History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 54

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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But these centuries of unprofitable intercourse and sad experience had taught the Indian the futility of resisting his aggressive and powerful enemy. He had tried armed resistance over and over again, and never with success except it might be a temporary triumph over a feeble settlement for which he had to make redress by being outlawed and hunted as a mad wolf, driven to the verge of star- vation and not infrequently to actual starvation and complete destitution. Guided by this sad experience the Indians as tribes were peacefully inclined, and the councils of their chiefs and leading men were directed to the maintenance of amicable relations with the whites. So much so was this the case in Dakota that until a few years prior to the great Indian war beginning in 1862, this Government made no effort to erect or maintain a military post or keep a company of soldiers. in all this northwest region, although exploring parties and scientific expeditions were annually traversing the Indian country in many directions unmolested.

In addition the hereditary and racial animosity of the Indians toward the whites, which was ineradicable, there was another and a lesser cause that gave ground for and provoked serious difficulties and was the source of constant irri- tation, constant complaint and an incitement to many bloody revenges. This was the dishonesty of those whites who had dealings with the Indians under the per- mission and protection of the Great Father, and the occasional dishonesty also of those appointed to and intrusted with the discharge of the duties and responsi- bilities which the Government in good faith had undertaken in behalf of the Indian. As showing the grievous and flagrant character of this turpitude a brief paragraph is taken from the annual report of Hon. Samuel Latta, who was the United States agent for the Upper Missouri Indians in the early '6os, and who spent the spring and summer seasons looking after their condition and studying their disposition. His official trip took him to the headwaters of the Missouri ; he was provided with steamboat transportation and a cargo of supplies that he dis- tributed among the Indians as testimonial of the Great Father's watchful care.

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and paternal interest in the welfare of his Indian children. After his visit in 1862, the same summer that witnessed the Little Crow's outbreak, Latta in his report says :

The old American Fur Company is the most corrupt institution ever tolerated in our country. They have involved the Government in their speculative schemes; they have enslaved the Indians, kept them in ignorance, taken from them year after year, in robes and furs, their pitiful earnings, without giving them an equivalent; discouraged them in agriculture by telling them that should the whites find out what the country would produce they would come in and take their land from them. They break up and destroy every opposition to their trade that comes into the country and then make up their losses by extorting them from the Indians.

The Indians moreover claimed that they had been promised by the repre- sentatives of the Great Father that in consideration of their permitting the peaceful navigation of the Upper Missouri River, no travel by land should be undertaken through their country, because such travel frightened away their game ; they were also promised that the boats should not carry passengers. Whether these promises were embodied in any formal treaty is questionable, but the Indians believed that they had been so incorporated in their written agree- ments. The embargo on the steamboat passenger traffic could hardly have been a part of any treaty, though prominent Government officials were personally interested in directing all emigration to the West and Northwest, through the Platte region, and looked with disfavor upon the much better and more direct commercial avenue connecting the states and the Northwest by way of the Mis- souri River; evidence was not wanting that these interested parties had coun- seled the Indians to demand the practical closing of navigation of the Upper Missouri, as a part of the price of their loyalty to the Government and the main- tenance of peaceful relations.

As there was no sincere friendship as a basis of peace between the races, it was not a difficult matter to fan the smouldering embers of the natural animosity of the Indian into a blazing conflagration, when the Great Rebellion, taxing almost to the limit every resource of the nation, furnished the red men an inviting opportunity to retaliate and on the surface seemed to promise him a successful issue of an appeal to arms.

The United States was at this time convulsed with civil war, and hundreds of thousands of citizens had enlisted in the armies north and south. The Indians were well acquainted with the fraternal contest and they undoubtedly reasoned that the "Great Father" had so many enemies to look after among his own chil- dren that he could spare no soldiers to fight the Indians, and they could safely strike a blow, if they acted concertedly, that would expel the whites from the Northwest and restore to the Indians their old hunting grounds west of the Mississippi. This is not a theory. It is well known that this matter was dis- cussed along this line in a number of Indian councils at that time, and that it, with other arguments, succeeded in moving every tribe of Sioux, save the Yank- tons, into the hostile camp, and the Yanktons were once on the point of joining them.

