History of Goodhue County, Minnesota, Part 10

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, H.C. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1264

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HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

traders, and by the commissioners, too, and that his opinions were the result of substantial considerations. If the charge were true, the conduct of Little Crow was somewhat strange. He spoke against considering the treaty until the money that was being held back should be paid in hand. He demanded a reserva- tion that should come down the Minnesota to Traverse des Sioux, and he wanted all the money and goods, and the most favorable terms generally that could be had. Ile was in frequent consulta- tion with the commissioners during the days of waiting, and at the last announced that he was ready to sign the treaty, although some of the Indians had sworn that they would shoot the first man of their tribe who put his hand to the goose quill prepara- tory to subscribing to the hated contract.

Monday, August 5, was an eventful day in the deliberations. The council met at 11 o'clock in the morning, and Chief Good Road, of one of the bands about Fort Snelling, was the first speaker. IIe said: "We have several things to say about the various matters before we sign this treaty. " Colonel Lea replied : "The treaty has been prepared after we have all agreed as to its terms, and it is best not to delay any further. We will have the treaty read in English and explained in the Dakotah language, so that all can see that it is a good treaty." Rev. S. R. Riggs, the missionary. read the treaty slowly, and explained it in Sioux very fully. Governor Ramsey then said: "The chiefs and head men have heard the treaty in their own language. Who will sign first ?" There was a silence of some minutes, when Colonel Lea indicated that Little Crow should be the first to sign, but the chief smiled and shook his head. At last Wabasha arose and said :

"You have requested us to sign this paper, and you have told these people standing around that it is for their benefit ; but I do not think so. In the treaty you have read you mention a lot about farmers, schools. physicians, traders and half-breeds, who are to be paid out of the money. To all of these I am opposed. You see these chiefs sitting around here. They and some others, who are dead, went to Washington twelve years ago and made a treaty in which some things were said ; but we were not bene- fited by them, and I want them struck out of this one. We want nothing but cash for our lands. Another thing: You have named a place for our home, but it is a prairie country. I am a man used to the woods, and do not like the prairies; perhaps some of these who are here will name a place we would all like better. Another thing; when I went to Washington to see our Great Father, he asked us for our land, and we gave it to him, and he agreed to furnish us with provisions and goods for twenty years. I wish to remain in this country until that time expires.

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

Colonel. Lea made an indignant and severe reply to Wabasha, although as a matter of fact Wabasha's request was not perhaps so very unreasonable. The colonel declared that the chief had a forked tongue, and was neither the friend of the white man or the Indians. "We know that the treaty does not meet his views, and we do not expect to be able to make one that will suit him," said Colonel Lea. "We know that he tried to deceive the Indi- ans and us. He wanted to have the Medawakantons and Wah- pakootas make a treaty by themselves-a separate treaty-and leave out the upper bands altogether. He did not want them to have a good treaty unless he could dictate just how it should be. IIe advised you to ask $6,000,000 for the land, which he knew was a foolish proposition. We are surprised to find a chief like him, whose father and grandfather were great chiefs. We have talked much about this treaty, and we have written and signed it, and now it is too late to talk of changing it." After Colonel Lea had finished this stinging rebuke, which must have gone deep to the heart of the proud old chief, there was evident dissatis- faction among the Indians. Governor Ramsey quickly asked : "Will either of the principal chiefs sign? Do they say yes .or no?" But they said neither. They were silent for a time, and evidently displeased. For a while it looked as though the papers would not receive a single Indian signature. At last Bad Hail, the second chief of Gray Iron's band, arose and said that if two claims against the whites could be settled, he and others would sign. Chief Shakopee then came forward and laid before the commissioners a written deed, made and signed by the Indians in 1837. and conveying to their kinswoman, Mrs. Lucy Bailly (nee Faribault). the wife of Alexis Bailly, three sec- tions of land, including the present site of the town of Shakopee. The chief said the Indians desired that this land be secured to Mrs. Bailly by the treaty, or that, instead, the sum of $10,000 in cash be paid her. Bad Hail presented another paper, providing that a provision be made in the treaty for the reservation of sev- eral hundred acres for the heirs of Scott Campbell, the noted old interpreter at Fort Snelling. Stands Astride, the second chief of Shakopee's band, demanded that the request made in both papers be complied with. But Colonel Lea replied : "Our Great Father will not allow us to write such things in treaties. If you wish to pay Mrs. Bailly $10,000 you can do so out of your own money when the treaty is ratified, and you can pay Scott Camp- bell's heirs as much as you please; the money will be yours." Little Crow again spoke, and was, as before, listened to with the deepest attention. He said he had been raised in a country where there were plenty of trees and extensive woods, in which wild game could be found. If the Indian reservations were made

IHISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

to extend eastward to Traverse des Sioux, there would be plenty of woods, and he would be satisfied. The land provided for the future home of his band was too much prairie. Shakopee's brother now came forward. and speaking very loudly and earn- estly, and to the point, said he represented the Indian soldiers, or braves, and was one of the owners of the land. "The chiefs don't seem to do anything," he said, "and we must be heard." Like Little Crow, he thought the east line of the proposed reser- vation was too high up in the prairies, and he indicated Lake Minnetonka and Minnehaha creek as the locality where he thought the Medawakantons would, in the future, be willing to live and die, to make it the perpetual home of the band. He said the soldiers were satisfied with the other parts of the treaty. Governor Ramsey saw a valuable opportunity. He began flatter- ing not only the warrior who had spoken, but also the other Indian soldiers, saying they had spoken out boldly and like men. The commissioners, he said. have been waiting to hear what the warriors wanted. "Now," said the governor, "we will come down with the reservation to the Little Rock river, where it empties into the Minnesota; this line will certainly give you timber enough." Another soldier arose and demanded that the treaty with the Chippewas be abrogated so that he and the other Sioux could go to war against them whenever they pleased. No attention was paid to this speech except to laugh at it. Then Chief Wacoota, the mild mannered, gentle hearted head of the Red Wing band. arose, and speaking somewhat slowly and delib- erately, made a somewhat lengthy speech, in which he said that the treaty was all right upon its face, but the Indians, and he among them, feared that when it was taken to Washington it would be changed to their great injury, just as the treaty of 1837 had been changed. "I say it in good feeling," declared Wacoota, "but I think you yourselves believe it will be changed without our consent, as the other treaty was." He said as to future reservation, he wanted it south of where he and his band then lived (in the Cannon river country), or he would like his particular reservation to be at Pine Island or on the Mis- sissippi, which locality, he asserted, was a good place for the Indians. He wanted this condition put in the treaty if it was right and just, but if not, then "say no more about it." He declared he was pleased with the treaty generally, but hoped that the farming for the Indians would be better done than it had been. Governor Ramsey complimented Wacoota "as a man I always listen to with great respeet." Wacoota, it will thus be seen, wanted the reservation in the south part of what is now Minnesota, practically in what is now Goodhue county, others wanted it in other places, in fact there was so wide a diversity

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

of opinion that the red men would probably never have agreed among themselves, even if the matter had been left entirely to them. The commissioners honestly considered that they had selected a good place for the Indian reservation. There would be plenty of wood and water, and the Indians could continue to hunt in the big woods and elsewhere in their former hunting grounds as usual until the whites, should come in and settle upon the lands.

Wabasha now arose and asked whether or not is was designed to distinguish the chiefs and second chiefs by marks of distinc- tion, and to allow them more money than the common Indians should receive. Colonel Lea answered: "Wabasha now talks like a man." The colonel said that it was due to the station and responsibility of the chiefs that they should be distinguished from the other Indians. He said that each chief ought to have a medal and a good house to live in, so that when his friends eame to see him they could be accommodated properly. Wabasha again arose. This time he turned his back upon the commissioners and spoke to his warriors somewhat vehemently, but with dignity. "Young men," he said. "you have declared that the chief who got up first to sign the treaty, you would like killed; it is this talk that has caused all the difficulty. It seems that you have agreed among yourselves that you will sell the land, and you have done it in the dark. I want you to say now outright, before all the people here, whether you are willing to sell the land." Shakopee's brother, the speaker for the warriors, sprang to his feet and called ont excitedly: "Wabasha has accused us of something we never thought of. The warriors heard that the chiefs were making a treaty and they did not like it, for the land really belongs to the warriors and not to the chiefs; but they never spoke of killing the chiefs. It was true that the soldiers have got together and agreed to sell the land; they have told him so, and now I have said so." Governor Ramsey, seeing his opportunity, quickly said: "This, then, being the understand- ing, let the soldiers tell us what chief shall sign first." Medicine Bottle, the head soldier of Little Crow's Kaposia band, arose and said: "To the people who did not go to Washington and make the treaty-to them belongs the land on this side of the river. There is one chief among us who did not go to Washington at that time, and the soldiers want him to sign first. He has been a great war chief, and he has been our leader against the Chip- pewas. It is Little Crow. We want him to sign first." Little Crow promptly arose. Without a tremor he faced the scowling warriors who had opposed the treaty. and in his well known clarion voiee, keyed to a high pitch, he thus addressed them :

