The history of Lee county, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., Part 36

Author: Western historical co., Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 898

USA > Iowa > Lee County > The history of Lee county, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. > Part 36

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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سجق

HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.

" Westward the Star of Empire takes its Way "

DISCOVERY OF IOWA.

In 1673, James Marquette and Louis Joliette were authorized by the Frenchi Government of Canada " to start from the Straits of Mackinac and find out and explore the great river lying west of them," of which they had heard mar- velous accounts from the Indians about Lake Michigan.

Marquette and Joliette, accompanied by five boatmen, left the southern ex- tremity of Green Bay and ascended Fox River in small canoes to the headwa- ters of that stream, and thence carried their canoes and provisions across to Wisconsin River. Again launching their canoes, they floated down that stream and entered the Mississippi on the 17th day of June, 1673. " When we entered the majestic stream," wrote Marquette, " we realized a joy we could not express." Quietly and easily they were swept down to the solitudes below, filled, no doubt, with wonder and admiration as they beheld the bold bluffs and beautiful meadows along the western bank of the Father of Waters, then revealed for the first time to the eyes of white men. This was the discovery of Iowa-the " Beautiful Land."

At this time, and until 1788, this newly discovered territory was inhabited only by tribes of Indians, of whom there is but a vague and unsatisfactory his- tory. Marquette and Joliette left but a very brief statement concerning them, and that statement is summed up in a very brief paragraph. On the 21st day of June, 1673, the fourth day of their journey down the Mississippi, they landed on the west bank and " discovered footprints of some fellow mortals and a little path leading into a pleasant meadow." They followed the trail a short distance, when they heard the Indians talking, and, making their presence known by a loud cry, they were conducted to an Indian village, the location of which is believed by intelligent authorities to have been on the Des Moines River, at or near the lower "Yellow Banks," about six miles southwest of the mouth of Lemoliese Creek and five and one-half miles west from the mouth of Bloody Run, emptying into the Mississippi River within the corporate limits of the present city of Keokuk.

Old and experienced river men-men who know every foot of the Missis- sippi river from New Orleans to St. Paul-every branch, creek and rivulet that comes into the Father of Waters from either side-say there is no other place between the mouths of the Des Moines and Wisconsin Rivers that answers every way so nearly the brief description given by Marquette and Joliette of their landing-place on that occasion, as the mouth of one of these creeks. They reason, too, that the fourth day from the mouth of the Wisconsin River would just about bring the voyageurs to this point.

324

HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.

Indian tradition says that locality was always a favorite haunt of the red men, owing to its pleasant situation and its near proximity to the ancient villages on the Des Moines River. From the mouth of Lemoliese Creek or Bloody Run to the Des Moines River and the supposed location of the Indian villages here mentioned, the distance is about six miles. Marquette and Joliette reported that they traveled " two or more leagues (six or more miles) till they came to a beautiful stream with an Indian village, one upon the right, and one upon the left bank," etc. There is no other stream, no other section of country border- ing on the Mississippi where a " beautiful stream " can be reached in " two or more leagues' " travel westward. All the facts and bearings considered, there is no reason to doubt that the mouth of Lemoliese Creek or Bloody Run was the landing-place referred to by these Canadian French explorers. They left no account of making a landing at any other point on the west bank of the Mississippi.

Some, who have given much thought and investigation to the subject, insist that the landing must have been made at the mouth of Bloody Run. The first settlers of the country, says Valincourt Vanausdol, who came in 1828, found an Indian trail leading from the mouth of this creek through the lower Sand Prairie, or, as sometimes called, " Turner's Prairie, " and to the Des Moines River at "Yellow Banks." There are a number of ancient mounds in that im- mediate vicinity, which is favorable for the location of Indian villages, such as is mentioned by Marquette. He left a rude map of the country, the rivers, etc., but in the two hundred years that have passed since June 21, 1673, the courses of the rivers have changed in many places, so that that map is but a poor help now in locating the villages. However much opinions may differ as to the landing-place as between the mouth of Lemoliese Creek and Bloody Run, they locate the Indian villages at very nearly the same place.

