USA > Colorado > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 81
USA > Nevada > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 81
USA > Wyoming > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 81
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 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87
778
MILITARY AND INDIAN AFFAIRS.
make any further demonstrations against the enemy until new troops were sent to the frontier. Scarcely had he reached headquarters when Governor Thayer of Wyoming applied to him for military protection for the road lead- ing from Cheyenne to the Black hills.
About the Ist of June Crook prepared to take the field again with 1,000 men, and a large number of scouts from different tribes. About the middle of the month the command started from camp on Goose creek, northwest of Fort Philip Kearny, and on the 17th attacked the Sioux on the liead of Rose- bud river, fighting them all day without achieving any signal victory. The Crow scouts who had been sent forward had not behaved with the caution necessary, or were ignorant of the country, and were themselves surprised by coming on Sitting Bull's camp in a canon of the Rosebud, alarming the Sioux, and being fired on. They retreated to Crook's command, which was halted, and which now pushed forward, met by the Sioux, also eager for the combat. The face of the country hereabout was a succession of ridges, which made it difficult to operate with cavalry, but the most brilliant exploit of the day was a charge made by the first battalion of the 3d cavalry, under Colonel Mills, who took his three companies up over a ridge onto the plateau between him and the next ridge, crowded with savages, stopping to deliver one vol- ley, and then mounting the second ridge at a gallop, driving the enemy to cover behind a third ridge. The battalion then dismounted, and deployed as skirmishers, holding the position they had carried. The second battalion, under Colonel Henry, were to attack Sitting Bull's right, and driving it back; and the third battalion, under Colonel Van Vliet, that of holding the bluff in the rear of the troops to check any advance from that quarter. The battle raged obstinately all day, and had it not been that the Sioux aimed, generally, too high, the loss on the side of the army would have been great. As it was, eight were killed and twenty-one wounded, including the gallant Colonel Henry. The loss on the part of the Indians was 50 warriors and 100 horses killed, and many of both wounded. They abandoned their vil- lage on the approach of Mills in the afternoon, and moved rapidly northwest, whereupon Crook turned back to camp at Goose creek, forty miles distant, not being prepared to pursue a numerous enemy who could not be surprised. Thus ended the second battle with the Sioux.
About the middle of May a force of 1,000 men, under General Terry, left Fort Lincoln for the Bighorn country, to enter it by way of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers in Montana. The expedition was composed of twelve companies of the 7th cavalry under Custer, and about 450 other troops. At the mouth of Powder river the cavalry was disembarked, and a supply depot established. Major Reno of the 7th was sent up Powder river to look for the enemy, while Terry consulted with Gibbon, whom he found awaiting him with 450 men from Fort Ellis, concerning the summer's cam- paign. Reno returned from his scout without having encountered any Ind- ians, and on the 21st of June, several days after Crook's fight, which had again doubly exasperated the Sioux, but which was entirely unknown to the two generals, whose plans included Crook's co-operation, now withdrawn until he could be reinforced, they settled upon their course.
Gibbon, who was on the north side of the Yellowstone, was to cross at the mouth of the Bighorn, and proceed up it to the junction of the Little Bighorn, to be there on the 26th. Custer was to proceed up the Rosebud to ascertain the direction of an Indian trail seen by Reno. If it led toward the Little Bighorn, he was to avoid following it, but to keep south for some dis- tance before approaching the stream in order to be where he could intercept the savages should they move that way, and to give Gibbon time to come up.
Custer left the mouth of the Rosebud on the 22d, striking the Indian trail. On the 24th his scouts discovered fresh trails twenty miles above the mouth of the Little Bighorn, and on the following morning a deserted village. A little further down the stream they reported a large village, and the Ind- ians fleeing. Sending his adjutant to Reno, who was on the opposite or west
779
WYOMING.
side of the stream, to bring him over for a conference, he determined to at- tack without waiting for Gibbon, believing that to wait would be to permit the escape of the enemy. Reno was ordered to recross to the west side, and attack from the upper end of the village, which was in a valley, while he should strike the lower end, and meet him.
