USA > Iowa > Dickinson County > History of Dickinson County, Iowa, together with an account of the Spirit Lake massacre, and the Indian troubles on the northwestern frontier > Part 2
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*These particulars are from the reports of fishermen and boatmen about the lake.
NATURAL RIPRAPPING ON WEST OKOBOJI.
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DICKINSON COUNTY - IOWA
MINNE WASHTA.
display of bowlders, notable not so much perhaps for their position as for their variety and beauty. Here are bowlders of limestone, bowlders of granite of every sort, porphyry, sve- nite, trap, greenstone, quartzite, what you will, the debris of all northern ledges. Similar deposits are visible all around the lake, more especially on the eastern side, probably because the prevailing winds being westerly, the waves have exerted their more constant energy along the eastern bluffs."
His descriptions of East Okoboji, Minnie Washta, Center Lake and Gar Lakes are equally fine, but must be excluded for lack of space. In conclusion he says: "These lakes taken alto- gether form one of the attractions of Iowa. Their preserva- tion in their pristine beauty is a matter of more than local interest."
Originally what now comprises the state of Iowa was occu- pied by several different tribes of Indians. These several tribes were descended from one or the other of two parent races, viz. : the Algonquins and the Dacotahs. The Algonquins were the most numerous and powerful of the native races. They originally occupied the valley of the St. Lawrence River from whence their migrations were gradually westward to the
17
INDIANS OF IOWA
Great Lakes, and eventually to the Mississippi and even beyond. They were divided into a large number of tribes hav- ing their saparate interests, but speaking a common language and owning a common ancestry.
The Algonquin tribe which figured the most prominently in the history of Iowa were the .Saes and Foxes .. These were orig- inally two different tribes, but Indian history informs us that they were united about the year 1712 and moved towards the Mississippi River. The names Sacs and Foxes were given them by the whites. The Indian name of the Sacs was the "Outa- gamies" and that of the Foxes was the "Musquawkies." Very little is known of them for the first hundred years after they moved to the Mississippi. When Lieutenant Pike, in 1805. made his first voyage of discovery up the river he saw a great deal of them and learned considerable about them. Ho esti- mated their number at that time to be not far from five thous- and. Judge Fulton says that "According to a communica- tion submitted to Congress by President Monroe, in relation to the Indians, in 1825, the Sacs and Foxes were estimated at six thousand four hundred, more than one-half of whom resided west of the Mississippi." They were the hereditary enemies of the Sioux, who were a native tribe which the Sacs and Foxes strove in vain to dispossess. They had previously conquered and driven out the Towas and taken possession of their country. They had also been successful in their wars with other tribes, but they met more than their match in the fierce and ter- rible Sioux, and were in a fair way to be finally overcome by them when the United States authorities interfered and endeav- ored to put a stop to the hostilities, in which they were but par- tially successful. The most prominent chief of this tribe known to the whites was the renowned "Black Hawk." Other chiefs of prominence were Pashepaho, Keokuk, Appanoose. Poweshiek. Wapello, Kishkekosh and many others. Judge
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DICKINSON COUNTY - IOWA
Fulton gives a list of one hundred and fifty-seven names of members of this tribe copied from the daybook of one of the old traders. In 1845 and 1846 they were removed to a reser- vation in Kansas. A short time later a "lingering remnant" of the tribe, becoming dissatisfied with their Kansas home. wandered back to their old haunts on the Iowa River, where they were allowed to gain a foothold and follow the free and easy life of their ancestors in the midst of a progressive and highly civilized community. They have readopted their ancient name and are now known to their white neighbors as "Mus- quawkies."
Another of the Algonquin tribes, which at one time had a home in Iowa, was the Pottawattamies. When they ceded their lands east of the Mississippi in 1833, they were placed on a reservation near Council Bluffs, where they remained until 1846, when another treaty was concluded with them by which they disposed of their land in Iowa and moved west of the Missouri. As with the Sacs and Foxes so with them after be- ing on their reservation for a short time a few homesick strag- glers under the lead of the well known Johnnie Green, wan- dered back to their old haunts in central Iowa, where they fished, hunted and strolled about undisturbed by their white neighbors until they passed out by life limitation or were merged with the Musquawkies.
