ns located permanently near the post.[410]

Major Taliaferro was left alone to carry on the difficult enterprise of
civilizing the natives. In 1830 he wrote to the Secretary of War telling
of the progress he had made and of his plans for a log village in which
the Indians could live, instead of in the flimsy bark houses, and a log
house for the protection of the Indians' property. He begged for
financial aid, saying that "Six or eight hundred dollars would mature
what has happily been begun, and this sum from the Civilization fund
would enable me to progress with great efficiency, and without further
tax on the Government."[411] The need for his supervision was constant.
From his diary can be seen how continual was his interest in the
experiment. On April 18, 1831, he ordered the hoes and plows
repaired, and on May 1 he went to the colony taking the implements with
him. Here he found "most of them at work--Cuting down trees, Grubbing
out the roots &c--What was more encouraging some few of the Men were at
this unusual kind of labour for them--they laughed when they saw Me--I
praised them, in every agreable way that could be conveyed to them in
their language." Again on June 8th he was pleased to see the Indians all
at work hoeing their corn and potatoes.[412]

The success of the colony was gratifying. In 1833 they raised from eight
hundred to a thousand bushels of corn, and the population of the village
was one hundred and twenty-five. Only one death had occurred in three
years.[413] There was much to contend with, however, since the traders
were "violently opposed to Indians commencing to seek a living in this
way."[414] One trader stated that it was a loss to him of five hundred
dollars whenever an Indian learned to read and write.[415]

With all his duties it is no wonder that the agent was anxious to
receive the help of the missionaries, and although he was himself "a
Deacon in the 'Old School Presbyterian Church'",[416] his basis for
aiding the red men, as he expressed it in a report, was that he had
"endeavored to impress all missionaries with the true fact that
Christianity must be preceded by civilization among the wild tribes. I
hazard nothing in this, for an Indian must be taught all the _temporal_
benefits of this life first, before you ask him to seek for eternal
happiness; teach him to worship the true and living God through
the self-evident developments of his mother earth. In fine, let
agriculture and th