Torture and Cannibalism Amongst the Algonquins and Miami Indians

Cannibalism existed amongst the Algonquins and the Miami, and many other tribes, and the Jesuits, who were often witnesses of the feasts in which human flesh was the only food supplied, have handed down to us an account of them.' One shudders with horror at the tortures invented by the ingenuity of man. Among some Indian tribes these tortures began several days before the final sacrifice. Lighted firebrands were applied to every part of the body the nails of the fingers and toes were wrenched off ; the flesh was torn, and burning splinters plunged into the gaping wounds ; the victim was scalped and burning coals applied to the spot. Women' and children were not the least eager amongst the torturers, and when the sufferer at last expired, his' breast was opened, and if he had died bravely the heart was taken out, cut in pieces, and distributed to the young warriors of the tribe. They also drank the still smoking blood, hoping to inoculate themselves with the courage of which they had just had proof. The trunk, limbs, and head were roasted or boiled ; all gorged themselves with the horrible food, and the day ended with dances and song which gayly finished off the feast.

57 gruesome stories of Indian capture and torture

Native American Tribes That Practiced Cannibalism

Native American Tribes That Practiced Cannabalism

Cannibalism. In one form or another 
Cannibalism has been practiced among pros- 
ably all peoples at some period of their tribal 
life. In America there are numerous recorded 
References to its occurrence within historic 
times among the Brazilians, Carib of northern 
South America, the Aztec and other Mexican 
tribes, and among many of the Indians n. of 
Mexico. The word itself, now more commonlj^ 
used than the older term anthropophagy, is 
derived from Carib through Spanish corrup- 
tion. Restricting treatment of the subject to 
the tribes n. of Mexico, many evidences of can- 
nibalism in some form are found — from the 
ingestion, perhaps obligatory, of small quanti- 
ties of human flesh, blood, brain, or marrow, 
as a matter of ceremony, to the consumption of 
such parts for food under stress of hunger, or 
even as a matter of taste. Among the tribes 
which practised it, in one or another of these 
forms, may be mentioned the Montagnais, and 
some of the tribes of Maine; the Algonkin, 
Armouchiquois, Micmac, and Iroquois; farther 
w. the Assiniboin, Cree, Foxes, Miami, Ottawa, 
Chippewa, llinois, Kickapoo, Sioux, and Win- 
nebago; in the s. the people who built the 
mounds in Florida (see Colusa), and the Ton- 
kawa, Attacapa, Karankawa, Kiowa, Caddo, 
and Comanche(?) ; in the n. w. and w. portions 
of the continent, the Thhngchadinneh and other 
Athapascan tribes, the Thngit, Heiltsuk, 
Kwakiutl, Tsimshian, Nootka, Siksika, some 
of the Californian tribes, and the Ute. There 
is also a tradition of the practice among the 
Hopi, and allusions to the custom among other 
tribes of Arizona and New Mexico. The 
Mohawk, and the Attacapa, Tonkawa, and 
other Texas tribes were known to their neigh- 
bours as "man-eaters." 

Taking all the evidence into consideration, 
it appears that cannibalism n. of the Mexican 
boundary existed in two chief forms. One of 
these was accidental, from necessity as a result 
of famine, and has been witnessed among the 
Huron, Micmac, Chippewa, Etchareottine, 
and others. In most of such instances recourse 
was had to the bodies of those who had recently 
died, but cases are recorded in which individu- 
als were killed to satisfy hunger. The second 
and prevalent form of cannibalism was a part 
of war custom and was based principally on the 
belief that bravery and other desirable qualities 
of an enemy would pass, through actual inges- 
tion of a part of his body, into that of the con- 
sumer. Such qualities were supposed to have 
their special seat in the heart, hence this organ 
was chiefly sought, though blood, brain, mar- 
row, and flesh were in many instances also 
swallowed. The parts were eaten either raw 
or cooked. The heart belonged usually to the 
warriors, but other parts were occasionally 
consumed by boys or even by women and 
children. In some cases a small portion of the 
heart or of some other part of an enemy might 
be eaten in order to free the eater from some 
tabu (Grinnell) . The idea of eating any other 
human being than a brave enemy was to most 
Indians repulsive. One of the means of torture 
among the Indians of Canada and New York 
was the forcing of a prisoner to swallow pieces 
of his own flesh. 

Among the Iroquois, according to one of the 
Jesuit fathers, the eating of captives was con- 
sidered a religious duty. Among the Heiltsuk, 
and recently among the Tsimshian and Kwaki- 
utl, cannibalism formed a part of one of their 
ceremonies. Several instances are recorded in 
which cannibalism was indulged in by individ- 
uals while in a frenzied state. Finally, it 
seems that among a few tribes, as the Tonkawa, 
Iroquois, and others, man-eating, though still 
with captives as the victims, was practised on 
a larger scale, and with the acquired taste for 
human flesh as one, if not the chief, incentive; 
yet the Tonkawa, as well as some men long 
associated with them, declared that the eating 
of human flesh by them was only ceremonial. 

