Sr&N
/Gc: 978.2 N27f v. 16
|Nebra5ka State Historical.
Society.
Publications of the Nebraska
State Historical Society
Compliments of the
Nebraska State Historical Society
CLARENCE S. PAINE, SECRETARY
7
COLLECTIONS
NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
VOLUME XVI
Nebraska State Historical Society
Volume 16 Plate 1
ASTORIAN MONUMENT, BELLEVUE, NEBRASKA
Mrs. Eliza L. Chaffee, a pioneer of Bellevue, stands at the left of
the monument
COLLECTIONS
OF THE
Nebraska State Historical
Society
Edited by
ALBERT WATKINS
Historian of the Society
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
The Nebraska State Historical Society
1911
VOLUME XVI
Allen County Public Library
900 Webster Street 4
PC Sox 2270
Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
EDITOR'S PREFACE
This volume is a departure from the plan of former
publications of the Society in two important respects.
Heretofore the minutes of the business transactions have
been incorporated with papers upon historical subjects in
the same book, while here the policy of printing the two
classes of matter in separate volumes has been inaugurated.
The second departure appears in the greatly improved
mechanical quality of the publication which is equal to
the best of its class. The presentation of the program of
the Astorian Centennial Celebration at Bellevue is a slight
deviation from the new plan, but the addresses printed
here are in the main of a historical character. The less
formal matter and the business proceedings of the Society
will be pubHshed separately.
Much of the data of the contributed articles in this
volume is based upon recollections of personal experiences
of the writers. While a large part of the most valuable
historical material comes from such sources, yet, obviously,
it needs careful checking by reliable standards, such as
public records and other accepted data. Accordingly the
editor has aimed to supply this need in frequent foot notes,
supplementary as well as critical. Some of these articles
have required radical re-formation. Our earliest history
is still subject to correction and amplification through data
which doubtless await discovery, when financial means are
afforded, in libraries at Washington, St. Louis, and other
only less promising places.
Albert Watkins.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Dedication of the Astorian Monument at Bellevue .... 1
Address of Mrs. Orbal S. Ward 2
Address of John Lee Webster, Presenting the Astorian Monu-
ment TO THE State 4
Address of Gurdon W. Wattles 6
Historical Significance of the Celebration
By Albert Watkins 15
Address of Chancellor Samuel Avery 31
The New World Movement
By President George E. MacLean . . • 35
Address of John Lee Webster 47
Early Days In and About Bellevue
By Edward L. Sayre 66
Kansas-Nebraska Boundary Line
By George W. Martin 115
Nebraska and Minnesota Territorial Boundary
By Albert Watkins 132
Territorial Evolution of Nebraska
By Albert Watkins 135
Reminiscences of the Indian Fight at Ash Hollow, 1855
By General Richard C. Drum 143
The Battle Ground of Ash Hollow
By Robert Harvey 152
The Last Battle of the Pawnee with the Sioux
By William Z. Taylor 165
The Indian Ghost Dance
By James Mooney 168
Some Side Lights on the Character of Sitting Bull
By Doane Robinson 187
The Early Settlements of the Platte Valley
By David Anderson 193
The First Catholic Bishop in Nebraska
By Rev. Michael A. Shine 205
CONTENTS — Continued
PAGE
Birth of Lincoln, Nebraska
By Charles Wake 216
English Settlement in Palmyra
By Rev. Richard Wake . 224
History of Fort Kearny
By Albert Watkins 227
Missionary Life Among the Pawnee
By Rev. John Dunbar 268
ILLUSTRATIONS
Astorian Monument, Bellevue Frontispiece
Dedication of Astorian Monument, Bellevue, Nebraska 47
Plat of Bellevue and ^Vicinity 69
General Richard C. Dnun 143
Map of Ash HoUow Battle Field 151
Sitting Bull (Tatanka lyotanka) 187
THE ASTORIAN MONUMENT AT BELLEVUE
On the 23d of June, 1910, the Historical Society
dedicated a monument which had been erected under its
auspices on Elk Hill at Bellevue, to commemorate the one
hundredth anniversary of the organization of the Pacific
Fur Company. The monument is of Wisconsin mahogany
granite, six feet and four inches in height; the shaft rises
five feet above the base, is three feet wide and ten inches
thick and bears the following inscription:
Commemorative of the Astorian Expedition organized
June 23, 1810, by John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company.
This Expedition discovered the Oregon Trail which spread
knowledge of the Nebraska country leading to its occupancy
by white people. The Fur Company was instrumental in
establishing the first permanent white settlement in Nebraska
at Bellevue.
Erected June 23, 1910, by the Nebraska State Historical
Society.
The cost of the monument — $275 — was defrayed by
private subscriptions, chiefly from citizens of Omaha,
South Omaha and Bellevue. The dedicatory exercises
were conducted at Bellevue in the afternoon and at Omaha
in the evening. Mrs. Oreal S. Ward, representing the
Daughters of the American Revolution, unveiled the
monument; John Lee Webster, president of the Historical
Society, then formally presented it to the state which was
represented in the ceremony by Governor Ashton C.
Shallenberger. The addresses at Bellevue follow.
(1)
ADDRESS OF MRS. OREAL S. WARD
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:
Two weeks ago today, in the city of Kearney, I had
the honor of unveiUng the first monument to mark the
Oregon Trail in Nebraska, erected by the Fort Kearney
Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. Mr.
Webster, President of the Nebraska State Historical Society,
was one of the honored guests and gave a most interesting
and eloquent address. On that occasion Mr. Webster
asked me why the Daughters of the American Revolution
.were undertaking this work. Perhaps the same question
is in the minds of many of you here today, and T will gladly
avail myself of this opportunity to answer it briefly.
Twenty years ago a small number of patriotic women,
realizing that historic landmarks and valuable relics and
documents relating to the early life and struggles of our
country were rapidly disappearing from view, organized
the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution
with the avowed object, expressed in its constitution:
"To peipetuate the memory of the spirit of the men and
women who achieved American independence by the ac-
quisition and protection of historical spots and the erection
of monuments; by the encouragement of historical re-
search . . .; and by the promotion of celebrations of
all patriotic anniversaries. ... To cherish, maintain, and
extend the institutions of American freedom, to foster true
patriotism and love of country, and to aid in securing for
mankind all the blessings of liberty." This is the object
that is being carried forward today by 75,000 patriotic
(2)
ADDRESS OF MRS. OREAL S. WARD 3
American women, the Daughters of the American Revolu-
tion.
The perpetuation of history and patriotism go hand in
hand, closely allied indeed. The mere desire to learn more
of your country's past, its heroes and statesmen, its great
battle fields, the victories on land and sea, springs from
a patriotic impulse. The interest with which we read or
listen to historical tales, the thrill of exultation over victories
and heroic deeds, are a manifestation of the patriotic pride
that lies deep in every American heart, whether we are
conscious of it or not. To be a patriot one does not neces-
sarily have to be a soldier or sailor and engage in actual
warfare. The brave hearted men whom we are com-
memorating here today fought their way foot by foot
against wild beasts and merciless savage foes; they endured
hunger, thirst, sickness; they faced death in many terrible
forms; they left the great trail lined on either side by
countless, nameless graves. These men were patriots and
heroes; they overcame the great western wilderness and
the trackless prairie; they left us this heritage : " Nebraska,
the beautiful garden spot of the West." And so, in erecting
these enduring monuments in loving memory and tribute,
we are performing a patriotic duty, not only to them and
to ourselves, but to future generations.
"I pledge allegiance to my flag and the repubhc for
which it stands: one nation, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all."
ADDRESS OF JOHN LEE WEBSTER, PRESENT-
ING THE MONUMENT TO THE STATE
Governor Shallenherger: The Nebraska State Historical
Society, assisted by the generous contributions of friends,
has caused this monument, which has been unveiled in
your presence, to be erected in commemoration of the 100th
anniversary of the Astorian expedition as appropriately
marking the beginning of Nebraska history.
It has been the instinctive thought of all people and
of all countries to erect monuments to designate the places
where important events have occurred and in commemora-
tion of historic movements. It was in the vicinity of where
the little city of Bellevue now stands that John Jacob
Astor's expedition, which came up the Missouri river,
stopped for a time to make explorations and there the
naturalists of the party went in pursuit of discoveries.
They were pleased with the beautiful landscape view,
with the high bluffs on either side of the river and with
the wide, spreading valleys beneath.
The State Historical Society has deemed it appropriate
to erect this monument at this spot not only in memory of
the John Jacob Astor expedition, but as the inception of a
civil movement by which pioneers and emigrants of American
blood and of American kindred moved westward across the
Missomi and took possession of this land, as Moses sent
his pioneers to explore the land of Canaan that the Israelites
might take possession of it.
From this historical beginning and within a period of
a century the state of Nebraska has been brought into
being and grown to her present immense proportions,
(4)
ADDRESS OF JOHN LEE WEBSTER 5
peopled with the best of America's noble men and women.
Without these historic beginnings the state of Nebraska
would not have a place in the Union and her cities would
never have been built; the Bellevue college, with its
hundreds of students coming from all parts of the state,
would never have been erected, and the high pinnacle of
ground upon which it stands would have remained as the
sentinel ground for the uncivilized aborigines of the prairies.
As our forefathers all along the Atlantic coast venerate
the memories of their earliest settlers, may we likewise
venerate those who in deed and spirit furnished the material
for the beginning of our state history. It will not be strange
if those who come a hundred years after our day shall look
back through the pages of history to ascertain what we
who are now here are doing on this occasion. It is fitting
that such lasting memorials of human struggle and progress
as this be cared for by the people; and so in this spirit
and hope the Historical Society turns this monument over
to the keeping of the state which is representative of the
people's will.
GOVERNOR SHALLENBERGER ACCEPTS THE
MONUMENT
Governor Shallenberger then accepted the monument
on behalf of the state in appropriate words, and he also
made an extended address at the exercises in the tent;
but these addresses are not published here because both
were extemporaneous and the stenographer who reported
them has inexpHcably neglected to transcribe his notes.
THE HISTORICAL ADDRESSES
The exercises were continued under a great canvas in
the city park where Mr. Webster made an introductory
speech and addresses were dehvered by Gurdon W. Wattles,
of Omaha; Albert Watkins, of Lincoln; and Governor
Ashton C. Shallenberger.
ADDRESS OF GURDON W. WATTLES
It is eminently fitting that this centennial celebration
should be held on these historic grounds. Bellevue may
be properly designated as the cradle of the settlement of
Nebraska. The tradition is that Manuel Lisa, viewing the
beautiful scene from these hills, gave it the name of Bellevue
and established a post here in 1805. It was here that
Major Pilcher, Andrew Drips, Lucien Fontenelle and
Peter A. Sarpy maintained from 1805 to 1840^ an outpost
of civilization which was at once the seat of commerce
between the Indians who inhabited this section and a
refuge for the few adventurous whites who had come to
trade or establish homes on the banks of the Missouri river.
This early trading post was the first welcome sign of civil-
ization to those returning from the wilderness that lay
beyond. It was here that Burt, the first territorial governor,
came; and but for his untimely death this would un-
doubtedly have been the first capital of the territory. It
was here that the first Presbyterian mission established in
» There was no permanent post at Bellevue until about 1820. For
remarks on this subject see foot note 3 of "Early Days In and About
Bellevue", this volume. — Ed.
(6)
ADDRESS OF GURDON W. WATTLES 7
the territory was established in 1841.2 The first court of
record was opened here by Judge Fenner Ferguson in
March, 1855.^ The first Republican convention met at
Bellevue in August, 1859.
It has been truly said that "God made the country,
but men make cities". It cannot be denied that Bellevue,
with its beautiful plateau, was designated by natui'e to be
the site of a great city; and but for the activity of the
early settlers in Omaha, this today would be the commercial
center of Nebraska, while Omaha would be a struggling
village. The future of Bellevue would no doubt have been
settled but for the death of Governor Burt. Again, its
future would have been fixed but for the change of plans at
the last moment in the building of the Union Pacific bridge
across the Missouri river. Bellevue may be poor in other
respects, but it is rich in historic importance in the annals
of our state.
We celebrate today the centennial of the organization
of the first commercial enterprise which had for its purpose
the establishment of trade relations between the Indian
tribes of the territory of the Louisiana Purchase and
citizens of the United States.-* On June 23, 1810, John
Jacob Astor, of New York city, signed the articles of in-
corporation of the Pacific Fur Company, and immediately
2 Mr. Wattles doubtless intended to say 1846; for September 2, of
that year, Rev. Edward McKinney, representing the Presbyterian board
of missions, arrived at Bellevue and soon after selected the site for the
permanent mission house which was constructed during the two following
years. Samuel Allis and John Dunbar began mission work at Bellevue,
among the Pawnee Indians, in 1834. See Illustrated History of Nebraska,
v. 1, p. 222; V. 2, pp. 253, 555, and foot notes.
' It is shown in the Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 1, p. 252, that
Mr. Poppleton's statement that the first session of a district court in
Nebraska, which began at Bellevue, March 12, 1855, was the first session
of a court of record in the territory, is incorrect, inasmuch as the supreme
court had a session at Omaha, beginning February 19, 1855. — Ed.
* As appears in the text just below, Astor's single, or at least prime
object, was to get a footing in the then debatable Oregon country which
8 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
thereafter began active preparations to build trading posts
in the then unknown region west of the Missouri river.
Mr. Astor was a German by birth, who had accumulated
a large fortune as a merchant in the fur trade of the Great
Lakes of the North. He conceived the idea of building at
the mouth of the Columbia river a central trading post
with many branches in the rich fur producing parts of the
great Northwest. To accomplish this purpose two ex-
peditions were started from New York in 1810, one by land
and one by sea.
It has been said that, "Truth is stranger than fiction".
The history of these expeditions is a recital of adventures
that surpass the wildest imagination of the novelist. The
ship sent around Cape Horn finally reached the mouth of
the Columbia river after a tempestuous voyage of nearly
a year. A part of the crew were drowned in attempting
to cross the bar at the mouth of this river, a part were left
to establish a fort at Astoria, and the remainder were
massacred by the Indians while anchored near the place
where the city of Victoria now stands. One of the partners,
seriously wounded, was able to reach the hold of the ship
and set fire to the powder magazine. Scores of savages
on board were killed by the terrific explosion which followed.
Thus ended in disaster the well laid plans for loading this
ship with furs in exchange for the merchandise it carried.
The expedition by land went by way of Montreal and
the Great Lakes and down the Mississippi river to St.
Louis, thence up the Missouri, passing in the spring of
1811 the place where we now stand. Hunting parties, sent
out onto the great stretches of prairie lands in this vicinity,
returned laden with deer, buffalo and antelope, which then
lay entirely beyond the Louisiana Purchase. Astor's Company did not
establish itself in the Missouri valley — that is, within the Purchase —
until the spring of 1822. See Chittenden's discussion of this topic,
History of the American Fur Trade, v. 1, pp. 311-320.— Ed.
ADDRESS OF GURDON W. WATTLES 9
roamed over these prairies unmolested save by the Indians,
who were the only inhabitants of this vast region. Seven
years earlier, Lewis and Clark, under commission of
President Thomas Jefferson, had journeyed up the Missouri
river, apprising the various tribes of Indians which they
met of the transfer from France to the United States of
the Louisiana Territory. Their journals record the fact
that they had found rich lands suitable for cultivation
along the western bottoms of the Missouri, where the
Indians were cultivating corn. The Astor explorers visited
the camps of the Pawnee and Omaha Indians and were
well received by these, the only inhabitants of the territory
which now constitutes Nebraska.' They found the Omaha
suffering from the results of a scourge of smallpox which
a few years before had ravaged their tribe of two-thirds
its number, including their able and famous chief. Black-
bird. They were shown the spot, on a high bluff overlook-
ing the Missouri, where this great chief had been buried
astride his favorite horse. Leaving the Missouri river at
the Arikari Indian village near the present northern line
of South Dakota, this expedition traveled by land across
the deserts of Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and Oregon,
finally reaching the Columbia river, which they descended
in boats, arriving at Astoria eleven months after leaving
St. Louis. The hardships they endured can hardly be con-
ceived by those who now ride across this country in four
days, surrounded by the comforts of home life.
Time will not permit a detailed account of the results
of the great plans that were laid by Mr. Astor for the
establishment of trading posts on the Pacific coast. Suffice
* The Oto and Missouri and the Ponca were also permanent settlers
at this time, the former on the Platte river, near the place where the bridge
of the Union Pacific railroad is now situated in Saunders county, and the
Ponca on the Niobrara river, near its mouth. See Illustrated History
of Nebraska, v. 1, pp. 33, 36; v. 2, pp. 192, 225.— Ed.
10 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
it to say that this enterprise was a succession of disasters
which finally resulted in its abandonment and the loss of
a million dollars to its promoter. Its only final practical
result was to lay the foundation for the claim by our govern-
ment to the great Oregon territory, which otherwise might
never have been a part of the United States. It is interest-
ing to note the comments and speculations of writers who
made a careful study at the time of the diaries of these
travelers. Washington Irving speaks of the vast plains
west of the Missouri river as follows: "Such is the nature
of this immense wilderness of the far West, which apparently
defies cultivation and the habitation of civilized life. Some
portions of it along the rivers may partially be subdued by
agriculture; others may form vast pastoral tracts, like
those of the East, but it is to be feared that a great part
of it will form a lawless interval between the abodes of
civilized men like the wastes of the ocean or the deserts of
Arabia." In 1858 the North American Review said of this
region: "The people of the United States have reached
their inland western frontier, and the banks of the Missouri
river are the shores at the termination of a vast ocean
desert over one thousand miles in width, which it is proposed
to travel, if at all, with caravans of camels, and which
interposes a final barrier to the establishment of large
communities, agricultural, commercial or even pastoral."
With such opinions of the trans-Missouri country,
which for many years were freely expressed by eastern
writers, it is not to be wondered that settlement of the
territory now comprising Nebraska was retarded. For fifty
years after the Louisiana Purchase but little progress was
made, so that in 1854, when Nebraska was admitted as a
territory, although its boundaries included the present
state and all of the Dakotas« and part of Montana, Wyoming
Only that part — about a half — west of the Missouri river. — Ed.
ADDRESS OF GURDON W. WATTLES 11
and Colorado, its white population was less than 1,000.
A few adventurers had settled along the western banks of
the river, and the landing places of steamboats had taken
the names of towns.
Among the first settlers were many speculators,
politicans and professional men, but few farmers. Terri-
torial warrants at thirty cents on the dollar, land scrip at
forty cents per acre, and town lots, were the early mediums
of exchange. Many state banks were chartered with almost
unlimited power of issue, but the panic of 1856 and 1857
destroyed these banks and made worthless the city lots,
so that these pioneers early learned the important lesson
that the real value of this new country was in the products
of the soil rather than in legislation or speculation. From
that time forward the land came into active demand, and
to this day it has been the source of all our growth and
progress.
To recite the history of the early settlements in Ne-
braska would deal with all the passions, the disappoint-
ments and the hopes of the human heart. Time will only
permit the mention of a single experience, which has its
counterpart in many other sections of the state. In the
summer of 1854 there came from Quincy, Illinois, a party
of twelve men seeking homes in the new territory of Ne-
braska. They settled at Fontenelle and later organized
and named Dodge county. Desiring to establish peaceable
relations with the Omaha Indians they waited on Logan
Fontenelle, chief of the tribe, and negotiated with him for
the purchase of twenty miles square of the rich lands
which surrounded the site which they had selected for their
settlement. Fontenelle asked them the "enormous" price
of $100 for this tract of land; but on being told that they
proposed to name the town Fontenelle and the nearby
stream Logan Creek, his heart was touched, and the price
was reduced to $10, which was paid by J. W. Richardson,
12 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the secretary of the settlers' club, and they then proceeded
to establish then* colony.
In July, 1855, a band of wandering Sioux Indians
killed two of their number. The wife of one of the murdered
men escaped, seriously wounded, and carried the informa-
tion of the attack to the settlement. The call to arms was
responded to by every member of the community, and
while the Sioux warriors immediately retreated, the fear
was imminent that they would return and again attack
the settlement. It was necessary that one of the colony
should be sent to Omaha for aid. The danger of this ride
across the prairies was great. It might at any moment
be terminated by hostile Indians concealed along the way.
A volunteer was called for. A. N. Yost, entryman of the
land where the city of Arlington now stands, then a young
man, stepped forward and mounting his father's best
horse started in the middle of the night on his perilous
ride. We have read in history and story of the ride of
Paul Revere, but it was accomplished with less danger than
was to be anticipated on this ride of Mr. Yost through the
uninhabited prairies that in 1855 lay for thirty miles
between Omaha and Fontenelle. The distance was traveled
that night with the speed of the wind, and the news of the
Indian massacre was brought to General John M. Thayer,
who immediately organized a company and marched forth
to protect the lives of the settlers and, if possible, punish
the Indians.
In the contests for the future life of Bellevue I hear
the voice of one man above all others, urging its cause;
and ever since that cause was lost the struggling interests
of this town have been nearest his heart. But for his
influence the college that stands on yonder hill would never
have been established nor maintained, notwithstanding the
fact that no more fitting place could be found on Nebraska
soil than this, the birthplace of the Protestant church in
ADDRESS OF GURDON W. WATTLES 13
Nebraska. Even in the closing years of his life Henry T.
Clarke, the pioneer, proudly maintains the title of "The
Father of Bellevue".
Other names of these early settlers, many of them
having passed to their future reward, come to me, and as I
close my eyes and think for a moment of the part they
played in the drama of life, I would that I could recall
them all and give only a word of praise to each so justly
due. Time will only permit the mention of a very few:
J. Sterling Morton, than whom no country new or old
could ever boast a more able, earnest, honest advocate;
Governor Thomas B. Cuming, that brillliant master of
men and affairs; George L. Miller, the "Father of Omaha"
and its most earnest and consistent advocate; General
John M. Thayer; Alexander Majors; Governor William
A. Richardson; Governor Alvin Saunders; Judge Eleazer
Wakeley; Edward Creighton; William A. Paxton; Robert
W. Furnas; Augustus Kountze; each and all, with hundreds
of others, who came in an early day to this new land to
wrest it from savage life and turn it to the uses of civiliza-
tion, played their part in one of the greatest transforma-
tions that has ever been accomplished in any country in all
history, a transformation which has changed a barren, un-
inhabited desert into a rich garden; that has increased the
wealth of this state in a period of fifty years to the incom-
prehensible sum of $3,000,000,000; that has established
business enterprises here with an annual income of $500,-
000,000. Great cities have grown as by magic; the pastures
of the elk and buffalo have been transformed into pro-
ductive farms.
The wresting from savage life of this great state and
the building and maintenance of standards of civilization
within its borders have done more to add to the sum total
of human happiness than all the great military conquests
of Napoleon, and though the officers and privates who
14 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
assisted in upbuilding a civilization here have given the
best years of then- lives and have died unknown and with
their deeds unrecorded, yet fortunate indeed is he who
has lived his life amid the stirring scenes of the building of
a state surrounded by the inspiring influences of progress
and life which cannot be found in the older countries of
the world.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE
CELEBRATION
By Albert Watkins
You and I, my friends, are now confronted with the
most difficult task of the day's ceremonies. It is my part
to dehver some fifty minutes of facts in less than half that
time and yours to receive them. In so far as "it is better
to give than to receive", I have the better of you. Not
that the story of the beginnings of Nebraska is inherently
dull; on the contrary it fairly throbs with dramatic in-
terest. No other field of exploration and early settlement,
I think, can match ours of the Nebraska country, in respect
to obstacles and hardships of the pioneers and the general
capacity, the dauntless courage, the pathetic fortitude
with which they conquered and endured them. Here is
an exceeding rich and as yet unworked field for the great
fictionist. Of the touching pathos of the Indian life, the
relations of the invading white people to it and their own
heroic failures and tragic triumphs there are
"Poems unwritten and songs unsung
Sweeter than any that ever were heard,
Poems that wait for an angel's tongue.
Songs that but long for a paradise bird".
When these deeds, far finer and more daring than
Othello's, are thus fitly told, Desdemona-like you'll love
the doers, "for the dangers they had passed".
My task is not alone positive, but in large part nega-
tive. A high authority has but just remarked that, "One
of the most important functions of the historian is to
correct the errors of previous historians. It is an endless
(15)
16 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
task. " The historical traditions and hterature of Nebraska
are naturally, still, plethoric of errors, partly because time
enough for their correction has not yet elapsed, and partly
through the extraordinary neglect of our earlier citizens to
obtain and preserve authentic records and oral accounts
which were within their easy reach. But the great Balzac
has found a consolation excuse which places us in a privileged
class. "To those who thoroughly examine the history of
modern times it is evident that historians are privileged
liars who lend their pen to popular beliefs exactly as most
of the newspapers of the day express nothing but the
opinions of their readers."
Why do we celebrate such an occasion at all? This
great and deeply concerned assemblage in itself answers
the question. In view of this wide and lively interest in a
purely historical ceremony animadversion upon the question
why we are here would lag superfluous. And yet some
brief reflections in that behalf will, I think, be both inter-
esting and useful. All peoples, alike in childhood and
maturity, are instinct with interest in the past. Not only
some of the greatest nations, but the greatest men in them
have from immemorial time formally reverenced their an-
cestry. In his recent address at Oxford University, Mr.
Roosevelt observed that more than ever before in the
world's history we of today seek to penetrate the cause of
the mysteries that surround, not only mankind, but all
life, — both the present and the past. "We study the
tremendous procession of the ages from the immemorial
past." Before the invention of writing or printing as we
know them the oriental ancients illustrated important histor-
ical events upon bronze, their most practicable method of
permanently preserving them. More aptly: the childlike in-
stinct of the savages whom we dispossessed when we ac-
quired this Nebraska Canaan had an extensive literature of
history in pictorial form which, if less minute, was more
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CELEBRATION 17
powerfully suggestive than our own printed pages. The
Sarcee Indians — a Canadian tribe — , for example, not
only have a comprehensive oral history, consisting of stories
of the most salient incidents of individual or social experience
repeated to one another and so transmitted from generation
to generation; but as occasion demands the people are as-
sembled to receive as a legacy from the oldest chiefs the
most important of these stories. At these formal history
harvests a stenographer is always present, and with colors
made from various herbs he paints the recitals in symbolic
characters on a smoothly tanned deer hide. All the history
of the tribe deemed worthy of foraial preservation is
recorded in this rude chirography. I suppose that this
history by natural selection is the best because it is what
the people want the most; and though, compiled in this
way, it is necessarily often very divergent from fact — as
much so, perhaps, as the generally accepted history of
earhest Bellevue — ; yet, for the same reason, it is the
truer to instinct and to typical or rounded-up life.
The history makers — or fakers — of this particular
tribe expatiate mainly upon three topics — the battles they
have fought, the scalps they have taken, and the horses they
have stolen; and they esteem the several branches of this
trinitarian career as about equally glorious. While the
impulses and manifestations of civilized history differ
little from those of savage annals, yet the contemporaneous
records of a civilized society furnish full, and fairly reliable,
source material; and, carefully read between lines, the
daily entries and commentaries of the press are safe indices
and correctives. The main difference between savage and
civilized classification is that the latter substitutes the
exploits of notorious politicians for those of notorious horse-
stealers — a distinction in manifestation more than of kind
or character. All the leading nations are today maintain-
2
18 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
ing schools at Athens to study with the inspu-ation of
closest communion, the most informing and fascinating,
perhaps, of all lessons in human history.
In his remarkable discourse on history Emerson said:
"There is one common mind to all individual men. Every
man is an inlet to the same and to all of the same. He that
is once admitted to the right of reason is made a freeman
of the whole estate. What Plato has thought, he may
think; what a saint has felt, he may feel. . . Who
hath access to this universal mind, is a party to al that is
or can be done. . . Of the works of this mind history
is the record. . . The world exists for the education of
each man. . . There is no age or state of society or
mode of action in history to which there is not somewhat
corresponding in his life. " And then the universal general-
ization: "Time dissipates to shining ether the solid
angularity of facts. No anchor, no cable, no fences avail
to keep a fact a fact. Babylon and Troy and Tyre and even
early Rome are passing already into fiction. *What is
history,' said Napoleon, 'but a fable agreed upon?' . . .
We are always coming up with the facts that have moved
us in our private experience and verifying them here. All
history becomes subjective; in other words, there is prop-
erly no history; only biography." And Carlyle: "Biog-
raphy is the only true history."
And another well-known writer, pleading for better
support of the American school at Athens and for its ex-
cavating enterprise — literally delving into the past —
observed: "All progressive peoples are interested today
as never before in origins of all sorts. " And then he makes
this peculiarly pertinent and practical point: "And since
the law of evolution has become the law of life, we realize
as never before that the past is not only the best prophet
of the future; it is the only prophet." This is scientific
verification of Patrick Henry's passionate plea for American
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CELEBRATION 19
independence: "I know of no way of judging the future
but by the past."
Seventy-five per cent of the books taken from our
public libraries are works of fiction. Why this overween-
ing interest in fiction? Because it is the history of typical
human life and therefore truer than history proper. It is
because human experience is generalized and illuminated
in the Iliad, the Odyssey and the Aeneid (the only love
story in Latin poetry); in Aeschylus, and Sophocles, and
Shakespeare, that they are already immortalized; and for
the same reason all great prose fiction is destined to become
alike immortal. Even more pointed, perhaps, in sentiment
and pathos, and certainly in aptitude, is the peroration of
a speech made to the president of the United States by one
of our Pawnee chiefs in 1820: "I know that the robes,
leggins, moccasins, bear's claws, etc. (presents to the
president) are of little value to you, but we wish you to
have them deposited and preserved in some conspicuous
part of your lodge, so that when we are gone, and the sod
turned over our bones, if our children should visit this
place, as we do now, they may see and recognize with
pleasure the deposits of their fathers, and reflect on the
times that are past."
For reasons already suggested, students of early
Nebraska history, in the present stage, know more, per-
haps, that they don't know than that they do know. As
early as the sixteenth century, probably. Frenchmen com-
ing over from the Canadian country learned something of
the upper Missouri valley. La Salle, passing down the
Mississippi in 1682, under the reign of "the grand monarch",
Louis XIV, claimed Louisiana for France "by right of
discovery". This right consisted of might — the power
of strong nations or peoples to appropriate without con-
sideration the country of weaker ones. We may not com-
placently say that this piracy was peculiar to uncivilized
20 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
times; for our own eyes have witnessed its climax in the
partition of Africa by and among the strongest of European
nations.
We know that in the eighteenth century Frenchmen
were famiUar with and estabHshed, at least temporarily,
trapping and trading posts along the Missouri river border.
Before the middle of that century they had traversed the
Nebraska country from east to west. As early as the
sixteenth century Spaniards coming up from the Southwest
had ventured into the plains country east of the Rocky
mountains. That the Latin race preceded other peoples in
the exploration and at least attempted colonization of the
vast interior of the North American continent may perhaps
be attributed to their superior imagination and religious
missionary zeal. It has been strongly contended that the
French had a much more comprehensive plan of coloniza-
tion than the English, that while the latter were content
with hanging on to the mere fringe along the Atlantic coast,
the former occupied a greater part of the Mississippi valley
with broad and practicable plans for its colonization; and
that the fact that this vast country, once within their
grasp, was lost to EngHsh speaking people is due, not to
lack of foresight or misjudgment but to the accident of
adverse European wars. "America", it is said, "was lost
in Europe. " This seems very far-fetched. It is juster and
more truthful, I think, to say that it became the particular
care of the more steadfast Teutonic or English race to see
to it that Latin holdings in America should be lost in
Europe. To "bite off more than one can chew" may not
be counted great or wise in a nation more than in an in-
dividual.
Boundaries in America were very indefinite when France
laid claim to Louisiana, and its limits were not well defined
until the next century. The Louisiana that America
bought fromji France in 1803, briefly and roughly speaking,
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CELEBRATION 21
comprised the territory between the Mississippi river and
the Rocky mountains, east and west, and the British
possessions and the Gulf of Mexico north and south.
Thomas Jefferson, at this time president of the United
States, was perhaps the most alert and perspicacious of
American statesmen. He at least is entitled to be called
the greatest American expansionist. January 18, 1803,
some six months before there was any particular thought
or prospect in America of our acquisition of Louisiana,
Jefferson sent a secret message to congress recommending
that an exploring party ^ — afterward known as the Lewis
and Clark expedition — should be sent out for the purpose
of promoting trade in the Missouri river country. Though
the Purchase had been secretly receded to France on the
demand of Napoleon in 1800, it remained in the actual
possession of the Spaniards until it was transferred to the
United States; and Jefferson expressed the hope that
Spain would take the proposed exploration in good part
and regard it, as he blandly said, "as a literary pursuit".
The expedition comprised forty-five men in all with
three boats; one of them a keel boat, fifty-five feet long,
drawing three feet of water, with twenty-two oars and a
deck of ten feet in the bow, while the stern formed a fore-
castle and cabin. The other two were perogues, large,
canoe-like boats. Keel boats were the principal vessels for
navigation of the rivers before steamboats came in. They
ranged in length from fifty feet to seventy feet and were
propelled by wind; by oars; by poling; by grappling
hooks attached at the ends of small saplings, by means of
which trees or other stationary objects were gi'asped, en-
abhng the men holding the other ends of the poles to shove
the boat forward; and by the cordelle which was a long
rope attached to a perpendicular mast placed in the bow
of the boat. Whenever it was convenient or necessary, a
large part of the crew would traverse sandbanks or the open
22 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
shore, dragging the boat after them by the cordelle. The
expedition followed the Missouri river to its headwaters
and immediately passed over the mountains and followed
affluents of the Columbia to that river, down which it
passed to its mouth. The party camped at "Whitefish
camp" on the Iowa side which, according to tha latitude,
41 degrees, 3 minutes, 19 seconds, was nearly opposite the
present mouth of the Papillion about five miles above the
mouth of the Platte. They remained there for rest and
lajring in a stock of oars, cut from ash saplings, from July
22 to July 28. From July 30 to August 3 they camped at
Council Bluff, which, according to the latitude taken — 41
degrees, 18 minutes, 1 second, was from ten to twelve
miles below the reputed site now occupied by the hamlet
of Fort Calhoun.
The return of the expedition in 1806 incited general
exploration of the Missouri valley and led to the formation
of companies with considerable capital for the purpose of
trapping and trading with the Indians. The two principal
organizations were John Jacob Astor's American Fur Com-
pany, organized in New York, and the Missouri Fur Com-
pany, organized the same year — 1808 — in St. Louis.
In less than twenty years the eastern company had driven
the western one out of business, just as eastern capital
continued to dominate and rule the west, at least until
comparatively recent years. June 23, 1810, John Jacob
Astor, promulgator of the American Fur Company, em-
bodied his great idea of invading the Oregon country, in
the organization of the Pacific Fur Company, the north-
western arm of the American Fur Company. It should
be noted here that occupation of the lower Missouri was
subordinate or incidental to Astor's main and only definite
purpose of establishing himself and American control in
the already disputed Oregon country. This is shown in
the sequel fact that his fur company did not establish
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CELEBRATION 23
itself on the Missouri until about twelve years after the
founding of Astoria on the Columbia river. ^ In this view,
however, the land expedition in 1811-12-13 was the fore-
runner of the Oregon trail and, incidentally at least, it led
directly to the continuous occupation of the Nebraska
section of the Missouri shore which projected into per-
manent settlement. In the fall of 1810 this company
sent out an expedition under the leadership of Wilson Price
Hunt, which wintered near the mouth of the Nodaway
river, now in Missouri, and started on its way up the river
in April, 1811. The expedition comprised about sixty men
with four boats, one a very large keel boat. All of the
boats were furnished with masts and sails. On the 28th
day of April, the expedition camped on the eastern side of
the river about three miles above the mouth of Papillion
creek, also for the purpose of laying in a stock of oars and
poles from the ash trees which Bradbuiy, the journalist of
the expedition, observes did not grow above this place.
This camp must have been near that of the Lewis and
1 Washington Irving, a protege of Astor's — with more than a smack
of toadyism — was no doubt as fully apprised of his patron's intentions
as anyone but himself, and he undertook to disclose them in Astoria,
his romantic history of the enterprise, "The main feature of his scheme
was to establish a line of trading posts along the Missouri and the Columbia,
to the mouth of the latter, where was to be founded the chief trading
house or mart. Inferior posts would be established in the interior, and
on all the tributary streams of the Columbia, to trade with the Indians;
these posts would draw their supplies from the main establishment, and
bring to it the peltries they collected." Accordingly two expeditions
were sent out, one by sea and the other by land. "The former was to
carry out the people, stores, ammunition, and merchandise, requisite for
establishing a fortified trading post at the mouth of Columbia river.
The latter, conducted by Mr. Hunt, was to proceed up the Missouri, and
across the Rocky mountains, to the same point; exploring a line of com-
munication across the continent, and noting the places where interior
trading posts might be established." Thus Hunt's main, and perhaps
only important, objective was to open a line of land communication with
Astoria which was to be founded at once with tributary posts; whereas,
posts along the route this side of the mountain divide "might" be estab-
lished.
24 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Clark expedition — perhaps on the same spot. On the
morning of the 29th Bradbury was sent across to the west
side, landing at or near the site of the subsequent Bellevue.
He walked northward along the high ground until the
boats overtook him in the afternoon. The party camped
that night fourteen miles below the post or "wintering
house" of Crooks and McClellan, which must have been
situated somewhat below the Council Bluff of Lewis and
Clark. Ramsey Crooks and Robert McClellan, two of the
most intrepid and celebrated of the early trappers and
explorers, had established this post in 1807. They were
picked up by the Astorian expedition at another post about
thirty miles below the fortieth parallel of latitude — now
the Kansas-Nebraska line — and continued with the ex-
pedition through to the Columbia river. It is practically
certain that there was no post at Bellevue at this time.
The Astorian expedition did not follow the route of Lewis
and Clark to the headwaters of the Missouri river, but
outfitted for an overland trip at the village of the Arikari
Indians at the mouth of the Grand river, now in South
Dakota, and a mile below the new bridge of the Pacific
extension of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad.
The expedition took a somewhat southwesterly course,
reaching, and following, the Wind river to the mountains
of that name, crossing over them to the Snake river and
following with some deviations the subsequent route of the
Oregon trail to the Columbia river and down that river,
founding Astoria at its mouth. They reached the mouth
of the Columbia in two parties early in January, and in
February, 1812. June 28, 1812, six of the members of the
expedition, under the lead of Robert Stuart, and including
Crooks and McClellan, left Astoria with dispatches for
New York. They followed substantially the line of the
Oregon trail, wintering on the North Platte river, just west
of Scott's Bluff. On March 8, 1813, they pursued their
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CELEBRATION 25
course down the Platte, stopping at the Oto village, then
situated a short distance from the present site of Yutan,
where they entered a canoe, passing in that down the
Platte and Missouri rivers to St. Louis. This expedition
therefore traversed the Oregon trail with the exception of
the great cut-off from Grand Island to its eastern terminal
at Independence, Missouri.
On the 2d of April, 1811, Lisa, head of the Missouri
Fur Company, moved in the main, perhaps, by fear that
this new arrival, the American Fur Company, might en-
croach upon their trapping and trading fields, and partly
perhaps by the ostensible desire to unite the two forces
the better to meet the hostile Sioux and Arikari, started up
the river in a keel boat with twenty oarsmen and "a good
mast and main and top sail"; according to Brackenridge,
journalist of the expedition, "the best boat that ever
ascended the river". There were twenty-five men in all
on board : there was a swivel mounted on the bow and two
brass blunderbusses besides. The boat was laden with
merchandise of all kinds. It was some twenty days behind
the Astorians, and Lisa put his well selected and very
skilful voyageurs to their utmost limit of endurance, bribing
them at intervals with the favorite drafts of whisky and
promises of more. Hunt's slower party, even with its great
lead, could not escape the vigilant Lisa, who not infre-
quently kept on his way along the snaggy river even in the
night, making sometimes as much as seventy-five miles in
twenty-four hours. The Astorians were overtaken just
beyond the big bend, about fifty miles this side of Ft.
Pierre. The mediatory offices of the two journalists were
called on to their limit to keep the two parties from hostile
combat. Lisa's party passed this place on the 11th of May.
On the morning of the 13th, Brackenridge significantly
says, they passed "the river a Boyer and the houses of
M'Clelland, who formerly wintered here"; additional evi-
26 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
dence that Crooks and McClellan had no post any nearer
Bellevue than this and that it was from ten to fifteen miles
above Omaha.
"Evolution is that process whereby organic forms are
changed during descent." Let us follow the descent. The
Missouri Fur Company sent an expedition of 150 men to
the upper waters of the Missouri in 1809. The powerful
and ferocious Black Feet Indians, who were the providence
of the Oregon trail, discouraged the attempts of these men
to gain permanent foothold there. Part of them retreated
and another part, headed by the intrepid Henry, crossed
the mountain divide in the fall of 1810 and estabhshed
Fort Henry on Henry's fork of the Snake river. This was
the beginning of the southern movement. In 1821 Pilcher,
who succeeded Lisa as head of the Missouri Fur Campany,
made another attempt at a foothold in the Black Feet
country, but was forced back. Ashley, leader of the Rocky
Mountain Fur Company, organized in 1822, was also
beaten back in 1823. By this time Henry was discouraged
about holding on to the upper Missouri and turned his
attention to permanent exploitation of the Green river
valley. In that year Provost made the important discovery
of South Pass. In 1824, Ashley conducted an expedition to
the lower fields along the regular trail except that he went
to Council Bluff and from there west up the Platte valley.
In 1830, his great lieutenants. Smith, Jackson and Sublette,
went west with a train of fourteen wagons — the first to go
to the mountains over the cut-off; that is, up the Little Blue
valley to its head, across to the Platte, following the river to
the mountains. In 1832 Bonneville also went over the cut-
off and took a wagon train over the South Pass, the first
wagons to cross the mountains. In 1832 Nathaniel Wyeth
went over the cut-off through to Oregon, but did not take
wagons over the mountainous part of the course. In 1836
Marcus Whitman, one of the intrepid winners and founders
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CELEBRATION 27
of Oregon, went almost through to the Columbia with a
wagon, thus demonstrating and illustrating the practicability
of a transcontinental road for all purposes. The Oregon
trail was now clearly outlined. It was thoroughly estab-
lished in 1842 by the aggressive Oregon emigration.
The Platte now becomes the thread and theater of
Nebraska existence. In 1844 William Wilkins, secretary
of war, recommended in his report that the Nebraska
country should be organized as a territory and that it
should be called Nebraska on account of the great river
which bisected it. Stephen A. Douglas immediately fol-
lowed up this first step by a second, in the introduction of
a bill for the organization of Nebraska. The passage of
the Nebraska bill. May 30, 1854, and of the Pacific railroad
bill in 1862, was the culmination of this evolution.
When Nebraska was first invaded by white people,
Indian occupancy was arranged with reference to the
Platte river. The Omaha were on the north side, extending
from the Missouri river west to Shell creek, now in Colfax
county. The Oto and Missouri were on the south side,
their country extending from the Missouri west as far as
the east line of the west tier of townships of the present
counties of Jefferson, Saline, Seward and Butler. The
Pawnee held the great central tract beyond the domain of
the Omaha and the Oto and Missouri as far west as the forks
of the Platte. The Cheyenne and Arapaho of the upper
Arkansas held from the Pawnee west. They were bounded
on the north and west by the North Platte down to its
source in Colorado and wholly embraced the south fork in
Nebraska and Colorado. The Shoshone and Bannock
backed the North Platte on the west throughout its northerly
course in Nebraska and Wyoming, meeting the western
boundary of the Sioux at the mouth of the Sweet Water.
The territory of this great nation bordered the North Platte
from the western limits of the Pawnee. By a succession of
28 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
treaties these Indian holdings in Nebraska were given up
to the United States, the last in 1876. This completed the
Indian evolution.
The settlement and politics of the territory and state
were fashioned about the Platte as a central thread. This
river, which at first was the base of organization, soon
became a positive repellent political force — between the
North Platte and South Platte sections. The division took
special form at first in the capital controversy which lasted
a dozen years and culminated in a South Platte victory
when the capital was removed to Lincoln in 1867. This
political and, in general, social division has been recognized
in some sort ever since but is gradually dying out. At the
present time it is little more than a reminiscence or a
nominal convenience.
Both Bellevue and the Oregon trail were institutions
and therefore were not created but grew. To assign the
beginning of these institutions to any particular date, man,
or influence would be like cataloging the milky way, or
fixing a birthday for the universe. "The doctrine of
special creations does not stand. " We celebrate at Bellevue
because here, as our monument recites, it may fairly be said,
was started the first permanent settlement in Nebraska.
We know, rather indefinitely, that trappers and Indian
traders squatted along the Nebraska shore of the Missouri
in the latter part of the eighteenth century. The Missomi
Fur Company was here some years before the American
Fur Company which did not estabUsh itself in this region
before 1822. Not far this side, or the other side, of 1830
the American Fur Company became firmly established at
Bellevue, and about the same time the Indian agency was
moved here from Fort Atkinson, which was abandoned as
a military post in 1827.^ These were the two great factors
2 For a more extended discussion of this topic see foot note 3 of
"Early Days In and About Bellevue", this volume. ^Ed.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CELEBRATION 29
that established Bellevue, and Peter A. Sarpy who came
up from St. Louis, perhaps as early as 1823, as a represent-
ative of the American Fur Company, was the connecting
link between the squatter period of the commonwealth and
its settled and more civilized development. The loss of the
same factors which gave Bellevue life, commercially de-
stroyed it. Soon after the organization of the territory in
1854, the Oto and Missouri and the Omaha Indian tribes
were removed to their reservations. The agency followed
over to the Oto and Missouri reservation on the Blue river
in 1856, and to the present Omaha reservation in 1857.
The capture of the capital by Omaha in 1855 gave that
place strength and courage to gain the eastern terminus of
the Union Pacific railroad. Bellevue had hopes until the
choice of the site for the bridge across the Missouri river
was decided in favor of Omaha and against the vicinity of
Bellevue in 1868. The growth of South Omaha immediately
in its rear has left to Bellevue little more than the distinction
of being the most beautifully situated hamlet within the
state.
The poets have anticipated our every sentiment and
fancy; so I now speak out of the mouths of two of the
greatest of these prophets.
"While the ploughman, near at hand,
Whistles o'er the furrowed land,
And the milkmaid singeth blithe,
And the mower whets his scythe,
And every shepherd tells his tale
Under the hawthorne in the dale.
Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures
Whilst the landskip round it measures:
Russet lawns and fallows grey
Where the nibbling flocks do stray;
Meadows trim with daisies pied;
Shallow brooks and meadows wide;
Towers and battlements it sees,
Bosomed high in tufted trees."
30 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
(Here the speaker waved toward the distant eastward
range of wooded hills, described in Bradbury's journal).
"Sweet smiling village, loveliest of the lawn,
No (Thy) sports are fled nor are (and all) thy charms with-
drawn;
Amidst thy bowers no (the) tyrant's hand is seen
Nor (And) desolation saddens all thy green."
This was the dread alternative: If Bellevue had not
remained Bellevue it must have become Omaha — the
evolutionized trading post; or, perhaps, more specifically,
South Omaha, the modern mammoth charnel house. Look
on this picture and then on that, ye of little faith in
the eternal truth of compensation, in 'he ultimate triumph
of poetic justice — though the grosser or material right be
continually denied, — and doubt no longer that behind a
frowning providence God indeed hides a smiling face.
I am sure that, encompassed by this prodigality of Nature's
charms, traditional South Platte feud quite forgets its
humor, so that we of that section anticipatively rejoice
with the increasing thousands who, sensible of the enchant-
ment which the greatest practicable distance from our
commercial capital — of necessity their business-hour camp-
ing — lends to real living, will establish homes at this
veritable "belle vue" reserved by a merciful but mis-
apprehended providence, — a calm, a sure retreat from
Omaha.
THE EVENING ADDRESSES
Following are the addresses delivered at the evening
exercises in the Brandeis theater, Omaha, by Chancellor
Avery, President MacLean and Mr. John L. Webster.
ADDRESS OF CHANCELLOR SAMUEL AVERY
However historians may differ in regard to the exact
date of the first permanent settlement in our state, the
anniversary exercises today may be regarded as commem-
orative of the one hundredth anniversary of a distinct
landmark in the settlement of the West. The organization
on June 23, 1810, of the expedition by the Astor Company,
resulted, as the inscription on the momument so well states,
in a spread of the knowledge regarding the region com-
prising our state among the people farther east. Therefore,
without quibbling over the exact historical facts as to
early settlements, we may by common consent consider
this the birthday of the civilization which now exists in the
state, and we may regard our present achievements as the
result of a hundred years of development, slow for the
first haK century, exceedingly rapid in the latter.
Those who indulge in the pleasure of tracing out the
remote history of states and institutions generally find
that from the earliest beginning there is usually a period of
very slow development; later when development has fairly
started it often proceeds with almost meteoric swiftness.
Thus Harvard University has made more visible advance-
ment in the last twenty-two years than in the previous
250 years of its existence. So Nebraska history may be
divided into the following sections: The period of exceed-
(31)
32 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
ingly slow and obscure settlement from 1810 to the organ-
ization of the territory in 1854; the continued, more rapid
settlement and the founding of the institutions of the
commonwealth from this time to its admission as a state in
1867. Next, the period of rapid settlement and the oc-
cupation of the best agricultural lands, the building of
railroads and the founding of cities, from the early 70's to
the end of the 80's, when this development was checked
by the general hard times of the country; and, finally,
from the end of the 80's to the present time — a period
which represents the systematic, orderly growth of the
state as a whole, the consolidation of business and in-
dustrial enterprises, the accumulation of wealth and, per-
haps, of importance to the future, the development of a
state pride and a state consciousness.
