USA > North Dakota > Dickey County > History Of Dickey County, ND, 1930 > Part 2
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A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
tradition and how much of fact there is in this account, but it is well estab- Jished that these two Indians, father and son, were outstanding characters in the Indian history of Dakota in the early nineteenth century.
In the hills or coteaus which cover the western part of Dickey County the Indians found shelter and fresh water as well as sufficient timber for their needs. The summer was the time of greatest activity and the greatest happiness. The pony herds grazed out on the prairie, the children gathered the "tipsin", or prairie potato, and played or romped to their hearts content, or took their part in the care of the camp and the preparation for the hunt. The women did their part in the care of the camp and the duties of home- maker, but did not do the farming that was characteristic of the women of some of the tribes along the Missouri. These were plains Indians who wandered over a large territory and lived by hunting and on the fruits of the soil that were obtainable, such as berries, wild rice and the tipsin. Much of the summer was spent in traveling, in hunting or in making war, and the hill country was the scene of many adventures and much interesting life.
In the late summer and fall the buffalo were hunted and great numbers killed. In this way they obtained their robes and winter supply of meat. The fresh meat was dried in long thin strips placed on low wooden frames over low fires or in the sun. These strips were then placed on a skin on the ground and beaten with stone hammers into a mass of small fibers, and onto this mass were poured the melted tallow and marrow fat and when the whole was well stirred together with wooden shovels it was poured into skin sacks. If berries or plums were to be had from the ravines these were added to flavor the meat, which when sewed up and hard was the "pem- mican" of the northwest.
With the coming of fall probably most of the Indian bands migrated to some milder climate or sheltered valley, perhaps some timbered nooks along the rivers, or near some lake where timber and water could be secured and there they prepared for the cold season. Tipis were erected and banked with grass, leaves and brush, and fuel was provided; the ponies were herded in the brush where they could browse on the tender shoots or baik of the cotton- wood; dogs which had been fattened all summer in the hunting camps were secured so that they would be available in good condition for any "home coming" or other feast day. If there was not much snow hunters continued to roam the prairies but if the snow became very deep much of the traveling was given up and every one remained close to the camp except for small scouting parties sent out to guard against surprise, to watch for game signs, and to tend the traps set for such game as they could catch in the winter time.
Where there were such good hunting grounds there must have been sever- al traders through this region in the early days. A trading post was estab- lished somewhere on the Ilm river in 1836, and was in charge of Louison Frenier, whose headquarters was at Fort Pierre on the Missouri. The best
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A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
evidence seems to locate this post in Brown County some twelve miles south of the state line. Frenier and a party of white men were at this post for the win- ter of 1836-1837. That winter for some reason the buffalo disappeared from the plains in the region of the post, and small pox spread among the Indians in the vicinity, exterminating many of the families. Frenier and his men were left without provisions and no resources except that of digging in the frozen ground beneath the snow for roots. According to the story only Frenier survived and when spring came his house was surrounded with dead bodies and there was no help nearer that Ft. Pierre. He made the best of the situation, disposed of his dead companions, closed his trading post and returned to his head-quarters.
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A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
CHAPTER II
EARLY EXPLORATIONS
[Volume 10 of the South Dakota Collections; the Records of the War Depart- ment, and Volume II of the State Historical Society of North Dakota Collections furnish information on parts of this chapter. The Journal of the Nicollet and Fremont Expedition of 1839 furnishes an account of that expedition and there is a map with some of the earlier editions.]
TN the summer of 1839 an exploring expedition was sent by the Government into this little known Indian country. This is the first exploring party through Dickey County of which we have definite and official records. William Dickson, a member of this Nicollette-Fremont party employed Frenier as a guide, and his acquaintance with the country around what is now Dickey County made him especially well fitted for this task.
The mission of this party was to explore the tributaries of the upper Mississippi basin, and in carrying out their instructions they crossed from Pierre on the Missouri, with nineteen men to the James river near Aberdeen; from here they ascended the west bank of the James and entered what is now North Dakota on July 17th, 1839, the first white visitors in what is now Dickey County, who have left us any record of their travels.
