USA > Minnesota > Jackson County > An illustrated history of Jackson County, Minnesota > Part 10
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So great were the difficulties of travel that Agent Flandreau advised Captain Bee to turn back, also. stating that he would justify such action before his com- manding officer. Captain Bee was a plucky officer, however, and replied : "My orders are to go to Spirit lake and to do what I can; it is not for me to interpret orders, except to obey them. i shall go on until it become physically impossible to proceed farther."" So the plucky cap- tain continued on his way. At Slocum's the command was joined by Nathaniel Frost. William Nelson and Charles Wood.
The little command waded through snow drifts up to their waists, often cut- ting through them with spade and shovel; extricated mules and sleighs from sloughs and drifts : dragged sleighs up steep hills and over bare spots; marched in close rank through the deep snow to break a
"Charles E. Flandreau in The Inkpaduta Mas- sacre of 1857.
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road for the teams; were up from early morning until late at night ; camped, ate and slept in the snow. It was after such a trip as this, on the evening of March 28, nine days from the time he had start- ed from Fort Ridgely and two days after the butchery at Springfield, that Cap- tain Bee at the head of his command ar- rived at the trading post of Gaboo and the little Indian village there.
Gaboo and his Indians professed friend- ship for the whites."" and the half-breed was employed as guide." He gave the information that Inkpaduta and his In- dians had cleaned out the Springfield sel- tlement and had retired to their camp on Heron lake, Learning this, Captain Bee decided to pursue the Indians at once, although his men were nearly exhausted from the long and wearisome journey. With the sounding of retreat on the even- ing of the arrival Captain Bee called for twenty volunteers to start carly the next morning for the Indian camp, and the whole company promptly stopped for- ward.
So, early on the morning of Sunday. March 29. the whole force of soldiers, ac- companied by the two half-breed guides. set out for Heron jake. The teamsters accompanied the soldiers, leading the thirteen mules of the company for use in case the Indians attempted flight. Guided by Gaboo. they went straight across the country to the site of the recent Indian camp, which they surrounded. Said Cap- tain Bee in his report : "The camp was there with all its traces of plunder and rapine-books, scissors, articles of female
""It has been alleged that the soldiers found goods at Gaboo's camp that had come from the settlers at Springfield, Of the charge that Caboo's Indian wife was seen Werring : shawl belonging to Mrs. Church, captain Ree said it "only existed in the Imagination of one or two settlers." lle stated that all the Indian squaws were robed in Indian blankets
1".W. procured two half-breed guides. Joe Coursalle, better known as Jor Giboo, and Joe La Framboise, both of whom I know well and felt no hesitaney in trusting on such a mission." Charles E. Flandreau at Sprit Lake monument unveiling in 1895.
apparel. furs and traps." The marks of seven tepees were found. Although this camp had been deserted at Three o'clock that same morning (the soldiers reached the place in the afternoon) the half- breed guides were of the opinion that the camp was two days old.
From this circumstance some have formed the opinion that Gaboo did not want the soldiers to continue the pursuit of the Indians and that he deceived the officer in command. Captain Bee did not think so at any rate, for in a com- munication to the Pioneer and Democrat of St. Paul of May 11. 1852. he said : "Gaboo was in front of my men. his dou- ble-barreled gun in his hand ; his whole demeanor convinced me that he had come ont to fight : his life, he told me, had , been threatened by the Indians."
The guides pointed out another grove four miles to the northwest, where they said the Indians might be. Lieutenant Murry took ten men and Gaboo and searched the grove, but found no Indians. I'pon receiving this report from the lieu- tenant. Captain Bee, believing that the Indians were two days' march away and knowing that his men were in no condi- tion to make a long campaign. decided that under the circumstances he would give up the pursuit. This he did and the command returned to the Des Moines river.12
Now, as a matter of fact, the soldiers were within a very short distance of the Indians on this trip and created great alarm among the savages. To get a thor- ough understanding of the events that Succeeded the massacre, let us keep the company of the Indians for a while.
