History of Hall County, Nebraska, Part 8

Author: Buechler, A. F. (August F.), 1869- editor
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Pub. and Engraving Co.
Number of Pages: 1011

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HISTORY OF HALL COUNTY NEBRASKA

will allow me to organize a battalion of Pawnees and mount and equip them, I will undertake to picket your entire line and keep off other Indians. The Pawnees are the nat- ural enemies of all the tribes that are giving you so much trouble, and a little encourage- ment and drill will make them the best irreg- ular horse you could desire."

The plan was new but looked feasible. Ac- cordingly, Mr. Ames went to Washington, and, after some effort, . succeeded in getting permission to organize a battalion of four hundred Pawnee warriors, who should be armed as were the U. S. cavalry and drilled in such simple tactics as the service required, and my uncle was commissioned as a major of volunteers and ordered to command them. The newspaper clipping also says: "It would be difficult to estimate the service of Major North in money value." General Crook once said, in speaking of him, "Millions of govern- ment property and hundreds of lives were saved by him on the line of the Union Pacific railroad, and on the Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana frontiers.

During the many skirmishes and battles fought by the Pawnees under Major North, he never lost a man; moreover, on several oc- casions he passed through such hair-breadth escapes that the Pawnees . thought him in- vulnerable. In one instance, while pursuing the retreating enemy, he discovered that his command had fallen back and he was sepa- rated from them by over a mile. The enemy, discovering his plight, turned on him. He dismounted, being fully armed, and by using his horse as a breastwork, he managed to reach his troops again, though his faithful horse was killed. This and many like ex- periences caused the Pawnees to believe that their revered leader led a charmed life. He never deceived them, and they loved to call him "Little Pawnee Le-Sharo" (Pawnee Chief), and so he was known as the White Chief of the Pawnees.

LOCAL INDIAN HISTORY

It was on February 5, 1862, when the first Indian massacre of whites by Indians in Hall County was chronicled. The story of this Smith-Andresen massacre is told in two other places in this and the preceding chapter.

TWO BOYS PINNED TOGETHER BY ARROW

thaniel and Robert Martin, were helping their father George Martin in the hayfield. Their ranch was in the broad valley of the Platte in Hall County, about eighteen miles southwest of Grand Island. This was during the great Indian raid of 1864 when the Sioux were creating so much disturbance through the Valley. The two boys were mounted on one fleet pony and were making good their escape toward the shelter of the log house and barns at the ranch when an arrow pinned them to- gether. A shower of arrows circled around them, and one of the arrows struck Nathaniel in the arm and buried itself in Robert's back, pinning the boys together. Both fell from the horse, but luckily they were near the ranch. They were about to be scalped when an Indian interfered, saying in English: "Let the boys alone." The Indian with his drawn knife de- sisted and the boys were left for dead. The ranchmen defended the house, drove the sav- ages to flight, killed or wounded one, took the boys in and had the arrow drawn from their bodies. Both of the boys lived to be grown men and the story of the two boys pinned to- gether became one of the most familiar of Hall County pioneer days.

THE CAMPBELL RAID

The attack on the Campbell ranch was made July 24, 1867. Peter, the Scotchman, lived ten miles south of Grand Island, on the south side of the Platte. No men being at home, the house was captured, a woman named Mrs. Thurston Warren killed by a gun shot, and her son by an arrow. The two nieces of Camp- bell, aged seventeen and nineteen, were carried away with twin boys four years old, and a German, named Henry Dose, was killed close by. The Indians robbed the house, killed some stock, and escaped unmolested. Months after- ward the government bought the two girls and the boys from the Indians for $4,000, and, as an extra compensation, released a Sioux squaw, captured by Ed Arnold's Pawnee scouts, at Elm Creek, the same season.

An account of this raid by one of the Camp- One day in August, 1864, two boys, Na- bell family is herewith given:

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HISTORY OF HALL COUNTY NEBRASKA

THE OLD PIONEER DAYS IN WEST- My father and I went over to the neighbors ERN NEBRASKA

By J. R. CAMPBELL In The Trappers' World, September, 1909.

Our family was nothing different than many that left their native land at the close of the Civil War, to try their fortunes in America.

The family consisted of father, mother, four sisters, and three brothers. In the fall of 1865 their journey was undertaken, and after re- peated hardships and trials they landed safely in Nebraska, what to them was their desired haven.

