History of Colorado; Volume I, Part 14

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 954

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In the spring of 1817 De Munn went to Taos, still endeavoring to obtain the desired permission from the Spanish governor at Santa Fé. He was received at Taos in hostile manner and was conducted back to the Arkansas by 200 Spanish soldiers. It is said that Governor De Allande had received the startling news of a force of 20,000 Americans upon the upper Arkansas who had fortified them- selves strongly. The leader of De Munn's military escort was to ascertain the truth of this report and, if found to be without foundation, was to drive De Munn

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and his exploring expedition to the Missouri. In this he did not obey orders strictly, as he permitted the Americans to remain so long as they trapped only upon the American side of the river.

But Chouteau and De Munn, anticipating further trouble with their Latin neighbors on the south, decided to strike out for the Columbia River country. The impassable condition of the mountain trails prevented this journey, however, and the decision was made to remain on the Arkansas and South Platte, to continue their operations as heretofore and to take the furs already gathered back to St. Louis-De Munn to perform this task.

Just as he was about to leave, though, there appeared a company of Spanish troopers, with positive orders to take Chouteau and De Munn, with all their men, supplies and furs, back to Santa Fé. Once in Santa Fé, they were seized and cast into prison, their belongings were confiscated and in other ways they were subjected to insult. Two months later they were tried by court-martial and or- dered to leave New Mexico without further ado or loss of time. Each man was given a horse in order to expedite this sentence. Their treatment by the Spanish authorities was severe and is well described by De Munn in a letter written to William Clark, governor of Missouri Territory, on November 25, 1817. De Munn states :

"After forty-eight days' imprisonment, we were presented before a court- martial, composed of six members and a president who was the governor him- self. Only one of the six members appeared to have any information, the others not even knowing how to sign their names. Many questions were asked, but particularly why we had stayed so long in Spanish dominions. I answered that, being on the Arkansas River we did not consider ourselves in the domains of New Spain, as we had a license to go as far as the headwaters of said river. The president denied that our Government had a right to give such a license, and en- tered into such a rage that it prevented his speaking, contenting himself with striking his fist several times on the table, saying, 'Gentlemen, we must have this man shot.'

"At such conduct of the president I did not think much of my life, for all the members were terrified in his presence, and unwilling to resist him; on the con- trary (were ready) to do anything to please him.

"He talked much of a big river that was the boundary line between the two countries, but did not know its name. When mention was made of the Mississippi he jumped up, saying that that was the big river he meant ; that Spain had never ceded the west side of it. It may be easy to judge of our feelings to see our lives in the hands of such a man.

"That day the court did not come to any determination, because the president (as I heard him say to Lieutenant de Arce) had forgotten everything he had to say. Next day we were again presented to the court, but as I knew the kind of man we had to deal with, I never attempted to justify myself of any of his false assertions. We were dismissed, and Mr. Chouteau and myself put in the same room.

"Half an hour afterward the lieutenant came in with a written sentence ; we were forced to kneel down to hear the citure (recital) of it, and forced, likewise. to kiss the unjust and iniquitous sentence that deprived harmless men of all they possessed-of the fruits of two years' labors and perils.

Vol. 1-8

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"What appears the more extraordinary is that the governor acknowledged to me afterward in the presence of Don Pedro Piero, the deputy of New Mexico to the Cortes, and several others, that we were very innocent men; yet notwith- standing this, all our property was kept and we were permitted to come home, each with one of the worst horses we had."

Notwithstanding the visible unfairness of the Spaniards, De Munn never received reparation.

Following the experiences of Chouteau and De Munn in Colorado little fur traffic occurred here until after 1821. The site of the City of Pueblo became a mecca then for fur-gatherers, adventurers and traders and continued as the favored spot for this class until the middle of the Nineteenth Century.

THE GLENN-FOWLER EXPEDITION

The expedition headed by Hugh Glenn and Jacob Fowler, the former from Cincinnati and the latter a native of Kentucky, entered the land of Colorado on November 5, 1821, by way of the Arkansas River. The party, numbering twenty in all, carried a stock of merchandise which they intended to take to Santa Fé. Their entrance into Colorado was inauspicious, except for the fact that one of their men-Lewis Dawson-was killed by an enraged grizzly bear and a meeting was had with a large encampment of Comanches, Arapahoes, Cheyennes, Kiowas and Snakes. The journey was continued up the Arkansas to a point near the mouth of the St. Charles, where Glenn decided to leave Fowler with the goods and a few companions, while he went to Santa Fé in company with some Mexican trad- ers whom he met to investigate conditions in Mexico.

