USA > Iowa > Winneshiek County > Past and present of Winneshiek county, Iowa; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 4
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P. V. Lawson, a Wisconsin historian, says 42: "The Indians in a drunken pow-wow at Prairie du Chien had killed his brother. Word of this tragedy being sent to him. he coolly loaded his pistol, and with it concealed beneath his blanket, went to the place where his brother lay. He had the murderer brought beside his victim and then suddenly shot him dead:" there is no further mention made of this incident. It is stated.## however, that Winneshick was in 1820 head chief of the Winnebago village at La Crosse.
lle was on the British side in 1812-15, and in 1832 refused to assist the Americans against the Sauks. When invited by the whites to join them, the matter was discussed with the chiefs and braves. "Win-o-she-kaw was op- posed to the measure, and declined having anything to do with it. He said the Sauks had twice that season presented the red wampum to the Winnebagoes at Portage, and that they had as often washed it white and handed it back to them ; further, that he did not like that red thing ; that he was afraid of it. Waudgh-ha- ta-kau Jevidently the One-eyed Decorah | took the wampum, and said that he with all the young men of the village would go; that they were anxious to en- gage in the expedition and would be ready to accompany us on our return." H A short while after this it was found that Winneshiek and Wau-mar-nar-sar had gone up the river with part of the band to hunt and dry meat.
llis mother was a sister of Wabokieshick ( White Cloud), the half-Sauk, half-Winnebago Prophet, who assisted Black Hawk. Little Winneshick says,
0 "Red Men of lowa." pg. 158.
1. Wisconsin Archeologia, Vol. 0, No. 3. 05. 150; taken from Wisconsin Historical Collections 3. 287.
. Wisconsin Archeologist, Vol. O. No. 3. pg. 150; taken from Wisconsin Historical Collection 3, 287.
" Wisconsin Historical Collections, 2, 257, 250.
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"For this relationship he fought in a number of battles under Black Hawk in the war of 1832." Thomas Clay, an aged Winnebago, heard Winneshiek tell this from time to time at death-wakes, where the brave men, or warriors, were supposed to tell the truth. Clay's statement 45 is as follows :
"Winneshiek was a nephew of a Sauk and Fox Indian called White Cloud [ Wabokieshiek], that is why Winneshiek was an aid to the Sauk and Fox In- dians during Black Hawk's war. Winneshiek was taking, or guiding, the Fox Indians into the Winnebago country, or to the village, and as they were crossing the Mississippi river somewhere near where Prairie du Chien now stands, a steamboat came up the river and anchored in the middle of the stream. Then some one called out from the boat and asked if Black Hawk was there among them. 'Yes,' was the answer from the Indians. 'Will he surrender or not?' was the next question from the boat. Then Winneshiek spoke up, and said : 'Uncles ( meaning the Fox Indians, as that was what he always called them), tie a white cloth to a pole and I will go and surrender.' So they made a white flag for him, but as he was about to get into the stream to swim to the boat, the Fox people said : 'Perhaps after all you had better not go,' and saying thus, they held him; and the soldiers in the boat could see that he was being held. Then Winneshiek said: "Uncles, I meant to do this that you might live, but the result shall be your fault.' Just then the question came again from the boat, 'Will you surrender ?' The answer from the Indians was 'No! we will not surrender.' and no sooner was it said than the soldiers fired upon them, and even at the first volley many of the Indians were killed. Then Winneshiek said: 'Uncles, thus far only am I able to be with you, as I shall leave you here;' and saying thus, he and his real uncles went up the bank of the river and there watched the fight. When night came upon them, he took his Fox uncles back to the Winne- bago village with him. When they arrived at the village, Winneshiek's mother met him crying : 'Oh! my son, because you have aided Black Hawk in the war, they have taken your father to the fort as a prisoner.' When the soldiers learned that Winneshiek was back at his own village they came after him and released his father. Winneshiek was questioned very severely, but he was angered in- stead of frightened. and he would not even speak, and for four days he would not eat the food that was given him. Then one of the officers said to his fellow officers: 'You must be very severe in questioning Winneshiek. I will question him myself, to-day.' So the officer went to him and as he entered he called Winneshiek by name, greeting him and shaking hainds with him, he said: 'Winneshiek, I understand that some officers have questioned you, but that you were angered and would not even speak to them, and I told them that they must have acted very ungentlemanly towards you to cause you to act as you did.' Winneshiek said: 'Yes, that is the way they have acted.' 'That is what I thought,' said the officer, and continued. 'Winneshiek, I am going to talk with you with good words, and Winneshiek assented; so the officer said : 'Winneshiek, as you have been spoken to roughly, which caused you to not eat for four days, and as I am going to speak to you with good words, therefore I desire that you should eat before we talk and I will have cooked for you a very nice dog that I own myself, and at noon, after you have had your noon meal,
45 As given by Mr. Oliver Lamere.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WINNESHIEK COUNTY
then we shall talk.' Then the officer got some Indians that were about the fort to cook the dog for him in the way they usually cook them for themselves. So when it was thus served to Winneshiek and he had partaken of it, then he and the officer talked. The officer was very much pleased that Winneshiek talked with him in a good spirit. Then he said: 'Winneshiek, I am going to ask you a question and I would like to have you tell me the truth ;' Winneshiek assented. The officer asked: Were you with the Foxes in the war?' Winneshiek said: 'Yes,' and the officer asked again: "Did you take part?' Winneshiek said : 'As you have asked me for the truth, I will tell it to you,-yes, I took part.' Then the officer said: "Winneshiek. I thank you because I asked you for the truth and you gave it to me." Then the officer did not question him any more, but left. Winneshick was kept in prison one year for being an aid to Black Hawk."
