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HISTORY
OF
Clay County, Iowa
FROM ITS EARLIEST SETTLEMENT TO 1909
+
BY Samuel Gillespie and James E. Steele
ALSO BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF MANY PROMINENT CITIZENS OF THE COUNTY AS WELL AS ITS ILLUSTRIOUS DEAD
Illustrated
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CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
4
1909
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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 733382 ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS R
1916 L
THE N PUBLIC L
ASTOR LENNY TILDEN FOUNDA CNC
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2
JE . STEELE
HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
INTRODUCTION.
Sixty years ago all that part of the great and beautiful state of lowa of which the county of Clay is a part was practically terra incognito, a vast wilderness, given over by the Almighty to wild beasts, birds of the air and their masters, the Indians, who roamed the plains and forests at will, claiming and securing an existence from the bounteous hand of nature. Here the deer, buffalo and other fur-bearing animals found a habitat, and the many streams gave generously of the palatable fish. The red man had no care for the morrow. No thought came to him that his possessions would ever be disturbed by the paleface. So he continued on in his dreams. The hunt was his daily avocation, broken in upon at intervals by a set-to with a hostile tribe of aborigines that was always cruel and bloody in its results and added spoils to the victor and captives for torture. He knew not of the future, and cared less. But the time was coming- was upon him-when he was called upon to make way for a stronger and a progressive race of men: when the fair land that was his birthright and his hunting grounds, resplendent with the gorgeous flower and emerald sod, must yield to the husbandman. The time had come for the buffalo, deer and elk to seek pastures new, that the alluvial soil might be turned to the sun and fed with grain, to yield in their seasons the richest of harvests.
It is hard for the present generation to realize the rapid pace of civilization on the western continent in the past one hundred years ; and when one confines his attention to the advancement of the state of Iowa in the past sixty years, his amazement is all the more intense. Evidences of progress are on every hand as one wends one's way across the beautiful state. Manufacturing plants are spring- ing up hither and yon ; magnificent edifices for religious worship point their spires heavenward : schoolhouses, colleges and other places of learning and instruction make the state stand out prominently among her sisters of this great republic. Villages are growing into towns, towns are taking on the dignity of a city gov- ernment, until today Iowa is noted throughout the Union for the number, beauty and thrift of her cities and towns.
The commonwealth is cobwebbed with her telegraph, telephone and railroad lines, and all these things above mentioned have been made possible by the thrift, determination and high character of the people who claim citizenship within her borders.
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
THE INDIAN AND HIS FATE.
It is conceded by historians, who have given the subject deep thought and careful research, that this country was inhabited by a race of human beings distinct from the red man. But that is beyond the province of this work. The men and women who opened up the state of Iowa and the county of Clay to civilization had only the red man to dispute their coming and obstruct their progress ; and in that regard something should be recorded in these pages.
So far as the writer can ascertain, the Indians were the first inhabitants of Iowa. For more than one hundred years after Marquette and Joliet had trod the virgin soil of Iowa and admired its fertile plains not a single settlement had been made or attempted ; nor even a trading post established. The whole country remained in the undisputed possession of the native tribes. These tribes fought among themselves and against each other for supremacy and the choicest hunting grounds became the reward for the strongest and most valiant of them.
When Marquette visited this country, in 1673, the Illini were a very powerful people and occupied a large portion of the state. But when the country was again visited by the whites not a remnant of that once powerful tribe remained on the west side of the Mississippi, and Iowa was principally in the possession of the Sacs and Foxes, a warlike tribe which, originally two distinct nations residing in New York and on the waters of the St. Lawrence, had gradually fought their way westward and united, probably, after the Foxes had been driven out of the Fox river country in 1846 and crossed the Mississippi. The death of Pontiac, a famous Sac chieftain, was made the pretext for war against the Illini, and a fierce and bloody struggle ensued, which continued until the Illini were nearly destroyed, and their possessions went into the hands of their victorious foes. The Iowas also occupied a portion of the state for a time, in common with the Sacs, but they, too, were nearly destroyed by the Sacs and Foxes and, in the "Beautiful Land" these natives met their equally warlike and bloodthirsty enemies, the Northern Sioux, with whom they maintained a constant warfare for the possession of the country for a great many years.
