History of Jackson County, Iowa; Volume I, Part 3

Author: Ellis, James Whitcomb, 1848-; Clarke, S. J., publishing company
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 730

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The Sioux located their hunting grounds north of the Sacs and Foxes. They were a fierce and warlike nation and often disputed possession in savage and fiendish warfare. The possessions of those tribes were mostly located in Min- nesota, but extended over a portion of northern and western Iowa to the Mis- souri River. Their descent from the north upon the hunting grounds of Iowa frequently brought them into collision with the Sacs and Foxes and after many a sanguine conflict, a boundary line was established between them by the govern- ment of the United States, in a treaty held at Prairie du Chien in 1825. Instead of settling the difficulties, this caused them to quarrel all the more, in consequence of alleged trespasses upon each other's side of the line. So bitter and unrelenting became these contests that, in 1830, the government purchased of the respective tribes of the Sacs and Foxes, and the Sioux, a strip of land twenty miles wide on both sides of the line, thus throwing them forty miles apart by creating a "neutral ground," and commanded them to cease their hostilities. They were, however, allowed the fish on the ground unmolested, provided they did not inter- fere with each other on United States territory. Soon after the acquisition of Louisiana the United States government 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, General Wilkinson commanding, had its headquarters at St. Louis. From this post Captains Clarke and Lewis, with a sufficient force, were detailed to explore the unknown sources of the Missouri, and Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike to ascend to the headwaters of the Mississippi. Lieutenant Pike, with one sergeant, two corporals and seventeen privates, left the military camp, near St. Louis, in a Keil boat, with four months' rations, August 9, 1805. On the 20th of the same month the expedition arrived within the present limits of the state 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, fifteen Sacs 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 substantially as follows :

"Your great father, the president of the United States, wishes to be more acquainted with the situation and wants of the different nations of red people in our new 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."

FOREST QUEEN

.HE PAQUOKETA

ALONG THE MAQUOKETA

HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY

At the close of the council he presented the red men with some knives, tobacco and whiskey. On the 23rd of August at what is supposed, from his description to be the site of the present city of Burlington, he selected as the location for a military post. He describes the place as being on a hill, about forty miles above the river deMoyne rapids, on the west side of the river, in latitude about forty degrees twenty one minutes north. The channel of the river runs on that shore. The hill in front is about sixty feet perpendicular, and nearly level at the top. About four hundred 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 corresponds to Burlington, the spot is laid down on the 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, description and map furnished by Pike, it could not have been the place selected by him, while all the circumstances corroborate the opinion that the spot he selected was the place where Burlington is now situated, called by the early voyagers on the Mississippi "Flint Hills." In company with one of his men Pike went on shore on a hunting expedition. and following a stream which they supposed to be a part of the Mississippi. they were led away from their course. 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 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. He then continued on his way up the river, expecting the men would soon overtake him. They lost their way however, and for six days were without food, and might have perished had they not accidentally met a trader from St. Louis, who induced two Indians to take them up the river, overtaking 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 mines, and the young and evidently inquisitive officer obtained but little information in that regard. 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, September 23rd, and obtained from them a grant of one hundred thousand acres of land.

Before the territory of Iowa could be opened to settlement by the whites it was first necessary that the Indian title should be extinguished and the aborig- ines removed. The territory had 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 expended, warring tribes had to be appeased by treaty stipulations and oppression by the whites discouraged.

BLACK HAWK.

When the United States assumed control of the country, by reason of its purchase from France, nearly the whole state was in possession of the Sacs and Foxes, a powerful and warlike nation, who were not disposed to submit without a struggle to what they regarded the encroachment on their rights of the pale faces. Among the most noted chiefs, and one whose restlessness and hatred of the whites 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

HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY

ambition he became the leading spirit of the united nation of the Sacs and Foxes,' and one of the prominent figures in the history of the country from 1804 until his death. In early manhood he attained distinction as a fighting chief, having led campaigns against the Osages and other neighboring tribes. About the be- ginning of the nineteenth century he began 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 narrow prejudice and bitter ill will against the Americans.

