USA > Iowa > Dickinson County > History of Emmet County and Dickinson County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 35
USA > Iowa > Emmet County > History of Emmet County and Dickinson County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 35
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"Lieutenant Maxwell and myself did not lie down during that terri- ble night, but kept tramping around and occasionally arousing the sleepers and making them stir around to keep from freezing. I expected that we all would be frozen before morning. I had taken my socks off the day before and wrung them out and carried them in my pocket and as soon as we halted I pulled off my boots, replaced my socks and put on my boots again. I thus saved my feet and I got through without freezing any part. The following morning the sun was clear and we were in sight of timber directly east, eight or ten miles away. I was among the last to leave our camping ground. I remember picking up one empty provision sack and following on. I soon overtook Mr. Carse, the oldest and best clad man in our party, having double mackinaw blankets and a fur overcoat. He was on the sunny side of a gopher hill trying to put on his boots which he had pulled off at night. I passed him without a thought that they were frozen so that he could not get them on. The ponds and also the streams where there was not much current were frozen, so they bore our weight. Most of the men made a bee line, wading streams, running slush ice, but I was more fortunate, being long and light; by seeking places that were iced over and crawling at full length I got over without getting wet. Elias Kellogg and myself were the first getting to the timber. I immediately went about starting a fire. I had no matches and neither had the others. My gun was empty and my powder dry, so I put a charge of powder in my gun and loaded it with some cotton from out of my vest lining. I discharged it into some rotten wood, which caught
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and by pouring on more powder and with vigorous blowing I succeeded in starting a fire.
"Lieutenant Maxwell was among the first to get to the timber, and by the time we got our fire to going well most of the boys had straggled in. Mr. Carse came in last, led by Henry Dalley, a mere boy poorly clad, whom Mr. Carse had befriended by taking him under his double blankets that night. Carse had his boots in his hands and was ill and delirious. The soles of his feet were worn out walking on the frozen ground. Kel- logg was the next object of attention. He had seated himself by a tree and was almost helpless and unconscious of his misery. We had to arouse him and cut his frozen overalls away. Has he been left alone he prob- ably would never have arisen from his condition. With a good fire we were soon warmed. . . . The river had to be crossed. It was high and full of floating ice, but we got some long poles and with this help crossed from one cake of ice to another and reached the other side. No sooner was the advance party over than the others all followed, and when we gained the open ground upon the other side we could see the colony as conjectured, and footsore and weary as we were, we soon made the dis- tance. We found Major Williams and a part of the men there waiting for us with much anxiety. Major Williams had made preparations for us. Fresh beef from the poor settlers' poorer oxen was cooked and ready. . . . The next morning Smith, Addington and Murray came. They had been to another cabin farther on, and finding some provisions, had stayed all night. They stated that they had separated from Captain Johnson and Burkholder early the previous morning; that they had taken their boots off at night and they were frozen so they could not get them on, and while they were cutting up their blankets and getting them on their feet they had disagreed as to the course to be taken. Pulling off their boots was a fatal mistake. To reach the place where their bones were found eleven years afterwards, they must have traveled all that day and part of the next night, and have laid down together in the sleep that knows no awakening."
It will be understood from the foregoing articles that the original party separated as follows: first, the separation at the lakes; second, Spencer and McCormick left at Mud Creek in Lloyd Township; third, when John- son, Burkholder, Smith, Addington and Murray left and went to the west- ward; fourth, when Burkholder and Johnson left the other three.
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CHAPTER XXIII. THE SPIRIT LAKE MASSACRE (Continued.)
DEPREDATIONS IN MINNESOTA AND THE FATE OF THE CAP- TIVES. DISAPPEARANCE OF THE INDIANS.
THE AFFAIR AT SPRINGFIELD-THE TROOPS ARRIVE-THE INDIANS FLEE- MURDER OF MRS. THATCHER-MRS. MARBLE'S RELEASE-THE DEATH OF MRS. NOBLE-PREPARATIONS FOR RESCUE-ABBIE GARDNER'S RELEASE- GOVERNMENT LACK OF SYMPATHY-ATTEMPTS TO CAPTURE INKPADUTAH -LAST HEARD OF INKPADUTAH AND HIS SONS THE MONUMENT- INSCRIPTIONS.