Winter was approaching and hurried pre- parations were made to get established in a house of our own. Rude logs were cut and fitted together and a one-room house covered with sod and chinked with mud was built. A cold, hard, long winter was put in. The mother of our family, though frail, stood the journey bravely, but succumbed in January, 1866, and with tender, loving hands was laid to rest in a rude unpainted coffin in her lonely grave in the Platte Valley.

Our father struggled on. The summer of . dians by hiding in a grain field and by crawling 1866 brought gladness again to cheer him on, and prospects seemed brighter that he would own his own home and he would become a land owner in this free country. So in the spring of 1867 he again journeyed to Nebraska City, where the government land office was then stationed, and here he took out naturali- zation papers and registered for a homestead and started home with the needed groceries and household goods.

Arriving once more beside his family, pre- parations were made to farm and additions were made on the house. Barns were built and the land plowed and the crops planted. Corn, wheat, and oats were growing. These were busy, happy days with those early settlers, of which there were scarcely a dozen in ten miles up or down the valley.

July came with its balmy days, ripening the grain and bringing the thoughts to mind of a golden harvest. On July 24th the harvest began on a farm six miles from our home, and all hands were needed to follow the one reaper.

and helped with the work.

About three o'clock that afternoon a horse- man was seen coming as though on the wind. The reaper was stilled and golden sheaves were left unbound and all hurried to learn the oft-dreaded dreadful news - the Indians had raided the valley. Every one was fearful for his own family, but none more so than my father. He jumped upon the first horse and pulling me beside him he headed for his home.

Arriving within a quarter of a mile of home the house of our nearest neighbor was in- spected. The mother of the family lay on the threshold of the door dead, clasping her infant son in her arms. A son, fourteen years old, lay near by, shot through the thigh.

Reaching our own home we found that it had been robbed and partly demolished. The contents of the house were destroyed and scattered about, but, saddest of all, the family was gone. Search about the premises and fields revealed nothing.

The youngest daughter at home, a child of mine had managed to get away from the In- on her knees for a quarter of a mile to get out of sight and then running four miles to notify a neighbor, who in turn brought the news to the field where we were all at work.

A hurried meeting of the neighborhood was called as soon as possible that afternoon to decide upon a plan of action. It was decided to make a search for a few miles around and that all of the neighborhood should assemble at one point for protection. Nothing came of the search. Nothing was found to show what disposition was made of the missing ones, the two daughters and the two younger sons. The body of the only victim found was quietly buried. After a hurried counsel it was de- cided to abandon the valley, as protection from future raids was slight, there being only one company of soldiers kept at Fort Kearny, which was just barely enough to protect the fort, let alone the settlers.

The following day hurried preparations were made to leave; property was abandoned and crops were offered for sale to neighbors

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HISTORY OF HALL COUNTY NEBRASKA

who had not made up their minds to leave, and before another nightfall there was only left in the valley my father, myself and my father's brother and aged father. It was decided to stay and face the dangers alone in the hope that some tidings might be learned of the lost ones.

In about a week six soldiers under the charge of Captain Wyman were sent from the fort to help us in the search for the stolen children. A search was made for twenty-five miles to the south, but nothing was found to give any evidence to relieve the terrible anxiety. And all this time it was necessary to keep constant guard, for it was reported that the savages were still about the neighborhood.

At last, about October 20th, news was brought from the sparse settlement at Grand Island that the prisoners had been seen in the camp of an Ogallala band of Sioux, who were then in camp somewhere on the Solomon River in southeastern Colorado or south- western Kansas. It was also reported that the government was about to treat with the Sioux and that the prisoners would probably be captured.

A week or more dragged by before any faith was put into the story, and then my uncle was sent to North Platte to learn what he could about the band. When the train reached Elm Creek the passengers were aroused by the shrill cry of the engine whistle, down brakes being repeated several times. It was reported in every car that there were Indians at hand and guns and revolvers were made ready for action. But the trouble proved to be only another train on the track ahead. Antelope and buffalo were seen at a distance from the train, but they were too far to be reached by the bullets from rifles.

At North Platte it was reported that the band of Indians under Spotted Tail would arrive some time that day. The peace com- missioners arrived at 3 o'clock and the Indians two hours later. The prisoners proved to be children of our family, who after two more days of travel reached our home. Here they told the story of their capture and imprison- ment, of the hardships they had undergone,

without food at times, without proper clothing at all times, and of abuses and ill treatment.