The Illini, or Illinois, as they afterward came to be called, were a powerful confederacy made up of five distinct tribes of Algonquins, and at the close of the Seventeenth Century inhab- Sted central Illinois and southern Iowa. It was members of this tribe that Father Marquette came in contact with on his memorable voyage down the Mississippi in 1673. Historical accounts relate that he made the entire trip from the Fox River in Wisconsin to the point where he discovered "the foot- prints in the sand" near the mouth of the Des Moines River
19
THE ALGONQUIN TRIBES
in Iowa without encountering a single native. After landing he followed the trail inland to an Indian village, and found to his great delight that the savages there spoke the same lan- guage as those he had left on the shore of Green Bay. Later on this powerful confederacy became much reduced by a san- guinary war with the Iroquois, and by the time of the Louis- iana Purchase in 1803 were either exterminated or had joined other tribes and so had passed out of existence as a distinct nation.
Another strong tribe of the same race inhabiting the state of Iowa at the time of the French explorations, but which became extinct before the time of the Louisiana Purchase, were the Muscatines, or Mascoutins, as they were then called. But little is known of this tribe, although there is abundant proof of their once having occupied both sides of the Missis- sippi near where the city of Muscatine now stands. Judge Fulton closes a chapter regarding them, as follows: "Having left the last traces of their existence on what is now Iowa soil we have perpetuated the memory of this vanished people by enrolling the appellation Muscatine in our Indian geographical nomenclature."
It would seem that a careful study of the history of the different tribes about this period would cause many people to revise their preconceived notions of the rights and wrongs of the American Indians. According to the most reliable esti- mates there were originally not far from half a million natives scattered through the territory of what is now the United States. The theory that this vast empire, capable of supporting its hundreds of millions of population, should have been pre- served in its native wildness for the gratification of the savage instincts and propensities of these few thousand war- riors is at least debatable if not wholly untenable. The main occupation of these tribes was war among themselves. Upon
20
DICKINSON COUNTY - IOWA
the least provocation and on the flimsiest pretext they rushed into the most deadly and destructive warfare with each other. They fought for the love of fighting. Entire tribes were exterminated and others greatly diminished. There is every reason to believe that the number of native inhabitants was largely diminished during the last half of the Seventeenth and the first half of the Eighteenth Centuries by reason of this bitter, unrelenting warfare. The number of Indians who have fallen first and last in the various actions with the whites is wholly insignificant when compared with the numbers slain in wars among themselves. Of course there have been many instances of dishonesty and bad faith in dealing with the Indians, but that doesn't change the main proposition that in the nature of things it was never intended that this vast con- tinent should be shut off from civilization in order that a few tribes of blood-thirsty savages should be undisturbed in their favorite diversion of waging relentless warfare against each other.
The Dacotah tribes figuring in Iowa history are the Omahas, the Towas, the Winnebagos and the Sioux. It is doubtful whether the Omahas ever had a permanent residence on Iowa soil, but they frequently visited the state and were closely con- nected with the Towas, who were of the same race and spoke the same language. Judge Fulton, in writing of the Iowas, uses the following language: "The Towas were once a strong and powerful tribe and were able under their brave and warlike chiefs to maintain successful warfare against their enemies. Their later seat of empire was in the Des Moines Valley. Their principal village was situated on the Des Moines River near the northwest corner of Van Buren County, where the old trading post of Towaville was subsequently located. That spot may be regarded as historie ground, for there transpired events in the annals of savage warfare which transferred the
21
THE DACOTAII TRIBES
sovereignty of the Des Moines Valley from the Towas to the Sacs and Foxes." The decisive battle in which the Iowas were so signally defeated by the Saes and Foxes occurred some time between 1820 and 1825. During the latter year the govern- ment purchased their undivided interest in the country, what- ever it might have been, and they were placed under govern- ment protection and settled on a reservation beyond the Mis- souri River. The only prominent chief of this tribe whose name has been perpetuated in lowa is Mahaska.
