USA > Iowa > Sac County > History of Sac County, Iowa > Part 3
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same tribe in 1862, when vengeance was sought for supposed, or real, wrongs against the Indians in the fifties. So while "Lo! the poor Indian" is not perfect, on the other hand Christian civilization has not always exemplified the Christ-like spirit. Beginning in New England, trace the Indian wars on west over the Alleghany mountains, and through the Western states and terri- tories, and here and there the treaties have not been kept sacred by white men, any more than by the untutored savage of forest and plain.
Coming now to the events that brought about the Spirit Lake massacre of 1857, let it be said that sometime during the month of February, 1857. a hunting party of Sioux Indians passed down the Little Sioux river. They made a short stay at Cherokee and were friendly. They then journeyed to Smithland. in Woodbury county. Here the white settlers demanded of the Indians where they were going and insisted on knowing something concern- ing their business and the plans they had in mind, before they would allow them to proceed further. The Sioux replied that they were going down to shake hands with the Omahas; at this the whites made the Indians give up their guns-which means as much to an Indian as virtue does to a chaste woman, the last thing she will think of compromising. Their compulsory surrender of arms enraged them, and they turned up stream, breathing ven- geance upon the whites. The pale faces had stolen their guns and now white men and women must make restitution, which would only be satisfied in the free flowing of human blood, drawn from the bodies of the white race. Hence it was that on their return trip north through Cherokee and other counties, the Indians entered the cabins of the few settlers and after insulting the women and frightening the innocent children at their sides, took what firearms they chanced to find about the premises. By the time they had reached Cherokee their passions were strong and the wrongs in- flicted against them at Smithland had become much magnified in their minds. Here they acted as brutal as possible for human beings to act. The arms they had been able to gather up on the way back from Smithland were directed against the innocent ones at Cherokee, in the notion that they might frighten the entire settlement into leaving the country. Cattle were stolen, provisions, of which the settlers had none too much, were violently seized and devoured, while they stood with cocked guns, to be sure that they were obeyed at once. Finally, they feasted for three days in and about Cherokee, seeming to be debating in their own minds what to do with the little colony that had recently came in from Milford, Massachusetts. No one will ever know just what ran through their minds. Suffice to say that those days were
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the longest days ever experienced by these colonists, who expected every hour to be scalped or burned, as both were threatened.
One writer, in describing the situation, penned the following: "On the third evening pioneers Parkhurst and Lebourvean returned from Sac City. The Indians, suspicious of the Smithland people and believing they might be on their trail, were very anxious to know where these two men came from, but the cunning of the white men played on the Indian's fears-they would not tell them: so, apprehensive of danger, they set off early in the morning up the river. When far enough away to feel safe, they became tin- governable and murderous. In O'Brien county they entered the home of Hannibal H. Waterman, the first settler, as well as others, far apart, and there they destroyed property, took guns and in several instances ravished women, in the most revolting and fiendish manner. They grew more blood- thirsty until the terrible climax was reached at Spirit Lake, Iowa, where about forty were killed and four innocent women (including Miss Abbie Gardner. then a frail girl of fourteen summers) taken captive. Some of the four captives were inhumanly treated and died on the weary march through snow and ice water made from the melting snows. Miss Gardner and another lady were rescued by the state of Minnesota a few months later."
In this, as in all other cases, there were possibly two sides that are entitled to a hearing, yet while it is true that the Indians were not altogether blameless, for they plundered the settlement, killed stock, and did many things to exasperate the settlers, yet the people of Smithland were by no means angels, and public opinion has long since fixed the terrible Spirit Lake massacre as having resulted from the unmanly conduct of the white settlers at Smithland, but the Smithland people have always claimed all they did was in self-defense against the Indians. Be that as it may, when the sickening tale of the awful scenes enacted at and near the state line, at Spirit and Okoboji lakes, reached the ears of the little settlement at Cherokee, every heart was bruised and saddened. . Parties at Smithland advised the Milford colony to leave Cherokee, and in a few days not a settler was left in the county. Some had gone to Onawa and Ashland, while others had taken refuge at Smithland. Right here is the darkest spot in the whole history of this unfortunate affair. Soon as the Cherokee colony had deserted their homes, people from Smithland visited Cherokee, plundered what was left, including flour, provisions, etc., as well as opening boxes of household goods, which the latter settlers had not yet unpacked since their arrival from New England. Matters now looked bad indeed. Word had been sent
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on by some one to New England that the whole colony had been massacred by the Indians. It was then that Doctor Russell's society of Milford, Mas- sachusetts, became disorganized. The people were disheartened, and all their fond hopes seemed dashed to pieces. However, in May, that same season, most of the settlers returned to their farms and homes and put in good crops, which yielded a fair return in the autumntime.
