USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > History of Omaha from the pioneer days to the present time > Part 2
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"It was the wish of Colonel Sarpy to have him interred on the bluffs, fronting the house in which he had lived, and a coffin was made which proved too small without un- folding the blankets which enveloped him, and as he had been dead so long, this was a disagreeable task. After putting him in the coffin, his wives who witnessed the scene uttered the most piteous cries, cutting their ankles until the blood ran in streams. An old Indian woman who looked like the Witch of Endor, standing between the house and the grave, lifted her arms to heaven and shrieked her maledictions upon the heads of his murderers. Colonel Sarpy, Stephen Decatur, Mrs. Sloan, an Otoe half- breed, and others stood over the grave where his body was being lowered, and while Decatur was reading the impres- sive funeral service of the Episcopal church, he was inter- rupted by Mrs. Sloan, who stood by his side and in a loud tone told him that 'a man of his character ought to be ashamed of himself to make a mockery of the Christian re- ligion by reading the solemn services of the church.' He proceeded, however, until the end. After the whites, headed by Colonel Sarpy, had paid their last respects, the Indians filed around the grave, and made a few demonstra- tions of sorrow; the whites dispersing to their homes, and the Indians to relate their own exploits and the daring of their dead chief."
As this chapter is headed " The Indians," we know of no more appropriate place to relate an event that occurred about 1852, at a place on the military road, about five miles beyond the Elkhorn. It was the actual skinning of a man alive by the Pawnee Indians, and as it is the only act of the kind probably ever performed in this vicinity, it is well worth recording. General Estabrook informs us that he hap- pened to know the man, who was the victim of the Paw- nees' wrath. His name was Rhines, a silversmith, who
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HISTORY OF OMAHA.
was once a resident of Geneva, Wisconsin, but who shortly previous to his coming west, en route to California, lived at Delavan, in the same state. A man bearing the same name as General Estabrook, of whom he was a distant rela- tive, was one of the party, and wrote back to Wisconsin an account of the horrible affair before General Estabrook ever expected to reside so near the scene of its occurrence.
It appears that Rhines had made a foolish boast, before starting from home, to the effect that he would shoot the first Indian he saw. In due time the party arrived in Ne- braska, and camped one evening on the bank of a stream, which at that time was nameless. As the train was about ready to move out the next morning, a small party of young Indians, who had come across the river from the Pawnee village on the opposite side, approached the encampment. These were the first Indians the party had seen, and Rhines was thereupon reminded of his boast. He immediately picked up his rifle, took aim at a young squaw, and shot her dead. The news was carried to the Pawnee village at once, and the party of whites were soon surrounded by the exasperated Indians who demanded and obtained possession of Rhines. After stripping him, they tied him to a wagon wheel, and then commenced to skin him alive. The poor wretch piteously begged of both his own party and the In- dians to shoot him and thus end his terrible sufferings, but the whites were compelled by the Indians to stand by and witness the torture of their comrade without being able to render him any assistance except at the risk of their own lives. The skinning process was finally completed, and the unfortunate man survived the operation but a few moments, during which he was cut to pieces by the squaws with their mattocks.
The emigrants were then allowed to move on. Since that day the stream, upon the banks of which this barbar- ous deed occurred, has been called the Rawhide. This story is known to nearly all the old settlers of Omaha and Nebraska to be an actual fact.
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HISTORY OF OMAHA.
CHAPTER III.
THE MORMONS.
THE WESTWARD PILGRIMAGE THROUGH IOWA AND NEBRASKA -WINTER QUARTERS AT FLORENCE-MILLER'S HILL, AFTER- WARDS KANESVILLE, AND FINALLY COUNCIL BLUFFS-THE MORMON BATTALION-SUFFERINGS OF THE MORMONS- THEIR RELATIONS WITH THE INDIANS-SOME ROMANTIC STORIES-OMAHA MORMONS-SOME INTERESTING EXTRACTS FROM AN OLD MORMON HISTORY.
