USA > Iowa > Wapello County > The history of Wapello 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 history of the Northwest, history of Iowa > Part 41
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" Through some unfortunate misunderstanding in regard to the boundary line, several persons had intruded upon the Indian land upon the Iowaville bottom, and the ridges in the rear, as well as upon the south side of the river, and as the Indians made complaint to the Government, it had no alterna- tive but to remove them. This duty fell upon the writer to execute, and was a very unwelcome one, if only for the reason that several of the intruders were
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persons who would not willingly have violated any law. Among them was that fine old specimen of West Virginia hospitality, Van Caldwell; but by reason of his location, and his readiness by any reasonable arrangement to escape the terrors of fire and sword, the writer obtained permission from the Department that he should remain. upon the condition of his maintaining a ferry for access to Soap Creek Mills during high water.
" At the time of Gen. Street's decease, the Indians were occupying their country with their permanent, or spring and summer villages, located as fol- lows: Upon the bank of the Des Moines, opposite the mouth of Sugar Creek, where there is quite a spacious bottom extending for a mile or more below, where the bluff closes in pretty closely upon the bank, and for a much longer distance in the up-river direction toward and past Ottumwa, was the village of Keokuk; and, still above, were those of Wapello, Foxes, and Appanoose, a Sac chief. According to the writer's present memory, that of Wapello was the ·intermediate one. Keokuk himself, had selected a pleasant, commanding, and picturesque point for his own summer wigwam. some half-way up the side of the bluff, in the rear of his village, where, with his own little field of corn and beans, despite the large field of Uncle Sam just beneath him, he enjoyed the otium cum dignitate of his authority and rank during the hot weather.
"His wigwam was a very conspicuous object to a traveler along the road that crests the bluff and winds down the long hill to Sugar Creek on this side. From his elevated position, where, like another Robinson Crusoe in the boys' story books, he could contemplate himself as 'monarch of all he surveyed,' he had a fine view of the three villages spread beneath him, as well as of the bluffs and bottoms for a considerable distance up and down the river on this side. Several of the lodges in every town had their own small patches of cul- tivated ground in the neighborhood of their villages ; but the hillside, now cov- ered by Ottumwa, seemed to offer them more attractive spots for this purpose, probably because the soil was more easily worked, and situated more favorably for the influence of the sun than upon their side of the river. A light, easily turned soil was, of course, an object to the poor squaws, upon whom devolved the duty of working it with their hoes, and of inserting the rickety posts that, with light poles bound to them, made the fence, not exceeding four feet in height, but, in general. very respectfully treated by the ponies, the only animal liable to intrude injuriously upon their fields.
"The whole hillside on its lower slope, for they seldom cultivated it more than half-way up, was occupied in this way by the Indians, from some distance below the depot fully up to or above the Court House; often the writer, on the receipt of some instructions requiring a ' talk' with the leading men, in order to save time, and to the Indians the trouble of a ride to Agency, has appointed some shady spot in one of these patches.
"The Indians seldom occupied their permanent villages, except during the time of planting or securing their crop, after which they would start out on a short hunt, if the annuity-which was generally paid within the six weeks from the 1st of September-had not yet been received. Immediately after payment, it was their custom to leave the village for the winter, hunting through this season by families and small parties, leading the regular nomad life, changing their location from time to time, as the supply of game and the need-so essential to their comfort-of seeking places near to timbered streams best protected from the rigors of weather, would require.
" Hardfish's band of Sacs was composed mainly of those who had been the leading parties in the Black Hawk war, and who had been, by degrees, freeing
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themselves from the restraint imposed upon them by the treaty, demanding their dispersion among the friendly villages. But as all unfriendly feeling had now subsided, and they were now disposed to conduct themselves with the utmost good-will in all their intercourse with the Government; and as, more- over, the Department, with a view to an early effort to acquire possession of their remaining lands in Iowa, deemed it most conducive to success in that object to pursue toward them a policy apparently oblivious of former strife, the writer was instructed, so long as there was no reason to apprehend unfriendly designs, to ignore these requirements of the treaty, and to avoid all cause for re-awakening former strife.
" For some years previously to the writer's appointment as Agent, Messrs. P. Chouteau, Jr., & Co., of St. Louis, had been the only traders among the Sacs and Foxes, and the magnitude of their interests were enough to excite any rivalry. Col. George Davenport, of Rock Island, had been admitted as part- ner to their trade with that particular tribe, and he was looked to to reside among them and to carry it on. S. S. Phelps, Esq., of Oquaka, in connection with his brother, Capt. William Phelps, of jovial memory, had been gaining a foot-hold on trade for two, three, and perhaps, four years before the treaties of 1836 and 1837, and after the removal of the Agency from the island, and its consequent effect of rendering a change in the location of the chief trading post inevitable, Col. Davenport, who had already acquired a comfortable fort- une, coneluded to withdraw. Mr. S. S. Phelps fell into the position thus made vacant in the company, although he relied upon his brother to reside in the Indian country, and maintain personal oversight of the company's affairs. A new trader now appeared in the field, with at least means enough to prevent the old company from being its monopolists. Of course rivalry of feeling and interest would now spring up, and every occasion be employed by each rival to gain and secure what advantage he could. The writer is not intimating any idea of his own that any unfair or dishonorable appliances would be used by the gentlemen heads respectively of the rival establishments ; but their employes or others hoping advantage to themselves in the success of either party. might be less scrupulous.
