USA > Iowa > Wapello County > History of Wapello County, Iowa, Volume I > Part 4
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HISTORY OF WAPELLO COUNTY
Previous to the treaty of 1842 some few changes were made in their location, both by the Indians and among the whites. The house at the "Old Garrison" was broken up and one established in its stead up in the Red Rock region, near the mouth of White Breast; and Keokuk also moved his village into the same neighborhood. A second blacksmith was appointed, named Baker, son-in-law of Colonel Ingraham, one of the pioneers of Des Moines county, and a person of considerable character and influence in his county. Baker died at Fort Des Moines, still in the service of the Indians ; but when appointed he built his residence some half a mile east of the agency, not far from the claim taken by the late William Newell, father of L. F. Newell, by whom the property was subsequently purchased and added to his farm.
The Sacs and Foxes were quite friendly and manageable; in fact, were very pleasant and agreeable people to live among, and all public and personal intercourse with them rolled smoothly along the well-worn track, without much of incident or marvel, until the final sale of their remaining Iowa domain. Sometimes incidents would occur, possessing excitement or amuse- ment enough to encroach for a little upon the monotony that otherwise might have become tedious, of which the writer will endeavor to recover the memory of one or two that may amuse the reader.
The Sacs and Foxes, like all other Indians, were a very religious people in their way, always maintaining the observance of a good many rites, cere- monies and feasts in their worship of the Kitche Mulito, or Great Spirit. Fasts did not seem to be prescribed in any of their missals, however, because perhaps, forced ones, under a scarcity of game or other edibles, were not of impossible occurrence among people whose creed plainly was to let tomorrow take care of the things of itself. Some of these ceremonies bore such resem- blance to some of those laid down in the books of Moses as to have justified the impression among biblical students that the lost tribes of Israel might have found their way to this continent.
The writer was a witness one delightful forenoon in May, 1841, of a ceremony that seemed full of mystery, even to those of the Indians who took no part in celebrating it. A large lodge had been set up for the occasion on the level green, near Keokuk's village, and its sides left so entirely open that vision of the proceedings conducted within was entirely free. Close around was a circle of guards or sentinels, evidently "in the secret," as they were close enough to hear, but at a distance far enough to prevent eavesdropping of the low tones used within the sacred precincts. Inside of these guards was another and much larger circle of sentinels, who restrained all outsiders (of whom the writer had to content himself with being one) from crossing within their line. Keokuk seemed to be the chief personage among the per- formers, and the performance to be designed for the exclusive benefit of one old fellow of some importance in the tribe, who was mainly distinguished from those about him by being clad in a much scantier pattern of raiment. Sometimes they would place him on his feet and sometimes on his seat, as
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they pow-wowed and gesticulated about him. Finally, while in a sedentary position, with a large pile of blankets behind him, Keokuk approached in front, pistol in hand, apparently aimed at his forehead.
There was an explosion quite audible to us outsiders and a no small puff of smoke, and the old savage went over on his back in quick time, where he was covered up and left among the blankets, while a good many "long talks" were held around and over him, until at length Keokuk, taking his hand, brought him to the sitting posture, and soon after to his feet, apparently none the worse for having been used as a target. The outside multitude of Indians gazed with marked awe throughout the entire performance and maintained withal the deepest silence.
During the three years that the writer had charge of the agency before its removal from this place there were. two, and he thinks even three, occasions on which he had to remove persons who had "squatted" for good on the Sac and Fox lands. One of these has already been spoken of, the mishap having grown out of some erroneous belief about the boundary. Another originated in some opinions of a former head of the St. Louis superintendency of Indian affairs, drawn from him in correspondence and published in the papers. They were erroneous, and believed to have been made in order to embarrass the then government, to which he was politically unfriendly. If correct, they would have opened to settlement a valuable tract of the Sac and Fox land bordering on Missouri, including their Soap Creek Mill. Governor Chambers, coinciding with the agent's opinion, which was immediately reported to him, as intruders had begun to move in, issued a proclamation warning all persons from crossing the boundary line as then established; and the affair in due course, reaching the head of the Indian service, the secretary of war, under the law of that time. That official, Hon. William L. Marcy, promptly sustained the subordinate proceedings, and orders were issued to remove by military force all trespassers who, having received reasonable notice, had not retired by a specified day. Notices were printed and dis- tributed by a special messenger among the new trespassers, and as some had failed to go by the specified date, a company of United States cavalry was ordered to the agency to enforce the laws and treaties. This duty seemed the more imperative, just at that time, as the department was intending to treat in a few months, with the Sacs and Foxes for the purchase of that very land.
