By the Treaty of
Paris, concluded on April 30, 1803, France sold the
entire Province of Louisiana, which included the
present State of Iowa, to the United States. But
France had no power to extinguish the Indian title to
the lands, leaving that problem to be solved by the
purchaser. Before the United States could come into
complete and formal possession of the territory, it
was therefore necessary that some agreement be made
with the natives. In this connection it may not be
amiss to notice briefly the policies of the several
European nations claiming territory in America in
dealing with the Indians.
As early as 1529, when Cortez was commissioned
captain-general of New Spain, he received instructions
from the Spanish authorities "to give special
attention to the conversion of the Indians, and see
that none are made slaves or servants." Theoretically,
this was the policy of Spain, but when Bishop Ramirez,
as acting governor, endeavored to carry out the
instructions given to Cortez, he quickly discovered
that he was not to be sustained. Spain took the lands
of the Indians without compensation, leaving them what
the Spanish officials considered enough for a dwelling
place, and in numerous instances the Indians were
enslaved and compelled to work in the mines or on the
plantations.
It seems that France had no settled policy in dealing
with the natives. The early French trader cared little
for the land. When the French Government, in 171 2,
granted Antoine Crozat a charter giving him a monopoly
of the Louisiana trade, it was expressly provided that
the Indians and negroes living in the province were to
receive religious instruction, but no provision was
made for extinguishing the claim of the Indians to the
soil. In the establishment of the trading posts not
much land was needed and the trader and his retinue
lived with the Indians as "tenants in common."
Sometimes a small tract was cleared near the trading
post for the purpose of raising a few vegetables, but
the forests were rarely disturbed, leaving the Indian
in possession and his hunting grounds unmolested.
With England it was different. The English colonists
wanted to establish permanent homes and cultivate the
soil. Consequently title to the land was the first
consideration. In the early land grants made by the
English crown, Parkman says the Indian was "scorned
and neglected." In Lord Baltimore's charter to
Maryland was the provision giving the grantee
authority "to collect troops and wage war on
barbarians and other enemies who may make incursions
into the settlements, and to pursue, even beyond the
limits of their province, and, if God shall grant it,
to vanquish and captivate them; and the captives to
put to death, or, according to their discretion to
save."
William Penn's charter to Pennsylvania contained a
similar provision. After the settlement of the
colonies reached a point where the local authorities
were called upon to deal with the question, each
colony adopted a policy of its own, but that of
Pennsylvania was perhaps the only one based upon the
principles of justice.
The people who founded the Government of the United
States were either from England, or descendants for
the most part of English immigrants, and naturally
copied the English policy. Article 9 of the Articles
of Confederation — the first organic law of the
Federal Government — provided: "That Congress shall
have the sole and exclusive right and power to
regulate the trade with, and manage the affairs of the
Indians."
Under this authority Congress, on September 22, 1783,
issued a proclamation forbidding all persons to settle
upon the Indian lands. Then came the Constitution,
which superseded the Articles of Con- federation, and
the new organic law also vested the power in Congress
to deal with all matters arising out of the
Government's relations with the Indians. By the act of
March 1, 1793, Congress declared : "That no purchase
or grant of lands, or any title or claim thereto, from
any Indians, or nation or tribe of Indians, within the
bounds of the United States, shall be of any validity,
in law or equity, unless the same be made by a treaty
or convention entered into pursuant to the
Constitution."
The object of the founders of the Government in
adopting this policy was twofold: First, to prevent
adventurers from trespassing upon Indian lands,
thereby causing conflicts with the natives; and,
second, to establish a system by which titles to lands
should be assured for all time to come. Soon after the
Federal Constitution went into effect, the Government
began making treaties with the Indians. At firsr these
treaties were merely expressions of peace and
friendship, but as the white population increased the
Government negotiated treaties of cession for the
acquisition of more land, and the Indian was gradually
pushed farther and farther toward the setting sun.