"It was probably through some such strategy that Gov. Lucas became impressed with the most sincere conviction that the Chouteau Company sup- plied whisky, with their other merchandise, to the Indians, and a conviction once fixed with the Governor was pretty apt to stay. So persuaded was he of the truth of his belief, that he was never disposed to the least reticence upon the subject ; and it was generally believed in Burlington that if the Trading Com- pany could be caught, flagrante delicto, it would prove a pretty good haul for the catcher-certainly not less than the transfer to his own pocket of the half value of a large stock of goods.
" As the writer soon saw that any effort of his own, however reasonable, to lead the Governor to a different opinion was opening the way to suspicions against himself of some personal interest in the company's affairs, prudence naturally admonished him to desist One morning. Mr. S. S. Phelps, to whom the Governor's belief-and propensity to express it-was no secret, being in Burlington, stepped into a place where the Governor happened at the moment to be engaged in his favorite pastime of denouneing Mr. Chouteau's establish- ment, etc., and the Governor, totally unacquainted with Mr. Phelps, still kept up in his presence his conversation on the subject.
" Now, if there was anything Capt. Billy Phelps loved better than another, it was to play off a trick; or if anything he knew better than another, it was
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how to plan and play it. The company had on its license a man named Simp- son Vassar, who was better known at the Agency and its various dependencies under the sobriquet of 'Suggs.' When any deviltry lurked in Capt. Billy's mind, ' Capt. Suggs' was his most reliable assistant in getting rid of it. So a scheme was planned. Suggs was sent over on pretext of some message to Phelps, at Oquaka, with instructions not to leave Burlington until he had exe- cuted his part of the programme.
" A person, who was either the City Marshal, or attached to his official ret- inue, soon heard of Suggs in Burlington, and became so ambitious of his acquaintance as to introduce himself without delay. He learned from Suggs that the latter lived out in the Agency neighborhood ; that he knew the Trading Company, in fact, sometimes worked for them when an extra force was needed -elever people ; good paymasters, with the cash always in hand; knew noth- ing of their dealing in whisky ; had never seen them supply it to the Indians ; and, even if he had, as he had heard they were accused of it, a dollar, when needed, was not so easily made out there that a man could afford to make ene- mies out of good-paying employers! After several interviews, Suggs embarked upon the ferry-boat. But his newly-made friend was not long in joining him, and during the crossing Suggs yielded to the potent arguments and promises that had already shaken his sense of personal honor and interest. He admitted that he had seen a large lot of kegs, and these not empty, landed by night at the trading-house from a boat not long before, and immediately buried upon the bank, where most of them were; and if he could be guaranteed against suspicion as the informer, and terms arranged to suit-as he expected to remain about the place some time after his return-he would put his friend upon the right track. The boat having landed them, and all details being adjusted, each party went on his way rejoicing-Suggs' way being to Oquawka, and at once back to the trading-house to report to Capt. Phelps.
" Not many days later, an hour or so before dinner time, Col. Jesse Will- iams-later of Henn, Williams & Co., of Fairfield, but then Private Secretary to Gov. Lucas-rode up to the Agency. Being doubtless himself disposed (as indeed the Agency hospitality would suggest) to consider that an expedition which would demand a three-mile ride and several hours of time, could be more satisfactorily completed as a post-prandial duty, he made no mention of his business. But as soon as the meal was over, he handed to the Agent a pack- age from the Governor, containing a deposition in full form, taken before Judge Mason, of the Territorial Supreme Court, by Suggs' Burlington friend, to the effect that so many kegs of whisky, etc., etc., and were then secreted, etc .. etc., in violation of the statute, etc., by the said P. Chouteau Jr.'s Company, traders, etc., as aforesaid. And there was also a line to the Agent, that, in the execution of so delicate a duty, which must involve judicial process, he had deemed it best to send out Col. Williams to assist the Agent. Whatever the motive may have been, it is certain that until both were in their saddles, Col. Williams proved himself able to watch the Agent with untiring eye.
" Reaching the trading-house, the person who took the deposition and a companion were found there waiting, they having 'forked off' by another trail so as not to be seen. Suggs was on hand, having taken the opportunity to post the Burlingtonians about the locality. And also Capt. Billy Phelps, called by the Indians Che-che-pe-qua, or the 'Winking Eyes,' was there, those visuals fairly gleaming with joy over the anticipated fun.