It would be inappropriate and unfair to the eloquent
and learned gentlemen whom I shall have the pleasure of
introducing, if I, as the presiding officer of this meeting,
were to encroach to any great extent upon their time. But
appreciating most highly the honor which has been con-
ferred upon me by the committee in asking me to preside
on this anniversary occasion, I cannot allow the opportunity
to pass without presenting to you one of the thoughts which
is almost always with me: what will the coming years
mean to our state — what will be its future development?
Will the state mean to us and those who come after us
simply so much territory in the center of the Union? Will
it mean to us simply a political organization, or will the
word Nebraska convey to us the thought of certain ideals?
In other words, are we continuing to develop a state con-
sciousness, a state patriotism, and a state pride? Mr.
Roosevelt has, I think, made it popular throughout the civil-
ized world to preach a Httle on occasions like this; and so it
is perhaps not unfitting that I follow, as best I may, his
illustrious example. It seems to me that if we as citizens
ADDRESS OF CHANCELLOR SAMUEL AVERY 33
are to work out the destiny of this glorious state in a manner
best conducive to her interests, "Nebraska" must signify
to us certain high ideals; and if we, as citizens, do not
cause her to attain to these ideals, Nebraska, with her
wealth of soil and sunshine, will miss her greatest oppor-
tunity. The first thing, it seems to me, that we should
stand for in Nebraska is a spirit of good will, a spirit of
helpfulness, and a spirit of cooperation throughout all parts
of the state. I have seen in the Pacific Northwest com-
munities of wide extent without, in my judgment, more
than a fraction of the natural wealth and resources which
we have, lifted into national prominence and into regal
prosperity through the spirit of cooperation, mutual helpful-
ness, and confidence which the inhabitants maintain for
one another. In that country, too, we have seen an example
of a city standing unselfishly for ideals. When the state
university of Oregon was assailed by the uninformed, the
selfish, the narrow-minded and the bigoted and an attempt
was made to nullify the legislative appropriation through a
referendum called by these various forces, the university
was saved to the state and to the country through the noble
generosity of the queenly city of Portland. I believe that
if occasion should ever occur in Nebraska, as I hope it
never may, it would call forth a similar act of devotion
on the part of the metropolis, that the same splendid
altruistic spirit would be shown towards any or all of the
established enterprises that are working for the advance-
ment of the state.
Every right-minded citizen of the state of Nebraska
should honor the memory of those early settlers who, with
their farsighted view into the future, laid the foundations
of this splendid commercial city. It is right and proper
for us to idealize business; and we ought, for state patriotic
reasons, to foster, so far as we can, the growth and develop-
ment of this city, and of every city, and of every legitimate
34 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
enterprise within our borders. We ought especially to be
on oui' guard that there is no spirit of discord or bickering,
or of strife, or enmity between the various parts of our
commonwealth.
In concluding, then, as to the future of our state,
permit me to indulge in the prediction that long before
the two hundredth anniversary of the event we celebrate
today shall be observed, Nebraska, even more than it does
at present, will present a spirit of unity and cooperation
throughout the state, from Falls City to Crawford; from
Dakota City to Benkelman; from Omaha to Scott's Bluff.
The name Nebraska will suggest to all who may hear it
thoughts of the stability of our commercial houses, the
integrity of our business men, the soundness of our edu-
cational institutions, the excellence of the products of our
soil, the technical skill of our manufacturers. It will be
synonymous with permanency, honor, and peace. These
are the ideals of things which I think we may hope to
attain more completely in the next century of our progress,
and in so far as we have already attained them, can we
especially felicitate ourselves on the results of the century
which closes tonight.
THE NEW WORLD MOVEMENT
By President George E. MacLean
Mr. Chancellor, Mr. President, Your Excellency, and Nebraska
Neighbors:
I was interested in a statement in the advertisement
of this meeting that there would be cold air here — not
hot air. (Laughter) I was immediately reminded of the
little boy who was asked after coming from church what
the text was. It was, as you know, the familiar, "Many
are called, but few are chosen"; but the boy, perhaps with
a premonition of meteorological conditions here tonight,
answered , * ' Many are cold but few are frozen . ' ' The warmth
of the welcome here makes me feel that it is well to ad-
vertise cold, and not hot air, and that few will be frozen.
The cordial words of the chancellor remind me that
indeed he and I were "freshmen" together; he as an in-
structor and I as an executive, and I learned then that
"A" stood not only for Avery, but it stood for an "A No. 1 "
trustworthy man. (Applause) Chancellor Andrews suc-
ceeded me, and there was another man whose name began
with A, and he also was "A No. 1". But dearest to us,
surely, is this first chancellor, as far as I know, in the trans-
Mississippi region who came up out of the state institution
over which he presides. Generally we have been imported
from the far East, as Regent Whitmore and I, for example,
were imported from Massachusetts to this Mississippi valley.
It was thought that you fast people needed something to
moderate you, hence these importations from Massachusetts.
But I congratulate you that the time has arrived when you
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36 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
can supply your own leaders, and I see in it a sign of a
new and prosperous era.
It is recorded that the gentlemen of the committee
invited to this celebration certain residents of Iowa as well
as the people of Nebraska. They invited in particular
people from Pottawattamie and Mills counties; and I noticed
that they invited from Glenwood as well as from Iowa City.
In short, they invited from the two towns in Iowa related
to peculiar educational institutions — the one at Iowa City
for higher learning and the one at Glenwood for the feeble-
minded; or perhaps I have it mixed, as you may think
before I conclude. This query is a sign of a new era, because
we have learned today that nothing must be lost, and that
even the feeble-minded have possibilities in them and that
they are to be cared for under the aegis of these imperial
states of ours. Then again, at the time you are celebrating
there were frequent forays from Nebraska upon the part
of the Osages into the land of the lowas; and just about
one hundred years ago from this date the Osages returned
from a successful foray into Iowa and brought back seven
scalps. I hope there are at least seven of us here tonight
from Iowa, and you know the pride of all of us in these
magnificent middle western states.
It has been my privilege now for twenty-six years to
be in Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa. Magnificent,
mastodonic Minnesota; new, enchanting Nebraska; idyllic,
ideaHstic Iowa — three beautiful sisters in the sisterhood
of states at the heart of the continent promising leadership
for the country.
And so I am brought to the subject which I have
chosen, "The New World Movement in this Middle West".
Very properly President Roosevelt in one of his great
addresses in Europe, celebrating the oncoming anniversary
of the one hundredth year of the University of Berlin, took
for his subject the "World Movement"; but we have
THE NEW WORLD MOVEMENT 37
something newer, and, if it be possible, something fresher in
the "New World Movement" in this new or middle West.
The phrase "world movement" meant something in
the English people's language when the great Chatham
framed the policies for England in 1763, after the British
troops and our forefathers had overcome the French and
made it to be true that this continent should be dominated
not by the French but by the EngHsh. Chatham laid out
the glorious world policy for England that finally brings
it about that he who is to be crowned King of England
takes his oath not only as King of England and of Great
Britain, but as an emperor with dominions over the seas.
So our Teutonic blood has been prepared among English
speaking peoples for a world movement, a new movement
to federate under the great idea of Teutonic civiHzation of
"freedom, equality and enlightenment", in the phrase of
the immortal Jefferson, the various nations of the world.
In 1763-4 Captain Jonathan Carver of the British
army, seeing that now the English and not the French
were to rule this continent, proposed an expedition to the
Pacific coast, and in 1774 aided secretly by the British
government, such an expedition was organized to go to
the Pacific coast to make the empire of Britain under
Chatham's world policy continental in the new hemisphere.
But the revolution, brought on in part by the foolish King
George the Third, for a time shattered the progi-essive
policies of the great Chatham and the common people of
England, and so the expedition to the Pacific coast of
Jonathan Carver never went through.
But in 1787 the thirteen colonies, now independent
states, the war of 1776 having concluded in 1783, found it
necessary to provide for the great Northwest Territory
that belonged to Virginia and in which several of the new
states, even like Connecticut, had claims. But Washington,
who had gone to Pittsburg through the wilderness, and the
38 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
other fathers of the republic became conscious that there
was a back land, a hinterland, more mighty than the
Atlantic brim, that the original states controlled. And so
in 1787 they adopted the great ordinance for the govern-
ment of the Northwest Territory, and with wonderful
foresight made it possible, without any statehood jealousy,
that imperial states should be carved out of that territory
having the same sovereignty and privileges as those states
that had fought for the great cause of freedom.
Jefferson, as early as 1790, was already planning for
something beyond the Mississippi. He then had in view
something upon the Pacific coast. He was secretly. nego-
tiating with Spain in order that the new republic should
not be hedged in upon its western border, and in order that
there might be freedom of access to the great mouth of
the Father of Waters. Already the merchants of Boston,
those shrewd New Englanders, had an eye on the Pacific
coast, gathering in the furs, trading with China and in the
course of two or three years returning with their goods
again to old New England. In 1792 there were not less
than twenty-one American ships upon the Pacific coast
doing business; and in that year Captain Gray of Boston
discovered the great river Columbia and gave it its happy
name. What wonder then that secretly a statesman like
Jefferson, prompted by the progress of commerce, began
to think of the Pacific coast. To be sure Jefferson had not
as yet risen to the full vision. He spoke of the possibilities
of an Atlantic confederacy and of a Pacific confederacy
"bound to us", he said, "by ties of blood and of common
interest, and of one family". Not yet was the thought
that there should be one grand republic, but a Pacific
republic and an Atlantic republic, with this great Meso-
potamia as the dividing country.
In 1792 Washington was interested in this movement
towards the Pacific. In 1798 old John Adams of Massa-
THE NEW WORLD MOVEMENT 39
chusetts was again looking for the government to do some-
thing to help break through to the Pacific, as the British
government had planned in 1774. And in 1802, Jefferson,
then president, despite his conservative idea that the best
government was that which governed the least, started to
negotiate secretly — as Gallatin advised him that it
should not be a pubHc message — with Congress for an
expedition to the Pacific. As you all know, in 1803 the
great Napoleon was approached by the ambassador from
this country to buy up this land that we know as the
Louisiana Purchase. It was sold for a song, partly because
the party of the first part was in need of ready cash, but
more because that all-wise Napoleon was playing a game
to down England. He said to himself, "If the United
States, so recently in opposition to England, and which I
want to stay for all time in opposition to England — if
the United States can have that country it will make a
balance of power inimical to England by which we of
Europe may hold her in subjection." So diplomacy began
with this mighty country here, as yet a wilderness, so full
of possibihties for the ultimate story of the nations.
We all know about the Lewis and Clark expedition of
1804, — that Jefferson sent as soon as we owned the country,
and that he had planned to send earlier. With wonderful
heroism they followed up the Missouri and on through to
Oregon. They made it possible for later expeditions like
the Astorian in 1810, and finally in 1835 and 1836 for
Marcus Whitman, the missionary of his country as well as
of the cross, to claim Oregon for the United States.^ Thus,
1 The Pacific Fur Company was organized for tliis northwestern
undertaking in 1810, but the expedition started from its winter camp,
near the mouth of the Nodaway river, about twelve miles above the site
now occupied by the city of St. Joseph, Missouri, on the 21st of April,
1811. Marcus Whitman first went to Oregon in 1836 as a missionary
to Indians, and again with the great colony of 1843. His part in securing
Oregon for the United States has been exaggerated. — Ed.
40 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
ultimately, it was brought about that Great Britain, which
had been conniving through her great fur traders, should
not come south of what we now know as the north line of
Washington.
The "New World Movement", then, began in 1763,
and it was a continental movement that, pivoted upon
this Mississippi and Missouri valley, swung to the Pacific.
It is a movement as full of romance as the original new
world movement of 1492 in which there was a woman at
the center, the glorious Queen Isabella; just as in this
latest world movement there was an Indian woman, that
guide of Lewis and Clark's, Sacajawea, to whom we have
erected at last a monument. She led the white people
through the land of her fathers to the Golden Gate. The
glory of this new world movement appears in that it was
not a movement of pirates, or of men going simply to get
furs, or jewels, or gold ; but it was a movement of families.
That grand old German thrift by which the man took the
hausfrau with him, and wandered through the forests of
Europe and conquered it, made this new world movement
also a movement of families.
Today it exhilarated me to meet one of your first settlers,
who came up from Kentucky, — from that land where the
English had broken over the mountains under the lead of
brave men like Boone — and is still on the same farm
where his father settled with him in 1854. He told me how
they came with the prairie schooner, with three pairs of
oxen and the whole family of seven; and I said, "Were you
not afraid?" "Oh, no," he replied, "the Indians were
reasonably friendly, and there were little places all along
beginning from Keokuk as we went across Iowa until we
came to our settlement on the Missouri river. "
In our Iowa state house we have a magnificent paint-
ing. It is not like the classical paintings of old, with some
half draped goddess in the center, some idealization of
THE NEW WORLD MOVEMENT 41
humanity, but in the center there is a prairie schooner
with the oxen in the foreground, and the pioneer with his
whipstock raised, and the little children trotting along,
the cattle following, and the prairie all blooming with the
beautiful flowers of our western prairie. (Applause)
This new world movement has then a high significance.
First it meant freedom for all the land, true to the legend
on the old Liberty Bell: "Proclaim liberty throughout all
the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." As the people
of Iowa in 1844, though the act had passed congress, would
not accept admission to the Union, because their border
did not go from the Mississippi to the Missouri, because
they would be an imperial state; so in Nebraska, in 1867,
you as a territory, having everything from the 40th parallel
away to the Canadian border, and to the summits of the
Rockies, a space out of which five states have been carved,
would not stay your hand until you swept well on to the
Rockies, while you let go of the frozen northlands. It
was that spacious spirit of freedom that was abroad in
1776. That spirit of freedom was, however, " constitutional",
that is with clipped wings. The constitution of the United
States was a compromise, purposely indefinite because of
the slaves in the South. But the great Jefferson was for
early emancipation of the slaves, and wanted not only a
land of freedom from the Atlantic to the Pacific, but free-
dom from slavery in the southland.
This new world movement was different from all the
great national movements of the old world where there was
ever slavery at the beginning, until England, rather late
and foremost of all, passed an act which read, " No slavery
upon British soil." And so we had freedom in this world
movement but without equality; the black man not upon
an equality with the white man. This new world move-
ment therefore had to go forward through conflict with
the great John Marshall interpreting the constitution for a
42 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
strong central government that looked towards ultimate
equality and absolute freedom. And finally, as you all
know, in 1854 when you were admitted as a territory there
was a culmination in the Kansas-Nebraska bill of the
conflict that had gone on since 1820, the time of the Mis-
souri compromise with reference to slavery. That bill made
it possible for popular sovereignty, as the great Stephen A.
Douglas called it, to decide whether a state should be slave
or free. Then it was that this new world movement had
a fresh impetus from dear old New England, when in Boston
the free state men went to work.
In the museum of the State Historical Society of the
university at Iowa City is John Brown's cannon. That
cannon he left when he went on to Harper's Ferry because
it was too inconvenient to take it. But that cannon was
cast in Boston and sent out by the free soil men of Boston
to John Brown with which to fight that Kansas might be
settled by lovers of free men and that Kansas and Nebraska
should not be slave states.
In this crisis in the new world movement Nebraska
had her part. And old Iowa, then relatively old, for
decades count like centuries in these western states, old
Iowa stood forth as the first free state in the Louisiana
Purchase, committed to no slavery within her borders,
helping Kansas and Nebraska to be settled by free men.
And that great stiniggle in Illinois, the great debate between
Douglas and Abraham Lincoln, was precipitated as we
all know by this focusing of the interest. Douglas, grand
man, had ever since 1844 annually introduced into congress
a bill for the admission of Nebraska, and that Nebraska
was to go away to the Pacific coast, for he too saw the
vision of the whole land, settled for America. But he had
to compromise, and offered popular or squatter sovereignty,
and he prevailed, as we know, in 1854. But it worked the
THE NEW WORLD MOVEMENT 43
beginning of the going down of his sun, and the rising of
that of Abraham Lincoln.
And so, in 1854 and 1855, things worked rapidly. In
the old capitol, the administration building today of the
state university of Iowa, in 1856 the free soil party, known
as the republican party, was organized, and in this state
in the next year you organized this party that was to be
against slavery. ^
The new world movement marches on. We come to
see that not by votes, nor by diplomacy, nor by com-
promise — because God's righteousness in the end is
exact — but by the arbitrament of fratricidal war must
the settlement come. And this world movement in 1861
revealed to all the earth a new factor in civilization. The
South and old England expected that the South would
prevail. They had counted up carefully the population of
the older states, but they failed to reahze that Iowa, then
a state young and little thought of, would send seventy-
eight thousand men to fight for the freedom of the slave
and the preservation of the Union. They failed to see
that territorial Nebraska with only thirty thousand in-
habitants would send in 1861 and the years right after
3,307 men to fight against the South. And these new
middle western states held the balance of power in the
field of battle. And out of the great West came the leaders
Hke Grant; and the world's history turned upon a new
pivot; and for the first time the Middle West in this new
world movement had its significance to all the world.
(Applause)
And so equality was established in 1865, or with the
emancipation proclamation in 1863, as liberty or freedom
had been established in 1776 to 1783.
- The first meeting or convention for organizing the republican
party in Nebraska was held in Omaha, January 18, 1858. — Ed.
44 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
What of this new world movement today? Is it of
history past? Are we now to be commonplace? Are we
now simply to make our millions? The Spanish-American
war in 1898 brought about a coalescence of the old ideal of
continental freedom with that of equality beyond domains
pertaining to us, and for which in no way we were re-
sponsible. And we could not bear that there should be
atrocities under the old empire of Spain in Cuba; so a new
thing was soon among the nations; namely war, not to
exploit, not for conquest, not for addition to the country,
but for humanity. War, simply on the basis of fraternity
of humanity. (Applause)
And then we withdrew from Cuba and proved to the
prophets of evil that we were sincere as a nation. Today
the American eagle spreads his wings from Porto Rico to
the Philippines, and we know that it is not for imperial
exploitation of weaker nations. In fact the missionaries
had taught us that nations thrive by unselfishness in
bearing the burdens of the weak, even as individuals thrive
when they rise into a spirit of fraternity with their brother
men. International fraternity is the culmination of the
new world movement, but the end is not yet.
I remember that this dream was in ail of us in a state
of half consciousness in our great use of the word "Amer-
ica". Many years ago when I matriculated in a German
university the registrar asked me what my nationality was,
and I answered proudly as a youngster, "America". With
the politeness that can never be equaled by a Frenchman,
and that a German sometimes has, he said, "From North,
South, or Central America?" (Applause) I thought I
would answer him and I said, "North America" with a
tone of finality. He said with exceeding politeness, "From
British North America, or from the United States of
America?" At last I had learned the name of my country,
and I said with humbled pride, "From the United States
THE NEW WORLD MOVEMENT 45
of America." (Applause) We had appropriated the
whole hemisphere as Americans years ago. It was in om*
blood and in the veins of Jefferson and Washington, and
so on down the line. And now we are realizing that there
is the Pan-American Congress, not for the subjection of the
peoples of the republics of Central or South America, but
for the federation of them. That is the Monroe Doctrine
which has been carried out on this hemisphere for republics,
for freedom, for equality, for fraternity.
And the very culmination of this new world movement
that had its first scene in this magnificent valley, and that
we by our representatives are doing so much to carry
upward I got some vision of last month at the Lake Mohonk
sixteenth annual peace conference. It has been thought
that the people who went there were sentimental dreamers,
that they could hardly exist peaceably under the vigorous
regime of the "big stick". But I discovered that that
conference was made up of people of such common sense
that the old Quaker who presided said: "The millenium
is not. It seems that there are people of violence, and they
are liable to be about us for a long time, and we must have
a navy, and an army, and we want them to shoot straight
when we have to do up those bad men. " I think that was
pretty good peace doctrine.
But what was the vision?: because this is an old and
singular view of the peace movement. The vision sprang
from this: Mr. Scott, by direction of Mr. Knox, the secre-
tary of state, made the first official announcement to the
conference at Lake Mohonk, that the secretary had sent
an identical note to all the great powers proposing that
there should be a permanent arbitral court of justice, into
which all nations should go with all cases. Mr. Taft had
advanced beyond Mr. Roosevelt in proposing that we shall not
exempt questions of honor. Citizens take their cases that
have to do with honor into courts, and nations are simply
46 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
great aggregations of citizens. The proposition that justice
shall be administered through an international permanent
court has been considered favorably by most of the leading
nations of the world. It is likely that the next Hague
conference will prepare the way for the establishment of
this supreme court of all nations for all international causes,
and war in civilization will be no more. (Applause)
This would be the final outcome of this new world
movement that we in this Middle West have furthered as
no other people. We have these great states with differing
interests, but the mother states on the Atlantic seaboard
had the unselfish policy. They and we have learned,
despite our occasional blustering about the East and the West,
that there is no longer any genuine sectionalism, that our
larger interests are common, though they may vary about
some items in the tariff. And it is not as it was in this
state as late as 1896, in those terrible times of drought
succeeding the panic, that we are bitter against the East.
Today the East joins with the West in the admission
of the last two continental states, there was no quarrel as
to what would be the balance of the power in the United
States senate. And he who wrote the "Winning of the
West"; — he who had the rough riders at the wedding
ceremony of his daughter and waived to them in the gallery;
he has brought home to the East a sense that the West is
contributing many leaders to the Atlantic seaboard today.
And the men of the East come west and soon drop the New
England lingo and are as good westerners as those born
here. This is the new Americanism with a new inter-
nationalism that takes up the isles of the sea, as little
drops in the bucket, in the interest of ultimate federated
republics the world 'round and universal peace.
We cross the prairies, as of old
The Pilgrims crossed the sea;
To make the West, as they the East,
The homestead of the free.
ADDRESS OF JOHN LEE WEBSTER
Nebraska is a part of that vast plain between the
Missouri river and the Rocky mountains, which, in an
ancient geological period, was the bottom of an ocean.
This inland sea extended from the Gulf of Mexico on the
south, to the lake region on the north. In the strange
climatic changes which took place, this plain had its trop-
ical period, when vegetable forms flourished and animals
lived which are now only found in Africa and South America,
and some of which are extinct, belonging to the medieval
world. In revolving time, other changes occurred and the
regions of Arctic cold came where the tropical zone had
been. The glaciers came down from the north and spread
their deposits all over the vast plain from the mountains
to the river. Following these geological and climatic
changes there afterward came the great American desert
when little sand dunes were seen everywhere, and the
parching sun dried up the vegetation.
A century ago the nation stretched out its hand into
this desert, and created a fertile soil, and peopled it with
America's noble men and women, who have erected homes,
and school houses, and churches, and built towns and cities,
and established marts, and created commercial arteries,
until it has become a granary of the world and a garden of
beauty. It is this Nebraska which today celebrates the
one hundredth anniversary of the Astorian expedition,
which appropriately marks the beginning of its history.
The changes of conditions, from the time when this
land rose up from the bottom of the sea, to become again
buried under the glacial deposits, are no less wonderful
(47)
48 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
than the transition from the American desert to this paradise
of states that has come within the one hundred years since
the event which we are assembled to commemorate.
The reaching out of the hand of the nation into this
desert brings to our minds reflections upon the awakening
of the great West from its primeval sleep of countless ages
to welcome and receive the pioneer and the emigrant, when
the great spirit of the Indian tribes, their God Manitou,
was to give way to the persuasive influence of the mis-
sionary priest with the cross in his hand, and the Christian
religion, and the white man's God.
On the 23d day of June, 1810, in the city of New York,
John Jacob Astor and his associates signed the articles of
agreement creating the Pacific Fur Company, and which
provided that an exploration party, which starting from
St. Louis, should -ascend the Missouri river, explore its
regions and afterwards cross the mountains and uplands
to the Pacific coast.
The purpose of John Jacob Astor and of his exploring
party was not one of conquest. It was not one of idle
adventure. It was not one of discovery. It was not one
of geographical exploration like that of Lewis and Clark.
It was one prompted by business and commercial principles.
It was to open up trade with the roving inhabitants of the
country. It contemplated the establishment of fur trading
stations, with the expectation that with these would come
emigrants, the building of homes and the peopling of the
country. It was within the contemplation of John Jacob
Astor that what he planned would be the beginning of the
establishment of civil society, and the physical develop-
ment of the country.
To appreciate the fulness of the purpose in the mind
of John Jacob Astor we should have a reasonably fan-
understanding of the environments of the times and of the
political and social and commercial conditions that prevailed
in 1810.
ADDRESS OF JOHN LEE WEBSTER 49
The United States, all told, then had less than seven
and one-half millions of people. They were clustered along
the Atlantic seaboard. Their western settlements were
but a fringe on the borders of the Mississippi. The mental
vision of Astor spanned the continent.
Henry Clay was just beginning his appeals to the
American people for the vindication of American right to
free ships upon the seas, and which were followed by the
war of 1812. But Clay had no conception of the pos-
sibilities of the lands west of the Missouri river, and the
war with England was the death blow to Astoria.
It then took longer to go from Boston to New York
than it now takes to go from Boston to San Francisco.
The Missouri river was then farther from these eastern
cities than the Atlantic coast is from China today.
Abraham Lincoln was then a poorly clad toddling babe
on the soil of Kentucky, and it was fifty years before he
developed to an appreciation of the necessity of a trans-
continental railroad.
James Madison was president of the United States,
but he and his associates who framed the constitution,
which in this later age spreads like a canopy across the
American continent, did not know as much of the country
west of the Missouri river as our school children of today
know of the regions surrounding the north pole.
Thomas Jefferson was living in retirement at Monti-
cello. While he gave encouragement to the enterprise of
John Jacob Astor, which would establish settlements upon
the Pacific coast, it was with the thought that they should
be of our people, of our blood, of our kindred, and who
should establish for themselves the right of self-government
but they were otherwise to be wholly unconnected with
the United States of America.
Irving said of Astor: "He considered his projected
establishment at the mouth of the Columbia as the em-
4
50 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
porium to an immense commerce; as a colony that would
form the germ of a white civilization; that would, in fact,
carry the American population across the Rocky moun-
tains and spread it along the shores of the Pacific, as it
already animated the shores of the Atlantic." What
John Jacob Astor began has made it possible for the present
and all future generations living in the West to realize and
enjoy the political, social, religious, educational and com-
mercial advantages which flow from the very highest order
of our modern civilization, and all a part of the American
republic.
It was in 1810 that Simon Bolivar, the George Wash-
ington of South America, began that long period of revo-
lutionary war which ultimately resulted in the overthrow
of Spanish and Portugese rule in our southern hemisphere
and in the establishment of numerous independent republics.
In 1810 Napoleon was still carrying his warfare over the
face of Europe; and it was two years thereafter before he
began his fateful retreat from Russia after the burning of
Moscow. But in our country, and west of the Missouri
river, a different kind of warfare was to be begun and
carried on for a century. It was to wage a war against the
deserts on the plains, the forests on the mountains, and to
settle there a better civilization than there was in Europe
or South America.
We, here today, may contemplate what millions of
men have been employed in this warfare of settlement and
of migration; what billions of money have been employed
by way of improvements, and in rewarding the process of
development; what farming districts, and what workshops,
and what railroads have been created in the wilderness;
what cities, with their busy thousands of inhabitants, have
been built in what was once the solitude of these primeval
lands; what states have been carved out of the prairies
and mountains extending from the Missouri to the Pacific;
ADDRESS OF JOHN LEE WEBSTER 51
what undreamed of commerce is transported by land, and
then sent forth in the holds of ocean-going steamships that
whiten what was at that time the unexplored Pacific
ocean.
Let us go back and glance at the desert and the arid
regions as they existed at the time of John Jacob Astor's
enterprise. Lieutenant Pike, who commanded two govern-
ment explorations into these western regions, in his report to
the war office said that these immense prairies "were in-
capable of cultivation" and would have to be left to the
"wandering and unciviUzed aborigines of the country".
Major Long in his report to the United States of his ex-
plorations into these regions, said of the prairies that they
bear a manifest "resemblance to the desert of Siberia".
Washington Irving, the historian of Astor's western
enterprise and who tells us that he had the fullest opportu-
nity for the examination of letters and reports of Astor's
agents and correspondents, in speaking of the great Amer-
ican desert, said: "It spreads forth into undulating and
treeless plains, and desolate sandy wastes, wearisome to the
eye from their extent and monotony, and which are sup-
posed by geologists to have formed the ancient floor of the
ocean, countless ages since, when its primeval waves beat
against the granite bases of the Rocky mountains
Occasionally the monotony of this vast wilderness is
interrupted. . . . with precipitous cliffs and yawning
ravines, looking like the ruins of a world; or is traversed
by lofty and barren ridges of rock, almost impassable, like
those denominated the Black Hills. Beyond these rise the
stern barriers of the Rocky mountains, the limits, as it
were, of the Atlantic world. . . . Such is the nature
of this immense wilderness of the far West; which appar-
ently defies cultivation and the habitation of civilized
life."
Washington Irving, like a prophet of evil, feared that
this arid desert region might become the harbinger of a
52 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
mongrel race of barbarians and land pirates who would
forever separate the civilization of the east from the peoples
that were to inhabit the Pacific coast. He said: "But it
is to be feared that a great part of it will form a lawless
interval between the abodes of civihzed man, like the
wastes of the ocean or the deserts of Arabia; and, like
them, be subject to the depredations of the marauder.
Here may spring up new and mongrel races, like new
formations in geology, the amalgamation of the 'debris'
and 'abrasions' of former races, civihzed and savage; the
remains of broken and almost extinguished tribes; the
descendants of wandering hunters and trappers; of fugitives
from the Spanish and American frontiers; of adventurers
and desperadoes of every class and country, yearly ejected
from the bosom of society into the wilderness."
But we, the white men, are repeating in our age the
same old story. Historians tell us that the glories of an-
tiquity were highest in the lands of the desert. It was so
in old Egypt and Palestine. It was so in Arabia, Persia
and northern India. It was so in the lands of the Car-
thaginians and of the Moors. As these desert lands were
once the heart of the world, we are making the West the
heart of the best grazing and the best producing harvest
lands of the American continent. The old worlds lost, not
because of their lands, but because of want of mental and
physical energy in their people. Our experiment will
permanently endure because it is the home of the golden
period of our manhood.
But again. We have had statesmen who did not want
the West to become a part of our common country. We
have had some who wished the top of the Rocky mountains
might be the western barrier and border line of the United
States. Senator Benton, in 1825, in a speech in the United
States senate, said: "The ridge of the Rocky mountains
may be named as a convenient, natural, and everlasting
ADDRESS OF JOHN LEE WEBSTER 53
boundary. Along this ridge the western limits of the
republic should be drawn, and the statue of the fabled god
'Terminus' should be erected on its highest peak, never to
be thrown down."
In 1846 Senator Winthrop, of Massachusetts, quoted
what Senator Benton had said, and added the following
comment: "This country will not be straightened for
elbow room in the West for a thousand years, and neither
the West nor the country at large has any real interest in
retaining Oregon." In 1843 Senator McDuffie, of South
Carolina, said: "The whole region beyond the Rocky
mountains, and a vast tract between that chain and the
Mississippi, is a desert, without value for agricultural
purposes, and which no American citizen should be com-
pelled to inhabit unless as a punishment for crime. Why,
sir, of what use will this territory be for agricultural pur-
poses? I would not for that purpose give a pinch of snuff
for the whole territory. I wish to God we did not own it. "
Mr. William Sturgis, in speaking for the New England
commerce before the Mercantile Library Association of
Boston, said: "It would be a less evil for the Pacific
ocean to flow eastward to the Rocky mountains than to
convert that territory into new states for the Union."
Mr. Tracy, a member of congress from New York,
said: "Nature has fixed limits for our nation; she has
kindly introduced as our western barrier, mountains almost
inaccessible, whose base she has skirted with irreclaimable
deserts of sand."
These statesmen may have lived long enough to change
their opinions, and we may condone what they then said
because at that time a transcontinental railroad was con-
sidered a chimera, and the electric telegraph had not
become a means of communication. Thomas Benton, in a
later part of his life had a brighter vision of the importance
of the West, and pointed to it as the great commercial high-
way to the old worlds of the far East.
54 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Charles Sumner redeemed Massachusetts from the
narrow views of Winthrop when he drew that beautiful
contrast between the West and the East. "Our brethren
and our children have done in the West what our fathers
did in the East. Under new conditions, in a later age, on
the shores of a more pacific sea, in a more genial clime,
they are to repeat in the near future, the old and wondrous
story. The world shall see in that far clime the streets of
a wealthier New York; the homes of a more cultured
Boston; the halls of a more learned Harvard; the work-
shops of a busier Worcester."
But we have Americans who can see in these arid and
desert regions beauty and color and fascination and who
would retain them for their mystery and charm. Van Dyke
looked upon these scenes and wrote in that classic, "The
Desert": "In sublimity — the superlative degree of
beauty — what land can equal the desert with its wide
plains, its grim mountains, and its expanding canopy of
sky! You shall never see elsewhere as here the dome, the
pinnacle, the minaret fretted with golden fire at sunrise
and sunset; you shall never see elsewhere as here the sun-
set valleys swimming in a pink and lilac haze, the great
mesas and plateaus fading into blue distance, the gorges
and canyons banked full of purple shadow. Never again
shall you see such light and air and color; never such
opaline mirage, such rosy dawn, such fiery twilight
Look out from the mountain's edge once more. A dusk is
gathering on the desert's face, and over the eastern horizon
the purple shadow of the world is reaching up to the sky.
The light is fading out. Plain and mesa are blurring into
unknown distances, and mountain-ranges are looming dimly
into unknown heights. Warm drifts of lilac-blue are drawn
like mists across the valleys; the yellow sands have shifted
into a pallid gray. The glory of the wilderness has gone
down with the sun. Mystery — that haunting sense of
the unknown — is all that remains."
ADDRESS OF JOHN LEE WEBSTER 55
The nation again is stretching out its hand into these
arid plains described by Van Dyke, and irrigation is chang-
ing these vast plains into farms, orchards, and gardens.
Again we see, as the sea receded, as the glaciers melted,
the desert passes, and verdure and trees come to cover the
land as the conquering heroes of old were adorned with
chaplets of flowers. Water! Water! has become the
master king of the desert.
Virginia had her cavahers; New England her pilgrim
Puritans; the West has had her pioneers:
"They came as the winds come
When forests are rendered.
They came as the waves come
When vessels are stranded."
These pioneers were daring and intrepid men; men
in whose life currents there flowed in modified and en-
lightened form the elements of that spirit of old that led
the Macedonian chieftain in his conquering career in Asia
and won him the title of Alexander the Great; that dwelt
in Rome and marched with Caesar's armies through the
forests of Germany and the valleys of Gaul; that went with
the Black Prince of Normandy when he crossed the North
sea and vanquished the armies of Harold, and gave him
the realm of England for a throne, and the name in history's
page of William the Conquerer; that spirit of old that led
Columbus across the trackless ocean to find a new con-
tinent that the world might move onward, and without
which America would have remained unknown.
These were the men who laid the soHd foundations of
the West; that West, where, in our day, evidences of refine-
ment are seen everywhere; that West, which is moving the
center of the country's social, commercial and political
gravity farther westward every year, and presents untold
possibihties for the future.
For more than a hundred years the planters of Virginia
and the Puritans of New England were European sentinels,
56 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
standing guard over the Atlantic seaboard for old England.
Our pioneers began as empire builders and in less than a
hundred years have brought nineteen new states into the
Union. They were as the Star of Bethlehem, leading and
lighting the way for the twenty millions of people who are
the citizens of these new states, and all under the American
flag.
These pioneers have made the desert an epitaph on
the tombstone of time. Steam and electric forces are now
ruling the West as they rule the East. With us the present
is living history. The United States in this, the twentieth
century, is flashing sunlight over the world.
When the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads
were chartered it was believed that they would open up
to communication the lands on either side of them for a
distance of two hundred miles. This meant an area of
territory four hundred miles in width and extending from
the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean, a distance of eighteen
hundred miles. This immense virgin territory which would
thus be brought in touch with the outer world and opened
to settlement was larger than England, and Scotland, and
Ireland, and Spain, and Portugal, and Belgium, and the
Netherlands combined. If the continent of Europe were a
vast dial of a clock and the city of Omaha were in its center
as the pivot point and this line of railroad were the minute
hand, its sweep would reach across Russia and into the
Arctic ocean on the north, across the Caspian sea into Asia
on the east, reach across the Mediterranean and touch the
shores of Africa on the south, and penetrate the waves of
the Atlantic on the west.
We have here at home the material for another con-
trast. In 1864 the little town of Julesburg, now a station
on the Union Pacific railroad, was an important stopping
point of HoUaday's Overland Express. In that year there
arrived at this shanty town 3,574 wagons of freight, guarded
ADDRESS OF JOHN LEE WEBSTER 57
by 4,258 men, and hauled by 28,592 horses, mules and
oxen. In 1864 that same Overland Express Company em-
ployed between the Missouri river and the mountains
15,000 men, and 20,000 wagons, and 150,000 animals. In
that same year it transported to the West 100,000,000
pounds of freight. Freight charges were seventeen cents
a pound for every hundred miles, and passenger fares
varied from thirty to fifty cents a mile.
Today the Union Pacific hauls through the same
station of Julesburg every year about 500,000 passenger
and freight cars, and 5,000,000 tons of freight, and its
passengers are carried in palaces of luxury at two cents a
mile. Transition from Holladay's Overland Express of
1864 to the Union Pacific of 1910 surpasses in existing
reality anything in fancy word painting or in dream life
found in any Arabian story. "Truth is stranger than
fiction."
It has been said that it is the happiest of all fates to
be born in Massachusetts and to live in Nebraska. Yet it
is true that we have only "crossed the threshold of our
new epoch". The men who plow and plant and cultivate
are writing Nebraska history on her imperishable earth.
The prosperity of Nebraska springs from the soil and
the seasons and the industry and the intelligence of her
citizens. Her farmers plant in faith; they cultivate in
hope; they reap in grace. They are the uncrowned kings
of the day. Nebraska is wealthier than was any state in
the Union at the time of the adoption of the federal con-
stitution. Last year her products from the farms and
factories exceeded six hundred millions of dollars. It was
a sum of money exceeding two-thirds of all the trade which
either Italy or Russia had with the outside world. It
exceeded by nearly one-half the entire world trade of
Switzerland. It was nearly twice as large as the entire
world trade of Spain. Such is the Nebraska which has been
58 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
carved out of the desert of Lieutenant Pike, and Major Long,
and Washington Irving, and all of it since the signing of that
contract in New York by John Jacob Astor.
This state of Nebraska is also striking in the extent
and measurement of her territory. She is equal in area
to eight Vermonts; to ten Massachusetts; to fifteen Con-
necticuts; to thirty-eight Delawares; to seventy Rhode
Islands. If our United States senators were representatives
of square miles of territory, Nebraska should have eight
times as many senators as Vermont; ten times as many
as Massachusetts; fifteen times as many as Delaware, and
seventy times as many as Rhode Island. Our western
states have been too anxious and over hasty to get into
statehood. If the territory west of the Missouri river
should attain a population exceeding by one-half the
entire population east of the Missouri valley, nevertheless,
the eastern states would maintain the balance of power in
the United States senate. We have no remedy for this
ultimate situation except to change the constitution, or by
consent to create a larger number of smaller states out of
those, which, in territory, are empires in themselves.
The magnitude of the West is not appreciated by her
own people and is not understood by our eastern friends.
We speak of individual states by name, with but little
comprehension of their extent of territory or of their pos-
sibilities in either the near or the distant future.
The Dakotas are known to thousands of our people
simply by the name they bear. Yet acre per acre, England,
Scotland, Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands could be
put within the boundaries of the Dakotas. We could put
all these European countries within the states of Oregon,
Washington and Idaho, and have enough land left to make
a few more New England states.
If Texas were a great inland sea and the republic of
France were an island within it, the island would be so far
ADDRESS OF JOHN LEE WEBSTER 59
from the shore at every point as not to be visible. The
concession after the Mexican war and the Gadsden purchase
added territory enough to the West to make one hundred
states as large as Massachusetts.
It has been said of Washington and Idaho and Oregon
and parts of Montana and Wyoming that they have the
productive capacity and the possibilities of an empire vast
enough to furnish homes and sustenance for fifty millions
of people. It is safe to say that there are other portions
of the fertile West which have the soil and the climate to
support one hundred and fifty millions more.
What is this great West doing for the world today?
There are illustrations which beggar description. It has
been said that American energy sweeps the decks of the
world's commerce. That energy comes from the West. It
has been said that the cradle of today is rocking elements
that will startle the world of tomorrow. Their discoveries
are being made in the West. It has been said that " Electric
words from the land shores jump into wireless aerial chariots
and, in the twinkling of an eye, dance upon the decks of
ships one hundred miles out at sea."
It is from the West that there come the products of
the soil and of the mines and of the ranges and the forests,
the material that ladens these ships, that makes wireless
telegraphy a useful instrumentality in the world's com-
merce.
There are miUions of people in the East who, by reason
of misstatements which have engendered misconceptions,
entertain the belief that the West is uninteresting and un-
important. The sublime old Atlantic ocean and the quaint
and interesting scenes of Europe have fascinations that lure
our eastern friends in travel to the older countries of the
East. Their course of reading and line of education have
had closer affiliation with the ancient, than with the modern.
They know more of the ruins of Greece and Italy than of
60 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the rich productive lands west of the Missouri river. They
know more of the history of olden cities which are fast
going into decay than of the new cities of the West, such as
Omaha, Denver, Portland or San Francisco. They know
more of the history of the departed races of the Incas and
of the Aztecs, brilliantly told by Prescott, than of the
Indian races of our own country not yet extinct but fast
disappearing, or than they know of the pioneers who have
opened up the way to the occupation of one-half of the
American continent.
To these, our eastern friends, we would suggest that
in many particulars the West is superior to the East. Our
Atlantic seaboard travelers who luxuriate in the Alps
during the summer may find grander and more majestic
scenery in the Rocky mountains. Neither Europe, nor
Asia, nor Africa can present anything in beauty of coloring
or imposing grandeur equal to the Yellowstone park or the
Grand Canon of the Colorado. The sweep of our broad
plains and prairies is beyond comparison with the land-
scapes of France, and is only excelled by the restless majestic
sweep of the waters of the ocean.
Our eastern fellow citizens, by reason of the damp,
chilling colds of winter, the blasts that come from the
ocean, and the air which at times is overburdened with
moisture, seek more favorable climates for the preservation
or restoration of health. Yet it is true that the arid regions
of the higher altitudes of the West, all the way from Colorado
to California, where the dry atmosphere does not carry
germs of disease, and whose cold does not chill the marrow
of the bones, is becoming known as a vast sanitarium.
"Its pure, sweet air and sunny skies are instinct with the
breath of life."
If New England should awaken some morning and
see that her barren waste lands had vanished from the
vision and her rugged climate had taken its flight north-
ADDRESS OF JOHN LEE WEBSTER 61
ward, and instead of these there had come to that same
New England the dimate and diversified resources of states
like Nebraska, Colorado, Washington or Oregon, they
would grow dizzy in their rejoicings at the surrounding
pleasures of climate and the vast possibilities of economic
resources.
There is more water power in the rivers that flow from
the slopes of the Rocky and Sierra mountains than there is
in all New England. These rushing mountain streams of
the west are awaiting the coming of the mill owners to make
the capital of the investors profitable.
The forests in Maine and Michigan for more than a
century furnished the lumber to supply the necessities of
the eastern and middle states. But the new states of
Washington and Oregon have larger trees and more ex-
tensive forests than had the states of Maine and Michigan.
There is more coal in Wyoming and Colorado than
there is in Pennsylvania. There are out-croppings of more
beds of iron on the slopes of the Rocky mountains than
there are in all the states east of the Mississippi. England
goes to South Africa with enormous outlay of capital and
with great expense to maintain a protective army to acquire
lands from which she can get her supply of gold to main-
tain her standard of money. The United States for a cen-
tury has been taking from the mountains of the West gold
and silver which for ages had lain sleeping there awaiting
the coming of the pioneer and the gold-digger, with the
improved machinery and appliances of these modern times.
But richer than all these are the vast productive
resources of the soil. The cattle ranges, the products of
the farms, the wealth that comes up out of the ground,
repeating itself every year; these are exhaustless resources
of wealth equaled nowhere else in the United States and
surpassed nowhere in all the known lands of the earth.
During the last half century we have built up a com-
merce that has been pouring out its surplus in the mercan-
62 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
tile channels of the East and, overflowing there, has spread
itself out over the seas. New York and her Atlantic coast
sisters may speak proudly of their harbors for great ocean
vessels carrying the tonnage and the traffic of the world;
but on the Pacific the West has a longer range of seacoast
and better harbors, — from San Diego to the Golden Gate
and from thence northward to Seattle.
Now is the time for us citizens of the West to welcome
our fellow citizens of the East with outstretched arms and
tell them something of the opportunities and possibilities
of the lands west of the Missouri river. We might remind
them of a statement many times made that if the May-
flower had landed on the Pacific coast instead of at Ply-
mouth, San Francisco would have been the New York of
America. We might remind them of what the British
ambassador, Mr. Bryce, said in the American Common-
wealth: "The West is the most American part of America.
. . What Europe is to Asia, what England is to the rest of
Europe, what America is to England, that the western
states and territories are to the Atlantic states."
The West is to the East what the vigorous atmosphere
is to the lungs of man, furnishing nourishment to the
physical system and stimulus to the healthful circulation
of the blood which invigorates the body and brain. The
eighty thousand miles of railroad traversing and penetrat-
ing all the regions of these nineteen western states, which
are largely capitalized and financiered in the city of New
York and in return annually pour into the coffers of banks
and trust companies of that great city their revenues and
profits, are absolutely essential to the maintaining of that
moneyed center. If this great West should be suddenly
blotted out and that vast capitalization should disappear,
and the revenues coming from these railroads should be
stopped, havoc, bankruptcy and ruin would fall upon
those moneyed houses. If the breadstuffs that come from
ADDRESS OF JOHN LEE WEBSTER 63
the great West were suddenly cut off and the Atlantic coast
states were required to go to Europe or South America
and bring to them by the slow process of ocean-going
transportation the necessary foodstuffs to sustain life, the
burden and strain would be beyond anything I may venture
in the way of description. If the annually produced and
accumulated wealth of these western states, whose surplus
products go into the marts of the world through the chan-
nels of commerce centering in New York, were at once
terminated, New York, as a city, would go into a panic.
Cut off the resources, the commerce, and the wealth
that comes from the territory west of the Missouri river
and the Atlantic coast cities would begin a rapid depopula-
tion. Had it not been for the possibilities of the West and
what is actually being produced in the West, New York
and her associate sister cities on the Atlantic coast might
never have reached a population exceeding that which they
had when the development of the West began a hundred
years ago. Without the West, New York, Philadelphia and
Boston might not have grown larger than the present cities
of Omaha, Denver and San Francisco. So we say to the
millions of New York, to the one and a half million of
Philadelphia and to the million of Boston, "Wake up to
the fact that you are beholden to the lands west of the
Missouri river for your wealth and population."
But it is to be remembered that the West is yet in its
infancy. When we shall have had as much time for im-
provement and development as the Atlantic coast states
have had, we will become peopled as they are. We will
have larger cities than they have. We will have all the
refinements and advantages they enjoy. Within that
period we may realize the prophecy of Andrew Carnegie
that the United States will have a population of five hun-
dred millions of people, every one an American, and all
boasting a common citizenship. But when we do, two
64 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
hundred millions of them will live west of the Missouri
river. Another writer has said that if this country keeps
on increasing in population at the same ratio as it has in
the past, within one century in the future we will have a
population of one thousand millions of people. Should
that calculation be realized there will be found west of the
Missouri river a population of four hundred millions of
people; a population equal to that of all China; a popula-
tion nearly double that of the Indian empire.
I know that such speculations impress us now as dreams
of the imagination or as hopes of the fancy, but their realiza-
tion will be no more strange to the people of a century
hence than the things which we witness around us every
day would have been startling to the people of a century
ago. From the American desert until now, and from now
to a century hence is the march of progress under the hand
of God. It is the American republic coming into her own,
the ruling power, the mistress of the world.
Before that ultimate day comes all of Asia will have
adopted our systems of government and accepted the
benefits and advantages of our higher civilization.
Her lands will be cultivated as our lands, her people
educated as our people. The products of her soil, the out-
put of her mines and factories will come pouring into our
western harbors. As this land came up from the bottom
of the sea, and then passed into a tropical climate, and
then into a glacial period, and then into the American
desert, and then, when the hand of the nation had been
stretched out into it, became a luxuriant garden of wealth
and prosperity; so in time the United States of America
will transfer its East to the West, and the chief trade of the
country and her great cities will be found on its western
coast. The state of Nebraska with its seventy-seven
thousand square miles of territory and its successful,
happy and prosperous population will be near the center
ADDRESS OF JOHN LEE WEBSTER 65
of a more magnificent and overwhelming republic; the
gateway of the vast trade from the East to the West; the
source of internal wealth and power, and Omaha will be
the gateway of all this immense commerce.
