History of Houston County, Minnesota, Part 6

Author: Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge
Publication date: 1919
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1343

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"When opened they have been found to contain human remains of men of large stature, and it is said that in grading for the railroad, a copper skillet and other trinkets were found at a depth of eighteen feet below the

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HISTORY OF HOUSTON COUNTY

surface." (Geol. Report on Houston County.) Surveyed July 21 and 22, 1884.

La Crescent Group (southern part). This contains ten mounds, of which three are effigies. The circular mounds are small and somewhat scattered. They are all situated on the two plateaus mentioned, one about thirty feet, and the other about fifty feet above the river. The effigy which is on the lower terrace represents nothing so much as a cross, but it doubtless belongs to that class which is named bird effigies. Mr. Lewis, in "Science," No. 6, 1885, has designated another of these effigies a frog, and taken by itself it has the form of a frog more than that of any other animal, but it may rather be composed of two imperfect bird effigies, one directly in advance of the other, and so near together that they are in one mound. This idea is rather favored by the fact that a third effigy, like a bird with spread wings, is very close to the rear, and by a little enlargement, either of the frog or of this third bird, the three would be brought into union. The spread of the wings, the size and length of the body and the direction of flight are almost identical in the trio.

This part, and the northern part of this group, are numbered con- tinuously from north to south.

Mounds near Pine Creek, south of La Crescent, on S. E. 1/4, N. W. 1/4, Sec. 15, T. 104-4, located on a spur from a plateau, about fifty feet above the river. This group consists of two, an elongated mound and a bird effigy, with the remains of an animal effigy on plowed land. The form which is called a bird effigy is hardly susceptible of that designation, as its wings are more like short, small, elongated mounds, crossing that of the wings nearly at a right angle. The body, however, is wider than the head. Sur- veyed July 18, 1884.

Pine Creek Group, south of La Crescent, S. E. 1/4, N. W. 1/4, and N. E. 14, S. W. 1/4, Sec. 15, T. 104-4. On a plateau about fifty feet above the flood plain of the Mississippi. This group of twenty-two mounds embraces four bird effigies, all of which, with straight broad wings, appear more like simple Greek crosses, with one arm too long and the opposite one too short. As they are all headed, however, in the same direction, they appear to be a small flock of birds, and can hardly be separated from numerous others, which are more evidently intended to represent birds in flight. One of the tumuli is egg-shaped, and they are all small, the largest being thirty- two feet in diameter. Surveyed July 18, 1884.

A lone mound is in Root River valley one mile northeast of Hokah, on N. W. 14, Sec. 32, T. 104-4, on a plateau about sixty feet above the river, twenty-two feet by twelve feet.

Another lone mound is near the center of Section 27, T. 104-5, on a terrace about sixty feet above the river, in the woods, twenty-two feet by three feet.

Silver Creek Mounds, W. 1/2, N. E. 1/4, Sec. 25, T. 104-6, on a terrace about thirty-five feet above the river bottomland. Here are three tumuli, the largest, separated from the others, being forty-six feet by three feet. One has been said to be the grave of the celebrated chief Black Hawk but this is untrue. It is now plowed. Surveyed July 14, 1884. 3

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Circular enclosure two miles west of Hokah, S. E. 1/4, N. E. 14, Sec. 2, T. 103-5, about sixty feet above the bottom land of the creek. The average depth inside is about two feet. The width of the embankment is fourteen feet. The opening at the south side is nine feet. The diameter from the center of the embankment on the east side to the same on the west side is forty feet. Surveyed July 9, 1884.

Mounds on Hokah townsite, N. 1/2, N. E. 1/4, Sec. 6, T. 103-4. There are three mounds on the public square, one being a bird effigy, seventy feet above the river, its height being one and one-half feet. Length of body is eighty-seven feet, span of the wings is 225 feet. The wings of this effigy are slightly flexed backward. The body is rounded at its extremity. A smaller bird effigy, sixty feet above the river, a little N. of E. of this, on block K, has no flexture in its wings and has a rectangular termination of its body. Another animal effigy is on lot 1, block 17, at ninety-five feet above the river. Mr. Lewis says, in "Science," No. 106, 1885, "From the extremity of the snout to the tip of the tail its length in a right line is just sixty-two and one-half feet, and the body is one and one-half feet in height. . Formerly there existed several other effigies, and thirty or forty mounds and embankments, on the same terrace with the birds. which have been removed in grading streets and lots." In this number was one turtle effigy.

