USA > Kansas > Wabaunsee County > Early history of Wabaunsee County, Kansas, with stories of pioneer days and glimpses of our western border.. > Part 12
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An old bachelor named Enoch Colton lived in a log house on sec- tion 26 and as he was away most of the time it was thought that the use of his house might be secured until the proposed stone house could be built.
As the rent would help pay the living expenses Enoch readily con- sented to the arrangement.
Besides the regular exercises the children were each day-at noon- time-presented with an object lesson in domestic economy-fur- nished gratis by Enoch while preparing the daily mid-day meal.
Building a fire at noon added to the summer's heat made it rather uncomfortable for the children but soon another cause rendered teach- ing school in the old bachelor's hall anything but desirable.
Marion and the children detected a peculiar and not very agree- able odor about the old log shanty. In a few days the peculiar smell was not only disagreeable but actually unbearable and at last the con- dition of things rendered an investigation absolutely necessary.
The cause of the trouble was found and with the discovery came the general desire to exchange the bachelor's shanty for more agree- able quarters-so the teacher and pupils adjourned to a more salu- brious place.
But we neglected to tell you the cause that necessitated the vaca- tion of the bachelor's quarters. His only calf had departed this life a few days before and the hide that had been stowed away in the loft had arrived at the last stage of decomposition-it was a moving sight hence the moving of the children's quarters.
For further particulars call at the Eskridge Hotel and ask Marion about his first school in District 27.
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A Bit of Frontier History
In which quite a number of Wabaunsee County boys took part is found in the history of the Eleventh Kansas. In February, 1865, Col. Moonlight wasassigned to the command of the District of Colorado. During the season of storm and sleet the regiment marched from Fort Riley to Platte Bridge, 130 miles beyond Fort Laramie. in the very heart of the Sioux country.
The Indians were on the warpath and in order to keep open tele- graphic communication and to insure the transmission of the mails the presence of a military force was necessary.
Headquarters were established at Platte Bridge and this point was made the base of operations. Here Major Anderson was stationed with a garrison of about 110 men, non-commissioned officers and the regimental band included.
About eighty of this number had carbines, but with barely twenty rounds of ammunition to the man. . Ilalf of the remaining thirty had revolvers while the others were without any arms whatever.
In the latter part of July the Indians were more than usually de- monstrative and among other depredations had cut the telegraph wires on both sides of the station.
Captain Greer and Lieutenant Walker were sent out with parties in different directions to chastise the Indians and repair the lines. Capt. Greer's squad gave the Indians a sound drubbing but the party under Lieut. Walker was not so fortunate. Finding the Indians con- fronting him in overwhelming numbers he fell back to the station with the loss of one man killed and several wounded.
On July 22nd, the fort was practically invested by the hostile Sioux who seemed determined to burn the station. To render the sit- uation more critical Sergeant Custard, of Co. H. with twenty-four men detailed to guard a supply train appeared in sight about six miles from the Bridge unconscious of the presence of the hostile Sioux.
The howitzer was fired to warn the approaching troops of their danger and in hopes of saving the handful of men from annihilation at
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the hands of the hostiles. Lieut. Collins with twenty-five picked men of the garrison was sent to their assistance.
Hardly had Lieut. Collins' party reached the first range of hills half a mile distant from the post when 2,000 hideously painted warriors sprang from their hiding places and charged down on the little band of blue-coats. The soldiers found it impossible to advance. To re- treat was the only alternative. After emptying their carbines the little band fought their way back to the bridge as best they could. Every available man was sent to the relief of the hard pressed soldiers, and with the loss of sixteen killed and wounded the remainder suc- ceeded, as by a miracle. in reaching the post in safety. Among the five killed was Lieut. Collins, whose horse, becoming crazed by the demoniac yells and horrid appearance of the hostile Sioux became un- manageable and carried his unwilling rider into the jaws of death. When found his body was literally hacked and shot to pieces and so mutilated as to be hardly recognized by his most intimate surviving comrades.
