USA > Colorado > Arapahoe County > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 18
USA > Colorado > Denver County > Denver > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 18
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
In one of his pockets, a letter was found. which read as follows :
WHITE RIVER, September 29, 1 o'clock P. M.
Maj. Thornburg :
I will come with Chief Douglass and another chief and meet you to-morrow. Everything is quiet here, and Douglass is fiying the United States flag. We have been on guard three nights, and will be to-night-not that we expect any trouble, but because there might be. Did you have any trouble coming through the cañon ?
N. C. MEEKER, United States Indian Agent.
This note Father Meeker had sent out but a few minutes before the massacre commenced. Two Indians accompanied Mr. Eskridge, and, doubtless, were his murderers. One of them was Chief Antelope, a worthless rascal.
On entering the Agency, a scene of quiet deso- lation presented itself. All the buildings, except one, were burned to the ground, and there was not a living thing in sight, except the command. The' Indians had taken everything except flour, and decamped. The women and children were missing, and nothing whatever could be found to indicate what had become of them. They had either been murdered and buried or else taken away as hostages.
The Indian Agent, N. C. Meeker, was found lying dead about two hundred yards from his head- quarters, with one side of his head mashed. An iron chain, the size of which is commonly known as a log-chain, was found encircled about his neck, and a piece of a flour-barrel stave had been driven through his mouth. When found, his body was in an entire state of nudity.
The dead body of Mr. W. HI. Post, Father Meeker's assistant, was found between the build- ings and the river, a bullet-hole through the left
C
147
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
ear and one under the ear. He, as well as Father Meeker, was stripped entirely naked.
Another employe, named Eaton, was found dead. He was stripped naked, and had a bundle of paper bags in his arms. His face was badly eaten by wolves. There was a bullet-hole in his left breast.
Harry Dresser, a brother to the one found in the coal mine, was found badly burned. He had, without doubt, been killed instantly, as a bullet had passed through his heart.
Mr. Price, the Agency blacksmith, was found dead, with two bullet-holes through his left breast. The Indians had taken all his clothing, and he was found naked.
The bodies were all buried near the Agency, but will be taken up in the spring and re-interred at Greeley, where a monument will be raised in their honor.
The complete list of the killed is as follows : Agent Meeker, Assistant W. H. Post, Frank and Harry Dresser, E. W. Eskridge, E. Price, Fred Shepard, George Eaton, W. H. Thompson, E. L. Mansfield. Another employe and sole survivor of the males at the Agency was absent at the time, having left a day or two before.
With the exception of Eskridge, all the em- ployes were from Greeley, and were members of the very best families of that excellent community. The young men had been particularly generous and just to the Indians, and the latter professed such friendship for them that, in a letter written by an employe to his relatives in Greeley only the night before the massacre, the writer expressed his
confidence in the friendship of the savages by stating that he felt himself as safe as if he were at home in Greeley. Whatever complaints the Indians made against Father Meeker-and they were too trivial fo» serious consideration-there was no out- ward appearance of enmity on their part toward the employes, and the murder of the latter only serves to establish the fact that Indian friendship for the white race amounts to nothing more than a cloak for treachery.
The desolated Agency and the haggard corpses scattered around the ruins gave nothing but a ghastly suggestion of how the massacre was ac- complished, and it was not until some time after- ward that the wretched story was told by the rescued captives. It appears that the attack had been made shortly after noon on Monday, perhaps half an hour after Mr. Eskridge and his Indian escort left the Agency with Father Meeker's letter to Maj. Thornburg. The Agency employes were at work upon a building when the savages sud- denly opened fire upon them. The terror-stricken women and children hid themselves while the massacre was in progress, and, consequently, saw little or nothing of its horrid details. Frank Dresser hid himself with the women after being slightly wounded, and, later in the day, made his escape to the brush, but was afterward found dead iu the coal mine, as already stated. The women and children attempted to escape at the same time, but were captured almost immediately after leav- ing their place of hiding. An account of their experience while in captivity will be found in a subsequent chapter.
S
148
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
CHAPTER VI.
CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES-RESCUE OF THE PRISONERS.