Mounds two miles above Brownsville, W. 1/2, S. E. 1/4, N. E. 1/4, Sec. 14, T. 103-4, on a plateau about thirty feet above the bottomland. This group consists of a thickly set cluster of fifty-eight tumuli, mostly less than twenty-eight feet in diameter; the largest being forty-four feet by three feet. Surveyed July 2, 1884.

A lone tumulus is at Brownsville on S. E. 1/4, S. W. 1/4, Sec. 26, T. 103-4, on a spur of the bluff about 480 feet above the flood plain. It is composed of stone covered with dirt, and is thirty-five feet by three feet, and about 600 feet from the Mississippi River. The bluff at De Sota can be seen plainly from this mound, and also the bluffs above La Crosse. Surveyed July 1, 1884.

Mounds near Fairy Rock on the Mississippi River, N. E. 74, N. E. y4, Sec. 26, T. 102-4. These three tumuli are about 150 feet above the river, of less than medium size and about 200 feet south of Fairy Rock. Surveyed May 16, 1889.

Mounds two miles north of Jefferson, on N. E. 1/4, N. E. 1/4, Sec. 23, T. 101-4, about twenty-six feet above the slough. Across the line of Sec. 14 were formerly a number of round mounds, now almost obliterated. The group consists of thirty-three ordinary tumuli of moderate dimensions, the largest being forty feet in diameter, and the rest about thirty feet. Surveyed June 30, 1884.

Mounds at Jefferson, N. E. 1/4, Sec. 35, T. 101-4, on a narrow rocky ridge about 500 feet above the Mississippi, group of three mounds. The only information obtainable respecting this group is that published in the Twelfth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, p. 45, for 1890-91, imprint 1894, by Cyrus Thomas, as follows:

"No. 1, about thirty feet in diameter and six feet high, of the usual

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HISTORY OF HOUSTON COUNTY

conical form, on the summit of the cliff, had already been opened sufficiently to remove therefrom the skeleton of an Indian warrior, together with his gun, hatchet, etc. The excavation which had been made was still partly open, and extending downward only about half the depth of the mound. Digging about a foot further into the hard, light-colored earth, apparently a mixture of clay and ashes, a stone slab was encountered something over two feet long, something less in width, and five inches thick, of the same kind of rock as that found in the cliff. This was lying flat upon others of various sizes, which were placed edgewise so as to form an oblong cist or coffin, but so small that its contents, the decayed bones of an adult, were nearly in a heap, as though the skeleton had been folded and deposited after the flesh was removed. No implements or vestiges of art were found.

"No. 2. This interesting mound, situated about fifty feet south and somewhat down the slope from No. 1, is circular, about twenty-five feet in diameter and six feet high. An excavation had been made in the top of the covering of top slabs of a stone vault or chamber, which further exploration showed the mound to contain. The form of this vault is shown in the accompanying figure. It was about six feet in diameter throughout, and before it was disturbed probably reached nearly or quite to the top of the mound. Some of the top rocks had been thrown down, and, with some small human bones, were lying on the slope of the mound. The floor of the inner area was filled to the depth of about two feet with charcoal, ashes and split bones of animals, among which were found two roughly chipped scrapers or skinners. This accumulation had not been disturbed by those who had made the first partial opening above, and who, as was learned, had unearthed the skeleton of an Indian child, with some modern beads and other trinkets.

"No. 3 is situated about 100 feet north but much below No. 1, and is about twenty feet in diameter and four feet high. Nothing whatever of interest was found in it.

"Nothing was observed in relation to these works differing from the usual conical mounds in this region except the peculiar commanding posi- tion which they occupy, and the walled structure of No. 2. Of the numerous bluffs in this region no other affords such a clear and extensive view of the surrounding country as this. An unobstructed view of the Mississippi for a considerable distance above and below, also up the Little Iowa, Winnebago and other streams, is here obtained. From this position can be seen the mouth of Root River on the west, and on the east the deep-gorged Bad Axe, and the last battle-field on which Black Hawk fought. It must, therefore, have always been a favorite outlook point or station.

