USA > Nebraska > Buffalo County > Buffalo County, Nebraska, and its people : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 9
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fortably clothed, and while to her the profound theories of Huxley and Darwin and Spencer and the fine spun theories of free trade and protection were as mysterious as the letters of the Greek alphabet, yet she it was who saw that the children were regular in attendance at school and attended to the cares and duties assigned them. In furnishing, from memory only, on request, something ot the history of her family, its travels, its privations, its toils and struggles at times for the barest necessities of life, its times of great peril and sore affliction, she was much more likely to recall some humorous feature or incident than one of peril or great privation and seemed not to realize that people who thus meet and overcome such almost insurmountable obstacles, and at last secure by indus- try, economy and integrity a comfortable home for themselves and their imme- diate family are true heroes and heroines of real life. Notwithstanding all the toils and privations incident to her life and travels, Mrs. Nutter in the seventy- third year of her age pursues her daily task with a vigor of step and a spright- liness of movement to be envied by many a person still on the sunny side of life.
CHAPTER XIV
THE INDIAN STAMPEDE OF 1864-NARRATION OF EVENTS BY JAMES JACKSON, "TED" OLIVER AND LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR HOPEWELL-ACCOUNT OF ATROCITIES COM- MITTED BY INDIANS AS RELATED BY CAPT. H. E. PALMER-MRS. EWBANK AND MISS LAURA BOYER RANSOMED-SETTLERS IN BUFFALO COUNTY ASSEMBLE AT WOOD RIVER CENTER-AUGUST MEYER CIIOSEN CAPTAIN -- NAMES OF SETTLERS IN COUNTY AT THAT DATE-TIIE FLIGIIT TO OMAHA AND IOWA-AUGUST MEYER AND "TED" OLIVER, GEORGE BURKE AND JOHN BRITT REMAIN.
TIIE STAMPEDE IN AUGUST, 1864
The stampede that occurred in August, 1864, marks an event of great impor- tance in the early settlement of the county and state. With no knowledge of the actual conditions and circumstances existing at the time of this stampede, it has been difficult to understand why all the settlers in the vicinity of Wood River Center (now Shelton) should have deserted their homes, when it appears that not a hostile Indian was seen at that time by these settlers; also that no hostile Indians were seen on the north side of the Platte River, at least not within 100 miles to the west of Wood River Center settlement. These settlers had been living for years in daily dread of attack by Indians, had been continually on the lookout for them, and Indians had frequently attacked one or two white men settlers when found alone and the Indians could surprise them. James Jackson states that two were killed by Sioux Indians in 1863, a few miles west of Wood River Center. "Ted" Oliver relates that he spent many long hours on the roof of their loghouse watching for Indians for some years preceding this stampede. For these and other reasons it has been thought best to determine as far as possible the reasons for the stampede of these early settlers, and after giving the subject much study and consideration, the writer offers the following suggestions or reasons for this fright and stampede. From the date, 1847, when the Mormons first made settlement in Utah until the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1869, Mormon sentiment dominated the trail between Florence on the Missouri River and Salt Lake City, Utah. Thousands of Mormon emi- grants passed each year over this trail in charge of Mormon elders who regularly made the journey back and forth. Along the trail from Florence as far west as Fort Kearney were settlers, largely Mormon emigrants, some of whom tarried a brief time and then journeyed on to Utah ; others remained and made permanent homes, as did the Olivers, Owens, Nutters and others of the early settlers in Buf- falo County. Commencing in 1860 a great and terrible Civil war was raging in the "states," the real cause of which Mormon emigrants had little knowledge. The
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Mormon leaders preached that this war was sent as punishment on the Gentiles for their persecution of the Mormons, and that while the war raged the Indians of the Northwest would raid the settlements along the border and murder the settlers. A year or more previous to the stampede Sioux Indians had raided the settlements in Minnesota and massacred a thousand or more of the settlers. All these things naturally kept the settlers in Buffalo and Hall counties in a state of apprehension of Indian attack.