No history of Colorado would be complete, nor has one ever been written, without quotations from Fowler's diary. This classic bit of English, if such it may be called, has been published in recent years, and forms an interesting nar- rative of frontier life. In regard to Glenn's departure for Santa Fé from the Arkansas and other matters Fowler wrote:

"Jany 2nd 1822 this morning the Spanierds Began to Collect their Horses and load for their departure-Conl glann and four men Set out with them-leaveing me with Eight men in an oppen Camp With the ballence of the goods after takeing Some things With Him to Sell So as to pay their Exspences. We are now in the Hart of the Inden Cuntry and Emedetly on the great Ware (war) Road-not only of one nation against the others-in the road to all the Spanish Settlements With Which the Indeans on this Side of the mountains are at War-So that our Setuation is not of the most Plesent kind-We Have no meet In Camp-and Con Clude to Send two Hunters out with Horses in the morning to kill Some meat Intending to Set the ballence of the Hands at Work to build a Hous and a Strong Peen (pen) for the Horses at night.

"Jany the 3rd 1822 Roas Early to Start the Hunters ordered two of the men to Prepare the Horses While the Hunters got Readey-but the men lay Still I maid the Second Call but With no better Sucsees-I then discovered that a mutney Was Intended-and Emedetly drew one of the men from His beed by the top of His Head, but (some) of his friends in the Plott asisted Him-and We Ware Soon all In a Scoffel, but Robert Fowler Soon Came to my assistance-and the bisness as Soon Ended-tho it Was Some time before the gave up their In-

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tended muteney and five of them Separated to them Selves and declared the Wold do (as) the plased and Wold not be ordered by any other porson-I soon discovered that the Exspected the Spanierds Wold not let Conl glann Return and that they Intended to make the best of the goods the Cold-aledgeing the Ware the Strongest party and that the Wold pay them Selves-on Which discovery I told them that un less the Wold Return to their dutey I Wold send for the Arra- poho Cheef Who Wold be gld to asist me to take Care of the goods and that the might go Whare the plased-and that I Wold not Suffer them to meddle With the goods-the then Held a Councle and sent one man to tell me that if I Wold be acountable to them for their pay-the Wold go to their dutey and do What I ordored them-to Which I toled them I wold make no new Bargen with them- and that If the Chose the might go on With their mutenous Seeen-that I could protect the goods till the Indeans Came for Which I Wold Soon Send-the then All Came and Stated that the Wold do What I told them and Wold go to Work Emedetley-and asked me to think of them and Secure the pay for them If Conl glann Shold not Return Which the Espected He never Wold. and that it Wold be Heard for them to loos all their Wages-to Which I toled them if the Continued to do as good and Honest men aught that as fare as the goods Wold Reech they Shold be paid-the two men Went out to Hunt but Returned With out killing any thing-now all Hands Went to Worke Willingly and by night We Head the Hors Peen finished and the Hous With two pens four logs High-Which maid part of the Hors Pen and the door of the Hous in the Hors Peen Which Was So Strong that a few Indeans Cold not take the Horses out With out Choping Some of the logs-and must Waken us all tho We Slept Ever So Sound-

"Friday 4th Jany 1822 Went to Work Early got our House nine loggs High -and began to pitch the tents on the top by Way of a Roof Just Wide Enof for that purpose. * × *

"Saterday 5th Jany 1822.

this day finished our House and Packed in all the goods."

