OJIBWAY AND SIOUX SKIRMISHES IN 1832.
Flat Mouth in the spring of 1832 led a war party beyond Crow Wing River, and met a band of Sioux, killed three and wounded about the same number, and lost one of their own men, who belonged to Cass Lake.
In 1832, Henry R. Schoolcraft, the Indian agent, visited the Upper Mississippi with an escort of soldiers under Lt. James Allen, U.S.A. The Rev. W.T. Boutwell, one of the associates of the Rev. Mr. Ferry, the Presbyterian missionary at Mackinaw, was invited to accompany the expedition.
On the night of the 7th of July a man came from Leech Lake and informed Schoolcraft of the recent skirmish of the Pillagers with the Sioux. The Ojibways lost one man and took three scalps. He also mentioned that a party of Sioux had been to Pembina, scalped a child, and fled. The Ojibways pursued and killed four Sioux, in revenge. Leech Lake was reached at 10 P.M. of the 16th of July. Mr. Boutwell in his Narrative[1] writes that early on the next morning "the principal chief [Flat Mouth] sent his mishinne, waiting-man, requesting Mr. Schoolcraft to come and breakfast with him.
FLAT MOUTH IN 1832.
"Decorum required him to comply with the request, though he was at liberty to furnish the table mostly himself. A mat spread in the middle of the floor served as a table, upon which the dishes were placed. Around this were spread others upon which the guests sat while the wife of the chief waited upon the table, and poured the tea. She afterward took breakfast by herself." After breakfast they proceeded to the chief's headquarters which is thus described: "It is a building perhaps twenty feet by
- ↑ Missionary Herald, Boston, 1834.
