The pioneer history of Pocahontas County, Iowa, from the time of its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 6

Author: Flickinger, Robert Elliott, b. 1846
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Fonda, Iowa, G. Sanborn
Number of Pages: 1058

USA > Iowa > Pocahontas County > The pioneer history of Pocahontas County, Iowa, from the time of its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 6

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DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED.

men, Geo. W. Brazee, from Chicago, was court-martialed that evening for some fancied misdemeanor. He was a droll sort of a fellow, but, as we found out, nobody's fool. He plead his own case and the incident fur- nished no small amount of fun for the battalion.

On the morning of March 24th, with loaded teams, the expedition started upon its long, difficult and arduous campaign. As stated before, the winter had been a severe one, but on this particular morning the weath- er was so mild it began to thaw. The The next morning we moved on- snow was about two feet deep upon ward, following, as nearly as the snow the level and elevated places and - would permit, the dragoon trail from often ten feet in the hollows, rendering Fort Dodge to Fort Ridgely. The them almost impassable. The means experience of each day was very simi- of transportation consisted of three lar to its predecessor until the second wagons drawn by oxen, and three or day after we left Medium Lake (on four horses. It became necessary at the banks of which Emmetsburg is times, in order to get the wagons now located,) when we met the set- through the snow, to form the com- tlers from Springfield, Minnesota, mand into two lines, separated the dis- whom the Indians had attacked after tance of the wagon wheels apart, and their bloody work at the lakes. They then march and counter-march un- were glad to meet relief and they til they had made a hard beaten track. needed it. They had learned of the Sometimes the snow would not pack approaching Indians, barricaded and then the entire body of men, tak- themselves in the log house of Mr. ing hold of a strong rope, would draw Thomas and had succeeded in beating the wagons, and even the oxen, them off. Under the cover of night, through the drifts by main force. these fleeing settlers had started for When all pulled with the strength of Fort Dodge, four days previous, and determination then prevailing, it took

were nearly exhausted when met by more than snow to keep something the expedition. The wounded were from moving. Under these circum- cared for, provisions provided and the stances they made slow progress, ad- refugees sent on southward. This oc- vancing some days not more than six curred on March 30th.

THE RELIEF EXPEDITION TO SPIRIT LAKE.

The impression now prevailed that across the bottoms. This experiment the Indians could be overtaken, and was made. Duncombe, Richards and we pressed onward the following Smith tore up quilts, calked the wag- morning with a renewed determina- on-box and when they had it sufficient- tion. Before night Granger's grove ly tight to use as a boat, called for had been reached, and it was there volunteers to cross the creek. All learned that troops from Fort Ridge-

wreck in the passage, owing to the were loath to try it the first time, so ly had already scouted the country I (A. H. Malcolm) joined them and we from Springfield to the lakes and that crossed over, "barely escaping ship- the Indians had fled.

The battalion was now one hundred swiftness of the current and violence miles from the nearest source of of the wind, which had now veered supplies, and had only three day's to the north." We were unable to re- rations on hand. It was conced- turn with our rude craft, and as our ed that it was useless to further pur- clothes were wet and freezing we jour- sue the Indians, and inadvisable for neyed on to Shippey's cabin, two and the entire command to go to the lakes a half miles south, where we obtained to bury the dead. Major Williams de- something to eat and spent the cided to send on this latter errand night." every fourth man, and that the main body should immediately return.

THE RETURN, CYLINDER CREEK.

"It fell to my lot to return, and the experiences of the march homeward were terrible. The day we passed from Medium lake to Cylinder creek,

"Major Williams*, seeing we could not return, was urged to take the wounded refugees and the best team, and return to Medium Lake, where there were four or five Irish families, and he acquiesced.

The great body of the men on the in Palo Alto county, it rained contin- north side of the creek began to pre- ually so that the creek, which was or- pare for protecting themselves, as best dinarily "a mere thread meandering they could, for the approaching night. through a low bottom," had overflown They took the top off the wagon, its banks, and flooding the bottoms. and, placing the front and hind wheels one-half mile in width to the depth of some distance from each other, three feet, was ten feet deep in the stretched over these a wagon sheet and channel. We arrived at the creek a tent cloth, which they had with about three o'clock in the afternoon, them, and pinned them to the ground having waded through sloughs and on the north, east and west. The marched twelve miles in the rain. As wind was sweeping down from the a matter, of course, there was not a north, the rain had turned to snow, a dry thread in the crowd; and what blinding blizzard raged and the cold should we do, seeing that we could became intense, freezing the wet not cross the creek?