Such military expeditions would of course abound with incidents, some- times amusing, sometimes exciting, and sometimes disagreeable and embarrassing. We would generally find the men gone, leaving the premises in charge of the women and children, under the vain belief that they would in some way get over the trouble. Excuses would be various, mostly of wagons broken in the very act of starting, or of oxen strayed and horses lost or stolen just a day or so too soon ; sometimes of sickness, though we failed of observing signs of it. On one occasion a soldier overheard a well-grown girl
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HISTORY OF WAPELLO COUNTY
tell a frightened junior not to cry, for "Pap" was just away down the branch and would come back as soon as the soldiers were gone. And, sure enough, when the smoke of the burning cabin curled above his hiding place, convincing him that his plan had proved abortive, "Pap" came rushing around a point of the grove, apparently all out of breath, with a long story of his strayed horses that he had hunted till the last day and then gone to some kindred six or seven miles off beyond the Iowa state line, who were then on the road with their wagons; and that he, having heard the bugle, had left them in order, by short cuts across the timber and hollows, to get home in time to save his "plunder." Well, the lieutenant told him there it was all safe, the soldiers had set it out carefully without giving his family any trouble to help them; and if only he had time he would be glad to wait till his Missouri friends arrived and help him load up. The mansion being now burned beyond salvation, the bugle sounded to mount and the troop resumed its march.
The next amusing incident was in our encounter soon after the troop had resumed its march, with an old fellow whom we met coming up the somewhat dim road just along the edge of the timber, on this side of the river. The troop was of between thirty and forty men, with a lieutenant, the captain having stayed at the agency with the rest of his company to take care of his supplies in camp. The lieutenant and writer were comfortably walking their nags along the said road, the troops some distance in the rear, following the same easy gait, with their two six-mule wagons behind, when we espied a wagon coming round a point of the road not far ahead of us. The team soon showed itself to be a span of fat, sleek horses, and the entire outfit indicated tliat the old chap in charge of it was not as hard up as his personal look would have led one to believe. He was for giving us the entire right of way, but as we turned off to face him, as if we intended to collide, bow on to him, he reigned up.
According to his own story he was out for just a pastime drive up the ridge, without much motive or object of any kind, but he had a scythe to cut grass, a good lot of oats and shelled corn in sacks, an extra wagon sheet that would have improvised a comfortable tent in short order, a plentiful supply of "grub" for himself and a boy he had with him, thirteen or fourteen years old, and a 40-gallon empty barrel, all suggestive of a contemplated raid upon the bee trees. After some parley the lieutenant turned him over to the sergeant, who had in the meantime come up with his men, who in turn placed him with a file of troopers as a guard of honor, between the two baggage wagons. The old fellow soon got the hang of what was up from the soldiers, and as misery loves company, he shortly seemed to lose sight of his own disgust in contemplating that of the inmates of the two squatters' cabins we had yet to visit. We soon reached the nearest one and found it abandoned, though very recently, as all signs proved. Stopping long enough to burn the cabin we then kept on our way to the only remain-
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HISTORY OF WAPELLO COUNTY
ing trespasser, who had put up his cabin in a grove on the Des Moines River side of the ridge we had been all day descending. As we turned off. to cross the ridge our former captive whom we now released seemed for a while as if disposed to relieve himself of the enjoyment of our society as soon as possible. But in a short time he changed his mind, for long before he had traveled the half mile across the ridge, we saw that he had also turned off and was in pursuit of us. He reached the house almost as soon as did the troops and in full time to say to the lieutenant and myself what could not have been less than an unpleasant feeling of personal sympathy for the family we were about to dislodge. As in several previous instances, the man had gone off, leaving the woman to give reasons and offer excuses for his absence. It was very near night and not less than five miles to the nearest house in the direction the woman wished to go; she had several children, of whom not the largest even was yet of an age to be other than an encumbrance at such a time; nor was there team, wagon or other means of transportation to be seen. While she was bitterly complaining of her cruel fate in thus being turned out of her house to see it consumed, with herself, children and chattels all night under the open heavens, our lately made acquaintance came to a halt among us, the expression of his features indicating a much more enjoyable expectation of witnessing the scene ahead than was ever felt by any among us, whose duty it was to bring it into action.
