History of Goodhue County, Minnesota, Part 9

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

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William. the fifth child, worked as a bank clerk in St. Paul and Red Wing. He died in 1879.

Helen O., the sixth child, occupies an important place in this community. and lives in the old homestead at 625 Fifth street. A musician of no little ability, she serves as organist in St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, and her philanthropie and religious work is widely known.

Mattie Graham, the seventh child. is Mrs. J. S. Coughlin, a well-known resident of Minneapolis.

Jennie is Mrs. John Maginnis, of Portland, Ore., and Emma, the youngest, was a singer of considerable note. and received her musical education in Boston and in Europe. She is now Mrs. E. W. White, also of Portland, Ore.

CHAPTER VI.

UNDER EUROPEAN KINGS.

French and English Claims-Spanish Rule-The Louisiana Pur- chase-A Part of Louisiana Territory-Under Successive Jurisdiction of Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa-No Man's Land-General Sibley's Duties-Minnesota a Terri- tory-In Statehood Days-A Full-Fledged County.

To trace the early political history of Goodhue county, from the time of the undisputed possession by the Indians, is a some- what difficult task, owing to the fact that in the early days boun- daries, as given in treaties, and sometimes even in territorial acts, were rather indefinite, and sometimes obviously incorrect. The French and the English, who for so long, and for so many varied reasons, had caused Europe to flow with the blood of their rivalries, early became contestants for supremacy on the newly explored continent. By reason of the early explorations of De Soto, La Salle and others, both from the Gulf up the Mis- sissippi, and from the St. Lawrence down the Great Lakes, and thenee overland. the French claimed as their possession the entire Mississippi valley, extending as far east as the Alleghany mountains, and westward indefinitely. The British claims to sovereignty was based on the fact that the early English explorers along the Atlantic coast had, in planting the English standard, laid claim to the country "from sea to sea," as was the recognized custom among the explorers sent out by the civi- lized nations of that day. This claim was further strengthened by the activities in the disputed territory of the Hudson Bay and Northwest Fur companies, more or less connected with the English government, who had established outposts to their Cana- dian trading stations, extending well into the Mississippi valley. These rival elaims were the cause of the early French and Indian wars of the New England colonies, and it will be remembered were the cause of Braddock's memorable trip to Fort Duquesne, in which is now western Pennsylvania, upon which occasion Washing- ton took a part, and which has now become a portion of the annals of early United States history. At the close of these wars, 1763,

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

the Mississippi became the dividing line, and France ceded the entire traet west of the river to Spain. By the treaty follow- ing the American Revolution, practically all of what is now that portion of the United States lying east of the Mississippi, with the exception of Florida, which was later purchased from Spain, was virtually acknowledged as a part of the new American republie, Spain retaining her claim to the territory west of the Mississippi. In 1800, Spain restored the territory to France, and in 1803 Napoleon ceded it to the United States. This tenure of nearly forty years by Spain made no impress upon what is now Minnesota. The precarious grip of the French kings left no political or racial influence, but the brave and courageous French explorers have bequeathed their names, written in fearless char- actors in the cognomens applied to cities and rivers; and their deeds, set forth in manuscripts still preserved, will form a romantie page in the history of the state for all time to come. During these changes of possession, which were but moves in the game played on the checkerboards of European politics, the territory now known as Goodhue county remained in the prac- tical possession of the Indians, and untrod by white men, save as here and there an adventurer or trader landed upon the Mis- sissippi shore; or a band of hardy soldiers established for a time their stockades. The task of dividing the great Louisiana pur- chase, of which the present Goodhue county was a part, became an important one. In 1812, Louisiana was admitted as a state, and the rest of the purchase was reorganized as Missouri territory. In 1819, Missouri framed a state constitution, and in 1834 the distriet north of Missouri and west of the Mississippi river was a part of the land placed under the jurisdiction of Michigan territory. When Wisconsin territory was organized, from the western part of Michigan, in 1836, the present states of Iowa and Minnesota were a part of it, and the seat of govern- ment was fixed at Burlington. June 12, 1838, Congress passed an act separating Iowa from Wisconsin, what is now Minnesota, west of the Mississippi, being included in the territory of Iowa. In Towa territorial days the greater part of southern and south- eastern Minnesota was within the jurisdiction of Clayton county. Henry Il. Sibley was a justice of the peace in that county. The county seat was 250 miles distant, and his jurisdiction extended over a region of country, which, as he expressed it, was "as large as the empire of France." General Sibley lived in Men- dota, from 1835 to 1862. and in that time, without leaving home, he had lived in the territories of Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, and in the state of Minnesota. From 1846 until March 3, 1849, when Minnesota was admitted as a territory, the state was practically a no-man's land, being in a vague way

