History of Kossuth County, Iowa, Part 2

Author: Reed, Benjamin F
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 879

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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).

Realizing that it is any reader's right to challenge the truthfulness of asser- tions made by the historian, and to demand a statement of the source from which he derived his information, the author makes these statements of the facilities he had for acquiring much of the information which he has imparted to the readers of this volume: At ten years of age he came with his parents from Marshall county, lowa, to Irvington, May 12, 1858, although his father had come the year previous and selected the land on "the Ridge" which was to be- come his home farm. During the succeeding seven years he casily, in common with others. became familiarly acquainted with not only every person in the south end of the county, but with most of those in the river settlements in the vicinity of Algona. He heard their versions of all the local events of the past, sympathized with them in their distress, rejoiced with them in their happiness and laughed with them in their hilarity, while at the same time he became in- formed as to their general characteristics, virtues, failings and merits. In the fall of 1862 he became one of his father's threshing crew which did service annually in the fall for several years at every farm home in the county, and this experience increased his knowledge of the pioneers of that period. Until the close of the war he had a speaking acquaintance with nearly every person, old and young, in the county.

During the war period he was just the right age to receive lasting im- pressions. In fact the events of that sorrowful epoch are remembered by him far more vividly than those of a quarter of a century later. Other facilities for acquiring a knowledge of the growth of the population and the development of the many new townships were afforded him in later times, when his ten years' service as county superintendent enabled him to widen his acquaintance and to note the material progress that was being made along all lines of activity.

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CHAPTER II

THE REIGN OF THE RED MEN

The first inhabitants of the land now embraced within the boundaries of Kossuth county were the Sioux. In order to give an account of who they were, where they came from, what sections they roamed over, and especially what tribes they fought, and why they fought, other Indian nations must be introduced to the reader and historically treated. This necessitates considering at least three of the tribes that claimed hunting grounds in Iowa, or in this region, be- fore the state was organized. This fact becomes apparent because in some instances there were treaties with the Sioux, jointly with the Sacs and Foxes and other tribes, concerning the boundaries of their hunting grounds; because the Winnebagoes made history in this section of the country on account of their having been assigned a tract of land between the Sioux and Sacs and Foxes; because the Sioux, the Sacs and Foxes and the Winnebagoes were all concerned in the Neutral Ground, which included a portion of this county ; and because Kossuth's only Indian battle ground is the scene where a party of the Sacs and Foxes attacked a camp of the Sioux.

All these tribes made history, directly or indirectly, pertaining to Kossuth. One has only to glance at the map of the state to be convinced that various tribes of Indians had possession of this region in the past, and that their names and words which they used are being perpetuated. The map discloses the names of Sioux, Sac, Fox, Winnebago, Iowa, Osage, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Pottawattamie, Oskaloosa, Ottumwa, Okoboji, Pocahontas, Monona, Anamosa, Appanoose, Poweshiek, Decorah, Winneshiek, Wapello, Osceola, Waukon, Tama, Black Hawk, Keokuk, and Mahaska.

A GLIMPSE AT THE SACS AND FOXES.

More people in this county and in the state generally became familiar with the Sacs and the Foxes than with any other tribes, because several hundred of them own land in Tama county, and are known to be semi-civilized. Their long residence there, and their peaceable relations with the white inhabitants, have led many to believe that these combined tribes have never belonged to the savage, warring class of Indians. No class of people knows that such is not the fact better than do the Sioux themselves, who were considered their an- cient enemies at the time of the great council in 1825. The Winnebagoes, furthermore, have reasons for knowing that they were at one time very savage fighters and always looking for trouble. The Sacs and Foxes were formerly

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as desperate savages and sought battle engagements as frequently as did any of the other tribes. They were two distinct nations at that early date when they lived along the banks of the St. Lawrence; but becoming engaged in wars with other tribes, their numbers were so reduced that they found it to their best interests to co-operate and live together in harmony. Father Hennepin found them centered around Green Bay on Lake Michigan in 1680, where they grew to be a powerful nation. Later they extended their hunting grounds west to the Mississippi. At the time of the Louisiana Purchase they had possession of what is now the state of Illinois; of the eastern and southeastern portion of what is now the state of Iowa, and other lands to the south.

