and if we were not then
gone he would remove us."

I directed my village crier to proclaim that my orders were, in the
event of the war chief coming to our village to remove us, that not a
gun should be fired or any resistance offered. That if he determined to
fight, for them to remain quietly in their lodges, and let him kill them
if he chose.

I felt conscious that this great war chief would not hurt our people,
and my object was not war. Had it been, we would have attacked and
killed the war chief and his braves, when in council with us, as they
were then completely in our power. But his manly conduct and soldierly
deportment, his mild yet energetic manner, which proved his bravery,
forbade it.

Some of our young men who had been out as spies came in and reported
that they had discovered a large body of mounted men coming toward our
village, who looked like a war party. They arrived and took a position
below Rock river, for their place of encampment. The great war chief,
General Gaines, entered Rock river in a steamboat, with his soldiers and
one big gun. They passed and returned close by our village, but excited
no alarm among my braves. No attention was paid to the boat; even our
little children who were playing on the bank of the river, as usual,
continued their amusement. The water being shallow, the boat got
aground, which gave the whites some trouble. If they had asked for
assistance, there was not a brave in my band who would not willingly
have aided them. Their people were permitted to pass and repass through
our village, and were treated with friendship by our people.

The war chief appointed the next day to remove us. I would have remained
and been taken prisoner by the regulars, but was afraid of the multitude
of pale faced militia, who were on horse back, as they were under no
restraint of their chiefs.

We crossed the river during the night, and encamped some distance below
Rock Island. The great war chief convened another council, for the
purpose of making a treaty with us. In this treaty he agreed to give us
corn in place of that we had left growing in our fields. I touched the
goose quill to this treaty, and was determined to live in peace.

The corn that had been given us was soon found to be inadequate to our
wants, when loud lamentations were heard in the camp by the women and
children, for their roasting ears, beans and squashes. To satisfy them,
a small party of braves went over in the ni