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE
By Edward L. Sayre
A portion of what follows has at different times been
published in some form but not in a connected story, so
far as the writer is aware.
The intention is to give bits of history gathered from
the files in the office of the secretary of state, journals of
the territorial council and house of representatives, session
laws of the legislature, records of Douglas county, of which
up to June, 1857, the country around Bellevue v/as a part,
and from records found in possession of individuals; so
that all the data herein can be substantiated and the
history as made by the ''old timers" be preserved without
any attempt to make history, as was done last year when
the "Centennial of the Settlement of Bellevue" was held,
a centennial without foundation so far as written history
has been found.
It is proper to very briefly bring down the first knowl-
edge we have of the inhabitants of the country at and after
the time Manuel Lisa cried "Bellevue!" as he stood on
the bluffs where the college is now located. That one
French word certainly expressed a truth that all who have
been there can heartily endorse. ^
1 The tradition that Lisa expressed this sentiment rests only upon
unauthenticated tradition, precisely like the constantly repeated story
that Belle\'ne was settled by white people in 1810, here criticized by Mr.
Sayre, and which we know to be without foundation. The truth about
this exclamation attributed to Lisa, so far as anybody knows, lies wholly
in the fact that he might well have uttered it, — precisely the quality
which makes all truly good fiction truer than a compilation of bare facts
though never so well authenticated. — Ed.
(66)
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE 67
The records of the Lewis and Clark expedition of
1803 furnish our first information of inhabitants north of
the Platte river in Nebraska, the travelers having held a
council with the "Maha" tribe, now known as the Omaha.
Just why or when the name was changed will not be considered
here. That the two names were apphed to the same people
is shown by the fact that treaties were made between the
United States government and the "Mahas", July 20, 1815,
and October 6, 1825, and with the ''Omaha", July 15, 1830,
all of which were signed by Chief Opa-ton-ga or Big Elk,
whose grave is on College Hill at Bellevue.^
The Omaha were recognized as owners and occupants
of the land about Bellevue, and March 16, 1854, a treaty
was made with them — approved by President Pierce on
June 21, 1854 — whereby they ceded to the United States
all interest therein. Article 13 of the treaty provided as
follows:
"The board of foreign missions of the Presbyterian
church, have on the lands of the Omahas a manual labor
boarding school, for the education of the Omaha, Ottoe
and other Indian youth, which is now in successful opera-
tion, and as it will be some time before the necessary build-
ings can be erected on the reservation, and (it is) desirable
that the school should not be suspended, it is agreed that
the said board shall have four adjoining quarter sections
of land, so as to include as near as may be all the improve-
ments heretofore made by them; and the President is
authorized to issue to the proper authority of said board a
patent in fee simple for such four quarter sections."
2 The treaty of July 20, 1815, was one of "peace and friendship"
made at Portage des Sioux by William Clark, Ninian Edwards and Auguste
Choteau, commissioners. Manuel Lisa was one of the witnesses. The
treaty of 1825 was executed at Ft. Atkinson, on the part of the govern-
ment by General Henry Atkinson and Benjamin O'Fallon. The treaty
of 1830 was executed at Prairie du Chien by William Clark, superintendent
of Indian Affairs, and Col. Willoughby Morgan for the government. These
treaties are printed in volume 7 of the United States statutes at large,
pp. 129, 282, 328. By the treaty of 1854 the Omaha ceded all the territory
68 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The four quarter sections were selected, and when the
government surveys of 1855-6 were completed, the "Mis-
sion Reserve", as it was called, occupied portions of four
sections, as shown by the plat on page 69.
The reserve was used to fix the boundaries of the
adjacent "squatter" claims, and these were used in turn
to establish the lines of claims used by those next ad-
joining them. In this way the locations of all squatter
claims of which a description has been found were placed
on the blue print map very accurately.
While the Indians were still on the ground the fur
traders came among them and established their trading
posts, many of them taking Indian wives. Just when the
trading post was established at Bellevue is not known.
A thorough examination of the records kept by the fur
companies might yield this interesting information. We
do know that a post was there and for many years in charge
of Peter A. Sarpy, up to and after the time that the city
of Bellevue was platted.^
they claimed west of the Missouri river and south of the Aoway. The
Platte river was its southern boundary, and it extended west as far as
Shell creek, the eastern boundary of the Pawnee country. The Omaha
afterward exchanged the remnant of their territory north of the Aoway
for a reservation in the neighborhood of their old village which they still
occupy. This treaty was executed in the city of Washington by George
W. Manypenny, commissioner, and Logan Fontenelle, Joseph Le Flesche,
and other chiefs of the tribe. [10 Stat., 1043.]— Ed.
3 The Missouri Fur Company established the first important post
at Bellevue, probably soon after 1820. Andrew Drips and Lucien Fon-
tenelle, representing — at least in part — the American Fur Company,
superseded the pioneer company in 1830. There were only squatter
traders there before this. According to the earliest records so far avail-
able, license running to traders at Bellevue — by that name — was first
issued in 1825. Joshua Pilcher might have been at Bellevue for a few
years after Lisa's death in 1820. There is sufficient evidence that there
was no trader's, or other establishment on the site of the subsequent
Bellevue when the Astorians passed it in 1811; and Astor's company did
not establish or have a post along the Missouri river until eleven years,
at least, after that time.
The first post of any note in what is now Nebraska was the "winter-
ing house" of Crooks and McClellan, established by them in 1807, and
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE 69
NebraskK State Historical Society Volume 16 Plate 8
CL-A I M S
Made by
Squatter Sovereigns
IN V/CINITy OF
BELivuE Nebraska
IN THE VeAFS
lS5^}ie55,ie5£ AND 1857.1
-\3=-
Bridge "ort
Cle^hc rn^ha rp,
Part of plat of Bellevue and vicinity compiled by Edward L. Sayre, showing
Mission Reserve and earliest Belleviie claims.
70 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
After the fur traders came the missionaries, with the
purpose of civilizing the Indians and teaching them the
white man's way, and from the present prosperous con-
dition of the Omaha it is evident the work they began was
not thrown away.-* Then came the squatters with their
occupied or used until they went with the Astorian expedition in the
spring of 1811. This post was important chiefly on account of the im-
portance of its founders. The first post, having regard both to permanency
and prominence, was Lisa's, established for the Missouri Fur Company
soon after 1812, five miles and a half below the original Council BlufiF.
It was probably transferred to Bellevue by Joshua Pilcher, Lisa's successor
in the Missouri Fur Company, soon after the latter's death in 1820. About
the same time John Cabanne established Cabanne's post for the American
Fur Company eighteen miles above Bellevue and near Lisa's — perhaps
three miles below. According to Bradbury's rather indefinite account of
the situation of the Crooks and McClellan post, Cabanne's post might
have occupied the same site. Pilcher succeeded Cabanne as custodian of
the post in May, 1833, and not many years after transferred it to Bellevue,
probably consolidating it with the former Missouri Fur Company's post
which through Fontenelle and Drips had come into the possession of
the American Fur Company.
The Nebraska Palladium, July 15, 1854, in the course of a historical
sketch of Bellevue, says that the American Fur Company established a
post there about the year 1810, and put it in charge of Joseph Roubidoux
(founder of St. Joseph, Missouri), and that he was succeeded by John P.
Cabanne at the end of six years. Now we have reliable information that
Cabanne established the post named for him about 1822, which, according
to the best available authority, was the year of the first occupation of
that part of the Missouri river valley by the American Fur Company;
and, as already pointed out, Cabanne remained in charge of his post until
1833. In the same sketch the Palladium says that Peter A. Sarpy suc-
ceeded Cabanne as custodian of the Bellevue post in 1824. Since Sarpy
was right at hand it might be inferred that the editor of the Palladium
obtained his information directly from him and that it is reliable. Still,
since other material statements in the sketch are incorrect, according to
our present knowledge, and since newspaper sketches of this sort are most
noted for their errors, we cannot rely on the statement about Sarpy. It
may be, however, that Cabanne was at Bellevue in 1824, that Sarpy
relieved him and that he then established the post known by his name
eighteen miles above. All we can safely say about the beginning of Belle-
vue is that it was the place of the first permanent white settlement in
Nebraska — emphasizing permanent — and that this regular occupation
began not long after 1820.— Ed.
^ It it doubtless true that such improvement as the Omaha have
made is mainly due to general intelligence acquired in schools, public and
special, and their constant contact with white civilization. — Ed.
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE 71
claims and claim clubs. Upon the Indian title to the land
being extinguished by the treaty of March 16, 1854, Col.
Peter A. Sarpy, Stephen Decatur, Rev. William Hamilton,
and other residents at the old trading post or Presbyterian
mission, and some of the residents at Omaha, at Council
Bluffs, St. Mary's, and Traders Point, on the Iowa side of
the Missouri river, conceived the idea that they were
entitled to three hundred and twenty acres of public land.
This pretension was presumably based on the donation
claim laws of Oregon, passed in 1850; at any rate claims
were located by many, as hereinafter shown, and on October
28, 1854, arrangements were made to organize a claim
club for the protection of its members in holding claims.
The rules for governing the club and its members, if any
were adopted at that date, cannot now be found, but the
following revision thereof is of record in volume H, page
101, of deeds, in Douglas county.
REGULATIONS OF THE BELLE VIEW CLAIM ASSOCIATION
At a regular meeting of the Belleview Settlers Club,
held at Belleview, February 10, 1855, Messrs. Gow, Cook,
and Decatur, a committee appointed at the last meeting
to revise the by-laws of the club, reported a series of articles
which, when amended, were adopted as follows:
Article I. This association shall be known and
designated by the name and style of the Bellevue Settlers
Club.
II. The officers of this association shall be one presi-
dent, one register, one marshal, and one treasurer.
III. The duty of the president shall be to try and
decide all disputes between members of the club in reference
to claims or otherwise, and upon the demands of either
party shall summon a jury of six persons to try all disputes
in relation to claims, the jury to be selected as follows:
viz., the president shall write down the names of eighteen
persons (members of the association) and each party shall
mark off alternately until six names are left, the defendant
marking first (but the parties themselves may agi'ee upon
any less number) and in case said persons are not present,
72 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the president shall issue his order requiring said persons to
appear before him to form a jury for the trial of said cause.
Members of this club whose claims have been jumped or
their rights interfered with subsequently to their becoming
such members, shall be protected by the club in the same
manner and to the same extent as in cases where the dis-
putants are both members of the club. It shall be the
duty of the president to preside at all meetings of the
association, and in his absence, a president pro tem shall
be appointed.
IV. The duty of the register shall be to record all
claims and other necessary matter, to act as secretary at
all meetings of the association, and to act as president in
the trial of claim disputes in the absence of the president
or when he is a party interested.
The marshal shall execute all orders and decisions of
the president and juries, shall see that the laws of the
association are observed, and shall have power if necessary
to call upon members of this association to assist in execut-
ing the same.
The treasurer shall receive and disburse all moneys
belonging to the association and shall be authorized to
pay all drafts for the expenses of the association when
presented to him, drawn by the register and countersigned
by the president, and shall render an account of all moneys
received and disbursed by him whenever required so to do
by the vote of the association.
V. We will recognize no claim made before the
ratification of the late treaty with the Omaha, Ottoe and
Missouri Indians.
VI. We recognize the right of every resident of the
United States of lawful age or who may be the head of a
family, or who may be by a vote of the club admitted a
member., to select, mark and claim three hundred and
twenty acres of land, and who shall, within four months
from this date or from the time of making his claim, pro-
ceed to erect thereon a cabin or such other improvements
as he may deem best and shall within four months there-
after move upon and make his home on said claim. Single
persons shall be allowed to hold claims by making im-
provements thereon of the value of fifty dollars and by
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE 78
becoming a resident of the territory within the said eight
months, whether Hving upon their claims or not, providing
they continue to improve their said claims.
VII. All claims must be well staked on the prairie
and blazed in the timber, so that lines can be readily
traced, and it shall be the duty of each claimant to register
his claim with the description thereof, as near as may be,
and he shall pay the register the sum of one dollar for
recording the same.
VIII. All persons failing to commence improving or
entering upon their claims within the time specified in
Article 6 shall forfeit their said claims, and it shall be
lawful for any other person to enter them.
IX. This association will not recognize the right of
any person to hold more than one claim in Nebraska
territory, nor the right to hold by companies.
X. Any person to receive the benefit and protection
of this association, must subscribe his name to the articles
of this association, except excused by the association for
some good reason, and is in honor bound when called upon
to assist the marshal in the performance of his duties, and
shall pay to the treasurer such sum or sums as may be
voted by the association for contingent expenses.
XL Any member having a claim dispute shall be
entitled to a trial by making a complaint to the president
in writing, containing a brief statement of his grievances.
The president shall thereupon issue a summons requiring
the defendant to appear before him at a certain time and
place therein named, which time shall not be more than
ten, nor less than three days from the time of serving the
same, to answer to said complaint.
XII. The regular meetings of this association shall
be the last Saturday of each month, unless otherwise
ordered by a vote of the association, and the president is
authorized to call special meetings whenever he may
think necessary.
XI II. Each claimant shall at all reasonable times
hold himself in readiness to point out the extent of his
claim to any person who may wish to ascertain the fact.
XIV. We agree upon the survey of the territory to
mutually deed and re-deed to each other, so as to leave
the land as near as possible as claimed.
74 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
XV. The officers of this association shall receive a
suitable compensation for their service, which sum shall
be decided by the association.
On motion, resolved that all rules adopted by this
club at former meetings, not conflicting with the above,
are retained.
Wm. Gilmour, President.
Wm. A. Griffin, Register.
S. M. Breckenridge, Marshal.
James C. Dellette, Treasurer.
On motion, resolved that the thanks of the club be
tendered the president, Wm. Gilmour, for the dignity and
impartiallity with which he has exercised the duties of his
office.
On motion, resolved that the marshal be allowed three
dollars per day for any and every day he shall be in active
service for the club, a part of a day being considered as the
whole, the fee to be paid by the party obtaining redress.
On motion, resolved that the president when engaged
in judicial duties shall receive the same compensation as
the marshal.
On motion, resolved that the treasurer may retain 5%
of all moneys belonging to the club in his hands.
On motion, resolved, that Wm. Bennett, a minor, be
and is hereby declared a member of this club, and shall
receive the protection of the same.
On motion, resolved, that no person shall become a
member of this society except at a regular meeting of the
same and by a vote of the majority of the same admitting
him.
Resolved, that all persons who intend to record claims
shall ffie descriptions of the lands intended to be claimed
with the recorder, attaching their signatures to the same,
and, provided different individuals ffie descriptions of the
same land, then the one first on file shall have precedence
on the record.
Resolved, that all claims must be recorded at the
regular meetings of the club and at no other time, and
that the record shall be read to the entire club.
On motion, resolved, that the limits of this society
extend to the Platte river on the south, the Missouri river
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE 75
on the east, north to the south Hmits of the society of the
Omaha City district, as declared by themselves, and running
west fifteen miles from the Missouri river, then south to
the Platte river.
Stephen Decatur, Samuel Allis and Wm. Gilmour
were appointed a committee to establish the northern limits
of the society.
Designated October 28, 1854.
On motion the club adjourned to Saturday, the 24th
of February, 1855.
Wm. a. Griffin, Secretary.
Wm. Gilmour, President.
Received for record and recorded the 28th day of
April, 1855, at 8 o'clock a. m.
A true record. Attest,
L. Richardson, Register of Deeds
Evidently some members of the Settlers Club were
not satisfied with its conditions and another meeting was
held which, presumably, adopted a new set of rules which
were recorded in volume A, page 116, of deed records of
Douglas county. (James C. Dellette, treasurer of the Set-
tlers Club, signs as secretary of this one).
rules of the PLATTE VALLEY ACTUAL SETTLERS CLUB
At a regular meeting of the Platte Valley Actual
Settlers Club, held at Belleview on Saturday, May 5, '55,
a large majority of actual settlers being present, the fol-
lowing resolutions were unanimously adopted:
Resolved, 1st. That the laws, regulations, etc., here-
tofore adopted by this society and herewith attached, be
recorded in the registers office at Omaha City.
Resolved, 2d. That we earnestly protest against the
laws there recorded, purporting to be from settlers here,
while they were actually made by and with the help of
residents from foreign states for mercenary purposes.
BY-LAWS, ETC., OF THE SETTLERS CLUB
Article 1st. This society shall be known as the
Platte Valley Actual Settlers Club. Its territorial limits
shall be from the mouth of the Platte river north along the
76 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Missouri river to a point opposite "Indian Graves"
about half way between Belleview and Omaha City, thence
west fifteen miles, thence south to the Platte river and
down such river to its mouth, the place of beginning.
Article 2d. The officers shall be one president, one
vice president, one marshal, and one secretary who shall
act as recorder.
Article 3d. The duty of the president shall be to
preside at all regular and adjourned meetings, and all
claim trials, etc. He is also authorized to call special
meetings of the club to transact business.
The vice president shall perform the duties of the
president in cases of the absence or inability of the presid-
ing officer.
Article 4th. It shall be the duty of the marshal to
enforce the decisions of the club and to keep order at its
meetings.
Article 5th. It shall be the duty of the secretary
to keep the minutes of the club, to record all claims pre-
sented by members of the club, for which he shall receive
fifty cents for each claim, except the claims heretofore
recorded by the old club, which shall be here inserted
gratis.
Article 6th. A claim shall not be more than 320
acres, but may be held in two parcels, with not more than
eighty acres of timber, but no one will be allowed to hold
more than one claim, nor to hold claims by proxy.
Article 7th. Residents of the territory of lawful age
may hold claims.
Article 8th. Claims shall be marked by blazing the
lines in the timber and stakes on the prairie, sufficiently
plain to be readily traced by those accustomed to trace
lines. The corner stakes shall have claimant's name,
number of acres, time of making, etc., well marked. With-
in thirty days after making claims claimant shall begin his or
her house or cabin thereon, and within thirty days more shall
reside on his or her claim unless excused by a special vote
of the club, and after residing thereon shall not leave it
more than sixty days at any one time, but shall continue
to make such improvements as will indicate his or her
intention of making a permanent home.
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE 77
Article 9th. Members having claims to record shall
present them to the recorder, who shall file them and
record the same at the first meeting thereafter. Those
presented first have the precedence.
Article 10th. Claimants having difficulties shall
hand in a statement of their aggrievances to the president,
who shall summon the parties before him in not less than
three nor more than ten days.
Article 11th. The president may try all disputes
between settlers, but if required by either party, shall call a
jury of six by writing the names of 18 members of this
club, and the disputants shall mark off a name alternately
until but six remain, defendant marking first. Disputants
may agree on a less number.
Article 12th. New members shall be elected by a
vote of the club.
Article 13th. The regular meetings of the club shall
be the first Saturday of each month.
Philander Cook, Pres.
Jas. C. Dellette, Sec.
Received for record and recorded the 10th day of
May, 1855, at 11 o'clock a. m.
A true record. Attest,
L. Richardson, Register.*
The settlers at Iron Bluffs, then a small village on the
Elkhorn river, on sections 34 and 35, township 15 north,
of range 10, east, in Douglas county (but which ceased to
exist many years ago), organized a claim club, the record
thereof being in volume A, page 196, deed records of Douglas
county, the boundaries taking in all that part of Sarpy
county west of the Bellevue Claim Club's territory.^
IRON BLUFFS ACTUAL SETTLERS CLAIM CLUB
At a mass meeting of the resident claim holders, held
at Iron Bluffs Ferry on the Elkhorn river in Nebraska
* See Illustrated History of Nebraska for further accounts of claim
clubs and additional light upon this one of the Bellevue propinquity.— Ed.
6 See A, 332. In all references "A" means the volume of the Douglas
county records, and figures refer to the page. — Ed.
78 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
territory, July 19, 1855, called for the purpose of organizing
a settlers club, A. R. Drake was called to the chair, and
H. N. Cornell was appointed secretary.
On motion a committee of three was appointed by
the president to draft preamble and resolutions to be
adopted at this meeting. Committee reported as follows,
to- wit:
Whereas, the territory of Nebraska is and has been
declared open for settlement by our legally constituted
and accredited representatives, and that we believe in
squatter sovereignty, that the people have the right to
make their own laws, and that for our mutual protection it
becomes necessary for us to establish a code of laws, demo-
cratic and equitable in themselves for the purpose of
protecting actual settlers in the equitable possession of
their claims.
Therefore, resolved, that this society shall be known
as the Iron Bluffs Actual Settlers Club.
2d. Resolved, that the territorial boundaries shall be
as follows, to- wit: Commencing at a point where the west
line of the Platte Valley, Bellview and Indian Village Club
strikes the Platte river, thence north on the west line of
said society to a point east of Spoon Lake, thence west to
the Platte river, thence down the Platte river to the place
of beginning.
3d. Resolved, that we recognize the right of all
residents of the territory of lawful age, or the heads of
families, to hold claims. That claims shall be made by
blazing exterior lines in the timber and staking on the
prairie, and by erecting mounds at convenient distances,
so as to be readily traced by one accustomed to tracing
lines. Corners shall be marked with claimant's name,
time of making and No. of acres. Claims shall not contain
more than 320 acres, but may be held in two parcels, and
shall not contain more than eighty acres of timber.
4th. Resolved, that any person making a claim shall
within sixty days after making build a good comfortable
dwelling house thereon and within four months shall be
living on his or her claim, or have some good citizen thereon
jn his stead, unless excused by vote of the club.
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE 79
5th. Resolved, that [the] officers of this society shall
be one president, one vice president, one marshal and one
secretary who shall act as treasurer and recorder.
6th. Resolved, that any person wishing to become a
member of this club shall present his or her name at a
regular meeting of the society, and may become a member
by a vote of the meeting by subscribing his or her name
to the rules and by-laws of the society.
7th. The duty of the president shall be to preside at
all regular and adjourned meetings, claim trials etc. He
is also authorized to call special meetings of the club when
he may see fit.
8th. It shall be the duty of the marshal to enforce
the decisions of the club and keep order at its meetings.
9th. It shall be the duty of the secretary to keep the
minutes of the club, to record all claims presented by
members, for which he shall receive one dollar for each
claim recorded, and shall act as treasurer.
10th. All claims filed for record shall be acted upon
at the next regular meeting of the society and upon a
majority vote shall be received for record.
11th. Claimants having difficulty shall hand in a
statement of their grievances to the president, who shall
summon the parties to appear before him in not less than
three nor more than ten days. The president may try
said disputes, but if required by either party he shall call
a jury of six by writing down the names of eighteen mem-
bers of this club. Disputants shall mark off a name alter-
nately until six remain, the defendant marking first, dis-
putants may agree on any less number, and the decision of
the jury must be unanimous to constitute a decision, and
if said jury cannot agree, a new jury shall be chosen until
a decision is made.
12th. The regular meetings of the club shall be the
last Saturday of each month.
13th. Resolved, that the foregoing by-laws and reso-
lutions can be altered and amended at a regular meeting
by a two-thirds vote of all of the members.
14th. Resolved, that the proceedings be signed by
the officers and recorded in the recorder's office in Omaha
City as the laws of this club. A. P. Drake, President.
H. N. Cornell, Secretary.
80 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
It is unfortunate that none of the records showing
action of the above named clubs at their meetings can
now be found. DiHgent inquiry among "old timers" of
Sarpy county failed to discover any trace of them, but
the search should be kept up by every member of this
society and results filed with its collections. Very many
claims were recorded in the county records at Omaha,
some of which show a former record by the club recorders;
but many of the claims cannot be shown upon a map
without those original claim club records. There is no
record of the D. E. Reed claim, but it is the boundary of
so many others that it is easily located. Part of this claim
and part of the I. H. Bennet claim were evidently jumped
by Charles Christopher, for his description (Claims, 14)
seems to cover portions of each of those; but the records of
Sarpy county show that Daniel E. Reed received a patent
for the southeast quarter of section 1, township 13, range
13, which would be approximately the east half of his
original claim.
All descriptions of claims in the Bellevue district, of
which any record was discovered follow, and a blue print
map, showing their location, has been deposited with the
State Historical Society. The first record was that of Dr.
Charles A. Henry, which, according to some evidence at
hand, originally belonged to Kinney, Greene & Co., and
was jumped by Dr. Henry.
A-5. Charles A. Henry Claim. Recorded March 3, 1855.
Commencing at an oak tree 75 rods north of the
northeast corner of the southeast quarter of Mission
Reserve; thence north 135 rods to northeast corner of
Mission Reserve thence to low water mark of Missouri river;
thence down the Missouri river 320 rods; thence west 180
rods to the southeast corner of William Hamilton's claim;
thence north 185 rods to the northeast corner of William
Hamilton's claim; thence west 140 rods to beginning, con-
taining 320 acres, more or less.
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE 81
Strangely enough the next claim recorded is that of
George W. Hollister, who was killed by Dr. Charles A. Henry,
April 20, 1855, accidentally he contended. Upon the trial Dr.
Henry was acquitted and discharged.
A'8. George W. Hollister Claim. March 5, 1855.
Bounded on the north by Geo. A. Izard's claim, on east
by Missouri river and lands unknown, on south by Fla-
vius Izard's claim, and on west by lands unknown, containing
320 acres.
(See A-18)
A-10. G. F. Turner Claim. March 5, 1855.
Commencing at a tree on the River Platte, running one
mile north, thence east half mile to a stake marked, thence
south one mile, thence half mile west to place of beginning.
It is bounded on the west by Daniel P. Turner, on east by
J. K. Skirvin, on the north by Mr. George Izard, and on
the south by the River Platte, containing 320 acres.
A'lO. J. K. Skirvin Claim. March 5, 1855.
Commencing at a tree on the River Platte, running
north one mile and from thence half a mile east to a stake
marked, and from thence one mile south to a tree marked
on the bank of the River Platte. It is bounded on the west
by G. F. Turner, on north by M. W. Izard, on the east
by Francis M. Privit, and on the south by the River Platte.
Containing 320 acres.
A-11. Wm. A. Griffin Claim. March 5, 1855.
I hereby give notice that I will claim and offer for
record at the next regular meeting of the Bellevue Settlers
Club, 280 acres of land lying in Nebraska, and bounded as
follows: Beginning at the northwest corner of Bellevue
Mission Reservation, running north nearly one mile, thence
west half mile, thence south nearly one mile, thence half
mile to beginning. It is bounded on south by Dellette's
claim, on the north by Wm. Gilmour's claim, pledging my-
self not to run onto his claim as already surveyed.
(Recorded Feby. 14, 1855, in Bellevue Settlers Club.)
Wm. a. Griffin, Recorder.
82 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
A'll. Daniel P. Turner Claim. March 5, 1855.
Commencing at the River Platte, running one mile
north to a stake, thence east half a mile, thence one mile
south to the River Platte, there marked on a tree, and from
thence half a mile west to place of starting. It is bounded
on the west by J. S. Morton and P. Cook, on the north end
by J. Enoch, and unknown, on the east side by G. F. Turner,
and on south by Platte river. Containing 320 acres.
A-12, P. A. Sarpy Claim. March 6, 1855.
Bounded on the south by the Mission Reserve, on the
west by lands unknown, on the north by Stephen Decatur,
and on the east by the Missouri river. Containing 320
acres.
A-12. S. M. Breckenridge Claim.. March 6, 1855.^
(As recorded, page 29, Bellevue Settlers Club).
Bounded on the east by the Missouri river, on south
by Wales Sanford, on west and north unknown. Con-
taining 320 acres. Said claim is one mile long east and
west, and one half mile wide north and south. Made
February 21, 1854, and recorded November 25, 1854.
A-17. Joseph Bennet Claim. March 5, 1855.
Bounded on the north by Ansel Briggs, on west by
R. J. Gilmore, on the south by H. P. Bennet and on the
east by Bellevue Mission. Containing 320 acres.
A-17. H. P. Bennet Claim-. March 5, 1855.
Bounded on the north by Joseph Bennet, on the west
by A. R. Gilmore, on the south by George Hepner, and on
the east by D. E. Reed. Containing 320 acres.
A-18. George Hepner Claim. March 5, 1855.
Bounded on the north by H. P. Bennet, on the east
by E. Butterfield, and Wm. Bennet, on the south by Chas.
F. Watson, and on the east by U. Upjohn. Containing
320 acres.
A-18. A. W. Hollister Claim. March 5, 1855.
Assigned from Geo. W. Hollister, the north fractional
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE 83
half of section 27 and the east half of the northeast quarter
of section 28, both in township 73, range 45.
Note. — The sections, township, and range, above
mentioned, were intended to continue the surveys in Iowa,
across the Missouri river.
A-16. Stephen Decatur Claim. March 5, 1855.
As recorded on page 14 of the records of the Bellevue
Settlers Club. Bounded on the north by Widow Thomp-
son, on the east by lands unknown and Missouri river.
On south by P. A. Sarpy and on west by Wm. Gilmour
and C. E. Smith. Containing 320 acres. Claim being one
mile long north and south and half a mile east and west.
A-17. I. H. Bennet Claim. March 5, 1855.
Bounded on the north by Bellevue Mission, on the
east by P. J. McMahon, on the south by D. E. Reed, and
on the west by Bellevue Mission. Containing 300 acres.
A-17. P. J. McMahon Claim. March 5, 1855.
Now assigned to Messrs. Brown and Knipper.
Bounded on the north by Jno. F. Kinney's claim, on
the west by I. H. Bennet and D. E. Reed, on the south by
Wm. R. English, and on east by Missouri river. Con-
taining 820 acres.
A'17. W. R. English Claim. March 5, 1855.
Bounded on the north by P. J. McMahon, on the
east by Missouri river, on the west by U. Upjohn and on
the south by B. Tzschuck's claim. Containing 160 acres.
A-19. Tyson and Sharp Claim. March 13, 1855.
Bounded on the north by Joseph Dyson and Jonathan
Tyson claims, on the west by John W. Winters, south by
Platte river. Commencing on a large island at the south-
east corner of Winter's claim, thence easterly along north
shore of said river 80 chains, thence north 30 chains, thence
westerly along north line of timber, thence southwest to
beginning, being on the upper part of an island in Platte
river. Surveyed by me October 11, 1854.
0. N. Tyson, Surveyor.
84 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
A-23. Fenner Ferguson Claim. March 11^, 1855.
Beginning at a stake near a cottonwood tree 32 inches
through, standing on west bank of the Missouri river, on
the south Hne of A. W. Hollister's claim, thence west 69
chains, thence south 67 chains and 16 Unks to the PappilUon
Creek, thence down said creek as it winds and turns to
the Missouri river, thence up the Missouri river to be-
ginning. Containing 320 acres.
A-23. Erastus N. Upjolm Claim.. March lU, 1855.
Beginning at the southwest corner of lands claimed
by Fenner Ferguson at a point on north side of Pappilhon
creek, running thence north 67 chains and 16 links, thence
east 40 rods, thence north 40 chains, thence west 20 chains,
thence south 40 chains, thence west 25 chains to the east
bank of the Pappillion creek, thence down the said Pap-
pilhon creek as it winds and turns to the place of beginning.
Containing 320 acres.
A-2J^. Uriah Upjohn Claim. March IJf, 1855.
Beginning at the northeast corner of the land claimed
by George Hepner, thence east along the south line of D.
E. Reed's claim one mile, thence south half mile, thence
west one mile, thence north along the east line of said
Hepner half mile to the place of beginning. Containing
320 acres.
Note. ^ See A-195 and comments thereon.
A-62. Bridgeport Town Claim. March 30, 1855.
A plat of Bridgeport Town Claim, situated 18 miles
south of Omaha City and about 8 miles southwest of Bellevue,
and about 8 miles northwest from Plattsmouth. Articles
of association made and entered into by Isaac Tyson,
Jonathan R. Tyson, Emery L. Sharp, and Benjamin A.
Cleghorn, this day for the purpose of laying out and build-
ing a town on the north bank of the Platte river about 8
miles from its mouth in the county of Douglas, temtory of
Nebraska, to be called Bridgeport. It is mutually agreed
by the parties to this agreement that the expense and labor
of the association are to be equally borne, and the profits
and losses equally shared by them respectively.
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE 85
That the town claim shall consist of nine hundred and
sixty acres (960) bounded east by Joseph Dyson, south
by the Platte river, west by John Newton, and 160 acres
of timber land lying south of Dyson's, on the island in the
Platte river. Said claim having been surveyed and recorded.
A-80. James Hoive Claim. April 17, 1855.
In Belle\aie district, commencing one and one-half
mile south and 80 rods west of the lower ford of the Pap-
pillion creek, at southwest corner of a little hardwood
grove, thence north 160 rods, thence east 320 rods, thence
south 320 rods, thence west 80 rods, thence north 160
rods, thence west 240 rods to place of beginning. Con-
taining 320 acres, and bounded on the south by J. S.
Morton, east by U. Upjohn, north by John Moon, and
west unknown.
A-82. B. P. Rankin Claim. April 16, 1855.
Lying between the Papeo and Platte rivers, com-
mencing at a small tree on the Missouri river, the north-
east corner, which tree is also the southeast corner of the
Watson or Izard claim, running thence west one half
mile, thence south, parallel with ridge which borders the
marsh land on the Missouri river one mile, thence east
one-half mile to said ridge.
A-82. J. S. Morton Claim. April 16, 1855.
Commencing on the Pappillion at the northwest corner
of the Watson or Izard claim, thence up the Papillion
to Jimmy Howe's line on the Papillion, thence west along
Howe's line to the northeast corner of John Butcher's
claim, thence south to Turner's southwest corner, or to a
point on Turner's line, agreed upon, thence east along
Turner's line to Kentuck's northeast corner, thence north
to beginning.
Note. — The two claims last above were apparently
a partnership affair for on April 20, 1855, J. Sterling Morton
made a quit claim deed to B. P. Rankin for "All my
right, title and interest in the two claims near Bellevue,
known as the Rankin and Morton claims. (Sevastapol &
Inkerman)."
86 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
A-83. S. A. Strickland Claim. April 17, 1855.
Bounded on the north by James Tozier and on the
west by P. Myers and on south and east by unknown.
Commencing at a point on east and west line between
Tozier and Strickland, as agreed upon by them, and running
south one mile, thence east half mile, thence north one
mile, thence west one-half mile. Containing 320 acres and
known as the east part of the Hull & Bevens claim.
A-90. Jonas Mitchell's Claim. April 19, 1855.
Lies 4 miles southwest of the Omaha village on the north
side of the Platte river, commencing at the southeast corner
of McLaughlin's grove at a marked tree, running thence
half mile west, thence one mile north, thence half mile
east, thence one mile south to the place of beginning.
Containing 320 acres. This claim was made on or about
the 1st day of March, A. D. 1855.
A'123. H. H. Smith's Claim. May 12, 1855.
Bounded on the north by Farer, east by J. Tyson,
south by Platte river, west by Old Missouri claim. Con-
taining 160 acres.
Note. — No record is found of original claim on the
two following, but quit claim deeds for their conveyance
appear.
A-123. C. R. Lloyd to Simeon Alson. May 12, 1855.
Land bounded on the north by P. Riley, east by Wm.
S. Howe, south by Platte river, and west unclaimed, running
north and south one mile, and east and west one-half mile.
Containing 320 acres. Said claim known as Old Missouri
Claim, about 7 miles southwest from Bellevue City.
A-12Jf. Wm. L. Lloyd to Hyrum N. Smith. May 12, 1855.
Land bounded on the west by Mr. D. Meier (?),
north by Jos. Dyson, east by Isaac Tyson, and south by
Platte river. Containing 80 acres. About 8 miles south-
west from Belle\aie Citv.
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE 87
A-132. Thomas McMaster's Claim. May 26, 1855.
I have marked a claim to Grape Island, bounded by the
Missouri and Platte rivers and a sand bar, 320 acres, which
covers the whole island, except 80 acres claimed by Geo.
F. Walbridge on west end of said island.
A-133. Wm. A. Grifin. May 26, 1855.
Beginning at the southwest corner of the Mission
Reserve in Bellevue, thence south 40 rods, thence east one-
half mile, thence north 40 rods, thence west one-half mile
to beginning. Containing 40 acres.
A-lJf.3. Claim of George L. Langley. June IJf, 1855.
This is to certify that I claim a piece of land in
Nebraska territory on the Platte river, some three miles
from its mouth and bounded as follows, on the east by
claim of Daniel Turner, on the north by claim of Cook
and Tinkel, on the west by the claim of Jonathan Tyson,
and on the south by the Platte river. Said claim is well
staked and blazed and contains near 250 acres, more or
less. Said claim was made originally by J. Sterling Morton
and transferred to me by him March 8, 1855.
Note. — The "claim" on the south side of the Pap-
illion at its mouth is not recorded in the Douglas county
records, but is referred to as bounding other claims. It
seems to have been owned jointly by Governor Mark W.
Izard and Eli Watson, as shown by the following quit
claim deeds.
A'l 60. Mark W. Izard to Roswell G. Pierce. June 19,1 855.
Beginning on the west bank of the Missouri river, at
the mouth of the Papillion Creek, running with the main
channel of said creek up to the corner of the Morton claim,
thence due Sv^uth 27 chains and 60 links to a stake, thence
due east to the Missouri river, 95 chains and 35 links,
thence up said river to beginning.
A-161. Eli Watson to Rosivell G. Pierce. June 19, 1855.
The undivided half of the following claim and premises
in Douglas county, consisting of 320 acres, bounded as
follows: (Same description as last above).
88 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
A-176. William G. Preston's Claim. July 6, 1855.
William G. Preston's claim in Nebraska, lying on both
sides of the Papillion creek and bounded on the north by
the claim of C. D. Robinson, on the east by E. P. Watson
and Mr. Finney, the same being one mile north and south,
by one-half mile east and west. Containing 320 acres of
land.
A-177. William R. Watson's Claim. July 6, 1855.
Claim of William R. Watson in Nebraska, described
as follows: The east half of section 19 in township being
a continuation of township 73 north of range 44 west for
the state of Iowa.
A-177. James M. Pike's Claim. July 6, 1855.
Beginning at stake and mound in valley on prairie
southwest from the point where the Papillion first touches
j;he bluff on south side west of Sailings Grove, and
runs east 80 chains, to a stake and mound, thence north
40 chains to stake on north side of creek, thence west,
crossing the creek four times, 80 chains, thence south 40
chains to beginning. Containing 320 acres. Situate in
Bellevue district.
A-177. Eli P. Watson's Claim. July 6, 1855.
The N. W. i of section 18 and the S. W. i of section 17
in township being a continuation of township 73 north of
range 44 west of Iowa.
A-178. S. M. Pike's Claim. July 6, 1855.
Commencing at a stake in prairie, southeast from the
south end of what is known as Sailings Grove, 8 chains,
and runs thence west 40 chains to stake in valley, thence
south 40 chains to stake on side hill, thence east 80 chains,
thence north 16 chains to Spring branch, and 40 chains, to
John Sailings southeast corner, thence west 40 chains to
beginning. Containing 320 acres. Situate in Bellevue
district.
A-178. Chas. E. Watson's Claim. July 6, 1855.
Being the S. E. i of section 20 and the S. W. I of
section 21, township 73, north, of range 44 west, which
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE 89
said lines have been continued across the Missouri river,
and go to make up fractional township numbered as above
in Iowa. It is further bounded on the north by the city of
Belleview, on the east by land claimed by F. Calkins, on
the south by Job Moon and on the west by claim of William
Bennet.
A-178. Francis E. Caldwell's Claim. July 6, 1855.
Being the N. W. | of section 29, and the N. E. | of
section 30, in the township being a continuation of town-
ship 73 north, of range 44, west, for the state of Iowa.
A-179. George F. Wallhridge Claim. JuUj 6, 1855.
Commencing at F. E. Caldwell's southeast corner, and
runs south 26 chains to land claimed by J. Butcher, thence
west along the north line of said Butcher and J. Enoch
and P. Cook, 80 chains, thence north 27.50 chains to Cald-
well's southwest corner, thence east along his south line
80 chains to beginning. Containing 216 acres.
A-189. James C. Dellette. July 13, 1855.
Claim bounded on the east and south by the Mission
Reserve, west by lands claimed by C. D. Keller, on the
north by land claimed by William A. Griffin. Containing
160 acres of land lying in a square form as near as may be.
A-190. A. N. Briggs Claim. July 13, 1855.
Commencing at the southwest corner of C. E. Watson's
Claim, thence one-half mile south, thence one mile east,
thence one-half mile north, thence one mile west to the
place of beginning. Bounded on the north by C. E. Watson,
on the west by Caldwell, on the south by James Howe,
on the east unknown. Containing 320 acres formerly
claimed by Joab Moon, a non-resident. This claim made
June 15, 1855.
A-195. Claim of H. T. Clarke. June 27, 1855.
Beginning at the northeast corner of land claimed by
George Hepner, thence east one mile along the south Une
of D. E. Reed's claim, thence south half a mile bounded
by T. G. Shoultz, thence west one mile bounded on the
90 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
south by Calkins, thence north to the point of beginning.
Containing 320 acres.
Note. — This description is identical with that of the
claim of Uriah Upjohn {A-2J^) who was a brother of the
wife of Chief Justice Fenner Ferguson. Mr. Clarke stated
that Upjohn made this filing for the benefit of Mrs.
Ferguson who was not entitled to a claim and that upon
the advice of J. Sterling Morton he (Clarke) jumped the
claim. The records of Sarpy county show that Mr. Clarke
received a patent for the northeast quarter of section 12,
township 13, north, range 13, east, which very nearly
corresponds with the east half of above claim.
A-205. Almann Lockwood to Jmnes S. Allen.
July 15, 1855.
All title and estate, legal and equitable in the following
premises, bounded and described as follows: On the north
by the Missouri river, on the east by Widow Thompson
(now J. J. Painter), on the south by C. E. Smith, on the
west by Daniel Norton. Containing 320 acres. Reserving
any stone coal mines that may be found.
A-231. B. H. Hickman to B. G. Decker. August 7, 1855.
My claim of 320 acres of land with the body of a house
erected upon the same. Said claim lies in the big bend
near Bellevue, about three-fourths of a mile from J. A. Pain-
ter's claim, in said bottom, the above claim being fully
marked and blazed.
A-S32. Claim of L. L. Bowen. August 25, 1855.
I make the following claim at or near Bellevue, Douglas
county, Nebraska Territory, commencing at a point on
the Missouri river where the original claim of Greene,
Kinney & Company (afterwards jumped by Charles A.
Henry, Anderson, Hamilton & Co.) touches said river,
thence westerly along said line and the north line of the
Mission Reserve as it now is, or may be hereafter estab-
lished, to a point 188 rods from said starting point, thence
north to the line of P. A. Sarpy's claim 82 rods, thence
east along the south line of P. A. Sarpy's claim to the
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE 91
Missouri river, thence southerly and easterly to the place
of beginning. Containing 100 acres more or less.
A-^27. Claim of Rachel M. Larimer. April 22, 1855.
Commencing at the southwest corner of B. P. Rankin
claim, running east along the south line of said Rankin's
claim to the Missouri river, thence south along the line of
the Missouri river to the mouth of the Platte river, thence
up the Platte river along the bank to the southeast corner
of Jacob Skirvin's claim, thence north to place of be-
ginning. Said claim contains 320 acres more or less.
B-37. John Butcher to B. F. Jones. Janry. 18, 1856.
Beginning at J. N. Enoch's southeast corner, running
due east along line to B. P. Rankin's west line, thence north
along said line to a stake about 200 yards north of said
Rankin's northwest corner, thence west a half mile, or to
J. N. Enoch's northeast corner, thence south to the place
of beginning. Containing 320 acres more or less, or what
I suppose to be.
Claim Book-lJf. Chas. Christopher Claim. April 11, 1856.
Bounded on the north by the Bellevue Mission prop-
erty, east by the McMahon claim, on the south by Reed &
Kinney's claim, and on the west by the east line of the
claim known as the J. F. Bennet claim. The same con-
taining 320 acres, lying and being in the county of Douglas
N. T. and lying in township 13 north of range 13 East
and township 13 north of range 14 east of the survey of
the United States.
Claims-^l. John C. Hileman's Claim. June 10, 1856. .
Commencing at a mound on the township line one
mile east of the mouth of Elkhorn river, running east from
said mound 240 rods to a stake which is the northeast
corner, thence commencing at said stake and running
south 160 rods to another stake which is the southeast
corner, thence commencing at said stake and running west
240 rods to a section corner which the southwest corner,
then commencing at said section corner and running north
160 rods to the place of beginning. Containing 240 acres.
92 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Timber claim lies immediately west of the mouth of the
Elkhorn river on an island in Platte river, said island runs
north and south. Containing about fifty acres, more or
ClaimS'55. Claim of John W. Denton. July 5, 1856.
I hereby declare that I have this day made claim to
east half of section twenty-two (22) township fourteen
(14) north, range twelve (12) east in Douglas county,
and territory of Nebraska.
Claims-55. Claim of Michael Flanigan. July 5, 1856.
I do hereby declare that I have this day made claim
to the west half of section twenty-two (22) township
fourteen (14) north, range twelve (12) east in the county
of Douglas, territory of Nebraska.
Claims 58. Claim of Roht. M. Smith. July 17, 1856.
The following is a description of land this day claimed
by Robert M. Smith, viz: The east half of section 21
(twenty-one) town 14 (fourteen) range 12 (twelve) east,
Douglas county, N. T. Containing 320 acres be the same
more or less.
Claim-59. Claim of Wm. J. Curtice. July 17, 1856.
The following is a description of land this day claimed
by Wm. J. Curtice, viz: The west half of section 21
(twenty-one) town 14 (fourteen) range 12 (twelve) east
Douglas county N. T. Containing 320 acres, be the same
more or less.
Claim^-62. Claim of William Herold. August 1, 1856.
I hereby certify that I have this day made claim to
the following described tract of land, situated in the county
of Douglas, territory of Nebraska, being the south half of
section number seventeen (17) in township No. thirteen
(13) north, of range No. twelve (12) east of the 6th
Principal Meridian, by staking and marking the same
according to law. And I do hereby declare my intention
of holding the same as a claim on the public lands.
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE 98
Claims-66. Claim of Richard Kimball July 28, 1856.
I hereby certify that on or about the first day of
August, A. D. 1855, I made claim to the following tract of
land, to-wit: The northeast quarter of section eighteen
range thirteen east all in township fourteen north
by staking the same and causing the same to be surveyed,
and making the improvements required by law.
Claims-69. Claim of Wm. H. Watson. August 7, 1856.
E. I sec. 14, town 14, N. R. 12 east, being 320 acres,
lying on east side of J. T. Taylor's claim.
Claims-69. Claim of Anthony Voll. August 19, 1856.
This is to certify that I Anthony Voll have on the
5th day of August 1856 made claim to the following
lands, situated on Five Mile Creek in the county of Douglas,
N. T. in Bellevue Club District. T. 14 N. range 11,
east, commencing at the southwest corner of J. M. Becker's
claim, running (south | mile, thence west one mile, thence
north across the said creek) ^ mile, thence east one mile,
thence south to the place of beginning, ^ mile, running so as
to take in the creek all the way up, and a grove of oak timber
with my name marked on two of the trees, containing 320
acres, with the required improvements made on it. Sup-
posed to be in sections 19 and 20 in the above said
range and township.
Claim^-70. Claims of Rickley, Burkley & Breidenbach.
August 19, 1856.
We the undersigned, S. S. Rickley, St. Burkley & John
Breidenbach have staked off and ploughed on the same,
and claim the following described land situated in Douglas
County, N. T. in the Bellevue Club District, and in T. 14,
N. R. 11, E. and commencing at the N. E. corner of J. M.
Becker's claim of same date, in same township and range,
thence running east | mile, thence north i mile, thence
east I mile, thence north I mile, thence east ^ mile, thence
north I mile, thence east one mile, thence south ^ mile,
thence W. f mile thence south ^ mile, thence west ^ mile,
thence north ^ mile thence east I mile, thence north |
mile to place of beginning, so as to take in said creek length-
94 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
wise in said claim, containing 320 acres each for said Rickley
and Burkley and 280 acres for said Breidenbach, and are
making the usual improvements thereon. Said lands are
supposed to be in sections 10, 11, 14, & 15 of said township.
Note. — The above description will not close. Some
courses and distances were evidently omitted in recording.
Claims-7S. Claim of J. M. Baker. August 19, 1856.
I the undersigned J. M. Baker have staked off and
claim the following land in Douglas County, N. T. to-wit;
being 320 acres and situated in the Bellevue Club District
in T. 14 N. R. 11 E. and commencing at a point S. E. some
30 rods at a stake, of the west furthermost large tree in
the 5 mile creek on Sec 20, about a half mile east of a
grove on said creek, thence running north f mile thence
E I mile, thence S. | mile, thence West I mile, thence
south I mile, thence west | mile to place of beginning.
And am making the usual improvements thereon. Sup-
posed to be in Sections 17 and 20 as above.
Claims-75. John McCoy's Claim. Sept. 6, 1856.
This is to certify that I claim the north west I of Section
23 and the north east | of Section 22, T. 14 north of range
11 East.
ClaimS'76. Nathan S. Whitney's Claim. September 6, 1856.
This is to certify that I, N. S. Whitney, have this 6th
day of Sept. 1856 made a claim on the following tract of
land, described as follows, viz. south west \ of Section 7,
north west \ of Sec 18 in town 14, north, R. 12 East.
