war dance which was being performed by the Dakotas on Lake St. Croix, preparatory to marching against some tribe of their numerous enemies toward the south.
On occasions of this nature, the warriors work themselves by hard dancing, yelling, and various contortions of the body, into a state of mad excitement; every wrong which they have suffered at the hands of their enemies, is brought fresh to their remembrance for the purpose of "making the heart strong."
Under a state of excitement, such as is here described, a distinguished Dakota warrior shot a barbed arrow into the body of an Ojibway who was dancing with the Dakotas, intending to join them on the war trail against their enemies. Some of the old men who relate this tradition, assert that the Ojibway was part of Dakota extraction, and the fierce warrior who shot him, exclaimed as he did so, that "he wished to let out the hated Ojibway blood which flowed in his veins." Others state that he was a full-blood Ojibway who had married a Dakota woman, by whom he had a large family of children; that he resided with her people, and had become incorporated amongst them, joining their war parties against the different tribes with whom they were at enmity.
The ruthless shot did not terminate his life, and after a most painful sickness, the wounded man recovered. He silently brooded over the wrong so wantonly inflicted on him, for the warrior who had injured him was of such high standing in his tribe, that he could not revenge himself on him with impunity. After a time he left the Dakotas and paid a visit to his Ojibway relatives on Lake Superior, who received him into their wigwams with every mark of kindness and regard. He poured into their willing ears the tale of his wrong, and he succeeded in inducing them to raise a war party to march against the Dakota encampment on Lake St Croix.
