USA > North Dakota > Early history of North Dakota: essential outlines of American history > Part 63
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In the meantime Doctor Slaughter had gone to Washington and' so impressed the department with the importance of the office that the salary was raised to $790 for the year 1874.
There were then rumors of corruption in connection with freighting, con- tracting and in the Indian and military traderships on the Missouri River, and Ralph Meeker put in an appearance with credentials from James Gordon Bennett of the New York Herald, with instructions to investigate and report the facts as to the alleged abuses at the Fort Berthold Indian Agency and other points. He brought to me letters of introduction asking my aid to secure him employment at the Berthold Agency in order that he might have better opportunities for investi- gation. This I accomplished through the help of a commandant of one of the upriver posts, and Meeker went to work as a common laborer on the agency farm, under the assumed name of J. D. Thompson. His letters were dated Bis- marck and mailed at this office, having been sent under cover to me for that purpose.
One of these letters contained a terrible arraignment of Orville Grant, brother of the President, for his conduct of the Missouri River post traderships. These letters created a sensation in Bismarck and at the adjacent posts, and, indeed, throughout the country, and every effort was made to discover their author. Threats of violence were even made should he be discovered. At length an observant route agent, as the railway postal clerks were then called, reported that I was the author. Mindful of the danger to the actual author should the truth be known, I did not deny the report. Orville Grant hastened to Washington and secured my summary removal and the appointment of a gentleman associated with him in the Fort Stevenson tradership as my successor.
There was commotion among the people of Bismarck when the truth came to be known. Public meetings were held and a petition sent for my reinstatement. The old cannon, still owned by the city, which used to be a part of the armament of the Ida Stockdale, was planted on the square where the band stand now is and joined in the general protest made by vigorous speakers. They adjourned the public meeting to the postoffice where they assured me of their confidence and support.
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The commandants of the military posts, who received their mail through the Bismarck postoffice, also sent protests against my removal.
The Herald correspondence had been instigated by members of the United States Senate who feared that an expose of the abuses of which they were cogni- zant would mean the downfall of their party unless the system of farming out the traderships existing under General Belknap could be stopped .* President Grant with his well known fidelity to friends, refused to even listen to the complaints. It was for that reason that the party leaders determined to make the expose even if the President's own brother should be involved. When the news of my removal reached these gentlemen they sought an interview with Postmaster-Gen- eral Jewell, and I was reinstated. A new commission dated August 15, 1875, was afterwards sent me, with a kind personal letter from the postmaster-general. About this time the actual writer of these sensational letters, who had been steadily following the plow on the agency farm, was discovered. He narrowly escaped assassination at the agency and made his way to Fort Stevenson whence he was sent under escort to Bismarck. His discovery caused a revolution in my favor and those who had previously been my enemies became my friends. *
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On July 17, 1873, the county commissioners of Burleigh County appointed me county superintendent of schools and in November I was elected to that position by the people. A question having arisen as to whether I was eligible Chief Justice Peter C. Shannon decided that a woman who had the qualifications of an elector as to residence and in other respects than as to sex, and was possessed of the scholarly attainments requisite, was eligible. My right to hold two offices was later questioned and in order to settle the question I wrote the postmaster- general and his reply was that "the annual salary of your office so nearly approxi- mates $1,000 that it is not deemed expedient for you to accept the office of county superintendent of schools." Whereupon I wrote this, my resignation :
"Bismarck, Dakota, January 29, 1873.
"Hon. Marshall Jewell, Postmaster-General,
"Washington, D. C.
"Dear Sir: I hereby tender my resignation of the office of postmaster at Bis- marck, Dakota, in favor of Clement A. Lounsberry of the Bismarck Tribune, to take effect at the close of the present fiscal year, June 30, 1876. I resign the office because a sufficient allowance is not made for clerk hire and the duties of the office have become too onerous for me. I recommend Colonel Lounsberry for the position because he is a man of integrity and popular with our people, as
* Meeker returned the next winter and aided by Custer and others developed more fully the scoundrelism which was then the rule in relation to the post traderships. The Indian traderships were in the hands of Orville Grant. He furnished the opportunity and others the moncy and received half the proceeds. The military traderships were controlled by the wife of the secretary of war who received a gift of $12,000 per annum from each of the posts at Forts Buford, Lincoln and Rice, and smaller sums from other posts, in return for the appointment of her friends as traders. It was these facts which led to the impeach- ment of Secretary Belknap and incidentally to the Custer massacre. General Custer's soul went out in sympathy to the oppressed and especially to the Indians whom he loved and who had profound respect and admiration for him. Custer never told an Indian a lie. It was he who was instrumental in bringing Meeker back.
