Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/87

 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY 57 mouth of the St. Croix, in relation to its advantages for a military post. Mis stock of provisions was already nearly exhausted, and therefore a delay through the afternoon was allowed at the vil- lage of the old Sioux chief Red Wing, for catching fish, and Long ascended the Barn Bluff, called by its French name of the Grange in his journal. He wrote: "From the summit of the Grange the view of the surrounding scenery is surpassed, perhaps, by very few. if any. of a similar character that the country and probably the world can afford. The sublime and beautiful are here blended in the most enchanting manner, while the prospect has very 1 ittle to terrify or shock the imagination.' " I quote from ".Minnesota in Three Centuries." Vol. II, pages 37-38. that portion of .Major Forsyth's journal that pertains to Red Wing: "A't Prairie du Chien Colonel Leavenworth (1819) was joined by Major Thomas Forsyth, a special Indian agent, wdio had been sent up from St. Louis in charge of the provisions, etc., for the troops to be stationed at the St. Peter's, and 'a quantity of.goods, say $2,000 worth.' to be delivered to the Sioux in pay- ment for the lands ceded by them to the United States under the Pike treaty of 1806. As stated, he joined Colonel Leavenworth at Fort Crawford and accompanied the expedition to the St. Peter's. Major Forsyth kept a daily journal of his trip from St. Louis to the St. Peter's and return. This important manuscript was secured from his son. Colonel Robert Forsyth, of St. Louis, in 1871, by Dr. Lyman C. Draper, and published in the Wisconsin Historical collections, of which he (Dr. Draper) was editor, and was reprinted in Volume III of the Minnesota Society Collections. From this journal the incidents of the voyage of Colonel Leaven- worth to Minnesota have, in the main, been obtained. 'The Sioux bad somehow learned that an agent of their Amer- ican Father was on his way with presents for them, and on the arrival of Major Forsyth at Prairie du Chien, July 5, he found the son of Chief Red Wing, with a considerable band, awaiting him. Young Red Wing at once began begging for goods. He said a member of his band had recently been killed by the Chip- pewas, and on this account the hearts of himself and companions were very sad, and therefore the major should at once give them goods to assuage their grief and lighten the gloom of their bereavement. 'But all this,' writes Major Forsyth, 'was a mere begging speech. I told him that I meant to go up with the troops to the River St. Peter's, and on my way up I would stop at their different villages, where I would speak to them and give them a few goods, but that I would not give any goods at this place. Yet he is such a beggar that he would not take any refusal. I got up in an abrupt manner and left him and his band to study awhile.' A week later the major writes: 'The Red Wing's son