 drew with them to their lodge. Here the two 

 bereaved women took the dissevered limbs upon their 