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I should regret to see the office to which I have devoted so much time and care, fall into unworthy hands.
"With grateful remembrance of your past kindness, and wishes for your I am sincerely your friend,
future,
"LINDA W. SLAUGHTER, P. M., "Bismarck, Dakota."
At this time I appointed F. D. Bolles assistant postmaster, and the office was at once moved to the Bismarck Tribune office, where he was employed as a printer. Låter my resignation was amended to take effect April 1, 1876, when Colonel Lounsberry was appointed and served until his resignation in November, 1885.
A WAR REMINISCENCE
Sitting in the office of Augustus Haight at Jamestown, talking of the war and its incidents Mr. Haight mentioned the fact that he was in Washington when Ellsworth was killed, May 24, 1861. "And I was in Alexandria," responded Colonel Lounsberry. "I heard the shot ; I saw the bloody stairway and the life- less body." "And I," responded Mr. Haight, "accompanied his remains to his old home and delivered a letter to his father which Colonel Ellsworth handed me the evening before his death to be franked and mailed. I was employed in the office of the secretary of state under William H. Seward. That morning I was up early and out on Penn Avenue, Washington. An orderly hastening down the avenue at a furious pace told me, in response to my inquiries, of Ellsworth's fate. I hurried to the White House and Mr. Lincoln, in response to my 'good morning, Mr. President,' replied 'but it is a sad one. Be seated, Secretary Cameron will soon arrive and we shall know the truth.' Colonel Ellsworth had handed me two letters the evening before to be franked by some member of Congress, as the soldiers were allowed free postage. After coming from the White House, I met Congressman Van Wyck, who franked them. One was addressed to Colonel Ellsworth's father and was handed by me to him at the Astor House, New York, as I was chosen by President Lincoln as one of the escort to go with the remains to his home in Saratoga, N. Y. We were born in the same town and were school boys together. The other was addressed to Miss Spofford, Rockford, Ill., to whom he was to be married. This I sent by the hand of a friend. I went with the remains as stated. There were immense crowds everywhere. John Brown was the first martyr for liberty, Ellsworth was the second, or at least was so regarded. His death fired the northern heart and the flame of patriotism was fanned as if by a gale."
"And I," responded Colonel Lounsberry, "was a member of the Marshall Light Guards which became Company I in the First Michigan Infantry, which was organized April 24, 1861, and reached Washington May 16th, being the first western regiment to reach the capital. Ellsworth came about the same time and was quartered in the capitol. The marble room of the Senate chamber was used for their commissary supplies. Alexandria was captured by our regiment and Ellsworth's. Ellsworth went by steamer: We crossed over the Long Bridge and marched over, arriving at daybreak. We captured Captain Ball's company of
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Virginia cavalry consisting of thirty-five mounted men. It is a noteworthy fact that a mistaken order prevented bloodshed. Wilcox, our colonel, was com- manding. He ordered Captain Butterworth of the Coldwater Cadets to deploy his company as skirmishers and fire on Ball's company. Butterworth under- stood the order to 'file' on them and waited for further orders. After getting in position as skirmishers, Ball surrendered. By the way, he was a cousin of ex-Mayor Ball, of Fargo.
"In the meantime Ellsworth noted a Confederate flag flying over the Marshall House. He took Corporal Brownell and a file of soldiers and went to pull it down. Jackson, the proprietor of the hotel stood guard with a shotgun, swear- ing he would kill the first man who touched it or attempted to pull it down. Ellsworth attempted to pass him and was killed by Jackson and he by Brownell: This was about sunrise and it cast a gloom over our spirits which it took days to remove. We built Fort Ellsworth and occupied it until a few days before first Bull Run, and I was associated with Ellsworth's regiment at first Bull Run, where I was wounded and being captured, was taken to Libby Prison."