When the Louisiana Purchase was made the white man was
looking with longing eyes at the broad prairies of
Illinois, and immediately after the ratification of
the Treaty of Paris a clamor arose for the removal of
certain Indian tribes, among whom were the Sacs and
Foxes, to the new domain. Accordingly, on November 3,
1804, Gen. William H. Harrison, then governor of
Indiana Territory, negotiated a treaty at St. Louis
with the chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes, by which the
confederated tribes ceded their lands east of the
Mississippi River to the United States, retaining the
privilege of dwelling there until the lands were sold
to actual white settlers, after which they were to
remove to the west side of the river.
This treaty was subsequently the cause of a great deal
of trouble with the Sacs and Foxes. It was then the
custom of these tribes to instruct their chiefs or
delegates to a treaty council in advance as to what
course to pursue, or afterward confirm their action by
a vote. It was claimed by some of the Indians that the
delegates to the St. Louis Council had no definite
instructions to cede the lands east of the
Mississippi, and a portion of the allied tribes, led
by Chief Black Hawk, refused to confirm their action.
Probably the first council ever held on Iowa soil
between a representative of the United States and the
Indians was in the latter part of August, 1805. On
August 9, 1805, Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike, with a
sergeant, two corporals and seventeen privates, left
St. Louis to explore the Mississippi to its head
waters. At the head of the Des Moines Rapids of the
Mississippi, where the Town of Montrose is now
situated, he held a council with the Indians and
addressed them as follows: "Your great father, the
President of the United States, in his desire to
become better acquainted with the conditions and wants
of the different nations of red people in our newly
acquired Territory of Louisiana, has ordered the
general to send a number of warriors in various
directions to take our red brothers by the hand and
make such inquiries as will give your great father the
information required."
No attempt was made to conclude a treaty, but at the
close of the council Pike distributed among the
Indians knives, tobacco and trinkets. Among the
Indians who attended this council were some who signed
the treaty at St. Louis the preceding November. Pike
seems to have been the first American with whom Black
Hawk ever came in close contact. Some years afterward
the old chief gave the following account of the
lieutenant's visit to Rock Island:
"A boat came up the river with a young chief and a
small party of soldiers. We heard of them soon after
they passed Salt River. Some of our young braves
watched them every day, to see what sort of people
were on board. The boat at last arrived at Rock River
and the young chief came on shore with his
interpreter, made a speech and gave us some presents.
We in turn gave them meat and such other provisions as
we could spare. We were well pleased with the young
chief. He gave us good advice and said our American
father would treat us well."
At the beginning of the War of 1812 part of the Sacs
and Foxes allied themselves with the British. Those
who remained loyal to the United States were induced
to remove to the Missouri River and became known as
the "Sacs and Foxes of the Missouri." Those who
remained in Illinois and Eastern Iowa were called the
"Sacs and Foxes of the Mississippi," and Black Hawk's
band was called the "British Band of Rock River."
Shortly after the conclusion of the war a number of
treaties were made with the tribes or bands that had
fought on the side of England.
On July 19, 1815, at a place called Portage des Sioux,
William Clark and Ninian Edwards, commissioners on the
part of the United States, concluded a treaty of peace
and friendship with the Sioux of Minnesota and Upper
Iowa.
At the same place, on September 13, 1815, the same
commissioners negotiated a treaty with the Sacs and
Foxes of the Missouri, in which the Indians reaffirmed
the Treaty of St. Louis of November 3, 1804, and
agreed to keep entirely separate from the Sacs of Rock
Rivei. The next day the Foxes met the commissioners at
Portage des Sioux and entered into a treaty
reaffirming the Treaty of St. Louis. They also agreed
to deliver the white prisoners in their hands to the
commandant at Fort Clark, where Peoria, Illinois, now
stands.
On September 16, 181 5, the chiefs and head men of the
Iowa Indians held a council with the commissioners at
Portage des Sioux and signed a treaty of "mutual peace
and good will." All the above treaties were ratified
by the national administration on December 16, 1 81 5,
and the commissioners then undertook the work of
negotiating a treaty with Black Hawk and his band. But
it was not until the following spring that the chiefs
and head men of the band could be persuaded to visit
St. Louis for the purpose of holding a council. n May
13, 1816, twenty-two of the leaders of the Rock River
Sacs entered into a treaty confirming that of November
3, 1804. One of those who signed, or "touched the
goose quill," as the Indians expressed it, was Black
Hawk himself, though subsequently he repudiated his
action on that occasion.
