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VOL. II. APRIL,
1886. No. 2.
A
Heroine of the Revolution: Nancy Ann Hunter
GRANDMOTHER OF THE HONORABLE A. C. DODGE.
THE "Scotch Irish " immigration to America of the first
half of the eighteenth century, has furnished many strong men
to the nation. Prominent among them in the State of Iowa, were
Governor Grimes, who was descended from that which settled in
New Hampshire, and the Honorable A. C. Dodge, who was
descended on his paternal grandmother's side, from that which
settled in Pennsylvania.
"It looks," said the provincial Secretary of
Pennsylvania, on one occasion, "as if Ireland is to send all
her inhabitants. Last week not less than six ships arrived."
Many of the immigrants took up lands in the Cumberland valley,
about Carlisle. They are described as a "Christian people " of
the "better sort." Prominent among them were families of
Calhoun, Dickey, Hunter. Of the latter family was Joseph
Hunter; Molly Homes was his wife. They had eight children;
Nancy Ann was the youngest; she was born at Carlisle.
About 1769, the family removed to the "back country,"
and bought a large body of land from an Indian chief named
Catfish (Tin-gooc-qua), of the Kuskukee tribe, which occupied
the hunting grounds between the Allegheny mountains and the
Ohio river. The land was situated where the town of
Washington, Washington county, now stands, twenty-five miles
southwest of Pittsburg. It was known as Catfish Camp. Lying on
one of the main routes to the west, it was a rendezvous for
adventurers, traders and military expeditions.
Two sons of the family, James and Joseph, Jr., served in
the Revolutionary army, the former losing his life.
Failing in business, Joseph Hunter made over his Catfish
Camp land " to his Philadelphia merchant," and removed with
his family to Kentucky. The capture of Kaskaskia and Vincennes
had given a powerful stimulus to western emigration. Mr.
Hunter fell in with the tide of hardy adventurers. Zealous for
his country, he was persuaded by General George Rogers Clark
to leave the Bear Grass settlement, near Louisville, in the
spring of 1780, and join an expedition to establish a fort and
a settlement upon the banks of the Mississippi, a few miles
below the mouth of the Ohio. It was in pursuance of the policy
of Thomas Jefferson, then Governor of Virginia, who deemed it
a matter of vital moment to maintain a watch at that point and
vindicate the authority of the Commonwealth upon her farthest
border. It was the object of the settlement, which was called
Clark's Colony, to raise supplies for the garrison and give
strength and support to the. post.
The adventure, however miscarried. The Chickasaw
Indians, who claimed the country, and the neighboring
Cherokees, proved hostile and treacherous. A stockade was
built, but the cultivation of the land was hazardous, from
assaults of the savages, either in stealthy attacks or with
overwhelming numbers. Much of the time the fort was the only
place of safety. From the difficulty of procuring supplies,
the garrison and settlement were sometimes reduced to the
verge of starvation. At one time, pumpkins with the blossom
yet on them afforded their principal food. Many were sick with
ague and fever. On the opposite side of the Mississippi, then
Spanish territory, was a favorite resort of buffaloes upon a
beautiful prairie twelve miles distant. Joseph Hunter, Jr.,
with other daring scouts, ventured over there, eluding the
Indians, and returned with pack-loads of buffalo meat upon
their backs. In the course of the summer (1780), John Dodge
brought down some supplies from Kaskaskia.
He was a native of Connecticut, and before the
Revolution had been an Indian trader at Sandusky; few men were
better acquainted with the Indians. Being in sympathy with the
Revolution, he was taken prisoner as a "suspect" by the
British, and after a long and cruel captivity at Detroit, was
sent in irons to Quebec, whence he managed to escape within
the American lines. Governor Jefferson had taken him into his
confidence and appointed him an Indian agent, in which
capacity he was now employed in efforts to sustain this post,
under instructions received from Col. John Todd, at the Falls
of the Ohio. In a communication to his Excellency, recently
published among the State papers of Virginia, he reported that
the few goods he had left after supplying the troops must go
for the purchase of provisions to keep the settlement from
breaking up, and that without further relief the post must be
evacuated. He employed some friendly Kaskaskias to hunt; but
the supply from that source proved very precarious.
