USA > Iowa > Clayton County > History of Clayton County, Iowa : from the earliest historical times down to the present : including a genealogical and biographical record of many representative families, prepared from data obtained from original sources of information, Volume I > Part 5
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As late as 1822, Boilvin, Indian agent at Fort Crawford, com- plained that the English were still interfering with the Indians and that many of them were in the habit of visiting British posts at Malden and other Canadian points, where presents were given them and where they received supplies. The illicit trade in whiskey was one of the greatest evils of the Indian traffic. So bad had this become that all boats of traders passing Fort Crawford was searched for liquor. The agent states "the melancholy truth is that no law or regulation, will be sufficient to prevent the Indians residing immediately on our borders, from obtaining ardent spirits in any quantity they may desire." The year 1823 marked a great revolution in river traffic, for in that year the steamboat "Virginia" ascended the river, during high water, as far as Fort Snelling.
INDIAN WARFARE
The tribal wars between the Indians continued all through these years, and, in 1825, a determined effort was made to bring about a peace between the Sioux and the Sacs and Foxes. Representatives of the hostile tribes gathered at Prairie du Chien from all parts of the northern Iowa country, and a boundary line was fixed which should mark the hunting grounds of the various tribes. This boundary com- menced at the mouth of the Upper Iowa river and crossed the state south and west. The tribes participating in this treaty were the Chippewas, Sacs and Foxes, Menominees, Winnebagoes and a portion of the Ottawas and Pottawatomies. In reality the Indians paid but little attention to this imaginary line and the conflict between the tribes continued.
The Winnebagoes made their first appearance in Iowa in 1826. They left their hunting ground in Illinois and invaded northeastern
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Iowa. Their foray was marked by the massacre of Francis Methode and his wife and children. The murdered family had pitched their tent upon the Yellow river to make sugar, and when they failed to return to Prairie du Chien a search party of officers and soldiers was sent from Fort Crawford and their bodies were found. Twelve Win- nebagoes were imprisoned for this offense.
The American Fur Company now had virtual control of all the trade of this district. George Davenport, who proved himself a very astute agent for the Astor trust, was a power along the Mississippi. He had control of trade from the mouth of the Iowa river to the Turkey river, while "King Rolette" bought furs north of the Turkey river, with headquarters at Prairie du Chien.
One of the bloodiest episodes of the Indian warfare in northern Iowa took place off the shores of Clayton County. The account of this battle as given in Gue's History of Iowa is as follows: "In 1828 the Sioux and the Winnebagoes, then in alliance, sent an invitation to the Sac and Fox chiefs near Dubuque to meet them in council and forever bury the hatchet. The Fox chiefs, unsuspicious of treachery started toward the place of meeting. On the second evening, as they were in camp for the night, on the east shore of the Mississippi near the mouth of the Wisconsin river, they were fired upon by more than a thousand Sioux warriors. Rushing from their hiding place the treacherous Sioux killed all but two of the Foxes who plunged into the Mississippi and swam to the west shore, carrying news of the massacre to their village. Stung to desperation by the act of treachery the Foxes prepared to avenge the murder of their chiefs. A war party was organized, led by the newly elected chief, Ma-que-pra-um. They embarked in canoes and stealthily landed in the vicinity of their enemy, concealed by the dense underbrush. Toward midnight they swam the river and crept silently upon the sleeping foe. Nerved with the spirit of vengeance, they silently buried their tomahawks in the heads of seventeen Sioux chiefs and warriors and crept to their canoes without the loss of a man."