Various experiments were made to in short, it seemed as if the storm devise some method of surmounting king had unlashed all the furies of his this new and unexpected difficulty. Arctic Empire. Thus, without food,

It was first decided to calk a wagon- box, two or three to cross in it, and if possible, stretch a rope over the deep channel by the help of which, it was hoped, the wagon-box might be swung back and forth over the channel, and the men and teams reach it by wading

clothing on the bodies of the men;

without fire, without dry clothing, the men huddled under their improvised shelter for the night. As the snow increased, some of the more resolute went out and banked the shelter on the north, east and west, Here they *Ex-Gov. C. C. Carpenter, in Midland,

PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

remained not only through the night, main party arrived two days later, but through the next day and the next after an absence of seventeen days. night, when the storm abated. In the THE BURIAL PARTY. forty-eight hours'of its continuancefit had bridged the Cylinder, so that the entire command, including teams and horses, crossed on the ice."

Although the hardships and suffer- ings of the main command were se- vere, they were not equal to those of the other party, that went to the On the first morning after. Dun- lakes to bury the dead. This detach- combe, Richards, Smith and A. H. ment, having proceeded to the East Malcolm had crossed, as the storm and West Okobojis, buried twenty- was raging fiercer than ever, they had nine bodies of the dead, marking the fears that the boys on the bank of the resting place of some with piles of creek had frozen during the night. stone that still remain, and were After breakfast they ventured to their ready to return on Saturday, April 4, boat and found the ice on the creek the morning it began to rain. The sufficient to carry the weight of a man, majority were in favor of returning except over the channel where the that day and started in the early current was swift. Any effort to cross morning, leaving behind R. A. Smith, the channel was attended with a great Messrs. Howe, Wheelock, Parmenter deal of risk. As no one could be seen and one or two others. at the camp, and it was impossible

The party that left found a difficult to make themselves heard across the and wearisome journey before them. stream, they were very much con- They met the same impediments, only cerned. Being the lightest in the more difficult to overcome, that the party, it fell to the lot of Malcolm to main command met on its march make the effort to cross over. Taking from Medium Lake to Cylinder Creek. a board found in the wagon box, he They had to wade through sloughs laid it across the channel and care- full of snow and slush, and cross fully crawled over. He found all the streams on which the ice was breaking men alive, but not one of them willing and the water overflowing their banks. to risk the ice, so he re-crossed and In picking their way around sloughs they returned to Shippey's cabin.

and looking for crossings over streams,

On the second morning the stream they were greatly delayed and wearied. was frozen hard, the ice was strong When the mild weather of the morn- and the entire command, that had ing turned to a pitiless blizzard, they lain forty hours on the open prairie were still on the prairie between the without food or fire, crossing over, lakes and the Des Moines. The dark- proceeded to Shippey's cabin, where ness and the storm were so intense they were fed and otherwise cared for. that they knew it would be impossible Here they remained to follow at their to keep the right course if they pro- leisure, while Duncombe, Richards, ceeded, so they stopped on the prai- Smith and Malcolm passed on to the rie about eight o'clock in the evening. cabin of Mr. Evans, at McNight's The stronger and more resolute kept Point, where they arrived some time their feet all night and constantly after dinner and received some baked aroused those who were becoming potatoes that were greatly enjoyed. drowsy. When morning came, some Leaving Captain Duncombe at this who had pulled off their water-soaked place, the other three proceeded boots the night before, finding it im- homeward, reaching Dakota City possible to get them on, had to cut about nine o'clock in the evening and their blankets and wrap their feet so Fort Dodge the next day; and the they could travel.

THE RELIEF EXPEDITION TO SPIRIT LAKE.

SAD FATE OF CAPTAIN J. C. JOHNSON AND WM. E. BURKHOLDER. When the Indians fled at the ap- proach of the troops from Fort Ridge- ly, the captives were made to carry They could see the timber in the heavy burdens the same as the squaws, distance and started on their way to- and, aftersix weeks' marching through ward it, but coming to a slough too snow and slush, oftentimes waist-deep, deep to wade, they differed as to the they arrived at the Big Sioux river. best route around it, and unfortu- While crossing this river on a bridge nately while some went one way, oth- of drift, that consisted of a single log ers took the opposite direction. Mr. a part of the way, an inhuman mon- Laughlin, who first reached the tim- ster, who had previously relieved her ber, gathered some dry leaves from of her burden, thrust Mrs. Thatcher under the trunk of an old tree, loaded into the deep, seething current of the his musket with some paper wadding, river. By a superhuman effort, she fired it into the leaves and started a swam to the bank, and clung to the fire. The others came straggling in, root of a tree, a short distance down one after the other, until all had stream. From this slender refuge she reached the timber but two-Captain was thrust back with clubs and a J. C. Johnson, of Webster City, who little later perished in the swollen commanded the detachment, and current. She was only nineteen years William E. Burkholder, the newly of age. elected treasurer of Webster county, who, going by themselves, were last seen about five o'clock that day two

