USA > Nebraska > Nebraska history and record of pioneer days, Vol I > Part 22
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Beheld the church spire rising above the school and shop, The fields of corn, and golden grain which reached its very top; Beheld the green sward waving in splendor to and fro,
. When soldiers came to Atkinson one hundred years ago.
Through another hundred summers what scenes will it behold? Through 'another hundred winters what pageaut will unfold? -
Ah! poets with your pictures and artists with your brush
Can you now paint the splendor on coming with a rush? Can you now catch the tracings of pageantry sublime? Record for 'us the vision to be produced by time, ::
Or see the future changes as years flit to and fro As soldier's did at Atkinson a hundred years ago.
RELATED TO JOHN COLTER
A very interesting letter, has recently been received from-Mrs. Mary Colter McAllister, regent of Platte Chapter, Daughters of the- American Revolution, Columbus, Nebraska. " Mrs. McAllister is: descended from the Colters, a Scotch-Irish family who were among the first settlers of Virginia. Members of the family served in the- Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 .. Her grandfather was a brother of John Colter, who was with the Lewis and Clark Expedi- tion, joining them at St. Louis .: He left the party on the return trip to hunt and .trap' in the Yellowstone region ... He aud a com- panion by the name of Potts were captured by the Blackfeet In- dians. Potts was killed but Colter had a miraculous escape, re- turned to. St. Louis and told of the beauty and wonders of the Yel- lowstone. Some of his stories of spouting geysers and sulphurous; gases were so uncanny that, the place was familiarly spoken of as "Colter's Hell." .:
NEBRASKA AMBULANCES
The Nebraska Women's Relief Corps and Grand Army of the- . Republic presented ambulances to General John J. Pershing for use overseas. The presentation plates attached to these ambu-, lances were returned by Geueral Pershing to Mrs. Jennie. Rodgers. of the Women's Relief Corps and will find a resting place in the; Historical Society museum.
On July 27 rededication services of the First Methodist church were held in Brownville. The building was erected for a college. more. than ; sixty years ago. The college project failed and the, building was purchased by the Methodists. Thomas Weston Tipton, United States senator for Nebraska, 1867-75, was the first minister.
STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, CIRCULATION, ETC.
Of Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer Days, published quarterly, at Lin -. coln, Nebraska, for April 1, 1919.
State of Nebraska, County of Lancaster, ss.
Before me, a notary public in and for the state and county aforesaid, person- ally appeared Addison E. Sheldon, who, having been duly. sworn according to law, deposes and says that' he is the editor of the Nebraska History and Record" of Pioneer Days and that the following is, to the best of his knowledge and be- lief, a true statement of the ownership, management,"etc., of the aforesaid publi- cation for the date shown in the above caption, required by the Act of August- 24, 1912, embodied in section 443,. Postal Laws and Repulations, printed, on the- reverse side of. this form, to-wit:
1. 'That the names and addresses of the publisher, editor, managing editor, and business managers are: ** *:
Publisher, Nebraska: State Historical Society, Lincoln, Nebr. Editor, Addison .D. Sheldon, Lincoln. Nebr. :
Managing Editor, .None .: Business Managers, None.
1/1-2. That the owner is the Nebraska State . Historical Society.
3. That the known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security. holders; own -- ing or holding 1 per cent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities are: None.'
ADDISON E. SHELDON. Sworn to and 'subscribed before me this 28th day of March, 1919. (My commission expires August 4, 1921.)
(SEAL) .MAX WESTERMAN, Notary Public
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NEBRASKA HISTORY AND RECORD OF PIONEER DAYS
Published Quarterly by the Nebraska State Historical Society
Editor, ADDISON E. SHELDON Associate Editors The Staffs of the Nebraska State Historical Society and Legislative Reference Bureau
Subscription $2.00 Per Year
q All sustaining members of the Nebraska State Historical Society receive Nebraska History without further payment.
q Entered as second class mail matter, under act of July 16, 1894, at Lincoln, Nebraska, April 2, 1918.