A narration of some events which did occur in this connection will show that the apprehension on the part of the settlers was well founded. In conversa- tion with Lieutenant Governor Hopewell, in November, 1908, he stated that in July, 1864, he was a "bullwhacker" on a Government freight train loaded with supplies and journeying from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to Fort Laramie, some three hundred miles west of Fort Kearney. There were twenty-five wagons in the train, each wagon drawn by from six to eight yoke of oxen, and they aver- aged about fifteen miles a day. The conditions were so peaceful along the trail that the men were not generally armed, although most of them carried revolvers. Indians visited their camp daily, probably Pawnees, as this was Pawnee terri- tory-begging for food or anything which pleased an Indian's fancy. On July 4th the train reached Fort Kearney, making a brief stop and continuing the journey on the trail south of the Platte. On July 6th, when opposite the mouth of Plum Creek (near the present Village of Lexington), they saw where Indians had committed depredations on an emigrant train. The train crossed the Platte near Julesburg, two days being required to make the crossing, it being necessary to unload some of the freight and to double teams on each wagon. At Fort Laramie the men with the wagon train were issued guns and ammunition, and on the return journey there were seventy-five wagons in the train and about one hundred armed men. Near O'Fallon's Bluffs the train passed through a large camp of Cheyenne Indians (old men and squaws), and a day or two days' journey farther east saw at a distance a large body of Indian warriors. From this band a small number, mounted, detached themselves, taking a course as if to intercept the wagon train. The train boss ordered the train into camp, and when the small party of Indians rode up "how-howing," the men had their guns handy. These Indians remained but a short time, when as if by signal they rode off at full speed. The train was not molested, but when it reached the mouth of Plum Creek they found where a train of eleven wagons had been destroyed and there were a large number of fresh graves beside the trail. Farther east they saw additional evidences of Indian depredations.
Capt. H. E. Palmer, in his "History of the Powder River Expedition of 1865" (Nebraska State Historical Society, Vol. II), relates many incidents of this raid by the Cheyenne Sioux. From his account the following is quoted: "In August, 1864, I was ordered to report to General Curtis, who commanded the Department of Kansas, at Fort Leavenworth, and was by him instructed to take command of a detachment of the Eleventh Ohio Volunteer Corps, sixty men, every one of them lately Confederate soldiers with John Morgan in his raid into Ohio, captured there and confined at Columbus. They had enlisted in the Federal service under the pledge that they were to fight Indians and not rebels. 1 was to conduct those men to Fort Kearney, and there turn them over
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to Captain Humphreyville of the Eleventh Ohio. On my way out, near Big Sandy, now Alexandria, in Thayer County, Nebraska, I met a party of freighters and stage coach passengers on horseback, and some few ranchmen, fleeing from the Little Blue Valley. They told me a terrible story, that the Indians were just in their rear and how they had massacred the people just west of them, none knew how many. All knew that the Cheyennes had made a raid into the Little Blue Valley, striking down all before them. After camping for dinner at this place, and seeing the last citizen disappear towards the states, I pushed on toward the Little Blue, camping in the valley, and saw two Indians about five miles away on a hill as I went into camp. The next day passed Ewbank's ranch, and found there little children from three to seven years old, who had been taken by the heels and swung around against the log cabin, beating their heads into a jelly. The hired girl was found some fifteen rods from the ranch, staked out on the prairie, tied by her hands and feet, naked, and her body full of arrows and horribly mangled. Not far from this was the body of Ewbank, whiskers cut off, body most fearfully mutilated. The buildings had been burned and the ruins still smoking. Nearly the same scene of desolation and murder was wit- nessed at Spring ranch. Camped that night at Liberty farm. Next day passed trains, in one place seventy wagons loaded with merchandise, en route for Denver. The teamsters had mounted their mules and made their escape. The Indians had opened boxes containing dry goods, taking great bolts of calicoes and other cloths, carried off all they wanted, and scattered the balance, all they could, around over the prairie. * These Indians had attacked the troops at * Pawnee ranch under command of Capt. E. B. Murphy of the Seventh Iowa Cavalry, and had driven them into Fort Kearney, although he had with him about one hundred and fifty men and two pieces of artillery. By this time the main body of the Indians was far away in the Republican Valley, en route for the Solomon River. I followed their rear guard to a point near where the Town of Franklin, in Franklin County, on the Republican, now stands. Camped there one night and then marched north to Fort Kearney. On that day's march we saw millions of buffalo."
This raid on the Little Blue was made by the Cheyennes under the command of Black Kettle, One-Eyed George Bent, Two Faces and others. Mrs. Ewbank and Miss Laura Boyer were carried away captives. We ransomed them from the Indians, who brought them to Fort Laramie in January, 1865. Just prior to this outbreak on the Little Blue a number of the same Indians had attacked a train near Plum Creek, thirty-one miles west of Fort Kearney, on the south side of the Platte, and killed several men. From Plum Creek they moved down the Little Blue, passing south of Fort Kearney.
