USA > Iowa > Kossuth County > History of Kossuth County, Iowa > Part 35
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To fully explain how it happened that a battle between two savage tribes was fought in Kossuth county, would require a review of Indian history cover- ing a period of more than half a century Having in a previous chapter treated historically the subject of the Indians, it would be needless in connection with this story to narrate again the trouble the government had with the various tribes in this section of the Union, in keeping each on alloted hunting grounds to prevent as far as possible bloody encounters in which all the tribes seemed only too eager at any time to engage. The enmity that gradually sprang up between certain tribes during the lapse of time is well known to have been
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much more bitter than any of them ever felt towards the intruding white settlers. The Sioux, always a fierce, blood-thirsty, warring tribe, formed a strong hatred against the Sacs and Foxes, and for years never let a chance escape them to attack the encampment of their foes whenever an opportunity appeared. The Sacs and Foxes, now generally regarded as tame and half civilized, were as merciless, and as much to be feared as their enemies when they entered into a battle engagement. Each tribe met with defeat so often that retaliation was the uppermost thought they entertained. When they met in battle the contest was desperate and inhuman. How the government in 1825, through its commissioners, Clark and Cass, at a great council at Prairie du Chein, called for the purpose of adjusting the difficulties between various tribes, caused an agreement to be reached by which the Sioux were to remain north of a cer- tain designated line, and the Sacs and Foxes on the south; how that line was run from near the northeast corner of the state southwesterly, passing through about where the center of Wright county is now, and on to the junction of the East and West Forks of the Des Moines river; how these tribes, ignoring the agreement, passed over the line and fought as desperately as before; how the Sioux, as the result, in 1830 were compelled to cede all their right to the gov- ernment of a strip of land twenty miles wide on the north side of the "line." and the Sacs and Foxes at the same time to a strip of equal width, the entire length, along the south side of the line; how this strip forty miles wide was sur- veyed by Nathan Boone, youngest son of the famous Kentucky pioneer, and set apart as a "neutral ground" upon which neither tribe could establish villages or engage in warfare; how the southeast corner of Kossuth lay in the former Sioux portion of this "neutral ground:" how the government finally alloted the eastern end of the "neutral ground" to the Winnebagoes who soon found themselves between two such fierce warring tribes that they were glad to be removed elsewhere; and how the Sioux in 1851 ceded all their claims to land in northern Iowa to the general government, including their claims to the soil of this county, are historic events that have been reviewed in previous chapters in this volume.
That one of the last battles fought between the Sioux and the Musquakies, after a feud of fifty years, occurred on Kossuth county soil, makes the event of historic importance. The 1854 settlers were ignorant of the fact that any such battle had been fought, although there were horrible evidences of the combat which could have been seen had they happened to accidentally pass by where these were. The first settler to discover that quite a number of Indians had been slaughtered in an encounter with some foe was W. H. Ingham, who accidentally came upon the unmistakable evidence after he had lived within two or three miles of the battle scene for several months.
In the spring of 1855 Mr. Ingham started from his cabin on the Black Cat (on the C. Byson farm) for a ride up the river to ascertain what kind of tin- ber was growing along its banks further up the stream. The crude map in his possession having indicated that there were pine lands in the north part of the county, he had set out on a short journey on horseback to see what he could discover in the way of a pine forest. Not knowing how many Indians there might be prowling through the timber, he rode cautiously along the edge of the groves on the west side of the river. pursuing his way in a northeasterly direc-
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tion until he came upon the northwest quarter of section eight, in what is now Plum Creek township. There he was met with a surprise he will never forget. For a time his interest in the course of the river and the prospect of finding a pine forest was banished from his mind. Scattered over an area of three or four acres were human skeletons bleaching in the sun, showing that at some time there had been a slaughter in some battle engagement. He knew that it was Indians who had lost their lives because there was not a decayed tooth to be found in any skull. The bones were scattered down the southwestern slope of the hill and into the valley below. The skulls were not those of husky war- riors, but mainly of the aged and of children who had been tomahawked or shot down while fleeing from the attacking foe. The bones marked the spots where the victims fell. They apparently had been but little disturbed since the time of the battle. On the crest of the hill, near the grove, there were fur- ther indications that a struggle at some time had raged in its fury. When the engagement occurred, what tribes came in contact, why they fought, how they fought and how it happened that the battle took place on that spot, were prob- lems yet to be solved. He had never heard of a battle being fought between tribes in that locality, and was surprised to find that he was living so near a spot where such an event had occurred. He had some startling information to impart to his companions, when he reached his cabin after that morning ride.