It is interesting to note that at that early day, the Indians had not had their hostility aroused and the few whites with whom they came in contact were for the most part treated as guests. This party of explorers seem to have had no fear of passing a summer in the hunting ground of the Sioux and at no time did they have any trouble with the Indians.
They have little to say about their visit to Dickey County but the map which accompanies their formal report shows with accuracy their general course. After crossing the mouth of the Elm river in Brown County on the 14th of July, they moved up the west side of Sand Lake.
The next camp which they note on the map was that of the 16th of July, which is indicated as being a little below the Forty-sixth Parallel and was probably just below the state line. From here on the morning of the 17th they continued on to the north and passed the well known "Fish hook" bend of the James river at Ludden. This peculiar curve in the river was accurately indicated on their maps and is too conspicuous a landmark to be mistaken. Passing this bend they made their camp on the south side of a small water course which drains down from the north west about midway be- tween the bend and the mouth of Matoti, or Bear Den Creek. The old map shows two smail creeks emptying into the James nearly opposite each other at this point and the one which marks the site of the explorers' camp is on the
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A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
Kizzie Morgan farm, the Southeast quarter of section twelve, township one hundred thirty, range sixty. As it is nearly a hundred years since this little party of explorers stopped over night here there is of course nothing left to indicate the exact spot where they stayed, but it is interesting to note even approximately where they spent their first night in our county and state. Probably the spot where the camp stood would be included within a radius of half a mile from the Morgan buildings. On the 18th they continued on to the north and made their camp at the mouth of Bone Hill creek in La- Moure County.
In connection with the Nicolette-Fremont report it is interesting to note the old names for the different geographical features, most of which show the influence of the carly French fur traders. The French name Riviere a' Jacques, from which the English term James or "Jim" is derived, was in use as long ago as 1804 when Lewis and Clark made their trip up the Missouri.
A few of the old maps use the name of Yankton or Dacota to indicate the James, from the band or tribe of Indians who lived along its banks. The original Indian name by which the James was known to most of the Dacota people was the Chan san san or Tchan san san, meaning "river where the white barked trees grow," perhaps from the aspen groves along its course. At Jamestown was a place called Itizapa okaksa, or "the place for cutting bows," further down, in South Dakota, another local name was Otuhu Oju, or "place where the oaks grow."
Bear creek which enters the James a short distance north of Oakes was called by the Indians "Matoti," translated, "The place where the Grizzly Bear had his den;" as this stream iises way to the northeast near Bear Den Hill it is probable that the name was derived from that landmark.
The next explorer in the vicinity of Dickey County was Lt. Cuvier Grover who with a small detachment crossed from near the present site of Wahpeton to the mouth of Bone Hill Creek in the summer of 1853. This little band did not set foot in what is now our county, but probably just missed the north east corner in their journey past Dead Colt Hill, just north of Gwinner, to the James river. Grover turned to the northwest after crossing the river, struck across the coteau and rejoined the main body of the Stevens Northern Pacific survey on the upper Missouri.
The next time that history records the coming of white men to Dickey County is in connection with the punitive expeditions of Generals Sibley and Sully, when the last battle with the Indians fought east of the Missouri river occurred at White Stone Hill. The story of this battle is told in another chapter.
The next expedition across Dickey County was the ill starred venture of Capt. James L. Fisk in 1864. This army officer had secured permission from the government to pilot gold seekers to the new fields in the Rocky mountains and had made two successful trips in 1862 and 1863. In 1864 he attempted a short cut by striking across the plains from Minnesota via the
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A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
newly established Ft. Rice instead of going to the northwest around to the north of the Missouri river near Ft. Union. Fisk planned on having the steamboats at Ft. Rice ferry him over that stream; it would have saved him many hundred miles of travel if he could have succeeded in getting thru the Indian country.
