USA > Iowa > Union County > Biographical and historical record of Ringgold and Union counties, Iowa, vol. 2 > Part 6
USA > Iowa > Ringgold County > Biographical and historical record of Ringgold and Union counties, Iowa, vol. 2 > Part 6
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A TRAGEDY OF EARLY DAYS.
In the spring of 1855, two men, by name Driggs and Hale, settled with their wives in Ringgold County, just south of
the Union County line; they were young men of pleasant address, and seemed to be greatly attached to each other, a circum- stance readily accounted for by the fact that they were brothers-in-law. Appar- ently they, like the other settlers of the county, were here to make homes for them- selves and their families, and nothing pe- culiar or strange about either them or their wives attracted the attention of the neigh- bors.
One morning in the autumn of the same year the two men started out to hunt deer and turkeys, which at that time were very numerous in the woodlands along Grand River. About noon, Hale, apparently panic stricken, rushed into the cabin of one of the neighboring settlers, and with great trepidation communicated the fact that his companion was dead, killed by the treach- erous Indians, and that he had barely es- caped with his life.
The excitement was intense, messengers being at once dispatched, notifying the neighborhood for thirty miles around of the impending danger, a company of men gathered at once to go to the spot and se- cure the body of their neighbor. Led by Hale, the party proceeded cautiously until, finally arriving at the scene of trag- edy, they beheld the dead body of Driggs, shot through the heart. He had fallen in his tracks, and had not been mutilated or disturbed-treatment unusual for Indians, who often risk their lives to secure a scalp. Close examination revealed the fact that the murderer was very close to his victim, whose shirt was blackened and burned by the powder.
The still, cold face of the dead man, as he lay weltering in his blood, created a thrill of horror in the hearts of the behold- ers. The recollection of their own homes and families exposed to similar dangers de- cided in their minds the proper course to pursue, and, with one accord, they vowed
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HISTORY OF RINGGOLD COUNTY.
vengeance against the Indians. Settlers soon gathered together for a fight. Wo- men and children were sent to a place of safety, and in a few instances the able- bodied head of the family had important business to attend to just at that time, and betook himself to parts unknown.
The settlers being reinforced by a com- pany of militia from Chariton, everything was made ready for the approaching con- flict, and the Indians, who at that time were encamped on Twelve Mile Creek, sec- tion 34, Pleasant Township, Union County, were surrounded, and their surrender de- manded.
Having had some intimation of the trouble brewing, they were not surprised at the demand, wisely determining to re- main and refute the charges, and after a short parley they stacked their arms and surrendered under protest.
A council was at once called, and the trial, though necessarily conducted in an informal manner, was proceeded with, the first step being to find the gun which the ball, taken from the body of the murdered man, would fit. One by one each gun was tried, until no more were left, but none were found which carried a ball of that caliber.
The whites then consulted aside ; the In- dians and their guns were all there, yet though generally believed to be the mur- derers of Driggs, it was impolitic to resort to extreme measures in the face of the facts developed.
At this point an old Indian, swarthy and muscular, by name Wanwoxen, stepped forward, and, in broken English, presented the cause of his people : recounting the friendly relations they had always sus- tained with the pale faces of the settlement, and expressing his sorrow and disapproval of the murder of Driggs, he pressed the point that the bullet would fit the gun of no Indian of the tribe. Gathering confi-
dence, he became more eloquent, and with uncouth gestures argued their entire inno- cence, and called particular attention to the fact that the murderer's gun had burned the clothing of the dead man. Said he: " No Indian there! No Indian there ! Indian never shoot when he can strike!" at the same time significantly touching his tomahawk. At the conclusion of his ha- rangue he stepped out from his fellows, and throwing off his blanket and baring his breast, said: "Indian no shoot Driggs; shoot Indian if you want to."
These words, with their previous peace- able reputation, and more than all, the last self-sacrificing act of the warrior in offer- ing himself a sacrifice to appease the wrath of the pale faces, created a diversion in their favor. Some of the whites were still disposed to believe the Indians guilty, while others took the opposite view. Hale was then subjected to a more searching examination. He manifested much hesi- tancy in testifying, and his stories failed to show that there were any Indians there, he claiming that he heard the shot fired and saw Driggs fall, but did not see who fired at him, but supposed it to be Indians.
