The Odugamies (Foxes), who had been forced by the Ojibways during the French domination to retire from the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers to the Mississippi, had, under the guardianship of the Osaugees, partially regained their former strength and numbers; and, still smarting from the repeated and powerful blows which their fathers had received at the hands of the Ojibways about eighty years ago, they made their last grand tribal effort to revenge their wrongs and regain a portion of their former country.

They ascended in war canoes the current of the broad Mississippi, and prevailing on their former allies, the Dakotas, to join them, together they proceeded up the St. Croix. While crossing their canoes over the portage at the Falls of this river, they encountered a war party of Ojibways, and here, among the rocks and boulders of the St. Croix, the Odugamies fought their last tribal battle.

The account which the old men of the Ojibways give of this important event is briefly as follows: Waub-o-jeeg  (White Fisher), the son of Ma-mong-e-se-da, had succeeded on his father's death, to the war chieftainship of the Lake Superior Ojibways. He was a brave and a wise man, who had already become famous for the success of every party which he joined, or led, against the hereditary enemies of his tribe. On this occasion, he sent his club of war, tobacco, and wampum, to all the scattered bands of the Ojibways, to collect a war party to proceed against the Dakota villages on the St. Croix and Mississippi, who had lately very much annoyed their hunting camps in this district. Warriors from the Falls of St. Marie, Grand Island, Kuk-kewa-on-an-ing (L'Ance), the Wisconsin and Grand Portage, obeyed his call, and at the head of three hundred men Waub-o-jeeg started from La Pointe, Shaug-a-waum-ik-ong.

In their light birch-bark canoes, they ascended the left branch of the Mush-kee-se-be or "Bad River," to its head, and made a portage of ten miles in length to Long Lake, beautiful sheet of clear water, which lies on the dividing summit between the Mississippi and Lake Superior. Making three more short portages from lake to lake, they at last embarked on the Num-a-kaug-un branch of the St. Croix, and having now entered the dangerous country of their enemies, the wise leader proceeded slowly, keeping scouts continually ahead, to prevent surprise from an ambuscade. It took him six days to descend to the mouth of Snake River, where he expected to meet a party of warriors from the Sandy Lake and Mille Lac villages. He had sent them his war club and tobacco, with word that "at a given time he would be on the waters of the St. Croix searching for their enemies," and they had sent tobacco and word in return, that "sixty of their warriors would join him on a certain day at the meeting of the waters of the Snake and St. Croix Rivers." On arriving at the spot designated, Waub-o-jeeg discovered no signs of the promised party, but still confident in his numbers, he continued on his course down stream.

The Ojibways arrived at the head of the St. Croix Falls (a distance of two hundred and fifty miles from their starting point), early in the morning, and while preparing to take their bark canoes over the rugged portage, or carrying place, the scouts who had been sent in advance, returned with the information that a very large war party of Odugamies and Dakotas were landing at the foot of the falls, apparently with the intention of crossing over their wooden canoes. Now, commenced the hurry and excitement of approaching battle. The "novices," or those of the party who were on their first warpath, were forcibly driven back into the water by the elder warriors, there to wash off the black paint which denoted their condition of initiates into the mysteries of war. This customary procedure on the eve of an attack or battle, being performed, the warriors grasped their medicine bags, and hurriedly adorned their faces and naked bodies with war paint, those that earned them planted the eagle plumes on their head-dress, which denoted enemies they had slain or scalps taken, and the pe-na-se-wi-am, holding the charms of supposed invulnerability, were attached to different portions of their head-dress, armlets, or belts.

During this busy scene of preparation for the coming contest, the war leader called on the Great Spirit with a loud voice for protection to his followers and success against their enemies. Then addressing his fellows, his clear voice rang among the rocks and mingled with the noise of the waterfall, as he urged them to fight like men, be strong of heart, at the same time advising them to be careful of their lives, that their relatives might not weep in mourning for their loss. Having finished these customary preparations, the Ojibways, grasping their arms, proceeded to find their enemies. The scouts of their opponents had already discovered them, and the two parties, as if by mutual agreement, met in the middle of the portage. The battle, which ensued, was the most chivalric which is told of in their traditions. The Odugamies, after seeing the comparatively small number of the Ojibways, and over confident in the prowess of their own more numerous warriors, are said to have requested their allies, the Dakotas, to stand quietly by, to witness how quickly they would gather the scalps of the Ojibways.

This request was granted, and the Dakotas retired to an adjacent eminence, and calmly filling their pipes, they viewed the conflict as though perfectly unconcerned. The fight between the warriors of the two contending tribes is said to have been fiercely contested, and embellished with many daring acts of personal valor. The voices of the war chiefs resounded above the rattle of musketry and yells of their warriors, as they urged them to stand their ground, and not turn their backs in flight. In fact the nature of the ground on which they fought was such, that retreat was almost impracticable for either party. It was a mere rugged neck of rock, cut up into deep ravines, through which the deep and rapid current of the river forces a narrow passage, and at either end of the portage a sudden embarkation into their frail canoes could not safely be effected in face of an enemy. There is a wood around the portage on the landside, inclosing the neck of rock over which it leads, and only through this could the beaten party safely retreat. Waub-o-jeeg, early in the fight secured this important point, by sending thither a number of his warriors.

