He then turned the aggressors over to the Chippewas, saying:  “Punish them according to your law; and, if you do not, I will.”  The Chippewas selected nine of their party as executioners.  They then told the prisoners to run, and shot them down as they fled.  Two were shot on the very day after the murder, and two the following day, when they were brought in.  One of the latter was a fine, bold, tall young fellow, who, having hold of the other prisoner’s hand, observed him to tremble.  He instantly threw his hand loose from him, declaring “that he was ashamed of being made to suffer with a coward.”

8th.  Col.  Whiting exhibited to me, at his office, several bound volumes of MSS., being the orderly book of his father, an adjutant in a regiment of Massachusetts Continentals, during the great struggle of 1776.  Many of the orders of Gen. Washington show the exact care and knowledge of details, which went to make up a part of his military reputation.

12th.  Texas is involved in troubles with fierce and intractable bands of Indians.  Among these the Camanches are prominent, who have shown themselves, in force, near Bexar, and in a conflict killed ten Americans with arrows.

CHAPTER LXV.

Embark for New York—­A glimpse of Texan affairs—­Toltecan monuments—­Indian population of Texas—­Horrible effects of drinking ardent spirits among the Indians—­Mr. Gallatin—­His opinions on various subjects of philosophy and history—­Visit to the South—­Philadelphia—­Washington—­Indian affairs—­Debt claim—­Leave to visit Europe—­Question of neutrality—­Mr. Van Buren—­American imaginative literature—­Knickerbocker—­Resume of the Indian question of sovereignty.

1838. Nov. 14th.  I Embarked in a steamer, with my family, for New York, having the double object of placing my children at eligible boarding-schools, and seeking the renovation of Mrs. S.’s health.  The season being boisterous, we ran along shore from river to river, putting in and putting out, in nautical phrase, as we could.  On the way, scarlatina developed itself in my daughter.  Fortunately a Dr. Hume was among the passengers, by whose timely remedies the case was successfully treated, and a temporary stop at Buffalo enabled us to pursue our way down the canal.  Ice and frost were now the cause of apprehension, and our canal packet was at length frozen in, when reaching the vicinity of Utica, which we entered in sleighs.  In conversation on board the packet boat on the canal, Mr. Thomas Borden, of Buffalo Bayou, Texas, stated that there is a mistake in the current report of the Camanche Indians being about to join the Mexicans.  They are, perhaps, in league with the Spaniards of Nacogdoches, who now cry out for the federal constitution of 1824; but there is no coalition between them and the Mexicans.  Lamar is elected president, the population has greatly increased within the last year, customs are collected, taxes paid, and a revenue raised to support the government.  Mr. Borden said, he was one of the original three hundred families who went to Texas, with my early friend Stephen F. Austin, Esq., the founder of Texas, of whom he spoke highly.