USA > South Dakota > History of Dakota Territory, volume I > Part 34
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ELECTION RETURNS FOR DELEGATE TO CONGRESS
First Representative District
Maloney Precinct, Willow Big Sioux Point-
J. B. S. Todd. A. J. Bell Chas. P. Booge
2
Elk Point Precinct-
J. B. S. Todd. 2
A. J. Bell
1 5
Chas. P. Booge
Sioux Falls Precinct-
J. B. S. Todd. 2
A. J. Bell
27
Chas. P. Booge 3
C. Booge
I
Red River, Pembina Precinct- Third Representative District
J. B. S. Todd. 15
Red River, St. Joseph Precinct- J. B. S. Todd. 171
Vermillion Precinct-
J. B. S. Todd. 22
A. J. Bell
27
Chas. P. Booge 4
Fifth Representative District
West Vermillion Precinct-
17 J. B. S. Todd. A. J. Bell 20
Sixth Representative District
Yankton Precinct-
J. B. S. Todd
86
Chas. P. Booge
1
Seventh Representative District
Bon Homme Precinct-
J. B. S. Todd.
3
A. J. Bell
I
Chas. P. Booge 52
Eighth Representative District
West of Chotcat Creek-
J. B. S. Todd. 27
Chas. P. Booge 25
Ponka Precinct (now Gregory County)- J. B. S. Todd. 20
I
Recapitulation
Whole number of votes cast. 585
J. B. S. Todd. 307
A. J. Bell ,
Chas. P. Booge 100
C. Booge
Chas. P. Bonge
2.4
9
Second Representative District
Fourth Representative District
188
IHISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY
ELECTION RETURNS FOR REPRESENTATIVES
Elk Point Precinct-
A. R. Phillips. 12
Jolin AlcBride ยท McBride 3
Christopher Maloney 10
John R. Wood
18
Second Precinct, Big Sioux-
A. R. Phillips IO
John McBride 23
Christopher Maloney 25
John R. Wood
Second Representative District
Sioux Falls Precinct-
G. P. Waldron 9
G. W. Waldron
I
James McCall
1
Third Representative District
Pembina Precinct, Red River-
Ilngh S. Donaldson 15
St. Joseph Precinct-
Hugh S. Donaldson 158
Louis Lacarter
I
Fourth Representative District
Vermillion Precinct-
Lyman Burgess
4.4
A. W. Puett
32
Hans Gunderson
24
Fifth Representative District
West Vermillion Precinct
Jacob A. Jacobson 41
Bligh Wood
27
Christian Lawson 12
Ole Bottlefson
4
Sixth Representative District
Yankton Precinct-
M. R. Armstrong 53
John Stanage 32
J. M. Stone 29
Ole Sampson 22
Otis B. Wheeler
28
Seventh Representative District
Geo. M. Primey
53
Reuben Wallace 51
Eighth Representative District
West of Choteau Creek-
John L. Tiernon 27
Henry Price 27
Ponka Precinct (South of Fort Randall)- John L. Tiernon 28
ELECTION RETURNS FOR COUNCILMEN
First Council District
First Precinct, Big Sioux ---
Austin Cole 27
Eli B. Wixson 15
William Matthews
W. W. Brookings 13
Bon Homme Precinct-
First Representative District
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HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY
Elk Point Precinct-
Austin Cole 6
E. B. Wixson W. W. Brookings W. Matthews
Sioux Falls Precinct-
W. Brookings 9
Austin Cole 5
Eli B. Wixson 3
Pembina Precinct-
St. Joseph Precinct-
Jas. McFetridge 158
Charles Grant 1 30
Louis Lacerte -45
Second Council District
Vermillion Precinct-
H. D. Betts 34
J. W. Boyle 30
Nelson Miner
25
Miles Hall 12
Third Council District
West Vermillion-
Jacob Deuel
43
Fourth Council District
Yankton Precinct-
Enos Stutsman
D. T. Bramble
76
William Thompson
5
John B. Greenway
U
Fifth Council District
Bon Homme Precinct-
John HI. Shober
52
Sixth Council District
West of Choteau Creek-
J. Shaw Gregory
26
Freeman Norval
.30
Ponka Precinct-
20
J. Shaw Gregory
James Norval
-
The returns of the election were made to the governor of the territory, who canvassed the vote, and a certificate of election was issued to the person having the highest number of votes for the respective office. There were no contests, but it was rarely that this could be said of subsequent elections.