VOLUME II. OCTOBER-DECEMBER, 1919 NUMBER 4
NEBRASKA-HOME OF POSSIBLE PRESIDENTS
Since 1896 Nebraska has been on the world's political map. Just now it is the home of two possible presidential candidates-William J. Bryan and John J. Pershing. Historians of future centuries are sure to search Nebraska records for material on the great movements -civil and military-of this world epoch. A home for the Nebraska State Historical Society is the first need to preserve these records.
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION HISTORY
Constitutions are great historical landmarks in the annals of the state. The story of their making has more human interest than the documents themselves, for it discloses the actual conditions existing when the constitution was made. A most important part of Nebraska history is that of its constitutions. Three volumes of the Nebraska Society published in the period, 1906-1913, contain-so far as known- the debatcs and proceedings in framing Nebraska constitutions. These three volumes have about six hundred pages each. They are an in- valuable commentary on the first fifty years of Nebraska statehood. Discussions in them, by the most distinguished men in our civil his- tory, are important to every Nebraska scholar and lawyer in the present period of framing the constitution which will be voted upon next November. The supply of these volumes of Nebraska constitu- tional history is small. They seil at $1.50 each, and the proceeds go into the Historical Society's publication fund.
NATIVE NEBRASKA FOOD PLANTS
Dr. Melvin R. Gilmore, curator of the North Dakota Historical Society, has just published in the thirty-third annual report of the American Bureau of Ethnology results of his investigations in the field of native American food and medical plants. These investiga- tions were begun in Nebraska when Dr. Gilmore was a staff member of our Historical Society. Several summers were spent by him with the Omaha and other Nebraska tribes getting at first hand the Indian names and uses of our native plants. A most valuable chapter upon Nebraska liistory and botany is his thesis published in volume XVII of our reports. The historical aspects of the study are fair- ly complete. The practical results are small. Dr. Gilmore recom- mends the seeds and tubers of the Nelumbe water lily and the familiar plains turnip or tiepsin of the Sioux as worthy of development for food. There are, in fact, several wild food plants of Nebraska most promising-three especially so-the buffalo berry, the sand cherry and the tiepsen. When one considers how meager were the wild begin- nings of the cultivated plants of Europe and Asia which now furnish food for the world, the wild plants of the plains seem worthy of the highest efforts of Nebraska horticultural genius.
HISTORY VOLUMES AT A PREMIUM
Many requests come in for the early publications of tl Sometimes these come from Nebraska citizens, sometimes fro and collectors outside the state. . Volumes III and IV, f cannot now be supplied. They were published in 1892, Prof ard W. Caldwell, editor. The secretary will be glad to pay lars per volume for them to fill out a few sets. Will memb their bookshelves and send us any spare volumes of these may find?
COUNTY WAR HISTORIES
The Historical Society encourages worthy local histo placing at the disposal of their publishers the material in tions and helping them find needed data. It especially en this time worthy county war histories designed to collect p - personal information relating to every Nebraska soldier home-worker in the World War. This Society particularly such a history when undertaken and carried on by those the county, for love of the cause rather than commercia good case in point is the war history of Burt county edite lished by J. R. Sutherland. Fifty years residence in a editorship of a county seat newspaper is first-class training task. The paper by Mr. Sutherland, printed in this issue of zine should be inspiration for other counties and editors.
FIRST WINTER WHEAT IN NEBRASKA
The earliest record for winter wheat in Nebraska is lished. Among early Fort Atkinson documents just rec Washington is a letter from Colonel Henry Atkinson, dat 20, 1821, relating to farming operations at that post. This I
We have put down a small crop of wheat this fall, en ably, to give us seed for a large crop next year besides re two hundred barrels of flour. This is a crop we should nurture, as being most useful and easiest of culture; we sh the most reasonable cultivation, after the next sowing, re article an abundance for the entire bread part of the ra
Winter wheat was re-discovered in Nebraska about 1 hundred years ago it was a proven success in Nebraska.
DIARY OF A NEBRASKA FREIGHTER
A letter from Mrs. William Dunn at Fort Smith, Ark the Historical Society records of her husband's diary wh freighting across the plains in the sixties. Mr. Dunn crosse divide at his home in Syracuse, Otoe county, October 6th, was a typical freighter-quiet, courageous, reliable. The were entrusted with thousands of dollars worth of property plains had to possess all these qualities. Their diaries and among the valuable records of frontier Nebraska.