Our family remained there during the winter, and in the spring of 1868 moved to Saunders County, leaving the homestead and the scene of the raid.

Of the children captured three are living now (1909). They are Mrs. J. P. Dunlap of Dwight, Nebraska, Peter Campbell, living at Wahoo, Nebraska (in 1919 at Lincoln), and Daniel, who is located in the state of Mis- souri (in 1919 in Ohio).

These and many other incidents of Indian life and relations in Hall County are told first hand in the narratives of Frederick Hedde, William Stolley, and in the narrative of In- dian reminiscences by Fred Stolley, which follows :

RECOLLECTIONS BY FRED STOLLEY

I will first give some recollections of days from my childhood, as far back as 1859, of Hall County early days, when I came from Davenport, Iowa, to Grand Island, only two years old at that time, with father and mother and my oldest sister Annie, to the farm where my mother is still living, together with two of my younger sisters, Clara and Ottilie (the so-called Stolley Grove farm).

FIRST RECOLLECTIONS

The first very vivid recollection I have is an Indian story, yet I remember this one but faintly. I remember that my mother hurriedly lifted my sister off her lap and I myself clung close to her dress, hiding as best we could in our old log house which still stands on the farm resided on by my mother. Some 200 or 300 Sioux Indians on horseback made their appearance at our place, surrounded our house, dismounting from their horses and in- vestigating - holding their hands to both sides of their faces, and looking into our windows, with their large faces, broad flat noses, dark brown skins, somewhat greasy, and large, inquisitive black eyes, looking at mother and us children, also I think sizing up the situation for a raid on something good to

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HISTORY OF HALL COUNTY NEBRASKA

VERPASKA

FLINT SPEARHEAD FOUND NEAR BLAIR, NEBRASKA

FLINT IMPLEMENTS OF NEBRASKA

HEMATITE BUST FOUND NEAR LINCOLN, NEBRASKA

FLINT TOMAHAWK FOUND NEAR WYMORE, NEBRASKA, . BY JAMES CRAWFORD Digitized by Google

HISTORY OF HALL COUNTY NEBRASKA

The next exciting Indian incident was in the following fall. My uncle, William Hagge, father and I were in the hay field, when an Indian battle started on the south side of Wood River, about at the point where the St. Joseph & Grand Island railroad crosses over Wood River. A hard skirmish ensued and many shots were heard as the bodies of fight- ers moved eastward down stream, close to the river bank, and gradually faded away about where Bill Thavenet's ice house now stands. My uncle and father never stopped hauling hay, but kept on unconcerned about the fight among the Indians.

About a year later, I think in August, at the noon hour, my mother had dinner ready on the table. I was playing outside in front of our house, and at the time I noticed pos- sibly 75 or even 100 Indians coming on fleet footed black and white ponies, in irregular order, riding quite thinly scattered over a large space. The Indians had no clothing on, all of them in their own natural bronzed skins, faces painted red, their hair shaved close to their scalps, except a strip in the middle on top of their head about two by four inches cut to about 2 inches short, standing straight up. The hair resembled the coarseness and appearance of a horse tail and as black as coal, but at the back end of this bunch or patch of begdes they always carried a long braid hang- ing down, which was invariably scalped if they wie captured by Indian enemies. So when Ichied this band of Sioux Indians coming lidia whirlwind, I ran back into the house and reported to my father, "Indians ! Indians! quick₱ My father jumped instantly to his feet, reaching simultaneously for his 8-inch navy revolver, which always hung on his left hip on a heavy leather belt buckled to his