At that time the Sacs had four principal villages-one at the head of the Des Moines Rapids where Montrose is located, one near the mouth of the Upper Iowa, and the other two were on the east side of the river, the locations being now in Illinois. The Foxes had one village about six miles above the rapids on Rock river, another about twelve miles from the Dubuque lead mines, and still another on Turkey river. During the War of 1812 most of these two tribes supported the British, while the remainder favored the government. This division of sentiment caused a separation. Those favoring the Americans gradually came over to the west side of the Mississippi, but in later years the tribes were again united.

The government made numerous treaties, from time to time, with these tribes, but it sometimes ignored the terms and did other acts to cause the In- dians to lose confidence in the great father-the president-to protect them. Unprincipled agents of the government frequently imposed upon them, and sharp traders with whiskey and deceit often cheated them out of their money and goods. The Black Hawk war was largely the result of the government's violating the treaty contract and doing other indiscreet acts. William Henry Harrison, then governor of Indian Territory, in 1804, succeeded in inducing five of the chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes to cede to the government all of their valu- able lands east of the Mississippi and a large tract in Missouri for less than $2,500.00 and an annuity of $1,000.00. At the same time the government bound itself to protect them in the future and to see that they were not again dis- turbed in their possessions. Soon after this treaty was made the government erected Fort Edwards, now Warsaw, Illinois, on the newly purchased land. This caused general alarm and uneasiness among the Indians and they began being dissatisfied with the treaty. To make matters worse the government, in utter violation of the treaty, erected Fort Madison, in 1808, where the city of that name is located in Iowa.

The famous Sac warrior, Black Hawk, the chief best known to Iowa his- tory, had been ordered many times to move his tribe west across the river in compliance with the treaty, but he refused to go. He and his followers were greatly displeased because of the erection of Fort Madison on their lands. Tak- ing the position that the five chiefs who signed the agreement, in 1804. had no right to sell their hunting grounds, he defiantly refused to move unless paid the sum of $6,000.00. That demand being refused, in the spring of 1831, the gov- ernment agent at Rock Island told him that he must pass over to the west side of the river with his tribe or the troops would compel him to do so. Being a warrior from his boyhood, Black Hawk defied the government military forces.

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HISTORY OF KOSSUTH COUNTY

The appearance of the troops, however, caused him and his followers to cross to the west side, where in June, 1831, he was compelled to sign an agreement to be under the control of the chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes who had been living on the Iowa side of the river. The government having set a precedent for breaking treaty terms, Black Hawk followed the example by assembling a large band of warriors and crossing back to the east side in April, 1832. War fol- lowed, and before Black Hawk could be subdued there were in the field against him, besides the United States troops, 600 mounted men, 3,000 Illinois militia, and nine companies of artillery.

Upon the capture of Black Hawk and some of his most desperate follow- ers in the latter part of August of that year, they were sent as prisoners to Fort Monroe where they remained until the following June before being liberated. The old warrior returned humiliated and heart-broken at the thought of not only being subdued, but by being deposed of all tribal authority and having to be under the control of Keokuk. During his absence in September, 1832, Gen- eral Scott had held a treaty with the Sacs and Foxes and had purchased 6,000,000 acres of their land for the government to populate along the cast side of what now constitutes the state of Iowa. This tract is well known as the Black Hawk Purchase. Keokuk, the orator, who had remained loyal to the government was rewarded for his fidelity by the gift of a large reservation, which a few years later was also ceded to the government.

