History of Hardin county, Iowa, together with sketches of its towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 30

Author:
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Springfield IL : Union Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1002

USA > Iowa > Hardin County > History of Hardin county, Iowa, together with sketches of its towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 30

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).

in this government of the people, by the people, and for the people, may have an opportunity to express their wishes concerning the pending amendment, regardless of party affiliations, and with perfect freedom from all party restraint and influences.

CHAPTER XI.

TERRITORIAL AND STATE OFFICERS-A RETROSPECT.

In the limited space of this State his- tory, sketches of the various Territorial and State officers cannot be given, though they would be of great interest. It is thought best, however, to insert sketches of the three Territorial Governors. These have been prepared by Hon. Samuel Mur- dock, of Clayton county, a gentleman than whom none are better qualified for the task.

ROBERT LUCAS.

In the spring of 1832 the celebrated Indian Chief, Black Hawk, in violation of the treaty of St. Louis in 1804, which he himself had ratified in 1816, and again partially ratified in 1831, started with his band, composing a part of the Sac and Fox Indians, ascended Rock River to a considerable distance, where he took up a strong military position.

Gen. Atkinson, with a large number of United States troops and volunteers from

the surrounding country, immediately pur- sued him, with the intention of forcing the cunning chief either to retire or give him battle. And in compliance with this reso- lution, he dispatched forward Major Still- man, with three or four hundred volunteers, to reconoitre the position of Black Hawk. But Stillman had before him a "Warrior tried;" a man who had been born and cradled upon the battle-field; one who had followed his father through many a hard- fought battle with the Cherokees; one who had stood shoulder to shoulder with Tecumseh at Brownstown and the Thames; one who, by experience, understood both the tactics of the white man and the Indian; one who had mingled in tlie strife and carnage of every desperate and bloody battle along the whole western border for nearly half a century before. As soon as he heard that Stillman was approaching his camp, he made preparations to meet him, and in doing this he planned and accomplished one of the greatest and most

216

HISTORY OF IOWA.

skillful military stratagems known to modern times.

Stillman, underrating the character of the man before him, rushed, with his whole force, into the very jaws of death; his troops were thrown into the worst kind of disorder, and fell around him dead and dying over the field.

Bravely did Stillman attempt to rally his men and bring them into order, which he came very near doing; but the eagle eye of an old warrior was looking over that field, and just at the moment when the tide of battle seemed to hang in a balance, this brave old warrior puts him- self at the head of a chosen number of his gallant braves, and with a yell that sent a thrill through many a bold and daring heart, rushed to the charge, dealing death and destruction in his way.

Stillman ordered his men to fall back, but all was now utter confusion, and the retreat became a perfect rout. Thus, sir, commenced the short and bloody "Black Hawk War," a war in which few laurels were won, and nothing found to admire save the daring bravery of the savage commander. It is not my purpose to fol- low it further; its history is a history of the most disgraceful outrages and vile treacheries on the part of the Americans; and but for the noble conduct of the gal- lant Dodge connected with it, ought to be blotted forever from the recollections of American history.

The war ended by the capture of "Black Hawk" through the treachery of the Win- nebagos; and a treaty was concluded with him on the 21st of September, 1832, at Rock Island, by which he ceded to the United States a large tract of land, west

of the Mississippi, which became known as the "Black Hawk Purchase." This war had its important effects in the his- tory of the Great West; it brought into notice the rich valley of the Rock river; it laid open to view the wealth and treas- ures locked up for past ages in the lead mines of Wisconsin; it opened to the view of the emigrant a rich and fertile valley, lying between the Mississippi on one side and the Missouri on the other; and long before the stipulations of the treaty of 1832 could be carried out, thousands rushed pell mell into the new land, ming- ling savage and civilized life together. .

The National Legislature has never yet been able to keep up in making the neces- sary laws for their protection, with the great tide of civilization, as it rolls on- ward, year after year, upon the heels of retreating savages.

