Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/112



They engaged in frequent wars with the Sioux and Osages. In 1807 they had a battle with Osages. After a fierce conflict they captured the village, destroying thirty lodges and massacring all the inhabitants. A few years later the smallpox ravaged their settlement, destroying more than a hundred of their warriors and nearly two hundred women and children. Twelve years later they lost nearly two hundred more of the tribe by the same disease. In 1819 they were attacked by a superior force of Sioux and a desperate battle was fought. In the end the Iowas were defeated, losing scores of their best warriors. The Sioux captured and carried into captivity many of their women and children.

One of the most noted chiefs after the death of Man-haw-yaw was his son Ma-has-kah. His home was in the Des Moines Valley, near where the town Eldon now stands, at the old village of Iowaville. He had seven wives; the favorite one was a beautiful woman named Rant-che-wai-me (Female Flying Pigeon). In 1824, when Ma-has-kah, with a party of warriors, went to Washington to have an interview with President Monroe, this favorite wife joined the party the third day after their departure and announced her intention to accompany her husband and shake hands with the President. She was permitted to go with him and attracted marked attention in Washington from her great beauty and intelligence. Her portrait was painted by an artist at the Capital and for a long time adorned his studio. She was a kind and generous woman, devoting much of her time to ministering to the sick and unfortunate. General Hughes, the Indian agent, who was well acquainted with her, spoke in the highest terms of her excellent qualities. She returned from Washington with new views of life and tried to impress upon the young women of her race useful lessons from her observations of civilized people. Ma-has-kah was deeply attached to her and was greatly depressed at her tragic death, which was the result of a fall from a