USA > Iowa > Dickinson County > History of Emmet County and Dickinson County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 33
USA > Iowa > Emmet County > History of Emmet County and Dickinson County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 33
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Spirit Lake
Marble Cabin.
West Okoboji Lake
Granger Cabin.
Little
Okobo
Howe Cabin.
Thatcher Cabin.
Sioux
Mattock Cabin.
R
Gardner Cabin.
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Location of the Settlers'Cabins in the Spirit Lake Massacre of 1857.
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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR. LENOY TILDEN FOURD TIONS
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a short distance from the house and we are all doomed to die.' His first thought was to barricade the door and fight till the last, saying, 'While they are killing all of us I will kill a few of them with the two loaded guns left in the house.' But to this mother protested, having not yet lost all faith in the savage monsters and still hoping they would appre- ciate our kindness and spare our lives. She said, 'If we have to die, let us die innocent of shedding blood.' Alas for the faith placed in these inhuman monsters! They entered the house and demanded more flour, and as father turned to get them what remained of our scanty store, they shot him through the heart. He fell upon his right side and died with- out a struggle. When first the Indian raised his gun to fire, mother or Mrs. Luce seized the gun and drew it down, but the other Indians in- stantly turned upon them, seized them by their arms and beat them over their heads with the butts of their guns; then dragged them out of doors and killed them in the most cruel and shocking manner. They next seized the children, tearing them from me one by one while they reached their little arms out to me, crying piteously for protection that I was powerless to give. Heedless of their cries, they dragged them out of doors and beat them to death with sticks of stove wood."
FATE OF THE MATTOCK HOUSEHOLD
Abigail Gardner, expecting them to kill her as they did her family, was spared and dragged to the Mattock cabin. Night had fallen when they reached that place, but the trees and snow were lighted by the flames which were consuming the Mattock home. The lurid light also revealed the bodies of the brave defenders scattered upon the snow in front of the house. Nothing is known for certain of the killings here, for no one was left to describe it, but it is known that some resistance was made at this point. The bodies of Doctor Harriott, Snyder and young Harshman were found here. In the doctor's hand was a revolver, one shell discharged. Also a couple of Sharp's rifles were found nearby. The indications were that the attack was in the nature of a surprise, but the settlers found time to make a partial defense of their lives.
That night occurred a war dance-an experience nearly as terrifying to the young captive as the murder of her family. Until far into the night the excited warriors danced their hideous frenzy of motion and gave vent to their blood-chilling howls.
AT THE HOWE CABIN
The next morning the bloody work on hand was resumed. They started for the Thatcher and Howe cabins, about four miles distant. Howe met the party about a quarter of a mile from his cabin, as he was
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on his way to some other settler's home for meal or flour. He was dis- patched immediately by the Indians and his head severed from his body. The head was discovered some time after this on the shore of the lake.
They then went to the house of Mr. Howe, where they brutally killed Mrs. Howe, a daughter and son, and five younger children, also a child of Mrs. Noble.
MURDERS AT THE THATCHER HOME
From Howe's the band proceeded to the Thatcher cabin. In this abode were: Mr. Noble, his wife and one child, Mrs. Thatcher and a child, and Enoch Ryan. All were murdered except Mrs. Noble and Mrs. Thatcher, who were taken prisoner and taken back to the camp. On the return trip the party again halted at the Howe cabin, and here Mrs. Noble found the dead body of her mother lying under the bed and her brother, Jacob, thirteen years old, sitting up in the yard, so seriously wounded that he could not speak. She cautioned him to wait until the savages had gone and then to crawl into the house to wait until help came, but such could not be-the savages found that he was still living and then completed their work, before Mrs. Noble's eyes. The Indians, with their captives, returned to the camp near the Mattock cabin. This was the night of the 9th.
WILLIAM MARBLE'S DEATH
The next morning they rolled their teepees and crossed the ice of West Okoboji Lake to Madison Grove, where they spent one night. The following day, the 11th, they traveled north to Marble Grove, on the west side of Spirit Lake, where they again encamped to the north of Marble's home.