The next treaty that has any direct bearing upon the
history of Lee County was that of August 4, 1824,
which was concluded at Washington, D. C, where some of
the Sac and Fox chiefs had been taken at the expense
of the Government. By this treaty the Sacs and Foxes
relinquished all claim to their lands in the State of
Missouri. One provision of this treaty was as follows:
"It is understood, however, that the small tract of
land lying between the rivers Des Moines and
Mississippi and the section of the above line (the
northern boundary of Missouri) between the Mississippi
and Des Moines, is intended for the use of the
half-breeds belonging to the Sac and Fox nations, they
holding it, however, by the same title and in the same
manner that other Indian titles are held."
The treaty was ratified on January 18, 1825, and it
established the so-called "Half-Breed Tract," a
history of which is given later in this chapter.
About this time some of the tribes in Minnesota, Iowa
and Wisconsin got into a violent dispute as to the
limits of their respective hunting grounds and the
United States undertook the work of a mediator.
William Clark and Lewis Cass were appointed
commissioners to hold a council and, if possible,
establish a line that would settle the controversy.
Accordingly, a general council was held at Prairie du
Chien, Wisconsin, on August 19, 1825, in which the
Sacs and Foxes, Chippewas, Sioux, Winnebagoes,
Ottawas, Pottawatomies and some other tribes
participated. The treaty agreed upon fixed a line as
follows:
"Beginning at the mouth of the Upper Iowa River, on
the west bank of the Mississippi, and ascending said
Iowa River to its west fork; thence up the said fork
to its source; thence crossing the fork of the Red
Cedar River in a direct line to the second or upper
fork of the Des Moines River; thence in a direct line
to the lower fork of the Calumet River, and down that
stream to its junction with the Missouri River."
South of this line was to be the country of the Sacs
and Foxes and north of it the other tribes were to
have undisputed possession.
It was also provided that the Iowa tribe should be
permitted to occupy the territory south of the line
until some provision could be made for them, which the
Government was slow to do, and the Iowas became
dissatisfied and went to Southwestern Iowa, some of
them crossing the Missouri River.
It soon became manifest that the imaginary line
established by the treaty of August 19, 1825, was
insufficient to keep the tribes from trespassing on
each other's domain. Representatives of the tribes
that had taken part in the formation of the treaty
were therefore summoned to another council on July 15,
1830, at which the Sacs and Foxes and Iowas ceded to
the United States a strip twenty miles in width south
of the line and extending from the Mississippi to the
Des Moines, and the northern tribes ceded a strip
twenty miles wide between the same rivers. The tract
forty miles wide thus formed was established as a sort
of buffer between the tribes and was known as the
"Neutral Ground." It remained so until 1841, when it
was given to the Winnebagoes for a reservation.
At the same time and place the Sacs and Foxes, Iowas,
Missouris, one band of the Sioux, and the Omahas
relinquished to the United States all claim to the
land south of the Clark and Cass line of 1825 and west
of a line "drawn from the forks of the Des Moines
River, extending along the ridge separating the Valley
of the Des Moines from the Valley of the Missouri, to
the Missouri state line." This was the first cession
of land in Iowa to the United States. The tract ceded
was not to be settled by white men, however, but was
"to be assigned or allotted, under the direction of
the President of the United States, to the tribes then
living thereon, or to such other tribes as the
President might locate thereon for hunting and other
purposes."
In the meantime the State of Illinois had been rapidly
settling up and the lands of the Sacs and Foxes in
that state were demanded for actual settlers,
according to the provisions of the treaty of 1804. In
1828 President Adams issued a proclamation declaring
the lands opened to settlers and demanding that the
Indians remove to the west side of the Mississippi as
stipulated in the treaty. As a matter of fact, Keokuk
and his followers had removed to the west side of the
river, about two years before the proclamation was
issued, and established a village on the Iowa River,
the exact location being somewhat uncertain. Black
Hawk refused to vacate until the Government sold the
section of land upon which his village was situated.
