History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 44

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1198

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And what about the Reeds? They had reached home safely. and explained that they had discovered the trail of their straying herd the evening before and camped out during the night in order to follow it up early in the morning, which

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they did and soon recovered their animals. Some one asked Neuman if he wasn't frightened when he saw so many Indians bearing down upon him, and he replied that he knew they were white people-he could distinguish them from Indians as far as he could see them. Neuman recovered his horse, and the incident fur- nished a great deal of cheerful gossip and wholesome fun, and aided in dispersing the apprehensions of many who believed that the hostile Indians were hovering near the settlement. It strengthened the faltering and furnished a strong point for the "never surrender" faction.

While the immediate excitement and alarm had measurably subsided, there was a prevailing sentiment of insecurity and danger that foreboded ill for Dakota. The settlers who had gone back to their claims were not in a contended or hopeful frame of mind. They looked for further trouble, and were easily convinced that the savages were still lurking near their homes. Reports that small bands of Indians had been seen at different points reached Yankton very soon after the settlers had ventured back to their claims, and urgent appeals were made to the governor for troops at various points. Company A, Dakota Cavalry, was the only body of government troops in the territory outside of Fort Randall, and this company was engaged in patrolling the frontier reaching from the Big Sioux River to Choteau Creek, a distance of a hundred miles. The emergency demanded a large force, and detachments scattered through the settlements in permanent camps, where they could inspire the exposed settlers with a feeling of security, otherwise it was feared that the entire farming population would abandon the territory. The alarming reports and the feeling of insecurity were regarded by many who were more securely located in the towns, as the echoes of the pre- vious troubles ; but there could be no doubt that whether the sentiment of insecur- ity was from real or imaginary causes, the situation was one that threatened the stability of the farming communities, whose loss at such a time meant years of waiting before their places would be filled.

Urgent efforts were made by the governor to secure troops from outside but he was not successful, owing to the demands of the Civil war; and appreciating the pressing necessity and the train of misfortunes that would follow if the fears of the settlers were not quieted, he resolved to call into actual service several com- panics of territorial troops, and trust to the general government subsequently sanc- tioning his act and paying the bills. This had been done in Nebraska and the militiamen were employed in constructing forts and block houses at exposed points in the settlements and were encouraged by an officer of General Pope's staff who was personally in the field directing operations. The headquarters of this depart- ment, under General Pope, were at St. Paul and communication, which was alto- gether by mail, and a large part of the way by stage, was tediously and sometimes dangerously slow and difficult. Dakota was the home of all the hostiles at this time, and to protect her borders was, in effect, to protect the entire western fron- tier. But the other border states and territories excelled Dakota in political in- fluence. and obtained the lion's share of attention from the military authorities, though barely within the field of actual danger. The order of the governor call- ing for these volunteers is here given :

SPECIAL ORDER

Headquarters Dakota Militia. Yankton, Dakota Territory, October 7. 1862.

Whereas, Indian depredations have recently been committed within the limits of our territory, and a feeling of anxiety and insecurity prevails among the inhabitants, which is rapidly depopulating the territory, and having applied by a special messenger to General Blunt, commanding the Department of Kansas, for troops from without our limits to protect our settlements, and owing to a change in this military department the application not having yet been complied with;

Therefore, believing that longer delay will endanger the lives and property of our inhabitants, it is hereby ordered that the militia shall forthwith enter upon active service. I have concluded to accept eight companies of volunteer militia-four companies of infantry and four of cavalry-to serve for nine months unless sooner discharged.

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This force will be tendered to Major General Pope for his acceptance into the United States service for the said term of nine months.

The officers and men of the cavalry companies will be required to furnish their own horses, equipments and clothing, until such time as the same can be furnished them. Rations will be furnished the men as soon as they are accepted by me.

The pay will be the same as allowed to similar companies in the United States service. Those militia companies in the territory now organized will be accepted as soon as tendered with a full complement of men-which requires by law thirty men as the minimumn number for cavalry, and forty for infantry.

In addition to those companies now organized, other companies will be accepted until the full number is obtained. Rendezvous will be designated to each company as soon as it shall be accepted.