Kingsley says: "We-no-shee-kah and his band after being moved about from one reservation to another were finally removed from Blue Earth, Minnesota, to Usher's Landing, or Fort Thompson, S. D. Here a part of the band starved to death and others died of exposure. He took the remnant of his band and started down the Missouri river in canoes, in hopes of going to St. Louis, and hence up the Mississippi to his native haunts in lowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota ; but the old chief got as far down as St. Joseph, Mo., and there winter overtook him and his little band. The old chief took sick and died very suddenly." At this time the old chief evidently was on the Kansas side of the Missouri, as Mr. Lamere says: "He died in Kansas, or just across the south- ern line of Nebraska among the lowa Indians." One wife and the family came through the next summer. Little Winneshiek, a son of the old chief, says: "My father traveled extensively in the interest of the tribe, he with other chiefs were in Washington on two occasions for the purpose of ceding large areas of land at each time to the Federal Government ;" he further says: "Your county was named in honor of my father, Chief Winneshiek, who was considered the head of the Winnebago tribe at the time they were occupying the Turkey river district in Iowa. Ours was the family to which Geo. Kingsley referred to as moving to Wisconsin after my father's death."
No one knows who gave the county its name; this, like certain other things concerning the earliest history of the county, has apparently never been re- corded. At an old settlers' meeting held in Decorah, July 4. 1876, Mr. A. K. Bailey delivered an address in which it was strongly intimated that this might have been the work of Hon. Eliphalet Price. Alexander accepted this as good enough history and gives it as such in his history of the county. However, Mr. A. K. Bailey corrects this by a later article " in which he states: "The very recent discovery that the county was named legally [ February 27, 1847], and its boundaries described, more than four years before the organizing act [1851 ] was passed ( which has until now [ 1903] been considered as the beginning of county existence ), makes this credit to Mr. Price improbable."
Young Winneshick, or Winneshick the Younger, so-called in history, was
4" From a paper prepared by A. K. Bailey, for deposit in the corner stone of the new Court House, and republished in the "Illustrated Historical Atlas of Winneshiek County," See IT. pg. 3.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WINNESHIEK COUNTY
a younger brother of old Chief Winneshiek, or Coming Thunder. It is stated +7 that he was a son of the old chief, but this is an error and does not refer to his son Little Winneshiek, who says, "Young Winneshiek was named Ah-hoo- sheeb-gah, or Short Wing, by his fellow tribesmen; he was a younger brother of my father and did not participate in the Sank and Fox war [1832]." It is said 45 that during the so-called Winnebago war, in 1827, Young Winneshiek was held as a hostage by Colonel Dodge for the good behavior of the tribe. This statement is made by several historians,49 in which connection they also mention him as taking part in the Black Hawk war, 1832; Mr. Clay's narrative refers to Chief Winneshiek, an older brother of Young Winneshiek. Little Winneshiek's statement (as given above) confirms Mr. Clay's narration. It is stated in Alexander's history that Winneshiek was a noted orator. Obviously, this refers to Young Winneshiek, for in the report of the Indian agent for 1840,5" there is a speech made by Young Winneshiek in which he refers to himself as "a boy," protesting against the removal to lowa. Kingsley testifies that old Chief Winneshiek ( Coming Thunder ) was "no orator."
