USA > Iowa > Webster County > Fort Dodge > History of Fort Dodge and Webster County, Iowa, Volume I > Part 5
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
MRS. JOHN SCHAFFNER (MARY F.)
JOHN SCHAFFNER Proprietor of Wahkonsa House in 1855
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILD. N FOUNDATIONS.
33
HISTORY OF WEBSTER COUNTY
THE SIOUX
Of the three great Indian nations, occupying the upper Mississippi valley in the sixteenth century, the most powerful and populous was the Dakota nation. They were nomadic, wandering northward to latitude 55 degrees in the Rocky mountains, and eastward to the shores of Green bay. Thus it will be seen that this great Indian nation early in the sixteenth century occupied a large portion of British America, Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, more than half of Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas and Nebraska, the greater part of Minnesota, and the north half of Wisconsin.
The Sioux, who belonged to the Dakota nation, were first known to the French in 1640. In 1680, when Hennepin was sent to explore the valley of the upper Mississippi and was encamped with his party on the bank of one of the tributaries of the river, he was captured by a band of Sioux. They took him with them in their wanderings over Minnesota, from April until September, when he and his companions were rescued by Greysolon Du Luth.
When the French took possession of that country in 1685, the Dakotas were divided into seven eastern and nine western tribes. During the wars be- tween the French and the Indians, the Sioux were forced southward into north- ern Iowa about the head waters of the Des Moines river and Okoboji and Spirit lakes.
When in 1804, Lewis and Clark explored along the Missouri valley, the Yankton division of the Sioux occupied the country along the upper Des Moines and Little Sioux valleys and about the group of lakes in northern Iowa and southern Minnesota. While roaming about in these regions they had named the rivers and lakes. Their principal villages were along the shores of Okoboji and Spirit Lake. Their name for the latter was Minne-Mecoehe-Waukon, mean- ing "Lake of the Spirits." It was so named according to a tradition among the Sioux, because a very long time ago there was an island in the lake, that the first Indians who sailed to it in their canoes, were seized and drowned by demons. No Indian again ventured near its shores and it finally disappeared beneath the waters. Lizard creek they called, "Was-sa-ka-pom-pa," the river with lizards. The propriety of this name appears at once, when one views the many wind- ings of the little stream, like the tortuous trail of a lizard. The Des Moines river was originally named "Moingonan" by the Algonquins, "Moingona" by Charlevoix, and "Eah-sha-wa-pa-ta" or "Red Stone" river by the Sioux.
In 1805, Lieutenant Pike estimated the number of Sioux at more than twenty-one thousand. One of their most noted chiefs in the first half of the nineteenth century was Wa-na-ta of the Yanktons. When but eighteen years old, he distinguished himself in the War of 1812, fighting with his tribe for the British at the battle of Sandusky. He was instrumental in organizing a union of all of the Sioux tribes and became the chief of the confederacy of Sioux, often leading them in battle against the Iowas and Chippewas. The Sioux were always more or less hostile to the Americans, and were only re- strained from open hostilities by the fear of troops stationed in the frontier forts. They were enemies of the Sac and Fox tribes.
"Si-dom-i-na-do-tah," or "Two Fingers" was the head of a band of renegade
34
HISTORY OF WEBSTER COUNTY
Sioux, that hunted and fished along the upper Des Moines valley. He belonged to the Sisseton tribe or clan. He was short of stature and of a squatty build, while his features were coarse and irregular. His name was due to the fact that on one hand he had but two fingers. Through petty thieving and plunder he and his band caused the early settlers of Webster county much annoyance. His first followers were four or five desperadoes who had been exiled from their own people. Then other joined them, until the party contained five hundred.
Major Williams, in his reminscences of pioneer days, mentions the fact, that with Sidominadotah's band there was a very stout negro, who was always reported as the most insolent and daring of the band. He also says, "Every effort was made to catch him, but he always managed to keep out of the way. Whenever any outrage was committed, we could always hear of him, but could never catch him. He still remains one of the mysteries of the pioneer days of northern Iowa." This band of Sioux increased their number very much by gathering in renegades and allies from other bands of Sioux to aid them in fighting and pillaging their common enemies, the Sacs and Foxes and Pottawat- tamies.
