USA > Colorado > Larimer County > History of Larimer County, Colorado > Part 39
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84
[218]
HISTORY OF
LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
to the ground, one of the principal landmarks noting the early history of Fort Collins disappeared.
Judge Lewis Stone, a recent comer from Minne- sota, was given permission on the 8th of October, 1864, to build and keep a mess house at the post for the accommodation of the military officers stationed here. A log building for this purpose was erected that fall, on the site now occupied by the stone hotel on Jefferson street. Here, after the death of her husband, Mrs. Elizabeth Stone affec- tionately called "Aunty" Stone, boarded the officers while they re- mained at the post, and after they left in June, 1866, she threw the house open to the public as a hotel. This was the first dwelling house, and also the first hotel built in Fort Collins. Mrs. Stone sold this building in 1873 and it was moved to where the Express printing office now stands and at- tached to the rear of and used as a kitchen for the old Agricultural hotel, built that year by Capt. Marcus Coon. O. C. Peck then erected the stone hotel on the site of the old log building. After the front part of the old Agricultural hotel was moved to the corner where the Northern hotel now stands in 1878 by D. M. Harris, "Aunty" Stone's old mess house was used as a dwelling until 1907, when it was converted into a paint shop. In 1909, the Association of Pioneer Women of the Caché la Poudre Valley bought the building, had it moved to a site on Mason street, between Oak and Olive streets, where it is being fitted up for a museum in which to preserve historical relics of pioneer days and as a meeting place for the associa- tion.
It is difficult to fix the exact day of the month when the old camp at Laporte was abandoned and the new camp occupied by all the troops stationed on the Cache la Poudre, but it must have been somewhere about the middle of October. Part of the force had been occupying the new camp doing guard duty and constructing the new buildings for several weeks prior to the middle of the month, but the order to Lieut. Pettijohn to have guard mount- ing at the new camp was dated October 18th. While the site for the camp was located August 20th, 1864, and the boundaries of the military reser- vation were established shortly after that date, the
soldiers were not all removed from the old camp west of Laporte to Camp Collins until in October. At this latter date the officers' quarters, the soldiers' barracks, the guard house, magazine and stables had practically been completed and made ready for oc- cupancy. All the camp stores, quartermaster's supplies, horses, guns and ammunition had already been moved to the new camp, so that when the troops, left at the old camp doing guard duty while the new camp buildings were being erected, joined
"AUNTIE" STONE'S MESS HOUSE AND HOTEL, THE FIRST DWELLING HOUSE BUILT IN FORT COLLINS
their comrades at Camp Collins on October 18th, / the post became fully established and occupied. On the 23rd of October Capt. Evans issued an order directing Lieut. C. W. Waters of Company B, 11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, to proceed to Fort Kearney, Nebraska, with the veterans of Company B whose term of enlistment had expired. Four days later Sergeant W. A. Wagner was detailed to have charge of the Quartermaster's trains dispatched to Fort Kearney with the veterans and their sup- plies. Beginning with October 23rd, 1864, all orders issued by the commandant of the post were dated at Fort Collins instead of Camp Collins, as had heretofore been the practice, indicating that, in the opinion of Capt. Evans, the post had outlived the title of "camp" and had risen to the dignity of a fort.
The book of morning reports heretofore referred to contains 187 special orders issued by Capt. W. H. Evans while in command, including a few issued during the temporary absence of Capt. Evans. On May 5th, 1865, Capt. Luther Wilson of Company D 1st Veteran battalion, Colorado Cavalry, suc-
[219]
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
ceeded Capt. Evans as commander of the post, re- maining until June 23rd, when all the Ohio troops were ordered home for discharge. Capt. Wilson issued two general orders and sixteen special orders. The most of these orders related to the detailing of soldiers for guard duty on the line of the Over- land stage, details for camp duty and as guards for supply trains, for the arrest of deserters and for various other duties such as wood cutting, hauling hay, etc. A few of them are of general interest in that they seem to throw a side light on conditions as they existed in the Cache la Poudre valley at the time the orders were issued, and these are herewith- reproduced. At that time there were about a ' dozen settlers along the river between Laporte and . the east county line. The most of these were en- gaged in stock raising and their cattle and horses roamed at will over a wide expanse of unfenced and unbroken plains. Those not engaged in the stock business cultivated truck gardens on the river bottom or cut and put up hay, selling their products either to the government or to the stage stations along the Overland line. Captain Evans, although a good soldier and a strict disciplinarian, is reported to have been something of a military martinet and assumed to dictate and control the acts and movements of the settlers as well as the soldiers. This the former re- sented, which resulted in a good deal of bad blood between them and Captain Evans. They didn't get along well together at all, and there was much re- joicing among the settlers when he was transferred to another field of action.
