USA > Nebraska > Nebraska history and record of pioneer days, Vol I > Part 20
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
Being but "180 miles in advance of settlements on the Mis- a souri and in the center of the most numerous and powerful Indian population west of the Mississippi,". the secretary believed it "to be "the best position on the. Missouri," and aside from other objects, "ought to be established for that purpose alone." . But other con- siderations soon developed which superseded these superior ad- vantages .. On the 7th of March, 1827, an order was issued by the war department for establishing a post near the mouth of the Little Platte River, and on the eighth or May, Colonel Henry Leav- euworth reported: the selection of the site for the famous fort , which has i ways borne his name. On the 6th of June a flotilla of "three keel, boats and four barges started with the garrison and equipment of Fort. Atkinson on the way to Cantonment Leaven- worth.
The principal reasons for ; thus changing the location of the post were, that it should be nearer the Indiaus, who in great num- · bers were soon to be removed from their homes east of the Mississ- ippi River to territory uow included in 'Kansas and Nebraska, and to the Santa Fe Trail, whose traffic had lately become important. "The report of ,Colonel Croghan, inspector. general of the' army, after an examination of Fort Atkiuson in 1826, that the Indians Were at peace and "nothing is likely to disturb the present quiet," and the almost fantastic theory of General Jacob Brown, com- mander-in-chief of the army, formulated in a letter to the secre- query of war, dated January 11, 1826, that large bodies of savages could not find a secure retreat in the open country between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains; that "Without the refuge and protection of forests they would not venture iu the prosecution of hostilities against us"; and even if they should, it would not require a large command of well trained mounted infantry, with a few pieces of light or flying artillery, to disperse any force of sav- ages which might be collected to oppose them and, if it should be necessary, sweep them to the Rocky Mountains.
Such fatuous misapprehension and the interruption of the Civil War prepared a proof of the pudding in sanguinary contrast to the pleasant fancy. " As late as 1841, the secretary of war ex- pressed in his report his belief that a line of stockaded forts, with log blockhouses, advanced into the Indian country, "would afford sufficient protection against au enemy unprovided with artillery," and his "plan of defense" contemplated no post at all west of Forts Snelling and Leavenworth. The practical opening of the Oregon Trail the very next year, which was so soon to compel . construc- ¡tion of a chain of posts along its line, was evidently, and it seems incomprehensibly, unforeseen. Lewis and Clark traveled. about 3,670 miles from the point which became the eastern terminal of the Oregan trail to Fort Vancouver, opposite the mouth of the (Willamette. The Trail cut-off reduced the distance some 1,700 or 1,800 miles. As the fur fields were extended southward from the headwaters of the Missouri to the headwaters of the Platte, traders more and more followed the valley of the great Nebraska river, the best uatural road of its length in the world, to get to them. Presently emigrants to Oregon discovered that the rest of the route beyond the Platte was practicable, though difficult.
At first, then, Fort Snelling, high up on the Mississippi, and Fort Atkinson and its successor, Fort Leavenworth, were the west- ern, or rather, northwestern military outposts. " Then, for the rea- sons above indicated, in 1848 and 1849, the line-Forts Kearny, Laramie, and Hall- cut into the heart of the country. Until the "Oregon question arose-between the United States and England- American interest in the northwest had been confined to the Ne- braska country, but it then crossed the Rocky Mountains into the 'Oregon country.' Accordingly, President Monroe in his last. mes- sage: to Congress, in 1824, recommended the construction of a fort con the Columbia River, for the purpose of protecting and forward- ing. American interests in "that debatable region. " The dispute had become acute by, 1841, and in his annual report for that year the secretary of war recommended the construction of a. chain of posts ."from the Council Bluffs to the mouth of the Columbia, so as to command the avenues by which the Indians pass from the north to the south, and at the same time maintain a communication with the territories which belong to us on the Pacific." Probably the secretary had consulted Colonel J. J. Abert, topographical engineer
f this from l . first Profess pay th mbers se issu
stories in its encour t pictu er an rly co se resi cial g lited a a cou .ng for of th
is now receive dated is lett enoug rend d ass shou reap ratio t 1890
rk., when ssed t th, 19 'he m ty ou nd le
i pri igs of 871 V lley Bass ; hun al hi that las t
ter 1 st fi: :le is ie w ty s
liver orica 1 fr il co Chi is d bag in p
اسبارن.
8
Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer Days
received two letters, from which the following extracts are taken:
Feb. 12, 1919 .- This Society is pleased to acknowledge receipt of publications of your society.