The Sioux Indians would make expeditions, and invade the territory of the Pottawattamies, who inhabited the southern part of the state, and in turn the Pottawattamies would attack the Sioux. These two tribes fought two desperate battles in the vicinity of Fort Dodge. One was fought near Twin Lakes in Cal- houn county and the other on the South Lizard, near Mclaughlin's Grove in Webster county. The Sioux were victorious in both. These were the last Indian battles in Iowa, as the various tribes soon after left for their western reservations. The Sioux were the most warlike and treacherous of all the tribes, which at any time had homes in Iowa. It was a band of this tribe, who massacred nearly the entire settlement at Spirit Lake and Okoboji in March, 1857 ; and in 1862, murdered nearly two thousand people in Minnesota.
One of the two Indian names, retained in Webster county, is that of Wah- konsa. It is the name of a township and of various societies and organizations. The pioneer inn bore this name, as does also the present fine hotel. One of the early societies, the "Wahkonsa Library Club," organized in 1859, bore this name. Mr. George W. Brizee, at one time editor of the Fort Dodge Sentinel, says that Major Williams told him that Wahkonsa was the son of Umpashota (Smoky Day), that he was very intelligent and useful to the first settlers; that he would map out the whole country northwest of the fort, in the sand or dirt, with a stick. Those who best knew Ink-a-pa-do-ta, say he had but one son, -- a short stout Indian, who was presumed to be above twenty-two years old at the time of the massacre at Spirit Lake. His name was Com-a-do-ca, and he was killed near Fort Ridgley, Minnesota, during the summer of 1857. He died fighting. When the massacre at Spirit Lake occurred, Wahkonsa went to Fort Ridgley and delivered himself up, a thing very unlikely for him to do if he had been Ink-a-pa-do-ta's son. Mrs. Marble, in an interview with Mr. Brizee, soon after her release from captivity, declared most emphatically, that Ink-a-pa-do-ta had but one son in the band, and that son was Com-a-do-ca. During the winter of 1854-55, Wahkonsa and his sister accompanied by others of their tribe visited Fort Dodge and at night slept on the ground floor of the old hotel, which bore
SAMUEL TODD Pioneer lumberman, owner of Todd's Mill
MRS. SAMUEL TODD (JANE N.)
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.
35
HISTORY OF WEBSTER COUNTY
the name of the young chief. In the morning, Cyrus C. Carpenter, than a young surveyor and school teacher came into the office, and immediately the Indian belle broke out into laughter. Those present tried to ascertain the cause of her mirth. For answer, she pointed at the head of lowa's future governor, and exclaimed : "Hedgehog! Hedgehog!" Mr. Carpenter at the time wore his hair quite short, and it stood pompadour over the entire top of his head. It was this that had provoked her laughter and caused the not entirely compli- mentary comparison. Governor Carpenter enjoyed the laugh, however, with the rest of the crowd. Wahkonsa was a handsome and attractive young Indian, and was always kindly disposed towards the whites. He was a very close friend of Mr. James B. Williams, who was of about same age. Mr. Williams is quoted as saying, that the name Wahkonsa meant "fleet-of-foot." Fulton in his "Red Men of Iowa" however, gives the meaning as "One-Who-Will-Be-Heard- From."
HIOW THE INDIANS LOST IOWA
For many years the flood of immigrants that followed the Ohio valley were prevented from occupying Iowa soil because of the reverence of the Indians for the "Father of Waters." As early as 1804 the. Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States their land east of the Mississippi, but it was not until after the defeat of Black Hawk in 1832, that the most desirable portion of Iowa came into the possession of the United States. After the Black Hawk Purchase was acquired by the government, for use by the settlers, not many years passed before the Indians had lost every acre of the woodlands, hills and prairies they had once owned.
The transfers of land were made through treaties, agreed upon at council meetings, at which were representatives of the United States and of the Indian tribes interested. The government paid for the territory, and the amount and all other details were put in writing.
It is likely that in many cases the promises made by the whites were not carried out and the redmen were defrauded as a result of the shrewdness of the whites. The Indians were partly to blame for any cheating, however, because whisky proved too fascinating, and the price of many an acre of land was paid in this commodity.