On one occasion, when the savages that had beleaguered
the settlement seemed to have gone away and it looked safe and
quiet all around, a favorite cow was permitted, with her calf,
to stroll outside the gate. But shortly, Indians were seen
prowling among the thickets. In this emergency, as the men
were parleying what to do, hesitating to expose themselves,
Nancy Ann Hunter ran out into the open space, and taking up
the calf brought it within the enclosure, the cow following,
while the arrows of the savages whistled by and cut her
clothing, herself unharmed. The next year (June 8, 1781), the
position was abandoned.
The Hunter family returned, some of them to the
neighborhood of Louisville; others went to Kaskaskia.
Meanwhile Israel, a son of John Dodge, married Miss Hunter.
Israel Dodge was born in Connecticut, September 3, 1760. His
mother was Lydia Rogers. Inheriting his father's spirit of
adventure and patriotism, he joined the Revolutionary army,
and served as second lieutenant at the battle of Brandywine,
September 11, 1777. In a hand to hand fight, knocking off the
bayonet of his assailant with his sword, he received a wound
in the chest. It was on the same field where Lafayette began
his military career at the age of twenty, and was shot through
the leg. Joining in the western emigration of the period,
Israel Dodge fell in with the Hunter family. In the record
book of Col. John Todd, county lieutenant of Illinois, by
appointment of Governor Patrick Henry, which is in possession
of the Chicago Historical Society, the name of Israel Dodge
appears as acting under the military authority of his father,
John Dodge, at Kaskaskia, under date of April 29, 1782. In the
fall of that year while upon a journey from this place to her
parents in Kentucky, Mrs. Israel Dodge stopped over for rest
and refreshment at "Post Vincennes," where Henry Dodge was
born, October 12, 1782, under the hospitable roof of Moses and
Ann Henry; the first American child born in what now
constitutes the state of Indiana. The earlier white
inhabitants were Canadian French.
Moses Henry was of the Henry family of Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, which still retains its reputation of more than
a century for the manufacture of arms. He was at Detroit at
the time of John Dodge's captivity. After Vincennes came under
the American flag, in July, 1778, he was one of the little
force left in charge of that post, which capitulated to the
British under Hamilton, the "Hair-Buyer," in the following
December. And he was present at the recapture of the post by
General Clark, February 24, 1779. He was now acting as
gunsmith for the Indians.
A few days after the birth of the child, a Piankeshaw
chief came in, and said that it could not be allowed to live
in their country, and he would dash out its brains. The mother
plead for the life of her first born. Moses Henry explained
that it was the "papoose " of a friend of his, whose "squaw "
was sojourning in his house—that the child was born out of due
time while the young mother was on her way to her people, and
that they would soon go on their journey. These expostulations
prevailed, the chief at the same time remarking, `"nits make
lice; this little nit may grow to be a big louse and bite us;"
a prophecy which came true. In gratitude to her benefactor,
Mrs. Dodge gave his full name to the child, which he retained
until he was grown, when he adopted the single name, Henry.
Subsequently, the family established their home at
Spring Station, near Louisville; afterwards at Bardstown.
Kentucky was then "the dark and bloody ground." The
savages waged a merciless warfare upon the settlements. A
block-house, built of logs, surrounded by a palisade or
picketwork, was the chief protection against sudden attacks.
Every dwelling was a fortress. Every man carried arms. The
mother and a sister of our heroine were killed and scalped by
the Indians, upon a Sunday,- evening in May, while viewing
their flax patch; a brother at the same time barely escaped by
his fleetness on foot, his shirt being powder-burnt from their
guns. Subsequently, while at work in the fence row of the same
field, he was killed by the Indians. Then a young child, Henry
Dodge was taken captive by the Indians, but returned unharmed.
Five of his uncles on the paternal and maternal sides fell
under the Indian hatchet. It was among the incidents of his
earliest recollection to have seen the dead and bleeding body
of one of those uncles borne in the arms of another on
horseback to the stockade in which they lived.
At Bardstown, Israel Dodge built the first stone house,
which was used as a tavern. Here his second child was born,
named Nancy for her mother. She became the wife of Joseph
Coon, of Cincinnati, and, after his death, of the Rev. John
Sefton, of St. Louis. The venerable Mrs. Rebecca W. Sire, of
St. Louis, is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sefton. Henry Dodge
received the rudiments of education in a log school house at
Bardstown. Among his schoolmates were Felix Grundy, John Pope,
John Rowan, who with himself came to honor in the public
service.
