History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 30

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 998

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In August, Major Clowney, with four com- panies of the Thirtieth Wisconsin, built Fort Wadsworth, afterwards known as Fort Sisseton.

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It was the intention of General Pope to have this post erected on the James river near the mouth of the Elm, but an examination deter- mined the fact that no suitable building material existed in that vicinity and General Sibley or- dered the post to be built at the head of the cou- teau as the nearest available point. The location was an ideal one and General Sibley declared in his report of the year's operations that "Fort Wadsworth is one of the most important mili- tary stations of the northwest and will exercise a powerful effect upon the wild bands of the Sioux, who for the past two years have oc- casioned so much mourning and alarm among the white border settlers, by their ruthless deeds of massacre and desolation." Before the fort was fully completed the Thirtieth Wisconsin was ordered south and were relieved at Fort Wadsworth by four companies of the Second Minnesota Cavalry, under Major Rose, who completed the post and continued to garrison it for a long period.

Politically 1864 produced an average Dakota crop. Dr. Walter A. Burleigh, who from the creation of the territory had been agent of the Yankton Indians and who had shown his politi- cal finesse in the Jayne-Todd campaign of 1862, had been mentioned as a candidate for the gov- ernorship to succeed Jayne, became the Republi- can candidate for this year for delegate to con- gress against Captain Todd, who this year, for the first time, appeared as the regular Demo- . cratic candidate. Out in the world the great Lin- coln-McClellan campaign was diverting popular interest from the greater war raging in the South, but in Dakota the people, unmoved by national politics and having no crops to harvest, devoted themselves to the election of a delegate to congress. In a way the campaign was a godsend to the destitute settlers. The candidates attempted to ingratiate themselves among the voters by distributing provisions among them. It is said this was done indiscriminately and with- out exacting pledges of support. There were but about six hundred votes in the territory, counting those of the soldiers in the field, and it is said that Dr. Burleigh distributed more

than one thousand sheep and half as many bar- rels of flour among them. The election occurred on October 12th and Burleigh received three hundred eighty-six and Todd two hundred twenty-two votes. The legislature likewise was strongly Republican.

Dr. Walter A. Burleigh, who then came to represent Dakota territory in congress for a period of four years, was one of the most strik- ing characters of the early days. Possibly no one of the prominent men of the 'sixties was so popular, so able, so big-hearted, so unscrupu- lous. As agent for the Yankton Indians, upon a small salary, he succeeded in amassing a for- tune in four years. His methods are clearly ex- hibited in a report made by a special examiner of the Indian bureau, in 1865, while the genial doctor was a member of congress, and which is published in the report of the commissioner for 1866. This special agent, Alexander Johnston, succeeded in getting at some of the facts in the absence of Dr. Burleigh, which it is most likely would not have come to light had the former agent been at home. Ever fertile in expedients, Dr. Burleigh was especially facile in diverting special examiners. It is related that information came to him at an earlier date in his career that an examiner was enroute to overhaul him. He at once dispatched a trusted henchman to inter- cept the examiner on the road. The parties met at Sioux City. In conversation it soon developed that the examiner needed an interpreter and he was delighted to find a man who thoroughly un- - derstood the Indian language, who was remote from the influence of the suspected agent, and who reluctantly consented to accompany him to the agency. Arrived among the Yanktons, Strike the Ree and his head men poured out a tale of wrongs and woes which the ingenious interpreter promptly converted into unbounded eulogies of the agent and the manner in which he conducted the affairs of the Indians, and the special returned to Washington with glowing accounts of the condition of things on the reser- vation. Alexander Johnston was not so credu- lous, and he was pretty thorough in his methods, though he experienced great difficulty in getting

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any one to testify. Jacob Rufner, of Bon Homme, expressed the general sentiment when he said to the agent : "I want to know what you want, because if it's any slur on Dr. Burleigh, I ain't a going to have anything to do with it. If I do he'll fix it so I'll never get anything in the world, and he will drive me out of the country."