He and his band crossed the river in 1830 and located
on the Iowa River, about two and a half miles from its
mouth. The removal was made "under protest" and the
old chief was far from being reconciled to the
situation. In the spring of 1831, with a number of his
braves and their families, he recrossed the river and
took possession of their old cabins and cornfields.
The white settlers appealed to Governor Reynolds, of
Illinois, who sent General Gaines to Rock Island with
a military force large enough to compel the return of
the Indians to Iowa.
The Black Hawk War
During the winter the Indians were compelled to
undergo severe hardships in their new homes. Their
houses were poorly built and provisions were scarce,
so that they suffered both from cold and hunger. In
this emergency Black Hawk fell under the influence of
Wa-bo-kie-shiek, "a bad medicine man," who advised him
to recross the river, ostensibly to visit the
Winnebagoes, and secure the cooperation of that tribe
and the Pottawatomies in an uprising against the
whites. The suggestion was accepted and on April 6,
1832, he again crossed over to the east side of the
river within plain view of the garrison at Fort
Armstrong, giving out the information that he was • g
om g t0 visit the Winnebagoes and join with them in
raising a crop of corn. His act was construed as a
hostile invasion, however, by the military
authorities, who feared that he would attempt to
recover his village on the Rock River. There is no
evidence that he made or intended to make any such
attempt and some of the settlers, knowing that the
Indians never took the war path accompanied by their
squaws, old men and children, expressed that Black
Hawk was on a peaceful mission.
Notwithstanding the fact that the settlers felt no
special alarm, Governor Reynolds called out the
militia to aid the garrison at Fort Armstrong in
driving out the invader and sent 2,000 men under
General Whiteside to that post. Major Stillman was
sent out with 275 mounted men to turn Black Hawk back.
This force came upon the chief and about forty of his
warriors some distance from where the main body of the
Indians were encamped. Black Hawk sent forward five
messengers with a flag of truce, to ask for a parley,
but Stillman's men opened fire and two of the
messengers were killed. The few warriors then took up
the fight Indian fashion, by concealing themselves
behind rocks and trees and picking off the white
troops. As Stillman's men were mounted they fought at
a disadvantage and in a little while were utterly
routed, abandoning their provisions, etc., in their
hasty flight.
Up to this time no depredations nor hostile acts had
been committed by the Indians. The killing of the two
warriors bearing the flag of truce was the beginning
of active hostilities. This occurred on May 12, 1832,
and during the next month some raids were made by the
Indians upon the unprotected settlers. But not all the
atrocities were committed by the members of Black
Hawk's band. A number of Winnebagoes and Pottawatomies
took advantage of the situation to kill and plunder,
though they declined to join Black Hawk and "fight
like men."
Immediately after Stillman's defeat volunteers were
called for and on June 15th there were three brigades
in camp at Dixon's Ferry, commanded by Gens. Alexander
Posey, Milton R. Alexander and James D. Henry. In
addition to these brigades, there were the regular
troops of Fort Armstrong, commanded by General
Atkinson, and the militia under General Whiteside. And
all this military array was deemed necessary to
overcome a little, half-starved band of Sacs and
Foxes, who had committed no more serious offense than
crossing the Mississippi River to visit their old
friends, the Winnebagoes, in order to raise corn for
food, for it is questionable whether or not Black
Hawk's intentions were really hostile. Capt. W. B.
Green,, who served in the mounted rangers, afterward
maintained that Black Hawk told the truth, when he
said that he was on a friendly visit to the Indians
farther up the Rock River, and that the war was
instigated by trader to whom the band was in debt, in
the hope of forcing the negotiation of another treaty
so that he could get his pay.