Another Dacotah tribe at one time residing in Iowa were the Winnebagos. This tribe when first known were located west of Lake Michigan near Green Bay. Their history is a checkered one which cannot be repeated here. After the Black Hawk War they were removed from Wisconsin to the "Neutral Ground" in Iowa, where they remained until 1846 when they were again removed to a reservation in Minnesota near Mankato. They remained there until after the Sioux outbreak in 1862 when they were sent to a reservation on the Missouri in South Dakota. Of their chiefs those who have been remembered by the people of Iowa are Winneshiek, Wankon Decorah, and One Eyed Decorah. It was the latter who delivered Black Hawk a prisoner to the United States Indian Agent at Prairie du Chien at the close of the Black Hawk War.
The main branch of the Dacotah race are called Sioux. Many persons consider the terms Sioux and Dacotah as apply- ing to the same people. This is not strictly true, since several of the Dacotah tribes, as the Towas and Winnebagos, and some others, have never been called Sioux. Still no great confusion of ideas can arise from using the terms as interchangeable. While the term Dacotah is the more comprehensive of the two, the term Sioux is the best known and the one with which the people are most familiar. These Indians originally occu-
22
DICKINSON COUNTY - IOWA
pied the western part of Wisconsin, the northern part of Iowa, the greater part of Minnesota, the whole of North and South Dakota, and much of the country west to the Rocky Moun- tains. The first well authenticated meeting of the whites with the Dacotahs was in 1662, but for nearly fifty years previous to that time fabulous stories had reached the French on the St. Lawrence River of a wonderful people who dwelt far to the westward and who spoke a different language from any with which they were acquainted. These mysterious reports made such an impression on the mind of Champlain, the Governor of New France, that he determined to investigate. Accordingly in 1634 he induced Jean Nicollet to undertake a journey of exploration in the region beyond what had then been discovered. Nicollet's account of his journey reads like a fairy tale, but he did not succeed in reaching the Sioux on that trip. A very interesting paper by Hon. Irving B. Rich- man, entitled, "First Meeting with Dacotahs," says: "The first meeting of the Dacotah Indians by white men took place at a spot not so remote from the lake regions of Iowa. In 1662 the French travelers, Radison and Grosseliers, held a council with a large company of the Dacotahs near the Mille Lacs, in what is now the state of Minnesota. They were even then a famous and dreaded nation. Says Radison in his quaint and Gallie way: 'They were so much respected that nobody durst not offend them.' "
Eighteen years later or in 1680, the Mississippi River hav- ing been discovered in the meantime, Father Hennepin was sent out by La Salle to explore the upper regions of it. Judge Fulton, in his introduction to a chapter on the Sioux, uses this language: "It was in 1680 that Father Hennepin and his two companions, Michael Ako and Anthony Anguella, were sent from Fort Crevecour, near Lake Peoria, by the renowned La Salle on their mission of discovery to the upper Mississippi.
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THE SIOUX
The tribes they found inhabiting the country now embraced in northern Iowa and the state of Minnesota were those belonging to the great Dacotah group or nation. While en- camped on the banks of the Mississippi they were taken pris- oners by a band of Sioux warriors, and remained with them in their wandering's over the vast prairies and among the lakes of that region from April until September, having dur- ing that time been joined by that other intrepid French adven- turer, Duluth. These were the first Europeans who met the people that occupied and roamed over the prairies of northern Iowa, or kindled their campfires about the headwaters of the Des Moines and on the borders of our beautiful lakes two hundred years ago."
The numerical strength of the Dacotahs was then estimated at about forty thousand and does not vary a great deal from that at the present time. The nation was divided into a large number of tribes and these tribes were again subdivided into numberless clans or bands, each under its petty chief or leader, who roamed over the prairies far and wide, living on game and fish and the spontaneous production of the soil. They lived mainly in rude tents called "tepees" and roamed abont as in- clination dictated. They had favorite haunts which they vis- ited at stated periods and which were regarded by them as headquarters, where different hands would rendezvous for a while and then scatter again over the prairies and their places be occupied by other bands. Judge Fulton, in his "Red Men of Iowa," says: "At the time of the celebrated voyage of ex- ploration made by Lewis and Clarke in 1804 up the Missouri River, the band or tribe of the Great Sioux nation, known as Yanktons, lived on the upper Des Moines and Little Sioux Rivers and the region about Spirit Lake." But little reliable information can be obtained calculated to throw light upon the history of the different bands that occupied this country
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DICKINSON COUNTY - IOWA
previous to its purchase and settlement by the whites. Author- ities seem to agree, however, that a band of Yankton-Sioux, known as the Wahpekutahs, occupied the country of northern Iowa and southern Minnesota during the earlier part of the present century. North of these in Minnesota were three other tribes of Sioux for whom agencies were subsequently estab- lished on the Minnesota River, which will be noticed more in detail further on.
