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 21
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42
About ten o'clock the Indians made a rush and succeeded in breaking through the lines of the Sixth Iowa, and a large number effected their escape, while the balance, consisting of
280
DICKINSON COUNTY - IOWA
a motley crowd of Indians, squaws and papooses, surrendered. The camp, with all their tepees, bedding and provisions, fell into the hands of the troops and were destroyed next day.
The loss on the part of the troops was twenty-two killed and fifty wounded. The Indian loss is unknown, but was very severe. Two hundred and twenty-five dead bodies were counted in one ravine. During the night the General sent back a surgeon with a guard to the main camp for much needed medical supplies. This party on their way lost their course and wandered about all that night, the next day and the next night in a vain endeavor to find the camp. Finally, despairing of that, they determined to reach the Missouri River if possible, and "taking a due west course," they soon came into camp, much to their own surprise and to the relief of the General, who was beginning to feel some anxiety about them, fearing that possibly they might have been picked off by some stray body of savages.
The battle of White Stone Hill has never been given the prominence by historians that its importance would seem to demand, but the reason is not far to seek. By comparing dates it will be found that this engagement was fought about two weeks previous to the great battle of Chickamauga, and by the time the news of it reached civilization, the country was in a state of wild excitement over that event, and for the time being, the single division fighting savages on the northwestern border was almost forgotten. But for all that, the battle of White Stone Hill ranks as one of the decisive battles of the country. The importance of a battle does not depend on the numbers engaged, or the losses sustained, but on the far reaching results that follow, and it was at White Stone Hill that the power of the Sioux nation for aggressive warfare was effectually broken.
281
RESULTS OF THE BATTLE
"Tis true that Sibley had driven them out of Minnesota and across the Missouri River, but he was no sooner out of sight than they crossed back again apparently just as strong as ever. But from Sully's crushing defeat they never recov- ered. The burning of their camp and the destruction of their camp supplies and provisions occurred the next day, and is described by those who witnessed it as a very exciting affair, and was accompanied by many tragic and highly dramatic incidents, which, if properly written up, would make a decid- edly sensational chapter.
After the affair at White Stone Hill, General Sully was ordered by the War Department to build a fort on the upper Missouri to be called Fort Sully. Accordingly he selected the site and commenced operations. The troops did not take very kindly to the work and at first the progress was decided- ly slow. The boys claimed they didn't enlist to build forts, but the General pointedly informed them that they would have to complete that fort, if it took all winter, before they would be allowed to go down the river. When they saw that fur- ther kicking was useless, they took hold in earnest, and in a short time the fort was completed and the column started down the river, arriving in Sioux City some time early in Decem- ber. Sergeant A. Kingman, of the Sioux City Cavalry, was in command of the squad that did the first day's work in the erection of Fort Sully.
In the meantime, Sibley's command, which was to have formed a junction with Sully's on the upper Missouri, ren- dezvoused at Camp Pope, about twenty-five miles above Fort Ridgley, and near the Lower Agency. It was Sibley's original intention to make his trip by way of Devil's Lake, as the rem- nant of Little Crow's followers were supposed to be rendez- voused there. On the seventh of June, 1863, General Sibley arrived at the point of departure. His force consisted of
282
DICKINSON COUNTY - IOWA
about four thousand men, three-fourths of whom were infan- try, and eight pieces of artillery, fully equipped and officered, and accompanied by two hundred and twenty-five six-mule wagons. They broke eamp and started west on the sixteenth of June. Of course the Indians knew of the expedition being sent against them, and fell back. At first their re- treat was toward the British line, but later they changed their course in the direction of the upper Missouri. When the General became satisfied of this change, of course he aban- doned his idea of going to Devil's Lake, and decided to push forward as rapidly as possible toward the Missouri.