After the Stillman affair, General Atkinson being
between Black Hawk and the Mississippi, the chief
started for the Wisconsin River, intending to descend
that stream and recross the Mississippi. Early in June
Maj. Henry Dodge, with the Galena Battalion, joined
the forces at Dixon's Ferry. When it was learned that
Black Hawk was making for the Wisconsin River, General
Henry and Major Dodge started in pursuit. On July 21,
1832, the troops came up with the Indians at the
Wisconsin, about fifty miles above its mouth, and
Black Hawk was forced to make a stand until the women,
children and old men could retreat across the river.
With his few warriors he held the soldiers at bay
until the squaws constructed light rafts for the goods
and little children. These rafts they pushed across
the stream, at the same time leading the ponies. When
the noncombatants were out of danger on the other
side, Black Hawk sent half his fighting force over.
From the opposite shore these braves opened fire to
cover the retreat of the chief and the remainder of
his little army, who then swam across to safety. This
feat was accomplished with fewer than one hundred
warriors in the face of two brigades, with a loss of
only six men. Jefferson Davis, then with Major Dodge's
Battalion, afterward said:
"This was the most brilliant exhibition of military
tactics that I ever witnessed; a feat of most
consummate management and bravery in the face of an
enemy of greatly superior numbers. I never read of
anything that could be compared with it. Had it been
performed by white men it would have been immortalized
as one of the most wonderful achievements in military
history."
The last battle of the war was fought at the mouth of
the Bad Axe on August 2, 1832. Here all the white
troops were concentrated against Black Hawk. A
steamboat had been sent up the river from Fort
Crawford to prevent the Indians from crossing the
Mississippi. The force on this boat opened fire on the
red men in front, while from all sides the band was
assailed by the land forces. Notwithstanding the
inequality in the strength of the two armies, Black
Hawk held out against the great odds for about two
hours, hoping vainly for some fortunate turn in the
battle that would permit at least part of his people
to make their escape. Some even attempted to swim the
Mississippi, but the steamboat ran in among them,
capturing a few and drowning many more.
A soldier named Townsend, who took part in the
engagement, afterward described the action as follows:
"For eight miles we skirmished with their rear-guard
and numbers of women and children were killed. One
squaw had fallen with a child strapped to her back, as
Indian women always carry their children. The ball
that found the mother's life had hit and broken the
child's arm, and when the mother fell the child was
fastened between her dead body and the ground. When
the soldiers went to secure the child it was making no
moan, but was gnawing ravenously at a horse bone from
which the flesh had nearly all been eaten away; nor
did the child make any moan while the surgeon was
amputating its shattered limb. It sat and ate a hard
cracker, with as much indifference as if the arm had
been made of wood or stone."
After the Battle of Bad Axe, Black Hawk escaped to the
Winnebago Village at Prairie la Crosse. Through the
treachery of two Winnebagoes, he was delivered as a
prisoner to General Street, the Indian agent at
Prairie du Chien. His two sons were also captured and
held as prisoners of war. They were held in
confinement at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, until June
4, 1833, when President Jackson ordered their release
and placed them in charge of Major Garland, to be
taken on a tour of the country, in order that they
might see the greatness of the United States and the
futility of further war- fare against the white men.
When taken before the President, Black Hawk said:
"I am a man ; you are only another. We did not expect
to conquer the whites. They had too many men. I took
up the hatchet to avenge injuries my people could no
longer endure. Had I borne them longer without
striking my people would have said Black Hawk is a
squaw; he is too old to be chief; he is no Sac. These
reflections caused me to raise the war whoop. The
result is known to you. I say no more."
President Jackson presented Black Hawk with a sword,
"a gift from one warrior to another." A short time
before his death Black Hawk gave the sword to James A.
Jordan and it was afterward used by the tilers of
Masonic lodges at Iowaville and Keosauqua until the
Masonic Hall at the latter place was destroyed by fire
in 1871 or 1872.
The monetary cost of the Black Hawk war to the Federal
Government and the State of Illinois was about two
million dollars. The aggregate loss of life of both
whites and Indians was not far from twelve hundred.