The looting of Woods' Store was a greit event with the savages and the war- rios returned in triumph to the camp
1-Major William Williams, of the lowa volun- leers, with his usual careless handling of the Irrth. said of this campaign of the regular soldiers:
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.
near Heron lake, loaded down with plun- der. Mrs. Sharp says the Indians re- turned after an absence of two days. Camp was then moved from a small lake, believed to be Boot lake, to the creek near the south end of Heron lake.13 The In- dians brought with them as a result of the raid twelve horses, heavily loaded with dry goods, groceries, powder. lead, bed quilts, wearing apparel, provisions, etc. The white captives were informed that the Indians had been repulsed, but were given no particulars of the fight, except the statement that only one white woman had been killed.
The return of the savages to camp is interestingly told by Mrs. Marble, one of the captives :14
Perhaps you remember that while we were
"On Friday, in the afternoon, the troops from Fort Ridgely arrived, all well mounted on mules. Those troops lay at Springfield all day Saturday and assisted in burying the dead. Their officers counseled with the half-breed. Gaboo, who was the only one unharmed, and known to be acting with, and identified with. the Indians, and whose squaw (he is married to a squaw) was at the time wearing the shawl of Mrs. Church, with other articles taken from the citizens. Said . officers lay over from Fri- day evening till Sunday morning without pur- suing or making any effort to overtake the In- dians, who, they must have known, had taken off four white women as prisoners.
"On Sunday morning he. the commanding of- ficer, set out on their trail, and followed them half the day, finding their campfires, overtaking three or four straggling squaws, let them go. and finding all sorts of goods thrown and strewn along their trail to lighten their load and expedite their flight. When he could not have been over half a day's march from them he stopped and returned the same evening (Sunday) to Springfield. When he ordered the inen to return, they expressed a wish to fol- low on, and said they would put up with half rations if he would allow it. His reply was that he had no orders to follow them.
"On Monday he set out for Spirit lake to bury the dead. etc. He went to the first house. that of Mr. Marble, found one dead body, bur- ied it and returned to Springfield.
"It is certain such troops, or rather, such officers will afford no protection to our troubled frontier settlers. Think of his conduct! Ilis men, all well mounted, turning back when he was not a half day's march off them; they loaded down with plunder and horses and mules. and carrying off with them four respectable women as prisoners."
13Heretofore it has been generally believed that the Indian camp was on Heron lake when the attack on Springfield was made, but the camp at that time was doubtless on what is now known as Boot lake. The camp was mov- ed to Heron lake immediately after the return from Springfield. Early settlers of Jackson county reported finding large quantities of boots and other goods from the Woods store onl the bank of this lake; hence the name.
camped at a little lake the Indians went to Springfield and massacred the people and robbed the place. I do not know the name of the lake, but I remember it was surrounded with large oak trees, in which there were a number of eagles' nests. I do not know whether you recollect their arrival in camp that evening or not, but I remember it well, and so long as reason retains her throne I shall never forget it. It was just about sun- down, and I had stepped out of the tent, when through the opening of the oaks my eyes caught the sight of a long line of dusky ob- jeets coming across the prairie. A second glanee and I recognized the Indians of our camp. They came single file to the number of some twelve or thirteen. Each one led a horse, which with their drag-poles, on which they carry their loads, made a long line of men and horses. The horses were loaded with all kinds of goods and plunder. It was evident a dry goods store had been robbed. For, if you remember. each Indian wore a full suit of new. dark clothes, and with the new dark cape drawn closely down over their brows they presented a singular and really gloomy appearance. Many of them even wore new gloves. They brought blankets, grocer- ies of all kinds, and whole bolts of prints. I with my own hands made up dozens of garments of the calico; dresses for their pa- pooses and shirts for the men, as well as dresses for the squaws. They had also, many of them, a young animal strapped to their horses. I soon perceived that they were young ealves. You doubtless remember they feasted about this time on veal cooked with the hair and hide on.
Mrs. Sharp also tells of the events in camp after the arrival of the warriors from Springfield :
Among this plunder were several bolts of ealico and red flannel. Of these, especially the flannel, they were exceedingly proud, dec- orating themselves with it in fantastic fash- ion. Red leggings, red shirts, red blankets, and red in every conceivable way, was the style there as long as it lasted. Could any- thing have amused me in those sad days, it would have been to see their grotesque at- tempts to wear the habiliments of the whites: especially the attempts of the squaws to wear the tight-fitting garments of the white women. They would put in one arm, and then reach back to try to get in the other; but. even if they succeeded in getting hotli arms into the sleeves at the same time. they were too broad shouldered and brawny to get the waist into position or fasten it: so after struggling awhile they would give it up in disgust. They were altogether too much the shape of a barrel to wear the dress of white women. So they cut off and threw
1|Letter from Mrs. M. A. Silbaugh (formerly Mrs. Marble) to Mrs. Sharp, dated February 25. 1885, and published in Mrs. Sharp's History of the Spirit Lake Massacre.
