USA > South Dakota > History of South Dakota, Vol. I > Part 31
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The election of 1865, which occurred on the first Monday in October, involved only the choice of a legislature and party lines were not drawn. This body convened on December 4th and or- ganized with George Stickney, of Elk Point, president, and J. R. Hanson, chief clerk of the council; and G. B. Bigelow, the same who usurped the honors intended for Governor Jayne, at Vermillion, as speaker, and George I. Foster, chief clerk of the house. Except for the Moody Bix Sioux bridge incident before recorded, the session was a quiet one. Governor Edmunds' message to the legislature was the strongest state paper which had yet appeared in Dakota. It opened with a masterful appreciation of Presi- dent Lincoln and his work and commended his successor, Andrew Johnson. It, in modest and impersonal terms, referred to the securing of the appropriation for and appointment of a commis- sion to go to the hostile Indians and treat directly with then, and scathingly rebuked the military authorities for having arbitrarily prevented the commission from entering the Indian country to carry out the object for which it was appointed. One would not gather from the message that this wise measure was the immediate fruit of Gov-
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ernor Edmunds' own efforts. That the previous spring he had visited Washington and represent- ing to the President and congress his belief that a discreet commission could at once secure peace from the Indians, and had so impressed himself upon the authorities that congress promptly gave the small sum asked for, twenty thousand dollars, to carry on the work. He urged the ap- pointment of a commissioner of immigration to co-operate with the national commissioner, dis- cussed public revenues, education, and wagon and prospective railroads, and, most important of all, condemned the passage of private laws, recommending that general procedures be pro- vided and that all persons seeking relief be re- quired to proceed in a statutory manner to se- cure it. In furtherance of this view he vetoed a bill granting a divorce to Rachel J. Rowley from her husband, Charles S. Rowley, although the learned committee to whom the bill was referred had reported : "The committee are of the opin- ion that if Charles S. Rowley is not already, he ought long since to have been an inmate of a state's prison." Governor Edmunds did not dis- cuss the merits of the case, but after remark- ing that "contracts of this character, by en- lightened communities, are justly considered of a most sacred and binding character ; the higher the civilization the more sacred are the contracts held," he stated that a general statute provided a means by which any worthy plaintiff could se- cure a divorce upon proper evidence and that he therefore could not approve the bill. An effort to pass the bill over his veto failed, but three members voting for it.
In accordance with a suggestion which Gov- ernor Edmunds had long held in mind, he visited Washington in February, 1865, just as congress was drawing to a close, and, calling upon Presi- dent Lincoln, told him that he believed that with a very small sum of money a commission could go into the Indianı country and effect a treaty of peace with all of the hostile tribes. President Lincoln was so impressed with the soundness of the scheme that he gave Governor Edmunds a note to the committees of congress upon Indian affairs recommending that they take the Gov-
ernor's advice in the matter. A bill was promptly passed providing for such a commission and ap- propriating twenty thousand dollars for its ex- penses and the President a few days later, ap- pointed Governor Newton Edmunds; Edward B. Taylor, superintendent of Indian affairs ; Major General S. R. Curtis ; Brigadier General Henry H. Sibley, and Messrs. Henry W. Reed and Orrin Guernsey, as such peace commission- ers. To the surprise and chagrin of Governor Edmunds and his colleagues, General Pope would not permit the commission to enter the Indian country, or to engage in any negotiations for peace. An acrimonious correspondence fol- lowed and Hon. James A. Harlan, secretary of the interior, took the matter up and finally se- cured a revocation of the military order against the commission, but it was not until October that the latter met the hostile tribes at Fort Sully, the old post of that name below Pierre, where, upon dates ranging from the 14th to the 29th of that month, treaties of peace and friendship were signed with the Yanktonaise and each of the seven bands of the Tetons. It is noteworthy that with the exception of Hump, who signed for the Two Kettles, none of the Sioux of prominence joined in these treaties. One looks in vain for the names of such men as Red Cloud, Spotted Tail, Crazy Horse, Young Man, Black Moon, Rain in the Face, or Sitting Bull, or any other man who during the next decade was accepted as a leader of the Dakota Sioux. The omission of these names leads to the inquiry if the commis- sion did not negotiate with the wrong people? The history of the next fifteen years would seem to point to the conclusion that they certainly did. Each treaty was uniform with all of the others except as noted. In the first section it was stipu- lated that peace and friendship should be ob- served between the Indians and the United States and that the bands contracting would dis- courage hostilities on the part of any other band, even to the extent of using force to keep their neighbors peaceful. The Indians withdrew all opposition to the use of any roads now estab- lished, or that thereafter might be established, and in consideration of such rights-of-way across