Claims-76. Thos. Paulsens Claim. Sept. 6, 1856.
This is to certify that I, Thomas Paulsen have made a
claim on the 10th of August on the following tract of land,
described as follows: viz. S. W. I of Sec 14 and S E | of
Sec 15, in town 14 N. R. 11, east. Surveyed by Mr.
Dickson [Dickinson].
Claims-77. Preston McCoys Claim. Sept. 10, 1856.
Preston McCoy of Omaha, Nebraska, hereby claims
the following described piece of land, viz. The south west
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE 95
i of Sec. 23. Theeastiofsoutheastiof Sec. 22. The N E
i of Sec. 27. The north h of N W i of Sec 26, in township
14, N. range 11 east, County of Douglass, Territory of
Nebraska.
Clainis-78. John S. Blackburns Claim. Sept. 5, 1856.
I have this day laid claim to the north half of section
21, township 13, north or [of] range 12 east of the 6th prin-
cipal meridian, the same adjoining Mallet and Vanensens
Claims on the south.
NOTE.^ — The record shows township 13, but it is
probable that 15 was meant.
Claims-79. George Johnston's Claim. August 27, 1856.
This is to certify that I have this day made claim of
the south east quarter of section twenty nine (29) and north
east quarter of section No. thirty-two (32) in all three
hundred and twenty acres (320) in T 14 N. R 12 E. in
Douglas Co. N. T.
Claims-80. W. H. Collier's Claim. Sept. 6, 1856.
This is to certify that I, W. H. Collier this 25th day of
July have made the following described claim on the
public lands in Douglas Co. N. T. situated between the 2d
and 3d PapilHon rivers, as follows. Commencing at the
south west corner of Sec 8 T. 13 N. R 12 E and running
North 1 mile, east | mile, south 1 mile and thence west
1 mile, being the E -o- of said Sec 8.
Claims'81. Wm.W. Dickinson's Claim. Sept. 22, 1856.
This is to certify that I claim and desire to retain
possession for settlement the N E | of Sec 17 and S E |
of Sec 8 in town 14 north, range 12 east in Douglas County,
Nebraska Territory.
Claims'81 . Thos. D. Murray's Claim. Sept. 22, 1 856.
This is to certify that I claim and desire to retain
possession of for settlement of the North ^ of Sec 24 in
town 14 north, range 11, east in Douglas County, Nebraska
Territory, the same being surveyed and staked for me
Sept. 20, 1856 by Wm. W. Dickinson, Surveyor.
96 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Claims-81. Hiram Veith's Claim. Sept. 22, 1856.
This is to certify that I claim and desire to retain
possession of the east ^ of Sec 23 in town 14 north, range
11, east, Douglas County, Neb Territory, the same being
surveyed and staked out for me by Wm. W. Dickinson,
Surveyor, Sept. 20, 1856.
Claims-82. I. F. Collins Claim. Sept. U, 1856.
West I of Section 29 town 14 north range 12 east,
County of Douglas, Nebraska Territory.
Claims-85. Parker, Rumhold & Co. Oct. 18, 1856.
Know all men by these presents, that we have this
day made claim to the following unimproved lands in the
County of Douglas and Terr of Nebraska, namely, the
South East quarter of Sec 18, township 14, north or [of]
range 12 east and the south west quarter of Sec. eight
township fourteen north twelve east.
0. F. Parker, Wm. Rumbold & Co.
Claims-86. Noble Chase Claim. Oct. 19, 1856.
This is to certify that I have this day claimed a certain
portion of the pubhc lands, being described as follows,
viz: The west | of Sec 17, in township No. fourteen (14)
range No. 12 East of the 6th P. Mer.
Claims-89. J. P. Manning Claim. Nov. 11, 1856.
J. P. Manning claims on the 10th day of November
1856 the east § of Section 14, township 14, fourteen, north,
range 12 east.
Claims-90. W. R. Thrall Claim. Nov. 11, 1856.
I hereby certify that I have this day laid claim to a
certain tract of land lying in Tp. 14 N. R 10 E. commencing
at the S E corner of Section 25, thence north ^ mile, and
west for quantity, and in the above I claim 280 acres.
Claims-92. Parker, Rumhold & Co. Oct. 22, 1856.
We have this day made claim to the following unun-
proved land, situated and being in the County of Douglas
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE 97
and Territory of Nebraska,, and described as follows, the
South West quarter of Section Seven, Township Fourteen
North, of Range Twelve, East, and the North half of the
North West quarter of Section Eighteen, Township Four-
teen North of Range Twelve East. — Oct. 21.
0. F. Parker, Wm. Rumbold & Co.
Claims-QJf. Hadeton Land Company Claim. Nov. 8, 1856.
The Hazleton Land Company have this day claimed
the following described land, the East half of the North
West quarter of Section 20, Township 14, North, Range 12
East, 80 acres. The West half of the North West quarter
of Section 19, Township 14, North, Range 12, East, 80
acres. Wm. A. Gwyer,
Sec. Hazleton Land Co.
ClaimS'lOO. J. M. Kuhn & Robertson's Claim.
Dec. 10, 1856.
I, J. M. Kuhn & J. Robertson have claimed Section 1,
T 13, N. R 10 E. In connection with some thirty or forty
acres of timber land, a part of which is on the east side
of the Elkhorn river and opposite the timber of Shields,
Stokes and McCune, and some being on island in said
river, and joins on the North the timber of Mr. Jones
across the river.
Claims-117. Horace S. Hall. May 16, 1857.
I hereby certify that I have this day staked off and
laid claim to that portion of the unclaimed public lands of
the Territory of Nebraska known as the West half of
Section (34) Thirty-four Township (14) Fourteen range
Eleven (11) East. Containing 320 acres.
Claims-118. Franklin Smith Claim. May 16, 1857.
Omaha, May 15, 1857.
This is to certify that I have this day staked off and
claimed the portion of the public lands of Nebraska, known
as the South half {\) of. Section Twenty-eight (28) Town-
ship 14, Range 11.
98 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
ClaimS'119. John McQuay Claim. May 21, 1857.
This is to certify that I have this day laid claim to
the North half of Sec No. 28, Township 14, Range 11,
East.
Claims-120. D. D. Belden Claim. April 27, 1857.
I hereby certify that on or about the 27th day of
April A. D. 1857, I made claim to the following tract of
Gov Land, to-wit: the E h of the South East \ of Sec
No Twelve Township 14 North of Range 12 East and the
South West \ and the West half of the South West \ of
Sec 7 Township 14, north Range 13, East by staking the
same and causing the same to be surveyed etc. All said
land situated and lying in Douglas Co. N. Territory,
supposed to contain 320 acres of land.
Note.— The last description above probably meant
for southeast quarter.
Without going very extensively into the history of
Sarpy county, the earliest part of it, down to June, 1857,
when it was actually organized as a county, is in place
here. There is some evidence that Governor Francis
Burt, who arrived at the Mission House in Bellevue,
Friday, October 6, 1854, and died there on the 18th of the
same month, intended to locate the territorial capital at
Bellevue.' If he had lived but a short time longer it is
quite probable that the early counties would have had
other names and positions on the map; but he performed
no official act. Under the act creating Nebraska territory,
upon the death or disability of the governor, the secretary
' The organic act did not invest the governor with the power to fix
upon the location of the capital, but it did authorize him to fix the time
and place of the first meeting of the general assembly and to divide the
territory into legislative districts and apportion members among them.
The power to place the capital was given to the legislature. There is
little room for doubt that if Governor Burt had lived about three months
after assuming his office he would have designated Bellevue as the place
of the first meeting of the legislature and would have apportioned its
members fairly, thus giving the South Platte section, which favored Bellevue,
complete control of the legislature. See Illustrated History of Nebraska,
V. 1, pp. 173-222.~Ed.
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE 99
of the territory assumed the duties of his office. Secretary
Thomas B. Cuming arrived at Bellevue Mission Thursday,
October 12, and as acting governor on the 18th issued a
proclamation announcing the death of Governor Burt.
November 23, 1854, acting Governor Cuming issued a
proclamation calling an election to be held on December
12, to choose members of the first legiskture, defining the
boundaries of eight counties, giving their names. Douglas
county, which contained the greater portion of the present
Sarpy county, was bounded as follows: Commencing at
the mouth of the Platte river, thence north along the
west bank of the Missouri river to a point one mile north
of Omaha City, thence west along the south boundary of
Washington county twenty miles, thence south ten miles,
more or less, to the Platte river, and thence east to the
place of beginning. (Doubtless the last course intended to
follow the channel of the Platte river, but if the wording
was strictly construed a portion of the territory would be
omitted. A map deposited with the State Historical
Society shows the county with the theory that the river
was the boundary line).
The proclamation divided the county into two districts,
the election for the northern district to be at Omaha,
and for the southern at the Mission House in Bellevue.
Isaiah Bennet, D. E. Reed and Thomas Morton were
named as judges, and G. (George W.) Hollister and Silas
A. Strickland as clerks for Bellevue precinct. The proc-
lamation ordered that, "Said territorial legislature will
convene on the 8th day of January . . aforesaid." December
20, 1854, the acting governor issued another proclamation,
ordering the legislative assembly to meet at Omaha City
January 16, 1855 (instead of January 8, as originally in-
tended), and that all proceedings of the assembly for the
first session should be held at Omaha City.
Believing they had been deceived and cheated — for
under Cuming's scheme all the members from Douglas
100 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
county were of course residents of Omaha — the citizens
of Bellevue and vicinity immediately began seeking means
whereby they could have a voice in political affairs. Ac-
cordingly, February 1, 1855, house file No. 22, "An act to
define the boundaries and estabUsh the seat of justice of the
county of Douglas", was introduced in the legislature. The
boundaries were as follows: ** Beginning at a point in the
middle of the main channel of the Missouri river, opposite
the middle of the main channel of the mouth of the Platte
river, thence northwardly with the middle of the main
channel of the said Missouri river to a point two miles
north of the town of Florence, formerly known as Winter
Quarters, thence west eighteen miles, thence south to the
middle of the main channel of the Platte river, thence
eastwardly with the middle of the main channel of said
Platte river to the place of beginning in the middle of the
main channel of said Missouri river. . ."
February 6, 1855, the following petition was presented
to the council and referred to a special committee:
*'To the Honorable the Legislature of the Territory of Ne-
braska:
"Your petitioners, residents of that portion of the
territory immediately north of and adjoining the Platte
river, being desirous of being included in a county that
will be from geographical position best suited to their
present and future interests and having the county seat
located at a point central and convenient of access, respect-
fully petition your honorable body for the passage of a
bill organizing Sarpy county with the following boundaries,
viz.: Commencing at a point on the Missouri river due
east of the Indian gi-aves, situated about half way between
Omaha City and Belle^ale on the main travelled road,
thence due west to the Elkhorn river, thence down said
river to the Platte river, thence down said Platte river to
the Mis£ouri river, thence up the Missouri river to the
place of beginning, and establish the county seat of said
county at Bellevue, and your petitioners will ever pray."
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLE VUE 101
The petition was signed by Geo. W. Hollister, P. A.
Sarpy, C. T. Holloway, F. Ferguson, Thos. Morton, Wm.
Hamilton, Stephen Decatur and thirty -five others.
The select committee reported February 7, presenting
council file No. 37, **A bill for an act to organize the county
of Sarpy and locate the seat of justice thereof", having the
same boundaries as requested in the petition, and recom-
mended its passage. This action moved the Omaha mem-
bers to obtain from the house committee pn counties and
county boundaries, February 12, a report of a substitute
for house file No. 22, which was the original bill, except that
the name ''Omaha" was substituted gfor^l** Douglas".
February 23 council file 27 (the Sarpy county 'bill) was
laid on the table by a vote of eight in favor to five against ; and
house file 22 was amended by striking out ''Omaha" and
inserting "Douglas" as the name of the county. On the
24th the house concurred in the amendment, March 5
Governor Mark W. Izard approved the act; and the hopes
of Bellevue were gone for the time.^
8 February 10 the house committee on county boundaries and county
seats offered as a substitute for house file 22 and for house file 18 which
changed the name of Pierce county to Ottoe and defined its boundaries,
a consolidation of the two bills in which the name of Douglas county was
changed to Omaha. February 12, on motion of Decker, of Pierce county,
the consolidation bill was divided into two bills, each resuming its original
number [House journal, first general assembly, pp. 48, 50]. February 13
house file 22, to define the boundaries of Omaha county and locate its
seat of justice was passed [Ibid., p. 54]; and on the 15th house file 18,
defining the boundaries and locating the seat of justice of Ottoe — orig-
inally Pierce ^ county was passed [Ibid., p. 62]. February 23, a motion
in the council by Bennet, of Pierce county, — now Otoe — to amend
the Omaha county bill by fixing the south line of the county so as to be
identical with the north line of the proposed Sarpy county, and the north
line three miles north of Florence instead , of one mile north of Omaha
City, as in Governor Cuming's proclamation, and two miles above
Florence, as in the original bill, was lost by a vote of five to eight, namely:
Bennet, Bradford and Cowles of Pierce; Nuckolls of Cass; and Sharp
of Richardson, aye; Brown of Forney (now Nemaha), Clark of Dodge,
Folsom of Burt, Goodwill, Jones, Richardson and Rogers of Douglas, and
Mitchell of Washington. After substituting Douglas for Omaha as the
name of the county the bill was passed; whereupon council file 37, the Sarpy
county bill, was laid on the table by a vote of eight to five, as follows:
102 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
At this session an attempt was made to create a new
county which would cover a part of the present county of
Sarpy, then included in Dodge county. February 1, 1855,
Mr. Byers of Omaha introduced house file 24, "An act to
define the boundaries and establish the seat of justice of
Elk Horn county. Beginning at the southwest corner of
Douglas county in the middle of the main channel of the
Platte river, thence north with the west boundary of said
Douglas county to the northwest corner of the same, thence
west to the middle of the main channel of Platte river,
thence eastwardly with the middle of the main channel
of said Platte river to the place of beginning, is hereby
declared to be a separate and distinct county to be known
and called by the name of Elk Horn county, the county
seat to be at the town of Elk Horn. February 2 the bill
was read a second time and referred to the committee on
county boundaries and county seats, and March 5, as
recommended by the committee, was laid on the table.'
The second session of the territorial legislature convened
at Omaha City December 18, 1855, Bellevue being repre-
sented in the house by L. L. Bowen, who on January 3,
1856, introduced house file No. 17, "An act to define the
Brown, Folsom, Goodwill, Jones, Mitchell, Richardson, Rogers, Sharp,
aye; Bennet, Bradford, Clark, Cowles, Nuckolls, nay. It is remarkable
that in the fierce sectional conflicts subsequent to the first struggle over
the location of the capital, Nemaha county sided with the North Platte.
This apparently indefensible action was the cause or occasion of Furnas's
pohtical undoing. But the amendment by the council declaring that
"nothing herein contained shall have the effect to change or alter the north
line of Washington county as now established" was incorporated in the
act. [Council journal, first general assembly, pp. 89-90.] A motion by
Bradford, to substitute "Belleview" for Omaha as the name of the county,
received only the mover's vote. Bellevue, whose bow of promise was
brightest up to the time of the struggle for the capital, was doomed by
the loss of that decisive battle to the lot of the deserted village. — Ed.
' The index of the house journal drops this bill with the reference
to the recommendation of the committee, March 9, that it be laid upon
the table [p. 110], and no further action upon it appears to have been
taken. — Ed.
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE 103
boundaries and locate the seat of justice of the county of
Sarpy". A motion to reject the bill was adopted by a
vote of 13 to 11; January 4 Boulware's motion to recon-
sider the rejecting motion was carried by a vote of 17 to 9.
The bill was then referred to the committee on county
boundaries and county seats, which, January 18, reported
as follows: "The standing committee upon county boun-
daries and county seats, to which was referred the bill
entitled, *An act to define the boundaries and locate the
seat of justice of the county of Sarpy, ' with sundry papers,
etc., have had the same under consideration, and respect-
fully beg leave to report as a substitute a bill entitled,
'An act to create a new election district in the southern
portion of Douglas county,' and unanimously recommends
the passage of said substitute.
'*Wm. Clancy,
L. L. BOWEN,
John Boulware,
L. Harsh,
Thomas Gibson,
Committee."
The substitute became house file No. 86, a bill en-
titled, *'An act to create a new election district in the
southern portion of Douglas county", as follows:
Be it enacted by the council omd house of representatives of
the territory of Nebraska:
Section 1. All that portion of territory included
within the following boundaries, to- wit: Beginning at a
point in the middle of the main channel of the Missouri
river, due east of a point in the middle of the main channel
of the Platte river, where the same disembogues into the
said Missouri river, thence up the middle of the main
channel of said Platte river to a point where the north
boundary line of the second tier of townships north of the
third standard parallel crosses said Platte river, thence
due east on said north boundary line to a point in the middle
of the main channel of the Missouri river, thence down the
104 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
middle of the main channel of said Missouri river to the
place of beginning, shall be, and the same is hereby, erected
into a separate election district for the purpose of electing
councilmen and members of the house of representatives.
Sec. 2. In making an apportionment of the repre-
sentation of the legislative assembly, the territory included
within the above described boundaries shall be treated as
a separate and distinct district, and said apportionment
to the same shall be in the ratio of the qualified voters
residing within said limits.
Sec. 3. For all election purposes other than those
above specified, the said district shall be and constitute a
a portion of Douglas county, in like manner as heretofore.
Sec. 4. This act to take effect and be in force from
and after its passage.
The bill was read first time, rules suspended, read
second and third tim^es by title, passed and title agreed to.
It was passed by the council January 22, and approved by
the governor January 22.1"
In this way the wishes of the Bellevue people were
again set aside, but they did not give up. A county of
their own was wanted and finally obtained. The third
session of the territorial legislature convened at Omaha,
January 5, 1857. Mr. James A. Allen introduced a bill
(afterwards known as council file No. 12) in the council,
January 8, entitled, "A bill to erect the county of Omaha",
which was read the first time and on January 9th read the
second time and referred to the committee on county
boundaries and county seats.
The bill was as follows:
Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of
the Territory of Nebraska:
Section 1. That all that portion of territory included
within the following boundaries, to-wit: beginning at a
point in the middle of the main channel of the Missouri
river, due east of a point in the middle of the main channel
of the Platte river, where the same disembogues into the
10 The bill was signed January 22 [House journal, second general
assembly, p. 145]. — Ed.
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE 105
said Missouri river, thence up the middle of the main
channel of said Platte river to a point where the north
boundary line of the second tier of townships north of the
third standard parallel crosses said Platte river, thence
due east on said boundary line to a point in the middle of
the main channel of said Missouri river, thence down the
middle of the main channel of said Missouri river to the
place of beginning, be and the same is hereby created and
erected a new county by the name of Omaha county.
Sec. 2. That Leavitt L. Bowen, Chas. T. Holloway
and Silas A. Strickland be and are hereby appointed com-
missioners to locate the county seat of the county so to be
erected.
Sec. 3. That the first election for officers of said
county shall be held on the fourth Tuesday of May next,
and thereafter as prescribed by law.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, that an act en-
titled, "An act to create a new election district in the
southern portion of Douglas county", be and the same is
hereby repealed.
Sec. 5. That all acts inconsistent with this act are
hereby repealed, and that this act shall be in force from
and after its passage.
January 13, the committee on county boundaries and
county seats reported as follows:
The committee on county boundaries and county
seats, to whom was referred council bill No. 12, entitled,
"An act to erect the county of Omaha", report that they
have examined the same, and that the bill should pass and
become a law for the following reasons:
First. That that portion of the teiritory proposed
by the bill to be erected into a county has been in several
instances deprived of a representation in the legislature
of the territory; that the interests of said territory are in
a manner distinct and separate from other portions, and
therefore should have a voice in the territory.
Second. That it is anti-democratic to deprive any
portion of the territory of her natural rights.
Third. That it is not convenient for the people to
do their public business where they do [not do] their
106 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
private business, and that Omaha City is an inconvenient
place for the people of said district to do their business.
Motions to adopt the report, to lay on the table, to
refer to the judiciary and the agriculture committees were
lost, and finally it was referred to a select committee, con-
sisting of Rogers, Allen and Bradford.
January 19, Mr. Rogers, chairman of the select com-
mittee, submitted the following minority report:
Your committee to whom was referred council bill
No. 12, entitled "A bill for an act to erect the county of
Omaha," have had the same under consideration and beg
leave to report as follows: That to erect a new county out
of the territory of Douglas county, which is already one
of the smallest counties of the territory and thereby reduce
it in size to six townships, would be grossly unjust, op-
pressive, tyrannical and anti-democratic. Unjust because
if thus severed she would be robbed of one-half of her
river front and thereby a very large share of her com-
mercial advantages, which is a material element in the
growth, importance, and destiny of any county or district
of country.
It would be unjust because no county has heretofore
been restricted to so unjust and parsimonious a river front,
for it has been heretofore in the history of the territory,
as it should be, the constant aim to distribute, with as
much justice and equality as possible, the commercial and
other natural advantages among the family of counties
thus far organized. To make Douglas county an exception
to this just precedent of this legislative assembly would be
an obvious wrong and a manifest injustice to the mind
of any disinterested, unprejudiced party. To sever Douglas
county, which does not now contain but twelve townships,
when sixteen is the usual size, would not only be unjust to
every voter in North Douglas and at least one-half of
the voters of South Douglas, but clearly and manifestly
oppressive,— oppressive by doubling the taxes of these
two exceedingly small counties for the erection of two
sets of county buildings and the expense incurred in sus-
taining two sets of county officers, when it is fully known
and clearly understood by this body that a very large
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE 107
majority of the people of the county are decidedly opposed
to any severance of their county, or their legislation, which
would impose upon them a grievious and burthensome
taxation. The people of North Douglas are not alone in
opposition to this uncalled for oppression, but we are
clearly of the opinion that a very large minority, if not
even an absolute majority of South Douglas are equally
decided in their opposition to the severance of this county.
In support of this opinion we would beg leave respect-
fully to state that, although the census returns show South
Douglas to have contained a fraction over four hundred
and fifty voters, yet at the last election only a fraction
over two hundred votes were cast. The reason for this
large disparity between the showing of the census returns
and the actual number of votes cast originated from the
well understood and manifest reason that voters in the
northern and western tier of townships of South Douglas
take little or no interest in elections in the election district,
from the fact that the place of voting is in some instances
equally distant, and in others more remote from their
place of habitation than Omaha City, where they are
acustomed to trade and transact their county and other
business. The citizens of the northern tier of townships
who reside in the immediate vicinity of Omaha, their
natural place of trade, as well as the citizens of the western
tier of townships, who are not in the habit of trading or
transacting business at any other point than Omaha, from
the fact of its equal, if not greater proximity to their places
of habitation than that of any other point where they could
possibly procure supplies, would look upon any act of this
legislature ostracising them from this county against their
consent as tyrannical and abusive of their best interests.
A majority of the committee to whom this bill was
referred claim that in order to restore certain rights to
South Douglas it is necessary to erect the county of Omaha
out of the territory of the county of Douglas; that in order
to restore those rights it is necessary to reduce her area to
six townships; to rob her of one-half of her river front;
to impose upon her voters against their will an unequal
and unjust taxation. All this they claim to be necessary
in order to restore certain rights which are said to be
108 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
distinctive. What are the rights claimed to have been
lost? Some time in November, 1854, the then acting
governor issued a proclamation forming counties for the
purpose of a first election. By that proclamation a county
was formed north of Platte river and south of Omaha
City for Bellevue. The same power that formed this
county, in December, 1854, destroyed it, or it may be
stated thus: The acting governor promised Bellevue a
county but never gave it. The majority upon the above
statement pretend rights existed and are lost, but must
be regained. If the acting governor did a wrong act, did
that create for them a right of any kind whatever? If
this act did them injustice, is it even a reasonable pretext
for them (I mean the two hundred odd voters above referred
to) to come up to this body and through their representa-
tives attempt to commit a much greater act of injustice
against twelve hundred voters? These twelve hundred
voters have never conceded to the two hundred voters of
South Douglas, who sent a representation, having any
distinctive or different right from what they themselves
enjoy; neither can it be said that they have deprived the
two hundred voters of any such rights. Since they have
never acquired any distinctive right at the hands of the
acting governor, from the hands of the majority, we reason-
ably assert that they never had any such rights to lose.
We think too that we have clearly and fully shown that
these two hundred voters of South Douglas have not in
justice any claim now to such distinctive rights, and further
for this legislature to confer such rights we have shown
would be to do so in direct opposition to the wishes of a
very large majority of the voters of the county, and in
direct opposition to their best interests. Such an act
could not be denominated anything less than flagrant
oppression, than tyrannical injustice. No one would deny
that it would be tyrannical and anti-democratic for the
representatives of North Douglas to vote on this bill con-
trary to and in direct opposition to the best interests of
and known wishes of a very large majority of the people of
the whole county. This would be equally true of repre-
sentatives of other counties who come up to this body and
vote against the best interests of the almost unanimous
voters of the county.
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE 109
We say this would be as great an act of tyranny and
as contrary to democratic principles as if the immediate
representatives of the people had so voted. There can be
no exception to this rule unless where the vote is for ferry
charters or some other act for the benefit of immediate
neighborhoods.
In view of the above statement we recommend the
indefinite postponement of council bill No. 12, entitled, A
bill for an act to erect Omaha county.
Sam'l E. Rogers, Chairman.
The majority of the select committee submitted the
following:
MAJORITY REPORT
The select committee to whom was referred a bill for
an act to create the county of Omaha, beg leave to report
that they have had the same under consideration and
recommend its passage, without amendment, and for the
following reasons, viz.: That the acting governor of
Nebraska, prior to the past election, caused proclamation
to be printed in the office of the Nebraska Palladium at
Bellevue, defining the boundaries of Douglas county nearly
as provided for in this bill for the county sought to be
created hereby, but afterwards refused to issue said proc-
lamation unless the citizens of said district would make to
him a humiliating pledge as to their future political action,
and therefore issued a proclamation making the north line
of Douglas county one mile north of Omaha City, thus
uniting those citizens with a community of different inter-
ests and succeeding by means not necessary to mention
here of depriving them of a representation in the first
legislature of this territory.
By reference to the first journals of the council of
this territory we perceive that the citizens of this district
humbly petitioned the legislature to grant them a county,
which was refused, and the county of Douglas made yet
a larger part by a proclamation of the governor, while
the legislature w^as in session, extending Douglas county
to a line north of the city of Florence, and afterwards
by legislative action.
And the majority of your committee further state that
the county of Douglas has by its present boundary a much
110 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
wider front on the Missouri river than any other county,
extending from the Platte river to the fourth standard
parallel, a distance of more than twenty-five miles.
And further, the citizens of this district now seeking
the passage of this bill under consideration, have and ever
will have interests distinct from the remainder of the
present Douglas county; that nearly in the center of the
river boundary of this district is the flourishing city of
Bellevue, the oldest city in the territory, which already has
its hotels, mercantile establishments, banks, its attorneys
and its churches, making it the center of business for the
inhabitants of said district. Consequently your com-
mittee readily perceive the necessity of giving to said in-
habitants the privilege of transacting their legal business
where their private business is done, and your committee
are advised and believe the inhabitants of said district
are nearly unanimous in favor of the proposed new county,
and that the said district is capable of sustaining as great
and probably a greater population than any other district
of Nebraska.
A. A. Bradford.
J. S. Allen.1i
On the 22d of January the president introduced a
petition of Ai'chibald Wright and twenty-five others of the
southern district praying for the erection of the county of
Omaha out of said district; also petitions of H. T. Clarke
and others, and Wm. W. Laughlin and others, to the same
effect, — which were referred to the select committee.
January 28, after consideration in committee of the whole,
the council passed an amendment to strike out "Omaha"
and insert "Sarpy". The boundaries of the original bill
would have included all of the present city of South Omaha;
so, to save as much territory as possible for Douglas county,
Mr. Rogers of Omaha, January 29, offered as an amend-
ment.
Strike out section 1 and insert the following:
" Council journal, third general assembly, pp. 50-52. — Ed.
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE 111
Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives
of the Territory of Nebraska,
That the territory included within the following bound-
aries, to-wit: Commencing at a point where the Platte
river empties into the Missouri river, thence northerly
along the main channel of the Missouri river to a point
where the center of township number fourteen north
intersects the Missouri river, thence west along the center
of township number fourteen north to the Platte river,
thence along down the main channel of the Platte river
to the place of beginning.
The amendment was lost by a vote of six ayes to
seven nays. The bill as amended to read "Sarpy county"
was then, by a vote of seven ayes to six nays, passed by
the council. 12
In the house, January 29 and 30, many motions to
reject, to adjourn, etc. (Mr. Downs of Otoe making a
motion to adjourn sine die), were voted upon and lost.
February 2, Mr. Armstrong, of Omaha, moved to amend
the bill by striking out all after the enacting clause and
inserting:
Section 1. That the question of dividing the county
of Douglas by erecting a new county out of the southern
portion thereof shall be determined by the people of said
county at the next election for members of the legislative
assembly.
»« Ibid., p. 73. It is worth while to note that Robert W. Furnas,
of Nemaha county, voted against the bill which was a South Platte measure,
showing that for North Platte favors in hand and in the bush he was sealed
to that section. This vote is closely related to his opposition to the passage
over the governor's veto of the bill to remove the capital to Douglas City
on Salt Creek. The aggressive allegation of the Omaha Herald that
citizens of Omaha subscribed and paid $3,000 in gold to Furnas for his
friendly aid in the capital removal struggle forced Furnas to enter a libel
suit against the Herald when he was a candidate for the office of governor
in 1872. See History of Nebraska, v. 3. It is alike significant that W.
A. Finney, member of the house from Nemaha county, took the same
attitude toward the capital removal bill that Furnaa did and also per-
sistently opposed the Sarpy county bill from first to last, while his col-
leagues, Chambers and Lawrence, in harmony with their section of the
territory, supported both bills. — Ed.
112 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Sec. 2. At said election the legal voters in said
county who are in favor of said division of the county
shall place on their ballots the words "for a division of
the county", and those legal voters who are opposed to
said division of the county shall place on their ballots the
words, "Against a division of the county."
Sec. 3. When the election returns are canvassed in
accordance with the ninth chapter of the first part of the
code of Nebraska, if it shall appear that a majority of the
votes have been polled for a division of the county, the
fact shall be certified by the county clerk to the county
commissioners who shall thereupon proceed to erect a
new county to be named "Sarpy" out of that portion of
Douglas county now embraced in the southern election
district of said county.
Sec. 4. If at the election as provided for in the
second section of this act a majority of the legal voters
shall vote against the division of the county, the said new
county shall not be erected.
The amendment was rejected by a vote of twenty-two
ayes to ten nays. February 5, Mr. Strickland, as chairman
of the committee on county boundaries and county seats,
reported council file 12, "A bill for an act to erect the
county of Sarpy", with the following amendments, recom-
mending its passage.
First. To the title add after the word "Sarpy", the
words "and for other purposes".
Second. In lieu of section 1 insert the following:
Section 1. Be it enacted hy the Council and House
of Representatives of the Territory of Nebraska,
That all that portion of the territory included within
the following boundaries, to-wit: Beginning at a point in
the middle of the main channel of the Missouri river due
east of a point in the middle of the main channel of the
Platte river where the same disembogues into the Missouri
river; thence up the middle of the main channel of the
Missouri river to a point two miles due south of the north
line of township number fourteen, north; thence due west
on section lines to the middle of the main channel of the
Platte river; thence down the middle of the main channel
EARLY DAYS IN AND ABOUT BELLEVUE 113
of said Platte river to the place of beginning; be and the
same is hereby created and erected a new county by the
name of Sarpy.
Sec. 3. Add section 2 after the word "erected", and
that said commissioners shall make said location on or before
the first day of July next, and shall make a report of their
acts and doings in the premises and file the same in the
office of the register of said county.
Sec. 4. That section four (4) be changed to section
5 in the bill, and that the following be inserted as section
four (4) : And be it further enacted that all that portion
of the territory lying south of the fourth (4) standard
parallel and east of the main channel of the Platte river
and not included in the boundaries of this act of Sarpy
county, be and the same are hereby declared to be a part
and portion of the county of Douglas.
Mr. Armstrong moved to amend the amendments of
the committee by adding after the words "Douglas county"
in the fifth section the words "Approved January 22, 1856,
be and the same is hereby repealed, and the said county
of Sarpy shall have a representation in the legislative
assembly under the last census in the same ratio as pro-
vided in the act hereby repealed."
At this point Mr. S. E. Seely of Dodge county awoke
to the fact that his county would lose some of its territory
if the bill should pass and moved to amend by inserting
after the word "lijie" in the twelfth line of the first section,
the following words: "To the eastern boundary of Dodge
county, thence south on said eastern boundary of Dodge
county to the main channel of the Platte river, thence
down said main channel to the place of beginning," and
further by striking out all that portion which attaches a
part of Dodge county to Douglas county. This amend-
ment was rejected. February 6, the house passed the bill,
as amended by the committee and Mr. Armstrong, by a
vote of nineteen ayes to eleven nays.
114 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The printed journal does not contain anything about
the return of this bill to the council nor its action con-
curring, but it was evidently done, because on February 9
the governor sent formal notice of his approval.
It was thus that Sarpy county came into existence,
and on May 25, 1857, an election was held for county
officers which resulted in the choice of S. D. Bangs, county
clerk; W. F. Wiley, county treasurer; John N. Enoch,
sheriff; Wm. H. Cook, probate judge; C. D. Keller,
register of deeds; H. A. Longsdorf, superintendent of
pubhc instruction; W. H. Harvey, surveyor; and J. B.
Glover, Robert McCarthy and Philander Cook, county
commissioners.
The organization of the county was completed June 10,
1857, by the first session of the board of county com-
missioners and the assumption of their duties by the other
officers. A map accompanying this paper, and filed with
the State Historical Society, shows the boundaries of Doug-
las and Sarpy counties, created by the last act. The board
of county commissioners on January 14, 1857, gave the
Bellevue people a commissioner's district, as follows: It
was ordered by the board that the county of Douglas be
districted and organized according to section 2 of an act
entitled, "County Commissioners", as follows: "District
No. 1. Bounded south by Platte river and north by section
line parallel with and two miles north of the township line
between townships thirteen and fourteen, and east and west
by the county boundaries." [Commissioner's Record A, 4.]
As Sarpy county was soon after created, no election
was held. Consequently "District No. 1" was not repre-
sented by any one from the Bellevue end of the county.
KANSAS-NEBRASKA BOUNDARY LINE
By George W. Martin^
Before any reference to boundary lines, permit me to
congratulate you on the start you have made toward a
home for your historical collection. There is no duty
more important than that of preserving public archives or
general records showing the advancement of your people
in all lines of activity, there can be no interest of more
value and pleasure than the use of such when needed, and
there is nothing more exasperating than the need of some-
thing you do not have. The extent and variety of a public
collection, such as the state assumes to keep, is to meet
the needs of the citizen who in the nature of things can not
have everything at his home or place of business. I have
experience every day with individuals who are amazed at
the extent of the "trash", as they call it, that is stored,
and I have enjoyed the discomfiture, if not the profanity^
of the same people, who call for the most insignificant and
unheard of thing which we do not have. I maintain that
the best thing a state has is its historical collection. Here
all men and all interests end. Old records and papers with
us have a commercial value to the individual, to say nothing
of the instructive feature demanded by every patriotic
citizen.
Everybody concedes this. The only advice in order,
therefore, is to go to the limit of liberality in providing a
home and necessary conveniences for proper care. These
twin states should keep abreast of each other. True, one
1 Paper read at the annual meeting of the Nebraska State Historical
Society, January, 1910.
(115)
116 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
has been a trifle wild and reckless, but fifty years of state-
hood has brought some dignity, sobriety and a steady step.
Each state has started on the erection of a historical build-
ing. The legislature gave the Kansas Society $200,000 for
this purpose. This, it is estimated, will only enclose the
building, which will be four stories and a basement. The
plan with us is to place steel stacks upon the completion
of the building sufficient to give us double the shelf room
we now occupy. The building is to be partly occupied
temporarily by other state interests; but ultimately there
will be space for the Historical Society for thirty or forty
years, and it is to be absolutely fireproof. We shall have
foundation and walls sufficient to carry two or three ad-
ditional stories.
Barring ten years of hell we had on the border, from
1855 to 1865, the history of Kansas is the history of Ne-
braska. Four-fifths of our territory came into use and
prominence after the close of the war between the states.
We had the same task of opening up a new country. The
noble red man caused us about the same anxiety. The
development of these plains from the barrenness of fifty
years ago to the service of mankind we see today will
always far exceed battles and blood, raids and robbery.
We have been slowly, but with increasing rapidity each
year, reclaiming the most fertile and beautiful country on
the face of the globe. Wonderful history has been made
in these two states by men who established our schools and
churches, built our railroads, opened our farms, improved
our cattle and hogs, and who established large and small
industrial plants. Such history is worth preserving with
the utmost care. The individual without interest in history,
while he may not so understand it, is without pride of
ancestry. We start very enthusiastically with our building
in Kansas, and I hope we will end up correspondingly.
But, however rich, handsome and perfect we may do our
KANSAS-NEBRASKA BOUNDARY LINE 117
task, I sincerely hope Nebraska may beat us. The story
of your state deserves it. May this be the rivah-y between
us!
The fortieth parallel of north latitude was made the
boundary line between the territories of Nebraska and
Kansas by congress in the act of May 30, 1854. It seems
that in the beginning the Missourians wanted the Platte
river, but Hadley D. Johnson, representing more northerly
interests, insisted upon the fortieth parallel. There were
no surveys then, and there was no controversy about any
portion of the lines. Neither was there any hundred-
dollar-an-acre land; and so congress acted like the fellow
who sold a quarter section and while the buyer was not
looking slipped in the deed another quarter to get rid of it.
Nebraska extended north to the British line, and west-
ward took in a part of Colorado, the two Dakotas, and
Montana and Wyoming.^ Kansas extended to the summit
of the Rocky mountains, a few miles beyond the present
city of Leadville. Immediately upon the passage of the
Nebraska- Kansas act John Calhoun was made surveyor
general of Nebraska and Kansas. A contract was made
with John P. Johnson to establish this boundary line. It
was concluded to make it the principal base line, where-
upon to start the survey, both on the north in Nebraska
and on the south in Kansas. The fortieth parallel was
astronomically established in 1854 by Captain T. J. Lee,
topographical engineer, U. S. A. The survey was started
on the 18th of November, 1854. The party were eighteen
* Approximately only half of the territory afterward called Dakota
— that part lying west of the Missouri river — was included in Nebraska.
(See "Nebraska and Minnesota Territorial Boundary", this volume;
and the Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 1, p. 141.] Nearly one-fourth
of Wyoming and that strip of Montana lying west of the Rocky mountains
were not included in Nebraska. About one-third of Colorado was so
included. — Ed.
118 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
days running west 118 miles.^ When the Missouri river
was closed to northern immigration in 1856 Nebraska City-
was a port of entry for Kansas.
There is an incident relating to the north boundary line
of the state of Kansas scarcely known in her history, but
in the history of the twin state of Nebraska it constitutes
a very important chapter. January 17, 1856, J. Sterling
Morton introduced in the lower house of the territorial
legislature of Nebraska a resolution memorializing congress
to annex to Kansas all that portion of Nebraska south of
the Platte river because it would be "to the interests of
this territory and to the general good of the entire Union".
It was stated that the Platte river was a natural boundary
mark — that it was impossible to either ford, ferry or
bridge it; it was further thought that such a move would
effectually prevent the eatablishment of slavery in either
of the territories. This was postponed by a vote of 20
to 5." The project slumbered until 1858. There was
great bitterness between north and south Nebraska at that
time, and the annexation sentiment seemed to grow.
In those days Nebraska had other troubles than the
unreliability of the Platte river. Kansas was torn to pieces
by a great national issue, and our republican-populist
war of 1893 had a precedent for ridiculousness in the con-
troversy which divided the pioneers of Nebraska from 1855
to 1858. Florence, Omaha, Plattsmouth, Bellevue and
Nebraska City were contestants for the territorial capital.
The story reads like a southwest Kansas countyseat fight.
The first legislatm^e was called at Omaha, January 16, 1855.
Omaha was full of people interested in rival towns, who
•■' The contract for running the first 108 miles of the base line was let
to Johnson November_2, 1854, but he executed it in such a bungling way
that it was necessary to employ Charles A. Manners to do the work all
over again. [See History of Nebraska, v. 1, p. 383, foot note, for full
account.] — Ed.
* Ibid., p. 396.
KANSAS-NEBRASKA BOUNDARY LINE 119
made threats that the session should not be held. In
January, 1857, the antagonism to Omaha assumed an
aggressive character. A bill passed both houses of the
legislature moving the session to a place called Douglas in
Lancaster county.* This bill was vetoed by the governor.
In 1858 a portion of the legislature seceded in a small riot
but no bloodshed, and attempted to do business at a town
called Florence. September 21, 1858, the fifth session met
in peace at Omaha, and began to talk about bridging the
Platte. Restlessness was common then, for the Kansas
territorial legislature was also hard to please. The pro-
slavery people left Pawnee to sit in Shawnee Mission, and
the free-soilers would not remain at Lecompton, but in
1858, 1859, 1860 and 1861 moved to Lawrence.
About the beginning of the year 1859 several mass
meetings were held, and congress was memorialized to in-
corporate the South Platte country in the proposed state
of Kansas. There was some dissent, of course, but the
annexationists seem to have been quite lively. On the
2d of May a mass meeting was held at Nebraska City,
which invited the people to participate in the formation of
a constitution at Wyandotte July 5, reciting "that the
pestiferous Platte should be the northern boundary of a
great agricultural and commercial state". They ordained
that an election should be held in the several South Platte
counties June 7. There are no results of the election given,
but the History of Nebraska, page 401, volume 1, says
that in the county of Otoe of 1,078 ballots cast at a previous
election 900 electors signed a petition for annexation, and
that this sentiment was representative of the whole South
Platte district. Governor Medary's son and private secre-
tary, on the 16th of May, 1859, had written a letter to the
Nebraska people, urging them to elect delegates to the
* This bill undertook to remove the capital itself to Douglas City.
-Ed.
120 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Wyandotte convention, and to proceed quietly, "as it
would only create an unnecessary issue in southern Kansas
at the time, were it freely talked of *.«
On the 12th day of July, 1859, the following Nebraska
men were admitted to seats on the floor of the Wyandotte
constitutional convention, then in session, as honorary
members, with the privilege of participating in the dis-
cussion of the northern boundary of the state of Kansas,
but not to vote: Stephen F. Nuckolls, Mills S. Reeves,
Robert W. Furnas, Obadiah B. Hewett, Wilham W. Keeling,
Samuel A. Chambers, Wm. H. Taylor, Stephen B. Miles,
John H. Croxton, John H. Cheever, John B. Bennet and
Jacob Dawson. In the archives of the State Historical
Society we find the original application of the Nebraska
people signed by Mills S. Reeves, John B. Bennet, Wm.
H. Taylor, Samuel A. Chambers and Stephen B. Miles.
On the 15th the Nebraska delegates were heard, and
on the 16th during the consideration of the west boundary
line of the state of Kansas, William C. McDowell of Leaven-
worth, a democratic member, moved the following amend-
ment:
"Pro\dded however, that if the people of southern
Nebraska embraced between the Platte river and the
northern boundary of Kansas, as established by congress,
agree to the same, a vote is to be taken by them both upon
the question of boundar^^ and upon this constitution, at
the time this constitution is submitted to the people of
Kansas, and provided congress agree to the same, the
boundaries of the state of Kansas shall be as follows:
'Beginning at a point on the western boundary of the state
of Missouri where the thirty-seventh parallel of north
latitude crosses the same; thence west with said parallel
* The writer of the article evidently supposed that J. Sterling Morton
was the author of the account in the History of Nebraska of the annexation
movement which he quotes from: whereas, as stated in the preface of the
volume quoted from, Albert Watkins is the sole author of the history;
that is, of the text and related foot notes. — Ed.
KANSAS-NEBRASKA BOUNDARY LINE 121
to the twenty-fourth meridian of longitude west from
Washington; thence north with said meridian to the middle
of the south fork of the Platte river; thence following the
main channel of said river to the middle of the Missouri
river; thence with the middle of the Missouri river to the
mouth of the Kansas river; thence south on the western
boundary line of the state of Missouri to the place of
beginning' ."
After a short parliamentary wrangle about separating
the north and west lines the convention voted that the
northern boundary remain unchanged.
The Nebraska City News, the organ of South Platte
sentiment, was furious over the result. I quote: "The
curious may wish to know why this rich boon was refused
by the Black Republican constitutional convention of
Kansas. It was for this reason: its acquisition, it was
believed by those worthies, would operate against their
party. They said South Platte Nebraska was democratic,
and that being added to northern Kansas, which is largely
democratic, would make Kansas a democratic state; would
deprive the Black Republican party of two United States
senators, a congressman and other officers. They were
dragooned into this position too by the Republican party
outside of Kansas. Kansas, they are determined at all
hazards, shall be an abolition state. "^
It was a great deal amid the sentiment and passion of
that hour to ask the free-soilers in the Wyandotte con-
vention following the struggles of the border as far south
as Fort Scott from 1855 to 1860, to go back on the people
south of the Kaw for an unknown quantity in southern
Nebraska. The delegates from Nebraska offered great
things in a material way, but politics cropped out every-
where, principally from outside of Kansas. There was no
politics then but the slavery issue. Solon 0. Thacher said:
^ Quoted in v. 1, p. 403, History of Nebraska, from the Nebraska
City News, August 6, 1859.— Ed.
122 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
"Chief among their arguments was one meeting an ob-
jection which they supposed would be raised in conse-
quence of the political character of the country proposed to
be annexed; and we have been invoked by all the powers
of logic and rhetoric to ignore the political aspect of the
case — to lay aside whatever feelings might arise politically,
and look at the question dispassionately. Now, sir, I say
they urge an impossibility. Had these gentlemen from
southern Nebraska seen the sky lurid with flames of their
burning homes, the soil of their beautiful prairies crimson
with the blood of their brothers and fathers, or their wives
and children flying over the land for a place of refuge
from crime and outrage they would not think
of making such an appeal to us. . . Gentlemen must
remember that this is the first time in the history of Kansas
that southern Kansas has been represented in any delibera-
tive body. Think you, sir, that the people who have just
escaped from the prison house that has kept them so long
can desire to re-enter the clammy dungeon."
I have carefully looked through the files of several
of the Kansas newspapers of that period and I find a
singular indifference to the question of annexation. The
Topeka Tribune and the Leavenworth Herald very freely
supported it. The Lawrence Republican, T. Dwight
Thacher's paper, was strongly opposed to it. There was
little else considered then aside from slavery. The Le-
compton Democrat favored the dismemberment of both
Kansas and Nebraska and the formation of a new state
lying between Kansas and the Platte rivers. The Repub-
lican said this was hatched in Washington and nursed in
the Blue Lodges of Missouri. Annexation would make
southern Kansas a mere appendage to the north and com-
pletely at its mercy. The editor of the Republican made a
visit to southeastern Kansas and reported unanimous
opposition to the movement, that the people there neither
KANSAS-NEBRASKA BOUNDARY LINE 123
cared about nor knew the politics of the Nebraska men.
A portion of the Nebraska movement was to make another
state south of Kansas river to be called Neosho. In a
speech before the convention Solon 0. Thacher said that
three-fifths of the population of Kansas was south of the
Kansas river. The Platte gave no river frontage, and would
need an appropriation every year to make it navigable by
catfish and polliwogs, and the movement would give
Kansas four additional Missouri river counties north of
the Kansas river which would not be desirable. A singular
feature is that the free-soil legislature of 1859 petitioned for
annexation, while free-soilers in the constitutional con-
vention bitterly opposed it. The Lawrence Republican is
the only paper that handled the subject with vigor. I
quote as follows:
"The proposed measure, if accompHshed, would destroy
the community of interest which now exists between the
various portions of Kansas. Our people are bound together
as the people of no other new state ever were. Together
they have gone through one of the darkest and bloodiest
struggles for freedom that any people ever encountered;
together they have achieved the most significant and far-
reaching victory since the revolution; together they have
suffered — together triumphed! At this late day, after
the battle has been fought and won, and we are about to
enter upon the enjoyment of the fruits of our perilous
labors, we do not care to have introduced into our house-
hold a set of strangers who have had no community or
interest with us in the past, who have hardly granted us
the poor boon of their sympathy, and who even now speak
of the thrice honored and loved name of Kansas as a ' name
which is but the synonym of crime and blood!' (Extract
from a Nebraska City paper)."
On the 23d of July McDowell renewed the subject in
the Wyandotte convention by the following resolution:
"Resolved, that congress be memorialized to include
within the limits of the state of Kansas that part of southern
124 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Nebraska lying between the northern boundary of the
territory of Kansas and the Platte river."
This was defeated on the same day by a vote of 19
for and 29 against. The democrats refused to sign the
constitution, and of those who did sign, four, S. D. Houston,
J. A. Middleton, L. R. Palmer and R. J. Porter, voted to
annex the South Platte country.
Senator Green of Missouri, in opposing the admission
of Kansas under the Wyandotte constitution, said that not
over two-sevenths of Kansas could be cultivated, that
"without this addition (south Nebraska) Kansas must be
weak, puerile, sickly, in debt and at no time capable of
sustaining herself."