On November 5th, T. M. Smith, acting assistant surgeon, was granted permission to proceed to Den- ver for the purpose of procuring medical supplies for the post. When the Eleventh Ohio troops were withdrawn from the post and sent home to be dis- charged, Dr. Smith remained in Fort Collins and was the first physician to locate permanently in the county. He afterwards became a prominent citi- zen, and in 1872 was elected County Treasurer and was also one of the charter members of the Collins lodge No. 19 of Ancient, Free and Ac- cepted Masons. He went to Virginia in 1882 and died there a few years later.
The first clash between the settlers and the post commander occurred November 10, when the latter issued the following special order :
"It having been reported to these headquarters by the Quartermaster that cattle belonging to citizens in this vicinity are now and have been destroying government hay at this post, and that it is impossi- ble to erect substantial corrals around said hay; in
consequence of this due notice is given to all whom it may concern that on or after Nov. 11th, 1864, the Quartermaster is authorized to dispose of any cattle destroying hay at this post to the best interest of the government."
The government hay was stacked on the open prairie near the post and was not protected by fence or any kind of enclosure. As a result the range cattle wandered on the reservation and helped them- selves to the hay. The order confiscating cattle caught eating government hay stirred up a good deal of indignation among the settlers owning cattle, and they did not hesitate to show it. They had no facilities for yarding and feeding their herds, and they resented the order as an imposition. They felt that if the government couldn't fence and protect its hay stacks the post commander should detail a few of his soldiers to guard the stacks and keep the cattle away, instead of confiscating the animals. The ill-feeling engendered between the settlers and the commanding officer by this order was intensified by other arbitrary and uncalled for acts of what the settlers called oppression, and while Captain Evans remained in command there was much bitter feeling towards him by citizens. Fortunately no serious outbreak occurred between the belligerents and nobody received any personal injuries because of the feud, but the settlers were all glad to have Captain Evans leave for good and all.
The commander of the post was frequently an- noyed by soldiers returning from Laporte in an in- toxicated condition, and to prevent these annoyances he issued the following order on November 10th : "In consequence of soldiers from this post return- ing from Laporte and that vicinity intoxicated, due notice is hereby given to all venders of liquors in the vicinity that they are prohibited from selling liquor of any kind, to any soldier or soldiers or giving in trade to them, either personally or through any citi- zen. For violation of this order, the party or parties so offending will without distinction of person be arrested and their stock confiscated."
This order is supposed to have been intended for the government of John B. Provost and Henry Arrison, both of whom conducted drinking places at Laporte. Arrison had been Sheriff of the county and the phrase "without distinction of persons" was thought to be aimed at him.
On the 14th of November Major Thos. L. Mackey arrived from Fort Halleck and took tem- porary command, and he at once issued an order modifying Captain Love's order, directing the con-
[220]
HISTORY OF
LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
fiscation of cattle belonging to citizens found eating government hay, as follows:
"So much of special order No. 72 from these headquarters as authorized the sale of stock belong- ing to citizens found trespassing, is hereby rescinded and the following substituted: 'All cattle belong- ing to citizens found at the hay stacks will be put in the corral and the owners can there get the stock only by applying to the acting assistant quarter- master and paying $1 for each animal so coralled and $1 each for each subsequent day the stock is kept in the corral.' "
This order had a mollifying effect upon the set- tlers and created a better feeling between the citi- zens and the post, although the latter at no time had any use for Captain Evans.