Another account of this Indian battle, which was the most im- portant ever fought in this vicinity, is as follows: "I visited Prairie du Chien, and was a guest of Joseph Rolette, agent of the American Fur Company. One evening we were startled by the reports of fire- arms on the Mississippi, succeeded by sounds of Indian drums and savage yells. About midnight we were aroused by footsteps on the piazza and by knocking on the doors and shutters. Mr. Rolette went out to ascertain the cause, and was informed that a bloody battle had been fought, and the visitors were the victors, and called on their traders to obtain spirit-water for a celebration. Their wants were supplied. The warriors kept up a horrible pow-wow through the night with savage yells. In the morning we heard the particulars of the fight, and during the day witnessed a most revolting exhibition. On the day before the battle, some twenty Sioux joined by a few Menom- onees, encamped on an island opposite Prairie du Chien. The Sioux had information that a party from the Fox village at Dubuque were to visit Prairie du Chien, and would encamp for the night near the mouth of the Wisconsin river. That afternoon the Sioux party
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descended the Mississippi and hid in thick bushes near where their victims would encamp. Between sunset and dark, the unsuspecting Foxes-one old chief, one squaw, a boy of fourteen years, and fifteen warriors-came up and disembarked. After they had landed and were carrying their effects on shore leaving their guns and warclubs in the canoes, the party in ambush sprang to their feet and fired upon the Foxes. All were slain, except the boy, who escaped down the river. Hands, feet, ears, and scalps were cut off, and the heart of the chief cut from his breast, as trophies. The next day the victors, accompanied by a few squaws, paraded the streets with drum and rattle, displaying on poles the scalps and dismembered fragments of their victims. The whole party was painted in various colors, wore feathers, and carried their tomahawks, warclubs, and scalping knives. Stopping in front of the principal houses in the village, they danced the war-dance and the scalp-dance with their characteristic yells. The mangled limbs were still fresh and bleeding; one old squaw carried on a pole the hand with a strip of skin from the arm of a murdered man, she keeping up the death-song and joining in the scalp-dance. After this exhibition, which lasted two or three hours, the warriors went to a small mound, about two hundred yards from Mr Rolette's residence, made a fire, roasted the heart of the old chief, and divided it into small pieces among the warriors, who devoured it.
"This occurred in a town of six hundred inhabitants, under the walls of the United States garrison, within musket shot of the fort. Neither civil nor military authority made any effort to prevent it. In the afternoon the Sioux embarked in their canoes to return to their village. Not long afterward a war party formed in the Fox village to avenge the murder. Wailings and lamentations for the dead gave way to savage yells. With blackened faces, chanting the death-song, the party entered their canoes. Arriving at the bluffs opposite Prairie du Chien they discovered a Menomonee encampment spread out on the ground, nearly under the guns of Fort Crawford. The Foxes lay in ambush till midnight, when, girded with tomahawk and scalping knife, they swam the river and stole upon the foe. In the first lodge an old chief sat by a smouldering fire, smoking his pipe in sleepy silence. They dispatched him without making a disturbance, and pursued their bloody work from lodge to lodge, until the whole encampment, with the women and children, met the same fate. Then with a yell of sat- isfaction and revenge they took to the canoes of their victims, bearing aloft the trophies of victory. Upon reaching their village, they held their orgies and danced the scalp-dance. But fearing a swift retalia- tion, they concluded to abandon their village, and seek a safer place among the bands of their tribe, and near the Sacs. They settled where the city of Davenport now stands. Eye-witnesses reported seeing them as they came down past Rock Island, their canoes lashed side by side, the heads and scalps of their enemies set upon poles. They landed with shouts of triumph, singing war-songs, displaying the scalps and ghastly faces of the slain. The new village was called Morgan, after their chief, a half-breed of the Scotch and Fox blood."
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NEUTRAL GROUND
This continued warfare proved that the boundary line was totally ineffective as a barrier and, at the same time it made it more difficult to bring the Indians together for any friendly settlement of their troubles. This was at last arranged, however, and the chiefs of all the Indian tribes of this region were assembled in one of the greatest Indian gatherings ever held in the northwest, at Prairie du Chien, in July, 1830. The great council preceding this treaty lasted for several days and was accompanied by feasting, dancing, games and races. The councils were held with all solemnity and with rigid adherence to Indian etiquette. The council was presided over by General William Clark and not only the Indians, but the foremost men among the trad- ers were present. As a result of this gathering the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States a strip twenty miles in width south of the imaginary boundary line which commenced at the mouth of the Upper Iowa and extended across the state, and the Sioux ceded a twenty- mile strip, north of the same line. This gave the United States pos- session of a strip forty miles wide which came to be known as "The Neutral Ground."
