ference of the post to the island. If so, that event could not have
happened, so as to be recollected by her, till about 1780. Asken went
along with the British troops on the final surrender of the island to
the Americans in 1796, and returned in the surprise and taking of the
island in 1812.

_5th_. Finished my report on a resolution of Congress of March 19th
respecting the interference of the British Indian Department in the
Indian affairs of the frontier. The treaty of Ghent terminated the war
between Great Britain and the United States, but it did not terminate
the feelings and spirit with which the Indian tribes had, from the fall
of their French power regarded them.

Mr. Warren (Lyman M.), of La Pointe, Lake Superior, visited the office.
Having been long a trader in the north, and well acquainted with Indian
affairs in that quarter, I took occasion to inquire into the
circumstances of the cession of the treaty of the 29th of July, 1837,
and asked him why it was that so little had been given for so large a
cession, comprehending the very best lands of the Chippewas in the
Mississippi Valley. He detailed a series of petty intrigues by the St.
Peter's agent, who had flattered two of the Pillager chiefs, and loaded
them with new clothes and presents. One of these, Hole-in-the-Day, came
down twenty days before the time. The Pillagers, in fact, made the
treaty. The bands of the St. Croix and Chippewa Rivers, who really lived
on the land and owned it, had, in effect, no voice. So with respect to
the La Pointe Indians. He stated that Gen. Dodge really knew nothing of
the fertility and value of the country purchased, having never set foot
on it. Governor Dodge thought the tract chiefly valuable for its pine,
and natural mill-power; and there was no one to undeceive him. He had
been authorized to offer $1,300; but the Chippewas managed badly--they
knew nothing of _thousands_, or how the annuity would divide among so
many, and were, in fact, cowed down by the braggadocia of the flattered
Pillager war chief, Hole-in-the-Day.

Mr. Warren stated that the _Lac Courtorielle_ band had not united in the
sale, and would not attend the payment of the annuities; nor would the
St. Croix and Lac du Flambeau Indians. He said the present of $19,000
would not exceed a breech-cloth and a pair of leggins apiece. I have not
the means of testing these facts, but have the highest confidence in the
character, sense of justice, and good natural