Antoine Grignon says, "Young Winneshiek was a bright young man. He died rather young, at Black River Falls, Wisconsin." When the Winnebagoes were being removed from Blue Earth, the chiefs Decorah and Winneshiek ( evi- dently One-eyed Decorah and Young Winneshiek ) fled with their families and other members of the tribe to Wisconsin. Young Winneshiek had a village on the Black river and died there in May, 1887.
No-gin-kah (meaning Striking Tree and Younger Winneshiek) is the youngest son of Chief Winneshiek, or Coming Thunder. He is seventy years old and is still living in Wisconsin. He is more commonly known as Little Winneshiek. No-gin-kah says, "John Winneshiek and I are the only sons of Chief Winneshiek living and his other descendants produced by our deceased brothers and sisters diverge into a very large family." He further states that, "The medals issued to Winnebago chiefs by the United States Government are lost, the one described by Geo. W. Kingsley was lost by one of my elder broth- ers. I have only one medal in my possession, on which is engraved King George the 3d and Latin inscriptions [this medal ( with the exception of a slight vari- ation in size) conforms to a description of the one issued by the British mili- tary authorities in 1778]."
John Winneshiek's Indian name is Ko-sho-gi-way-ka, meaning "One that goes low ;" he is seventy-eight years old.
Old chief Winneshiek's Indian name is given by some historians 51 as Wa- kun-cha-koo-kah, but this is evidently an error. Wan-kun-cha-koo-kah 52 is the Indian name of Chief Yellow Thunder, who migrated with his tribe to lowa.
47 Wisconsin Historical Collections, 2,-331.
48 Wisconsin Historical Collections, 2,-331.
49 Fulton, Gue, and Sabin; the latter two, it seems, have taken their accounts from Fulton. They were probably under wrong impressions in reference to "Young Winneshiek" as their statements (according to historical data) seem to apply to more than one person.
50 Wisconsin Historical collections.
51 Fulton, "Red Men of Iowa;" Gue, "History of Iowa," Vol. 1; Sabin, "The Making of Iowa."
52 Bureau of American Ethnology. Bulletin 30, pt. 2, pg. 996. Vol. 1-3
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WINNESHIEK COUNTY
Yellow Thunder did not remain long at the Turkey river, for within a year he and his wife (known in history as "the Washington woman")53 returned to Wisconsin ; here he entered a tract of forty acres as a homestead on the west side of the Wisconsin river. He died in February, 1874. Yellow Thunder was greatly respected by his people, and was an able counsellor in their public af- fairs.
Other Winnebago chiefs known to have been in the county were Whirling Thunder ( Wau-kaun-ween-kaw) ; Little Hill (Sho-gee-nik-ka), who, at Long Prairie, became head spokesman for the chiefs; Big Bear, and Kayrah-mau-nee, a son of Carry-maunce (or Nawkaw).
MISSION SCHOOL AND TRADING POST
By the treaty of September 15, 1832, it was stipulated that the Government should annually, beginning in September, 1833, and continuing for twenty-seven years, give the Winnebagoes $10,000 in specie, and establish a school among them, at or near Prairie du Chien, with a farm and garden, and provide other facilities, not to exceed in cost $3.000 a year. for the education of their chil- dren, and continue the same for twenty-seven successive years. Six agricul- turists, twelve yoke of oxen and as many plows, and other farming tools were to be supplied by the Government. The buildings were erected in 1833. on the Yellow river, Allamakee county, Iowa, and President Jackson appointed Rev. David Lowry, a Presbyterian minister, to assume charge. The mission school was removed in 1840 from the Yellow river to a point on the Turkey river, in Winneshiek county, about four miles southeast of the fort buildings.
The erection of the mission was superintended by Reverend Lowry. There were about twenty buildings at the mission. One was a large schoolhouse, another a small church, while the rest were dwellings. Early Catholic pioneers, who settled near the Turkey river ( 1849), purchased these buildings. The small church was used as a chapel, hence the name Old Mission. In 1853 it was destroyed by fire.
There was also a mission one mile east of the fort, on the Turkey river, established by Catholic missionaries. Here there were a number of graves, and at the head of each was a cross. It is unknown whether any of the graves were those of converted Indians or not. The buildings belonging to this mission were burned down by a prairie fire in the early fifties.