The Sioux were the deadly enemies of the Sacs and Foxes, the Wahpekutahs being the most active in their hostilities and the most implacable in their hatred of their southern neigh- bors. So sanguinary was the warfare waged by the contending tribes that the United States government, in 1825, decided to interfere and if possible put a stop to it. By a treaty, bearing date August 19, 1825, a boundary was established between the Sioux on the north and the Sacs and Foxes on the south, as follows: Commencing at the mouth of the upper Towa River on the west bank of the Mississippi and ascending the said Iowa River to its west fork, thence up the fork to its source, thence crossing the fork of the Red Cedar River in a direct line to the Calumet or Big Sioux River, and down to its junction with the Missouri River.
This action of the government only made matters worse, each party claiming that the other had trespassed by cross- ing over the line, and hostilities waged hotter than ever until in 1830, when the government interfered a second time and finally succeeded in negotiating a second treaty, whereby the several tribes ceded to the United States a strip of land twenty miles wide on each side of the former line, thus throwing the combatants forty miles apart. This strip was known as the "Neutral Ground." Many persons at the present time use the term without knowing its meaning. This scheme mended matters some but did not wholly prevent hostilities, which were
25
THE NEUTRAL GROUND
kept up to a greater or less extent until 1845, when the Sacs and Foxes were removed from the state.
The last hostile meeting between the Sioux and the Saes and Foxes was in Kossuth County, in April, 1852, between two straggling bands, both of whom at that time were trespassers and had no legal right on Iowa soil. This action possesses a dramatic interest out of all proportion to its impor- tance as a historical event, from the fact that it was here that the "lingering remnants of two great nations who had for more than two hundred years waged unrelenting warfare against each other had their last and final struggle." The number engaged was about seventy on a side, and the result was a com- plete victory for the Sacs and Foxes.
At the same time of the treaty respecting the Neutral Ground, July 15, 1830, another treaty was negotiated by which the Sacs and Foxes, Western Sionx, Omahas, Iowas and Mis- souris united in conveying to the United States the portion of the western slope of Iowa described 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 River on the east side, thence down said creek and the Calumet to the Missouri River, thence down said Missouri River to the Missouri state line above the Kansas River, thence along said line to the high- lands between the waters falling into the Missouri and the Des Moines, passing to said highlands 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 the Des Moines to a point opposite the source of the Boyer River, thence in a direct line to the upper fork of the Des Moines, the place of beginning.
By the terms of this treaty the United States agreed to pay to the Sacs and Foxes three thousand dollars cach; to the
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DICKINSON COUNTY - IOWA
Sioux, two thousand dollars ; to the Yankton and Santee bands of Sioux, three thousand dollars; to the Omahas, two thousand five hundred dollars; and to the Otoe and Missouris, two thou- sand five hundred dollars, to be paid annually for ten successive years. In addition to these annuities the United States agreed to provide other advantages for some of the tribes joining in the treaty. This treaty was made by William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs; and Col. Willoughby Morgan, of the United States First Infantry. It went into effect by proclamation February 24, 1831. So much for the treaty by which the territory of western Iowa passed from the jurisdiction of the Indians to the government of the United States.
CILAPTER II.
TREATY OF 1851-MINNESOTA RESERVATION- UPPER AND LOWER AGENCIES-THE WAHPEKUTAL SIOUX-WAMDISAAPPI AND THE OUTLAW BAND
LEAVE
THE
MAIN
TRIBE -- AT
WAMDISAPPI'S
DEATH SIDOMINADOTAII BECOMES CHIEF-ILAS TROUBLE WITH LOTT NEAR MOUTH OF BOONE RIVER-LOTT MURDERS THE CHIEF'S ENTIRE FAMILY-SOME EXTRACTS FROM HARVEY ING- HAM'S "SCRAPS OF EARLY HISTORY -INKPADU- .
