USA > Iowa > Floyd County > History of Floyd County, Iowa : together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 10
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PIKE'S EXPEDITION.
Soon after the acquisition of Louisiana, the United States Gov- ernment adopted measures for the exploration of the new Territory, having in view the conciliation of the numerous tribes of Indians by whom it was possessed, and also the selection of proper sites, for the establishment of military posts and trading stations. The army of the West, Gen. Wilkinson commanding, had its head- quarters at St. Louis. From this post Captains Lewis and Carke,
Wesley Brownell
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with a sufficient force, were detailed to explore the unknown sources of the Missouri, and Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike, to ascend to the head waters of the Mississippi. Lieut. Pike, with one sergeant, two corporals and 17 privates, left the military camp, near St. Louis, in a keel-boat, with four months' rations, Aug. 9, 1805. On the 20th of the same month the expedition arrived within the present limits of Iowa, at the foot of the Des Moines Rapids, where Pike met William Ewing, who had just been appointed Indian Agent at this point, a French interpreter, four chiefs, 15 Sac and Fox warriors. At the head of the rapids, where Montrose is now situated, Pike held a council with the Indians, in which he addressed them sub- stantially as follows: "Your great Father, the President of the United States, wished to be more intimately acquainted with the situation and wants of the different nations of red people in our newly acquired Territory of Louisiana, and has ordered the General to send a number of his warriors in different directions to take them by the hand and make such inquiries as might afford the satisfaction required." At the close of the council he presented the red men with some knives, tobacco and whisky. On the 23d of August he arrived at what is supposed, from his description, to be the site of the present city of Burlington, which he selected as the location of a military post. He describes the place as " being on a hill, about 40 miles above the River de Moyne Rapids, on the west side of the river, in latitude about 41º 21' north. The channel of the river runs on that shore. The hill in front is about 60 feet perpendicular, and nearly level at the top. About 400 yards in the rear is a small prairie fit for gardening, and immediately under the hill is a limestone spring, sufficient for the consumption of a whole regiment." In addition to this description, which corre- sponds to Burlington, the spot is laid down on his map at a bend in the river a short distance below the mouth of the Henderson, which pours its waters into the Mississippi from Illinois. The fort was built at Fort Madison, but from the distance, latitude, de- scription and map furnished by Pike, it could not have been the place selected by him, while all the circumstances corroborate the opinion that the place he selected was the spot where Burlington is now located, called by the early voyagers on the Mississippi, "Flint Hills."
In company with one of his men, Pike went on shore on a hunt- ing expedition. and following a stream which they supposed to be a part of the Mississippi, they were led away from their course.
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Owing to the intense heat and tall grass, his two favorite dogs, which he had taken with him, became exhausted, and he left them on the prairie, supposing that they would follow him as soon . as they should get rested, and went on to overtake his boat. After reaching the river he waited some time for his canine friends; but they did not come, and as he deemed it inexpedient to detain the boat longer, two of his men volunteered to go in pursuit of them, and he continued on his way up the river, expecting that the two men would soon overtake him. They lost their way, however, and for six days were without food, except a few morsels gathered from the stream, and might have perished had they not accidentally met a trader from St. Louis, who induced two Indians to take thein up the river, and they overtook the boat at Dubuque. At the latter place, Pike was cordially received by Julien Dubuque, a Frenchman, who held a mining claim under a grant from Spain; he had an old field piece and fired a salute in honor of the advent of the first American who had visited that part of the Territory. He was not, however, disposed to publish the wealth of his mnines, and the young and evidently inquisitive officer obtained but little information from him.
Upon leaving this place, Pike pursued his way up the river, but as he passed beyond the limits of the present State of Iowa, a de- tailed history of his explorations does not properly belong to this volume. It is sufficient to say that on the site of Fort Snelling, Minnesota, he held a council with the Sioux, Sept. 23, and obtained from them a grant of 100,000 acres of land. Jan. 8, 1806, he ar- rived at a trading post belonging to the Northwest Company, on Lake De Sable, in latitude 47º. This company at that time car- ried on their immense operations from Hudson's Bay to the St. Lawrence; up that river, on both sides along the great lakes, to the head of Lake Superior, thence to the sources of the Red River of the North, and west to the Rocky Mountains, embracing within the scope of their operations what was subsequently the State of Iowa. After successfully accomplishing his mission and performing a val- uable service to the whole Northwest, Pike returned to St. Louis, arriving there April 30, 1806.
