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  Endeavors of the British to Entice the Ojibways of Lake Superior and Mississippi to Join Their Arms in the War of  It has been a general impression throughout the United States, that the Ojibways,as a tribe,fought under the flag of Great Britain,during the war of .It is not so; and it can be stated as a fact,that of the nine thousand which this tribe number on Lake Superior, and the Mississippi, not more than one or two warriors are mentioned as having joined the British.There areseveral villages of Indians in Upper Canada,who are sometimes denominated as Ojibways,but who are more properly the remnants of the original Algonquins who have always been in the interest of the British,and aided them in their wars. The connection existing between these and the Lake Superior and Mississippi Ojibways, is not very close, though they speak the same language,and call one another relatives. If any of the Ojibways living within the boundaries of the United States fought for the British during the last war, it was more through coercion than otherwise, and they belonged to small bands who lived among the Ottaways at Mackinaw, and who were scattered in Michigan among the Pottawatumies and other tribes. The main body of the tribe occupying Lake Superior, and the waters of the Mississippi firmly withstood every effort made by the British to induce them to enter into the war, and it is thus they have succeeded in holding their own in numbers, and in fact, gradually increasing,while other tribes,who have foolishly mingled in the wars of the whites,have become nearly extinct. Agents were sent by the British government to the principal villages of the Ojibways,to invite them to join their arms against the Americans.Col. Dickson, who had long been a trader amongst the Dakotas, and northern Ojibways, is mentioned as one of the most prominent and active of the 264 1. The Ojibwe who joined the British in the capture of Mackinac in , and who fought with Tecumseh and General Procter in the Battle of the Thames in ,do not seem to have been coerced. Schenck bk p i-xxiv 1-318_Layout 1 5/13/11 10:54 AM Page 264 British agents in levying the savage tribes, in an exterminating warfare against the men,women, and children of the United States. He sent the British interpreter, St. Germain, in a light canoe, fully manned with Canadian voyageurs, from Fort William to Leech Lake, to obtain the co-operation of the Pillagers. He gave presents to Esh-ke-buge -coshe (Flat Mouth), the chief of the warlike band, and in public council he presented the wampum belts of the British agent,and delivered his message . The Pillager chieftain sent back the belts with the laconic answer: “When I go war against my enemies,I do not call on the whites to join my warriors. The white people have quarrelled among themselves, and I do not wish to meddle in their quarrels,nor do I intend ever,even to be guilty of breaking the window-glass of a white man’s dwelling.” St.Germain next urged him to visit Col.Dickson at Ft.William,but the chief refused to go,and of all his warriors,but one obeyed the summons of the British agent.This one was a noted warrior named Ke-che-aun-o-guet, or Great Cloud, whose attachment had been secured by Col. Dickson, in the following characteristic manner:— Great Cloud was one time, early in the spring, hunting in company with a Frenchman near Leaf Lake, while the Dakotas still claimed the country about it as their own. Early one morning, hearing the report of a gun towards Leaf Lake,Great Cloud told his comrade that he knew it must be the Dakotas,and he must go and see what they were about.Bidding the Frenchman good-bye, saying that he would try and return during the night, but not to wait for him longer than noon the next day, the Indian started on his dangerous expedition. Arriving at the outlet of Leaf River from the lake, he noticed some maple trees freshly tapped, and he soon fell on a beaten path, following which he soon discovered a log house, surrounded by a fence of felled trees. He hid by the roadside between the forks of a fallen tree, and there patiently awaited the appearance of some Dakota, whose...

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