History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 37

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

USA > South Dakota > History of South Dakota, Vol. I > Part 37

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

hopeless to continue the council longer they ad- journed without action. The failure of the gov- ernment to secure the relinquishment of the In- dians' title to the Black Hills was a very great disappointment to the nation at large and espe- cially so was it to the ambitious settlers of Da- kota.

In the foregoing we left the brave little band of pioneer gold hunters at the Gordon stockade on French creek on the morning of the 6th of February, when Gordon and Witcher started out to spread the news of the gold find. Eight days later Blackwell and McLaren rigged up an ox- sled and through sheer homesickness deserted and made their way out to Cheyenne. And again on the 6th of March four others deserted the stockade. These were Newton Warren, Red Dan McDonald, J. J. Williams and Henry Thomas. This reduced the entire remaining force of whites in the Black Hills to eighteen persons, including Mrs. Tallent and Rob. Dur- ing the month of March these pioneers surveyed and platted the town of Harney City at the point on French creek where the stockade was located. To accomplish this they had but a small pocket compass and a picket rope.

The brave little band, however, were soon to find that their exertions, heroism and priva- tions were to be brought to naught, for on the 4th of April a party of military under the com- mand of Captain Mix, of the Second United Cavalry, arrived and marched the entire company away to Fort Laramie. And so we find that in the early spring of 1875 the Black Hills country was again abandoned, there probably being no single human being, white or Indian, within their confines.

As we have seen, the government at once took up a more careful survey of the mineral resources of the Hills under the direction of Professor Jenny, and in the very month in which the military had taken out the Gordon party, an- other party, consisting of Wade Porter, Alfred Gay, Robert Kenyon, Thomas Monahan and oth- ers re-entered the Hills and made their way di- rectly back to the deserted blockade. We have seen how John Gordon and Eph. Witcher fought their

272

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

way through to Yankton and started back on the 26th day of April through the sandhills of Ne- braska and how they were overtaken by the mili- tary out on the Niobrara and taken captive to Fort Laramie. From every direction from that time forward adventurous miners filtered into the Hills, dodging the military and the Indians, hiding in the canyons and prospecting up and down all of the creeks. Contemporaneous with the attempt of the government to treat with the Sioux in 1875 for the cession of the Black Hills, General Crook was sent into the Hills country for the ostensible purpose of removing the trespassing miners. It is doubtful if the military ever in good faitlı, after the removal of the Gor- don party in April, attempted to evict the miners from the Black Hills, but it was necessary to make a show of doing so to pacify the Indians and thus assist in securing the cession. Ex- amples, however, were made of a few of the miners.

On the Ioth day of August General Crook, by proclamation, called all the miners in the Hills to assemble at Custer. He asked them there to voluntarily leave the Hills until such time as the Indian title to the land could be ex- tinguished. They were permitted to leave a committee of six men in charge of their inter- ests and they agreed upon certain rules and regu- lations to protect the claims which they had al- ready staked out. They were permitted to or- ganize a town site company and to locate the town of Custer. - The blocks were divided into lots, which were numbered up to one thousand two hundred. Tickets bearing these numbers were deposited in a box, from which on that day several hundred miners drew slips and became the owners of lots corresponding in number with those drawn from the receptacle. The commit- tee chosen to remain in the Hills to protect the rights of the miners were Samuel Shankland, Thomas Hooper, A. D. Trask, Robert Kenyon, WV. H. Wood, Alex. Thompson, Alfred Gay and H. F. Hull.

After completing these arrangements the great body of miners, from eight hundred to one thousand one hundred in all, voluntarily left

the Hills, going out to Laramie and Cheyenne. Many, however, hiding about in the gulches and forests, refused to obey the proclamation to come into Custer and remained constantly in the Hills, and others came in daily from the Missouri river points and by any route by which they could escape the attention of the military and the Indians.

During the month of August, old Spotted Tail, taking with him twelve of his most trusted men, visited the Hills as a committee of investi- gation on the part of the Indians to enable them to know positively what the miners were doing there and to gain such other knowledge as would be of advantage to his people in the approaching council with the Indian commission. They moved about in a businesslike way, examining the improvements and obtaining such informa- tion as they could, and evidently attained a very exalted idea of the value of the country, as was demonstrated by the value they set on the Black Hills before the commission upon their return.

