Biographical and historical memoirs of Story County, Iowa, Part 5

Author:
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago : Goodspeed
Number of Pages: 484

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For more than 100 years after Marquette and Joliet trod the virgin soil of Iowa, not a single settlement had been made or attempted; not even a trading post had been established. The whole country remained in the undisputed possession of the native tribes, who roamed at will over its beautiful and fertile prairies, hunted in its woods, fished in its streams, and often poured out their life-blood in obsti- nately contested contests for supremacy. That this State, so aptly styled "The Beautiful Land," had been the theater of numerous fierce and bloody struggles between rival nations for possession of the favored region, long before its settlement by civilized man, there is no

room for doubt. In these savage wars, the weaker party, whether aggressive or defensive, was either exterminated or driven from their ancient hunting grounds.

In 1673, when Marquette discovered Iowa, the Illini were a very powerful people, occupy- ing 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 grad- ually 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 fa- mous Sac chieftaim, was made the pretext for war against the Illini, and a fierce and bloody struggle ensned, which continued until the Illi- nois were nearly destroyed and their hunting grounds possessed by 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 foes, the Northern Sioux, with whom they maintained a constant warfare for the possession of the country for many years.

When the United States came in possession of the great valley of the Mississippi, by the Louisiana purchase, the Sacs and Foxes and Iowas possessed the entire territory now com- prising the State of Iowa. The Sacs and Foxes also occupied the most of the State of Illinois.

The Sacs had four principal villages, where most of them resided, viz .: Their largest and most important town-if an Indian village may be called such-and from which emanated most of the obstacles and difficulties encountered by

HISTORY OF IOWA.

the Government in the extinguishment of In- dian 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, viz. : One on the west side of the Mississippi, six miles above the rapids of Rock River; another about twelve miles from the river, in the rear of the Dubuque lead mines, and the third 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. Here the last great battle between the Sacs and Foxes and the Iowas was fought, in which Black Hawk, then a young man, com- manded one division of the attacking forces. The following account of the battle has been given:

" Contrary to long established custom of In- dian attack, this battle was commenced in the day time, the attending circumstances justify- ing this departure from the well settled usages of Indian warfare. The battle-field was a level river bottom, about four miles in length, and two miles wide near the middle, narrowing to a poiut 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 tuft of small trees and underbrush growing on its sum- mit. 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 prarie on the north, the country rises abruptly into elevated broken river bluffs, covered with a heavy forest for many miles in extent, and in places thickly clustered with undergrowth, affording a con- venient shelter for the stealthy approach of the foe.

" Through this forest the Sac and Fox war party made their way in the night, and secret- ed themselves in the tall grass spoken of above, intending to remain in ambush during the day and make such observations as this near prox- imity to their intended victim 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 war- riors in cavalry evolutions. In these exercises mock battles were fought, and the Indian tac- tics of attack and defense carefully inculcated, by which means skill in horsemanship was ac- quired 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 vil- lage, and their old men and women and chil- dren unprotected.

" Pash-a-po-po, who was chief in command of the Sacs and Foxes, perceived at once the

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advantage this state of things afforded 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 remained with his division in the ambush to make a simultaneous assault on the unarmed men, whose attention was engrossed with the excite- ment of the races. The plan was skillfully laid and most dexterously executed. Black Hawk, with his forces, reached the village undiscov- ered, and made a furious onslaught upon the defenseless inhabitants, by firing one general volley into their midst, and completing the slaughter with the tomahawk and scalping- knife, aided by the devouring 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 fire arms at the village, the forces under Pash-a-po-po leaped from their couchant position in the grass and sprang, tiger-like, upon the astonished and unarmed Iowas in the midst of their racing sports. The first impulse of the latter natur- ally led them to make the utmost speed toward their arms in the village, and protect, if possi- ble, 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 ele- ment, and the agonizing groans of the dying, mingled with the exulting shouts of the victo- rious foe, filled their hearts with maddening

despair. Their wives and children, who had been spared the general massacre, were pris- oners, and, together with their arms, were in the hands of the victors, and 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 Sacs and Foxes, prior to the settlement of their village on Rock River, had a fierce conflict with the Winnebagoes, subdued them and took possession of their lands. Their vil- lage on Rock River, at one time, contained up- ward of sixty lodges, and was among the larg- est Indian villages on the continent. In 1825 the Secretary of War estimated the entire num- ber of the Sacs and Foxes at 4,600 souls. Their village was situated in the immediate vicinity of the upper rapids of the Mississippi, where the beautiful and flourishing towns of Rock Island and Davenport are now situated. The beautiful scenery of the island, the extensive prairies, dotted over with groves; the pictur- esque bluffs along the river banks, the rich and fertile soil, producing large crops of corn, squash and other vegetables, with little labor; the abundance of wild fruit, game, fish, and almost everything calculated to make it a de- lightful spot for an Indian village, which was found there, had made this place a favorite home of the Sacs, and secured for it the strong attachment and veneration of the whole nation.