On November 22nd, Lieut. James W. Hanna was ordered to proceed to Fort Laramie in charge of recruits and to take with him two quartermaster teams for the purpose of bringing back camp sup- plies. It was while returning from Fort Laramie that Lieutenant Hanna and his command were caught in a blizzard and nearly lost their lives by freezing, as detailed elsewhere in this book.
That the camp sutlers were not allowed to make their own prices on their goods is evidenced by special order No. 88, issued by Major Mackey on November 28th, as follows :
"A post council of administration to consist of Lieut. O. S. Glenn and Lieut. E. L. Pettijohn will convene immediately for the purpose of fixing the tariff of prices on the sutler's goods at this post."
It appears from these post records that details of soldiers were frequently sent out to arrest and bring in deserters who had attempted to get out of the service by the back door, not only from this post, but also from other regiments of soldiers stationed on the frontier. That desertions were frequent is not to be wondered at when one recalls the circum- stances surrounding the soldiers. They were penned up in military posts away out on the fron- tier, encompassed by dangers, seen and unseen, sub- ject to arduous and perilous duty in an inhospitable region, deprived of the privileges they were accus- tomed to enjoying and hundreds of miles from their homes and loved ones, it is not surprising that some of them violated the terms of their enlistment and made breaks for liberty. Major Mackey gave over the command of the post on the 29th of November to Captain Evans and departed with a detail of sol- diers for Fort Laramie. On December 4th, Cap- tain Evans issued an order detailing Sergeants and . their men to visit an east-bound caravan a few miles
east of the post and arrest as deserters A. Douty, N. J. Bales, J. F. Bales and John Snyder of Company D, Seventh Iowa Cavalry, and bring them to the post. This is only one of many such orders as appears from the records, showing that attempts to get away from a soldier's life were quite frequent.
By order of Captain Evans, Mrs. Catherine Wiseman was appointed hospital matron at the post. This is the first time that a woman's name is mentioned in connection with hospital duties. Who Mrs. Wiseman was or where she came from is not stated. She was, however, probably the wife of one of the soldiers who had followed her husband into the wilderness.
The deserters, A. Douty, N. J. Bales,, J. F. Bales and John Snyder, were evidently caught by Captain Evans' detail sent out December 4th, for on the 14th of that month they were sent to Fort Laramie in charge of Corporal Ettinger and three men and turned over to Colonel Collins for trial. Acting Assistant Surgeon T. M. Smith went with the de- tail to get hospital supplies for the post.
On the 2nd of January, 1865, Company B, Eleventh Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, was relieved from duty at Fort Collins and ordered to report to the commanding officer at Fort Laramie without de- lay, Lieut. E. L. Pettijohn to take command of the company and Lieut. E. P. Drake, Acting Assisting Quartermaster, was ordered to furnish transporta- tion for the men. On January 6th, Capt. Thos. P. Clark was ordered to proceed with Company C, Eleventh Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, to Fort Laramie and report to the commanding officer at the fort. Colonel Collins was at that time concentrating all the troops not required for duty at the outlaying posts at Fort Laramie for the purpose of securing a sufficient force to enable him to attack and punish Chief Man-Afraid-of-His-Horses and his band of Sioux who were committing depredations along the North Platte, capturing government trains loaded with clothing, blankets, ammunition, subsistence and supplies, robbing stage stations and interfering with travel. That was what is known as the bloody year on the Plains, and Colonel Collins determined to do what he could to put a stop to the fiendish work of the Indians, and that is why he called in Companies B and C from Fort Collins. Colonel Collins came up with about 2,000 warriors near Mud Springs on Feb. 8th, 1865, and gave them battle, defeating the Indians and killing 150 of them. Colonel Collins was an experienced Indian fighter and knew just how to dispose of his troops in a manner to get the best results. His loss in the engagement was two
[221]
HISTORY OF
LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
killed and sixteen wounded. He had only 125 men in his command when this engagement took place, but they had the advantage of position and were able to resist every assault of the Indians and finally compelled the latter to leave the field and flee northward. Julesburg was burned on the 7th of January by the Indians, about a month before Colonel Collins' signal victory at Mud Springs.