Seekers for curiosity carried away some of the skulls and other relics of the fight as the years went by, and the other bones gradually disappeared from the battle field. Some of the boys took one of the skulls to the Ingham cabin and used it for a target while practicing with their rifles and revolvers. It was there in that position when the occupants of the cabin were visited by that Sioux leader, Umpashotah, in the spring of 1856. Catching a glance of the skull he pointed his finger in that direction and exhibited a forced smile, while he jab- bered some unintelligible Sioux language. Had he clearly understood that it was the skull of a Sioux he might not have smiled at all, for it is known that he represented a tribe that regarded the disturbance of the skeletons of their dead as one of the gravest of offenses.
It was five years later before any of the settlers knew what Indians had been killed, who killed them and how they came to be slaughtered. Dr. Amos S. Collins, one of the early-day postmasters at Algona, received most of the infor- mation about the battle that seems to be known. The brief story of the fight as it came to him, he wrote in a letter which came into possession of A. L. Seeley, who was the cabin companion of W. H. Ingham at the time the bones were discovered. That letter, yellow with age, was kept in the Seeley family until recent years, but at present the historical relic is in some hiding place that cannot be discovered. A copy of the letter has been preserved by Harvey Ingham, who published it at the time of Mr. Seeley's death. From that copy the con- tents of the original letter are made known and here recorded in this chapter. It reads as follow :
"In April, a year before Fort Dodge was established, Poweshiek was chief of the Musaquaqua tribe of the Sacs and Foxes-lived in Tama county-sixty warriors under Kokomah fought a party of Sioux on the East Des Moines river -killed sixteen, took one prisoner and lost four. After the battle buried their four dead braves. The Sacs and Foxes left their homes in Tama county, traveling
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day and night as fast as possible. They then spent six or seven days and nights fortifying their town where they burned their prisoner, a boy fourteen years old, and scattered in small parties to prevent the Sioux from getting revenge.
"Of the killed among the Sacs and Foxes were two large Indians, Kearkurk and Patokape, the latter was almost fifty years old and a prominent brave. After the first fire the Sacs and Foxes rushed into the camp of the Sioux where an old squaw shot him in the breast with a charge of small shot. He started to run away and when at a distance of twenty rods the squaw shot him with an arrow through the body.
"The above statement comes from an old trapper-who was well acquainted with the prominent Sacs and Foxes connected with the above, and received the story thereof from Kokomah, the chief-named William Bengart, North- wood, Worth county, lowa, his present residence. The above statement is con- sidered strictly correct.
Algona, Iowa, August 17, 1860.
Amos Collins."
In connection with the published letter, Editor Harvey Ingham made the following comments : "It was not until 1860 that Mr. Seeley, acting upon infor- mation contained in the letter written by Amos S. Collins, unearthed Patokape and his companions. This letter, yellow with age, Patocape's skull and some other reminders of the battle, were preserved by him and are among his effects. Last July the editor with a party of visitors called at Mr. Seeley's, and under his guidance visited the battle ground. He pointed out the deserted grave and the various spots where the Sioux were found, and told the story of the battle, reading the letter, which today is the only record there is of what actually occurred. Dr. Collins has the battle the April before Fort Dodge was estab- lished, which would be in 1849, but Captain Hewitt did not come to Clear lake until 1851, and tradition has it that he was there the year before this battle was fought. The general opinion is that April 1852 is the date. At the time of the re- ceipt of this letter no one knew of any grave on the battle ground, as it was grown over. It was by using a stick to find soft ground and digging that Mr. Seeley discovered the grave and the skeletons of the four Musquakies, just as described in the letter. The Upper Des Moines has made inquiries at Northwood, but Ben- gart, or Burgitt, as some refer to him, went to California many years ago and has been lost track of.