November 3, 1804, a treaty was concluded between William Henry Harri- son, then governor of Indian Territory, on behalf of the United States, and five chiefs of the Sac and Fox nation, by which the latter, in consideration of two thousand two hundred thirty-four dollars worth of goods, then delivered, and a yearly annuity of one thousand dollars 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 Missouri, to the Wisconsin River, embracing an area of fifty-one million acres. To this treaty Black Hawk always objected and always refused to consider it binding upon his people. He asserted that the chiefs and 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 council with the Indians and selecting sites for forts within the territory recently acquired from France by the United States. Lieutenant Pike seems to have been the first American whom Black Hawk had met or had a personal in- terview with, and was very much impressed in his favor. Pike gave a very in- teresting account of his visit to the noted chief.

Fort Edwards was erected soon after Pike's expedition, at what is now War- saw, Illinois, also Fort Madison, on the site of the present 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 delegation from the nation, headed by 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 apparently 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 he was building a house for a trader, who was coming to sell them goods cheap, and that the soldiers were coming to keep him company,-a statement which Black Hawk says they distrusted at the time, be- lieving 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 authority, that the building of Fort Madison was a violation of the treaty of 1804. By the eleventh article of that treaty, the United States had a right to build a fort near the mouth of the Wisconsin river, and by article six they had bound themselves "that if any citizen of the United States or any other white person should form a settlement upon their lands such intruder 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 movements 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 sur- prise 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 were killed. The Indians were too hasty in their movements for the parade had not commenced. However, they kept up the siege several days, attempting the

HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY

old Fox strategy of setting fire to the fort with blazing arrows, but finding their efforts unavailing, they desisted and returned to their wigwams on 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 they were forced into the war by having been deceived. He narrates the circumstances as follows: "Several of the head men and chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes were called upon to go to Wash- ington 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 with 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 Mis- sissippi to furnish us with goods, but that we should be supplied with an Amer- ican 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 propo- sition 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 Madison in good 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 crestfallen, 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 ascending 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 immediately be- cause he had good news for us and a variety of presents. The express presented us with pipes, tobacco 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 General Black Hawk, decked him with medals, excited his jealousy against the Americans and armed his band; but he met with defeat and disappointment, and soon abandoned the service and returned home.

There was a portion of the Sacs and Foxes, whom Black Hawk, with all his skill and cunning, could not lead into hostilities against the United States. With Keokuk, "the watchful Fox," at their 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 party" and "peace party." Keokuk became one of the nation's great chiefs. In person he was tall and of portly bearing. He has been described as an orator, entitled to rank with the most gifted of his race, and through the eloquence of his tongue he prevailed upon a large body of his people to remain friendly to the Americans. As has been said, the treaty of 1804 between the United States and the Sac and Fox nations was never acknowledged by Black Hawk and, in 1831, he established himself with a chosen band of warriors upon the disputed territory, ordering the whites to leave the country at once. The settlers complaining, Governor Rey- nolds, of Illinois, despatched General Gaines, with a company of regulars and one thousand five hundred volunteers, to the scene of action. Taking the Indians by surprise, the troops burnt their village and forced them to conclude a treaty, by which they ceded all their lands east of the Mississippi, and agreed to remain on the west side of the river.

HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY

Necessity forced the proud spirit of Black Hawk into submission, which made him more than ever determined to be avenged upon his enemies. Having rallied around him the warlike braves of the Sac and Fox nations, he recrossed the Mississippi in the spring of 1832. Upon hearing of the invasion, Governor Rey- nolds hastily gathered a body of one thousand eight hundred volunteers, placing them under Brigadier-General Samuel Whiteside. The army marched to the Mississippi and, having reduced to ashes the village known as "Prophet's Town," proceeded several miles up Rock River, to Dixon, to join the regular forces under General Atkinson. There were formed, at Dixon, two companies of volunteers, who, sighing for glory, were dispatched to reconnoiter the enemy. They ad- vanced, under command of General Stillman's Run, and, while encamping there, saw a party of mounted Indians at a distance of a mile. Several of Stillman's men mounted their horses and charged the Indians, killing three of them; but, attacked by the main body, under Black Hawk, they were routed and, by their precipitate flight, spread such a panic through the camp that the whole company ran off to Dixon as fast as their legs could carry them. On their arrival it was found eleven had been killed. For a long time afterward Major Stillman and his men were subjects of ridicule as their expedition was disastrous. Stillman's defeat spread consternation throughout the state and nation. The number of Indians was greatly exaggerated and the name of Black Hawk carried with it associations of great military talent, cunning, and cruelty. He was ever active and restless and was continually causing trouble.

