USA > Iowa > Marion County > History of Marion County, Iowa, and its people, Volume I > Part 4
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The gentes of the Foxes, or Musquakies, as given by Dorsey, are very similar to those of the Sacs. They were twelve in number, to-wit: Bear, Fox, Wolf, Big Lynx, Buffalo, Swan, Pheasant, Eagle, Sea, Sturgeon, Bass and Thunder. Their principal deities were Wisaka and Kiyapata, brothers, the former ruling the day and the latter the night. Animal fable and mythology were the principal features of their religion and they had many ceremonial observances. They practiced agriculture in a crude way, raising corn, beans, squashes, tobacco and some other vegetables. In a limited number of instances a warrior or big chief was permitted to have more than one squaw, but the custom of polygamous marriages was not general.
Of all the Indian tribes the Foxes were perhaps the only one that had what might be termed a coat of arms. It consisted of an oblique mark, representing a river, with the figure of a fox on opposite sides and at each end. After winning a victory in war this emblem was
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painted on rocks and trees to tell the story of their valor and at the same time serve as a warning to their enemies.
About 1731 some of the Sacs established the village of Sau-ke-nuk on the Rock River, in Illinois, and at the beginning of the nineteenth century there were some eight thousand Sacs and Foxes living in that locality. They had been driven from Wisconsin by the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, who were allies of the French. About 1780 part of the tribes crossed the Mississippi River near Prairie du Chien and took up their abode in Iowa, in the vicinity of the present city of Dubuque. In 1788 these Indians granted a concession to Julien Dubuque to work the lead mines, selling him part of the lands claimed by them, and in that year Dubuque established the first white settlement in the present State of Iowa. When Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike went up the Mississippi in 1805, he visited the Sac and Fox villages at the mouth of the Rock River and near Dubuque.
Although the Sacs and Foxes are commonly regarded by his- torians as one people, their alliance was more in the nature of a con- federation. Each tribe retained its identity, though often one chief ruled over both. Two of the greatest chiefs in the history of the North American Indians belonged to these allied tribes. They were Black Hawk and Keokuk, both born of Sac parents yet recognized as chiefs by the Foxes. Black Hawk was a warrior and Keokuk a politician.
Black Hawk, whose Indian name was Ma-ka-ta-wi-mesha-ka-ka, was a member of the Thunder clan and was born at the Rock River village in 1767. He was a son of Py-e-sa, a direct descendant of Nan-a-ma-kee (Thunder), to whom the great medicine bag of the Sac nation was given by the Great Spirit. About 1786 Py-e-sa was mortally wounded in a fight with the Cherokees and upon his death Black Hawk became the custodian of the medicine bag, which repre- sented the soul of the Sac nation and had never been disgraced. To prepare himself for the duty of keeping it unsullied the youth- Black Hawk was then about nineteen years of age-took no part in the military operations of his tribe for five years, though he had been trained in the arts of war by his father and had already distinguished himself in battle. The five years were spent in praying to the Great Spirit for strength and wisdom to perform his duty. During that period he would frequently go to the promontory near his home on the Rock River, where he would spend hours at a time smoking and meditating. This headland is still known as "Black Hawk's Watch Tower."
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When General Harrison persuaded the Sacs and Foxes to cede their lands east of the Mississippi to the United States, by the treaty of 1804, Black Hawk was much displeased. A few years later, with a number of his followers, he allied himself with the British in the War of 1812. After the war a large part of the tribe entered into a treaty of peace and removed to the west side of the Mississippi. Black Hawk and his adherents remained obstinate and finally their obstinacy culminated in the "Black Hawk war," a more extended account of which is given in another chapter. In the negotiations that followed this war the Federal Government recognized Keokuk as the principal chief of the Sacs and Foxes and ignored Black Hawk. It is said that when the announcement of Keokuk's recognition was made in the council Black Hawk was so incensed that he jerked off his loin cloth and slapped Keokuk in the face with it. One of the reports of the United States Bureau of Ethnology says: "The act of creating Keokuk chief of the Sacs has always been regarded with ridicule by both the Sacs and the Foxes, for the reason that he was not of the ruling clan."
