CHAPTER I.
BEFORE THE WHITE MAN
ORIGIN OF WORD MISSOURI - EARLIEST EXPLORATIONS - FORT ORLEANS - MOUND BUILDERS - OSAGE INDIANS - THEIR KNOWLEDGE, HABITS, HOME LIFE, WEAPONS OF WARFARE - HARMONY MISSION.
The history of Henry County is more or less interwoven with the history of Missouri of which we are a part. It is not the province of a local history to recite in detail the events in the life of the State as a whole; only so much of it will be included as will connect the history of the county, after its organization, to the time when it was merely a part of the wilderness which stretched from the Mississippi westward to the Rocky Mountains.
It is uncertain just what is the precise meaning of the word "Missouri"; it seems to have been derived from the language of the Sioux Indians. The Indians known to us as Missouries, dwelt near the mouth of the Missouri River; some authorities say that the word is supposed to refer to the drowning of people in the stream and may possibly be a corruption of the word meaning "Smoky Water." However that may be, of this we are certain; this which we now call Missouri, was once a part of the great territory of Louisiana which was bought by Thomas Jefferson from the French, and out of which were carved the wonderful States of this Middle Western country.
The writer will not attempt to recount the stories of early explorers of Missouri. Men like DeSoto, Joliet, Marquette and LaSalle, who made explorations through the Middle West, are part of American rather than part of Missouri or Henry County history. It is possible that DeSoto came into the southern part of the State and even into the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It is certain that the French people base their claims to the Mississippi Valley on the explorations of the others named; it is equally certain also, that aside from the fact that these explorations gave a basis for the claim to sovereignty, no importance attaches to them so far as the history of the State is concerned.
To serve therefore only to mark the continued course of immigration to the entire West, is it recited that the first permanent settlements made in what is now Missouri, were at Sainte Genevieve in 1735 and in St. Louis in 1764. Earlier, temporary settlements had been made, one of these being at Fort Orleans on the Missouri River; the exact site of which can not be determined, but in all probability it was not far from the mouth of the Grand River, or about where Charitan, Saline and Carroll counties join. Early in the eighteenth century, men had been sent into Missouri to search for silver. French trappers and hunters from Illinois had made their way up the Missouri River on hunting expeditions. The Spanish at Santa Fe in 1720 fitted up an expedition to explore this region and counteract the influences of the French in these explorations. This organization of the Spanish was given the name of the Spanish or Great Caravan and was destroyed by the Missouri Indians and their kindred tribes, all of them allies of the French. Possibly as a result of this expedition, the French settled at Fort Orleans, which was the nearest of any of the early white settlements to the present boundary lines of Henry County, although it was not a permanent one.
Neither will it be the purpose of this history to make an extended inquiry into the peoples who lived within the present boundary lines of Henry County prior to the coming of white men. Some authorities say that the people who lived in this section of Missouri - the so-called mound-builders - were at least of as high a type as those who lived in the Pueblo country or in Mexico, Central America or Peru.
We know more about the Indians who succeeded the mound-builders and who lived in this southwestern territory at the time of the coming of the white men. In his remarkable work, "The History of Missouri," on which Hon. Louis Houck, of Cape Girardeau, spent much of his energy of recent years, the author gives us a fine description of the Osage Indians, whose territory extended from the Great Bend of the Missouri down to the Arkansas River and east to the Mississippi. The Osages were of remarkable height, not many being less than six feet high. "The instances of deformity were rare among them; they were fleet in their movements." It is hard to believe the things which are told as to their activity; it was not uncommon for them to walk a distance of sixty miles in a day.
A Little Osage chief claimed that he was at Braddock's defeat with all the warriors that he could muster and that in the expedition they were absent from their villages but seven months. The Osages possessed all the characteristics of the Indian; they talked little; they were not noisy except when drunk; they were generally distinguished from other Indians by the fact that they were not given to drunkenness, for among the Osages it was rare and ridiculed.
They had knowledge of astronomy, knew the Pleiades, the great dipper, the morning and evening stars; the moon regulated their calendar; insanity was unknown among them, the blind were cared for, sickness and pain were borne with great bravery. As to definite settlements of these Indians, we know nothing. Their main dependence was, as one may surmise, on hunting and fishing and the small crops of beans and pumpkins which they raised. They hunted bears and beavers, after which came what we might call their farm life. The wild fruits, the nuts, such as walnuts, hazel-nuts and pecans, added to their rations. They were, as many Indians, of unattractive appearance. With buffalo robes thrown over their shoulders, some with limbs exposed and others with no covering but the cloth about their loins, they presented a disgusting appearance.
A few of the women were daubed with red and adorned with beads. The dress was usually composed of moccasins for the feet with leggins for the legs and thigh, a breach cloth, an overall or hunting jacket slipped over the head, all made of leather and softened by applications of fat or oil. The women allowed their hair to grow long and parted it on the top of their heads, letting it hang over their shoulders. The Osages were kind and hospitable. They lived in lodges generally constructed with upright posts planted firmly in the ground about twenty feet in height with a crotch at the top, and placed about twelve feet distant from each other.
In the crotch of these posts was a large pole over which they bent small poles, bringing the ends down and fastening them to a row of sticks five feet in height, which formed the flank walls of the lodges; they covered this shell of a building with a matting made of rushes. The doors were at the ends; the fire in the center of the building, the smoke going through a hole in the roof, left for that purpose.
The cooking utensils were very simple in kind and very limited in quantity. Everyone carried a knife, used at mealtime or for self-defense. They had no regular time for eating their meals and very little variety for their food. In common with all Indians, the laborious operations were performed by the women.
The domestic institutions were different from those of any other Indians west of the Mississippi. There were three classes of men - some were warriors or hunters, others cooks, others doctors; the doctors were also priests and magicians. The cooks were either of general service or were attached to some particular family. Very frequently, warriors who had outlived their usefulness would take up the duties and profession of a cook and would live the remaining portion of their lives, attached to some particular patron. The government was an oligarchy; the chiefs were hereditary. The Osages had no regular code of laws.
In common with all other Indians, they adorned their ears with earrings, shaved the hair of their head except a lock on the crown which they platted and ornamented with wampum and feathers, decorating and painting their faces. They usually ornamented their necks with a profusion of wampum and beads.