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

attached to Prairie du Chien, of Crawford county, Wisconsin, for judicial purposes, and having such law and order as could be enforced from Fort Snelling. Various bills were presented to Congress calling for the organization of the territory, all of which failed until 1849. Goodhue county, being in the posses- sion of the Sioux Indians, was little affected by the various changes in state and territorial ownership. With the inaugura- tion of President Zachary Taylor, Mareh 5, 1849, the land now known as Goodhue county, having successively passed under the rule of France, Spain-and then France again-Louisiana, Mis- souri, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, became a part of the terri- tory of Minnesota, of which political division it was designed later, in statehood days, to become so important a part. Mention of the fact that in the earliest days of Minnesota territory, Good- hue county was a part of the county of Wabasha, completes the territorial claim of title.

CHAPTER VII.

INDIAN TREATIES.

Prairie du Chien in 1825-Second Treaty in 1830-Treaty of 1837-Doty Treaty in 1841-Treaty of Mendota in 1851- Land Open to Settlement-Prairie Island Indians.

While the whites, at their own inclination, were shifting the sovereignty of the vast tract including within its scope what is now Goodhue county, the Indians, nevertheless, had claims which the nations had. in a measure at least, to acknowledge. The Sioux were not only in practical, but in actual possession, and it was only after long negotiations that the country was opened for permanent white settlement.

The treaty of Prairie du Chien, signed in 1825, was important to the Sioux living in this vicinity, in that it fixed certain boun- daries. The eastern boundary of the Sioux territory was to com- mence on the east bank of the Mississippi, opposite the mouth of the "Ioway" river, running back to the bluffs, and along the bluffs to the Bad Ax river: thence to the month of Black river, and thenee to "half a day's march" below the falls of the Chip- pewa. The boundary lines were certainly, in some respects, quite

indefinite, and whether this was the trouble or not, at any event, it was but a few months after the treaty when it was evident that neither the Dakotas nor Ojibways were willing to be governed by the lines established-and hardly by any others. The first article of the treaty provided : "There shall be a firm and per- petual peace between the Sioux and the Chippewas; between the Sioux and the confederated tribes of Sacs and Foxes; and between the Ioways and the Sioux." But this provision was more honored in the breach than the observance, and in a little time the tribes named were flying at one another's throats and engaged in their old-time hostilities. On the part of the Sioux this treaty was signed by Chiefs Wabasha, Little Crow, Standing Buffalo, Sleepy Eye, Two Faces, Tah-sah-ghee, or "His Cane:" Black Dog. Wah-alı-na-tah, or "The Charger;" Red Wing, Shakopee, Penishon and Eagle Head, and also by a number of head soldiers and "principal men." The Chippewa signers were

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

Shingauba Wassa, Gitche Gaubow,. Wis Coup, or "Sugar," and a . number of sub-chiefs and principal men.

In 1830, a second treaty with the Northwest Indian tribes was held at Prairie du Chien. Delegates were present from four bands of the Sioux, the Medawakantons, the Wapakootas, the Wahpatons and the Sissetons, and also from the Sacs, the Foxes and Iowas, and even from the Omahas, Otoes and Missouris, the homes of the last three tribes being on the Missouri river. At this treaty the Indian tribes represented ceded all of their elaims to the land in western Iowa, northwestern Missouri, and especially the country of the Des Moines river valley. The lower bands had a special article inserted in the treaty for the benefit of their half-blood relatives :

"The Sioux bands in council have earnestly solicited that they might have permission to bestow upon the half-breeds of their nation the tract of land within the following limits, to-wit: Beginning at a place called the Barn, below and near the village of the Red Wing chief, and running baek fifteen miles; thence, in a parallel line, with Lake Pepin and the Mississippi river about thirty-two miles, to a point opposite Beef, or O'Boeuf, river, thence fifteen miles to the Grand Encampment, opposite the river aforesaid, the United States agree to suffer said half breeds to ocenpy said tract of country, they holding by the same title, and in the same manner that other Indian titles are held."