Israel Dodge was a man of restless enterprise, eager for
the chances that fortune threw in his way. About 1790, he left
his family and removed to upper Louisiana, attracted by the
liberal policy of Spain in offering lands to settlers. He
located at New Bourbon, just below St. Genevieve.
When a lad of fourteen, passing through a Kentucky
village, Henry Dodge saw a brawny savage bending over the
prostrate form of a woman with one hand in her tresses, the
other brandishing a butcher knife, as if to take her scalp. As
she screamed for help he seized a stone and felled the Indian
to the ground, apparently dead. He at once informed his people
of what he had done. His mother, apprehending that the Indians
would seek revenge, told him that he must flee for his life.
He spent the night in a graveyard, the next day joined a
company of pioneers going west, and reached St. Genevieve in
safety. Meanwhile his mother had married again. Her
second husband was Asael Linn, son of the brave William Linn,
who performed an adventurous trip to New Orleans at the
opening of the Revolutionary war and brought up a supply of
gunpowder for the defense of the frontier; afterwards served
with Col. Clark at the capture of Kaskaskia, in 1778, and lost
his life in a conflict with Indians, near Louisville; in 1781.
When a boy of twelve, Asael was carried off a captive with
three other lads by Shawnee Indians, and escaped by killing or
maiming two old Indians who had been left as their guard while
the young Indians of the band were gone away on a hunt. The
children of Mr. and Mrs. Asael Linn were Mary Ann, born Nov.
24, 1793, and Lewis Fields, born Nov. 5, I 795. They were
early deprived of both their parents, and in the vicissitudes
of after years clung to their half-brother, Henry Dodge, as
their counselor and guide, having joined him at St. Genevieve.
Their mother proves to have been the only woman in the land to
whose name attaches the distinction of having two of her sons
become senators of the United States; Lewis F. Linn having
been senator from Missouri, 1833- 1843; Henry Dodge, senator
from Wisconsin, 1848-1857. Her grandson, Augustus C. Dodge,
was a senator from Iowa, 1848-1855, at the same time that his
father was a senator from Wisconsin; the only instance in
American history of a father and son sitting together as
senators in Congress. At one period, 184I-1843, all three of
these descendants of Nancy Ann Hunter sat together in the
capitol; Henry Dodge as delegate from the territory of
Wisconsin, A. C. Dodge as delegate from- the territory of
Iowa, and L. F. Linn, senator from Missouri. Their lives and
public services were honorably connected with the settlement
of the west and the growth of the nation, and belong to the
history of the country. They were men with force of character,
of scrupulous integrity, models of private virtue. Lewis F.
Linn was honored as the "Model Senator." Such was his devotion
to the interest of the people of Iowa Territory, that he was
called the " Iowa Senator." To him more than to any other
public man of his day the settlement of Oregon by American
emigration is due. One of the counties of Iowa perpetuates his
name. Henry Dodge was governor of the original Territory of
Wisconsin, 1836-1838, which included what is now the State of
Iowa, in common with the whole country north of the States of
Illinois and Missouri lying between Lake Michigan and the
Missouri river to the British line. His son, A. C. Dodge, was
born at St. Genevieve, January 12, 18I2, then Louisiana
Territory. He was the first person born west of the
Mississippi river to become a senator of the United States.
These three senators were sprung of the "heroic blood which
Nancy Ann Hunter had in her veins," as Senator Benton said of
her in the eloquent eulogium which he pronounced in the senate
upon Senator Linn, December 12,1843. As the " Census of
Iowa," of 1885, page 400, repeats an error in relation to the
boundaries of the Louisiana purchase of 1802, that appeared in
the "Census" of 1867, page 147, it seems proper to enter a
correction, that the error may be avoided in any further
publication issued by the State. The error is in the statement
that the Louisiana purchase included "all that part of our
national possessions west of the Mississippi river, excepting
Texas and the territory since obtained from Mexico and from
Russia."