Early in May, while they were en- camped at Skunk Lake, thirty miles west of the Big Sioux, two Indians miles distant from their companions, from the Yellow Medicine Agency, in traveling in a southerly direction. Every effort was made to find them, but without success, and their sad fate, as they were special favorites, her with them to be, as it seemed, an threw a gloom over the whole com- pany. They perished in a slough, Minnesota, came to the camp of Ink- pa-du-ta, and, with a ransom, secured possession of Mrs. Marble, and took adopted daughter to their chief, but a few days later she was delivered to west of the Des Moines river, in Palo Hon. Charles E. Flandreau, of Minne- Alto county, where in August, 1868, sota, for $1,000. Subsequently she be- eleven years later, their remains and came the wife of S. M. Silbaugh, and the remnants of their guns were in 1885 they resided at Sidell, Napa found.

county, California.

About four weeks after the depart-

After the lapse of nineteen days the remainder of the burial party ar- ure of Mrs. Marble, Mrs. Noble and rived at Fort Dodge, having suffered Abbie Gardner were purchased by a greatly from exposure and fatigue. party of Yanktons, who fell in with Fourteen were so badly frozen that they did not recover for nearly a year, and some were maimed for life.

THE CAPTIVES.

Ink-pa-du-ta and journeyed with him further westward. But one night, when she was about to retire, koar- ing Cloud, son of Ink-pa-du-ta, came to the tepee, or wigwam, where she and

Those who would know the whole, Abbie Gardner were together, and, sad story of the captives, } will turn seizing Mrs. Noble by the arm with one with interest to the "History of the hand and a stick of wood with the Spirit Lake Massacre," by Mrs. Abbie other, he dragged her from the tent in Gardner Sharp, at present, the only a fit of madness and ruthlessly killed survivor of their number:

her in front of it:

PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

A few days later they reached the

On the morning of May 30th, only a west bank of the James river, where few days after the death of Mrs. Noble, now is situated the town of Old Ash- three Indians sent by them arrived at ton, in Spink county, South Dakota, the Yankton camp, and by means of a where there was an encampment of ransom gained possession of Abbie one hundred and ninety lodges of Gardner, conveyed her to St. Paul, Yanktons, a powerful branch of the from whence she passed to Dubuque, Sioux nation.

then to Fort Dodge and later to her

Mrs. Marble and her purchasers friends, at Hampton, Iowa, where gave full information in regard to the she became the wife of Mr. Cassville captivity of Mrs. Noble and Abbie Sharp. She now resides at her fath- Gardner. Governor Medary, of Min- er's cabin, on the southeast bank of nesota, Hon. Charles E. Flandreau Lake Okoboji.

the government agent, and Colonel

A magnificent monument of gran- Alexander in command at Fort Ridge- ite, fifty-five feet in height and of ly, assisted by the missionaries, Rev. graceful proportions, has been erected Messrs. Riggs and Williamson, now upon the site of the massacre, by the put forth every effort to get some of state of Iowa, at a cost of $5,000, to the more friendly and intelligent mark this interesting spot. It was Indians to go to the camp and rescue dedicated with appropriate ceremonies them.

July 26, 1895.

THE SPIRIT LAKE MASSACRE.

THE SPIRIT LAKE MASSACRE MONUMENT. ERECTED BY THE STATE OF IOWA AND DEDICATED JULY 26, 1895.

The spot where Mr. Gardner and his family were buried, is marked by the pile of stones in the foreground, and the place where they lay, by the monument. The Gardner cabin is on the right.

PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

LAST INDIAN TROUBLES IN IOWA.

"But hark! the heavy sound breaks in once more, As if the clouds its echo would repeat; And nearer, clearer, deadlier than before!"

OON after the com- Lake, returned down the Little Sioux mencement of our river to Cherokee and Sioux City. civil war, in the Although no punishment was inflicted spring of 1861, ma- upon the Indians, this expedition in- rauding bands of In- spired a feeling of greater security south- among the scattered settlements of western Minnesota, Dakota and north- that region.

dians from ern Nebraska began to cross over into Iowa and commit depredations upon the settlers along the Sioux and Floyd rivers, in Monona and Woodbury coun- ties. Horses were stolen, cattle and other stock killed, gardens and fields were robbed.

LATER TROUBLES IN MINNESOTA.