In the United States senate on January 18, 1861, he
moved to strike out the proposed boundaries of Kansas
and insert the following:
"Beginning in the main channel of the north Fork of
the Platte river at a point where the twenty-fifth meridian
of longitude west from Washington crosses the same;
thence down and along said channel to its junction with
the main stream of the Platte; thence down and along
the main channel of the Platte to the Missouri river;
thence south along said river and the western boundary
of the state of Missouri to the northern boundary of the
Cherokee neutral land; thence west along said northern
boundary the northern [southern] boundary of the Osage
lands, and the prolongation of the same, to the twenty-
fifth meridian of longitude west of Washington; thence
north on said meridian to the place of beginning."
This was defeated by a vote of 23 yeas to 31 nays, a
greater number of the yeas being those who opposed the
admission of Kansas under any circumstances. In support
of this proposition Senator Green said:
"It will be observed by an examination of the con-
stitution adopted at Wyandotte, now pending before the
senate, that about one-third of the territory of Kansas is
cut off on the west. That includes the Pike's Peak region.
KANSAS-NEBRASKA BOUNDARY LINE 125
where the first gold discovery was made, including the
Gregory mines, and so on, cutting off that space of territory,
which none of the other constitutions ever did. Owing to
the character of the country that reduces it to too small a
compass to constitute a good state. The gross area is
about eighty thousand square miles; but the portion
susceptible of settlement and habitation will not exceed
forty thousand; and the best authority I have reduces it
to thirty thousand out of eighty thousand square miles.
After we pass west of the Missouri river, except upon a
few streams, there is no territory fit for settlement or
habitation. It is unproductive. It is like a barren waste.
It will not even support cattle or sheep, or anything per-
taining to the grazing business. There are no mineral
resources in the state to supply any want of agricultural
resources. Hence I propose to enlarge the boundary, not
upon the west, but to take the present western boundary
and prolong it northerly up to the Platte river; and then
follow the line of the river to its junction with the Missouri
line, and follow the Missouri line down. It will add to the
territory about thirty thousand square miles, about two-
thirds of which will be susceptible of settlement. It will
then make a good, strong, substantial state. I have the
privilege to state, in this connection, that nine-tenths of
the people south of the Platte, in what is now called
Nebraska, desire this annexation to Kansas."
In the further discussion of the bill for admission,
Stephen A. Douglas, January 19, 1861, summed up the
trouble as follows:
" There is no necessity for delaying this bill as it would
be delayed by the adoption of the amendment. The senator
from Missouri well knows that this Kansas question has
been here for years, and no consideration on earth could
suffice to stop it in this body three years ago, when it
came under the Lecompton constitution. It was not
stopped then to be amended for the want of judiciary or
any other clauses; but it was forced through. We are
told first, that Kansas must be kept out because her north-
ern boundary is not right, when it is the same now as it
was then; next, that she must be kept out because the
126 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
southern boundary is not right, though it is the same now
as it was then; again, she must be kept out because of the
Indian treaties, though the same objection existed then as
now; again, she must be kept out because she has not
population enough, though she has three times as many-
people as were there then; and, finally, this bill must be
delayed now because it does not contain a judiciary clause.
I do not understand why these constant objections are
being interposed to the admission of Kansas now, when
none of them were presented in regard to the Lecompton
constitution, three years ago, nor in regard to the ad-
mission of Oregon, which has since taken place. It seems
to me that the fate of Kansas is a hard one; and it is
necessary for these senators to explain why they make the
distinction in their action between Kansas and Oregon,
instead of my explaining why I do not make distinction
between them."
July 22, 1882, a reunion of the members of the con-
stitutional convention was held at Wyandotte. Benjamin
F. Simpson and John A. Martin made speeches. Martin
was secretary of the convention, and afterwards served as
colonel of the Eighth Kansas, and two times as governor.
He said in his address that two influences induced the
decision against the South Platte, one political and the
other local and material. Many republicans feared that
the South Platte country was, or would be likely to become,
democratic. Lawrence and Topeka both aspired to be the
state capital, and their influence was against annexation,
because they feared it would throw the center of population
far north of the Kaw. I quote:
"Each party, I think, was guilty of one blunder it
afterwards seriously regretted — the Republicans in refusing
to include the South Platte country, within the boundaries
of Kansas; the Democrats in refusing to sign the constitution
they had labored diligently to perfect. I speak of what I
consider the great mistake of the Republicans with all the
more frankness because I was, at the time, in hearty sym-
pathy with their action; but I feel confident that no
KANSAS-NEBRASKA BOUNDARY LINE 127
Republican member is living today who does not deplore
that decision. And I am equally confident that within a
brief time after the convention adjourned, there were few
Democratic members who did not seriously regret refusal
to sign the constitution."
I think the judgment of the people today would be
that the convention did very well, that for homogeneous-
ness of people and interests the boundary lines of Kansas
encompass, encircle, sun-ound and hold more contentment
and happiness than any other equal extent of territory.
Imagine a northern boundary line as crooked as the Platte
river, and a southern boundary as crooked as the Kansas
and Smoky Hill. Imagine what an unwieldy and incon-
gruous lot of people and territory there would be from the
Platte to the south line of Kansas, and from the Missouri
river to the summit of the Rocky mountains. Fifty years
of development and history show that the convention made
the state just right. Furthermore we have never heard of
any unsatisfactory results from the shape of Nebraska,
nor of any failure on the part of Nebraska people to manage
the Platte river. I think that the Wyandotte convention,
after fifty years, is entitled to the plaudit, "Well done,
good and faithful servants".
When we recall that Kansas is one of but twelve
states in the Union that have lived under one constitution
fifty years, the Wyandotte convention surely has this
approbation. The following states have had their present
constitutions in use for fifty years or more, barring amend-
ments from time to time submitted to the people: Con-
necticut since 1818, Delaware since 1831, Indiana since
1851, Iowa, 1857, Kansas, 1859, Maine, 1819, Massachu-
setts, 1820, Minnesota, 1857, Ohio, 1851, Oregon, 1857,
Rhode Island, 1842, Wisconsin, 1848. In all of these,
practically, there has been agitation looking toward con-
stitutional revision, and in some instances constitutional
conventions have met and revised the constitutions, but
128 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the revision has been rejected by the people. For nearly
two hundred years Rhode Island did business under her
charter, obtained from Charles II, in 1663; and it was
not until September, 1842, that a constitutional convention
met and framed a constitution which was ratified by the
people of that state.
Of the members of the Wyandotte convention there
still remain with us: John T. Burris of Olathe, aged 81
years; Benjamin F. Simpson of Paola, aged 73 years;
C. B. McClellan of Oskaloosa, aged 87 years; S. D. Houston
of Salina, aged 91 years; Samuel E. Hoffman, 4450 West-
minster Place, St. Louis, Missouri, aged 75 years; and
Robert Cole Foster of Denison, Texas, aged 74 years.
Their work was adopted by the people of the territory
October 4, 1859, by a vote of 10,421 for to 5,530 against.
In 1855 the territorial legislature of Kansas was in
session at Shawnee Mission, only six miles from the now
center of Kansas City, Missouri, and the Missouri legis-
lature was in session at Jefferson City. In a sketch of
Kansas City, Missouri, pubhshed in 1898, Judge H. C.
McDougall says:
"As one of the many evidences of the fatherly in-
terest which the citizens of Missouri then had in the
young territory of Kansas, it may be noted in passing
that Hon. MobiUion W. McGee, a citizen of this state,
who then resided where Dr. J. Feld now Hves, out at
Westport, was a distinguished, and no doubt useful,
member of the territorial legislature at Shawnee Mission.
It would have been greatly to the interest of the pro-
slavery party in Kansas to get Kansas City into that
territory. The Missouri statesmen were then anxious to
further the ends of their pro-slavery brethren in Kansas,
and Col. Robert T. Van Horn and a then distinguished
citizen of the territory of Kansas (whose name I cannot
mention because for thirty years he and his family have
been warm personal friends of mine) agreed that it would
be a good thing all around to detach Kansas City from
KANSAS-NEBRASKA BOUNDARY LINE 129
Missouri and attach it to Kansas territoiy. Hence, after
visiting and conferring with the legislatures of Missouri
and Kansas territory, and being thoroughly satisfied that
the Kansas territorial legislature would ask, and the Mis-
souri legislature grant a cession upon the part of the latter
to the former of all that territory lying west and north of
the Big Blue river from the point at which it crosses the
Kansas line out near Old Santa Fe to its mouth, Colonel Van
Horn was left to look after the legislatures and my other
venerable friend was posted off to Washington to get the
consent of congress to the cession. Congress was also at
that time intensely proslavery and through Senator David
R. Atchison, General B. F. Stringfellow and others con-
gressional consent to the desired change could easily have
been obtained. While agreeing upon everything else as
to the rise and fall of this scheme, yet Colonel Van Horn says
that upon arriving at Washington our Kansas friend met
and fell in love with a lady with whom he took a trip to
Europe, and was not heard from in these parts for over
two years."
Our Kansas friend was the first associate judge for
the territory. And that is how Kansas missed having
one of the greatest cities to be on the continent. We
have reformed so often in Kansas and are working so
vigorously at it now, oratorically and vociferously, with
scare heads top of column on the first page, that such a thing
as a Kansas man abandoning a public job today and run-
ning off with a woman is most improbable. But fifty-three
years ago I walked across Kansas City from the river to
Westport, four miles, and I would not judge the man too
harshly — there was then no ten thousand dollar front
foot land in those hills.
In March, 1879, there was again great interest in a
movement on the part of Kansas City, Missouri, for an-
nexation. The legislature passed a concurrent resolution
declaring that the citizens of Kansas were not opposed to
such a movement and authorized the appointment of a
9
130 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
committee of eight, three from the senate and five from
the house, to investigate the subject. A memorial was
presented to the legislature, signed by George M. Shelley,
mayor, and three councilmen and a committee of five
citizens, in which it was said: "We assure your honorable
body that our people are earnest and sincere in their desire
for annexation, and should the question be submitted to
the electors of the territory proposed to be annexed, it
would be ratified by a virtually unanimous vote. Already
a memor'al to the Missouri legislature for such a sub-
mission of the question has been circulated and largely
signed by our people and will be duly presented by our
representatives for the action of that honorable body."
The legislature authorized the appointment of a com-
mittee of three to confer with the citizens of Kansas City,
Missouri. On the 7th of March a delegation of 125 repre-
sentatives of the business and commercial interests of Kansas
City visited Topeka. A great reception was held, and
speeches were made by Governor St. John, Speaker Sidney
Clarke, Lieut. Governor L. U. Humphrey, and Col. D. S.
Twitchell. The Kansas City guests further resolved:
"That we are more than ever convinced of the great and
mutual advantages that would accrue to Kansas City and
Kansas from a more intimate union with the young empire
state." The Kansas City Times of March 7 published a
map showing the change in the line desired by the people
of that city. The proposed line followed the course of
the Blue from a point on the state line near the southeast
corner of Johnson county, running slightly east of north
to the Missouri river, at this last point being a move six
miles east, comprising about sixty square miles of territory.
It is highly probable that the movement never reached
Jefferson City.
Verily, "There's a divinity that shapes our ends,
rough hew them how we will", as Mr. Shakespeare said.
KANSAS-NEBRASKA BOUNDARY LINE 131
Charles Sumner thus described our situation: "The middle
spot of North America — calculated to nurture a power-
ful and generous people, worthy to be a central pivot of
American institutions." William H. Seward said: "Kan-
sas is the Cinderella of the American family." Surely we
were cuffed about like a household drudge, and now we
are feeding and leading the world. Again Seward said in
Lawrence, September 26, 1860: "Men will come up to
Kansas as they go up to Jerusalem. This shall be a sacred
city." Henry Ward Beecher, whose bibles and rifles are
a part of our history, said: "There is no monument under
heaven on which I would rather have my name inscribed
than on this goodly state of Kansas. " Abraham Lincoln at
Springfield, Illinois, in 1857, said: "Look, Douglas, and
see yonder people fleeing — see the full columns of brave
men stopped — see the press and the type flying into the
river, and tell me what does this! It is your squatter
sovereignty! Let slavery spread over the territories and
God will sweep us with a brush of fire from this solid globe. "
At our quarter centennial celebration held in 1879, John
W. Forney said: "If I had been commanded to choose one
spot on the globe upon which to illustrate human develop-
ment under the influence of absolute liberty, I could have
chosen no part of God's footstool so interesting as Kansas.
Yesterday an infant, today a giant, tomorrow — who can
tell!"
These excerpts will show the inspiration under which
Kansas was born. The character of the proposed state,
her institutions, a high ideal of public policy and morality,
gave tone to all discussion, marred only by a suspicion
on the part of some whether she could in a material sense
maintain it at all.
And so the only trouble we have ever had about the
boundary lines of Kansas has been from the people on the
outside endeavoring to get in.
NEBRASKA AND MINNESOTA TERRITORIAL
BOUNDARY
By Albert Watkins
Indiana territory was organized by act of congress
May 7, 1800, effective July 4, 1800, out of the Northwest
Territorj% comprising all of it down to the Ohio river and
west of a line which ran north from the mouth of the Ken-
tucky river to Ft. Recovery, passing through the strait of
Mackinac; the western line was the western boundary of
the original U. S. territory, that is, the Mississippi river,
etc. (Mercer's Maps No. 21; U. S. Stat, at Large, v. 2,
p. 58). Indiana became a state through the enabling act
of April 19, 1816, and the joint resolution of congress,
December 11, 1816. Its lower eastern boundary was
extended to the Ohio line; its north boundary was pushed
ten miles farther north ; othei-wise it retained its last ter-
ritorial form. (Mercer's Maps Nos. 20 and 31; Stat. 3,
p. 289, Ibid., p. 399). The part of the Northwest Ter-
ritory east of Indiana became the state of Ohio in 1803
(Mercer's Maps, 23: enabhng act, April 30, 1802, Stat.
2, p. 173; supplementary act, February 19, 1803, Stat. 2,
p. 201). The state was bounded on the north by Lake Erie
and a line drawn due east from the southern extremity of
Lake Michigan to an intersection with Lake Erie; on the
east by Pennsylvania; on the south by the Ohio river;
on the west by a line drawTi due north from the mouth of
the Great Miami river to the north boundary line.
Michigan territory was organized by act of January
11, 1805; effective June 30 (2 Stat., p. 309), comprising
(132)
i
NEBRASKA-MINNESOTA BOUNDARY 133
the southern peninsula — its southern boundary being a
line drawn from the extreme south bend of Lake Michigan
east to intersect with Lake Erie — and a point cut off
the northern peninsula by a line drawn from the northern
extremity of Lake Michigan north to the Canadian line
(Mercer's Maps No. 27). April 18, 1818 (3 Stat., 428-431),
all the territory of Illinois north of the state and that
strip lying between Lake Michigan and Lake Superior
"which was included in the former Indiana territory" was
added to Michigan (Mercer's Maps No. 34). June 28,
1834 (4 Stat., 701), all territory north of the state of Mis-
souri and of a line extended to the Missouri river, and east
of the Missouri and White Earth rivers was added to
Michigan for temporarj^ government (Mercer's Maps No.
45). Michigan became a state by act of congress, January
26, 1837 (Stat. 5, p. 144; Mercer's Maps, 48).
Illinois territory was organized out of Indiana, Febru-
aiy 3, 1809 — effective March 1 — (2 Stat, 514). The
eastern boundary extended north along the Wabash river
from its mouth to Post Vincennes, and from that post due
north till the line left the Wabash and proceeded to the
Canadian boundary. The new territory comprised all of
the original Northwest Territory west of this line. A
narrow strip on the northeast was left to Indiana (Mer-
cer's Maps Nos. 28 and 36). Illinois became a state De-
cember 3, 1818, by joint resolution of congress (3 Stat.,
536; enabling act, April 18, 1818, Ibid., p. 428; Mercer's
Maps, 36).
Wisconsin territoiy was organized by act of congress
April 20 — effective July 3 — 1836 (5 Stat., p. 10).
The eastern border of the territory, up to the northwest
point of Lake Superior was the same as that of the state
now; it comprised all of Michigan westward, including the
territory northeast of the Missouri river. It became a
state May 29, 1848 (Mercer's Maps Nos. 47 and 57;
Stat. 9, p. 233).
134 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Iowa territory was organized by act of congress June
12 — effective July 3 — 1838 (5 Stat., 235), comprising
all of Wisconsin west of the Mississippi river. It became
a state by act of congress, December 28, 1846 (Stat. 9,
pp. 56 and 117; Mercer's Maps, 50 and 55).
Minnesota territory was organized by act of March 3,
1849 (Stat. 9, 403), comprising all of Iowa territory not in
the state of Iowa and all territory of Wisconsin not in-
cluded in that state. These two tracts had been left over
without organization since Iowa was admitted as a state
in 1846, and Wisconsin in 1848 (Mercer's Maps, 58).
This west boundary of Minnesota became the northeast
boundary of Nebraska territory when it was organized
May 30, 1854 (Mercer's Maps, 63). By act of congress.
May 11, 1858, Minnesota became a state, leaving its
western half nameless until it was included in Dakota
territory March 2, 1861 (Stat. 11, p. 285; Mercer's
Maps, 65 and 69).
TERRITORIAL EVOLUTION OF NEBRASKA
By Albert Watkins
All of the Louisiana Purchase south of Mississippi
territory and of an east and west line on the thirty-third
parallel of latitude — the northern boundary of the present
state of Louisiana — was called the Territory of Orleans;
all above that Hne was called the District of Louisiana.
The Sabine river was fixed upon as the west boundary of
the Territory of Orleans (Mercer's Maps, No. 24 and
description, p. 18). The executive power of the territory
of Indiana was extended over the District of Louisiana
and the judges and governor of Indiana were authorized
to make all laws for the district and establish inferior
courts; the judges of Indiana, or any two of them, to
hold courts in the district. This first arrangement for the
government of the Purchase was made by act of congress,
March 26, 1804. (2 Stat., p. 287). March 3, 1805 (2 Stat.,
p. 331), the name District of Louisiana was changed to
Territory of Louisiana. An independent governor was
provided for the territory who with three judges was em-
powered to make all laws. April 30, 1812, Louisiana
became a state with its present boundary (2 Stat., pp.
641, 701-704, 708; Mercer's maps, 29). June 4, 1812
(2 Stat., p. 743), the name of the Territory of Louisiana
was changed to Missouri, the act to take effect the first
Monday in December of that year.
By the treaty of February 22, 1819, between Spain
and the United States, the boundary was run due north
along the 23d meridian from the Red river to the Arkansas
river, thence along the Arkansas to its source and thence
(135)
136 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
north to the forty-second parallel of latitude. Spain thus
gained a considerable tract east of the original mountain
boundary (Stat. 8, p. 252; Mercer's maps, 37). October
20, 1818, the present northern boundary — the 49th
parallel — between the British possessions and the United
States from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky moun-
tains was fixed (Stat. 8, p. 249; Mercer's maps, 35).
June 15, 1846, the line was extended west to the Pacific
ocean (9 Stat., p. 869; Mercer's maps, 54). By treaty
of February 2, 1848, proclaimed July 4, same year, the
Mexican — formerly Spanish — territory of Upper Cali-
lifornia and New Mexico was annexed to the United
States - and boundary lines defined. The 42d parallel
was the northern boundary (Stat. 9, p. 922; Mercer's
maps, 56). This treaty recognized the right of the United
States to Texas which had been annexed by resolution
of congress, December 29, 1845 (9 Stat., 108; Mercer's
Maps, 53). By authority of an act of congress of Septem-
ber 9, 1850, the United States acquired, by purchase, all
that part of Texas lying north of latitude 36° 30' and that
part west of longitude 103° and north of latitude 32°. By
the same act New Mexico was organized as a territory.
Its east and north boundary ran from the intersection of
the 32d parallel of latitude with the 103d meridian north
to the 38th parallel ; thence west to the mountains; thence
south along the crest of the mountains to the 37th parallel;
thence west along that parallel to the boundary line of
California. (Stat. 9, p. 446; Mercer's Maps, 60). Utah,
organized by an act of the same date, comprised all the
territory north of New Mexico — up to the 42d parallel —
and between the mountains on the east and California on
the west. (Stat. 9, p. 453; Mercer's Maps, 60). A strip of
the territory purchased from Texas, about three-fourths of a
degree in width on either side of the 30th meridian, extended
north to latitude 42°. Since the original territory of Ne-
TERRITORIAL EVOLUTION OF NEBRASKA 137
braska ran west to the summit of the mountains, it em-
braced the uppermost part of this strip, which Texas had
wrested from Mexico, and also the small northeastern
corner of original Spanish — subsequently Mexican —
territory east of the mountains and just below the 42d
parallel. The part of original New Spain or Mexico, and
Texas formerly comprised in Nebraska, now lies in Colorado
and Wyoming. That part of this projection lying west
of the mountains went to Utah. The "Public Land Strip"
lying between the 100th meridian on the east, the 103d
meridian — the east boundary of New Mexico — on the
west, Colorado and Kansas — 37th parallel of latitude —
on the north and the present line of Texas on the south —
as fixed by act of congress, September 9, 1850 (9 Stat., p.
446), was included in the territory of Oklahoma by its
organic act of May 2, 1890 (26 Stat., p. 82).
March 2, 1819,— effective July 4 — (3 Stat., p. 493)
the territory of Arkansas was organized. It included all
of the territory of Missouri south of 36° 30' (except the
northeast corner between the Saint Francois river and the
Mississippi river down to 36°) running to the west bound-
ary of the Purchase according to the treaty of 1819 (Mer-
cer's Maps, No. 38). March 6, 1820, congress passed an
act enabling Missouri to become a state (3 Stat., p. 545),
and, on complying with an additional condition of congress
made March 2, 1821 (3 Stat., p. 645), the territory was
admitted as a state, by proclamation of President Monroe,
August 10, 1821 (3 Stat., p. 797, App. 2; Mercer's Maps,
41). May 26, 1824, the western part of Arkansas territory
was cut off leaving the western boundary forty miles west
of Missouri; and May 28, 1828, the western cut-off was
given to the Cherokee Indians with a strip added on the
east, carrying their east line as far east as that of Missouri
(4 Stat., p. 40, and 7 Stat., p. 311; Mercer's Maps, 43 and
44), and it was also carried north to the thirty-seventh
138 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
parallel. An act of congress of June 30, 1834 (4 Stat., p.
729), provided, "that all that part of the United States
west of the Mississippi and not within the states of Mis-
souri and Louisiana or the territory of Arkansas . . .
be taken and deemed to be the Indian country." This
comprised all of the Purchase not specifically excepted.
By act of congress, June 7, 1836 (5 Stat., p. 34), and a
proclamation by the president, March 28, 1837 (Ibid.^
App. 1, p. 802), the "Platte Purchase" was added to the
state of Missouri, extending its northwest boundary to the
Missouri river (Mercer's Maps, 49). June 28, 1834, all
the territory bounded on the east by the Mississippi river;
south by the state of Missouri and a line drawn due west
from the northwest corner of that state to the Missouri
river; southwest and west by the Missouri river and the
White Earth river; and north by the northern boundary of
the United States was added to the territory of Michigan
(Stat. 4, p. 701; Mercer's Maps, 45). Arkansas became a
state with its territorial form June 15, 1836 (Stat. 5, pp-
50 and 58; Mercer's Maps, 46).
The Oregon treaty of June 15, 1846, definitely de-
limited from the British possessions all that territory south
of the forty-ninth parallel and the middle of the channel
which separates the continent from Vancouver Island and
Juan de Fuca strait down to the forty-second parallel —
the northern line of the acquisition from Mexico — and
west of the Rocky mountains, the western line of the
Purchase (9 Stat., p. 869; Mercer's Maps, 54). By act
of congress, August 14, 1848, this area was organized into
a territory (Stat. 9, p. 323; Mercer's Maps, 58).
By act of March 2, 1853, all of the territory of Oregon
north of the Columbia river and the forty-sixth parallel —
all west of the Purchase and north of the Columbia river —
and the extension of that parallel from the point of its
intersection with the river east to the Rocky mountains
TERRITORIAL EVOLUTION OF NEBRASKA 139
became the territory of Washington (Stat. 10, p. 172;
Mercer's Maps, 61).
Oregon became a state February 14, 1859, comprising
its territorial area west of a line running due north to the
mouth of the Owyhee river, continuing north along the
Snake river to the mouth of the Clearwater river, thence
due north to the British boundary Hne. The part east of
its eastern boundary was added to Washington territory
(Stat. 11, p. 383; Mercer's Maps, 66).
May 30, 1854, the territories of Nebraska and Kansas
were formed, comprising all of the Purchase west of the
Missouri and White Earth rivers and north of the thirty-
seventh parallel of latitude. Kansas included also that
part of the former Spanish — later Mexican — territory
west of the Purchase, lying between the 23d and 26th
meridians and the 37th parallel of latitude and the Ar-
kansas river and the narrow strip between the 26th meridian
and the crest of the mountains, east and west, and the
38th parallel and the Arkansas river, south and north.
That is, Kansas extended on the south — 37th parallel
of latitude — to the east line of New Mexico, three degrees
of longitude beyond the Spanish line, as fixed by the treaty
of 1819; and then, running north to the 38th parallel,
proceeded west along that to the crest of the mountains —
the original line of the Purchase. This had all belonged to
Texas since 1845. That part west of the 25th meridian
now belongs to Colorado (Stat. 10, pp. 277, 283; Mercer's
Maps, 63). Kansas was admitted as a state January 29,
1861, its area comprising all the territory between the
fortieth and thirty-seventh parallels of latitude, the west
boundary of the state of Missouri on the east and the
twenty-fifth meridian west from Washington on the west
(Stat. 12, p. 126; Mercer's Maps, 67). Nebraska was
admitted to statehood by proclamation of the president
March 1, 1867, in its territorial form (Stat. 14, App. 9, p. 820).
140 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The territory of Colorado was formed by the act of
February 28, 1861. Its northern boundary was the forty-
first parallel; its southern, the thirty-seventh parallel; its
eastern, the twenty-fifth meridian; and its western, the
thirty-second meridian (Stat. 12, p. 172; Mercer's Maps,
68). It became a state August 1, 1876 (Stat. 19, p. 665;
enabling act, March 3, 1875, Stat. 18, pt. 3, p. 474; Mer-
cer's Maps, 81).
Dakota territory was organized by act of March 2,
1861. It comprised all the territory west of Iowa and
Minnesota and north of the forty-third parallel — except
the strip between the parallel and the Keya Paha and
Niobrara rivers — to the Rocky mountains on the west
(Stat. 12, p. 239; Mercer's Maps, 69). The same act
extended the boundary of Nebraska to take in the parts
of Utah and Washington east of the thirty-third meridian
and between the forty-first and forty-third parallels of
latitude (same map). Thus, for a time, Nebraska territory
extended outside the Purchase. Washington territory ran
down on the east of the Oregon territory to the forty-
second parallel, the north boundary of Utah.
By act of March 3, 1863, the territory of Idaho was
formed (Stat. 12, p. 808; Mercer's Maps, 72). It extended
between the Canadian boundary on the north ; the twenty-
seventh meridian on the east; the forty-first parallel —
the Colorado boundary — west to the thirty-third meridian,
north on that meridian to the 42d parallel, thence west to
the southeast corner of Oregon. It ran west to the Oregon
boundary, and the 40th meridian separated it from Wash-
ington. It left Washington in its present form (Illustrated
History of Nebraska, v. 1, p. 573).
Montana territory was formed out of Idaho by the
act of May 26, 1864. It was bounded on the east by the
twenty-seventh meridian — the west side of Dakota —
south by the forty-fifth parallel to the thirty-fourth merid-
TERRITORIAL EVOLUTION OF NEBRASKA 141
ian, then down to 44° 30', then west to the crest of the
Rocky mountains; north along the crest of the Rocky
mountains to the Bitter Root mountains, then, instead of
following the crest of the Rocky mountains — the Pur-
chase line — it followed the crest of the Bitter Root moun-
tains to the thirty-ninth meridian and along that meridian
to the British Hne (Stat. 13, p. 85; Mercer's Maps, 74).
Also all of Idaho west of Dakota and Nebraska — the
twenty -seventh meridian — between the forty-first and
forty-fifth parallels, to the thirty- third meridian, with a
northwest projection from the point where the thirty- third
meridian intersects the crest of the Rocky mountains,
along that crest to its intersection with 44° 30', thence east
to the thirty-fourth meridian, then north to the forty-
fifth parallel, was added to Dakota (Mercer's Maps, 74).
July 25, 1868, the territory of Wyoming was formed
out of this part of Dakota, except that a straight line on
the thirty-fourth meridian made the west boundary, leav-
ing Idaho in its present form (Stat. 15, p. 178; Mercer's
Maps, 80). By act of March 28, 1882, that part of the
territory of Dakota south of the forty-third parallel, east
of its contact with the Keya Paha river was added to
Nebraska (Stat. 22, p. 35; Mercer's Maps, 82).
August 1, 1876, Colorado became a state in its terri-
torial form (Stat. 19, p. 665; Mercer's Maps, 81).
North Dakota and South Dakota became states
November 2, 1889, taking in the full territorial area (Stat.
25, p. 676; Procs. 5 and 6, Stat. 26, pp. 1548 and 1549;
Mercer's Maps, 83).
Washington became a state November 11„ 1889, with
the same boundaries as the territory, the eastern boundary
being the fortieth meridian (Stat. 25, p. 676; Proc. 8,
Stat. 26, p. 1552; Mercer's Maps, 85).
Montana became a state November 8, 1889, with its
territorial area (Stat. 25, p. 676; Proc. 7, Stat. 26, p. 1551;
Mercer's Maps, 84).
142 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
By act of May 2, 1890, Oklahoma territory was organ-
ized out of the Indian Territory (Stat. 26, p. 81; Mercer's
Maps, 86).
Idaho became a state July 3, 1890, with its territorial
form (Stat. 26, p. 215; Mercer's Maps, 87).
Wyoming became a state July 10, 1890, with its
territorial form (Stat. 26, p. 222; Mercer's Maps, 88).
The Cherokee outlet was opened to settlement Sep-
tember 16, 1893, by proclamation of the president (Stat.
28, p. 1222; Mercer's Maps, 89). It contained 8,144,682.91
acres now in the state of Oklahoma. It was bought of the
Cherokee Indians by authority of an executive order dated
December 19, 1891 (Ex. Doc. 56, 1st Sess. 52d Cong.), and
an act of congress March 3, 1893 (Stat. 27, p. 640), and
lay between the 96th and 100th degrees of west longitude,
the state of Kansas on the north and the territory of Okla-
homa, the Creek nation and the Cheyenne and Arapaho
reservations on the south. All of the Purchase, except the
Indian Territory, had now become regularly organized
under state or territorial government. Its organization
under state government was completed by the admission
of Oklahoma and Indian Territory as a state through the
enabling act of June 16, 1906 (Stat. 34, pt. 1, p. 267), and
the proclamation of the president November 16, 1907
(Stat. 35, pt. 2, p. 2160).
Note. — Mercer's Maps are in the library of the
University of Nebraska.
Nebraska State Historical Society
Volume 16 Plate
GENERAL RICHARD C. DRUM
Died October 15, 1909
REMINISCENCES OF THE INDIAN FIGHT AT
ASH HOLLOW, 1855
By General Richard C. Drum
[General Richard C. Drum took part as a first lieutenant in Com-
pany G, Fourth U. S. artillery; he remained with that company until ap-
pointed captain and assistant adjutant general March 16, 1861 — retired
as adjutant general, U. S. A., 1889, May 28. Written at the request
of Mr. Robert Harvey of Lincoln, Nebraska.]
The campaign against the Sioux in 1855 was laid out
on a rather large scale for the time. The garrisons at
Forts Kearny and Laramie were largely increased, and
Fort Pierre was acquired and garrisoned by a regiment of
infantry, with the view of operating against the Sioux
from the north. General Harney, in July of that year,
having waited at Fort Leavenworth until the infantry of
the expedition had got into position and the grazing was
sufficient for the mounted forces, left that post with the
Second dragoons, under Lieutenant Colonel Cooke, and
Light Company G, Fourth artillery, mounted and equipped
as riflemen.
The occasion of the expedition was the depredations
by the Sioux on the Overland mail route between Fort
Laramie and the South Fork of the Platte river, and the
subsequent attack on a detachment under Lieutenant
Grattan, in which the troops were defeated and the officer
killed.
Some time after the battle which occurred between
Harney's forces and the Sioux, at a talk which he had with
Little Thunder and his principal men, one of the chiefs
said that the reason the Indians dared to risk incurring the
displeasure of the Whites was that for some years they had
seen so many people pass from the East to the West that
(143)
144 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
they thought they could whip all that were left in the East.
This, of course, had reference to the great immigration
from 1849 to 1853 and 1854. After this statement General
Harney called back for a private talk one of the chiefs
who wore the medal of the president, only given to those
chiefs who had visited Washington to see the "Great
Father." He said to him that he who had seen how many
people there were in the United States could have corrected
this impression, etc., to which the chief replied in substance
that had any one told of all that he had seen while in the
East he would have been disbelieved and consequently
would have lost all power and authority among his people.
General Harney's active force, consisting of the
dragoons and artillery and the six regiments of infantry
under Lieutenant Colonel Cooke, united at Fort Kearny
and moved up the Platte. From rumors set afloat by the
scouts everyone expected that we would meet the Indians
at a place between the North and South Forks of the
Platte, known as "Ash Hollow"— and as the command
approached that point its movements and disposition had
reference to the expected attack.
We crossed the South Fork, but when we reached
Ash Hollow the Indians, apparently, had left a day or
two before. We continued the march to the North Fork
and went into camp on that stream, a short distance
above where the Hollow debouched on it. There was a
stream entering the North Fork of the river from the
northwest of which, at that time, we had no knowledge,
its mouth being some miles above where we camped.
That evening the scouts reported the Indians in camp
about — miles up this stream. Arrangements were at once
made to attack the Indians at daylight. At ten o'clock
that night we forded the North Fork; and this, I may be
permitted to say, was the most disagreeable night duty I
ever performed, for we had to recross the stream on the
INDIAN FIGHT AT ASH HOLLOW, 1855 145
night of the battle, bringing with us the captives taken
in the fight. At the point of crossing the river is very wide,
interspersed with Uttle islands and full of quicksands —
while recrossing that night, it was in the midst of one of
the severest thunder storms, and intensely dark — and
there was no landmark to guide the force composing the
rear guard — the mounted part of which I had the com-
mand — with the Indian prisoners.
Any one familiar with this stream can appreciate the
difficulty. Along the stream on which, we were informed,
the Indians were camped, there was a high ridge of hills,
running parallel with the general course of the river. The
command of mounted men, the company of light artillery
leading, moved up south of this range for several miles
until we reached a depression, when we turned to the left
and struck the stream a short distance above the Indian
camp, where the force was dismounted and the men hidden
as well as possible in the high grass. The Indians were
still asleep and had no knowledge of our near proximity.
The general plan of attack was for the mounted force to
take position on the river above the Indian camp before
daylight, at which time the infantry command would
commence its march directly up the stream — called by
us the "Blue river*' or in Indian, " Minne-to-wauk-pala " —
and when it came within striking distance the mounted
force would make the attack from above and try to hem
the Indians between the two forces.
The first knowledge the Indians had of our nearness,
or of the contemplated attack, was the movement of the
infantry up the Blue, and at once they commenced to
strike their lodges. An Indian woman with two children
who was making her escape up the stream saw us when
she reached the high ground opposite where the mounted
force was concealed and at once retraced her steps and
alarmed her people. At once the chiefs donned their
10
146 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
"war bonnets" and rode down to a point on the stream —
opposite — and commenced to utter challenges, etc.
Being discovered, Lieutenant Colonel Cooke at once
mounted his force and advanced on the Indians. The
hostiles had taken a position on a hill immediately in the
rear of their camp; the top of which was level and covered
by a dense undergrowth. Lieutenant Colonel Cooke dis-
posed of his forces in such a manner that if the Indians
retreated in the direction of the North Fork part of his
force of dragoons would be at once on their heels; if,
instead, they retreated to the north another force of cavalry
would be in close pursuit.
The light artillery company under the command of
Captain Howe was dismounted and engaged the Indians
on foot; this advanced with remarkable coolness and
steadiness, and after a short struggle drove the Indians
from their position; they fell back to the foot of the hill
where their horses were concealed, mounted and rode to
the north, pursued by all the mounted force except a
detachment of sixty-five men and a lieutenant — which
was left to fight the Indians who had secreted themselves
in the slopes of the hill. The Indians retreated through
a gap in the range of hills bordering the river on the south
and fell back about three miles to a range of hills in which
they took up a strong position, the mounted force being
in close pursuit and at once engaged them under Captain
Steele. In the meantime General Harney — accompanied
by the infantry — (who was too late to engage in the
battle in the first position and too exhausted to join in
the pursuit of the Indians to their second position) took
up a stand on the highest of the hills where he could over-
look the operations taking place under Steele and in [on]
the hill where we first attacked the Indians.
The officer left in command of the detachment in the
first position soon found that the hill immediately facing
INDIAN FIGHT AT ASH HOLLOW, 1855 147
the river was a rotten limestone formation and filled with
little caves, overgrown by a dense undergrowth which
entirely hid the mouths of the caves, and that the shots
heard — and felt — came from Indians hidden in them.
The force was at once disposed at long intervals so as to
cover the entire north face of the hill, and in this position,
without cover of any kind, continued to engage the In-
dians, until in passing round his line giving directions and
encouraging his men in their exposed position he heard
the piercing cry of a child, and at once sounded the signal
to cease firing, and the men immediately brought their
pieces to an order. This was the first indication that the
women and children were concealed in the caves and
under our fire. All the male Indians had, by this time,
been killed except two, who, seeing the men bring their
pieces to an order, jumped, raced, and thus got away.
As it was, we killed twelve bucks and captured all the
women and children in the caves, some of them being
terribly wounded.
Having completed the work assigned me I proceeded
with my detachment and reported to General Harney
who again detached me to report to and to reinforce Captain
Steele. When I reported the day had far advanced, and
Captain Steele, finding it impossible to dislodge the Indians,
decided to withdraw and ordered me to cover his rear
and follow over the ground pursued by the enemy in their
retreat. When I moved out from Harney's headquarters
down the steep slope, I said to the junior officer, Lieutenant
Mendenhall, that there were evidently Indians in the deep
grass just ahead of us, and as a small hill intervened, if
he would move rapidly to the left I would make a dash
toward the object, indicating Indians. He did so, and
I rushed at the object and there found only a little child
naked, save for a scarf around its waist in which a little
puppy was \vrapped. I directed a sergeant to pick up
148 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the child, which he attempted to do, but it bit and
scratched him until he had to put it down. I then gave
him my canteen in which I had a lemonade with a fair
amount of whiskey in it, and as soon as the little thing
tasted it she was appeased and allowed the sergeant to lift
her in front of him on the saddle; and so we rode into the
place where the first fight took place and thence to our
camp on the North Platte; then later continued to the
opposite shore near the mouth of the Blue. Here we re-
mained during the construction of Fort Grattan situated
at the mouth of Ash Hollow, and I got the company
tailor to make her some garments out of my "hickory
shirts", and a skillful man in the company made her a
medallion from the tin foil in which I kept my tobacco,
which delighted her as much as the food given her, especially
the stewed dried fruit, which she ate ravenously. In a
short time she suffered distressingly from what seemed to
me like earache, and by the advice of the surgeon I sent
her to the camp of the prisoners. To complete this part
of my story, at the request of my and your friend, Mr.
Harvey, I will add that the next spring, when I returned
to my station after a leave of absence, I met the chief of
guides, and he told me the five hostages given by the
Sioux after their treaty were in confinement at Fort Leaven-
worth and asked if I would not like to see them. Of
course, I said I would, and went with him to their quarters.
It is a difficult, and to me a very tiresome thing to converse
with Indians through an interpreter, but I said the usual
"How!" and among many questions inquired about the
little girl, telling them how she fell into my hands, etc.,
and of my interest in her. These Indian hostages were the
sons of five chiefs, and there was one woman with them
who spoke aside to one of the young chiefs, who at once
said, "Why does he ask?" I rephed that it was because
I had captured the child and had become quite attached
INDIAN FIGHT AT ASH HOLLOW, 1855 149
to her. He immediately advanced and placing his hand
on my shoulder said that she had died. This demon-
stration, so unusual in an Indian, made me ask the guide
who he was. He told me that he was Spotted Tail, the
son of Little Thunder who commanded at the battle on
the Blue Water. I have been told that Spotted Tail who
succeeded his father. Little Thunder, as chief of the Brul6
band of Sioux, never after engaged in hostilities against
the whites, though it is believed by many that he had
just cause to do so.
When I returned to the scene where I had fought the
Indians in their caves in the hills I commenced to remove
the women and children and to take such care of them as
circumstances permitted. Some of them were dreadfully
wounded — even after all these years I could not go into
the distressing details. There was one case in which
those of us on the rear guard became much interested.
It was that of a young woman with her first child who was
badly wounded in both legs. She had evidently been
holding her baby between her knees and the bullet had
passed through her legs and through the child's knees. It
was, no doubt, the shrill cry of this child, when hurt, that
caused me. to cease firing and, as I mentioned before, gave
me the first intimation of there being women and children
among the Indians.
In all my life I have never seen such grief as that of
this poor woman. We did what we could with the means
at our disposal (for the doctors were all with the troops
who were returning to camp, so knew nothing of the dis-
tressing condition of the wounded women and children).
I had awnings put up on the slope to the stream so as to
give them what shelter was possible and got water for
them to drink and to bathe their wounds; but the woman
who had been wounded, with her child, was aside from her
companions and seemed helpless from intense grief. One
150 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
of the soldiers kindly went to her assistance and when the
water he used on her removed the dirt, I found that she
was undoubtedly a white woman. I at once went to the
commander of the rear guard, Major Samuel Woods, an
old campaigner, and reported the fact. He gave me what
directions he thought necessary and further developments
convinced him, as well as myself, that the woman had
evidently been captured in her childhood and grown up
among the Indians; for in every respect she was a thorough
hostile, except in the display of her grief at the loss of her
child — for it is well known that the Indian is rarely
demonstrative in sorrow.
When General Harney concluded to build a temporary
defensive work on the North Fork, opposite the mouth of
Ash Hollow, he moved the mounted troops to the north
side of the river, where they remained in camp until the
work was completed, when the whole command moved on
to Fort Laramie, sending the Indian prisoners back to
Fort Kearny.
The Indians engaged in the Blue Water battle were
the Brule, the Ogalala and Minneconjou Sioux and a party
of Northern Cheyenne, under Little Butte, who was killed
in the action, the whole under command of Little Thunder,
the chief of the Brule.
[Copied from the manuscript of General R. C. Drum,
adjutant general, U. S. A., retired. Langdrum Farm*
1908].
THE BATTLE GROUND OF ASH HOLLOW 151
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Map of Ash Hollow battle field, made by Lieut. G. K. Warren, and re-
traced by Robert Harvey.
THE BATTLE GROUND OF ASH HOLLOW
By Robert Harvey
The battle of Ash Hollow was fought September 3,
1855, between United States forces under General W. S.
Harney, consisting of Companies E and K of the Second
dragoons, Light Company G, Fourth artillery (mounted),
Company E, Tenth infantry, under Lieutenant Colonel
P. St. George Cooke, Companies A, E, H, I and K, Sixth
infantry, commanded by Major A. Cady — nine com-
panies in all — and the Brule Sioux under Little Thunder
and a band of Ogalala, Minneconjou and Northern Cheyenne
under Little Butte, all estimated at 700 warriors.
During the half century and more since the battle it
has been generally supposed, on account of its name
that it took place in Ash Hollow, while in fact it occurred
more than six miles to the northwest on the opposite side
of the Platte river. ^ Ash Hollow begins about four miles
1 The battle naturally and properly acquired the name of Ash Hollow
because that was the familiar name of a famous point on the great Cali-
fornia and Oregon road and it was the place nearest the battle ground
that possessed a name, the actual vicinity of the struggle being unknown
to white people. Colonel Steptoe's report of his expedition of 1854 says
that Harney's recent conflict with the Brule Sioux was at Ash Hollow on
the south bank of the north fork of the Platte and upon the emigrant
road. Though Colonel Steptoe ought to have been more explicit yet,
since Ash Hollow was really the base of the battle, and considering the
relative unimportance of the affair which was not above a skirmish, the
inaccuracy is not surprising. It appears that General Harney threw up
earthworks a few rods east of the site of his Ash Hollow camp — as
Warren's sketch places it — where he remained until October 1, when
he resumed his march to Ft. Pierre. In 1904 the editor discovered the
ridges and depressions which were the only remains or evidences of the
fortification. The temporary post was very appropriately called Ft.
Grattan in memory of the massacre which General Harney's expedition
avenged. See Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 2, pp. 167, 168. — Ed.
(152)
THE BATTLE GROUND OF ASH HOLLOW 153
south of the North Platte river, and the main canon is
formed by the confluence of several branches which drop
quite abruptly from the table-land, at an elevation of
about five hundred feet, forming a broad flat ravine which
runs almost north and debouches into the river valley.
Its mouth is probably two hundred yards wide.* The
river valley at this point is about a quarter of a mile wide.
About half a mile up the caiion from its mouth there was
a little round grove of ash timber, surrounded by gravel
washed from the hills. In this beautiful oasis was a
splendid spring of water and nearby a log house built by
trappers in 1846.
In his report of the battle to the war department,
dated September 5, 1855, General Harney says that he
arrived at Ash Hollow on the evening of the 2d, and ascer-
tained that the Brule Sioux under Chief Little Thunder
were encamped on Blue Water creek (Mee-na-to-wah-pah)
about six miles northwest and four miles from the left
bank of the North Platte. He at once made his dispositions
for attacking them. The cavalry, under St. George Cooke,
was ordered to make a detour over the table-land of Blue
Water creek to intercept and attack the Indians from the
north, while the infantry, under Major Cady, accompanied
by General Harney, moved later and proceeded up the
valley to attack from below, thus placing the Indians
between two forces. The cavalry moved at three o'clock
on the morning of the 3d, proceeded up the valley, ascended
the bluffs and marched along the table-land, taking a
favorable position to cut off the Indians from retreat to
the Sand Buttes, the reputed stronghold of the Sioux.
* The altitude of the plain at the head of the main branch of Ash
Hollow, which the road follows, is 3,763 feet and that of the river bottom
below, 3,314 feet. It is four miles from the point at which the hollow
or canon begins to descend from the plain to the river. — Ed.
154 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The infantry moved out of camp later and proceeded
up the valley of the Blue Water; but before it reached the
principal village the lodges were struck, and the Indians
retreated rapidly up the valley in the direction of the
mounted troops. Before collision of the hostile forces a
parley was held between General Harney and Chief Little
Thunder, in which the general explained the government's
grievance, and in closing the interview told the chief that
his people had depredated upon and insulted the whites,
while quietly passing through the country; that they had
wantonly, and in the most aggravated manner, massacred
our soldiers, and now the day of retribution had come;
that since Little Thunder had professed friendship for the
whites he did not wish to harm him personally, but he must
either deliver up the young men, whom he acknowledged
he could not control, or they must suffer the consequences
of their wrong doing in battle. " The chief, not being able
to deliver up all the butchers of our people, however willing
he might have been, returned to his band to warn and
prepare them for the contest which must follow." Im-
mediately after his departure the leading company, Captain
Todd's, as skirmishers, supported by Company H, advanced
and engaged the enemy in their last position on the bluffs
on the right bank of the creek and drove them into the
snare laid by the cavalry, which in turn charged them.
They then retreated across the creek and assumed a strong
position in the rugged bluffs beyond from which they
could not be driven without heavy loss, whereupon the
troops were withdrawn and returned to camp.
The Indian loss in the engagement, as reported by
General Harney, was eighty-six killed, including one chief,
five wounded and about seventy women and children
captured. The casualties of the troops were four killed,
four severely wounded, three slightly wounded and one
missing. A large amount of provisions and camp equipage.
THE BATTLE GROUND OF ASH HOLLOW 155
nearly all the enemy possessed, was captured and hauled
to camp for the use of the troops. Lieutenant Drum, of
the light artillery company, was detailed to care for the
wounded of both combatants who were conveyed to im-
provised hospital quarters on the banks of the Platte,
where all received medical treatment by Assistant Surgeon
Ridgely.
The general included in his report a sketch of the
ground on which the battle was fought, drawn by Lieuten-
ant Warren, topographical engineer; he also forwarded a
number of papers found in the baggage of the Indians
taken, as shown by the marks and dates, at the time of
the massacre and plundering of the mail in November,
1854. There were also in possession of the officers and men
the scalps of the two white women and remnants of cloth-
ing, etc., carried away by the Indians engaged in the
massacre of the detachment of twenty-six men under
Lieutenant John L. Grattan.^
3 General Harney's report of the battle of Ash Hollow is published
in full in the History of Nebraska, v. 2, p. 150, and in the report of the
secretary of war — Jefferson Davis — for 1855, messages and documents
1855-6, part 2, p. 49. General Harney's report was addressed to Lieuten-
ant Colonel L. Thomas, Assistant Adjutant General, who endorsed it
thus: "Respectfully forwarded to the adjutant general by direction of
the general-in-chief (Winfield Scott) who highly approves of the conduct
of Brevet Brigadier General Harney and his command. " General Harney's
victory was freely denounced as an unwarranted butchery, especially by
agents of the Indian bureau. Dr. Geo. L. Miller also denounced Harney
for the massacre in his newspaper, the Omaha Herald, and in a paper
published in the proceedings of the Historical Society, v. 3, p. 120, he
marveled that General Harney could "shoot down not less than sixty
Indians at Ash Hollow, including more than one woman, as a punishment
for offenses which, in my belief, they never committed, without any com-
puction of conscience or emotion of sympathy with human suffering".