The feeling against the Mormons in Illinois, culminat- ing in a bitter warfare, compelled them to leave that state. The charter of their principal city, Nauvoo, which had grown to be a place of over 15,000 population, was repealed in 1845, and thereupon they began seeking for a new loca- tion. They naturally turned their eyes westward. Early in 1846 they began crossing the Mississippi river to Iowa, and pushing across that state to the Missouri river. Brig- ham Young soon joined the camps of Israel, as the Mormons styled their resting places. Scraping away the snow they erected their tents upon the frozen ground, and building large fires they made themselves as comfortable as possible under the circumstances. At the first encampment the mercury at one time fell 20 degrees below zero. It would be difficult to realize the sufferings of a people just driven from comfortable homes under the rigors of such a climate and protected only by the frail coverings of canvas tents. No time was allowed for disposing of their property, farms and dwellings, and many of them were compelled to set out on their journey without the means of procuring the necessary provisions to sustain them for even a short dis- tance beyond the settlement.
In the month of September the city of Nauvoo was besieged and mobbed for three days by the Illinois troops and the remaining inhabitants were driven out at the point of the bayonet. As soon as the camp of Israel was fully on the march Brigham Young divided it into companies of hundreds, fifties and tens, and when moving they marched with the precision of an army of soldiers. When the
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advance guard had reached Miller's hill, so called in honor of a Mormon elder-the place now being known as Council Bluffs-they received a request from the United States government to raise a battalion for the war then pending with Mexico. Although the main body of the Mormons was still 130 miles east, they responded promptly to the call by forming the famous Mormon battalion. Colonel T. L. Kane, the brother of the great Arctic explorer of that name, organized these volunteers and became very popular among the Mormons, who, to honor him, gave the name of Kanes- ville to Miller's hill, which name the place retained for several years. In 1852 the citizens of Kanesville sent for Mr. A. D. Jones, who was a surveyor in his younger days, and was then residing at Glenwood, Iowa, to come and survey their town for them. At Trader's point, below Kanesville, was a post-office called Council Bluffs, and the thousands of emigrants coming to this country at that time, would, upon being asked, say that they were going to Council Bluffs. After Kanesville had been surveyed as a town by Mr. Jones, the citizens wanted a new name for the place, and agreed upon a change. The question then arose as to what it should be. It was finally agreed to adopt the name of Council Bluffs, on the ground that they ought to have a name that would catch all the mail matter as well as the emigrants-scattered all the way from Sioux City south to Sidney-to whom it was directed. As nearly all the letters for these emigrants were being directed to the Council Bluffs post-office at Trader's point, the suggestion to appro- priate that name and add to it the word "City." making the new Kanesville post-office Council Bluffs City. was ac- cepted. The place was accordingly called Council Bluffs City for a while, thus securing control of all the mail matter of the rival office, which was finally broken up. When Council Bluffs City got strong enough, the citizens demanded and obtained a charter, and then the "City" was dropped out, the bill being introduced by Hadley D. Johnson, a member of the Iowa legislature, and who afterwards became a resident of Omaha.
The Mormon battalion proceeded to California, but ar- rived too late to take any active part in the war as peace had already been declared. The battalion was therefore disbanded, and a few of the men found employment in
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working in Captain Sutter's mill race at a point about sixty miles above the present city of Sacramento. While engaged in the work there, in the spring of 1848, they discovered gold. General Sherman, then a young lieutenant, tested it and made the first official report of the discovery to the government. These men afterwards returned to Iowa and Nebraska for their families, bringing with them the first California gold ever seen in this section.
Colonel Kane, who organized for Brigham Young the Mormon battalion, first became acquainted with the Prophet while crossing the state of Iowa. In after years Colonel Kane delivered a lecture before the Philadelphia Historical Society upon the "Mormons," in which he speaks of having found President Young "sharing sorrow with the sorrowful, and poverty with the poor," and de- scribes him as a man of rare natural endowment. He also extols him for his patriotism in ordering the formation of the Mormon battalion. Colonel Kane became a sincere friend of Brigham Young, and it was mainly owing to his recommendation to President Fillmore that he was ap- pointed in 1850 to the governorship of Utah.
With the departure of the Mormon battalion from Kanesville had vanished the hopes of making any further progress in their march during that season. The Mormons thereupon set to work to locate and build their winter quarters. A grand council was held at Kanesville with the Pottawattamie Indians, who welcomed the Mormons with a spirit of sympathy, for they, too, not many years before, had been driven westward from Illinois. The Mormons, however, had more to do with the Omaha Indians whose camps were located on both sides of the Missouri river. Amicable arrangements were made with them, and accord- ingly the winter quarters proper were located on the west side, a few miles above the present site of Omaha. There, on a slight plateau overlooking the river, near the place where Florence, one of Omaha's suburbs, was afterwards located, the Mormons constructed about one thousand houses. The industry of the people was plainly evidenced by the workshops and mills and factories which sprang up as if by magic.