The Neutral Ground played an important part in the history of Clayton county, it was the northern boundary of the county as first formed, and it included a portion of the county as it now is. While the United States came into ownership of this land, it was with the understanding that it was to be devoted entirely to the use of the Indians, the purpose being, as the name indicated, to have a tract, owned by the government, which should serve as a barrier between the hostile tribes. It was predicted that game would disappear from this district within a short time and the United States agreed to pay each of the contracting tribes from $2,000 to $3,000 annually for ten years. It was further agreed that agriculture was to be promoted, the Indians supplied with blacksmiths, iron, and farm implements, and their children were to be educated. Nathan Boone, son of the famous Daniel Boone, headed the party which surveyed this tract, beginning their work in April, 1832, and completing the northern line in about two months. He had just started on the southern line and had pro- ceeded some two miles west of the Mississippi, when the outbreak of the Black Hawk war caused him to stop and the work was not finished until the latter part of 1833.
Joseph M. Street, Indian agent, accompanied the surveying party for a time and he writes the first intimate description of Clayton county of which we have record, giving a picture of the county as it was before the inroads of American settlers. Mr. Street says: "I passed through the country, and joined the surveyors near the Red Cedars river. Went to the extreme western boundary of the cession at Red Cedar, and examined the country on that river, the Wa-pee-sa- pee-nee-can, and Turkey river, and its two principal branches, the Yellow and Gerrard (Giard) rivers. Taking a ride through the coun- try south of Gerrard river, between the Mississippi and Turkey rivers, I was out seventeen days, during which time I saw a part of the pur- chase from the Sioux and passed through the (Black Hawk) pur-
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chase from the Sacs and Foxes in numerous directions. "On Turkey river, and the whole distance to within a mile of the Mississippi, is a fine agricultural country, and the prairies not very large. There are considerable bodies of valuable timber on Turkey, Yellow and Gerrard rivers, and the shores of the Mississippi.' I never rode through a country so full of game. The hunter who accompanied me, though living most of his time in the woods, expressed his astonishment at the abundance of all kinds of game, except buffalo; and the surveyors saw and killed many of these about thirty or forty miles west of Red Cedar, on the same purchase. Elk and deer are abundant in the prairies, and bear in the woodland. The sign of fur animals, particu- larly rats and otters, is considerable on all the streams and ponds, and very abundant on the Wa-pee-sa-pee-nee-can and Turkey rivers. It is a beautiful and fertile country, and, with a little attention to agricul- ture, is capable of sustaining the whole Winnebago nation; and if the proper measures are pursued, and inducements held out to the Indians, in a few years many hundreds will be settled in that country, producing thousands of bushels of grain and potatoes, and the cry of distress will no longer assail the ears of the government. The country abounds with fine mill streams, and situations for mills with abundance of rock are frequent. If a mill was built, and the Indians learnt to raise wheat, they would in a few years grow a sufficiency in this country for the sustainance of the whole nation and live in great plenty."
In 1832, prior to this trip by agent Street, a treaty had been made with the Winnebagoes, who were dissatisfied with their reservation east of the Mississippi and where the lands were coveted by the settlers. By this treaty the Winnebagoes were to occupy the Neutral Ground as far west as the Red Cedar. After having made this treaty the Winnebagoes were dissatisfied with its terms and wished to remain in their old homes. In this course they were encouraged by "King Rolette" who feared the loss of trade for the fur company. There was sharp dissension between Street and Rolette and the latter sought to impugn Street's motives. He wrote to the governor of Michigan Territory urging that the Winnebagoes be allowed to remain on the Wisconsin, and saying that Street was interested on account of the fact that his son owned a store at Prairie du Chien which would be benefited. Street was in reality an earnest, honest man and a real friend of the Indians. He proposed the building of a school-house and a model farm for the benefit of the Indians and stated "that the rapacious hands of the traders and the heartless speculators had reduced the Winnebagoes to slavery." The fur company agents together with the whiskey vendors vowed Street would be defeated in his program but, in August, 1833, an order was issued for the building "of a comfortable log school-house, west of the Mississippi, out of reach of the fatal whiskey traffic." In the autumn of 1833 Winnebago families numbering sixty-eight persons established themselves at an old Sac village near the Mouth of Turkey river, and others settled farther north. In the meantime white settlers were seizing the best sites for farms and towns, and both the Sioux and the Sacs and Fox Indians objected to any strangers occupying the Neutral Ground. The Winne- bagoes were, therefore, frightened away and returned to their old home