Wherever the location of the villages may have been, Marquette erected a cross, and, no doubt, proclaimed the faith of the Catholic Church to the Indians, which, if true. entitles him to the honor of preaching the first Christian sermon west of the Mississippi River.

Another link in support of the claim here advanced is in the fact that when the first settlers came to Northwestern Missouri and Southeastern Iowa, they found a clearly defined Indian trail starting from the mouth of Lemoliese Creek and leading westward to the Des Moines River, where the bluff-range debouches from the east side of the river. There the trail crossed the Des Moines and thence onward, over hill and dale, led to the Missouri River at the present site of Kansas City. In many places the trail was worn several inches into the ground, resembling a small, narrow ditch. The course of the trail was so laid as to avoid sloughs and lands that were subject to overflow. Where this trail crossed the Des Moines was favorable to the location of the villages visited by Marquette and Joliette, and was an important landmark in the course of Indian travel.

The inhabitants of the Indian villages mentioned are believed to have been of the Illini*, who are supposed to have at one time occupied a large portion of the country bordering on the Mississippi.

For a period of one hundred years following this discovery, or until 1763. France claimed jurisdiction over the country thus discovered by Marquette and Joliette, when that Government ceded it to Spain, but, in 1801, the Spanish Gov- ernment ceded back to France all interest in the Mississippi Valley, and, under treaty dated April 30, 1803, the First Consul of the French Republic ceded these possessions to the United States.

*Tribe of men.

325

HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.

"FOOT-PRINTS ON THE SANDS OF TIME."

DUBUQUE AND TESSON .*

The first white man to claim a permanent abiding-place in any part of the country of the Iowas was Julien Dubuque, an adventurous Canadian Frenchman, who found his way to the galena section of Iowa and commenced working the mines at the mouth of Catfish Creek, near the city that perpetuates his name, in 1788.

While all that region west of the Mississippi River, and known in the history of the American Republic as the Louisiana Purchase, was under the dominion of Spain, Dubuque obtained from Blondeau; and two chiefs of the Fox tribe of Indians what he claimed was a grant of lands. His claim was described as "seven leagues (21 miles) on the west bank of the Mississippi, from the mouth of the Little Maquoketa River to the Tete Des Mortes, and three leagues (9 miles) in depth. This grant from the Indian chiefs and Blondeau was subsequently qualifiedly confirmed by Carondelet, the Spanish Governor of New Orleans. Dubuque intermarried with the Indians among whom he had cast his fortunes, and continued to operate his mines (employing about ten white men), until the time of his death, in 1810. In 1854, a case having been made, the United States Supreme Court decided that his grant from the Indian chief Blondeau, qualifiedly confirmed by the Spanish Governor, Carondelet, was nothing more than a " temporary license to dig ore, and constituted no valid claim to the soil." [16 Howard Rep., 224.]

The next white man to settle in any part of Iowa was Louis Honore Tesson, who also obtained a grant of land from the Spanish Government. The circum- stances and conditions under which Tesson came to what is now Iowa are gath- ered from Mr. D. C. Riddick, who, under right of purchase by his father, became one of the heirs to a part of the lands included in the grant made to Tesson by the Government of Spain.

" The mile square on which Montrose is situated was originally a Spanish claim located by Louis Honore Tesson, a French Canadian, in 1796. The grant was issued by Zenon Trudau, Lieutenant Governor General of Upper Louisiana, acting under authority and by direction of the Governor General at New Orleans, Baron de Carondelet. Trudau's office was located at St. Louis, and the grant was dated at that place. The right to make the settlement was conditioned that Tesson should exert his influence to bring the Indians under subjection to the dominion of Spain, and the religion of the Roman Catholic Church. The permit required him Tesson) to plant trees, sow seeds, and instruct the Indians in agriculture, but more particularly, to persuade them to embrace the Catholic faith. Tesson (or Honore) proceeded to take possession of the claim. He planted trees on the lower part of the present town plat, at the head of the Des Moines Rapids," etc.