This band of Indians, says Captain Palmer, was attacked by Colorado troops under command of Col. J. M. Chivington, on November 29, 1864, in their camp on Sand Creek, about one hundred and ten miles southeast of Denver. The Indians were surprised, and according to the very best estimate five hundred or six hundred were killed-men, women and children.
The story of this memorable stampede, as relates to settlers in what is now Buffalo County, as told by some who took part, is in substance as follows: It had been a quiet, peaceful summer in the Wood River Valley in 1864. The set-
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tlers had been busy with their farming operations and there was promise of a good crop of corn, and the vegetables, potatoes, beans, etc., were already being gathered and sold at Fort Kearney. On August 9th, James Oliver and Thomas Morgan, settiers living on Wood River, about midway between the present vil- lages of Gibbon and Shelton, had gone to Fort Kearney with a load of vege- tables, leaving their wives and children to keep company together at the home of Mr. Morgan. News of the outbreak reached the officers at the fort while Oliver and Morgan were there, and they were not allowed to return home to their families, but were pressed into service to defend the fort. Another settler by the name of Cook was also at the fort and he was sent to warn the settlers and to advise them to gather at Wood River Center prepared to defend then- selves.
The homes of these early settlers, some built of logs, some of sod, some dug- outs (holes in the ground), were all on the south side of Wood River, close to that stream, and the one farthest west was that of J. E. Boyd, the Boyd ranch, about one mile west of the present Village of Gibbon. Thus it was, in the dead of night, that Messenger Cook called these settlers from their sleep, informed them that the Indians were coming in great force, advising not to strike a light, as it might attract the attention of the Indians, but to go as quickly as possible to Wood River Center. Before daylight all the settlers within miles of this com- mon center had been warned and had assembled, many with little more clothing than when awakened from their sleep. August Meyer, now (1908) living at Shelton, a German, who had served five years in the regular service, was chosen captain and at once organized his force as best he could, establishing a line of pickets. At this center there was being built a log stable, yet without a roof. Into this stable the women and children were placed, while all awaited the coming of the Indians. When morning came one settler mounted his horse and started towards his home. He soon returned in great haste, saying he saw a band of Indians on the north side of Wood River in the rear of his home. After a long, anxious time of waiting, four men, mounted, were sent to see what had become of the Indians the settler reported to have seen. When this party returned they reported that in the rear of the ranch, and across Wood River, was a bunch of buffalo feeding, and doubtless in his fright the settler mistook these buffalo for Indians. So far as can be recalled, the following are the names of persons and families residing at that date in what is now Buffalo County and most of whom gathered at Wood River Center on the occasion of this stampede; J. E. Boyd and family, John Britt, George Burke, Crane brothers, Cook and family, H. Dugdale and family, Mrs. Francis and children, Huff and family, French George, Augustus Meyer and wife, Edward (Ted) Oliver and wife, James Oliver and family, Mrs. Sarah Oliver and her children, Robert, John, Sarah Ann, Jane and Eliza, Mrs. David Owen and son, Joseph Owen, Thomas Morgan and family, Payne and family, Thomas Peck and family, Jack Staats and family, Story and family, Tague and family, Mrs. Wilson and children, William Nutter and family.
During the day James Oliver and Thomas Morgan returned from Fort Kearney, bringing further news of the murders and horrible atrocities perpe- trated by the Indians. The settlers remained at Wood River Center during the day and succeeding night, when it was agreed best for all to leave and each
AUGUST MEYER
Soldier of the Civil war. Chosen captain by settlers in the memorable Indian stam- pede of 1864.
