Black Beaver, Si-ki yo-ma-ker: Delaware chief

          When you read the history of the frontier, a name that comes up repeatedly is Black Beaver, a Delaware chief who served as a guide and a scout on most of the important army expeditions of the mid - 1800's. I haven't been able to find a book about this remarkable man, but I have been able to piece together a few stories from his exciting life.    

          Black Beaver was born in the area of Belleville, Illinois, in 1806. The great Delaware tribe was honored by the other Indians as the most ancient tribe. They had welcomed the first European settlers, and they had sold part of their land to William Penn in 1683 to found the state of Pennsylvania. As the white settlers advanced, the Delaware were pushed west from the Atlantic coast to Ohio, then to Missouri, and finally in 1829 to Kansas. The first reference to Black Beaver that I can find is in a letter that he cosigned addressed to William Clark, Governor of the Missouri Territory in 1824. The Delaware were then living on the White River in western Missouri and they were starving. He was eighteen years old at the time and was already a tribal leader.

          Last summer a number of our people died just for the want of something to live on … We have got in a country where we do not find all as stated to us when we was asked to swap lands with you and we do not get as much as was promised us at the Treaty of St Mary's neither (In the treaty of St. Mary's, the Delaware agreed to move from Ohio to land in Missouri Territory west of the Mississippi River)… Father - we did not think that big man would tell us things that was not true. We have found a poor hilly stony country and the worst of all no game to be found on it to live on. Last summer our corn looked very well until a heavy rain come on for 3 or 4 days and raised the waters so high that we could just see the tops of our corn in some of our fields and it destroyed the greatest part of our corn, punkins and beans and a great many more of my people coming on and we had to divide our little stock with them. Last summer there was a few deere here and we had a few hogs but we was obliged to kill all of them and some that was not our own but this summer there are no game nor no hogs and my old people and children must suffer. Father- You know its hard to be hungry, if you do not know it we poor Indians know it. Father - If we go a great ways off we may find some deere but if we do that we cannot make any corn and we must still suffer. Father - We are obliged to call on you onst more for assistance in the name of God.

          The Delaware got no help from Governor Clark, so they had to go into Osage country to hunt. There Black Beaver took part in a bitter struggle with the Osage that prompted him to reflect later: I have brought home more scalps from my hunting expeditions than one of you could lift. Finally, after forging an alliance with the Cherokee immigrants the Delaware were awarded a portion of the Cherokee domain for their home.

          When the US Army started trying to assist the immigrant tribes in making peace with the indigent tribes, Black Beaver was there to represent the Delaware. He went on General Leavenworth's expedition of 1834. (See posts of Jan 24 and 30, 2011) He led a company of Delaware and Shawnee volunteers in the Mexican War in 1846. He guided US Cavalry troops under Captain R. B. Marcy as they escorted 500 settlers to California in 1849. He guided Marcy again in 1850 on an expedition to determine the location of a new fort to protect the migrating gold seekers.

          Black Beaver was described by Baldwin Mollhausen, who sought his help on an expedition to plan a route for the transcontinental railroad: "A stunted little Indian … mounted on an extremely swift and powerful horse, and armed with a six feet long rifle on his shoulder."   

          Of all the American officers, Captain Marcy probably spent the most time with Black Beaver. He said of him:

He proved to be a most useful man. He has travelled a great deal among many of the western and northern tribes of Indians, is well acquainted with their character and habits, and converses fluently with the Comanche and most of the other prairie tribes. He has spent five years in Oregon and California, two years among the Crow and Blackfeet Indians; has trapped beaver in the Gila, the Columbia, the Rio Grande, and the Pecos; has crossed the Rocky Mountains at many different points, and indeed is one of those men that are seldom met with except in the mountains.

          Black Beaver taught Captain Marcy how to differentiate the Comanche, the Wichita, the Kickapoo, the Delaware, the Shawnee, and the Cherokee by how they made their tents and how they built their fires. When Marcy's party met a band of Indians, Black Beaver could usually speak to them, and he frequently knew some of the warriors personally. He not only spoke several Indian languages, but also English, Spanish and French, as well as sign language, the universal means of communication on the plains.    

          By 1853 Black Beaver was chief over about 500 Delaware who lived on the Canadian River at the site of old Camp Arbuckle. Lt. A. W. Whipple sought him out that year to lead an expedition to plan a route for the transcontinental railroad. Whipple found Black Beaver sitting:

           crosslegged, smoking his pipe, and awaiting his visitors in perfect tranquility. He was a meagre-looking man of middle size, and his long black hair framed in a face that was clever, but which bore a melancholy expression of sickness and sorrow, though more than forty years could not have passed over it. ... after the first salutations and expressions of welcome, a tempting offer was made to him to induce him to accompany us. For a moment the eyes of the Indian gleamed with their wonted fire, but they soon became clouded over again, and he answered:

           'Seven times have I seen the Pacific Ocean at various points; I have accompanied the Americans in three wars, and I have brought home more scalps from my hunting expeditions than one of you could lift. I should like to see the salt water for the eighth time; but I am sick - you offer me more money than has ever been offered to me before - but I am sick. ... if I die, I should like to be buried by my own people.'

           Whipple argued with Black Beaver and when again he was about to yield to the lure of travel and adventure, his wife, who was sitting nearby playing with their only son and a black bear cub, spoke to him in her native tongue and he again declined.

          Black Beaver's illness must not have lasted long, because he still managed to get himself into the history books a few more times.

          First, he was the guide for the Chickasaw volunteers who pursued the Comanche raiders in 1858 (see post of April 2, 2011). Then in 1961 when confederate troops were advancing from Texas and from Arkansas he led the Union soldiers from the forts Cobb, Washita, and Arbuckle out of Indian Territory to the safety of Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. Finally, in 1872, when the federal government was trying to convince the remaining plains tribes to give up their resistance and locate on reservations, Black Beaver was called upon to be chairman of the council.

          It's difficult to sum up Black Beaver's accomplishments. He certainly helped win peace and a certain amount of prosperity for his people. He managed to excel in a time when survival depended not only on intelligence, but also courage, strength and frontier skills. He made a wise choice in choosing sides in the white men's conflicts, and made himself useful and respected by the U. S. Army officers. But what stands out to me is what an amazing life he led: the places where he travelled, the people he met, the experiences he must have had. I wish I could have been with him.

          Black Beaver died in 1880, at the age of 74, in Anadarko, Oklahoma, with his family.