The Mounds of Cahokia, 1811

Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.

From Views of Louisiana by Henry Marie Brackenridge, 1817.

[Henry Brackenridge, later a US Congressman, offers the first detailed written description of the mounds at Cahokia c. 1811. Brackenridge held a lifelong fascination with the North American mounds, then very poorly understood, and even wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson about their shared interest. At the time of his visit, the mounds were inhabited by an order of monks, hence the largest mound being known as Monks Mound.]

The mounds or pyramids appear to me to belong to a period different from the others. They are much more ancient, and are easily distinguished from the barrows, by their size and the design which they manifest. Remains of palisaded towns are found in their vicinity, which may be accounted for from the circumstance of the mounds occupying the most eligible situations for villages, or from the veneration of the Indians, for whatever appears extraordinary.

From the growth of trees on some of them, they show an antiquity of at least several hundred years. The Indians have no tradition as to the founder of them, though there is no doubt but that when we first became acquainted with those people, they were used as places of defence. The old chief of the Kaskaskia Indians, told Mr. Rice Jones, that in the wars of his nation with the Iroquois, the mounds in the American bottom were used as forts.

In one of the plates of Lafiteau's work, there is a representation of an attack on an Indian fort, which is evidently constructed upon one of the mounds: its form is circular, the enclosure of large pickets, and heavy beams on the outside, extending to the ground on which the mound stands. Those inside defend themselves with stones, arrows, while the assailants are either aiming their arrows at such as appear above the wall, or endeavoring to set fire to the pickets.

Until I saw this engraving, I had frequently doubted whether these elevations of earth were intended for any other purpose, than places of interment for their great chiefs, or as sites for temples. These were probably the first objects, but experience, at the same time, taught them that they might also answer as forts; perhaps the veneration for these sacred places might induce the Indians, when invaded, to make their final stand in their temples, which therefore, become strong holds. This is conformable to the history of most nations of the world, and particularly with that of the conquest of Mexico, where according, to Bernal Diaz, the letters of Cortez, and to Clavigno, the natives defended their pyramids as the last refuge. Solis, in his animated and eloquent, though somewhat fabulous history, says, that the pyramid of Cholula was so crowded with warriors, that it looked like a living hill, una monte vivante.

The mounds at Grave creek and Marietta have been minutely described, but in point of magnitude they fall far short of others which I have seen; the most remarkable, are two groups of mounds or pyramids, the one about ten miles above Cahokia, the other nearly the same distance below it, which in all, exceed one hundred and fifty, of various sizes. The western side, also, contains a considerable number. A more minute description of those above Cahokia, which I visited, will give a tolerable idea of them all.

I crossed the Mississippi at St. Louis, and after passing through the wood which borders the river, about half a mile in width, entered an extensive open plain. In fifteen minutes, I found myself in the midst of a group of mounds, mostly of a circular shape, and at a distance, resembling enormous hay-stacks scattered through a meadow. One of the largest which I ascended, was about two hundred paces in circumference at the bottom, the form nearly square, though it had evidently undergone considerable alteration from the washing of the rains. The top was level, with an area sufficient to contain several hundred men.

The prospect from this mound is very beautiful; looking towards the bluffs, which are dimly seen at the distance of six or eight miles, the bottom at this place being very wide, I had a level plain before me, varied by islets of wood, and a few solitary trees; to the right, the prairie is bounded by the horizon, to the left, the course of the Cahokia may be distinguished by the margin of wood upon its banks, and crossing the valley diagonally south, south west. Around me, I counted twenty mounds, or pyramids, besides a great number of small artificial elevations; these mounds form something more than a semicircle, about a mile in extent, its diameter formed by the river.

Pursuing my walk along the bank of the Cahokia, I passed eight others in the distance of three miles, before I arrived at the principal assemblage. When I reached the foot of the largest mound, I was struck with the degree of astonishment, not unlike that which is experienced in contemplating the Egyptian pyramids; and could not help exclaiming, what a stupendous pile of earth! To heap up such a mass must have required years, and the labors of thousands.