After Black Hawk and his warriors had committed several depredations and added more scalp locks to their belts, that restless chief and his savage partisans were located on Rock River, where he was in camp. On July 19, General Henry being in command, ordered his troops to march. After having gone fifty miles, they were overtaken by a terrible thunder storm, which lasted all night. Noth- ing cooled in their ardor and zeal, they marched fifty miles the next day, en- camping near the place where the Indians encamped the night before. Hurrying along as fast as they could, the infantry keeping up an equal pace with the mounted men, the troops, on the morning of the 21st, crossed the river connect- ing two of the four lakes, by which the Indians had been endeavoring to escape. They found, on their way, the ground strewn with kettles and articles of bag- gage, which, in the haste of retreat, the Indians were obliged to abandon. The troops, imbued with new ardor, advanced so rapidly that at noon they fell in with the rear guards of the enemy. Those who closely pursued them were saluted by a sudden fire of musketry from a body of Indians who had concealed them- selves in the high grass of the prairie. A most desperate charge was made on the four, who, unable to resist, retreated obliquely in order to outflank the volun- teers on the right; but the latter charged the Indians in their ambush and ex- pelled them from the thickets at the point of the bayonet, and dispersed them. Night set in and the battle ended, having cost the Indians sixty-eight of their bravest men, while the loss of the Illinoisans was but one killed and eight wounded. Soon after this battle Generals Atkinson and Henry joined forces and pursued the Indians. General Henry struck the main trail, left his horses be- hind, formed an advance guard of eight men, and marched forward upon the trail. When these eight men came in sight of the river, they were suddenly fired upon and five of them killed, the remaining three maintaining their ground until General Henry came up. Then the Indians, charged upon with the bayonet, fell back upon their main force. The battle now became general; the Indians fought with desperate valor, but were furiously assailed by the volunteers with their bayonets, cutting many of the Indians to pieces and driving the rest of them into the river. Those who escaped from being drowned found refuge on an island. On hearing the frequent discharge of the musketry, General Atkinson abandoned the pursuit of the twenty Indians under Black Hawk himself and hurried to the scene of action, where he arrived too late to take part in the battle. He imme- diately forded the river with his troops, the water reaching up to their necks, and

HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY

landed on the island where the Indians had secreted themselves. The soldiers rushed upon the Indians, killed several of them, took the others prisoners, and chased the rest into the river, where they were either drowned or shot before they reached the opposite shore. Thus ended the battle, the Indians losing three hundred, besides the prisoners, the whites but seven killed and twelve wounded.

Black Hawk, with his twenty braves, retreated up the Wisconsin river. The Winnebagoes, desirous of securing the friendship of the whites, went in pursuit and captured and delivered them to General Street, the United States Indian agent. Among the prisoners were the son of Black Hawk and the prophet of the tribe. These, with Black Hawk, were taken to Washington, D. C., and soon con- signed as prisoners to Fortress Monroe. At the interview Black Hawk had with the president he closed his speech delivered on the occasion in the following words :

"We did not expect to conquer the whites. They have too many houses, too many men. I took up the hatchet, for my part, to revenge injuries which my people could no longer endure. Had I borne them longer without striking, my people would have said: 'Black Hawk is a woman. He is too old to be a chief. He is no Sac.' These reflections caused me to raise the war whoop. I say no more. It is known to you. Keokuk once was here; you took him by the hand, and when he wished to return to his home you were willing. Black Hawk ex- pects, like Keokuk, he shall be permitted to return too."