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family returned to their home, placed in wagons their household belongings, hitched to the wagons their ox teams and driving their few head of cows and other cattle, took the trail for Missouri River. In the haste of this leaving of home under such conditions, it is small wonder that one child was left asleep in the cradle and not missed until the parents were some distance on the trail, when it was discovered that baby Helen had been left behind and the wagon was halted while the anxious father hurried back for the little one. In the arms of mother were twin daughters only a few months of age. Except at Grand Island, where some of the settlers had thrown up breastworks and pre- pared to defend themselves, the entire country as far as the Missouri River was with a few exceptions deserted. When the fleeing settlers reached Omaha they found the stores closed, every able-bodied man pressed into service and armed, and mounted men patrolling the country for miles outside the Village of Omaha. Omaha, at that date (1864), was a straggling village with a population about the same as the present Village of Shelton. At an election held in 1864 (Morton History, Vol. I, page 495) Douglas County had cast 971 votes for delegate to Congress out of a total of 5,885 cast in the Territory of Nebraska. This would give Douglas County a population of approximately four thousand, with a popu- lation in the City or Village of Omaha of approximately one thousand. Most of the fleeing settlers from the Wood River Center settlement pursued their journey into Iowa. William Nutter and family continued on to England, going by way of Quebec. The female members of the Oliver and Owen families remained in lowa for a year before returning to their Wood River homes. James Oliver, Thomas Morgan and others returned in time to gather the crops on their claims. Augustus Meyer, Edward (Ted) Oliver, George Burke and John Britt did not leave during the stampede, but remained to care for their prop- erty. They were not molested and saw no hostile Indians.
Mr. Meyer was in the employ of the Western Stage Company, in charge of their stage station near Wood River Center, where was kept a relay of horses, and Mr. Meyer states that his sense of duty to his employers would not permit of his leaving the stage property at such a time, and further, he had seen no Indians and did not greatly fear an attack. Mr. Meyer, a German, had served five years in the regular United States service, a portion of the time at Fort Kearney, and had been discharged from the service at Fort Kearney in 1861, since which time he had been in the employ of the Western Stage Company, first at Boyd's ranch, and later at their station near Wood River Center.
The press of that date, 1864, in the Territory of Nebraska, roundly denounced the general Government for its failure to protect emigrants on the trail and set- tlers on the plains from attack by hostile Indians, and it seems that such denun- ciation was in a measure deserved, for it appears that no effort whatever was made by those in command at Fort Kearney to protect or come to the relief of settlers during this raid ; in fact, two of the settlers, James Oliver and Thomas Morgan, were pressed into service to defend the fort, while their wives and children were left to the mercy of savage and barbarous Indians. When the settlers returned to their homes after the stampede they found small details of soldiers from the fort stationed at the Boyd ranch, Wood River Center and at settlements farther east toward Grand Island, in order to protect both the settlers Vol. 1-5
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and also the emigrants traveling the California and Oregon trail. It should not be forgotten that this memorable raid occurred in the closing year of the great Civil war when every soldier was needed in the stupendous struggle for the preservation of the Union, and it also appears that the garrisons in the western forts and the troops employed to fight the Indians were largely captured Confed- erate soldiers who preferred service in fighting Indians (not rebels) rather than to remain prisoners of war, confined in armed camps.
CHIAPTER XV
ACROSS THE PLAINS IN 1860-A MILLION OF BUFFALO, HORACE GREELEY DELAYED AT FORT KEARNEY FOR TWENTY-FOUR HOURS BY BUFFALO-25 CENTS TO CARRY A LETTER-MINING FOR GOLD IN COLORADO-CORN $7 A BUSHEL-CORN IO CENTS A BUSHEL-TEN DOLLARS TO WATER GOVERNMENT TEAMS-THE TRANS- PORTATION EXPENSE OF FORAGE DELIVERED AT FORT KEARNEY AND FORT LARAMIE -TEN CENTS A GALLON FOR WATER IN 1874.
ACROSS THE PLAINS IN 1860
J. E. Miller, a soldier of the Civil war, came to Buffalo County, from Iowa in the year 1873, taking a homestead claim in Cedar Township. Mr. Miller served as justice of the peace in his township and two terms as state senator. He introduced in the Senate and secured its passage, a bill providing for the teaching of agriculture in our public schools,-this the beginning of the teaching of the principles of agriculture in the public schools of our state and nation. In the year 1860 Mr. Miller made a journey across the plains and in the year 1915 gives the following interesting description of the journey :
I passed up the south side and down, from Fort Kearney, the north side of the Platte River in 1860, fifty-five years ago this summer. Our company con- sisted of seven ox teams (two and three yoke to a wagon) and nineteen men. We left Davenport, Iowa, early in April, crossed the Missouri at Nebraska City, May Ist, loaded up and started for the Platte route, which we struck 115 miles below Fort Kearney (this would be about opposite Columbus). Only a few miles from Nebraska City we lost sight of settlers and traveled through an unbroken prairie till we reached Salt Creek (this Lincoln) where there were a few straggling houses. I now believe it was near the junction of the little creek coming down from the asylum as we found the water too salt for our use, and by crossing over to another stream we found the water all right. Soon after reaching the Platte we came in contact with others on the same errand-"Pike's Peak or bust." By the time we reached Fort Kearney the road was full of freighters and gold seekers.