These documents call to mind many incidents still fresh in my memory. Some of the older characters I knew in a way, and others more than passingly; one being Governor Furnas when he published the Nebraska Advertiser with "Limpy" Jim Fisher as his foreman, printer, manager, editor, collector and boss generally, when the gov- ernor was off "fighten." I knew his sons Will and George quite well. Dora Hacker was also a remembered attache of the Advertiser. I bought part of the Advertiser_material- surnlusage_and_moved it. to Augusta, I The old A this state, nas" brus' added-all of those o you desire charge did of J. Amos May 7 of the hist as a verita age to the dent of you against the ness. Besi homa entil Col. Fred lead the lo sas back tı superior-( ing at Wolf base of sur He not on became at Indian reg quah, Pryo is, of cour: here in 18 to enlist lo
In 188 Washingto of North A stocks nor System Powell rej Columbia have carrie to gather viving Ind of continu of each wo An im just been Paul Radi Boas at C. that the fi duced to t' Indian European rich and f of verbs & suffixes, w in the mid Dr. Ra which the of formati archeologi maximum implies ve eight disti the assum dence, eith Asia, that languages, the differe after the £ Four I white mar quian, (re Kiowan. relationshi other wor stocks whi together il
John I in 1867, C. Spotlight ! original cl
5
Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer Days
of high standing, who in his report of January 15, 1842, maintained at length that the most practicable route lay through the pass in the Black Hills at about latitude 44º 30', thence between the Hills and "Big : Horn, Mountain,", proceeding across the Three Forks .of. the Missouri, down the Bitter Root River to its junction with "Sal- mon or Lewis's river," and down that river to the Columbia. The. point of departure from the river; the engineer said, should .be somewhere. between the mouth of White River and the great bend both now in Lyman county, South Dakota.
President Tyler approved tho secretary's recommendation and gave the same reasons for the enterprise as Monroe and Calhoun schad given some twenty-five years before for constructing the chain of posts east of the mountains, treating the Oregon feature of it in diplomatic phrase"establishing the means of safe intercourse botwcen the American sottloments at the mouth of the Columbia River and those on this side of the Rocky Mountains. : "In 1842 the president repeated the recommendations and said that while he "would propose nothing inconsistent with friendly nego- tiations to settle the extent of our claims in that region, yet prudent forecast points out the necessity of such measures as may enable us to maintain our rights."
But while science proposed, the emigrant's 'instinct for mov- ding along the line of least resistance disposed." In 1843 the great Oregon colony demonstrated the' practicability of taking loaded wagons from Fort Hall to the Columbia, which ended the projected higher line, and also Colonel Abert's incidental plan of putting back. Fort Leavenworth to the original site at the Council Bluff.
The first Fort Kearny was established at Table Creek, now Nebraska City, on May .23, 1846, for the ostensible reasons that vit would probably, become the starting point from the Missouri River for Oregon emigration and that it was in a dangerous Indian country; but the selection turned out to have been ill-considered, and at the end of about ten months the post was removed to the site on the Platte, the first of, the chain on the Oregon Trail." It afterward became necessary to' cover the region west of the line .between the first principal posts on the border-Fort Snelling. and Fort Atkinson- with many military posts for the protection of set- Itlers and travelers from hostile Indians.
Through scandalous mismanagement the Yellowstone Expedi- tion, which ought to have started from its rendezvous near the mouth of the Missouri in early June at the latest, did not leave until July 4th and 5th. Consequently it did not arrive at the Coun- cil Bluff until September 29th, too late to proceed any farther. 'So the plan was changed, and on the first of October the site 'was chosen for a post at the Council Bluff and it was occupied on the second. ; On that day Colonel Atkinson issued the following order : "A military post is to be established at this place and is to be called and officially . known, as soon as barracks are erected, by the name of Cantonment Missouri." On" January 5th, 1821, the name was changed to Fort Atkinson, by order of the secretary of war.
Fort Snelling is situated at the confluence of the Minnesota e cand Mississippi rivers. " Lieutenant Colonel Henry: Leavenworth arrived there with the Fifth Regiment Infantry, comprising 414 men, of which, he was commander, on the 24th of August,, 1819, and he selected the site on that day. Temporary barracks were immediately erected. That the importance of the location had been appreciated for many years is shown by the fact that Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike, the famous military explorer, purchased the site from the Indians on September 23rd, 1805. . Colonel Leavenworth named : the post Fort . St. Anthony, but General Winfield Scott vis- Cited it in 1824 and soon afterward recommended that the name be changed to Fort Snelling in honor of Colonel Josiah Selling, . who was in command at that time. The order for changing the name was issued January 7, 1825. Fort Snelling was an important training camp in the world war.
