"We Subsist upon Indian Charity": George Nelson and the Wisconsin Ojibwa

THERESA M. SCHENCK Washington State University

In 1802 George Nelson was the 15-year-old son of a schoolteacher in Sorel, Quebec. Like so many other young men growing up along the St. Lawrence, he had listened to the romantic and adventurous tales of the voyageurs returning each year from the West, and was himself "seized with the delirium" (Journal l:fo.8). That winter, during a trip to Montreal, he "accidentally" accompanied one of the voyageurs to the office of Parker, Gerrard & Ogilvy, partners in the XY Company of Alexander Mackenzie, and signed on as an apprentice clerk, indentured for a period of fiveyears . By May 3 he was on his way to Lachine where he joined six canoes setting out for Grand Portage. It was on this voyage that Nelson saw Indians for the first time. One, who drew out a knife from his leggings to cut tobacco, inspired such fear that he wrote: I cannot describe my consternation & horror, my whole frame shuddered! Gracious God! thought I; who, in the name of goodness can ever be sufficiently upon his guard with such people! Who but a Savage, a Barbarian, a Murderer would ever think of putting a Knife in such a place; & such a knife too! so sharp, so pointed! and am I to live amongst such people? My heart quaked. I became quite faint. [1:10] On the voyage west Nelson found everything "wild, romantic & won­ derful" (1:12). He was especially intrigued by voyageur folklore and customs which he would later delight in recounting. Yet at times he felt wretched and lonely, and regretted his precipitous decision to enter the trade. Somewhere along the French River, and in the company of Alexan­ der Mackenzie himself, he completed his sixteenth year. On arriving at Grand Portage, Nelson was assigned to work in one of the stores, and in early September he was sent with three other men to the Folle Avoine, the headwaters of the St. Croix River in Wisconsin. There he would winter among the Ojibwa, a people he described as "remarkable for their courage, being at perpetual war with the Sioux, insolence & brutality" (1:17). Writing nine years after his entry into the fur trade, Nelson still recalled 340 THERESA M. SCHENCK the fear he felt at his first contact with these people. On their way to the Folle Avoine they spent one night at Fond du Lac, near the North West post and not far from one or two Ojibwa families who, according to some of the men, were "great rascals" and might be up to some trick. Young George was "terribly uneasy," and remained "barricaded in his tent" all night, "shivering with apprehensions" until he fell asleep. Of course, in the morning, "all was right" and they proceeded on their way (1:19-20). Another early impression of the Ojibwa would long remain with him. On their way up the Brule River they witnessed the effects of rum on one family. When a drunken son beat his mother, no one could or would inter­ fere, and Nelson was astonished. "Surely, thought I, the curse of God will fall on these people" (1:21). Yet throughout his career he would continue to give liquor to the Indians because it was part of the trade. By the time they reached their wintering site on the Yellow River, Nelson had ceased to fear the Ojibwa and was beginning to feel at ease among them. Soon the Indians took pity on his youth, and one of them even adopted him as a son. These were the firstOjibw a he had seen "in numbers & at their homes" and he was powerfully struck by their appearance and manners. Men of the common Stature, most of them besmeared (painted) black, with bruised charcoal & grease, being most of them in mourning for some of their relations, killed the year before in a drunken quarrel on this very spot. Only with a Capot & brich clout on, their Tommyhaw-pipes & knives in their hands. They look fierce, & were so. Strait as arrows, then- motions & their eyes shewed plainly, how frequently these faculties must have been bro't to the test. [1:22] Nelson was by now becoming reconciled to his new life and began to show interest in Ojibwa customs. One of the firsth e described was their mourning. Young boys, fasting, their faces blackened, would go off alone to weep and mourn. Women, too, were heard to go out some distance from camp to speak to their departed loved ones, complaining of their loss and asking forgiveness if they had ever offended the deceased. Even children would "go into the woods & bewail their departed friends in quiet & solitude, fasting the whole day." But Nelson still viewed these scenes as "superstitious barbarities" which were "beneath the attention of my superior knowledge." He acknowledged, however, that "they have left an indelible impression which with my years increases & furnish a subject for reflection" (1:25-28). GEORGE NELSON AND THE WISCONSIN OJIBWA 341