Nevertheless the persistent special examiner kept at it until he wormed out about all he wanted to know. Dr. Burleigh's strongest graft consisted in securing from the head men of the tribe a receipt for all of the goods which came into his hands in the following form: "We, the chiefs and head men of the tribe of the Yankton Sioux, hereby acknowledge to have received from W. A. Burleigh, our agent, all of the goods and property hereinafter mentioned, and we authorize our said agent to retain in his posses- sion for our use and benefit, as he may deem best for our interests, and to actually deliver to us for our use and consumption such portions from time to time as he may judge proper for us." "Under these receipts," says Mr. Johnston, "all farming implements, all work cattle, all stock, all tools for the shops and mill, all medi- cines, all property of every description, from the horses he drove to the penknife in his pocket, were dropped from the agent's return as 'issued to the Indians'." Of the cattle so receipted for he had one hundred eleven head driven down to his farm at Bon Homme, remarking to his farmer, "We have a fine lot of cows here, and we can keep them until we can get a calf or two apiece from them."

But these were not the worst of the Doctor's delinquencies. He made false vouchers and stuffed all vouchers as a regular thing. A more deplorable and scandalous business has not at any time appeared in the public accounts. And although these things were a daily jest among his colleagues in the house, Dr. Burleigh's in- fluence with the Johnson administration was so strong that no prosecution was ever even threat- ened. Notwithstanding his lack of moral in- tegrity, Dr. Burleigh possessed many admirable qualities, and was a very effective delegate in

congress. He had a faculty of securing and holding the affections of his associates, and there are many good citizens in the southern portion of the state who will yet fight as quickly in de- fense of Dr. Burleigh as they would were an aspersion cast upon their own good name.

The legislature convened on December 5th and elected Enos Stutsman president of the council and George N. Proper secretary. In the house W. W. Brookings was speaker and George I. Foster chief clerk. Governor Ed- munds' message was very largely, as before, de- voted to a discussion of the Civil and Indian wars. He strongly urged that the time had come when Dakota must undertake to provide a revenue by taxation and recommended a revision of the laws. Governor Edmunds at that early date declared his conviction that the Black Hills abounded in the precious metals and asked the legislature to memorialize congress to build a road into the Hills. He again advocated the erection of a chain of small military posts along the frontier as the best protection against the hostile Indians. He announced the appointment of James S. Foster, leader of the New York colony, as territorial superintendent of public in- struction. Major Joseph R. Hanson was at this period territorial auditor. There were no inci- dents of the session of noteworthy importance and the legislation was perfunctory.

Rev. L. P. Judson, a Baptist missionary, ap- peared in the Dakota field that summer and established a Baptist church in Yankton.

The Dakota Republican, at Vermillion, was suspended during the Indian troubles of 1862, but was revived for some time immediately by Mahlon Gore, but was suspended again in 1863, so that at this time the Dakotan was the only newspaper in the territory until, in the heat of the Burleigh-Todd campaign, Messrs. G. W. Kingsbury and Moses K. Armstrong established the Dakota Union in June, to support Captain Todd. It appeared in ten successive issues, when it was absorbed by the Dakotan and the merger was called the Union and Dakotan.

A toll bridge was built across the James river

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this season, on the Sioux City road, which was an enterprise considered of great value to the de- velopment of the section.

Political and personal feelings were allowed to run high in those days and reflection of this state of affairs was frequently carried into the public records. In the closing days of the legis- lature of 1864 the house and council found them- selves at loggerheads. When the last day of the session came the usual committee was appointed on behalf of the council to visit the house and agree upon an hour for final adjournment. J. Shaw Gregory, George W. Kingsbury and Franklin Taylor having been appointed to per- form this arduous service, the council journal tells the story as follows :

After a brief absence the committee returned and reported as follows: "Mr. President: Your com- mittee appointed to wait upon the house of represent- atives and to inform that body that the council had concluded its labors and was ready to receive from the house notification of the hour when the legisla-' ture should adjourn sine die, have performed their duty so far as to wait on the house and announce

themselves officially. Mr. Speaker informed them that there was no house in session; and upon inquir- ing as to the cause, and at what hour the house would be in session they were informed that it was none of the council's business."