15
Jas. McFetridge 15
CHAPTER XIX DAKOTA IN THE CIVIL AND INDIAN WARS 186
BEGINNING OF THIE CIVIL WAR-FORT SUMTER BESIEGED AND CAPTURED BY THE SECESSIONISTS-FIRST CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS-POSITION OF MONARCHICAL GOV- ERN MENTS-UNION SENTIMENT AMONG THE PIONEERS-DAKOTA CAVALRY AU- TIIORIZED-COMPANY A RECRUITED AND MUSTERED IN-THE MUSTER ROLL- COMPANY STATIONED TO PROTECT SETTLEMENTS-DR. W. A. BURLEIGH, INDIAN AGENT-HIS EARLY EXPERIENCES.
BEGINNING OF THE CIVIL WAR
The people of the United States were at this time in a condition of great ex- citement and alarm caused by the attempted secession from the Union of nearly all the southern or slave states. Southern senators and representatives had been withdrawing from Congress during the winter of 1860-61, their states having through their Legislatures, or in convention, passed ordinances of secession, which they regarded as severing the political and territorial ties which had connected their states with the United States of America, and relieved them of their fealty to that Government. Armies had been levied in the South, and acts of hostility against the Government were committed before Mr. Buchanan's term expired in March, 1861. The inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as President was the signal for open revolt and acts of war. Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, was as- sailed by the batteries of South Carolina under command of General Beauregard, April 12, 1861, and Major Anderson, the commanding officer of the fort, was finally compelled to evacuate the fort after contending with the besieging force of 3,000, equipped with an abundance of heavy artillery, that had been the prop- erty of the United States. Sumter had been virtually destroyed for defensive purposes before Anderson hoisted the white flag in token of surrender. He had held out five days in the face of an incessant cannonade hoping to be relieved by reinforcements, at the end of which time he gave up the fort, securing from Beauregard exemption from capture as prisoners, with leave to return North on a Government vessel. Anderson then marched out and embarked for Fortress Monroe.
On the 15th of April, two days after the surrender of Sumter, President Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 volunteers for three months army service, that being the time which the United States authorities believed ample to put down the rebellion and bring the recalcitrant rebels back to their allegiance. Southern leaders of the rebellion were just as sanguine of an early termination of the strug- gle in their favor. No one seemed to grasp the magnitude of the great contest upon which this country had entered, or even so much as imagined that there were to be four years of terrible war, such as the world had seldom if ever witnessed, which this nation was destined to pass through before the difficulties and extreme differences of three-fourths of a century's accumulations, would be settled by the stern arbitrator of arms and peace restored. None could believe that it would re- quire over a million men for each contestant-the flower of the country's gallant
190
191
HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY
sons-and billions of money, before the rebellious forces would acknowledge defeat, and the revolting states be restored to their places in the Union. No one apparently suspected that in addition to the domestic enemy, this young republic had never secured the sincere friendship of England, France, Spain or Germany, and the moral as well as financial support of these monarchies, or their wealthy subjects sustained the rebellion under a belief and a hope that it would destroy the system of free government that had been adopted by the United States, and which monarchy had sullenly and wishfully predicted would be a failure. Kings saw in this rebellion a possible means to overthrow and destroy the work of Washington and his compeers, and it had the sympathy of those rulers who feared its example, if successful, upon their fettered subjects. Russia was an exception, however, and stood openly and actively by the young republic, and sent its fleets to our waters to defend our shores if necessary against foreign interference. Confederate bonds were freely sold to a vast amount in the markets of Europe and munitions of war and ships purchased with the proceeds. The South fur- nished the soldiers and the blood for the Confederacy-Europe the "sinews of war.
