Page:History of the Ojibway Nation.djvu/378

 

CHAPTER XXXIII.

 

ENDEAVORS OF THE BRITISH TO ENTICE THE OJIBWAYS OF LAKE SUPERIOR AND MISSISSIPPI TO JOIN THEIR ARMS IN THE WAR OF 1812.

 

Mistaken impression respecting the position of the Ojibways during the last war—Efforts of British agents to induce them to break their neutrality—Col. Dickson sends a messenger to the Pillagers to induce them to join the British—Laconic reply of Flat Mouth—Great Cloud, an Ojibway warrior, helps the arms of Great Britain—Anecdote of his first acquaintance with Col. Dickson, who makes him a chief—Michel and John Baptiste Cadotte, Jr., act as British interpreters—Ojibways collect in large numbers at Mackinaw—British attempts to induce them to fight the Americans—Opposition of the chieftain Keesh-ke-mun—He is called to council, and reprimanded by the British commandant—The chieftain's answer—We-esh-coob, the Pillager war-chief—He refuses to join the British—His bitter reply to their taunt of cowardice.

 

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 1812. 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 are several 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