On the 20th of April, 1836, Congress passed a law for the organization of the Territory of Wisconsin, by the provisions of which the northern boundary of Wis- consin extended west in a zigzag direction from a point opposite the main channel of Green Bay through Lake Superior, touch- ing the White Earth river, thence down said river to the main channel of the Mis- souri, thence down the Missouri to a point due west from the northwest corner of the State of Missouri, etc .; thus, you see, in- cluding within the bounds of Wisconsin all the lands and territory which now compose the great States of Iowa and Minnesota. It was soon evident that this arrangement could not last long; Young America had crossed the Mississippi, and had left a natural boundary behind him; stretching his eyes three hundred miles

217

HISTORY OF IOWA.

west, his vision rested upon another, and with this in view, he demanded a separa- tion, which no Congress at that time dared to refuse.

On the 13th day of June, 1838, Congress passed an act organizing the Territory of Iowa into a separate and distinct govern- ment. This was the era of many a dar- ling project on the part of Young Amer- ica, which he has since carried out to per- fection and success; while at the same time it became the era of many a "bubble bursted" in the shape of fallen cities and deserted capitols. Cassville, below you, was once, in expectancy, a proud metropo- lis, and the seat of a more than Chinese Empire. The act took effect from and after the 3d day of July of that year, with all the requisites of a separate and inde- pendent existence.

Robert Lucas, of Ohio, the person whose name heads this article, was appointed by Mr. VanBuren, her first Governor, in con- nection with Willian B. Conway, of Penn- sylvania, Secretary.

Governor Lucas, at the time of his appointment, was quite an old man, and far advanced in the decline of life; he had spent his best days in the service of his country. His youth was spent amid the strife and storms of a cruel and desperate border war. He was engaged in almost every battle from the Huron to the Thames. He had mingled personally in almost every skirmish on the frontier during the war of 1812, and his history was full of romantic adventures, hair-breadth escapes, and bold and daring encounters. He had seen the Great West territory pass from a howling wilderness, and become the abode of millions of freemen who could

cultivate their own vine and fig tree, wor- ship at their own shrine, with none to fear or make them afraid. He had seen Ohio a despondency, a little colony, struggling for existence, with almost her entire male population drafted for a border war, and he left her for Iowa, the third among a confederation of States, the greatest, the most powerful, and at the same time the most proud and glorious republic the world ever saw.

He commenced his public career in Ohio in her infancy; he assisted, by his valor and courage, to drive back the mur- derous foe who hung upon the borders to glut his vengeance on the innocent child at its mother's breast. And not until the Indian had buried the tomahawk, and England had ceased to desolate her fron- tiers, did he quit his post and return to enjoy himself in the peaceful avocations of private life. He mingled in her halls and in her councils, and his name con- nected with almost every public act of that great State, which gave her prosperity and greatness; and as a tribute to his worth and a reward for his services, she conferred upon him, in his declining years, the office of Governor.

It was soon after his term of office ex- pired in Ohio that he received from the President the Governorship of Iowa.

It was during his term of office as Gov- ernor of Ohio that the dispute arose between that State and the territory of Michigan, in relation to their respective boundaries, which came very near plung- ing both of them into a cruel, desperate and fratricidal war. The matter was set- tled, finally, by giving Ohio all she claimed; and in order to keep the youngest child of

218

HISTORY OF IOWA.

the Republic in these days from being naughty, she was given a strip of poor territory, two hundred and fifty miles from her, and north and west of the main channel of Green Bay.

He commenced his career in Iowa with all the bouyancy of youth and better days, and looked forward with a great deal of interest to the day when he should see her a proud and noble State.

Scarcely had he time to look around him and gather information, in his new field of labor, before he found himself involved in another question of boundry, between Iowa and the State of Missouri. Missouri had set up a claim to a strip of country about six miles wide extending along the south line of our whole State; and on this strip of land she had several times attempted to collect taxes and en- force her laws.

The settlers resisted these claims of Missouri, and appealed to the Governor for protection. No sooner was their case made known to him than he resolved to call forth all the military force he could procure, and for this purpose he issued his proclamation. Hundreds responded to his call, and in a short time he had col- lected here and there through the territory a set of men who only wanted a nod from their commander, and they would have thrown themselves against odds into the very heart of Missouri. Gov. Boggs, of Missouri, had also called on his State for assistance, and he, too, was on his march with a desperate set of men to assert his claim. Had those two forces have met, nothing could have prevented a dreadful and fatal encounter.