"Soldiers, it has been said by some of you that the first that

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

signs this treaty you will kill. Now I am willing to be first, but I am not afraid you will kill me. If you do, it will be all right. A man has to die sometime, and he ean die but once. It matters little to me when my time comes, nor do I care much how it comes, though I would rather die fighting our enemies. I believe this treaty will be best for the Dakotas, and I will sign it, even if a dog kills me before I lay down the goose quill." Then turning to the commissioners, he said: "Fathers, I hope you will be willing to let our new reservation come down to the Traverse des Sioux, so that our people can be comfortable and not crowded, and have plenty of good hunting and fishing grounds. The Swan lake and other lakes have plenty of fish and wild rice and there is plenty of wood. Rock creek is not far enough down for us. I am glad that we ean hunt in the big woods as heretofore, but I hope you will bring our new home down to Traverse des Sioux." If Little Crow's request had been granted, the eastern boundary of the new reservation would have extended about forty miles below Rock creek, or two miles east of St. Peter, and would have included the present sites of that city, New Ulm and Mankato. The commissioners declined the request. Colonel Lea said: "The reservation is all right as it is." Governor Ramsey said: "We have marked out a large piece of land for your home; the soldiers asked us for more and we gave it. It is all that we can do." Colonel Lea added: "No man puts any food in his mouth by much talk, but often gets hungry if he talks too long. Let the Little Crow and the other chiefs step forward and sign." Finding the commissioners firm, Little Crow now stepped to the table and, being handed a chair, sat down and signed each of the duplicate copies of the treaty. It has been said that Little Crow was taught to write by the Rev. Briggs at Lae qui Parle, and another account declares with equal assurance that his teacher was the Rev. Dr. Williamson, at Kaposia. To the treaty Little Crow signed his original name, Tah O-ya-te Duta, meaning His Red Nation. Wabasha was the next to sign, making his mark. Then the other chiefs, head soldiers and principal warriors crowded around to affix their marks. In all there were sixty-five Indian signatures. Of Wa- eoota's band, the following affixed their signatures: Chief Wah- koo-tay, the Shooter; his head, soldier, Iron Cloud: and his principal warriors, Good Iron Voiee. Stands on the Ground, Stands Above, Sacred Fire, Red Stones, Sacred Blaze and Iron Cane.

At Mendota. as at Traverse des Sioux, when the treaty was eoneluded. each Indian signer stepped to another table where lay another paper which he signed. This was called the traders' paper, and was an agreement to pay the "just debts." so called,

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

of the Indians, including those present and absent, alive and dead, owing to the traders and the trading company. Some of the accounts were nearly thirty years old, and the Indians who had contracted them were dead; but the bands willingly assumed the indebtedness and agreed that it might be discharged out of the first money paid them. The territory ceded by the two treaties was declared to be: "All their lands in the state of Iowa, and also all their lands in the territory of Minnesota lying east of the following line, to-wit: Beginning at the junction of Buffalo river with the Red River of the North (about twelve miles north of Morehead. at Georgetown station, in Clay county), thence along the western bank of said Red River of the North, to the mouth of the Sioux Wood river: thence along the western bank of said Sioux Wood river to Lake Traverse; thence along the western shore of said lake to the southern extremity thereof ; thenee, in a direct line, to the juncture of Kampeska lake with the Tehan-Ka-Sna-Duka, or Sioux river : thence along the western bank of said river to its point of intersection with the northern line of the state of Iowa, including all islands in said rivers and lakes."

