Calvin Many Wolves Potter

By Elaine Brooks Held

This is the true story of my great-great grandfather, Calvin Potter who ran away from home at the age of 12 from Beaver, Pennsylvania. He made it as far as the Minnesota area where he was found near death by a Sisseton Sioux hunting party. They took great pains nursing him back to health and he chose to stay with them. As a young man he was asked by his Sioux father to go back to the whites and speak for his people. An Indian uprising in 1862 stopped all normal Indian life in the state of Minnesota. All Indians were taken from the state to reservations in other places. Some chose to escape to Canada and 38 were hung for their part in the war. Devastated, Calvin moves on with his life, marries and has five children, but he never was far from his past. This is historical fiction because I do not know the everyday life of his story, only the over-all facts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 24, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477147702

Elaine Brooks Held

Elaine Brooks was born in Mitchell, South Dakota, Feb. 2, 1938. She was raised in Austin, Minnesota, and went on to college in Mankato, Minnesota. Moving to California, she taught sixth grade for 38 yrs. the last 27 years teaming with her brother-in-law. Retiring fifteen years ago she travels mainly to Alaska for the salmon fishing. She and her husband have spent the fifteen years all over the United States in their 1976 motor home.

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Copyright © 2012 by Elaine Brooks Held.

Library of Congress Control Number:            2012913143

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Calvin Potter

Quotes From Calvin’s Time

The Vision Quest

To Pat Cochrane: who got me started kept me going, and pushed me to the end.

This is the true story of my great-great-grandfather, Calvin Potter, told to me by his daughter Maud, my great-grandmother. The events are true, and most of the people are real. Time and events have been manipulated for the sake of Calvin’s story and the story of Minnesota history.

Chapter 1

Smoke! Terrified and confused, Calvin struggled to fight through the fog to consciousness. He couldn’t focus enough to make sense of anything. He knew the smoke was too close to be coming from the kitchen downstairs, and the food didn’t smell like his mother’s. Slightly fluttering, his eyes slid open. The light jolted Calvin, shocking him. He took a deep breath. Smoke stung his eyes and lungs. Screaming, Mama, there’s a hole in the ceiling. Mama, my room is on fire! Calvin started to jump out of bed. Even though his mind leaped, his body didn’t follow. Panicking, he screamed, Ma! Where are you? I can see the sky!

His call for help came out as a confused croak. A flutter of movement near him moved away. Terrified of the fire, Calvin desperately tried to get out of bed, but only his head seemed to respond. He pushed and pulled his legs in his mind, but there was no leg movement. There was another flutter of sound near him, and then a face appeared over him. No, he screamed. Don’t hurt me! It was an Indian’s face, dark and leathered. Mama! Help me! Indians! Calvin’s mind flitted around inside his head. They are in the house!

What have you done to my ma and sisters? he weakly shouted into the face above him. He was trembling, tears squeezed between his swollen, clenched lids as the man kept talking to him in his native tongue. Calvin shouted frantically, Don’t kill me! Please don’t hurt me.

The man’s hands moved, his fingers spread. A sound of whoosh caused Calvin to react enough to slightly turn his head. The shock left Calvin hysterical with fear. He was in a teepee! Please! Oh please! This can’t be. A rough hand on his forehead frightened Calvin so much that his body squirmed. There were now two men looking at him. His father had told him what Indians did to captives, especially the Indian women. I’ve got to escape, he thought desperately. Trying to rise again, Calvin screamed with pain. I don’t understand why I can’t get up.

Get away from me. Don’t touch me, he yelled. The man with his hand on Calvin’s forehead patted him and spoke soothingly to him. With an adrenalin charge, Calvin raised his head enough to see what the man was doing to him. His terror faded as he saw his body for the first time. He was a skeleton. No wonder he couldn’t get up. What had happened to him? The second man was looking at his legs. Whimpering, he tried to sit up enough to look too, but had to drop back down. Leather Face turned to someone, and the face of an old lady came into Calvin’s line of sight. Leather Face took a bowl from her. As weak as he was, Calvin shrank back.