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.
away the waists and made the skirts into loo-+-fitting sacks after the squaw fashion. All this amused them greatly: they would laugh and chatter like a lot of monkeys.
In the midst of the celebration of the sacking of Woods' store and the murders at Springfield came an alarm that the soldiers were coming. The wildest ex- vitement prevailed. The squaws at once extinguished the fires by pouring on wa- ter. that the smoke might not be seen and that the ash heaps would not have a fresh appearance if the soldiers came upon them. The tents were torn down, the goods has- tily packed, and all proceeded down the creek upon which they were camped.
While the description of the camp as remembered by Abbie Gardner, the cap- tive, is rather indefinite. it is believed to have been on the little creek which flows into the extreme south end of Heron lake. just northwest of the present village of Lakefield. She says the camp was on low ground and by a small stream of wa- ter, and that there was a high rolling prairie close by, and this corresponds with the high land upon which Lakefield is built. Some rods from the camp. so Miss Gardner said, was a large tree. to which an Indian crept. From the branches of this tree the warrior watched the move- ments of the soldiers and reported to his comrades. This would seem to further establish the location, for it is highly probable that the trop mentioned is the famous "Lone Tree." still standing a short distance from Lakefield and visible for many miles.
When the alarm was given the savages prepared themselves for attack. First they discharged their guns into the earth to empty them of the loads of fine shot. firing into the earth deadening the sound ; then they reloaded with bullets. The sav- ages hastened down the creek. "skulking like partridges among the willows," as the captive-historian expresses it. One warrior was detailed to stand guard over
the four women prisoners, with instruc- tions to kill them if an attack was made by the soldiers. 1 quote again from MIrs. Sharp's history :
"The excitement manifested by the In- dians for a little while was intense. .
After an hour and a half of this ex- citing suspense, in which the squaws were skulking in the willows, the sentry watch- ing from the tree-top, the warriors lurk- ing among the openings of the willows on the banks of the stream, and we cow- ering beneath the muzzles of the loaded rifles-a sudden change came to us. The soldiers, it seems. just here decided to turn back."
Such was the situation of the Indians that the soldiers, had they followed the trail, would not have discovered the pres- ence of the enemy until in their midst -- and then they would have discovered it with a volley. The captives would sure- ly have been murdered. But evenis did not so shape themselves. The half-breed guides were either deceived themselves or they deceived the officers, and the sol- diers turned back. After the turning back of the troops. the Indians did not hesi- tate a moment. but set ont in all haste for the west.
On the return from the pursuit of the Indians, Captain Bce and his command went down the river to Springfield, and on Monday, March 30, the dead bodies of the victims were binied. It was found that all the goods had been carried away from the store. William Wood was bur- ied near where he was found. on the west bank of the river. just above the old ford. the exact spot being now unknown. The soldiers failed to find the body of George Wood, which was concealed in the brush pile, but it was subsequently found and buried near the spot where he was killed. The Stewart family and Willie Thomas were buried near the Stewart cabin. In
"LONE TREE"
Historic Landmark Near Lakefield.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND THE 'V FOUNDATIONS
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.
his report Captain Bee said: "It was one of the saddest moments of my life when I saw the Stewart family dead by their cold hearthstone, but then and there my conscience told me that they had met their fate by no fault of mine." At the Wheeler cabin, Mr. Henderson was found alive, not having been molested by the Indians. Mr. Smith and the Shiegley boy were found at the Thomas cabin.
While Captain Bee and his forces were still at Heron lake he detailed Lieutenant Murry and eight men to go to Spirit lake to bury the dead. The party went to the Marble grove, buried the body of Mr. Marble, and then returned to Springfield. The rapid melting of the snow and the consequent rapid rise of the streams made progress difficult and he did not go to the Okoboji lakes. The dead there were af- terward buried by the Iowa volunteers, on April 3.