The exact amount paid the Indians for the lands of Iowa cannot be deter- mined. The treaties state the purchase price in terms of money, annuities, mer- chandise and domestic animals. Upon the merchandise it is impossible to fix a value at the present time. Sometimes the government promised to lay out farms, establish shops, and bear the expenses of removal to new reservations. Another element of uncertainty lies in the overlapping areas of some of the cessions and the extension of several tracts beyond the present confines of the state.
Owing to the murderous warfare kept up between the Sac and Fox tribes and the Sioux, the government interfered in 1825, and arranged for a confer- ence at Prairie du Chien. Here the chiefs representing their respective tribes assembled, all arrayed in paint and feathers and each trying to outdo the others. A boundary line, to which all agreed, was fixed. The hunting grounds of the
36
HISTORY OF WEBSTER COUNTY
Sioux were to be north of a line passing from the mouth of the upper Iowa river through the upper fork of the Des Moines river to the fork of the Big Sioux and down the Big Sioux to the Missouri. The Sacs and Foxes were to hunt south of this line. Permission was given to the Iowas and the Otoes, both of the Dakota family to live in this territory with them.
The Indians did not, however, recognize these boundary lines, when send- ing out hunting parties, and in 1830 the United States government established the so-called Neutral Strip. At the same time, the tribes of the Sacs and Foxes, ceded to the United States that portion of the territory lying west of the water- shed dividing the Missouri and Des Moines rivers, eastward to the Neutral Strip, northward to the present state of Minnesota, and westward to the Mis- souri river, with the exception of a portion of Lyon county which the Sioux were to possess. This vast tract of land was granted with the understanding, that it should be used for Indian purposes. The Neutral Strip might be hunted upon by either of the tribal parties, and the United States was at liberty to settle, upon any of the lands acquired at this date, such other tribes as it might see fit. In accordance with this, the Winnebagoes, after selling their land east of the Mississippi, were settled upon that portion of the Neutral Strip to the east of the Cedar river in its course through Butler and Floyd counties, and the Pottawattamies, were given 5,000,000 acres in the southwestern part of Iowa.
Then followed the Black Hawk Purchase, which went into effect June I. 1833. The noted warrior Black Hawk had vigorously refused to recognize the treaty of 1804, and although in 1816 he "touched the goose quill," as he expressed it, to the instrument affirming the treaty, his reluctance to give up the land in question led to the conflict of 1832. He was, however, defeated and compelled to sell the land now known as the Black Hawk Purchase. This was a tract about fifty miles in width, extending along the Mississippi river from the Neu- tral Strip to the Missouri line, with the exception of the Keokuk Reserve of four hundred square miles along the Iowa river in Louisa county. Thus the government secured the eastern portion of the state, with the exception of a small tract lying between the Des Moines and Mississippi rivers and south of a line drawn west from Fort Madison, reserved under the treaty of 1825, for the half breeds of the Sacs and Foxes of Missouri and known as the Half Breed Tract. As a result of the Black Hawk Purchase, immigration to Iowa was greatly increased. The fame of her beautiful valleys, groves and rivers, her fertile prairies and rich soil had reached the distant east. Thousands of people were impatiently waiting for the removal of the red men from such a land of promise. White top emigrant wagons quickly sought the paths, and homeseekers soon crowded in searching for the best timber and farm locations.
In 1836 the four hundred square acres reserved for the Sacs and Foxes was secured by the whites; and by a treaty made in October, 1837, the two tribes were induced to part with a tract adjoining the Black Hawk Purchase on the west. Still the whites wanted more land, and finally in 1842, the confederated tribes of the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States all other land east of the Missouri. They further agreed to move west of the Missouri, within three years from the ratification of the treaty. The remaining rights of the Indians to the state were relinquished, when the Winnebagoes in 1846, ceded their in-
37
HISTORY OF WEBSTER COUNTY
terest in the Neutral Strip; and the Sioux, in 1851, gave up the northern portion of the state.
It is estimated that the state of Iowa cost the United States government to extinguish the Indian title approximately $2,377,547.87, a little over eight cents an acre.