Mr. Kingsbury offered the following resolution, which was unanimously agreed to:

"Whereas, a committee of the council to com- municate a necessary and respectful message to the house of representatives, have in endeavoring to per- form that duty received from W. W. Brookings, speaker of that body, a flagrant and unprovoked in- sult which reflects no less upon that committee than upon the body they represented; be it therefore

"Resolved, that the council cannot but regard the ungentlemanly and unwarrantable conduct of Mr. Brookings not only insulting to themselves but highly reprehensible and beneath the dignity and respect of private life and much more so emanating as it does from the honorable position of speaker of the house of representatives; attaching odium and disgrace to that position and the house over which he presides."

It is a rather remarkable circumstance that at the present time no one of the living participants in the foregoing event can relate what provoked the conduct of Speaker Brookings.

CHAPTER XXXVII

HAPPENINGS OF THE YEAR 1865.

With the closing days of 1864 and the open- ing ones of 1865 occurred an event which is worthy of perpetuation. This was the building at Vermillion, by Captain Miner and his men, of the historic log school house which stood at the foot of the ravine, and in which Amos Shaw, one of the soldiers of Company A, gathered and taught the few children of the settlement. It will be recalled that a school was taught in Ver- million in the winter of 1859-60 by Dr. Caulkins and another, matching onto it, by Miss Hoyt (Mrs. Dr. Livingstone) the next spring, in fact that regular terms were held from the first set- tlement until the outbreak of 1862. At Bon Homme a regular building was erected for school purposes in the spring of 1860, the first school house in Dakota, and Miss Bradford taught a school of ten pupils in it. At Fort Randall a private school was taught in a build- ing erected for officers' quarters in the winter of 1858.

The coming of the New York colony had en- couraged the people to believe that the legislature would make provision for a regular bureau of immigration and when it adjourned without tak- ing any action in this direction there was a good deal of disappointment. The Sioux City Jour- nal of January 21, 1865, commenting upon this failure to take action, remarks: "As near as we can learn, no need exists and no inducements are held out to emigration to Dakota territory. Enough are already there to fill the offices and consume all of the government patronage. No

more people are needed until the hand of Providence is laid upon some of the officers."

The fact is the situation was not particularly encouraging. To attempt to promote immigra- tion meant the expenditure of money and, in view of the repeated failures of crops, it was almost impossible to raise money through tax- ation.

On the 9th of the previous December a band of Indians appeared at Fort Sully with a white captive, Mrs. Frances Kelly, of Kansas. She had been, with her husband and little girl, with a party of emigrants enroute to Idaho, when she was captured by the Indians, Blackfoot Sioux, on the Platte river. Her little girl was killed. Her husband escaped and came to Fort Sully to meet her on February 9th. She had received better treatment from the Indians than was gen- erally accorded captives. She has detailed her experiences in an interesting volume.

Before the legislature adjourned it memorial- ized the President, asking for the reappointment of Governor Edmunds and Secretary Hutchin- son. Also for the appointment of Messrs. J. W. Boyle and W. W. Brookings for judges of the supreme court and J. M. Stone for provost marshal. Both the peo- ple of the territory and the neighbors outside found a constant source of complaint and of amusement in the conduct of the federal officials. On February 18th the Sioux City Journal re- marked that, "Dakota Territory is now entirely free from all restrictions, all of the officials of the

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territory having gone to Washington to secure promotion or reappointment, and no one is left at home to run the machine. They have gobbled all of the pap and have gone to solicit more."

On March 4th two trappers by the names of Phillips and Conley found the remains of two white men on the Split Rock near the mouth of Pipestone creek. A hatchet was found near them with the name of James P. Lindsey carved on the handle. I have not learned that anything further was learned of the parties or how they came to their fate.

During the winter congress appropriated forty thousand dollars to construct road and bridges from Sioux City to the forks of the Cheyenne. Ten thousand was allowed for the bridge across the Big Sioux; ten thousand for the road from the Big Sioux to the mouth of the Cheyenne, and twenty thousand for the road from the mouth of the Cheyenne to its forks. Colonel Gideon C. Moody was made su- perintendent of the southern divison, that is the Sioux bridge and the road to the Cheyenne, and Judge Wilmot W. Brookings was entrusted with the supervision of the northern (Cheyenne river) section. Colonel Moody at once took hold of the bridge proposition and had it completed before winter. From the first he was attacked with all the malignance of which the Dakotan politician of the war days was master. He, at about that time, made a purchase of a flock of sheep and it was at once charged that he had bought them with bridge money. Enos Stuts- mman was a strong opponent of Mr. Moody's at this time and he carried the matter into the next legislature and persistently pursued the subject throughout the session. He introduced a resolu- tion, early in the session, requiring Mr. Moody to make a statement of the disbursements of the bridge money, and it passed both houses, and upon its presentation to Mr. Moody he replied in a communication of December 27th that he would take pleasure in doing so at his earliest convenience, but not having complied by January 5th Mr. Stutsman introduced another resolution strongly condemning Colonel Moody's conduct. On January 8th Colonel Moody sent to the coun-

