1828. Tanner was a singular being--out of humor with the world, speaking
ill of everybody, suspicious of every human action, a very savage in his
feelings, reasonings, and philosophy of life, and yet exciting
commiseration by the very isolation of his position. He had been stolen
by the Indians in the Ohio Valley when a mere boy, during the marauding
forays which they waged against the frontiers about 1777. He was not
then, perhaps, over seven years of age--so young, indeed, as to have
forgotten, to a great degree, names and dates. His captors were Saganaw
Chippewas, among whom he learned the language, manners and customs, and
superstitions of the Indians. They passed him on, after a time, to the
Ottowas of L'Arbre Croche, near Mackinac, among whom he became settled
in his pronunciation of the Ottowa dialect of the great Algonquin
family. By this tribe, who were probably fearful a captive among them
would be reclaimed after Wayne's war and the defeat of the combined
Indians on the Miami of the Lakes, he was transferred to kindred tribes
far in the north-west.
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