History of Cass County, Iowa; together with sketches of its towns, villages, and townships; educational, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of old settlers and representative citizens. History of Iowa, embracing accounts of the pre-historic races, and a brief review of its civil, political, and military history, Part 32

Author: Continental Historical Company, Springfield, Ill
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Continental Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 918

USA > Iowa > Cass County > History of Cass County, Iowa; together with sketches of its towns, villages, and townships; educational, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of old settlers and representative citizens. History of Iowa, embracing accounts of the pre-historic races, and a brief review of its civil, political, and military history > Part 32

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).

marking out of claims by any monument whatever. To aid them in marking out their claims when the hour should arrive, the settlers had placed piles of dry wood on the rising ground at convenient dis- tances, and at a short time before twelve o'clock of the night preceding the day set, these were lighted, and when the mid- night hour arrived, it was announced by the discharge of firearms. The night was dark, but this army of occupation pressed forward, torch in hand, with ax and hatch- et, blazing lines with all manner of curves and angles. When daylight came and re- vealed the confusion of these wonderful surveys, many disputes arose, settled gen- erally by compromise, but sometimes by violence.

While this scene was transpiring the retreating Indian was enacting one, more impressive and melancholy. The winter following the treaty was one of unusual severity, and the Indian Prophet, who had disapproved of the treaty, attributed the severity of the winter to the anger of the Great Spirit because they had sold their country. Many religious rites were per- formed to atone for the crime. When the time arrived for leaving Ottumwa-where they had gathered- a solemn silence per- vaded the Indian camp; the faces of their stoutest men were bathed in tears, and when their cavalcade was put in motion, toward the setting sun, there was a spon- taneous outburst of frantic grief.

The Sac and Fox Indians were then re- moved to Kansas upon a reservation given them. In the years 1859-60 they ceded to the Government that reservation, and removed to the lands now occupied by

237

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

the original tribes, in Kansas. Three hundred and seventeen Indians of the Fox or Musquakie tribe, after their removal, returned to Iowa and settled in Tama county. The Government permitted them to remain, and by virtue of an act passed March 2, 1867, they are permitted to re- ceive their share ; of the Tribal fund, which is the interest only on the amount due them from the Government for their lands.

Hon. Lafayette Young, in his history of Cass county, has been to much pains to gather the subsequent Indian history of this part of the State, and we freely quote front his work, by his kind permission. ITis account is as follows :

"By a treaty made Sept. 26, 1833, this county, though not then named as such, was a part of a five million acre hunting ground, granted to the Chippewa, Ottawa and Pottawattamie Indians, on the condi- tion that they would remove from lands lying farther east than they then occupied. The Indians removed to this section of the State in accordance with that treaty, and remained here until by another treaty they agreed to go still further westward. The treaty last referred to was made at Trader's Point, (now in Mills county,) June 5, 1846. The Indian inhabitants of this county were of the Pottawattamie tribe. They were quite numerous, and during the years they were here had encamp- ments on the streams in various parts of the county. They were peaceable, greasy and lazy. Their principal village was at a point west of the present town of Lewis, now known as Indiantown, which the In- dians called Mi-au-mise (the young Miami)

after their favorite chief. The agency and favorite trading post for these Indians was at Traders' Point, on the Missouri river. At that place there was an Indian agent, an interpreter and a store, at which lead, powder, tobacco, etc., could be bought by the child of the forest or any other person. This store was kept by Peter A. Sarpy, of St. Louis, a man quite famous in his day-more famous, how- ever, in Nebraska than in Iowa. Col. Sarpy had a young man from St. Louis, clerking for him at Traders' Point, who fell desperately in love with one of our Cass county girls of the Pottawattamie tribe, and when the Indians went away in 1846 or 1847, the young man stuck a feather in his hat and went with them, and if he is living to-day he is probably a gray-haired child of nature, drawing his rations from the government and steal- ing from the frontier settlers in true abo- riginal style. The main body of the In- dians left prior to 1847, although strag- glers and small squads of them could oc- casionally be seen as late as 1856. They cultivated no land in this county, so far as we have been able to learn, although in some other counties on the Missouri slope they did leave a few small patches of ground bearing marks of cultivation. At Mi-au-mise (or as we call it Indian- town) they had a burying-ground, where rest the bones of many of their tribe whom death claimed while the tribe hunted elk and deer along the streams and over the prairies of this county.