THE AFFAIR AT SPRINGFIELD
Just prior to the attack on Springfield and after the massacre at the lakes Inkpadutah's band was encamped at Heron Lake, a point thirty-five miles northwest of Spirit Lake. Mrs. Sharp writes of two other bands of Indians in the vicinity of the Minnesota-Iowa border. "In the fall of 1856 a small party of Indians came and pitched their tents in the neigh- borhood of Springfield. There was also a larger band, under the chief- tainship of Ishtahaba, or Sleepy Eye, encamped at Big Island Grove on the same river." Big Island Grove was on the north side of High Lake in Emmet County. Major Williams took extra precautions when in the vicinity, but the troops found no Indians here, although their fires and other signs were still fresh, proving that they had just left. These bands did not participate in the massacre at the lakes, but it is practically certain that they were in the attack on Springfield, Minnesota. Mrs. Sharp again writes: "On the 20th of March two strange and suspicious looking Indians visited Wood's store and purchased a keg of powder, some shot, lead, baskets, beads and other trinkets. Each of them had a double bar- reled gun, a tomahawk and a knife, and one, a very tall Indian, was painted black-so said one who saw them. . Soon afterward Black Buffalo, one of the Springfield Indians, said to the whites that the Indians who were at the store told his squaw that they had killed all the people at Spirit Lake." Inkpadutah was all the time encamped at Heron Lake, Vol. 1-21
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although the Springfield Indians gave the information that he had gone to the Big Sioux.
It has been related before that Morris Markham, after discovering the murders at the lakes in Dickinson County, went to Springfield and there told of the massacre and warned the few settlers that a similar attack would in all probability be made there. At Springfield, now Jack- son, at that time were the Wood brothers, who conducted a general store; Mr. Thomas, Stewart, Wheeler, Doctor Strong, Doctor Skinner, Smith and a few others.
The families immediately sought protection at the house of Mr. Thomas and Mr. Wheeler, determined not to be taken by surprise as the others had been. Charles Tretts and Henry Chiffen were dispatched to Fort Ridgley, seventy-five miles north, for assistance. They did not return before the beginning of the attack. One week. two weeks-passed in anxious waiting, in hourly expectation of the sound of the war-whoop. It is said that the Wood brothers persistently argued that the Indians would make no attack and even sold the red men ammunition a few days before the outbreak. This attitude upon their part placed them in a doubt- ful position and some of the settlers began to cast hostile glances in their direction.
On the afternoon of March 27th the attack was made, about four o'clock in the afternoon. The men of the settlement had just returned from cutting timber and had partaken of dinner. The attack was deliv- ered simultaneously at the Stewart and the Thomas homes. Mrs. Sharp writes : "The confidence of William Wood in the friendship of the Indians proved altogether a delusion. He was one of the first who fell. It appears that after he was killed the Indians heaped brush upon his body and set fire to it. His brother, George, had evidently attempted to escape, but was overtaken by the Indians in the woods and shot down." One Indian went to the Stewart home and asked to buy a hog. Mr. Stewart started with him to the pen, when he was shot and killed by concealed enemies. The Indians then killed the rest of the family, except an eight-year-old boy who hid behind a log. The following account of the defense of Springfield is from the pen of Charles Aldrich and was read by him before the meeting for the inauguration of the Memorial Tablet in Webster City, in August, 1887:
"We have placed conspicuously on this beautiful tablet the names of Mrs. William L. Church and her sister, Miss Drusilla Swanger, with a high tribute to these heroines. Why we have done this I will briefly explain. Not many months before the massacre the Churches had set- tled at Springfield, Minnesota, some fifteen miles from Spirit Lake, and about eight miles north of the Iowa line. They resided there when Ink- padutah's band so terribly raided the little settlement at Spirit Lake. At that time, in the absence of Mr. Church to this county (Ham-
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ilton), his wife was living in their log house with her two little boys and her sister. When the news came to this settlement of four or five families of the murders at Spirit Lake, the people assembled at the home of Mr. Thomas, one of the settlers, and prepared to defend them- selves. This was what is called a double log house, quite a large build- ing for that locality at that day, and standing in the margin of the oak grove, not far from the west branch of the Des Moines River. There were in the party Mr. Thomas, his wife and five chldren; Mrs. Church, her two children and sister; Mrs. Strong and two children, Miss Eliza Gardner, Jareb Palmer, David Carver and John Bradshaw. Just after they had assembled, two young men, whose names I have forgotten, volunteered to go for aid. Those who were left were well armed, reasonably provisioned, stout of heart and determined to make the best defense in their power if they should be assailed.