The Second Purchase occurred in the fall of 1837 when these tribes dis- posed of their interest to 1,250,000 acres adjoining the former purchase. In the treaty held at Agency City, in October of 1842, these confederated tribes disposed of all the land they held in the present limits of the state to the govern- ment for the sum of $258,566, $40,000 interest to be paid annually, and food enough to keep them for one year. In the whole range of Iowa Indian history no other council was so sad as this last council where they agreed to part for- ever with their beautiful hunting grounds in the Iowa river valley, which they had so long enjoyed. They had agreed to leave their cherished home for possessions in Kansas where strangers would be their neighbors. For two or three years they hovered about their old hunting grounds and then took their sorrowful departure. On arriving at their new home, the sand hills and parched districts were distasteful to them. They became dissatisfied and uneasy, and grew homesick. They longed for their old home and cast many glances in the direction of the green prairies along the Iowa river. Soon stragglers from the sunflower state began returning. Others kept following in their trail until the early 50's when their number was large enough to form quite a village. They settled in Marshall and Tama counties and pleaded for permission to remain. Among them were Sacs, Foxes, and Pottawattamies, but all passing under the name of Musquakies. Along about 1857 they were permitted to pur- chase lands in Tama county where their descendants are still living and owning about 25,000 acres.

The chief of this Musquakie band in the 50's and 60's was a large Pot- tawattamie whose Indian name was Chemeuse, but who was known far and wide as Johnny Green.

Thousands of people in Iowa made the acquaintance of Johnny Green, and among them were the early settlers of Kossuth, including some of their chil-

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HISTORY OF KOSSUTH COUNTY

dren. The first Indian, the author ever remembers of seeing, was this old chief. It was during the summer of 1855 or 1856, at the little pioneer village of La- fayette (Albion) in Marshall county. It was while religious services were being conducted one Sunday in a carpenter shop, by a minister whose name was Holland. Presently there appeared at the open door an Indian chief dressed in his war costume of scanty attire. Some man went to the door and asked him what he wanted. He said that his name was Johnny Green; that his tribe were going to have a war dance on the public square and show how they killed the Sioux ; and that he wanted all those in the house to come out and see the performance. The man told him if he would go away until the meeting was out he would ask all the people there to go and see the fun. After the services were closed there was a stampede for the public square. Following a series of war-hoops, the war-dance began while drums and tambourines were sounding. Some of the Indians were dressed to imitate the Sioux. One in- cident of the performance is still vivid in the memory of the writer. A big, burly Sioux with an uplifted tomahawk started after a Pottawattamie woman who had in her hand a bow and a single arrow. They ran in a large circle around the entire crowd, she keeping about two rods in the lead. All were much surprised at her dexterity when she suddenly dropped upon the ground in a sitting posture facing her imaginary foe, then instantly hooking the bow over her feet she pulled the string and let the arrow fly with such force that it would have gone through her pursuer, if in fact she had intended to pierce him. Another little incident of the event is also well remembered. An Indian boy, about nine or ten years old, took his hickory arrow and shot it so as to strike the writer's bare heel very lightly while in the crowd. This he did several times whenever he got a good chance to play the trick which was giving him evident pleasure. The last time he did so the old chief saw him and rebuked the lad for scaring a young, white-headed pale-face.

The Indians had their camp in the Ballard timber, a couple of miles north- west of the village. The boys and girls, as well as older people, often visited the camps to satisfy their curiosity. Johnny Green explained to the boys how the Indians collected sap and made maple sugar ; how they made paint for their faces from roots, bark, and berries; and how they made triggers for dead-fall traps to catch small animals for their fur and for food. The boys happened there one day while a wedding ceremony was going on, though they did not mis- trust that such was the case until they were informed to that effect. A young couple, apparently about twenty years old, and dressed nearly alike, were seated in a tent on a couch of skins of animals. The boys were told that the couple had been seated there since sunrise and that they would remain until sundown, at which time the wedding ceremony would close.

The old chief, although considered brave and daring, gave unmistakable evi- dence of his being much afraid that the Sioux would attack their camp at that place. He no doubt had just reasons for fearing them, because it was a party of those Sacs and Foxes that slipped up from that region in the spring of 1852, under the leadership of Kokomah, and slaughtered a camping party of Sioux on what is now the northwest quarter of section 8, in Plum Creek township, in this county. Whether old Johnny Green was along in that raid, the writer has

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HISTORY OF KOSSUTH COUNTY

never learned, but he certainly feared the Sioux would retaliate while in the Ballard timber.