"The most noted event that occurred in the county, during its occupancy by the Indians, was the death of the famous

238

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

chief of the Iowa tribe, Mahaskah, which occurred on the Nodaway, near the south- east corner of the county, in 1834. He was sitting by his camp fire, one evening, (sixty miles from his tribe on the Des Moines) when a skulking, cowardly In- dian enemy crawled to a convenient and secluded spot and shot him in the back, killing him instantly. Thus perished, on our soil a chief who had led his tribe in seventeen successful battles with the Sioux, and whose name is perpetuated by being borne by one of the counties in this State.

As has been said, a portion of the Fox and Sacs returned to this State and were allowed to settle in Tama county. The following account of these people was written for us by a citizen of that county, and is given in this connection as convey- ing some light upon the customs, habits and peculiarities of these remnants of a once powerful race, and who once roamed these prairies in search of game, or in- dulged in red foray or bloody war:

Much has been written in regard to the customs and habits of the Indian tribes of the northwest, and as a description of one was supposed to apply to all, many of these articles have been reproduced as a treatise upon the Musquakies, or the tribes which at one time occupied the "Black Hawk Purchase." But most of these arti- cles in many of the customs and peculiari- ties they recite, are entirely erroneous, and, as a whole, very much exaggerated. Contrary to the inferences which would be drawn from them, the tribes of the Sac and Fox Indians, since their contact with the whites, have always to a certain degree

been civilized, and the pioneers who were associated with them during the early days when the redskins called this region "home," agree in the opinion that, as a rule, their ideas of justice and morality were but a few paces in the rear of those held by "civilized humanity," The habits and customs of this tribe of to-day, do not differ very much from those of early days. Very few of them deign to wear the dress of the white man, generally wearing a blanket over the shoulders, feathers in the hair, and not infrequently painted fantastically about the face, neck and arms. Beads and cheap brass jewelry usually adorn the neck and ears, and the Indians maids wear large and massive bracelets. The blankets are all highly colored, as, in fact, is all of their clothing.

Instead of being frivolous, they are, as a rule, thrifty and industrious, but the squaws are made to do the hardest labor. Few quarrels are had among themselves, and they are' always peaceable to whites. Since their occupancy of the little reserva- tion in Tama county there has only been one crime committed.

They are more religiously inclined than the white man, believing in God and rec- ognizing the existence of a Supreme Being whom they call. the Great Spirit. Their conception of God differs only in part from that held by the Christian world. To them He is an individual .being-a su- preme personage. They know nothing of Jesus Christ and have no traditions that tend to indicate a belief in any such per- sonage. They have a devil whom they designate as the Bad Spirit. To both are offered sacrifices. Their religion partakes

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

239

more of the Jewish Creed than that of any other, and abounds in numerous forms and customs quite similar to the old customs first practiced by the Hebrews. They have a Bible which they call "Meeschaum." It is made up of about twenty-seven parts and the whole is written in strange signs only intelligible to the Indians, and the contents are never explained to the whites. There are about half a dozen of these "Meeschaum" in the tribe; they are all worn and old and are handled with the greatest care. The word "Meeschaum" in the Indian tongne means "Holy words or laws." Meetings of worship are held which last for three and four hours, and a separate and distinct language is used for religious talk and worship. They listen with great interest to the explanation of the white man's belief and religion, and have traditions which have been handed down from former generations that are almost identical with Bible parables and illustrations.