Mr. Haight was in the state department at Washington with William H. Seward, and was a member of the Cassius M. Clay battalion, organized for the defense of Washington, at the breaking out of the war. Later he raised a com- pany and served till the close of the war as a captain in the Forty-second Wisconsin.
THE PICTURE OF JEFF DAVIS IN SKIRTS
When gathering material for North Dakota History, this writer found in the possession of Ransom Phelps, of Breckenridge, a program of the first dance given at Wahpeton. It was neatly printed by the Minneapolis Tribune. It was called a "Fancy Dress Ball," for the dedication of the first business house in Chahinkapa (Wahpeton), on Monday, July 6, 1874. The music was by Howe's Wild Rice Band. The committee of arrangements was D. Wilmot Smith, J. Mourin, J. W. Blanding and M. T. Rich. The floor managers were J. Q. Bur- bank, R. Phelps and C. B. Falley.
Ransom Phelps and D. Wilmot Smith were military telegraph operators dur- ing the war, and Phelps has in his possession the originals of many important messages. He has a manifold copy of the bulletins of Secretary Stanton an- nouncing the surrender of Lee ; Grant's dispatches, etc. He was the operator in the New York office who received the message. He has a message from P. T. Barnum, dated Hartford, May 17, 1865, directing his manager at New York to "Put outside a picture of Jeff Davis in petticoats, represented as running, ex- posing his boots and scolding the Government for its want of magnanimity in chasing women," and Jeff went into history in that plight.
Phelps wrote George Francis Train for his autograph. Train replied, writ- ing in red and blue :
"CITIZEN
"Ransom Phelps.
"Seven years ago I stopped animal food and hand shaking.
"Long since I gave up lectures, stage, or contact with adults.
"April 10th I stopped talking with grown people and this may be my last autograph.
"April 23, 1881.
GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN."
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BLAKELY DURANT, THE COMPOSER AND ORIGINAL SINGER OF ONE OF OUR MOST STIRRING AND POPULAR WAR SONGS
Died in Grand Forks, N. D., September 20, 1894, Blakely Durant, more familiarly known through this Northwest, if not over the entire country as "Old Shady." At his funeral, which occurred at the Baptist Church in that city, his remains were escorted by the Willis A. Gorman Post, G. A. R .; also by Company F, North Dakota National Guard, and the Grand Forks City Band.
Blakely Durant was born at Fort Madison, Miss., a short distance south of Natchez, in 1826, and was, therefore, at the time of his death, in his sixty-ninth year. When but a child his parents emigrated to Texas. His father soon after died, when his mother removed with her family to Cincinnati, Ohio, when he was but seven years of age. At that early day, 1833, there were no public schools in Cincinnati for the education of children of negro parents. However, "Old Shady" acquired a good, sound, practical education, which in fifteen years proved to be the foundation of a wide range of information, which so enriched his life in after years. When still quite young, Durant removed to Mercer County, Ohio. Here he soon after married and continued to reside on a farm until the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion.
When the news of General Sherman's death reached Grand Forks, there was none who mourned the sad event more than did "Old Shady," the general's famous "Singing Cook." He said: "I saw General Sherman at the encamp- ment in Minneapolis in 1884, but had no opportunity to speak with him then. About one month later the old general passed through Grand Forks, when I met him at the depot and had some fifteen minutes or more of conversation with him. At first the old general did not seem to know me, but when I told him that I was really 'Old Shady,' the very same 'Old Shady' who had so long followed his' fortunes in the war, I thought he would shake me to pieces. The old generai asked me more questions in the few moments allotted to us than I could possibly answer, and they followed thick and fast one after another. That, said 'Old Shady,' was the last time I ever saw the dear old general alive, but, I have always corresponded with him since, and he has sent me his photograph; also that of his wife. I always thought a great deal of the old general, and in return he seemed to think a great deal of me. General Sherman was a man who never made any pretensions, but he was always very plain, strict and straight-forward in his dealings with me and his soldiers."
When General Sherman's funeral occurred at St. Louis, that same faithful friend, "Old Shady," was true to his love, and was there, and there was none to mourn more than he, the faithful old colored servant, who followed the remains of his dear old general to their last resting place.