In this connection it should be stated that the part Sac county ( then only one year old as a county, and three years as a settled community ) took in this massacre was to send a few brave men out in the hope that they might relieve the distressed and bury the dead at Spirit lake. Among these men may now be recalled such as Capt. F. M. Cory, the Tiberghiens and others, who formed a rescuing party to try and unite with the companies sent from Webster City, Boonesboro and Fort Dodge, the latter under command of Major Williams, John F. Duncombe and the late Governor Cyrus C. Car- penter. But these men, including the Sac county delegation, were all too late, for, in many cases, the work had been accomplished before they arrived. So the men from this county returned, after having gone as far as Gilett's Grove.
INDIAN BATTLE IN SAC COUNTY.
Near the mouth of the Cedar there was an encampment of the Potta- watomies and Maquoketa tribes of Indians. They were attacked by a war party of Sioux, and when the two tribes united in common defense the lat- ter retreated up the Cedar, hotly pursued by the former. Near the north line of the county the Sioux halted and fought the two tribes for several hours. . \ number were killed on both sides, the Sioux being defeated. The graves of the "fallen braves" were still to be seen a quarter of a century ago by the farmers who settled that portion of Sac county. These graves are along the banks of Cedar creek.
The late ex-Lieutenant-Governor B. F. Gue's four-volume history of lowa, published about 1900, gives the following account of a bloody battle between Indian tribes, and from his description the scene of the battle must have been near, if not within, the present boundary of Sac county :
"In 1841 a party of Sioux surprised a hunting company of twenty-four Delawares on the Raccoon river, killing all but one of them. The Delawares, led by their chief, Nes-wa-ge, made an heroic fight against overwhelming numbers, killing twenty-six of their enemy, four of whom fell beneath the terrific blows of the Delaware chief. But one escaped to carry the tidings
CORY LOG CABIN, ERECTED 1853
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to their Sac and Fox friends, who were camped on the east bank of the Des Moines river, near where the present State House stands. Pashepaho, the chief, who was then eighty years of age, mounted his pony and, selecting five hundred of his bravest warriors, started in hot pursuit of the Sioux. He followed the trail from where the bodies of the Delawares lay unburied for more than a hundred miles up the valley of the Raccoon river, where the Sioux were overtaken. Raising their fierce war cry, led by the old chieftain, the Sacs and Foxes charged on the enemies' camp. The battle was one of the bloodiest ever fought on Jowa soil. Hand to hand the savages fought with a desperation never surpassed in Indian warfare. The Sioux were fighting for their lives and their assailants for vengeance over their slaugh- tered friends. The conflict lasted for many hours. The defeat of the Sioux was overwhelming. More than three hundred of their dead were left on the field of battle. The Sacs and Foxes lost only seven of their number in killed."
Old settlers, including the Cory family, give an account of an awful battle between the Sioux and a band of roaming Musquaquas, in 1853, in Cedar township, this county. It occurred on section 16-the school section. The spring of 1856, the few settlers, including the Corys, were exploring the country at that point and came across at least one acre which was lit- erally covered with skulls and bones of the slaughtered Indians, mostly of the Musquaqua tribe, which tribe now resides in Tama county, at the govern- ment Indian reservation. The wolves and other wild animals had eaten the flesh of most of the carcasses, and the piles of bones and skulls were a grue- some sight to behold. Several skulls were taken home by the Corys and were about the place many years. There are others who believe that the above engagement must have occurred several years before the settlement, and not in 1853.