On August 1st, 1864, Captain Fisk and his emigrant train left Camp Wadsworth with an escort of fifty men from Co. I, 2nd Minn. Cavalry, under the command of Lt. H. F. Phillipps, Proceeding in a westerly direction two days the column crossed the James river and proceeded in a northwesterly direction to Ft. Rice on the Missouri river. Their trail was a new one and while they make no reference to landmarks or other trails the general direc- tion indicates that they probably passed near the south western corner of Dickey County. The Cavalry under Lt. Phillipps, delivered the emigrants safely at Ft. Rice on the 15th of August and on the 18th they started to re- turn to Camp Wadsworth by the same route they had traveled when going west. They arrived at their camp at Wadsworth on the evening of the 26th of August. Fisk made his way west from Ft. Rice to a point near Ives in Bowman County, where he was attacked by Indians and had to send to Ft. Rice for assistance. His rescuers brought him back to Ft. Rice and there his party disbanded and returned to the states.
During the summer of 1864 the war department had under considera- tion plans for the establishment of several forts in the Indian country in the northwest for the purpose of protecting garrisons whose duty would be to prevent the Sioux from returning to the Minnesota and Iowa frontier. Fort Pembina was established that fall. Ft. Abercrombie was already occupied, Ft. Rice was built by Sully and it was planned to have a post on the James river not far from where the state line was afterward located.
Certain conditions were necessary for the successful maintenance of a frontier post; timber for shelter, fuel, and building, water for men and animals, grazing for stock must be abundant; and proximity to prominent land marks or important geographical features which would make it easy to identify the place in stormy weather is an advantage.
In order to ascertain if these conditions were to be found along the James river in the region in which it was planned to establish a fort an ex- pedition was sent out from Major Clowney's camp in the hills in north- eastern South Dakota. The Major with a part of the 30th Wisconsin Infantry had been sent up from Minnesota to select a site and build the fort. After reaching Kettle Lake he camped and sent a small detachment on to the James River to look for a location.
On the 26th of July Captain L. S. Burton with sixty cavalry men from Co. M. 2nd Minn. commanded by Lt. Gardner, with one mountain howitzer, in charge of Lt. Western with ten men, eighty infantry under Lt. Jones, and Cassimer and Pierre Bottinean in charge of ten scouts-one hundred sixty-
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A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
five people in all marched west for the James river to look for a suitable place for the fort.
Their instructions were to examine the James fiver between the mouth of the Elm river and Bone Hill creek. On the evening of the 27th they reached the James river and camped about five miles south of the mouth of the Elm river.
At 4 a. m. of the 28th they marched north fifteen miles and camped on Tehauchicahah or Sand Lake. At the same hour on the 29th they broke camp and marched twenty-one miles up the James along the east bank. Here Captain Burton left the main body of his detachment and with his cavalry crossed to the west side of the river; led by Pierre Bottineau, the scout, he made a flying trip to within a few miles of the mouth of Bone Hill creek. It is interesting to note that the place where the infantry were left must have been in the immediate vicinity of the Nicolett-Fremont camp of 1839, but on the opposite side of the river and almost a quarter of a century later.
Burton and his cavalry made about sixty miles up and back on that hot July day and their examination of the valley of the James satisfied them that it was not practicable to maintain a fort on the James river on account of the scarcity of timber. Gathering up the rest of their little expedition, on the 30th and 31st they marched southeast to Major Clowney's camp on Kettle Lake and laid out their fort there. This is still known as Ft. Wads- worth or Sissiton and was an important military post for many years.