W come now to the most remarkable feature of the Ute campaign-the sudden cessa- tion of hostilities at the very moment when the power of administering punishment to the Meeker and Thornburg murderers was in the hands of Gen. Merritt in the north, and Gen. Hatch in the -south. Nearly, if not quite, three thousand Fed- eral troops had been rushed into Colorado with wonderful celerity, and were now distributed within striking distance of the foe. Officers and men were alike burning to inflict severe and summary punishment upon the cut-throat assassins who had not only made war upon the Government, but had characterized their revolt by inhuman atrocities upon non-combatants at the Agency. Colorado, as with one voice, demanded that the war which had been begun by the Utes themselves should be con- tinued until they cried " Enough!" Although Ouray protested that his Indians were not impli- cated, it did not seem necessary, for that reason, to spare those really and truly guilty. "Let the troops advance," said Gov. Pitkin, "aud it will be easy to determine who are the hostile Indians. Those who get in the way of the troops and show fight are the ones who ought to be punished."
But the high and mighty Moguls of the Interior Department evolved another scheme and put it into execution. . They said, in effect :
" The troops must not advance upon the Indians. If they do, some good Indian who did not fight at Milk River, nor assist in the Agency massacre, may be killed or wounded. The war is over anyhow, since Ouray ordered the Utes to stop fighting. Ouray says he will surrender the insur- gents, and a trial by a civil tribunal will cost much less than an Indian war. It is a pity that Meeker and Thornburg were killed, but if we can find out who killed them, through Ouray, we will do
something terrible with the murderers-perhaps send them to prison."
Economically considered, perhaps, this was sound doctrine, but it grated terribly on the nerves of Coloradoans and the army. Gen. Sher- idan gave expression to his disgust in very vigor- ous English. Gov. Pitkin sent the following ringing telegram to Secretary Schurz:
STATE OF COLORADO, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, DENVER, October 22, 1879.
Hon. Carl Schurz, Secretary of the Interior :
Information from Southwestern Colorado satisfies me that many of Ouray's warriors were in the Thornburg fight. To surrender the criminals, Ouray must surren- der his tribe, which he is powerless to do. They adhere to him for protection only, and will not submit to punishment. Neither will they surrender White River Utes, who are bound to them by the closest ties, and are no more guilty than themselves. They whipped Thornburg's command, and now Merritt retires. It cannot be disguised that the fighting men of the tribe are hostile and flushed with victory. They are sav- ages. They take no prisoners, except women. Their trophies are not banners, but scalps.
If the policy of military inactivity continues, our frontier settlements are liable to become scenes of mas- sacre. Unless the troops move against the Indians, the Indians will move against the settlers. Must 300 miles of border settlements be subjected to this peril? The General Government is doing nothing to protect or defend our settlements. The State cannot defend all this border except by attacking the enemy.
In behalf of our people, I represent the danger to you, and urge that the Government recognize that a war with barbarians now exists which involves the lives of numerous exposed mining settlements. It can be terminated only by the most vigorous and uninter- rupted warfare.
(Signed) FREDERICK W. PITKIN, Governor.
The only effect of these and other remonstrances was to secure the retention of troops in the State, whereby the Indians were held in check and the
.
Ris. This E. Klip D.A.
150
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
hundred miles to the north, but Ouray was in con- stant communication with the hostiles by means of Indian runners, who, indeed, had been going and coming continually. All necessary arrangements were made, including a strong Indian escort, and Adams started ou the morning of the 19th of October.
The escort consisted of Sapovanero Shavano, the young Chief Colorow-not the celebrated chieftain of that uame-and ten Indians. Count Von Doenhoff, an attache of the German Legation at Washington; Capt. Cline, the well-known frontiersman, and one of the Agency employes, accompanied Adams. The party was under the surveillance of Indian runners from the time of leaving the Agency until its return. These were sent out by Ouray, and reported to him from day to day the progress of events. Ouray was not en- tirely confident of the success of the mission, as it appeared, and if it failed, he wanted to know ex- actly who was responsible for the failure. He had sent out the expedition himself, and felt responsi- ble, at least, for the safety of its members.