"A week had nearly passed when little Willie Thomas, aged nine, came running in, exclaiming that the boys were coming who had gone for soldiers. This was good news, and the people rushed to the door, forming a little group just outside. Sure enough two men were seen coming dressed like whites, but they were Indians in the clothing of men killed at Spirit Lake. Just then the main party of the Indans, who were approaching from another direction, fired a volley from a dozen pieces into the group of men, women and children near the door. Willie Thomas was shot through the head and fell to the ground; Miss Swanger was shot through the shoulder, inflicting a severe flesh wound; Thomas was shot through the left arm, which was broken and bled profusely; Carver was shot in the body, and for a time suffered the severest pain.
"All except the wounded boy rushed into the house and speedily barricaded the doors and windows. In fact, the poor boy seems to have been forgotten for the instant, but it mattered little in the result. The firing on both sides now became hot and frequent and continued so for two or three hours. Port holes were made on the four sides of the house by removing the chinking from between the logs. Through these the besieged could plainly see the Indians without exposing themselves. When- ever an Indian showed himself he was fired upon and so they were held at bay .. Several times, however, the red devils made a rush toward the house, which they wished to set on fire, but each time discretion proved the better part of valor and they fell back. During this time the condition of things in this remote little fortress can scarcely be imagined or described.
"Miss Swanger and Mr. Thomas were bleeding profusely from their wounds, while the little wounded boy lay shrieking and groaning outside. The little fellow lived about two hours, when death mercifully ended his
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sufferings. At one time the poor mother feared her husband would bleed to death in spite of everything she could do, while the shrieks and groans of the dying boy just outside the door could be distinctly heard. Miss Swanger at first bled very freely, but Mrs. Church stuffed her handker- chief under her sister's dress and so stopped the flow of blood, while Mrs. Thomas bound up her husband's arm and stopped the bleeding, which otherwise would have ended his life. Mrs. Church and Miss Gardner loaded the guns and kept watch at some of the portholes. At one time it was thought their bullets would be exhausted, but Misses Swanger and Gardner cast some from an old iron spoon.
"The fight went on until the dusk of evening was beginning to come on. It then happened that Mrs. Church and Miss Gardner were in one of the rooms watching while the men were in the other. They now saw · an Indian dodging behind a large oak tree. While here he kept peering · out toward the house. No man was handy to 'draw a bead' upon him and Mrs. Church picked up a shot gun heavily charged with buckshot and leveled it in that direction. Presently he stuck his head out again farther than before. Mrs. Church says, 'I saw plainly a large dark object by the side of the tree, which I knew to be the head of an Indian, and at this I discharged my gun. I was terribly excited and fell back and cannot tell you whether I hit him or not. I certainly wanted to kill him.' Miss Gardner, who was watching the Indian, averred that she plainly saw him fall.
"In the account written at my instance for the Hamilton Freeman, by Jareb Palmer, who was one of the besieged, he states it as a fact that Mrs. Church killed the Indian. . . . A year or more later the body of an Indian was found upon a rude platform in a tree top, tree burial being the custom of the tribe. The body was then wrapped in a buffalo robe and some white woman's feather pillow was under his head. What was left of this ducky brave was tumbled down upon the ground by the men of H. B. Martin's command, from our county. The skull was brought to me and I sent it to the phrenological collection of Fowler & Wells, New York City. I saw it there some time later with a notice which had appeared in the Freeman pasted across the forehead. Upon the return of some of the men to the locality a few months later the tree was examined and part of the charge of buckshot was still imbedded in it near the spot where Mrs. Church had aimed and the other part had plainly passed on. It would thus seem to be settled as nearly as such an event can be proven that she killed one of the assailants.