INDIAN WARS.
Before the Territory of Iowa could be open to settlement by the whites, it was necessary that the Indian title should be ex- tinguished and the original owners removed. The Territory had
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been purchased by the United States, but was still occupied by the Indians, who claimed title to the soil by right of possession. In order to accomplish this purpose, large sums of money were ex- pended, besides the frontier being disturbed by Indian wars, ter- minated repeatedly by treaty, only to be renewed by some act of oppression on the part of the whites, or some violation of treaty stipulation.
When the United States assumed control of the country by vir- tue of the Louisiana purchase, nearly the whole State was in pos- session of the Sacs and Foxes, a powerful and warlike nation, who were not disposed to submit without a struggle to what they con- sidered the encroachments of the pale faces. Among the most noted chiefs, and one whose restlessness and hatred of the Ameri- cans occasioned more trouble to the Government than any other of his tribe, was Black Hawk, who was born at the Sac Village, on Rock River, in 1767. He was simply the chief of his own band of Sac warriors, but by his energy and ambition he became the lead- ing spirit of the united nation of Sacs and Foxes, and one of the prominent figures in the history of the country from 1804 till his death. In early manhood he attained distinction as a fighting chief, having led campaigns against the Osages and other neigh- boring tribes. About the beginning of the present century he be- gan to appear prominent in affairs on the Mississippi. His life was a marvel. He is said by some to have been the victim of a nar- row prejudice and bitter ill-will against the Americans; but if he was their enemy it certainly was not without some show of reason.
Upon the cession of Spain to France, in 1801, it did not give up possession of the country, but retained it, and, by the authority of France, transferred it to the United States in 1804. At that time Black Hawk and his band were in St. Louis, and were invited to be present and witness the transfer; but he refused the invitation, and it is but just to say that this refusal was caused probably more from regret that the Indians were to be transferred from the juris- diction of the Spanish authorities, than from any special hatred toward the Americans. In his life he says: "I found many sad and gloomy faces because the United States were about to take possession of the town and country. Soon after the Americans came I took my band and went to take leave of my Spanish father. The Americans came to see him also. Seeing them approach, we passed out of one door as they entered another, and immediately
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started in our canoes for our village on Rock River, not liking the change any better than our friends appeared to at St. Louis. On arriving at our village, we gave the news that strange people had arrived at St. Louis, and that we should never see our Spanish father again. The information made all our people sorry."
Nov. 3, 1804, a treaty was concluded between William Henry Harrison, then Governor of Indiana Territory, on behalf of the United States, and five chiefs of the Sac and Fox nation, by which the latter, in consideration of $2,234 worth of goods then delivered, and a yearly annuity of $1,000 to be paid in goods at just cost, ceded to the United States all that land on. the east side of the Mississippi, extending from a point opposite the Jefferson, in Mis- souri, to the Wisconsin River, embracing an area of over 51,000,000 of acres. To this treaty Black Hawk always objected, and always refused to consider it binding upon his people. He asserted that the chiefs or braves who made it had no authority to relinquish the title of the nation to any of the lands they held or occupied, and, moreover, that they had been sent to St. Louis on quite a different errand, namely: to get one of their people released, who had been imprisoned at St. Louis for killing a white man.
In 1805 Lieutenant Pike came up the river for the purpose of holding friendly councils with the Indians and selecting sites for forts within the Territory recently acquired from France by the United States. Lieut. Pike seems to have been the first American whom Black Hawk ever met or had a personal interview with, and he seemed very much prepossessed in his favor. He gives the fol- lowing account of his visit to Rock Island: "A boat came up the river with a young American chief and a small party of soldiers. We heard of them soon after we passed Salt River. Some of our young braves watched them every day to see what sort of people he had on board. The boat at length arrived at Rock River, and the young chief came on shore with his interpreter, made a speech and gave us some presents. We in turn presented him with meat and such other provisions as we had to spare. We were well pleased with the young chief; he gave us good advice and said our American father would treat us well."
