"
The views of this keen French philosopher were prophetic. In vain did I
strain my eyes, as we passed along, to discover any trace of these
Indians. Not one representative of those noble aborigines was to be
seen. In 1836 Arkansas was constituted a State, and admitted into the
Union; and, if you look at a recent map of the United States, you will
see the "location" of these Indians marked, not in the State of
Arkansas at all, but far--far beyond, towards the setting sun, in what
is called the "Western Territory," where, indeed, the river Arkansas
has its source. Nor will ten years pass away before they will be again
disturbed, and pushed further back.
At the mouth of the Arkansas is a village called Napoleon, of which I
received, on authority not to be disputed, the following horrible
account. A few years ago it was the head quarters of lawless and bloody
men. They fabricated base coin, gambled, robbed, murdered. To such a
pitch of wickedness had they arrived, and such a terror were they to
the whole country, that a party of men from Memphis (a city on the
eastern side of the Mississippi, 180 miles up) took the law into their
own hands, armed themselves with deadly weapons, came down, scoured the
country around, caught about fifty of the ringleaders, and put them to
death.
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