After being deposed as chief, Black Hawk retired to his village on the Des Moines River, near Iowaville, where he passed his declin- ing years in peace. His death occurred on October 3, 1838. About a year after his death it was discovered that his remains had been removed from the grave, but they were recovered through the efforts of Governor Lucas and sent to St. Louis, where they were cleaned and the skeleton wired together. The articulated skeleton was returned to Governor Lucas and the sons of the old chief were content to allow it to remain in the governor's custody. It was afterward given to the Burlington Geological and Historical Society and was among the relics destroyed by fire in 1855. Chief Black Hawk was never directly connected with the history of Marion County, but it was through the treaty of 1832, that followed the Black Hawk war, that the first land in Iowa was opened to white settlement.
Keokuk (the Watchful Fox) was born near Rock Island, Illinois, in 1788, and was therefore nearly twenty years younger than Black Hawk. It is said that his mother was a French half-breed. Conse- quently he was not a chief by heredity, but arose to that prominence through his power of intrigue. One of his biographers says: "He was ambitious and while always involved in intrigue never exposed himself to his enemies, but cunningly played one faction against the other for his personal advantage."
While Black Hawk and a number of the Sac and Fox warriors were fighting with the British in the War of 1812, Keokuk adopted
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CHIEF KEOKUK-"THE WATCHFUL FOX"
This half-tone portrait is from a daguerreotype taken in 1847, when the great chief was 67 years of age. This has been generally accepted by historical writers as a faithful likeness of that celebrated lowa chief.
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the policy that made him a leader among his people. News was received at the village on the Rock River that United States troops were coming and the Indians began making preparations to cross the Mississippi. Keokuk called them together and addressed them as follows: "I have heard with sorrow that you have determined to leave our village and cross the Mississippi, merely because you have been told that the Americans are coming in this direction. Would you leave our village, desert our homes and fly before an enemy approaches? Give me charge of your warriors and I will defend the village while you sleep."
This speech made him a great man and at the time of the Black Hawk war his influence was sufficient to prevent a large number of warriors from joining the hostile party. It was chiefly for this course that the United States officials recognized him as the leading chief in subsequent dealings with the Sacs and Foxes. While the war was in progress some of Keokuk's supporters grew dissatisfied and urged him to join Black Hawk in the effort to recover the Rock River coun- try once inhabited by the two tribes. They even went so far as to hold a war dance and commence their preparations for taking the field. At the conclusion of the dance a council was held, at which Keokuk spoke as follows :
"Warriors: I am your chief. It is my duty to lead you to battle if you are determined to go." (Here a murmur of approval ran through the council, after which Keokuk continued.) "But, remem- ber, the United States is a great nation. Unless we conquer them we must perish. I will lead you to war against the white men on one con- dition. That is we shall first put our old men, our women and chil- dren to death, to save them from a lingering death by starvation, and then resolve that when we cross the Mississippi we will never retreat, but perish among the graves of our fathers, rather than yield to the white men."
This speech had the effect that the wily author of it intended. The warlike sentiment was checked and the expedition was aban- doned. It was characteristic of Keokuk's methods in dealing with problems of this nature.
After the treaty of September 21, 1832, Keokuk lived on a reserva- tion of 400 square miles on the Iowa River, his village being on the right bank of the stream. In 1836 the reservation was ceded to the United States and Keokuk removed to what is now Wapello County. After the treaty of October 11, 1842, and the establishment of Fort Des Moines the next year, the headquarters of the Sacs and Foxes were removed from Agency City to Fort Des Moines. Keokuk then
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
established a new village about five miles southeast of the fort, where he continued to reside until the removal of the tribe to Kansas in 1845. He died in what is now Franklin County, Kansas, in April, 1848, and there is a rumor that he was poisoned by one of the tribe who believed that he was appropriating the money received from the Government for Indian annuities to his own use. In 1883 his remains were brought to the City of Keokuk and buried in Rand Park, on a high bluff overlooking the Mississippi. In 1913 a monument was erected over his grave there by the Keokuk Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.