"Immediately after this event the Indians ceased firing and left the place. . . . One of the settlers, a man named Stewart, with his wife and three children, had been stopping at the Thomas house. Fort Thomas it really deserves to be called henceforth, but the poor wife and mother
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became insane through her fears of the Indians, and being in such a crowd of people added to her discomfort and mental trouble. Her hus- band finally concluded to return to their own house a mile or so distant, believing the danger had passed away. But the same band which had invested the Thomas house came to Stewart's. They called him to the door and shot him the instant he appeared. The fiends then murdered the insane mother and the two little girls. The boy, Johnny, who was eight or nine years of age, managed to hide behind a log. The Indians plundered the cabin and soon left .. The boy then fled to the double log house, where he was recognized and taken in at one of the windows.
"The home of the Churches was also pillaged and everything movable carried away or destroyed. The other houses in the settlement shared the same fate. A span of horses was in the barn at the Thomas place, but the Indians took them away when they left. When darkness came at last, the besieged determined to start south toward the nearest settle- ment with an ox team and sled, which was the only means left them. The oxen were yoked, hitched to the sled upon which were placed the wounded, the little children and such provisions and clothing as could be carried. The forlorn little party, with this poor means of locomotion, probably started near the middle of the night, traveling very slowly, as the ground was covered with snow. Mrs. Church and her sister each led or carried one of her little boys. The march was kept up until the oxen tired out, when there was a short rest. Progress was very slow and most wearisome for some two days. Finally on the third day they saw several men approaching from the south, whom they mistook for Indians.
"This was a trying time for the poor refugees. The men, who were rapidly advancing upon them, wore shawls, which made them look like Indians with blankets. Then it was evident that they were well armed. Some of the women and children were wild with affright, and gave utter- ance of shrieks and lamentations. Two of the men were helpless from wounds, and another was not naturally an Indian fighter, though doubt- less brave enough. John Bradshaw thought his time had come, but far from flinching, he took their eight loaded guns and stacked them some rods in advance. He asked the other well men to stay with the women and children and wounded and keep them from embarrassing him and he would sell his life as dearly as possible. Thus the dauntless hero stood until he saw a signal from the advancing party and knew they were friends. When the latter came up his face was pale as ashes, but no one doubted that he would have fought while life lasted. We can well imagine that men can be brave when surrounded by other brave men, whatever . the odds. But what a grand figure was that of our Hamilton County Brad- shaw, going out alone to yield up his life, as he supposed, in so hopeless a
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fight with merciless savages. It seems to me that that was a scene for a painter or sculptor, and that some time it will be placed upon canvas or in imperishable marble for the adornment of our magnificent capitol."
THE TROOPS ARRIVE
The day following the attack at Springfield, Tretts and Chiffen returned from Fort Ridgley with a company of regular troops under Cap- tain Bee and Lieutenant Murray. The soldiers had undergone hardships, suffering privations such as the Fort Dodge expedition had experienced and were totally exhausted when they reached the scene. Judge Flandrau wrote as follows regarding the expedition: "The people of Springfield sent two young men to my agency with the news of the massacre. They brought with them a statement of the facts as related by Mr. Markham, signed by some persons with whom I was.acquainted. They came on foot and arrived at the agency on the 18th of March. The snow was very deep and was beginning to thaw, which made the traveling extremely diffi- cult. When these young men arrived they were so badly afflicted with snow blindness that they could scarcely see at all and were completely worn out. I was fully satisfied of the truth of the report that murders ' had been committed, although the details of course were very meager. I at once held a consultation with Colonel Alexander, commanding the Tenth United States Infantry, five or six companies of which were at Fort Ridg- ley. The colonel, with commendable promptness, ordered Capt. Barnard E. Bee with his company to proceed at once to the scene of the massacre and do all he could, either in the way of protecting the settlers or punish- ing the enemy. (Bee afterwards became a Confederate officer and was killed in the first battle of Bull Run.)