The location of the headquarters brought the Mormons into peculiar relations with the Omahas. A grand council
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was held between the Mormon elders and the Omaha chiefs. Big Elk, principal chief of the tribe, in response to Brigham Young's speech, replied as follows :
" My son, thou hast spoken well. All that thou hast said I have in my heart. I have much to say. We are poor. When we go to hunt game in one place, we meet an enemy, and so in another place, our enemies kill us. We do not kill them. I hope we shall be friends. You may stay on these lands two years or more. Our young men shall watch your cattle. We would be glad to have you trade with us. We will warn you of danger from other Indians."
After the council had adjourned the Mormons gave a banquet in honor of the Omahas. The Indians had good reason for being pleased with the presence of the white people among them. The Mormons harvested and cured their crops of maize, and in spite of their own poverty spared them food enough from time to time to keep them from starving, while their fortified town served as a barrier against the raids of the hostile Sioux upon the Omahas.
The Mormons were careful in all their dealings with the Indians to have the law on their side, and one of their first acts was to obtain the legal title to the lands on which they had settled. Big Elk, Standing Elk, and Little Chief signed an agreement leasing to the Mormons, for the period of five years, the lands which they occupied. In the course of time, however, the Indians complained to their agent that the Mormons were cutting too much timber and kill- ing too much game, and they were accordingly ordered to vacate the land. A large number of them recrossed the river to Iowa, and temporarily settled at Kanesville and in the ravines among the bluffs in the vicinity. An expedi- tion consisting of about 150 men and eighty wagons and teams to each wagon, had been sent westward to find a permanent location. They found no suitable place until they arrived at Salt Lake, where they were charmed with the beauties of the valley, and were pleased with its re- moteness from their religious persecutors. Having made a settlement there they sent back for the remainder of their people, the most of whom proceeded on their pilgrimage between the years 1853 and 1860. The departure in the spring of 1848 of the first band of emigrants from Winter
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HISTORY OF OMAHA.
Quarters or Florence, and from Kanesville or Council Bluffs for the Promised Land, was celebrated in a song, written by their poet, Eliza R. Snow, to inspire them with new hopes. It was entitled "The Pioneer's Song," the first verse of which was:
The time of winter now is o'er, There's verdure on the plain ; We leave our sheltering roofs once more, And to our tents again,
CHORUS :
A camp of Israel, onward move, O, Jacob, rise and sing ; Ye saints the world's salvation prove, All hail to Ziou's King !
Year after year parties of Mormons on their way west- ward spent the winter at Florence, and in the spring re- sumed their march. Nearly all the emigrant trains for Salt Lake were outfitted and started from Florence, thus making that place a very lively business point .*
The winter of 1855-56 is especially memorable for hav- ing been unusually severe. Many of the Mormons were smothered to death by the heavy snow crushing in their frail tenements and dugouts on both sides of the river in this vicinity. Provisions became very scarce among those who had taken up their temporary habitation in the vicin- ity of old Winter Quarters, and it is said that quite a number of the people actually perished from starvation. To add to the horrors of the situation, the scurvy, caused by a lack of proper food, broke out among them and carried off many victims. Over five hundred graves on the Flor- ence bluffs bear witness to the fatal hardships and suffer- ings of that winter.
Some romantic stories are told of the wonderful cures effected by the prayers of the Mormon elders, while they were temporarily located in this vicinity : " I do not pre- tend to say," remarked one of the survivors of that early day, "whether it was the power of God that did the work, but it is sufficient for me to know that many a man was healed by my prayers." The North Omaha creek was the scene of many a Mormon baptism, and we are told of a sick
*It is estimated that the Mormon pilgrimage to Salt Lake included about 16,000 persons. At times there were between 5,000 and 6,000 population at Winter Quar- ters, by which name the place was called for seven or eight years, when it was changed to Florence. Quite a number of Mormons still reside at Florence, Omaha and Council Bluffs, but none of them practice polygamy.
3
1
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man who upon being baptized there, in the dead of winter, through an opening in the ice, came out of the water entirely cured.