The Corys' best money-making plans in the first years here were in trapping, hunting and especially in trading with the Indians, who sold them many furs, which, when a load had been accumulated, were taken to Fort Des Moines and there marketed.
At a time when the settlement consisted of about five families, one of the company had a very valuable dog. The Indians were afraid of him, and told the owner that he must kill the dog or they would kill him. At first he refused, but later, upon the suggestion of the settlers, concluded to do so, and the dog was shot. It was believed that had he not obeyed the Indians, the man, and possibly the little band of settlers, would all have been murdered.
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OTHER INDIAN MURDERS.
Father De Smet, who was a missionary at what is now Council Bluffs, in 1839, wrote in his diary, among other interesting things, this concerning an Indian affair which doubtless occurred about the northern line of Sac or not far over in Buena Vista county. The item reads as follows: "May 24, 1839 .- A war party of Saucks discovered three lodges of Omahas on the lieadwaters of the Boyer river, consisting of nine men and twelve women. Invited them to smoke, accepted, believing them to be the Pottawatomies. They were treacherously murdered and their women taken prisoners. Danced nine days around the scalp post in the Sauck village. Huzzah! for the Indian braves."
The following account of Indian scares in northern Iowa is found in early "write-ups" of Sac and adjoining counties: "Early in December, 1856, a runner came down the Coon river with the news that the Sioux had been committing depredations near Gillett's Grove (now where Spencer, Clay county, stands). A company of sixty men, partly from western Cal- houn county and partly from Sac county, was quickly organized. Enoch Ross, of Sac county, was elected captain and among others in his command were the following: W. H. Hobbs, Judge Eugene Criss, Judge D. Carr Early, Asa Platt, James Watt, William Montgomery, John Austin and others. On reaching Gillett's Grove, they found that the Indians had gone and that they had done nothing except kill a few head of cattle. The force of men was divided into different squads, some going one way and some in other directions, over the prairie. Judge Eugene Criss, in command of one squad of men, procured a saddle horse of a farmer in Clay county and, leaving his men, he took a reconnoitre. He discovered the Indians in a ravine, sev- eral miles from where his men were, and rode back to give the information, with the expectation that the whole company would be mustered and an attack made. When Mr. Criss arrived, he found the whole company in an active quarrel among themselves, the final result being that all disbanded on the spot and the fifty or sixty men came home. They arrived, the distance being over fifty miles, by nightfall."
Perhaps the last appearance of roving bands of Indians was in 1874. when fifteen Winnebagoes invaded the grove owned by H. M. Cory, near Sac City, in a hunting expedition. They hunted and trapped along the river several weeks that fall and winter.
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IOWA TERRITORY.
In 1834 this state was incorporated into the territory of Michigan and thus became subject to the ordinance of 1787; and two years later it became a part of Wisconsin teritory, and two years thereafter became the territory of Iowa, with sixteen counties and a population of twenty-three thousand. The first Legislature was held at Belmont, Wisconsin, in October. 1836; the second at Burlington, Iowa, in November, 1837; and the third also at the last named place in 1838. As early as 1837 the people of Iowa began to peti- tion Congress for a separate territorial organization, which was granted on June 12th following. Ex-Governor Lucas, of Ohio, was appointed by Presi- dent Van Buren to be the first governor of the newly created territory. About this time there occurred what is known as the "State Line war."
STATE LINE WAR.