On August 18, 1862, the Sioux In- dians in Minnesota, under Little Crow and other chiefs, attacked the set- tlers at New Ulm, Mankato and other portions of that state, killing - On July 9, 1861, two citizens, Thom- as Roberts and Henry Cardua, were killed by the savages, within three miles of Sioux City. They had left the town that morning for the pur- pose of working a patch of potatoes, three miles distant, and when found indiscriminately, the unsuspecting men, women and children. Not less than 800 persons were the victims of savage ferocity, and a vast amount of property was destroyed. This sud- den and unexpected outbreak depopu- lated a large portion of Minnesota the day following, the circumstances and spread consternation through-

out the north western counties of Iowa.

Two small volunteer companies of

indicated they had been fired upon by the Indians in ambush, while return-

ing to their team from a spring in a armed settlers from Spirit Lake and wooded ravine, where they had eaten Estherville, going twenty miles north their dinner. Both men had families, of Jackson, Minnesota, found and and the tragedy awakened fear over buried fifteen bodies. Returning the that portion of the frontier. After next day to Estherville, they con- this occurrence, the Frontier Guards structed a high stockade of heavy, of Sioux City, a company of citizens of sawed timber set on its end in the that place, who had organized for the ground, around the court house at a better protection of the counties of distance of twenty feet, and occupy- Northwest Iowa, made an expedition ing it as a military station, it contin- up the Big Sioux river, nearly 100 ued to be so used until 1865. The miles, and crossing thence to Spirit first troops that occupied it was a de-

LAST INDIAN TROUBLES IN IOWA.

tachment of the Sioux City cavalry, nied the command in the expedition and the last a detachment of Brack- of that year, and on September 3, 1863, ett's battalion of Minnesota, but participated in the battle of White- in the meantime it had also been oc- stone Hill, where 136 prisoners were cupied by detachments of the Sixth captured. After this battle they and Seventh Iowa cavalry. During were consolidated with the Seventh this summer (1862) a similar stockade Iowa Cavalry as Company I. On their was erected at Cherokee, and Captain return to Sioux City, Captain Millard, A. J. Millard, of Sioux City, occupied commanding the company, was assign- it as headquarters for the detach- ed by General Sully to the command ments located at Sioux City, Spirit of a sub-district, embracing north- Lake, Estherville and that place.

western Iowa and eastern Dakota,

Gen. Henry H. Sibley, ex-governor of with headquarters at Sioux City. Minnesota, raising and commanding They continued in the service until a volunteer force, pursued, overtook November 22, 1864, when their term and on September 23d, 1862, won a de- of enlistment expired.

cisive victory over Little Crow and his combined force of Indian warriors, at Wood Lake. The defeated chief, accompanied by 300 of his followers and their families, fled westward, to the protection of other powerful bands of their kindred, and left their camp, occupied by more than -2000 souls and 120 white female prisoners, to be captured by Gen. Sibley, two days later. Among the captured were 500 warriors, of whom 300 having been court-martialed and sentenced to be executed, 39 of them suffered the death penalty at Mankato, Minnesota, Friday, December 19, 1862.

LATER INDIAN TROUBLES NORTHWEST.

In May, 1863, Gen. Alfred Sully was assigned to the command of the De- partment of Dakota, for the better protection of the frontier. His com- mand consisted of six companies of the 6th Iowa cavalry, under the com- mand of Col. David S. Wilson, of Dubuque; Brackett's and Hatchet's battalions, six companies each; and the 2d Minnesota cavalry, a full reg- iment, making altogether about 2,500 men.

The company of cavalry, known as the 'Frontier Guards,' of Sioux City,* became his body guard, accompa- City in October, 1865.

*Red Men of Iowa, by A. R. Fulton.

FRONTIER SOLDIERS.

The following residents of Pocahon- tas county participated in this frontier warfare against the Indians: William Fitzgerald and A. F. Burdick, of Dov- er township; Chas. Whitney and Hon. James Mercer, of Cedar; Henry Schoentall, formerly of Colfax; Henry Hayward, of Des Moines, and Col. John B. Kent, of Rolfe.

