USA > Iowa > Appanoose County > The history of Appanoose County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men > Part 36
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8
39824
47230
330097
317944
20
51273
1783470
11273
Sioux.
367894
22029
1033743
22093
17674
689556
2254
71676
573026
Sac ...
31336
47201
33515
21179
251286
6780
82038
4591
45096
166980
238880
Taylor.
102861
235315
79142
11036
110001
10
8662
279716
3035
6599
Tama.
255182
90222
21 1941
15116
206813
9,013
241
3068
48260
1419680
8118
269657
908176
Union
57005
45826
1437807
73251
2316405
33216
Van Buren.
153674
99528
113463
10336
141188
53
10928
960
121854
24063
2842859
15514
381469
1130930
6127
624260
Wayne ..
14766
66795
7455
117689
5850S
50211
1823622
187748
12596
353698
1439586
10355
143
1236
65625
2405187
13212
367396
1361376
Warren ..
76316
Winnesheik
19/265
246140
167178
131670
159737
42175
253 169
112175
654679
61
1813453
910
80280
3561365
8391
281510
2208392
Woodbury
Worth.
57097
27185
21307
8216508
44179
33037
917316
91647
2265252
298209
Washington
4892.
225176
45937
32157
152.13
490371
157884
23092
2:8873
146-17
55552
410187
3530
122291
3072
4415
161557
396506
Webster.
97238
41646
2832211
15,01
2035261
Winnebago.
61744
70910
469879
1439
14193
453320
11389
30625
30351
12121
891051
73265
5
28113
917911
7491
207-193
733342
Wright.
8939
35516
162281
32387
28957
11
270
1374
52425
1327
45109
140219
Wapello.
150209
63491
135173
13629
196166
10089
281821
4131
135176
288685
17365
157533
1617
16159
57035
2143791
11570
293590
1455319
Totals.
12621850 8410435| 9354905 3690711 42669731
69183
759277
4700176 186284542 982994
29144352 $131536747
HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY.
THE DRAGOON TRAIL.
The first visit ever made by white men, so far as can now be ascertained, within the limits of Appanoose County, was during the summer of 1832, by a company of dragoons, who left Davenport for a reconnaissance as far west as the site of Fort Leavenworth. The company proceeded southwesterly, to the Des Moines, crossing near where Agency City now stands ; thence by the points now occupied by Drakeville and Moulton, and then west of southwest, through Appanoose, passing into Missouri near the southwest corner of Franklin Town- ship. Not a foot of their route, after leaving Davenport, had been organized into civil divisions, and they had not seen a white settler for nearly a hundred miles when they reached the present limits of Appanoose. They were alone in the wilderness, and their horses' feet crushed the grass never before trodden save by the deer of the forest, the half-wild Indian pony or the moccasined foot of the red man. The Sacs and Foxes, who peeped out from behind their leafy barricades to see the dusty cavalcade troop by, well knew that erelong the Commissioners would come to enact the solemn farce of treating with them for their hunting-grounds ; that the smoke of the emigrant's camp-fire would soon be kindled in every grove of their fair possession.
Little the dragoons cared, as they made their camp at the spring southwest of Cincinnati, what the Indians thought, and little they dreamed of the mighty tidal wave of emigration in their rear. The camp-kettles were swung, the horses picketed and sentinels placed. Supper was dispatched, and after an hour spent over various packs of cards, the tired horsemen rolled themselves in their blankets and went to sleep under the soft light of the stars that winked to each other from every quarter of the firmament, as if they knew more than the slum- bering soldiers about the wonderful future of Iowa. Perhaps the stars could have foretold who would follow this party-who would seek homes on the prai- ries and along the streams of Appanoose; but if they could, they withheld their knowledge, and in the morning the soldiers broke camp and passed into Missouri, leaving a faint trail through the southern limits of the county, and the fragments of the unburnt fagots at their camping-place as the only evidence that the occupation of the Indian country by the Anglo-Saxon had begun. But the sun of the Nineteenth Century was mounting toward the meridian, and these soldiers were here because their masters needed more elbow-room.
It is stated that an uncle of Dr. Stevenson, Jr., of Centerville, was a mem- ber of this company.
THE BEE TRACE.
