The Inquiry
“I have
been like a little child, uneasy, feeling about in the dark after something,
but not knowing what...”—Nez Perce Chief
“(God)
has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the
earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their
dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope
for Him and find Him...” —Acts 17:26,27
In 1833, four Nez Perce Native Americans
journeyed from what today is Northern Idaho to St. Louis. Missouri—over 3000
miles—and petitioned General William Clarke (of Lewis and Clark fame) to send
someone to their people teach them about God. They reminded Clarke that their
fathers had heard of God’s book through him many years before when he and the
Corps of Discovery wintered with them (1805).
Tradition
has it that as early as 1820 Iroquois Indians, educated in Catholic schools in
the East, had visited these tribes. Other Christians—voyageurs, trappers and
explorers—had contact with the Nez Perce. Benjamin Bonneville, Peter Steen
Ogden, David Thompson, Simon Fraser and others that passed through the region
in the early 1800s, though rough–cut, were God–fearing men who prayed, read the
Bible and conducted worship services for their men while the Nez Perce looked
on. These “brushes” with faith only heightened their desire and eventually drew
them to send the deputation to St. Louis to Clarke, who was then Superintendent
of Indian Affairs.
One
of the best sources for this meeting is William Walker, an interpreter for the
Wyandott Indian Nation, who wrote the following letter to a friend, G. P.
Dishoway of New York. It was later published in The Christian Advocate and Journal of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
in January 19, 1833.
Immediately after we landed in St. Louis on
our way to the west I preceded to Gen. Clarke’s, Superintendent of Indian
Affairs, to present our letters of introduction from the Secretary of War, and
to receive the same from him to the different Indian agents in the upper
country.
While in his office and transacting
business with him, he informed me that three chiefs from the Flathead Nation
were in his house and were quite sick, and the one (the fourth) had died a few
days ago. They were from the west of the Rocky Mountains…The distance they had
traveled on foot was nearly three thousand miles to see Gen. Clarke, their
great father, as they called him, he being the first American officer they ever
became acquainted with, and having such confidence in him, they had come to
consult him as they said, upon very important matter…
Gen. C. related to me the object of their
mission and, my dear friend, it is impossible for me to describe to you my
feelings while listening to his narrative. I will here relate it as briefly us
I can. It appeared that some white man had penetrated into their country, and
happened to be a spectator at one of their religious ceremonies that they
scrupulously perform at stated periods... He informed them that men toward the
rising of the sun had been put in possession of the true mode of worshipping
the Great Spirit.
(He informed them that) they had a book
containing directions how to conduct themselves in order to hold converse with
him; and with this guide no one need go astray, but everyone that would follow
the directions laid down there would enjoy, in this life, his favor, and after
death would be received into the country where the Great Spirit resides and
live with him forever.
Upon receiving this information they called
a national council to take this subject into consideration. Some said, “If this
be true, it is certainly time we were put in possession of this mode and if our
mode of worshipping be wrong and displeasing to the Great Spirit, it is time we
had laid it aside. We must know something more about this, it is a matter that
cannot be put off.”
They arrived at St. Louis, and presented
themselves to Gen. C. The latter was somewhat puzzled being sensible of the
responsibility that rested upon him; he however proceeded by informing them that
what they had been told by the white man in their own country was true. Then
went into a succinct history of man, from his creation down to the advent of
the Savior; explained to them all the moral precepts contained in the Bible...
(and) informed them of the advent of the Savior, his life, precepts, his death,
resurrection, ascension, and the relation he now stands to man as a mediator,
that he will judge the world, etc.
Poor fellows, they were not all permitted
to return home to their people with this intelligence. Two died in St. Louis,[1]
and the remaining two, though somewhat indisposed, set out for their native
land. Whether they reached home or not is not known… If they died on their way
home, peace be to their manes. They died
inquirers after the truth.
Yours in haste,
Wm. Walker
In
the spring of 1832, the two survivors took passage for home on the steamboat, The Yellowstone,
and George Catlin, the celebrated explorer and artist, who was a passenger
on this boat, painted portraits of the two men, the originals of which now hang
in the Smithsonian.
One
of these pilgrims, the man known as "No Horns on His Head," died en
route. Only the young man, "The Rabbit Skin Leggings," lived to reach
his home on the Clearwater.
Catlin remarked on the occasion:
“Hee-oh'ks-te-kin (Rabbit Skin Leggings)
and H'co-a-h'co ah'cotes-min (No
Horns On his Head) are young men of (the Nez Perce) tribe. These two young
men…were part of a delegation that came across the Rocky Mountains to St.
Louis, a few years since, to enquire for the truth…
Two old and venerable men of this party died in St. Louis, and
I traveled two thousand miles, companion with these two young fellows, towards
their own country, and became much pleased with their manners and dispositions.
The last mentioned of the two (No Horns on His Head), died near the mouth of
the Yellow Stone River on his way home, with disease which he had contracted in
the civilized district; and the other one I have since learned, arrived safely
amongst his friends, conveying to them the melancholy intelligence of the
deaths of all the rest of his party; but assurances at the same time, from
General Clark, and many Reverend gentlemen, that the report which they had
heard was well founded; and that missionaries, good and religious men, would
soon come amongst them to teach this religion, so that they could all
understand and have the benefits of it.”
To
be continued...
DHR
The
31st of October, 1831, I, undersigned, did bury in the Cemetery of this Parish
the body of Keepellele, or Pipe Bard
of Nez Perce of the tribe of the Chopoweck Nation called Flat Heads, age around
44 years, administered Holy Baptism, coming from the Columbia river beyond the
Rocky Mountains. Edm. Saulinier. Priest
The
seventeenth of November, 1831, I, undersigned, did bury in the Cemetery of this
Parish the body of Paul, savage of the Nation of the Flat Heads, coming from
the Columbia River beyond the Rocky Mountains. Roux. Priest.