"The country between the Minnesota River at Ridgley and Spirit Lake was, at that day, an utter wilderness, without an inhabitant. In fact, none of us knew where Spirit Lake was, except that it lay about due south of the fort at a distance of from one hundred to one hundred and twenty- five miles. We procured two guides of experience among our Sioux half- breeds. . . These men took a pony and a light train to carry the blankets and provisions, put on their snow shoes and were ready to go anywhere, while the poor troops, with their leather shoes and their back loads, accompanied by a ponderous army wagon on wheels, drawn by six mules, were about as fit for such a march as an elephant is for a ballroom. But it was the best the government had and they entered upon the arduous duty bravely and cheerfully. . . . We started on March 19th, at about one o'clock p. m., at first intending to go straight across the country, but we soon decided that the course to be utterly impossible, as the mules could not draw the wagon through the deep snow. It became apparent that our
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only hope of reaching the lake was to follow the road down by the way of New Ulm to Mankato, and trust to luck for a road up the Watonwan' in the direction of the lake, we having learned that some teams had recently started for that place with some supplies. The first days of the march were appalling. The men were wet nearly up to their waists with the deep and melting snow and utterly weary before they had gon ten miles.
"Neither of the officers had ever made a snow camp before and when we had dug out a place for our first camp and were making futile efforts to dry our clothes before turning in for the night, I felt that the trip was hope- less. So much time had elapsed since the murders were committed, and so much more would necessarily be consumed before the troops could possibly reach the lake, that I felt assured that no good could result from going on. I told Captain Bee that if he wanted to return I would furnish him with a written opinion of two of the most experienced voyageurs on the frontier that the march was impossible of accomplishment with the inap- propriate outfit with which the troops were furnished. The Cap- tain agreed with me that the chances of accomplishing any good by going on were very small, but he read his orders and in answer to my sugges- ion, 'My orders are to go to Spirit Lake and do what I can. It is not for me to interpret them, but to obey them. I shall go on until it becomes physically impossible to proceed farther. Then it will be time to turn back.' And go on we did. We followed the trail up the Watonwan until we found the teams that had made it stuck in a snow drift, and for the remaining forty or fifty miles the troops marched ahead of the mules and broke a road for them, relieving the front rank every fifteen or twenty minutes.
"When the lake was reached the Indians were gone. A careful exami- nation was made of their camp and fires by the guides, who pronounced them three or four days old. Their trail led to the west. A pursuit was made by a portion of the command, partly mounted on mules and partly on foot, but it was soon abandoned on the declaration of the guides that the Indians were by the signs several days in advance. . , I learned afterward by Mrs. Marble, one of the rescued women, that the troops in pursuit came so near that the Indians saw them and made an ambush for them, and had they not turned back the prisoners would have all been murdered. The guides may have been mistaken or they may have deceived the troops. I knew the young men so well that I never have accused them of a betrayal of their trust, but it was probably best as it was in either case, because had the troops overtaken the Indians the women would have certainly been butchered and some of the soldiers killed. The satis- faction of having killed some of the Indians would not have compensated for the result."
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Mrs. Sharp writes that the Indians, when they returned to Heron Lake after two days' absence at the Springfield attack, were loaded down with plunder. "They had twelve horses heavily laden with dry goods, gro- ceries, powder, lead, bed quilts, wearing apparel, provisions, etc. Among this plunder were several bolts of calico and red flannel. Of these , especially the flannel, they were exceedingly proud, decorating themselves with it in fantastic fashion. Red leggings, red shirts, red blankets and red in every conceivable way was the style there as long as it lasted."
. The Indians did not remain at Heron Lake, but packed up and moved westward, with their four captives, Mrs. Marble, Mrs. Thatcher, Mrs. Noble and Abbie Gardner. They realized that the pursuit was practically abandoned and so took their time and leisure in traveling. Mrs. Sharp is authority for the statement that in covering the one hundred miles from Heron Lake to the place of crossing the Big Sioux, near he town of Flan- dreau, six weeks were consumed.
Joe Gaboo and Joseph La Frombone, the Indian guides for the sol- diers pursuing the Sioux, were undoubtedly more concerned in the escape of the quarry than in the success of the soldiers in capturing them. Their statement that the trail was two or three days old was probably made when they knew that the Indians were just ahead, within sight practically. The soldiers returned to Springfield. Mrs. Sharp made the statement in her book that "whether the guides were true or false or whether or not the soldiers were justified in turning back it was life to us as captives."
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