History of Houston County, Minnesota, Part 7

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

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Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Beginning with Pike, Wabasha II met all the early explorers who came up the river in the next twenty years. He signed the treaties of 1816, 1825 and 1830. He visited Washington in 1824. He was at the head of his tribe during the Red Bird War and the Black Hawk War and at the time of the bringing in of the Winnebago. Every white who came in contact with him spoke most highly of his worth and character. He died about 1836 of small-pox. He was probably at that time about sixty-three years old. Many of his band perished at the same time. The Wabasha band thus reduced in numbers, faded in influence and importance, though its head continued to be recognized as the nominal head chief of all the seven bands of the M'dewakanton.

Several white people lost their lives in the Red Bird War, so-called, which had its climax in the Mississippi channel adjacent to Houston county.

Red Bird was born in 1788 and died in 1827. Various stories are told

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of the origin of his name, one being that he wore on each shoulder the plumage of a red bird in imitation of the epaulettes which he had seen worn by the American officers. He is described as being a man of splendid proportions, six feet high, and with a noble countenance. Until the Red Bird outbreak, he had the confidence of the whites to the extent that his presence at Prairie du Chien was considered a guarantee of Indian peace. But after learning of what he believed to be the basest treachery and cruelty to some of his people by the officers at Fort Snelling he sought the most terrible revenge.

In 1826 there was considerable unrest among the Dakota, Winnebago and Chippewa Indians, of the Upper Mississippi region. In October, 1826, by orders from Washington, Fort Crawford, at Prairie du Chien was aban- doned, and the troops were transferred to Fort Snelling. Many of the Indians believed that the move had been made because of cowardice. Their increasing arrogance caused considerable apprehension on the part of the white settlers, but these fears were quieted by the realization that Fort Snelling was well manned, and the number of whites along the river constantly increasing.

The trouble was finally precipitated by the action of the officers at Fort Snelling. In the early spring a band of Chippewa had been fired upon by a band of Dakota, near the fort, and several killed and wounded. Two of the offending Sioux were captured by the soldiers and two were sur- rendered by their chiefs. The four were handed over for execution to the Chippewa, who killed them in a most revolting manner. At this time two Winnebagos were in confinement at Fort Snelling for trivial offenses, and the rumor spread that these two were among the four Indians whom the whites had delivered to the savage Chippewas.

Red Bird decided upon retaliation. With two companions, We-Kau and Chic-hon-sic, he went to the house of Rijeste Gagnier, two miles southeast from Prairie du Chien, killed Gagnier, scalped and wounded an infant girl, who afterward recoverd, and killed a boarder, Soloman Lipcap.

In the meantime demonstrations had been made against the govern- ment employees. In the middle of June, 1827, two keel boats from St. Louis, commanded by Captain Allen Lindsay, passed up the river en route for Fort Snelling with military stores. When they reached the present site of Winona, a band of young Dakota warriors requested the crew to come ashore. When they complied they were surrounded by a mob of angry Indians, who jumped aboard the boats and expressed their indignation at the Fort Snelling affair. The members of the crew, however, succeeded in getting aboard their boats, and ridding themselves of the threatening redmen.

At Fort Snelling the thirty-two men of the two crews were armed with muskets, and a barrel of ball cartridges provided. On the downward trip Winona was passed on June 26, the same day on which Red Bird and his companions had attacked the Gagnier family. The Dakotas at Winona again made hostile demonstrations, but not a shot was fired on either side. This danger passed, the boats separated, there being no apprehension of harm from the Winnebagoes.

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But the Winnebagoes had not yet taken their full revenge. Thirty- seven of them concealed themselves on an island in the Mississippi, adja- cent to Houston county, near the mouth of the Bad Axe. As the first boat, the "O. H. Perry," swung within thirty yards of the shore to take advantage of the deep water, the concealed Winnebagoes opened fire. A negro fell, wounded with a shattered leg, and afterward died. The crew seized their guns and fortified themselves behind the gunwales. At the second volley from the Indians a member of the crew fell dead, his musket protruding from a loophole in the gunwales furnishing the target for a Winnebago marksman.