Nelson saw the Ojibwa as "proud, haughty & insolent," a people who would risk their lives merely to demonstrate their bravery (1:35). Their "turbulent & warlike character" (1:29) he attributed to their tradition of warfare with the Sioux. Yet during that firstyea r in the trade Nelson came to admire two traits in the Ojibwa. The first might be termed their integrity. They were proud, & demeanour so lofty & overbearing that even their relatives could scarcely endure it... They were treacherous, as we call it, but not deceitful; for what they promised they rarely failed accomplishing. A deceitful person whom they put on the same category with a liar, a thief & a coward, they held in ineffable contempt. [1:42] The second was their independence. He told of the effort of one trader to make a chief. The Indian so designated refused the honor saying: Undeceive yourselves. I am bom free & independent. I despise those tokens of Slavery. I am not a Slave to wear any clothing. My old clothes satisfy me; & when they are worn out, I know how to procure others. You are all afraid of me; & you think with sweet words, & all this flummery to bribe me, to purchase a quiet you are too cowardly to procure & too base to deserve. You complain of troubles & dangers - who asked you to come here. If we want anything we will go to where it is to be had...If you will persist to trade here, trade fairly as men, & not wait 'till you think us too far drunk to perceive how you steal from us & insult our females... This is the reason we ill treat you; we don't kill you because it would be polluting our knives. [1:44] The following year, 1803, seventeen-year old George Nelson was sent as clerk to the Chippewa River with three men and an interpreter. Once again he was assailed by regrets at having left his father's home and come to a country he was so ignorant of. The very practices which had once repulsed him were now part of his daily existence, and it was only by joining themselves to the natives that these men were able to exist. On one occasion when two of his men had been missing for several days, he even accepted the offer of one old Indian to "conjure" in exchange for some tobacco. The old man's predictions, or rather descriptions of the traders' situation, proved to be quite accurate. Another time, when they were facing starvation, Nelson was encouraged to give some tobacco to two of the Indians to "make their medicine (as they call it) or prayers to kill something." He spoke respectfully of he solemn ceremonies which he wit­ nessed, of their songs, their drumming and their smoking, and with reluctant admiration he later admitted that "they brought home each a bear at night to our lodges" (2:23) The traders were utterly dependent on the native people not only for the 342 THERESA M. SCHENCK furs they sought, but also for their very existence. They usually followed one or two bands to their hunting grounds, and nearby established their own quarters. As Nelson explained, "the Indians make their fall hunt far below here where we must absolutely pass the fall near them" (2:13). Throughout the fall and winter the Ojibwa brought them wild rice, fish, grease, and meat to trade for tobacco, ammunition, and, of course, rum. From the Indians they bought their canoes; the Indians aided them in the many difficult portages they had to make; and finally, the Indians had to act as guides, for, as Nelson expressed it, "we are too stupid ourselves" (2:17). They especially needed the Indians for medicine, of which they had none at all (1:24). Nelson mentioned the "roots & plants which the Indians often gather for sickness, sores, wounds & bruises, &c &c — for wounds particularly, I must say that they really have some excellent roots, which they either pound, scrape, or chew into salve then applied — which seldom fails of healing" (2:9-10). Nelson, who had himself been healed in a native sweat lodge (1:38), used it on another occasion to cure two of his men (2:10). Even as the traders were dependent on the Ojibwa for their subsistence and health, the Ojibwa had become dependent on the traders for liquor. Liquor was given to ask a favor, to thank, to acknowledge mourners, as a trade item for provisions, and, of course, for furs. At the beginning of the season, when the Indians firstcam e in to get their debts, liquor was part of the ritual. Nelson described its effect on the native people: "We gave them rum; --they got drunk, sang, danced, quarreled & fought" (1:30). But although they enjoyed the liquor, the Indians blamed the Whites for bringing it. "You are the cause of this blood being shed by bringing poisoned rum to us," said one (1:42). Often, by the end of the season, there was none left, yet still the Ojibwa brought food to help the traders survive. "We subsist upon indian Chanty," wrote Nelson (2:25). What is rare in Nelson's account is the glimpses he gives of native women and their role in the fur trade. Women and children traveled, of course, with the hunting bands, and were important as providers of food. Women are also seen making snowshoes (2:22), helping to press the packs of furs, and packing the canoes (2:28). Nelson was surprised at the weight they could carry, "having all their bags, kettles, pans, or dishes, cups, rather at one time upon their back & not unfrequently their youngest Child upon the top of this" (2:9). He saw them, though, as miserable and "poor GEORGE NELSON AND THE WISCONSIN OJIBWA 343 wretches" trudging behind their husbands, who carried only his gun, and perhaps his medicine bag. During the winter they spent in the Folle Avoine region, two widows with children lived near the XY house, and on one occasion, even saved the traders' lives by warning them that two young Indians were plotting to kill them (1:28). Many of the men had taken Indian wives, and one whom Nelson especially noticed was the wife of his interpreter, Jean Brunet. She was, he claimed, "a vixen & hussy" who kept her husband "in proper subjection by caresses, promises & menaces" (2:20). He decried the influence she had on her husband, and concluded that "women were women not only in civilized countries but elsewhere also" (2:21). During his second season among the Ojibwa Nelson was himself pressured to take a wife, the daughter of Le Commis, one of the Indians who hunted for the XY traders. It does not appear to have been a close relationship, and he never even mentioned her by name, only as "the woman that was with me" (2:28). Although he tried