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their land they were to receive annuities, in mer- chandise as follows: The Brules, six thousand dollars; Blackfeet, seven thousand dollars ; Up- per Yanktonaise, Minneconjous and Oglallas, each band, ten thousand dollars. The Two Ket- tles, six thousand dollars, and one thousand ad- ditional for the killing of Chief Puffing Eyes, by United States soldiers; the Yanktonaise, Sans Arcs and Uncpapas, thirty dollars per family for the period of twenty years. The Lower Brules accepted a permanent reservation extending from old Fort Lookout to White river and ten miles back from the river, and for a period of
five years were to have twenty-five dollars per family in agricultural implements and stock to assist them in getting established. Each of the other bands were likewise to receive a like bonus, in case they were to elect to accept a reservation. The treaties were ratified by the senate and were proclaimed by President Johnson on March 17, 1866, and are therefore known as the treaties of 1866. So rapidly do the Indians carry important news that in one month from the date of the proclamation of the treaty the most remote camps in the Indian country had notice of it and the war was at an end.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
AFTER THE WAR.
In March, 1866, President Johnson pro- claimed the ratification and effect of the treaties signed at Fort Sully in October, 1865, and in less than thirty days the remotest Indian camps, from Yankton to the headwaters of the Missouri and all through the Coteau regions, were in- formed that peace had come. It is marvelous how rapidly the Indian runners convey news that is deemed of sufficient importance to be given general circulation. The treaty was proclaimed on the 12th of March and we have evidence that the Indians in the camp on Elm river, near the present site of the village of Ordway, had re- ceived full intelligence of it on the 14th day of April.
In connection with this peace occurred an event which is worthy of preservation in the history of Dakota. Samuel J. Brown, now a resident of Brown's Valley, Minnesota, and son of the noted Indian trader, Joseph R. Brown, was in the spring of 1866 chief of scouts, with headquarters at Fort Wadsworth (Sisseton). On the 14th day of April, 1866, word came to young Brown that Indian tracks had been dis- covered at the crossing of the James river, not far from Jamestown, North Dakota, which indi- cated that the hostiles were making their way back toward the settlements. It was Brown's business, as chief of scouts, to keep all of the scouting stations on the qui vive and to notify the military of any suspicious movements. Hastily writing a note to the commandant at Fort Abercrombie, he left it at Fort Wadsworth
to be dispatched the following morning, and at sundown mounted an Indian pony and started for Joe Ruillard's (Rooyar's) scouting camp at Ordway, fifty-five miles distant. It was a beau- tiful but moonless evening and he made good progress, reaching the camp at midnight, to be informed by Ruillard that the peace treaty had been proclaimed by the President and accepted by the Indians and that the hostilities were at an end. Fearing that the information which he had directed to be sent to Fort Abercombie would mislead the military and cause unnecessary anx- iety among the settlers along the frontier, Brown determined to return to Fort Wadsworth and secure the message before it left for Fort Aber- crombie in the morning. Changing ponies with Ruillard, he started back within a few minutes after his arrival, but when he had crossed the James river and was proceeding across the broad flats he was overtaken by a terrific blizzard, one of the phenomenal old-time spring storms which have become historic. He kept steadily on through the storm, but was driven from his course and at daylight discovered that he was in the vicinity of the Waubay lakes. Thus far the storm had been at his back, but now he was compelled to turn and face it. His plucky little pony seemed to feel the responsibility which was placed upon it and made its way in the teeth of the storm, and before nine o'clock deposited its exhausted rider at the fort. In a period of less than fifteen hours Brown had ridden one hun- dred and fifty miles. He fell from the pony
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paralyzed and continues in that condition to this day. Of all the great rides recorded in history, not one exceeds this in endurance, heroism or fidelity to duty.