The boat grounded on a sand bar, and the Indians rushed to their canoes, intending to board it. By this time the crew had opened fire, and were maintaining a vigorous defense. The foremost canoe of the onrushing savages met with a broadside volley, which killed two of the Indians almost instantly. Their dying struggles upset the canoe. Still intent upon revenge, the Indians in the other canoes attempted to board the boat. Two suc- ceeded. John Beauchamp, commander of the crew, rushed to the side of the boat at the head of his men to frustrate this attempt. He was killed by the first savage, but the murderer was in turn killed by John Mande- ville, a gallant sailor, commonly called "Saucy Jack." The other savage was also killed. The rest of the Indians, several of whom were wounded, retreated to the shore.

The Winnebagoes on the island now resumed their murderous fire. Mandeville assumed command of the crew, which now numbered but ten effective men. With great courage, under a heavy fire he sprang onto the sand bar, followed by four of his men, for the purpose of pushing the boat from its perilous position. The balls flew thick and fast, some passing through their hats and clothes, but they persisted and the boat was soon afloat.

Seeing their prey escaping, the Winnebagoes increased their efforts. But the craft was now free, and before the guns could be reloaded the boat had been carried by the swift current out of shooting distance from the island. The casualties of the whites consisted of two men killed, two mortally wounded and two slightly. The Indians possibly lost ten or twelve killed and quite a number wounded.

The boat arrived at Prairie du Chien about sunset of the next day, June 27. The other keel boat, in which was Captain Lindsay and William J. Snelling, a son of Colonel Josiah Snelling, the commander at Fort Snell- ing, passed Houston county about midnight. The Indians near the mouth of the Bad Axe opened fire on her, which was promptly returned. No damage was done on either side, and the boat continued on its way, reaching Prairie du Chien on June 28.

The white settlers at once took measures of protection. Those about Prairie du Chien left their houses and farms and crowded into the abandoned Fort Crawford. Word was sent to Colonel Snelling who soon arrived with two companies of infantry. Civilian military companies were also raised. The Winnebago were finally found several hundred strong, camped near what is now Portage City. To save his people Red Bird and his two com-

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panions surrendered. Red Bird died in prison at Prairie du Chien, and in September, 1828, his accomplices, We-kau and Chic-hon-sic, were in- dicted, tried and convicted, and sentenced to be hanged December 26. But the day before the date set for the execution, a pardon arrived from President John Quincy Adams, and the prisoners were released.

One of the final chapters in the Black Hawk War of 1832 was enacted in Houston county. The story of that uprising is beyond the scope of this work. Black Hawk set out with a band of Sauk and a few Foxes, to recover the valley of the Rock River in Illinois and Wisconsin. Before the uprising was put down it had cost the lives of some fifty whites and nearly extermi- nated the Black Hawk band. The final battle was fought on Aug. 2, 1832, at the mouth of the Bad Axe, opposite Houston county, the soldiers there encountered the entire body of Indians. A steam boat, the "Warrior," participated in the battle. Nearly all of the Indians were killed. General Henry Atkinson sent Wabasha's band of Dakota after the men, women and children who had escaped to Houston county. With their powder wet from the swim across the river, the worn out followers of Black Hawk fell easy victims to the fresh Dakota, and a terrible slaughter took place, only a few escaping. Neopope, Black Hawk's chief advisor, was spared on account of his rank, and taken to Prairie du Chien, where the Dakota re- ceived their reward. Black Hawk did not flee into Houston county with his followers, but escaped with his chief soldier, the Prophet, hoping to find refuge with the Winnebago. But they refused him refuge, and the two fugitives pursued their way to the Dalles of the Wisconsin River where they were captured about two miles above Kilbourn City by Cha-e-tar and One Eyed Decorah, who, on August 27, delivered them up to the Indian agent at Prairie du Chien. In April, 1833, Black Hawk and the Prophet and other prisoners were taken East, were interviewed by President Andrew Jackson, and confined in Fortress Monroe. June 4, 1833, they were released, and were escorted by army officers through the principal cities of the East, in order that they might fully realize the power and number of the whites. Black Hawk spent his remaining years in quiet. He died Oct. 3, 1838, and was buried near the village of Montrose in Iowa.