Leather Face put his fingers in the bowl and wiped the contents on Calvin’s lips. He pursed his mouth closed, but… meat. It smelled of meat. His hunger was so immense that he opened his mouth and clamped down on the finger. It was a thick gravy that was so delicious that all else faded as it slid down. His whole being was concentrated on having more. Only more. Looking up into the weathered eyes, he tried not to beg. Why am I so hungry? Where am I? The man saw his need and put his finger into the bowl, letting Calvin suck on them. Stiffening, Calvin realized what he was doing and turned his face away. A conversation between his father and uncle came back to him. They had talked about Indians eating dogs! Calvin’s blue eyes glazed as his stomach gagged. The man turned him slightly on his side. Beginning to shiver, he shrank back, trying to remember. The man laid a robe over him. The other man was gone, and he couldn’t see the woman. Leather Face was still talking soothingly.

Don’t touch me, Calvin said forcefully, inching away. With a full stomach and the shock of his situation, Calvin began to weaken; fighting to stay awake, he slid away.

Not knowing how long he had slept, Calvin awoke to find Leather Face and the other Indian studying him. Ignoring his terror, the brown leathered hands lifted one of his feet. Calvin looked down and saw he was naked. He made an embarrassed effort to cover himself, but he was too weak even for that. Then he got his first look at his legs and forgot to be embarrassed or frightened. Festered bloody balloons with skin hanging loose in putrid shreds covered his legs. The sight made him sick to his stomach. My legs! I’m going to lose them! He let his head sink back down on the skins beneath him, trying desperately to remember what had happened. Tears again burned his eyes, but anger at his tears stopped the flow. All of this weakened him, and even though he fought it, he drifted off again.

The next day, Calvin lay in an exhausted sleep until he tasted water on his lips. When he opened his eyes, the older woman was dripping water on his lips and another man was leaning over him. The man smelled of something rotten. Thrusting a rattle of some sort toward him, the man sang a tuneless hum while his head bobbed to an inner beat. Terror restricted Calvin’s breathing into little jerky pants. He was so startled that he snapped, Stop that! I don’t want you to do that!

The unknown man completely ignored him while Leather Face now stood by, observing. Terrified and angry, Calvin slapped the man’s hand away. The man only smiled and moved lower over his legs. Desperate, Calvin cried louder, Stop it. Go away! The man’s face was painted red and black, and he had some sort of fur and feathers on his head. He looked, sounded, and smelled so strange that Calvin gave in to his hysteria and laughed thinly. He said to himself, Oh dadgumit! Go ahead. What difference does it make? My legs look like they are falling off. I’m so thin, I could pretend to be a skeleton. I’m naked with all sorts of people coming and going as if it didn’t matter. I don’t know where I am or how I got here, so just go ahead and shake some dead animal at me! Is this some kind of ceremony before they scalp me? Calvin laughed hysterically at his little joke. Not knowing if it was a joke, he laughed all the harder until it sounded a little like keening. He couldn’t control himself and just like that, without warning, he was crying. The men left Calvin whimpering, Mama, I want you to take care of me, not some strange man with feathers and fur and dead birds sticking out of his head.

Sometime later, the woman interrupted Calvin’s sleep. Again she was offering him a basket of food. One whiff of that meat and his pain melted away. This time he really looked at the woman. She had a round, calm face crinkled with concern. Her black eyes studied him in return. He was so hungry. He took the basket from her shriveled hands, his hands shaking. There were no utensils, so he dipped his hand in and brought out a piece of meat. The woman made eating motions with her hands. It tasted so good! He gobbled the food down without taking a breath. Quickly the woman took the round bowl away, making motions for him to slow down. She returned the bowl, but with hands ready to grab it if he didn’t understand. He did as he was bade and ate slowly, savoring each morsel. Even then, he watched her carefully as she watched him. He noticed a bow with a quiver or arrows next to it. Would it be possible to reach it? No, not now. The woman’s two thick braids, sprinkled with gray, moved on her shoulders as she nodded to him, motioning for him to eat more. He couldn’t help noticing his fingers as they approached his mouth with each bite. They were long claws, the bones protruding to give away the secret of their inner shape.

How had these people found him? He couldn’t remember a thing. He had so many questions, and there was no way to ask. Calvin figured he had been in and out of consciousness for quite a while, but his mind was blank. Where was he?

Although still frightened of these people, he relaxed slightly as he began to believe that they were not going to kill him. He knew they had gone to great pains to nurse him. Touching his clean hair, he knew his long filthy blond hair had been washed and trimmed to an even length. His scrapes and bruises had been tended to, and they were doing all they could for his legs. And he was being well fed. Why were they being so good to him? He looked past his uneasiness at the old woman and saw the kindness in her eyes. Am I to be her slave?