William Fitzgerald, September 29, 1862. in Allamakee county, enlisted for three years and became a member of Co. F., 6tli Iowa Cavalry under Cap- tain Scott Shattuck and Col. David S. Wilson, of Dubuque. He participated

IN THE in the engagement at White Stone Hill, September 3, 1863, when they en- countered 3000 Indian warriors, and in the engagement that ensued, 300 war- riors and 80 soldiers were killed or wounded, and 136 warriors taken cap- tive. In the fall of 1864, he was with a detachment of 1,500 soldiers, that met about 2,500 Indians at Killed Deer, and in a skirmish that lasted all day, many were wounded. He partici- pated also in the battle in the Bad Lands where the Indians made an at- tack on the troops while on their way to Fort Union, located near the junc- tion of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers. He was mustered out at Sioux

Henry Schoentahl enlisted at Du-

PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

buque October 16, 1862, for three years 16, 1863, with an equipment consisting as a member of Co. M., 6th Iowa Cav- of one wagon, drawn by six mules, for alry under Captain V. J. Williams each company, and several additional and continued in the service until ones loaded with supplies. They were Oct. 15, 1865, when he was mustered to join the command of Gen. Sully at out at Sioux City, having served three Fort Randall, D. T., make an expedi- years, lacking only one day, 'and par- tion against the hostile Indians and ticipated in the battles with the In- subjugate them.

dians at White Stone Hill, Hart Mound and the Black Hills.

On the route through Iowa they passed Iowa City, Marengo, Des

The 6th Iowa Cavalry, which Messrs. Moines, Grove City Cass county, Fitzgerald and Schoenthal joined at Council Bluffs and Sioux City, where the time of its organization, was re- they arrived April 25th. Here they cruited about the first of October, crossed the Missouri river and arrived Co. A. from Scott and Clinton coun- at Yankton on May 20th, opposite ties; Co. B. and Co. M., Dubuque Fort Randall two days later, and at county; Co. C., Fayette; Co. D., Win- Fort Pierre June 4th, where they found a detachment of the 7th Iowa Cavalry on guard.

neshiek; Co. E., Pottawattamie; Com- panies F., I. and K., Johnson and con- tiguous counties; Co. G., Delaware;

The discovery of the camp of Sioux Co. H., Linn; Co. L., Clayton county. Indians under the command of Little The regiment went into camp at

Crow and Big Head, September 3, Camp Hendershott, Harrison street, 1863, where the White Stone Hill bat- Davenport, about the last days of No- vember, 1862, and was mustered into the United States service January 31 and February 3, 1863.

tle was fought, was made by the Third Battalion of this regiment, consisting of companies C., F., I. and M., under command of Major A. E. House. The

Colonel David S. Wilson was in com- savages were camped on a little lake mand until June, 1864, when he re- surrounded by hills that were covered signed and Lieut. Col. Samuel M. Pol- lock, of Dubuque, was promoted. Rev. David N. Mitchell, of Cedar Rap- ids, was chaplain.

There was a romantic idea* existing among a number of the men, that the great majority of the Indians were the real nobility of the country; that the few who had been committing the di- abolical outrages at Spirit Lake, New Ulm and other places, were the off- scourings of that noble race. But the them in the distance, near sunset, first sight of a camp of friendly In- the squaws and old men began to take dians-at the Yankton Agency on the down the wigwams and load the po- Missouri river-dispelled that ro- nies with tent poles, one on each side, mance and every subsequent acquaint- with a strap over the back. The par- ance with 'the noble red' went to em- phasize the idea that "the good In- dian was the dead one."

The regiment left Davenport March dogs were loaded the same as the

*J. H. Tripp in "Three Years Among the Indians in Dakota."

with white stones. On reaching the summit of one of the surrounding hills, this band of 300 men suddenly discovered, that in front of them and only a short distance away, were hun- dreds of tepees and about 3,000 In- dians. They deemed it unwise to pre- cipitate an attack until the arrival of Gen. Sully with his command, twelve miles distant.

When Gen. Sully was discovered by pooses were put in baskets and strap- ped on the poles that extended from the ponies to the ground. The wolf ponies, only the loads were lighter. The young warriors, who on the arriv

LAST INDIAN TROUBLES IN IOWA.

al of the battalion, with a wild yell Hill.) This camp was protected on never to be forgotten, rushed to the each side by a rocky bluff, and a short lake and taking some blue clay marked distance above it was a large spring of themselves hideously for the fray, water which, flowing out of a sand- now, fully aware of their danger, un- rock, formed a large basin and thence dertook to retreat toward the James flowed in a strong stream through the river. The battalion moved to the center of the Indian camp. On the east of them to hold them in check. approach of the Minnesota troops to Then they raised their war-song and which Whitney belonged, the Indians when it ceased, one of the chiefs fired the first shot, and it struck Caspar Wagner, one of the best young men of

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The pioneer history of Pocahontas County, Iowa, from the time of its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 6

Author: Flickinger, Robert Elliott, b. 1846 Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Fonda, Iowa, G. Sanborn Number of Pages: 1058

Author: Flickinger, Robert Elliott, b. 1846
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Fonda, Iowa, G. Sanborn
Number of Pages: 1058