While Dr. Miller was partly right yet a more critical and general view
of the incident shows that even if these Indians were not guilty of the
Grattan massacre yet they were a bloodthirsty and murderous lot and it
was necessary to punish them or else discontinue the westerly progress of
white settlement. In the very nature of the case this drastic treatment
of the unfortunate Sioux was inevitable. — Ed.
156 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
So great had been my faith in the current report of
the tragedy of Ash Hollow that on a hot July afternoon
in 1869, in company with three others, I walked several
miles through an Indian infested country to see the battle
ground; and again, in 1874, with four others, camped a
whole day on the ground and searched all over the field
for evidences of the conflict, such as arrowheads, bullets,
human bones, etc; and all we could find was a few bullets.
After reading Harney's report, I learned that Lieutenant
Drum, who commanded Company G of light artillery in
the battle and was afterward adjutant general of the
regular army, hved in the vicinity of Washington, D. C,
and in March, 1907, I visited him with the purpose of
getting further particulars of the battle. When I in-
formed him of the object of my visit he repHed with much
animation, "Part of my military life was spent in Nebraska,
I loved its broad, fertile prairies and pure air, and I am
always glad to welcome Nebraska people, among whom I
have some warm personal friends."
He then narrated his recollections of the battle, how
the cavalry, to which his company was temporarily attached
as mounted infantry, moved out in the night, crossing the
river among a lot of small islands, or "towheads", marched
over the table-land and descended into Blue creek valley
through a hollow with a Httle brook, and concealed them-
selves in the grass just above the upper camp of Indians,
as day was beginning to dawn. The plan of battle was for
the cavalry to gain possession of the creek above the
Indian camp before daylight and wait the attack of the
infantry from below, the mounted force to attack from
above and try to hem the Indians between the two forces.
The first information of the approach of the soldiers re-
ceived by the Indians was given by a squaw and two
children who were leading a pony toward their camp
before daylight, and hearing the noise of the march, gave
THE BATTLE GROUND OF ASH HOLLOW 157
the alarm. Both parties were taken by surprise, and not
daring to wait for the infantry to attack, Colonel Cooke
made such a disposition of his force as to fight the Indians
in front with the dismounted light artillery company,
while the mounted dragoons could pursue, should they
attempt to escape by either flank. The Indians took
possession of a hill with a level summit immediately in the
rear of their camp, when the light artillery company dis-
mounted, engaged them on foot and after a short struggle
drove them from their position.
In the disposition of the attacking forces Captain
Heth disobeyed orders, which enabled the enemy to throw
a heavy volley of bullets and arrows into the artillery
company, killing and wounding several men and affording
the Indians opportunity to escape across the river to the
left bank and into the bluffs. They were pursued by
the mounted force to a strong position in the hills about
three miles distant, from which they could not be dis-
lodged. Lieutenant Drum was left in command of his
company to finish the fight in the first position. When
General Harney arrived he took a position on the highest
hill, where he could overlook the operations of the cavalry
under Captain Steele and the hill where Drum was trying
to drive the enemy from the caves.
When the fight along the front of the limestone bluff
had progressed for some time the cry of a child was heard,
the first intimation that women and children were con-
cealed in the caves and behind the rocks. Orders were
given to cease firing, which gave two Indians a chance to
escape, but twelve warriors were killed and all the women
and children were captured. On their return to camp
Lieutenant Drum had charge of the wounded and captives.
The first great battle in Nebraska Territory between the
Sioux and the United States came to an end late in the
afternoon with results already indicated.
158 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
General Drum called my attention to several prominent
topographical features of the country which might assist
in identifying the battle field. His memory of the battle,
though it had occurred fifty-two years before, was so vivid
that I begged him to write out with his own hand a brief
account of it for filing among the papers of the Historical
Society. Though it was difficult for the aged veteran to
write, on account of the crippled condition of his right
hand, he generously complied with my request and his
valuable contributions are a part of the records of the
society, together with Lieutenant Warren's sketch obtained
from the war department.
On the fourth of July, 1908, I visited the valley of
Blue Water creek, having with me Lieutenant Warren's
sketch and Drum's narrative. The creek is a beautiful
stream of clear, cold water, about two rods wide and two
feet deep. The wagon road up the Blue leaves the Platte
valley and ascends a long, easy slope to the summit of the
ridge, forming the point or headland between the valleys
of the two rivers. L^ooking northward from this summit
there is a magnificient view of the Blue creek valley.
About a mile northwesterly, on the right bank of the
creek, stands the sentinel of the valley, a towering butte
or sharply defined, flat-topped hill, separated by a few
hundred feet from the main bluff. It forms the north
end of a ridge which descends southeasterly to the valley,
around which the creek flows, turning westward for a
quarter of a mile, then south, washing the western base
of a rocky point of the bluff on the east bank. This point
is directly on the fourth standard parallel, between town-
ships 16 and 17, north, range 42 west.
A sandy draw descends from the western bluffs,
crosses the valley and enters the creek south of the point.
Lieutenant Warren's map shows the trail of the infantry
column crossing to the west bank of the creek at the mouth
THE BATTLE GROUND OF ASH HOLLOW 159
of a ravine, then swinging around to the east and re-
crossing to the left bank about a mile north of the rocky
point and half a mile east of the butte. It then con-
tinues in a northeasterly course across the valley into the
bluffs in the direction tvken by the fleeing Indians, pursued
by the infantry. Little Thunder's band of forty-one lodges
is shown on the west side of the creek, two miles south.
These Indians struck their lodges and retreated up the
valley before their parley with General Harney, after
which they took up a position on the high bluffs on the
right bank. The conditions lead one to the conclusion
that after the parley the troops ascending the valley crossed
to the right bank to avoid the abrupt bluff of rotten stone
along the west base of which the stream runs; proceeding
up the valley they were again forced to swing to the east
and recross to the left bank, after having driven the enemy
from the bluffs on the right bank, the base of which is
also washed by the creek.
From this point, up the stream for five or six miles,
the valley is about half a mile in width, without bushes or
trees. Projecting rocks line the steep bluffs on either side
with scattering small cedars along the slopes and consider-
able thickets in the gulches. The valley is not fiat, but
slopes from the bluffs to the first bench. Through the
narrow, low bottom the creek turns and bends in sharp
curves, which almost touch each other in opposite reaches.
The landscape is pleasing and, coupled with the tragedy
of more than half a century ago, it is extremely interesting.
About a mile and a half north of the butte a caiion
comes down from the eastern table-land, plowing its way
through the rock and forming on the north, perpendicular
walls and cliffs. In the bottom of the cafion runs a little
spring brook on the bank of which, among the trees, is the
house of Mr. S. P. Delatour, an intelligent cattleman of
more than twenty years' residence in the valley. I lodged
160 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
with him, and together we went over the ground covered
by the sketch and narrative. Mr. Delatour said that
when he settled there cedars filled the pockets and fringed
the bluffs. These have all been cut away. The "rotten
limestone" had disintegrated and been washed down, the
creek in many places had changed its course, and the con-
tinual grazing of the cattle had in some cases converted
tule marshes into hay land. So when I came away it
was with a feeling that little had been accomplished.
In the latter part of October, while waiting for my
train at Llewelljni, which ran only semi-weekly, I again
visited the valley; and when I stood on the rocky point,
crossed by the fourth parallel, and looked over the lower
valley and the sand draw from the west, I perceived that
the infantry's line of march, with its train of wagons had
been directed across the creek to avoid the rocky bluff, and
then swung to the right around the bend of the river,
recrossing below the next bluff; and the commanding
position of the butte — a veritable little round top — and
the adjacent ridge, and I was satisfied that I looked upon a
part of the battle field. I went up the valley nine miles
to the "Big Gusher", a magnificient spring, situated
beyond the outcropping rock and abrupt bluffs, compared
my data with those Mr. Delatour had gathered since July
from repeated examinations of the valley; and the next
morning I examined the western bluffs and the river valley
between the butte and Cheyenne Pass. Bearing in mind
what Mr. Delatour had said about the transformation of
shallow marshes into hay flats by the trampling of cattle
I could see the opening or retreat of the bluffs where the
Ogalala were camped, west of Cheyenne Pass. Between
this and the butte there is apparently an old marsh and a
slough on the right bank of the creek. About half a mile
south of Cheyenne Pass, on the east side of the creek, a
sand draw comes out of the bluffs, corresponding to the
THE BATTLE GROUND OF ASH HOLLOW 161
sand creek in Warren's map. Below Cheyenne Pass the
creek runs tortuously in a southwesterly direction past a
plat of low ground on the left bank, apparently at one
time a shallow marsh with a short slough entering it, as
shown in Warren's map. From this point the creek runs
southeasterly past the northeast front of the butte to the
point where the infantry is shown to have recrossed the
creek, then westerly and southwesterly past the rocky
point on the fourth standard parallel. The more the con-
ditions and the topography of the country were studied,
the more consistent did they appear; and I became con-
vinced that the battle ground of Ash Hollow extended
from the ridge on which the butte stood northward a mile
and a half, and possibly two miles.
Nevertheless, all the meager details of the topographical
features in the printed reports and accompanying map,
together with traditionary stories and the memories of
actual participants, dimmed by the lapse of more than
half a century, furnish inadequate data from which to
locate all the prominent positions occupied by the com-
manding forces. The point of attack in the morning by
the cavalry on the upper camp, and that by the infantry
on the Brule, on the high bluffs, are to my mind the two
prominent positions which should be specially located.
I am satisfied that I have located the bluffs occupied
by the Brule when attacked by the infantry and from
which they fled across the creek into the rough country.
To fix upon the upper position is a more difficult task and
will require careful study and perhaps the services of
persons experienced in Indian warfare, or of an actual
participant in the battle.
I received the impression from General Drum that
the Blue Water creek valley was about forty rods wide
and bordered by high rugged bluffs and peaks. I found,
however, that its width is nearer half a mile and that
11
162 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the bluffs are not so rocky and precipitous as he thought,
there being only one peak or butte that attracts particular
attention. Having a kodak with me, I took several views
of the west bluffs and two of the rocky and precipitous
bluff on the canon known as Cheyenne Pass, a copy of
which I sent to General Drum to ascertain whether he
recognized any of the landmarks. As I received no reply
I am unable to claim any benefit from this part of my
efforts. I have also had two other sets printed, one of
which I have filed with my report on historic sites in the
secretary's office.
General Drum narrated a number of personal incidents
of the battle, one of which, although told in his story of
the battle, I will repeat, as told to me.
"On our return from reinforcing Captain Steele",
said the general, "riding down the steep hill from General
Harney's headquarters, I saw a disturbance in the deep
grass just ahead and said to the officer with me that there
were Indians hiding and if he would make a rapid move-
ment to the ];ight I would make a dash for the object. He
did so and I made a rush but found only a little child,
naked, excepting a scarf around its waist, in which was
a little puppy dog. I told the sergeant to pick it up,
and as he did so it scratched and bit like a wildcat. Having
a lemonade in my canteen with a little whiskey, and know-
ing the mollifying effects of the decoction on Indian
temper, I handed it to the sergeant to give the waif a sip,
which had a happy effect. He carried the foundling to
camp and I had it cared for in my tent. I got the tailor
to make a dress for it out of some hickory shirting and
had its meals brought to my quarters with my own. The
child relished the fruit and other delicacies which I specially
ordered and the men gave it trinkets which pleased it
very much; so that in a few days it appeared to be recon-
ciled to its new mode of living. But soon the little thing
became afflicted with the earache, and I sent for the surgeon
who advised, since we could not understand each other's
language and I was not prepared to care for such a patient,
THE BATTLE GROUND OF ASH HOLLOW 163
that I send it over to the captive Indian women who would
know how to care for it.
"The next spring, on my return from my leave of
absence, I reported at Ft. Leavenworth, and as I passed
down the street an officer hailed me and wanted to know
if I did not want to see the hostages given up by the Indians
as a guaranty of their future good behavior. I went with
him and talked with the young Indians. Before leaving
I inquired about the little child I had returned sick to the
captives, when a woman placed her hand on the shoulder
of a young, handsome and stalwart Indian and whispered
to him. The young fellow came across the room, placed
his hands on my shoulders and looked down into my face
with a long and steady gaze, then dropped them and re-
turned to the woman."
While telling the story the general rose from his
chair, placed his hands on my shoulders and dropping
them in imitation of the Indian said: "When I returned
the Indian's gaze, I thought I could see deep in his eyes and
the expression of his face, a depth of feeling and emotion
veiled in Indian stoicism I could not understand; but on
inquiry who he was, I learned that he and the woman
were the dead child's parents."
When the general stood before me with his hands on
my shoulders and looking into my face while telling the
story, I thought I could see water springing into his eyes.
"I became well acquainted with that Indian in after years",
he continued, "and I often thought I would ask him if my
caring for his child had any influence in making him a
friend of the whites." The general then revealed the
dramatic fact that the father of the foundling was no less
a personage than Spotted Tail, who became the famous
chief of the Brule Sioux and the steadfast friend of the
whites. Those of us who were engaged in the surveying
in Brule teiTitory during the Sioux wars, learned that
when we were intercepted by Spotted Tail's men, no great
harm would befall us.
164 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Before taking my leave, the general said : " If it is the
intention of the state of Nebraska, through its Historical
Society, to erect a monument to the valor of the American
troops at Ash Hollow, I want to enter my earnest protest
in behalf of my comrades. Let the monument com-
memorate the valor of the American soldiers and the
bravery of the Sioux Indians." Should the society erect
such a monument I hope that the request of General Drum
will be respected.
THE LAST BATTLE OF THE PAWNEE WITH
THE SIOUX
By William Z. Taylor
During the heavy snow storm of April, 1873, I came
to Lincoln from Burlington, Iowa, my former home, and
as soon as the road was open we boarded the first train for
Lowell, the end of the Burlington & Missouri railroad at
that time. The next day we went by stagecoach to
Orleans, in the Republican valley. A few days later we
organized a party to explore the upper Republican country
and to hunt buffaloes. On the 25th of April we went into
camp at the mouth of the Frenchman river, in Hitchcock
county. My health was poor, but stimulated by the in-
vigorating air and the sight of the thousands of buffaloes
scattered over the most beautiful part of Nebraska I had
seen, I decided to take my homestead right there; and
I incidentally laid the foundation for the future town of
Culbertson.
On the 4th of August, 1873, while we were building
the first store in the new town of Culbertson, we learned
that a band of about four hundred Pawnee, who had come
from their reservation to hunt buffaloes, were in camp ten
miles south on Driftwood creek. We drove to the camp
and, finding that the Indians had gone northwest toward
the Republican river, overtook and followed them until
we came to the river where we left them. They crossed
the river, went up what is now known as Massacre canon
about three miles, and camped at a point between the
Republican and Frenchman rivers, about ten miles west
of Culbertson. Notwithstanding that the Indians were well
loaded with the dried meat and hides from about three
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166 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
hundred buffaloes, the sight of a herd the next morning in
the northeast, toward the Frenchman, tempted their
hunters, and many of them went in pursuit, leaving the
old men, squaws and children to pack the ponies and
follow. No sooner were the hunters out of sight than a
band of Sioux, bloodthirsty enemies of the Pawnee,
pounced on the helpless remnant in the canon below.
About noon that day, while we were at work on our
building at Culbertson, we saw about thirty Indians dis-
mounted and lined up on the hill about three hundred
yards to the northwest of us, and making great effort to
attract our attention. Our party, six in number and well
armed, formed in line in front of them and laid our guns
on the ground, the Indians doing the same. Then one of
our party picked up his gun to indicate that only one of
them should take his gun. After some time they under-
stood that we wanted them to meet one of us half way,
which was done and they proved to be Pawnee. We
motioned for them to all come down, and by this time many
of the survivors of the battle were in sight and in less
than an hour about two hundred of them had gathered
around us. There were squaws, many of them with their
papooses strapped to their backs, and old men and young,
all crying and pleading for protection, making a pitiful
sight indeed. Their story was short. The attack was
made from the west bank of the canon, about the center
of the camp, separating the occupants, a part of whom
retreated northeast to the Frenchman and the rest down
the canon to the Republican. They met again at and
below the mouth of the Frenchman. The Sioux followed
them until long after dark. The fight or massacre occurred
about nine or ten o'clock on the morning of August 5, 1873.
The next morning we were on the battleground early, and
the sight that greeted us will never be forgotten. The
dead were scattered along the narrow canon, half a mile
or more. Seven bodies were piled in a pool of water, six
LAST BATTLE OF PAWNEE WITH SIOUX 167
behind a small knoll on the side of the canon, where they
had taken refuge. Men, women and children lay scattered
here and there, all scalped. One child about two years
old had been scalped alive. About the 24th of the month
a company of soldiers came from Ft. McPherson and buried
the victims, sixty-five in number, in one hole in the side of
the cailon, caving the bank in on them. The condition
of the bodies after lying in the hot sun for twenty days
must be imagined. We raised them up with a pitchfork,
tied one end of a rope around each body, fastened the
other end to the horn of a saddle and then dragged them
to the grave. Several bodies were found afterward along
the line of retreat, one of the wounded died near Culbertson,
another at Indianola, and perhaps many others on the
way to their reservation and after their arrival. Notwith-
standing that the history fakers of the East would have it
that the entire band was massacred, the loss did not exceed
one hundred. The most notable of the dead were Sky
Chief and Pawnee Mary, a white woman.
It has been said that the loss of the Sioux was never
known, but I think we have almost positive proof that only
six of them were killed. During the month of September
we were hunting on the Frenchman and camped one night
in the mouth of a cafion, about three miles west of the
place where Palisade is now situated. In this canon
there were many large trees containing a considerable
number of Indians, buried according to the Sioux custom
of placing their dead on scaffolds in trees. Upon examina-
tion we found six that had been dead only a short time,
and they had been killed with bullets. All of the Pawnee
were killed with arrows, for though the Sioux were well
armed with guns they doubtless preferred to use bows
and arrows, fearing that the reports of guns might bring
back the Pawnee hunters. To make sure that we had
found the Sioux that were killed in the fight we followed
their trail which led direct to the battle field.
THE INDIAN GHOST DANCE
[Address of Mr. James Mooney of the Bureau of
American Ethnology at the annual meeting of the Nebraska
State Historical Society, January 18, 1910.]
The boy starting out in life is eager and enthusiastic
for every new enterprise. As responsibilities and cares
increase he tries to limit his duties, and after a time he
begins to count the disappointments and wonder whether
it is all worth while. Then, as the years go by, when his
wife is gone, his children buried or married away from
him and the old friends, who were his partners in the
things of life, are dead,— after a while he comes to the
place where his dearest joy is to sit down and dream of the
days that are past. This is a natural thing and universal
in its human application. If it has not come to each one
of us, it surely will come. This is the whole meaning of
the Indian ghost dance. It is the dwelling upon the
days that have gone before, with the hope that if the past
itself cannot return we may find something of it on the
other side. We have parallels in earlier periods of our
own history in the shape of religious revivals or spiritual
ecstacies which spread over great areas or among several
nations at once. There have been several similar revivals
of Indian thought and fervor in different parts of America
in aboriginal times. One notable instance occurs in the
history of Peru where, in 1781, a descendant of the ancient
Inca kings arose among the Indians, preaching the doctrine
that the old native empire was soon to be restored and
that the hated Spanish conquerers and the whole white
race would disappear from the earth. The result was a
terrible war ending at last in the capture and death of the
Inca and his chief supporters.
(168)
THE INDIAN GHOST DANCE 169
When France surrendered Canada to England the
native tribes continued the struggle on their own account
for some years, owing largely to the influence of a prophet
who had arisen among them preaching a return to the old
Indian customs and warning them that they had lost their
lands and dominion because they had abandoned their
native customs for those of the white man. He taught
that the only way to recover their lost heritage was to
throw away the tools and customs of the white man and
return to the Indian dress and life, even discarding guns
for the old-time bow and arrow. It was a very hard thing
for them to do, but in a large measure they did it. That
doctrine was taken up by nearly every tribe from the
Alleghenies — then the Indian frontier — to the head-
waters of the Mississippi river. The result was Pontiac's
war. The same doctrine of return to the old Indian life
was revived by the Shawnee prophet forty years later,
leading up to the battle of Tippecanoe and the general
Indian aUiance against the Americans in the war of 1812.
About the year 1888 we began to hear of an Indian
prophet in Nevada who was preaching to the Indians some
new revelation that was not clearly understood among the
whites, but beUeved to be an incitement to a general up-
rising along the western frontier. The agents and inter-
preters, not knowing what it meant, as nobody did except
the Indians themselves, magnified the matter in such a
way that the western people became alarmed. The govern-
ment was worried about it, and the Indian office made
some inquiry, but with no great result. The war depart-
ment sent an officer to the Kiowa and Cheyenne of Okla-
homa to learn what it meant, and, altogether, it looked as
though there might be trouble.
Just at this crisis, in 1889, a treaty was negotiated
with the Sioux, by which they sold one-half of then- great
reservation, the remainder being cut up into five smaller
170 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
reservations, and the ceded lands sold off to white settlers.
The terms of this treaty had not been yet carried out,
although the whites were already in possession of the
lands thrown open. In addition to this cause of dissatis-
faction, the rations were reduced without warning by
about twenty per cent, so that when news of the new
revelation reached the Sioux the ferment took on a critical
aspect. As I was about to go to Oklahoma on ethnologic
work, I asked to be allowed to look into the trouble. Per-
mission was granted, and I left Washington in December,
1890, the month in which the unrest among the Sioux
culminated in the killing of Sitting Bull and the massacre
of Wounded Knee. I went first to the Cheyenne and
Arapaho. The papers were saying that those tribes were
in such a threatening attitude on account of the news
from the north that it would be necessary to disarm them,
and that if it could not be done peaceably a great many
things were going to happen. It did not seem, however,
that there was occasion for so much alarm because we all
know how easy it is to exaggerate if you do not know.
The danger is always greater before you encounter it.
At the Cheyenne agency I found things going on in
the ordinary routine, except that the Indians were engaged
in the ghost dance day and night. There was hardly a
day when they did not dance, except that just at this
particular period they had stopped for a while on account
of a deep snow which compelled them to stay in their
tipis. I began my inquiry in those two tribes because they
were particularly interested in the new religion, and also
because they had a large number of educated young men
who could act as interpreters. Education seems to have
stuck to the young men of the Cheyenne and Arapaho.
They are more intelligent and reliable than those of some
other tribes. The Arapaho are a particularly friendly
people. Those of you who are acquainted with the history
THE INDIAN GHOST DANCE 171
of that tribe remember that it was generally on the friendly
side in the pioneer times; and as a tribe the Arapaho
never made war against the government, notwithstanding
that there are many brave men among them. They have
no hostile record, but they have been able to see that
civilization is superior to savagery and that it had come to
stay, and they have honestly tried to meet it half way and
adopt it. They are naturally accommodating, kindly, and
of friendly disposition. The Cheyenne, living with them
upon the same reservation, are a people of good intellectual
power, but of very different temperament. They are a
pugnacious people, stand upon their dignity, and always
want to know what you want to do it for. It is hard to
convince them and get their consent to a proposition.
I found the two tribes thoroughly devoted to this
new Indian religion. All the older ones, all the middle-
aged, down to the boys and girls, even little children who
were not much more than able to stand upon their feet,
were in the dance day and night. They knew reports had
gone abroad to the effect that they were contemplating
mischief, but they knew the stories were untrue, so when they
found that I had come out from Washington to investigate
and to report the real truth, they were very anxious to
explain conditions to me, so that Washington might know
why they were dancing and that they were not going to
hurt anybody.
There was a camp of Indian policemen over near the
agency; and as the Arapaho police considered themselves
a part of Washington, several of them invited me to come
to their tipis at night where they would explain the religion
and give me the songs. So with the help of these young
men as interpreters and a half dozen of my police friends —
and they are my friends today after all these years — I
got the story and the songs. Among the interpreters I
may name Robert Burns, a Cheyenne, clerk at the agency,
172 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
and one of the best specimens of an educated Indian I
ever knew. His father had been killed at the Chivington
massacre. Among others were Jesse Bent, an Arapaho,
with a strain of white blood from the Bent family; Grant
Left Hand, son of the old head chief of the Arapaho; Paul
Boynton, half Cheyenne and half Arapaho; and Clever
Warden, nephew of the noted Arapaho chief, Powder Face.
Altogether, about half a dozen of these young men volun-
teered to help me. I did not have to ask them. They
said, "We will help you. We are glad you are interested
and we want the white people to understand." So we
went out to the camp and they told me about the doctrine
and the visions, sang the songs and explained them. They
would give me one of the songs of the dance, reciting it
word by word, while I wrote it down in the special alphabet
which we have for recording Indian words, and repeating
it patiently until I had it right. After we had been at
work for a week or two I began to think about the business
end of it and asked the police what I owed them. They
said they did not want anything, that they were glad
Washington had sent somebody out there to go back and
tell the truth about their dance. So not one of them
received a dollar or would take a dollar for his services.
As a rule, of course, my Indian workers are paid for all they
do, and never refuse money. Black Coyote, the head man
of the Arapaho police, was one of those who had made a
pilgrimage to the messiah in Nevada and received a message
to teach the new religion to his people. The Arapaho are
people of a spiritual tendency; and they were so much
interested by the new religion that they took it upon
themselves to be missionaries among the other tribes. As
the Arapaho language is particularly suited to singing, the
tribal songs were being sung by all the tribes in that section,
whatever their language might be, including the Cheyenne,
Arapaho, Caddo, Wichita, Kiowa, Comanche and one or
two smaller tribes.
THE INDIAN GHOST DANCE 173
After being some time with the Cheyenne and Arapaho
I went down to the Kiowa and found there one of the head
men who had recently been to see the messiah in Nevada.
He was not so favorably impressed and came back and
reported adversely, so the Kiowa had temporarily lost con-
fidence in the revelation, but later they took it up again.
Their neighbors, the Caddo and Wichita, were heart and
soul in the movement, but the Comanche never took much
interest in it. The Cheyenne were not much interested
because in the first place, as I have said, they are par-
ticularly proud and indisposed to take suggestions or advice
from anybody else. Again, they have a very sacred medi-
cine of their own, a bundle of "medicine arrows" around
which all the ceremonial of the tribe centers. The Arapaho
"medicine" is a sacred pipe which is kept by the band in
Wyoming. The Comanche are skeptics by nature with
very little ceremonial organization or ritual and no sun
dance. They are a sort of Indian democrats, every man
for himself. The Kiowa are strongly centralized, with
their own tribal medicine and sun dance. They are open
to suggestion and they took up this religion, dropped it
when their delegate reported against it, and afterwards
they lost confidence in him and his report and went back
again to the ghost dance. The smaller tribes, having
nearly lost their own old forms, were glad to take up the
new ritual.
I am speaking of the dance as a religion because it is
the ritual part of the religion itself. It should be under-
stood also that this ghost dance religion was not an old
institution among these people, but was an entirely new
Indian religion. The older people doubted; but afterward
some accepted while others continued to regret it, causing
a good deal of feeling between the two parties. Later it
was accepted by nearly all the tribes of the plains from the
Saskatchewan river on the north down to Texas, and from the
174 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Missouri river on the east to the Sierra Nevada and Cali-
fornia on the west. It never made much headwaj^ in
Cahfornia, Arizona or New Mexico. Neither did the
Omaha or Winnebago take much stock in it. In pursuing
the investigation I visited most of the western tribes, so
that I was able to map out the area of the dance.
While talking in the Arapaho tipis when the snow was
too deep for dancing, the Indians told me many strange
things which I could not understand, about trances and
visions, until one of the educated young men related his
own experience in the dance, which at once convinced me
that hypnotism was its basis and stimulus. When the
Indians began dancing again I went out with them, day
after day and night after night. I saw the dance among
the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, Caddo and Wichita, and
in order to know and understand it more thoroughly I
made myself a part of it.
At that time these tribes were very strict in the cere-
monial. They were taught that they must return as nearly
as possible to the old Indian dress and customs; so they
discarded hats in the dance. The Kiowa and Comanche
at that time did not wear hats, but the Cheyenne and
Arapaho did, excepting in the dance. Those who were
recognized as masters of the ceremony and particularly
those who had been to see the messiah, the originator of the
doctrine, wore crow feathers instead of hats; and some
of the older women who were recognized as leaders in the
same way were also privileged to wear the feathers. The
fact that women were permitted to enter the circle and
perform in the same way as the medicine men themselves
showed that the ghost dance religion was a new departure
among Indians. The dancers wore full suits of buckskin,
but did not wear hats. In those days every man, woman
and child had a buckskin suit. Their faces were painted
in various colors and patterns. The women wore shawls
THE INDIAN GHOST DANCE 175
oraamented with ribbons and trimmed with little bells
which jingled as they danced, broad belts studded with
metal disks, and straps covered with German silver hanging
at the side like sabers. They would begin the dance,—
perhaps five hundred in one great circle — in the afternoon
and keep it up until sundown; and after supper they would
get together again and dance until about midnight and
then disperse. In the dance they would sing songs that
expressed the ideas of the new religion. They circled
slowly around at first, but intermittently standing still
with hands hanging by their sides. Then one of the leaders
would start the song which all would repeat in a low tone
and standing still. Then they would join hands and
begin slowly circling around, singing as they went, the
chorus gradually becoming louder until it could be heard
several miles away. The performance had a weird aspect.
The effect of the rythmic movement in a great circle,
enhanced by strikingly picturesque apparel and loud,
piercing song and all in the glamor of the boundless moon-
lit prairie can only be feebly imagined. Inside the circle
the leaders were going through their part of the per-
formance.
I shall now explain the meaning of it all as preached
by the messiah, a young Piute, who lived in Nevada. He
taught that the whole human race was of one kindred,
and particularly that the Indians of the several tribes
were all brothers and must give up tribal warfare and all
thought of warfare with the whites. You can imagine
what it meant to tell an Indian that he must quit thinking
about war. It is all right for missionaries to tell him
that, but when an Indian preached to Indians that they
must quit fighting, that they must not kill one another,
that they must not touch a white man, you can imagine
what an entire change of the point of view of life that in-
volved. It meant that they must forego the war dance and
176 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the carrying of weapons in the ghost dance and, instead,
cultivate a peaceful attitude of mind. The prophet taught
that if they did these things, if they returned to the Indian
dress and manner of life, if they wore the sacred feathers
and danced this dance and sang these songs, and performed
all the other requirements, after a while this old world
would be done away with and instead of it there would
be a new world which was being prepared for them, with
their dead children, their fathers, mothers, and com-
panions who had gone before, with the buffalo and other
game, and the old Indian life in its entirety. The new
world was already advancing from the west, and when it
came it would push the white people before it to their
own proper country across the ocean, and leave this country
to the Indians, the original owners. When it arrived the
feathers that the dancers wore on their heads would turn
into wings by which they would mount up to the new
earth. All this was to come without fighting, or any
effort upon their part; they should only watch and pray
in anticipation of it; and by doing as instructed, dancing
and singing the songs, they would be enabled to see visions
of what was to come, and to meet in advance and talk
with their friends who had gone before. Consequently,
they were all anxious to see the visions which appeared
through the medium of hypnotism.
The self-appointed leaders, generally men but some-
times women, stood inside the circle as the dancers went
round and round. All the songs were adapted to produce
a sort of spiritual exaltation. They were sung with a
certain formal step and measure, — rising and falling, and
finally leading up to the highest pitch of excitement. As
the dancers went round and round, first one and then
another of the more sensitive subjects, perhaps those most
anxiously praying to see some dead friends, would begin
to lose control of themselves. As soon as this became
THE INDIAN GHOST DANCE 177
noticeable one of the men inside the circle would come
over to the subject, holding in his hand a black scarf, sug-
gestive of a crow, the crow being regarded as a messenger
from the spirit world. He would wave this scarf before
the eyes of the subject until the latter would break away
from his partners and stagger into the ring. Then stand-
ing in front of the subject the hypnotizer would shake the
black scarf in his face, crying, Huh! Huh! Huh! until it
would have required a good deal of an effort even for a
white man to keep his senses.
On two occasions my partner in the dance, a woman
in each case, was seized in that way so that I was able to
mark the phenomenon. The first indication would be a
slight tremor of the hand, soon becoming more pronounced
until it was evident that the subject was under very strong
excitement. In a Httle while she would loose her hold,
break away and stagger into the circle. Then the leader,
or, perhaps, two or three together, would come over to
her and work for the purpose of bringing her into a trance
condition so that she might have one of the visions and
be able to tell her experience at the next dance. The last
stage was usually a strong shaking of the whole body,
particularly the arms, increasing in violence until finally
rigidity followed. I saw subjects standing rigid for ten
minutes with one arm uphfted and eyes closed, while some
five hundred people were circling around, until at last they
fell unconscious. That condition might last for half an
hour. I have seen young men and women in all stages
of the trance, — sometimes as many as twenty scattered
about, some trembling, some rigid, and some stretched
out unconscious on the ground. Those in the trance were
left undisturbed so that there should be no interference
with the vision. There was no fear that they would not
come out of it safely. The exhibition was very weird and
uncanny, but there was nothing dangerous in the excitement.
12
178 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
As the unconsciousness passed off, usually the subject
would groan a few times, then gradually sit up, and after
a while be able to get up and stagger away through the
circle and probably go home. It was then assumed that
the subject or victim had experienced a vision; and under
the circumstances, doubtless, there generally was a vision
of what was believed to be coming in the near future.
The successful subject would incorporate his fancies into
a song which he would sing at the next dance. It is very
easy for an Indian to make up a song — all he needs is
rhythm; he does not require rhyme. The new song would
be taken up and sung for some weeks, perhaps until it
was superseded, after a while, by a new one. There were
specific opening and closing songs, but all the others varied
according to the fancies of the dancer.
I studied the dance in some twenty tribes in several
different states and territories, — among them, the
northern Arapaho. In this inquiry I visited Pine Ridge,
South Dakota, shortly after the outbreak; and while the
soldiers were still in camp there I went out to the Wounded
Knee battle ground and talked with survivors on both
sides of the fight, including Indians and interpreters. I
am very glad to say as evidence of the closeness of my
investigation that the war department corrected its list
of killed from mine, which included both soldiers and
civilians, and those who died later of wounds. In the
same way I tried to get at the number of Indians killed
in the fight which some placed as low as two hundred.
For several reasons there was an effort to keep down the
number, but I think three hundred Indians were killed at
the Wounded Knee massacre. The fight was precipitated
by a young Indian who lost his head and fired into the
troops while the Indians were drawn up in a body to be
disarmed. The troops fired back, and then indiscriminate
firing began. When the Indians broke and ran for cover
THE INDIAN GHOST DANCE 179
the machine guns opened up and killed everything in
sight. That was on December 30, 1890. With the ex-
ception of this trouble in the Sioux country the dance led
to no serious result. One very important reason for the
outbreak was the fact that the agent at Pine Ridge was a
rank coward. If there had been such a man as McGilly-
cuddy, or McLaughlin, in charge, there would not have
been any trouble.
Later, in the middle of winter, I went out to the Piute
in Nevada to see the messiah who had started the ghost
dance. I first stopped about two weeks with his uncle,
an old Piute, at Walker River reservation. After this
man thought he knew me pretty well he was willing to go
with me out to Mason Valley, where his nephew lived, and
get him to tell me the whole story. He said his nephew
was a very great wonder-worker; that he had a repertoire
of songs by which he could make it rain or snow or stop
raining or snowing. There was a young white man up
that way who knew a good deal of the Piute language
and Jack Wilson, the messiah, and he volunteered to go as
interpreter. The old man could not speak English at all.
We had considerable difficulty in getting out to the camp,
which was close to the base of the Sierras. Not to go into
details, it was one of the coldest nights I ever experienced,
New Year's Eve, with a deep snow on the ground and
clumps of sage brush scattered about as high as a small
house. The old Indian's eyes were bad. He lost his way
in the dark, and it looked for a while as if he had lost the
rest of us, but after floundering around in the sage brush
and snow for several hours we at last struck the camp,
and by good luck found the messiah himself. After some
explanation from his uncle, because he was very suspicious,
he said if I would come around the next day he would
talk with me.
I went out the next morning and talked with him
about the dance and the religion, and then made his picture,
180 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
the only one ever made. From what he told me I decided
that he was about forty years of age. He said his father
had been a prophet before him, that a few years before the
sun had died in the daytime (meaning that there had
been an eclipse), that he had gone to sleep and in his sleep
went up to heaven and saw the father and all the dead
Indians. He talked with God and God told him all those
things that he was now telling to the other Indians. He
told him to get all the Indians together and teach them
this dance and that after a while the new Indian world
would come and they would be put upon it. He believed
that he had a direct revelation from God and had been
able to convince a large part of his tribe and delegates
from other tribes who had come hundreds of miles across
the mountains during the past summer and winter to sit
at his feet and learn about the dance and then take the
story of it back to their own people.
The ghost dance excitement lasted two years or more
but finally wore itself out and is now entirely out of vogue.
It lived longest among the Arapaho, Caddo, and Wichita.
The dance has gone, but the doctrine or the hope that it
held out made a lasting impression and has brought about
a permanently peaceful feeling among the Indians. The
pictures which I made of this dance were the first of their
kind, and we shall have an opportunity to see them to-
morrow night. The songs frequently dwelt upon the old-
time camp amusements. After a while they began making
the old-time gaming instruments and would carry them in
the dance as they sang. The dancers wore buckskin
shirts painted with symbolic designs and carried black
handkerchiefs to use in the hypnotic work and magpie
feathers brought back from the Sierra Nevada by those
who went to see the messiah. Later the Indians originated
what they called the crow dance, something of a mixture
of the ghost dance and the spectacular Omaha dance.
THE INDIAN GHOST DANCE 181
The dance step was the same and the songs were very
much of the same character in all the tribes. I shall give
you a few specimens of the songs, which will close the
evening's exercises.
As I have said, the favorite songs were those of the
Arapaho. I made most of my study in that tribe and
know those songs best. I collected, also, a large number
of songs among the Sioux and Caddo and among the Piute
who originated the dance. The Comanche had very few
songs because they did not keep up the dance long. The
Kiowa and Cheyenne languages are not well adapted to
singing; but the Caddo, the Sioux and the Arapaho lan-
guages are very good for songs.
I have today been asked to give my opinion of a cer-
tain collection of Indian songs by Miss Natalie Curtis. It
is the very best collection I know of thus far. Miss Curtis
went among these same tribes and took down the music
from their own singing, without harmonizing or other
artificial change. Her transcription of the Indian words is
according to scientific methods and her translations are
literal renderings by the best interpreters.
The opening song when I first went among the Arapaho
was sung by all the other tribes also. It was superseded
by another song. It begins and ends with certain un-
meaning syllables to fill in the meter. The words mean:
"My children, my children, here is another pipe. Thus
I shouted when I made the world." "Pipe", with an
Indian, means a pledge or revelation, as "Here is another
revelation. "
Among all the songs of the various tribes you learn
soon to recognize the ghost songs by the meter. It is
intended to fit a certain slow, constant dance step as the
dancers go round in the circle. At first they sing low, and
then, after a while, louder, and with a somewhat quicker
movement, raising their voices as they go round. (Song).
182 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Then another one, which I have heard them sing with
tears rolling down their cheeks. It means: "My Father,
have pity on me, I am hungry; everything is gone; I am
thirsty and there is nothing. " (Song). Another one with
just a Uttle bit quicker movement, which means: "My
children, I am the one who flies around with the morning
star upon my forehead." Thus says the Father. In
Indian pictography, the morning star is usually painted as
a Maltese cross. (Song).
I might mention that the name "ghost dance" is a
translation of the common name in the various Indian
languages — Sioux, Arapaho, Cheyenne, and others. The
Kiowa call it the "hand-clasping dance".
The Caddo songs are very musical. I shall give you
one illustration. It means: "The eagle is coming back
again; he is coming from on high, from the home of the
Caddo." (Song).
To the Indian that means a great deal that the lan-
guage does not exactly express. Among a number of tribes
in the South the eagle is a very sacred bird and can only
be killed for its feathers, by those who have certain "medi-
cine" or a certain ceremonial by which to propitiate the
eagle spirits and turn aside their vengeance. For a long
time the Caddo had lost their old customs so that they
had no eagle killer, but now they had learned the old
ritual in a vision. So they sing, "The eagle is coming
again, is coming from the home of the Caddo. "
The closing song of the Arapaho dance, the one which
is always sung at the end, means: "The crow has made
the signal. When the crow makes me dance he tells me
when to stop." After singing this four times as they
circle around they take off their robes and shawls, shake
them in the air and disperse. (Song).
THE INDIAN GHOST DANCE 183
MR. MOONEY'S SECOND ADDRESS
Mr. Mooney spoke again as follows on the evening of
January 19, after an address by General Eugene F. Ware
on the Indian War of 1864 in which he described a conference
between representatives of the Sioux Indians on one side
and Brigadier General Robert B. Mitchell and other army
officers on the other. This council was held at Post of
Cottonwood, afterward Fort McPherson, April 17, 1864.— Ed.
The talk which General Ware has given us this evening
was very interesting to me because it suggested several
things within my personal knowledge, and I may speak of
one or two. He mentioned the fact that the Indians in
that conference seemed to be physically inferior to our men.
That is a point which might easily be emphasized. One of
the prevalent ideas about the Indian is that he lives to
be very old and that he is almost a giant in physical strength.
According to my observation that is not true. I have had
occasion to study the life history of a number of Indians
and I find as a rule that one who is considered one hundred
years old is about sixty-five; and one who is called one
hundred and twenty is probably about sixty-eight. If he
is actually over sixty he is usually out of the race entirely.
I made some study of Indian war customs, as embodied in
their shield system, and found that the average age at
which the Indian warrior retires from active life is about
fifty years. We have more well preserved old men here
tonight than there are in all the five tribes in western
Oklahoma. The oldest man I have known in the Kiowa
tribes who could give information as to his age, was the
man with whom I lived. He was, as near as I can say,
about eighty-two years old; and when he died he was ten
years ahead of any man who came near him.
General Ware said something about the Indian being
a bluffer. So he is. I have always found that the civilized
white man is superior to the Indian. I do not know that
the average white man is really stronger by pounds of
184 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
physical strength, if you could measure it that way, but
measured by determination and will power to carry out
what he started to do the white man is superior. General
Ware also said somthing about the Indian sign language.
I think there are probably some men here who know some-
thing about that. Almost every Indian tribe speaks a
distinct language. On the plains, being constantly in
motion, they were continually meeting strangers, and
having no common language they devised a sign language
which was common to all the tribes of the plains, from the
Saskatchewan on the north down into Texas. It still
exists where different tribes are gathered near to each other
upon reservations. On one occasion I was going with the
son of the Arapaho chief to see an Arapaho dance. The
young man had been educated in the East and spoke very
good EngHsh. We were driving up along the south Canadian
river, and after we got into the neighborhood of the camp
we began looking around to find it, but without success. In
the open country you can see a long way; and after some
time we saw an Indian on horseback at a distance of a
mile or more, too far away to speak. At close quarters the
Indians use both hands, but for long distance talking you
can use one hand. So my Indian friend stood up in the
wagon and used one hand. An Indian driving on the
plains is always looking around, and so the other man
saw us about the same time that we saw him. Then my
Indian did this (making a series of motions in the air).
The other man replied with signs like this (another series
of motions). Well, he told us that the Arapaho were
having a dance on the north side of the river, and the
Cheyenne another on the opposite side. We went and
saw the dance.
I shall explain a little further in regard to this sign
language. There is a sign for every tribe on the plains.
The sign made for the Cheyenne is this, (drawing one fore-
THE INDIAN GHOST DANCE 185
finger across another). It is sometimes interpreted to mean
"striped arrows", because the Cheyenne were said to use
turkey feathers for their arrows. I have no theory myself,
but the sign means Cheyenne. The sign for the southern
Arapaho is this, (rubbing the side of the nose with the index
finger). There are various theories for the reason, but I
do not believe any one of them can be proven, but it means
southern Arapaho. For the northern Arapaho, in Wyoming,
the sign is this, (tapping the left breast with bunched
fingers). They all know the meaning of that as "mother
tribe". The sign for the dance is this, (perpendicular hand
raised and lowered several times to imitate Indian dance
step). All these signs can be made with both hands, but
it is easier to use one hand. For river there are several
different signs, sometimes the water sign. For side, of
course, you indicate whichever side you please. The
nearby or near in time, that is right away sign, is this,
(thumb and forefinger of both hands brought together and
quickly drawn apart). The long time or far off sign is this»
(same sign more slowly with hands drawn farther apart).
The sign for the Sioux is this, (sweeping motion of hand
across throat) ; and to show that it means the Indian tribe,
the sign for man is made after it this way, (index finger
thrown up, back out). This sign, (chopping movement of
hand at right side of head, means hair cut short on right
side), or Kiowa; this sign, (rubbing back of left hand with
fingers of right), means "man of color of our own skin",
or Indian. This sign, (index finger drawn across forehead)
means a hat wearer; therefore a white man. This sign,
(sweeping movement of open fingers downward at side
of head), long flowing hair; therefore, woman. I have
seen a great deal of the sign language in different tribes,
and on one particular occasion saw a council carried on
by five tribes entirely in the sign language.
186 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
For a long time I had as interpreter an Indian who
as a young man had been one of the hostiles and had spent
several years in military confinement, and was afterward
released and taken care of by a wealthy lady who started
to educate him and send him to school. Six years after-
ward he came back to his own tribe. Having lived in the
East he knew the white man's civilization and was also
quite a philosopher in his way. He would surprise me
sometimes by the questions he asked. For instance, at
one time he asked me what I thought of Josephus? The
good lady who had taken him into her family had read to
him Bible stories and the history of the Jews, and the
history of Josephus was quite interesting to him.
On one occasion as we were riding together, with
nothing in particular to do except to talk, he said to me,
"Mr. Mooney, tell me about Shylock and the pound of
flesh". Another time he said, "Mr. Mooney, what is the
reason that white men are always talking about money
and business, Indians don't talk that way?" He was then
owing the nearest trader three hundred dollars or more,
and depending upon the next government payment to
square up.
Nebraska State Historical Society
Volume 16, Plate 6
SITTING BULL (Tatanka lyotanka)
From an unpublished oil painting by C. S. Stobie (Montana Charlie)
1891. The original in the D. Charles Bristol collection, Nebraska
State Historical Society museum.
SOME SIDELIGHTS ON THE CHARACTER
OF SITTING BULL
By Doane Robinson
Perhaps no other American who has achieved great
fame is more misapprehended than Sitting Bull, the high
priest of the Hunkpapa band of the Teton Sioux. Few
names are more familiar than his to the people of America
and indeed of the civilized world, yet very few know what
he really did to acquire fame; very few indeed have a
just understanding of his real character.
Sitting Bull was born of a low caste family, in June,
1838, at the mouth of Medicine Creek, a dozen miles below
the place which afterward became the site of Pierre, Hughes
county. South Dakota. His parents resided on Grand
river, situated in what is now the northern part of the
state; but at the time of his birth they were fishing in
Medicine Knoll Creek on the east side of the Missouri,
while on a trading expedition to Fort George. He grew up
at the family home on Grand river, a few miles above the
subsequent site of the village of Little Eagle. He first
attracted the attention of white men at the time of the
Harney treaty council at Old Fort Pierre in March, 1856,
having come there as "horseherd" to Chief Swan. He
was a blustering, overgrown boy of eighteen, with a cunning,
effeminate face, not at all in keeping with his sturdy body;
and at that time possessed no social standing in the band.
Swan would not permit him to associate with his family
and his meals were passed out to him under the flap of the
tipi.
When the council broke up and the people were ready
to return to their homes. Sitting Bull borrowed a horse
(187)
188 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
from Swan and struck off to the south and soon after
returned with several horses which he had stolen from the
Pawnee. This stroke of enterprise was his first passport to
the consideration of his neighbors and the recital of his
experiences on the trip his first attempt at public oratory.
He was not slow to discover that he possessed natural gifts
both as horse thief and orator. He accumulated horses
and astonished his elders with the fervor of his impassioned
addresses at the dances; but he was sternly denied a seat
in the council. With a steady persistence which character-
ized him throughout his life he determined to overcome
the prejudice of the upper caste men. To accomplish this
he must acquire fame either as a brave or as a medicine
man. He engaged in some forays against enemies but
with indifferent success; for he had no stomach for real
warfare. His native cunning turned him more and more
to the tricks of the conjurer and the .medicine man. From
the first he was successful in this role. He persistently
exercised his subtle talents and soon began to acquire
fame as a prophet. Astuteness, luck and some advance
information assisted him to prognosticate certain coming
events with a precision which astonished and delighted his
friends, and confounded the big chiefs who had super-
ciliously ignored him. They were now compelled to recog-
nize him as "big medicine". His oratory also increased in
fervor and impressiveness and, aided by his legerdemain,
he acquired almost supreme influence over his people. He
hated the white man and loved the ways of his ancestors.