It is hoped that in this time of danger to our frontier, and national embarrassment, that our citizens will promptly respond to this call, and defend their firesides from the outrages of the Indians, and restore to our inhabitants that quiet and security which but recently prevailed, and reestablish Dakota as a safe and inviting home to the emigrant.

WILLIAM JAYNE,

Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Militia of Dakota Territory.

The work of raising and perfecting the companies called for by the governor's proclamation was immediately entered upon. Commissions had been issued prior to this time, to T. Elwood Clark, as second lieutenant to recruit cavalry ; A. J. Bell, as captain of Company D, to recruit infantry ; M. H. Somer, as first licu- tenant, Company D; Wm. W. Tripp, as captain, to recruit cavalry, and all these parties had been at work with more or less success. Adams had raised twenty- seven men in the County of Cole; John R. Wood, of Elk Point, was later com- missioned as a lieutenant to recruit cavalry, and Capt. A. G. Fuller, then of Fort Randall, as captain to recruit cavalry. At the same time the first militia com- panies maintained their organizations. These were Company A, Yankton, Capt. F. M. Ziebach ; Co. B, Bon Homme, Capt. Samuel Gifford; Company C, Ver- million, Capt. A. W. Puett ; Company D, Elk Point, Capt. A. J. Bell; Company E, Brule Creek, Capt. Mahlon Gore; Company F, Yankton, Capt. A. G. Fuller. Fuller's company was intended for the volunteer service, and it was expected that it would be mustered in as Company C, Dakota Cavalry. The work of recruiting was very slow and discouraging, and in the meantime alarm had measurably sub- sided and the military authorities had provided additional protection to the set- tlements.

None of the militia companies under the proclamation of October 7 were ac- cepted by the governor : in fact the recruiting of so many companies was found impossible, and on the 13th of December the governor issued an order consolidat- ing Company C. Capt. A. G. Fuller recruited at Bon Homme ; a company recruited by Lieut. W. W. Adams, of Elk Point, twenty-seven men ; and a company recruited in Cole County by Capt. A. J. Bell, twenty men, into Company B. Dakota Cavalry for the regular volunteer service, and this company under Capt. William Tripp was mustered into the service of the United States at Siottx City in April, 1863. These detachments, however, had regularly performed military duty from about the ist of September, 1862, and their claims for service were recognized by the government and the troops received pay and subsistence for several months prior to being mustered in.

After the excitement and trouble had subsided, an attempt was made to deny the authenticity of the report made by the delegation of Yankton citizens who were sent up to Yankton Agency to ascertain the feeling of those Indians toward the settlers. It was now apparent that the Yanktons as a tribe had resisted the importunities of the hostiles, and had remained true to their treaty obligations, btit there is little doubt that this was largely due to the active work of Agent Bur- leigh, at Yankton Agency, and the Minnesota and Dakota troops in pursuing and scattering the hostile bands who had fled from Minnesota into Dakota. The Yanktons observing this were impressed with the hopelessness of Little Crow's cause and took early occasion to reinstate their reputation as "friendlies" and denied that they had ever been in the least infected with the hostile spirit, even claiming that the report made by the Yankton delegation placed them in a false

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light. But the character of the men who composed that delegation, and the entire lack of any motivé on their part to misrepresent, in fact all the circumstances of their visit, and the friendly counsel given them on leaving, to return on the south side of the river, all forbids even a suspicion that the report they made was other than a truthful statement of the situation revealed to them by the head-chief with the warning he sent to his friends and people of Yankton.

During the fall of 1862, Captain Fuller, assisted by Lieut. David Fisher of Company AA Militia, erected the walls of an excellent hewn log block house on the AAsh Hotel lots north of the hostelry, facing Broadway. It was a very substan- tial fortification, impregnable to any arms at that time in use by the redmen. It was designed for two stories and to accommodate 100 people. It was never com- pleted because Yankton became a military camp about that time, with Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska troops coming and going and the block house was deemed unnecessary.