In 1803, when, under the administration of Thomas Jefferson, then president of the United States, Louisiana was purchased from Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France, the Sacs, Foxes and Iowas possessed the entire state of Iowa and the two former tribes also occupied most of Illinois. The Sacs had four principal villages, where most of them resided. Their largest and most important town, from which emanated most of the obstacles encountered by the government in the extinguishment of Indian titles to land in this region, was on Rock river, near Rock Island; another was on the east bank of the Mississippi, near the mouth of Henderson river ; the third was at the head of the Des Moines rapids, near the present site of Montrose; and the fourth was near the mouth of the Upper Iowa. The Foxes had three principal villages. One was on the west side of the Mississippi, six miles above the rapids of Rock river; another was about twelve miles from the river, in the rear of the Dubuque lead mines ; and the third was on Turkey river.
The Iowas, at one time identified with the Sacs of Rock river, had withdrawn from them and become a separate tribe. Their principal village was on the Des Moines river, in Van Buren county, on the site where Iowaville now stands.
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
Here the last great battle between the Sacs and Foxes and Iowas was fought, in which Black Hawk, then a young man, commanded one division of the attacking forces. The following account of the battle has been given :
"Contrary to long established custom of Indian attack, this battle was com- menced in the daytime, the attending circumstances justifying this departure from the well-settled usages of Indian warfare. The battlefield was a level river bottom, about four miles in length and two miles wide near the middle, narrowing to a point at either end. The main area of this bottom rises perhaps twenty feet above the river, leaving a narrow strip of low bottom along the shore, covered with trees that belted the prairie on the river side with a thick forest, and the immediate bank of the river was fringed with a dense growth of willows. Near the lower end of this prairie, near the river bank, was situated the Iowa village. About two miles above it and near the middle of the prairie is a mound, covered at the time with a small clump of trees and underbrush growing on its summit. In the rear of this little elevation, or mound, lay a belt of wet prairie, covered at that time with a dense growth of rank, coarse grass. Bordering this wet prairie on the north the country rises abruptly into elevated broken river bluffs. covered with a heavy forest for miles in extent, and in places thickly clustered with undergrowth, affording convenient shelter for the stealthy approach of an enemy.
"Through this forest the Sac and Fox war party made their way in the night, and secreted themselves in the tall grass spoken of above, intending to remain in ambush during the day and make observations as this near proximity to their intended victims might afford, to aid them in their contemplated attack on the town during the following night. From this situation their spies could take a full survey of the village and watch every movement of the inhabitants, by which means they were soon convinced that the Iowas had no suspicion of their presence.
"At the foot of the mound above mentioned the Iowas had their race course, where they diverted themselves with the excitement of horse racing, and schooled their young warriors in cavalry evolutions. In these exercises mock battles were fought, and the Indian tactics of attack and defense carefully inculcated, by which means a skill in horsemanship was acquired that is rarely excelled. Unfortunately for them, this day was selected for their equestrian sports, and wholly unconscious of the proximity of their foes, the warriors repaired to the race ground, leaving most of their arms in the village, and their old men, women and children unprotected.
"Pash-a-popo, who was chief in command of the Sacs and Foxes, perceived at once this state of things afforded opportunity for a complete surprise of his now doomed victims, and ordered Black Hawk to file off with his young warriors through the tall grass and gain the cover of the timber along the river bank, and with the utmost speed reach the village and commence the battle, while he ren ained with his division in the ambush to make a simultaneous attack on the unarmed men whose attention was engrossed with the excitement of the races. Th : plan was skillfully laid and dexterously executed. Black Hawk, with his forces, reached the village undiscovered, and made a furious onslaught upon the defenseless inhabitants by firing one general volley into their midst and com- pleting the slaughter with the tomahawk and scalping knife, aided by the devour-
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
ing flames with which they enveloped the village as soon as the fire-brand could be spread from lodge to lodge.