:: For many years the name Fort Calhoun has been applied to the military post, but quite erroneously. From the day it was es- tablished until January 5th, 1821, its official name was Cantonment Missouri and thenceforth until it was abandoned its official and only name was Fort Atkinson. In his proclamation of November 23, 1854, Acting Governor Cuming described the boundaries of the eight counties in which the first elections should be held, and in outlining . Washington county he mentioned a place . called, Fort Calhoun, but when a' company platted a, town site by that name, early in the year 1855, the settlement comprised only two or three' cabins. . The act of the first, legislative assembly establishing Wash- ington county, approved February 22, 1855, designated Fort Cal- houn as the county seat, and it soon became the most important town'in the county .: The county capital was removed. to Blair 'in 1869.3
The site of 1855 was claimed under the preemption act of 1841, amended by the act of July 22, 1854, which permitted settlement on unsurveyed lands. "Lands in this district were not surveyed until 1856. The Omaha Indians nad ceded this territory to the United States on March 16, 1854." This first site comprised, approximately, the east two-thirds of the northeast quarter and the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter, the northwest quarter and the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter, the northeast quartor Yd the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 11; the northwest quarter, the southwest quarter' and the' southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 12, and the part west of a line running diagonally from southeast to north west -across the 4unters. of the norineast quarter of the southwest quarter and "the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of seccion 12, all in township 17, range 12 east of the sixth principal meridian. . 'The extreme length of the site, on the south sldo was about a milo and 5-12; of the north sido, about half a mile less; the width was nait a mile, excepting the part affected by the diagonal eastern boun- dary.
The town of Fort Calhoun was first incorporated by an act of the rifin legislative assembly, approved November 4, 1858. 'Tne site comprised the east half of section 11 and the west hait of sec- tion 1z, so that its northeastern corner boundary was approximately the same as that of the original site, while its southeastern corner was more than a quarter of a mile west or the original corner. ; There is no reliable information touching the reason for applying. " the name to the town, but. possibly someone, among its promviers : knew that the famous statesman or the south had been instrumen- tal in establishing the abandoned military post and sought to com- memorate the event in this way.
The Santa Fe trail, which, at first started from Franklin, Mo., and soon after from the same point as the beginning of the Oregon Trail, leaving it about forty miles beyond," was protected by Fort Gibson and. Fort Towson, both established in 1824 .. Fort Gioson was situated on the east bank of the Neosho River, two miles and a half from its confluence with. the Arkansas. The site is about five miles northeast of the city of Muskogee, Okla. Fort Towson was situated six miles west of Red River and the same distance south and cast of the Kamichi, now in the southern part of Choc- taw county, Oklahoma. The town of Foru Towson is situated about five miles north of the confluence of the rivers, on the St. Louis & San Francisco railroad. Fort Gibson was named for Colonel George Gibson, who was commissary general of subsistence at the time the post was established, and Fort Towson for Colonel Nathan Towson, who was paymaster-general at the same time.
THE HISTORICAL LIBRARY
The following .books, through purchase, gift or exchange, have been received by this library during the past three months:
Welsh Settlement of Pennsylvania. "
Adam and Anne Mott, Their Ancestors and Their Descendants. History of Hillsborough County, N. H."
History of Temple, N. H.
Year Books of the Holland Dutch Society for the Years 1887, 1888, 1889, 1918.
Records of the Reformed Dutch Church of New Paltz, N. Y.
The Kinnears and Their Kin, 1165-1916.
Chronicles of Pennsylvania.
The George Catlin Indian Gallery.
Catlin's Ojibbeway and Iowa Indians.
Civilization Among the Sioux Indians.
Report of Visit to the Great Sioux Reserve, Sioux and Ponca Indians.
The Cheyenne.
The Hawk Chief and a Tale of the Indian Country.
The Rescue of Kansas from Slavery.
Harman's Station,
`Violette's History of Missouri.
The Story of General Pershing.
From Vauquois Hill to Exermont.
With the Yankee Division in France.
Col. Benjamin W. Atkinson of New York has. presented to this .Society a handsome photograph of his grandfather, General Henry Atkinson.
Dr. M. E. Vance has given this library a number of programs, : pamphlets and badges relating to the proceedings of the Nebraska State Dental Society.