Indian mythology and beliefs are replete with 
references to man-eating giants, monsters, and 
deities, which point to the possibility that 
anthropophagy in some form was a practice 
with which the aborigines have long been 
acquainted. 

                                Gruesome tales of Indian capture and torure

The Defeat, Beheading and Cannibalism of Captain Wells

The Defeat, Beheading and Cannibalism of Captain Wells

After William Wells and his men were killed near Fort Dearborn, he was decapitated and his heart eaten by the Miami Indians

    Accordingly, Maj. Siickney, with as much despatch as possible, sent Capt. 
Wells, was a sub-agent, a brother-in-law of Little Turtle and thoroughly versed  in Indian strategy from a lifelong intercourse with them, with a small force to athe beleaguered garrison. In the mean time, however, on the 9th of August, 
Capt. Heald received orders from Gen. Hull to evacuate the post at Chicago 
and move to Detroit. Three days later, Capt. Wells, with thirty picked 
and trusty warriors, fully equipped, arrived at Fort Dearborn (Chicago), when 
he was informed by Capt. Heald of the condition of affairs, and that, 
after receiving the order of Gen. Hull, he had a conference with the 
Indians of the neighborhood and agreed upon terms of evacuation. These 
terms, among other things, embraced an agreement " to deliver up to the Indians 
the fort with all its contents, except some ammunition and provisions necessary 
for their march," in consideration for which he was to be permitted to pass      unmolested. Capt. Wells thought such an arrangement ill advised, for the reason  that the ammunition and whisky especially were dangerous elements to place at thedisposal of a horde of treacherous savages, who, when under the influence of the whisky, which they were sure to become, would not for a moment regard the 
Terms of the agreement entered into. 

   The truth of this opinion soon became manifest, when the Indians, being made  acquainted with the fact of the presence of fire-water among the articles obtainable by a ready disregard of their agreement, determined at once to attack the garrison. Capt. Wells, being cognizant of their movements, took in the situation at a glance. He was not mistaken, for information had even then been communicated toMr. Kinzie of the proceedings and the intentions of the Pottawatomies engaged as an  escort for them. 

Soon after leaving Fort Dearborn, the men under Captain Wells would be attacked and massacred by 500 Indians.

The troops under the command of Capt. Heald consisted of fifty-four regulars and twelve militia. These, on the morning of the 15th of August, marched 
out from the fort to the tune of the "Dead March," as if 'some invisible force 
had impelled them to chant their own funeral dirge. Capt, Wells, too, as if 
conscious of his impending fate, marched in front at the head of his little band 
of faithful warriors with his face blackened. 

After passing outside the walls of the fort, the garrison, with Capt. Wells' 
band and the escort of Pottawatoniies, took up the line of march along- the      margin of the lake, in the direction of Fort Wayne. When the sand hills          separating the prairie and lake had been reached, the escort, consisting of five hundred Pottawatomies, instead of pursuing the regular route, kept along the     plain to the right of the sand ridge, and had thus marched something more than a mile and a half, when Capt. Wells, having in the meantime watched these movementsclosely, and satisfied himself fully as to their purpose, and that an attack was contemplated, he communicated the result of his observations to the men, and direneed of a charge upon the assailants. At this period a volley was fired from     behind the sand hills. The troops were then hastily formed into line, and chargedrapidly up the bank. " A veteran of some seventy years was the first to fall.    Capt, Wells soon fell, pierced with many balls, and, in the words of one of the  party, (Mrs. Kinzie), ' Pee-so-tum * * * held dangling in his hand a scalp! 
which, by the black ribbon around the head, I recognized as that of Capt. Wells.' 
Their leader now being killed, the Miamis fled ; one of their chiefs, however, 
before leaving the scene of disaster, riding up to the Pottawatomies, and exclaim-ing to them in pretty strong terms: ' You have deceived the Americans and us. 
You have done a bad action, and (brandishing his tomahawk"), I will be the first 
to head a party of Americans to return and punish your treachery ; ' and then 
galloped away over the prairie in pursuit of his companions, who were rapidly 
making their way back toward Fort Wayne." 

After a desperate conflict the troops were compelled to surrender, only to be 
subjected to the barbarous inflictions of the tomahawk and scalping knife at the 
hands of the treacherous savages. The result of this massacre was twenty six 
regulars killed with all the militia, two women and twelve children. Twenty seven only were taken prisoners. One of the incidents related by Maj. Stickney, is 
characteristic of Indian warfare : " As the character of Capt, Wells was         unequaled for bravery, after his death, his head was severed from his body, and the Indians took out his heart, cooked it, and divided it among themselves in very small pieces. 
They religiously believed that each one who ate of it would thereby become as 
brave as he from whom it was taken."