But wise councils prevailed, and the legislature of Iowa, to its everlasting credit, drew up and passed a preamble and resolutions requesting both Governors to suspend hostilities until the first day of July thereafter. These resolutions had the desired effect; military preparations were suspended by both parties, and an- other cruel and fratricidal war averted.

The matter was afterwards submitted to Congress, where, through the influence of A. C. Dodge, with his uncle, Dr. Linn, who was at that time a Senator in Congress from Missouri; the matter was finally settled by giving to Iowa all she ever claimed.

Thus ended the celebrated "Missouri war," a war whose history is full of fun and anecdote, a war which has since fur- nished the theme for many an idle, but interesting romance; and a war which will only be remembered in machine verse and burlesque song; for

"Missouri shall many a day" "Tell of the bloody fray "

"When the Hawkeyes and Pukies" -

"First met on her border."

Governor Lucas never forgot the inci- dents of this war during his life; and long after the difficulties had passed away, he never could talk about it without flying into a passion at the conduct of Missouri. He cherished a holy hatred for the land of "Pukes" during his lifetime.

Not long after the difficulties with Mis- souri were settled, he got into a desperate quarrel with the legislature, and for a time, everything about the capital wore a bel- ligerant aspect. It will be recollected that at that time the legislature was filled exclusively by young men; "mere boys,"

219

HISTORY OF IOWA.

as it was said of them at the time, and a higher set of fellows than they were, could scarcely be found. They looked upon Iowa as their own and each of them looked himself as the future Senator, Governor, or chief justice of a future State, which he himself was at that time laboring to bring about; and the history of occurring events will show, that with a large number of them, their early antici- pations turned out to be true; and with those who are still in obscurity, but yet in the prime of life, a bright and happy future is still before them. The Governor was an old man, and, as they thought, tinctured somewhat with "Foggyism," and they did not hesitate to declare that he was here for the office, and for the office alone, and that as soon as his term expired, he would return again to Ohio, as all Governors of new Territories have generally done. What wonder, then, that between such elements, there should, in the course of events spring up a collision.

The Governor attempted from time to time, to check these young law-makers in their public expenditures, and did not hesitate to call them a set of profiligates. In retaliation for these acts on the part of the Governor, the legislature appointed a committee, consisting of James W. Grimes, since United States Senator, Chauncy Swan› who subsequently died at sea on his return from California, and Laurel Summers, afterwards United States Marshal for Iowa, to inquire into his power, and define his duties. This committee after due delibera- tion, gravely reported to the legislature, that the Governor had full power and authority to vote all acts of the legislature, of every kind, name and description, except

acts for the appropriation of money, and then asked to be discharged from the fur- ther consideration of the subject. But the matter did not end here, for the legis- lature on the 16th of January, 1840, instructed their delegate to Congress, W. W. Chapman to use his influence in procuring a law, allowing the people to elect their own Governor, and provided in this resolution, that the Governor himself should circulate it. This resolution he took good care to approve, and actually sent copies of it to Washington city.

He was removed from the office of Governor, after the 4th of March, 1831, and John Chambers, of Kentucky was appointed to succeed him.

After his removal he returned to private life, and resided at Bloomington for a number of years.

He returned to Ohio and ran for Con- gress, but was defeated, after which he again returned to Iowa, and if I mistake not, was a member of the first constitu- tional convention.

Old age crept upon him at last, and he died a number of years ago, at Muscatine. He was always a Democrat of the Jack- sonian school, and throughout a long public life he was strictly and religiously honest. He was not a man of much talent, but his long public life had made him familiar with the whole routine of public affairs.

With his intimate aquaintance with public men and public affairs, he could have written an admirable history of the Great Wests. But he has left nothing behind him save his own acts.

220

HISTORY OF IOWA.

In person, he was tall and slender, and in his younger days, capable of enduring great hardships.

As her first Governor, and one of her truest and best friends, he will live on the pages of Iowa's history, when statues of marble and brass, shall have crumbled into dust.

JOHN CHAMBERS.

On the 4th day of March, 1841, William Henry Harrison was inaugurated President of the United States. He was carried into office through one of the most renowned and exciting political campaigns our coun- try has ever witnessed.