The history of the war is of interest to the people of
Lee County because as its immediate result the treaty
of September 21, 1832, was negotiated. By this treaty
the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States "all
lands to which the said tribe have title or claim
included within the following boundaries, to wit:
"Beginning on the Mississippi River at the point where
the Sac and Fox northern boundary line, as established
by article 2 of the treaty of July 15, 1830, strikes
said river; thence up said boundary line to a point
fifty miles from the Mississippi, measured on said
line; thence in a right line to the nearest point on
the Red Cedar of Ioway, forty miles from the
Mississippi River; thence in a right line to a point
in the northern boundary line of the State of Missouri
fifty miles, measured on said line, from the
Mississippi River; thence by the last mentioned
boundary to the Mississippi River, and by the western
shore of said river to the place of beginning."
The territory included within these boundaries
includes the present counties of Dubuque, Delaware,
Jackson, Jones, Clinton, Cedar, Scott, Muscatine,
Louisa, Henry, Des Moines and Lee, and portions of
Clayton, Fayette, Buchanan, Linn, Johnson, Washington,
Jefferson and Van Buren. It embraces about six million
acres of Eastern Iowa and was known as the "Black Hawk
Purchase." It was taken by the United States as an
indemnity for the expenses of the Black Hawk war.
This treaty was concluded on the west bank of the
Mississippi, opposite Fort Armstrong, where the City
of Davenport, Iowa, now stands. Gen. Winfield Scott
and Governor Reynolds, of Illinois, were the
commissioners on the part of the United States and the
Sacs and Foxes were represented by the chiefs of the
Keokuk faction, Black Hawk and his two sons being at
the time prisoners of war. The treaty was ratified on
February 13, 1833, and on the first day of June
following the title was fully vested in the United
States and the lands opened to settlement.
One article of the treaty provided for a reservation
of 400 square miles, "to be laid off under the
direction of the President of the United States, from
the boundary line crossing the Iowa River, in such
manner that nearly an equal portion of the reservation
may be on both sides of said river, and extending
downwards so as to include Keo Kuck's principal
village on its right bank, which village is about
twelve miles from the Mississippi River."
The cession and reservation were surveyed by Charles
de Ward in October, 1835, and by the treaty of
September 21, 1836, the reservation was ceded to the
United States for $30,000 and an annuity of $10,000
for ten successive years.
By the treaty of October 21, 1837, the Sacs and Foxes
ceded to the United States 1,250,000 acres directly
west of the Black Hawk Purchase. This treaty was
ratified on February 21, 1838. The last treaty with
the Sacs and Foxes of Iowa was negotiated on October
11, 1842, at the Sac and Fox agency, by John Chambers,
commissioner on behalf of the United States. By the
terms of this treaty the allied tribes surrendered
title to all their lands in the State of Iowa and
agreed to be removed from the country at the
expiration of three years. Part of them removed to
Kansas in the fall of 1845 and the remainder followed
in the spring of 1846.
The Half-Breed Tract
Mention has already been made of this tract, which was
set apart by the treaty of August 4, 1824, for the
half-breeds belonging to the Sacs and Foxes. It
contained 1 19,000 acres, "lying between the Des
Moines and Mississippi rivers, and south of a line
drawn from a point one mile below Farmington east to
the Mississippi River, near the site of old Fort
Madison, and including all the lands lying between
said line and the junction of the said rivers."
Before any white settlements were made within the
limits of the present State of Iowa, white trappers,
traders and adventurers visited the Indian country
along the Upper Mississippi and its tributaries, many
of whom married Indian women and dwelt with the tribes
to which their wives belonged. The American Fur
Company established posts along the great river and a
majority of its agents had Indian wives. Julien
Dubuque, the founder of the city of that name, had an
Indian wife. Chevalier Marais, who is credited with
being the second white settler in Iowa, married the
daughter of an Iowa chief. Antoine Le Claire, one of
the founders of the City of Davenport; the trader
Lemoliese, who settled near Sandusky, Andre Santamont,
another French trader, and many others became "squaw
men." Some- times a soldier or officer of one of the
frontier garrisons would marry an Indian girl. A
notable instance of this kind was the marriage of Dr.