About midday, after fighting with great desperation, the Odugamies began to give ground, and they were at last forced to turn and flee in confusion. They would probably have been killed and driven into the river to a man, had not their allies, the Dakotas, arose from their seats at this juncture, and yelling their war-whoop, rushed to the rescue of their discomfited allies. The Ojibways resisted their new enemies manfully, and it was not till their ammunition had entirely failed, that they in turn showed their backs in flight. But few would tell the sad tale of defeat and the death of brave men, had not the party of sixty warriors from Sandy Lake, who were to have joined them at the mouth of Snake River, arrived at this opportune moment, and landed at the head of the portage. Eager for the fight, and fresh on the field, the band rushed forward and withstood the onset of the Odugamies and Dakotas, till their friends could rally again to the battle.

After a short but severe contest, the warriors of the two allied tribes were forced to flee, and the slaughter in their ranks is said to have been great. Many were driven over the rocks into the boiling floods below, there to find a watery grave. Others, in attempting to jump into their narrow wooden canoes, were capsized into the rapids. Every crevice in the cliffs where the battle had been fought, contained a dead or wounded enemy. The Ojibways suffered a severe loss in the death of a large number of their bravest warriors. The brother of Waub-o-jeeg was numbered among the dead, and the war-chief himself carried on his person the marks of the sanguinary fight, in a wound on his breast. But a few of the Odugamies escaped, and from this time they forever gave up the contest with the victorious Ojibways. They retired to the south, far away from the reach of the war-club, which had so often made them to weep, and now so nearly exterminated their warriors.

The old Ojibway chief, "Great Buffalo," of La Pointe, says that the fire of the Odugamies was, by this last stroke, nearly extinguished, and they were reduced to fifteen lodges. A second time they went weeping to the village of the Osaugees, who had intermarried with them to a considerable extent, and begged to be incorporated in their tribe, and to live under their powerful protection. They offered to be their cutters of wood and carriers of water, and filled with compassion at their broken numbers and tears of sorrow, the Osaugees, who are a family of the Algic stock, at last, for the first time, formally received them into their tribe, and it is only from this period that the fire of these two tribes (whose names are so linked together in modern history), can be truly said as having become one and undivided.

The old men of the Ojibways assert that the Odugamies speak a distant language,1 and do not really belong to the Algonquin council fires, and it is only since their close intercourse with the Osaugees that the Algonquin language has become in use among them. I am aware that this assertion is directly contrary to the results of Mr. Schoolcraft's researches, which places the Odugamies as one of the most prominent tribes of the Algics. Never having had the advantage of comparing the peculiar dialect of this tribe with the Ojibway, I am consequently not prepared to deliver a direct opinion. Their warfare with the Odugamies has been of such long standing and so sanguinary, that the Ojibways may naturally consider them as much a distinct race from themselves, as the Dakotas or Winnebagoes, the last of whom, in time of peace, they are accustomed to denominate as "younger brothers," which circumstance, however, should not mislead us into the belief that they consider them as being really a kindred tribe in any closer degree than their being respective families of the red race in general. A French memoir on the Indians between Lake Erie and the Mississippi River, prepared in 1718, and which appears as Paris, Doc. vii. in N. Y. Col. Doc. vol. ix., contains this statement: "The Foxes are eighteen leagues from the Sacs, they number five hundred men, abound in women and children, are as industrious as they can be, and have a different language from the Outaouaes. An Outaouae interpreter would be of no use with the Foxes."--E. D. N.

As I shall not probably again have occasion to mention, in the further course of my narrative, the name of the distinguished war-chief who led the Ojibways in the battle of St. Croix Falls, which so effectually put a final stop to their old war with the Odugamies, I will here present to the reader a brief account of his short but brilliant career.

Mr. Schoolcraft, in one of his valuable works on the red race, has given an elaborate notice of the life of this noted chieftain, and as he doubtless obtained his information from his direct descendants, nearly thirty years since,when he acted in the official capacity of United States agent among the Ojibways, and when the acts of Waub-o-jeeg were still comparatively new in the traditions of his tribe, the account which he has given can be implicitly relied on, and very little, if anything, can be added to it.

We glean from this that Waub-o-jeeg was born about the year 1747. He early gave indications of courage, and, Mr. Schoolcraft relates this anecdote, that on the occasion which we have mentioned in a previous chapter, when his father, Ma-mong-e-se-da, turned a sudden attack of the Dakotas on his camp into a peace visit, by calling out for his half-brother, the Dakota chief, Wabasha--Waub-o-jeeg, then a mere boy, posted himself with a war-club close to the door of his father's lodge, and as his tall Dakota uncle entered, he gave him a blow. Wabasha, pleased with the little brave, took him in his arms, caressed him, and predicted that he would become a brave man, and prove an inveterate enemy of the Dakotas. Mr. Schoolcraft continues his biographical notice of Waub-o-jeeg as follows:--

"The border warfare in which the father of the infant warrior was constantly engaged, early initiated him in the arts and ceremonies pertaining to war. With the eager interest and love of novelty of the young, he listened to their war songs and war stories, and longed for the time when he would be old enough to join these parties, and also make himself a name among warriors. While quite a youth, he volunteered to go out with a party, and soon gave convincing proof of his courage. He also early learned the arts of hunting the deer, the bear, the moose, and all the smaller animals common to the country; and in these pursuits he took the ordinary lessons of Indian young men in abstinence, suffering, danger, and endurance of fatigue. In this manner his nerves were knit and formed for activity, and his mind stored with those lessons of caution, which are the result of local experience in the forest. He possessed a tall and commanding person, with a full, black, piercing eye, and the usual features of his countrymen. He had a clear and full-toned voice, and spoke his native language with grace and fluency. To these attractions he united an early reputation for bravery and skill in the chase, and at the age of twenty-two, he was already a war leader."

conclude chapter 20