Other Sac and Fox chiefs of prominence were Appanoose, Powe- shiek and Wapello, each of whom presided over a band. The name Appanoose, in the language of his tribe, means, "A chief when a child," indicating that his position was inherited. He was a Sac and belonged to the peace party at the time of the Black Hawk war. At one time his band was located near the present City of Ottumwa. Poweshiek, a chief of the same rank, escorted General Street through the purchase made by the treaty of 1837 and after the removal of the Indians west of the Red Rock line in 1843 located on the Skunk River. near the present city of Colfax. After the Indians removed to Kansas a portion of his band took up their residence in Tama County, Iowa. Wapello was born at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, in 1787 and died near the forks of the Skunk River on March 15, 1842, before the treaty which forced his people to give up their hunting grounds in Iowa and remove to a strange land. He was a warm personal friend of Gen. Joseph M. Street, agent of the Sacs and Foxes, and was buried by his side at the Sac and Fox agency (now Agency City). All three of those chiefs were with the party that visited Washington, D. C., in 1837, and the people of Iowa have named counties in their honor.
There was one chief of the Sacs and Foxes that deserves more than passing notice. That was Matanequa, the last war chief of the allied tribes. He was born at Dubuque in 1810 and was a typical Indian, both physically and intellectually. He was not a chief by heredity, but won that distinction by his bravery in war and his skill in controlling men. His executive ability was of high order and was recognized by his people in July, 1857, when he was made one of the five men to select a new place of residence in Iowa for his band. Matanequa and his four associates in this undertaking purchased eighty acres of land in Tama County, to which they removed the members of their band. Other purchases were made from time to time until they owned about three thousand acres. Matanequa was
APPANOOSE
"A Peace Chief who presided over a village of the Sauks." His home was within the present city limits of Ottumwa, Iowa. One of the richest Iowa counties perpetuates his name.
علىاز ا
ASTOR, LE: DEN FOUNDATIONS
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
the last survivor of the five who selected the location. He died on October 4, 1897, and he was held in such high esteem by the white people of Tama County that many men closed their places of business to attend his funeral. He was known as the "Warwick of the Musquakies," from the fact that while he elevated others to chieftain- ships he was never king himself.
Of the Sac and Fox chiefs who lived in or visited Marion County, the best known were Kishkekosh and Pasishamone. The former pre- sided over a village on the Skunk River, in the western part of Mahaska County, but made frequent trips to Fort Des Moines and the trading post at Red Rock. On one occasion the chief, with a party of several persons, dressed in their best attire, went to the house of John H. Mikesell for dinner. With true Indian characteristics every member of the party ate heartily of what was placed on the table before them. After having gorged himself to repletion, "Kish," as he was commonly called, stopped eating. Mr. Mikesell, appar- ently desirous of playing the part of a hospitable host, urged him to eat more, when Kish shook his head, drew his finger across his throat immediately under his chin to indicate that he could hold no more, and to emphasize the fact that he was satisfied he thrust his finger down his throat almost as far as he could, as much as to say he could almost touch the food he had eaten.
When the Indians removed west of the Red Rock line in 1843, Mr. Mikesell assisted in removing Kishkekosh and his effects to a new location on the Skunk River, in Jasper County. Kishkekosh had accompanied Black Hawk on the tour through the East, when the latter was a prisoner of war, and was fond of relating his experience in the various cities visited.
Pasishamone, with a band of about three hundred men, women and children, encamped near Mr. Mikesell's when the tribe removed west of the Red Rock line. Being in need of provisions for his band he went to Mr. Mikesell to purchase the needed supplies, taking with him a communication from Major Beach, the Indian agent at Fort Des Moines, stating that the chief was an honorable man and would be likely to pay for what he got. . This was hardly satisfactory to Mr. Mikesell, who told the chief to bring an order from the agent. Whether Pasishamone misunderstood the request or not is not certain, but he brought another recommendation similar to the former one instead of an order. Mr. Mikesell, however, concluded to close the contract. Pasishamone and thirty of his leading men signed the con- tract by making their mark after their respective names, and imme- diately the squaws began carrying away the potatoes, turnips, etc., Vol. 1-3
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
using about twenty-five ponies to transport the produce to the camp. After the 300 bushels of potatoes contracted for, the squaws went into Mr. Mikesell's store that he had put away for his own use and took several bushels more before the theft was discovered. Mr. Mikesell and his sons, watching their opportunity, caught several squaws with their blankets filled with potatoes and took not only the potatoes, but also the blankets. This brought on a crisis. The squaw's went to the camp and returned with Pasishamone, who, when he learned what had taken place, rebuked the squaws for their conduct in stealing from a man who had treated them with so much kindness and consid- eration. Included in the provisions sold to Pasishamone under this contract were five fat hogs, already dressed. The value of all was about five hundred dollars, but when Mr. Mikesell presented his con- tract at Fort Des Moines on annuity day it was pronounced worth- less and he never received a cent.
