History Documentation:
LETTER FROM LCO AREA CHIEFS TO TERRITORIAL GOVERNOR OF MINNESOTA ALEXANDER RAMSEY (December 18, 1853)
St Croix
Dec. 18, 1853
Our Father,
We shake hands with you and believe
us, that you have our heartfelt thanks for taking as you said to us the
responsibility of sending to our relief the blankets, cloth, calico, kettles,
ammunition and provisions, without which articles, many of the glad faces
which by kindness and goodwill, shown us by you, has revived again and
brightened with the hope of seeing and feeling the warm breath of spring
once more. Without fear of suffering from cold I say again without which
them very same glad faces, had any survived to see spring would have been
covered with cedar coals to mark his mourning for those that our Great
Father would have froze to death for what he calls disobedience when his
children the Chippewa’s does not know what he means. The suffering never
have no friends when they have no means especially the red man. What way
can an Indian get redress from our Great Father while he is an Indian.
Has the Indian any friend or friends in Washington where they make laws
that he can appeal to for influence with our Great Father’s representative
which we always give the name of Father. So the Indian has no friend that
he can appeal to, only the friend that has the power to cheat him and the
friend that looks on to see if we are right according to the treaties,
cheated, sign this, touch the pen, and you will please our Great Father.
No rush in headlong to please our Great Father, the task is light, we touch
the pen, the name is affixed. We find out by degrees that we have been
trifled with and by whom by our Father and those that hold mortgages or
our lands for credit…paid over and over. The Indian is left destitute of
means and friends. He appeals to our Great Father by letter. Our Great
Father asks the man that cheated them for information. He our father gives
an explanation…a one sided one. Our Father appoints two or three young
Indian chiefs, and deposes the ones that have dared to express an opinion
on the veracity of his Father. Every chance of redress has blown over,
we are left to his mercy. All the power he has he uses, all his influence,
he sees to work to punish us, and for what? Because we would not be willingly
cheated and because we adhered to the conditions of removal he suggested
to us, which we expected after expressing himself in open council he would
represent to our Great Father which we see he did not, and for his own
credit misrepresented the case. And the vengeance of our Great Father has
been felt by us for what we know to be, for obeying our great father. We
explained to you our reasons when we saw you in Saint Paul for our former
actions. We beg of you to represent the matter before our great father,
and if his anger is so strong that he will not be pacified towards us,
we would beg of you to say to him for us that the pride of heart that beats
in the breast of a Chippewa Indian throbs yet. That although Our Fathers
the whites have wronged us much that it does not become a Chippewa Indian
to give up seeking redress through the proper authorities and you my father
not only mine but the father of all the Chippewas is the person that we
appeal to. And expressing our thanks to you for what you have done for
us in the name of our great father. We want you to think that we can also
hand a wrong without feeling of animosity towards the whites. We all shake
you by the hand and when we meet again let us hope together that the cause
of the outrage committed on us will be brought to light by you, and drive
away from the breast of our Great Father the clouds that enshroud the mysteries
of Indian affairs with the tempest of truth.
Nay nuh anng a be
Uk ke wans sii
Ke nonsh ance
Waub ish esh enen