During the administration of Mr. Van Buren, his immediate predecessor, our country, and indeed the whole civilized world, was visited by one of those great commercial revulsions which seems peri- odically to take place in the affairs of man. Never before had our country witnessed and felt such a universal depression of all kinds of business, nor could the most gifted seer in commercial pursuits tell how or when this great commercial calamity would end, or be remedied.

The people thought they could look back into the administration of General Jack- son, when the deposits were removed, as the primary cause of all the distress in every ramification of trade which followed during the administration of his successor, and in order, as they supposed, to apply a remedy, and restore confidence and secu- rity again to the country, demanded a change in the affairs of the government.

For twelve years previous to 1840, the government had been in the hands of a

party calling themselves "Jackson Demo- crats," and from their long tenure in office, many of them had come to the conclusion that they owned them in their own right, and that almost every office in the gift of the President was a life tenure.

Acting upon this principle, many of these incumbents had become notoriously cor- rupt, and appropriated the money belong- ing to their respective offices to their own private and pecuniary profit.

These things, added to the commercial distress I have mentioned, increased the popular clamor for a change, and General Harrison was triumphantly elected Presi- dent. And although the writer of this article heard him declare in a public speech that he would suffer his right hand to be cut off before he would remove a public officer for opinion sake alone, yet one of the first acts of his administration was the removal of Robert Lucas from the Governorship of Iowa, and the appoint- ment of John Chambers, of Kentucky, to succeed him.

He arrived in Iowa a short time after he had received his appointment, and imme- diately took possession of his office.

He was a Whig, and of that Kentucky school of politics, in his day, which took rather a conservative view of public affairs. He was an old man, and had seen some service in his day. He was among the Kentucky volunteers on the frontier during the war of 1812, and distinguished him- self in several skirmishes with the Indians, and was looked upon as one of Kentucky's bravest men. Everything in Iowa was in the hands of the Democrats; they had, since the formation of the Territory, filled every office; they had controlled and di-

221

HISTORY OF IOWA.

rected its whole legislation; they had carved and cut every act to suit them- selves. So that when the new Governor arrived he found Iowa in the hands. of a joint stock company, with the shares above par, and none to dispose of at any price.

These same stockholders had been for several years accustomed to look upon his predecessor, although one of their own faith, with considerable distrust; and need we wonder that when a new man made his appearance among them, of opposite faith, that, for a time at least, he should receive the cold shoulder?

He had been appointed for four years, and in all probability would remain his time out; but four years was an age, at that time, to those who in fact controlled the destinies of a future republic.

A plan was therefore set on foot by those who owned the largest shares in the com- pany, to bring about a revolution, to change the form of government, to establish a State; and, in obedience to this plan, the legislature, on the 16th day of February, 1842, provided that at the August election following, a vote should be taken for or against a convention to form a constitution for the State of Iowa. At this time the general government had paid all the ex- penses of the Territory, in hard money. At every session of every court, in every county throughout the whole Territory, the Judge, the District Attorney, and last, though not least, the United States Mar- shal, or one of his deputies, always ap- peared together. As soon as the court was over, and justice had been meted out with unsparing hand, the Marshal called up the Grand and Petit Juries, and the witnesses upon all criminal trials, cashed all their

accounts in half dollars, and they went their own way over the broad prairies, whistling or singing that good old tune,

"Uncle Sam is rich enough to give us all a farm."

Taxes they did not feel, for there was no occasion to gather them, and I know of no happier State on earth than where man can live and enjoy all the sweets of unre- strained liberty, be assured of protection from aggression and wrong, his fields and gardens yielding a bounteous return for the slightest touch of the hoe and the spade, upon his own soil, with a cabin reared by his own hands, and "children who cluster like grapes at the door," with a table covered by the choicest viands, the latch-string never pulled in, and at the same time a government scattering broad- cast around him annually thousands of dol- lars in hard money, and asking nothing in return but good behavior. Such was the state of things in the Territory, at this time; and when the August election came, the people voted against a convention, and wisely concluded to remain a few years longer in a state of dependency, in order to enjoy, as long as possible, the benefits showered upon them by the general gov- ernment.

