Note [109 — Chapter I
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[109]
The holding of slaves by the Indians continued long after colonial times. It naturally died out first in the east, with the growth in power of the whites and the consequent decrease in the numbers and strength of the Indians.
The Indians of the Columbia River country held slaves till well into the nineteenth century. These they procured by trading beads and furs with the interior tribes. Franchère’s Narrative, in Thwaites, Early Western Travels, vi, p. 324; xxix, p. 242; xxx, p. 111. The Blackfeet, Cayuse, Crows, and Ute were accustomed to keep the women taken in war as slaves, (Ibid., xxiii, p. 118); and other neighboring tribes did the same. Travelers in Oregon in 1846 found that the Oregon Indians enslaved their war captives, and that they made war for the purpose of obtaining slaves. Ibid., xxix, p. 124. The Toungletat, who inhabited Vancouver Island, at the same time had Indian slaves, captives in war. Ibid., xxix, p. 149. The tribes of the section south of the Columbia River country were given over to the same custom. Both here, and in the Columbia River country, the Indians were heavy gamblers, and not infrequently staked their own freedom in their games. Ibid., xxx, p. 161; xxvii, p. 171; Parker, Journey Beyond the Rocky Mountains, p. 53. The Indians of the extreme northwest held slaves in 1840. Considerable numbers were owned by the chiefs. These were worth thirty blankets each, and were generally purchased from the natives of Queen Charlotte Island, the great slave mart of the northwest coast. Bancroft, History of the Northwest Coast, ii, pp. 647–649.
The slaves of the Columbia River country were well treated as long as they were able to work. The district was a commercial one, and the slaves, as an article of commerce, were valuable. But when a slave grew old and was unable to work, he was neglected. The women of the tribe had several slaves who were dependent entirely upon their will. Slaves could be purchased by the male members of the tribes for wives. The Oackinacke Indians, at this time, possessed but few slaves, and these were adopted as children and as members of the family. Ibid., vii, pp. 103, 107, 303.
Until 1850, the Thompson Indians of British Columbia enslaved captive Indians. Teit, The Thompson Indians of British Columbia, in Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History, pp. 269, 290. In 1836, the Chinook Indians possessed Indian slaves. In 1855, the Ute sacrificed four slaves, and buried them with one of their chiefs. One of these slaves was buried alive. Thomas, Indians of North America in Historic Times, p. 369. In 1863, the Cherokee abolished slavery by law. This was amended in 1866, so as to permit it as a punishment for crime. Thwaites, Early Western Travels, xx, p. 303.