During the winter of 1854 and 1855, and for several years later, the writer's father operated a steam mill at Lafayette. The old chief visited the mill fre- quently and always had something to say about the coming of the Sioux. He was nearly wild with excitement one night when he looked out and saw the northern lights. Said he, "Heap war! Mabeso Sioux and smoky-man, and mabeso Sioux and Pottawattamie. Heap war! Heap war!" The mill hands slept in a little log cabin near the mill. One dark night the door was pushed open and the room became completely filled with jabbering Pottawattamies, Sacs and Foxes. For a while there was consternation in that cabin. Some one finally plucked up courage enough to ask the Indians what they were there for at that time of night. The answer came from several of them: "The Sioux are coming! The Sioux are coming!" Along towards morning they returned to their camps where they had left their squaws to the mercy of the Sioux toma- hawk if their dreaded foe had come.

Johnny Green by his numerous visits to the mill and by his good behavior. became a personal friend of Samuel Reed. When the latter completed his new house at Lafayette, Old Johnny and his squaw were guests of honor at the opening dinner. The chief after observing how the others held their knives and forks caused his squaw to hold hers in like manner. Just for a joke, one of the guests held his fork under his first and fourth fingers and over the other two. Catching a glimpse of that freakish departure from the customary table etiquette, old Johnny shook his head and grunted, "Ugh, Ugh" amid roars of laughter. Years after Samuel Reed had moved to Kossuth county, he learned of Johnny Green's death and mourned his loss as that of a dear friend.

THE HISTORY-MAKING SIOUX

The Sioux tribe is the principal one that made history for every county in northwestern Iowa. It was those Indians that had possession of what is now this county for generations before there was such an organization as a terri- tory of Iowa. They constitute a group of tribes belonging to the Dakota fam- ily, and being its principal tribe, the whole family is generally known by the name of Sioux. It is claimed that the word means "snake-like" and was first applied to them by their tribal enemies. Every person who has any knowledge of the Sioux character knows that the term is an appropriate one. Just when they took possession of this region of country is not known, but it was evidently by degrees. Even as far back as 1680, when Louis Hennepin was ascending the Mississippi, he and his companions were taken prisoners by them and held captives for several days. They were then near the head waters of the Missis- sippi. It was while he was still a prisoner that he gave the name to the Falls of St. Anthony. The Sioux were thick on the Missouri river along the western border of what is now this state, in 1804, when Lewis and Clark held a council with them at the bluffs near the northwest corner of the present Pottawattamie county. The city of Council Bluffs was named in honor of that event. The object of the council was to inform the Indians that the United States owned the country, and that the administration desired to establish peaceable relations with

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HISTORY OF KOSSUTH COUNTY

them. Fifteen years later when the site was selected near that spot for a military post, there must have been many savages in that region to justify John C. Cal- houn, secretary of war, in saying that the fort was in the center of the most powerful tribes and the most numerous Indian population west of the Missis- sippi. More evidence that what is now western Iowa was the abode of the Sioux prior to 1820, is the fact that the grave of the noted chief, Red Hawk, was found by Captain Magee's dragoons that year in the region of Sac county, while on their march from Camp Missouri through this section of the country.

When Captain Kearney, in 1835, arrived at a point near where Winona, Minnesota, is on the Mississippi, after his march with a detachment of United States dragoons up the Des Moines river to the mouth of the Boone and thence northeasterly to that place, he found Wabashaw's village to be swarming with Sioux. These same dragoons on their return march when in southwestern Min- nesota, not far from the north line of Kossuth, were fiercely attacked by In- dians of that tribe. The very names of the Big Sioux and the Little Sioux rivers suggest the tribes that roamed over that section for their hunting grounds. In order to force peace between the tribes and to protect the government sur- veyors and the frontier settlers, Fort Des Moines was established in 1843 and Fort Dodge in 1850. Government troops occupied both positions as long as it was deemed necessary for the benefit of the settlers. Engineer Talcott, while run- ning the boundary line between this state and Minnesota in 1852, encountered these savages at no great distance from where they attacked the dragoons in 1835.

