Black Beaver DAVID A. Ezzo and MIKE MOSKOWITZ St. Petersburg, Florida Black Beaver (Suck-tum-mah-kway) was born in Belleville, Illinois, in 1806, the son of a Delaware chief, Captain Patterson (Nichols and Hauptman 1997:38). In 1834, when he was 28 years old, Black Beaver served as an interpreter for Colonel Richard Irving Dodge at his conference with the Comanche, Kiowa and Wichita on the upper Red River (Foreman 1946:269). Dodge later wrote of Black Beaver and his people: of all the Indians, the Delawares seem to be most addicted to these solitary wanderings, undertaken in their case at least, from pure curiosity and love of adventure... Black Beaver, the friend and guide of General (then Captain) Marcy, was almost as equally renowned for his wonderful journeys. [Dodge 1882:554-5] Dodge was here comparing Black Beaver with John Conner, head chief of the Delaware. Foreman (1946:262) noted that in the Dragon expedition of 1834 led by General Henry Leavenworth there was a total of 32 Indians including six Delaware; among them was Black Beaver. During the war with Mexico, from 1846 to 1848, Black Beaver was the captain of a company of about 20 Delaware and 35 Shawnee Indians (Foreman 1946:270). The company was officially known as Black Beaver's Spy Company, Indian, Texas Mounted Volunteers. After the war ended Black Beaver served the army as a scout (Nichols and Hauptman 1997:38). In April 1849, Captain Randolph B. Marcy was ordered to lead 500 immigrants to California; Black Beaver was engaged as a guide and interpreter. Marcy stated: He has traveled a great deal among the western and northern tribes of Indians, is well acquainted with the Character and habits and converses fluently with the Comanche and most of the other prairie tribes. He has spent five years in Oregon and California, two years among the Crow and Black Feet Indians. Has trapped beaver in the Gila, the Columbia, the Rio Grande, and the Pecos; has crossed the Rocky Mountains at many different points, and indeed is one of those men that are seldom met with except in the Mountains. [Marcy 1849:173-4] BLACK BEAVER 107 For ten years during the 1830s and 1840s Black Beaver had worked for the American Fur Company; after the decline of the Rocky Mountain fur trade, he served as a guide for wagon trains heading west (Nichols and Hauptman 1997:37-38). In the 1850s Black Beaver functioned as a guide and interpreter at forts Arbuckle and Cobb. In 1858, he served as a guide for Douglas Cooper, the Federal agent for the Chickasaw. Nichols and Hauptman (1977:37) note that Black Beaver "reportedly spoke English, French, Spanish, and about eight different Indian languages, and could also use Plains Indian sign language." BLACK BEAVER IN CIVIL WAR CORRESPONDENCE Black Beaver's name appears in Union Army correspondence relating to operations in Louisiana and the trans-Mississippi states and territories from January to March, 1864. A letter from Major General John Pope to Brigadier General A. Sully discusses the need to employ as many Shawnee and Delaware as possible in the war effort: General: I received yesterday your letter of the 21st. In reply, it is only necessary to say that you will see from General Halleck's endorsement that I am authorized to employ (not enlist) such Indians as I may think judicious for service in your campaign. If you remember, we had a conversation on the subject when you were here, and you suggested substantially the plan you now do in your letter, in which I fully agree with you. My idea is to employ as many Shawnees and Delawares, as well as other Indians who are available, giving them blankets &c. as you suggest, and also what rations they absolutely need, then promising them all the spoils of the campaign. I think in this way you can get for little or nothing some of the very best fighting Indian material on the frontier. You have my authority to do this to the extent you think judicious. We must by all means make a clean sweep of hostile Indians this summer, as far at least as the "Crow country" and you must employ all the friendly Indians who may be useful for this purpose. I have no doubt you can get many of the Rees and Mandans simply for the privilege of accompanying you in this war and sharing the spoils. This whole matter I leave to your discretion, with the understanding that I will authorize and support every arrangement you think judicious. We must end Indian hostilities this season. I have applied for an engineer officer to report to you with necessary surveying instruments. I have ordered it to accompany the troops Sibley sends from