Both the whites and the Dakota have been severely blamed for the massacre of the Black Hawk fugitives in Houston county. The slaughter was not in keeping with the character of Wabasha II, but many reasons may be assigned for the act. The Sauk had for many years made murderous raids on the women and children left in the Sioux villages while the Sioux warriors were away hunting, and the Sauk war whoop was one greatly to be dreaded. Thus with the remembrances of murders committed, acting under orders from the white commander, and goaded by taunts of cowardice, Wabasha and his men committed this act of extermination against the band whose uprising had proven so disastrous to the whites.

A short time before the breaking out of this Black Hawk War, Wabasha's band had been greatly alarmed by an attack the Sauks had made on a Sioux camp on Money Creek, in Houston county. The Dakota had repulsed them and rescued Witoka, the daughter of the head warrior, Wah-kon-de-o-tah. The danger, indeed was so great that the main band

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moved from Winona to Trempealeau, where they remained for several years.

The year after the Black Hawk War marked the beginning of the oc- cupancy of parts of Houston county by the Winnebago, from 1833 to 1848 and later.

The Winnebago were an outlying tribe of the Siouan family, believed by some writers to be an older branch than the Dakota themselves. They were visited at Green Bay by Jean Nicolet as early as 1634. He knew them as the Men of the Sea or the Men of the Salt Water, from the abori- ginal name, Ouinipegou, which appears in modern name of Winnebago. Literally the word ouinipeg means "ill smelling or dirty water," and the early French called the Winnebago, "Puants," or "Stinkards." In the early fur trading days the Winnebago were ranging as far westward as the Mississippi River.

For some two centuries thereafter central Wisconsin continued to be their home. The treaty of Prairie du Chien, signed Aug. 19, 1825, already mentioned, located the boundary between the Winnebago and the Sioux on a line starting in Wisconsin on the Mississippi River opposite the mouth of the Iowa River, then running back two or three miles to the bluffs, thence along the crest of the bluffs to the mouth of the Bad Axe River and thence to the mouth of the Black River.

By the treaty signed at Fort Armstrong, Rock Island, Illinois, Aug. 25, 1828, and proclaimed Feb. 13, 1833, the Winnebago relinquished their claim to much of their Wisconsin land and agreed to move to the neutral strip in southeastern Minnesota and northeastern Iowa. A portion of the tribe moved to their new possession in 1833-34.

Wabasha II, at his death in 1836, was succeeded by his son, Wabasha III, whose original name was Tahtapesaah, the Upsetting Wind. Wabasha III is the Wabasha best known to the whites. He signed the treaties of 1836, 1837, 1851 and 1858. Like the two Wabashas who came before him he was shrewd and cautious. He was friendly to the whites, but from a sense of justice upheld the Winnebago in their opposition to their removal to the inhospitable Long Prairie country in central Minnesota, By the treaties of 1851 he relinquished his title to all his remaining lands in Houston county, but he and his band continued to hunt here at least until 1860. Wabasha III led his warriors in the Sioux Uprising of 1862, but he was opposed to it, and was the first to make proposals of peace even while his nation were still in arms. He finally withdrew his followers from Little Crow's camp, and in his new camp of some 100 lodges, protected many whites and mixed bloods. Before this he had been in friendly com- munication with the white commanders for some months. He died April 23, 1876, at the Santee agency in Nebraska. With profound grief he has seen the gradual degeneration of his people at the whim of the whites, and well realized the duplicity and theft that the Dakota suffered from all the white men with whom they came in contact. The descendant of an ancient line whose empire had once been larger and richer than many a European nation, he spent his latter years as a lonely old man, refusing to join in

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the readjusted life of his people, and sadly pondering over the wrongs that had been done him.

The espousal of the cause of the Winnebago by Wabasha III, when the people of that tribe objected to being exiled to central Minnesota, placed him in disfavor with the whites. By a treaty signed at Washington, Nov. 1, 1837, and proclaimed June 15, 1838, the Winnebago had ceded all their remaining lands east of the Mississippi River, and those who still remained agreed to join their fellow tribesmen in the neutral strip. It was further agreed that the eastern portion of the neutral strip, for a distance of twenty miles back from the Mississippi, should be used ex- clusively for hunting. Thus the land which the Winnebago were to be allowed to actually occupy in what is now Houston county was limited practically to Spring Grove and Black Hammer townships, and a corner of Yucatan.