He therefore formed a permanent post at Camp AAtchison, about fifty miles southeast of Devil's Lake, where he left all of his sick and broken down men and a portion of his train, with a guard to defend them if attacked. He then started west on the twentieth of July, with abont fifteen hun- dred infantry, six hundred cavalry and his artillery, and twenty-five days' rations. He crossed the James River on the twenty-second, and on the twenty-fourth reached the vicinity of Big Mound. Here the scouts reported large bodies of Indians, with Red Plume and Standing Buffalo among them. The forces of the Indians were reported much larger than they really were, and the General corralled his train and threw up breastworks. About three P. M. an attack was made by the Indians. The battle was fought in the midst of a terrific thunder storm. Colonel McPhail's sabre was knocked from his hand by lightning, and one private was killed by the same force. The Indians were defeated with a loss of about eighty. Judge Flandrau, writing of this engagement, says: "The bat- tle of Big Mound was a decided victory and counted heavily in the scale of advantage, as it put the savages on the run for a place of safety and materially disabled them from prose- euting further hostilities."
283
SIBLEY'S EXPEDITION ACROSS MINNESOTA
On the morning of the twenty-sixth the command again moved forward, and about noon the scouts reported Indians, and soon large bodies of them became visible. In this action, as in the former one, the Indians were the attacking parties, making three separate and distinct attacks on Sibley's forces, but being beaten off each time they finally withdrew. Sib- ley's men immediately threw up earthworks to guard against a night surprise. This action is known as the battle of Dead Buffalo Lake. Judge Flandran further says :
"The General was now convinced that the Indians were going toward the Missouri with the purpose of putting that river be- tween themselves and his command, and, expecting General Sully's force to be there to intercept them, he was determined to push them on as rapidly as possible, inflicting all the damage he could in their flight. * * But low water delayed Sully to such an extent that he failed to arrive in time, and as the sequel will show, they succeeded in erossing the river before Sibley could overtake them."
On the twenty-eighth of July, the Indians were again seen, and this time in immense numbers. They had evidently been largely reinforced from the other side of the river. They made a hot fight of it, but were finally defeated at all points and fled in panic and rout to the Missouri. They were hotly pursued, and on the twenty-ninth the troops crossed Apple Creek and, pushing on, struck the Missouri the thirtieth. The Indians had succeeded in crossing with their families, but in a very demoralized condition. It was at this point that the two forces were to have formed a junetion. Had Sully arrived in time to prevent the Indians from crossing the river, the complete destruction or capture of the savage forees would have been the result. This delay was no fault of Sully's, but was caused by insurmountable obstacles.
This battle was known as the battle of Stony Lake, and in point of numbers engaged and the stubbornness with which
284
,DICKINSON COUNTY - IOWA
it was contested, it was one of the most important Indian battles of the war. The Indians having crossed the Mis- souri, further pursuit was abandoned and General Sibley, after resting his men a couple of days, started on his return march the first day of August.
This campaign practically ended the Indian occupation of the state of Minnesota, but the United States authorities decided not to let the Indian question rest on the results of the operations of 1863, which left the Indians in possession of the country beyond the Missouri, rightly conjecturing that they would construe their escape into a victory. Consequent- ly two expeditions were planned for the summer of 1864, sim- ilar to those of the previous year, but this time both expedi- tions were under the immediate command of General Sully. The Sioux City Cavalry, the company to which most of those enlisting from here belonged, which had been detailed for duty at the General's headquarters the previous year, were not made a part of the force on this expedition, from the fact that their time would expire and the men be entitled to their discharge before the force would return to Sioux City in the fall. They were accordingly stationed at Vermilion.
The Iowa brigade in the expedition of 1864 was composed of the Sixth Towa Cavalry, a regiment of Kansas infantry and Brackett's Battalion of Minnesota Cavalry. This brigade was under the immediate command of General Sully. The Minnesota brigade was composed of the Eighth Minnesota Infantry mounted on ponies, the Second Minnesota Cavalry and the Third Minnesota Battery. This brigade was under the command of General Sibley, but after the two brigades formed a junction at the crossing of the Missouri, Sully as- sumed the command of the entire force. The crossing was made on boats that belonged to Sully's command.