Alexander states 54 that, "Reverend Lowry's assistant was one by the name of Colonel Thomas. To him was turned over the work of instructing the Indians in agricultural pursuits. The first year, under Colonel Thomas' supervision, a farm of 300 acres was opened. However, little work coukl be got out of them, and the crops planted began to show neglect." There was an abundance of game in the country round about, and therefore the temptation for the Indian to roam and hunt was very strong. As a result he became negligent about tilling the soil. In 1843 Colonel Thomas, under governmental instructions, built the first gristmill in Winneshiek county. The mission and farm were continued until
63 Wisconsin Archeologist, Vol. 6, No. 3, pg. 150,
54 In his History of Winneshick and Allamakee Counties.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WINNESHIEK COUNTY
the reservation was sold to the Government. Lowry finally resigned to take charge of a mission in Minnesota and, in 1846, Mr. Fletcher was appointed agent for the Winnebagoes by President Polk, and served in that capacity for eleven years. During that time he resided at Fort Atkinson, Iowa, Long Prairie, Minnesota, and Blue Earth, Minnesota. Under the careful management of Mr. Fletcher the Winnebagoes attained to considerable proficiency in agriculture, and otherwise improved their condition.
During his service as Indian agent Mr. Fletcher was accompanied by his wife, who engaged earnestly in the work of teaching the Indians. Their eldest son, Frank Fletcher, acquired such command of the language of the Indians that he became his father's interpreter. General Fletcher, while serving as agent, contributed through the publications of Mr. Schoolcraft a vast amount of information concerning the religion, traditions, and customs of the Winne- bagoes while at the Turkey river. In 1858 Mr. Fletcher returned to Iowa, where he died April 6, 1872, on his farm near Muscatine, sixty-six years old.
When the crop, planted under Colonel Thomas' supervision, began to show neglect, a force of garrison men were detailed to cultivate it, and were paid for their labor out of the Indian annuity. Hon. A. Jacobson states : 55 "Ole Hal- vorsen Valle, undoubtedly the first Norwegian to visit the county, was engaged in the service of the Government as teamster, hauling provisions from Fort Crawford, Wisconsin, to Fort Atkinson and the Old Mission; he was also em- ployed in breaking up pieces of bottom land on the Upper Iowa river. One of the largest fields thus prepared for the Indians to plant their corn was situated just below the outlet of Trout Run." Mr. Goddard says, "An Indian chief had a farm about one-half mile southwest of Spillville, and a considerable part of the ground was broken up."
An Indian trading post was established two miles southwest of the fort by a Mr. Olmstead and one Joseph Hewitt. It seems that they had a permit from the Government to trade with the Indians. The buildings, all one story high, were constructed of logs. There were five in number, two large dwelling houses, one large store, one storage house, and a blacksmith shop. Capt. Joseph Hewitt's principal occupation was hunting, trapping and fishing. In 1851 he left the country and located at Clear Lake, Iowa, where he experienced no little trouble with the Sioux Indians. In 1849 Josiah Goddard bought the old Indian trading post from Olmstead, and in 1850 moved his family onto the land. Three or four acres of this land had been broken up by the Indians.
FORT ATKINSON
Now, the boys in blue, you bet, Earn whatever praise they get .- -Joseph Mills Hanson, "Frontier Ballads."
In 1840 the Winnebago Indians were removed to their new home on the Neutral Ground. In order to protect them from the incursions of their neigh- bors, among whom were the Sauk and Fox tribes, as well as from intrusions
55 In his article "Reminiscences of Pioneer Norwegians," published in the Historical Atlas of Winneshiek County, 1905, Sec. II, pg. 11.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WINNESHIEK COUNTY
of the whites, and in turn to prevent them from trespassing beyond the limits of the reservation, soldiers were stationed among them. \ detachment of the 5th Infantry ( Company F) under command of Capt. Isaac Lynde left Fort Crawford with a complement of eighty-two officers and enlisted men, and went into camp, May 31. 18440, in the neighborhood of Spring creek ( now known as Goddard's creek ) on the Turkey river. The camp was named "Camp Atkinson" in honor of Brig. Gen. Henry Atkinson, U. S. army, the department commander who was so prominent in military operations in the upper Mississippi valley. Barracks and quarters sufficient to accommodate one company were erected, and in March, 1841, the secretary of war ordered that the station be known as Fort Atkinson.
Rumors of the warlike attitude of a portion of the Sauk and Fox Indians, who, it was believed, intended sending out a party against the peaceable Winne- bagoes, caused Governor Dodge of Wisconsin, in a letter dated January 23, 1841, and directed to the commissioner of Indian affairs, to urge strongly that. in addition to the garrison there at that time, a mounted force be stationed at Fort Atkinson. The following is an extract from Governor Dodge's letter :
"In compliance with the instructions of your Department the Agency and School have been removed to the new site on Turkey river with about 700 of the Indians of the Winnebago Nation. These Indians, it is confidently expected. will not return, unless another blow should be struck by the Sauks and Foxes. Such an event may not be looked for this winter, but it is the opinion of Mr. Lowry that it may certainly be calculated upon in the ensuing spring unless a mounted force should be stationed at Camp Atkinson.