Next in importance to the Sacs and Foxes were the Iowas (Sleepy Ones), from which tribe the state takes its name. They were one of the southern tribes of the Souian group, but, according to their traditions, they once formed part of the Winnebago nation and lived with them north of the Great Lakes. They were first no- ticed by white men in 1690, when they occupied a country on the shores of Lake Michigan under a chief called Man-han-gaw. Here they separated from the Winnebago and, for some reason not made plain, received the name of "Gray Snow Indians." The first abode of the tribe after separating from the Winnebago was on the Rock River, in Illinois, a short distance from its mouth, where they be- came affiliated with the Sacs and Foxes. Schoolcraft says this tribe changed its place of residence no less than fifteen times. Le Sueur found some of them near the present town of Red Earth, Minnesota, in 1700, engaged in tilling the soil, and three-quarters of a century later a few lived near Peoria, Illinois. In 1848 an Iowa Indian prepared a map showing the movements of the tribe from the time the separation from the Winnebagoes occurred. Accompanying this map was a tradition which says: "After living on the Rock River for several years, the tribe left the Sacs and Foxes and wandered off westward in search of a new home. Crossing the Mississippi River, they turned southward and reached a high bluff near the mouth of the Iowa River. Looking off over the beautiful valley spread out before them, they halted, exclaiming, 'Joway! Ioway!' sig- nifying in their language 'This is the place!' "
The tribe then for some time occupied a large tract of country in southeastern Iowa, but later removed to what is now Mahaska
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
County, which was named in honor of a leading Iowa chief. Lewis and Clark met some of this tribe while on their expedition up the Missouri River in 1804 and refer to them in the journal of the expe- dition as the "Ayouways," though the name is generally written "Ioway" or "Iowa" by historians. The tribe has long since dis- appeared, but the name remains as the appellation of one of the great states of the Mississippi valley.
Mahaska (White Cloud), one of the most noted of the Iowa chiefs, claimed to be a descendant of the great chief, Man-han-gaw. It is said that he led his braves in eighteen battles with the Sioux on the north and the Osages on the south, and always came off vic- torious. In 1824, accompanied by his wife, Rant-che-wai-me, he visited Washington with a party of chiefs. Upon their return to. the tribe Rant-che-wai-me warned the Indian women against the vices and follies of their white sisters as she saw them during the tour. Mahaska was killed by an enemy in 1834, and his son, also called Mahaska, became chief of the Iowas.
The Pottawatomi, mentioned in the early part of this chapter, while never an important factor in Iowa history, were closely allied with the Sacs and Foxes for many years. They belonged to the Algonquin group and were found in Wisconsin as early as 1634 by Nicollet. Bacqueville de la Potherie says: "In 1665 or 1666 the Pottawatomi took the southern and the Sac the northern shores of Green Bay, and the Winnebago, who were not fishermen, went back into the forests to live on venison and bear meat." The "Nation of Fire" mentioned by Father Dablon in 1671 were the Pottawatomi Indians. Many of the early treaties made with the Sacs and Foxes were approved or ratified by the Pottawatomi before they became effective. A county in Iowa bears the tribal name. Shortly after the Revolutionary war a part of the tribe moved eastward and in the early years of the nineteenth century occupied practically all of northern Indiana, whence they removed to Kansas.
The Winnebago, another Algonquian tribe, was also in close relationship with the Sacs and Foxes. When Black Hawk crossed over to the cast side of the Mississippi in the spring of 1832 and started the Black Hawk war, he expected to receive the aid and support of the Winnebago nation, but was disappointed. Instead, it was through the treachery of some of this tribe that Black Hawk was captured. For some time the Winnebago occupied the "Neu- tral Ground," in northeastern Iowa, as a reservation. Some of the Winnebagoes intermarried with the Sacs and Foxes and paid occa- sional visits to their friends in what is now Marion County.