One of these traditions is that long years ago, when even the race of red men was in its infancy, there came a rainy sea- son to the land inhabited by the fore- fathers of the Indians. It continued to pour down in drenching torrents for nearly "two moons." The land became covered with water. It rose until even the highest hills began to disappear be- neath the waves. The red men seeing that the end was not yet, re- solved to cast their lot upon the waters and trust to the Great Spirit for safety. All the canoes that could be found were collected together and bound with lariats. When the proper time came the raft was ladened with the necessary food, blankets

and a few musk rats, and all got aboard as the last high mound was submerged by the rapidly rising waters. For many days and nights the bark tossed to and fro, the rain ceased, and they only waited for the water to go down. A musk rat was dropped overboard. He sank toward the bottom and after remaining some time returned to the surface with clean paws and clambered into the raft. This indicated that the water was yet too deep to reach bottom. In a few days the experiment was repeated; but with the same result. In a few days more the muskrat was again put overboard and after being down a few moments came to the surface with his paws covered with mud, and again disappearing to re- turn no more. This was the hopeful sign they had looked for and in a few days the canoes rested upon the summit of a high mountain. It is readily seen that this tradition is merely another version of the Bible narrative of Noah and the ark; told, it is true, in a rude way, but the truths are still intact and the Indians firmly believe in its authenticity.

The Musquakies have a system of self government. They are divided into three families or clans, which are each repre- sented by a chief; then there is a council consisting of a number of braves who are chosen with reference to their general in- telligence or else those who have distin- guished themselves in war or otherwise. In addition to these there is a "Business Chief', who is the highest in authority: he attends to the business, leads them in case of war, and is the general executive. Nothing is done except what is agreed to by the council and their wishes are car- ried out by the head chief. Whatever be

240

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

their decree most of the people at once submit to it without the need of persua- sion or force, and it is very seldom that" even the slightest of their laws are vio- lated. There are sometimes exceptions to this in the cases of young men who ob- tain liquor from the whites and when un- der its influence will pay but little atten- tion to the laws of the chiefs.

The present "Business Chief" is "Mah- tah-e-qua" who years ago distinguished himself in war with the Sioux. His name, in Indian tongue, indicates the office he holds: Major-General or Leader.

As a rule the offices of the Indians are hereditary. When a chief dies his son takes his rank, and, if too young, they either wait until he has reached the years of discretion, or the remaining chiefs ap- point some one to fill the vacancy until the heir attains maturity. If any one of the tribe does wrong, his face is blacked, and he is obliged to fast a day or more, according to the nature of the crime or offense.

They are very much opposed to educa- tion, because, they say, "We don't want

our children to grow up like white chil- dren. When white people come to our village we treat them well, the children stand back; but when the Indian goes to town the white children throw stones at him and call him names." They have a school house but are so prejudiced against education that it is hard work to get a young Indian into it. The old braves would not venture in until all the desks. were taken out. They all say that if they were educated they would become mean like the white man-"White man is so mean that when he dies his God puts him in an awful hot place, and burns him for- ever, but the Indian's God is more merci- ful, and the mean Indian less wicked; the Great Spirit sifts him like chaff . and the good Indian goes to the happy hunting ground beyond the river where the bad Indian and the white man never comes." They have a faith that laughs at the im- possible, and their confidence in the ways and workings of the Great Spirit for good would put to shame many faithless white men.

CHAPTER IV.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

To the reader of local history this chapter is of general interest, but to the pioneer himself it is more. Here he has himself and friends and neighbors, as in the days past they first sought out these

western wilds and fought for existence in the wilderness. See him, as he takes the book in band slowly, critically poring over every word, recalling in his mind the pictures of a vanished past at the

241

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

mention of some well-known name, or smiling as recollection brings back some ludicrous adventure in the early days of his settlement. His old associations, the trials and tribulations incident to a new country, the battles against hunger and cold, while settlers were scattered thinly over a large expanse of country. All these rise up before him as he reads. Even now, in memory, he hears the wind moan round the humble cottage that first sheltered him, and hears the wolves howl as they did in days of yore. The picture of the past rises up vividly before him, and he once more rejoices in the pride of youth. Now the thought comes over him, that by and through his efforts, be has helped to make this wil- derness blossom as the rose, and emerge from a state of nature to a well-cultivated and thrifty land, and views with satisfac- tion the growing towns and villages and fertile farms that dot the landscape over. But perhaps the brow will cloud and the eye dim as memory's mystic voice recalls the dark and painful side of those early experiences. The loved wife of his bos- om fading slowly away before the breath of the cold destroyer, or some langhing, prattling babe, the joy of the household, laid away under the sod, in solemn silence, by the hands of rough, but sym- pathizing neighbors. Time has closed these wounds, but to-day, as memory is fast unlocking the chambers of the mind, the silent tear will well itself to the sur- face and drop as a tribute to the loved and the lost of that by-gone time.