William Marble and wife, newly married, had come to Spirit Lake from Linn County in the fall of 1856. Mrs. Marble afterward became Mrs. S. M. Silbaugh, of California, dying in that state October 19, 1911. In February, 1885, she described the tragedy at their home in a letter to Mrs. Abbie Gardner Sharp, a part of which is quoted as being the best description available of the murder of her husband. "It was just after breakfast, and my husband and I had partaken of our cheerful meal in our sunny little cabin. Little did we dream of danger, or that the stealthy and murderous savages were then nearing our happy home. But, being attracted by noise outside, we looked through the window and saw, with fearful forebodings, a band of painted warriors nearing the door. Know- ing nothing of the massacre, though the outbreak had commenced five days before, my husband stepped to the door, spoke to the leader of the band, and welcomed them to the house. A number came and one of them perceived my husband's rifle, a handsome one. The Indian immediately
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offered to trade; the trade was made on his own terms. My husband gave him $2.50 extra. The Indian then proposed to shoot at a mark and signaled to my husband to put up the target. It was then that the fearful work began, for while putting up the target, the fiendish savage leveled his gun and shot my noble husband through the heart. With a scream I rushed for the door to go to him, but two brawny savages barred my passage and held fast the door. But love and agony were stronger than brute force and with frantic energy I burst the door open and was soon kneeling by the side of him who a few minutes before was my loving and beloved husband. But before I reached him a merciful God had re- leased his spirit from mortal agony."
THE INDIANS LEAVE A RECORD
So the Indians completed their murderous work in what is now Dickinson County. Mrs. Marble was held captive with Mrs. Noble, Mrs. Thatcher and Abbie Gardner. Another war dance was held that night in celebration of their day's work. Before leaving the Indians tore the bark from the side of an ash tree and on that space drew signs and characters to represent the number of people they had killed and the location of the cabins. The tree was first discovered by O. C. Howe, R. U. Wheelock and R. A. Smith, who were the first to visit the west side of Spirit Lake after the massacre. Mr. Smith writes as follows in regard to this record: "The tree was first noticed by Mr. Howe and he called the attention of the rest of the party to it. It was a white ash standing a little way to the southeast of the door of the Marble cabin. It was about eight inches in diameter, not over ten at the most. The rough outside bark had been hewed off for a distance of some twelve or fifteen inches up and down the tree. Upon the smoothed surface made were the representations. The number of cabins (six) was correctly given, the largest of which was represented as being in flames. There were also representations of human figures and with the help of the imagina- tion it was possible to distinguish which were meant for the whites and which the Indians. There were not over ten or a dozen all told, and ex- cept for the hint contained in the cabins, the largest one being in flames, we could not figure any meaning out of it. This talk of the victims being pierced with arrows and their number and position given, is all nonsense. Mr. Howe and the writer spent some time studying it, and while they came to the conclusion that it would convey a definite mean- ing to those understanding it, they could not make much out of it."
After the Indians had packed up their belongings, they left the vicinity of the Marble home, and traveled slowly to the northwest, tak- ing their four captives with them. About the 25th of March they ar- rived at Heron Lake, thirty-five miles northwest of Spirit Lake.
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CHAPTER XXII
THE SPIRIT LAKE MASSACRE (Continued)
AFTERMATH OF THE MASSACRE AND THE EXPEDITION
MORRIS MARKHAM'S RETURN-FORMING THE EXPEDITION-THE START- SPRINGFIELD REFUGEES THE BURIALS-THE RETURN-LIEUTENANT MAXWELL'S ACCOUNT-GOV. C. C. CARPENTER'S ACCOUNT-FROM W. K. LAUGHLIN'S ACCOUNT.
MORRIS MARKHAM'S RETURN
Mention has been made before of the trapper, Morris Markham, who lived at the house of J. M. Thatcher. It so happened that in the spring of 1857 Markham received word that some cattle which he had lost late in the fall of 1856 had strayed as far as Mud Lake in Emmet County. Thither he went and obtained his cattle. On March the 9th he started for the lakes again, the same day on which the murders took place at the Howe and Thatcher cabins.
En route to his home Markham met one of the severe storms so common that winter and in fighting his way blindly through the snow and wind was driven southward from his intended course. Near mid- night of the 9th he reached the Gardner cabin and undoubtedly would have stayed there the remainder of the night. In B. F. Gue's History of Iowa is the following: "Returning on the evening of the 9th, cold, hungry, exhausted, he reached the Gardner cabin near midnight. It was very dark and cold, and arkham was surprised to find the doors open and the house deserted. Upon examination he found the bodies of the family, some lying on the floor and others about the yard." R. A. Smith writes that Markham did not discover any bodies at the Gardner home; in fact, different writers have given different versions. It would seem logical that he would find the murdered bodies there, but again the fact that the night was intensely dark and cold might have prevented him from seeing them.