HISTORY OF NEBRASKA AGRICULTURE
For a good many years Samuel C. Bassett has been p ticles upon agriculture in Nebraska. In fact the beginnings on Nebraska agriculture go back to the springtime of 1871 Bassett family settled on a piece of raw Wood River valle many years known as Echo Farm. In recent years the Ba cultural Scrap Book has come into existence. It includes h pages of sifted material-the foundation on which a real Nebraska agriculture may be built. This magazine hopes th sett will do this himself. No other person now living has ing for the task. No other person who will live hereafter the contact with the literature and the facts of the first of our first industry which Mr. Bassett has. This article without Mr. Bassett's knowledge. If he will undertake the the State Board of Agriculture and the Historical Society operate in bcaring the incidental expenses.
NEBRASKA INDIAN CALLERS
Henry Blackbird and wife of the Omaha tribe and Oliv of the Winnebago tribe were welcome callers at the Histori rooms, February 4th. They were part of a delegation tribes who addressed a committee of the constitutional on the use of peyote. Mr. Blackbird is a descendant of C. bird-most famous of the Omaha tribe and Mr. Lamere is from French ancestors on his father's side and Winneba mother's side. Each of these men is an active worker in the tribal history of his people.
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Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer Days
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Major John G. Maher War Collection
The above picture shows, in part, the collection of war trophies presented by Major John G. Maher to the Nebraska State Historical Society. These trophies were secured by Major Maher when overseas during 1918-19. They came chiefly from the neighborhoods of Soissons, Verdun, Metz. They include German and French helmets, swords, bayonets, scabbards, hand grenades, cartridges, shells, bread and sugar coupons, war medals and many other articles. This is a valuable addition to the Historical Society World War museum.
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Three Military Heroes of Nebraska
A letter has recently been received from Mrs. Susan Kearny Self- ridge, a daughter of General Philip Kearny. Mrs. Selfridge has pre- pared a lecture on "Philip Kearny, Soldier and Patriot," and the cause for which he fought, covering events of over half a century. The purpose of the lecture, aside from doing honor to "Fighting Phil. Kearny," is to further the cause of Americanization.
The Phil. Kearny Club, created under the authority of the Ad- ministration Board of the Students' Army Training Corps in Earl Hall, Columbia University, New York, in 1918, was organized in honor of General Phil. Kearny of the class of 1833, the Columbia graduate of highest rank killed in action during the Civil War.
General Kearny was killed at Chantilly, Virginia, September 1, 1862. He left a widow and two small children, of whom Mrs. Selfridge was the elder. She regrets keenly that she has no personal recollec- tions of her father, but she has spent many years in the study of his life and patriotic service. She has sent to this Society a bibliography of General Kearny's military career.
The letters of General Kcarny to his wife, written during the war, have been carefully preserved. They would be a valuable addition to the manuscript files of this Society.
On the 21st day of December, 1866, seventy-nine soldiers from Fort Philip Kearny and two citizens, detached to protect a party of choppers who were procuring wood for the fort, were attacked by In< dians, numbering between 1,500 and 2,000. The entire command was killed, including the leader, Brevet Licutenant Colonel William J. Fetterman. This is the most shocking tragedy in the long struggle between the Indians of the plains and the white intruders, excepting the culminating battle on the Little Bighorn, called the Custer Mas- sacre, which occurred ten years later less than a hundred miles dist- ant and in the same disputed territory. Its direct cause was the Pow- der River military expedition of 1865 and the establishing of a line of forts-Reno, Phil. Kearny and C. F. Smith-along the Bozeman road, in the summer of 1866, by Colonel Henry B. Carrington, of the Eight- eenth Regiment U. S. Infantry. Colonel Carrington's command on this hazardous expedition comprised only the second battalion-eight com- panies of the regiment. Tlic site for Fort Reno, at the intersection of the road by Crazy Woman's fork of Powder River,-then in Dakota but now near the center of Johnson county, Wyoming,-was selected
on July 12th, for Fort Phil. Kearny on July 14th, and for Fort Smith on August 12th.