About this time an organization was secretly effected by white men, in the northern states, to establish a northwestern confederacy in which that element of northern citizenship that opposed the war policy of the United States Government took a leading part. Evidence existed at that time that emissaries from an asso- ciation inimical to the Union were at work enticing the Indians to revolt. There was a camp of hostile Santees about forty miles above Fort Pierre during the winter of 1862-63 called White Lodge's Camp, where a number of white pris- oners, taken during Little Crow's outbreak, were held awaiting a ransom. The prisoners were women and young girls who had lived neighbor to their captors for years in Minnesota and understood and spoke the language fluently. A party of Santee warriors reached White Lodge's camp in November, 1862, who had just come down from the Red River of the North country, where they had been

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to get a supply of ammunition for the spring campaign, and they remained there at White Lodge's awaiting the opening of the spring and renewing of the war. They told White Lodge that a grand council was held on Red River with a white man who told the Indians that his people were at war with the United States and would defeat them, and his government had sent him up to assist the Indians in their war, and he was ready to furnish them with anything they needed to go on with their war, and would see that the Indians got back all the country the whites had taken from them west of the Mississippi. Ile told them that the Indians were all willing to join and he would be ready to start his raid as soon as the grass was as high as his hand. He intended to sweep down the Missouri River to Sioux City, driving the whites out from all the settlements, seize the forts, and from Sioux City strike north through lowa and Minnesota to the British line, burning everything and driving the people away. He said there would not be many sol- diers to oppose him because they were all down south fighting to free the negroes. who would probably be given a large tract of Indian land in the Northwest if they succeeded in getting free. He said the only Indians who had not joined him were the Yanktons, who were afraid to join on account of being so close to the forts and settlements, but many of them would join anyway and he had sent word to old Strike-the-Rec that if he didn't join he would be cleaned out with the whites.

There is no doubt that this story is authentic. The subject was frequently talked over within the hearing of the prisoners, with apparently no thought of concealing it from them then, as there was no way in which they could make use of the information to the injury of the Indians.

Here seems to be a reasonable explanation of the abrupt change of the Indian heart from one of professed friendship to open and deadly hostility. They saw an opportunity for recovering their lands and returning to their people their old hunting grounds. Little Crow's intention was to invade the Minnesota settle- ments and make a war of extermination. Not much is heard of Little Crow him- self after the spring season was slightly advanced. It is known that in a spirit of bravado he had led a small force back to the scene of his exploits the fall before, and was finally shot down and killed near the Village of Hutchinson, on the 3d of July, 1863. His loss was a serious one to the Indians ; and as he did not return to his people the leadership fell upon "Big Head." a Yanktonnais chief who had great renown as a warrior.

What is known as the Weisman massacre was the most shocking and atrocious tragedy that marked the troublous period from 1862 to 1866. On the 25th day of July, 1863. a courier reached Yankton bringing the alarming tidings of the massacre by Indians of the Weisman children, the little helpless family of a German farmer, who had taken a claim in a body of timber bordering the Mis- souri, on the Nebraska side, about three miles this side of the old Town of St. James. The children consisted of a daughter fifteen years old and four sons, all younger, the youngest a little lad of six years. Both parents were absent from home when the massacre occurred, the father being a member of the Second Nebraska Regiment, then in the upper country with Sully's Indian expedition, and the mother had come over to Yankton on Wednesday the 23d to make some necessary purchases. Returning, she had stopped one night with a friend on the other side of the river. The next day she started out for home and on arriving within sight of it was surprised and greatly alarmed by the appearance of Indians in the house. She was so overcome with fear that she durst not venture to the house, but fled with all haste to St. James, where she aroused the settlers, but it then being dark she could get no assistance that night, and was compelled to wait until next morning, when she secured six vohinteers, who went with her to her home, where they found the eldest daughter lying on the floor, helpless but not unconscious. She was so far gone that she could not speak, and could barely move. Her appearance when discovered plainly indicated that she had been the victim of a most fiendish outrage. The three older boys were lying upon the Vol. 1 -20