1
CHAPTER V
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE AND TERRITORIAL IOWA
It was over a hundred years from the time that the black robed missionaries, Marquette and Joliet, first found "the way to Iowa," until the first white man made a settlement within its borders. During the time it was a French posses- sion, Iowa remained a savage wilderness. A few names, as that of the Des Moines river and Tete des Morts in Dubuque county, are the only marks left of the French rule. During all this time no grant of land was made.
Louis XIV, in whose honor Louisiana was named, cherished great hopes for the prosperity of his American possessions. He gave them much personal attention. No English sovereign ever took such interest in the English colonies as this French king did in his. But the upper part of the Louisiana territory seemed a hard field to colonize. In 1699 D'Iberville, a distinguished French naval officer, and his brother Bienville founded a prosperous colony near the present site of New Orleans. In 1764 St. Louis was platted and named for Louis XV. During the time that Iowa was under French dominion, no town was laid out within its territory or permanent colony established. The difficulties of colonization, as they appeared at that time, were described by the French writer Du Pratz, who in his history of Louisiana, published in 1763, says: "many ages must pass before we can penetrate into the northern part of Louisiana."
During much of this time, France, England and Spain were at war with each other. There was a continual jealousy over their respective possessions. From 1754 to 1763, the French and Indian war raged. The fall of Quebec closed the long series of struggles between France and England for supremacy in America. France was humiliated. She lost Canada and the territory east of the Mississippi. By the treaty of Paris in 1763, England secured all the French territory east of the Mississippi, except a region east of New Orleans. A year previous, Louis XV, a corrupt great-grandson of Louis XIV, had ceded by secret treaty the territory of Louisiana lying west of the Mississippi, to its remotest tributaries, including Iowa, and all north of the source of the river, to Charles III of Spain, another great-grandson of Louis XIV, but a man of strong character. Louis XV gave as his reason for ceding this territory to Spain, the affection and friendship existing between these two royal persons. The truth of the matter was that Louis XV was in dire straits, and France was heavily in debt to Spain for the assistance given during the French and Indian war.
The colonists at New Orleans were exasperated over the king's disgraceful act, and pleaded with him to retract. It is said that Bienville, one of the founders
39
40
HISTORY OF WEBSTER COUNTY
of the colony, then an old man living in Paris, went to the prime minister, and upon bended knees, with tears streaming down his cheek, begged that the king reconsider. But it availed nothing, for this was the answer: "The colony can- not continue its precarious existence without an enormous expense, of which France is incapable. Is it not better that Louisiana should be given away to a friend than be wrested from us by a hereditary foe?"
The French colonists did not take kindly to either the British or the Spanish rule. The French population of the Illinois country, at the time it passed under English rule was about five thousand. Nearly one-half of this number refused to become British subjects, and to escape it moved to the west side of the Mis- sissippi. . At New Orleans the Acadians and Creoles refused to subject them- selves to Spanish authority, and drove the officials sent to rule them from the country. It was not until 1768 that the western portion was brought under Spanish subjection. In that year, Governor Don O'Reilly, the new Spanish ruler, landed at New Orleans, suppressed the insurrection and inaugurated Span- ish rule. No representative of Spain, however, came to upper Louisiana until 1769 when a captain arrived at St. Louis with twenty-five soldiers. By uni- versal consent the last French commandant, a man highly respected and of fine character, remained in authority. The Spanish Lieutenant-Governor, Don Pedro Piernas, arrived and took formal possession of the province May 10, 1770. Thus what is now Iowa came under Spanish rule.
From the first, the navigation of the Mississippi river was a bone of con- tention. At the close of the revolution in 1783, England recognized the Mis- sissippi as the west boundary of the United States. Spain had been friendly . to the colonies during the revolution, and had aided them in many ways. With the coming of peace, however, it soon became evident that as the price for these courtesies, Spain aimed at gaining a large portion of the land just east of the Mississippi. Therefore she guarded the navigation of the Mississippi jealously and felt that to allow the free navigation of the Mississippi was to lose her vantage ground; and might even ultimately cause her to lose her possessions on the west side of the river. On the other hand the free navigation of the river to its mouth became of vital importance to the United States. It was the only commercial outlet for her western territory. Finally Spain closed the river, and vowed that she would keep it closed, until she secured a more satis- factory boundary line for her possessions, in the south. A Kentucky flatboat- man, disregarding the Spanish decree, started boldly down the river with a lot of hardware. The Spanish authorities at Natchez stopped him, seized his boat and cargo, and left him to get back home on foot through the forest as best he could. The impetuous spirit of the Kentucky settlers was aroused. They swore that if the Spaniards did not open the river to them, they would raise an army of backwoods men, open it by force and drive the Spaniards into the sea. So intense was the feeling, that a small sized revolution in the western part of the United States was almost brought on by John Jay's proposed treaty with Spain in 1786. As the American minister to Spain, he had failed to secure any con- cessions as to the free navigation of the Mississippi, and had almost consented that the United States should waive this right for twenty years, if Spain would concede it at the expiration of that period. This proposition set the whole west-
HON. GEORGE E. ROBERTS Director United States Mint
I,HJ. CO
CAPTAIN W. H. JOHNSTON Founder of Fort Dodge Public Library
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILD N FOUNDATIONS.