This was a difficulty that arose between the territories of Missouri and Iowa over where the line between the two should be fixed. The strip in question was from eight to ten miles in width nearly across the states, be- tween the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Both territories claimed the rich, valuable land. Missouri officers attempted to collect taxes within this disputed territory, and were at once arrested and confined in jail in Iowa by sheriffs, and the respective governors called out the militia, preparing for bloodshed. About twelve hundred Iowa men enlisted, and five hundred were actually armed and encamped in Van Buren county, ready to defend their territory, when three prominent and able men in this state were sent to Missouri as envoys to effect, if possible, a peaceable settlement and just adjustment of affairs. Upon their arrival, they found that the county com- missioners of Clark county, Missouri, had rescinded their order for the col- lection of taxes, and that Governor Boggs had dispatched to the governor of Iowa a proposal to submit an agreed case to the supreme court of the United States for the settlement of the boundary line question. This pro- position was declined, but afterwards, upon a petition from Iowa and Mis- souri, Congress authorized a suit to settle the controversy. The suit was duly instituted, and resulted in the decision that Iowa had only asserted "the truth in history" and that she knew where the Rapids of the Des Moines river were located ( this being the point from which the boundary line west was to take its place of beginning). Thus ended the Iowa-Missouri war.
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Many years later, Judge C. C. Nourse stated that "if Missourians did not know where the Rapids of the Des Moines river were located. that was no sufficient reason for killing them off with powder and lead; and if we did know a little more of the history and geography than they did we ought not be shot for our learning. We commend our mutual forbearance to older and greater people."
IOWA MADE A STATE.
In 1844 the population of Iowa territory had reached a sufficient num- ber to justify its being organized into a state, and the territorial Legislature passed an act on February 12th. that year, submitting to the people the question of the formation of a state constitution and providing for the elec- tion of delegates to a convention to be called together for that purpose. The people voted on this at their township elections in the following April, giving the measure a large majority. The elected delegates assembled in convention at Iowa City, October 7, 1844, and finished their work on No- vember Ist. Hon. Shepherd Leffler, the president of the convention, was instructed to transmit a certified copy of the proposed constitution, to be submitted by him to that body at the earliest practicable day. It also pro- vided that it should be submitted, together with any changes that might be made by Congress, to the people of the territory, for their approval or re- jection, at the township elections of April, 1845.
The constitution as thus prepared fixed the boundaries of the state very differently from what were finally agreed upon.
On May 4. 1846, a second convention met at Iowa City, and on the 18th of the same month and year another constitution, prescribing the boundary as it now stands, was adopted. This was accepted by the people August 3d, by a vote of 9,492 to 9,036. The new constitution was approved by Congress, and Iowa was admitted as a sovereign state in the American Union on December 28, 1846.
The act of Congress which admitted lowa gave her the sixteenth sec- tion in every township of land in the state, or its equivalent, for the support of schools; also seventy-two sections of land for the purpose of a university ; also five sections of land for the completion of her public buildings; also the salt springs within her limits, not exceeding twelve in number, with sections of land adjoining each; also. in consideration that the public lands should be exempt from taxation by the state, she gave the state five per cent. of the net proceeds of the sale of public lands within the state. Thus provided as a
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bride for her marriage portion, Iowa commenced "housekeping" on her own account !
A majority of the members of the constitutional convention were of the Democratic party, and the instrument contains some of the peculiar tenets of the party of that day. All banks of issue were prohibited within the state. The commonwealth was prohibited from becoming a stockholder in any corporation for pecuniary profits, and the General Assembly could only pro- vide for private corporations by general statutes. The constitution also limited the state's indebtedness to one hundred thousand dollars. It re- quired the General Assembly to provide public schools throughout the state for at least three months in the year. Six months previous residence of any white male citizen of the United States constituted him an elector.
At the date of the state's organization its population was one hundred and sixteen thousand six hundred and fifty-one, as appears from the census of 1847. There were twenty-seven organized counties in the state, and the settlements were rapidly pushing toward the Missouri river.
The first General Assembly was composed of nineteen senators and forty representatives. It assembled at Iowa City, November 30, 1846, about one month before the state was admitted into the Union.
The most important business transacted was the passage of a bill au- thorizing a loan of fifty thousand dollars for means to run the state govern- ment and pay the expenses of the constitutional convention. The great ex- citement of the session, however, was the attempt to choose the United States senators. The Whigs had a majority of two in the House, and the Democrats one majority in the Senate. After repeated attempts to control these majorities for caucus nominees, and frequent joint sessions for pur- poses of an election, the attempt was abandoned. A school law was passed at this session for the organization of public schools in the state.