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across the Mississippi. In 1835 several hundred Winnebagoes re-occupied the territory but they left again in 1836. During the next few years the Winnebagoes lingered on the east bank of the Mississippi in a state of idle drunkenness, loitering about the villages, committing depredations upon the settlers, stealing horses and killing cattle and hogs. In 1839, some progress had been made in transferring the Indi- ans to Iowa. Two Shilling's band lived near the new Winnebago school on the Yellow river; and Little Priest's and Whirling Thunder's bands were near the new farm fifteen miles west. It was not until 1840, that the government took energetic measures to force the Winne- bagoes to move to the Neutral Ground. General Henry Atkinson was commissioned for this work and a post was established near the mouth of Spring Creek, Winneshiek county, and named Camp Atkinson. Company F of the Fifth U. S. Infantry furnished the garrison which was soon increased by Company B of the First U. S. Dragoons, making the garrison of Fort Atkinson number about 160. Substantial buildings of stone were erected and the military road which runs through the north part of this county was constructed from Fort Atkinson to the Missis- sippi river opposite Fort Crawford, at a cost of $90,000. The presence of this military' force was deemed necessary not only to transfer and control the Winnebagoes, but to protect them from the whiskey of the whites and the tomahawks of the Sioux and the Sacs and Foxes. More than forty Winnebagoes were murdered by the Sacs and Foxes in this region during this time. Rev. David Lowry who, with agent Street, was a real friend of the Indians, was established as head of a govern- ment school in the neighborhood of Fort Atkinson. This school was established by Street in 1835. When four yoke of oxen and two horses were brought to the farm near the Winnebago school, south of the Neutral Grounds, near the Mississippi river, the machinations of Street's enemies caused his removal, and it was not until 1837 that any progress was made on the farm. David Lowry reported the crops for 1838 as consisting of 500 bushels of corn, 1,000 bushels of potatoes and 1,500 bushels of turnips. This farm, and the school under Rev. Lowry, grew to considerable proportions and were of great value to the Indians. Lowry was removed by President Tyler in 1844, and James McGregor, Jr., became the agent at the station near Fort Atkin- son. He found the Indians very generally under the influence of whiskey and in a state of great insubordination: they had largely exchanged their annuity provisions for liquor and had shot two cows and an ox not belonging to them. It was not until 1847 that the Win- nebagoes were induced to sell their Iowa land, and it was not until 1849, eleven years after this county was organized, that the Winne- bagoes were removed to their new home in Minnesota and Fort Atkin- son was abandoned. While Fort Atkinson was not in this county and while, in 1837, the Indians had surrendered their rights over the Neutral Ground for the twenty miles just west of the Mississippi, nevertheless their presence and their depredations affected all the white settlers in this county during the first years of its history and greatly retarded the settlement of the north tier of townships. The fine mili- tary road, however, was a legacy of the Indian times which greatly aided in the prosperity of McGregor and Clayton at a later date.
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BLACK HAWK PURCHASE
All that part of Clayton county not in the Neutral Grounds was a part of the Black Hawk Purchase. At the beginning of the century, the Sacs and Foxes dominated western Illinois and southern Wisconsin and eastern Iowa. Their main village was at Rock Island, and Illinois was their favorite hunting ground. In 1804 certain chiefs of the nation entered into a treaty with the United States at St. Louis by which all their lands east of the Mississippi were ceded to the United States for a paltry sum. The government always contended that this was a bona fide treaty and insisted that the Indians live up to its terms. The Indians claimed that this treaty was signed by a few unauthorized chiefs who were purposely made drunken at the time, that the com- pensation was wholly inadequate, that the United States violated the treaty by the establishment of forts on the west side of the Mississippi and by taking possession of land in Illinois before the time set by the treaty, and that no such cession could have been made without the knowledge and consent of all of the chiefs.