cil a statement showing that he had received from the government the sum of $9,500. That he had expended $9,516.99, giving the general items of disbursement, of which the sum of $706.81 was his own compensation as superin- tendent. Much the larger portion of the appro- priation had been paid out for labor and the next item was for material, chiefly cottonwood and oak logs and lumber purchased of the settlers. In transmitting this statement Colonel Moody was unable to refrain from indulgence in that irony of which he has always been master. He said: "Having complied with your request, per- mit me to remark that I have been informed cer- tain members of the honorable council have taken exceptions because I did not furnish this state- ment earlier, and one of them has introduced into that body a resolution based upon that fact. Allow me to say that until instructed to the con- trary by the distinguished mover of that resolu- tion I had supposed it was not usual to request a favor and then dictate either the time or man- ner of its being granted. Since the receipt of that request I have had other duties to perform. more consistent with my position as an employee of the United States government under the direction of the secretary of the interior. If this information had been desired earlier an earlier request should have been made so that I could have furnished it without interfering with my duties at the close of the month when my re- ports are required to be made and at this time' additional duties were required of me by my in- structions. Permit me to say further that I think I have the right to complain that the hon- orable assembly should by the adoption of the resolution have given countenance to the false and slanderous reports, with regard to the dis- bursements here detailed, so industriously cir- culated by designing persons. I do not believe the majority of the house or council intended any wrong. Of course I do not question the motives of the distinguished mover of that reso- lution. It cannot be possible that he was actu- ated by any personal or selfish motives; by any mean desire for a petty revenge because of a fancied injury. Oh no! His motives must have

Photo by Ruot, Huron,

WHITE BEAR, Born on the James River, on the present site of Huron, S. D.

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been of the highest and most patriotic ; he must have had the most ardent desire for the public good."

Upon receiving this communication the com- mittee on federal relations, to whom had been referred the Stutsman resolution condemning Moody's conduct, at once reported the same favorably, accompanying the report with an ex- tended review of the case, concluding as follows : "Had Mr. Stutsman declined to move in the matter, some other gentleman would certainly have introduced a resolution upon the subject with far less regard to the feelings of Mr. Moody. We therefore desire that said Moody and all others concerned to know that we cor- dially supported the resolutions referred to and do endorse every word therein contained. Be- lieving as we do that if any fault can be justly found thereto it should be that it is far more mild than the facts in the case seem to warrant. And we will further state that it is our can- did opinion the insinuation by said Moody that the mover of the resolution was prompted by any improper motives is malicious and unwarranted, for we have yet to learn that G. C. Moody has attained such social, political or official eminence that would be likely to produce envy in the breast of any rational being."

The resolution passed both houses, but after its passage through the house and while in the hands of George I. Foster, chief clerk, it dis- appeared and was not again found. Council and house then agreed to certify a copy, but Foster refused to sign the copy and it was in this con- dition deposited with the secretary of state.

This matter has constantly been before the people of Dakota for nearly forty years and has only recently been a factor in a political cam- paign. This writer has been over the whole sub- ject with painstaking care and, stripped of all prejudices, it seems that if Colonel Moody erred in the disbursement of this large bridge and road fund it was in the interests of the half- starving, drouth and grasshopper-stricken pio- neers of Dakota. That he paid liberal wages to the needy farmers, and bought their timber at good round prices, hundreds of his beneficiaries

along the Missouri are still ready to testify. From the standpoint of strict economy the money may have been improvidently used, but no evidence has been found that any of it was used corruptly, dishonestly or for the pecuniary profit of Colonel Moody.