Fort Edwards was erected soon after Pike's expedition, at what is now Warsaw, Illinois, also Fort Madison, on the site of the pres ent town of that name, the latter being the first fort erected in Iowa. These movements occasioned great uneasiness among the Indians. When work was commenced on Fort Edwards, a delega-
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tion from their nation, headed by some of their chiefs, went down to see what the Americans were doing, and had an interview with the commander; after which they returned home and were appar- ently satisfied. In like manner, when Fort Madison was being erected, they sent down another delegation from a council of the nation held at Rock River. According to Black Hawk's account, the American chief told them that he was building a house for a trader, who was coming to sell them goods cheap, and that the sol- diers were coming to keep him company,-a statement which Black Hawk says they distrusted at the time, believing that the fort was an encroachment upon their rights, and designed to aid in getting their lands away from them. It is claimed, by good author- ity, that the building of Fort Madison was a violation of the treaty of 1804. By the 11th article of that treaty, the United States had a right to build a fort near the mouth of the Wisconsin River, and by article 6, they had bound themselves "that if any citizen of the United States or any other white persons should form a settlement upon their lands, such intruders should forthwith be removed." Probably the authorities of the United States did not regard the establishment of military posts as coming properly within the meaning of the term " settlement" as used in the treaty. At all events, they erected Fort Madison within the territory reserved to the Indians, who became very indignant.
Very soon after the fort was built, a party led by Black Hawk attempted its destruction. They sent spies to watch the move- ments of the garrison, who ascertained that the soldiers were in the habit of marching out of the fort every morning and evening for parade, and the plan of the party was to conceal themselves near the fort, and attack and surprise them when they were outside. On the morning of the proposed day of the attack, five soldiers came out and were fired upon by the Indians, two of them being killed. The Indians were too hasty in their movement, for the parade had not commenced. However, they kept up the attack several days, attempting the old Fox strategy of setting fire to the fort with blaz- ing arrows; but finding their efforts unavailing, they soon gave up and returned to Rock River.
In 1812, when war was declared between this country and Great Britain, Black Hawk and his band allied themselves with the British, partly because he was dazzled by their specious promises, but more probably because they were deceived by the Americans. Black Hawk himself declared that they were "forced into the war
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by being deceived." He narrates the circumstance as follows: " Sev- eral of the head men and chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes were called upon to go to Washington to see their Great Father. On their return they related what had been said and done. They said the Great Father wished them, in the event of a war taking place with England, not to interfere on either side, but to remain neutral. He did not want our help, but wished us to hunt and support our families, and live in peace. He said that British traders would not be permitted to come on the Mississippi to furnish us with goods, but that we should be supplied with an American trader. Our chiefs then told him that the British traders always gave them credit in the fall for guns, powder and goods, to enable us to hunt and clothe our families. He repeated that the traders at Fort Madison would have plenty of goods; that we should go there in the fall and he would supply us on credit, as the British traders had done." Black Hawk seems to have accepted the proposition, and he and his people were very much pleased. Acting in good faith, they fitted out for their winter's hunt, and went to Fort Mad- ison in high spirits to receive from the trader their outfit of supplies; but after waiting some time, they were told by the trader that he would not trust them. In vain they pleaded the promise of their Great Father at Washington; the trader was inexorable. Disappointed and crest fallen, the Indians turned sadly to their own village. Says Black Hawk: "Few of us slept that night. All was gloom and discontent. In the morning a canoe was seen as- cending the river; it soon arrived bearing an express, who brought intelligence that a British trader had landed at Rock Island with two boats filled with goods, and requested us to come up immedi- ately, because he had good news for us, and a variety of presents. The express presented us with tobacco, pipes and wampum. The news ran through our camp like fire on a prairie. Our lodges were soon taken down and all started for Rock Island. Here ended all our hopes of remaining at peace, having been forced into the war by being deceived." He joined the British, who flattered him, and styled him " Gen. Black Hawk," decked him with medals, excited his jealonsy against the Americans, and armed his band; but he inet with defeat and disappointment, and soon abandoned the service and came home.