With the establishment of Ft. Sissiton in the hills between the James river and Lake Traverse and the forts on the Missouri iiver it became necessary to have means of communication between these points. Military parties relieving those stationed at the forts and escorting supply trains were moving back and forth. Mail carriers, hunters and visitors followed, friendly Indians roamed back and forth between reservations. The army contractors moving out from Minnesota to put up hay or wood for the army posts crossed overland. Along with these was the restless Yankee emigrant seeking new country to explore and subdue, some heading for the gold fields in the Rocky mountains, others vaguely hoping to find a place to locate out of reach of the trouble caused by some peace officers in former haunts, ranchers looking for free range on the unlimited prairies, farmers looking for choice new lands, all moving west and leaving trails deep cut in the prairie sod where they crossed our county. These deep worn tracks followed up the easy grades across the few streams and over the hills toward the Missouri. Of these the Ft. Yates trail was the best known and most used. It cuts through the southwest corner of Dickey county on its way from the James river crossing just below the state line and on west to the Big Muddy. Few traces are now to be seen of these old trails. They served their purpose and have faded out. The plow of the farmer, the tramp of domestic animals and the dust blown from cultivated fields have each done their part and only
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A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
here and there can the old time pioneer point out one of the early trails.
A mute witness of an adventure by one of the early caravans was found in Albertha township by the early settlers in the form of the wagon irons of an emigrant train. These irons indicated that the wagons had been drawn up in a circle for defence and burned while in that position. Under each of the wagons a rifle pit had been dug for the use of the driver. It is probable that a wagon train passing through the country had been attacked by Indians and burned, but no one knows the details of the affair. There were no bones found to indicate that the people or their animals had been killed; possibly an attack was made and the Indians beaten off and the whites took their animals and escaped after burning the wagons to prevent their falling into the hands of the Indians.
There might have been other parties who crossed Dickey County before it was settled, but we have very little record of any one crossing the county except by the Ft. Yates Trail until the government surveyors ran the town- ship and range lines in the early seventies. The experiences of these sur- veyors are found only in the field notes in the files of the land department and there may be some yet undiscovered records made by the men who ran the survey. The scouting party for the railroad followed about 1880, and after them came the construction crews to mark the paths for the home- steader.
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A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
CHAPTER III
WHITE STONE HILL
[The Records of the War Department furnish information for the Battle of Whitestone Hills. There are a number of fairly good accounts in later histories. Mr. Luce of Groton, South Dakota, who was a member of the scouting party under Colonel House, and Mr. A. F. Shanklin from Springville, Iowa, who was a mem- ber of the Second Nebraska Cavalry, and was in the battle, have both visited the battlefield and identified the places where incidents of the fight occurred, and their accounts are incorporated in this story.]
B Y 1862 the increasing number of settlers and the intrusion of swarms of hunters, traders and travelers of all descriptions into their hunting grounds had alarmed the northwestern tribes and aroused their hostility. Under pressure they had sold a part of their lands in Minnesota to the government but their payments were delayed and the issues of goods promised were not forthcoming. These and other matters so irritated the Dacotas that on the 18th of August 1862, an uprising took place against the whites which ended in disaster for the Indians. At first successful, they swarmed over the frontier settlements in Minnesota killing several hundred people, but the superior equipment and organization of the whites soon put them on the defensive. In this uprising the Yanktons took but little part. They and the Tetons to the west had not been through the experiences of the eastern bands and had not had the annoyances which had roused those people to fighting pitch. It was well for the whites that these warlike western bands took no part, for while the whites would have overcome them in the end, the conflict would have been drawn out for years.
During the fall of 1862, General Sibley organized an army and drove the Indians back into the plains and held them there during the following winter, while plans were being made to punish the whole Dakota nation. The plan of the campaign was for General Sibley, with a column of infantry, to move from Minnesota to the Minnewaukan lake region, while General Sully came up the Missouri river from Ft. Pierre and assisted him.