"On the instant of the report of firearms at the village. the forces under Pash-a-popo leaped from their couchant position in the grass, and sprang, tiger- like, upon the unarmed Iowas in the midst of their racing sports. The first impulse of the latter naturally led them to make the utmost speed towards their arms in the village, and protect, if possible, their wives and children from the attack of their merciless assailants. The distance from the place of attack on the prairie was two miles, and a great number fell in their flight by the bullets and tomahawks of their enemies, who pressed them closely with a running fire the whole way, and the survivors only reached their town in time to witness the horrors of its destruction. Their whole village was in flames and the dearest objects of their lives lay in slaughtered heaps amidst the devouring element. and the agonizing groans of the dying. mingled with the hideously exulting shouts of the enemy, filled their hearts with maddening despair. Their wives and children who had been spared the general massacre were prisoners, and their weapons were in the hands of the victorious savages: all that could now be done was to draw off their shattered and defenseless forces and save as many lives as possible by a retreat across the Des Moines river, which they effected in the best possible manner, and took a position among the Soap creek hills."
The Sioux located their hunting grounds north of the Sacs and Foxes. They were a fierce and warlike nation, and often disputed possession in savage and fiendish warfare. The possessions of these tribes were mostly located in Minnesota, but extended also over a portion of northern and western lowa. to the Missouri river. Their descent from the north upon the hunting grounds of Iowa frequently brought them into collision with the Sacs and Foxes, and after many a sangine conflict a boundary line was established between them by the government of the United States, in a treaty held at Prairie du Chien in 1825. Instead of settling the difficulties, this caused them to quarrel all the more. in consequence of alleged trespasses upon each other's side of the line. So bitter and unrelenting became these contests that in 1830 the government purchased of the respective tribes of the Sacs and Foxes and the Sioux a strip of land twenty miles wide on both sides of the line, thus throwing them forty miles apart by creating a "neutral ground," and commanded them to cease their hostilities. They were, however, allowed to fish on the ground unmolested. provided they did not interfere with each other on United States territory.
Soon after the acquisition of Louisiana the United States government adopted measures for the exploration of the new territory, having in view the concili: tion of the numerous tribes of Indians by whom its was possessed and also the selection of proper sites for the establishment of military posts and trading stations. The Army of the West, General Wilkinson commanding, had its head- quarters at St. Louis. From this post Captains Lewis and Clarke, with a suffic ent force. where detailed to explore the unknown sources of the Missouri, and Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike to ascend to the headwaters of the Mississippi. Lieu- tenant Pike, with one sergeant, two 'corporals and seventeen privates, left the military camp near St. Louis in a keel boat, with four months' rations, August 9, 1805. On the 20th of the same month the expedition arrived within the pre: ent
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
limits of the state of Iowa, at the foot of the Des Moines rapids, where Pike met William Ewing, who had just been appointed Indian agent at the point ; a French interpreter, four chiefs, fifteen Sac and Fox warriors. At the head of the rapids, where Montrose is now situated, Pike held a council with the Indians, in which he addressed them substantially as follows :
"Your great father, the president of the United States, wishes to be more acquainted with the situation and wants of the different nations of red people in our newly acquired territory of Louisiana, and has ordered the general to send a number of his warriors in different directions to take them by the hand and make such inquiries as might afford the satisfaction required."