On January 9th, Lieutenants Ewell P. Drake and James W. Hanna were appointed a board of survey to meet for the purpose of examining into the amount and causes of the loss of certain ordnance and ordnance stores, said to have been lost in the month of June, 1864, by reason of the overflow of the Cache la Poudre river. This board met Jan- uary 10th and made an investigation of the matters referred to it and reported that the loss of govern- ment property mentioned in the special order of Captain Evans was caused by the sudden overflow of the Cache la Poudre river, whereby the articles re- ported as lost were washed away or otherwise de- stroyed. On the 15th of January, on the complaint of Zacharia Thomason, Edward Hathaway and William Dunnars were arrested on the order of the commanding officer, charged with stealing cattle, the property of said Thomason. At the hearing before a military court martial the accused pleaded guilty, and in extenuation of the act claimed that they were prompted to steal and kill the cattle from dire neces- sity, and further that they were under the impression that they were merely taking Joseph Mason's cattle, for whom they had been working. At the close of the investigation Lieut. Ewell P. Drake, command- ing the post in the absence of Captain Evans, issued the following order :
"Having the welfare and safety of government property at heart, also the protection of citizens in the county in the absence of civil law, hereby make known to all whom it may concern that the safety of everyone, both military and civil, requires that no person or persons should be tolerated in this county who are unable to discriminate between their own and other persons' property, it is therefore ordered that Edward Hathaway and William Dunnars, within ten days from this date, leave this county not to return either as residents or visitors, without permission from the commanding officer of this post."
In view of the fact that in those days and for many years afterwards cattle stealing was a crime punishable with death at the command of Judge Lynch, it must be conceded that Hathaway and Dunnars got off easy. That they were undesirable
citizens is evidenced by the fact that their deporta- tion gave rise to no protest or opposition from the settlers. They left the county within the specified time and, so far as is known, have never since stepped foot within its borders.
On January 25th, Captain Evans, by special order, directed the sutler to give enlisted men credit at his store, to the amount of $5 per month, to be charged to the man making the purchase. On Feb- ruary 2nd, another order was issued directing the sutler to open his store at guard-mounting in the morning and to close the same at retreat. From this it would appear that the post sutler could not be a law unto himself.
About the 1st of February, 1865, Col. Thomas Moonlight of the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, who had been made commander of the District of Colo- rado, proclaimed martial law in his district, for the purpose, as he explained, of enabling him to raise men and horses to go out and open the Overland stage line. This line had been closed by the In- dians, who burned all the stations between Denver and Fort Kearney except one, killing or capturing the station tenders and running off all the stock. There was a period of several weeks in the winter of 1865 when Denver was cut off from communica- tion with the East by stage. Transportation trains were captured and robbed and Denver and the whole territory was threatened with famine, as the food supply was becoming short. Flour rose to $25 per one hundred pounds, and all other food supply in proportion. The Indians raided all the thorough- fares, cutting off merchandise trains. Colonel Moonlight's order proclaiming martial law provided for shutting up all places of business, stopping every department of industry, including the mines and the mills, in brief, suspending every branch of industrial life until the troops needed to subdue the Indians and open the Overland stage line should be fur- nished. In Governor Elbert's proclamation calling for troops, Boulder, Larimer and Weld counties were required to raise one company of sixty men. Colonel Moonlight's proclamation of martial law was sent to all commanders in the district with the request that they press into service both men and horses. Complying with this request Captain Evans, on February 9th, issued the following spe- cial order, No. 140:
"The exigency of the occasion has required the commander of the district of Colorado to proclaim martial law and has furthermore requested that men and horses be furnished from this district to operate
[222]
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
in conjunction with other troops to open communi- cation with the States on the Overland stage line.
"It is hereby ordered for the mutual protection of all concerned that every male person between the ages of eighteen and fifty years residing on Caché la Poudre creek, convene at Fort Collins, Colorado Territory, on Feb. 11th, 1865, at 10 o'clock a. m., and those of Big Thompson at Judge Washburn's on February 12th at 1 o'clock. A failure to con- form to the above order will be met with the severest penalty."