The lower bands, in which designation were included Wa- coota's and Wabasha's bands. were to receive $1,410,000, to be paid in the manner and form following: For settling debts and removing themselves to the new reservation. $220.000, one-half to the Medawakanton bands. and one-half to the single Wahpa- koota band; for schools. mills. and opening farms. $30,000. Of the principal of $1.410,000, the sum of $30.000 in cash was to be distributed among the two bands as soon as the treaty was ratified, and $28.000 was to be expended annually under the president's direction as follows: To a civilization fund. $12.000; to an educational fund, $6,000; for goods and provisions, $10,000. The balance of the principal, or $1.160.000. was to remain in trust with the United States at five per cent interest, to be paid annually to the Indians for fifty years, commencing July 1, 1852. The $58,000 annuity interest was to be expended as the first installment-$30.000 in cash, $12.000 for civilization. $6.000 for education, and $10,000 for goods and provisions. The back annuities under the treaty of 1837 remaining unexpired were also to be paid annually. Their reservation was to extend from the month of the Yellow Medicine and Hawk creek southeasterly to the mouth of Rock creek, a tract twenty miles wide and about forty-five miles in length. The half-breeds of the Sioux were to receive in cash $150,000 in lien of the lands allowed them under the Prairie du Chien treaty of 1830, but which they had failed to claim.

The written copies of the Traverse des Sioux and the Men-

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

dota treaties, duly signed and attested, were forwarded to Wash- ington to be acted upon by the senate at the ensuing session of Congress. An unreasonably long delay resulted. Final action was not had until the following summer, when, on July 23, the senate ratified both treaties with important amendments. The provisions for reservations for both the upper and lower bands were strieken out, and substitutes adopted, agreeing to pay ten cents an aere for both reservations, and authorizing the president, with the assent of the Indians, to cause to be set apart other reservations, which were to be within the limits of the original great session. The provision to pay $150,000 to the half-bloods of the lower bands was also stricken out. The treaties, with the changes, eame back to the Indians for final ratification and agreement to the alterations. The chiefs of the lower bands at first objected very strenuously, but finally, on Saturday, September 4, 1852, at Governor Ramsey's residence in St. Paul, they signed the amended articles, and the following Monday the chiefs and head men of the upper bands affixed their marks. As amended, the treaties were proclaimed by President Fillmore February 24, 1853. The Indians were allowed to remain in their old villages, or if they preferred, to occupy their reservations as originally designated, until the president selected their new homes. That selection was never made, and the original reservations were finally allowed them. The removal of the lower Indians to their designated reservation began in 1853, but was intermittent, interrupted, and extended over a period of several years. The Indians went up in detachments, as they felt inclined. After living on the reservation for a time, some of them returned to their old hunting grounds about Men- dota, Kaposia, Wabasha. Red Wing and the Cannon river country, where they lived continuously for some time, visiting their reservation and agency only at the time of the payment of their annuities. Finally, by the offer of eabins to live in, or other substantial inducements, nearly all of them were induced to settle on the Redwood Reserve, so that in 1862, at the time of the outbreak, less than twenty families of the Medawakantons and Wahpakootas were living off their reservation. With the subsequent history of these Indians this volume will not deal in detail ; the purpose of dealing with the Indians thus far in this chapter having been to show the various negotiations by which Goodhue county and the surrounding territory came into the possession of the whites and was thus opened for settlement and development.

A few of the descendants of the original Goodhue county Sioux now live at Prairie Island, where they have a settlement of their own and a small Episcopal chapel. It will be recalled

IHISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

that after the signing of the treaty ceding this and other counties to the whites the Indians moved to the designated reservation. After the Indian outbreak of 1862 they were removed to the Santee reservation in Nebraska. For several years after the out- break an Indian's life was not safe in this county, among the indignant whites. The intense feeling after a time died away, and a few Indians wandered back. Their hearts longed for the scenes of their youth, and one by one they located on Prairie Island. Finally several families relinquished their rights in the Santee country, and in return the government built them honses and made them as comfortable as possible at Prairie Island. The annuities have now expired, and these descendants of the original owners earn their living on their little farms and do various work for the farmers of the county. Their children attend the publie schools, and the families evidently live in con- tentment and happiness. although in their hearts they still long for the old days of hunting and fishing and the free, wild out- door life, when the country was all theirs and the demands of conventionality unknown.