Joseph Shaddon, now a resident of Putnam County, Mo., has stated to Dr. Sturdivant, of Cincinnati, that he hunted over a considerable portion of Appa- noose County in 1833, and found deer and turkeys very abundant. The dra-
A
324
HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY.
goon-trail was noticed by him east of the Chariton, probably in the neighbor- hood of Moulton, and he is probably the first civilian who ever entered the limits of this county.
The State of Missouri was tolerably well settled at that early day, and many of its citizens had been reared to an intimate knowledge of hunting and woodcraft. The hunter's instinct is a powerful one, and the sons of the " b'ar hunters " of Kentucky could not repress the desire to plunge into the wilder- ness in search of game, and to follow the streams toward their origin, for honey in the summer and for beaver in the fall. Hence, when people came into the county in search of claims, they found two trails, the route taken by the dra- goons, and the other, with a general northern direction, passing near the pres- ent post office of Bee Trace, and known by the Missourians by that name. This may have been, originally, an Indian trail. The first settlers say that this was a tolerably well-defined wagon-road as far north as Bee Trace, and that it could be followed easily into Taylor Township. The marks of wagon-wheels could be distinguished leading off toward the groves all along the " bee trace," the wagons having probably been brought into the wilderness to carry off the honey to be found in the timber.
Another " bee trace " ran from Missouri diagonally through Davis County, and terminated in the vicinity of the present town of Unionville.
Who made these two trails is a matter of little moment to the present population of Appanoose. Those who came in search of bee-trees cared little for the fertile soil and its capacity for supplying the farmers of to-day with the comforts of life. The bee-hunters were more concerned about the exchange value of beeswax for gunpowder and whisky than for the desirability of this region for settlement.
It is stated that Joseph Shaddon, now a resident of Putnam County, Mo., visited the region along the Chariton in the year 1833, and if so, was among the very first to enter what is now Appanoose County. The best attested visit along the " bee trace " was that made by William Kirby, who, in the fall of 1839, entered Appanoose County a considerable distance on this route. He found large numbers of bee-trees, and he took home to Putnam County a large store of honey. On this trip he made a claim on the ground afterward taken by Mr. Perkins, and now covered partly by additions to Centerville. His failure to remove hither was on account of his wife's objections to go so far from other settlements.
THE FIRST CABIN.
By common consent, the honor of the first settlement of this county is ascribed to Col. James Wells, in 1839; but the historian, after careful investi- gation, while admitting that this gentleman was the first permanent settler, has decided to date the first occupation by a white man in 1838. In that year, Ewen Kirby, a young Missourian, having decided to traffic with the Indians, came nearly to the edge of the Indian boundary, as understood at that time, and built a cabin near the cast line of Township 67, Range 18, just inside of Pleasant Township, and about due east of where Cincinnati now stands. Hither he removed his family and remained two years. In addition to his bar- ter business he cultivated a small-truck patch. When he left, it is stated with positiveness, that he burned down his cabin. There is reasonableness in this statement, for the out-settlement of Missouri was only about ten miles distant.
THE FIRST WHITE CHILD.
The first white child born in this county was a daughter to Ewen Kirby and wife, in the fall of 1838, and the matron who officiated at this interesting event
325
HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY.
was Mrs. Caughran, of Putnam County, Mo., who lived eight or nine miles away. The girl lived, was named Elizabeth, and is now living at Macon, Mo., the wife of Mr. Tate.
This event, and the building of the first cabin, noted above, were fur- nished by Mrs. William Kirby, an aunt of Elizabeth, and are unquestionably true ; for Mrs. Kirby was living not far away at the time, and, as stated above, her own husband ascended the " bee-trace " two years later.
Before passing to other subjects, Mrs. Kirby should not be rudely dismissed. This aged lady, with her parents, settled in Missouri in 1817, she being then ten years of age, and has resided near the Iowa line and in Appanoose County for about forty years. She is now living with her daughter, Mrs. Dr. Worth- ington, in Caldwell Township, with a memory far brighter and more accurate than many people at forty. October 28, 1878, this lady threaded her needle, in the writer's presence, without spectacles ; and in an interview two hours long furnished many interesting facts, which will be given in their place, and, most likely, without further credit to her. This is the lady mentioned above who refused to remove to where Centerville now stands in 1839, for she had known the hardships of pioneer life in her younger days, and was determined that her children should have some opportunity for education. But she is now a resi- dent of the county, and her neighbors and family sincerely trust that she may live many happy years more among them.