Another of the killed was Sebastian Nehring. Misunderstanding an order Sebastian had got separated from his comrades and was cap- tured unharmed and when found his body showed every indication of his having been reserved for torture at the hands of his barbarous captors. In his body were seventy-six arrows and his arms and legs dismembered, his heart eut out, scalped, his nose and ears cut off and otherwise horribly mutilated.
Among the wounded was Henry Grimm, who was shot through the leg with an arrow and in his spine a barbed arrow was deeply buried. The surgeon considering the wounded soldier beyond all hope of recovery by reason of his wounds and the loss of blood, refused to remove the steel barb that still protruded from the wound in the spine. But Mr. Grimm pleaded earnestly to have the barb removed and Lieut. Hubbard ordered that the soldier's request be complied with. To the surprise of all Mr. Grimm recovered and though still feeling the effect of old wounds one would never suspect that Henry Grimm, of Volland. one of our wealthiest German farmers and the one who lay wounded nigh unto death at Platte Bridge 35 years ago are one and the same.
Among those who narrowly escaped death at Platte Bridge was Sergeant Adolph Hankammer. of Alma. Adolph was wounded by a spear thrust in the back and another spear eut in the leg and had his horse shot just as the hotly pressed soldiers reached the bridge. Then the horse fell, pinning Adolph to the bridge. But the soldiers had sallied out from the fort and driving the Indians back Adolph's life was saved.
Henry Thomson, member of Co. I. and a brother of the writer was
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one of the detail sent out under Lieut. Collins. In speaking of the fight he said the soldiers were in a tight place-the Indians and troops were a confused mass of struggling humanity. The horses of the cay- alry were frenzied with excitement and the demoniac yells of the red- skins and their superiority in point of numbers, made the delivery from the jaws of death seem a miracle.
During the hottest of the fight the soldiers noticed that all at once the Indians ceased firing. It was afterwards learned that the order was given by the head chiefs of the war party. The order was heard by some friendly Snake Indians who were encamped just outside of the stockade. They thoroughly understood the Sioux language and heard the stentorian voice of the Indian chiefs as they ordered the warriors to cease firing, as they were killing more of their own men than of the whites.
Mr. S. H. Fairfield was one of the party sent out to bury the dead and from his description of the mutilated bodies left on the field, fighting Indians cannot be regarded as a desirable occupation.
The party of twenty-four men Lieut. Collins was sent out to re- lieve were all massacred except three who swam the river and found safety in the stockade. Of the twenty-four soldiers, seventeen werc found in a row, pinned to the ground. The others were tied to the wheels of the wagon where they were burned. All were scalped and otherwise mutilated.
And this was the kind of service seen by the soldiers enlisted from Wabaunsee County. Long will they remember the fight at Platte Bridge.
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MR. AND MRS. J. R. FIX AND FAMILY. Volland, 1901.
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MR. AUGUST FALK AND FAMILY, Alma.
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MR. GUS, THIERER AND FAMILY, Volland.
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MR. WILLIAM MAAS AND FAMILY, Spring Creek.
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MR. JOSEPH GLOTZBACH, SR., AND FAMILY, Paxico.
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MR. CONRAD HESS AND FAMILY, Newbury.
EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAN.
MR. JOHN MOCK, HIS FATHER, SON, AND GRANDSON.
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EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAN.
MR. MATT THOMSON AND FAMILY, Alma.
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EAST SIDE MAIN ( MISSOURI) STREET, Alma.
MR. SAM HARRIS AND FAMILY, Harveyville.
EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAN.
BUFFALO IN THE '60s.
MR. WALDO G. BURROUGHS AND FAMILY, Bradford.
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MATT THOMSON'S ADDRESS
Delivered at the Old Settlers' Meeting at Harveyville,
October 10, 1895 --- Old Recollections, Etc.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :- In early days when good old Mother Dow, who lived over at Wilmington, had revolved in her mind various expedients by which the wolf was to be kept from the door, she put out a sign on which was painted: "Pies, cakes, bread, etc."
The sign served its purpose and many a weary plainsman went from her door happy in the possession of the toothsome morsels pur- chased from the owner of the little sign-board by the wayside.
But the supply was not always up to the demand. The discrep- ancy between the hungry followers of the numerous caravans that passed over the old Santa Fe trail and the little bake oven made to do service in the unexpected emergency was too great.