We accordingly concluded to press him into the service, soothing by that proposal much of the distress of mater familias, who appeared to be a person rather superior to the ordinary grade of squatters. The soldiers set about removing her property from the house and loading into the old fellow's wagon such portions of it as she was least disposed to abandon for the night, and comfortably stowing herself and children upon the load, we started him off as soon as she was ready to leave, after having placed the rest of her effects in as secure a condition as we could. To guard against any possible treachery on the part of the old bee hunter, as well as in view of any breakdown before he could strike the smoother road, the lieutenant took the precaution to detach a corporal with a half-dozen men to act as escort over the three miles or so to the Indian boundary, beyond which our jurisdiction ceased.
The house, with its combustible appendages, having been set on fire, we continued our march to a point a mile or two within the civilized part of Iowa Territory, where a well-fixed, thrifty settler supplied our commissariat, as well as our forage department, with sundry items that a three days' expedition through the brush had made acceptable, if not actually needful. Night had fairly set in. The corporal had. rejoined the command and reported the bee hunter and his cargo to be making satisfactory and appar- ently friendly progress at the point he was ordered to leave them. Our camp fires were soon blazing and the tents pitched, and in a short time a
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HISTORY OF WAPELLO COUNTY
good supper increased the contentment which the lieutenant and agent could not fail to enjoy over the final conclusion of a most unpleasant duty. An early reveille and the next midday found us at the agency.
At the accession of General Harrison to the presidency, in March, 1841, John Chambers, ex-congressman of Kentucky, was appointed to replace Gov- ernor Lucas as governor of our then territory, which office included within its commission that of superintendent over the Indians and their agencies. For several months previous some feelings of antagonism had existed between the old Black Hawk party, whose chief was Hardfish, and the other bands, which was excited mostly and kept up by the traders, influenced by their rival interests, and the characteristic obstinacy of Governor Lucas, who leaned to the Hardfish band. Upon the arrival of Governor Chambers at Burlington it was of course an object with Keokuk to gain his favor, or at least to have him committed to a strictly impartial course, while the Hard- fish effort would be to induce him to follow in the track of his predecessor. Keokuk at once requested the agent to obtain the governor's consent for him and his chief men to visit him at Burlington. It was the wish, however, of the Indian department to discountenance and prevent such pilgrimages of the Indians through the settlements and the agent promised Keokuk that he would inform the new governor of his desire and that perhaps he would prefer to make his acquaintance and receive his congratulations here at the agency. The Hardfish band-or rather their instigators, Eddy and his satellites-less patient, and ignoring their proper channel of communication through the agent with the superintendency, hastened to Burlington in a large body, and having encamped a short way from town, sent in a written notice of their arrival and its purpose, with a request that the governor would cause the needed supplies of food, etc., to be provided for them. Under the late Lucas regime an order on Eddy's Burlington store would have soon satisfied this want. But Governor Chambers sent them word that when he sent for any of them to come and see him he would of course be prepared to have them fed; that he had no intention of converting his executive headquarters in Burlington into a council ground for his red children and that it was his purpose to visit them in their own country at a very early day. Hardfish came home with a large flea in his ear, and the agent received a communication from the governor informing him of the facts and instructing him to use all means in his power to prevent the intrusions of his charge upon the settlements, and that he should visit the agency in a very short time, notice of which should be seasonably served.