After obtaining all the testimony possi- ble, it was decided to restore the arms to the Indians, as no case had been made out against them. A feeling of apprehension obtained a foothold with many of the set- tlers, and the final result was the removal of the tribe to the Indian reservation in Kansas, about 1856.
Hale did not remain in the neighbor- hood, but soon after took his own and Driggs' wife and removed to Bear's Set- tlement, thirty-five miles south, in Mis- souri, and the sequel to the murder of Driggs showed the Indians to be entirely innocent of his death. The winter follow- ing, Mrs. Hale suddenly sickened and died, and rumors gained ground that everything was not right; it was then remembered
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that the ball which failed to fit the Indians' rifles was the exact caliber of that used by HIale, and the opinion became current that he and not the Indians was the murderer ; but the settlers, without exception, cxon- crate the Indians from all complicity in the matter.
Some property of the Indians, consisting of three guns and sixteen steel traps, was sold at auction by the sheriff, Peter Doze, the first Monday in December, 1855, toward defraying the expenses of the removal. November 6, 1855, the county judge issued warrants to several citizens to pay for pro- visions, used while removing the Indians to Kansas, as follows:
Catherine Himes, $3.50; Mary ' Imus, $3.50 ; HIenry Rowlan, $3.00; Henry Broad- water, $2.50; Peter Doze, $5.00; Wendell Poor, $2.50; N. H. Dewitt, $3.00; F. A. Millsap, $33.10; Josiah Aldrich, $2.50; Henry Skidmore, $1.75; John Skidmore, $II.75; William Haviland, $1.75; David Edwards, $3.00; Barton B. Dunning, $10.00.
The Indians had no legal right to resi- dence in this county, but had lingered for a time after the departure of the main body.
FIRST COURT.
The first district court for Ringgold County convened at Mt. Ayr, May 25, 1857. Judge John S. Townsend presided; Randolph Sry being the Clerk. John W. Warren was appointed Prosecuting At- torney. The following were the petit jurors: Sanford Harrow, David M. Le- san, John C. Stuart, William Skinner, Will-
iam Francis, Henry Roland, John L. Rush, C. G. Rowell, Thomas Marshall, Henry Crabbs, William M. Water, A. W. Tice, Samuel Allison, A. J. McClerg, and L. S. Terwilliger. Luke Shay was naturalized at this term, this being the first business transacted after organizing the court. The first grand jury empaneled was at the October term of the same year, and was composed of the following persons : John Shields, William C. Harvey, William Tur- ner, Michael Stahl, Isaac Oliver, Thomas M. Hall, Henry Arnett, John Morgan, John Carman, Gabriel Huffman, Henry J. Dewitt, William Arnett, Reuben B. Moul- ton, E. W. Rice, Anderson W. Tice.
RINGGOLD'S FIRST COUNTY JUDGE.
One of the most prominent men in the early history of the county was Judge Hagans, who wielded great influence from the time of his first election as county judge until his death. He came to the county from McDonough County, Illinois, in June, 1854, and was a native of Ken- tucky. He served the people three terms in the office of county judge, and was elected State Senator at the general elec- tion of 1857, from the district composed of the counties of Ringgold, Taylor, Adams, Union and Clarke. He served with ability in the Eighth and Ninth General Assem- blies. He discharged his last senatorial and official duties at the extra session of Sep- tember, 1862. Soon after this time his health began to fail. He died September 7, 1863, at his home in Mt. Ayr.
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HISTORY OF RINGGOLD COUNTY.
.2.
POLITICAL HISTORY.
PEONY
'ARTY "government is the present, and pos- sibly the future, though not the ideal, feature of our so-called republic, and men have, in America, been divided into political parties for 120 years. Upon the passage of the Stamp Act in 1765, parties for the first time began to take definite shape and manifest open antagonisms, and the words, Whig and Tory, then had a plainer meaning in America than in England. The Stamp Act was denounced by the Whigs as direct taxation, and so general were the protests that for a time it seemed that only those who owed their livings to the Crown, or expected aid and comfort from it, remained with the Tories. The Whigs were the patriots.