The facts are that the summit of the Rocky Mountains was
the western boundary of the "Purchase." The title of the
United States to Oregon rests on an earlier transaction, the
discovery of the Columbia river by Captain Robert Gray, of the
ship "Columbia," of Boston, May 7, 1792. Marbois, the French
plenipotentiary who negotiated the cession, says, in his
history of Louisiana: "The first article of the treaty meant
to convey nothing beyond the sources of the Missouri. The
shores of the western ocean were certainly not included in the
cession."
A clear and full explanation of this matter is given in
the Wisconsin Journal
of Education, May,
1880, and in the
Pacific School Journal, July,
1884, by Albert Salisbury, of the
Normal School, Whitewater, Wisconsin. See, also,
Bryant's Popular History of
United States, Vol.
IV, page 146. W. S.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RECOLLECTIONS OF THE PAST.
BY N. LEVERING, LOS ANGELES, CAL.
LITTLE is known at the present day of the hardships and
privations endured by the primitive settlers in a new country,
nor can the life of a frontiersman be fully appreciated until
one has experienced some of the many hardships, disadvantages
and perplexities incident to frontier life. Want often
confronts the pioneer with its grim look, and schools him to
the most rigid economy. Everything must conform to his limited
circumstances, while exposure to biting frosts, pelting
storms, scanty food and clothing, toilsome journeys over
almost trackless roads, and swelling streams, are but few of
the many difficulties incident to frontier life and pioneering
the way for civilization. The American pioneer is only happy
when he fully realizes these difficulties to a greater or less
degree. But when the golden light of civilization dawns upon
him, and the shrill voice of the iron horse supersedes that of
the shrieking wild tenants of the forest, he shoulders his
faithful rifle, followed by his still more faithful wife and
ruddy children, and pushes westward beyond the pales of
civilization to re-enact former scenes of his life, and open
the way for civilization that follows in his track.
Though he has accomplished much for the world, pioneered
the way for the spread of science, literature and the spread
of the gospel, yet how soon he fades away in the memories of
those that come after him and begin where he has left off, and
carve out roads, build school houses, churches, lovely
palaces, adorn and embellish the country and make it an Eden.
Those who follow undergo for awhile similar disadvantages and
hardships to a greater or less extent. About the first of May,
1856, the writer, in company with John Barber, left Toledo,
Tama county, for Sioux City, in the northwestern part of the
state, on a prospecting tour. Much rain had fallen; the roads
were exceedingly bad; the streams much swollen. No bridges; no
ferry boats; no nothing in the way of public accommodations.
One making a trip at that time such a distance found it
necessary to go prepared for every emergency. Anticipating
what lay before us, we equipped ourselves with all the
necessary requisites for such a trip. A good span of horses
and wagon, well covered, bedding, provisions, ropes, chains,
tools, etc.; graded roads and bridges were heard of, but
seldom seen. During our trip frequent rains kept the roads in
a precarious condition, and our progress was very slow. Some
days the entire day's travel did not exceed five or six miles,
and at night, when we crawled into our wagon to seek a night's
rest, we somewhat resembled mud-turtles crawling under their
shells, the day having been spent in floundering through
sloughs, bottomless roads and swimming streams, as our jaded
team and tired limbs fully attested. It was not an un-frequent
occurrence to take our dinner on the opposite side of a
slough, where we had breakfasted, the time having been spent
in crossing or heading the slough. It was not unusual for the
wagon to mire down midway in a wide slough when the load would
have to be packed out upon our backs through water knee deep;
then a rope was attached to the end of the tongue, and the
horses on firm ground, the wagon was rolled out and repacked.
The oft repetitions of these trials gave room for web-footers
and take to water like some aquatic fowls. Dry feet were a
rarity. Some days a house was not visible. When one was
reached, we were most cordially received and a characteristic
of frontier life.
Webster City was finally reached; just beginning to
assume a business attitude. Two stores, a hotel and blacksmith
shop constituted its business houses. There were not, I think,
to exceed a dozen houses in the place. It was the business
center for some miles around. Its citizens were go-a-head,
energetic people, anticipating much for their youthful city in
the near future, which they have since fully realized, as it
now boasts of its thousands and a large annual increase of
business and population. Our wanderings from Webster City to
Ft. Dodge were exceedingly wearisome and monotonous. There
were no bridges right where the bridges ought to be. Many
miles of travel were necessary to get a short distance.