Leaving a reserve of four companies, under Benton, Reno entered the valley at the time and in the manner appointed, but instead of finding a frightened and yielding people, which by their apparent alarm they might have been, he found himself surrounded by a terrible and infuriated horde, bent upon his annihilation. Dismounting, the men fought their way on foot through the woods to a high bluff, which he attempted to hold while sending Captain Weir with his troops to open communication with Custer. Weir was surrounded, and forced to retreat to Reno's position, now placed on the defensive, being furiously assaulted. The battle lasted until 9 o'clock in the evening, when the Indians retired to hold their customary war-dances and death rites.
During all this time no word had reached him from Custer, whom he imagined to be fighting like himself, cut off from communication by the great body of Indians. The battle was renewed with fury between two and three o'clock on the morning of the 26th, the troops fighting from rifle-pits constructed during the night, and barricadcd with dead horses and mules, and boxes of hard bread. In the afternoon the Indians, having fired the grass in the valley, retreated under cover of the smoke, taking their way toward the Bighorn mountains, in good order, with all their property and families, their scouts having discovered Gibbon's command approaching, a few miles distant.
The relief which this movement furnished to Reno, whose fortifications contained eighteen dead and forty-six wounded, was great, the men having been fighting for twenty-four hours without rest, and their sufferings being extreme for want of water. Eiglit men had been killed and wounded in the endeavor to procure a few canteens full for their dying comrades, and not until midnight of the second day did they again inake the attempt.
Although wondering at the continued silence and absence of Custer, the truth did not suggest itself to any one until nightfall, when a lieutenant of Gibbon's scouts dashed into their midst with the astounding intelligence that of the five companies of the gallant 7th cavalry which had entered the valley a few miles below simultaneously with themselves, every man and every officer lay dead on that fatal ground.
As there were no reliable witnesses, so there could be no incontestable history of the engagement. The account which was pieced together from the narrative of a scout who was hidden in the woods which covered the bluff above the valley, and the reluctant admissions drawn afterward from the Sioux, were all the foundation on which to build a theory of the fight.
All that could be learned was that soon after reaching the valley, which could be entered only by a narrow defile, the command was checked in its march by a terrific firing from ambush, which compelled the troops to dis- mount. They were soon surrounded, and while fighting their way toward the hills were all cut off. Thus perished 259 officers and inen, in the third battle with the Sioux.
The remainder of the 7th cavalry under Reno and Gibbon's command, retreated to Bighorn river, whence the wounded were transported by steamer to Fort Lincoln. Terry's division remained all summer on the Yellowstone, having occasional skirmishes with the Indians, but making no movement toward the interior. It was not until August that, being joined by Gen. Miles, with six companies of infantry, 21st regiment, under Col Otis, that he moved up Rosebud river to form a junction with Crook, who had been reinforced by cavalry, making the number of men in the field against the Sioux, in Wyoming and Montana, over 3.000. Against such a force as this, the Indians could not be brought to battle, but, eluding the troops, moved their villages up and down the country, from the Missouri to the head of
780
MILITARY AND INDIAN AFFAIRS.
Powder river. Only once during many months were they surprised, when a quantity of winter stores, and many of their horses were captured on the road to the Black hills by a detachment of Miles' command.
The point in which the white soldier is superior to the Indian warrior, is in stubborn endurance. The Indian must have, after his outburst of fury, a period of repose; after gorging himself like an anaconda, he must lie torpid for awhile. Keeping on the march for months exhausted his ardor and his resources. In September the least valiant of the Sioux began to visit the agencies to beg, and being turned away, offered to surrender. In October the troops of Miles' command in Montana captured a large part of Sitting Bull's supplies, in return for that chief's attempt to take a train on its way to Fort Keogh. Starvation is a greater general than the greatest. It brought 2,000 of the Sioux people to Miles' feet, but did not bring Sitting Bull and his immediate followers, who continued hostilities as before until January, when he went over the border into the British possessions, where the authorities compelled him to promise peace or be ejected from the country.
Crazy Horse, with whom Crook was left to deal, proved equally obdurate if less successful. When Terry's force moved up Rosebud river to join Crook, Crazy Horse eluded both, dividing his followers into small parties, and sending them by different routes to Tongue river, and across the country to Powder river, following the latter to its mouth, pursued all the way by the troops. At this point the two forces separated, Terry going north of the Yellowstone to prevent escape in that direction, and Crook returning south- east on the trail of the Sioux until it became undistinguishable. On the 14th of Sept. his advance surprised a village of thirty lodges near Slim Buttes, 180 miles from the Cheyenne river agency, inflicting considerable injury. In retaliation Crazy Horse attacked his main column, the battle again being a drawn one, after which the Indians went into winter camp on Tongue river, at the eastern base of Wolf mountains.