At the close of the council he presented the red men with some knives, tobacco and whisky. On the 23d of August he arrived at what is supposed, from his description, to be the site of the present city of Burlington, which he selected as the location for a military post. He describes the place as "being on a hill about forty miles above the River de Moyne rapids, on the west side of the river. in latitude forty degrees twenty-one minutes north. The channel of the river runs on that shore. The hill in front is about sixty feet perpendicular, and nearly level at the top. About four hundred yards in the rear is a small prairie, fit for gardening, and immediately under the hill is a limestone spring, sufficient for the consumption of a whole regiment." In addition to this description, which cor- responds to Burlington, the spot is laid down on his map at a bend in the river a short distance below the mouth of the Henderson, which pours its water into the Mississippi from Illinois. The fort was built at Fort Madison, but from the distance, latitude, description and map furnished by Pike, it could not have been the place selected by him, while all the circumstances corroborate the opinion that the spot he selected was the place where Burlington is now located, called by the early voyagers on the Mississippi "Flint Hills." In company with one of his men, Pike went on shore on a hunting expedition, and, following a stream which they supposed to be a part of the Mississippi, they were led away from their course. Owing to the intense heat and tall grass, his two favorite dogs, which he had taken with him, became exhausted and he left them on the prairie, sup- posing they would follow him as soon as they should get rested, and went on to overtake his boat. After reaching the river he waited for some time for his canine friends, but they did not come, and as he deemed it inexpedient to detain the boat longer, two of his men volunteered to go in pursuit of them. He then continued on his way up the river, expecting the men would soon overtake hin. They lost their way, however, and for six days were without food, except a few morsels gathered from the not accidentally-met trader from St. Louis, and might have perished had they not induced two Indians to take them up the river. over- taking the boat at Dubuque. At the latter place Pike was cordially received by Julien Dubuque, a Frenchman, who held a mining claim under a grant from Spain. He had an old field piece, and fired a salute in honor of the advent of the first American who had visited that part of the territory. He was not, however, disposed to publish the wealth of his mines, and the young and evidently inquisi- tive officer obtained but little information in that regard.
Upon leaving this place Pike pursued his way up the river, but as he passed beyond the limits of the present state of Iowa. a detailed history of his explora-
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
tions does not properly belong in this volume. It is sufficient to say that on the site of Fort Snelling, Minnesota, he held a council with the Sioux, September 23d, and obtained from them a grant of one hundred thousand acres of land.
Before the territory of Iowa could be opened to settlement by the whites it was first necessary that the Indian title should be extinguished and the aborigines removed. The territory had been purchased by the United States, but was still occupied by the Indians, who claimed title to the soil by right of posses- sion. In order to accomplish this purpose, large sums of money were expended, warring tribes had to be appeased by treaty stipulations and oppression by the whites discouraged.
BLACK HAWK.
When the United States assumed control of the country, by reason of its purchase from France, nearly the whole state was in possession of the Sacs and Foxes, a powerful and warlike nation, who were not disposed to submit without a struggle to what they regarded the encroachment on their rights by the pale- faces. Among the most noted chiefs, and one whose restlessness and hatred of the whites occasioned more trouble to the government than any other of his tribe, was Black Hawk, who was born at the Sac village on Rock river in 1767. He was simply the chief of his own band of Sac warriors, but by his energy and ambition he became the leading spirit of the united nations of the Sacs and Foxes and one of the prominent figures in the history of the country from 1804 until his death. In early manhood he attained distinction as a fighting chief, having led campaigns against the Osages and other neighboring tribes. About the beginning of the nineteenth century he began to appear prominent in the affairs of Mississippi. His life was a marvel. He is said by some to have been the victim of a narrow prejudice and bitter ill-will against the Americans.
November 3, 1804, a treaty was concluded between William Henry Harrison. then governor of Indian Territory, on behalf of the United States, and five chiefs of the Sac and Fox nation, by which the latter, in consideration of two thousand . two hundred and thirty-four dollars' worth of goods then delivered and a yearly annuity of one thousand dollars to be paid in goods at just cost, ceded to the United States all that land on the east side of the Mississippi extending from a point opposite the Jefferson, in Missouri, to the Wisconsin river, embracing an area of fifty-one million acres. To this treaty Black Hawk always objected and always refused to consider it binding upon his people. He asserted that the chiefs and braves who made it had no authority to relinquish the title of the nation to any of the lands they held or occupied and, moreover, that they had been sent to St. Louis on quite a different errand, namely, to get one of their people released, who had been imprisoned at St. Louis for killing a white man.
In 1805 Lieutenant Pike came up the river for the purpose of holding friendly council with the Indians and selecting sites for forts within the territory recently acquired from France by the United States. Lieutenant Pike seems co have been the first American whom Black Hawk had met or had a personal interview with, and was very much impressed in his favor. Pike gave a ve: y interesting account of his visit to the noted chief.