At the first session also arose the question of re-location of the state capital. The western boundary of the state, as now determined, left Iowa City too far toward the eastern portion of the state. This was conceded. Congress had appropriated five sections of land for the erection of public buildings, and toward the close of the session a bill was introduced providing for the re-location of the seat of government, involving to some extent the location of a state university, which had already been discussed. This bill gave rise to much discussion and parliamentary tactics. It was almost purely sectional in its character. It provided for three commissioners, who were authorized to make a selection as near the geographical center of the state
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as a healthy and eligible site could be obtained; to select five sections of land donated by Congress to survey and plat into town lots, not exceding one section of the land so selected, etc. Soon after, by an "act to locate and establish a state university" approved February 25, 1847, the unfinished public buildings at lowa City, together with ten acres of land on which they were situated, were granted for the use of the university, reserving their use, however, by the General Assembly and the state officers, until pro- visions were made by law.
When the report of the commissioners, showing their final operations, had been read in the House of Representatives, at the next session, and while it was under consideration, an indignant member, later known as the eccentric Judge McFarland, moved to refer the report to a select committee of five, with instructions to report "how much of said city of Monroe (the place named for the new state capital, in Jasper county ) was then under water, and how much was burned." The report was referred without the in- structions, but Monroe City never became the seat of government. By an act approved January 15, 1849, the law by which the location had been made was repealed and the new town was vacated, the money paid by the purchas- ers of lots being refunded to them. This, of course, retained the seat of government at Iowa City, and precluded for the time being the occupa- tion of the buildings by the state university. The question of a permanent seat of government was not yet settled, and in 1851 bills were introduced for the removal of the capital to Pella and to Fort Des Moines. The latter appeared to have the support of the majority. but was finally lost in the House on the question of ordering its third reading.
At the next session, that of 1853, a bill was introduced in the Senate for the removal of the seat of government to Des Moines, and on the first vote was just barely defeated. At the next session, however, the effort was more successful. and January 15, 1855, a bill re-locating the capital within two miles of the Raccoon fork of the Des Moines, and for the appointment of commissioners, was approved by Governor Grimes. The site was selected in 1856, in accordance with the provision of this act, the land being donated to the state by the citizens and property holders of Des Moines, then still styled "Fort Des Moines." An association of citizens erected a building for a temporary capitol, and leased it to the state at a nominal rent.
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PROHIBITION OF SLAVERY.
The passage by Congress of the act authorizing the territories of Kan- sas and Nebraska, and the provisions it contained, abrogating that portion of the Missouri bill that prohibited slavery and involuntary servitude north of the thirty-sixth degree of latitude, was the beginning of a political revo- lution in the Northern states, and in none was it more marked than in Iowa. Iowa was the "first free child born of the Missouri Compromise," and has always resented the destruction of her foster parent.
UNDER A SECOND CONSTITUTION.
In January, 1857, another constitutional convention assembled at Iowa City, which framed the second constitution. One of the most pressing de- mands for this convention grew out of the prohibition of banks under the old constitution. The practical results of this prohibition was to flood the state with every species of wild-cat money.
The new constitution made ample provision for home banks under the supervision of our own laws. The limitation of the state debt was enlarged to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and the corporate indebtedness of the cities and counties was also limited to five per cent. upon the valuation of their taxable property.
On October 19, 1857, Governor Grimes issued a proclamation declaring the city of Des Moines to be the capital of the state of Iowa. The removal of the archives and offices was commenced at once and continued through the fall. It was an undertaking of no small magnitude; there was not a mile of railroad to facilitate the work, and the season was unusually disagreeable. Rain, snow and other accompaniments increased the difficulties, and it was not until December that the last of the effects-the safe of the state treas- urer-loaded on two large "bob-sleds" drawn by ten yoke of oxen, was de- posited in the new capitol. It should be added in this connection that during the passage over hills and prairies, across river, through bottom lands and timber, the safes belonging to the several departments contained large sums of money, mostly individual funds, however. Thus Iowa City ceased to be the capital of Iowa.
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