"Mound No. 2 seems to have been purposely built upon the sunny slope of the cliff just below the summit, so as to be sheltered from the cold north- west winds, and partly also from observation, while its occupants had a nearly unobstructed field for observation and signals. Unlike the other mounds near it which were opened, it was composed wholly of the rock and soil taken from around it. Possibly it may have been used as a sentry post or signal station. The charcoal, ashes and split bones of animals were doubtless the remains of the feasts and fires of the watchmen; the burial

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HISTORY OF HOUSTON COUNTY

of a child in the mound was intrusive and by modern Indians. Not a fragment of pottery was found at this locality, although within ten miles of the pottery circle in Iowa, which will be noticed hereafter."

It appears from this, and from the cairns at Red Wing, as well as from the stone-box graves of Dayton's bluff, in Ramsey county, that the mound builders resorted to stone for the construction of their burial cists when suitable stone slabs were available.

Ruined fort, N. W. 1/4, Sec. 33, T. 101-4. The outlines of this fort are only just traceable. They are on a high ridge. The fort was about 600 feet by 500 feet. Surveyed April 22, 1892.

Winnebago Creek mounds, W. 1/2, S. W. 1/4, Sec. 35, T. 101-4, on a plateau about twenty-two feet above the creek. This group embraces forty circular mounds, of rather less than average size. They are scattered promiscuously over the platform.

Hogback mounds near Jefferson, N. W. 1/4, N. E. 1/4, Sec. 35, T. 101-4. These are tumuli of good size, and three have been opened. The largest of fifty feet by seven and one-half feet, and is about 350 feet above the river. Those opened have rock burials. The smallest is an elongated mound.

New Albion group, S. W. 1/4, S. E. 1/4, Sec. 5, T. 101-4, and continuing into Allamakee county, Iowa. On a plateau about fourteen feet above the marsh. This group embraces eleven tumuli, situated between the railroad and the marsh to the east. But two of these are north of the State line. One is fifty-five feet by three feet, and the other is flat-topped with a top diameter of twenty feet. 'The series extending southwestwardly, comes to the "sandpit" and has lost a portion of two. Four have been excavated. Surveyed June 24, 1884.

There are also numerous other groups of mounds in the county, notably in Yucatan townships, which have not as yet been scientifically surveyed or examined, but which have been dug into and searched at various times by curiosity seekers.

An example of Indian pictographs and carvings is found in the Reno cave on the northwest quarter of section 35, township 102, range 4. This cave is 150 feet above Minnesota slough. It is twelve feet long and five feet wide at the bottom. The main portion is twelve feet high. The floor is five feet above the ground at the entrance. On the walls are numerous crude outlines of various animals, including man, fish and birds. An 8-rayed star has been interpreted sometimes to represent the four main points of the compass with intermediate divisions.

Many relics found in Houston county are in the hands of private col- lectors. In the museum of the Minnesota Historical Society are to be found the following specimens from this county: 15 arrow heads, 8 war points, 3 spear heads, 6 awls, 4 clay vessels (from mounds), 1 clay disk, 1 hematite celt, 1 piece of hematite, 2 chipped implements, 2 scrapers, 1 celt, 1 stone pipe (from a mound), 2 stone hoes, 3 shell beads (from a mound). 1 discoidal stone, 1 pendant, 1 perforated stone, 1 grooved ax, 1 ceremonial, 1 shell pin.

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CHAPTER IV

REIGN OF THE INDIANS

From the days of the early explorers, the Root River Valley, and its adjacent territory in Houston county, was ranged by the M'dewakanton band of the Dakota Indians. Many a murderous foray was made against them by the Sauk and Fox Indians, who used this county as a pathway to the Dakota village at Winona. Later the Winnebago were temporary occupants.

The Dakota were the principal division of the Siouan family, and are more commonly called by their family name of Sioux, rather than by their individual name of Dakota. The Siouan family consists not only of the Dakota proper, but also of the Winnebago, the Assiniboin, the Minnetare group, and the Osage and southern kindred tribes.

The word Sioux, now applied to the whole linguistic family, though by the early settlers applied to the Dakota alone, is a corruption of the word Madouessi or Nadouescious, the French rendering of a word meaning literally "the snake-like ones," or figuratively "the enemies," the name by which the Chippewa and other Algonquin Indians called the Dakota. Dakota, variously spelled, was applied by this branch for the Siouan family to themselves, and means "joined together in friendly compact," an uncon- scious prophecy of the "E. Pluribus Unum" which was to become the motto of the United States of America.