Pursuant to the provision of the treaty of 1865, the government established an Indian agency with headquarters at Fort Sully and ap- pointed Joseph R. Hanson, of Yankton, as agent, provisionally, of all of the Yanktonaise and Teton Sioux, and early in May he set up his headquarters at Crow Creek. That month the peace commission returned up river, making the first dispensation of the an- nuity goods provided for in the treaty and to make additional treaties with some of the other tribes. They held councils with the Santees at Crow creek and with all of the tribes assembled at Fort Pierre. It is claimed that nearly ten thousand Indians gathered at Fort Pierre to meet them. Red Cloud, Crazy Horse and other head men were there who had not signed the treaty of the previous year and who refused to be bound by its terms, and it is said that old Red Cloud steadfastly refused to participate in the dispensa- tion of the annuities. The peace commission proceeded to the head waters of the Missouri and made treaties with the Rees, Mandans, Blackfeet and other headwater tribes, and re- turned to Yankton in August.
Dr. Burleigh was re-elected to congress in September and the political campaign of this year seems to have been the least exciting of any in the history of the territory. It was notable only for the fact that General Todd, former delegate to congress, accepted an election to the legis- lature from Todd county.
It was another bad crop year, drouth and grasshoppers combining to make the path of the homesteader anything but flowery. As in former years, the military was still in opposition to set- tlement and it appears to have been the desire of the military officers to discourage any attempt to settle Dakota, and prominent army officers openly advised the settlers to get out and give up the land to the Indian, for whom they believed it was intended. Under all of the discouragement of Indian troubles, wars, drouth, floods, fire and-
grasshoppers, it is surprising that any remained. At this period no single individual did so much to inspire the people of the community with con- fidence in the future of Dakota as did Governor Newton Edmunds. By precept and example he taught them that a great commonwealth could be made to blossom from the untoward seeding. In the face of all discouragement he steadfastly plowed and sowed his lands, introduced live stock, diversified his crops and encouraged oth- ers to do so. Alyays sane, practical and per- sistent, he inspired many, who otherwise would have given up, with something of his own courage.
The legislative session which convened on the first Monday in December, but for one circum- stance would have been exceptionally common- place. General Todd was elected speaker of the house and for some reason not recorded, and for which his colleagues can at this time give no reasonable account, he turned in hatred on Yank- ton, the town he had so long claimed as his own offspring, and endeavored to remove the capital from it to the ambitious village of Bon Homme, twenty miles up the river. Supported by the delegation from Bon Homme, Charles Mix, Todd and Clay counties, he had a solid and im- movable majority in the house to support his action. There is nothing in the record to indicate what led up to this movement, but on Christmas day, 1866, he called H. J. Austin, of Vermillion, to the speaker's chair and, taking the floor, served notice that on a future day he would introduce a bill to remove the capital from Yankton to some other point within the territory. Nothing further is heard from the movement until the 8th day of January when he again surrendered the chair to Franklin Taylor, of Clay county, and introduced a bill providing for removal from Yankton to Bon Homme. Hon. Downer T. Bramble, of Yankton, was the leading member of the Yank- ton county delegation of the house and he at once began a filibuster such as found its counter- part in two or three of the recent legislatures of the state of South Dakota where a similar topic was under consideration. He promptly moved that the further consideration of the bill be
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indefinitely postponed and his motion was as promptly tabled. He proposed to make it a special order for the succeeding 4th of July and went down under an overwhelming majority. He tried to have it made a special order for the next Friday (the legislature would adjourn sine die by limitation of law on Thursday night). He moved to strike out Bon Homme and insert Ver- million. He made various other motions, ap- peals from the rulings of the chair, etc., but without avail. The bill received its first and second reading and on the next day, the 9th, passed the house by a vote of seventeen to seven. While the bill was pending in the house the Yanton men in the council were not idle. On the day on which the bill went to final passage George W. Kingsbury introduced a resolution in the council reciting that a bill to remove the capital was pending in the house and "resolved that we are opposed to any change in the seat of government of this territory, believing that Yankton is the most central, convenient and de- sirable point that can be selected. Mr. Turner, who