Surmising that something was wrong-the thought of Indians prob- ably the first conjecture-he started down the footpath for the Mattock
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cabin. He had covered perhaps two-thirds of the distance when he was startled by the barking of a dog and the low voices of people. He halted and listened intently. Suddenly he conceived the fact that he had walked into the vicinity of the Indian camp, the teepees having been erected on both sides of the path which he had taken. His predicament was an ex- tremely dangerous one, for any strange noise would have aroused the Indians and resulted in his certain death. As cautiously and quietly as only a trained woodsman could move he left the spot and detoured, going up and across East Okoboji Lake to the cabin of Mr. Howe. Here he found another scene of desolation and the mutilated bodies of the settlers scattered around. From here he went on north to the Thatcher home, where he lived, and again discovered the bloody work of the Indians. Knowing that further traveling that night was out of the question and that rest must be had, he went into a ravine nearby and made himself as comfortable as the bitter cold would allow. He could not build a fire as the light would possibly attract the attention of the enemy.
When dawn came Markham's feet were partially frozen and painful, but despite this handicap he started for the Des Moines River, which he reached at the George Granger place. Here he met with a company of trappers, to whom he related the story of the massacre at the lakes. .Two of the band immediately started for Fort Dodge, there to give the alarm and seek aid. The people at Fort Dodge, however, were dubious of the trappers' story, as many a similar false alarm had been given that winter. Markham himself turned north from the Granger place and proceeded to Springfield, where he warned the settlers there that they might expect an attack from the Indians soon. Morris Markham died in Clark County, Wisconsin, on December 4, 1902, at the age of seventy- nine years. He left a widow and several children.
The party consisting of O. C. Howe, R. U. Wheelock and B. F. Par- menter, from Jasper County, had come to the lakes in November, 1856, but did not stay during the winter, preferring the return in the spring and make a permanent settlement. About the first of March they left Newton, went to Fort Dodge and then came north along the west side of the Des Moines River. En route they heard nothing of the massacre which had just occurred. By the 15th they had reached a point in what is now Lloyd Township, where they camped. The following morning, before sunrise, they were on their way again, intending to reach the Gardner cabin before nightfall. However, another storm arose and they missed their path. By the time they had reached a slough near Gar Lake their slow-going oxen and heavy load proved too much of a burden `and they were abandoned and the three pushed on alone to the settle- ments, which they reached about midnight. The Thatcher cabin was first encountered, where they found everything deserted, but did not Vol. 1-20
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perceive any bodies. The three men then went to Howe's and there stopped for the night. The morning brought the intelligence of the mur- ders to them and with this news they started for Fort Dodge again, ar- riving on March 22d.
FORMING THE EXPEDITION
The citizens of Fort Dodge were now thoroughly aroused and im- mediately began preparations for succoring any possible survivors and if possible to punish the guilty Indians. Everyone realized the handicap of the season for an organized expedition-the snow having begun to melt and the streams to rise, but the plans were formulated notwithstanding and on the 23d, the day after the confirmation of the news, a meeting was held. Major Williams presented a commission from Governor Grimes which gave him the authority to assume the initiative when emergency demanded. He called for volunteers and shortly a force of nearly seventy men was raised. The volunteers were formed into two companies-A and B-under the command of C. B. Richards and J. F. Duncombe respectively. Another company, C, was raised at Webster City. In all there were nearly one hundred men ready to start north. The force was under the command of Major William Williams, with George B. Sherman as quartermaster.
The hardships and privations which lay before this brave band of men were unnumbered. To meet them they were very poorly equipped. No tents were to be had and each man was allotted just one blanket. Thus prepared they were to encounter snow from three to four feet deep, snow filled ravines, slush, water and sloughs. It was no child's play, but the men were all hardy frontiersmen and inured to such dangers, so did not shirk the duty which laid before them.