Notwithstanding the cares and adver- sities that clustered round the cabin door of the pioneer, these hardy Argonauts led

a happy life. Here all were free and equal, and the absence of the restraining presence of wealth and position was to him a source of comfort and satisfaction. The rough hospitality, the hearty feel- ing of brotherhood, among these var .- guards of civilization were the spontane- ous overflow of hearts full of regard for humanity, and was practiced more as the natural prompting of their nature than from any teaching of a Christian duty.

Prior to the advent of the permanent settlers in this county, settlements were made by that singular sect known as

MORMONS

then on their way from Nanvoo to Utah. A short account of these religious en- thusiasts will not be out of place in this connection, and before taking up the nar- rative of their settlement here, the fol- lowing may be read with interest:

The Mormons, or as they call them- selves, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, are a sect formed on a basis of religion founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith, at Manchester, New York. The distinguishing peculiar- ities of the sect are, in religious aspects, the belief in a continual divine revelation through the inspired medium of the prophet at the head of the Church; in moral respects, the practice of polygamy; and in social respects, a complete hier- archial organization. The government of the Mormons is a pure theocracy; its of- ficers form a complete priesthood. The supreme power, spiritual and temporal, rests with the first presidency, elected by the whole body of the Church, and two co-adjutors. Then follows the office of the patriarch, the council of the twelve

242

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

apostles, and of the seventy disciples; then the order of high priests, bishops, elders, priests, teachers and deacons. Of all these one alone is head, the prophet- the seer-and he alone has the right of working [ miracles, and receiving revela- tions. This belief in a continual divine revelation through the prophet-a belief which enjoins absolute obedience to the commands of the revelation on the part of the persons who accept it, is the corner- stone of the social building of Mormon- ism, the only vital agency in its history, the whole secret of its success; and the day it dies out Mormonism is nothing but a heap of nonsense. The Mormons accept both the Bible and the Book of Mormon as divine revelations, but they hold them both subject to the explanations and cor- rections of the prophet. This Book of Mormon was the record by which Joseph Smith, the founder of the faith, first in- troduced himself to the world, the guar- anty he gave for the divine character of his vision. His story was that an angel from Heaven appeared before him and told him where this book, the Bible of the western continent, the supplement of the New Testament, was hidden. On the spot designated by the heavenly visi- tor, Smith found in a stone box a volume six inches thick and composed of, thin gold plates, eight inches by seven, held together by three gold rings. These plates were covered with characters in an unknown tongue, but beside the volume he also found Urim and Thummin, a sort of supernatural specta- cles, which enabled him to read and understand the characters. Sitting be- hind a curtain drawn across the room, he

then dictated a translation-for he could not write himself-to his secretary, Oliver Cowdrey, and his translation was printed in 1830, accompanied by testimonials from eleven persons who had seen the golden plates before they unfortunately disappeared. It was soon proved beyond doubt that the Book of Mormon was simply a sort of historical romance writ- ten in 1812, by one Solomon Spalding, who indulged in that kind of psendo his- tory, though he never succeeded in get- ting his productions published, and that the manuscript had been lost in a printing office, in Pittsburg under the hands of an apprentice, Sidney Rigden, who in 1829 became an associate of Joseph Smith. The book pretends to give the history of America up to the fifth century of our era; the first settlement of the country after the destruction of the tower of Babel, and the dispersion of the nations; the second settlement in the sixth cen- tury, B. C. by Lehi and his sons, arriving directly from Jerusalem; the origin of the American Indians from the unfaith- ful Jews who were condemned to have dark skins; the arrival and preaching of Christ in America; the final destruction of the faithful; and the command of God to the prophet Mormon to write down an abridgement of all these events and hide the volume. With this book as the basis of his teaching, Smith began to preach, and in January, 1831, he led the first Mormon congregation, consisting of thirty members, from Manchester, New York, to Kirtland, Ohio, which became the head- quarters of the sect for the next seven years. The great body of these people then migrated to Missouri, but their con- .