Certificates, or "script," were issued to many half-breeds, and there was much speculation in them. and litigation over them, in subsequent years, a matter of which will be treated later in this history. The Sioux also ceded a traet of land twenty miles wide along the northern boundary of Iowa from the Mississippi to the Des Moines, the consideration for which was $2.000 in cash. and $12,000 in merchandise. Iron Cloud, of the Red Wing village, was among the signers of this treaty.

In the spring of 1837, Agent Taliaferro, who had in charge much of the early negotiation between the Indians and the United States, was instrueted to organize an authoritative and reliable delegation of the lower bands of Sioux. to proceed to Washington and make a treaty ceding the lands claimed by them in what are now Wisconsin and Minnesota. These lands were the islands in the Mississippi and a strip of land of a few miles, varying in width from the mouth of the Broad Axe to the mouth of the Watab. The expedition as it started from Fort Snelling consisted of a number of Indian chiefs and head men, and several whites. At Red Wing the boat stopped to take on Wacoota and his head soldier; and at Winona, Wabasha and Thin Face joined the expedition. The treaty was concluded and signed Septem- ber 29 by Joel R. Poinsett, then secretary of war. For some

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

· reason, which at the present time is not known, none of the rep- resentatives of Wabasha's and Wacoota's bands, as shown by the record. signed the treaty, although both chiefs were present, and Wabasha was head chief of the Medawakanton band. A consid- erable portion of the country ceded along the Wisconsin shore of the Mississippi was only across the river from their own lands, and they certainly had an interest in its disposition; but in the printed copies of the United States treaties their signatures do not appear.

The Doty treaty, made at Traverse des Sioux, in July, 1841, failed to be ratified by the United States Senate. This treaty embodied a Utopian dream that a territory of Indians could be established. in which the redmen would reside on farms and in villages. living their lives after the style of the whites. having a constitutional form of government, with a legislature of their own people elected by themselves, the governor to be appointed by the president of the United States, much along the plan still followed in the Indian Territory, except that it embodied for the Indians a much higher type of citizenship than is found in the Indian Territory, The Indians were to be taught the arts of peace, to be paid annuities, and to be protected by the armies of the United States from their Indian enemies on the west. In return for these benefits to be conferred upon the Indians, the United States was to receive all the lands in what is now Minne- sota, the Dakotas and northwestern Iowa, except small portions, which were to be reserved for the redmen. This ceded land was for the most part to be opened to the settlement of the whites, although the plan was to have some of it reserved for Indian tribes from other parts of the country who should sell their lands to the United States, and who, in being moved here, were to enjoy all the privileges which had been so beautifully planned for the native Indians. But no one can tell what would have been the result of this experiment, for the Senate, for political rea- sons, refused to ratify the treaty. and it failed of going into effect.

Prior to 1851. only the land on the east of the Mississippi, with a few islands in that river, were open to white settlement. The agitation started in the late forties resulted in the treaties which opened what is now Goodhne county and surrounding territory to settlement. July 22. the treaty of Traverse des Sioux was signed. and on July 29, 1851, the deliberations preceding the treaty at Mendota with the Wah-pa-koota and Medawakanton bands of Sioux were started. The chiefs and head men of these two bands were thoroughly conversant with the proceedings of the Indians and the representatives of the United States at Tra- verse des Sionx, and all were on hand, ready for the negotiations

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

at Mendota. The first session was held in the warehouse of the Fur Company at that place, but the Indians found the atmos- phere stifling, and not in accord with their usual method of outdoor councils, so the consideration of the treaty was taken up under a large brush arbor, erected by Alexis Bailly, on an ele- vated plain near the high prominence known as Pilot Knob. Dr. Thomas Foster was secretary for Commissioners Lea and Ram- sey; the interpreters were Alexander Faribault, Philander Prescott and Rev. G. HI. Pond; the white witnesses were David Olmsted, W. C. Henderson, Alexis Bailly. Richard Chute. Henry Jackson, A. L. Carpenter, W. Il. Randall, A. S. H. White, H. L. Donsman, Fred C. Sibley, Martin MeLeod, George N. Faribault and Joseph A. Wheelock. On the opening of the first day's session the object of the gathering was fully explained to the assembled Indians by the white commissioners. For the Indians, Wabasha. of the Medawakantons. replied as follows :