"Information was received by Mr. Lowry through Governor lucas, ob- tained from a portion of the Sauks and Foxes not unfriendly to the Winneba- goes, that a war party was to have set out against the latter in November last. . \ very extraordinary snow storm is believed to have prevented this attack. The war party is now on Red Cedar (fifty miles west of Camp Atkinson) : a large body of Sioux are also in that vicinity, and scouts of the former have been fired at by the latter but as yet no blood has been shed. The difficulty of keep- ing the Winnebagoes at their new homes, under these circumstances, and with- out an adequate force for their protection, must be readily seen."
This letter was referred to the War Department, where it was in turn referred to General Atkinson with instructions to use every effort to prevent any colli- sion between the Indians. General Atkinson responded to these instructions March 1, 1841, as follows :
"Sir: 1 have the honor to report that 1 have received your letter of in- structions of the 15th ultimo, accompanied by an extract of a letter from Governor Dodge of the 23d of January, in reference to establishing a mounted force at Fort Atkinson for the protection of the Winnebago Indians. It is im- possible to station a mounted force at that point before the middle of May. as there are no barracks, quarters or stables for their accommodation, nor for- age for their horses. I will, however, order the troop at Fort Crawford to make excursions through the country of Turkey and Cedar rivers, till the season opens to enable it to go under tents, at which time the grass will be grown suffi- ciently to subsist the horses.
Chas Phil Hexom -
after Lieut A W Reynolds
FORT ATKINSON, WINNESHIER COUNTY, IOWA, AS IT APPEARED IN 1842
This drawing is a copy, by Chas. Phil, Hexom, after a reproduction from an original drawing, made by Lient. A. W. Reynolds, 1st Infantry, on file in the office of the Adjutant General of the Army, War Department, Wash- ington, D. C.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WINNESHIEK COUNTY
"No time should be lost by the Quartermaster's Department in proceeding to erect quarters, barracks and stables for the troop at the post on Turkey river, or they will not be ready for their accommodation by the coming of the next winter. I request, therefore, that orders to that effect may be given with- out delay.
"With great respect, Sir, your most obedient servant. "(Signed.) H. ATKINSON, "Brigadier General U. S. Army.
"Brigadier General Jones,
"Adjutant General U. S. Army, Washington."
On the 24th of the following June, Company B of the Ist Dragoons arrived at the fort and took up their station, and from that time until 1847 the fort was a two-company post. September IIth Captain Lynde's company was re- lieved by Company K of the ist Infantry, Capt. J. J. Abercrombie.
In the year following, at various times, on the requisition of Governor Chambers of Iowa Territory, detachments and patrols were sent out from this fort to remove squatters and other intruders from the lands of the Sauk and Fox Indians and to prevent their return. August 7th Company I, Ist Dra- goons, under command of Captain James Allen, arriving at the fort, whence they proceeded to the Sauk and Fox Agency, where they established Fort Sanford. From this time until its abandonment Fort Atkinson was successively garrisoned by the following organizations :
Company B, Ist Infantry, Captain Sidney Burbank ; Company A, ist Infan- try, Captain Osborne Cross; Company E, Ist Infantry, Captain A. S. Miller ; Com- pany A, Ist Iowa Volunteer Infantry, Captain James M. Morgan : Company A. Ist Iowa Volunteer Dragoons, Captain John Parker ; a detachment of Wiscon- sin Volunteers, Dodge Guards, under command of Lieutenant Benjamin Fox (here was an interim of several months during which the fort was not gar- risoned ) ; and from September 25. 1848, until the time of its abandonment, Com- pany C, 6th Infantry, Captain F. L. Alexander.56
The fort was situated in the northwestern part of Washington township (on the old military road constructed from Fort Snelling to Fort Gibson) and stood on a rock-ribbed hill overlooking the site of the town which now bears its name. This hill is about eighty-four feet above the Turkey river. The fort buildings were two stories high, twenty feet to the eaves. Each building had an upper porch along its entire length, the one on the officers' quarters being screened in with the old fashioned movable wooden blinds. The buildings oc- cupied an acre of ground. The stables, about forty feet wide and about 300 feet long, extended north and south and were about twenty rods east of the street. The bakery, and the blacksmith shop and carpenter shops were north of the fort on the north side of the street.
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