He lived there with his family several years, surrounded his establishment with picket and rail fences, erected buildings and a trading-house, planted gardens, and an orchard of a hundred trecs. Falling in debt at St. Louis, the whole property was seized (March 27, 1803) under the Spanish law, and sold at public sale at the door of the parish church in St. Louis, at the conclusion of high mass, the people coming out in great numbers, after due notice given in a high and intelligible voice by the public crier of the town, on three successive

* Sometimes quoted as Louis Honore Tesson, and sometimes as Louis Tesson Honore.

+ Maurice Blondeau was a noted and intelligent French Canadian. His cabin is elsewhere mentioned as one of the first to be built within the territory of Lee County.

326

HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.

Sundays (May 1, 8 and 15, 1803). On the first Sunday, the only bid for the property was $25. On the second Sunday, $30 were bid. On the third Sun- day, at the third and last adjudication, $100 were bid, and subsequently $150, by Joseph Robidoux, Tesson's creditor. " which was repeated until 12 o'clock at noon ; and the public retiring, the said Robidoux demanded a deed of his bid. It was cried at 1 o'clock, at 2 o'clock and at 3 o'clock, and, no other persons presenting themselves, the said land and appurtenances were adjudged to him for the aforementioned price of $150, which sum having to receive himself. he gave no security.

Robidoux died a few years after this transfer, and left Pierre Choteau execu- tor of his last will and testament, with instructions to sell both his real and personal property and divide the proceeds equally among his children. This sale was made at the door of the Court House in the city of St. Louis, some- time during the year 1809, and the elaim at the head of the rapids was sold to Thomas F. Riddick, for $64.

. Under the various treaties between France and Spain. under and by virtue of which the Louisiana Territory was transferred to the United States in 1803. the latter Government obligated itself to respect the original grant. The validity of the grant. subsequently became a matter of Congressional consider- ation, and a commission, consisting of three members, was appointed to inves- tigate the subject and determine the character and legality of the claim. The commission reported favorably, but because the Indian title had not been extin- guished, Frederick Bates, Recorder of Land Titles at Little Rock. Ark .. declined to issue a settlement right to more that 640 acres of the original Tesson grant of one league square. This right was issued sometime in 1816. The action of Mr. Bates was subsequently confirmed by the United States authorities."

The apple-trees in the "old orchard." on the Tesson claim at Montrose. about which there has been some controversy. were set out about 1797, and were carried from St. Charles, Mo .. on the back of a mule. When the first white settlers came to Hancock Co., Ill., in the vicinity of the present site of Nauvoo, they frequently crossed the river to gather half-ripened apples from these trees. Capt. James W. Campbell, said in an address before the Old Set- tlers of Lee County, on the 16th of September, 1875, that the first apples he remembered to have tasted, grew on these trees. When his father, Isaac R. Campbell, removed from the present site of Nauvoo, and settled at Ah-we-pe- tuck, in 1830, this orchard was one of the landmarks of the country, as it had been for many years previous. The trunk of one of the trees of this historic orchard is still standing, but has passed its day of fruitage and gone into deeay.

THE ABORIGINAL OCCUPANTS. SACS AND FOXES.

From the time Marquette and Joliette landed at the mouth of Sandusky Creek, on the 21st day of June, 1763. until after the close of the Black Hawk war, in 1832, the territory included in the present great State of Iowa, an empire in extent, was a vast, uneivilized wild, inhabited by untutored red men. and animals native to the climate, herbage and grasses. Of all this region. now so full of life, of princely farms and farmhouses, of towns. cities, schools. colleges and churches, railroads and telegraphs, and all the other adjuncts of modern civilization, but little was known. It was an unexplored territory, to the interior of which no white man had ever penetrated.