Samuel C. Muir, an army surgeon at Fort Edwards, to a
Fox maiden. A few of the children of these marriages
were given the advantages of the white man's education
and civilization, but the great majority of them were
reared among the Indians and adopted Indian customs.
It was for the benefit of such that the Half-Breed
Tract was established.
The territory once comprising the tract is all in Lee
County and includes the present townships of Jackson,
Montrose, Des Moines and Jefferson, practically all of
the townships of Charleston and Van Buren and that
portion of Madison Township lying south of Divi- sion
Street and its extension, Santa Fe Avenue, in the City
of Fort Madison. It may therefore be interesting to
the Lee County reader to know something of the
traditions of this tract of land, as well as its
history, particularly the accounts of how it came to
be established. It is claimed by some writers that a
half-breed named Morgan made such an eloquent appeal
before the Government commissioners in the treaty
council of August 4, 1824, for the rights of the
half-breeds, that the provision above mentioned was
incorporated in the treaty. Another story gives the
credit to Maurice Blondeau, a French trader, who for
years prior to the treaty had been a sort of mediator
for the Sacs and Foxes. Frank Labiseur, a stepson of
Andre Santamont, acted as interpreter at the council,
and afterward stated that his stepfather was largely
instrumental in securing the establishment of the
Half-Breed Tract. Still others are inclined to the
opinion that the provision was incorporated in the
treaty upon the recommendation of Dr. Samuel C. Muir.
Probably there is some truth in all these stories, and
the men named cooperated to secure the southern
portion of the present county of Lee for the
half-breeds.
Under the original grant, the half-breeds had the
right to occupy the land as Indians occupied the lands
of other reservations. They had no right to sell or
convey it, the United States holding a reversionary
right. In the fall of 1833 a meeting of half-breeds
was held at Farnum's Trading Post, within the present
limits of the City of Keokuk, and a petition to
Congress, asking for the passage of an act giving the
occupants the right to sell the land, was prepared and
signed by a large number of those present. Other
signatures were subsequently obtained and in response
to the petition Congress passed an act, approved by
President Jackson on January 30, 1834, relinquishing
the Government's reversionary interest and giving the
lands to the half-breeds in fee simple.
The passage of this act was the signal for the land
shark and real estate speculator to "get busy." Lee
County quickly became one of the most active real
estate markets in the country and the founda- tion was
laid for a vast amount of litigation. Says a writer of
that period: "A horde of speculators rushed in to buy
land of the half- breed owners, and, in many
instances, a gun, a blanket, a pony or a few quarts of
whisky was sufficient for the purchase of large
estates. There was a deal of sharp practice on both
sides. Indians would often claim ownership of land by
virtue of being half-breeds and had no difficulty in
proving their mixed blood by the Indians, and would
then cheat the speculators by selling land to which
they had no rightful title. On the other hand,
speculators often claimed land to which they had no
right. It was diamond cut diamond, until at last
things became badly mixed. There were no authorized
surveys, no boundary lines to claims, and, as a
natural result, numerous quarrels ensued."
One question the courts were called upon to decide was
who the half-breeds were who were entitled to the
land. The popular opinion as to what constituted a Sac
and Fox half-breed was that he was "a person half
Indian, but who did not wear a blanket." The act of
January 30, 1834, was not very specific as to the
manner in which the land should be divided and sold
and the liberal interpretation placed upon its
provisions led to the organization of several
companies to deal in the half-breed lands. The most
important of these were the New York Land Company and
the St. Louis Land Company, which were merged after a
short separate existence. Henry S. Austin, an attorney
of the New York Company, located at Montrose, with Dr.
Isaac Galland as the company's agent.
To rectify the omission of Congress, the Wisconsin
Legislature,, by an act approved on January 16, 1838,
required all persons claiming land by purchase under
the act of 1834, to file claims with the clerk of the
District Court of Lee County within one year, showing
how title was obtained. Edward Johnstone, David T.
Brigham and Thomas S. Wilson were named in the act as
commissioners to take testimony regarding said titles.
