II
_AMERICAN RULE IN ST. LOUIS_
Immediately after his appointment in charge of Indian affairs, Clarkleft Washington, with Pryor and Shannon, Big White and Jussaume andtheir Indian families. The Ohio, swollen to the highest notch, borethem racing into the Mississippi.
"Manuel Lisa haf gone up de Meessouri," was the news at St. Louis. Allwinter Manuel Lisa had been flying around St. Louis with Pierre Menardand George Drouillard, preparing for an early ascent into the furcountry. So also had been the Chouteaus, intending to escort Big Whiteback to the Mandans.
At any time an Indian trader was a great man in St. Louis. He couldcommand fabulous prices for his skill, and still more now couldDrouillard, fresh from the unexploited land beyond the Mandans. Allhis money Drouillard put into the business, and with the earliestopening of 1807, Lisa, Menard and Drouillard set out for the upperMissouri with an outfit of sixteen thousand dollars.
"Wait for the Mandan chief," said Frederick Bates, the new TerritorialSecretary.
Manuel Lisa was not a man to wait. "While others consider whether theywill start, I am on my way," he answered.
Dark, secret, unfathomable, restless, enterprising, a very Spaniardfor pride, distrusted and trusted, a judge of men, Manuel Lisa had inhim the spirit of De Soto and Coronado.
For twenty years Lisa had traded with Indians. Of late the Spanishgovernment had given him exclusive rights on the Osage, a privilegeonce held by the Chouteaus, but alas for Lisa! a right now tumbled bythe cession. For the United States gave no exclusive privileges.
He reached the ear of Drouillard; they went away together. No onebetter than Lisa saw the meaning of that great exploration.
Coincidently with the arrival of Clark and Big White out of the Ohio,came down a deputation of Yankton Sioux with old Dorion from theMissouri. With that encampment of Indians, around, behind, before theGovernment House, began the reign of the Red Head chief over thenations of the West that was to last for thirty years. St. Louisbecame the Red Head's town, and the Red Head's signature came to beknown to the utmost border of Louisiana.
"We want arms and traders," said the Yankton Sioux.
Both were granted, and laden with presents, before the close of Maythey were dispatched again to their own country. And with them wentBig White in charge of Ensign Pryor, Sergeant George Shannon, andPierre Chouteau, with thirty-two men for the Mandan trade.
Even the Kansas knew that Big White had gone down the river, and werewaiting to see him go by.
"The whites are as the grasses of the prairie," said Big White.
In July the new Governor, Meriwether Lewis, arrived and assumed theGovernment. With difficulty the officers had endeavoured to harmonisethe old and the new. All was in feud, faction, disorder.
St. Louis was a foreign village before the cession. Nor was thischanged in a day.
"Deed not de great Napoleon guarantee our leebertee?" said the French."We want self-government."
But Lewis and Clark, these two had met the French ideal of chivalry infacing the Shining Mountains and the Ocean. Pretty girls sat in theverandas to see them pass. Fur magnates set out their choicest viands.The conquest of St. Louis was largely social. With less tact and lesswinning personalities we might have had discord.
Whatever Lewis wanted, Clark seconded as a sort of LieutenantGovernor. It seemed as if the two might go on forever as they had donein the great expedition. Ever busy, carving districts that becamefuture States, laying out roads, dispensing justice and treating withIndians, all went well until the 16th of October, when a wave ofsensation swept over St. Louis.
"Big White, the Mandan chief, is back. The American flag at the bow ofhis boat has been fired on and he is compelled to fall back on St.Louis."
All summer the vengeful Arikaras had been watching.
"They killed our chief, the Brave Raven."
The Teton Sioux plotted. "They will give the Mandans arms and make ourenemies stronger than we are." So in great bands, Sioux and Arikarashad camped along the river to intercept the returning brave.
"These are the machinations of the British," said Americans in St.Louis.
"This is a trick of Manuel Lisa," said the fur traders. "His boatspassed in safety, why not ours?"
In fact, there had been a battle. Not with impunity should trade becarried into the land of anarchy. Three men were killed and severalwounded, including Shannon and Rene Jussaume. And they in turn hadkilled Black Buffalo, the Teton chief that led the onslaught.
All the way down the Missouri George Shannon had writhed with hiswounded knee. Blood poisoning set in. They left him at Bellefontaine.
"Dees leg must come off," said Dr. Saugrain, the army surgeon.
He sent for Dr. Farrar, a young American physician who had latelylocated in St. Louis. Together, without anesthetics, they performedthe first operation in thigh amputation ever known in that region.
"Woonderful! woonderful!" exclaimed the Creoles. "Dees Dogtors can cutune man all up." Great already was the reputation of Dr. Saugrain; toyoung Farrar it gave a prestige that made him the Father of St. Louissurgery.
Shannon lay at the point of death for eighteen months, but youthrallied, and he regained sufficient strength to journey to Lexington,where he took up the study of law. He lived to become an eminentjurist and judge, and the honoured progenitor of many distinguishedbearers of his name.