TAHI BECOMES CHIEF-STRAINED RELATIONS BE- TWEEN HIS BAND AND THE SETTLERS.
N 1851 another treaty was made with the Sions by the provisions of which they agreed to relinquish to the United States their remaining title to all land in the state of Towa, and also their title to all lands in Minnesota, ex- cept what constituted their reservation. A careful examina- tion of the terms of this treaty and the preceding ones would seem to justify the conclusion that, so far as Iowa is concerned, this treaty was intended to be somewhat of the nature of a quit- claim deed given for the purpose of healing defeets in a for- mer conveyance. As before stated, there were four bands of these Sioux and they had their reservation on the Minnesota River. It was composed of a strip of land ten miles wide on each side of the river and extending from a short distance below Fort Ridgley to the source of that river. There were two agencies known as the Upper and Lower Agencies. The Lower Ageney was located on the Minnesota River about five miles below the Redwood River and thirteen miles above Fort Ridg- ley, and the Upper Agency on the Yellow Medieine River.
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DICKINSON COUNTY - IOWA
about three miles from its mouth. Two bands received their annuities at the Lower and two at the Upper Agency.
The Wahpekutahs, the band with which the history of this county is most closely identified, had their headquarters at the Lower Agency and were therefore known as Lower Sioux. Prominent among their chiefs was one Wamdisappi, or Black Eagle. He and his immediate followers were savages of such ferocity and were so quarrelsome and revengeful that they could not live at peace even with the members of their own tribe. It was largely through their intrigues and restlessness that the war with the Sacs and Foxes was kept up as long as it was. and after their removal these turbulent savages turned their attention to working up quarrels and dissensions in their own band. These quarrels finally culminated in Wamdisappi and the more turbulent of his followers leaving the main body and striking westward across the Big Sioux and establishing thein- selves on the Vermilion River, in what is now South Dakota, from which point they roamed over the country far and wide, often going as far south as the mouth of the Boone River and as far east as the Cedar and beyond. In writing of this band, Judge Flandrau has this to say of them: "So thoroughly were they separated from the rest of the Wahpekutahs that when the last named Indians, together with the M'daywakautons, made their treaty at Mendota in 1851, by which they ceded the lands in Minnesota owned by them, the remnant of Wamdisappi's people were not regarded as being a part of the Wahpekutahs at all and took no part in the treaty." The numerical strength of Wamdisappi's band has been variously estimated, some placing it as high as five hundred and others as low as one hun- dred and fifty. Doubtless the reason for this discrepancy is that there were a large number of Indians who would at times associate themselves with the outlaws in their predatory excur- sions, and then as the time for the payment of the annuities
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LOTT AND SIDOMINADOTAH
approached would unite themselves with the Agency Indians for the purpose of sharing in the annuities.
Among the followers of Wamdisappi was a chief known as Sidominadotah, or "Two Fingers," who eventually became leader of the band. While his headquarters were on the Ver- milion, his favorite haunts were in the neighborhood of the lakes and along the Des Moines and Little Sioux Rivers. They were known as far east as Prairie du Chien and as far south and southwest as Council Bluffs, and were universally regarded as a bad lot. Many and varied were the difficulties with the early settlers all along the frontier line. These difficulties were the source of a vast deal of annoyance, anxiety and appre- hension on the part of the settlers.
Among others who had received indignities from this band was one Henry Lott, whom Judge Fulton characterizes as "a rough, unscrupulous border character," who in 1846 settled near the mouth of Boone River in Webster County. His chief occupation seems to have been selling poor whisky to the In- dians. He was also accused of stealing horses, as in 1848 some horses stolen from the Indians were traced to his cabin. Other lawless aets were also charged to him. This so irritated and enraged the savages that they determined to drive him out of the country. It would be well to remember here that this was not on Sioux territory at all, but was south of the Neutral Ground, on land but recently vacated by the Saes and Foxes. Lott was soon waited on by the chief and a party of his men and informed that he was regarded as an intruder and given a certain number of days in which to leave their hunting grounds. The Indians now went away, but Lott did not see proper to leave. At the expiration of the appointed time the Indians returned, and, finding Lott still there, commenced to destroy his property. They shot his horses and cattle, robbed his bee hives, threatened his family and drove him and his
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