After independence was achieved, of course, all Americans were Whigs. In the first years of the United States as a federal union, under President Washington, there came about a division into " Particularist" and " Strong Government" Whigs, these soon adopting the more euphonious desig-
nations of Anti-Federals and Federals. The former, under Jefferson's lead, afterward became known as Republicans, which name was in the early part of 1806 dropped for that of Democrats. Hence Jefferson is often referred to as the founder of the Democratic party. If, however, this dis- tinction can be claimed for any one man, the friends of Andrew Jackson have per- haps a stronger case.
The Democrats were in power in this country from 1801 to 1825, when John Quincy Adams, " the last of the Federal- ists," was chosen by Congress to fill the office of President, the people having failed to elect. General Jackson, however, had received a plurality of the popular vote, and the remembrance of this fact was one of the chief causes of Jackson's subse- quent election in 1828. The elevation of General Jackson to the presidency was a triumph over the high protective policy, the federal internal improvement policy, and the latitudinous construction of the con- stitution, as well as of the Democracy over Federals, then known as National Republi- cans. This election was also the permanent re-establishment of parties on principle, according to the landmarks of the early years of the Government. For although
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POLITICAL HISTORY.
Mr. Adams had received confidence and office from Mr. Madison and Mr. Mon- roe, and had classed with the Democratic party during the "era of good feeling," yet he had previously been a Federal; and on the re-establishment of old party lines which began to take place after the elec- tion of Mr. Adams in the House of Repre- sentatives, his affinities and policy became those of his former party; and as a party, with many individual exceptions, they be- came his supporters and his strength.
The Democrats re-nominated Jackson in 1832, while in December preceding the National Republicans nominated Henry Clay. The hero of New Orleans was elected a second term by a goodly ma- jority.
The Democracy being in power, the fol- lowers of Clay gradually adopted the name of Whigs, which was suggested by the fact that in England the opposition to the Gov- ernment was known by that appellation. Hence, more than any one man, Henry Clay is looked upon as the founder of the Whig party, which played an important part in American politics for some twenty years. In 1836 they nominated General William Henry Harrison, who was defeated by Martin Van Buren, the choice of the Dem- ocratic party. In the closing year of Jack- son's administration, however, a step had been taken which ultimately brought about the temporary downfall of his party. This step was the distribution of revenue among the States in 1837, which was designed to enhance the value of the State stocks held by the United States Bank. The result was far different, however, and thousands are still living who can tell of the financial crisis of 1837 and the general stringency following.
It is natural for the people to charge fi- nancial and other troubles, from war down to crop failures, upon the party in power. So it was in those times, and the result was
the ascendency of the Whigs after the next election, in 1840. On the Whig ticket, General Harrison, of Ohio, was the candi- date for President, and John Tyler, of Vir- ginia, for Vice-President. Mr. Clay, the most prominent Whig in the country, was not deemed available, and the leading men in the party were again put aside to make room for a military man, a step prompted by the example previously set by the Dem- ocrats in the case of General Jackson. The men who managed presidential elections believed then as now that military renown was a passport to popularity and rendered a candidate more sure of election. The contest before the people was a long and bitter one, the severest ever known in the country up to that time, and scarcely equaled since. The whole Whig party and the large league of suspended banks, headed by the bank of the United States, making its last struggle for a new national charter in the effort to elect a President friendly to it, were arrayed against the Democrats, whose hard-money policy and independent treasury schemes were met with little favor in the then depressed con- dition of the treasury. The Democrats worked for the re-election of President Van Buren, with Richard M. Johnson, of Ken- tucky, as Vice-President, but the Whigs were ultimately successful.
The question of extending slave territory by the annexation of Texas was the prin- cipal one in the campaign of 1844, and avowedly so in the platforms. The Dem- ocracy nominated James K. Polk for President, and George M. Dallas for Vice- President. The Whigs nominated their great leader, Henry Clay, with Theodore Frelinghuysen for Vice-President. Owing largely to the influence of a third party, the Free-Soilers, Clay was defeated in one of the closest elections ever held.
Another presidential year brought for- ward new men and new issues. The Dem-
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HISTORY OF RINGGOLD COUNTY.
ocrats nominated General Lewis Cass for President, and George William O. Butler for Vice-President. The Whigs took ad- vantage of the popularity of General Zachary Taylor, for his military achieve- ments in the Mexican war, just ended, and his consequent "availability," nominated him for the presidency over Clay, Webster and Scott, who were his competitors be- fore the convention. The party which had been made by the greatness of the latter won an easy victory.