About the middle of November Crook's force left Fort Fetterman to find Crazy Horse, Gen. Mckenzie striking on the 25th a detached village of Cheyennes, on the west fork of Powder river, destroying it and butchering men women, and children like the bloodiest savage of them all, and depriv- ing those who were left of subsistence at a season when to obtain it was most difficult. By this cruel punishment another portion of the natives were brought to surrender.
Again, in January, Miles came upon the village of Crazy Horse on Tongue river, skirmishing with the Indians from the Ist to the 7th, and having a five hours' engagement with them on the 8th, which compelled them to abandon their position; but owing to the worn-out condition of his army trains he found it impracticable to follow. This ended the campaign of 1876. In the spring of 1877 Lame Deer, another hostile chief, was attacked at his village of fifty lodges on Rosebud river, by Miles. The Ind- ians fled, but their horses, provisions, and camp equipage were captured. Raids by this band on settlers, surveyors, and wagon trains followed, contin- uing until July.
In July 1876 Sheridan requested the interior department to turn over to the military the management of the Lower Brulé, Cheyenne river, and Stand- ing Rock agencies, on the Missouri river, and also the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies, which were placed in charge of army officers. From time to time during the summer and autumn, numerous small parties sur- rendered, being. as they acknowledged, 'tired of war.' Those whom Miles captured on the Yellowstone were ordered to go to the Cheyenne river agency in November, hostages being retained for their obedience. In the spring other parties came in, rspresenting that the main body were willing to do the same, upon which report Spotted Tail was induced to visit the hostile camps with a deputation of head men, and persuade the Indians to return to their allegiance. He returned in May with 1,100. In June, Crazy Horse formally surrendered with his Cheyenne allies at Red Cloud agency.
781
WYOMING.
But his submissson was rather to gain time than to be at peace, and being found inviting the Indians to renewed hostilities, he was arrested, and his followers disarmed. He soon escaped, and being re-arrested Sept. 4th, at the agency, to which he had returned, was taken to Camp Robinson on the 5th, and while being disarmed, resisted, and was wounded by the guard, from which wound he died the following day.
In this month Lame Deer voluntarily surrendered, making an end of the Sioux war. A commission visited the agencies in October, to negotiate with the Sioux for a surrender of the Black hills, and the privilege of hunt- ing outside the reservation, which had been guaranteed to them by the treaty of 1868. They were asked to relinquish all claim to any country west of the 103d meridian; to grant a right of way for three roads across their reserve; to consent to the removal of the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies to the Missouri river; to receive their supplies at such points as the president might designate, and to enter into arrangements looking to their becoming self-supporting at an early day.
These concessions were made, though partly under protest, as to removal. On the side of the United States it was agreed that their subsistence should be provided for until they should become self-supporting, and they be fur- nished with schools, and instruction in agriculture and the mechanical arts. This treaty congress ratified February 28, 1879. Their removal to the Mis- souri river took place late in 1877, when 14,000 of these people were taken in winter to new and unprepared situations, where the usual unhappiness and rebelliousness prevailed. In the following spring an effort was made to find land suitable for farming on the western side of their reserve, where at Pine ridge and Rosebud agencies the two principal chiefs of the Ogalallas and Brulés were finally settled with their people. They roamed, by per- mission, in small bands through the Black hills in search of game.
The northern Cheyennes to the number of 300 were removed to the Ind- ian territory, to which they went willingly in May 1877, but where they, with characteristic restlessness, soon became troublesome, and in September 1878 left the territory to return north. Troops from Camp Robinson pur- sued to bring them back. Fighting occurred, in which both sides sustained losses, and the Cheyennes subsequently committed atrocities in Nebraska, as of old. They finally surrendercd, were taken back south, and again in January Dull Knife's band attempted to escape, when forty of them were killed by guards, and the troops being called out, the fugitives were pur- sued for two wecks and nearly all cut off.
The remainder of the band in ISS1 was permitted to be incorporated with the Sioux at Pine ridge agency, where a vigilant police system, in which service the most trusty natives were employed, preserved order, and pre- vented thieving and mischievous roving. In 1881 the Indians at Pine ridge agency earned $41,382 freight money, using their ponies and wagons to transport the agency goods from the nearest point on the Missouri river. This would seem an improvement on the chase, whether the game were buffa- loes or white men.