The chiefs and braves who sit here have heard what you have said from our Great Father. I have but one thing to say to you, fathers, and then we will separate for the day. I was among those who went to Washington and brought home the words of our Great Father. Some of those here were there also, and some who went are now dead. According to what our Great Father then said, we have some funds lying back in his hands. We spoke of these funds to our fathers. the commissioners, who were here fall before last. These men you see around you are anxious to get that which is due them before they do anything. That is all I have to say now."

The Leaf Shooter (Wacoota). of the Red Wing band, rose and displayed the medal formerly worn by Chief Wambde Yah Kapi (War Eagle That May Be Seen). who was killed by the Saes and Foxes on the Des Moines river in July, 1849. He said : "My race had four chiefs, but they have passed away from us. The last one (War Eagle That May Be Seen) was made chief by my father, Governor Ramsey, who placed this medal about his neck. Father, I wish to have those who have killed the owner of this medal. pay for it. The fall before last, you spoke of this; the medal was then all bloody, and if you will look at it you will see that it is still so. I wish you to wash that blood off. I return it to you, and if you will wipe off the blood. I will be glad."

The commissioners reminded the Indians that in regard to the money which was due them under the treaty of 1837, a por- tion of which was being withheld, the treaty provided that it was to be paid to them at the direction and pleasure of the Great Father, the president; that the Indians had agreed to this when they signed the treaty, twelve years previous, and had never com- plained before. But Colonel Lea said that if the Indians would

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

come to an agreement in regard to the treaty, there would be no trouble about the back money. In regard to the medal, which is known in history as the bloody medal, owing to the Leaf Shoot- er's poetic and figurative allusion to its ensanguined condition, Governor Ramsey said that he had demanded from the president that $1,000 should be taken from the annuities of the Sacs and Foxes and used as an emollient to cleanse the blood from the medal; and that $1.000 should be taken from the Sac and Fox fund for every Sioux killed by them, and the amount turned over to the relatives of the victims. Ile further said that in the exer- cise of his discretion, the president had concluded that the money he was keeping ought to be expended in the education of the Indian children. but that the matter could be settled amicably if the treaty were speedily signed. The next day a brief council was held under Alexis Bailly's large brush arbor, which had been well appointed with stands, tables and seats for the chiefs. At this session, Wabasha, without comment, returned a draft of the treaty which on the previous day had been presented to the Indians for their consideration. There was an embarrassing silence for a time, and Colonel Lea said he hoped the treaty would soon be concluded, for he was at a great distance from his home, and having been a long time away, was most anxious to return. Chief Wacoota replied: "Our habits are different from those of the whites, and when we have anything important to consider it takes us a long time. To this diplomatie remark. Colonel Lea rejoined : "That is true ; but this subject has been before you a long time. You are chiefs, not women and children; you can certainly 'give us an answer tomorrow." The council then adjourned for the day.

The next day. at the opening of the council, Wabasha arose and said he had listened to the words sent them by the Great Father and which the commissioners had delivered; "but," con- tinued he, "these other chiefs around me may have something to say also. I will sit and listen to what is said." After a long, constrained, and doubtless uncomfortable silence, Little Crow, graceful and deliberate, arose, and addressed the council. Little Crow, chief of the Kaposia band, was, without doubt, according to the evidence of his contemporaries, the brainiest, shrewdest and most influential Indian then west of the Mississippi. Dressed elaborately for the occasion, with a white shirt and collar, a gaudy neckchief, his tastefully embroidered medicine bag sus- pended from his neck, a red belt, with a silver buckle, about his waist, and wearing a pair of elaborately beaded trousers and moccasins, his long, black, curling hair, soft and almost as silken as a white woman's, flowing over his shoulders, and with his keen black eyes alight-he was indeed a striking and attractive fig-

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

ure. His voice, attuned to the forests and the waterfalls, had nature's own musical intonations, and when he began to speak even the little Indian children, playing about the outskirts of the council, were silent. As reported by Alexander Faribault, the chieftain said :