Sibley moved out in June 1863 and crossed the plains to the Missouri river, fighting several skirmishes with the mixed bands of the Dakotas in Kidder and Burleigh counties. He finally drove the Indians across the Missouri at the mouth of Apple Creek near where Bismarck was afterward located. He waited here till the 1st day of August, then returned to Minn- esota. In the meantime Sully was struggling against adverse conditions on the lower Missouri, his supplies which were being brought up by steamboat being so delayed by low water that he was still in the vicinity of Ft. Pierre when Sibley turned east from the Missouri. The Indians promptly recrossed
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A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
to the east side as soon as Sibley had left the country and resumed their hunting in the coteaus. They gradually worked to the south and east and by the 1st of September were camped near White Stone Hill in Northwestern Dickey county, Section 18-131-65. Not till the 21st of August was Sully . able to move north from the mouth of the little Cheyenne river in search of Indians. By the 28th he had reached the west end of Long Lake in Burleigh county. Here he rested two days while a scouting party went to the Missouri river to look for Sibley. They found Sibley's camp site and indications that he had returned to the east. Sully was disappointed in not being able to cooperate with Sibley but determined to swing out through the hills and look for the Indians there. His scouts had picked up a few wandering Sioux who told him that the main body were hunting somewhere in the hills to the east, and consequently on the 30th of August he moved in that direction. His exact course has not been identified but it seems likely that he passed near where Braddock is now located thence nearly east into northeastern Logan county.
Years ago on section 30-136-68 were found traces of an old military camp which might have been occupied by Sully on the night of September 1st-2nd; if so he must have marched nearly south on the second and third of September, for of his march on the third he says: "Major House with the advance bore off much to my left, (to the east) and came upon the Indians ten miles from the lake where we had made camp about 2 p. m." He had already marched 20 miles before making this camp, which was known as No. 33, then made another ten miles to get to the White Stone battlefield. This afternoon camp, No. 33, was on section 24-131-67, in eastern McIntosh county.
The battle of White Stone Hill was opened by Col. Albert E. House of the 6th Iowa Cavalry, who was in command of the battalion which was act- ing as advance guard on the third of September and came upon the Indian camp shortly after 3 p. m. This camp was on the shores of the little lake just west of the hill where the monument is now located. Frank LaFramboise was sent to inform Sully that the village had been located. Major House formed his command in line about a mile west of the camp and advanced to within about 50 rods of the camp in this formation. From here Captain C. J. Marsh of Co. H and Lt. G. E. Dayton, Co. C, went forward and made an inspection of the Indian camp at close range. On their return they reported that there were about 400 lodges of Indians.
Companies C and H were pushed further toward the Indian camp from House's left and made an examination of the ground, then they returned and Co. F went out to the right for the same purpose. While this was going on a delegation from the Indian camp came up to Major House under a flag of truce and tried to make some arrangement to prevent hostilities. They offered to leave some of their chiefs as hostages but Major House declined to accept this offer, not knowing which chiefs were in authority and fearing
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A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
that some people of little consequence might be delivered up and the rest escape.
Major House then demanded the unconditional surrender of the entire band, which was declined, and the Indians returned to their people and made what preparation they could for resistance. Major House does not mention any threat made by the Indians that they would attack him before the arrival of the rest of the army. Some writers in giving an account of this battle have said that House and his battalion were surrounded and threaten- ed with extermination, but Major House does not report that such a threat was made. He says, "They, the Indians, placed themselves in battle array and having sent their squaws and papooses away * * * Our command moved forward, and the enemy retreated precipitately, abandoning every- thing except their ponies."
About this time the 2nd Nebraska arrived having made the ten mile run from Sully's camp No. 33 in an hour. A little calculation here may be helpful; the messenger, LaFramboise, could hardly have reached Sully in less than an hour from the time when House discovered the Indians at 3 p. m; then there must have elapsed some little time, possibly half an hour, for the soldiers to saddle their horses, get their equipment on and get into position; then another hour would be required for them to reach White Stone Hill. This would make it 5:30 p. m. when the first reinforcements reached House and would explain why this brief battle was terminated by the coming of night. The 2nd Nebraska seems to have moved on east on the south side of the escaping Indians. As the latter had started away from their camp, according to House, they would be somewhere east of the battle- field monument. Col. Furness followed, probably coming to the south and east of that hill and caught up with the Indians near the ravine which runs to the east. Here he attempted to head them off, opened the battle and had a sharp encounter with them at close range.
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