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

243

duct growing obnoxious to their neigh- bors, they were kept in a state of actual warfare, and at the close of 1838, they were driven from that State. They crossed the Mississippi, and founded the city of Nauvoo, in Illinois, where they lived for seven years. At Nauvoo the whole fabric came near dissolution. The conduct of Joseph Smith was such as to provoke the indignation of the settlers in that locality, and on a newspaper exposing his outrages and crimes, Smith, at the head of a large party razed the office to the ground and forced the editor to flee. A warrant for his arrest was served upon him, but he refused to ohey, and shelter- ing himself behind his friends, the militia was called out to enforce the law. War was about to break out as the Mormons were arming at Nauvoo, but the Governor prevailed upon the prophet to surrender. On the 27th of June, 1844, he was taken to the jail at Carthage, but during that night was taken from the jail and shot by an armed mob. The situation of the Mormons now became so precarious that another emigration was determined on, and under the leadership of Brigham Young, began in 1846. Sixteen thousand poor wretches followed this false prophet across the desert wilderness to Utah, where they have established a strong em- pire of their own. On their onward march, in 1846, these people passed through, what is now Cass county. Mr. Young, in his short history of the coun- ty, says of them:

"Several thousand of them reached the Missouri river where Council Bluffs now is, in July and August of that year (1846) and after a short parley at that point they

scattered [up and down both sides of the Missouri river, and went into winter quarters. A small party, probably twenty families, got as far eastward as the Nish- nabotna river and Indian creek in this county, and on those streams, in the neighborhood of the present town of Lewis, and not far from the deserted In- dian village) called ; Indiantown, built cabins, made 'dugouts' and fixed for the winter of 1846-7. This was a hard ex- perience for tenderly nurtured women and frail children, and in their march, and while camped here they suffered ter- ribly and many succumbed to the effects of the exposure."

The Mormon settlement in this county, at Indiantown, was merely a small branch of the main camp on the Missouri river. To quote again from Mr. Young:

"The first year they were in this county (and the same was true of all their settle- ments in western Iowa) they were almost destitute of provisions. No supplies could be had for one hundred miles in any direction. A. G. Pettengill, now a resident of Utah, and who resided at In- diantown during all the years that the Mormons were in the county, writes ns from Salt Lake, in reply to an inquiry as to early days, that 'we ground corn, (some we brought with us,) in mills whose burrs were made of common boulders, picked up in Union county. Deer and elk were plenty and afforded us all the meat neces- sary.' Mr. Pettengill says they got some corn at St. Joseph, Missouri, where there was a ferry in operation across the Mis- souri. In 1847 they raised enough sod corn to feed themselves and their stock.

244

HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

In that year they secured the establish- ment of a postoffice at their settlement. The postoffice was called 'Cold Spring' although the settlement was known as Indiantown. Mr. Pettengill was the first postmaster, and from him we learn that the mail was carried to Cold Spring once a week from the main Mormon camp at Kanesville, (now Council Bluffs.) The mail carrier also went on to Union county and supplied the Mormon settlement at 'Mt. Pisgah' in that county, with mail facilities.

"In 1849, the Mormon settlers in In- diantown or Cold Spring had the privil- ege of voting for the first time after settling there. The 'Mormon vote' was worth having then, the population of the State being small, and the, 'leaders of the church' were treated with great consider- ation by men seeking political preferment. At the election mentioned, Orson Hyde, the leading Mormon at the Kanesville settlement, came out to tell the sovereigns at Cold Spring how to vote, but they let Orson say all that he had to say and then voted as they pleased. James Ferrin was the Bishop who . took the tithings from brethren at Cold Spring. Messrs. War ner and Bunnell were the preachers.

"The Mormons did not devote them- selves entirely to agriculture and religion. There were two violin players in the set- tlement, and the folks gathered in each other's houses every night or two and held social dances. One of the Mormon preachers would dance with his parislion- ers, while the other would not, but it is said that that other one's lack of sin in that respect was more than made up for in another respect. The joists in the

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.

Author: Continental Historical Company, Springfield, Ill Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Continental Historical Co. Number of Pages: 918

Author: Continental Historical Company, Springfield, Ill
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Continental Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 918