An old Indian known as “Old Sod,” who has made Chengwatana his home a greater part of the time since the earliest recollection of the eldest settlers of Pine County, died last Sunday night.
The life of “Old Sod” has been one full of romantic changes and had an interpreter placed the facts he could narrate in the English language, it would have made a story which would be superlatively interesting. From accounts given by himself and from what can be learned from others his age is variously estimated at from one hundred and eight to one hundred and twenty years. During his younger days he was one of the warriors of his tribe and a participant in the bloody Indian wars which have left their marks throughout the whole country. His breast had been bared alike to the flint tipped arrow of the belligerent savage and the rifle ball of the white man. The oldest among his tribe remember him as the warrior whom they had been taught to honor and revere because of his past heroic deeds. At the outbreak of the late Civil War he was one of the red men who swore allegiance to the stars and stripes and under its gracious folds shouldered his gun and marched to the front in '61. In '62, he was disabled and returned home, but having sufficiently recovered, he soon after returned to the front and fought valiantly for the perpetuity of the union. His last days have been spent in this vicinity, wandering from one Indian village to another, where he was always welcomed. He spent the greater part of his time in this vicinity, where his earlier life had been such an active and bloody one. Last Sunday night he returned from one of his trips and crawled into a wigwam at Chengwatana, where he died during the night of shear old age; and was found early in the morning. The body was buried in the Indian cemetery Monday afternoon, a number of men from this place assisting.
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