Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/41

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Part Taken by Women in American History

appearing and the position of woman retrograding. To the lowering of the standard of morality was largely due her changed position. We find among the Pueblo Indians, however, that the matter of divorce was in the discretion of the woman. At the time of the occupation of North America by the English and French, there was a very remarkable Indian among the Ottawas, Pontiac, who was not only the chief of his own tribe, but had made other tribes acknowledge him as their leader. After the defeat of the French on the plains of Abraham, the English took possession of Detroit and the Indians were so harshly treated that great trouble arose and the Indians threatened to drive out their new rulers. The Indians proposed to capture Detroit, which was then a fort and not a city. The plans for the attack were fully agreed upon and Pontiac was to call a council with Major Gladwin who was in command of the fort at Detroit, and here by a signal from Pontiac all the officers were to be murdered and the entire garrison meet a like fate, or that of captivity. Among one of the tribes was a girl named Catherine, with whom Major Gladwin was in love. She, having heard of the plans of Pontiac and his followers, went to her lover, told him of the plot on the part of the Indians, and the entire garrison was saved, the Indians being taken instead. Through this girl's loyalty to her white friends, the English supremacy in North America was saved. We have a story of another Indian whose services to the white settlers were invaluable, that of Sacajawea, known as the "bird woman." She was made a captive by the Black Feet when a child and sold into slavery by them to a Frenchman, one Chabonneau. When Lewis and Clark reached the Mandan villages, they found this Indian woman, who acted as their guide and interpreter along the Upper Missouri across the divide into the mountains, until she finally again found her own people, the Shoshones, who through her gave their services to