In the spring of 1856 some of the Omaha Mormons laid out a town where Genoa was afterwards located. Each settler was given a lot, upon which to build a house, and at the same time each took up a claim outside of the town. These settlers were hardly established in their new location before their claims were disputed by an anti-Mormon party. "We had good arms and knew how to use them," says one of the Mormon survivors, now residing in Omaha, "and we held the enemy at bay. They then attempted to burn us out by setting the prairie on fire, but the fire turned back on their own camp and destroyed nearly all their equipments, including even their wagons."
While a great many of the Mormons emigrated to Utah, a large number remained in Nebraska and Iowa. Of these latter were many who believed Brigham Young was a . usurper, and that Joseph Smith, jr., the son of the originator of the Mormon religion, was the rightful head of the church. The formal promulgation of the doctrine of polygamy, in 185? by the Utah Mormons, who claimed that Joseph Smith had taught the doctrine, made a strong dividing line be- tween the two factions. As early as 1851 the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was organized, the principal feature of which was the disavowal of the doctrine of polygamy. Joseph Smith, jr., in 1860 became fully identified with the reorganized church, which now numbers over twenty-seven thousand members.
In 1858 George Medlock, who is still a resident of Omaha, was appointed a missionary to Omaha by the reorganized church. He baptized sixteen persons in Omaha and organ- ized a branch of the church here. At first they held meetings in private houses and subsequently in an old school house, which was located at the southeast corner of Capitol avenue and Fifteenth street. They erected their first church building, a small frame structure, on Cass street, in 1870. Recently they disposed of this property, and now have a very neat little church building in North Omaha.
Mr. James G. Megeath, one of Omaha's old settlers, has in his possession a very valuable historical book relat- ing to the Mormons and their pilgrimage across the plains.
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HISTORY OF OMAHA.
It is entitled "Route from Liverpool to Great Salt Lake Val- ley," and was published in Liverpool in 1853. It was edited by James Linforth, and is illustrated with beautiful steel engravings and wood cuts from sketches made by Frederick Piercy. Much interesting information regard- ing the Mormons during their stay at Winter Quarters and Kanesville, is found in the volume possessed by Mr. Megeath. The Mormon historian says: "The next consecutive event of importance in President Young's career after his arrival at Kanesville or Council Bluffs, was his starting in the spring of 1847, at the head of 143 picked men, embracing eight of the Twelve Apostles, across the unexplored Indian country in search of a new home for the Saints beyond the Rocky mountains. The pioneer band pursued their way over sage and saleratus plains, across unbridged rivers, and through mountain defiles, until their toilsome and weary journey was termi- nated by the discovery of Great Salt Lake valley, and the choice of it for the gathering place of the Saints. They then returned to Council Bluffs, where they arrived on the 31st of October, and an epistle was issued on the 23d of December by the Twelve Apostles, noticing the principal events which had befallen the Saints since the expulsion from Nauvoo, and the discovery of the Great Salt Lake valley. It was also stated that it was a contemplation to reorganize the church, according to the original pattern, with a first presidency and patriarch. Accordingly on the 24th, the day following, at a conference held at the 'Log Tabernacle' in Kanesville, the suggestion was brought be- fore the Saints who 'hailed it as an action which the state of the work at present demanded, and Brigham Young was nominated to be the first president of the church, and he nominated Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards to be his two counsellors, which nominations were seconded and carried without a dissentient voice.' The appointment was afterwards acknowledged at a general conference held on the 6th of April, 1848, at the same place. In the follow- ing May, Presidents Young and Kimball set out to return to Utah, at the head of a large company of Saints, and arrived on the 20th of September."