The presidential election of 1852 was the last campaign in which the Whig party ap- peared in National politics. It nominated a ticket with General Winfield Scott as its candidate for President. His opponent on the Democratic ticket was General Frank- lin Pierce. A third ticket was placed in the field by the Abolition party, with John P. Hale as its candidate for President. The political sec-saw now brought the Demo- crats in power again.
Thus, at the beginning of the civil history of Ringgold County the Democrats were in control, with Franklin Pierce as Presi- dent, and the Whig party was disintegrating as a National organization. The citizens of Ringgold County having come from those Eastern States where the Whigs were strongest, retained their politics after settling herc, so that this was a Whig county during its infancy. There was, however, never a fair test of strength, for in local elections personal popularity went much farther than partisanship, and before the county's politics was settled by a presidential election, the death of the Whig party was an accomplished fact, and .a new organization, the Republican party, arose from its ashes. Henceforth the giant parties were Democrats and Republicans, the latter absorbing all the clements then existing opposed to the further extension of slavery. The new party was born in a number of places almost simultaneously,
but in each case with the same motives and with similar constituent elements. The movement assumed definite shape in the summer of 1854, when, for Governor of lowa, James W. Grimes was nominated by the Republicans to oppose Curtis Bates, the choice of the Democracy. lowa had hitherto been under the control of the latter party, but the Republicans now carried it, in their first campaign, and it has since remained in the ranks of Republicanism, by majorities sometimes running as high as 80,000. "Mr. Grimes' personal ability had much to do with the successful organiza- tion of the Republicans in Iowa.
In the organic election of Ringgold County, May 14, 1855, and also in the Au- gust election following, National politics played no part. Candidates were favored or opposed solely for personal reasons. However, all the successful ones were Whigs, except Peter Doze, the first sheriff, and afterward assessor, who was and is a zealous Democrat. County Judge Hagans, Treasurer and Recorder Cofer, and School Fund Commissioner Poor, were all Whigs, and afterward Republicans. The total vote in May, 1855, was but 34; in August it was 91.
The year following, 1856, party lines were for the first time marked out in Ring- gold County, and they have since been pretty generally regarded, though for the local offices a not inconsiderable voting ele- ment has always manifested an independent spirit-a willingness to "scratch" the ticket on personal grounds.
The first National convention of the Re- publican party nominated John C. Fremont for President, and Wm. L. Dayton for Vice- President. lis platform consisted of a series of resolutions, of which the most important was the following :
" That we deny the authority of Congress, of a Territorial Legislature, of any individ- ual or association of individuals, to give
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legal existence to slavery in any Territory of the United States, while the present Constitution shall be maintained."
The Democratic convention nominated James Buchanan for President, and John C. Beckinridge for Vice-President. It adopted a platform which contained the material portions of all its previous plat- forms, and also defined its position to the new issues of the day, and declared (1) that the revenue to be raised should not exceed the actual necessary expenses of the Government, and for the gradual extinc- tion of the public debt ; (2) that the Con- stitution does not confer upon the General Government the power to commence and carry on a general system of internal im- provements ; (3) for a strict construction of the powers granted by the Constitution to the Federal Government ; (4) that Congress has no power to charter a National bank ; (5) that Congress has no power to interfere with slavery in the States and Territories, the people of which have the exclusive right and power to settle that question for themselves ; (6) opposition to Americanism.
That Buchanan was elected was in no degree due to Ringgold County, which gave Fremont a plurality of 28, in spite of the fact that a large element of the Repub- lican following was drawn into support of the American, or " Know Nothing " party, whose candidate was Millard Fillmore, and who received almost as many votes in Ringgold County as Buchanan. The vote was: Fremont, 92: Buchanan, G4; Fill- more, 52. The county officers elected this year (clerk, school fund commissioner and sheriff ), were all Republicans, and re- ceived little opposition. The county's part in politics since has been in the same line. It has been monotonously faithful to the Republicans. It has here never been a serious question of which party, but merely how much majority.
At the August election, in 1857, a full
county ticket was put in the field by the Republicans, which had no organized op- position. The majorities were all over 100. Lowe's majority for Governor, in October, was but 47, however. In 1858 two full tickets were run, the Republican majority being about 100 in a total vote of 330. In 1859 Kirkwood's majority for Governor was 125 in a total vote of 395. The county officers had a close contest, and the vote was remarkably close, the majori- ties ranging from I to 23.