Fort Edwards was erected soon after Pike's expedition, at what is now
.
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
Warsaw, Illinois, also Fort Madison, on the site of the present town of that name, the latter being the first fort erected in Iowa. These movements occasioned great uneasiness among the Indians. When work was commenced on Fort Edwards a delegation from the nation, headed by their chiefs, went down to see what the Americans were doing, and had an interview with the commander, after which they returned home and were apparently satisfied. In like manner, when Fort Madison was being erected, they sent down another delegation from a council of the nation held at Rock river. According to Black Hawk's account the American chief told them he was building a house for a trader, who was coming to sell them goods cheap, and that the soldiers were coming to keep him company-a statement which Black Hawk says they distrusted at the time, believing that the fort was an encroachmen upon their rights, and designed to aid in getting their lands away from them. It is claimed by good authority that the building of Fort Madison was a violation of the treaty of 1804. By the eleventhi article of that treaty the United States had the right to build a fort near the mouth of the Wisconsin river, and by article six hey had bound hemselves "that if any citizen of the United States, or any other white person, should form a settlement upon their lands, such an intruder should forthwith be removed." Probably the authorities of the United States did not regard the establishment of military posts as coming properly within the meaning of the term "settle- ment," as used in the treaty. At all events, they erected Fort Madison within the territory reserved for the Indians, who became very indignant. Very soon after the fort was built a party led by Black Hawk attempted its destruction. They sent spies to watch the movements of the garrison, who ascertained that the soldiers were in the habit of marching out of the fort every morning and evening for parade, and the plan of the party was to conceal themselves near the fort and attack and surprise them when they were outside. On the morning of the proposed day of the attack five soldiers came out and were fired upon by the Indians, two of them being killed. The Indians were too hasty in their movements, for the parade had not commenced. However, they kept up the siege for several days, attempting the old Fox strategy of setting fire to the fort with blazing arrows, but finding their efforts unavailing, they desisted and returned to their wigwams on Rock river. In 1812, when war was declared between this country and Great Britain, Black Hawk and his band allied them- selves with the British, partly because he was dazzled by their specious promises, but more probably because they were deceived by the Americans. Black Hawk himself declared they were forced into the war by having been deceived. Hc narrates the circumstance as follows: "Several of the head men and chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes were called upon to go to Washington to see the great father. On their return they related what had been said and done. They said the great father wished them, in the event of war taking place with England, not to interfere on either side, but to remain neutral. He did not want our help, but wished us to hunt and support our families and live in peace. He said that British traders would not be permitted to come on the Mississippi to furnish us with goods, but that we should be supplied by an American trader. Our chiefs then told him that the British traders always gave them credit in the fall for guns, powder and goods, to enable us to hunt and clothe our families. He repeated
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
that the traders of Fort Madison would have plenty of goods; that we should go there in the fall and he should supply us on credit, as the British traders had done." Black Hawk seems to have accepted the proposition, and he and his people were very much pleased. Acting in good faith, they fitted out their winter's hunt, and went to Fort Madison in high spirits to receive from the trader their outfit of supplies ; but after waiting some times they were told by the trader that he would not trust them. In vain they pleaded the promise of the great father at Washington; the trader was inexorable. Disappointed and crestfallen. the Indians returned sadly to their own village. Says Black Hawk: "Few of us slept that night. All was gloom and discontent. In the morning a canoe was seen ascending the river. It soon arrived, bearing an express, who brought intelligence that a British trader had landed at Rock Island with two boats filled with goods, and requested us to come up immediately, because he had good news for us and a variety of presents. The express presented us with pipes, tobacco and wampum. The news ran through our camp like fire on a prairie. Our lodges were soon taken down, and all started for Rock Island. Here ended all our hopes of remaining at peace, having been forced into the war by being deceived." He joined the British, who flattered him, and styled him "General Black Hawk," decked him with medals, excited his jealousy against the Americans and armed his band: but he met with defeat and disappointment, and soon abandoned the service and returned home.
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