Fort Phil. Kearny was situated between Big Piney and Little Piney creeks, near their confluence. It was then in Dakota Territory, which was formed from Nebraska in 1861; but the site is now in Wy- oming, on the northern boundary of Johnson county and about twenty- five miles southeasterly from the city of Sheridan. Fort Smith was situated at the intersection of the Bozeman road and the Bighorn River, in Montana Territory, now in the southwestern part of Big Horn county and about thirty miles southwest of the Custer battle- field.
By the treaty of April 29, 1868, the Sioux nation agreed to retire to a definitely defined reservation, but on condition that the three forts should be abandoned. Accordingly, Fort Smith was withdrawn on July 29th, 1868, Fort Phil. Kearny on July 31st, and Fort Reno August 28th. In his report for that year, the commissioner of Indian affairs asserted that the military department took possession of the Powder River country and established the forts there without the consent of the Indian proprietors of the territory and in direct viola- tion of treaty stipulations. Continued disagreements after the treaty of 1868 led to the Custer tragedy and the subsequent subjugation of the Sioux, so that about ten years later they had become willing to live peaceably within their reservations.
The battles of Fort Phil. Kearny and the Little Big Horn are im- properly called massacres. They were battles in the course of long continued open warfare between the United States and the Sioux na- tion, in which the Indian commanders outwitted the commanders of the white armies. In both battles, however, the Indians were guilty of brutalities not then practiced in civilized warfare, but that inci- dent does not affect the fact in question. Toward the last, the wea- pons of the world war and the manner of using them were more brutal than those of the Indians in this Sioux war, though the Indians ex- ceeded the soldiers of the world war in unnecessary revengeful, in- tentional brutality, properly called cruelty.
The appropriation of the domains of the Indians by the highly civilized white race was inevitable, because under the superior race they maintain a population of millions while under the Indians they supported only thousands; and the spreading and progress of civilized institutions demanded order, whereas the Indians lived in constant disorder. A quite similar process has gone on in Africa and Asia- notably during the last twenty-five years. But the greed and faith- less methods of the white invasion of the Indian country deserved and
(Continued on Page Three.)
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Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer Days
D. Charles Bristol (Omaha Charley)
(Collector of the Bristol Exhibit of Early Indian Relics in the Historical Society's Museum.)
D. Charles Bristol, commonly called Omaha Charley, was born at Canandaigua, N. Y., March 17, 1834. His father was a native of Con- necticut and his mother of New York state. His first occupation was that of brakeman on the Chicago, St. Paul & Minneapolis railroad, but he soon established a trading post thirty miles east of Black River Falls, Wis., before he was twenty-one years old. He has followed the business of Indian trader most of his life, doing business with the Chippewa, Miami, Potawatomi, and Winnebago.
Mr. Bristol came to Decatur, Neb., in 1867, when he was thirty- three years old and has lived in the state most of the time since -- on the Omaha and Winnebago reservations, at Pine Ridge, Gordon, Rushville, and finally at Homer. In 1855 he was married to Miss Mary Thompson of Union City, Penn., but they parted and she became the wife of Judge Robert Wilson of Neligh, Neb. In 1881 he was mar- ried to Lettie Hunter, an educated woman of the Winnebago. Four boys were born to them: William T. in 1891; Chas. D. in 1886; Albert H. in 1897; and Harold, 1909. He bought a farm adjoining Homer in 1883 and has resided there most of the time since.
It was customary among the plainsmen, in the early days, to ap- ply significant nicknames to one another, such as Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill, Pawnee Charley, etc. Thus Mr. Bristol became known among his associates as Omaha Charley, probably because he was closely associated with the Omaha tribe.
Mr. Bristol has a comfortable home in Homer, and he and his estimable Indian wife are devout church workers, highly respected by their many neighbors and friends. On my recent visit to them he remarked, "Of course, I have been pretty wild and a great sinner, but with the help of God, I am trying to live right and do right by every- body." Not a home in the state is more neatly kept, and its owner has plenty of this world's goods to make his old age enjoyable. His originally strong constitution served him so well that in spite of exposure and other hardships and irregular living, he is apparently still in vigorous health.