By a treaty signed Oct. 13, 1846, the Winnebago agreed to relinquish their rights to the neutral strip, and to remove to a tract assigned them in Morrison, Todd and Stearns counties in central Minnesota. Henry M. Rice was appointed agent for the removal, and in the spring of 1848 the Winnebago, most of whom were then living on the Turkey River in north- eastern Iowa, were notified to prepare themselves for the journey. But in the meantime there had been a growing dissatisfaction on the part of the Indians. They did not fancy the country to which they were to be sent, which in fishing, hunting, climate and natural attractions could in no way compare with the country over which they had been roaming in northeastern lowa and southeastern Minnesota. They suspected that the purpose of the whites was to make the Winnebago a buffer band between the Dakota and Chippewa tribes, and thus endanger them almost to the point of ex- termination. They were frightened, too, by a belief in the unhealthfulness of the new region. An epidemic of bilious fever and cholera morbus among the adults, the whooping cough among the children, was sweeping the Minnesota Dakota. The Wabasha band had escaped, though many even of them were suffering with intermittent fever. In addition to all these causes for apprehension on the part of the Winnebago, enemies of Mr. Rice, in order to make him trouble, were urging the Indians to resist the removal. At once they began to desert. Some returned to their ancient hunting grounds in Wisconsin. About a hundred made their way to southeastern Nebraska and joined the Otoes. Others announced that they would remain where they were. But the whites continued their preparations. It was arranged that one party under Henry M. Rice should go up the river in boats and canoes, and that the other party should go by land under the direction of Major J. E. Fletcher. June 6, 1848, Major Fletcher announced that both parties were to start, and in order to hurry the hesitating In- dians, had their belongings loaded onto the wagons. But the angry Indians at once unloaded the vehicles, and prepared to resist by cleaning their guns and moulding bullets. Thoroughly alarmed, Major Fletcher sent to Fort Atkinson for troops, and Capt. John Parker responded in person with his dragoons, a company of mounted volunteers who were garrisoning the fort in the absence of the regulars who were fighting in Mexico. Soon

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afterward a company of infantry arrived from Fort Crawford. All that day and night and the next day and night the tension was almost at break- ing point, the soldiers constantly on the alert with drawn sabers and pistols, and the Indians carrying their loaded guns and going about scowling and muttering. But nature was fighting for the whites, as the Indians, without provisions, and prevented by the soldiers from deserting the camp and going hunting, began to feel the demands of hunger. Promised provisions as the price of their acquiesence in the removal plans, they agreed to submit as soon as they had been fed. Fresh beef was issued in bountiful rations, and amicable relations were soon restored.

The cavalcade set out in two parties, one party going by water in charge of Mr. Rice and the other by land in charge of Major Fletcher. The dragoons from Fort Atkinson accompanied Major Fletcher, while the com- pany of infantry from Fort Crawford went with Mr. Rice. There were also many white helpers with both parties. It was agreed that both parties should meet at the present site of Winona, where lived Wabasha III, the head of the M'dewakanton Dakota.

That city was reached without mishap. There the whites and Little Hill's band encamped on the river bank, but the rest of the Indians en- camped across the prairie under the shadows of the bluffs, where they began to fraternize with the M'dewakanton Dakota of Wabasha's Band, who there had their home. When the Winnebago expressed their fears of the new country into which they were being taken, Wabasha took pity on them, and agreed to sell them the portion of his possessions which em- braced the present site of Winona, where they would be in a rich hunting country, adjacent both to their recently abandoned home in Iowa and Minnesota, and to their former home and the graves of their ancestors in Wisconsin. Plans were made for a close alliance between Wabasha's band and the Winnebago.

Realizing that a crisis had been reached, Mr. Rice boarded a steamboat and went to Fort Snelling for assistance. Captain S. H. Easton hastened to Winona with a company of infantry, and a band of Dakota Indians from the Minnesota River. These Indians, carefully coached, were to constitute a reception committee, who were to express their joy that the Winnebago were to be their northern neighbors, and to paint to them in the most glow- ing language the advantages of the country to which they were to be removed. When Captain Eastman arrived he took command of the infantry company from Fort Crawford and the dragoons from Fort Atkinson, and in addition to this some sixty white teamsters and helpers were armed and equipped. After a short parley, it was arranged that at 10 o'clock the next morning a council should open between the Dakota of the Minnesota River and the Winnebago. That night the whites maintained a strong picket force and sent friendly Indians as spies into the Winnebago camps.