In the fall of 1861, the War Department authorized the governor of Dakota to raise two companies of cavalry for the War of the Rebellion, to be employed in patrolling and garrison duty in the territory. Three recruiting stations were established by Governor Jayne, by proclamation of December 7, 1861, viz. : At Yankton, Vermillion, and a third at Bon Homme, at that time the three principal towns on the Missouri slope. Elk Point did not begin to be a "principal town" until the following year, though a number of settlers had occupied lands in its vicinity. The governor appointed J. Kendrick Fowler, a brother-in-law of Sec- retary Hutchinson, recruiting officer at Yankton; Nelson Miner at Vermillion, and James M. Allen at Bon Homme. These recruiting officials entered at once upon their duties, and Company A had raised its complement of men during the winter following and was mustered into the service of the United States at Yank- ton in April, 1862. Its commissioned officers when mustered in were Nelson Miner, captain, Vermillion ; J. K. Fowler, Ist lieutentant, Yankton; Frederick Ploghoff, 2nd lieutenant, Bon Homme. The company rendezvoused at Yankton awaiting the formality of "mustering in" to the service of the United States.
The company was claimed by some of the Yankton people as a local organi- zation, though not more than one-third of its members had been residents of the future county prior to enlistment, the remainder coming from Clay, Cole, Bon Homme, Minnehaha, and one from Nebraska. Its membership included several veterans who had seen service in the regular army. Taken collectively it was a fine body of men, physically, intellectually and morally. Quite a number of the recruits were farmers and nearly all claimholders. The ceremony of "mustering in" took place at Yankton on the 29th day of April. 1862, Lieut. M. R. Luce, of the Forty-first Regiment of Iowa Volunteers, being mustering officer. The term of service was for three years or during the war. We here append the muster roll :
COM MISSIONED OFFICERS
Nelson Miner, captain; J. K. Fowler, first lieutenant; Frederick Ploghoff, second lieutenant.
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS
A. M. English, first sergeant ; Patrick Conway, second sergeant : K. Wilson, P. F. Hobler, William Neuman, Ben F. Estes, J. B. Watson, H. J. Austin, sergeants; George Falkingberg, Dave Benjamin, Joe Ellis, William Young, C. B. Stager, C. H. Brurud, Amos Shaw, Adolph Manxsch, corporals; A. Hanson, E. Wilkins, buglers; A. Jones, farrier ; Timothy Pringle, blacksmith.
PRIVATES
M. Anderson, J. Allen, R. Alderson, C. Andrews, B. Bellows. W. W Benedict, Robert Burkhart, John Betz, John Bradley, John Bell, N. Cusick, 1). Campbell, N. Fllingson, J.
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HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY
Flueder, N. Felling, J. Gray, J. Haggin, J. Johnson, C. Lewison, J. Ludwig, J. D. Morse, T. A. McLeese, A. Munson, P. Omeg, C. Ofson, L. E. Phelps, H. M. Pierce, George Pike, J. Solberger, J. Tallman, T. J. Tate, B. 11. Wood, J. Wells, H. Woodruff, J. Cramer, George lloosick, tt. Snow, A. Gibson, Michael Fisher, J. 11. MeBee, John Claude, John Collins, S. Delaney, Thomas Frek, J. O. Ford, B. F. Gray, E. Harrington, Ben Hart, J. Kinney, Charles Long, Merril G. Lothrop, J. Markell, John McClellan, M. J. Mind, O. N. Orland, O. Olsen, J. O. Phelps, James E. Peters, R. A. Ranney, P. Sherman, J. Trumbo, A. J. Trake, T. H. Weegs, Charles Wampole, Charles Wright, W. 11. Bellows.