on many occasions to get rid of her, he did not succeed until the end of the season when they arrived at Grand Portage. There he managed to get an interpreter to take her, and he was relieved of a burden he had never sought (2:34). Nelson commented on the practice of menstrual isolation among the Ojibwa, explaining that menstruating women kept themselves separate for the entire time, even cooking their food on a fire which they struck at some distance from the lodge. He considered it superstitious to think that men­ struating women could have an effect on a man's medicine, being able to neither touch nor see his medicine bag (2:9). They are superstitious enough to think that even their breath is enough to pollute or defile all their great things. For which reason again it seldom ever happens either drunk or sober you'll see a woman pass over the legs of her husband eve, much less any other person - for they say it causes immediate pain & Great swelling — & which will seldom get over without medicine songs & ceremonies & not unfrequently sacrifices which they often upon almost any occasion make. [2:35] Nelson also made reference to a girl's puberty celebration. "When it happens to a young Girl for the first time, their fathers generally make a feast upon the occasion, where almost everyone is invited — during the feast there are speeches & songs & drumbeating & sometimes dances (2:34-35). Interesting also are the glimpses of Ojibwa chiefs and traders who are 344 THERESA M. SCHENCK mentioned in other journals or historical documents. La Piste (The Track) was one of the signers of the Treaty of 1825 at Prairie du Chien. Kishkemun appears in Malhiot's journal of the Lac du Flambeau trade, 1804-05, as also in Warren's History of the Ojibway people. Le Diable Rouge (Miscomonedo) was still a chief in 1831 when Schoolcraft visited Lac Courte Oreilles (Mason 1958:121). The trader Simon Chaurette's wife, Keemstinoquay, daughter of Kishkemun, was later a trader for the American Fur Company at L'Anse (NAC, American Fur Company Records, Reel 1:197). La Moitie du Chef and Le Chef des Oiseaux are also men­ tioned by Malhiot (Thwaites 1910:207, 229). Finally, in his notes which are found at the end of his second journal, Nelson described many customs and beliefs of the Ojibwa at that time, some of which he admired, others which could not refrain from criticizing. Their general pastime on a winter's evening was recounting stories that were both entertaining and superstitious, one of Nelson's favorite words in explaining native thought. They will tell you stories of the thunder, which they take be birds of an enormous size & of the most hideous shape & figure — some among them have these birds to reside occasionally in the water, where they make a terrible havoc with anything human that opposes them — These people are superstitious enough to think that some of their medicine men are able; & have actually resisted to the power of these surprising Birds. [2:41] He told of their beliefs regarding an afterlife, a kind of reincarnation as an animal, and how they would foretell this "with some other ceremonies which their natural blindness makes them think that such things do in reality happen" (2:41). He explained how war parties were formed by sending around a bit of tobacco. All those who accept of this tobacco are considered to be of the party &c &c &c are superstitious & foolish enough to think that their chief can assume at least the track or footmark of any animal if not its shape, by which means he can go in any direction he pleases, without the risk of being discovered, except by those ... who have as much power as themselves. [2:41] He understood that Ojibwa warfare, like all Indian warfare, did not usually consist of great battles, but that they often returned before they even discovered the enemy, or retired "after a very faint attack of resistance". This, he noted, was difficult for the young men, who were "such enemies to subordination, that they think themselves despised when obliged to obey GEORGE NELSON AND THE WISCONSIN OJIBWA 345 another" as members of a war party (2:41). Nelson's two early journals are important not only for the valuable information they contain about the fur trade, but also for his observations on Ojibwa life at this period. Through his eyes one can witness life in the contested zone, meet a variety of Ojibwa men and women, and see the interplay of Indians with traders and with each other. By the time Nelson actually wrote these journals in 1811 he thought of himself as "one who is almost become an Indian" (2:43). He had already been nine years in the trade and learned a considerable amount of the Ojibwa language. He had lived among the Ojibwa of both Wisconsin and Manitoba, and by then had taken a second Ojibwa wife. And although he did not approve of all he saw, a certain respect for the people is evident in his commentary. He would have twenty more years to learn Ojibwa ways.

REFERENCES Nelson, George. Journals, 1802-1803 and 13 July 1803-25 June 1804. George Nelson Papers. Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library, Toronto, Canada. Mason, Philip P., ed. 1958. Schoolcraft's expedition to Lake Itasca: the discovery of the source of the Mississippi. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press. National Archives of Canada (NAC). American Fur Company Papers. Thwaites, Reuben Gold, ed. 1910. A Wisconsin fur trader's journal 1804-1805, by Francois Victor Malhiot. Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin 19:163-233. Warren, William W. 1984. History of the Ojibway people. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press.