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 the river were, what number they might be, where they came from, and whither they were going? to all which judicious replies appear to have been made, but one, namely, that they consisted of thirty, on their way from St. Peter’s to Prairie du Chien.  Being but twenty-nine men, the rencontre appeared to them to be unequal, and, in fact, alarmed them.  They immediately prepared to return, filing off one after another, in order to embark in their canoes, which were lying at a short distance.  Before this movement, Kakabika had taken his gun to fire at the whites, but was prevented by the others.  But they went off disappointed, and grumblingly.  This was the case particularly with Kakabika, Okwagin,