... Miss Ida Robbins recently turned over to the Nebraska State Historical Society library a number of books, some of -which were a part of the collection of the late Mrs. Mary A. Gibson.'
f th fro r. fi Prof pay mbe se i
stor in enc t pi .er rly se r "cial lited a c ing ) of
is r recei date is le eno ren d as sho rea rat
t 18
.rk., when ssed th, 1 the ty 0 ng le
i pri igs o 871 lley Bass ; hur :al h that las t ter st fi le is le w ty s
liver orica fro il co Chi is d bago in pr
8
Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer Days
received two letters, from which the following extracts are taken:
Feb. 12, 1919 .- This Society is pleased to acknowledge receipt of publications of your society.
These documents call to mind many incidents still fresh in my memory. Some of the older characters I knew in a way, and others more than passingly; one being Governor Furnas when he published the Nebraska Advertiser with "Limpy" Jim Fisher as his foreman, printer, manager, editor, collector and boss generally, when the gov- ernor was off "fighten." I knew his sons Will and George quite well. Dora Hacker was also a remembered attache of the Advertiser. I bought part of the Advertiser material-surplusage-and moved it to Augusta, I The old A this state, nas" brus added-all of those o you desire charge did of J. Amos May 7 of the hist as a verita age to the dent of you against th ness. Bes homa entit Col. Fred lead the lc sas back t superior-( ing at Wol. base of sul He not on became at Indian reg quah, Pryo is, of cour here in 18 to enlist lo
In 188 Washingto of North A stocks nor System Powell rej Columbia have carri to gather viving Ind of continu. of each wo An im just been Paul Radi Boas at C. that the fi duced to t Indian European rich and f of verbs : suffixes, w in the mid Dr. Ra which the of formati archeologi maximum implies ve eight disti the assum dence, eith Asia, that languages, the differe after the : Four I white minar quian, (re Kiowan. relationshi other wor stocks whi together il
John I in 1867, C Spotlight : originai ci
6
Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer Days
PIONEERS PASSED ON
A Long List of Men and Women Who Have Made Nebraska and Gone to Their Reward .-- Gleaned from Nebraska History Exchanges.
Mrs. Elizabeth O'Neill Herold, a resident of Plattsmouth for sixty-five years, died July 14 at the age of 78." Her father, James O'Neill, Samuel Martin and Joseph L. Sharp built a trading house on the site now occupied by Plattsmouth in 1853, which was prob- ably the first settlement by white men, though it is said that such an establishment was placed there in 1851.
Henry Stanford, pioneer of Cass county, died in Elmwood. on July 19; born in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, February 2, 1852; settled in,. Nebraska in 1860. .
John WV. "Patterson, Peru, Nebraska, born in Davies county, Indiana, April 10, 1838, died July 3. : He married Lucy Ann Grub- well February 11, 1857, and settled in Richardson county, where he resided until 1913 ...
Hans Behrens, a resident of Hall county since 1865, born Feb- ruary 15, 1836, died July 3, age 83 years.
Mary Harris . Cox, Nebraska pioneer, born in Nodaway .county, Missouri, 'December 15, 1843, "died July 4 in St. Louis; married Edmund' Cox in 1858 and settled in Richardson county, Nebraska. In 1903 they moved to Fairbury, where Mr. Cox died in .1910. Mrs. Cox was the mother of sixteen children, nine of whom are living.
Mortimer N .: Kress, Hastings, died July 4, having homesteaded in Adams county in 1871. He passed through. Nebraska in 1865 on his way. to Colorado but did not become a permanent settler until six years later. Mr. Kress, generally known as "Wild Bill," was a frontiersman, Indian fighter and scout and was associated in the early days with Buffalo Bill and other well known plainsmen. : He was a veteran of the Civil War.
... Dempsey C. West, Wyoming, Nebraska, died July 5; born in Ohio May 31, 1844; settled in Otoe county in 1857, where he lived until his death. »
John E. Douglass, Madison, died July 5; was born at Union- town, Pennsylvania, October 19, 1838; enlisted in the Fifth Battery. Indiana. Volunteers for service in the Civil War, was in the battles of Perryville, Stone ? River, Chickamauga, "and Chattanooga, and took part in the siege of Atlanta. " He reenlisted in Hancock's Vet-2 eran . Corps and was "stationed at" Washington when "Lincoln was assassinated: and was on duty during the trial of the conspirators. Mr. Douglass settled in Nebraska. in 1866 and had been a farmer, merchant and banker:
Jefferson Brawner, Fairbury, born in Atchison county, Kansas, February 20, 1863, died July 6. He came with his parents to Jef- ferson county, Nebraska, in August, 1863; married Alice McVey in 1887 and: became the father of six children.'
Mrs. Elizabeth Stukenholtz, Julian, Nebraska, died July 9 ;. was born in Germany, December 24, 1831; came to New York in. 1852; married Frederick Stukenholtz; settled in Nebraska in 1859, where she lived until her death.