"In 1869 A. R. Fulton visited Algona and he gave the version of the battle in his Red Men of Iowa as related in this letter although the letter itself was not seen by him. He says at that time 'portions of skeletons and other relics of the battle were scattered over the ground. There were bones bearing the marks of the merciless tomahawk, parts of skull, pieces of pottery, kegs, guns, and other articles. Mr. Fulton, however, accepts the story of burning the captive with hesitation- The truth of this statement may be regarded as doubtful. It is at variance with the usual custom of the Sacs and Foxes in their treatment of prisoners.' But the bitter hostility of the Sacs and Foxes against the Sioux must be remembered. Even as philosophic an Indian as Blackhawk could not speak of the Sioux except in the bitterest terms."
Mr. Fulton, it appears, visited the battle ground in 1869 and wrote the story of the battle without seeing the letter. He must have received his infor-
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mation from either Mr. Ingham or Mr. Seeley or from both. The scenes on the battle ground at that time as he describes them, were the scenes that Ingham and Seeley witnessed at the time of the discovery of the battle ground. It is hardly possible that at as late a date as 1869 he could have seen on the battle ground skulls that showed the marks of the merciless tomahawk. It was several years before that time that a party of young people, with a four-horse team, went up from Algona on Fourth of July to look for relics on the spot where the Indians fought. The graves that had been opened and not refilled were about the only evidence they saw that a battle had been fought on that spot.
Additional information concerning the battle, and derived from the same trapper, found its way into the Andreas State Atlas, which is generally accepted as being authentic. This in connection with the statements contained in the Collins letter is the only record known to be in existence of the way in which the attack was made and the result of the battle. The statements in the report as given in the atlas are as follows: "The incidents of the fight were given to the early white settlers by William Burgort, a trapper who subsequently lived at Northwood, North county. The Musquakies were under the leadership of a subordinate chief named Kokowah, who went up with a party by the way of Clear lake to what was then 'neutral ground.' At Clear lake they received infor- mation that the Sioux were encamped on the west side of the East Fork of the Des Moines river; Kokowah, with sixty warriors determined to attack them. They arrived in the night, and concealed themselves in the grove on the east side of the river about one mile above the Sioux encampment, where unperceived, they learned the exact position of the enemy. In the morning, after many of the Sioux warriors had gone away to hunt, Kokowah and his men crossed over the river and attacked the Sioux before they were prepared to make a successful resistance. For a short time the conflict was desperate, but the advantage was all on the side of the attacking party, and the Sioux were completely vanquished"
The battle ground at present is enclosed in the F. J. Willrett pasture, where lowing herds graze peacefully over the hillside where the tomahawk, rifle and arrow did their deadly work in the long ago. Standing today on the crest of the hill and looking eastward over the river, a magnificent landscape comes to view. Down the slope of the bluff, which the Musquakies climbed in silence just before giving the war whoop and making the assault, the forest of small oak trees and tangled underbrush extends to the river below. The meandering Des Moines, which separated the two hostile Indian tribes the night before, is placidly flowing on its way toward the south. The bottom over which Kokomah and his sixty warriors passed from their hiding place in the Bleakman-Paine grove to cross the river, spreads out before the spectator with a suggestiveness of rest and solitude. The scenery down the slope towards the right is pictur- esque as one glances through the oak openings and observes the gentle undula- tion of the ground like waves upon a lake. The score or more of small oaks stand- ing to the right apart from the grove, give one the thrilling impression that they are silent sentinels guarding the battle field; and the spire of the German Luth- eran church, seen over the bluffs beyond the river, seems to be proclaiming that barbarous warfare has ceased and that civilization is at hand.
