Getting What They Prayed For and More: part I

In 1833 a Mr. Disoway related in an issue of the Christian Advocate and Journal a letter he’d received. This letter had come from William Walker, a Christianized Wyandot half-breed. Walker’s letter to Mr. Disoway was a lie that jump-started westward expansion by several leaps and a whole lot of bounds.

Mr. Disoway was particularly interested in Christian missionaries who were willing to devote their lives to the salvation of the savage Indian of the west. He was also involved in relocating Mississippi tribes westward to a location that would be forever and ever designated as Indian Country.

Previous to Mr. Disoway’s letter to the Christian Advocate and Journal a committee had been sent to look at this land that would become the new home for the Native Americans. Walker, who evidently considered himself an expert on land judgment, was a member of this select committee. After making his observation of the area in question he determined that the land, the Iowa prairie, was not suitable for farming. On this point Mr. Walker went down in history as a man of misjudgment. Later, he would be proven to be an out and out liar on another matter.

Finding himself in St. Louis Walker stopped to visit William Clark, previously of the Lewis and Clark expedition. There, Mr. Walker heard an amazing story that became the source for the embellished contents of the letter he sent to Mr. Disoway.

According to Mr. Walker, upon his arrival at Clark’s home he found three Indians also visiting the former explorer. Walker stated that they were of the Flathead tribe far to the west beyond the Shining Mountains. He described them as having pointed, rather than flat, heads. He even drew a picture of them and sent it along to Mr. Disoway with his account of the experience. Mr. Disoway copied Walker’s sketch and, in turn, sent it on to the journal with his and Walker’s letters. The sketch showed the Indian men having foreheads that slanted back from the eyebrows in a smooth, straight line, coming to a point at the top of the head. Adding to this, Mr. Disoway described the savage ordeal, as he’d heard it, that infant Flatheads were subjected to in order to achieve this deformed appearance. He stressed that these three savage gentlemen were seeking enlightenment into the white man’s Christian faith. He used their deformed heads as proof that these misguided souls surely needed saving.

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