There was a portion of the Sacs and Foxes, whom Black Hawk with all his skill and cunning could not lead into hostilities to the United States. With Keokuk ( "The Watchful Fox") at their
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head, they were disposed to abide by the treaty of 1804, and to cultivate friendly relations with the American people. So when Black Hawk and his band joined the fortunes of Great Britain, the rest of the nation remained neutral, and for protection, organized, with Keokuk for their chief. Thus, the nation was divided into the "War and Peace party." Black Hawk says he was informed after he was gone to the war, that the nation, which had been reduced to so small a body of fighting men, were unable to defend themselves in case the Americans should attack them, and having all the old men, women and children belonging to the warriors who had joined the British on their hands to provide for, a council was held, and it was agreed that Quash-qua-me (the lance) and other chiefs, together with the old men, women and children, and such others as chose to accompany them, should go to St. Louis and place themselves under the American Chief stationed there. Ac- cordingly they went down, and were received as the "friendly band" of Sacs and Foxes, and were provided for and sent up the Missouri River.' On Black Hawk's return from the British army, he says Keokuk was introduced to him as the war chief of the braves then in the village. He inquired how he had become chief, and was in- formed that their spies had seen a large armed force going toward Peoria, and fears were entertained of an attack upon the village; whereupon a council was held, which concluded to leave the village and cross over to the other side of the Mississippi. Keokuk had been standing at the door of the lodge when the council was held, not being allowed to enter on account of never having killed an enemy, where he remained until Wa-co-me came out. Keokuk asked permission to speak to the council, which Wa-co-me obtained for him. He then addressed the chiefs. He remonstrated against the desertion of their village, their own homes and the graves of their fathers, and offered to defend the village. The council con- sented that he should be their war chief. He marshaled his braves, sent out spies, and advanced on the leading trail to Peoria, but returned without seeing the enemy. The Americans did not dis- turb the village, and all were satisfied with the appointment of Keokuk. Like Black Hawk, he was a descendant of the Sac branch of the nation, and was born on Rock River in 1780. He was of a pacific disposition, but possessed the elements of true courage, and could fight when occasion required, with cool judgment and heroic energy. In his first battle he encountered and killed a Sioux, which placed him in the rank of warriors, and he was hon- ored with a public feast by his tribe in commemoration of the event.
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In person, Keokuk was tall and of portly bearing. In his public speeches he displayed a commanding attitude and graceful gestures. He has been described as an orator, entitled to rank with the most gifted of his race. He spoke rapidly, but his enunciation was clear, distinct and forcible; he culled his figures from the stores of nature and based his arguments on skillful logic. Unfortunately for his reputation as an orator among white people, he was never able to obtain an intrepreter who could claim even a slight acquaintance with philosophy. With one exception only, his intrepreters were unacquainted with the elements of their mother-tongue. Of this serious hindrance to his fame he was well aware, and retained Frank Labershure, who had received a rudimental education in the French and English languages, until the latter broke down by dissipation and died. Keokuk was thus compelled to submit his speeches for translation to uneducated men, whose range of thought fell far below the flights of a gifted mind, and the fine imagery drawn from nature was beyond their power of reproduction.
