O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA. 201
the Des Moines
rapids, near the present town of Montrose. Those of the
Foxes were, one on the west side of the
Mississippi, just above Davenport,
one about twelve miles from the river, back of the Dubuque lead mines, and
one on Turkey river. The principal village of the Iowas was on the Des
Moines river, in Van Buren
county, where Iowaville now stands. Here the
last
great battle between the Sacs and Foxes and the Iowas was fought, in
which Black Hawk, then a voting man, commanded the attacking forces.
The Sioux had the northern
portion of this state and southern Minnesota. They were a fierce and warlike nation, who often disputed possession
with their rivals in
savage and bloody warfare; but finally a boundary line
was established between them
by the government of the United States. This
was by the treaty at Prairie du Chien, in 1825. This, however, became the
source of an increased number of
quarrels between the tribes, as each trespassed, or was thought to trespass, upon the rights of the other side. In
1830, therefore, the government created a forty-mile strip of neutral ground
between them, which policy proved to be more successful in the interests of
peace.
Soon after the United States
acquired Louisiana, the government
adopted measures for the exploration of the new territory, having in view
the conciliation of the numerous tribes of Indians It whom it was
possessed
and also the selection of
proper sites for military posts and trading stations.
This was
accordingly accomplished. But before the country could be opened
up for settlement by the whites it was necessary that the Indian titles should
be
extinguished and that people removed. When the government assumed
control of the
country by virtue of the Louisiana Purchase nearly all Iowa
was in possession of the Sacs and Foxes, at whose head stood the rising,
daring, intellectual Black Hawk. On November 3, 1804, a treaty was concluded with these tribes
by which they ceded to the United States the Illinois
side of the
Mississippi in consideration of two thousand three hundred and
thirty-four dollars worth of goods then delivered and an annuity of one
thousand dollars to be
paid in goods at cost; but old Black Hawk always
maintained that the chiefs who entered into that
compact acted without authority and that therefore the treaty was not binding. The first fort on
Iowa soil was built at Fort Madison. A short time before a
military post
was fixed at Warsaw, Illinois, and named Fort Edwards. These enterprises
caused mistrust
among the Indian tribes. Indeed Fort Madison was located
in violation of the
treaty of 1804. The Indians sent delegations to the
whites at these forts to learn what
they were doing and what they intended.
On being "informed" that those structures were merely trading posts they
202 O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA.
were incredulous and became more and more
suspicious. Black Hawk,
therefore, led a party to the vicinity of Fort Madison and attempted its
destruction, but a premature attack by him caused his failure.
In 1812, when war was declared between this
country and England,
Black Hawk and his band allied themselves with the British, partly because
they were dazzled by their promises, but mostly, perhaps, because they had
been deceived
by the Americans. Black Hawk said plainly that the latter
fact was the cause. A
portion of the Sacs and Foxes, however, headed by
Keokuk
("Watchful Fox"), could not be persuaded into hostilities against
the United States, they being disposed to stand by the treaty of 1804. The
Indians were therefore divided into the "war" and
"peace" parties. On
Black Hawk's return from the British
army he says he was introduced to
Keokuk as the war chief of the braves then in that
village. On inquiry as
to how he became chief, there were
given him the particulars of his having
killed a Sioux in battle, which fact placed him among the warriors, and of
his having headed an expedition in defense of their village at Peoria. In
person, Keokuk was tall and of stately bearing and in speech he was a genuine, though uneducated, orator. He never mastered the English language,
hence his
biographers have never been able to do his character justice. He
was a friend of the United States
government and ever tried to persuade the
Indians that it was useless to
try to attack a nation so powerful as that of
the United States.
The
treaty of 1804 was renewed in 1816, which Black Hawk himself
signed; but he afterwards held that he was deceived and that the treaty
was not even
yet binding. But there was no further serious trouble with
the Indians until the noted Black Hawk war of
1832, all of which took place
in Wisconsin and Illinois, with the expected result, the defeat and capture
of old Black Hawk and the final
repulsion of all the hostile Indians west of
the
Mississippi river. Black Hawk died in 1838 at his home in this state,
and was buried there, but his remains were afterward placed in a museum
of the Historical
Society, where they were accidentally destroyed by fire.