Any tract of land, the title to which was not passed
on favorably by the commissioners, was to be sold and
the proceeds divided among the half-breeds entitled to
receive the same. Two of the commissioners — Johnstone
and Wilson — qualified soon after their appointment
and spent the greater part of the next two years in
the work of unraveling the tangled skein.
In the meantime the Territory of Iowa was erected by
an act of Congress, and at the first session of the
territorial legislature the act of January 16, 1838,
under which the commissioners were operating, was
repealed. This complicated matters somewhat, as many
whose titles had received the indorsement of the
commission, found that the work of the commissioners
was invalidated by the repealing act. The new law also
prohibited the commissioners from drawing any
remuneration from the public funds for what they had
done, but provided that they might institute suits
against the land for their services. Suits were
accordingly filed in the territorial courts and the
entire tract of 1 19,000 acres was sold to Hugh T.
Reid, an attorney of Keokuk, for $5,773.32. Reid
received a deed executed by the sheriff of Lee County
and thereby became the largest land owner in Iowa. He
sold several small tracts to individuals, but in time
his title was questioned and he became involved in
litigation.
The subject again came before the territorial
legislature at the second session, when an act was
passed providing that settlers, before being
dispossessed under the sheriff's deed to Mr. Reid,
should be paid in full for any improvements they might
have made. Another act provided for the partition of
the tract and on April [4, 1841, the suit of Joseph
Spaulding et al. vs. Euphrosine Antaya et al. was
filed in the United States District Court for the
Territory of Iowa, asking for the partition of the
entire tract. Spaulding and his associates were
represented by Edward Johnstone and Hugh T. Reid, then
law partners, and it is said that the petition filed
by the plaintiffs was drawn by Francis Scott Key,
author of "The Star Spangled Banner," who was the
attorney for the New York Land Company. The court was
then presided over by Judge Charles Mason, of
Burlington, who on May 8, 1841, issued a decree for
the partition and appointed S. B. Ayres, Harmon Booth
and James Webster commissioners to divide the 119,000
acres into 101 tracts or shares, as nearly equal in
value as possible. Their report was received and
confirmed by the court on October 7, 1841, and it
constitutes the basis of title to all the lands in the
Half-Breed Tract.
The judgment of partition was sustained in a number of
appeals to the Iowa Supreme Court, but the sheriff's
sale to Hugh T. Reid still formed a cloud on the
title. This question was settled by the case of
"Joseph Webster, plaintiff in error, vs. Hugh T. Reid,
defendant in error," which was filed in January, 1846,
in the District Court of Iowa. The case was heard by
Judges Charles Mason, Joseph Williams and Thomas S.
Wilson, who decided that Hugh T. Reid was the owner in
fee simple of the land. An appeal was taken to the
United States Supreme Court and at the December term
in 1850 that tribunal handed down an opinion reversing
the decisions of the territorial and state courts.
This set aside the sheriff's sale to Reid and the
judgment of partition was sustained by the highest
legal authority in the country. Attorneys for the
various land companies and purchasers under the
sheriff's deed then quit-claimed for small
considerations and the question was settled for all
time to come.
With the treaties of 1832, 1837 and 1842, the removal
of the Indians to Kansas in 1845-46, and the
adjustment of the title question in the Half-Breed
Tract, the lands of Lee County became the prop- erty
of the white man. What were once the hunting grounds
of the Sacs and Foxes are now cultivated fields. The
whistle of the steam-boat on the great Father of
Waters has supplanted the war-whoop of the savage.
Indian villages have disappeared and in their stead
have come cities with paved streets, electric lights,
street railways, libraries and all the evidences of
modern progress. Where was once the old Indian trail
is now the railroad. The tepee has given way to the
schoolhouse, and the halls of legislation have taken
the place of the tribal council. The primeval forest
has disappeared and the giant trees have been
manufactured into lumber to build dwellings for
civilized man, or turned into furniture for his
comfort. And all this has been accomplished within the
memory of persons yet living. To tell the story of
this progress is the province of the subsequent
chapters of this history.
Source: History
of
Lee County, Iowa, by Dr. S. W. Moorhead and
Nelson C. Roberts, 1914
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