North of the hunting grounds of the Sacs and Foxes, were those of the Sioux, a fierce and warlike nation, who often disputed possession with their rivals in savage and bloody warfare. The possessions of these tribes were mostly located in Minnesota, but extended over a por- tion of Northern and Western Iowa to the Mis- souri River. Their descent from the north upon

HISTORY OF IOWA.

the hunting grounds of Iowa frequently brought them into collision with the Sacs and Foxes; and after many a conflict and bloody struggle, a boundary line was established between them by the government of the United States, in a treaty held at Prairie du Chien in 1825. But this, instead of settling the difficulties, caused them to quarrel all the more, in consequence of alleged trespasses upon each other's side of the line. These contests were kept up, and became so unrelenting that, in 1830, the Government bought of the respective tribes of the Sacs and Foxes and the Sioux, a strip of land twenty miles in width, on both sides of the line, and thus throwing them forty miles apart by creating be- tween them a "neutral ground," commanded them to cease their hostilities. Both the Sacs and Foxes and the Sioux, however, were allowed to fish and hunt on this ground unmolested, provided they did not interfere with each other on United States territory. The Sacs and Foxes and the Sioux were deadly enemies, and neither let an opportunity to punish the other pass unimproved.

In April, 1852, a fight occurred between the Musquaka band of Sacs and Foxes and a band of Sioux, about six miles above Algona, in Kossuth County, on the west side of the Des Moines River. The Sacs and Foxes were under the leadership of Ko-ko-wah, a subordi- nate chief, and had gone up from their home in Tama County, by way of Clear Lake, to what was then the "neutral ground." At Clear Lake, Ko-ko-wah was informed that a party of Sioux were encamped on the west side of the East Fork of the Des Moines, and he determined to attack them. With sixty of his warriors, he started and arrived at a point on the east side of the river, about a mile above the Sioux encampment, in the night, and concealed them- selves in a grove, where they were able to dis- cover the position and strength of their hered-

itary foes. The next morning, after many of the Sioux braves had left their camp on hunt- ing tours, the vindictive Sacs and Foxes crossed the river and suddenly attacked the camp. The conflict was desperate for a short time, but the advantage was with the assailants, and the Sioux were routed. Sixteen of them, including some of their women and children, were killed, and a boy fourteen years old was captured. One of the Musquakas was shot in the breast by a squaw as they were rushing into the Sioux's camp. He started to run away, when the same brave squaw shot him through the body, at a distance of twenty rods, and he fell dead. Three other Sac braves were killed. But few of the Sioux escaped. The victorious party hurriedly buried their own dead, leaving the dead Sioux above ground, and made their way home with their captive with all possible expedition.

At the close of the Black Hawk War, in 1832, a treaty was made at a council held on the west bank of the Mississippi, where now stands the thriving city of Davenport, on grounds that are occupied by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company, on the 21st of September, 1832. At this council the United States was represented by Gen. Win- field Scott and Gov. Reynolds, of Illinois. Keokuk, Pash-a-pa-ho and some thirty other chiefs and warriors of the Sac and Fox nation were present. By this treaty, the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States a strip of land on the eastern border of Iowa fifty miles wide, from the northern boundary of Missouri to the mouth of the Upper Iowa River, containing about 6,000,000 acres. The western line of the purchase was parallel with the Mississippi. In consideration of this cession, the United States Government stipulated to pay annually to the confederated tribes, for thirty consecutive years, $20,000 in specie, and to pay the debts of the Indians at Rock Island, which had

HISTORY OF IOWA.

been accumulating for seventeen years, and amounted to $50,000, due to Davenport & Farnham, Indian traders. The Government also generously donated to the Sac and Fox women and children, whose husbands and fa- thers had fallen in the Black Hawk War, thirty- five beef cattle, twelve bushels of salt, thirty barrels of pork, fifty barrels of flour and 6,000 bushels of corn.

This territory is known as the " Black Hawk Purchase." Although it was not the first por- tion of Iowa ceded to the United States by the Sacs and Foxes, it was the first opened to actual settlement by the tide of emigration that flowed across the Mississippi as soon as the Indian title was extinguished. The treaty was rati- fied February 13, 1833, and took effect on the 1st of June following, when the Indians quietly removed from the ceded territory, and this beautiful region was opened to white settlers.