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floor, all dead, slain apparently by heavy blows on the head and body. The youngest lad was still alive and able to mutter "Indians ! Indians!" The Indians rifled the house and took a horse belonging to the family, and then struck out for the Dakota side, crossing the Missouri below the mouth of the James. Com- pany B, Dakota Cavalry, was stationed at Yankton at the time, and a detachment was immediately dispatched to get further particulars and also information as to the direction the Indians had taken in their flight. The little boy who was living when the outrage was discovered died within a few hours, and the girl lingered later, but died before regaining consciousness. It was ascertained by the soldiers from Yankton that not less than four Indians were engaged in the dastardly crime, and that they had fled into Dakota and probably struck off up the Vermil- lion River. Captain Tripp with a detachment of forty men and twelve days' rations set off in pursuit without delay-marching up James River about fifty miles and finding no trail, struck across to the Vermillion, where they came upon the trail of a party numbering four or five Indians, one of whom wore shoes, and one horse. At this point he sent one-fourth of his men back to camp and continued his pursuit up the Vermillion and across to the Big Sioux, searching the country closely but without result. Having consumed all the rations, their detachment returned. Tripp believed that with proper equipment he could have found the Indians, but stated that Indians when so pursued will travel farther in one day than troops will in three, and he could not expect to overtake them ; but with ample subsistence he would finally have come up with them at their ren- dezvous. These Indians were supposed to be one of Little Crow's marauding bands that had been sent down to harass the settlements and thus detain the troops that were marching up the river under General Sully to co-operate with General Sibley.

Sergeant Eugene F. Trask, of Company B, Forty-first Iowa, then stationed at Fort Randall, was murdered by hostile Indians while a passenger on the stage, September 3, 1863. The tragedy occurred at the crossing of Choteau Creek during the forenoon, while the stage driver was watering the horses. The Indians fired into the stage from an ambush, killing the sergeant instantly. The driver jumped from the box and fled, the Indians declining to pursue except with a volley of arrows that served to accelerate the driver's flight. A little halfbreed son of Thophile Brughier, of Cole County, was a passenger on the stage going home, but he was not molested. The Indians took the horses, rifled the stage of every- thing except the mail sacks, took a portion of the dead sergeant's clothing and all his personal effects, and decamped in the direction of James River. There were four Indians in the party. Intelligence of this murder reached Yankton the same evening, and on the morning of the 4th Captain Tripp, of Company B, who was then stationed at Yankton, started in pursuit with twelve days' rations. He struck the hostile trail about ninety miles above Yankton in the James River Valley, and found Trask's military hat and some valuable legal papers on the prairie. He went ahead to the Dirt Lodges, miles above, where he expected to find the Indians, but was disappointed. The lodges were deserted but bore evidence of recent occupation. A large field of corn had been planted but had suffered by neglect. Tripp gave up the pursuit at the Dirt Lodges and returned, having exhausted his rations and also violated his orders in going so far away from the settlements. The perpetrators of this dastardly deed were never dis- covered.

"Dirt Lodges" were notorious in pioneer days as the refuge of hostile Indians, who would flee to them after committing a depredation. They were situated on a plateau on the east side of the James River, about one mile by land and three by river north of the outlet of Turtle River. These lodges overlooked a very large arca of country, their site being at least one hundred feet above the river. They were built by White Lodge and his band many years prior to the opening of Dakota to settlement, and they were the abiding place of Santee Indians during winter. The Indians had the river near the Lodges dammed by a fish trap in 1863.