"Winter Quarters" is thus described by the same his- torian: "The name was given to the place by the Latter
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Day Saints, who wintered there in 1846-7. At that time it formed part of the lands belonging to the Omaha Indians, an insignificant tribe of the Grand Prairie, who then did not number more than 300 families. Upwards of 1,000 houses were soon built, 700 of them in about three months, upon a pretty plateau overlooking the river, and neatly laid out with highways and by-ways, and fortified with breastwork and stockade. It had, too. its place of worship, ' Tabernacle of the Congregation.' and various large work- shops. and mills and factories provided with waterpower. At this time the powerful Sioux were at war with the Omahas, and it is said that the latter hailed with joy the temporary settlement of the journeying Saints among them. At any rate, the encampment served as a sort of breakwater between them and the destroying rush of their powerful and devastating foes. The Saints likewise har- vested and stored away for them their crops of maize, and with all their own poverty frequently spared them food and kept them from absolutely starving. Always capri- cious, and in this case instigated by white men, the Indians, notwithstanding they had formally given the Saints per- mission to settle upon their lands, complained to the Indian agents that they were trespassing upon them, and they were requested to move. From this circumstance is at- tributable the rise and rapid growth of Kanesville, leaving Winter Quarters again entirely to its savage inhabitants, and only its ruins to point out its former prosperity, and now its situation. In the annals of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints this halting place in the wilder- ness must always fill an important and interesting page. It was from this spot that the pioneers took their departure on the 14th of April, 1847, in search of a location west of the Rocky mountains, upon which the exiled Saints might re- assemble themselves, far from the haunts of persecuting christendom, and where the foot-prints of a white man had scarcely ever before been seen. Since the organi- zation of Nebraska territory, an effort has been made, owing to the desirable situation of Winter Quarters, and its good ferriage and water facilities, to build a city by the name of Florence upon the old site."
"Kanesville is situated," says the same historian, "at the mouth of a small valley, being a small stream called Indian creek. The town was commenced by the Saints at
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HISTORY OF OMAHA.
their exodus from Nauvoo, in 1846, and a number of large holes, which were dug by the pilgrims in the sides of the hills as temporary dwelling places, are still to be seen. The place soon rose into some importance, and continued to be occupied by the Saints until 1852, when mostly all left for Utah. A newspaper, the Frontier Guardian, was edited and published there by Elder O. Hyde, until his de- parture for the Great Salt Lake valley. I found Kanesville to be a very dirty, unhealthy place, and withal a very dear place to make an outfit for the plains, notwithstanding the assertions of holders of property and merchants settled there, to the contrary. They assure emigrants that their wisest plan is to take their money there to purchase their outfit, but I hope few will believe them, for as there is not much competition they get prices the very reverse of their consciences. It is, nevertheless, a very great place for bargains. Sometimes emigrants to California get sick of the journey by the time they have arrived at Kanesville, and sell out by auction on the street. The ringing of a large bell announces the sale, and it seldom fails to collect a crowd. As I said. sometimes real bargains' may be obtained, but generally articles of the most worthless de- scription to emigrants are offered. I saw there one infatuated lover of bargains who, although he had but one wagon and a sick wife, who would be certain to occupy it always, was silly enough to attend these auctions and buy up 'bargains' enough to stock a London 'Bottle-wop shop.' Gambling houses and lawyers abound also. Where there are so many wolves there must consequently be a number of victims.
"At Kanesville I was kindly permitted to join the emi- grating company. Being ready to move we drove down to Ferryville, twelve miles distant, and just opposite Win- ter Quarters, at which point we crossed into Indian Territory, now Nebraska and Kansas. * The camping place on the west side of the Missouri was about a mile from the landing, in the vicinity of two springs, near the site of Winter Quarters. I paid a visit to the old place, and found that some person had set fire to the last house that remained of the once flourishing settlement. From an elevation close by I made a sketch of Kanesville (Council Bluffs) and the Missouri river."
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HISTORY OF OMAHA.
CHAPTER IV.
FLORENCE.
THE MORMON OUTFITTING POINT-ORGANIZATION OF THE FLOR- ENCE TOWN COMPANY-THE FINANCIAL CRASH-A LIVELY ELECTION AND CELEBRATION-THE ADJOURNED SESSION OF THE LEGISLATURE AT FLORENCE, AND OTHER INCIDENTS.
The "City" of Florence played an important part in the early history of Omaha. Like Bellevue it was for a time a rival to Omaha and was one of the contestants for the capital. The town came into existence in 1853, and was located upon the deserted site of the once famous Mormon Winter Quarters. It has already been shown in the pre- ceding chapter that the Mormons, after occupying the land for two years, were in 1848 ordered to vacate by the Indian agent, to whom the Indians had complained of them for cutting timber. Thereupon most of the Mormons recrossed the river to Iowa and lived among the ravines in the bluffs and at Kanesville. When, however, they had completed their arrangements to emigrate to Utah, they made Florence the starting point for all their Salt Lake wagon trains.
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