The Jenny expedition completed its work and left the Hills about the Ist of October. After the failure of the treaty the military made little pretense of attempting to exclude the miners from the hills, and on the Ist of December the military force was entirely withdrawn. The prospectors flocked into the Hills as never before. It is estimated that before the first day of the succeeding March there were eleven thousand miners in the vicinity of Custer.

In September. 1875, John B. Pearson, a citi- zen of Yankton, made his way into the Dead- wood gulch and there finding indications of rich diggings returned to the camp of William Lard- ner, on Little Rapid creek, and reported the pros- pect. Needless to say the entire party, consist- ing of William Lardner, Ed McKay, Joseph En- glesby, James Hicks, William and Alfred Gay, J. B. Pearson, Dan Muskle and a man named Hag- gard, nine in all, immediately struck camp and made their way through the forests and moun- tains, knee deep with snow, through the Bald Mountain region to the new diggings on Dead- wood gulch, where a little below the mouth of Blacktail "Discovery" claim was located in No-

273

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

vember, 1875. Others drifted into the locality and in December a mining district was organized named the "Lost Mining District," of which William Lardner was chosen recorder. And so began the development of that portion of the northern Hills which since attained and still holds a world-wide reputation for its fabulous wealth.

This, in brief, comprises the story of the ex- ploration and development of the Black Hills up to January 1, 1876. It will be understood that all of these pioneers were trespassers upon Indian lands. That the laws of Dakota territory had no effect there and that the United States govern- ment could only regard them as trespassers. Therefore they were wholly without the law and dependent upon their own action for civil gov-

ernment and the protection of life and property. It was an unique situation. The reported wealth of the Hills had attracted thither not only the gold hungry of the world, but naturally the ad- venturer, the desperate and lawless from every corner of the earth. It must ever stand to the honor and glory of the sturdy pioneers of the Black Hills that they were equal to the emer- gency. That everywhere their first action was the organization of a civil government and that in every community the predominating voice of the public was for law and order and the prompt and vigorous suppression of outlawry and vio- lence. This condition-the remaining outside of territorial and federal law-continued until the spring of 1877 and we shall have more to say of it in succeeding chapters.

CHAPTER XLVIII

AFFAIRS OF 1876.

The Black Hills gold excitement overshad- owed almost every other issue or event in Da- kota in the Centennial year. An examination of the newspapers of the time indicates that the Black Hills were the all-absorbing topic and every column teemed with stories of that section, while other matters of local interest were passed over with the briefest mention. It was a political year, but in Dakota there was relatively little politics. The Democratic committee met at Yankton on April 10th and appointed L. D. Palmer, of Yank- ton, and Mark W. Sheafe, of Elk Point, dele- gates to the national convention at St. Louis. On May 24th a Republican territorial convention was held at Yankton which elected Alexander Hughes, of Elk Point, and Alex McHench, of Fargo, delegates to the national Republican con- vention at Cincinnati.

The event of the greatest interest, however, excepting matters pertaining to the Black Hills, was the decision of the supreme court invalidat- ing the Yankton county railroad bonds granted in favor of the Southern Dakota Railroad. This decision was based upon the fact that the original bill authorizing the bonds was passed at an unauthorized session of the territorial legisla- ture, and that congress in attempting to validate the action of this legislature had changed the terms of the contract between the citizens of Yankton county and the railroad company by extending the charter of the railroad from Yank- ton to the western line of Bon Homme county.

Congress this spring passed an act prohibit-

ing the President from appointing nonresidents to offices in territories, an action which created very great delight and rejoicing among the citi- zens of Dakota territory who had experienced the humiliation and mismanagement attendant upon carpetbag government.

The senate, in August, passed a bill creating Pembina territory from the north part of Da- kota territory, but the house, being Democratic, defeated the proposition.