41
HISTORY OF WEBSTER COUNTY
ern country in a blaze. The settlers in the upper valley determined to take things in their own hands, and enforce their right, unless the government would do something for them. They proposed to organize an army, seize the Spanish forts, capture New Orleans, and compel Spain to yield the free navigation of the river. The Spanish governor finally realized that some concession must be made. Even the thought of the backwoods men with their rifles, struck terror to the hearts of the Spaniards. As a compromise, he therefore granted the privilege of free navigation to James Wilkinson and certain other American traders in tobacco, flour and other products.
In 1788 after fruitless negotiation with Spain, congress declared, "that the free navigation of the Mississippi river is a clear and essential right of the United States, and that it ought to be enforced." Congress and Washington began to prepare for the conflict which seemed to be at hand. Spain still delayed. The Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania and an Indian war in the west gave Spain courage to put off the day of concession. Finally the American minister at Madrid proposed to the Spanish government, "that if Spain would cede the United States her possessions east of the Mississippi river, that the United States would make no claims to the territory west of the river, as her real inter- est would then require that Spain should retain her possessions west of it. Since the free navigation of the river was of such absolute necessity to the United States, it must sooner or later be conceded." The minister said: "this is the decree of Providence, written on every map of the continent, and it can- not be prevented by any agency. Would it not be the part of wisdom to anticipate an irresistible event peaceably and cement a lasting friendship with the United States on the basis of mutual interest and benefits." But for twelve years the matter hung fire. Spain realized that in granting the free navigation of the river, she was giving up the only means of checking the onward march of the American pioneer, who was only too anxious to wrest away all of her western territory. Reuben Gold Thwaites says, "a river is no adequate boundary be- tween nations, if on one bank be a people feverish to cross, and on the other a lethargic folk. The valley itself is a geographical unit." Already the Americans had settled the eastern part of the valley in numbers sufficient to dominate. Many had not waited for a change in political ownership before crossing to the western part. Spain had now become deeply involved in the Napoleonic wars. She feared an invasion of her American territory from the long suffering pioneers of the western part of the United States. Spain finally sought a settlement, and by a treaty made, October 20, 1795, the middle of the Mississippi river was made the western boundary of the United States, from the thirty-first degree of latitude to its source, and navigation to be free to its mouth.
The French had never become fully reconciled to the loss of their Ameri- can possessions. Napoleon, therefore, resolved to restore Louisiana to France. Spain, weakened and heavily in debt, was easily induced to recede the territory of Louisiana to France. The treaty ratifying this agreement was made October I, 1801. But before France could take possession of the province, the political chess board of Europe had again changed. The power of Napoleon had begun to weaken. The armies of England and her allies were pressing hard. He was fearful that his arch enemy might seize his American possessions. He needed
42
HISTORY OF WEBSTER COUNTY
money to replenish his treasury. There had always been a natural friendship between France and the Young Republic. Napoleon felt that he would rather give Louisiana to a friendly power than have it go to the hereditary foe of the French. He foresaw that the only way to checkmate England's power in America was to allow the United States to expand its boundaries. Accordingly confiden- tial negotiations were opened with the American minister to France, Robert R. Livingston. The scheme was at once communicated to President Jefferson who was quick to grasp the opportunity. James Monroe was sent to aid in the negotiations but before his arrival, Livingston had practically "made the bargain."
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.