By order of the president, Black Hawk and his companions, who were in confinement at Fortress Monroe, were set free on the 4th day of June, 1833. After their release from prison they were conducted, in charge of Major Gar- land, through some of the principal cities, that they might witness the power of the United States and learn their own inability to cope with them in war. Great multitudes flocked to see them wherever they were taken, and the attention paid them rendered their progress through the country a triumphal procession, in- stead of prisoners transported by an officer. At Rock Island the prisoners were given their liberty amid great and impressive ceremony. In 1838 Black Hawk built him a dwelling near Des Moines, this state, and furnished it after the manner of the whites and engaged in agricultural pursuits, together with hunting and fishing. Here, with his wife, to whom he was greatly attached, he passed the few remaining days of his life. To his credit, it may be said, that Black Hawk re- mained true to his wife and served her with a devotion uncommon among In- dians, living with her upward of forty years.

At all times when Black Hawk visited the whites he was received with marked attention. He was an honored guest at the Old Settlers' reunion in Lee county, Illinois, and received marked tokens of esteem. In September, 1838, while on his way to Rock Island to receive his annuity from the government, he con- tracted a severe cold, which resulted in an intense attack of bilious fever, and terminated his life October 3rd. After his death he was dressed in the uniform presented him by the president while in Washington. He was buried in a grave six feet in depth, situated upon a beautiful eminence. The body was placed in the middle of the grave, in a sitting position upon a seat constructed for the occa- sion. On his left side the cane given him by Henry Clay was placed upright, with his right hand resting upon it. His remains were afterward stolen and carried away, but they were recovered by the governor of Iowa and placed in the museum at Burlington, of the Historical Society, where they were finally destroyed by fire.

Another eminent writer gives the following account of the Black Hawk war: "The immediate cause of the Indian outbreak in 1830 was the occupation of Black Hawk's village, on the Rock River, by the whites, during the absence of the chief and his braves on a hunting expedition, on the west side of the Missis- sippi. When they returned, they found their wigwams occupied by white families and their own women and children were shelterless on the banks of the river. The Indians were indignant, and determined to repossess their village at all haz-

HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY'

ards, and early in the spring of 1831 recrossed the Mississippi and menacingly took possession of their own corn fields and cabins. It may be well to remark here that it was expressly stipulated in the treaty of 1804, to which they attribu- ted all their troubles, that the Indians should not be obliged to leave their lands until they were sold by the United States, and it does not appear that they occu- pied any lands other than those owned by the government. If this was true, the Indians had good cause for indignation and complaint. But the whites, driven out in turn by the returning Indians, became so clamorous against what they termed the encroachments of the natives, that Governor Reynolds, of Illinois, ordered General Gaines to Rock Island with a military force to drive the Indians again from their homes to the west side of the Mississippi. Black Hawk says he did not intend to be provoked into war by anything less than the blood of some of his people; in other words, that there would be no war unless it was commenced by the pale faces. But it was said and probably thought by the military com- manders along the frontier that the Indians intended to unite in a general war against the whites, from Rock River to the Mexican borders. But it does not appear that the hardy frontiersmen themselves had any fears, for their experi- ence had been that, when well treated, their Indian neighbors were not dangerous. Black Hawk and his band had done no more than attempt to repossess the old homes of which they had been deprived of, in their absence. No blood had been shed. Black Hawk and his chiefs sent a flag of truce, and a new treaty was made, by which Black Hawk and his band agreed to remain forever on the Iowa side and never recross the river without the permission of the president or the governor of Illinois. Whether the Indians clearly understood the terms of this treaty is uncertain. As was usually the case, Indian traders had dictated terms on their behalf, and they had received a large amount of provisions, etc., from the government, but it may well be doubted whether the Indians comprehended that they could never revisit the graves of their fathers without violating their treaty. They undoubtedly thought that they had agreed to never recross the Mississippi with hostile intent. However this may be, on the 6th day of April, 1832, Black Hawk and his entire band with their women and children again recrossed the Mississippi in plain view of the garrison of Fort Armstrong and went up Rock River. Although this act was construed into an act of hostility by the military authorities, who declared that Black Hawk intended to recover his village or the site where it stood by force; but it does not appear that he made any such an attempt, nor did his appearance create any special alarm among the settlers. They knew that the Indians never went on the war path with their old men, their women and their children.

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History of Jackson County, Iowa; Volume I, Part 3

Author: Ellis, James Whitcomb, 1848-; Clarke, S. J., publishing company Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 730

Author: Ellis, James Whitcomb, 1848-; Clarke, S. J., publishing company
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 730