was of the Bon Homme party, raised the point of order that the resolution must go over under the rules, but the president of the council, a Yankton man, very promptly ruled the point not well taken. Turner appealed, but the chair was sustained, and the test vote showed that the council stood eight for Yankton to five for re- moval. The house, having passed the bill, ad- journed while the council was still in session. Dr. Frank Wixson was the chief clerk of the house, a Yankton man. Intimation of the action of the council having come to the ears of General Todd, he desired to delay the proceeding until he could get out to log-roll the council a bit, but Wixson, working in collusion with the Yankton men, hastily had the bill engrossed and that day, the council remaining in session for the purpose, messaged the bill to the council against the strong protest of the speaker of the house. Im- mediately upon its receipt in the council Mr. Kingsbury moved that it be read the first and second times and referred to a special com- mittee consisting of the Yankton county delega- tion. His motion prevailed and Yankton had
possession of the bill. The next morning when the house reconvened General Todd again left the speaker's chair to introduce the following resolution : "Resolved, That the chief clerk be requested to wait on the honorable council and request the delivery of house file 28, as the same has been transmitted in direct violation of the house and its presiding officer." Chief Clerk Wixson carried this resolution down to the coun- cil, whereupon Mr. Kingsbury moved that the secretary of the council be instructed to inform the house that the bill, the return of which has been requested by the house, has been referred to a special committee of the council and will be.re- turned to the house after the report of the said committee. Mr. Turner filibustered the passage of this motion a bit, but only succeeded in having it copper-riveted by the addition, "and final action of the council has been taken." Later that day Mr. Kingsbury, from the special committee, made his report on the bill as follows: "Your special committee, composed of the Yankton county delegation, to whom was referred house file No. 28, have had the same under consider- ation, and respectfully report that the said docu- ment appears to have been carefully prepared by some enemy of the present capital of Dakota, with the design merely of injuring the prosperity of the said city, but with no intention of carrying out the malicious design as intimated in the cap- tion of said document. The author of the same has omitted the enacting clause, which is neces- sary to give any force or effect to any bill ; and, judging from the subject matter of the document under consideration, we are forced to the con- clusion that some evil disposed person has sought to impose upon this legislative assembly, merely for the gratification of malice or prejudice, and having no regard whatever for the general in- terests of our territory. Your committee recom- mend that the said document be rejected." The report was signed by George W. Kingsbury, Alpheus G. Fuller and Abraham Van Osdel. The report was adopted with but one dissenting vote, that of Canute Weeks, of Clay county, and so the capital for the time being remained in Yank- ton. However, General Todd did not end his
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fight there, but on the next day of the session introduced a resolution, which prevailed in the house by a vote of seventeen to six, severely criti- cising the action of the council in passing the resolution of the 9th as "anticipatory of the final action of this house upon a bill before it, and was
calculated to unduly influence or intimidate the opinion of its members, thus imposing upon the rights of, dignities and franchises of the house, violating its- privileges, and unwarrantably and unparliamentary interfering with its preroga- tives."
CHAPTER XXXIX
THE STORY OF 1867.
Following the excitement relating to the re- moval of the capital scheme, which failed in the legislature, 1867 presented very little of note- worthy interest. The government carried out its plan of abandoning Fort James, at Rockport, and for a time the excitement of the people reached the panic point, but upon the requisition of Gov- ernor Faulk arms and equipment for ten com- panies of militia were sent to Yankton. The citizens organized into military companies, and a feeling of security settled down again.
The irrepressible Byron M. Smith, im- mediately after the adjournment of the legis- lature, set out to organize an expedition to enter and explore the Black Hills. He extensively ad- vertised his plan and secured many recruits, but the military, taking cognizance of his movements, absolutely prohibited any attempt to go upon the Indian lands, and in consequence his enterprise was abandoned. The conviction appears to have from the beginning of settlement firmly fixed in the minds of Dakotans that the Black Hills abounded in gold and rich minerals. Almost every governor mentioned it in his message and the legislative committees on the state of the territory elaborated exhaustively upon this topic.