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ASSISTING A RUNAWAY SLAVE
The first darkey even seen in the county came at a time when there were but few people in the settlements. He was one of the few arrivals of that period who was not looking for preemption claims or seeking a hunter's para- dise. There was but one thing that he was endeavoring to secure, and that was his freedom from slavery, and especially from the attack of the southern horse- men who were following on his trail. How he happened to come to the settle- ment ; how his wants were supplied, and how he was assisted in getting away was afterwards told by Ambrose A. Call as follows:
"Our first meeting organized for any purpose in the county was early in August. 1855, the object of which was to organize a claim club to protect their members in their claims of 320 acres. This was before the days of homesteads and pre-emptions, but another incident occurred somewhat connected with the club meeting which I will first relate, although I must go back a few weeks to make it more plainly understood. Judge Call had brought up two breaking out- fits in the spring of 1855, and the Call brothers broke up and fenced 160 acres of land, a part of which was planted in corn. The labor involved made it neces- sary to employ a number of men. Among the number was one Smock, a Penn- sylvania Quaker of which you have all read in 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' He was picked up down at Fort Des Moines on his way to Kansas to assist Jim Lane and old John Brown in making Kansas a free state. Mr. Smock was a man of steady and correct habits. He neither used liquor nor tobacco in any form; read his Bible regularly on Sunday, and never allowed a profane word to defile his lips, although he drove four yoke of oxen all summer. His great hobby was the sin of slavery, and he was constantly wishing himself in Kansas assisting the free state men. Well, what should happen but one sultry day in July, Smock appeared at Judge Call's cabin door, accompanied by a black man, haggard and hungry, tattered and torn, hatless and barefooted. In answer to the inquiry, 'Where did you find him?' he replied: 'The good Lord sent him to me.' Our guest was a colored boy about twenty-five years old who had escaped from slavery in southern Missouri. Fleeing for his liberty, he had followed the north star by night until he came to the end of the road. He then followed the trail across the prairie until he found our settlement. After a week's rest our way- farer was supplied with shoes, hat and clothing sufficient to keep the sun from blistering his naked body, and a supply of bread and meat sufficient to last until he reached the Mankato settlement. He was than started on his way rejoicing. One of our number accompanied him for half a day to the end of Union Slough and charged him to keep on the east bank of the stream flowing north from it until he reached the settlement, and we heard later that he reached Mankato safely, where he remained. If there was politics in it. this was our first political venture. You will inquire what had that to do with the claim club meeting. I will now tell you. At our club meeting a week or two subsequent to the departure of our fugi- tive, as we were busily at work, we heard loud talking outside, and on going to the door discovered the contention was caused by two long-haired men loaded down with revolvers, on lank, jaded horses. The question had been asked by one of our party what they expected to do with so much artillery. One of the horsemen was just replying with an oath : 'We can show you uns what we can do with it if you in-
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sist upon it,' but their mood suddenly melted when they saw some ten or fifteen men emerging from the cabin, each with a long rifle in his hands. They refused to dismount when invited, and made evasive answers when questioned in regard to their business, and after a hurried consultation turned their horses' heads to the south and rode away. As they passed out of hearing our old friend who had been the cause of the contention with them said: 'By craps, boys, I will bet a dollar them fellers are after the nigger that went through the settlement a while ago,' and his guess proved correct, as the parties made themselves known at Boons- boro, stating that they found their nigger up in Call's settlement, but the settlers had gathered with their guns to protect him and they considered themselves for- tunate to escape with their lives."
THE BUFFALO CHASING IN 1855
The only buffalo ever killed by any settler in Kossuth county was brought down by rifle shots, at the end of an exciting chase, near the present village of Titonka on the third day of August, 1855. The very name "chase" at once suggests who were engaged in the sport that day. W. H. Ingham and A. L. Seeley were at home in the saddle when in sight of large game. No other two residents liked the sport so well, and no other two so often found opportuni- ties for enjoying that line of exhilarating exercise. They had been having all kinds of sport hunting elk and deer. for they could be found with no great difficulty. This did not satisfy them, for they yearned to chase and kill some of the largest game that ever roamed over the prairies of northwestern lowa. It was known that herds of buffaloes ranged in the region of the head waters of the Des Moines, Boone and Iowa rivers and that they had roamed over portions of this county. That was the kind of game these scouting hunters desired to chase and the kind they were determined to kill sometime during that summer if possible. They longed for a chase after a buffalo herd much more than they did for the mere killing of one of those monster animals. There- fore they determined that no still hunt "gunning" for that kind of game was to be indulged in, but a chase in the open instead.