Not counting the German Count, the commis- sion was admirably organized. Gen. Adams was known to all the Indians of the tribe, and to many of them he was endeared by many acts of gen- erosity and kindness which had won for him among them the appellation of " Washington." Capt. Cline was even more highly esteemed by the Indians. For years, he had been the only white man living on the reservation. In another place, it was stated that the wagon road leading to Ouray City crossed sixty or seventy miles of the reserva- tion, and, of course, a stage-station and stopping- place for teams was necessary on that part of the road lying within the reservation. This station was kept by Capt. Cline, by permission of the "lords of the soil," and they even went so far as to mark out a considerable scope of country which Capt. Cline should have for his own use and ben- efit. "Mother Cline," as the Captain's wife was universally known, was also greatly respected by the Indians, and the worthy couple enjoyed, in the
fullest degree, the esteem and confidence of the whole tribe of Utes.
The expedition followed the old Mormon road as far as it was practicable, about forty miles be- yond the Gunnison River. The wagons were then left behind, and the party struck out on horse- back. Their first camp was at the Gunnison, whence Sapovanero sent out two runners to inform the hostiles of their coming. The second night's camp was on Grand River, twenty miles distant from the hostile camp, which was reached at 10 o'clock of the third day. At Grand River, they were met by two envoys from the hostile camp- Henry Jim, the White River interpreter, and Cojoe, an Uncompahgre Indian. It is a curious fact that the first hostile Indian who met Gen. Adams en route, and the first Indian he saw in the camp of the hostiles, were Uncompahgres, though it has been long and loudly denied that the Uncompahgre Utes had anything to do with the outbreak.
Just before reaching the hostile camp, the com- mission was met by two other Indians, who in- formed Adams that he had been graciously permitted to enter. Nothing was seen, however, of the captives at first, and it was soon ascertained that they were in another camp, on Plateau Creek. Without waiting for "permission" to proceed further, Gen. Adams and his party rode on to Plateau Creek, and accidentally discovered Miss Josie Meeker, in spite of efforts to secrete her. The other captives had been hidden away, and were not produced until some hours later.
These hours were consumed in a "medicine talk," which lasted five or six hours, and was very stormy. The young bucks wanted to kill the com- missioners, but were overruled by their elders. This part of the powwow heing conducted iu classical Ute, without interpretation, Gen. Adams never knew, until some time afterward, of the danger which menaced him. It was finally ze- solved that the commission should be suffered to depart, but without the white women and chil- dren.
6
151
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
This aroused the ire of Sapovanero, who had been instructed by Ouray to bring back the cap- tives without fail, and who felt the importance of his mission. He made a lengthy speech, in which he threated the stubborn chief with Ouray's sov- ereign displeasure if they did not obey his com- mands. Although this speech made a decided impression, it was not immediately conclusive. Chief Douglass desired that Adams should go to White River and have the troops removed from there, promising to surrender the captives on his return if he was successful. To this Adams de- murred, but promised, if the prisoners were at once surrendered and started south, that he would go on to White River and use his influ- ence with Merritt to prevent any advance -- an easy compromise, as Merritt had no orders to advance.
This arrangement was eventually agreed to, and shortly the captives were unconditionally surren- dered, though with evident reluctance.
The joy of the poor prisoners knew no bounds when assured that they were in the hands of their friends once more-friends indeed, although entire strangers as far as previous acquaintance was con- cerned. They had been captives twenty-two days, and had almost despaired of succor. Miss Meeker and Mrs. Price had borne up wonderfully well under their privations and sufferings, but poor
Mrs. Meeker was nearly worn out by anxiety, suf- fering and exposure. The two children of Mrs. Price had fared better than the elders, and were enjoying tolerably vigorous health.
Gen. Adams at once departed, with an Indian escort, for Gen. Merritt's headquarters, communi- cated to him the facts above recited, and returned to the Southern Agency, via the hostile camp, and over the same road he had followed when going in, reaching the camp of Ouray on the 29th, and Denver a few days later.