HaK patriot and half demagogue, he harangued the Sioux
upon their duty to drive the white invaders from the
prairies until he had fomented a feeling of great hostility
among them. He accompanied the war parties, incited
them to valor, but invariably withdrew to make medicine
when the fighting began. The old chiefs hated and sneered
at him but were compelled to admit him to the council;
CHARACTER OF SITTING BULL 189
and he became the ruling mind of the nation. As he grew
older he became more and more imbued with the heathen
religion of his people and openly avowed himself the prophet
of the God of the Dakotas, frequently proclaiming divine
revelations. For his native religion he seemed to have
real veneration. When he returned to his people in 1881,
after his captivity at Fort Randall, he was well convinced
that further open rebellion against the whites would prove
futile, but he found that during his absence his people had
fallen a good deal under white missionary influence; so
he settled down among them at the old home on Grand
river and set about to reestablish them in the religion of
his fathers.
In his diatribes against the whites and when he desired
to drive his people into any revolutionary action, he was
fierce and terrible in mein and with withering irony or
dreadful invective forced them to his support; but in his
home life, with his wives and children and his intimate
neighbors, he was gentle as a refined woman. He set up an
orphan asylum and adopted and reared as his own children
eleven orphans, and every one of those still living would
lay down his life today in defense of his memory.
About the time of his return to Grand river and a
life of peace. Miss Mary C. Collins, a missionary of the
Congregational church, established a mission at Little
Eagle, about ten miles from his camp. This Christian
enterprise was very displeasing to him, and he harangued
his people to avoid the influence of the missionary; never-
theless she made some converts and soon drew a band of
faithful friends around her. Though Sitting Bull had
frequently seen Miss Collins he had never spoken to her,
until one day he appeared upon his horse in front of her
house bearing an infant in his arms; and he peremptorily
demanded that she come out to him. Though she distinctly
heard his call she paid no attention to it. After repeating
190 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
it three times without effect, he dismounted and came in,
angrily demanding to know why she had not obeyed his
summons. Miss Collins patiently explained to him that
he had been guilty of a grave breach of good usage; that
gentlemen did not call ladies out, but came in to them.
Sitting Bull replied that he was not aware of that regula-
tion of polite society but that he would not forget it; and
he never did. "Wenona", he said, addressing her by her
Sioux name, "I am a great medicine man, but my child
here is dying. I have exhausted my powers and can do
nothing for it. If you can save my child I will admit
that your medicine is superior to mine." Miss Collins,
who is an accomplished physician, took the child from his
arms, when it instantly went into a spasm. She discovered
that its gums were swollen and black and catching up a
lance scored them. She then placed the infant in a warm
bath and it almost instantly fell into a quiet, refreshing
sleep and was practically well from that moment. The
incident made a strong impression upon Sitting Bull, and
he could not do enough to show his gratitude. Shortly
after he sent for the missionary and ceremoniously adopted
her into the tribe as his sister and ever after addressed her
by that title.
For ten years they resided and labored side by side as
the best of friends and yet the most inveterate rivals.
Nothing of course afforded Miss Collins so much joy as to
convert one of his followers to Christianity; and nothing
else gave Sitting Bull such satisfaction as he felt when he
could induce one of these converts to backslide. Thus
conditions continued until 1890 when the messiah craze
possessed the Sioux. Sitting Bull early obtained informa-
tion of it and seemed to feel that his opportunity had come.
It does not appear that he contemplated armed hostility
to the whites, though his hatred had in no degree abated.
His hope and ambition was to regain his old-time influence
CHARACTER OF SITTING BULL 191
over the Sioux and win them back to the heathen religion
of which he deemed himself the high priest anointed of God.
Early in the autumn of 1890 Sitting Bull began to proclaim
that heavenly visions had been vouchsafed to him. He
had been conveyed to the Rocky mountains, and there he
had seen his deceased friends and neighbors restored to life
and had been assured that within a brief period they would
return to their homes and families. These alleged revela-
tions naturally created a tremendous sensation among the
Sioux. The heathen accepted them without question and
the Christians were greatly disturbed, and most of them
also, in a short time, were convinced. Sitting Bull set up
a prayer tree, organized a dance, erected a large medicine
tent for his own accommodation, and daily delivered new
revelations to the people, who flocked in from every part
of the reservation. The excitement was hourly augmented
until Sunday, December 8, when Miss Collins went to
Sitting Bull's camp as usual to hold Christian services in
the little church which the faithful had provided. Of her
ordinary congregation of more than one hundred, only
three persons appeared; and the noise of the nearby dance
drowned their hymns of devotion. The people were pos-
sessed by a religious fervor bordering upon insanity.
Leaving the church Miss Collins went to Sitting
Bull's tent and demanded admission. He sent back word
to her that he was engaged in his prayers and could not be
disturbed. She was insistent and he came out to her and
with much ceremony conducted her into the tent before
he gave her permission to speak. When leave was granted
she said: "Brother, you are deceiving and ruining your
people. They have left their homes; their stock is neg-
lected and djdng; many are in a starving condition; the
soldiers are coming; blood will be shed and you will be
held responsible for it. You must stop this nonsense and
send the people home at once. " He listened gravely and
192 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
replied: "Sister, I have gone too far; I cannot give it up;
the people will laugh at me." "It makes no difference
how much they laugh", retorted the missionary. "This
thing must be stopped at once. Go out to them and tell
them to stop dancing and go home." "Sister, I cannot",
replied the old priest. "You must do it; you must do it
right now; the soldiers are coming," she exclaimed. "I
cannot, sister, I cannot, but you do it. Go to the people,
sister, and tell them to go home; tell them that I, Sitting
Bull, said it." Miss Collins went out to the dance, where
men and women had danced for hours without rest. Many
were falling from sheer exhaustion and others in feigned
trances, among the latter was Louis Sitting Bull, a relative
of the priest's. . Observing that he was feigning, she rushed
at him, grasped him by the shoulder and accused him of
playing a part. Her action had interrupted the dance
and many were watching him. He smiled sheepishly in
reply to her accusation, and the people seeing it, laughed
derisively. That was the end. She commanded him to
get up and assist in sending the people away; she declared
the soldiers were coming, as she thought they were. That
evening seventy-five wagonloads of people were sent out
of Sitting Bull's camp. Only those Kving in the immediate
neighborhood remained. Sitting Bull left the medicine
tent and returned to his substantial house to sleep. There
was no more dancing, though there was great excitement
throughout the ensuing week, and Sitting Bull several
times reasserted his revelation of the near approach of the
departed friends. The story spread that Sitting Bull was
about to go to Pine Ridge to join the dancers there. This
was probably not true; but the Indian police, who kept
the camp under surveillance, believed it; and the military
authorities believed the time had come to place the old
man under arrest. The plan to do so was carried out at
four o'clock on Monday morning, December 15. The
fatal result is familiar history.
THE EARLY SETTLEMENTS OF THE PLATTE
VALLEY
By David Anderson
[Paper read before the annual meeting of the Nebraska
State Historical Society January 18, 1910.]
In the fall of 1859, after spending an exciting and ad-
venturous summer in the newborn city of Denver, and the
Rocky mountains, in company with some old Pennsylvania
friends with whom I had crossed the plains from Leaven-
worth City over the Smoky Hill route in the early spring,
our party started from Denver with a mule team bound
for Omaha.
We followed the Pike's Peak trail, south of the south
fork of the Platte river, to Julesburg, thence down the old
California trail to Fort Kearny. Great herds of buffaloes,
deer, elk and antelopes were constantly in view. The
Cheyenne Indians, who roamed over the plains between
Fort Kearny and Denver, were furiously engaged in
attacking emigrant trains, burning ranches, and murdering
the occupants. We had several skirmishes with the red
devils who followed our trail for many days.
Ten miles west of Dobytown was the famous Keeler
ranch. Here we met the notorious Tom Keeler, the terror
of the plains and especially of the Cheyenne Indians.
With all his native rudeness and roughness, however, Mr.
Keeler was one of the most hospitable and generous men
that I ever met. His buildings were all of sod, and the
dwelling house was tidy and inviting. Mr. Keeler was
loyally and lovingly attached to his wife and children.
One day during the war period a cavalcade of rebels
who were fleeing from the draft in Missouri stopped at
his wells to obtain water for themselves and animals.
13 (193)
194 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Their mules were decorated with the flags of the Con-
federacy, and the men were lustily hurrahing for Jeff
Davis. This exhibition aroused Tom Keeler's union feel-
ings so intensely that he stood before the well with a gun
in each hand, demanding that the rebel bunting should
be removed before any union Nebraska water should be
drawn. His wife also stood at the door, armed with a
double-barreled shotgun. After very acrimonious dis-
cussion the demand was complied with, and the boisterous
fugitives cordially congratulated Keeler and his wife upon
their courage and loyalty.
A few weeks after we passed this ranch, Mr. Keeler's
stables, containing forty head of horses together with 200
tons of hay, were wantonly set on fire by the Cheyenne
Indians and totally destroyed. In later years Mr. Keeler
removed to eastern Nebraska and settled on the Elkhorn
river, near Elkhorn City. In 1878 he met his death in a
shotgun duel with Daniel Parmalee, a prominent citizen
of Omaha.
Dobytown, two miles west of Fort Kearny, contained
about 300 people. The houses were built of adobe or sod,
one story high. It was on the extreme western verge of
civilization and was a great rendezvous for outlaws and
gamblers, who practiced their nefarious arts on the un-
sophisticated pilgrims. 1
1 A nickname of Kearney City. The place was a sort of station
and "resort" on the famous highway which was successively, according
to the relative importance of its travel, the Oregon trail, the road to Cali-
fornia and the road to Denver and Salt Lake City. These uses were more
or less blended from about the time Fort Kearny was established — 1848.
Kearney City was situated just outside the west boundary of the military
reservation, two miles due west of the fort. Valley City, or Dog Town,
the less important companion piece of Kearney City, was situated just
outside the eastern reservation line. Civilian settlement within the reser-
vation was of course interdicted, and obviously these places for sport and
business would creep up as near the fort aRICAL SOCIETY
beautiful and important city of Fremont. Judge J. B.
Smith is still engaged in active business. He has always
been a leading character in local affairs, pertaining to
Fremont and Dodge county.
Three miles east of Fremont, in a long, rude log house,
lived the widow Keeler, mother of Tom Keeler. West of
the highway, one mile, lived the Lee family, the pioneer
farmers of Dodge county. About thirteen miles east of
Fremont, on the Elkhorn bottom, we crossed the noted
Rawhide Creek. Many stories are told of the origin of its
name. One is that a fellow with a train of emigrants from
Wisconsin to California threatened before leaving home to
kill the first Indian he saw. When his train was crossing
the bluffs east of the Elkhorn river, he deliberately, and
without provocation, shot a Pawnee squaw whom he met
on her way from the Pawnee camp to visit the Omaha tribe
on the Missouri river. On hearing of the diabolical deed
the Pawnee were so enraged that they surrounded the train
in camp at the stream, threatening to kill the whole com-
pany unless the guilty party was suiTendered to them.
After a parley the criminal was finally given over to the
Indians who skinned him alive in the presence of his travel-
ing companions. Louis LaFlesche — a half-breed — , Spot-
ted Tail, Crooked Hand and other members of the Pawnee
tribe told me that the fur traders, on their annual trips
from the mountains to dispose of their goods to Peter
Sarpy and other traders on the Missouri river, often found
this stream difficult to ford and were compelled to make
ferry boats of buffalo and elk hides and that the trouble-
some creek took its name from this custom.
At the crossing of the Elkhorn river — at Elkhorn
City — there was a ranch kept by Major Hartwell and a
trading post kept by one Dennis, who was also postmaster.
Here we met Sylvanus Dodge, father of General Grenville
M. Dodge. Mr. Dodge was living on a homestead about
a mile from the town.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS OF PLATTE VALLEY 203
After a journey of more than 500 miles over a level
plain, we now began to travel over a bluffy country which
continued to Omaha, a distance of twenty-two miles. We
had the first square meal in four weeks at the Taylor
ranch on Papillion Creek. Mrs. Taylor was noted for setting
a good table. After supper our party voted it the best
meal that they ever ate. It was about this time that the
Taylors were robbed at midnight of several hundred dollars
by a couple of footpads who stopped with them the night
before, entertaining them delightfully by singing and a
violin performance. A few days later Mrs. Taylor iden-
tified the culprits in Omaha, and after a speedy trial they
paid the usual penalty of lynch law.
Sixteen miles out of Omaha was Ranch No. 1, kept
by Captain Peter Reed who came from the Blue Juanita
in Pennsylvania in 1857. When the war began, in 1861,
he raised Company A of the Second Nebraska volunteers.
After the war was over he entered the service of the Union
Pacific railroad company and managed a section seven
miles east of Columbus. He was transferred to Golden
City, Colorado, where he superintended the construction
of the mountain division of the railroad from Golden City
up the Clear Creek valley to Idaho Springs and Georgetown.
Mr. Reed died in Golden City in 1883. Mrs. Reed survives
him, but she is now entirely blind and deaf. She lives with
her granddaughter in Denver.
Arriving in Omaha December 1, we stopped at the
Fremont House, on Douglas street, conducted by WilHam
M. Sweezy. Almost opposite the hotel was a carriage and
wagon shop, operated by Andrew J. Simpson. Mr. Simpson
worked industriously at his trade and employed two assist-
ants. On the southeast corner of Douglas and 14th streets
J. J. Brown and Brother were running a general outfitting
store. On Farnam, between 13th and 14th, was the Com-
mercial House, kept by Lacy & McCormick. It was also
204 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
a general outfitting establishment. On the south side of
that street was the grocery and dry goods store of the
Megeath Brothers. On the northwest corner of 11th and
Farnam, in a one-story frame building, the Kountze
Brothers had established a general banking business. They
bought from me $500.00 worth of gold dust which I brought
from Denver in a small vial.
The population of Omaha was then about 1,500. It
was the principal outfitting place on the Missouri river for
the western mines, and there was great activity eveiy
day in the week. The few streets in the small business
center were often congested by prairie schooners with
mule and ox teams and a conglomeration of long-haired
and heavy-bearded mountaineers, miners, emigrants, traders,
Mexicans, Indians and half-breeds.
THE FIRST CATHOLIC BISHOP IN NEBRASKA
By Rev. Michael A. Shine
[Paper read before the annual meeting of the Nebraska
State Historical Society January 17, 1910.]
The present state of Nebraska was theoretically in-
cluded in the jurisdiction given to the first vicar apostolic
in the New World, namely to Rt. Rev. Bernard Boil,
Vicar of the Friar Minims of the Order of St. Francis de
Paul, in Spain, who received his appointment from Pope
Alexander VI, by a bull dated June 25, 1493, when he
erected into a vicariate apostoHc "Those lands and islands
which have been recently discovered in the western regions
and the Oceanic Sea, as well as those that may yet be dis-
covered". This vicar apostoHc, with twelve companion
priests, sailed with Columbus on his second voyage to the
New World in 1493.
In the course of time this region passed successively
under the jurisdictions of the bishops of Quebec; Havana,
Cuba; New Orleans; and St. Louis, Missouri, until the
year 1851.
However, the first catholic bishop to personally step
on and exercise jurisdiction over Nebraska soil was the
Rt. Rev. John Baptist Miege, a Jesuit, native of France
and the subject of this sketch.
John B. Miege was born September 18, 1815, at
La Foret, Upper Savoy, and was educated at Moutiers,
Milan and Rome. He was received into the Society of
Jesus on October 23, 1836, by Rev. Father Puty, S. J., at
the novitiate in Milan, and he made his first vows on
October 15, 1838.
He was ordained a priest in Rome on September 7,
1847, by Venerable Joseph Canali, the Patriarch of Con-
stantinople.
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206 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The revolution of 1848 closed the Jesuit houses in
Italy, and Father Miege returned to France. His appeal
to be sent on the Indian missions in America was granted
and he arrived in St. Louis, Missouri, in the fall of 1849.
His first charge was the Parish of St. Charles, Missouri,
with Portage des Sioux as a mission; then he was trans-
ferred to Florissant, Missouri, where he taught moral
theology, and later he was sent to St. Louis university to
fill the offices of professor and prefect of discipline.
In May, 1849, the seventh provincial council of Balti-
more convened and petitioned Pope Pius IX to establish
the "Vicariate of the Indian Territory east of the Rocky
Mountains". The Pope, acceding to this request, ap-
pointed Father John B. Miege, S. J., as the first vicar
apostolic. When the appointment papers were placed on
his desk Father Miege paid no attention to them, thinking
that some kind of a joke was about to be played upon
him by his associates. However, he was induced to open
and read the documents, and when he learned how serious
and important they were, he declined to receive the honor,
as he wished to remain a Jesuit, and he promptly returned
the papers to Archbishop Kenrick. Nevertheless he was
ordered by Rome to submit and accept the office, being
assured that he would not be forced to sever his connection
with the Jesuit order. He was consecrated as titular
bishop of Messenia and vicar apostolic of the Indian
territory east of the Rocky mountains on March 25, 1851,
in St. Xaviers Church, St. Louis, by Archbishop Kenrick,
assisted by Bishop Van de Velde of Chicago and Bishop
St. Palais of Vincennes, Indiana, the sermon being preached
by Rev. John Higginbotham of St. Louis, Missouri.
On May 11, 1851, he left St. Louis by boat with Father
Paul Ponziglione, S. J., for his new vicariate, and arrived
at St. Marys Indian mission in Kansas on May 24, 1851,
where he was given a rousing welcome and a hearty recep-
FIRST CATHOLIC BISHOP IN NEBRASKA 207
tion by the Indians and Jesuit fathers. Here he began his
Episcopal labors and built a large church of hewn logs for
a cathedral. Father DeSmet, with Major Fitzpatrick of
the United States army and thirteen Indian chiefs as
delegates from the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Oto and Sioux
Indian tribes, on their way to Washington, D. C, from
the great council held in Nebraska, arrived on October 11,
1851, at St. Marys mission.
Father DeSmet tells us that "Bishop Miege and the
other fathers of the mission received us with great cor-
diality and kindness We found the mission in
a flourishing state; Every Sunday the fathers
have the consolation of contemplating a beautiful con-
gregation of Indians assembled in the wood-built cathedral,
and on an average 120 piously approaching the holy com-
munion. We spent two days visiting the mission. The
Indian chiefs quitted the establishment with hearts over-
flowing with delight and in the consoling expectation of
having similar happiness in their own tribes at no very
distant future." In 1852 we find the bishop hastening to
the Missouri river with a physician for the relief of the
cholera stricken Potawatomi pagan Indians, who were on
their way from Michigan to Kansas, and bestowing on
them such physical and spiritual aid as they required.
For the first few years his labors were confined principally
to the Indians in the present state of Kansas.
In his report for the catholic directory of the year
1853 he says: "The cathoHc population scattered over the
vast extent of the upper country, in the Indian villages,
forts and trading posts may not fall short of 3,000. It is
our earnest wish to visit them as soon as possible." The
above figures include trappers, traders, soldiers, Indians
and half-breeds, as there were no permanent white settle-
ments in the territory in those days.
208 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
On May 19, 1853, the bishop, with Father DeSmet,
sailed for Europe on the steamer Fulton, which crossed
the Atlantic in a record breaking trip of eleven days. The
bishop proceeded to Rome for his "ad limina visit" to the
Pope and also to act as procurator for the Jesuit vice-
province of Missouri, in the twenty-second general con-
gregation of the Jesuit order. He assisted in the election
of Rev. F. Beckx, S. J., as father general of the society,
and having fulfilled the duties of his mission he returned
by way of Paris to Havre, France. Here he met Father
DeSmet with two scholastics, seven novices and four
brothers of the Jesuit order, and all embarked November
20, 1853, on the steamer Humboldt for New York city.
The voyage was a very stormy one, and they were
finally shipwrecked December 6, 1853, on the Three Sisters
rocks, near Devils Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia.
The steamer caught fire, "and for some time it was doubt-
ful", as one of the party later remarked, "whether they
should reach heaven by water or by fire". However, all
escaped unhurt to some fishermen's boats, and a few hours
after they were rescued by a steamboat from Halifax.
Two days later they sailed for Boston, Massachusetts,
thence by rail to Cincinnati and again by boat down the
Ohio river and up the Mississippi river. The latter river
was filled with floating ice, and in spite of the steamboat's
efforts they were compelled to spend Christmas day, 1853,
on a sandbar a few miles below St. Louis, Missouri. Rev.
Father Jos. Zealand, S. J., president of Creighton college
in 1883-4, and Father Charles Coppens, S. J., formerly
professor of philosophy in the same institution, were among
the thirteen companions on that eventful voyage. The
only one now living is Father Chas. Coppens in Chicago,
lUinois. In the early part of March, 1854, the bishop
again arrived at St. Marys mission, Kansas.
FIRST CATHOLIC BISHOP IN NEBRASKA 209
While in Belgium, Father DeSmet wrote on June 30,
1853, to the Brussels Journal about his travels among the
Indians west of the upper Missouri river; and among
other things he said: "I hope to return next spring with
Bishop Miege, the vicar apostolic. We will be able to
found missions for those nomadic tribes on a soil fertile
enough to support them and thus removing occasion of
war let civilization with the light of the faith dawn on
these wastes." However, the throwing open of both
Kansas and Nebraska for settlement and the rush of
emigration prevented the proposed visit.
In 1855 the Bishop transferred his episcopal see from
St. Marys mission to Leavenworth, Kansas, and erected
there a cathedral 24x40 feet. This year he made his long
intended visit to Nebraska. In a letter written on Decem-
ber 16, 1878, from Woodstock, Maryland, to Rev. R. A.
Shaffel, S. J., president of Creighton college, he writes:
"With regard to information on the first beginnings
of the Church in Nebraska, my will is good enough but my
memory is tricky and rebellious. I visited Nebraska three
times; the first visit was, I believe, in 1855, when Omaha
and Nebraska City were first started and beginning to look
up. An encouraging letter from Governor Cuming had
confirmed me in the plan I had already made of visiting
the principal places in the territory that year. From
St. Marys I went to Weston and through Missouri and
Iowa. After many days camping and traveling, I arrived
at the Missouri river opposite Omaha. The wind was so
strong that the little steam ferry refused to move. A
man took me across in a canoe, but not without many
tribulations and an abundance of fresco work on my coat
and pants from the muddy Missouri. At the Douglas
House I found Mrs. Murphy and Mrs. Cuming who told
me where to find Mr. Cuming. I found him, and he told
me that two lots had been reserved for a Catholic church
and that more could be secured if necessary. Being well
pleased with the site of Omaha, I promised to send a priest
there as soon as possible; and meanwhile I requested
14
210 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Father Tracey [TrecyJ of St. Johns, opposite Sioux City,
on the Nebraska side, to do what he could for Omaha.
In the spring of 1857 I went up again, found a little brick
church built, but not plastered, and made the acquaintance
of the excellent Creighton family and promised to obtain
for Nebraska a resident vicar apostolic, which was done
the following year through the provincial council of St.
Louis. Of my third visit I have no distinct recollection
as to dates. All I know is, that I visited Bellevue and could
not go to Omaha; but I do not remember the reason or
cause. Colonel Sarpy was willing to give me a big block
in Bellevue, on condition that I would immediately put up
a church. Not, of course, for the benefit of Catholics —
there were none in the place — but to give a fair start to
his speculation, which I firmly declined to' do."
The exact day and month of the bishop's first visit to
Omaha have not yet been ascertained; however, a quit
claim deed for lots 5 and 6 in block 154, in Omaha City,
dated May 30, 1855, was given to the bishop for church
purposes by the Council Bluffs and Nebraska Ferry Co.,
and two years later it was supplemented by a warranty
deed.
We know that Father William Emonds was stationed
at Council Bluffs, Iowa, as early as May 6, 1855, and that
on May 8, 1855, he recorded the baptism of "Honorius
Kenry, from St. Patricks church, Omaha City".
Father Emonds in a letter dated November 25, 1878,
in regard to his first mass in Omaha, says:
"April or May was the month when the first Mass
was said in Omaha, rather think May, 1855, It
was in the court room of the old state house built of brick.
Governor Cuming assigned us lots, a part
of a so called park. We commenced digging the foundations,
€tC."
Another person, a lady who was present at the first
mass, says:
" It was a bright warm workday, the 14 or 15 of May,
1855."
FIRST CATHOLIC BISHOP IN NEBRASKA 211
The Rev. Jeremiah Trecy, who was requested by the
bishop to look after Omaha, began the mission of St. Johns,
near the present city of Jackson, on June 24, 1855, St.
Johns day; and he says in a letter written on August 4,
1859:
"The Second Mission in point of time is Omaha City.
In July (1855) I visited this place. Father
Emonds had visited this place a day or two before. I left
it to him during his stay at Council Bluffs. The number
of Catholics here then was about one hundred."
The above statements present a chronological problem
that no doubt further investigations will satisfactorily
solve.
It seems the foundations of this first proposed church
(presumably St. Patricks) were never laid, and the project
was abandoned for a time. In 1856 St. Marys church
was erected on this same property and was dedicated in
August by Rev. Thomas Scanlan of St. Joseph, Missouri.
This was the first church erected within the present limits
of Nebraska, under the jurisdiction of Bishop Miege, and
the one he saw in the spring of 1857.
Bishop Miege visited Omaha in June, 1858, and con-
ferred the sacrament of confirmation on twenty-two persons,
eleven males and eleven females. The record of this event,
written in Latin, is preserved in the Omaha baptism register
in St. Philomenas church. The handwriting is that of
Rev. James Power who was then the pastor, and the record
is translated as follows:
"Most Rev. John B. Miege, Bishop in infidel regions,
and Vicar Apostolic of the aborigines in the Territory of
Kansas and Nebraska and of all the Faithful dwelling in
these places, for the first time (primo) visited the Church
of St. Mary, Omaha, and administered the Sacrament of
Confirmation to those whose names are written below. In
the month of June, 1858.
James Power, Pastor."
212 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Whether this was the second visit, referred to by the
bishop, or another that escaped his memory, at the present
writing I am unable to state. The jurisdiction of Bishop
Miege in Nebraska extended from March 25, 1851, to May
8, 1859. During that period the following Catholic clergy-
men exercised the functions of the priesthood in this region:
1 — Rev. P. J. DeSmet, S. J., celebrated the first mass
in Nebraska on Sunday, September 14, 1851, on the Council
plain at the junction of Horse Creek and the Platte river
in Scotts Bluff county, in the presence of ten thousand
Indians and the United States army officers. During the
council he baptized over twelve hundred Indian children.
Again in June and August, 1858, near Fort Kearny, he
baptized 208 children of the Pawnee Loup, and a number
of the Ogalala Sioux.
2 — Rev. William Emonds, of the Diocese of Dubuque,
attended Omaha from Council Bluffs, Iowa, from May to
August, 1855, and among other baptisms he records the
baptism of the "First White Child Born In Omaha",
namely Margaret Ferry, born December 16, 1854, and
baptized May 29, 1855.
3 — Rev. Jeremiah F. Trecy, of the diocese of Du-
buque, the founder and pastor of St. Johns, near Jackson.
He labored in Nebraska from June 24, 1855, to 1860. In
March, 1857, he lectured in New York City, to induce
Irish settlers to come to Nebraska. At the end of his
lecture he was severely denounced by Archbishop Hughes
who disapproved of his plans. During the civil war Father
Trecy was a chaplain on General Rosecrans' staff.
4 — Rev. Thomas Scanlan, from St. Joseph, Missouri,
the St. Louis diocese. He is said to have celebrated the
second mass in Omaha and to have dedicated St. Marys
church in 1856.
5 — Rev. John Cavanagh, from the Chicago diocese,
was the first resident pastor in Omaha, from October, 1856,
FIRST CATHOLIC BISHOP IN NEBRASKA 213
to April, 1857. He also attended Nebraska City. He left
for New Orleans where he died in 1858.
6 — Rev. Augustine Wirth, 0. S. B., from the Bene-
dictine monastery at Doniphan, Kansas, visited the Ne-
braska missions in August, 1857, and again in February and
March, 1858.
7 — Rev. George H. Plathe, of the diocese of Dubuque,
administered some baptisms in Omaha in September, 1857.
8 — Rev. James Power, from St. Joseph, Missouri,
the St. Louis diocese, was the second resident pastor, from
March to June, 1858. During his pastorate Bishop Miege
conferred the sacrament of confirmation for the first time
in Nebraska.
9 — Rev. Hugh P. Kenny was sent by Bishop Miege
as the first resident pastor of Nebraska City in August,
1858. He remained only a few months.
10 — Rev. Edmund Langenfelder, 0. S. B., from Doni-
phan, Kansas, visited Nebraska City and Brownville in
March, 1859, and administered some baptisms.
11 — Rev. Francis B. Cannon, 0. S. B., from Doni-
phan, Kansas, was the third and last resident pastor in
Omaha under the jurisdiction of Bishop Miege. He re-
mained as pastor from August, 1858, to June, 1859.
Father Cannon in Omaha and Father Trecy at St.
Johns, Dakota county, were the only priests in Nebraska
when Bishop 0' Gorman took charge in May, 1859. The
material prosperity of the church during the administration
of Bishop Miege was very slow, owing to the many hard-
ships, privations and lack of money among the pioneers.
Consequently, in 1859, there was only a brick church, with
an addition for a priest's residence, and a sixty acre cemetery
in Omaha, and a frame church at St. Johns, in Dakota
county. However, missions or stations had been estab-
lished at Rulo, Brownville, Nebraska City, Plattsmouth,
Elkhorn, and other places.
214 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Bishop Miege, as stated in his letter, asked for a
division of his vast vicariate, and his wish was gi-anted in
January, 1857; but his jurisdiction did not cease until the
arrival of Bishop O'Gorman in May, 1859.
The territory now forming the states of Nebraska,
Wyoming, the Dakotas, and Montana was erected into
the vicariate of Nebraska and taken from Bishop Miege;
he retaining only the state of Kansas and a part of Colorado.
In 1860 he made a trip across the plains to Denver, in his
own conveyance, with a lay brother and administered
baptism there for the first time on June 3, 1860.
He completed the Leavenworth cathedral in 1868;
and shortly afterwards, in order to help pay off the in-
debtedness, he made a successful collection tour through
South America.
He resigned his see on December 14, 1874, and retired
to the Jesuit house of studies at Woodstock, Maiyland,
where he became spiritual adviser to the Jesuit scholastics.
In June, 1877, he was sent to Detroit, Michigan, to
open and conduct the Jesuit college there until 1880, when
he again retired to Woodstock, Maryland.
In the spring of 1883 he was prostrated by a stroke of
paralysis, and later he suffered from a frightful burn, the
result of an accident that deprived him of the full use of
his hands.
In appearance the bishop was tall and of commanding
presence, being well proportioned and of handsome coun-
tenance. As to his character, I quote the words of a dis-
tinguished layman who knew him personally: "His noble
quahties were numerous, as a religious, a priest, and a
bishop. His virtue and genial disposition caused him to
be regarded with confidence and affection by the young
and with deepest veneration by the old. With the highest
endowments of mind and character he combined the most
imperturbable modesty and humility. He had the rare
FIRST CATHOLIC BISHOP IN NEBRASKA 215
gift of being able to adjust himself to humors and characters.
But one of his finest characteristics was the depth of his
sympathy springing from a broad warm human heart. "
Bishop Miege died on July 20, 1884, and the remains
of the first and pioneer Catholic bishop in Nebraska rest
among his brethren in the Jesuit cemetery in Woodstock,
Maryland.
SOURCES CONSULTED AND USED IN THE COMPILATION
OF THIS PAPER
American Catholic Historical Society Records. Philadelphia. Vol. III.
American Church History. O'Gorman. Vol. IX.
Biographical Cyclopaedia (of Bishops). F. X. Reuss.
Baptism Register. Omaha.
Baptism Register. Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Baptism Register. Jackson, Nebraska.
Baptism Register. Nebraska City.
Catholic Directories. 1850 to 1860.
Catholic Church in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Rev. J. F. Kempker.
Creighton University Reminiscences. Rev. M. P. Dowling, S. J.
Western Missions and Missionaries. DeSmet, S. J.
Deed Register number I. Douglas County, Nebraska.
Diocesan Archives of Omaha, Nebraska.
History of Catholic Church in the United States. 4 Vols.
John G. Shea.
Kansas Historical Collections. Vol. IX.
Illustrated History of Nebraska. Watkins. 2 Vols.
Woodstock Letters. Vols. IV, VI, XIII.
Letter of Rev. Charles Coppens, S. J.
BIRTH OF LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
By Charles Wake
[Paper read before the annual meeting of the Nebraska
State Historical Society January 14, 1908.]
Mr. President, Pioneers of Nebraska, Ladies and Gentlemen:
When I returned to your city a few weeks ago after
an absence of nearly forty years, I missed the once familiar
faces of Elder Young, Dr. McKesson, John Cadman, Peter
Schamp, Luke Lavender, and others of the pioneers who
located the town of Lancaster, the county seat of Lancaster
county.
I have been able to find but three of these pioneers as
yet. Judge Pound, and Edward Warnes, who live in the
city, and Mr. Hawker, now living at Havelock. These with
myself are all of the antediluvians who were here before
the flood — of citizens who came in after the location of
the capital.
Mr. Warnes still lives on his homestead, a mile south
of street, where he has been the past forty-five years,
and enjoys the unique experience of having seen 50,000
people settle around his once lonely cabin.
Right now I would like to ask how many of you who
are here present were here with me on that eventful day in
July, 1867, when Governor David Butler, Secretary Kennard
and Auditor Gillespie came out on the front steps of Captain
Donovan's house and announced that Lincoln, the capital
of Nebraska, was by their proclamation located right here
where we are now assembled. Will those who were here
that day please hold up your hands.
Thank you. That is when our baby was born, and a
right lusty youth it has become, worthy of the sturdy
president whose name it bears. Since I promised Secretary
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BIRTH OF LINCOLN, NEBRASKA 217
Paine to give you some recollections of the early days of
Lincoln I have carefully read the published history of the
city, and I find that the ground has been fairly covered by
the historian, but there are a few things omitted which I
may be able to supply.
The question has been asked, "How did a few poor
homesteaders manage to donate 800 acres of land to the
state of Nebraska in order to locate the capital at this
point?" We were all poor enough in money, but rich in
land, or, perhaps, we were "landpoor". The land we held
had but little cash value. We had bought some of the best
of it with "college scrip" at about sixty cents an acre, and
the rest we had taken under the homestead and preemption
laws. We made the donation in this way: Every settler
within a few miles of Lancaster subscribed forty acres of
land; then Dawson, Lavender and John Giles vacated as
much of their farms as was needed to make the town site,
and took other land and more of it in lieu of that which
they relinquished.
Lavender gave up the eighty acres of his homestead
on which the capitol is built and got as a balance an eighty
of James Young which joined him on the east and a thousand
dollars in cash. His demand for that thousand dollars
came near wrecking the whole scheme. He was told that
if he did not moderate his demands the capital would be
located elsewhere, but he declared that rather than move
away from his home and get nothing for his improvements
he would let the capital go to the Blue river or elsewhere.
After some heated talk about a rope necktie, tar and
feathers, etc., we surrendered and in some way managed
to satisfy him.
How this princely sum of a thousand dollars and some
other hundreds needed to pay the government for its claim
on these lands was obtained I have no knowledge. I
remember that Elder Miller was deeply interested in the
218 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
scheme but did not put in any money of his own. He
asked me if I would not rather give $100 in cash than to
give some of my land. I was willing but had not the
money, so the Elder took my note and advanced the cash.
If I remember aright, when I came to this place in the
fall of 1866, there was but one house that had both a board
floor and a shingle roof. Dawson and Lavender lived in
log houses with shingle roofs, but earthen floor. Elder
Young's house had a board floor, but the roof was of earth.
Dr. McKesson lived in a dugout half a mile north of
street. Mr. Hardenburg, who was interested in some salt
works and kept a small store, had, I think, a stone house
that was fairly comfortable and decently furnished. He
was the one aristocrat of the town. He managed to sell
out soon after and return to New Jersey. There was some
timber in the county at that time and one or two saw
mills. A man by the name of Cozad had one of these mills
not far from where the Burlington depot now stands.
Town lots were so cheap they were offered free to any one
who would build a house worth $100. A friend of mine
secured a fifty foot lot on these terms just east of the
present Journal office. He borrowed a wagon and two yoke
of oxen, and I went with him to a sawmill on Oak creek
where he loaded on cottonwood boards with which we
built a shanty about sixteen by twenty or twenty-four feet.
The snow was deep, we were poor teamsters, and had
many mishaps by the way, but finally completed our task
and moved into the new house on the first day of March,
1867 — a month long to be remembered by the early
settlers of Nebraska, as every night the thermometer fell
to zero or below. The last day of February was warm, the
snow melted and every little ravine had a running stream.
A poor man living at the salt basin driving an ox team
could not force them through the broken ice and melted
snow. He labored with them until he was soaking wet,
BIRTH OF LINCOLN, NEBRASKA 219
then the weather suddenly turned intensely cold and he
got home at last so badly frozen that, after weeks of suffer-
ing, he insisted that his feet should be amputated, and Doctor
McKesson undertook the operation. He had no proper
amputation saw, and I wish, right here, to correct a story
that has often been told that the Doctor used a common
handsaw for this surgical work. He borrowed the saw
from my partner, Mr. Biles, who now lives in Los Angeles,
California. It was a stiff-back saw with fine teeth, suitable
for use in cabinet work, which Biles had brought from
London, and though larger than a surgeon's saw it was
very well adapted for such an emergency. One foot was
taken off, but the patient was too weak to recover and
died soon after.
There is another item of interest which I do not find
recorded in the history, an incident which reflects honor
on one of the early settlers in the new city; and the only
excuse I can see for its omission is the thought that honor-
able deeds were so common in our midst that nothing else
could have been expected of any of us. Yet I think the
incident I am about to relate to you, and which doubtless
some of you remember, is worthy to be spread on the
records of this society; and when you erect that grand
historical building which a generous legislature is going to
pay for, I hope that somewhere in its marble halls there
will be placed a memorial tablet to the memory of Darwin
Peckham. Mr. Peckham was a carpenter and contractor,
and he built the stone block of two stories still standing on
the northeast corner of and 10th streets, which was
occupied by the banking house of James Sweet and Brock,
the grocery house of Rudolph, and the general store of
Martin Pflug and Brother. Whilst Mr. Peckham was busy
earning money for the support of his family and perhaps
laying the foundation for a modest competence, it was
reported one day that in one of the hotels a man was sick
220 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
with smallpox. He was at once taken to a shanty on the
outskirts of the town, and a volunteer nurse was called for.
Mr. Peckham undertook this disagreeable and dangerous
duty, caught the disease himself and barely escaped a
horrible death. Mr. President, there are many men today
wearing these bronze buttons in the lapels of their coats
and drawing pensions from a grateful nation for heroic
services on a hundred battlefields, who never performed a
nobler deed, or suffered more for our common humanity
than this unassuming citizen of whom I speak.
The other day I stood on street and called the at-
tention of a young law student to the lot on the corner
of and Eleventh streets, on which stands part of Rudge
& Guenzel's store, and told him that I stood by and saw
that lot sold for $87.50; and he asked me why we did not
all of us buy lots and grow rich by the investment. This
is the question that naturally occurs to any one at this
late day, and in self-defense it should be answered.
Nebraska at that time was supposed to be a great
desert, not only by eastern people, but those who lived in
the towns along the Missouri river really thought there
was no land worth cultivating as far west as Lancaster
county. The location of the capital was regarded as a
doubtful project, and men with money to invest stood by
and saw these choice lots sold for a mere song. It must
be remembered there was not a mile of railroad south of
the Platte river; that a large part of Iowa was still a
howling wilderness; and even on the grand prairie in central
Illinois land could then be bought for five dollars an acre.
Some of those who had faith in the city and made heavy
investments came to grief when hard times came. One
heroic woman told me the other day that she took in
washing during several of those hard years so as to pay
taxes and save the family property.
BIRTH OF LINCOLN, NEBRASKA 221
It is curious how soon people forget, and though the
history I here referred to is fairly accurate there are a few
errors in it I take the liberty of pointing out. Mr. Bashley,
the first lumber merchant in your city, is called Larkley. I
remember him well. One of his first sales was to me. He
and his son drove two mule teams to East Nebraska City
and hauled lumber to the salt basin where I built a salt-
house for Tichenor & Green. Pine lumber came in with
the advent of the capital. In Lancaster times we used
Cottonwood and walnut. There was very fine walnut tim-
ber at that time on the streams west of here.
One curious error I notice recorded on page 154 of
the history; not a matter of much consequence, but it
might as well be put right. It is about the location of J.
D. Minchall's first store. One man declared it was on P
street, another said it was on 0, — yet on the very same
page is a picture of the store he really occupied — on Ninth
street, just north of Dr. Gilbert's drugstore. If my version
of this matter needed confirmation it could be confirmed
by Nelson Brock. He and I, and Robert Bain, once your
county treasurer, boarded next door with Mrs. Doctor
Gilbert, and if I remember rightly he improved his spare
time courting Mrs. Gilbert's sister. Dr. Gilbert sold hard-
ware as well as drugs. The hardware, and I think the
building also, belonged to Humphrey Brothers of Nebraska
City. The old store has been removed to Twelfth and Q
streets, where it is now doing duty as a wagon shop. When
I saw it the other day I was puzzled to make out how we
used to sleep upstairs in it. There certainly was an up-
stairs; but we must have been very careful those nights
not to bump our heads against the rafters.
In Lancaster times Jacob Dawson was postmaster
and Judge Pound was his deputy. I am sorry the judge
did not hold that position a year longer; if he had I should
be $30 richer. The first Lincoln postmaster was a thief
222 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
and I lost that $30 in the mail and the postmaster was sent
to the penitentiary for this and other robberies. Captain
Donovan, his father-in-law, induced Governor Butler to
procure his pardon and he disappeared. S. B. Pound, the
young lawyer, had so good a reputation for honesty, even in
that early day, that a jury of six men, of whom I was one,
refused to give a verdict against his client on the sole
ground that three of the men declared it to be their un-
alterable conviction that Mr. Pound would not defend a
case that was not absolutely correct and true. I am glad
to know that after forty years the judge has not lived down
his early reputation in a city where so many men have been
wrecked.
I have sometimes boasted to my children that I was
one of the founders of the city of Lincoln and also an in-
corporator of the State Historical Society; but on search-
ing the records I find that your present association is of
much more modern date, and I am forced to the conclusion
that the old society died of neglect, and so we lost the block
of lots which the commissioners donated to us when they
laid out the city. That block is now occupied by farmers
and others with loads of hay and many things more useful
than ornamental.
Mr. President, I am glad we have a historical society
here in Nebraska and an industrious secretary to keep a
record of these things, some of which may seem trivial,
as the doings of very common people. President Lincoln
once, said: "God must love the common people because he
made so many of them." Whilst we have read much
history that records the sayings and doings of kings and
princes, who often were unworthy of the position they
occupied, and of generals who led vast armies to fields of
slaughter, and though we still admire the words of Long-
fellow —
BIRTH OF LINCOLN, NEBRASKA 223
"Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,"
I would add another sentiment for your consideration not
expressed in melodious verse but in simple every day prose:
** Lives of honest men and virtuous women ever remind
us that we are citizens of this great republic, and we are
expected to live worthy and useful lives."
ENGLISH SETTLEMENT IN PALMYRA
By Rev. Richard Wake
[A a paper prepared for the Nebraska State Historical
Society by Mr. Wake and read before the annual meeting
of the Society, January 18, 1910, by his brother, Mr.
Charles Wake.]
Palmyra was from its beginning chiefly an English
neighborhood. During the winter of 1855-56 the writer of
this paper, an Englishman and pastor of a Methodist
church in northern Illinois, being impressed with the great
opportunities offered by the West to people with habits of
thrift and industry, wrote a series of letters to the Christian
World of London, setting forth the conditions in the states
of Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska, the two last mentioned
having then large tracts of unoccupied government land.
I wrote especially of the inducements presented to the farm-
ing class in England, recommending that they and others
possessed of small means should emigrate in companies to
settle contiguously on these cheap lands, so that they might
have from the beginning the advantages of society and
thus be saved from the loneliness and consequent home-
sickness to which the solitary settler is liable. I invited
correspondence and hundreds of letters were received show-
ing great desire to follow my suggestions.
In April, 1866, I came west through Des Moines,
Omaha, and Nebraska City, viewing the country yet un-
occupied lying in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska. As
government land in Iowa had been withdrawn from market
to await the building of the railroads to the Missouri and
the selection of railroad grants, Nebraska offered the most
promising field for settlement. Securing a three months'
vacation from my parish, I made a long promised visit to
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ENGLISH SETTLEMENT IN PALMYRA 225
England and embraced the opportunity thus offered to
perfect arrangements for bringing out a colony to settle
in the vicinity of what afterward became the town of
Palmjra. Many who were anxious to come could not
dispose of their property in time to return with me; but
on the first of August, 1866, 115 men, women and children
sailed on the steamship Denmark from Liverpool, landing
in New York on the 17th and reaching Chicago on Sunday,
August 19. Here those who did not possess sufficient
means to establish themselves on homesteads sought and
found employment. As then there was no railroad west of
Des Moines, the famiUes who intended to be farmers in
Nebraska bought teams, weapons, and general outfits in
Chicago, traveling overland from that city to their destina-
tion, with Nebraska City as the .point for crossing the
Missouri.
Of the party thus arriving early in September, 1866,
I recall the names of F. Lucas, C. Dorman, B. Dorman,
Wm. Pell, Dawson Collins, W. A. Harris, J. Johnson,
E. Burrows, A. J. Harris, R. Sears, R. R. Ward, W. Sanders,
J. Richards, F. R. Strachan, John Harding, J. Maycock,
Thos. Cole, Fr. Lovett and E. Comley. Of these, Messrs.
Johnson and Sears, after seven or eight years residence in
Otoe County, returned and are now (1909) living in Bed-
fordshire, England. J. Harding opened a clothing store
in Rulo, Nebraska. Dawson Collins established a music
business in Nebraska City, and W. Sanders built a mill
and elevator in Unadilla. Others of the party took home-
steads in and around what is now Palmyra. Messrs.
Burrows, Lucas and Dorman were among those who re-
mained and who since have been known as among the most
substantial citizens of Otoe county.
In the spring of 1870 a second party arrived under
the leadership of Rev. Thomas Bell of Penrith, Cumberland.
In this party were Messrs. Rootham, father and son, Mr.
15
226 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
John Reed and others. These have all passed away, but
members of their families still remain.
So far as the writer has been able to ascertain, these
settlers have done well. Though for some years they had
to undergo the hardships and inconveniences inseparable
from life in a new country, they have succeeded in making
themselves good homes and have in some instances become
quite wealthy. Not all immigrants are successful, often
because they lack in themselves the qualities which insure
success. But on the whole it may be claimed that the
Palmyra pioneers have done well.
HISTORY OF FORT KEARNY
By Albert Watkins
In the whole realm of nature, institutions and incidents
are the result of more or less complex influences. The story
of the beginning of an institution such as Fort Kearny is
therefore a fragment of the history of human environment,
desire, and endeavor. In former papers I have traced the
evolution of communication between the settled easterly
part of the country and the great Northwest which resulted
in the establishment of the Oregon trail. This story begins
with the French discovery and occupancy of the Mississippi
valley and the later squatting of trappers and Indian
traders, whose chief base of operation was St. Louis, along
the Missouri river. In 1682 Ferdinand LaSalle, passing
down the Mississippi river, laid claim to the vast territory
lying, roughly speaking, between the great river and the
Rocky mountains, east and west, and the British possessions
and the Gulf of Mexico, north and south. This country
was called Louisiana, in honor of the reigning French
monarch, Louis XIV. There was more or less desultory
squatting along the Missouri river as early as the latter
part of the eighteenth century; but the American purchase
of Louisiana in 1803 gave a strong impetus to the move-
ment, and from that time there was a gradual growth of
occupancy by white people.
Six months before the great purchase was consum-
mated, President Thomas Jefferson, probably the most
astute and alert American expansionist, seems to have
divined, intuitively, the American destiny of Louisiana;
and so, moved in part at least by this premonition, it seems
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228 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
reasonable to think, he proceeded to make arrangements
for the Louis and Clark expedition. After Louisiana came
into our possession, the expedition was sent out according
to its original conception, its scope being only somewhat
extended or broadened.
Before this, operations along the Missouri river had
been confined to individuals or, at most, small partnerships.
Five years after the purchase — in 1808 — two strong
companies were formed; and they together laid the founda-
tion for the settlement of the upper half of the Purchase
which eventually came under the territorial organization
of Nebraska. Soon after 1840 the central belt of the
Purchase came to be called "The Nebraska Country",
after itsjprincipal river. One of these two great organiza-
tions, the Missouri Fur Company, operated from the first
along the Missouri river, and its representatives were
therefore^he first settlers and agriculturists of Nebraska.