The governor at length set his time, the bands were all informed, the governor arrived, and on the next day at a specified hour, a grand council would be opened. Meanwhile all the Indians except the Iowa River Foxes, indisposed to come so far, had been gathering and were encamped about the agency, the Keokuk side covering the ground along the branch behind
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HISTORY OF WAPELLO COUNTY
the mills, which was then full of plum, hazel and crabapple thickets, while the Hardfishes were along the edge of the river timber south of the agency, and where the writer now lives (August, 1874). Long before the appointed hour, the Hardfish party, arrayed in full toggery, had all arrived, themselves and their ponies caparisoned in their richest styles of ornament ; and having gone through the equestrian performances usual on such occasions, had dismounted, secured their ponies and, forming on foot, had marched into the agency yard, where the governor was to receive them, and where was quite a gathering of whites, and Hardfish with some of his leading men having taken the governor's hand and said a few words of courtesy, had sat down upon the grass.
Now, it was a sacred duty with the governor to cherish the memory of his dear and lately dead friend, General Harrison. He had been aide-de- camp to the general in the War of 1812, and rumor told that their mutual sentiments were more those of father and son than of simple friends. Keokuk had been apprised of this and, as it proved, knew how to "make it tell." The appointed hour had been a long time passed, but as yet he made no sign of putting in an appearance and at last the governor began to grow impatient and to use some expressions not approbatory of the Hardfish promptitude.
At length the first faint sounds of Keokuk's music came floating through the thickets, which grew more audible as it neared, but never swelled up to the full tone of their more joyous notes; and as the front of their proces- sion wound slowly into view, their lances and staves, instead of being decked with gaudy ribbons and feathers to flutter in the breeze, were wrapped round with wilted grass. No sound of bells responded to the tramp of their ponies ; and their own persons, instead of being painted in vermilion and dressed in bright colors, bore the usual funereal substitutes of clay and somber hues. In fact, all the paraphernalia of woe betokened some sad affliction. The agent, after a hurried word with the interpreter, told the governor that this was a funeral march and that some of their leading men must have died in the night, and lay probably yet unburied in the camp. The Hardfishes seemed as much at a loss as anybody, wondering who could have died without their knowing it.
The solemn dirge ceased, and dismounting, the several hundred savages, forming on foot with Keokuk leading, marched into the yard and toward the governor, who advanced a step or two to meet him, when Keokuk, ordering a halt, signed the interpreter and said: "Say to our new father that before I take his hand I will explain to him what all this means. We were told not long ago that our Great Father was dead. We have heard of him as a great war chief, who had passed much of his life among the red men and knew their wants, and we believed we would always have friend- ship and justice at his hands. His death has made us very sad, and as this is our first opportunity we thought it would be wrong if we did not use
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HISTORY OF WAPELLO COUNTY
it to show that the hearts of his red children, as well as his white, know how to mourn over their great loss, and we have had to keep our father waiting while we performed that part of our mourning that we must always attend to before we leave our lodges with our dead."
Then, amid the murmur of approbation from his people, he stepped for- ward and extended his hand. The hearty grasp with which the governor seized and clung to it, showed he had touched the right spot and the Hard- fishes must be content thereafter to take a back seat. When, years after, the writer was enjoying a day of the governor's hospitality at Maysville, Kentucky, and the incident coming up in conversation, the governor was told that he must not credit Keokuk with the paternity of the entire "plot," but that his ingenuity was put into requisition only to manage the details, the kind old gentleman seemed greatly amused.