The territorial Republican convention was held at Vermilion on July 24th and Judge Kid- der was renominated to congress with very little opposition, a very few complimentary votes be- ing cast, however, for Alexander Hughes. Fred J. Cross was chosen for immigration commis- sioner ; W. E. Caton, of Union county, for su- perintendent of schools; John S. Sands, of Lin- coln county, for auditor, and E. A. Sherman, of Sioux Falls, for treasurer. The Democrats nominated Hon. S. L. Spink for congress. The entire Republican ticket was elected.

Governor Pennington appointed Gen. W. H. H. Beadle and Moses K. Armstrong to repre- sent Dakota territory at Philadelphia and deliver addresses there. General Beadle declined to serve. Mr. Armstrong, however, prepared and delivered an address at Philadelphia which very comprehensively presented the resources and ad- vantages of Dakota to the world.

Crops promised splendid returns and the earlier grains were gathered without loss, but on the 25th of July the grasshoppers again came

275

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

in appalling numbers and in a day destroyed all of the uncut grain, the fields of corn and gardens. Enough of the crop, however, had been pre- served in advance of their coming to render the people comparatively comfortable, and except in a few instances was there necessity for an ap- peal to the public for assistance. The grasshop- per scourge was wide spread, 'covering Minne- sota, Iowa, northwestern Missouri, Kansas, Ne- braska and Colorado, and so alarming was the situation that Governor Pillsbury, of Min- nesota, called a convention of the gov- ernors of the grasshopper scourged states to meet at Omaha and consider the situation and if possible provide means for fighting the pest. Governor Pennington accepted the invitation and represented Dakota territory in this convention. Little, if anything, of a practical nature resulted from their deliberations.

In connection with the Black Hills movement the greatest concern of the people of the west- ern section of the territory was the opening of a direct route from the settlements by way of Fort Pierre into the Hills. This was manifestly the the shortest route and it was vital to the settle- ments that it should become the established high- way to the Hills, but to accomplish this it was necessary to successfully combat the powerful in- fluence of the Union Pacific Railway. Yankton, as the capital of the territory, was naturally the chief center of activity on these lines and on Feb- ruary IIth sent out a party of citizens to make a preliminary examination of the route. This party consisted of Major Lyman, Henry C. Ash, A. M. English, M. A. Baker, G. W. Smith, George Henkle, A. F. Wood, Will Brisbine, Nelson Smith and Harry Ash. They were equipped with four teams, went to Pierre and passed over the road practically upon the lines of the well known Black Hills road. They reached Rapid City, where they fell in with Major John R. Brennan, where on the 29th of February they organized a town-site company and, with the assistance of C. H. Bates, of Yank- ton, a civil engineer, platted the town. They then returned by what was then known as the Fort Randall route, that is in a line running practically

direct from Rapid City to Fort Randall, but find- ing this route impracticable they reported in fa- vor of the Pierre route. They reached Yankton on the return trip March 30th, having been gone about six weeks, which, considering that it was mid-winter and therefore their progress had necessarily been slow and they had been exam- ining the course over which to complete a route, was remarkably quick time.

The people at home, however, did not await their return, but were active in the matter of the establishment of a stage line with the intention of supplementing it with a freight line eventu- ally. Gen. Charles T. Campbell and John Dil- lon organized a stage line of four Concord coaches and the first party left Yankton on the morning of the 9th of March, while there were still fourteen inches of snow on the ground and a northwest blizzard blowing. The route was by Scotland, Rockport and Firesteel, thence to Fort Thompson and Fort Pierre. They carried out eighteen passengers.

Things were progressing satisfactorily and the Yankton-Pierre route was meeting with pop- ular approval when, on June Ist President Grant, by executive order, closed the Pierre route and ordered the military at Fort Sully to enforce the order. This action the people of Dakota be- lieved was brought ahout by the influence of the Union Pacific Railroad, and created a feeling of great hostility against that corporation. Gov- ernor Pennington was appealed to by the trans- portation people to assist in getting the provisions enroute through to the Hills and he appealed to General Sheridan for military protection for provision trains then enroute, but the General was forced to decline to render the assistance desired. Governor Pennington and ex-Governor Edmunds then visited Washington to secure a modification of the order closing the Pierre route and it was modified to the extent that pro- vision trains were allowed to go through at their own risk and without military protection, and on the 22d of June the route was again thrown open. By this time, however, the Indian trou- bles, coincident with the Custer battle of Little Big Horn, had hecome so decided that few peo-

276

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

ple cared to venture into the Indian country with- out military protection.