THE MORMONS EMIGRATE.
Several pages of this work might be devoted to the rise and progress of that most peculiar religious sect, the Mormons. It is not the province of this book, however, to treat any subject of present living moment in a fuller or more com- prehensive manner than the bare recital of facts, and then only so far as those facts are introductory to the real history of the county.
Whether Mormonism is right or wrong, in the abstract, is neither here nor there. That such a faith is entertained by a large number of people in this country, and that periodic waves of immigration in its interest sweep over the continent, going to the far western abode of the leaders of the sect, are well- known facts. It is to one of those spasmodic occurrences that this is prefatory.
Before relating the incidents which form a part of the history of Appanoose County, a thought or two is premised relative to the inception of the scheme of Mormonism and the remarkable experiences which befell the followers of that faith.
Joseph Smith, the founder of the sect, sprang from an obscure family in 'Sharon, Windsor Co., Vt. He was born December 23, 1805. When he was but ten years of age, his family moved to Palmyra, N. Y., where they bore the repu- tation of being a visionary set. Joseph was regarded with the least favor of any of the family. He began at an early age to "see visions," and claimed to be invested with supernatural powers. He was worthless in all practical matters, his education was neglected and he began to exercise his taste for digging for hidden treasure.
In 1823, Smith discovered the plates from which was prepared the Book of Mormon. The book was printed in 1830.
The first organized church of the new dispensation was formed at Manches- ter, N. Y., April 6, 1830. The society was composed of but few persons out- side of Smith's family.
The next society was created at Kirkland, Ohio, whither Smith moved in 1831. Here the numbers were greatly augmented.
326
HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY.
In 1832, the first Presidency, as it was called, was established in the com- munity, with Smith, Rigdon and Williams as equal authorities.
Brigham Young joined the band at this time, and at once exerted a marked influence. He was soon afterward ordained Elder. He was then thirty-four years old and was very successful in drawing converts to the church.
A costly temple was erected at Kirkland and dedicated in 1836.
Orson Hyde and Heber C. Kimball were sent out to England as mission- aries, and the ranks were recruited largely from that section ; Wales contributed largely toward the membership.
In 1838, Smith and Rigdon were compelled to leave Ohio because of finan- cial embarrassments. They went to Missouri, where numerous Mormons had already congregated. It was at this time that many of the sect forsook the leadership of Smith, and charged him with grave offenses.
The Mormons began to make their settlement at "Far West," on Grand River, in 1836, where they started a town, called " Adam-on-Diamond," and it is quite probable that a good many of the converts to that faith, who cmigrated thither from northern and Central Illinois, followed the dragoon trail southwest through Appanoose. The settlement was a large one, and was looked upon with great disfavor by the Missourians. A collision arose at an election in 1839, which resulted in the State militia being called out in large numbers, and, in the winter of 1839-40, the Mormons relinquished the farmns they had improved along Grand River, and a large number of them removed to Commerce, Illinois, during the most inclement part of that season, followed by the others in the following spring.
The movement of the "Saints" was by several routes, during 1839 and 1840, one of the principal roads selected being that taken by the dragoons in 1832, and large parties passed through Appanoose County during those years, on their way toward Commerce or Nauvoo, which location had been fixed upon by the rulers of that sect as the future Canaan. So numerous were the emi- grants that when the settlers came they found a well-beaten road already pre- pared through the southern part of the county, and which is usually referred to in the old records as the " Mormon Trail."
THE INDIAN OCCUPANTS.
About a hundred years before the Black Hawk war in 1832, in which the whole territory east of the Mississippi was taken for all time from the control of the red man, the soil now occupied by Appanoose County was the hunting- ground of the Iowa Indians, the Sacs and the Foxes. The Fox Indians were mercilessly and relentlessly driven out of Canada, the movement for that pur-' pose beginning in 1714, and continuing with great vigor under De Louvigney, who gave them a terrible defeat on Fox River. In 1728, De Lignerie drove them further westward, and in 1746, the most of the tribe, who had escaped with their lives, crossed the Mississippi. Some time after this date, the Sacs, who had formed a union in New York with the Iroquois, and had dislodged the Illinois tribes from their grounds, which extended as far west as the Des Moines, crossed the Mississippi, also, and formed a close alliance with the Foxes.