(During the term of service the following named were discharged for disability: J. Cramer, H1. Snow, Michael Fisher, George Hoosick and A. Gibson. Died in hospital, J. H. McBee, J. Cummings. Frozen to death, J. Tallman. Resigned, Lieut. J. K. Fowler and Lieu- tenant l'loghoff. Expelled, W. H. Bellows. Total, 94.)
Company A had remained at Yankton after being mustered in, awaiting the coming of their horses and other cavalry equipment which were received about the 15th of May. Orders then came to report at Fort Randall and the company left for that post on May 20th. The departure of the company was a very serious loss to the business of Yankton, and was also severely felt in social circles, where the young soldiers had been the principal reliance. They had also contributed much of value to the various societies and organizations that were being formed to promote education, religion, and also general town improvements, which the pioneers of a community are required to organize and put in motion. About the 15th of June an order was received from the War Department by Acting Gover- nor Hutchinson, directing that the First Dakota Cavalry be placed under the direc- tion of the governor of Dakota Territory. The company at this time was at Fort Randall, where Lieutenant Colonel Pattee, of the Seventh lowa, was in command. In July Lieutenant Ploghoff reached Yankton with twenty-five men of Company A, fifteen of whom were stationed on Turkey Ridge Creek at the crossing of the Sioux Falls road, and ten at Sioux Falls with Lieutenant Ploghoff in command. Later in the same month the remainder of the company under Lieutenant Fowler arrived and about the same time Lieutenant Ploghoff, with a small detachment from Sioux Falls, came over to procure equipment for the Sioux Falls detachment and the squad at Turkey Ridge. At this time Lieutenant Ploghoff resigned his commission and James Bacon, of Sioux City, who had been with the company for some time was commissioned second lieutenant. The company was now assigned under direction of the governor: Lieutenant Bacon at Sioux Falls with twenty men : Orderly Sergt. A. M. English at Yankton with twenty men ; and Captain Miner with the remainder of the company at Vermillion and Brule Creek. English's camp was about a mile west of James River on the bench land. There was also a small detachment at the Turkey Ridge crossing of the Sioux Falls road. Fort Randall at this time was garrisoned by the Seventh Iowa, with Lient. Col. Wallis Pattee in command.
WALTER A. BURLEIGH
Dr. Walter A. Burleigh, of Kittaning, Pennsylvania, had been appointed United States agent of the Yankton Indians to succeed Mr. Redfield, whose administra- tion had not been satisfactory to the Indians. He served, however, until the expiration of Mr. Buchanan's term as President, who was succeeded by Mr. Lin- coln, when in accordance with the time honored Jacksonian maxim, "to the vic- tors being the spoils," the democrat was turned out and the republicans turned in. Doctor Burleigh's first trip to his new official residence was undertaken in May soon after his appointment. He came out to see what sort of a prize he had drawn in the political lottery, remained a few days at the Yankton Agency and returned to Pennsylvania for his family and also to facilitate the shipment of the annuity goods due the Indians. Having secured his goods, he brought his family with him to St. Joe, Missouri, where he secured accommodations on the Steamboat J. G. Morrow, a very comfortable vessel built for the Hannibal and St. Joe Railroad for use at Atchison, Kansas, and owned at the time by United
DR. WALTER A. BURLEIGH United States agent to Yankton ludians, 1961-1>65. Delegate to Congress from 1865 to 1869
193
HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY
States Senator Pomeroy. Doctor Burleigh's family, at the time, consisted of Mrs. Burleigh and three children, Timothy, Walter and Andrew, who was a babe in arms. A nurse girl and a cook for the agency also made part of the family. The boat was loaded with $30,000 worth of Indian annuity goods, and a shipment to Major Gregory at Ponca Agency, Frost Todd & Co., Fort Randall, and a small assortment of supplies for the Government at the military post. The voyage up the river was accomplished without unpleasant incident until the boat had reached a point nearly opposite St. Helena, Nebraska, about eleven miles below Yankton. Here it was discovered that the boat was leaking badly and investigation showed that she was rapidly filling with water and in a sinking condition. The captain ordered her run ashore on the Nebraska side. She got very near the bank when she touched bottom in water six feet deep at the bow and about twelve feet at the stern. This was rather a trying position for the new Yankton agent. His annuity goods for the coming year were on the boat and much of the stuff would be injured by water. His little family must be pro- vided with shelter and food until he could arrange some method for transporting them to the agency, and to add to his troubles and perplexities the captain of the boat refused to have the goods put ashore claiming that they were now liable to marine law and must