A MILLION OF BUFFALO
A large herd of buffalo had about finished crossing the Platte River going north; it had taken them two days and nights to cross; the east edge of the herd was at Doby Town (this two miles west of Fort Kearney) and reached west thirty-five miles. The buffalo were in a solid mass so that all teams were delayed.
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HORACE GREELEY DELAYED TWENTY-FOUR HOURS
Horace Greeley, who was a passenger on the overland stage, was detained twenty-four hours. He wrote to the New York Tribune, of which he was editor, "I know a million is a great many but I am sure I saw more than a million buffalo yesterday. Some estimate there are more buffalo on the plains than domestic cattle in the United States. I can't say as to that, but I feel sure there are more in weight as the buffalo weigh more." From Fort Kearney to Denver the road was filled with teams. By standing on the front of the wagon one could see every turn of the road for many miles by the line of covered wagons. I noticed the peculiar fact that there was not a stream, little or big, which entered the Platte from the south, from where we struck the valley (at Columbus) to Denver. The mail was carried from the Missouri River by Hinkley's express; we had to pay 25 cents for each letter besides the 3 cents stamp.
DENVER WAS IN KANSAS
Kansas and Nebraska at that time extended to the summit of the mountains and joined Utah. Denver was in Kansas. We crossed the range and mined 21/2 months near where Leadville now is. We had to saw our lumber with a whip saw. We averaged to earn about ten dollars per day to the man. Snow began to cover the range September 14, and we, being short of provisions, pulled out. Reached Denver, 115 miles, in a week.
CORN $7 A BUSHEL
Bought corn at Denver at 121/2 cents per pound to feed my team-I had bought horses. It was a long, dreary road to Fort Kearney, where we forded the Platte; we found some settlers along Wood River of whom we bought corn for $2 a bushel. Crossed the Missouri at Omaha where we sold our gold for $18 an ounce. Of course this lightened our load somewhat. The year 1860 saw the great drouth in Kansas. Nebraska was not farming much then or she would have suffered. The drouth extended into Western Iowa and we paid 60 cents a bushel for corn. It was cheaper as we traveled east until I bought the last bushel fifteen miles north of Davenport for 10 cents. That was the biggest fall in the price of corn I ever knew it to take inside of fifty days. I reached home November 5th and the next day cast my first vote for President, thereby electing Abraham Lincoln. While going up the Platte I would take to the sand hills on the south side and chase antelope. My opinion of this country as an agricultural paradise you can guess.
I would not have given a dime for all of Nebraska west of Fort Kearney.
I had intended to go back to the mines in 1861, and perhaps would, had it not been there was a rebellion to look after and I was asked to take the job.
TEN DOLLARS TO WATER GOVERNMENT TEAMS
There is a tradition that $10 was paid at one time to water a string of Govern- ment teams at a well on the divide south of the Platte and that the amount was
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allowed in the expense account at Washington. If so it must have been because this territory was known as a desert and in a desert water is often scarce. East of Kenesaw, on the trail coming from the Little Blue over the divide to the valley of the Platte, a distance of some twenty miles there was a well known as the "Government well," but private property, which was more than one hundred feet deep. It was curbed with logs and was a regular stopping place for travelers over the trail. Possibly it was at this well that the "large" price was paid for water for the Government teams. This price is not greatly in excess of the contract price paid for hay for use at Fort Kearney, as related $20 per ton, and the contractor let the contract to cut and stack the hay in sight of the fort for $1.25 per ton. Some idea of the enormous expense of maintaining an army at Fort Kearney and Fort Laramie will appear in the following taken from Morton History, Vol. 2: "The cost of transporting ( 1865) a hundred pounds of corn, hay, clothing, subsistence, lumber or other necessary from Fort Leaven- worth (Kansas) to Fort Kearney was $6.42; to Fort Laramie $14.10." It is further stated that the cost of a bushel of corn bought at Fort Leavenworth and delivered at Fort Kearney was $5.03. In 1850 Gen. Winfield Scott com- plained of the great expense of furnishing supplies for troops on the frontier, in which he states: "The average cost of forage for a horse during one month at Fort Kearney was $27.72, and at Fort Laramie, $34.24." In 1873 the writer paid 10 cents for a gallon of water and 25 cents to water a team on the divide south of the Platte and drew the water himself, out of a well much more than one hundred feet in depth.
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