More or less
affecting the territory now included within the state of
Iowa, fifteen treaties have been made and an outline is here given: In
1804, when the whites agreed not to settle west of the Mississippi on Indian
lands; in 1815, with the Sioux, ratifying peace with Great Britain and the
United
States; with the Sacs a treaty of similar nature and also ratifying
that of 1804, the Indians agreeing not to join their brethren who under
Black Hawk had aided the British; with the Foxes, ratifying the treaty of
1804, the Indians agreeing to deliver up all prisoners; and with the low as a
O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA. 203
treaty of friendship; in 1816, with the Sacs of Rock River, ratifying the
treaty of 1804; in 1824, with the Sacs and Foxes, the latter relinquishing
all their lands in Missouri and that
portion of the southeast corner of Iowa
known as the "Half-breed Tract" was set off to the half-breeds; in 1825,
placing a boundary line between the Sacs and Foxes on the south and the
Sioux on the north; in 1830, when the line was widened to forty miles; also
in the same
year with the several tribes, who ceded a large portion of their
possessions in the western part of the state; in 1832, with the Winnebagoes,
exchanging lands with them and providing a school, etc., for them; also in
the same
year, the "Black Hawk Purchase" was made, of about six million
acres, also along the west side of the Mississippi from the southern line of
Iowa to the mouth of the Iowa river; in 1836, with the Sacs and Foxes,
ceding Keokuk's Reserve to the United States; in 1837, with the same, when
another slice of
territory comprising 1,250,000 acres adjoining west of the
foregoing tract, was obtained; also in the same year, when these Indians
gave up all their lands allowed them under former treaties; and finally, in
1842, when they relinquished their title to all their lands west of the Mississippi river.
Thus it has been shown how the white men came into possession of
that portion of Iowa in which O'Brien county is situated. The Indians were
all
gone before the first settlement was effected here, hence the pioneer here
did not have other trouble than a little scare and some cruel depredations
committed by the blood-thirsty Sioux when on the warpath from Smithland
and Cherokee to the scene of the awful massacre at Spirit Lake in April,
1857, and all of which took place in Waterman township. This is mentioned
elsewhere in this work.
On
reading of the horror of the Spirit Lake, or rather the West
Okoboji, massacre in 1857, the year following the coming of Hannibal
Waterman, or of the still worse deeds that followed at New Ulm in Minnesota, and when we recall that those same Indians were at Mr. Waterman's
but a few
days before, we may well wonder whether, had our county been
but a few years farther along in settlement, would not O'Brien county have
perhaps been the scene of like tragedies. It must be remembered that these
same Indians had, the fall before, in 1856, passed down from Minnesota
past Spirit Lake, through the neighboring Clay county, through Peterson,
with
stops at Mr. Waterman's, thence on to Smithland, as likewise several
detachments of them even down as far as Sac and other counties. It seems
now generallv conceded that on the road down they were friendly, but that
the citizens of Smithland acted unwisely in killing the game of the Indians,
204 O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA.
which
they had so laboriously corralled and expected to kill for their winter's
supply, and then when this was done, and the Smithland people became
frightened and took away their guns, the Indians passed through that terrible winter of 1856, with their savage idea of holding all white people individually responsible, it is scarce to lbe wondered at that the innocent victims
at
Spirit Lake suffered.
One incident occurred in Peterson which
perhaps contributed, though
probably no one was to blame. It seems that on the road down from Minnesota, one of the squaws got very sick at Peterson. Her company left her at
the home of old Father Bicknell. She was there a month and
got well. The
winter was
dreadfully severe. Food supplies had to be hauled from Fort
Dodge or Sac City. The question was serious. Even an addition of one
person in a family was serious. This squaw was told she must move on
and
join her people. She started to do so across the country. This, however, was no more than was often done by the Indian women. The snow
that winter was
unusually deep. Her bones or remains were found by the
Indians in the
spring on their road back to Minnesota. This enraged them.
One Indian was killed in
Clay county. This did not tend to preserve their
peace. Other items happened, as Mr. Waterman states in his narrative.
The Indians were not
wholly in the wrong. Luckily for the peace of O'Brien
county, Mr. Waterman was the only citizen and, though roughly used by
them, escaped, lucky even that he could "buy his own gun back." Thus it is
that the
specific Indian incidents directly relating to this county are meager,
from the one fact that there was but one citizen here. (See also the narrative of Mr. Waterman, and also the article on Prehistoric Fortifications and
Indian Burial Mounds in the
county.) The Spirit Lake massacre excited
the
people to that extent that Mr, Waterman was urged to move his family
to Peterson as a better protection not only to his family, but also as an aid
to the Peterson people.