With the opening of the new year, 1876, the military opposition to the occupation of the Hills seems to have been withdrawn, and, as stated . in a previous chapter, miners and adventurers flocked to the new Eldorado by thousands. This action of course greatly excited and incensed the Indians, who were the owners of the soil, and coupled with this the government undertook the removal of the agencies back to the Missouri river. It was decided to relocate Spotted Tail back at the mouth of the Whetstone creek and Red Cloud was to be located near old Fort Look- out. This proposed action increased the resent- ment of the Indians and very many of the young men and warriors deserted the agencies and again took up the wild life. Depredations were of almost daily occurrence. On May 4th Wil- liam Henry, of Gardner, Iowa, John Harrison, of Albion, Wisconsin, J. St. Clair, of Texas, and Edward Sadler were killed on the north fork of Bad river, near the Fort Pierre trail, and stock stealing was of daily occurrence. Steamboating on the Missouri river was at its height at this period and was particularly hazardous, Indian attacks on the boats being so frequent that it was necessary to protect the pilot houses with boiler plate. Spotted Tail and Red Cloud both re- ported all their Indians at home, but this was simply a subterfuge to secure the full supply of rations.

The Reverend Mr. Ffennell, of the Protes- tant Episcopal church at Cheyenne river agency, fell a victim to the Indians at this time. A fuller account of his death will be found in the sketch of the Episcopal church in this volume.

To understand the real situation as relating to the Dakota Indians, one must go back to the spring of 1858, when it will be found that the Sioux Indians of the Missouri river, generally denominated as the Tetons and comprising the Yanktons, Yanktonaise, Brule, Oglalas, Mini- conjous, Two Kettles, Sans Arcs, Blackfeet and U'ncpapas, owned and occupied all of the country from the Sioux and Red rivers on the east west- ward to the mountains and from the Missouri

and Platte rivers on the south to Devil's lake and the Missouri river on the north. By successive treaties they had been induced to give up all of the Dakota country east of the Missouri and the Nebraska country south of the Niobrara and all of the upper Missouri country north of the Can- non Ball. They had seen the game upon which they had subsisted, particularly the buffalo, de- stroyed by the invading hordes of white hunters. They had seen forts established in their country and garrisoned with soldiers. They had seen an attempt to establish a great highway through their lands and to protect it with a line of forts. This latter they had forcibly and successfully re- sisted in the famous Red Cloud wars, terminat- ing in the treaty of 1868, by the terms of which the government abandoned the Montana trail. Notwithstanding the fact that with the treaty of 1868 they had been confirmed in the absolute possession and in absolute freedom from tres- pass in their reservation west of the Missouri, including the Black Hills, they had seen a great military invasion of their lands under General Custer for the exploration of the Hills, to deter- mine whether or not there were gold-bearing quartz there. They had seen the miners flock into the Hills following the reports of the dis- covery of gold by the Custer expedition. They had seen the government send a second scien- tific expedition under a military escort upon their lands. The previous year they had met with a commission sent out by the government to treat with them for the cession of the Black Hills and had failed to agree upon terms. They had seen the government withdraw all semblance of mili- tary protection for their lands against the occu- pancy and use of the white miners. They had seen every preparation made to forcibly remove them from their chosen homes back on the plains distant from the Missouri river to the new agen- cies on the Missouri, where they would come im- mediately under the influence of the military and of the degrading influence of the white venders of liquors and of evil practices. And against all of these invasions of their rights they rose in open rebellion. Not all of them, to be sure; a few who had long been under white and civiliz-

277

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

ing influences and who appreciated the advan- tages of special favors granted them by the agency officers, a few there were of the more timid and unmanly, and a few of the chiefs who had been flattered into submission through the promise of honors, distinction and emoluments, and a few there were like old Red Cloud, who felt bound by the treaty of 1868, remained at the agency and made a semblance of submission to the powers that be, but the young men, the war- riors, the braves and the great chieftains, Black Moon, Crazy Horse, Afraid of His Horses, Sit- ting Bull, Rain in the Face, and many others were resolved to avenge the wrongs which they felt, with good reason, the whites had visited upon their people, and they assembled in great hostile camps under the general command of Black Moon, far back in the interior on the Tongue and Big Horn, choosing an excellent position, where under stress they could flee into the mountain vastnesses, or if need be into Can- ada. One cannot examine into the disposition of the Indians engaged in this rebellion without admiration for the military genius of the men who planned it, as he must also admire the splen- did generalship displayed by them in the cam- paigns which followed.

