Wednesday 13 [January 1773], Mr. Irwine invited the king and some of his friends to take breakfast
with me, having previously informed him that I was no trader, but was a good
man, whose employment among white people was to speak of God
and heavenly matters, and came with that view to see my brothers the
Indians. None of this nation ever saw a
minister, except a chance one at some fort; so that they have little
prepossessions only what are natural.
When the king met me, it was with all appearance of friendship, and
respectfully gave me the right-hand of fellowship, with some kind of
obeisance. His friends that came with
him he ordered to do the same. When
breakfast was ready, which consisted of fat buffalo, beavers tails and
chocolate—in a solemn manner, acknowledged the goodness of God, desiring
Mr. Irwine to acquaint him with the design of my proceeding, and he said the
king approved well of it. In our
conference at breakfast, he desired to know my business among them, seeing that
I was no trader—told him that I could not give a full answer, being a stranger
to their language, and not yet having got a good interpreter to speak for me, but
expected one, and then he should fully know my business. At present told him only a few things, because
Mr. Irwine could not interpret only in common affairs, not having long traded
in this nation.—Kishshinottisthee is indeed a man of good sense, and by all
that appeared was my hearty friend. He
was desirous that I should instruct them into the knowledge of God, but he was
only one, and there were many against me, especially at Chillicaathee
[Chillicothe]. During
my present stay, visited the king in his own dwelling, and was always received
kindly, treating me with hickory nuts, which is part of their food, being much
superior to any of that kind in our eastern world. He is neither distinguished in apparel or house,
that being one of the least in town, being about fourteen feet by twelve. He may be said to possess some degree of
hospitality—being much indisposed one day, the king's wife came with what was
thought might suit a weak stomach as a present to me; the dish consisted of pumkins
[sic] which had been dried, but were now
boiled, and with it some bears oil to eat with the pumkin. As it was a demonstration of benevolence, tho'
my appetite was poor, yet I eat a little. About, this time it snowed near six inches
deep, and for some days it felt near as cold as winter in Philadelphia, though
it is thought to be about two degrees south, so that cold weather in common is
not long. Before removal from this town
captain [Alexander] Mc Kee, in
company with major Smallman arrived. Mr.
Mc Kee is now agent for this department of Indians, and as his influence might
be great, acquainted him with my design. He appeared to be pleased, promising to do
what was in his power to make my journey prosperous. The Indians having told me, that my old
interpreter David Owens was down Ohio below the falls towards the Waabash
[sic] river, therefore inquired of Mr. Mc
Kee for an interpreter—he recommended one whose name is Caesar, who was a
foreigner, and, as he said, understood something about religion, and therefore
would be best for an interpreter on that subject—but was so unhappy as never to
see him. We parted expecting to see each
other at Chillicaathee. It was with
reluctance this town was left, before an opportunity was obtained to instruct
the Indians; but being destitute of an interpreter, concluded to move to the
chief town. 1
The first thing
that really struck me as interesting about this part of Jones’ narrative was
his description of his meals. Buffalo,
beaver tail, and chocolate doesn’t sound like the “breakfast of champions” to
me but it must’ve been well-liked by the Indians. I also find it interesting that the Indians
were drinking chocolate when Joseph Doddridge had referred to it as “slop” and
implied that only “people of quality” would drink it (see my earlier blog post “Joseph
Doddridge on Backcountry Foodways”).
Boiled pumpkin with bear oil sounds interesting too, but I’d give it a
try! I also found it intriguing how many
famous characters Jones happened to run into during his travels. We have already seen him cross paths with the
famous frontiersman George Rogers Clark and with the famous traders John
Baynton and George Morgan. Now we see
him meeting the trader Alexander McKee.
McKee, an associate of George Croghan, had a Shawnee wife and lived with
that tribe while trading amongst the tribes north of the Ohio River. In just a few years, with the outbreak of the
War for Independence, McKee will be viewed with great suspicion by the Americans
as being too closely aligned with British interests in the region. McKee will eventually cast in his lot with
the British and even take part in Indian raids against the western
settlements. But for now he seems to be
genuinely interested in helping Jones in his missionary work.
Friday 22, in company with Mr. Irwine, set
out for Chillicaathee, and arrived there in the afternoon. Here Mr. Irwine kept
an assortment of goods, and for that purpose rented an house from an Indian
whose name is Waappee Monneeto in English, often called the White Devil, but
the word Monneeto is not of any certain signification. Went to see Mr. Moses Henry a gunsmith and
trader from Lancaster. This gentleman has lived for some years in this town,
and is lawfully married to a white woman, who was captivated so young that she
speaks the language as well as any lndian.
She is a daughter of major Collins,
formerly an inhabitant of the south branch of Potomack, but now lives near the
Little Canhawa on Ohio. Mr. Henry lives
in a comfortable manner, having plenty of good beef, pork, milk, &c. His generosity to me was singular, and equal
to my highest wishes. Soon after my
arrival, dieted altogether with Mr. Henry; but slept on my blankets at Mr.
Irwine's. By living on such victuals as
formerly used, soon recovered my health, in a comfortable degree. Chillicaathee is the chief town of the
Shawannee Indians—it is situated north of a large plain adjacent to a branch of
Paint Creek. This plain is their
corn-field, which supplies great part of their town. Their houses are made of logs, nor is there
any more regularity observed in this particular than in their morals, for any
man erects his house as fancy directs. North of this town are to be seen the
remains of an old fortification, the area of which may be fifteen acres. It lies near four square, and appears to have
had gates at each corner, and in the middle likewise. From the west middle
gate, went a circular entrenchment including about ten acres, which seems designed
to defend on all quarters. This circle
included a spring. Mr. Irwine told that
another exactly in this form is to be seen on the river Siota, the banks of
which remain so high as to, intercept sight of men on horseback. 'Tis evident to all travellers [sic] that this country has been inhabited
formerly by a martial race of mankind enjoying the use of iron, for such
entrenchments, as appear in various places, could not have been made otherwise:
but of this part of antiquity we shall remain ignorant. 2
Isn’t it odd
that, as Jones describes it, the ancient fortifications here seem to show more
intentional design than the dwellings of the contemporary Shawnee? Could this be yet another example of the “devolution”
described in Romans 1, where advanced cultures who refuse to worship God
eventually suffer cultural degradation?
His description of the dwellings being built “as fancy directs” also
reminds me of the Book of Judges where “every man did that which was right in
his own eyes.” So many parallels here to
the end result of Christ-less lives.
What will be the result of Jones’ visit to Chillicothe? Lord-willing we’ll pick up the story in our
next post.
Christ, not man, is King!
Dale
1)
David Jones, A Journal of Two Visits Made to
Some Nations of Indians on the West Side of the River Ohio in the Years 1772
and 1773 (Burlington, NJ: Isaac Collins, 1774), p. 39-40.
2)
Ibid., p. 40-1.
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