It stands immediately on the bank of the Cahokia, and on the side next it, is covered with lofty trees. Were it not for the regularity and design which it manifests, the circumstance of its being on alluvial ground, and the other mounds scattered around it, we could scarcely believe it the work of human hands, in a country which we have, generally believed never to have been inhabited by any but a few lazy Indians.

The shape is that of a parallelogram, standing from north to south; on the south side there is a broad apron or step, about halfway down, and from this, another projection into the plain about fifteen feet wide, which was probably intended as an ascent to the mound. By stepping round the base I computed the circumference to be at least six hundred yards, and the height of the mound about ninety feet. The step, or apron, has been used as a kitchen garden, by the monks of La Trappe, and the top is sowed with wheat.

Nearly west there is one of a smaller size, and fifteen others scattered through the plain. Two are also seen on the bluffs, at the distance of three miles. Several of these mounds are almost conical. As the sward had been burnt, the earth was perfectly naked, and I could trace with ease, any unevenness of surface, so as to discover whether it was artificial or accidental. I every where observed a great number of small elevations of earth, to the height of a few feet, at regular distances from each other, and which appeared to observe some order; near them I also observed pieces of flint, and fragments of earthen vessels.

I was perfectly satisfied that here once existed a city similar to those of Mexico, described by the first conquerors. Although it might not have been a Licopolis, Persepolis or Thebes, it is not improbable that it contained many thousand inhabitants. This plain, now reposing in the stillness of death, was once the scene of a busy and crowded population; those temples now devoted to the idolaters of silence, once resounded with shouts of war or the songs of peace. The mounds were site of temples, or monuments to the great men.

It is evident, this could never have been the work of thinly scattered tribes. If the human species had at any time been permitted in this country to have increased freely, and there is every probability of the fact, it must, as in Mexico, have become astonishingly numerous. The same space of ground would have sufficed to maintain fifty times the number of the present inhabitants, with ease; their agriculture having no other object than mere sustenance. Amongst a numerous population, the power of the chief must necessarily be more absolute, and where there are no laws, degenerate into despotism. This was the case in Mexico, and in the nations of South America; a great number of individuals were at the disposal of the chief, who treated them little better than slaves. The smaller the society, the greater the consequence of each individual. Hence, there would not be wanting a sufficient number of hands to erect mounds or pyramids.

Hunter and Dunbar describe a mound at the junction of the Catahoula, Washita and Tensa rivers, very similar in shape to the large one on the Cahokia. This I have also visited. It has a step or apron, and is surrounded by a group often or twelve other mounds of a smaller size. In the vicinity of New Madrid, there are a number; one on the bank of a lake, is at least four hundred yards in circumference, and surrounded by a ditch at least ten feet wide, and at present, five feet deep; it is about forty feet in height, and level on the top.

I have frequently examined the mounds at St. Lewis: they are situated on the second bank just above the town, and disposed in a singular manner; there are nine in all, and form three sides of a parallelogram, the open side towards the country, being protected, however, by three smaller mounds, placed in a circular manner. The space enclosed is about four hundred yards in length, and two hundred in breadth.

About six hundred yards above there is a single mound, with a broad stage on the river side; it is thirty feet in height, and one hundred and fifty in length; the top is a mere ridge of five or six feet wide. Below the first mounds there is a curious work, called the Falling Garden. Advantage is taken of the second bank, nearly fifty feet in height at this place, and three regular stages or steps, are formed by earth brought from a distance. This work is much admired — it suggests the idea of a place of assembly for the purpose of counselling, on public occasions.

Brackenridge, Henry Marie. Views of Louisiana. Schaeffer & Maund, 1817.

Henry Marie Brackenridge

Celebrate Architecture

A place to explore the wondrous creations of human builders.

View Group