Blakely Durant entered the army as a private soldier, in February, 1862, in the Seventy-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which regiment was in General Sher- man's division. From the very first he was detailed as cook for the officer's mess. The Seventy-first Regiment started from Camp Todd, at Troy, Ohio, and went to Paducah, where they were brigaded with the Fifty-fourth Ohio, and the Fifty-fifth Illinois. Col. David Stewart, of the Fifty-fifth Illinois was made commander of the brigade. From that time until after the battle of Shiloh "Old Shady" saw General Sherman almost constantly.
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"Old Shady" entered General McPherson's service soon after the battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh, going through to Vicksburg. He was a well known and popular caterer for the various groups of Union officers, among whom he was a general favorite. Generals Sherman and McPherson were his chosen princes. It was through the corps commander at Paducah that he first met and became acquainted with General Sherman, who ever afterwards claimed "Old Shady" as a part of his essential following.
The hero of the famous march "From Atlanta to the Sea," feelingly made "Old Shady" the subject of an extended and very interesting sketch in his "Memoirs of the War," which was published in the October number of the North American Review for 1888.
After the battle of Shiloh, "Old Shady" met General Sherman at Vicksburg, where he was then catering for General McPherson's mess. When General Grant's headquarters were on board the gunboat at Milliken's Bend, in the winter of 1863, "Old Shady" was detailed as cook of Grant's mess, a position he occu- pied for nearly three months, during which time he was nightly called into the ladies' cabin to sing "Old Shady" and other songs for the general and his guests, and there it was that he again attracted the attention of General Sherman.
Although not detailed, and not expected to serve in another capacity than that of cook, "Old Shady" often found opportunities to show his bravery and loyalty. At the battle of Pittsburg Landing, when a retreat had been ordered, the Seventy- first Ohio having been suddenly surprised by the enemy while at dinner, "Old Shady," observing that the Seventy-first Ohio regimental colors had been for- gotten in the hasty retreat, quietly took his favorite guitar, returned to the old camping grounds, secured the colors and triumphantly brought them into camp; but in so doing lost his guitar which he prized so highly. The officers, however, did not forget his bravery, and soon after presented him with a new and very handsome guitar, which was still in his possession at the time of his death.
In his flattering account of "Old Shady," as published in the North American Review, General Sherman wrote of his famous song, "Old Shady," as follows: "I do believe that since the prophet Jeremiah bade the Jews to sing for joy among the chiefs of the nations, because of their deliverance from the house of bondage, no truer song of gladness ever ascended from the lips of man than at Vicksburg, when "Old Shady" sang for us in a voice of pure melody this song of deliverance from the bonds of slavery :
"OLD SHADY."
Yah! Yah! Yah! Come laugh wid me, De white folks say Old Shady am free, I 'spec de year of Ju-be-lee Am a-coming; am a-coming ; Hail, mighty day!
Chorus-Den away, den away, I can't stay here any longer. Den away, den away, for I am goin' home.
Old Massa got scared, and so did his lady; Dis chile break for old Uncle Aby,
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Open the door, for here's Old Shady A-comin', a-comin', Hail, mighty day!
Chorus-Den away, den away, etc.
Good-bye, Mass' Jeff, good-bye, Mass' Stephens ; 'Suse dis niggah for taken his leavins,
I 'spec by and by you'll see Uncle Abraham, A-comin', a-comin', Hail, mighty day!
Chorus-Den away, den away, etc.
Good-bye, hard work without any pay ;
I's goin' up north where the white folks say
Dat white wheat bread and a dollar a day Am a-comin', a-comin', Hail, mighty day!
Chorus-Den away, den away, etc.
Oh! I's got a wife and a nice little baby Way up north in the lower Canady;
Won't they shout when they see Old Shady A-comin', a-comin', Hail, mighty day!
Chorus-Den away, den away, etc.
Durant thus spoke of the old commander and the old times :
"After the entry at Vicksburg, General Sherman was stationed on the Big Black River, and, whenever he came to town he would generally quarter with General McPherson. I have always found the general to be a very agreeable gentleman-always approachable, and very strong in his attachments to the soldiers."
"I left the army at Vicksburg, in December, 1863, and returned to Ohio, and commenced steamboating. I settled in St. Paul, Minn., having moved to that city in 1866."
"Old Shady" had lived at Grand Forks for twenty years before his death. His son is a graduate of the North Dakota University.