THE START
On March 24, 1857, the expeditionary force left Fort Dodge. R. A. Smith says of the trip: "They started on the 24th and were nine days in reaching what was then known as the Granger place, in Emmet County, the point where the command divided and the main body turned back. Nine days of rougher campaigning it would be difficult to imagine. The snow had so filled in around the groves and along the streams that at times it was impossible to reach them. It was no uncommon expe- rience to wade through snow and water waist deep during the day, and at night to lie down in their wet clothing, without fire and without tents, and on short rations of food. The only way the men could keep from freezing was by lying so close together that they could only turn over by
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platoons. The ravines were all filled level with snow and it was often necessary to detach the teams, rigging a cable to the wagons for the whole party to take hold and make their way through. As the expedition neared the state line and settlements became sparser and smaller, it was deemed prudent to send a force of scouts out in advance of the main body. Accordingly, on the morning of the 30th of March, Major Wil- liams made a detail of ten men to act as scouts, under the command of William L. Church, who, by the way, was a veteran of the Mexican War. Mr. Church with his family, consisting of wife, his wife's sister, and two small children, had settled at Springfield the fall before, and in February Church had made a trip to Webster City for supplies, leaving his family in the settlement at Springfield during his absence. He had reached McKnight's Point, on the West Fork of the Des Moines in Humboldt County on his return when he heard of the massacre at the lakes, and also that a relief party was being organized at Fort Dodge and would be up in a few days. He accordingly awaited their arrival, when he en- rolled himself as a member of Company C. He had heard nothing of his family since he left home nearly a month before, and was contin- ually in a state of feverish anxiety. Some of the accounts say that Lieu- tenant Maxwell had command of the scouting party, but this is a mis- take. Church had charge of the scouts up to the time they fell in with the Springfield refugees, when he went down the river with them and the scouts were then turned over to Maxwell."
SPRINGFIELD REFUGEES
The scouting expedition once started, nothing was encountered of undue nature until they had about entered the boundaries of the present Emmet County. A band of strangers was then seen some distance away, but whether it consisted of Indians or white people could not be deter- mined .. The scouts prepared for a fight and then advanced, the other party also coming to meet them-with the same caution. The discovery of an ox team in the band identified the strangers to the scouts as white people. Signals were given and the two parties approached each other, each glad that the other was not the enemy. The newcomers were from the vicinity of Springfield, Minnesota, whence they had fled from the Indians. Church's family formed a part of the band of refugees. Among the score or so of people were: The Churches, Miss Swanger, Mr. Thomas, wife and several children; David Carver, John Bradshaw, Mor- ris Markham, Jareb Palmer, Eliza Gardner, Doctor Strong and wife, and Doctor Skinner. Messrs. Thomas and Carver and Miss Swanger were suffering from wounds received in the fighting in Minnesota.
Camp was made immediately and Frank Mason and R. A. Smith
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ordered to return to the main body and hustle up supplies, also to bring the surgeon to dress the wounds of those injured. The camp was pitched in what was later known as Camp Grove, on the line between Palo Alto and Emmet Counties. The remainder of the troops were quickly upon the scene and everything possible was done for the comfort of the ref- ugees. The next day the latter started down the river, while the expe- ditionary force continued on toward the lakes.
An account of the incident is related by Governor Carpenter as fol- lows: "If the expedition had accomplished nothing more, every man would have felt himself repaid for his share in its toil and suffering by the relief it was able to afford to these suffering refugees. In the haste of their departure from Springfield they had taken but little provisions and scanty clothing. The women in wading through the drifted snow had worn out their shoes, their gowns were worn to fringes at the bot- tom, and all in all, a more forlorn and needy company of men and women were never succored by the hands of friends. They cried and laughed, 'and laughed and cried, alternately. A part of one squad then returned to the main command with the information of our discovery and the residue conducted the worn and weary party to the nearest grove on the Des Moines River, where the main body joined them later in the after- noon and where we spent the night. The next morning we divided our scanty rations and blankets with them and they went forward toward safety and friends, whilst we pushed toward the scene of the massacre."
In the afternoon of April 1, 1857, the expedition arrived at the Granger place. Here they learned that government soldiers from Fort Ridgley had arrived at Springfield for the protection of the settlers there, that another group of the soldiers had visited Marble's place on Spirit Lake and buried the unfortunate settler, and that the Indians had es- caped over the Big Sioux River.
The pursuit of the Indians was rendered almost hopeless, that is, pursuit by the expeditionary force. Also, it was believed that it was unnecessary for the entire hundred men to continue on to the north. Major Williams decided to return to Fort Dodge with the larger part of the command and detailed a party of twenty-three men under Captain Johnson and Lieutenant Maxwell to go on to the lakes and bury the dead there. The names of the detachment ordered to continue, as given by Smith, were: Captain J., C. Johnson, Lieutenant John N. Maxwell, Henry Carse, William E. Burkholder, William Ford, H. E. Dalley, O. C. Howe, George P. Smith, O. S. Spencer, C. Stebbins, S. Van Cleve, R. U. Wheel- ock, R. A. Smith, William A. De Foe, B. F. Parmenter, Jesse Addington, R. McCormick, J. M. Thatcher, William R. Wilson, Jonas Murray, A. Burtch, William K. Laughlin, E. D. Kellogg.