That evening, the teepee flap swished aside to allow a terrifying face to enter. Calvin’s heart leaped into his throat. Is this it? Are they going to kill me after all? His breath stuck in his throat as he tried to back away. The lower half of the man’s face was painted black with white around the eyes that peered at Calvin. An animal pelt of some kind was draped over his head. Horrified, he edged away from the figure as quickly as his weakness would allow. Seeing Calvin’s fear, the man took the animal skin from his head. This allowed Calvin to see his face in the light. Immediately, he recognized one of the two men who had been caring for him. He dropped back on his bed of skins gratefully, but with a pounding heart.

The man made motions as if he were playing a drum and then made soothing hand motions, with the palms outward. Calvin didn’t understand. After the man left, he listened to the drums and the strange music. It was then he thought he understood what the man had meant. Don’t be afraid of the music. The singing sounded shrill without melody, but there seemed to be words and it did move up and down. The heartbeat of the drums accented a thought that pounded in Calvin’s head. There was to be no escape. Not now. Not until his legs healed and his strength returned. Salty tears stung the back of his eyes.

The teepee flap was pulled aside, and Calvin awoke. The tall, older man who had been tending to his legs entered, wearing a hide shirt with beautiful beading across the shoulders. Long hair hung in two braids, tracing vertically down his chest to his waist. He smelled differently from whites. There was a hint of smoke and leather, but there was something else he couldn’t identify. Calvin couldn’t compare the odor with anything he knew, just that he didn’t like it. The leathered face studied Calvin as if measuring him. Calvin cringed away from him, but the now-familiar routine started anyway. The man lifted one of Calvin’s legs, all the while talking to him as Calvin’s breath hissed inward. Any movement of his legs emitted a foul odor. I can’t lose my legs! The man lowered his leg and took something out of a pouch. It looked long and possibly made out of bone. He couldn’t tell if it was sharp. Was he going to cut off his leg? Calvin shouted, No, leave me alone. Don’t do anything to me, please. Leave my legs alone! I want a real doctor!

What would they do if he was useless to them? The man moved beside him and showed him the bone container close-up. Shaking, Calvin saw there was a thick liquid inside. It wasn’t a knife. Flopping down, he relaxed. The man’s face showed concern, his black eyes questioning Calvin. Motioning with the container, the man exaggerated his movements. Calvin thought the man meant he was going to pour this stuff on his legs, but then he scrunched up his face and looked as if he was in pain. He then pointed to Calvin and the container. He understood. This was going to hurt. Gathering himself, Calvin nodded, go ahead. Getting close to his right leg, the man turned the container enough so a little liquid drained out and dropped on his leg. Reflexing, his body lurched upward. The pain was so devastating that no breath escaped his open mouth. As the pain lessened, he took quick little breaths and wiped the tears from his face. Their eyes met. The man had moved his hand away from his legs, patiently waiting for Calvin’s permission. I can stand anything you can do to me, Calvin thought. I’ll show you. He nodded, bracing himself. The man gave him a smooth wooden peg for each hand and then went back to his legs. When the pain hit, Calvin grasped the wood in his hands and held on with all his strength. On the third dose, he passed out.

The sting! Jolted awake as if the sting of his father’s slap had just happened, Calvin’s memory brought him alertly awake. He remembered glaring at his father and their eyes locking in a combat of wills. He remembered thinking, That is the last time you will ever hit me. Yes, he remembered. He had run away. He remembered wanting to get far away from the pain of rejection. He had never measured up to the perfection his father had demanded—a need for perfection so complete that his father had insisted on cutting Calvin’s hair himself and checking his clothing each day. Many times, his father’s ranting, highlighting his imperfections, had left everyone in the house sobbing, quaking with terror. The slap had been the punctuation mark at the end of an old argument. Calvin had skipped school again as the river had drawn him seductively to its shore. Oh, how he loved to play on the Ohio River at the base of the bluff in front of his house. His father had shouted many times how lazy he was to spend so much time on the river, even though Calvin had found a barge full of wood that would build their barn. His brothers and sisters had tried to keep his latest infraction from his father, but he had found out anyway. Calvin had turned away, allowing his father one last victory.