The northern Arapahoes, who surrendered themselves with the Chey- ennes in 1876, asked to be allowed to go upon the Shoshone reservation, and the consent of that tribe being gained, were placed there, where they have remained at peace. The Shoshone chief, Washatin, was a rare Indian, for he would work, and also weep over the idleness and drunkenness of his young men. According to some authorities, the good behavior of the Sho- shones and Bannacks was due to the severe treatment of them by General Conner at Bear river in 1867, when they lost nearly 500 warriors. But pre- vious to that engagement, Washakie withdrew his band; therefore he has the benefit of the doubt, and has certainly been a consistent friend of the white people ever since the treaty. In compliment to his fidelity, his musi- cal name has been bestowed upon a military post on Wind river, and upon a group of mountain peaks, the Washakie Needles, in the Shoshone moun- tains.
782
MILITARY AND INDIAN AFFAIRS.
When Ute Jack was planning the outbreak of 1879 in Colorado he vis- ited the Shoshones to incite them to insurrection, which caused an order to be issued for his arrest. He seized a gun, and going into a lodge where was the sergeant of the guard, shot him dead, and wounded another man, when he was killed. This incident checked any tendency to insubordination which the Utes may have created,
CHAPTER VII,
RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT.
1868-1888.
DIVISION OF TERRITORY INTO COUNTIES-BIRTH OF TOWNS, AND GROWTH OF POPULATION-PIONEERS AND PROMINENT MEN-COMMERCE AND INDUS- TRIES-GRASSES AND GRAZING-RANCHOS AND RANGES-STOCK-RAISING -SOME OF THE GREAT CATTLE MEN-LAND SURVEYS AND SALES-IM- PROVEMENT OF BREEDS-CATTLE DRIVING FROM TEXAS AND OREGON -- GENERAL CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY-AGRICULTURE AND MINES- BIOGRAPHICAL.
THE growth in population of Wyoming was slow during the Indian wars, first, from the natural evi- dence of danger, and second, from the exclusion of white people from the best lands in the territory. The government surveys were also impeded except along the line of the railroad, where the population was gathered into towns. The legislature of 1875 established two counties in the northern portion of the territory, which had not enough white inhabitants for the four years following to organize.1 The amount of land which had been entered for settlement in 1876, before the northern portion of the territory was thrown open, amounted altogether to 38,734 acres. It increased steadily thereafter, and in 1883, over 79,- 000 acres were entered at the land office. The whole amount filed upon from 1873 to 1883 was 201,264 acres. 2 The population at this time did not exceed 30,000. In 1886, with a population of 65,000, the
1 Mess. Gov. Hoyt, 1879, p. 33; Compiled Laws Wyom., 1876, 198-201; Wyom. Sess. Laws, 1877, 34.
2 Rept of Gov. Hale, 1883, p. 51; U. S. H. Ex. Doc., 72, p. 156, vol. 19; 47 cong., 2 sess,
( 783)
784
RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT.
amount of land entered under the homestead and other acts of congress was 20,991,967 acres. The first division into counties, of the territory, was by running imaginary lines from the northern to the southern boundary. Carter county, first organized by miners and established by the Dakota legislature December 27, 1867, was bounded by the 33d merid- ian on the west, and extended east two and one-half degrees.3
The counties above referred to as having been erected in 1875, were named Crooks and Pease; the former being taken from that portion of the counties of Laramie and Albany lying north of 43° 30', and including as much of the Black hills country as lies in Wyoming ; and the latter from Carbon county, north of the same line.4
Uinta county, containing 15,000 square miles, was the most western division. Historically, it is the most interesting portion of the territory, having been occupied by adventurers ever since 1823.5
3 The first legislature of Wyoming changed its name to Sweetwater, as has before been mentioned. On the 5th of March, 1884, the legislature cre- ated the county of Frémont out of that portion of Sweetwater lying between an east and west line as drawn by the survey between townships twenty-six and twenty-seven north, and the line of 43° 30' north latitude, including the Sweetwater and the Little Wind river valleys, leaving to Sweetwater county the Red desert and the broken country south of the Union Pacific railroad.