By the terms of the treaty, out of the Black Hawk Purchase was reserved for the Sacs and Foxes 400 square miles of land situated on the Iowa River, and including within its limits Keokuk's village, on the right bank of that river. This tract was known as " Keokuk's Reserve," and was occupied by the Indians until 1836, when, by a treaty made in Septem- ber between them and Gov. Dodge, of Wiscon- sin Territory, it was ceded to the United States. The council was held on the banks of the Mis- sissippi, above Davenport, and was the largest assemblage of the kind ever held by the Sacs and Foxes to treat for the sale of lands. About one thousand of their chiefs and braves were present, and Keokuk was their leading spirit and principal speaker on the occasion. By the terms of the treaty, the Sacs and Foxes were removed to another reservation on the Des Moines River, where an agency was established for them at what is now the town of Agency City.

Besides the Keokuk Reserve, the Govern- ment gave out of the Black Hawk Purchase to Antoine Le Claire, interpreter, in fee simple, ; one section of land opposite Rock Island, and another at the head of the first rapids above the island, on the Iowa side. This was the first land title granted by the United States to an individual in Iowa.

Soon after the removal of the Sacs and Foxes to their new reservation on the Des Moines River, Gen. Joseph M. Street was transferred from the agency of the Winnebagoes, at Prai- rie du Chien, to establish an agency among them. A farm was selected, on which the necessary buildings were erected, including a comfortable farm house for the agent and his family, at the expense of the Indian fund. A salaried agent was employed to superintend the farm and dispose of the crops. Two mills were erected, one on Soap Creek and the other on Sugar Creek. The latter was soon swept away by a flood, but the former remained and did good service for many years. Connected with the agency were Joseph Smart and John Good- ell, interpreters. The latter was interpreter for Hard Fish's band. Three of the Indian chiefs, Keokuk, Wapello and Appanoose, had each a large field improved, the two former on the right bank of the Des Moines, back from the river, in what is now "Keokuk's Prairie," and the latter on the present site of the city of Ottumwa. Among the traders connected with the agency were the Messrs. Ewing from Ohio, and Phelps & Co., from Illinois, and also Mr. J. P. Eddy, who established his post at what is now the site of Eddyville.

The Indians at this agency became idle and listless in the absence of their natural and wonted excitements, and many of them plunged into dissipation. Keokuk himself became dis- sipated in the latter years of his life, and it has been reported that he died of delirium tremens.

HISTORY OF IOWA.

In May, 1843, most of the Indians were re- moved up the Des Moines River, above the temporary line of Red Rock, having ceded the remnant of their lands in Iowa to the United States on the 21st of September, 1837, and on the 11th of October, 1842. By the terms of the latter treaty, they held possession of the "New Purchase " till the autumn of 1845, when the most of them were removed to their reservation in Kansas, the balance being re- moved in the spring of 1846.

1. Treaty with the Sioux, made July 19, 1815; ratified December 16, 1815. This treaty was made at Portage des Sioux, between the Sioux of Minnesota and Upper Iowa and the United States, by William Clark and Ninian Edwards, commissioners, and was merely a treaty of peace and friendship on the part of those Indians toward the United States at the close of the War of 1812.

2. Treaty with the Sacs .- A similar treaty of peace was made at Portage des Sioux, between the United States and the Sacs, by William Clark, Ninian Edwards and Auguste Choteau, on the 13th of September, 1815, and ratified on the same date as the above. In this, the treaty of 1804 was reaffirmed, and the Sacs here repre- sented promised for themselves and their bands to keep entirely separate from the Sacs of Rock River, who, under Black Hawk, had joined the British in the war just then closed.

3. Treaty with the Foxes .- A separate treaty of peace was made with the Foxes at Portage des Sioux, by the same commissioners, on the 14th of September, 1815, and ratified the same as the above, wherein the Foxes re-affirmed the treaty of St. Louis, of November 3, 1804, and agreed to deliver up all their prisoners to the officer in command at Fort Clark, now Peoria, Illinois.

4. Treaty with the Iowas. - A treaty of peace and mutual good will was made between

the United States and the Iowa tribe of In- dians, at Portage des Sioux, by the same com- missioners as above, on the 16th of September, 1815, at the close of the war with Great Brit- ain, and ratified at the same date as the others.

5. Treaty with the Sacs of Rock River, made at St. Louis on the 13th of May, 1816, between the United States and the Sacs of Rock River, by the commissioners, William Clark, Ninian Edwards and Auguste Choteau, and ratified December 30, 1816. In this treaty, that of 1804 was re-established and confirmed by twenty-two chiefs and head men of the Sacs of Rock River, and Black Hawk himself at- tached to it his signature, or, as he said, " touched the goose quill."

6. Treaty of 1824 .- On the 4th of August, 1824, a treaty was made between the United States and the Sacs and Foxes, in the city of Washington, by William Clark, commissioner, wherein the Sac and Fox nation relinquished their title to all lands in Missouri, and that portion of the southeast corner of Iowa known as the "Half-Breed Tract" was set off and re- served for the use of the half-breeds of the Sacs and Foxes, they holding title in the same man- ner as Indians. Ratified January 18, 1825.