A fortnight later, having become worried on account of no news from Glenn, Fowler decided to abandon the south side of the Arkansas, where the above de- scribed camp had been located, and occupy a new site farther up the river on the north side. This new location was on the site of the City of Pueblo. Fowler wrote of this:

"tusday 15th Jany 1822 I then Went to look out a good Setuation for a new Settlement on the north Side of the River-Intending to move tomorrow Should no acoumpt Reach us from Conl glann-as We began to Sopose He is now not at liverty to send or Return there being the full time Elapsed in Which He promised to Send an Exspress-and We think that a party of Spanirds may be Sent to take us prisnors-for Which Reason Intend makeing a Strong Hous and Hors Pen on the Bank of the River Wheare it Will not be In the Powe of an Enemy to aproch us from the River Side-and Shold the Spanierds appeer In a Hostill manner We Will fight them on the Ameraken ground. the River Hear being the line by the last tretey-

"Wensday 16th Jany 1822 moved Camp Early up the River on the north Side to the Spot I looked out yesterday -- We Built a Strong Hors Peen and put up the Horses at night-no Word from Conl glann-We begin to Conclude as Is not Well Him.

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"Friday 18th Jany 1822 * * * We built the Hous With three Rooms and but one out Side door and that Close to the Hors Pen So that the Horses Cold not be taken out at night Without our knowledge We got the Hous Seven logs High and Well Chinked the goods all stoed a Way before night. * * *

Glenn, having found that the Spanish rule in New Mexico had been overthrown by the Mexicans and that the feeling toward the Americans had become cordial, despatched messengers back to Fowler. They arrived at the Arkansas "Hous" on January 28th and requested Fowler to proceed into New Mexico, there to join Glenn. On the 30th Fowler started for Taos with the men and supplies and reached there nine days later. The party remained in New Mexico until June Ist and then returned to the United States, crossing southeastern Colorado while en route to the Arkansas River. The Glenn-Fowler expedition was a success, in that it accomplished its original purpose of trading and merchandizing in New Mex- ico.

John McKnight was another trader who established a small post upon the upper Arkansas. McKnight met his death at the hands of the Comanche In- dians in 1823 and the post was never occupied again.

THE BENTS

The Bent brothers were the most prominent of the traders who established posts in Colorado. In 1826 Charles, William W., Robert and George Bent, of St. Louis, built a small post on the Arkansas River, half way between Pueblo and the foothills. Associated with the Bents in this small undertaking was Ceran St. Vrain, a young Frenchman, and who was later to make a name for himself aș a trader. The post which was thus established was but a small affair, consist- ing of little more than a stockade, for protection against marauding Indians. A few years later it was deserted.

In 1829 the Bents, in company with St. Vrain, established a larger and more important trading post on the north bank of the Arkansas, at a point near the eastern boundary of the present Otero County. The firm was known as Bent & St. Vrain, also as Bent, St. Vrain & Company. Four years were spent in com- pleting this new trading station and in the fall of 1832 the company moved into it, at which time the old post on the Arkansas, built in 1826, was abandoned.

The post was a strongly fortified one. The dimensions were 100 by 150 feet ; the stockade was seventeen feet high and six feet in thickness at the base. One gate opened to the outside and at the northeast and southwest corners there were bastions, ten feet in diameter, upon the top of which were cannon. The walls of these fortified towers were filled with loopholes for the use of the defenders in case of attack. The interior of the post, or fort, was as comfortable as the condi- tions would permit. Except the rafters and the gates, which were of wood, the adobe construction was used throughout. Something of the general appearance of the post is described by Doctor Wislizenus, excerpts of which article are given later in this chapter.

The post was first named Fort William, in honor of William Bent, but this name soon became obsolete and the place was thereafter known as Fort Bent or Bent's Fort. This post became the largest and most popular of the Rocky Mountain fur stations. From here great trading operations were launched,

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not only with the Comanches, Arapahoes, Cheyennes, Pawnees, Utes, Sioux, Crows and Snakes, but with the Mexicans and the hordes of French and Amer- ican trappers who infested the region. In certain seasons, June, August and Sep- tember, thousands of Indians came to the post and encamped in the vicinity. At these times no little apprehension was felt by the dwellers of the post; a certain amount of safety lay in the fact that the Indians were not agreeable to one another, but there remained the omnipresent fear of attack.

Fort Bent was even more than a trading post. Next to Fort Laramie, in what is now the State of Wyoming, it was one of the few touches of civilization sought by the droves of emigrants bound for the Great West. Military expeditions such as those of Col. Henry Dodge, Gen. Stephen W. Kearney and Gen. Sterling Price stopped at Fort Bent and there left those of the forces incapacitated. It was a rendezvous for every type of humanity.