The government determined to move against these hostiles in three columns. One from the south, under Cook, was to come up from Lara- mie. Terry, under whom Custer served, was to come up from Fort Abraham Lincoln. And one from the west, under Gibbons, coming down from Fort Ellis on the Yellowstone, the plan be- ing to surronud the Indians and crush them be- tween the three columns. Pursuant to this plan, about the first of March, General Crook, in com- mand of the first column, consisting of ten com- panies of the Third Cavalry and two of the Fifth Infantry, moved out from Fort Laramie. He went into camp on the Powder river, near old Fort Reno, where he remained for several weeks. General Reynolds proceeded down the Powder river about fifty miles below Reno, where he was met by Crazy Horse with four hundred war- riors, who administered to him a severe whip- ping and compelled him to retreat hastily to

Crook's camp. This victory wonderfully elated and encouraged the Indians and news of it being carried by runners to the agencies, hundreds, possibly thousands, of young men hastened as recruits to the hostile camps.

In the latter part of May Crook removed his camp to Goose creek, a branch of Tongue river, where he made a permanent station. The hos- tiles had their spies watching his every move- ment and they set out to create a diversion to decoy Crook out of his camp and precipitate a conflict. In this they succeeded. General Crook moved out of his camp on the 17th of June, encountered the Indians at the headwaters of the Rosebud. He was repulsed by the Indians and compelled to retreat. His loss was not serious, but his defeat and repulse practically put him out of commission.

The Indians being advised of the approach of Custer, now took up their position on the west bank of the Little Big Horn, choosing an ad- mirable location, where they could easily retreat into the Big Horn mountains if at any time their location became untenable.

Terry's column left Fort Abraham Lincoln on the 15th of May. He had about one thousand two hundred men and one thousand four hun- dred animals. The expedition moved northwest and reached the mouth of the Little Missouri, where they found awaiting them supplies which had been sent around by steamboat. General Terry embarked the cavalry upon the steam- boats and took passage by the Yellowstone, and Custer, at the head of six companies of cavalry, moved on to the mouth of the Rosebud, which he reached on the 20th of June. Reno, who on the 12th had been sent out on a scout, returned and reported that the trail and deserted camp of a force of not less than one thousand two hun- dred in all had been discovered. At noon on the 22d Custer moved up the valley of the Rosebud, it being the plan that Terry and Gibbons should come as far as practicable by the Yellowstone and then march, making a junction with Custer. Soon striking the trail which Reno had discov- ered, at eleven o'clock on the night of the 24th they found that they were close to the camp of

278

HISTORY OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

the enemy. By one o'clock of the following day they had advanced to a position where it was necessary to make disposition of the troops for the attack upon the camp. First there was Cap- tain Benteen's battalion of three troops, consist- ing of Troop H, Captain Benteen; Troop D, Captain Wier; Troop K. Lieutenant Godfrey. They were ordered to a line of high bluffs on the left of the trail three or four miles distant to reconnoiter the field and prevent the escape of the Indians in that direction and to fight if necessary. Major Reno was placed in command of the advance battalion, composed of Troop M, Captain French; Troop A, Captain Moylan ; Troop G, Lieutenants McIntosh and Wallace, and was ordered to charge the village. They crossed the ford and marched down toward the enemy, who were massed along the west bank of the Little Big Horn. General Custer himself had five troops, Troop I, Captain Keogh and Lieutenant Porter : Troop F, Captain Yates and Lieutenant Riley ; Troop C. Captain Tom Custer and Lieutenant Harrington ; Troop E, Lieuten- ants Smith and Sturgis; Troop L, Lieutenants Calhoun and Crittenden. There were about seven hundred and sixty-one men in Custer's bat- talion.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 37

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