The Iowas were at one time identified with the Sacs of Rock River, but for some cause they separated and started out as a band by themselves. The eight leading families of this band formed classes, or parties, known by the names of the different animals or birds, which they chose as the types or symbols of their respective families-the Eagle, the Pigeon, the Wolf, the Bear, the Elk, the Beaver, the Buffalo and the Snake-and were known severally in their tribe
327
HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY.
by the peculiar manner in which they cut their hair. The Eagle family was marked by two locks of hair on the front part of the head and one on the back left part; the Wolf family had scattered bunches of hair left, represent- ing islands whence their families were supposed to have sprung; the Bear family left one side of the hair of the head much longer than the other; the Buffalo family left a strip of long hair from the front to the rear part of the head, with two bunches on each side to represent horns ; and so on through all the families.
For a time the Iowas occupied common hunting grounds with the Sacs and Foxes, but feuds eventually sprang up between them, and they became greatly diminished in numbers and strength by their powerful enemies. The principal village of the Iowa nation was on the Des Moines, in what is now Van Buren County, and on the site of the town of Iowaville. This was the scene of the last great battle between the Iowas and the Sacs and Foxes, in which Black Hawk, then a young man, commanded one division of the attacking forces. This battle resulted in a crushing defeat to the Iowas, who were driven west of the Des Moines in dismay, having lost, in killed and prisoners, a large portion of their numerical strength.
The following account has been given of the battle :
" Contrary to long established custom of Indian attack, this battle was brought on in the daytime, the attending circumstances justifying this depart- ure from the well-settled usages of Indian warfare. The battle-field is a level river-bottom, about four miles in length, and two miles wide near the middle, narrowing down to a point at either end. The main area of the bottom rises perhaps twenty feet above the river, leaving a narrow strip of low bottom along the shore, covered with trees that belted the prairie on the river-side with a thick forest, and the immediate bank was fringed with a dense growth of wil- lows. Near the lower end of the prairie, and near the river-bank, was situated the Iowa village, and about two miles above the town, and near the middle of the prairie, is situated a small neutral ground, covered at the time with a tuft of small trees and brush growing on its summit. In the rear of this mound lay a belt of wet prairie, which, at the time spoken of, was covered with a dense crop of rank, coarse grass. Bordering this wet prairie, on the north, the country rises abruptly into elevated broken river-bluffs, covered with a heavy forest for many miles in extent, and portions thickly clustered with under- growth, affording a convenient shelter for the stealthy approach of the foe.
" Through this forest the Sac and Fox war-party made their way in the night, and secreted themselves in the tall grass spoken of above, intending to remain in ambush during the day, and make such observations as this near proximity to their intended victims might afford, to aid them in their contem- plated attack on the town during the following night. From this situation their spies could take a full survey of the village and watch every movement of the inhabitants, by which means they were soon convinced that the Iowas had no suspicion of their presence.
" At the foot of the mound above mentioned, the Iowas had their race- course, where they diverted themselves with the excitements of the horse, and schooled their young warriors in cavalry evolutions. In these exercises, mock battles were fought, and the Indian tactics of attack and defense carefully inculcated, by which means a skill in horsemanship was acquired rarely excelled. Unfortunately for them, this day was selected for their equestrian sports, and wholly unconscious of the proximity of their foes, the warriors repaired to the
328
HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY.
race-ground, leaving most of their arms in the village, and their old men and women and children unprotected.
" Pash-a-pa-ho, who was chief in command of the Sacs and Foxes, perceived at once the advantage this state of things afforded for a complete surprise of his now doomed victims, and ordered Black Hawk to file off with his young warri- ors through the tall grass and gain the cover of the timber along the river-bank, and with the utmost speed reach the village and commence the battle, while he remained with his division in the ambush, to make a simultaneous assault on the unarmed men, whose attention was engrossed with the excitement of the races. The plan was skillfully laid and most dexterously executed. Black Hawk, with his forces, reached the village undiscovered, and made a furious onslaught upon the defenseless inhabitants by firing one general volley into their midst, and completing the slaughter with the tomahawk and scalping- knife, aided by the devouring flames with which they enveloped the village as soon as the fire-brand could be spread from lodge to lodge.