Minnesota. Do you wish to go sooner? Very truly yours, Jno. Pope, Major-General Commanding. [Civil War CD/ROM 1996] 108 EZZO AND MOSKOWITZ A second letter from Pope to Sully emphasizes the importance of securing the aid of Black Beaver in employing the Delaware and Shawnee in the war effort: "General: I would suggest to you, in employing Delawares and Shawnees that you send up and secure Black Beaver, who is now somewhere in Kansas" (Civil War CD/ROM 1996). Another piece of Union correspondence illustrates the high regard with which Black Beaver was held by the Union government and also notes his involvement with a conference with the "Great Father" in Washington. The following letter was sent to Tusaquach, chief of the Wichitas: Friend and Brother: It is the wish of the commissioner of the United States Government that you either come to Kansas with your friends the Seminoles or send two or three of your best braves. We also want the Keechies, Ionies, Cadoes, and the Commanches to send some of their men to meet and have a talk with the commissioners of your Great Father at Washington. His soldiers are as swift as the antelope and brave as the mountain bear, and they are your friends and brothers. They will give you powder and lead. They will fight by your sides. Your friend Black Beaver will meet you here, and we will drive away the bad men who entered your company last spring. The Texans have killed the Wichitas; we will punish the Texans. Come with your friends the Seminoles. Your brother, E. H. Carruth, Commissioner for the U.S. Government. [Civil War CD/ROM 1996] Black Beaver's name also appears in Confederate correspondence. A letter to Brigadier General William Steele, Choctaw Nation, notes that Black Beaver was on the Texas frontier in 1863: Sir: There have been two Caddo Indians from Fort Bent, on the Arkansas, visiting the Reserve Indians now camped on the Washita, near Fort Arbuckle. They brought messages from the Federal Officer in Command, and from the Chiefs of all the bands which left the reserve last year, viz., that they would be down this fall, and would give the Reserve Indians protection, and would have sufficient white force to hold and occupy the country. These messengers were from the band of Jim Pockmark, Caddo, and Anadarko chief. This is no idle rumor and requires immediate attention from the Government, or the frontier of Texas will be ravaged and the Indian Territory overrun. It is said that Jesse Chisolm and Black Beaver are with them. Yours, respectfully, C. B. Johnson. [Civil War CD/ROM 1996] In 1862, Black Beaver wrote a letter to the commissioner of Indian Affairs that discusses his service in the Civil War as well as some of his activities as a scout: Dear Sir: I take the liberty of addressing my grievance to you and of respectfully asking your advice in a matter in which I am earnestly concerned. BLACK BEAVER 109 I would represent that I am an Indian, belonging to the Delaware tribe. That I have been in the employ of the Government all or nearly all of the time since the commencement of the Mexican war. During the Mexican war I was captain of a company of Shawnees and Delawares in the United States Army. Since that time, up to the commencement of the last war, I have been employed as guide or interpreter by the different commanding officers at the posts of Arbuckle and Fort Cobb, in the Indian Territory, and by superintendents and agents for the Indians in the vicinity of Fort Cobb and Arbuckle, as can be attested by Generals Marcy, Emery, Sturgies, Stantly, and Sacklitt, any or all the military officers stationed at the aforenamed posts prior to the war, as also ex-Superintendent Rector, of Arkansas, and all of the United States Indian agents in that locality. I was at the post of Fort Arbuckle for about five years and the post of Fort Cobb one year immediately preceding the last war, and during that time had invested all of my means and earnings in cattle and hogs, and had at the breaking out of the war a large stock of cattle and hogs, as will be attested by some, if not all, of the aforenamed persons. In the spring of 1861 General Emery requested me to guide his command and also the combined commands from Forts Smith, Cobb and Arbuckle to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, which I did, but hesitated about leaving my stock until General Emery assured me that I should be paid by the United States for my losses, and on that representation I complied with his request and came with his command to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and remained there until the war ceased.