The morning of June 12 dawned in splendor and clearness. Early in the morning the whites formed in battle array, and two six-pound cannon were heavily loaded with grape. At 10 o'clock a cavalcade of mounted Indians, painted and decked with all their war ornaments approached the camp of the whites. A mile away they halted and sent a deputation forward

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to the soldiers. The leader, an imposing figure on a white horse, rode forward and called out in broken English: "What do these shining guns mean? We thought we were coming to council, not to fight." Captain Eastman replied: "You can have whatever you want. If you want to fight, we are prepared; if you want a council you will not be molested." The Indians declared that they wanted only a council, but asked permission to ride around the white men's camp. Permission was granted, and after riding around the camp the Indians retreated toward their own camp. Sud- denly they halted and wheeled about. Quickly forming into a column twelve abreast they started on a wild charge against the whites, yelling and shouting and many sounding the war whoop. The whites prepared for the worst. The cannons were ready and the gunners stood with lighted port fires, while the dragoons were ready to charge and the infantry and the wagonmen to fire. It was a thrilling and perilous moment. But when the Indian cavalry was within a hundred feet from the line of the whites, it broke away to the right and left, and the riders set up a wild shout of laughter. It had been but a demonstration to show their horsemanship and gratify their vanity.

The Indians then went into conference, the Minnesota River Indians urging the Winnebago to move to the new lands, and Wabasha and his braves urging them to be firm in their determination to make Winona their home.

While the council was in session, an irresponsible soldier and a hot- headed young Indian began to quarrel and were about to fight. Each had a gun and prepared to use it. Both Indians and whites realized that a single shot would precipitate a bloody battle in which hundreds might be killed and wounded. Mr. Rice and others ran between the two disputants, disarmed them, and led them away.

Chief Little Hill had not sympathized with the other Winnebago in their resistance. He now led his band aboard the steamboat, which was soon on its way up the river, followed by the hootings and howlings of their dissatisfied tribesmen.

The sudden departure of Little Hill and his band disconcerted the rebellious Indians. Mr. Rice, E. A. C. Hatch, S. B. Lowry, George Culver and others argued with them to accept the inevitable and give in. While the young braves still wanted to fight it out, the older heads realized that the Indians could not successfully oppose the whites. One Eyed Dacorah, Little Decorah, Winnishiek, Big Canoe, Good Thunder and Carimona, all prominent chiefs, announced that they and their bands would no longer re- sist. When the steamboat returned, some seventeen hundred were ready to embark.

But not all the Indians could be induced to go. Chief Dandy and his band returned to their old homes on the Black River in Wisconsin. Another band marched through Iowa, and joined the members of their tribe who had sought refuge with the Otoes in Nebraska. A few mingled with the Wabasha band.

As soon as the majority of the Winnebago had left Winona, Wabasha was arrested for inciting rebellion, and was taken to Fort Snelling. The

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Dakota warriors were inclined to resist this arrest, but Wabasha only laughed. After being detained for about two weeks, he was severely lectured and released.

Thus the Winnebago passed from the history of Houston county. Their subsequent story will be told but briefly. The Long Prairie country in Minnesota to which they were removed from Houston county never satisfied them. Gradually they worked southward into the Big Woods in Wright county, Minnesota. In 1855 the Winnebago agency was transferred under the terms of the treaty signed February 27 and proclaimed March 23 to Blue Earth county near Mankato, Minnesota, but the Sioux Massacre caused the whites to be apprehensive of the Winnebago, so under an act of Congress approved Feb. 21, 1863, they were removed to Crow Creck, on the Missouri River in North Dakota. In 1865 they agreed to move to a tract in Nebraska purchased from the Omaha Indians. The removal of the Winnebago to this Nebraska tract, known as the Black Bird Reservation, was accomplished in 1866. There a part of the tribe is still located. But in the meantime there had been constant desertations from the tribe by homesick Indians who longed for their old homes in Wisconsin. Bands were frequently rounded up by the whites and taken to the reservation, but the returning trail was constantly thronged. As late as 1854 there were small villages of Winnebago in Houston county, one in the vicinity of the present village of Houston being still well remembered by the whites. An Indian grave yard in Yucatan, fenced and decorated, remained for some years after the arrival of the settlers.

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History of Houston County, Minnesota, Part 7

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

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