Hon. William C. Williston, now deceased, was one of the most eminent of Minnesota jurists, ocenpying the bench of the First Judicial district from 1891 until the time of his death. June 22, 1909. Ile was born at Cheraw, Chesterfield county, South Caro- lina. June 22. 1830, son of William K. and Annis (Chapman) Williston, the former of whom was a native of Simsbury, Conn., and the latter of South Hampton, Mass. The parents went to South Carolina in the late twenties. and there the father engaged in the mercantile business. In 1834 the family removed to Char- don. Geanga county. Ohio. There the mother died in 1863, and the father came to Red Wing, where he ended his days. During his boyhood, William was an apt pupil in the schools of his neigh- borhood, and early entertained the idea of studying for the legal profession. Such an opportunity later presented itself, and after several years of training in the office of Riddle & Thrasher, of Chardon, Ohio, he was admitted to the bar in 1854. His first practice was as a junior partner in the office of his preceptors, the firm name being Riddle, Thrasher & Williston. Two years later Mr. Williston left Chardon and came to Red Wing, becom- ing a partner in the firm of Wilder & Williston in 1859. In 1862 the Civil War had broken out, and repeated calls for volunteers were being sent to the northern states. Desiring to be of service to his country, Mr. Williston raised a company of volunteers, of which he was elected captain. This company was organized in August, 1862, with the expectation of doing service in the South, but the outbreaking of the Indian outrages caused a demand for fighting nearer home. Going into serviee as Company G, Seventh

MG Milliston

PUBLIC LIANARY

›

Mary E. Williston

PORIN

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, Captain Williston's command was ordered with the rest of the regiment on an expedition against the Indians. The regiment engaged in the battle of Wood Lake, September 22, 1862, and was stationed at frontier posts until May, 1863, when again ordered on an Indian expedition, engaging the Reds in battle July 24, 26 and 28, 1863. Company G was then ordered to St. Louis, Mo., October 7, 1863, where Captain Willis- ton remained till the spring of '64, when he tendered his resigna- tion and after its acceptance returned to Red Wing, where he resumed his practice with Judge Wilder. In 1872 he entered into partnership with O. M. Hall, this arrangement continuing for several years. His first appointment as district judge came in 1891 from Governor William R. Merriam. He was elected to the · position in 1892, and then successively re-elected until his death. His associate on the bench was the Hon. F. M. Crosby, of Hast- ings. Judge Williston represented the county in the legislature in 1873-74, served in the senate in 1876-77, was clerk of the city schools seventeen years, and city attorney several terms at vari- ous times. He was an independent voter, a communicant of the Episcopal Church for fifty years, and a member of the Masons. William C. Williston was married in 1854, at Chardon, Ohio, to Mary E. Canfield, of that place, daughter of Austin and Lodemia (Benton) Canfield. To this union were born two sons and two daughters. William F. C. is deceased. Julia W. is the wife of John H. Rich of Red Wing. Annie C. is the wife of Louis Phelps, now of Wyoming. Eugene, the youngest son, died in infancy.

CHAPTER VIII.

INDIAN TROUBLES.

Half-Breed Tract-The Location and Purpose-Issue of Scrip- Difficulties Which Ensued-Threats and Recourse to Wash- ington Finally Settle the Matter-Spirit Lake Massacre -Investigation by Red Wing Men-Uprising of 1862.

The difficulty in regard to the "Half-breed tract," so called, was a source of minch inconvenience to the early settlers in Goodhne county. As has previously been mentioned, the lower bands of Sioux had succeeded in having set off a certain tract of land, lying largely in the present Goodhue county, for the benefit of their half-bloods. There is little doubt that the Indian traders and those in their employ were the chief instruments in having such a reservation made. The persons who would be entitled to share in the tract were at that time chiefly children under age. This land was not laid off into townships and sections by the surveyors until about a year after the other parts of the county had been surveyed. A few settlers, however, had, by permission of some of the relatives of the Indians, settled within the tract. Some had purchased rights of some mixed bloods and had made a claim accordingly. When the United States survey was finally made, no attention was paid to previous boundaries, the townships and sections being laid down in the usual order, and in conformity with the adjacent lands. Soon after the land office was opened in Red Wing, a list of the names of all persons entitled to a share in the reserved tract was made out and sent to the general land office in Washington. Serip was immediately issued to each name, designating the number of aeres the person named was entitled to. General Shields brought the serip to Minnesota for distribution. A great portion of this serip passed into the hands of parents or guard- ians of children, and from them it passed into the hands of speculators. About this time there were probably two hundred families of whites settled upon this tract. Many of them held quit elaims from individual half-breeds for a certain number of aeres. But the land office could not recognize the quit claims,

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History of Goodhue County, Minnesota, Part 10

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago, H.C. Cooper Number of Pages: 1264

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, H.C. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1264