The women and children, in charge of Capt. Cline, had proceeded directly south, reaching Ouray's house on the evening of the second day, where they received a warm welcome from the veteran diplomatist, who was greatly elated over the success of his scheme. Thence they traveled, by easy stages, to Denver, everywhere being greeted with demonstrations of joy over their escape, and at Denver they had quite an ovation. Their arrival in Greeley, however, was the most affecting incident of the latter portion of their trip. There they met their old friends, neighbors and relatives, whom they had little thought ever to meet again under such circumstances and sur- roundings. It was as if the dead had been re- stored to life, and uo language can fitly portray the feelings of the rescued prisoners, or their friends who welcomed them " Home again."
CHAPTER VIL.
SAD STORY OF THE CAPTIVES.
F ROM the moment of their release until long weeks afterward, the story of the captives was on every tongue. It filled columns of every newspaper in the country, and crowds flocked to hear it from the lips of the heroine of the Agency, Miss Josie Meeker, who yielded to the solicita- tions of the public and appeared a few times upon the rostrum, not to lecture, but to tell the plain, unvarnished story of the Agency massacre and
the experience of the captives during the time they remained in the hands of the hostiles.
Not even Miss Meeker herself could give an adequate idea of their intense and overwhelming sufferings, not alone from brutal treatment, although that of itself was bad enough, but from the an- guish of their hearts over the recent horrid death of their dear ones, and from anxiety lest they should share the same or a worse fate by the same
158
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
7
cruel hands which killed and mutilated their friends.
Consider the circumstances : Mrs. Meeker was an aged and infirm woman, whose husband, the companion of many years, had been bloodily butchered, almost before her eyes-indeed, after her capture she had been driven past the cold and lifeless body of her husband, lying stark and stiff, in the embrace of death, upon the ground, yet she had not been permitted to even touch the remains, much less to bid them the farewell affection prompted. Mrs. Price, too, had lost her husband iu the same cruel manner, and her two helpless little ones were not only fatherless but prisoners, like her, with savages, who were far more likely to kill them thau treat them kindly. Miss Meeker, a young lady of education and culture, the pet and pride of her dead father, whom she loved beyond measure, was in such distress of body and mind that she might have been expected to break down entirely, instead of keeping up her courage with undaunted spirit and compelling the admira- tion of her inhuman captors. While there is life there is hope, of course; but in this case it did not seem that their chances of escape were worth hoping for. One advantage they had, however, and that was their intimate knowledge of Indian nature, acquired during their residence at the Agency, and to this and Miss Meeker's courage they probably owe their lives to-day.
On emerging from their captivity, they were met at Chief Ouray's house by Mr. Ralph Meeker, Mrs. Mecker's only son, who is an attache of the New York Herald, but whose visit to Colorado was in the capacity of special agent of the Interior Department to assist in the rescue of the prisoners. Mr. Ralph Meeker arrived out too late to accom- pany Gen. Adams, and was forced to remain at the Los Pinos Agency until his mother and sister reached there in charge of Capt. Cline, as already stated. During their journey from the Agency to the railway at Alamosa, little was talked of other than the experiences of the eventful days of their captivity and sufferings, and, at the suggestion of
her brother, Miss Meeker dictated a letter to the Herald, detailing the leading features of events at the Agency before, during and after the massacre, with an account of her wandering in the wilder- ness and final rescue by Gen. Adams' party. The narrative is too interesting to be abridged, and no apology need be made for inserting it entire :
MISS JOSEPHINE MEEKER'S STORY.
" The first I heard of any trouble with the Indians at my father's Agency was the firing at Mr. Price while he was plowing. The Indians said that as soon as the land was plowed it would cease to be Ute's land. Two or three councils were held. The Indian woman Jane, wife of Pauvitts, caused the whole trouble. It was finally settled by the Agent's moving her corral, building her a house, putting up a stove and digging her a well. But Johnson, who was not at the council, got angry with the Agent and the Indians when he found the plowing resumed. He assaulted father and forced him from his house.
" Father wrote the Government that if its policy was to be carried out, he must have protection. The response was , that the Agent would be sustained. Gov. Pitkin wrote that troops had been sent, and we heard no more until the runners came, and all the Indians were greatly excited. They said there were soldiers on Bear River, sixty miles north of the Agency. The next day, the Indians held a council, and asked father to write to Thornburg to send five officers to come and compromise and keep the soldiers off the reservation. The Agent sent a statement of the situation of the Indians, and said Thornburg should do as he thought best. The Indians who accompanied the courier returned Sunday to breakfast. A council was held at Douglass' camp, and also at the Agency.