When the settlers of the Cache la Poudre met on the 11th as directed, Captain Evans, standing on a whiskey barrel near the flag pole, is reported to have addressed them as follows:
"Denizens of the wilderness! It becomes my duty as a United States officer to address you. Do you see that flag? (pointing to the top of the flag pole, where all eyes were quickly turned). That flag is the emblem of my native country! And under the stars and stripes of that old banner, I proclaim mar- tial law in your midst ; and it also becomes my duty to inform you, as commander of this region, that in the future I will hold you firmly, as I would a wine glass, in the hollow of my hand.
"War is now breaking out in all directions, and the various Indian tribes who inhabit these Western territories have shown marked degrees of rebellious- ness by which the peace and safety of my country is greatly threatened. At this hour of my speaking part of my troops are doubtless under fire at Fre- mont Orchard. I therefore call you to arms as re- serve militia to co-operate with my warriors in sup- pressing the ruthless invaders, and any man who re- fuses to obey my commands, I will make wolf's bait of his carcass, by God, sir."
The records do not show what effect this vulgar but impassioned appeal had upon Captain Evans' listeners, but the presumption is that Larimer county furnished its quota of twenty men, for the settlers clubbed together and raised a large sum of money for use in paying bounties to the enlisted men. This money, or a part of it, was afterwards paid back to the contributors by the county. A good many horses were also pressed into service at this time, whose owners were also compensated for their property by the county as the county records show.
The troops raised at that time under Colonel Moonlight's order were employed in driving off the Indians and in re-opening and re-establishing the Overland stages on their regular runs. On the 27th of April the militia returned to Denver, having ac-
complished the desired object, and thus ended Colo- rado's part in the war so far as the citizen soldiery was concerned. The soldiers from Larimer county were absent from home only a little more than two months.
Some of the settlers called upon to furnish horses for military service evidently tried to evade Colonel Moonlight's order by hiding their animals, and these were shown no mercy, according to the following special order of Captain Evans, dated February 14th, which reads :
"It having come to the knowledge of the com- mander of the post that Messrs. Rice and Boyd, re- siding on this creek, are trying to evade the order issued by Colonel Moonlight Feb. 7th, 1865. It is hereby ordered that all of the serviceable stock now, owned by them is confiscated for public use. Ser- geant Wiseman of Company F, Eleventh Ohio Vol- unteer Cavalry, with two men, will thus proceed to Virginia Dale or vicinity on the Overland road and there carry out the above order."
It is fair to presume that the Rice and Boyd; horses were confiscated, as on the 15th Captain Evans detailed Sergeant W. H. Sellen, with several men, to proceed to Denver with horses and report to Colonel Moonlight. On the 20th of February, Lieut. K. H. Stone was directed to take with him one sergeant and two privates and proceed to Big Thompson creek and press into service twenty serv- iceable horses and report with the same to this post without delay. Details of soldiers were also sent on the same day to Park Station on the Overland stage line and collect and gather all horses not the prop- erty of Ben Holladay and bring them to this post.
The Buckhorn country was also scoured for horses which were pressed into the service, as were also all serviceable horses found in Joseph Mason's herd on the Boxelder.
The Indians became so very troublesome on the Plains that year that Gen. G. M. Dodge, com- mander of the department of the Missouri, decided to organize a new department, and on March 28th consolidated the district of Utah, Colorado and Nebraska into one district to be known as the Dis- trict of the Plains, and assigned Brig .- Gen. P. E. Connor to the command with headquarters in Den- ver. While commanding the district of Utah, in 1862-3-4, Colonel Connor had proved himself an able officer and had won distinction as an Indian fighter. For heroic conduct at the battle of Bear River on the 29th of January, 1863, in which 249 Indians were killed and which resulted in causing the Bannocks, Snake and Shoshone tribes to sue for
[223]
HISTORY OF
LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
peace, Colonel Connor was made a Brigadier-Gen- eral, his commission being dated March 29th. On assuming command of the District of the Plains, General Connor appointed the members of his staff, and First Lieut. Charles C. Hawley of the Veteran Battalion of the First Colorado Cavalry was made Acting Ordnance Officer for the South and West Sub-Districts of the Plains. Lieutenant Hawley was later promoted to a Captaincy and at the close
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.