4 This rectangular mode of division is extremely simple, and in this mountainous region as convenient as any. The county of Pease had its name changed in 1879 to Johnson, in honor of Edward P. Johnson, territorial auditor, and beloved pioneer of Wyoming. These three additions to the original five counties constituted in 1884 the whole of Wyoming not reserved to the use of the Indians.
5 It was taken off from Utah and Idaho on the organization of the terri- tory of Wyoming, to straighten the west boundary, and was by the first legislature attached to Carter county for judicial purposes. Evanston, a town which the Union Pacific railroad company founded and nourished, was then in its infancy, having been located in June, 1869; but in August it was declared a voting precinct for the purpose of electing a member of the legis- lature. On the Ist of December the county was organized, and Merrill, a place which no longer exists as a town, named as the temporary county seat. The officers appointed by the governor were J. Van A. Carter county clerk, R. H. Hamilton sheriff, W. A. Carter treasurer and probate judge, and E. S. Jacobs superintendent of public schools. The first election to permanently locate the county seat was held September 6, 1870, Evanston having a small majority over Merrill. The commissioners elected were J. Van A. Carter, Russell Thorp, and J. L. Atkinson. Jesse L. Atkinson was born in Nova Scotia in 1830, and settled in Uinta co. in 1870, engaging in lumbering, get-
785
WYOMING.
Uinta was the fourth county in population, having about 4,000 inhabitants. Its resources are timber, coal, iron, sulphur, of which there is a mountain on the west fork of Bear river, agriculture, and grazing. Coal oil is also believed to exist in the county.6
ting timber from the Uinta mountains. Then he went to cattle-raising with Benj. Majors of Colo, and accumulated a fortune. Sheriff of Carter county was Harvey Booth, county clerk Lewis P. Scott, probate judge and treasurer W. A. Carter. Evanston, the county seat, is the chief office of the western division of the Union Pacific railroad, altitude 7,000 feet. It was incorporated in December 1873, disincorporated in 1875, and incorporated again in 1882. Its population in 1886 about 2,000. Frank M. Foote pro- cured its disincorporation. He was born in South Bend, Ind., in 1846, came to Bryan, Wyoming, in 1871, where he was employed by the U. P. R. R, as clerk, and subsequently as agent. In 1872 he removed to Evanston, where he subsequently resided. He was elected to the legislature in 1875. was elected probate judge and treasurer the following year, and reelected in 1878. In 1879-80 he served also as deputy sheriff, and in 1881-2 as under sheriff of the county. He engaged in cattle-raising in 1883, his range being near Medicine Butte, 15 miles from Evanston. Evanston was surveyed and lots offered for sale June 25, 1870, E. S. Whittier being the first purchaser. A post-office was established in April, with Charles T. Devel postmaster. In July Whittier took the office, which he held 8 years. A public school was opened July 8, with 8 pupils. There were, in 1883, 12 school districts in the county, with 622 children in attendance. The first marriage celebrated in the county was on June 1, 1871, between George East and Annie Porter. The first church, presbyterian, was incorporated July 17th, the baptist church Sept. 7th, and soon after the methodist church. The railroad machine shops were located here in Nov. 1871. On the 10th of Oct. 1872, the first newspaper, the Evanston Age, was started. The Times, The Chieftain, and the Uinta Co. Argus were all published at Evanston. On the 6th of June, 1873, the Evanston library and literary association was incorporated, which received much as- sistance from W. W. Peek. The Evanston Water Ditch co. was incorporated to bring water to the town from Bear river, 8 miles distant. F. L. Arnold, in Trans. Wyom. Acad. Sciences, 1882, 96-7. A court-house and jail were authorized at Evanston in 1874. Wyom. Sess. Laws, 1874, 226. A land dis- trict was created, with an office at Evanston, in 1876. U. S. Statutes, 126-7, 44th cong., Ist sess. Almy, near Evanston, is a coal-mining town. There are a number of small towns in the county, namely, Aspen, Hilliard, Old Bear City, Piedmont, Leroy, Bridger, Carter, Hampton, Millersville, Coke- ville, Beckwith, Nugget, Fossil, Twin Creek, Ham's Fork, Waterfall, Wright, Opal, Nutria Moxa, and Granger, the latter being on the boundary line between Uinta and Sweetwater counties, and the initial point of the Oregon short line railroad.
6 In the summer of 1868 coal was found three miles from Evanston. In 1869 the first mine was opened. In 1870 the Rocky Mountain Coal and Iron company was organized.
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.