It was dissatisfaction over this treaty, of 1804, which led Black Hawk and many of the Sacs and Foxes to join with the British during the war of 1812. In 1816, Black Hawk signed a treaty but again insisted that the terms were misrepresented and that he did not know he was to relinquish his village in Illinois. Matters came to a head in 1831 when Black Hawk undertook to reoccupy the old home in Illinois from which he had been driven. Regular soldiers and volunteers under General James took the Indians by surprise, defeated them and forced the treaty ceding all lands east of the Mississippi. Black Hawk was forced to cross to the west side of the river but, in 1832, he again entered Illinois at the head of a large number of braves. Black Hawk's army was well disciplined and he showed great generalship and succeeded in defeating the Americans under Major Stillman. This defeat caused great consternation throughout the entire country and a strong military force was sent against Black Hawk. In a fierce engagement, fought at Bad-axe, on the Rock river, the Indians were badly defeated, losing 300 killed. Black Hawk with a party of twenty braves retreated up the Wisconsin river, but the Winnebagoes, under the direction of the One-eyed Decorah, captured him and delivered him to his enemies. This ended the Black Hawk war and made effective the treaty of 1832.
In this Black Hawk war the whites lost about 200 killed and the Indians about 500, men, women, and children. Black Hawk was retained as a hostage and was in prison for several years, while Keokuk, who was hated and despised by Black Hawk's followers, was rewarded with a large tract of land known as "Keokuk's Reserve."
By the terms of the treaty of 1832, the Sacs and Foxes ceded a strip of land fifty miles wide, from the northern boundary of Missouri to the mouth of the Upper Iowa. The western boundary paralleled the Mississippi and the whole tract contained about 6,000,000 acres. The consideration was the payment of $20,000 annually for thirty years and the payment of the indebtedness of the Indians to Davenport and Farnhan, representatives of the American Fur Company. The
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government also gave thirty-five beef cattle, twelve bushels of salt, thirty barrels of pork, fifty barrels of flour and six thousand bushels of corn to the women and children whose husbands and fathers had fallen in the Black Hawk war. This treaty was concluded at Davenport, September 21, 183e; it was ratified February 13, 1833, and took effect on the first of June following. It was in this wise that the United States completed its title to the ownership of what, later, became east- ern Iowa. This was gained, first, by the Louisiana Purchase from the French, and second, by the Black Hawk Purchase, from the Indians.
SETTLEMENT OF IOWA
After years of strife and warfare the Indians had been subdued and had yielded the rich lands west of the Mississippi to their con- querors. It was known that these lands were to be had for the asking. Many adventurous spirits had already crossed the river, both as pros- pectors and as traders. They had brought back with them glowing accounts, which we know, now, were not exaggerated, of the rich and fertile soil, the abundance of animal life, the splendid forests and the beautiful streams.
What wonder is it then, that the eastern shores of the Mississippi, from Prairie du Chien to a point opposite Fort Madison, were lined with people eagerly awaiting the opening of the new territory. These men, many of them with their families, resided in temporary quarters ready for the rush to the Black Hawk strip. It was a time such as was later witnessed in Oklahoma when the lands of the Indian territory were opened for settlement; and, just as in those days, there were "Sooners" who could not wait for the formal opening and who wished to gain advantage by having the first choice of location. As soon as the treaty was made, in 1832, white settlers pushed their way across the river, although it was known that the treaty had not been ratified and would not go into effect until later. Many of these settlers made improvements, and deemed it a great hardship and injustice when the United States troops compelled them to recross the river. Moreover, none of these lands had been surveyed and those who first came were unable to make any definite location, and were mere squatters upon the land. In some counties this caused much trouble and led to organiza- tions of squatters, pledged not to bid on each other's claims when they were sold as government lands. This coming of the settlers before the lands were to be relinquished under the terms of treaty, was very dis- tasteful to the Indians, who regarded it as a breach of faith and who resented it by many overt acts against the settlers. At Dubuque partic- ularly, was it difficult to restrain the whites who were eager to get possession of the veins of lead ore. As it was known that these min- eral deposits also existed along Turkey river it is safe to presume that this region, also, was prospected over and possibly located upon, before the time fixed for settlement by the United States. This country has been the scene of many such wild rushes for land, but never was any country settled more quickly and by a better and more law-abiding people, than was eastern Iowa.
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