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The location of Dirt Lodges was on one of the most eligible spots for a townsite in the Northwest, not excepting Yankton, which in that respect has become known as a model. There were fifteen of these lodges. They were located in a large circle, 165 feet in diameter, with playgrounds attached, and a medicine pole and lookout station in the center. The lookout station is said to have afforded a view of great magnificence and remarkable distances. An enemy approaching the village could be observed through field glasses when within twenty-five miles of the place. The lodges were constructed by placing sticks of wood five feet long upright in the ground, binding their tops together with long poles, then placing other poles on this structure and leaning their tops to the center, forming the roof. The entire structure was then covered with sod from the base to the sum- mit, leaving a small smoke-hole at the apex of the roof. The lodges were not all of the same dimensions : some would accommodate seventy-five Indians, others about twenty-five. Forty acres of land had been broken up nearby in Indian fashion, and the squaws cultivated at least one-half of it to corn; they also raised beans, peas and turnips, potatoes, and possibly other vegetables. There was an abundance of timber within two miles of the lodges, while the prairie surround- ing, viewed in spring, presented a landscape of surpassing beauty. These lodges were distant from Yankton by land about one hundred and seventy miles and were located in the northern range of Spink County townships, near Doxbury, on the Milwaukee road.

YANKTON INDIANS CAPTURE HOSTILES

During the early summer of 1864, Doctor Burleigh, the agent of the Yankton Indians, procured United States military uniforms for about forty of his Yankton warriors and sent them out into the James and Vermillion valleys on a scouting expedition. It will be remembered that the Yanktons had now become abso- lutely friendly to the whites and were. deadly enemies of the hostile Indians who were lurking on the borders of the white settlements of the territory, watching an opportunity to commit depredations. The restilt of the scout was reported 10 the governor of Dakota in the following letter:

Yankton Agency, August 3, 1864.

Ilon. N. Edmunds,

Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Yankton, D. T.

Dear Sir :- A few days since a small party of Indians under the charge of the interpreter, A. C. Gregory, returning from the Red Pipe Stone Quarry, when near the Vermillion River, came upon the trail of a war party traveling down the river toward the Missouri. They followed the trail and soon came upon a band of hostile Santee Indians, who fled but were pursued and captured and taken to the camp of the Yanktons.

On being closely questioned they confessed that they were a war party of fifteen and had left Devil's Lake twenty days before, where were 800 lodges of hostiles. Their destination was the white settlements, where they designed to rob and murder the whites. The Yanktons told them that they were friendly to the whites and the Great Father, and since they were going to kill the whites they, the Yanktons, would kill them.

One of the captured Indians, about thirty-five years old, stated that he belonged to White Lodge's Band, that he killed ten white persons in the Minnesota massacre and was one of the party of three that murdered three children not far from the mouth of the James River in Nebraska last year. ( This was undoubtedly the Weisman massacre. )

Having made their confessions they were executed by the Yanktons. and "receipts" taken for the delivery of each one at his final destination, which "receipts" were duly forwarded to my office, where they now are.

Another one of the Yanktons who had separated from the main party came upon two others of this hostile party who met him with their guns cocked and told him they were going down to kill whites and steal horses. One of them said he was the leader of the party that killed five children near the James River in Nebraska last year. He also said he shot a soldier at Fort Randall last year. ( This may have been the Trask murder at Choteau Creek. ) The Yankton being alone with a single barrel shot gun, concluded that "discretion was the better part of valor." and returned to camp, where a small party was detached to follow the trail of the hostiles but did not overtake them. The hostiles were well supplied with lariats and whips, showing that they were after horses.

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I make this statement, governor, not to cause alarm, but to put our settlers on their guard and that you may take stich steps as you deem necessary to preserve the lives and property of our settlers, who should be very cautious not to unduly expose themselves or their property.