Arriving at Ft. Dodge we found the river considerably swollen
from recent rains, and rather unsafe to ford for those
unacquainted with the stream. Fortunately for us, we here met
Father Tracy, a Catholic priest, with an Irish colony from
Dubuque, on their way to St. Johns, Nebraska. They had crossed
the river and camped at the ford. On driving up to the ford
Father Tracy made his appearance on the opposite bank and
shouted to us which way to drive in crossing, that we might
avoid deep water and some large boulders. Fearing that we
might not follow his directions, he mounted one of his men on
a horse and sent him over to pilot us across. Sticks were
placed across the top of our wagon box and our goods upon
them, in order to keep dry. Our pilot was very careful in
leading the way, frequently looking back and giving us a word
of caution, while Father Tracy, quite solicitous for our safe
arrival, occasionally gave directions and words of
encouragement. We were soon on dry land, right side up in a
warm-hearted Irish camp, giving Father Tracy a hearty
tourniquet shake for his kindness in our behalf. Tents were
pitched, fires burning brightly, the ladies were preparing the
evening meal, while their liege lords were enjoying their
pipes and a social chat, and a score or more of young paddies
were making the woods reverberate with their childish sports.
The day not yet spent, we took leave of the kind father and
his flock and reached the banks of the Lizard river and camped
for the night. Our next point was Twin Lakes. One family lived
there who kept the stage station. There are two small lakes at
this place of nearly the same size, and connected by a small
channel of water. Fish appeared to be plenty, and we scooped a
good supply out of the channel with our hands as they were
passing from one lake to the other. They were quite an
accession to our table, as our stock of provisions was getting
low. Twenty miles more and we were in Sac City, the county
town of Sac county. About four houses, and big hopes for the
future, constituted the city. I am glad to know, at this time,
their hopes have been fully realized. Our meanderings next led
us to Ida Grove, in Ida county. Here we found one of the
inevitable Smith family and wife, sole occupants of the grove.
The exterior of their little cabin bristled with buck horns
and coon skins, the interior with skins of wild animals, and
other trophies of the chase common to the country. Home-made
furniture of the most economical character furnished the room,
while real estate scooped from the bosom of mother earth
furnished roof and floor. The surroundings had the appearance
of the abode of a formidable Nimrod. Night was preparing to
unroll her sable curtains, and we halted for needed rest. Our
host gave us a cordial invitation to share his cabin with him,
which we accepted. When the time for retiring arrived, we were
pointed to some clapboards (or shakes) lying on some poles in
one corner of the room, and were told to sleep there. We
spread our blankets on the rustic bedstead and turned in for
the night. Barber having been used to old-fashioned
Pennsylvania feather-beds, complained in the night of the
boards being hard on bones. Our host, who slept near by, being
awake, roared out, `"Turn the boards and try the other side."
Barber feared the other side might be a fraud, and declined
the advice.
"Night, like a wounded snake,
Drew its slow length along."
When gray-eyed morn peeped through the openings in the
cabin walls, we had lost all desire for a little more sleep
and a little more slumber, but acquired a very ardent
propensity for early rising. We were soon up and stretching
our aching limbs. Breakfast over, we moved forward toward our
place of destination.
On arriving at the west fork of Little Sioux river, we
found it on a high and slopping over, and impassable to ford.