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
In this chapter the aim has been to give in brief the history of the original inhabitants of Iowa-the Mound Builders-so far as it is known, and of the principal Indian tribes that once dwelt in the eastern and southern portions of the state. In the succeeding chap- ter may be found an account of how the white man gained possession of the land. There is a sort of grim pathos in the story of how the Indian was driven, step by step, toward the setting sun by advancing civilization. Less than a century ago the Sac, the Fox, the Iowa and the Winnebago roamed at will over the broad prairies or through the forests of Iowa. Then came the white man with his superior intelligence, and, it might be said, in harmony with the law of "the survival of the fittest":
"The pale-face rears his wigwam where The Indian hunters roved ; His hatchet fells the forest fair The Indian maidens loved."
CHAPTER III
THE PERIOD OF PREPARATION
EARLY EXPLORATIONS INN AMERICA-CONFLICTING CLAIMS OF ENG- LAND, FRANCE AND SPAIN-FIRST SETTLEMENTS IN THE NEW WORLD-JESUIT MISSIONARIES-MARQUETTE AND JOLIET-LA SALLE-PROVINCE OF LOUISIANA-FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR- FUR COMPANIES-CLARK'S CONQUEST OF THE NORTHWEST-THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE-IOWA UNDER VARIOUS JURISDICTIONS- ACQUISITION OF INDIAN LANDS-POLICIES IN DEALING WITH THE INDIANS-THE BLACK HAWK WAR-TREATY OF 1832-TREATY OF 1842-ITS PRINCIPAL PROVISIONS-REMOVAL OF THE INDIANS FROM IOWA.
Marion County, like all other political subdivisions, is the product of a series of events running back for many years. Long before the county was even dreamed of, the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus started this chain of events, which has led to the establishment of the Republic of the United States and the division of the interior of North America into states and counties. Probably many of the residents of the county never gave this subject a serious thought, but, in order that the reader may be able to form some idea of the evolution of the State of Iowa and Marion County, it is deemed appropriate to give a brief account of the events that led up to their establishment.
Immediately after the first voyage of Columbus, in 1492, three great European nations-Spain, England and France-began the work of exploring and laying claim to territory in the New World. In 1493 the pope granted to the King and Queen of Spain "all coun- tries inhabited by infidels" that might be discovered under their patronage. At that time the extent of the country discovered by Columbus was not known, but this papal grant included in a vague way the present State of Iowa.
Three years after the pope had made this grant to the Spanish rulers, Henry VII of England gave to John Cabot and his sons a patent of discovery and possession and the right to trade with the natives of "all lands they may discover and lay claim to in the name
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
of the English crown." Between that time and the close of the cen- tury the Cabots made explorations along the Atlantic coast, and upon their discoveries England laid claim to all the central part of North America.
A few years later Jacques Cartier, a French explorer, ascended the St. Lawrence River and through his discoveries France laid claim to the Valley of the St. Lawrence and the region about the Great Lakes.
Each of these three nations, following the usage of that period, claimed title to certain territory "by right of discovery," and it is not surprising that in time a controversy arose among them as to which was really the rightful possessor of the soil. Spain strength- ened her claims in 1540-42 by the expedition of Hernando de Soto into the interior and the discovery of the Mississippi River. De Soto died in the wilds and his body was buried in the great river, but upon the report of the expedition made by the few survivors Spain laid claim to all the land bordering upon the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico.
With true British aggressiveness, the English crown persisted in claiming a large part of the continent and proceeded to parcel out the lands to royal favorites. The charter of the Plymouth Com- pany, in 1620, embraced "all the lands between the fortieth and forty-eighth parallels of north latitude from sea to sea." Eight years later the Massachusetts Bay Company received from the Eng- lish authorities a charter that included a strip about one hundred miles in width through the central part of Iowa. The northern boundary of this grant crossed the Mississippi River not far from the present city of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Hence, Iowa, or at least a large part of it, was claimed by both Spain and England "by right of discovery," but no effort was made by either nation to extend colonization into the interior. The English were apparently content with the colonies established at Jamestown, Virginia, and in New England, while the Spaniards were so busily engaged in search- ing for the rumored gold and silver mines that they paid but little attention to the establishment of permanent settlements.
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