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THE BURIALS
Having started on the morning of the 2d of April the party at three o'clock in the afternoon arrived at the Thatcher cabin. The remains of Noble and Ryan were first discovered in the rear of the cabin and were the first buried. The night was spent at the Thatcher home; the cook stove inside used for preparing the hot supper.
A small number of the men walked over to the Howe cabin before dark and there found the bodies of the Howe family, also the Thatcher and Noble children. They carried the body of the Thatcher child back and buried it at the head of the ravine west of the house. It is believed that the Indians took the children named as far as the Howe cabin with their mothers who were prisoners, and there dispatched them.
After breakfast the following morning the men started for the Howe cabin. After reaching there the command was divided into three parties, under the command, respectively, of Captain Johnson, Lieutenant Max- well and R. U. Wheelock. One detachment was ordered to remain and bury the bodies at the Howe cabin, another was to go to the Mattock place and inter the bodies found there, and the other was to go in search of the supply wagon Howe and Wheelock had abandoned the night they reached the lakes.
At the Howe cabin a grave was dug, thirty inches deep and six by seven feet, and in this were buried the bodies of nine victims: Mrs. Millie Howe; Jonathan Howe, a son, Sardis Howe, five younger children of Mr. Howe, and the Noble child. Mr. Smith says in regard to this burial: "There is a discrepancy between the actual facts and all ac- counts so far published relative to the number massacred at the Howe cabin. The number given by Mrs. Sharp in her book, as well as other published accounts, give it as 'Mrs. Howe, a grown up son, a grown up daughter, and four younger children.' When the bodies were disinterred for burial at the time of the erection of the monument, there were cer- tainly nine bodies found in that grave, and they can be accounted for only as above stated. There were no children found at the Thatcher cabin, and Thatcher himself identified his child found at the Howe cabin, and the men with him assisted him in carrying it back to his own place, where it was buried as before stated, near the head of the ravine west of the house."
The burial party commanded by Maxwell before reaching the Mat- tock cabin, found the decapitated body of Joel Howe lying on the ice. "Here is another discrepancy in which ascertained facts differ from the usually accepted accounts. Henry Daley, of Webster City, who is the only member of that party whose whereabouts is now known, insists that when they found the body of Mr. Howe they carried it to the Mattock
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place and buried it in the same grave with the Mattock family and the others that were found there. He says the recollection of that circum- stance is the most vivid and distinct of anything that transpired on the trip and that he cannot be mistaken about it. The usually accepted ac- count is that Mr. Mattock's body was taken to the shore by those who found it, and buried on a bluff some distance southwest of his house.
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"It will be remembered that the party had no provisions except the lunch they brought with them from their camp the morning before, and that was now exhausted. The party under Wheelock, consisting of five men, started at once in search of the abandoned wagon, which they found without difficulty among the sloughs that form the source of Spring Run, together with the supplies, all safe as they had left them three weeks before. They took what they could conveniently carry of flour, pork, coffee and sugar, and sarted back, joining the other parties at the Mat- tock place, reaching there just as they had finished digging the grave and were gathering up the bodies for burial. As has been stated, here was the only place that showed signs of any resistance having been made, and that has already been described. There were eleven bodies found here and buried. As identified by Thatcher and Wilson at the time, they were as follows: James Mattock, his wife and three oldest children, Robert Madison, Doctor Harriott, Bert Snyder and Joseph Harshman. Right here comes in a discrepancy that has never been explained, and probably never will. Mrs. Sharp maintains that the bodies of Luce and Clark were found later and buried near the outlet of East Okoboji, they having been waylaid in their attempt to warn the other settlers. All accounts agree that eleven bodies were buried here. The writer found one body, that of a twelve year old boy, about a month later and assisted in burying it, and if one perished in the flames this makes thirteen to be accounted for. Who were they? Seven of the Mattock family, Mad- ison, Harriott, Snyder, Harshman and two others. Even on the theory that none perished in the burning cabin, there is one more than can be accounted for. Was there one or two strangers stopping at either the Mattock or Granger cabin of whom no account was ever given? It is not strange that an occasional discrepancy is found. The only wonder is that they are not far more numerous."
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