285
THE EXPEDITION OF 1864
The Minnesota force left Fort Snelling on the first day of June and moved westward without incident or accident, reach- ing the Missouri on the first of July, where they found Sully, who had arrived with his force the day before. Sully, with the Iowa forces, came up the river as before, and after form- ing a junetion with the column from Minnesota, crossed to the other side of the Missouri. The column was immediately directed toward the Cannon Ball River, where eighteen hun- dred lodges were reported to be encamped, but the Indians fled before the approach of the troops. On the second of Angust the Indians were found in large numbers on Big Knife River in the Bad Lands. These Indians had murdered a party of Idaho miners the year before, and had given aid and com- fort to the Minnesota refugee Indians. They were immediate- ly attacked and after a spirited engagement were defeated with severe loss.
On the next day, August third, the command moved west through the Bad Lands, and just as they emerged from this terribly rough country, they were sharply attacked by a very large body of savages. This fight lasted through two days and nights and was stubbornly contested, but the Indians were finally defeated at all points and fled in confusion. Gen- eral Sully then crossed to the west side of the Yellowstone, where he found two government steamers awaiting him with ample supplies. On this trip he located Forts Rice, Stephen- son and Berthold. On reaching Fort Rice, he found that considerable anxiety was felt there in regard to the fate of Captain Fisk, who, with fifty men, had left the fort as an escort to a train of Idaho emigrants, and had been attacked one hundred and eighty miles west of the fort and had been compelled to intrench. He had sent for reinforcements. General Sully sent him three hundred men, who extricated him from his dangerous position. Another expedition was
286
DICKINSON COUNTY - IOWA
sent out under Sully to Devil's Lake in 1865. Since that time the Indian troubles have been beyond the Missouri.
In referring to the Indian war of 1862 and 1863, Judge Flandran writes as follows :
"In the numbers of Indians engaged, together with their superior fighting qualities, their armament and the country oc- cupied by them, it ranks among the most important of the In- dian wars fought since the first settlement of the country on the Atlantic coast, but when viewed in the light of the number of settlers and others massacred, the amount of property des- troyed and the horrible atrocities committed by the savages, it far surpasses them all."
More time and space has been given to the Indian war in Minnesota than was at first intended, but it seems impossible to give an intelligent idea of the exposed condition of the Iowa frontier in any other way. Judge Flandrau's articles have been freely quoted. They are regarded as the most re- liable and readable of anything on the subject. Most of the facts relating to the Minnesota campaign have been compiled from his works.
CHAPTER XXIII.
CLOSE OF MILITARY OPERATIONS ON THE FRON- TIER-A SUMMARY-THE FUR BUSINESS-TRAP-
PING AND GATHERING FUR-EARLY LITERARY SOCITIES-TIE OKOBOJI LITERARY LEAGUE- THE "LEGEND OF SPIRIT LAKE."
T IS NOT deemed necessary to follow further the de- tails of military operations along the frontier. Those in which this county was most interested have already been noticed quite extensively. Several other military organizations than those mentioned were attempted and par- tially consummated, but inasmuch as they were never called into active service, they are not considered of sufficient im- portance to be given in detail here. Perhaps a recapitulation of the forces stationed here from the commencement of the troubles to the close of the war would be of interest to the reader.
The first in order is the company of state troops under com- mand of Captain Martin, which was sent here in February, 1858, and kept here until July of that year, when they were ordered out of service, but not disbanded. They were ordered here again in the fall of that same year, and kept here until the spring of 1859, when they were disbanded. The next force stationed here was a detachment of the Sioux City Cay- alry, whose operations have already been noticed. In the spring of 1863, when they were detailed for duty at General Sully's headquarters, their place was taken by a detachment of Captain Crapper's Company of the Northern Border Bri- gade, who were kept here during the summer of 1863. The next winter they were superseded by a detachment of Company T,
2SS
DICKINSON COUNTY - IOWA
of the Sixth Iowa Cavalry. This company was under the command of Captain Wolf, who had his headquarters at Es- therville. The Spirit Lake detachment was commanded by Lieutenant Benjamin King. This company was kept here until the spring of 1864, when it was succeeded by a company of the Seventh Iowa Cavalry under Captain Cooper. This force was in turn superseded by Company E, of the Sixth Iowa Cavalry, commanded by Captain Daniel Eichor, who remained here until the spring of 1865, when they were or- dered out and their places taken by a detachment of Minnesota troops known as Brackett's Battalion, under the command of Captain Read. This was the last military force stationed on the Iowa frontier. The last military post to be abandoned in Iowa was the one near the state line on the west side of Spirit Lake.