William Bent was the principal trader at this post, the other brothers, also St. Vrain, remaining at Taos most of the time. He began negotiations in the late '40s for the sale of the post to the Government and demanded the sum of $16,000. However, the Government agreed to give only $12,000, which was far from satis- factory to the owner. Bent desired to establish a new post at another location and the Government wished the property on the Arkansas to convert into a military station. Finally, Bent became so disgusted and enraged over the dilatory tactics of the Government and his inability to obtain his price that he deliberately de- stroyed his whole property. After removing everything of value, he set fire to the buildings and the flames soon reached the magazine, resulting in a heavy explo- sion, which destroyed the walls and left only a heap of smoking ruins. This ended the active era of fur trade in the land of Colorado-indeed, some years previous the business had declined, for many reasons. One writer places the year 1838 as the last period of active fur-gathering and marketing.

There were six of the Bent brothers in all-William W., Charles, John, George, Robert and Silas, the sons of Silas Bent of St. Louis. All, except John and Silas, engaged in trading. John resided in St. Louis, while Silas enlisted in the United States Navy service. Charles and William Bent were the most prominent of the large family of boys and both engaged in trafficking between Santa Fé and the northern settlements in addition to their regular vocation of fur trading. Charles was appointed the first American governor of the Province of New Mexico in 1846 and was the incumbent of this office when killed January 19, 1847, during the revolt of the Pueblo Indians. William Bent died at Las Animas, Colorado, May 19, 1869.

Gantt's trading-post, or "fort," was another pioneer post on the upper Arkan- sas, established in 1832 by two St. Louis traders named Gantt and Blackwell. From the best of sources, it is believed that this post was situated on the north bank of the river about five miles above the mouth of Fountain Creek. Little else is known of this post.

M. Le Doux, a French trader, built a small habitation which might be called a post in 1830 at the junction of the Arkansas and Adobe Creek, in what is now Fremont County. A number of Mexicans were quartered near this place during this time and shortly afterward.

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THE PUEBLO

The Gantt-Blackwell fort was succeeded by the trading-post known as "the Pueblo," a habitation built in the style of Bent's Fort, of adobe, and which became a meeting-place of various desperate characters as well as Indians and bona fide traders. The identity of the founder of this post is somewhat in doubt. Writers of history are nearly unanimous in designating George Simpson, an Indian trader, and his two companions, Doyle and Barclay, as the founders of the fort. James P. Beckwourth, a notorious personage of the times, claimed that he erected the post about the first of October, 1842. His veracity in this and other matters has been seriously doubted, however, and it is generally conceded that Simpson established "Pueblo" in the summer of the year 1842. The post eventually became a harbor- age for a motley collection of individuals.

The Hardscrabble post was built by Simpson, Doyle and Barclay the year after the Pueblo was established and was located on the north bank of the Arkan- sas, near the mouth of Hardscrabble Creek. The similarity of population and the general character of the community caused it to be considered as a part of Pueblo, or an adjunct, although there was a distance of twenty-five or thirty miles be- tween the two.

Francis Parkman, in his book, "The Oregon Trail" (Boston, 1847), described his visit to the Pueblo in August, 1846, during his journey through the Far West. He wrote :

"The Arkansas ran along a valley below, among woods and groves, and closely nestled in the midst of wide corn-fields and green meadows, where cattle were grazing, rose the low mud walls of the Pueblo. * * It was a wretched * species of fort, of most primitive construction, being nothing more than a large, square inclosure, surrounded by a wall of mud, miserably cracked and dilapidated. The slender pickets that surmounted it were half broken down, and the gate dan- gled on its wooden hinges so loosely that to open or shut it seemed quite likely to fling it down altogether. . Two or three squalid Mexicans, with their broad hats and their vile faces overgrown with hair, were lounging about the bank of the river in front of it. They disappeared as they saw us approach; and as we rode up to the gate a light, active little figure came out to meet us. It was our old friend Richard (a Fort Laramie trader). * * Shaking us warmly by the hand, he led the way into the area. Here we saw his large Santa Fé wagons standing together. A few squaws and Spanish women, and a few Mexicans, as mean and miserable as the place itself, were lazily sauntering about. Richard con- ducted us to the state apartment of the Pueblo, a small mud room, very neatly furnished, considering the material, and garnished with a crucifix, a looking-glass, a picture of the Virgin, and a rusty horse-pistol. There were no chairs, but in- stead of them a number of chests and boxes ranged about the room. There was another room beyond, less sumptuously decorated, and here three or four Spanish girls, one of them very pretty, were baking cakes at a mud fireplace in the corner. They brought out a poncho, which they spread upon the floor by way of a table- cloth. A supper, which seemed to us luxuriant, was soon laid out upon it, and folded buffalo-robes were placed around it to receive the guests. Two or three Americans besides ourselves were present. *