"On the instant of the report of fire-arms at the village, the forces under Pash-a-pa-ho leaped from their couchant position in the grass, and sprang tiger- like upon the astonished and unarmed Iowas in the midst of their racing sports. The first impulse of the latter naturally led them to make the utmost speed toward their arms in the village, and protect, if possible, their wives and chil- dren from the attacks of a merciless assailant. The distance from the place of attack on the prairie was two miles, and a great number fell in their flight by the bullets and tomahawks of their enemies, who pressed them closely with a running fire the whole way, and they only reached their town in time to witness the horrors of its destruction. Their whole village was in flames, and the dearest objects of their lives lay in slaughtered heaps amidst the devouring elements; and the agonizing groans of the dying. mingled with the exulting shouts of the victorious foe, filled their hearts with a maddening despair. Their wives and children, who had been spared the general massacre, were prisoners, and, together with their arms, were in the hands of the victors, and all that could now be done was to draw off their shattered and defenseless forces and save as many lives as possible by a retreat across the Des Moines River, which they effected in the best possible manner, and took a position among the Soap Creek hills."
TREATIES.
North of the hunting grounds of the Sacs and Foxes, were those of the Sioux, a fierce and warlike nation, who often disputed possession with their rivals in savage and bloody warfare. The possessions of these tribes were mostly located in Minnesota, but extended over a portion of Northern and Western Iowa to the Missouri River. Their descent from the north upon the hunting-grounds of Iowa frequently brought them into collision with the Sacs and Foxes, and, after many a conflict and bloody struggle, a boundary line was established between them by the Government of the United States, in a treaty held at Prairie du Chein, in 1825. But this, instead of settling the difficulties, caused them to quarrel all the more, in consequence of alleged trespass upon each other's side of the line. These contests were kept up and became so unrelenting that, in 1830, the Government bought of the respective tribes of the Sacs and Foxes, and the Sioux, a strip of land twenty miles in width on both sides of the line, and thus throwing them forty miles apart by creating between them a " neutral ground," commanded them to cease their hostilities.
The boundary line, as surveyed by the terms of the treaty of 1825, was thus fixed : Commencing at the mouth of the Upper Iowa River, on the west bank
329
HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY.
of the Mississippi, and ascending said Iowa River to its west fork ; thence up the fork to its source ; thence crossing the fork of Cedar River in a direct line to the second or upper fork of the Des Moines River; thence in a direct line to the lower fork of the Calumet or Big Sioux River, and down that river to its junction with the Missouri River.
On the 15th of July, 1830, the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States a strip of country lying south of the above line, twenty miles in width, and extending along the line aforesaid, from the Mississippi to the Des Moines River. The Sioux also ceded, in the same treaty, a like strip on the north side of the boundary. Thus the United States came into possession of a portion of Iowa forty miles in width, extending along the Clark and Cass line of 1825, from the Mississippi to the Des Moines River. This territory was known as the "Neutral Ground," and the tribes on either side of the line were allowed to fish and hunt on it unmolested till the Winnebagoes were removed to it in 1841.
Thus the Southern boundary of the "Neutral Ground " was established to pass near Vinton and Fort Dodge, and Appanoose became a part of the possession of the Sacs and Foxes, under the protection of the National Gov- ernment.
In 1832, the Sacs and Foxes relinquished a strip of country fifty miles wide bordering on the Mississippi, from Minnesota to Missouri, and accepted in exchange a reservation of 400 sections lying along the Iowa River. In 1836, the Indians ceded a strip lying alongside of the land relinquished in 1832, twenty-five miles wide in the center and terminating in a point at each end. Another treaty was made with the allied tribes in 1837, by which they agreed to dispose of all their lands lying south of the "Neutral Ground," but the bargain was not consummated.
The last treaty was made with the Sacs and Foxes October 11, 1842; rat- ified March 23, 1843. It was made at the Sac and Fox Agency (Agency City), by John Chambers, Commissioner on behalf of the United States. In this treaty, the Sac and Fox Indians " ceded to the United States all their lands west of the Mississippi to which they had any claim or title." By the terms of this treaty they were to be removed from the country at the expiration of three years, and all who remained after that were to remove at their own expense. Part of them were removed to Kansas in the fall of 1845, and the rest the spring following. In the fall of 1843, under the stipulations of this treaty, a line was surveyed northward from the Missouri State line, by George W. Har- rison, which passed by the red rocks of the Des Moines, about one mile west of the present town of that name.
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