327

HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.

It may be said that until the 1st of June, 1833, the country was in the undisputed possession of the Indians. Different tribes occupied different parts of the territory. They toiled not, neither did they spin; they subsisted on the fruits of the chase, and dwelt in rude tents or wigwams, or camped in the open air. To them, the arts of civilized industry were unknown. They occu- pied the land, but improved it not. The command of the Great Creator that, by the sweat of his brow, man should earn his daily bread, was lost upon them. Of flocks and herds they had none, while the earth was regarded by them as only a hunting-ground that had been provided by the Great Spirit for their special benefit and occupancy. The history of such a people is one full of interest.

The following sketch of the Sac and Fox Indians is contributed by Col. J. B. Patterson, editor of the Oquawka (Ill.) Spectator. Col. Patterson was among the early settlers here, and was intimately acquainted with Black Hawk. After the Black Hawk war, he published a sketch of the life of that noted chieftain, including a history of the Black Hawk war. In collecting the mate- rial for that volume, Col. Patterson necessarily became familiar with the tra- ditions of the Sac and Fox people, and hence this sketch is entitled to be regarded as reliably authentic.

Black Hawk, whose Indian name was Muck-a-tan-wish-e-ke-ack-ke-ak (meaning a black hawk ), was born at the Sac village* on Rock River, in Illinois, in the year 1767. His father's name was Py-e-sa. Ilis great-grandfather, Na-na-ma-kee (Thunder), was born near Montreal, Canada, and was placed at the head of the Sac nation by a Frenchman, who claimed to be the son of the King of France. He gave them many presents, such as guns, powder, lead, spears and lances, and showed them how to use them in peace and in war ; also, cooking utensils, and many other presents of different kinds. He afterward sailed for France, promising to return at the close of the twelfth moon. They continued to trade with the French for a long time, and until the latter were overpowered by the British. After that event, several tribes united and drove the Sacs from Montreal to Mackinac, and thence to Green Bay, where they formed an alli- ance with the Fox nation, and then retreated to the Wisconsin, and finally to Rock River, from which they drove the Kaskaskias, and commenced the erection of their village.

Py-e-sa succeeded Na-na-ma-kee as war chief, and was killed in an engagement with the Cherokees, who largely outnumbered the Sacs and Foxes. On seeing him fall, Black Hawk assumed command, and fought desperately until the enemy retreated. In this battle, he killed three men and wounded several with his own hand, the enemy's loss being twenty-eight and Black Hawk's only seven. After this engagement, he fell heir to the great medicine bag of the tribe, and, after a season of five years' mourning with blackened faces, they determined on avenging the death of Py-e-sa, by the annihilation, if possible, of the whole Cherokee tribe, and took out a strong army for that purpose. Black Hawk succeeded in killing many of them, and in finally driving them to their own country.

His next movement was against the Chippewas, Kaskaskias and Osages, with whom he had seven regular engagements, with a loss of two or three hundred. The enemy retired, and Black Hawk and his band returned to their villages.

Spain was then in possession of St. Lonis, and all the country south and west. The Indians congregated at. St. Louis every spring, for many years, to do their trading. After the Louisiana purchase, the Spanish withdrew from St. Louis, and the Americans took possession. Soon after- ward, Lieutenant (subsequently General) Zebulon M. Pike, with an escort of soldiers, went up the Mississippi River, calling on the chiefs of the various tribes that dwelt along the banks of the Father of Waters, and making them many presents in the name of their Great Father, the President of the United States, who, he told them, would always treat them well if they would listen to his advice. A few moons later, a Sac Indian killed an American, for which offense he was arrested and confined in the prison at St. Louis. As soon as intelligence of the murder, arrest and imprisonment reached Black llawk, he called a counsel of the head men of his tribe at the Sac village to talk the matter over and consider what was best to be done. They resolved to send fonr of their braves to St. Louis to compromise with the authorities by paying the relatives for the man killed-the only way with them for saving one person who had killed another. Quash-qua-me and three other men of the tribe were chosen to go on this mission, the result of which was thus related by Black Hawk :

" Quash-qua-me and his party remained a long time absent. They finally returned dressed in fine coats and wearing medals, and encamped near the village. Early next morning, the coun- cil was convened, and Quash-qua-me and party came in and reported the result of their mission.