The year 1863 brought but little emigration. Among the ar- rivals for that year were Rev. Samuel Pillsbury and family, R. R. (Wilcox, William Leggett and a few others. The Pills- burys and Wilcox are the only comers of that date who re- mained permanently.
Of the different avocations adopted for making a livelihood by those who were not in the army, the most important as well as the most profitable was trapping. It will be remembered that during the war the price of gold ran up to a fabulous figure, and as fur was about the only article of export that we had that represented gold, it advanced in price accordingly. During the sixties Spirit Lake was the headquarters of the largest fur trade of any town between Mankato and Sioux City. The furs most in demand at that time were otter, beaver, fisher, mink and muskrat. The coarser furs were not so much in favor at that time as they have been since. About the first of September the trappers would scatter out to look over the ground and form their plans for the fall and winter cam- paign. It was usually considered more advantageous for two
289
THE FUR BUSINESS
to go together. Sometimes larger parties were made up, but they did not usually do as well as where they went in twos. The whole country to the north and west of here was open to them, and the innumerable lakes, sloughs and streams in that direction were richly stocked with fur bearing animals.
After locating their camp and pitching their tent, usually by some lake or stream, they at once proceeded to business. Each person tended from forty to sixty traps. To do this success- fully required from fifteen to thirty miles tramping over the prairie each day, sometimes more. Walking through the prairie. grass without trail or footpath is about as tedious and tiresome as anything that can be imagined. It was a common experience to start out in the morning about daylight, taking a saek containing from fifteen to thirty traps, and put in the entire day setting traps, taking up and moving others, sometimes skinning their game, but more often taking it back to camp with them, put in the entire day tramping over the prairie, reaching camp about dark, and then after partaking of a trapper's supper to put in the evening preparing and taking care of their furs.
The life which these trappers lived was about as primitive as could be endured by civilized beings. A small tent, the smallest possible supply of bedding, a few indispensable cook- ing utensils, a generous supply of ammunition, together with a little flour and a few necessary groceries, completed the out- fit. During the winter time these camps were moved from place to place on large handsleds. A favorite method for trappers traveling over the prairie, especially during the fall and spring or any other time of high water, was to have a small, strongly built boat mounted on two light wheels, such as hayrake or cultivator wheels, and load their luggage into the boat. By this means they were enabled to take a direct course across the prairies, regardless of swollen streams and impassable marshes.
290
DICKINSON COUNTY - IOWA
Spirit Lake was a great outfitting point for the trappers and also a great point for collecting furs .. It is probable that Henry Barkman of Spirit Lake, in the twenty years that he devoted to the business, bought, packed, handled and shipped more fur than any other man who ever lived in Iowa. Col- lecting fur over the vast uninhabited region of northwestern Iowa, southwestern Minnesota and southeastern Dakota was no picnic.
In pleasant weather when the streams were low it was not a very bad job, but these conditions were the exception and not the rule. A large proportion of the fur was gathered in in the winter. The two men on whom Mr. Barkman depended the most largely for assistance in buying and collecting the fur in this region were John P. Gilbert and James S. Johns- ton, both of Spirit Lake. It was no uncommon experience for either one of these men to start out in the dead of winter over the snow-covered prairie on a trip varying from three to ten days in extent with no expectation of meeting a human being except at the trappers' camps as they struck them. They had to take along grain for their teams and provisions for them- selves. They also usually took along a supply of groceries and provisions for the trappers at the camps they expected to visit. It was customary at the larger camps to put up a little hay in the fall for the benefit of the fur-buyers during the winter.
Usually the buyer in traveling over the country could strike a camp at night, but failing to do this the only alternative was to get into a place as well sheltered from the wind as possi- ble and pass the night there, counting himself lucky if no storm came up to prevent resuming his course in the morn- ing. In addition to the furs gathered in this way, many trap- pers kept their entire catch until spring and sold it all at once. This fur, after being brought to Spirit Lake was assorted,
291
EARLY LITERARY SOCIETIES
packed and sent to St. Paul where it was opened, re-assorted, repacked and started on its journey to the London and Leipsic sales.