Don’t make a sound, he cautioned himself as he crept down the stairs to the hallway. He placed each foot carefully on the wooden floor, inching toward the back door. Calvin opened the back door so slowly that it seemed to take forever. Finally, he stood trembling, frozen with fear and indecision on the perfectly whitewashed back porch. Even now, Calvin could admire his father’s skill as a stonemason as he gazed lovingly at the only home he had known. He just wasn’t able to take that first step to freedom. He felt tears start behind his eyes. Dadgumit! Do it! Calvin shouted silently to himself. Either do it, or go back to bed. Stop sniveling! Finally, his legs began to move. One step. Two steps down the back porch. Three giant steps and he landed on the crunchy gravel. One more leap and he was on the grass. The soft padding of Mooser, the family cow, and his father’s two prized horses came through the wall of the barn to stab at him as he walked away, not looking back. The door that closed quietly behind him, slammed for all time between Calvin and his family.

Chapter 2

What are little Emily and Maggie doing up so early, laughing and giggling? They are going to be in big trouble with Father. An unfamiliar odor of something cooking was strangely out of place. Calvin remembered. He wasn’t home in Beaver, Pennsylvania. He was in a teepee somewhere, lost! He must be hearing Indian children through the walls of the teepee. His big brothers and little sisters were probably a long way away. Lips trembling, he thought, I wonder what they are doing right now. Little Maggie had always come to Calvin to fix her hurts. How was she getting along without him? Who was she going to now with her pudgy little arms outstretched? I mustn’t think about them. I must concentrate on planning my escape. But Maggie’s blonde curls with their baby softness lay on his shoulder in his mind.

Frustrated, Calvin decided to start learning the language so he could ask questions. How could he escape without knowing where he was? After all, it couldn’t be that difficult. He motioned for the woman to come to him. Calvin is my name. He motioned to himself and repeated his name. She touched her chest and said her name. Good heavens! What kind of language is this? I can’t make heads or tail of the sounds. She laughed and said it again slowly. He tried, but it came out completely wrong. She said it several times, and gradually he got close. She made him understand that it meant Falling Star. He pointed to the food and asked. She caught on that he wanted to know the words so she began, but the strange sounds were impossible to imitate. To Calvin it sounded like a mixture of grunts and whistles, with strange combinations of sounds stuck together. Finally, the woman motioned for him to sleep. Disappointed, he did as she asked.

The next day, Leather Face brought a stranger into the teepee. The man did not look Indian. His hair was dark, but it was cut short. His clothes were white man’s clothes. Leather Face motioned to the man. Turning to Calvin, the stranger spoke to him. Calvin shrugged and said, I don’t understand.

The man repeated, Parlez-voux Francais?

Calvin looked blank.

The man turned to the Indian and said something. The two left. Calvin worried that he might be sold, but he never saw the strange-speaking man again.

Under the watchful care of the two men and the gentle Falling Star, who was his constant companion, Calvin was gradually regaining his strength while beginning to feel comfortable with the people. Evidently, his legs had been spared. They still hurt, but they looked better and did not smell. Even so, it would be a long time before he walked. Not being able to communicate made everything worse. He imagined terrible things. The only answer was to learn the language as quickly as possible, but if his first lesson was any example, this was going to take longer than he hoped.

As Calvin lay in the teepee day after day, he studied the inside until he knew it by heart. There were several items hanging from above: a stuffed bird, a rattle, and a piece of wood with feathers. The ground area was actually quite large. He was lying on skins close to the center, but around the outside of the circle, there were other sleeping furs. Many items were stashed around, but Calvin didn’t know what most of them were. There was a pipe, a lance, a bow, and a quiver full of arrows. With these, he was familiar. Each day, the sounds of children laughing and playing came through the walls, inviting him to join them. How could he make the man who cared for him understand how badly he wanted to go outside?

Finally, the day arrived. Leather Face made motions for Calvin to try and stand. Excited, he turned on his side and tried to push up. He didn’t have enough strength to push and his legs wouldn’t turn, so the man took his hands and carefully pulled upward. Look at my legs! exclaimed Calvin. His legs were quivering so violently that the loose skin trembled. He stood, still thin to the point of death, wearing an animal hide shirt and a piece of material about his crotch as a breechclout, with nothing covering his legs. There they were sticking out, looking like two peeling tree trunks. His skin