An account of the various depredations committed by the Sioux in this region being presented at length in subsequent chapters, it is only necessary at this place to incidentally refer to them. The legislature created Kossuth in 1851, and just before the first settlers arrived the Sioux drove the government surveyors out of the county and then after a year returned, raided the settlers' cabins and terrified the unprotected families. They congregated in the northwest part of the state in the spring of 1857, went on the war path and annihilated the Spirit lake settlement, leaving the shores of the Okobojis red with the blood of their victims. Their last attack upon the settlers anywhere in this region was in the fall of 1862 when they slaughtered hundreds of men, women and children near New Ulm, Minnesota.

The Sioux were bitter against nearly every other Indian nation. They car- ried on war wherever they could find a tribe with which to fight. The feud be- tween them and the Sacs and Foxes lasted several generations and caused many bloody battles to be fought. They claimed all Iowa as their hunting grounds, but only occupied the northern and northwestern portions, as other tribes were occupying the remainder.

The Sioux in 1805, were found by Maj. Zebulon M. Pike to be divided into six great divisions, each having its own chief. These divisions were also sub- divided and each had its own leader. They had possession of a vast extent of country extending from far north of the St. Peters river south to include the northern and northwestern portions of what is now Iowa. All the territory included in the south half of Minnesota between the Mississippi and Missouri was in their possession. The sixth division of this great band was known as the Wahpecoutes. They occupied the country in the region of the head waters of

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INDIAN BATTLE GROUND

Scene of an engagement in April, 1852, between bands of Musquakie and Sioux

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HISTORY OF KOSSUTH COUNTY

the Des Moines, and were the ancestors of those who raided the settlers in the northwest section of Iowa many years later.

Nearly all the explorers and commissioners who had dealings with these Wahpecoutes looked upon them with contempt and pronounced them to be the most ignorant, vile and degenerate of any of the tribes. At the time the Sioux ceded to the government all their interest in their lands in Iowa in 1851, a new division of Sioux must have come into existence, or some of the former divisions changed in name; for the cession was made by the Medewakanton, Wahpe- coute, Wahpeton and Sisseton bands of the Santee Sioux tribe. Here we see that the Wahpecoutes were recognized by their original name. Those in this region were the dregs of the vilest tribes and were the most inhuman in war- fare. Black Eagle, one of their early chiefs who was a leader of the worst element of that band, was so vile that he was pushed out of the band; but when he went he took along with him a considerable number of those who refused to submit to tribal control and who were as disreputable and vile as he.

This was the character of the Sioux who infested northwestern Iowa. Sid- ominadotah was their subsequent leader, and when Henry Lott, in January, 1854, put an end to his existence on Bloody Run in Humboldt county, his brother, Inkpadutah, thirsting for the blood of the settlers and the money and other valuables in their cabins, became the leader of this renegade band of outlaws and in 1855 made his last visit with his tribe to Kossuth county. Being so worthless and defiant of all governmental authority, they were not allowed to share in the distribution of annuities arising from the sale of the lands which the Sioux ceded to the government in 1851. This made them more angry and desperate and no doubt was one of the causes of the massacres which followed.

Major Williams, who came with the soldiers to Fort Dodge in 1850 and who was sutler at that post until the detachment was ordered into Minnesota in the fall of 1853, was thoroughly posted about conditions in this region before this county had received any settlers. In his "Sketches of Northwestern Iowa," which he published in 1867. in the old Iowa Northwest at Fort Dodge, he made these statements about the savages in this region of the country. "The Sioux who inhabited the section of the country now embraced in Kossuth county were prin- cipally of those known as the Little Rock band. Their chief was Ishtahaba. They were the 'Young Sleepy Eyes' mixed up with some of the Red Top band of Yanktons from the Missouri. Their trapping and hunting grounds were along the Des Moines and its tributaries, Chain Lakes, and Lake Okamanpado." This latter lake, he said, was the source of the east fork of the Des Moines and was called by that name by the Indians. They called the river, he said, Sunkakee, meaning Brother river.

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History of Kossuth County, Iowa, Part 2

Author: Reed, Benjamin F Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 879

Author: Reed, Benjamin F
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 879