"Fathers: These chiefs and soldiers, and others who sit here, have something they wish said to you, and I am going to speak it for them. There are chiefs here who are older than myself, and I would rather they had spoken; but they have put it upon me to speak, although I feel as if my mouth was tied. These chiefs went to Washington long ago and brought back a good report concerning the settlement of our affairs in the treaty made there, and they and we were glad. But things that were promised in that treaty have not taken place. This is why these men sit still and say nothing. You perhaps are ashamed (or dis- graced ; "ishtenya" in Sioux) of us; but you, fathers, are the cause of it's being so. They speak of money that is due them; it was mentioned the other day to Governor Ramsey, and we spoke about it last fall, but we have not yet seen the money. We desire to have it laid down to us. It is money due on the old treaty, and I think it should be paid; we do not want to talk about a new treaty until it is all paid."

The commissioners again declared that under the treaty the money which had been withheld was to be expended by the direc- tion of the president, and he had decided to apply it to the edu- cation of the Indian children. Perhaps, they said, there has been a misunderstanding as to what the other treaty meant. They desired now to make a treaty that would be so plain that there could, and would be no doubt, as to its meaning. Governor Ram- sey then said : "If this treaty can be arranged, as much money will be paid down to you as will be equal to your usual cash annuities for three years." The governor then thought to bring matters to an immediate conclusion. "Do you wish," he asked, "that this amount be paid to you as your other annuities have been?" The chiefs made a murmur of apparent assent, and the governor continued: "Do all the people want it paid in that way ?" Little Crow replied that if it were divided for the Indians by the whites it would probably be best; if the Indians undertook to divide it there might be some difficulty. Governor Ramsey replied that the money was in "money boxes," and a long time would be required to count the money and get it ready, and in the meanwhile they would go ahead with the treaty. But Little Crow said : "We will talk of nothing else but that money, if it is until next spring. That lies in the way of a treaty. I speak for others, and not for myself."

After some protests against further delay on the part of the

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

commissioners, the Indians saying nothing, the council adjourned until it should be called by the Indians. The next day the Indi- ans remained in their quarters until late in the afternoon, when messengers came saying that the chiefs were all assembled at the council house and wished their white fathers to attend. Very soon the council was in session, but after the opening there was a long silence. Finally Anah-ga-nahzhee (Stands Astride), the second chief, or head soldier of the band of his brother, Shako- pee, remarked that it had been decided in council, the Indian council. that Wacoota should speak to the Indians. But Wacoota asked to be excused, and that some other Indian should speak. "I am of the same mind with my friend here, Wabasha, and will sit and listen, " said Wacoota. There was no response. After a long wait the commissioners went over the whole subject again, and the Indians yet remaining silent. Colonel Lea at last said: "It is plain that the Medawakantons do not wish to sell their lands. I hope they will not regret it. This grieves my heart, and I know it will make the heart of your Great Father sad. Say to the chiefs and head men that we are all ready to meet them here tomorrow, or at any other time and place they desire." The commissioners now hastily adjourned, apparently in great ill humor, leaving the chiefs still on the benches, astounded at the conduct of their white brothers. There was an interregnum in the proceedings for four days. The time was spent by the whites in privately preparing a treaty which would be acceptable to the Indians. The Medawakantons had become partially reconciled. The head chief, Wabasha, was still opposed to any treaty as it had been proposed, but Little Crow and other sub-chiefs were in favor of one if the terms were fairly liberal and the assent of their bands could be obtained. Little Crow was particularly for a treaty and the sale of the big expanse of land to the westward, which, he said, did his people no good, which but very few of his band had ever visited, and which he himself had never seen. He disliked to abandon his old Kaposia home, because of its associations. Here were the graves of his father and mother and other kinspeople; here was the site of his birthplace and of his boyhood, and here he had been chief of the old and noted band of his ancestors for more than four years. But Little Crow was shrewd and intelligent, and knew that the whites were pressing upon his people as they had pressed upon the other red people, and that the result would be the same as it had been-the Indians would be compelled to leave their country and move on. The wise course, therefore, it seemed to him, was to obtain the best terms possible-to get all of the money and other supplies and the best permanent reservation to be had. It was asserted that Little Crow had been well bribed by the

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History of Goodhue County, Minnesota, Part 9

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