CILARLES FRANCOIS PICOTTE

Charles F. Picotte, who has been so conspicuous and useful in the affairs of the territory up to this time, was a Yankton half breed Indian, six feet tall and straight as an arrow. His complexion was rather dark even for a half breed, but not more so than was usual where one of the parents was a native Frenchman, and this parent as a rule, the father. The father of Charles was Honore Picotte, a wealthy citizen of St. Louis, and one of the directors and active members of the American Fur Company. He is said to have been a native of Canada; but there was a good sprinkling of native French people in St. Louis, families who had quietly sought our shores during the French Revolution to escape the civil discords and violence that characterized the government of that unhappy country during the close of the eighteenth and opening of the nineteenth centuries. St. Louis at that time was the greatest commercial mart of the West, and belonged to France, and the French immigration for years made that city and New Orleans objective points, and many of the immigrants took up their permanent homes there feeling that they were forever exiled from their native land.

The mother of Charles Picotte was a full-blooded Yankton Sioux and one of the belles of the tribe. Her son Charles was born during the year of 1830, near the mouth of the Big Cheyenne River, while his mother was making a trip on one of the Fur Company's boats. Mrs. Picotte afterwards married Charles E. Galpin. She had other children, but her affection for Picotte's son was sincere and last- ing. The father also took a very lively interest in his half breed progeny, some- thing not common in that day for the sires of half-bloods to do, and when Charles had reached the age of eight years or thereabouts he was placed in the care of Rev. Father De Smet, who at that time was foremost among the Christian missionaries in this Dakota field, and this reverend priest took the boy with him to St. Joseph, Missouri, and enrolled him in an excellent private boarding school.

lle remained there at school about fourteen years all told ( occasionally taking a steamboat ride to visit his mother during the summer vacations). He acquired during this time a very good education, and a very fair knowledge of the rules of commercial business, as his father had in mind putting him in charge of one of the Fur Company's trading posts ; and he also learned to speak the English language well, though not fluently. At the age of twenty-four he returned to his mother's people and became identified with the welfare of the tribe.

His Indian nature and Indian affections had been very slightly, if at all, affected by his long absence and residence in the midst of a highly civilized and cultivated people. During all the school period his heart was in the rude tepee with his mother, which he claimed was the only real home he ever knew ; and he yearned for the freedom which characterize the Indian customs and mode of life, and to be relieved from the bondage of social restraint which grew more irksome as he grew older. Ile was fond of relating incidents of his childhood days,

CHARLES F. PICOTTE Half-breed Sionx. Pioneer of Dakota Territory

CHARLES K. HOWARD

Sutler at Fort Dakota during Indian War. Pioneer of Black Hills and famous live-stock grower.

BIRD'S- EYE VIEW OF THE BAD LANDS

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passed among his own people, when as a papoose his devoted mother packed him on her back. He had always a warm corner in his heart for his maternal ancestor, but seldom referred to his father, with whom he never had a familiar personal acquaintance. The father, however, it is said, did not grow unmindful of the welfare of the mother or his son, showing his paternal affection and interest by a cheerful readiness to provide sumptuously for their comfort. For a few years after leaving St. Joseph, Charles took employment from Maj. C. E. Galpin, who was engaged in the Indian trade at Fort Pierre, and who had now become the husband of Mr. Picotte's mother. He also attended to business affairs for other traders, all of whom testified to his integrity and diligence. In the meantime his acquaintance with his own people was growing more extensive and their interests were increasing in value and importance. Picotte's education gave him great ad- vantages in the eyes of the Indians, who attributed to him many good qualities he did not possess and also vastly overrated his influence with the whites; but Picotte, if he understood this, was not disposed to undeceive his kindred. On the contrary he did what he could to justify the confidence they had in him, and cir- cumstances at this time greatly favored the chief who possessed knowledge, over those whose principal recommendation was their valor and prowess on the war path and the number of scalps they had taken. As early as 1854 negotiations were set on foot to secure a treaty of cession with the Yanktons, and from that time until the treaty was finally made as heretofore noted. Picotte, Strike-the-Ree, and others were frequently besieged by small delegations of white men who came to secure their influence in favor of a treaty. Scores of shrewd business men in the Missouri Valley at Sioux City and below were then figuring on this project with the view of self enrichment. They were not working in unison, however, not even with any knowledge possibly that there were others after the same big prize. But their efforts to enlist Picotte and Old Strike in their schemes were unavailing. These two Indians, one educated according to the customs of the whites and the other gifted with great shrewdness and thought by large experi- ence, made a very strong working force and easily controlled the situation among their own people. Between these two there was a full and frank understanding and they worked together harmoniously, never having the slightest open disagree- ment. Old Strike was a chief selected by his own people and also recognized as the principal chief by the "Great Father" at Washington, and Picotte had also received a chief's medal from President Buchanan. But while they turned a deaf ear to all other treaty makers they were glad to entertain the proposition when it came from Captain Todd and were not long in perfecting an agreement with the Todd party that finally secured the assent of the Indians and was acceptable to the Government. It was not entirely satisfactory to all Yanktons. There were some bands that did not want to treat and still they treated, but they were never satisfied or placated. In addition to his influence and labors in making the treaty, Picotte was of great value as a peace maker and peace restorer. The first agent, Redfield, was not the right man in the right place on all occasions, and was fre- quently in trouble ; even his life was in jeopardy on more than one occasion and a plot to burn his house and massacre the inmates was discovered and frustrated by this white man's friend, Picotte. Ilis good offices to Redfield, however, were not prompted by personal regard for the two seldom agreed and Picotte had no confidence in and little respect for the agent.