Staying with Ingham and Seeley at their cabin on section 24. on the Black Cat, that summer were Thomas C. Covel and Charles E. Putnam. It was ar- ranged that the latter should remain at the cabin, while the other three went out to see if the haunts of the big game could be located. and to see if they could surprise Putnam with news of extraordinary success on their return. So far as horse flesh was concerned the party was well prepared for a chase. In July, 1854, while at Council Bluffs, both Ingham and Covel had bought Oregon ponies from the Col. Landers party that had just arrived from Vancouver. Flinka was the name of the one purchased by Mr. Ingham. Later while at Cedar Rapids, he bought "Kate" from her new owner after she had run away with him and ended in a bad smash-up. She was full of life and well adapted to the chase, at least so far as speed was concerned. The three left eastward one morning in search of the coveted game, Ingham riding Kate. Seeley, Flinka. and Covel his own pony. They left with high hopes for their success, but returned late at night with news that was both good and disappointing. They had found and given chase to a herd of seven buffaloes and let them all escape
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without getting a chance to give them a single shot. It was good news to Putnam that they had the luck to find a herd, but disappointing that they were all allowed to escape. Their escape, however, occurred after the hunting party had had some exciting experience and not before.
The party had gone east across the high prairie to Buffalo Grove in the northwest corner of Hancock county and on the way there they passed over buffalo trails, but none that seemed fresh enough to justify them in following. On the east side of the grove they ate their lunch and let their horses graze, while there and saw a big bull buffalo coming towards them from the north, but he soon was out of sight. Then following him one after the other came six more, but all were soon out of sight, owing to the intervening depression of the ground. The hunters now observed that the herd had turned down a ravine and were on their way to a small lake which lies just west of the grove. The horses were saddled and mounted and all made ready for the chase. They saw the buffaloes having a play spell in the water, and then watched them come out on the north side and pass around to the west, when they started slowly towards the higher grounds in a westerly direction. While the animals were on the marshy grounds near the lake there could be no chasing after them with horses. so they were allowed to graze along until they reached ground that was higher and would be firmer under the horses' feet. After the buffaloes had gone a distance of about three miles they took a dirt bath by rolling over and over on a gopher mound. While they were engaged in this exercise the hunting party managed to ride up to within about fifteen rods of them, un- observed. Each rider could have shot a buffalo at that time if he had so desired, but each wanted a chance for a chase. To them there could come no credit or glory in killing an animal while standing still or lying down. The riders wanted sport and were bound to have it, so they spurred their horses towards the herd when to their surprise those on the ground, with the others, were off like a flash at a speed that was wholly unexpected. The buffaloes were out for sport too, and made for the marshy land where the horses could not follow. They gained on the horsemen until they were far ahead of them. While Seeley and Covel went around the low land on the left, Ingham went to the right, but the big black herd kept going towards the northwest over the marshy lands. Big sloughs and marshy land put Seeley and Covel entirely out of the chase, and they let Ingham have it all his own way from that time on. The herd going towards the southwest soon disappeared from sight near where Titonka is located. Ingham now looked in vain for the lost game, and rode several miles to get one more glimpse of them. Finally he saw them on their way back to the grove. The lone horseman now spurred Kate on to intersect the line of buffalo march. He reached the point just in time and was preparing to down one of the herd with his rifle. when Kate on seeing what was before her, snorted, reared and nearly unhorsed the rider, who from that time on for several miles had all he could do to remain in the saddle without trying to get a chance to shoot. The three hunters soon joined each other and started for home as the sun was getting low. The sentiments they ex- pressed at their failure were of "a violet hue," but they had gotten some good experience which they felt would be of benefit to them when they went out again. Putnam, no doubt, had a hearty laugh when told that all three riders,
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