s from the sub-agency of La
Pointe, Lake Superior, that a rumor prevails of a murder lately
committed by a Chippewa war party, on American citizens, on the upper
Mississippi.

_31st_. Mr. John Holiday, a trader, arrived from the Ance Kewy-winenon
in Lake Superior, bringing a small coffin painted black, inclosing an
American scalp, with the astounding intelligence that a shocking murder
had been committed by a war party of Chippewas at Lake Pepin, on the
Mississippi. The facts turned out to be these: In the spring of the year
(1824), Kewaynokwut (Returning Cloud), a chief of Lake Vieux Desert, at
the source of the Wisconsin, suffered a severe fit of sickness, and
made, a vow, if he recovered, to collect a war party and lead it against
the Sioux, which he did early in the summer. He passed the trading-post
of Lac du Flambeau, with twenty-nine men in canoes on the 1st of July.
He pursued down the Waswagon branch into the main Chippewa River, after
a cautious journey, and came to its mouth early in July, at an early
hour in the morning, when a fog prevailed. This river enters the
Mississippi at the foot of the expanse called Lake Pepin, which is a
common place for encampment. It is the usual point of issue for Chippewa
war parties against the Sioux, for which it has been celebrated since
the first migration of the Chippewas into the rice lake region at its
sources. Prom the usual lookout, called Mount Le Gard, they discovered
imperfectly an encampment on the shores of Lake Pepin. On coming to it,
it proved to be an American, a trader of the name of Finley, with three
Canadians, on his way from Prairie du Chien to St. Peter's. One of the
men spoke Chippewa. They were asleep when the advance of the Indian
party arrived. When they awoke they saw the Indians with terror and
surprise. The Indians cried out to their comrades in the rear that they
were not Sioux, that they were white people. The party then all came
up. The war chief Kewaynokwut Said, "Do not be afraid. This party you
see are my young men; and I command them. They will not do you any harm,
nor hurt you." Some of the party soon began to pillage. They appeared to
be half famished, first taking their provisions, which consisted of half
a bag of flour, half a bag of corn, a few biscuits, and half a hog. The
biscuits they immediately eat, and then began to rob the clothing, which
they parted among themselves.

The Indians diligently inquired where the Sioux abroad on t