The liberal grants made by the treaty had placed Picotte in an independent position so far as his material welfare was concerned, and under ordinary good management his landed estate would have made him the wealthiest man in Da- kota, to say nothing of the $30,000 paid to him in cash during the ten years suc- ceeding the making of the treaty. But Picotte was not disposed to conserve his opportunity, and instead of bestowing upon his estate the care of "ordinary good management" he seems to have given it no other consideration than to study how rapidly he could dispose of it. He became a good liver. His annuity of $3,000 paid him by the Government was, as a rule, expended before he received it, and

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he began very early to dispose of his landed property. Dr. W. A. Burleigh bought an undivided half of it in 1803, and Hon. W. P. Dale, commissioner of Indian affairs at that time, bought an eighty-acre tract.

Picotte entertained lavishly and generously, but his hospitalities were confined exclusively to his Indian kindred and Indian friends. He had cousins by the score and numerous aunts and uncles and nephews and nieces; also a family of his own. He had built a very comfortable home on the corner of the levee or Front Street and the street which bears his name, and here one could see on most any day of the year from three or four to a dozen Indian guests-men and women and papooses who were very royally entertained by Etakecha, as they called their great hearted host. This mode of dispensing his fortune might have set a good pace for Mr. Carnegie who is conscientiously opposed to dying rich, but who doubtless has never learned the method Mr. Picotte made use of, and which all too soon bore the inevitable result. There was a limit to Picotte's purse and he was not many years in finding the bottom of it. But in the mean- time he had made himself very popular with the members of his tribe and seemed to regard the separation that had taken place between his fortune and himself with great complacency. And now when the time came that he was obliged to retrench and close forever his hospitable doors, there was a fervent and hearty welcome for him at Greenwood on the Yankton reservation, and thither he re- paired in a cheerful frame of mind to spend the remainder of his days with his own people. He became a government interpreter, and partially discarded the raiment of the whites to which he had so long been accustomed, and put on the traditional blanket as more befitting his racial character and his station. Here he remained to the close of his life, the principal chief of his people, possessing their complete confidence. He died at his home in Greenwood. His wife and two sons, Henry and Peter, survived him and are still living near their old agency home.

SANTEE CAPTIVES RESCUED

December 31, 1862, an ambulance reached Yankton from Fort Randall, bring- ing two women and six children, ,who had been taken prisoners by the hostile Santees during the Little Crow massacre in Minnesota a few months previous, and had been in captivity between four and five months. They were cared for at the New England house, the name given to the White Union Hotel. They were on their way back to Minnesota and Iowa where they had relatives and friends, but they were not going home, for they had none-their homes had been destroyed during the early days of the Little Crow outbreak and they were taken prisoners by a band of Santee Indians August 22, 1862, at Lake Shetek, Minnesota. The Indians, after securing their captives, set out across the prairies for the Missouri River, and for several days traveled as fast as the women could be compelled to walk. The youngest girls were carried at times to facilitate the march, but the oldest of the children and the two women walked the entire distance to the Mis- souri. There were five half-breeds captured with the whites but they managed to escape. The names of these released prisoners were Mrs. Julia Wright, wife of John .A. Wright, and her daughter, aged five years ; Mrs. Laura Duley and her daughter, aged nine years; a little niece of J. M. Duley, aged five years; also Rosanna and Ella, daughters of Thomas Ireland, aged nine and seven years, and Lilla, daughter of William Everett. The husband of Mrs. Duley was killed dur- ing the massacre. He was one of the pioneers of Sioux Falls who had returned to Minnesota. The captives, as they were called, received a cordial welcome at Yankton, and the ladies of the city very soon made them as comfortable as it was possible to do, and provided them with ample and suitable apparel which they sadly needed. They had remained about two weeks at Fort Randall on their way down, where they were tenderly cared for, and the rest they enjoyed had done much to improve the health and appearance of the women ; but all of them, in-