During all this time the new Governor had not been idle. He had, previous to this, collected all the information he could in relation to the country. He had held a treaty with the Sac and Fox Indians, and had succeeded in making a purchase of all their lands lying west of the Blackhawk Purchase and extending west to the Mis- souri, and north to the "Neutral Ground." By this treaty Iowa acquired jurisdiction to the Missouri on the west, and by an act

222

HISTORY OF IOWA.

of Congress a criminal jurisdiction to the British possessions on the north.

Long before this treaty could be ratified at Washington, tens of thousands rushed pell-mell upon the "New Purchase," deter- mined to make themselves "claims," and stand by them to the last. Troops were sent to drive them off until the stipulations of the treaty could be carried out, and in order to give time to the Indians to re- move.

But before the troops had time to re- move a few squatters in one portion, "claims" were made in their rear, adjoin- ing one another, at the rate of fifty miles a day. So great was the rush for "claims" that it was no uncommon thing for the in- habitants of an Indian village to wake up in the morning, and to their utter conster- nation and surprise, find a log cabin or "claim shanty" which had been erected in their town during the night, while upon the door, perhaps, with chalk or coal, the unmistakable pictures of the bowie-knife and revolver, indicating, as the Indians well knew, the desperate character of him who sleeps within, upon that pallet of leaves and grass.

No troops could restrain them, and the officers gave up in despair, thus in a short time the Territory had received a large addition to her population.

The friends of a State government thought they could now, after so large an increase of population as this new pur- chase had brought about, venture again upon their darling scheme.

On the 12th day of February, 1844, the Legislature again provided that at the April election following a poll should be opened, and each elector interrogated "for

or against a convention ?" This time it was made a party measure, and to be "for a convention" was a true test of a man's Democracy. The plan succeeded admirably, even beyond the expectations of the "share-holders," and upon counting there was a small majority in favor of a convention.

The delegates were elected at the Aug- ust election following, and the convention, consisting of seventy members, assembled at Iowa City on the first Monday in Octo- ber, 1844, and proceeded to form a consti- tution. After a few weeks deliberation, they produced what they called a constitu- tion, but, upon inspection, it was found to be rather a rickety affair; it was, however, in accordance with the doctrine of "Popu- lar Sovereignty," submitted to the people for their rejection or approval, at the April election, in 1845. At the time of its form- ation, the convention, in defining the boun- daries of the future State, had included on the north nearly the whole of what is now the State of Minnesota. Congress had, however, in anticipation of our coming, and in order to meet us half way, passed an act admitting us into the Union, but at the same time curtailing our boundaries, both on the north and west, cutting us off from the Missouri entirely. This act of Congress became known only a short time before the April election, and this fact, in connection with the unpopularity of the instrument itself, caused its defeat at the election which followed.

The legislature had wisely provided, at the session which provided for a conven- tion, that in the event the constitution should be defeated, there should be an election for members of the legislature in

HISTORY OF IOWA.

223

April, and that such legislature should assemble on the first Monday in May, 1845.

The election was held accordingly, and the Legislature assembled at Iowa City at the time designated.

Immediately after the organization, the Democrats called together a caucus, in which it was resolved to submit again the same constitution to another test; and, agreeable to this resolution, Shepard Leffler, of DeMoines, introduced into the Senate a bill for that purpose. This bill passed both Houses, and was submitted to Mr. Chambers for his approval. But he differed with the legislature in regard to their power to pass an act of that kind, and he returned it with his veto. The legislature, however, was too strong for him, and they passed the bill over his veto, and again submitted the constitution at the Angust election following. But the people by this time had got tired of the old thing. Copies of it had been handed from one to another until they were worn out; they believed the Governor was right in his veto; and the old man had the grand satisfaction in seeing his last public act in the territory triumphantly sustained by the people. It was again rejected by a large majority, and came very near defeat- ing General Dodge for Congress, who undertook to pack it and run against R. P. Lowe, the present Chief Justice of the State.

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.

History of Hardin county, Iowa, together with sketches of its towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 30

Author: Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Springfield IL : Union Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1002

Author:
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Springfield IL : Union Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1002