In keeping the foregoing coherent we have progressed somewhat in advance of the regular and chronological order of events. The yield of. grain in the harvest of 1865 was excellent, but the discouragements of the two previous years had prevented the farmers from putting out large fields.

On the 9th of May, 1865, Company A, Dakota cavalry, having served out its time, was mustered out of the service at Vermillion. Com- pany B, under Captain Tripp, accompanied Gen- eral Sully on a third expedition against the In- dians. It was the intention to take this expedi- tion west of the river in the direction of the Black Hills and the ever restless and enterpris- ing Byron M. Smith set about to raise a party of gold hunters to accompany it into the hills. He got out a great deal of interesting advertis- ing matter relating to the proposed trip, but be- fore he had gathered a very large party, the plans of the military were changed and the scheme was dropped. The circumstance, how- ever, indicates how confidently the early settlers believed that gold was abundant in the hills if that locality was only made accessible. General Sully, instead of going west of the river, turned to the northwest from Fort Sully and passed over to Devil's lake, scouting the whole coun- try thoroughly without finding any hostiles and returned to Sioux City in the autumn.

Twenty-five men of Company B were de- tailed that spring to escort Colonel Sawyer, superintendent of the "Montana road," from Sioux City to Helena, by way of the Niobrara and a course through the present Wyoming and Montana west of the Black Hills. They met with constant opposition from the Indians when the Montana country was reached and were on two occasions surrounded and held in siege for a considerable period until the Indians voluntar- ily withdrew. When the country of the friendly

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Crows was reached Colonel Sawyer dismissed his escort and the Dakota boys, under Lieutenant John R. Wood, marched back to Sioux City, where they joined the main body of the com- pany in time to be mustered out that fall.

On May 1, 1865, in response to a memorial from the Dakota legislature, the war department established a post at Sioux Falls, called Fort Dakota, and suitable log buildings for its ac- commodations were erected. Company E, Sixth Iowa Cavalry, garrisoned it until June, when they were relieved by Company D, Twenty- second Infantry. A small post was at the same time established at Rockport on the James river and a detachment of soldiers stationed there. With the protection of these posts, in addition to Forts Sully and Randall, the settlers felt com- paratively safe in the southern portion of the ter- ritory.

In July, 1865, a most sanguinary engagement between Indian scouts, under the well known Sisseton, Solomon Two Stars, and a party of hostiles occurred near the present site of Webster in Day county. A party of Santees under the famous freebooter half-breed, Jack Campbell, had evaded the scouts and, passing down to Mankato the previous spring, murdered the Jewett family. Campbell was apprehended but his Indians escaped and were making their way back to the Missouri when they were detected by Two Stars' scouts, who were keeping a station near the present site of Bristol. They pursued and overtook the hostiles and interpreting their instructions to permit no guilty man to escape to mean that every hostile must die, they promptly opened fire upon them. Two Stars had but twelve men and there were sixteen of the hostiles and the arms of the two parties ap- pear to have been about the same, but success was with the scouts from the first shot. They killed fifteen of the hostiles and the sixteenth man who escaped was taken prisoner at Fort Wadsworth. Two Stars lost no men. Among the hostiles slain was a son of Two Stars' sister, who begged for mercy, but the old scout, believ- ing his orders required him to put all of the enemies of the government to death, was re-

lentless. Notwithstanding the protection af- forded by the military, in August Edward La- Moure, a brother of the renowned Judson La- Moure, of North Dakota, was killed by Indians near the mouth of Brule creek in Union county. Mr. LaMoure was haying in company with Thomas . Watson and Julius Fletcher and his wife. The object of the Indians seemed to be the theft of LaMoure's team of horses, with which he was mowing, and which they secured. Thomas Watson received an arrow wound in the back, but recovered. A party soon started in pursuit of the Indians, but were unable to find them nor has it been learned whence they came nor to what band they belonged. The killing of LaMoure was the last Indian trouble in the Sioux valley. This was another and the final raid of Inkpaduta's upon the border settlements. While Sully was hunting for him on the Canadian border he ran down to let the settlers know he was still in commission.

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History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 30

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn Publication date: 1904 Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen Number of Pages: 998

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 998