W. A. BURLEIGH. United States Yankton Agent.

THE HEART RIVER MASSACRE

A party of gold miners from Montana reached Yankton on the Ist of No- vember, 1863. They arrived in three small skiffs, or canoes. Mr. Delay was the name of one of the party, and none of the other names were preserved. Mr. Delay was the spokesman and a very intelligent gentleman. From him it was learned that, his party, numbering seventeen, left Fort Benton, Montana, in a good mackinaw boat in July preceding. They were amply provisioned and well armed, and expected to overtake a returning steamboat and get passage to the states. They knew that the hostile Indians infested the river and did not hesi- tate to attack any kind of a boat carrying white people. Near Fort Union a large band of hostiles rushed into the river and surrounded the boat at a point where a temporary halt was made near a bar, but after a short parley and observing that the miners were well prepared for a fight, they accepted a few pounds of provisions and withdrew. Numerous bodies of Indians were after- wards seen, and shots were exchanged quite frequently, but the miners reached Fort Berthold without mishap. Here they remained for some time, and at length, being informed that they ran a great risk in returning further with their light boat, eleven of the number resolved to remain at Berthold all winter if necessary rather than jeopardize their lives in the mackinaw. Six of the party, however, determined to come through, and obtained three small boats capable of carrying two cach, with provisions, and set out in the dusk of evening about the 15th of September. They traveled only at night, and met with much delay from shallow water and suffered with the cold and their narrow quarters, but they escaped the vigil of the redskins. They brought the particulars of the killing of the party at the mouth of Heart River in July last, which they ob- tained from Mr. Frederic Gerrarde at Fort Berthold. This party left Ben- ton early in July and had an excellent equipment. There were seventeen white men in the party, armed to the teeth, all of them good miners, one woman and two children, and two half-breed Sioux. Knowing the danger from hostile Indians, the boat had been provided with a two-inch plank fortification, built above the deck as a precaution. The craft was also provided with a small cannon, which proved a serious misfortune.

At the mouth of Heart River a party of Sioux came along the bank and beckoned them to come inshore. They responded by firing the cannon three times, the Indians returning the fire vigorously. The continuous fire of the cannon caused the boat to spring a leak, and but for that unfortunate circtim- stance they might have escaped. The Indians were driven back from the shore, but renewed the attack, and during the second fight the boat leaked so badly that it sank in shallow water. The battle was begun in earnest between the miners and nearly two hundred Indians, many of them armed with guns. A portion of the whites made their way to the shore and succeeded in driving the redskins back to shelter, but it was apparent that without reinforcement the white men were doomed to extermination. It was in vain that the half breed Sioux plead with the savages and offered them a variety of valuable presents. Ten of the miners fell, killed outright or badly wounded. Finally their ammunition gave out, when the savages rushed upon the remainder with a terrific yell. The whites clubbed their guns and beat off their assailants, until overpowered by numbers, when all were slain. Frenzied with excitement over their victory, the savages then slew the half breeds, the women and children. The Indians then rifled the boat and the bodies of the slain. Mr. Delay stated that the miners had over one hun-

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dred thousand dollars in gold, and that two of the men had a false bottom con- structed in the vessel wherein was stored a very large quantity of gold dust and nuggets. Delay did not believe the savages discovered this, but that it was still in the boat which had been partly buried in the sand.

General Sully was fully informed of this sanguinary battle and the treasure said to be hidden in the false bottom of the boat, and on his return from the battle of White Stone Hills he sent two companies of lowa troops, under Cap- tain Crane and Shattuck to investigate the affair. This detachment was informed that the distance from the Sully camp to Heart River was twenty miles, and their orders were to return by daylight the next morning. They marched forty miles without reaching the place designated, and camped late at night ; and after a brief rest were obliged under orders to return to camp, obtaining no informa- tion. The Indians afterwards acknowledged that the miners fought desperately, admitting their own loss to have been thirty-six killed and thirty-five wounded. The Indians said they got from eighteen thousand to twenty thousand dollars in gold and some greenbacks, which they used in purchasing ammunition from Red River traders. An account of the tragedy was given to the whites at Fort Berthold in February, 1864, by Indians and half-breeds who had received it from the sur- vivors of the attacking party, confirming the statement as given.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 54

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