eat. But they seemed to have been quite body. I followed on the heels of my father, friendly at that time, because they molested . and by the time we were outside, there they nothing and spared all of our lives, and in 10 or 15 minutes time everybody was again on their sleek ponies and they went away as quickly and as suddenly as they came, to our great relief and satisfaction. came, quick and plenty of them, coming close up to our log house, all armed, a few with short Kentucky rifles, muzzle loading single shots, 125 round balls to the pound, and some of them had long pointed spears, even 8 or 10 feet long, fastened to their right foot, but most of them equipped with the strongest kind of bows and arrows. At this juncture I ran back into the house looking for mother and sister, when I noticed an Indian reaching through an open window with his long spear, trying to pierce a pudding on a plate, so he could take it off our dinner table and bring it to him within reach of his bare hands. When he secured it, he divided with his comrades, and with keen appetites and great enjoyments they devoured our dinner. By this time I hurried back to where father was, with 8 or 10 Indians gathered in a half circle around him, and now one of them swung his spear back and TOOK OUR DINNER forth toward father, as though he intended to throw the deadly weapon at us, and let me assure you, with not a very pleasant eye behind it, and an expression you could see that was decidedly not friendly. But this all came to a very sudden standstill when father whipped out his old navy revolver, with hammer up and finger lightly on the trigger, aiming at the Indian's treacherous heart. Now his long spear sank down to a natural position, and pointing to father's revolver, he remarked in Indian language, "heap a no good" and the substance of "pu, pu, pu wanta" to convey idea - "shoots often and kills sure." There- upon everything suddenly changed, a different spirit crept among them, and after a few mo- ment's silence, and varying glances, we heard a very low voice, but very positive, sharp command given, from their chief to gather themselves up and go, and go they did. When I saw them coming they were about where the brick schoolhouse now stands northeast of the old home place, of District Number One. When they went, they left in the direction of Sand Krog, or Cay Ewoldt's old farm, and within a few moments they had well vanished into the endless prairie, and the whole affair

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HISTORY OF HALL COUNTY NEBRASKA

appeared to be a very lucky and happy matter. quality, so it is clear that the buffalo always Yes, indeed, we can now comprehend the un- speakable dangers surrounding us, and the likelihood we constantly faced of being killed at any time.

THE SIOUX

But somehow the Sioux Indians did not take such an interest in this part of the coun- try as our Pawnee friends, because, as the Pawnees claimed, an agreement existed be- tween' the Sioux Indians and the Pawnee tribes that the south bank of the Platte River was the boundary line on the south for the Southern Sioux tribe and the north side of the Loup River, "Eatzkarie" in Indian, should be the south boundary line for the north Sioux tribe, and the land in between these two streams was to be the hunting ground for the four Pawnee tribes, but how far west this agreement was established I never heard from any one. Furthermore, our Pawnee friends claimed the southern Sioux were very bad and hostile "heap a no good, we heap a fight for buffalo," because the south side of the Platte all the way to the Little Blue and the Repub- lican River was the best by a hundred fold for buffalo hunting. This was used neverthe- less by the Pawnees as why they were com- pelled to trespass on Sioux territory to get their winter's supply in buffalo meats and buffalo robes to keep their bodies warm. This doubtless somewhat accounts for the hos- tilities experienced from the Sioux towards the white people living on the south side. The south side had by far the largest herds of buffaloes, so the first settlers had to go there to get their winter's supply of meats. Hence, the trouble that usually came when they did so, and always from the southern Sioux. The Pawnees always claimed that the northern Sioux were "heap a good no fight." And it should be mentioned that along the Loups only some "elk" or "bah" in Indian, and some "deer" or "buxkys" in Indian, but there were plenty of antelope or "alligators" in Indian, and only deer along the wild Platte River bottoms. These were hard to hunt for the Indians because their guns were of very poor

remained the Indians' main support for a living. Some Pawnees were very fine marks- men with the bow and arrow. I have seen one old Indian coming along in a snowstorm passing through a patch of weeds, where a flock of snowbirds were busily picking, and the old Indian spying the birds, reach for his heavy ashwood bow and arrow with steel points (a regular buffalo hunting outfit), set down some 20 steps off and shot six times at six birds and get a bird on every arrow. For every day purposes they used a lighter out- fit, but for large game they had a bow of tremendous strength and durability. I have only seen one white man who could shoot one of these to its fullest capacity. That was David Schuller, our postmaster in early days, who could shoot fully eighty rods with one of those heavy outfits.

INDIAN BOYS' SPORTS.

The larger Indian boys had a national sport, playing on a smooth piece of level ground some 75 yards long and 20 yards wide. Two boys always played together, both of them having a five foot long spear and a little ring about four inches in diameter, wrapped with buffalo sinew, one of them throwing this ring very swiftly, both of them being barefooted and naked, running at a high speed with this ring rolling along. The great trick was for both boys to hit this ring so that their spears crossed each other through the ring at the same time. This play was practiced for train- ing their hands and eyes for accuracy, and the exercise it gave for toughening their bodies and developing great lung capacity. An Indian could go on a dog trot all day and never puff one bit, and another stunt they had was to harden themselves against freezing.