Keokuk had sufficient knowledge of the English language to make him sensible of this bad rendering of his thoughts, and often a feeling of mortification at the bungling efforts was depicted on his countenance while speaking. The proper place to form a cor- rect estimate of his ability as an orator was in the Indian council, where he addressed himself exclusively to those who understood his language, and witnessed the electrical effect of his eloquence upon his council. He seems to have possessed a more sober judg- ment, and to have had a more intelligent view of the great strength and resources of the United States, than his noted and restless co- temporary, Black Hawk. He knew from the first that the reck- less war which Black Hawk and his band had determined to carry on could result in nothing but disaster and defeat, and he used every argument against it. The large number of warriors whom he had dissuaded from following Black Hawk became, however, greatly excited with the war spirit after Stillman's defeat, and but for the signal tact displayed by Keokuk on that occasion, would have forced him to submit to their wishes in joining the rest of the warriors in the field. A war dance was held, and Keokuk took part in it, seeming to be moved with the current of the rising storm. When the dance was over he called the council together to prepare for war. He made a speech in which he admitted the justice of their complaints against the Americans. To seek redress was a noble aspiration of their nature. The blood of their breth-
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ren had been shed by the white man, and the spirits of their braves, slain in battle, called loudly for vengeance. "I am your chief," said he, " and it is my duty to lead you to battle, if, after fully considering the matter, you are determined to go; but before you decide to take this important step, it is wise to inquire into the chances of success." He then portrayed to them the great power of the United States, against whom they would have to con- tend, and thought their chance of success was utterly hopeless. "But," said he, "if you do determine to go upon the war-path, I will agree to lead you on one condition, viz .: that before we go we kill all our old men and our wives and children, to save them from a lingering death of starvation, and that every one of us de- termine to leave our homes on the other side of the Mississippi." This was a strong but truthful picture of the prospect before them, and was presented in such a forcible light as to cool their ardor and cause them to abandon their rash undertaking.
There were murders and depredations committed by small bands of Indians from the west side of the Mississippi during the war of 1832, and they also made incursions into the white settle- ments in the lead-mining regions.
Black Hawk entered into a treaty with the United States at Portage des Sioux, Sept. 14, 1815, but did not " touch the goose- quill " to it until May 13, 1816, when he smoked the pipe of peace with the "great white chief" at St. Louis. This treaty was a re- newal of the treaty of 1804, but Black Hawk declared he had been deceived; that he did not know that by signing the treaty he was giving away his village. This weighed upon his mind, already soured by previous disappointment and the irresistible encroach- ments of the whites, and when, a few years later, he and his peo- ple were driven from their possessions by the military, he de- termined to return to the home of his fathers. It is also to be remarked that in 1816, by treaty with the various tribes, the United States relinquished to the Indians all the lands lying north of a line drawn from the southernmost point of Lake Michigan west to the Mississippi, except a reservation five leagues square, on the Mississippi River, supposed then to be sufficient to include all the mineral lands on and adjacent to Fever River, and one league square at the mouth of the Wisconsin River.
From this time there was no serious trouble with the Indians until the Black Hawk War; and, indeed, this did not take place on Iowa soil. For a full account of this see page 57
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INDIAN TREATIES.
All of Iowa, it has been stated, was in the actual possession of the Indians; so that the re-purchase of the soil by the United States Government became necessary. This was effected in a series of treaties and purchases, of which a synopsis is here given :
The territory known as the "Black Hawk Purchase," although not the first portion of Iowa ceded to the United States by the Sacs and Foxes, was the first opened to actual settlement by the tide of emigration which flowed across the Mississippi as soon as the Indian title was extinguished. The treaty which provided for this cession was made at a council held on the west bank of the Mis- sissippi, where now stands the thriving city of Davenport, on ground now occupied by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R. R .Co., Sept. 21, 1832. This was just after the "Black Hawk War," and the defeated savages had retired from east of the Mississippi. At the council the Government was represented by Gen. Winfield Scott and Gov. Reynolds, of Illinois. Keokuk, Pashapalio and some 30 other chiefs and warriors were present. By this treaty the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States a strip of land on the eastern border of Iowa 50 miles wide, from the northern boundary of Mis- souri to the mouth of the Upper Iowa River, containing about 6,000,000 acres. The western line of the purchase was parallel with the Mississippi. In consideration of this cession, the United States Government stipulated to pay annually to the confederated tribes, for 30 consecutive years, $20,000 in specie, and to pay the debts of the Indians at Rock Island, which had been accumula- ting for 17 years, and amounted to $50,000 due to Davenport & Farnham, Indian traders. The Government also generously donated to the Sac and Fox women and children whose husbands and fathers had fallen in the Black Hawk War, 35 beef cattle, 12 bushels of salt, 30 barrels of pork, 50 barrels of flour and 6,000 bushels of corn.
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