As a result many were turned away disappointed. One day a teamster called at the beck of the sign and asked for a pie. But the last pie had been sold a few minutes before. Then he would take a cake for a change. But the supply of cakes, too, had been overdrawn. A loaf of bread would answer, but the bread, too, was gone. "Then," said the hungry plainsman, "I guess I'll take a little so-forth."
But Mother Dow was equal to the emergency-she brought to the door a huge chunk of cornbread.
A man crossing the plains can't be insulted by an offer of corn- bread and the teamster gladly paid a silver quarter for what he would probably have called for in the first place had he thought for a moment it could have been obtained.
While this paper has for its head "Early Recollections, Etc.," it may as well be understood that should I run out of my small stock of recollections I will be compelled to fill in by giving you the benefit of a little "so-forth."
I can only hope that it will prove as satisfactory to you as did that
122 EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAS.
loaf of cornbread to the hungry teamster making a long drive before breakfast.
Long before Kansas had acquired the name of the Cyclone State our home in Tennessee was laid low by one of the most devastating tornadoes that ever visited any country. The town of Fayetteville was almost wiped out of existence, and among the casualties were five people killed and more than fifty wounded, among the latter two of our own family. 1
The tornado began the work that brought financial disaster, and like thousands of others we looked towards Kansas for a new home. Next Spring will be just forty years since my father claimed as a pre- emption right the northeast quarter of section 25, township 14, range 12 -- the land now owned by Mr. Herb Shaw.
During that Summer-1856-Mr. Robideaux, Mr. Wysong and my father kept bachelor's hall in a house on the southeast quarter of sec- tion 24, built by a Mr. Gilbert, of Pennsylvania, in 1855.
My father's family followed in the Spring of 1857, finding his claim jumped by a Mr. Craft, his son having comfortably located with his family on the Gilbert claim.
Mr. Craft and his father were carpenters and seeing but little prospect of employment at their trade, were, by the payment of a sınall sum, induced to release their right to the two quarter sections.
Neighbors were few and the settlements for years were confined almost exclusively to timber claims and the bottom lands. All were absorbed in the duties of home making. Lands were broken, fences built and crops planted.
The season was propitious and all went well till the influence of the malarious climate laid a heavy hand on all. Not a home was spared. In many instances whole families were stricken down-all at one and the same time with the ague-not one being well enough to get for another a drink of water.
Deprived of medical attendance-no physician being near-and possibly lacking proper care, it isn't a matter of surprise that that grim monster, Death, entered the portals of the pioneer home and took therefrom the mother, whose fondest hope was to see her child- ren located mid pleasant surroundings, or the sister just budding into womanhood, or the young man on whom an aged father or mother was dependent.
A mother in Western Kansas being asked why she chose to re- main in a country that seemed so uninviting, replied: "Stranger, do you see that little mound yonder? That is the dearest spot on earth to me." Beneath that bit of clay, in Death's cold embrace, lay the little one the mother would have given her own life to save. The spirit had flown, but nature had implanted within that mother's
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breast a longing to be near the spot. The place is hallowed and no other place on earth could that grief-stricken mother regard as her home.
As through trouble Kansas found her place among the Stars, so through tribulation the Kansas pioneer founded a home. Of necessi- ties he had but few and of luxurles none. But with years of expe- rience there came about a change. Toil brought contentment, and taking a philosophical view of the situation he no longer sighed for the fleshpots of the land of his fathers.
Like Cortez, he burned his ships behind him. His thoughts of the old homestead were silenced and he took good care of the present that the future might bring enjoyment and independence. and his children to-day are enjoying the fruits of his self-denial.
But you want to know something of the early recollections of one who knew Kansas in the swaddling clothes of infancy. Among these recollections not the least is the fact that Kansas as a place to wear out one's old clothes had no superior on earth. In the early days squirrel-skin caps were fashionable and millinery bills never disturbed either the dreams or the waking hours of the head of the family. No branch of aristocracy-not even of the cod-fish variety-ever found its way into the pioneer settlements scattered along the banks of the Dragoon.