I have often seen Indian children of all ages sliding on smooth ice with their bare feet for hours at a time, never seeming to mind it at all. One day I found tracks in the snow of a barefooted Indian going across our farm towards their Indian camps on Wood River.

One time an old Indian friend visited us.

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His name was "Lalulashar." He wanted to stay over night with us, and bed room was scarce. So this Indian had to go to bed with Peter Mohr and myself in our barn upstairs for that night. But to our great discomfort, the Indian developed a body-heat that was something awful. It got so disagreeably hot for us, with him resting in the middle, that we had to quit our guest's presence. Peter and I did not know but that this Indian was dangerously sick, supposing he had a very high fever, thus accounting for his extremely hot skin. But to our astonishment, the next morning this Indian was hale and hearty, and hungry as a wolf, so there was nothing to worry about concerning him at all -it was just his extremely healthful vigor.

"PUPPY DOG SOUP"

My father was a great lover of hunting and trapping and he also poisoned a great many coyotes and grey wolves. One time he had poisoned 15 coyotes and wanted to make a robe of their pelts, and he made an arrange- ment with an Indian by the name of George, who with his three squaws and 17 year old daughter had moved onto our place. They pitched their tents and set to work tanning coyote and two deer skins, of which they made a fine job. One of the three little pups belonging to our pet dog was found dead one morning, and the 17 year old Indian girl com- ing in spied it and wanted it. This particular pup being mine, I gave it to her, wondering what she wanted of it. Consequently in my curiosity I followed her into their living tent, where a big camp fire was burning in the middle of the room, under a large pot boiling a quantity of navy bean soup. I could hardly trust my eyesight, to behold this pretty Indian girl holding the little baby dog by its tail, dropping it hair and hide, kaplunk, into the bean soup. This stopped the boiling of the soup for a time because the little pup was frozen stiff, but pretty soon the boiling started again and little doggy was making somersaults in the boiling soup, now tail up. and then, for a change, the head coming bobbing up, and so it rolled and rolled over and over, until the

little doggy boiled to mush, ready for the great feast, when taken out on a tin pan. This delicious dish was passed around from one Indian appetite to another until their hunger was satisfied. At the same time, the "killi" Kaneck tobacco pipe was smoked with great satisfaction. Indian George was a very kind- hearted man, but notwithstanding his kindly disposition, after they left our place and while going West, headed for Fort Kearny, George was shot in the temple by a U. S. soldier at that place, only for the fun of it. Such is only an instance of the cruel acts of the white man towards the children of the wilderness who lost their great hunting grounds with all of its fine game.

WHITE MAN'S TREATMENT OF THE RED MAN

We must not forget all of the waste of meat and timber perpetrated by the white man in those days. No less an authority than the . late Buffalo Bill wrote that he alone had killed over 2,000 buffaloes for a railroad camp in Kansas. Maybe a good share of that meat was for a good use, but what about the rest? Everybody was shooting the Indian's meat supply, and most of it rotted away on the prairie for nothing. This grieved the Indians' heart beyond expression, and it created a hatred and revengefulness toward the "pale faces" or "Chickestalkers" (in Indian). What more did the white man do? He swindled, lied, corrupted where he had a chance toward the Indian, and some more villainous of our race even sold the red man small-pox infected blankets, causing their death in great numbers. In the face of all this is it to be wondered that many Indians got mad at last and turned out to be most unmerciful brutes toward the white men? I cannot blame them so much, and can only wonder that the white man was allowed to stay at all, or that he was con- sidered by the Indian as the most grewsome creature they ever met. But we hardly ever get the Indian's side of the matter. The white man writes the history about himself and also about the Indian, and usually the Indians suffer the most. But now that it all belongs to the past and the Indian is mostly

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History of Hall County, Nebraska, Part 8

Author: Buechler, A. F. (August F.), 1869- editor Publication date: 1920 Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Pub. and Engraving Co. Number of Pages: 1011

Author: Buechler, A. F. (August F.), 1869- editor
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Lincoln, Neb., Western Pub. and Engraving Co.
Number of Pages: 1011