While in Springfield Captain Bee ex- pressed much feeling over the massacre of the settlers. He said he was sorry Ma- jor Williams had not continued his march over the state line and taken summary vengeance on the Indians of Gaboo's camp, who professed such great friendship for the whites, remarking that the major was not tied up with orders as he was.15 The commander of the regular soldiers expressed the hope that the fugitive fam- ilies would return, and went so far as to send a messenger after them with the information that the Indians were out of the country and that a guard of soldiers would be left at Springfield for their protection ; that all might now return in safety, 16
Captain Bee detailed Lieutenant Murry 13Jareb Palmer.
10"On the strength of these assurances some returned and reported that if the guard was to he permanent all would return. 1 could give them no information on that head, but stated that I would take the responsibility of leaving an officer, two non-commissioned officers and twenty-six privates, but that further action must come from my military superiors."-Re- port of Captain Bernard E. Bee.
and seventeen men to remain in the set- tlement for the protection of any who wished to remain and those who might come in. Mr. Jareb Palmer, who was in the camp when the order was read, says :. "I remember that the order stated that there should not be any unnecessary bu- gling. and I heard him afterward remark while in conversation with the lieutenant that the less bugling they had the better. all of which went to show that he didn't think the danger was over." The next morning after the detail was announced Captain Bee and the main part of his command departed for Fort Ridgely. where he arrived April 8.17
Lieutenant Murry18 and his seventeen men pitched their camp just south of the Wheeler cabin and not far from the Car- ver cabin. This force remained at Spring- feld until about AApril 20. Then it was relieved by Lieutenant John McNab with a force of twenty men, who remained un- til fall.
The subsequent history of Inkpaduta and his band can be told in a few words. Although all the damage had been done by a dozen or, fifteen warriors of the out- law band. it was feared the whole Sioux nation was up in arms. There was great "Captain Bernard E. Bee was a South Caro- linian and was about forty years of age in 1857. He was a West Point graduate and a brave and determined officer. Soon after the expedition to Springfield his regiment went west to help suppress the Mormon uprising and he was in the west until the beginning of the civil war. When South Carolina seceded from the union Captain Bee resigned from the army and was made a hrigadier general in the con- foderate army. He was killed in the first bat- tle of Bull Run while endeavoring to hold his brigade in line. But before he was killed he did much to turn the tide of battle and bring about a confederate victory.
During the hottest part of the battle, while his men and those of several other commands were fleeing in disorder, noting how firmly stood the brigade of General Thomas J. Jack- son. General Bee shouted to his men: "For God's sake,- stand. men; stand like Jackson's brigade on your right: there they stand like a stone wall." General Beauregard and other officers, overhearing the remark, remembered it. and from this came the famous soubriquet of "Stonewall Jackson."
18lieutenant Murry was a Pennsylvanian by birth. He had attended West Point, but failed to graduate, and was appointed to the army from civil life, He remained true to the north- ern cause.
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alarm all over southern Minnesota, al- though there was not a hostile Indian in the vicinity.
Immediately after the soldiers under Captain Bee had given up the pursuit. the Indians made all haste to get out of the country. They traveled westward in- to Dakota, taking the women captives with them. Of the four unfortunate wom- en, Mrs. Thatcher and Mrs. Noble were cruelly murdered. Mrs. Marble and Miss Gardner were ransomed after considerable delay.
Inkpaduta and his band of murderers were never properly punished. owing to a combination of circumstances. The chief himself became totally blind within a
few years and did not participate in more butcheries. He and two surviving sons fled with Sitting Bull to Canada, finally locating at the Canadian red pipestone quarry, in southwestern Manitoba. Here in 1894 Dr. Charles Eastman, a well- known Indian authority, found the de- scendants of Inkpaduta, who gave him much interesting information. The bloody-minded old savage himself had died miserably some years before.19 Two of Inkpaduta's sons, Roaring Cloud and Fire Cloud, were killed during the sum- mer of 1857. Two other members of the band were killed by Little Crow's In- dians. Probably the rest took part in the great Sioux outbreak of 1862.
"Minnesota in Three Centuries.
CHAPTER VI.
RESETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION-1852-1859.