The motive power with the early settlers was a yoke of oxen or a team of horses, the latter a rarity seldom met with. Mr. Jehu Hodg- son was the first owner of a team that required a set of harness to hitch them up, and because of his being the better equipped for catch- ing a thief was selected sheriff of Richardson County.
We have a distinct recollection that bee-gum hats were seldom tol- erated and only then upon positive proof that the owner had no other --- its battered appearance usually indicated that the wardrobe was getting low. Dr. Cawkins wore one as a badge of his profession. Our opinion is that an attempt to drive through the country in a top- buggy would have subjected the driver to mob violence, but we never knew anybody so foolhardy as to try the experiment, and we feel assured that a dude on a bicycle would have been killed on the spot.
Among other recollections of pioneer days is the fact that in the years 1857-58, the pumpkin crop was good and I might say in addition that had stewed pumpkin been eliminated from the bill of fare the staff of life would have been lonesome indeed. Squashes were also much in demand and the statement that they were highly appreciated would be superfluous.
Fortunately for the early settlers the conditions were favorable for rabbits and prairie chickens-that filled the place on the bill of fare set apart for luxuries.
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124 EARLY HISTORY OF WABAUNSEE COUNTY, KAS.
In those days the good housewives along the Dragoon were not worrying about the lack of sugar to prevent the big crops of peaches from going to waste, but not a few looked forward with pleasure to the good time coming when wild onions would be ripe and prairie peas would be big enough for stewing purposes.
The story goes that a man was deprived of the privilege of becom- ing the owner of a fifteen hundred acre farm that was offered for a pair of boots. But he was compelled to decline the offer of a lifetime, because-he didn't have the boots. For a like reason thousands of dollars were lost by the early settlers of Kansas-because they didn't have the cattle to eat the rich grasses that every year went to waste.
The inclination of some people to make deprecatory remarks should the old reliable'M., A. & B. slip a cog by reason of a washout might be checked by the information that old settlers grumbled less who de- pended on chance to get their mail from Burlingame semi-occasionally or oftener, as the case might be.
Country stores were few and patronized but little-they did a cash business, and of all the commodities in the country cash was the hardest to get hold of. But in wolf hides was found an equivalent and wolf hunting for their pelts was one of the infant industries of the early days.
The poisoning of wolves for their hides was not an industry con- fined exclusively to the buffalo country. Mr. Samuel Cripps, who lived on Soldier Creek killed each year for several years, from sixty to seventy-five wolves, and among these were several large specimens of the gray wolf of the plains.
Many others were engaged in the business on a smaller scale --- not because they had a liking for the calling, but for the better reason that from the proceeds from the sale of the pelts they were enabled to keep the more ravenous wolf-hunger-from the door.
Abont thirty-seven years ago I had the pleasure of being present at a meeting of the board of directors or the mayor and city council and possibly some of the heaviest stockholders of the City of Wilming- ton. The prospects of the town were set forth in glowing terms and a grand future predicted. The location of the city at the junction of the two greatest highways on the American continent was considered in itself sufficient to insure the building at an early day of long rows of business blocks. capital for investment would flow in like water through a mill-race: the then financiers would swim in luxury, live in splendor and the conditions furnish to the world another proof that it is better to be born lucky than rich.
But if the founders of Wilmington suffered disappointment, or were the victims of circumstances, other town builders have been equally unfortunate. Indianola, on the military road north of To-
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peka, that once aspired to be the Capital of Kansas, was moved bodily on wheels and to-day the owner of corner lots and the was-to-be Capi- tol square is doing some tall bragging about his hundred-bushels-to- the-acre corn crop.
But Wilmington possessed advantages that Indianola never had- the houses being built of stone were not so easily hauled away, and to this circumstance we are indebted for a permanent landmark that will indicate to those that come after us a point of historical interest -- that one day was the business center of Wabaunsee County.
To the railroad is due the elimination of Indianola, and scores of other towns from the map of the state. The Santa Fe road blotted out of existence the old trail as electricity and the bicycle have struck heavy blows at the horse market.