An important division of the Dakota were the M'dewakanton tribe, who ranged the Mississippi as far south as the Illinois River country. At one time the M'dewakanton had their headquarters about the Mille Lacs region in northern Minnesota, hence their name which means "The People of the Spirit Lake." Evidently driven out by the Chippewa, who had obtained arms from the whites, they established themselves in seven vil- lages along the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers.

The Wabashas were the head chiefs of the M'dewakanton. Their immediate band, in which was probably a mingling of the former Mantan- ton, became the buffer band between the other Dakota and their enemies on the south. From Mille Lacs they moved to the mouth of the Rum River, near Anoka, Minn., then to the mouth of the Minnesota River, not far from St. Paul, Minn., then to Red Wing, Minn., and then to Winona, Minn., where they established themselves permanently. With headquarters at Winona, which they called Ke-ox-ah, and where the annual games of all the M'dewakanton were held, they had at different times, temporary vil- lages on the Upper Iowa, on the Root River, at Trempealeau, and at Minnesota City.

Three Wabashas are known to the history of Houston county. The origin of the dynasty is shrouded in antiquity. But some time in the first

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quarter of the eighteenth century a powerful Dakota chief married a beautiful Chippewas princess, and by her had two sons, both of whom were raised as Dakotas. The eldest was Wabasha I. Later, returning to her own people, the Chippewa princess married a noted Chippewa brave. One of the children born to this union was Mamongazida, a famous Chippewa chief, who was the father of the still more famous Wabajeeg. Thus the princess became the ancestress of two royal houses, one ruling the M'de wakanton Dakota and the other the Chippewa. Wabasha I was probably born about 1720. In spite of his traditional Chippewa blood, he frequently engaged in fierce warfare against the people of that nation.

Our first real knowledge of Wabasha I (then rendered by the French, Ouabashas) dates from March 9, 1740, when he is recorded as having met Pierre Paul, the Sieur Marin (afterward commander of a Lake Pepin stock- ade in 1750-52) on the Rock River, in Wisconsin. At that time Wabasha I and those with him offered to surrender themselves and to submit to pun- ishment for the slaughter by some Dakota warriors of several Chippewa who had been under the personal protection of the French.

After France, by the treaty of 1763, relinquished its titles in North America to England and Spain, the French traders began to withdraw from the Sioux country. The English were slow to take their places because they feared the Indians. The Sauk and other Algonquin leaders continued their fight against the English. The French had withdrawn their authority, and the British had not yet time to look after the Indians of the west. Passage through the Indians of the Wisconsin country was fraught with the greatest danger. And the attitude of the Sioux them- selves was suspected by reason of a murder which had taken place about 1761, when a trader, called by the Indians, Pagonta, or the Mallard Duck, was shot while smoking in his cabin at Mendota by Ixkatapay, a Sioux Indian with whom he had quarreled.

The absence of the traders worked a great hardship on the Indians. They had degenerated by contact wtih the whites. No longer were they the noble lords of the wild who had been able to wrest their living from the forests and plains and streams. They had lost their skill with the spear and with the arrow. They had been taught to depend on the whites for ammunition and provisions. Now they could no longer obtain these articles, and as the result they were reduced to absolute want.

Therefore, the Indians of the neighborhood of Winona, Red Wing, South St. Paul and the Minnesota River held a conference, as the result of which they resolved to surrender Ixkatapay, to promise peace, to beg the traders to return, and to implore the protection of the British. The council selected a delegation of nearly 100 to go to Quebec on this mission, with Ixkatapay as a prisoner. Wabasha I was leader of this party. They went by way of the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers, but before they reached Green Bay one after another deserted. There all but six had turned back, taking Ixkatapay with them. The chief Wabasha I and five others, true to their trust, kept on their way.

Reaching Quebec, Wabasha I explained the situation and the condition of his people, and offered himself for execution for the murder of the

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HISTORY OF HOUSTON COUNTY

trader, in the place of Ixkatapay, but implored the British to take his people under their protection and to send ammunition and goods at once to his suffering tribes in exchange for the furs that they had on hand. Struck with his noble character the English granted all he asked, and gave him seven medals for the seven bands of his tribe, one of which medals was hung about Wabasha's own neck. It is said that Wabasha I was also pre- sented with a red cap and gaudy uniform.