I T SEEMS strange that in less than two months after the terrible Inkpa- duta massacre-at a time when only a handful of men were braving the dan- gers of the Indian country by remaining in what was then known as the Spring- field settlement-the legislature of the territory of Minnesota should see fit to create the political division known as Jackson county and make provision for its organization. But such is the ease, and Jackson county was for the first time entitled to a place on the map of Minne- sota on May 23, 1857, when Governor Samuel Medary attached his signature to the bill creating it.
Conditions in Minnesota territory at the time were unique. Thousands of peo- ple were ponring in and building them- selves homes in the frontier sections. Elab- orate schemes for big ventures were planned ; nothing was done in a niggardly manner; frenzied finance reigned su- preme. Railroad rumors filled the air, and it was indeed an out-of-the-way place that did not look forward to the coming of the iron horse in the immediate fu- ture. Paper roads covered the territory from one end of the territory to the other, and southwestern Minnesota was no ex- ception to the rule. The territorial leg- islature caught the fever and granted bo-
nuses to varions contemplated railroads. The townsite boomers carried their schemes to the legislature and largely for their benefit the Minnesota law making body indiscriminately created counties in all parts of the territory-in many of which there was not at the time a single resident. And Jackson county came into existence under these conditions.
Investigation shows us that in addi- tion to the Indian title, which was quiet- ed by treaty in the early fifties, the land now comprising Jackson county has been in the possession of three different civiliz- ed nations and has formed a part of six different territories of the United States and of three different counties of Minne- sota.
Our county formed a small part of the new world possessions elaimed by France by right of discovery and exploration. In 1763, humbled by wars in Europe and America, France was forced to relinquish her province known as Louisiana, and all her possessions west of the Mississippi river were ceded to Spain in that year. Amid the exigencies of European wars Spain, in the year 1800, ceded Louisiana back to France, which was then ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte. On April 30, 1803, negotiations were completed for the pur- chase of Louisiana by the United States
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.
for the sum of $15,000,000. On that date the future Jackson county became a part of the United States.
Soon after the United States secured possession-in 1805 that part of the mammoth territory of Louisiana which had been called Upper Louisiana was or- ganized into Missouri territory, and had our county then had settlers they would have been under the government of Mis- souri. Missouri was admitted as a state in 1820. and for several years thereafter the country beyond its northern boun- dary. comprising what is now Jowa and all of Minnesota west of the Mississippi river. was without organized government. But in 1831 congress attached this great expanse of territory to Michigan terri- tory. Two years later Wisconsin terri- tory was formed. comprising all of Michi- gan west of Lake Michigan and for the next two years we were a part of that ter- ritory.
Congress did a lot of enacting and boundary changing before Jackson coun- ty got where is belonged. We became a part of Iowa territory when it was creat- od in 1838, because we were included in "all that part of the [then] present ter- ritory of Wisconsin which lies west of the Mississippi river and west of a line drawn due north from the headwaters or sources of the Mississippi to the territorial line." Jackson county was a part of lowa fer- ritory until Jowa became a >fate in 1816. During this time settlers began to locate in portions of what later became Minne- sota, and they were put under the juris- diction of Clayton county, Iowa.1 - Bo- fore this the Minnesota country had been practically a "no man's land." The only laws enforced were the rules of the fur companies and the law of the sword ad- ministered by the commandant at Fort 'lenry 11. Sibley, who lived at Mendola, was a justice of the peace of that county. The county seat was 250 miles distant, and his jur- Isdiction extended over a region of country "as large as the empire of France."
Snelling. By the admission of lowa as a state in 1846 our county again became actually a "no man's land:" we were a part of no territory or state. That con- dition existed until Minnesota territory was created in 1819.2
When the first legislature convened af- ter the organization of the territory in 1819 it divided Minnesota into nine coun- ties. nimed as follows: Benton, Dakota. Itasca, Cass. Pembina. Ramsey, Washing- ion, Chicago and Wabasha. The whole of southern Minnesota was included in Wa- basha and Dakota. and of these two. Da- kota had the bulk of the territory. Wa- basha included that part of the territory "lying east of a line running due south from a point on the Mississippi river known as Medicine Bettle village, at Pine Bend | near St. Paul|. to the Towa line." Dakota county (created October 21. 1> 19) was "all that part of said territory west of the Mississippi and lying west of the county of Wabasha and south of a line beginning at the month of Crow river. and up said river and the north branch thereof to its source, and theneo due west to the Missouri river.""
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