* The site of this village was at the present village of Camden, at the Rock River crossing of the Peoria & Rock Island Railroad.

328

HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.

On their arrival at St. louis, they reported to the American chief, and urged the release of their friend. The American chier said his Government wanted more land. and if the Sales and Foxes would give him some in Illinois, opposite Jefferson barracks), they would release the imprisoned Sac. Qash-qua-me and his party assented to this, and signed a paper by making their marks. When they were ready to leave, their friend was released, but as he was let out of the prison. he was shot dead." This was the treaty of 1804, in which all their country in Illinois was coded to the United States for one thousand dollars a year, and was the cause of the Black Hawk war. as the chief's claimed that no one but themselves and head men had authority to make a treaty."

I'mder this treaty. it was agreed that the Indians should retain possession of the country till it was wanted for white occupancy.

Black Hawk and his people remained in peaceable possession of the country along Rock River until 1880, when they were notified that they must move across the Mississippi River. They complied with the " notice to quit." and erossed over the Father of Waters and took up their abode on the eastern slope of lowa, in what came to be known in after years as the Black Hawk Purchase, or Forty-Mile Strip.

Rankling under what Black Hawk believed to be a wrongful dispossession of their homes along Rock River, and hunger and want coming to his people in their new homes, they recrossed the Mississippi River in the spring of 1831. and took possession of the site of their old village and corn-fields. This move- ment of Black Hawk and his people excited alarm among the white people who had settled in that part of Illinois, and complaint was made to the United States authorities against their presence. The complaints represented that the Indians were insolent, and that they had committed many acts of violence. which, if true, were in all likelihood, provoked. Whatever the truth or falsity of the charges of insolence, violence, ete., against the Indians, Gen. Gaines was sent to Fort Armstrong at Rock Island, in the fall of 1831, to remove them west of the Mississippi River. While the troops under command of Gen. Gaines were at the fort, Nathaniel Smith, who was an interpreter and spy for Gen. Gaines, was sent to see and talk with Black Hawk at the Indian village. and to persuade him to go and see Gen. Gaines, which he did. This interview was short and conclusive. Gen. Gaines told him that he was not a peace officer. and had his orders from the Government to drive them across the river. He had no discretion, but that he did not want any trouble, and that he had under- stood he had agreed to leave peaceably. If he did not leave in ten days, he would fire on his village. Black Hawk agreed to leave and never reeross the river, and made a treaty to that effeet. At the expiration of the time fixed for Black Hawk to leave. Gen. Gaines marshaled his forces and with his artillery took up his line of march for the Indian village, but found it deserted. The Indians had recrossed the river.

CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY SIXTY YEARS AGO.

ISAAC R. CAMPBELL'S LETTER TO THE LOWA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

From Tesson's time and trading-place in 1796 to 1820-nearly a quarter of a century-the history of the country and its white occupants, if there were any, is lost beyond recovery. In June, 1821, Isaac R. Campbell, now of St. Francisville, Mo., eighty-one years of age, visited the country, and as he has ever since been a resident of either lee or one of the adjoining counties in Illinois or Missouri, is regarded as the best authority on matters pertaining to the condition of the country at that time, now living. During the year 1866. llon. Edward Johnstone, of Keokuk, commeneed to collect and arrange in

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The history of Lee county, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., Part 36

Author: Western historical co., Chicago. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company Number of Pages: 898

Author: Western historical co., Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 898