In 1857 my father paid to Mr. James McCoy $90 for a blind mare and the bargain was considered a good one. Horses are cheaper now, Our Jimmie came to me one day last winter and said he could buy a horse for six dollars. A few days before Santa Claus had brought him a fiddle and I suggested that he strike up a trade. He went out with that fiddle under his arm and in five minutes that horse was running up a feed bill and he has been at it ever since.
We have tried to lose that horse, but it takes two to make a bar- gain. He knows too well the location of the feed lot. The Bible tells us that the ox knoweth his master's crib. A few days ago we had the good fortune to take in a few bushels of corn on subscription, and cir- cumstances would indicate that the old horse is keeping tab on our subscription list. Though he roams at will nobody will take him up, and a standing offer of immunity from punishment has proven no in- ducement to anyone to steal him.
One day a man from Western Kansas made us an excellent offer that we refused. He would give us a watch for the horse. The watch had been nickel plated, but the plating was gone. One or two of the hands and the crystal were lacking and the mainspring was out of kilter, but in other respects it was a good watch. The offer was a tempting one but when we looked at some other specimens of horse flesh that he had brought from the drouth-stricken district we con- cluded that Dobbin was deserving of better treatment than their con- dition indicated. The Chinaman's belief in the transmigration of souls may be a myth, but the bare possibility should insure kind treat- ment to the best servant man ever had-the horse.
But this statement is no reflection on the ox-that brought more pioneers to Kansas, ten times over, than the horse. To the early set- tler the ox was the more valuable. He was too slow of foot to be stolen, was more hardy, required less feed, and when he had outgrown his usefulness as a draft animal his owner could eat him.
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But to the carly settler the ox was too valuable to eat. Herds of buffalo were not far away. In 1857 my father and brother took their first buffalo hunt, securing a full load of choice meat on the Cotton- wood, in Marion County. The following year another hunt was taken by my brother and Mr. Samuel Cripps.
But perhaps a short description of one of these hunts would not be uninteresting now. I participated in my first buffalo hunt in 1860, though my father and myself had been turned back from the Cotton- wood by high water and an attack of the ague in 1858.
There were five wagons and twelve mens and boys in the company. In the party were Mr. Uriah Sanner and his son, George, old Mr. Odell and his son, Stephen, William Wite, Gideon Baughman, George Bar- wick, Abe Manning, Mr. Baldwin, two older brothers and myself-I being the youngest member of the hunting party.
Having ox teams the progress was slow, only about twenty miles a day being made. But even at this rate it wasn't many days before the buffalo were sighted. The old Santa Fe trail was followed till Running Turkey Creek was reached. After crossing this stream the wagons turned north, and after a few miles' travel the amateur hunters were gladdened by the sight of their first buffalo-a few miles south of where the city of McPherson now stands.
Abe Manning, armed with a Sharpe's riffe, was the most success- ful hunter, and to him all looked for a supply of meat for the return trip.
Abe, though a young man, was a Hercules in strength and his power of endurance was wonderful, but for some reason he failed to meet with that degree of success expected of him. He killed a few calves and brought down without trouble the old bulls that were found on the outskirts of the main herds. But the meat of the old male buffalo was tough and undesirable, so we pushed farther westward in the hope of securing better meat. But the buffalo were traveling westward at the rate of about ten miles per day and we gained but lit- tle on the herds.
Passing the Little Arkansas we pushed .on to the head of Cow Creek. Here we seemed surrounded by the herds of buffalo, but we found it no easy matter for amateur hunters to kill such animals as would make desirable meat.
But the weather was getting cold and rainy with an occasional snow storm, and as it became more inclement the desire to return home increased. As yet but little meat had been secured, though great herds of buffalo were constantly in sight. But relief came when least expected. Encamped on the banks of Cow Creek was a party of hunters who would for 50 cents per head furnish all the meat desired.
My brothers contracted for five head and in an hour's time the
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number contracted for were lying on the banks of Cow Creek ready to be skinned The hunter, a young man of 22 years, had shot them down without moving from his place of concealment under the bank of the creek.
The afternoon and night and the next morning my brothers and myself were busily engaged in skinning and stripping the carcasses of their flesh, leaving the bones to be picked by the wolves and skunks. that infested the country by hundreds.
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