Governor Faulk's appointment as governor, which, through some of the political deals of the period, was held up for a time, was finally con- firmed on March 16th. His was a recess ap- pointment and he had acted under it from the previous October.
Dr. Burleigh organized a congressional
party of some thirty members, headed by Ben. F. Wade, Zachariah Chandler, Lot M. Morrill and many others of national prominence to come to Dakota upon a buffalo hunt. He got them as far as Omaha, when their courage oozed out in anticipation of Indian hostilities and the. hunt was abandoned.
That spring a plan was discussed and came near to being adopted to remove the Santees from their new reservation in Nebraska to Sioux Falls. But for the hostility of the people of Minnesota to having these people again upon their borders, the scheme would doubtless have been approved.
In May, Colonel Moody, who was rapidly becoming a political factor in his new home, pur- chased the plant of the Dakota Republican, at Vermillion. At this time the Republican was enjoying one of its periodical seasons of rest. which characterized its earlier years. On June 6th the revived paper appeared with Lucien O'Brien as editor. It is difficult at this time to follow the fortunes of the Republican. Its files for the early years have all been destroyed, and the recollections of the pioneers are variable. It appears to have been established early in August, 1861, by Bedell and Clarke, the latter Lieutenant Clarke of the Dakota cavalry. They do not seem to have continued it after the election, which occurred in September of that year, but the following year it was revived and published by John B. Gleze until the outbreak in August. After the return of the settlers, after the Indian
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panic that fall, the paper was again revived and for some time was under the control of Mahlon Gore. He was in charge of it on the Ist of January, 1863, when he made his famous first homestead filing at twelve o'clock and one minute in the morning of that day, being the first home- stead filed upon in the United States under the Galusha A. Grow free homestead act.
From the first settlement a contest had been continued for the possession of a portion of the townsite of Yankton, between James Wither- spoon and Gen. J. B. S. Todd. As delegate in congress and a man of wide experience in busi- ness and intimate acquaintance with the public officials, the advantage appeared to be with Gen- eral Todd, but in spite of all this it dragged along. In defending his rights it is said that Witherspoon, who was a somewhat erratic char- acter, walked the entire distance from Yankton to Washington. The contest was this spring de- cided finally in Witherspoon's favor and he came into possession of a very valuable property.
On June Ist the herder at Fort Sully was shot by Indians and the event again threw the com- munity into a panicky state, and for a few days an uprising was looked for. The killing seems to have been done by an irresponsible young man and was deplored by all of the chiefs. The ter- ror following the tragedy at Fort Sully was aug- mented a few days later when a false report got into circulation that Henry W. Granger, who claimed a Spanish grant of twenty-five thousand acres at Bijou Hills, had been killed by Indians while exploring his "estate."
On the 13th of April, while Governor Faulk was absent from the territory, S. L. Spink, sec- retary and acting governor, issued his proclama- tion, calling upon the people to organize into military companies for home protection against a threatened Indian invasion. The appeal met with a prompt response as above stated. The organization, as effected, was as follows: Com- mander in chief. Andrew J. Faulk ; adjutant general, James L. Kelly ; quartermaster general, Brig. Gen. D. M. Mills ; paymaster general, Col. John L. Jolley ; aid de camp to governor, Col. John Lawrence.
Company A, Bon Homme, fifty-two men. W. A. Burleigh, captain ; Nathan W. Daniels and George W. Owens, lieutenants.
Company B, Vermillion, one hundred men. Nelson Miner, captain ; Frank Denison and John L. Jolley, lieutenants.
Company C, Yankton, ninety men. George A. McLeod, captain; A. M. English and C. B. Wing, lieutenants.
Company D, Yankton, sixty men. C. W. Batchellor, captain; H. H. Smith and C. H. Brured, lieutenants.
Company E, Todd county, thirty men. J. A. Lewis, captain ; Fred W. Edgar and John Col- lins, lieutenants.
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