We were not prepared for pontooning, but cross over we were
determined. Near by was an Indian canoe tied to a tree. We
soon held it by right of possession, and the work of crossing
commenced. Soon everything but horses and wagon were on the
opposite side. Horses were next, and swim over they must. One
of them being. higher than the other, we concluded to send the
smaller one first. A long rope was tied around his neck, the
other end carried over in the canoe by Barber. I forced the
animal into the water, while Barber pulled on the rope, so as
to guide him to good landing. It was a complete success. The
same method was used in crossing the larger horse, but not
with so much success, for when he attempted to rise on the
opposite bank where the first horse had passed out, his
forefeet sank in the soft earth so that he was unable to get
out of the water. After repeated exertions to get upon shore,
he yielded to discouragement and turned upon his side in the
water. After a short rest he was given his liberty, when he
swam to the shore from whence he came. A brief rest and he was
again urged into the water. When about midway the rope became
untied. The animal, finding that he had his liberty, started
up stream, making slow progress against the strong current,
which was very exhausting to him, and we all felt that he must
drown, when Ira Price, of Smithland, came up, and at a glance
took in the situation. Disrobing, he plunged into the hissing
stream, and swimming up to the horse, grasped the halter and
swam for the ford, pulling the horse after him. Another effort
was made to get him ashore, but with no better success. The
horse becoming completely exhausted, turned upon his side as
if disposed to make a side issue, and refused any further
efforts, as much as to say, "I give it up." I concluded to
make one more effort to save him from a watery grave. Taking a
long rope, I threw it around my shoulder and plunged into the
stream. Swimming up to his side, I secured the rope around his
body close to his forelegs, then climbing out, I hastily
harnessed the other horse, and hitching him to the rope,
directed Barber to pull on the halter. I started my horse,
when, to our surprise, out came the horse onto dry land as
slick as Jonah from the whale's belly. He was soon on his feet
nipping grass, as if nothing unusual had occurred. The wagon
was next to get over. Crossing over we tied our rope to the
end of the tongue and the box to the wagon, then rowing back,
all hands took hold of the rope and pulled the wagon over to
the bank of the stream, when the horses were hitched onto the
end of the tongue and drew it out. Loading up preparatory to a
start was now in order. While thus engaged, Thomas Macon, of
Oskaloosa, and a Mr. Greer, of Mt. Vernon, Iowa, drove up, on
their way home from Sioux City. We assisted them in crossing
Macon over safely. Greer, in floating his buggy across, had
tied his lines to the end of the tongue. They gave way when
the vehicle was in mid stream, and the last seen of the buggy
was one corner of the top as it rolled in the turbid water.
Mr. Greer was left with horses, trunk and other baggage, and
several miles from a house. After some deliberation he
requested me to take his baggage to Sioux City and forward it
to him by stage, which I did. Greer rode to a settler's house
on the Maple that evening. Next morning he returned in search
of his buggy, which he found some distance below the ford
caught in the top of a tree that projected out into the
stream. He got it out, found it but slightly damaged, hitched
on and went his way rejoicing.
We arrived next day in Sioux City with team much jaded
and ourselves worn out, having fully realized the
disadvantages, or some of them at least, incident to pioneer
life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RECENT
DEATHS.
HON. J. W.
WOOD, known throughout Iowa since its earliest history as
``Old Timber," died at Sully, Jasper County, Iowa, March 25th,
aged eighty-six years. He was the first attorney-general of
Iowa. He settled at Burlington at an early day, where he had
three children born in the same house, but in three different
Territories—the first having been born in the Territory of
Michigan, the second in the Territory of Wisconsin, and the
third in the Territory of Iowa. We hope to be able to publish
in an early number of the RECORD a biographical sketch of this
honored pioneer.
BENJAMIN
SWISHER, one of the earliest settlers of Johnson County, died
July 18th, 1885, at Minneapolis, Kansas, where he was
temporarily residing, aged 68 years. He was born in Ohio, and
in 1841 came to Johnson County, Iowa, settling in Jefferson
Township, where his energy did much to improve and beautify
the country, and where the purity of his life has left an
enduring impress upon the community he called neighbors.
ELIJAH
HALL, one of the pioneers of Pottawattamie County, died
recently at Crescent in that County, aged eighty-three years.
He came to Iowa in 1846, and first settled in Decatur County,
but removed to Pottawattamie County in 1860, and since that
time till his death has resided at Crescent.
CORNELIUS
CADLE, Sr., a native of New York City, and a pioneer resident
of Muscatine since 1843, died March 11, 1886, on his
seventy-seventh birthday, at the home of his son, Col.
Cornelius Cadle, Jr., Blocton, Alabama He was active in
religious work, and during the war lent an energetic and
effective hand in raising, equipping and caring for the Union
Volunteers in his county, giving the services of two of his
sons to the patriotic cause.
EDWARD
LANNING, born in New Jersey in 1810, died in Montana
Territory, March 15, 1886. He came to Iowa in 1838, and
settled in Johnson county, which has since been his home, till
a few years ago, when he removed to Montana. He was active and
laborious in the early development of the resources of Johnson
county, where he was highly esteemed. . |