only be removed after certain legal proceedings had been gone through with. Burleigh saw that this would consume the entire fall and winter and would cause endless trouble with the Indians, and he resolved to remove the goods by force if necessary. He had fortunately found a vacant log cabin near the landing where the boat was lying, and this was fitted up as well as could be done under the circumstances and Mrs. Burleigh, the children, nurse and cook installed therein. The 'accident to the boat occurred Thursday, August 29th and after spending a day getting his family settled, Burleigh set off for Yankton, eleven miles, on Saturday the 31st on foot, and through the underbrush and tall grass. A large scow ferry propelled by oars was found at Yankton, Fifteen minutes after his arrival he had engaged Major Lyman with a squad of twelve men of the Home Guards to assist him in securing the goods. The party returned with a lumber wagon to the scene of the disaster and there set diligently at work removing the cargo to the shore, the captain yielding to "supe- rior force and inevitable necessity." Burleigh was not at all alarmed about in- fringing upon the maritime laws. He knew the proverb "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" and he knew also that his Indian charges would endure mitich suffering and possibly starvation and possibly be incited to the commission of grave offenses, if they failed to get these supplies. The fact that the goods had been destroyed on a sunken steamboat would not satisfy the cravings of their hungry stomachs and they would probably have believed the story was a falsehood and the new agent had stolen the entire cargo. No doubt that Mr. Burleigh acted wisely and for the best interest of all concerned. He succeeded in getting all the goods ashore, although a portion were badly damaged by water ; and felt greatly relieved to think that he could go to his post with the conscious- ness of duty well performed, the Indians would see that the "Great Father" was keeping his compact with them, and whatever damage had resulted would be made good thereafter. Burleigh openly charged that the boat's officers were grossly incompetent and the pilot intoxicated. He covered his supplies with tar- paulines and placed them under a strong guard, then engaged every team in town and county, and as rapidly as possible shipped them to the agency seventy-five miles up the river. A less energetic and resolute man would undoubtedly have had a most bitter experience from this misfortune, as any failure to furnish the annuity goods so soon after the treaty had been made would have given rise to grave suspicions among the Indians and might have led to serious disturb- ances. The boat was afterward raised and taken back to Atchison, and no action was ever commenced to punish the agent for his violation of maritime etiquette.
Mrs. Burleigh with her family remained in her log hut nearly a week, when Lieutenant Tannatt, at the time in command at Fort Randall, came down with Vol. I -13
194
HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY
an ambulance and took them to that post. During her stay at the cabin Mrs. Burleigh remembers that she was furnished with milk and some other supplies by a Mrs. Wiseman who lived near and whose children two years later fell victims to the murderous Indians. After leaving the hut Mrs. Burleigh's first stopping place was the Ash Hotel at Yankton where she put up for the night. The hotel was then occupying its pioneer log quarters, and no arrangement had been made for the accommodation of families or even the feminine sex. Mrs. Ash, how- ever, did the very best she could, and gave up her room to her new guest and the children and the nurse, all of whom were nicely stowed away somewhere within its precincts. The carpet of earth that covered the floor before the cabins were built was still doing floor duty, and Mrs. Burleigh had some reason to believe that she had really reached the land and homes of the pioneers. The next morning before she had arisen, a gentleman came stalking through the room to the small looking glass hanging on the wall, picked up a comb and arranged his hair and passed out into the breakfast room. She became acquainted with this gentleman a few months later and learned that his name was Brookings. She now pro- ceeded to get her little flock ready for breakfast and when they had seated them- selves at the dining table she discovered a little short man on crutches coming through her room into the dining room where he popped up into a chair with a suddenness that startled her. When she afterwards became acquainted with this gentleman she learned that his name was Stutsman. He proved to be a very social little fellow. The family went on to Fort Randall that day, stopping the next night at Choteau Creek where Tackett kept a hotel, and gave them comfort- able quarters ; they reached Fort Randall the next day and were given quarters in the residence of the commanding officer whose family was absent, and where they spent a fortnight very pleasantly, when they removed to their new home at the Yankton Agency, having had a very thorough introduction into pioneer life.