7. Treaty of August 19, 1825 .- At this date a treaty was made by William Clark and Lewis Cass, at Prairie du Chien, between the United States and the Chippewas, Sacs and Foxes, Menomonees, Winnebagoes and a. por- tion of the Ottawas and Pottawattamies. In this treaty, in order to make peace between the contending tribes as to the limits of their re- spective hunting grounds in Iowa, it was agreed that the United States Government should run a boundary line between the Sioux on the north, and the Sacs and Foxes on the south, as follows:

Commencing at the mouth of the Upper Iowa River, on the west bank of the Missis-

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sippi, and ascending said Iowa River to its west fork; thence up the fork to its source; thence crossing the fork of Red Cedar River in a direct line to the second or upper fork of the Des Moines River; thence in a direct line to the lower fork of the Calumet River, and down that river to its junction with the Missouri River.

8. Treaty of 1830 .- On the 15th of July, 1830, the confederate tribes of the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States a strip of country lying south of the above line, twenty miles in width, and extending along the line aforesaid from the Mississippi to the Des Moines River. The Sioux also, whose pos- sessions were north of the line, ceded to the Government, in the same treaty, a like strip on the north side of the boundary. Thus the United States, at the ratification of this treaty, February 24, 1831, came into posses- sion of a portion of Iowa forty miles wide, ex- tending along the Clark and Cass line of 1825, from the Mississippi to the Des Moines River. This territory was known as the "Neutral Ground," and the tribes on either side of the line were allowed to fish and hunt on it unmo- lested till it was made a Winnebago reserva- tion, and the Winnebagoes were removed to it in 1841.

9. Treaty with the Sacs and Foxes and other Tribes .- At the same time of the above treaty respecting the "Neutral Ground" (July 15, 1830), the Sacs and Foxes, Western Sioux, Omahas, Iowas and Missouris ceded to the United States a portion of the western slope of Iowa, the boundaries of which were defined as follows: Beginning at the upper fork of the Des Moines River, and passing the sources of the Little Sioux and Floyd Rivers, to the fork of the first creek that falls into the Big Sioux, or Calumet, on the east side; thence down said creek and the Calumet River to the

Missouri River; thence down said Missouri. River to the Missouri State line above the Kansas; thence along said line to the northwest corner of said State; thence to the high lands between the waters falling into the Missouri and Des Moines, passing to said high lands along the dividing ridge between the forks of the Grand River; thence along said high lands or ridge separating the waters of the Missouri from those of the Des Moines, to a point opposite the source of the Boyer River, and thence in a direct line to the upper fork of the Des Moines, the place of beginning.

It was understood that the lands ceded and relinquished by this treaty were to be assigned and allotted, under the direction of the Presi- dent of the United States, to the tribes then living thereon, or to such other tribes as the President might locate thereon for hunting and other purposes. In consideration of three tracts of land ceded in this treaty, the United States agreed to pay to the Sacs $3,000; to the Foxes, $3,000; to the Sioux, $2,000; to the Yankton and Santie bands of Sioux $3,000; to the Omahas, $2,500; and to the Ottoes and Missouris, $2,500-to be paid annually for ten successive years. In addition to these annuities, the Government agreed to furnish some of the tribes with blacksmiths and agricultural im- plements to the amount of $200, at the ex- pense of the United States, and to set apart $3,000 annually for the education of the chil- dren of these tribes. It does not appear that any fort was erected in this territory prior to the erection of Fort Atkinson on the Neutral Ground, in 1840-41.

This treaty was made by William Clark, superintendent of Indian affairs, and Col. Willoughby Morgan, of the United States First Infantry, and came into effect by procla- mation, February 24, 1831.

10. Treaty with the Winnebagoes .- Made

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at Fort Armstrong, Rock Island, September 15, 1832, by Gen. Winfield Scott and Hon. Jolin Reynolds, governor of Illinois. In this treaty the Winnebagoes ceded to the United States all their land lying on the east side of the Mississippi, and in part consideration therefor the United States granted to the Win- nebagoes, to be held, as other Indian lands are held, that portion of Iowa known as the Neu- tral Ground. The exchange of the two tracts of country was to take place on or before June 1, 1833. In addition to the Neutral Ground, it was stipulated that the United States should give the Winnebagoes, beginning in September, 1833, and continuing for twen- ty-seven successive years, $10,000 in specie, and establish a school among them, with a farm and garden, and provide other facilities for the education of their children, not to ex- ceed in cost $3,000 a year, and to continue the same for twenty-seven successive years. Six agriculturists, twelve yoke of oxen, and plows and other farming tools were to be supplied by the Government.

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Biographical and historical memoirs of Story County, Iowa, Part 5

Author: Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Chicago : Goodspeed Number of Pages: 484

Author:
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago : Goodspeed
Number of Pages: 484