* * When we took leave of Richard it was near sunset. Passing out of the gate, we could look down the little

HPBicknell,

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF PUEBLO, 1888

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valley of the Arkansas; a beautiful scene, and doubly so to our eyes, so long ac- customed to deserts and mountains. Tall woods lined the river, with green meadows on either hand; and high bluffs, quietly basking in the sunlight, flanked the narrow valley. A Mexican on horseback was driving a herd of cattle towards the gate, and our little white tent, which the men had pitched under a tree in the meadow, made a pleasing feature in the scene."

Frederick Ruxton, who visited the Pueblo in 1847, describes it briefly as fol- lows: "The Pueblo is a small square fort of adobe with circular bastions at the corners, no part of the walls being more than eight feet high, and around the in- side of the yard or corral are built some half-dozen little rooms inhabited by as many Indian traders and mountain men. They live entirely upon game, and the greater part of the year without even bread, since but little maize is cultivated. As soon as their supply of meat is exhausted they start to the mountains with two or three pack-animals and bring them back in two or three days loaded with buffalo or venison. In the immediate vicinity of the fort game is very scarce, and the buffalo have within a few years deserted the neighboring prairie, but they are always found in the mountain valleys, particularly in one called Bayou Salado, in the South Park, which abounds in every species of game, including elk, bears, deer, big horns or Rocky Mountain sheep, buffalo, antelope, etc."

Among the better class of trappers and hunters the Pueblo suffered a decreas- ing popularity. Dwellers at this whiskey-ridden and immoral post became fewer and fewer and those that remained comprised only the riff-raff of the frontier, many of whom found safety here which would have been denied them elsewhere.

Then, on Christmas Day, 1854, occurred the Indian massacre at the Pueblo, which forever afterward caused the fort to be deserted and shunned. Accounts of this massacre differ materially ; there are as many as a half-dozen versions of the story. One story is that the fort was occupied on Christmas Day by a few Mexicans and seventeen Americans, all of them hunters and trappers. They were engaged in celebrating the season with a generous supply of Mexican whiskey and had reached the stage of inebriety when a large band of Indians appeared, were invited to join the festivities and accepted. When the Indians had fairly caught up with the white men a quarrel arose, which culminated in a general fight, with the result that fifteen white men were killed in, cold blood. According to this story the only survivor was a teamster, who had gone from the Pueblo in the morning and did not return until after nightfall, in time to escape the massacre.

Another account places the date as the morning of the 24th of December, rather than Christmas. A large war-party of Utes appeared before dawn at the post and asked to be admitted inside the stockade. When the white men refused this, they attacked and forced an entrance, killing all the men and carrying off a Mexican woman and two children. The woman they murdered shortly afterward. but the children were recovered.

Milo Lee Whittaker, in his book, "Pathbreakers and Pioneers of the Pueblo Region" (1917), describes the massacre with the following words :

"The most notable Indian massacre occurring in the immediate vicinity of Pueblo was the one which took place on Christmas Day, 1854, when the entire population of the old Pueblo fort was massacred.

"The Utes who occupied the foothills region west of Pueblo had been restless for several days before the date above mentioned and had begun wandering away

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from their usual confines out into the valley. Uncle Dick Wooten, who lived down at the mouth of the Huerfano, had been out on a hunting expedition to the Hardscrabble region above Pueblo. Noticing indications that an Indian outbreak was imminent, he put out immediately for home to make ready for a visit from these savages. This was the day before Christmas, and as Wooten passed the Pueblo fort he stopped and warned its inhabitants not to permit any Utes to come within the fort. From this place he hastened on to his home on the Huerfano to make ready for the expected attack.

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History of Colorado; Volume I, Part 14

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Number of Pages: 954

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 954