THE HALFBLOOD OF NORTH DAKOTA
The Metis, or halfbloods, were mostly the product of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany. The company engaged men from Canada, Scotland and England as employes in their fur trade in the Northwest, and these men often remained in the Hudson's Bay service their lifetime. They were usually men of vigorous, hardy physique and their labors were onerous, full of hardship, and often of danger and excitement. Many of them, in the absence of white women, took to themselves Indian wives, and the offspring in time augmented in number, by in- coming settlers, and natural increase, until at one time there must have been about 3,000 scattered through what is now North Dakota and Manitoba. The
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French ancestry predominated, but there were many Scotch and English half- bloods. In these palmy days, when the prairie was open ground and the buffalo plenty they possessed many of the characteristics of the Acadians, so pleasantly and beautifully described by Longfellow. They were a simple folk, but honest, merry, and led with the herds of buffalo, from which they received their chief substance, almost pastoral lives.
BUFFALO HUNTING
The history of the Metis, or halfblood, and his contemporary, the buffalo, is of peculiar interest. While the old halfblood of the prairie had scattered all over the Northwest, and is being mingled and lost among the greater number of later white immigrants, yet there are many of them still with us, whose earlier years were spent in hunting over these prairies, making their livelihood by the fruits of the trap or gun. The buffalo are gone and practically extinct, except a few that are preserved in private or national parks; but their traces are still plentiful and show proof of the immense herds that used to feed on the vast prairie pastures of this valley and the adjacent hills and plateaus lying westward. Deep worn pathis along the hillsides still look as if made by herds of cattle a season or two ago; great hollows in the ground yet remain where the buffalo have eaten the salty soil; and now and then the farmer plows up a huge bone or skull that remains as a mark of the grave of one of these monarchs of the plains. In some places these bones are found in such quantities that persons have made a business of collecting them by the wagon load, and thousands of tons have been sent east to be ground up for fertilizers, etc.
But the history of the buffalo and of the people who lived on them and hunted them, is not ancient history. In 1877 a caravan of Red River carts came to Pembina for a market, and at that time dried buffalo meat and pemmican could be bought at stores and were common articles of traffic.
The grand summer buffalo hunt was always the chief event of the year. From the 8th of June until the 15th, the hunters would assemble at some central place in the eastern part of the state. Bands from various points in Manitoba would join them. The brigade when made up consisted of different nations, the largest part being of French parentage. Then there were English, Scotch, Orkney and a few other nationalities. In the brigade there were about six hundred carts drawn by horses and oxen, and some twelve hundred persons, men, women and children. Being all assembled, and all arrangements made, the officers were appointed by some leader, from councilmen to constables, guides, etc .; the route determined upon after hearing the report of scouts, sent out to find where big bands of buffalo were ranging, the brigade would form in lines, three or four according to the size of the party, to make a move for the nearest buffalo. Then they would strike out for the plains, sometimes for the Cheyenne, Devils Lake, Mouse River, Jim River or Turtle Mountain. As soon as they found buffalo they would follow them up for days, whichever way they ran.
When the hunters see the herd they trot along slowly until they get within a half a mile of the animals. Some are standing, some lying down, and a few Vol. I-33
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feeding, and as they begin to rise the hunters go a little faster, but not to pass the captain who is supposed to have the poorest horse in the brigade, the captains being all old men. The buffalo are some one hundred and fifty or two hundred yards in advance. The hunters are abreast, three or four feet apart, and when the captains say "Ho! Ho!" all are off like a flash. The guns are all loaded, each hunter has three or four bullets in his mouth, and bullet pouch and powder horn at his side. The guns were the old Hudson's Bay Company's Nor-West-trading made especially for the trade, long stock and flintlock, priming themselves, and carrying a ball equal to a rifle and with force enough to pass through a buffalo bull. In loading the gun after the first shot the powderhorn with a large opening, was given three shakes in the closed left hand for the right charge of powder ; the gun in the right hand; a ball was taken from the mouth and the powder poured into the gun, which was shaken sufficiently to send all to the breach and putting the priming in the pan. The ball was then dropped into the muzzle of the gun whence it rolled down and rested on the powder, using no wad. Then they were ready for another shot, and so on to the end of the chase.
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