John Robert Hall, pioneer of Nemaha county, born in Ruther- ford county, Tennessee, July 9, 1836 ;. died July 13 at the Soldiers Home in Milford; came with his parents to Nebraska in 1855 and settled near Brownville; freighted across the plains both before and after the Civil War; enlisted in the Second Regiment Missouri .In- fantry and participated in several engagements with Quantrell's guerillas near Westport; reenlisted in the Second. Kansas Battery and took part in the Red River campaign; in: 1868 married Luisa Whitlow and became the father of twelve . children, all of whom survive.
Marion Baker, Brownville, born in Rockport, Missouri, Janu- ary 8, 1862, died July 20; came with his parents to Nemaha" county In 1863 and with the exception of a few years 'spent most of his life in Brownville; he was mayor, of the town in 1916.
Joseph W. Ponn, Brownville, born in Lorraine, Virginia, May 31, 1844; died July 31; served in the confederate army; settled in Nemaha county at the close of the Civil War.
. James Emory Neal, pioncer of Nemaha county, died in Boise, Idaho, August 12; born near Urbana, Ohio, October 26, 1831; home -. steaded near Peru in: 1863 .-
Jesse Jeffries, Nebraska City, born in Andrew county, Mis- souri, April 29, 1850, died August 13; moved to Nebraska City in 1865, where he became a cabinet maker and wheelwright.'
.Mrs .. John Lee Webster, Oniana, died August 20; before mar- riage was Josephine Watson of Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania. They settled. in Omaha. in 1869. Mr. - Webster was president of the Ne- braska State Historical Society for six years.
Mrs. G. Fred Elsasser died August 14; born in Omaha in 1857; is survived by her husband, who was twice county treasurer of Douglas county, and nine of her fourteen children.
Orin W. Pickard, born in Omaha February 4; 1862, died Au- gust : 24 ...
.Mrs. Mahala Pearl Graves died August 27 in . Peru aged 98 years and'11 months; born . in Knox county, Tennessee, September 24, 1820; married to . William Graves in 1837; settled in : Platts- mouth, Nebraska, in 1863; a few years later removed to Rock Bluffs. She was the mother of eleven children.
Mrs. Mary Garvey died .August 28; resident of Omaha since. 1857.
/ : F. M. Scoggin, Beatrice, died August 29; resided in Nebraska over sixty years, most of that time in Gage county; for some years carried mail between Beatrice . and Lincoln before the, railroads. were built ..
Thomas Weatherhogg, born in England, May 2, 1829, died in :Douglas, Nebraska, August :31; emigrated to America in 1857; settled in Nebraska in 1865 and lived an extremely active life . until. only a few weeks before his death at the age of 90 years.
: Mrs. Orpha Hoschour, wife of Abraham Hoschour, of Friend; Nebraska, died September 2; born in Girard township, Branch coun -- ty, Michigan, February 3, 1842; settled in Saline county in 1863. and became the mother of thirteen children.
Charles Perky, Wahoo, born in' Georgetown, Ohio, December- 17, 1841, died September. 5; served fifteen months in Company H, Seventh Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, reenlisted in Company- A 104th Regiment; mustered out at close ofwar with rank of lieutenant; came to De Soto, Nebraska, in 1866; in 1868 moved to." Saunders county, where he continued to reside; "deputy county treasurer and county treasurer for several terms; also mayor of: 'Wahoo ...
"Edward Oliver died in Shelton, Nebraska, September 6; born: in Manchester, England, June :3, 1836, in 1860 settled in Buffalo county at Wood River Center, now Shelton, and remained during- the Indian trouble of 1864 when almost all settlers were driven .: out; county treasurer in 1879-81, also held public offices in Shelton at various times.
Jacob Hunzeker, pioneer of Richardson county since 1857, died: in Falls City, September 9. " He was the father of ten children.
Thomas W. Canaga, a member of the Fontanelle Colony of 1857, died in Hooper, -September 9, aged 81 years. ..
Mary Frances Carter Brunton died in Blair , September 10; born August 12, 1853, in Adams county, Ohio; came with her. par- ents to Nebraska in 1856." She was the mother of fifteen children. Her mother, Mrs. Jacob Carter, 91 years old, is living in Blair.
Mrs. Juliane D. Sierk, a resident of Washington county since. 1865, died September 17.
Lewis Waldter, of Wymore, killed by a train September 18; settled in Brownville, Nebraska, in 1854; moved to Humboldt, later: to' Wymore. He was a soldier in the Civil War.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.