Domesticated Mastodon Story

The following article appeared in an 1828 edition of the Western Souvenir. It tells the story of a Shawnee chief and a domesticated mastodon. The chief who took in an orphaned mastodon and had a friend for life:

“The young calf, deprived of his maternal sustenance and care, wandered up the valley of the Ohio, into the neighbourhood of a village of the ancient Shawanese. He was discovered by the chief of the tribe, wandering about the forest, and uttering, from time to time, the most plaintive cries. He was observed occasionally to seize upon the trunks of small trees and saplings, and after some unsuccessful efforts at mastication with his toothless gums, he would quit his hold and continue his wailings.

“The Shawanoe understood his condition, and gave him some green corn and other vegetables, which he devoured with a voracious appetite. He manifested a strong feeling of attachment to the chief who had relieved his hunger—followed him to his village, and was fed and sustained by him, until his teeth were grown to such a size, that he could procure his own subsistence from the canebrakes and trees of the forest. The Tree-Eater soon became domesticated in his habits, and exhibited, at all times, a peculiar affection for the chief—following him wherever he went, and yielding a prompt and willing obedience to his commands. He would accompany him on his hunting and fishing expeditions, setting him across the rivers, carrying his game, and carefully guarding him from harm. He would stretch his giant frame on the ground, at night, before the hut of his master, which was in the centre of the village; and like a faithful watch dog, protect the tribe from danger during the night.

“The Shawanoe chief had neither wife nor family; but had, in one of his excursions to the south, formed an attachment for the daughter of a Cherokee chief, and contracted an alliance which he intended soon to consummate. It so happened, that just before the intended celebration of their nuptials, a wicked and faithless tribe of the Sioux invited the Cherokees to a bear feast, and war dance; and in the midst of their conviviality, treacherously fell upon, and massacred nearly the whole of their unsuspecting guests; and carried away captive the Cherokee maid, to whom the Shawanoe chief was betrothed. Maddened by this outrage, he assembled the flower of his nation—determined to chastise the perfidious Sioux, and redeem from the hands of violence his captive love. He took an affectionate leave of his faithful Tree-Eater, embraced his huge trunk, and left him with the women and children of his tribe to pursue his chivalrous expedition.

“Before the expiration of another moon, a remnant only of all the fierce and painted warriors, who went out to battle, returned to their village. They approached with a slow march, in Indian file, chaunting the death song, and intimating to their people, that death and disaster had thinned their ranks, and given victory to their enemy. The Tree-Eater raised himself from his lair, elevated his flapping ears; —then extending his ponderous trunk high in the air, with his keen and sagacious eyes, he scrutinized each of the warriors as he passed. With an air of disappointment, and a low, melancholy moaning, he then set off with a quick step towards the setting sun—scenting the tracks, and following the trail by which the vanquished warriors had returned.

“The Shawanese had been truly unfortunate. By an ingenious ambuscade of the Sioux, they had been defeated with great slaughter; and their chief, stunned by the blow of a war club, had been taken captive. The Sioux, after keeping him for some time a prisoner, and goading him with every cruel indignity they could devise, determined, at last, upon burning him at the stake; and, to aggravate his torture, they decreed, that the Cherokee maid should also perish in the same flame.

“The captives were brought forth and bound to the same tree. The circle of combustibles was piled high around them; —the dance of exultation, and the yell of triumph, had commenced—and the leader of the Sioux was in the act of applying the torch to the fagots—when his purpose was arrested by a sudden and deafening roar in the adjacent forest. All turned their eyes in the direction of the sound, and beheld the Tree-Eater of the Shawanoe rapidly approaching, and brandishing his tusks and sweeping trunk above the trees. The assembled tribe fled in consternation to their huts, and endeavoured to hide themselves from a presence so appalling. He approached his captive master, and exhibiting the most extravagant joy, released him and his companion from their thralldom—seated them gently upon his broad shoulders; and taking the trail back again, recrossed the Father of waters, and bore in triumph his chief and the Cherokee girl to the tribe of the Shawanese.”

In my book Modern-Day Mammoths, I recount this tale and more. As crazy as as the story of a domesticated mastodon sounds, it might have some basis in truth. In fact, some believe the ancient mound-building cultures in the Ohio Valley used domesticated mastodons as beasts of burden.

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