THE INDIAN CHIEF APPANOOSE
The accounts which have come down in history in regard to this chief, who was so distinguished in his day that his name was given to one of the counties of Iowa, are very meager. McKenney and Hall, in their great work (folio edition, p. 58) on the North American Indians, give him less than a page of biography. His portrait-a fine, large lithograph, colored by hand- shows him to have been a very good-looking Indian, not so much addicted to the use of paint and feathers as many of the chiefs whose homes were on Iowa soil. His name signifies "A chief when a child," from which it has been inferred that his position came to him by inheritance. Judge A. R. Fulton, in his "Red Men of Iowa," says that he was a man of quiet disposition, much beloved by his people, and that it had been stated that he had four wives. Of his early life nothing definite is known. He was opposed to Black Hawk, favoring the peace policy of Keokuk, desiring to be friendly with the whites. He once lived on the Iowa River, but when the Sacs and Foxes removed to the valley of the Des Moines he established his village on land now within the limits of the City of Ottumwa. The buildings of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad are said to stand upon the ground which was in the cornfields of Appanoose and his band. In 1837 he visited the East in the company taken thither by Gen. J. M. Street, including Black Hawk, Keokuk, Wapello and other noted Indians. While in the City of Boston they were taken to Fanueil Hall and other places of interest, and were given a reception at the State House. After the addresses of Gov. Edward Everett, Keokuk, Wapello and others, Appanoose spoke as follows :
"Brothers-You have heard just now what my chief has to say. All our chiefs and warriors are very much gratified by our visit to this town. Last Saturday they were invited to a great house (Faneuil Hall), and now they are in the great council house (the capitol). They are very much pleased
APPANOOSE "A Peace Chief who presided over a village of the Sauks." His home was within the present city limits of Ottumwa. One of the richest Iowa counties perpetu- ates his name.
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with so much attention. This we cannot reward you for now, but shall not forget it and hope the Great Spirit will reward you for it. This is the place which our forefathers once inhabited. I have often heard my father and grandfather say they lived near the seacoast where the white men first came. I am glad to hear all this from you. I suppose it is put in a book, where you learn all these things. As far as I can understand the language of the white people, it appears to me that the Americans have attained a very high rank among white people. It is the same with us, though I say it myself. Where we live, beyond the Mississippi, I am respected by all people, and they consider me the tallest among them. I am happy that two great men meet and shake hands with each other."
Appanoose then shook hands with Governor Everett "amid shouts of applause from the audience, who were not a little amused at the self- complacency of the orator." A Boston paper speaking of this affair said:
"We have taken pains to give the speeches of the Indian chiefs with verbal accuracy, as a matter of high intellectual curiosity. History, romance and poetry have embodied the Indian character to our perceptions from childhood. It is pleasant therefore to see the original and find how accurate the picture has been. The language, ideas and style of these Indians are precisely such as have been ascribed to their race. There is much to admire in the simple and manly manner in which they convey their ideas. He must be a churl who does not associate with their visit here, objects of philan- thropy and protection to their race."
In connection with his portrait, McKenney and Hall print his name in four syllables, spelling it "Ap-pa-noo-sa." This would imply that the name was so pronounced by the Indians, but changed to "Appanoose" by the whites. The portrait which is presented with this article was copied from the work to which reference has been made.
CHAPTER IV FILE SADLY O'ER THE PRAIRIE INTO A STRANGE COUNTRY
By Mrs. H. P. Keyhoe
What a wonderful state ours is and how proud we should be of it and of our own little corner. Many interpretations have been given of the name Iowa, but I like best the Indian "Iowa, Iowa, beautiful, beautiful land."
Travelers tell us that Italy's skies are no bluer nor softer; and beautiful as it is to us, the people who saw it in its early days tell us we can scarcely imagine the beauty of the prairies before they were settled. It was the state of the wild rose. Even now, from May to September, the hillsides, ravines and roadsides are made lovely with its pink blossoms. The grass grew thick and high and the prairies were covered with flowers.
It was said that low flowers like the violet bloomed low, but as the prairie grass grew high they, too, lifted their heads on long stems.
Game of all kinds abounded. The streams and lakes were full of fish. Strawberries were so plentiful that Albert M. Lea tells us that on a long march through the state, along the divide between the Mississippi and Des Moines rivers, the track was red for miles together, and as they progressed north, about fifteen miles per day, coincided with their ripening, they had the luxury for many weeks. Blackberries, plums, crabapples, hickory, wal- nut and hazelnuts were to be had for the picking.
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