CHAPTER XX THE FIRST LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY 1 862
FIRST LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY CONVENES-ITS ORGANIZATION-LOCATION OF CAPI- TAL THE MAIN ISSUE-NAMES OF MEMBERS AND OFFICERS-GOVERNOR'S FIRST MESSAGE -- REMARKABLE FORETELLING OF DAKOTA'S CAREER.
The important event to which the attention of Dakotians had been directed for many months was the convening of the first Legislative Assembly under the Organic Act, members of which had been elected at the election called by the governor in September, 1861, and were authorized to convene as a Legislature at the Town of Yankton at noon on the 17th day of March, A. D., 1862. The people of the territory were now as Dakotians for the first time to have a voice in their government through their chosen representatives, who were to lay the foundation of a governmental structure that would endure for all time. The duty was a sacred one.
Franklin J. Dewitt of St. Paul and George W. Kingsbury of Junction City, Kansas, were the only occupants of the Marsh and Rustin ambulance that reached Yankton from Sioux City Monday evening. March 17, 1862. Major Dewitt's mission must have had something to do with legislation, the Legisla- ture having convened at noon on the day of his arrival in its first session. He took quarters at the Ash Hotel and remained there during the sixty days' session, giving an occasional banquet and keeping "open house" in his rooms. Mr. Dewitt had been in Yankton during the summer of 1861, and was then looking for a location for a stock ranch. He was one of the pioneers of Sioux Falls, and was doubtless interested in the location of the capital, which would be decided by this first Legislature.
Mr. Kingsbury came to assist in the mechanical department of Josiah Trask's printing establishment, Trask having been appointed public printer by the secretary of the territory, John Hutchinson, whom he had known in Kansas. Kingsbury expected to remain in Yankton about three months and then return to Kansas. He has not yet reached the day of departure after a lapse of more than fifty years. He came up from Lawrence, Kansas, by the way of St. Joseph, Missouri, and recalls that the stage road was miry for many miles north of St. Joe; and a brisk snowstorm with a change from wheels to runners during the night before reaching Council Bluffs; and afterward a week or two of mild, dry weather that beguiled the unsophisticated into discarding winter raiment for the more comfortable and lighter garb of spring. Then the blizzard came.
The members of the Legislature were a representative class, embracing the best informed and most influential men in each community, and representing also the various occupations of the people. The winter had not been severe. but there was an abundance of snow and a temperature at times severe enough to form ice twenty inches thick in the Missouri. A short season of mild weather prevailed during the close of February and early in March that carried off much of the accumulated snow, but this was later succeeded by heavy
195
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HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY
storms, blizzardly in their proportions, and these were especially severe during the settling of the Legislature.
The 17th of March, 1862, had been a very pleasant day. The ground was bare and the sky cloudless. At high noon on that eventful Monday the members- elect of the two houses assembled at Yankton, the councilmen resorting to their chamber in a new frame building on the southeast corner of Fourth Street and Broadway, and the representatives gathering at the log structure erected by the citizens of Yankton for the use of the Episcopal parish near the north- west corner of Fourth and Linn streets. The two houses were thus within convenient proximity. The organization of the two bodies, the council and House of Representatives, had been prearranged, and had been made with the question of location of the capital of the territory as the governing factor. The aspirants for this favor were Yankton and Vermillion, with Sioux Falls a "dark horse."
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