It is to be regretted that no statisties have been preserved showing the magnitude of the business from 1860 to 1873. With the settlement of the counties to the north and west which occurred in 1869 and 1870, the fur business began to decline and within fifteen years of that time it had practically died ont.
The claim has heretofore been made and maintained with a good degree of plausibility that the early settlers of this county represented a higher type of intelligence and literary attainment than is usual in frontier settlements. The superior intellectual culture of our earliest inhabitants has always been recognized. How much this carly influence has had to do in so shaping our more recent literary growth as to make the establishment and maintenance of the Chautauqua of today a complete snecess we can never know ; perhaps not any. Still the fact remains that among the more prominent of our people, whether numbering few or many, there has always been a de- cided bent for intellectual improvement and literary enter- tainment.
Literary societies were organized here as early as 1861 there being one both at Spirit Lake and Okoboji that winter. The most prominent literary society of those early days was known as the "Okoboji Literary League," organized in the fall of 1863. Many of the papers read before that society would do credit to any of the many literary societies that have flourished since that time. The one attracting the most attention, Mrs. A. T. Buckland's "Legend of Spirit Lake," has been published in several of the papers of northwestern Iowa and extraets from it have been given in several eastern magazines. It was not claimed by the writer at the time that there was much founda-
292
DICKINSON COUNTY - JOWA
tion for the legend as there related but the public has seized upon the tradition as being the true one and it is accepted as such where the poem itself has never been heard of. A writer in the "Great Divide" recently gave the incidents of the poem rendered in prose with this introduction :
"The legend of Spirit Lake has about it a touch of genuine pathos and true wild flavor peculiar to the Indian alone, and savors of that age long since gone by when the red man's canoe alone floated over the clear blue water of Spirit Lake."
MRS. A. L. BUCKLAND).
LEGEND OF SPIRIT LAKE. (Note by the Author.)
This lovely sheet of water which lies in the northern part of our country is, save our own wild charming Okoboji, the most beautiful in the West. Its waters are pure and clear, it shores either smooth and pebbly or wild and rocky and in some places walled with a regularity we can but admire. What is remark- able it has no visible outlet, but about half way across the lake when the waters are not moved by the wind a strong current is perceptible. The Sioux have a superstition that the lake is watched over by spirits.
293
LEGEND OF SPIRIT LAKE
The following lines tell their tradition :
The West, the West, the boundless West, The land of all I love the best, Her beauties live on every hand, Her billowy prairies vast and grand, A landscape spread so wild and free, What other clime can lovelier be ?
Her rivers on toward ocean flow, Her lakes like gems of crystal glow, With pebbly beach or rocky shore Or wooded cliffs, trees hanging o'er The water's edge, while down below The finny tribes dart to and fro: No place so dark but wild flowers spring ; No spot so lone, but wild birds sing. For me the prairie and the lake Possess a charm I would not break.
" No place so dark but wild flowers spring : No spot so tone but wild birds sing."
-
294
DICKINSON COUNTY - IOWA
I love them when in springtime bright Each scene is touched with tender light, Or when midsummer's stronger heat Makes life a burden, rest a cheat, These wilds, these lakes, this prairie breeze, These lovely haunts among the trees Make fittest place to while away The tedious, dull midsummer day.
But more I love them when the year With autumn frosts is growing sere, "When gorgeous sunset's golden dyes Light up our Indian-summer skies. Now, Nature claims these wilds her own, But Art ere long will share the throne ; E'en now the pioneer has come Within these wilds to make his home, The Red Man farther west has gone- The Indian trail is overgrown.
Ere hither came the sons of toil To make them homes and till the soil, The bold and fearless hinter came In search of sport and western game ;
"For me the prairie and the lake Possess a charm I would not break."
295
LEGEND OF SPIRIT LAKE
"The mellow harvest moon at night Cloaked Nature's form in misty light."
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.