" The Agent proceeded at once to business, expressing to Capt. Phelps his re- gret that so unpleasant a duty should have devolved upon him ; his hope that it
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would prove that so serious a complaint had originated in some error, but suggest- ing that, if true, admission of the fact and production of the contraband article would be more apt to temper subsequent proceedings with leniency than efforts to conceal it would do. The Captain vehemently denied the impeachment, stating that it would require a much wiser man than himself to discover where such an article then was, or ever had been kept upon their premises. The com- plainant was now appealed to, who led the party a short distance to a spot where, with a triumphant air, he pointed to an X that the edge of Suggs' boot sole had made in the sandy bank.
" They began digging, and soon reached some matting that was removed, and thus uncovered a lot of lard kegs, too greasy to suggest a thought of any other article being contained within them. The immediate 'sold, by thunder !' of one of the moiety gentlemen, came in accents too lugubrious to be listened to with- out exciting a sense of sadness. Suggs, meanwhile, had come up missing, and the ' Winking Eyes ' walked off with a most disdainful air, leaving the Agent and his party on the spot, whence they soon returned to the Agency, where the Agent made his report that the informer had pointed out a place, where, by digging, a large quantity of lard in kegs was found that had been buried to avoid loss by heat, and in the night to conceal the fact from vagabond whites and Indians. The disappointed informer and his companion hastened home- ward ; but Col. Williams remained until next morning, and then returned bear- ing the Agent's report.
" But the unkindest cut of all was six months later, when, about the last of February, Capt. Phelps addressed a letter to Gov. Lucas in the most respectful and official form, saying, that having heard he had declared his determination not to continue in office under such an old Tory as Gen. Harrison, and fearful that whoever his successor would be, he might not feel so friendly toward the Company as he had proved in the matter of exhuming their lard, and as they would soon be much in need of some, and the ground was then very hard frozen, the company would be under great obligations if he would at once send some one out to dig up the rest of it.
" The village of Hardfish-or Wishecomaque, as it is in the Indian tongue -which was quite as respectable in size as any of the old villages, was located in what is now the heart of Eddyville, named for J. P. Eddy, a trader, who was licensed in the summer of 1840, by the writer, to establish his trading post at that place. He continued to trade there until the treaty of final cession in 1842, and was the most fortunate of any of the large traders in finding his schedule of claims against the Indians very little reduced by the Commissioners, whose part it was, at that treaty, to adjust all outstanding claims against the Sacs and Foxes.
" The writer cannot locate the place exactly, according to our State maps, although he has often visited it in Indian times ; but somewhere out north from Kirkville, and probably not over twelve miles distant, on the bank of Skunk River, not far above the ' Forks of Skunk,' was a small village of not over fif- teen or twenty lodges, presided over by a man of considerable influence, though he was not a chief, named Kishkekosh. This village was on the direct trail- in fact it was the converging point of the two trails-from the Hardfish village, and the three villages across the river below Ottumwa, to the only other per- manent settlement of the tribes, which was the village of Poweshiek, a Fox chief of equal rank with Wapello, situated on the bank of the Iowa River.
" About the time that Eddy moved out his stock of goods from Burlington to his licensed point at the Ilardfish village, P. Chouteau, Jr., & Company
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also obtained an addition to their license for a post at the same place. and put up a small establishment some fourth of a mile below Eddy, on the river-bank. In the same winter, of 1840-41, Messrs. W. G. & G. W. Ewing, of Indiana, who had already acquired large wealth in the Indian trade, but never yet had dealt with the Sacs and Foxes, obtained a license and had their point assigned them just at the mouth of Sugar Creek, on the Ottumwa side, where they soon got up a large establishment, filled with a full and valuable stock. This post was started, and, for a year or so, conducted by a Mr. Hunt. a gentleman of far more education, refinement and culture than is often found among the resident Indian traders.
" Previous to the treaty of 1842, some few changes were made in their lo- cation, 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 Col. 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 prop- erty 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 amusement 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, ceremo- nies 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, per- haps, forced ones, under a scarcity of game or other edibles, were not of impos- sible occurrence among people whose creed plainly was to let to-morrow take care of the things of itself. Some of these ceremonies bore such resemblance to some of those laid down in the books of Moses as to have justified the im- pression 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. Keo- kuk seemed to be the chief personage among the performers, 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
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much scantier pattern of raiment. Sometimes they would place him on his feet, and sometimes on his seat, as they powwowed 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 fore- head.
" 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 erro- neous, and believed to have been 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, in- cluding 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 pro- ceedings, 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 distributed 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 De- partment 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 embarrass- ing. 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 tell a frightened junior one 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
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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 hav- ing stayed at the Agency with the rest of his company, to take care of his sup- plies 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 com- ing 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 that 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.
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