Many years ago he conceived the notion that a collection of ap- parel, household utensils, weapons, etc., illustrating customs and man- ners of the Indians in their own habitat, would be of great and lasting interest to the general public, and he undertook his task with charac- teristic industry and acumen. It is a custom among the Indians to present a friend or benefactor with some part of one's costume. Some- times one will remove his moccasins for such a purpose, going back to his lodge barefooted. Many important chiefs of the plains tribes have been Omaha Charley's friends, and he was a keen judge of fine workmanship. The best specimens he could buy or otherwise pro- cure were added to liis collection from time to time.
He took special interest in such articles as possessed historical value. and he obtained many of this class. During the seventies he toured many of the larger cities of the country with his collection, in- cluding a band of Indians to exhibit them. Later he expanded his show with a theatrical organization which performed in many of the leading theatres of this country and Europe. On retiring from this business he erected, at Homer, a building especially designed for the display and preservation of his collection; but afterward he and his wife gave it up to and for their church and removed their collection to a small frame building near their home. When I first visited Homer in 1905, the collection was arranged in cases and packed in boxes in this building.
Mr. Bristol and his wife were eventually persuaded to place the
collection on exhibition in the rooms of the Nebraska State Historical Society, where it has remained ever since. When I was packing the collection at Homer for shipment to the Historical Society, a Mr. Buck- walter, who lived there, pressed upon Mr. Bristol his check of three hundred dollars for one of the buffalo robes, but in vain; so the His- torical Society obtained the collection intact. Of course this treasure is displayed at great disadvantage in the very crowded space in the Society's rooms.
I have noticed that even in the largest museums east of the Mississippi River, there is almost a dearth of early Indian relics, and no other state in the Union has so complete a collection of them as Nebraska. Mr. Bristol's name and fame are destined to be perpetu- ated in his collection; for the lifework of this picturesque frontiersman will be appreciated more and more as knowledge of its historical and ethnological value spreads. E. E. BLACKMAN.
Three Military Heroes of Nebraska
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won the severest condemnation from the just. The report of the com- mission which was appointed to investigate the troubles with the In- dians of the plains during the period under consideration, made by General John B. Sanborn, General N. B. Buford, and G. P. Beauvais, the celebrated frontiersman and Indian trader, attributed the hostility of the Indians to the causes adverted to, and directly to the fact that though they had refused to sign the treaty imposed upon them at Fort Laramie in June, yet immediately after this refusal by the In- dians who owned the Powder River country to permit the use of the Montana road, a military force was sent to fortify it by the erection of the three forts along its course.
The Bozeman Trail proper ran from Platte Bridge to Bozeman City. It was established or outlined in 1864 by John M. Bozeman, a noted pioneer of Montana. Different accounts place its western ter- minal at Virginia City and the three forks of the Missouri. But both Bozeman and Virginia City are in the Three Forks region. This fa- mous highway was extended as far east as Fort Laramie when it was wrongfully fortified by Colonel Carrington's expedition in 1866. It was the line of the civil invasion into the gold regions of Montana and the military invasion of 1866 which provoked the bloody resist- ance of the Sioux lasting some fifteen years. In 1863, Bozeman opened a trail from the Red Buttes into the Three Forks region. The Red Buttes were a familiar landmark near the Oregon Trail. The nearby station of the Pony Express was named for them. It was the eastern terminal of Buffalo Bill's route of seventy-six miles-to the Three Crossings of the Sweetwater. His daring exploits on this difficult and dangerous section of the romantic road, made it exceptionally famous. From 1854 to 1861, the Red Buttes were in Nebraska Territory; from 1861 to 1868, in Dakota Territory; since 1868, in Wyoming, territory and state. They are situated near the North Platte River, in the south- easterly part of Natrona county, about twenty-two miles west of the city of Casper.
Platte Bridge was situated at one of the principal crossings of the Oregon Trail and the road to California from the south side to the north side of the river. The site is about two miles above the city of Casper. The bridge was built as a private enterprise in 1859 and cost sixty thousand dollars. The Mormons established a ferry there in 1847. The south terminal of the bridge was occupied by United States troops from July 29th, 1858, to April 20th, 1859, for the pro- tection of the expedition to Utah to suppress the Mormon rebellion. The post was reoccupied in May, 1862, and finally abandoned in 1867.
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