The four years of Buchanan's adminis- tration were rife with political discussions on the slavery question, the status of the negro and the troubles in Kansas. The Southern Democrats, true to the supposed interests of their section became more ag- gressive in their demands in behalf of slav- cry, while their brethren in the North followed the lead of Douglas in endeavoring to compromise the slavery question. The two wings differed more and more widely, and in their national convention at Charles- ton were unable to agree upon a platform or a candidate, so that the Southern Dem- ocrats withdrew in a body. The conven- tion re-assembled at Baltimore, and after a protracted struggle nominated Stephen A. Douglas and Herschel V. Johnson. Their platform declared that the decisions of the Supreme Court, respecting the status of slavery in the Territories, should be re- spected. The Southern Democrats, how ever, held another convention and nomi- nated John C. Breckinridge and Joseph Lane. The platform adopted contained in regard to the main question at issue the statement that slaves in the Territories should be recognized by the Government as property.
The Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin, and resolved that Kansas should be admitted as a free State, and that the Government should ef- fectually prohibit slavery in the Territo-
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HISTORY OF RINGGOLD COUNTY.
ries. A so-called Constitutional Union Convention was also held, which nominated John Bell and Edward Everett.
The conclusion of this many-sided politi- cal fight was the election of Lincoln, who received, however, but two-fifths of the popular vote. In this county the canvass was exceedingly warm, and Lincoln re- ceived 348 votes to 182 for Douglas, and three for Bell. . The third and fourth par- ties received very little favor here. This was the heaviest vote yet cast in the coun- ty. The majorities on the State ticket were all over 160. But two county officers were chosen, a clerk by 42 votes, and a surveyor by 91.
In the State and county election of 1861, a very light vote was drawn out. The Democratic ticket received less than 100 votes, and the Republican majorities ranged from 186, for clerk, up to 290 for Congress- man. In 1862 the majority on the State ticket was 18o. For clerk it reached 221, Thomas Ross being the popular man ; for treasurer and recorder John T. Williams' majority was 127, and for county judge Wendell Poor received but 103 votes more than his competitor.
The war seemed to strengthen the Re- publicans in this State so that it was almost perfunctory that any other party made nominations. Colonel William M. Stone had made himself so popular by his serv- ices in the field that in the summer of 1863 he was nominated for Governor against James M. Tuttle. Not a very full vote was cast in Ringgold, but this was more than three to one in favor of the Republi- cans. Stone received 353 votes to 114 for Tuttle, or a majority of 239. Even this was the smallest majority given any man on the ticket (except for representative, 237), the county officers being elected with little or no opposition.
In 1864 the war was being waged on a scale never before seen in history, at vast
expense, and it was uncertain how long the Confederacy could maintain armed resist- ance. The Republicans were generally unanimous in supporting the coercion pol- icy of the Government, while the Demo- crats, on the other hand, were in favor of a change of policy, and of peace on any terms that would save the Union. The Republican convention of 1864 therefore re-nominated Abraham Lincoln by a unan- imous vote, save Missouri, whose delega- tion voted for Ulysses S. Grant. Andrew Johnson was nominated for Vice-President. The platform approved the emancipation proclamation, declared slavery dead, pledged support for the further prosecution of the war, and demanded the unconditional surrender of the rebellious States. The Democratic convention nominated George B. McClellan and George H. Pendleton, and adopted a platform criticising the methods of the administration. Lincoln received 212 electoral votes to McClellan's twenty-one, the people indorsing the old maxim "that it is dangerous to swap horses while crossing a stream." In Ring- gold County the Lincoln ticket received a majority of 243, in a total vote of 395. The Democratic vote was from fifty-nine to seventy-six. They made no nominations for county offices.
Equally one-sided was the general elec- tion of 1865 for State and county officers ; but in certain respects things were rather "mixed." Governor Stone, a candidate for re-election, was so pronounced in favor of negro suffrage that he ran behind his ticket, and in this county received 336 votes, against 152 for T. H. Benton. No contest was made for the county offices ex- cept for sheriff, in which case the vote was close. D. B. Marshall, the successful candidate, had but thirteen votes more than his opponent. The situation was about the same in 1866, no contest being madle for county officers, and the Demo-
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