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cluding the children, plainly exhibited the baneful effects of the life they had been compelled to lead during their captivity. It had been a period of continual privation and exposure for all of them. It is not necessary to chronicle here the statements made by the women regarding the treatment they were subjected to. It differed in no essential feature from the customary treatment white women receive when made captive by hostile Indians. It is sufficient to say that it was a marvel how they endured it all and came out of it alive. Both these women were quite intelligent and ladylike, and keenly felt the indignities and outrages they had suffered. The party remained here a week, and in addition to some indi- vidual donations, a collection amounting to $40 was taken up for them at the Sunday evening service of the Episcopal Church. Mr. Wright joined his wife here, and on Wednesday, the 7th of January, the entire party took their departure by stage, the Wrights going back to Minnesota, and Mrs. Duley and her chil- dren going to Cedar Falls, Iowa. The other children were taken to Minnesota, but it was not known whether their parents were living. In case they were slain, the children were to be given into the care of near relatives.

The discovery of these captives and the manner of their release will now be of much interest to the reader.

It will be recalled that as rapidly as possible, after the Little Crow outbreak, a body of mounted Minnesota troops was sent out against the hostiles, the main body of whom retreated into the northern portion of Dakota Territory, in the direction of Devil's Lake. The party having these women and children as pris- oners did not take that direction, but followed generally a westerly course, and struck the Missouri River about one hundred miles above Fort Pierre, near Stand- ing Rock, early in October, and went into camp on the west side. The chief of the band was known by the name of White Lodge. Here they were located when Maj. Charles E. Galpin, with his wife, a Yankton Indian woman and mother of Charles F. Picotte, came down the river about the middle of November. Gal- pin, with eleven white men and Mrs. Galpin, had left Fort Benton, in a Mackinaw boat, about two weeks before and were coming through to Yankton. On the trip Mrs. Galpin was delivered of a child that had afterwards died on the boat, and the major designed to take the little body to Fort Pierre and bury it, that place having been a former home. The Santees at White Lodge's Camp induced the Galpin party to land, much against the major's wishes, as he knew their hostile character and had little faith that his wife and himself would be able to protect the others who were white passengers. But there seemed no alternative. The first intention of the Santees was to massacre the whole party, but a young Indian who had known Mrs. Galpin interposed and succeeded in having the massacre postponed until he could have an interview with Mrs. G. In this interview Galpin learned about the female prisoners, and also that a much larger band of Santees numbering 450 lodges were in camp a few miles below, and that there were three Yanktonnais Indians with them. A further parley and an armistice was arranged until the Yanktonnais Indians could be sent for. While the courier was absent to bring up the Yanktonnais, Galpin improved the time by enticing a number of Indians aboard the boat and managed to have them sit in such posi- tions as would screen the occupants of the boat should the Indians on shore shoot. In about an hour the Yanktonmais came up and proved to be friendly to the white passengers, urging the Santees to let them go. For a long time their interces- sions fell on deaf ears. The Santees wanted white man's blood, and here was an opportunity to get their fill of it without much risk to themselves. It seems that the object of the visit of these Yanktonnais to the Santee Camp had been to make an offensive alliance against the whites the Yanktonnais, except Big Head's band, not having declared themselves at this time; and as a last resort the Yanktonnais informed the Santees that all negotiations were off unless the Galpin party was released. This brought them to terms-the whites were released. Having escaped this peril, the next danger was the big camp of Santees four miles below. The three Yanktonnais remained aboard the Mackinaw and when

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History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 44

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1198

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1198