" Meanwhile, the American flag was flying over Douglass' camp, yet all the women and tents were moved back, and the Indians were greatly excited.
" Monday noon, Mr. Eskridge, who took the Agent's message to Thornburg, returned, saying that the troops were making day and night marches, and
1
N. M. Bliss
156
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
packed his effects, all stolen from the Agency, on a Government mule, which was taller than a tall man. He had two mules ; he stole them from the Agency. It was now sundown. The packing was finished at dark, and we started for the wilderness to the south. I rode a horse with a saddle but no bri- dle. The halter-strap was so short that it dropped continually. The child was lashed behind me. Persune and his assistant rode each side of me, driving the pack-mules ahead. About twenty other Indians were in the party.
" Mother came later, riding bareback behind Douglass, both on one horse. She was sixty-four years old, feeble in health, not having recovered from a broken thigh caused by a fall two years ago. Chief Douglass gave her neither horse, sad- dle nor blankets. We forded the river, and, on the other side, Persune brought me his hat full of water to drink. We trotted along until 9 o'clock, when we halted half an hour. All the Indians dismounted, and blankets were spread on the ground, and I lay down to rest, with mother lying not far from me. Chief Douglass was considera- bly excited, and made a speech to me with many gestures and great emphasis. He recited his grievances and explained why the massacre began. IIe said Thornburg told the Indians that he was going to arrest the head chiefs, take them to Fort Steele and put them in the calaboose, and perhaps hang them. He said my father had written all the letters to the Denver papers, and circulated wild reports about what the Indians would do, as set forth by the Western press, and that he was responsible for all the hostility against the Indians among the whites in the West. He said that the pictures of the Agent and all his family, women and children, had been found on Thornburg's body just before the attack on the Agency, and the pictures were covered with blood and showed marks of knives on different parts of the bodies. The throats were cut, and the Agent had bullet- holes in his head. I was represented by the piet- ure as shot through the breast, and Douglass said father had made these pictures, representing the
prospective fate of his family, and sent them to Washington to be used to influence the soldiers and hurry troops forward to fight the Indians.
" This remarkable statement, strange as it may seem, was afterward told me by a dozen other dif- ferent Indians, and the particulars were always the same. While Douglass was telling me this, he stood in front of me with his gun, and, his anger was dreadful. Then he shouldered his gun and walked up and down before me in the moonlight, and said that the employes had kept guard at the Agency for three nights before the massacre, and he mocked them and sneered and laughed at them, and said he was 'a heap big soldier.' He sang English songs, which he had heard the boys sing in their rooms at the Agency. He sang the negro melody, 'Swing low, sweet chariot,' and asked me if I understood it. I told himn I did, for he had the words and tune perfectly committed.
" He said father had always been writing to Washington. He always saw him writing when he came to the Agency. He said it was 'write, write, write,' all day. Then he swore a fearful oath in English. He said if the soldiers had not come and threatened the Indians with Fort Steele and the calaboose and threatened to kill all the other Indians at White River, the Agent would not have been massacred. Then brave Chief Douglass, who had eaten at our table that very day, walked off a few feet and turned and placed his loaded gun to my forehead three times, and asked me if I was scared. He asked if I was going to run away. I told him that I was not afraid of him and should not run away.
" When he found his repeated threats could not frighten me, all the other Indians turned on him and laughed at him, and made so much fun of him that he sneaked off and went over to frighten my mother. I heard her ery 'Oh !' and I sup- pose she thought some terrible fate had befallen me. I shouted to her that I was not hurt, that she need not be afraid, that they were only trying to scare her. The night was still, but I heard no response. The Indians looked at each other. All
157
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
hands took a drink around my bed, then they sad- dled their horses, and Persune led my horse to me and knelt down on his hands and knees for me to mount my horse from his back. He always did this, and when he was absent his wife did it. I saw Per- sune do the same gallant act once for his squaw, but it was only once, and none of the other Indians did it at all.
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.