It was natural that Wabasha I having been signally honored by the British, and having received succor at their hands, should side with the English against the colonists in the Revolutionary war. The British trad- ers were active in instigating the Indians to hostility against the Ameri- cans. Wabasha I was recognized as a leading chief. He was directed in his movements by the English commander at Mackinac. In 1779 Wabasha I and his warriors were at Prairie du Chien, awaiting instructions as to whether he should attack the Sauk and Fox for favoring the Americans. In 1780 Wabasha I was the leader of a thousand Sioux, designed to rein- force the British at Kaskaskia and attack the settlements at St. Genevieve, Mo. Wabasha I, who in the official reports is called General Wabasha, was highly commended by the British officers for his discipline, valor and un- common abilities, and was mentioned in the war correspondence of the time as commanding a force of Indians in no way inferior as soldiers to the regulars of the British army. Wabasha I was at Prairie du Chien at the conclusion of the peace between Great Britain and the colonies, and prom- ised to respect the fact that war had ceased. During the revolution Wa- basha I made several trips to Montreal, and it was especially stipulated that on account of his position as commander of so large a force, his visits to Mackinac were always to be welcomed by the British with a salute of the cannon, the cannon to be loaded with solid shell instead of with blank cartridges.

Wabasha I died of cancer of the neck on the Root River in Houston county, January 5, 1806. There is a traditional story that he had been exiled from the main body of the band by the murderous hate of his brothers, but as he had been in public life sixty-six years, and must have been con- siderably more than eighty years of age, it seems more probable that he had gradually committed the chieftainship to his son.

Some time before the death of his father Wabasha II became nominal chief of the band. He was low of stature, was not a warrior, and is said to have hated war. He was a wise and prudent man, especially in council, and was a strict abstainer from whiskey. He highly admired and appre- ciated the arts of civilization and desired that his people should be profited by them. He was called The Leaf, La Feuille, corrupted to Lafoy and to La Fye. Unless there is a mistake in Pike's map the Wabasha band in 1805 was located on the upper Iowa River, though possibly this was a tem- porary camp for that year. It was evidently during the early years of the reign of Wabasha II that the band moved its headquarters to the present site of Winona, though probably the Indians had used the prairie site of the city for various purposes long before that date.

Wabasha's braves espoused the cause of the British in the war of

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1812. Wabasha II himself was opposed to war, but was sometimes led into it by his hot-headed soldiers. He was with the other Indians at the unsuc- cessful siege by the British, in 1813, of Ft. Meigs, on the Maumee River, in northwestern Ohio. The fort was then held by the Americans under Wil- liam Henry Harrison, later president of the United States. The Winnebago having killed an American soldier, appointed a feast at which each guest was to eat a morsel of the soldier's body. One of the Dakota, being invited to partake, said: "We came here, not to eat the Americans, but to wage war against them." Then Wabasha II said to the Winnebago: "We thought that you, who live near to the white men, were wiser than we who live at a distance; but it must, indeed, be otherwise if you do such deeds." The result was that the feast was not held.

After the treaty of peace made at Ghent, December 24, 1814, the Brit- ish agents in Canada sent invitations to the Dakota chiefs to attend coun- cil to be held at Drummond Island, about fifty miles east of the Straits of Mackinac. Wabasha II, Little Crow and others attended. The agents ex- plained to them that the king across the waters had made peace with the Americans and that hostilities must cease. After lauding the valor of the Indians, the British offered them blankets, knives and other goods as pres- ents, but they were rejected. The paltry presents so aroused the indigna- tion of Wabasha II that he addressed the English officer as follows:

"My Father, what is this I see before me? A few knives and blankets. Is this all you promised at the beginning of the war? Where are those promises you made at Michilimackinac, and sent to our villages on the Mississippi? You told us that you would never let fall the hatchet until the Americans were driven beyond the mountains; that our British father would never make peace without consulting his red children. Has that come to pass? We never knew of this peace. We are told it was made by our Great Father beyond the water, without the knowledge of his war- chiefs; that it is your duty to obey his orders. What is this to us? Will these paltry presents pay for the men we have lost, both in the battle and in the war? Will they soothe the feelings of our friends? Will they make good your promises to us ? For myself, I have always found means of sub- sistence, and I can do so still."

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History of Houston County, Minnesota, Part 6

Author: Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge Publication date: 1919 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1343

Author: Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge
Publication date: 1919
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1343