The other and stronger one, the American Fur Company,
whose' genius was John Jacob Astor, did not begin opera-
tions along the Missouri until 1822. Its first object was to
gain possession of Oregon; and the Astorian expedition of
1810 was sent out for that purpose. In going out this
famous expedition traversed the farther end of the Oregon
trail. A part of the intrepid explorers, on their return in
1812 and 1813, passed over the rest of the trail, — except
that, instead of taking the cut-off from the head of Grand
Island to a point on the Missouri river, now the site of
Kansas City, they continued down the Platte river to its
mouth. Of course there was afterward some deviation,
for improvement, from the course of these Astorians, until
they struck the headwaters of the Platte river; but the
fact that the permanent line of this great national high-
way deviated so little from that which the discoverers
fumbingly followed, demonstrated that it was the most
practicable road to the Columbia river.
HISTORY OF FORT KEARNY 229
Even after the Americans were victors in the revolution,
the three leading European powers, Spain, France, and
England, insolently disregarded our territorial limits and
rights; and superior British aggression wiped Astor's rforth-
western project off the American map. The purchase of
Louisiana checked this European trespass, and the war of
1812 almost put an end to it. But there still remained the
vexatious question of the northwest boundary. The first
military post in the Nebraska country, known as Fort
Atkinson, was established partly with reference to British
aggression from the north and partly for the protection of
our frontier from hostile Indians of the upper Missouri.
Eventually these Indians, and especially the ferocious and
powerful Blackfeet, discouraged traders in that region,
and drove them across the Rocky mountains into the
Snake river and Green river basins. In 1823 a formidable
expedition under Colonel Leavenworth was sent up the
Missouri river from Fort Atkinson to punish the Arikari
Indians, whose villages were situated near the place where
the new bridge of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St, Paul rail-
road crosses the river. In 1825 General Henry Atkinson
led a force of 476 soldiers 120 miles above the Yellowstone
to treat with the Indians and scare out British intruders.
Two years later the fort was abandoned, and its equipment
was carried down to its successor. Fort Leavenworth.
This change illustrates an important stage in the evolution
of traffic with the Northwest. While it is easy to see why
Fort Leavenworth was established, it is not clear why
military protection was so completely and abruptly with-
drawn from the upper Missouri; but that question does
not immediately concern our purpose.
In 1823 General William H. Ashley, a leading spirit
in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company which was formed in
1822, was defeated in a battle with the treacherous Arikari,
and his force of trappers and traders was badly cut to
230 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
pieces. The next year, therefore, he evaded the Missouri
field and the Missouri route, and instead followed the
Oregon trail to the lower fields beyond the mountains, —
except that he ascended to Fort Atkinson and thence
followed westward along the Platte river. The lower
transmontane fur fields were now so well established that
they called for a direct route to the St. Louis market and
base of supplies. Heretofore peltries had been shipped
mainly in bull boats down the Big Horn and the Yellow-
stone rivers to the Missouri and thence to St. Louis.
Previous to 1830 pack animals had been used on the Oregon
trail; but in that year three of Ashley's great lieutenants,
Jedediah Smith, Daniel E. Jackson, and William A. Sub-
lette took a train of fourteen wagons over the cut-off to
the mountains. In 1832 the famous Captain Bonneville
took a wagon train over the same route and through the
south pass. These were the first wagons to cross the
mountains. The same year Nathaniel Wyeth went over
the cut-off through to Oregon ;i but he abandoned his
wagons beyond the main mountain divide. In 1836 Marcus
Whitman, the colonizer of Oregon, went through nearly
to the Columbia river with a wagon. In 1842 the first
company of Oregon emigrants, numbering 120, went
through over the trail from their rendezvous near In-
dependence. A still larger company, numbering about
1,000, went in 1843. Dr. White's party of 1842 abandoned
its wagons at Fort Hall, using pack horses the rest of the
way. The party of 1843 took its wagons — about 120 —
through to the Columbia. These were the first loaded
wagons to pass over the entire length of the trail. The
great highway had now won and deserved its name, — the
» That part of Wyeth's Journal which no doubt described this section
of' his route was, very unfortunately, lost. We have fairly credible state-
ments that the party followed the Big Blue to its headwaters but circum-
stances raise more than a suspicion that the Little Blue was meant but
miscalled.
HISTORY OF FORT KEARNY 231
Oregon trail. It remained distinct and celebrated over all
its course, from Kansas City to the Columbia river, until
it was superseded by the Pacific railroads to a point where
it left the line of the Union Pacific. Railroads have since
traversed the remainder of the trail, closely or approxi-
mately. Thus this great institution, like all other human
institutions, owed its being to gradual growth and evolu-
tion and gave it up by the same process.
The location of Fort Leavenworth was chosen chiefly
in recognition of the new and growing traffic by the Platte
route. It is not so easy to understand why the second
military post in Nebraska was located at Table Creek,
afterward the site of Nebraska City. In accordance with
an act of congress, passed July 2, 1836, Colonel Stephen
W. Kearny and Captain Nathan Boone were appointed
commissioners to locate a certain road and incidentally to
establish this post. They reported from Fort Leavenworth,
April 25, 1838, that they had selected ''an eminence near
the mouth of Table Creek as a site for the advance military
post". The site was selected May 23, 1846, and the block-
house, the first building, was erected in June. Colonel
Kearny gave as the reasons for selecting this location that
it would probably become the starting point from the
Missouri river for the Oregon emigration and that it was
in a dangerous Indian country. It did not become the
starting point for Oregon emigration, but twelve years
later it did become a very important starting point for
carrying supplies to the military posts on the frontier and
for the great Pike's Peak gold fields. In the meantime all
danger from Indian hostility had vanished. The decision
to establish the post at that place must have been merely
half-hearted; for it was virtually abandoned within a
few months, when its small garrison was diverted to the
scene of the Mexican war, which had broken out in the
232 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
meantime; and it was finally abandoned in about ten
months after it was begun.
In his report for 1840, the secretary of war recom-
mended the construction of a fort "at the head of naviga-
tion on the Kansas river" and another "northwest of Fort
Leavenworth, at Table Creek, on the Missouri, below the
mouth of the Platte river. To connect this last post with
Fort Snelling, a post ought to be constructed at or near the
forks of the Des Moines". As yet there was no clear
vision or planning beyond the Missouri river. This harking
back to conditions which existed before continuous and
considerable travel over the Oregon trail had begun explains
the mistake of first placing Fort Kearny so far from that
highway soon to become of more importance than the
border line of frontier settlement.
There had been a more or less slumbering Oregon
question between this country and Great Britain ever
since the tentative or temporary open-door arrangement
of 1818. President Monroe recommended in his last
annual message — 1824 — the construction of a fort on
the Columbia river to protect and forward American in-
terests in the Oregon country. The genius of Wyeth and
Whitman, which led them to take and stimulate active
steps toward securing that region to the United States,
challenged more positive official attention. In his report for
1841,2 the secretary of v/ar recommended the construction
of a chain of posts "from the Council Bluffs to the mouth
of the Columbia, so as to command the avenues by which
the Indians pass from the north to the south, and at the
same time maintain a communication with the territories
belonging to us on the Pacific". This reference to Oregon
was put in diplomatic phrase. It was doubtless intended
to be the main part of the question. President Tyler
endorsed the recommendation in his annual message of
2 House executive documents, 1841-42, v. 1, doc. 2, p. 61.
HISTORY OF FORT KEARNY 233
the same year.^ An interesting part of this recommendation
is the approval of the plan of Colonel J. J. Abert, topo-
graphical engineer, for establishing the proposed line of
posts. In a report as chairman of the house committee on
military affairs ^ N. G. Pendleton (of Ohio) gave an ex-
haustive history and discussion of the Oregon question, in
which he incorporated Colonel Abert's report of January 15,
1842. The engineer pointed out that the most practicable
route to the Columbia river lay through the pass in the
Black Hills, at about latitude 44° 30'; thence between
these hills and "Big Horn Mountain"; then crossed the
Three Forks of the Missouri ; thence southwesterly to the
headwaters of the Bitter Root; down that river to its
junction with "Salmon or Lewis's river"; and down that
river to the Columbia. Colonel Abert held that the start-
ing point on the Missouri river ought to be as nearly op-
posite the trend of the western trail as practicable, — at
some point between the great bend and the mouth of the
White river. Though the south pass had been in use for
ten years, Fremont had not yet made it well known; so
that Colonel Abert's route was far too high up. His plan
involved the shifting of Fort Leavenworth back again to
Council Bluff as the initial extreme frontier point of his
route, and he emphasized the advantage of three hundred
miles of river transportation to the point of departure
above the great bend. The small garrison at Fort Leaven-
worth would, he thought, be ample for the resuscitated post
at Council Bluff; but he recommended a force of 500 foot
and two companies of dragoons for the main post on the
Missouri and a like force for the other principal posts at
the mouth of the Columbia.^ In his annual message of
3 House executive documents, 1841-42, v. 1, doc. 2, p. 41.
* Report of committees, 3d session 27th congress, v. 1, No. 31.
» Ibid., p. 46.
234 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
1842* President Tyler approved these recommendations
of the war secretary for estabhshing means of communica-
tion "with our territories on the Pacific"; and though he
would propose "nothing inconsistent with friendly nego-
tiations, yet a prudent forecast points out the necessity
of such measures as may enable us to maintain our rights".
In his report for this year, the secretary of war repeats
his recommendation of 1841.^
But by 1844 the Oregon emigration had become so
important and had so distinctly marked out the lower and
permanent trail, by way of the Platte river, that the secre-
tary of war, in his report for that year,* not only recom-
mended the appropriation of $100,000 "for erecting military
posts from the Missouri river to the Rocky mountains",
but also urged organization, under the name of Nebraska,
of the territory which the Platte river and the Oregon
trail bisected. He mentioned, as another incentive to the
adoption of this line, the fact that "an excellent and more
direct pass to Oregon" had been "discovered by recent
exploration, about 150 miles southward of the great south
pass". "The emigrants' trail to the Willamette", the
secretary observed, "is at last traversed by every kind of
conveyance." He said also that congress had been reluc-
tant to enclose the territory west of the mountains owing
to the "conflicting claims of a foreign nation".
In his annual message of 1845^ President Polk recom-
mended the estabhshing of a suitable number of stockades
and blockhouse forts along the usual route between our
frontier settlements on the Missouri and the Rocky moun-
tains, and that an adequate force of mounted riflemen be
raised to guard and protect the emigrants on their journey.
« House executive documents, 1842-43, v, 1, doc. 2, p. 9.
' House executive documents, 1842-43, v. 1, doc. 2, p. 189.
8 House executive documents, 1844-45, v. 1, doc. 2.
' House executive documents, 1845-46, v. 1, doc. 2.
HISTORY OF FORT KEARNY 235
He protested that this action would not violate existing
treaty relations with Great Britain; but a little farther
on he talks about "securing our rights in Oregon". Dur-
ing this year Colonel Stephen W. Kearny led a military
expedition over the trail from Fort Leavenworth to the
Rocky mountains, returning by way of the Arkansas
valley. In his report of the expedition^" he estimated
that 850 men, 475 women, 1,000 children, 7,000 head of
cattle, 400 horses and mules, and 460 wagons had passed
over the trail during the season of 1845. The chief engineer
of the United States army in his report dated November 9,
1849, testified to the wisdom of establishing the posts on
the Oregon route. "The events of the last eighteen months
have added greatly to the importance of Forts Kearny
and Laramie. Nearly 8,000 wagons, 30,000 people and
80,000 draught animals have passed along this thorough-
fare on the way to California, Oregon and Salt Lake.""
Major Osborn Cross, who accompanied the rifle regiment
in its march from Fort Leavenworth to Oregon in 1849,
estimated that from 8,000 to 10,000 wagons with an average
of four persons to the wagon, passed Fort Kearny and
Fort Laramie that year — nearly all bound for California.^^
There were protests in both houses of congress in the
discussion of the bill — passed May 19, 1846 — making
an appropriation for a chain of posts, that no hostility to
Great Britain was intended. But they also must be re-
garded as largely diplomatic.
In accordance with the act of congress a call was
made on the state of Missouri, March 31, 1847, for a regi-
ment of mounted volunteers, a part of which was to
be used for estabhshing the new posts; but the exigency
of the Mexican war drew the whole regiment to Santa Fe,
'^^ House executive documents, 1845-46, v. 1, doc. 2, p. 212.
" House executive documents, 1849-50, doc. 5, p. 225.
»"^ Senate executive documents, 1850-51, doc. 1, p. 149.
236 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
and a battalion of similar troops was assigned to the duty
in question.
From the report of the adjutant general, November
30, 1848, it appears that the rank and file of the regiment
of mounted riflemen, originallj^ designed to establish the
posts on the Oregon route, were discharged at the close of
the war with Mexico, but several companies had been
reformed in the process of reorganizing the regiment "two
of which have relieved Lieutenant Colonel Powell at the
new post established on the Oregon route at Grand
Island ".13
The records of the adjutant general's office of the
state of Missouri show that Ludwell E. Powell, forty-one
years of age, was mustered into service, August 30, 1847,
at Fort Leavenworth, as a lieutenant colonel "in L. E.
Powell's battalion, Missouri Mounted Volunteers, during
the war with Mexico unless sooner discharged", and that
he was honorably discharged at Fort Leavenworth, Novem-
ber 11, 1848. During the month of July, 1848, Andrew W.
Sublette, David McCausland, James Craig, William H.
Rodgers, and Robert M. Stewart were mustered in as
captains respectively of companies A, B, C, D, E, which
formed the battalion. All of these officers were also honor-
ably discharged at Fort Leavenworth, in the early part of
November, except Captain Rodgers, who was "left sick at
Savannah, Missouri". The five companies comprised 452
men and twenty-five officers, 477 in alL^"
In an order dated June 1, 1847, William L. Marcy,
secretary of war, directed that the battalion should march
to its destination as soon as practicable; that an engineer
would be charged with the location and construction of the
posts and that his requisitions for labor, services, and
reconnoissance must be supplied by regular details from
" House executive documents, 1848-49, v. 1, p. 162.
" House executive documents, 1847-48, v. 2, p. 77.
HISTORY OF FORT KEARNY 237
the troops of the command. "The commanding officer
will be responsible for the completion of the works and will
urge upon the troops that it is their duty first to build and
then to garrison them." On the 3d day of August, 1847,
Lieutenant Colonel Clifton Wharton, of the First dragoons,
in command at Fort Leavenworth, wrote to the adjutant
general — R. Jones — urging that it was too late in the
season for the command to proceed to Grand Island and
that it would be better to winter at Table Creek. Four
companies of the battalion had arrived at Table Creek
and the fifth was daily expected. On the 20th of August
the adjutant general wrote to Lieutenant Colonel Wharton
that he approved of this arrangement; but by October 13
he had changed his mind and on the ground that it would
be very difficult, and not worth while, so late in the season,
to construct quarters. It would be better to send the
battalion back to Fort Leavenworth where it could be
maintained more cheaply than at Table Creek. In reply
Lieutenant Colonel Wharton wrote on the 27th of October
that there was plenty of material upon the ground for the
construction of barracks, etc., for the battalion, and that it
would be the fault of the commander if the troops were
not made comfortable for the winter. But he complained
that Lieutenant Colonel Powell had been distributing his
command "to a degree to retard the advancement even of
temporary accommodations". One company had been
detached, under order of the adjutant general, "to attend
the Pottawattamie emigration". Another had been sent
to Grand Island, on the requisition of the engineer officer,
as an escort "for the purposes of a survey of the vicinity".
At the instance of Major Harvey, superintendent of Indian
affairs, Powell had sent heavy detachments from the
remaining companies against the Sioux.
A contract had already been made for 20,000 bushels
of corn for Powell's command at 37^ cents a bushel — "a
238 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
price which I think quite reasonable". The somewhat
peppery Wharton disputed the statement of the adjutant
general that Table Creek was not in the direct route traveled
by the emigrants. He reminded him that "the Missouri
river is crossed by these people at very many points", and
from some personal experience, and much information from
others, he had become satisfied that "a better starting
point for the troops could not be selected". He boldly
suggested that stories traveling over the long distance to
Washington might not be disinterested and ought not to
be credited without caution. On the 6th of November
Lieutenant Colonel Wharton again writes that on the 2d
he had received a communication from Lieutenant Colonel
Powell stating that ''there are already some sixty good
substantial log cabins, with straw and dirt roofs nearly
completed", and that "my entire command will in a short
tim^e be in very comfortable quarters".
November 18, Lieutenant Colonel Wharton informs
the adjutant general that the detachment which Lieutenant
Colonel Powell had let go against the Sioux had returned,
and, as he expected, "without seeing an Indian". Lieuten-
ant Colonel Wharton complained also that Lieutenant
Colonel Powell had ordered Lieutenant Daniel P. Wood-
bury, engineer officer, to Washington without consulting
him. On the 23d of September this engineer had been sent
to Grand Island by Lieutenant Colonel Powell with an
escort of five officers and seventy-eight men "for the
purpose of a survey of the vicinity". The escort returned
to Table Creek October 23.
According to the record of the battalion it left Fort
Leavenworth September 5, 1847, and arrived at Table
Creek September 15. March 12, 1848, Lieutenant Colonel
Powell relinquished command at Table Creek and left for
Grand Island. April 28, 1848, eighteen officers and 375
HISTORY OF FORT KEARNY 239
men left Table Creek for Grand Island where they arrived
June 1.
November 1, 1848, Captain Charles F. Ruff reported
to the adjutant general that with his command, companies
I and G, regiment of mounted riflemen, he arrived at
"Fort Childs, Platte river", October 28, after having
marched 280 miles from Fort Leavenworth in the most
inclement weather. On his arrival he found that Lieuten-
ant Colonel Powell, previously in command of the post,
had left for Fort Leavenworth on or about October 9, leaving
as a garrison one first lieutenant and eighteen privates.
Captain Ruff immediately ordered this garrison to follow
to Fort Leavenworth, October 30. He complained bitterly
that his command would have to endure extreme hardships
and, he feared, much suffering during the winter. They
would be compelled to erect shelters for both men and
horses, the weather was already exceedingly cold and the
sod and sun-dried brick, the material of which the post
was to be constructed, could not be procured or worked
in the snow, which was threatening to come.^^ On account
of the scarcity of forage, he had sent a part of the horses
back to Fort Leavenworth, reserving only seventy-three,
and he feared that the larger portion of these would perish
of exposure on the prairies without shelter. The entire
command, with the exception of a sufficient guard, was at
work constructing shelters under the direction of First
Lieutenant Woodbury of the engineer corps. Captain Ruff
bitterly complained, also, that Lieutenant Colonel Powell
had even ordered or permitted Assistant Surgeon Joseph
Walker, U. S. A., to go with him to Fort Leavenworth,
leaving the garrison entirely without medical attendance.
1' Powell's command, for some unexplained reason, had done nothing
toward erecting quarters, so that Captain Ruff's complaints had a more
substantial basis than the natural or usual contempt of the regular for the
volunteer. See Bancroft's Works, v. 25, pp. 689-91, for some rather in-
accurate information.
240 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The troops, being composed entirely of raw recruits, were
especially in need of a medical officer. They were also
absolutely suffering for want of good and sufficient clothing.
Captain Ruff was informed that Lieutenant Colonel Powell
had employed an experienced mountain trapper and trader
as an express rider, at $50.00 a month — $55.00 for the
winter months. As it would be impossible to procure mail
during the winter "by means of any soldier of the com-
mand", the captain had decided to retain this rider until
his action could be passed upon by the secretary of war or
the opening of safe travel in the spring.
February 26, 1849, Captain Ruff again reported the
condition of affairs at "Hd'q'rs. Squadron Mounted
Riflemen, Fort Childs, Oregon Route". He urged the ab-
solute necessity of mounted troops "to render the garrison
effective amidst Indian tribes, who may be said to live on
horseback". There should be two mounted companies and
one company of infantry at this post, situated, as it was,
"more than 200 miles beyond and west of the frontier of
Missouri and of civilization, in the midst and on the very
battle ground of the most numerous and at the same time
the most inveterate enemies of each other (Pawnee and Sioux
Indians), on the great and only traveled road from one-
half of our continent to the other half, there is no post on
the western frontier of equal importance to the safety of
life and property — of a vast emigration and great trade".
Captain Ruff pointedly asked whether Fort Kearny —
at Table Creek — or Fort Leavenworth was to be the
depot of supplies for Fort Childs. He thought that the
Table Creek post should be abandoned. " The only possible
good to be derived from occupying Fort Kearny is the
obtaining the better road and direct route to this post and
others on the Oregon route; a military garrison is not
necessary there for the protection of the frontiers of Mis-
souri, this post being for that purpose far more effectual
HISTORY OF FORT KEARNY 241
with a garrison of mounted troops. If, on the other hand,
Fort Leavenworth is to be the depot for this route, a
survey of a practicable road should at once be directed
either from this post to Fort Leavenworth or from Fort
Leavenworth to this post; the present traveled route is
totally impracticable for heavily loaded wagons; in con-
sequence the supplies intended for this post will probably
be transported by the Missouri river to Fort Kearny before
the proper survey can be made. . . It is proper to add
that Fort Kearny is fifty miles nearer to this post than
Fort Leavenworth is." But the first Fort Kearny project
had already been abandoned, virtually, the adjutant general
having issued an order, dated June 22, 1846, to suspend
work there "for the present"; and it was not resumed.
The last remnant of the garrison left for Fort Leavenworth
July 19, 1846. Subsequent operations at the short-lived
fort were entirely incidental to the work of establishing its
substitute on the Platte. Ten years later Table Creek,
now become Nebraska City, was made a military depot
and shipping point of supplies for the western posts. In
1858-59 a vast amount of munitions was transported to
Nebraska City by steamboats on the Missouri river and
thence overland to Utah to supply the army stationed
there on account of the Mormon rebellion.
Lieutenant Colonel Powell dated his first return, —
reporting the arrival of his command at Table Creek —
''Fort Kearny, Missouri River, September 30, 1847." It
is probable that this was the first formal application of the
Kearny patronymic to a military post.
Six months after the new post had been given a local
habitation it received a name through an order of the
war department, dated December 30, 1848:
"The new post established at Grand Island, Platte
river, will be known as Fort Kearny.
By order:
16 R. Jones, Adjutant General."
242 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Until this formal designation the names of the post
were of a catch-as-catch-can variety. In the statement of
the distribution of troops contained in the report of the
secretary of war for 1848 the fort is called "the post at
Grand Island", while "Fort Childs" was a common desig-
nation in the official correspondence. This name appears
to have been applied, though without formal authority, by
the soldiers who had more or less to do toward establishing
the post.
It appears from the report of the secretary of war for
1846 that Colonel Childs cut an important figure during
the Mexican campaign of that year. Brevet Brigadier
General W. J. Worth, who commanded the assault on
Monterey, September 20, 1846, reports ^^ that Lieutenant
Colonel Thomas Childs, of the artillery battahon, — after-
ward colonel of the Third artillery — was put at the head
of the assaulting party. But General Kearny cut a still
larger figure, and consequently his name cut out the lesser
one and became perpetuated successively in the post, the
county in which it was situated and the important town
which sprang up on the line of the Union Pacific railroad
on the opposite side of the Platte river.
The spelling of the final name was more varied than
the names themselves had been. Until 1857 the name was
usually spelled correctly. In the official reports of that
year the letter e is sometimes injected into the second syllable.
In the reports of the war department for 1846 the name
is uniformlj^ spelled as General Kearny wrote his name,"
1' Report of the secretary of war, house executive documents, 1846-47,
V. 1, doc. 4, p. 102.
" In a communication to the Nebraska State Historical Society, pub-
lished in volume 3 of its Transactions and Reports, p. 317, Lieutenant
Edgar S. Dudley expresses his opinion that General Kearny spelled his
name with the additional e. But this unwarranted decision is based mainly
upon the statement that the signature appears so spelled in volume 7,
American State Papers (Military Affairs), p. 961. But this is a printed
signature and so is of little evidential value. Examination of General
Kearny's written signature at Washington shows that he left out the e,
and tbifl spelling preponderates in the official publications.
HISTORY OF FORT KEARNY 243
without the second e; and it is so spelled in the reports of
General Sherman and General Babcock for 1866. Un-
fortunately the alien has become so firmly established that
to oust it at this late day would be difficult, though not
impracticable. That one of our most important historic
memorials is thus a misnomer is certainly unfortunate.
It is a great pity that the carelessness, or misapprehensive
care, which is responsible for this misfortune, was not
diverted to more effectually disguising the names of cheap
politicians which are fastened upon many of our counties.
The post on the Platte came to be commonly called
New Fort Kearny to distinguish it from its predecessor at
Table Creek. It is so called in the act of congress of
February 17, 1855, which authorized the construction of a
wagon road from Omaha to the fort, and in war department
papers almost up to the time of its abandonment. After
the real Old Fort Kearny had vanished from sight and
faded in memory, popular carelessness and misapprehension
insisted in contradictorily substituting the distinguishing
adjective of its name for "New" which properly distin-
guished the real New Fort Kearny on the Platte; and this
misleading misnomer is getting almost as firmly fixed as
the usurping e in the proper part of the name.
Captain Ruff was deeply impressed with the humanity
"of permitting to the commanding officers of the posts on
this route the exercise of a sound discretion in making
issues of provisions to emigrant parties of our own citizens
who, either in returning from or going to Oregon, frequently
stand in need of instant and substantial relief". Parties
had passed during the last fall who would have perished
from want but for the relief offered by private charity.
According to the report of the adjutant general,
November 28, 1849, Captain Ruff's command was soon
relieved by one company of the First dragoons and two
companies of the Sixth infantry. This third garrison was
244 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
under Brevet Major Robert H. Chilton. Major Osborn
Cross, quartermaster of the United States army, in his
report of the march of the regiment of mounted riflemen
to Oregon in 1849, said that the few buildings that were then
inhabited were made of sv/ard cut in the form of adobes.
The hospital was the only building in course of erection.
Gardens had been started to little purpose, but he conceded
that in time, when the qualities of the soil were better
found out, vegetables w^ould be raised in abundance and
also grain of every description. Colonel Bonneville — the
famous "Captain Bonneville" who owes his fame to Wash-
ington Irving, was commandant of the post at that time.''
Captain Ruff's command went to Oregon with the regiment
of mounted riflemen to which it belonged. Brevet Brigadier
General Joseph T. Totten, chief engineer of the United
States army, in his report for 1849, said that in the fall of
1848 three temporary buildings were erected at Fort
Kearny for quarters for officers and men (two companies) ;
a bakery, stables for the horses of one company each, also
temporary, and a large adobe storehouse finished. During
the season a hospital containing four rooms below and two
attic rooms had been built, and a two-story building for
soldiers' quarters was under way and would be finished
before winter. A good temporary magazine had already
been erected. During the year 1850 there were built a two-
story building, seventeen by nineteen feet, with four rooms,
for officers' quarters, two halls, a piazza front and rear
and attic room; and a guardhouse fifteen by twenty-five
feet. The roof of the adobe storeroom was covered with
sheet lead. The three frame buildings erected the year
before were now nearly finished.
William Kelly, an English traveler, who passed over
the trail in 1849, said of Fort Kearny that, "The states
have stationed a garrison of soldiers in a string of log huts
Li ^im
" House executive documents 1850-51, v. 1, doc. 1, p, 138.
HISTORY OF FORT KEARNY 245
for the protection of the emigrants; and a most unsoldierly
looking lot they were — unshaved, unshorn, with patched
uniforms and lounging gait. Both men and officers were
ill-off for some necessities such as flour and sugar, the
privates being most particular in their inquiry for whiskey. "
Captain Howard Stansbury, United States topographical
engineer, who led an expedition over the trail to Salt Lake
City in the same year, described the fort as follows: "The
post at present consists of a number of long, low buildings,
constructed principally of adobe, or sun-dried bricks, with
nearly flat roofs; a large hospital tent; two or three work-
shops, enclosed by canvas walls; storehouses constructed
in the same manner; one or two long adobe stables with
roofs of brush; tents for the accommodation of horses and
men. "
In October, 1863, eight companies of the Seventh Iowa
cavalry regiment, which had been detailed from the South
for the purpose of protecting the Nebraska frontier from
Indians, arrived at Fort Kearny. Eugene F. Ware, a
lieutenant in the regiment, who afterward became com-
missioner of pensions and otherwise well known, described
what he saw at and about the fort in his book, "The Indian
War of 1864". At that time the two main roads from the
Missouri, one of which started from Leavenworth and the
other from Omaha, united at Kearney City or Dobj^own,
and travel on the Omaha route crossed the Platte river
opposite that noted and notorious emporium, and so
about two miles east of the fort. "The volume of travel
was much larger on the southern prong, and these two
great currents of overland commerce meeting at Dobytown
fixed the spot where the toughs of the country met and had
their frolics. Large quantities of the meanest whisky on
earth were consumed here, but, strange as it may appear,
there were large quantities of champagne sold and drank
here." Army officers and many wealthy travelers to and
246 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
from the rich western gold fields were no doubt accountable
for this esoteric taste. Supplies for the West in great
quantities were stored in a vast warehouse at the fort.
The commissary was authorized to sell provisions at cost
to indigent and hungry persons on requisition by the post
commander. These stores were kept mainly to supply
western military posts in case of emergency. The post
commander was also permitted to feed gratuitously hungry
Indians of the propinquity. A number of barrels of whisky
were among the stores in the warehouse, some of them
having been there since 1849.
"The post itself was a little old rusty frontier canton-
ment. The buildings were principally made out of native
lumber hauled in from the East. The post had run down in
style and appearance since the regulars left it. The fuel was
Cottonwood cordwood cut down on the island of the Platte.
The parade ground was not very large, and had around it
a few straggling trees that had evidently been set out in
large numbers when the post had been made; a few had
survived, and they showed the effect of the barrenness and
aridity of the climate. They looked tough."
It is popularly believed that the lines of great cotton-
wood trees which now adorn the east and south sides
of the parade ground were planted as early as 1849; but
if this statement is correct many of them must have been
planted much later. The largest building was on the
south side of the square, and on its second floor there was
a commodious room which appeared to have been used as
an officers' club or assembly room. It was customary for
officers who visited this room to wi'ite their names upon
the large chimney breast which was faced with hard plaster.
Among these names were many that became eminent
during the civil war, including that of Robert E. Lee, the
great commander-in-chief of the southern armies. The
quadrangular earthworks, with bastions at each corner, a
short distance east of the parade ground, are still prom-
HISTORY OF FORT KEARNY 247
inently visible. It seems superfluous to say that steps
should be taken to preserve this most interesting historic
relic from further disintegration.
The prospects of peace on the plains seemed so roseate
in 1852 that the military authorities at Washington advised
the withdrawal of troops from Fort Kearny and the construc-
tion of a military post at the junction of the Republican and
Kansas rivers which, it was contended, would afford protec-
tion to both of the great trails, — the Oregon and the Santa
Fe. Of course this view might be atttributed to usual
long distance ignorance of western conditions, indicated by
the failure to anticipate the great Indian war which broke
out in 1864/3 or to the domineering aggression of the South,
then at its worst.
Though Fort Kearny continued to be an important
military point up to about 1865, when the principal troubles
with the Indians had been shifted farther west, north, and
south, yet its garrisons were always relatively small, running
as a rule from one to two companies. Its use was in the
main for defensive protection of the great traffic over the
Oregon and California roads and, later, of the construction
of the Union Pacific railroad.
On the 17th of May, 1866, General 0. E. Babcock
arrived at Fort Kearny on a tour of inspection of military
posts in the West. He observed that "the transitory state
of affairs at Fort Kearny prevented the neat appearance
that would otherwise characterize the post. I see no reason
why this post should not be dispensed with, and the garrison
sent to some point where they will be of service. Perhaps
this cannot well be done before next spring." Fort Mc-
Pherson, ninety miles beyond, now superseded Fort Kearny
in importance, and the inspector complimented its appear-
1' Report quartermaster general, house executive documents, 1852-
63, V. 1, part 2, pp. 71, 127, and letter of T. T. Fauntleroy of First
dragoons.
248 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
ance and condition. It should be noted that in this report
the name of the post is spelled correctly without the e in
the second syllable.^o General William T. Sherman, who
visited this part of his general command in the same year,
observed that there was a great deal of travel by Fort
Kearny. He found no trains of heavily loaded wagons on
the north side of the Platte but many emigrants. The
great bulk of travel that season left the Missouri river at
Atchison and Nebraska City and followed the usual military
route by the south side of the Platte. In a report from
"Fort McPherson, Cottonwood", August 21, I866.21 General
Sherman relates that General Grenville M. Dodge, engineer
of the Union Pacific railroad, had given his party a special
train and accompanied it to the end of the road, about
five miles northeast of Fort Kearny. The depot of the road
would be about four and a half miles from the fort.
"We had to cross the Platte, as mean a river as exists on
earth, with its moving shifting sands, and I feel a little
lost as to what to say or what to do about Fort Kearny.
It is no longer of any military use so far as danger is con-
cerned, and now that the railroad is passing it in sight
but with a miserable, dangerous and unbridgable river
between, it must be retained for the sake of its houses and
the protection of wagon travel, all of which still lies to the
south side of the river. General Wessels commands and has
two companies at Kearny and two companies thirty-five
miles higher up at Plum Creek, where General Pope
thought there was or might be danger from some roving
bands of Indians which had hunted buffalo to the south
over about the Republican. All of these companies belong
to the Fifth United States volunteers (rebels) that I want to
muster out and must muster out somehow this fall; but
I will defer making an emphatic order until I look up the
^'^ House executive documents, 2d session 39th congress, doc. 20, p. 2.
-' House executive documents, 2d session 39th congress, doc. 23, p. 6.
HISTORY OF FORT KEARNY 249
line further and see where other troops are to come from
to protect the stores and property. At Kearny the build-
ings are fast rotting down and two of the largest were in
such danger of tumbling that General Wessels had to pull
them down, and I will probably use one of them to shelter
some horses this winter and next year let it go to the prairie
dogs, same of the temporary station at Plum Creek."
General Sherman and his escort, armed with " Spencers ",
proceeded up the valley to Fort McPherson in five spring
wagons. The "rebels" in question were paroled con-
federate prisoners who had been utilized for garrison duty.
A trifling story has been repeated in several historical
publications that when General William T. Sherman was
at Fort Kearny in the summer of 1866 some of these adapted
soldiers applied insulting epithets to him and that there-
upon he petulantly decided that the post should be dis-
continued forthwith. As General Babcock intimated,
abandonment of the post had been contemplated by the
war department for some time. It is interesting to note,
incidentally, that on this trip of inspection General Babcock
traveled by stage from Atchison and arrived at Fort Kearny
May 17.
Explanation of the presence of these confederate
prisoners under enlistment in the army of the United States
is an interesting story in itself. On the 25th of February,
1865, the house of representatives passed a resolution
requesting the secretary of war to make a report upon this
subject of the enlistment of rebel soldiers. Secretary
Stanton, responding on the 28th, said that in 1863 461
confederate prisoners had been enlisted for the Third Mary-
land cavalry and credited to that state, and eighty-two for
the First Connecticut cavalry and credited to that state.
This class of enlistments was stopped by an order of the
war department, August 21, 1863; but afterward 120
more prisoners were enrolled in the third Maryland regiment.
250 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
All of the soldiers enlisted as above were paid the regular
bounty. Afterward, at Point Lookout, Maryland, 1,105
prisoners were enlisted for the First United States volunteers
and 379 for the Second United States volunteers. These
were not credited to any state, and enlistment was again
stopped in September, 1864. The second regiment was
sent by General Grant to the Northwest for service there.
Under special instruction by President Lincoln, in Septem-
ber and October, 1864, 1,750 more prisoners, held at Rock
Island, Illinois, were enlisted and credited to the state of
Pennsylvania, excepting twelve, which were credited to
Ohio. These recruits received local bounties paid by the
places to v/hich they were credited. On application of
General Pope, of the department of the Missouri, they were
ordered to his command and as we have seen, part of them
were assigned to Fort Kearny.22
Samuel Bowles, editor of the Springfield Republican,
observed that in 1865 there were two regiments of infantry,
"all from the rebel army", among the troops on the plains.
Mr. Bowles declared that they had cheerfully enlisted in
the federal service, that they were all young but hardy
looking men, and the colonel — probably of the Eleventh Ohio
regiment — "testified heartily to their subordination and
sympathy with their new service. They are known in the
army as 'whitewashed rebs', or, as they call themselves,
'galvanized Yankees '."23 Albert D. Richardson who was of
the same party — with Bowles — relates that the four
cavalrymen who escorted it and the soldiers who guarded
the stations, "were all rebel prisoners or deserters who had
taken the oath of allegiance and enlisted in the United
States service. They styled themselves 'galvanized' Yan-
kees; were faithful, prompt and well-disciplined. "**
^ House executive documents, 1864-65, v. 13, doc. 80.
*' Across the Continent, p. 11.
2^ Beyond the Mississippi, pp. 328, 331.
HISTORY OF FORT KEARNY 251
Captain Henry E. Palmer, of Omaha, relates that in
August, 1864, he was instructed by General Curtis, then
head of the department of Kansas, to take command of a
detachment of the Eleventh Ohio volunteer cavalry, sixty
men, " every one of them lately confederate soldiers with John
Morgan on his raid into Ohio, captured there and confined
at Columbus. They had enlisted in the federal service
under the pledge that they were to fight Indians and not
rebels. I was to conduct these men to Fort Kearny and
there turn them over to Captain Humphreville of the Elev-
enth Ohio ".25 Captain Palmer's statement that these men
were enlisted in an Ohio regiment conflicts with the report
of Secretary Stanton.
In March, 1865, Lieutenant Eugene F. Ware traveled
from Seneca, Kansas, to Fort Kearny in company with
six young soldiers who "had been selected from among
the capable sergeants of the state regiments" for lieutenants
of the Third United States volunteers; and he character-
ized the adapted recruits of the regiment as follows:
"These 'United States volunteers', as they were called,
were soldiers recruited from the military prison-pens at
Chicago and Rock Island, and were made up of men taken
from the Southern Confederacy who were willing to go
West and swear allegiance to the United States on the
condition that they would not be requested to go South
and fight their own brethren. They wanted to get out of
prison, were tired of the war, didn't want to go back into
the service, did not want any more of the Southern Con-
federacy, did not want to be exchanged, and were willing
to go into the United States service for the purpose of fight-
ing the Indians. A detachment of these troops had gone
up the road from Omaha, but I had not seen them. They
were called 'galvanized Yanks'."
General Sherman's observation that he found ranches
every few miles, consisting "usually of a store, a house and
» Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 2, p. 188.
252 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
a big pile of hay for sale", illustrates the fact that the great
through highway was a means of introducing interior
Nebraska to the outside world, and also of starting settle-
ment and agriculture here. The relentless, and by no
means optimistic, old warrior shows us that graft is not
indigenous to our degenerate days. Of Fort Sedgwick,
just across the Nebraska-Colorado line, he said: "This is
the post where wood is to be hauled sixty miles; cost last
year $111.00 a cord, but this year $46.00 by contract.
Hay is also an item, costing $34.00 a ton. " Then he goes
on to say that in spite of these conditions the divergence
of the Denver and Salt Lake and the Laramie roads —
where Fort Sedgwick was situated — was a military point
and must be held.
General Augur, commander of the department of the
Platte, in his report for 1870,2« said that under an order of
the war department Fort Kearny and Fort Sedgwick had
been abandoned as military posts, "being no longer neces-
sary". The stores and material at Fort Kearny, not
required by troops in the camp south of it, were transferred
to Fort McPherson. "The buildings at Fort Kearny are
very old and of little value and the lumber not worth
moving. A vast amount of old iron has accumulated at
this post which may be of some value when the railroad
south of the Platte is completed to that point."
Major George D. Ruggles, adjutant general, depart-
ment of the Platte, in his report for the year 1875 to General
George Crook, commander of the department, said : " Dur-
ing the year (1875) the few buildings at Fort Kearny have
been pulled down and removed to North Platte and Sidney
Barracks. The reservation still belongs to the govern-
ment. "27
2« House executive documents, 1870-71, v. 1, doc. 1, p. 31.
'^ Messages and documents — war department — 1875-76, p. 71.
The report is dated September 16, 1875, at Omaha.
\
HISTORY OF FORT KEARNY 253
The reservation proper of Fort Kearny, ten miles
square, was situated in townships 7, 8, and 9, ranges 14,
and 15 west. The northern part of the reservation —
about one mile in width — lay north of the Platte river.
The eastern limit of the islands pertaining to the reservation
was about one mile east of the west line of range 12 ; the west
boundary was about one mile east of the west line of range
17, just beyond the head of Long Island. The east boundary
intersected Elm Island. By order of the secretary of
war, January 29, 1848, and of the adjutant general, February
2, 1848, the officer in command was directed to set aside a
reservation ten miles square. This reservation was sur-
veyed by the war department in 1859 and connections
made with the public surveys by Deputy Charles W.
Pierce, under instructions from the United States surveyor
general, dated May 24, 1859. The west Hne of the reserva-
tion ran within a mile and a quarter of the west side of
range 15, and it extended about the same distance on the
east side beyond five sections of range 14. It ran ap-
proximately one mile and a seventh into township 9,
extended entirely across township 8, and two miles and
six-sevenths into township 7. The flagstaff was situated
near the southwest corner of section 22, township 8, range
15 — approximately two miles from the west line of the
reservation. The township lines of the reservation were
surveyed in June and July, 1859, and the subdivisions
August 25, 1859, by Charles W. Pierce. The original
reservation, which was ceded by the Pawnee in a treaty
made with Lieutenant Colonel Powell, August 6, 1848,
extended from a point on the south side of the Platte river
five miles west of the fort, thence due north to the crest
of the bluffs north of the river, thence east along the crest
of the bluffs to the termination of Grand Island, "supposed
to be about sixty miles distant", thence south to the
southern shore of the river, thence west along the southern
254 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
shore to the place of beginning. That part of the reserva-
tion south of the Platte river already belonged to the
United States when the fort was established, having been
ceded by the Pawnee in 1833. December 2, 1876, the
reservation was relinquished to the interior department
for disposal under the act of congress of July 21, 1876,
which directed that it should be surveyed and offered to
"actual settlers only at minimum price, under and in
accordance with the provisions of the homestead laws".
August 29, 1876, instructions were forwarded to the sur-
veyor general to survey the reservation in accordance with
the act of congress.
The surveyor general of Nebraska, in his report for
1860, stated that Wood River valley was the tract then
most ehgible for survey, "by reason of its present population
who have gone there without knowing it to be a military
reserve, under the treaty with the Pawnee of the 6th day
of August, 1848, and who were undisturbed because the
officers at Fort Kearny did not themselves know that it
was a reserve ".28
Most of the earlier travel to Utah and the Pacific coast
which passed, or started from points on the Missouri river
north of the Platte river continued along its north side;
but after the discovery of the Pike's Peak gold fields most
of it crossed at Shinn's ferry, fifteen miles east of Columbus,
or at a point opposite the fort. From the first, of course,
more or less of the north side through traffic crossed to
the south side because Fort Kearny was a convenient
place to replenish supplies of various kinds. Kearney City
was a by-product of the fort — the seat of such traffic,
commercial or otherwise, virtuous and vicious, as might
not properly be carried on at the post or within the reser-
vation.
2« Messages and documents, 1860-61, p. 178.
HISTORY OF FORT KEARNY 255
An act of the territorial legislature, passed January 10,
^ 1860, authorized the organization of Kearney county and
defined its boundaries, which included the territory now
comprised in the counties of Franklin, Harlan, Kearney
and Phelps. The act in question directed the governor to
appoint county officers; and he thereupon commissioned J.
Tracy, Amos 0. Hook and Moses Sydenham for county
commissioners; Dr. Charles A. Henry, county clerk; John
Holland, treasurer; Thomas Collins, sheriff; John Talbot,
probate judge. Kearney City was designated in the act as
the county seat. It was established by the Kearney City
Company in the spring of 1859 and was situated just out-
side the western line of the Fort Kearny reservation, two
miles due west from the fort. It grew up on trade with
the occupants of the fort and travelers to California, Oregon,
Salt Lake City and the Pike's Peak gold fields. In the
spring of 1860, according to a statement in the Huntsman's
Echo — November 2, 1860 — there were only five ''hovels"
in Kearney City; but by November of that year it had
grown to forty or fifty buildings, about a dozen of them
stores. According to the same paper — of April 25, 1861 —
there were 200 residents and a half dozen stores in Kearney
City at that date. The opening of the Union Pacific rail-
road — in that part of the territory in 1866 — attracted
business and inhabitants from Kearney City. In 1860 it
was not recognized in the United States census while the
population of the county was 469; so that the place grew
up suddenly during the latter part of the year. At the
election of 1860, 111 votes were cast in the county; in
1864, 61; in 1865,^9 16; in 1866, 28. There were no more
"An act of the legislature — tenth session — passed February 9,
1865, attempted to revive the organization of the county by ordering a
special election for county officers to be held on the second Monday of
March, in that year, at the store of William D, Thomas, Kearney City.
(Laws of Nebraska, 10th territorial session, p. 61 ]
256 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
election returns from the county after 1866, until 1872,
when, under reorganization, fifty-eight votes were cast. It
appears that the county government was dormant in the
intervening time. It was revived by authority of a procla-
mation issued by Acting Governor William H. James, May
2, 1872, ordering an election for county officers, to be held
"at the town of Lowell", June 17, 1872.
The name of the most notable soldier of the plains
was passed around very much as was done by Council
Bluffs. In 1866 a station called Kearny, or Kearny Station,
was established on the Union Pacific railroad at a point
opposite the fort. It became the first capital of Buffalo
county and had prospects until, in 1872, the Burlington
road from Plattsmouth intersected the Union Pacific at a
point five miles west of the first railroad namesake and
proceeded to take the lead in importance and gi'owth. The
name of Kearny Station was changed to Buda and its
rival was named Kearney Junction; but the needless
second word has been happily dropped.
The order of the secretary of war dated June 1, 1847,
contemplated that the Missouri battalion should establish
both Fort Kearny and Fort Laramie. We have seen that
both Lieutenant Colonel Wharton and Captain Ruff charged
Lieutenant Colonel Powell with serious lack of judgment
and remissness of duty. Making due allowance for the
usual antipathy of regulars for mere volunteers, it yet seems
proper to attribute the early and abrupt dismissal of Lieuten-
ant Colonel Powell and his command to these complaints.
Nevertheless, it is proper to call him the founder of the
post, though Lieutenant Woodbury, it seems, established
its definite location, and with his engineer corps, under
Captain Ruff's command, directed the first construction
work. To Captain Ruff, then, and his heroic band of
regulars must be awarded the honor of actually or materi-
ally establishing the post and that under the most trying.
HISTORY OF FORT KEARNY 257
circumstances. Under date of November 18, 1847, Lieuten-
ant Colonel Wharton complained that Powell had ordered
the engineer to Washington; and he probably started soon
after returning to Table Creek from his first visit to the
site of the projected New Fort Kearny. For, in a letter
dated at Washington March 2, 1848, he advises that if, as
he evidently supposed, old Fort Kearny was to be abandoned,
a large quantity of doors, window sashes, shingles, pine
boards, etc., ought to be used in the construction of the new
post; and March 20 the application was approved by the
secretary of war. Thus, though Powell planted and Wood-
bury watered, it was the modest and courageous Ruff who
gave the increase. It is pleasant to discover that the records
of the war department show that Captain Ruff must have
possessed the sterling qualities which his services at Fort
Kearny would imply. August 1, 1847, he received the title
of brevet major for gallant conduct in the affair at San
Juan de los Llanos, Mexico. He became major of the
mounted rifles December 30, 1856; lieutenant colonel June
10, 1861, and was retired March 30, 1864. He received the
title of brevet brigadier general March 13, 1865, for faithful
and meritorious service in recruiting the armies of the
United States.
While Woodbury achieved the same regular rank as
Ruff — lieutenant colonel — , June 1, 1863, he rose a grade
higher in meritorious distinction, — receiving the brevet
rank of major general for meritorious services during the
war. He became brevet colonel July 1, 1862, for gallant
and meritorious service during the peninsular campaign;
brevet brigadier general December 13, 1862, for the same
merit at the battle of Fredericksburg; and August 15, 1864,
brevet major general for meritorious services during the
war. Major Thomas Childs attained the regular rank of
major of the First artillery, February 16, 1847 ; brevet colonel.
May 9, 1846, for gallant services at Palo Alto and Resaca
17
258 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
de la Palma. Stephen W. Kearny probably excelled them
all in the merit of general service. His regular rank was
brigadier general, attained June 30, 1846. He became
brevet major general December 6, 1846. He died October
31, 1848, just two months before the order was issued to
confer his name upon the famous Nebraska post, — a
mutual honor.
In civil parlance we should call this a splendid quartet.
In military terms it was a glorious one. I am sure that all
who read this story will agree to these two suggestions:
that restitution of the name of the most noted of these
heroes to his accidental mis-namesakes — Kearney county
and the beautiful memorial city across the Platte — be
made as soon as practicable by dropping the e from its
second syllable; and that a suitable monument be erected
in memory of Lieutenant Colonel Powell, Captain Ruff,
and Lieutenant Woodbury, actual founders of the post; —
and if I were to select an inscription for such a monument
the name of Captain Ruff, the actual builder, who performed
his work under conditions which educed the finest strain
of heroism and human sympathy, should lead all the rest.
The adjutant general, in his report dated November
28, 1849, said that, "as it may not be practical to provide
sufficient quarters for the troops the present season, the
commanding officer has been authorized to order one of
the infantry companies to Fort Leavenworth". From
1851 to 1857, inclusive, the garrison of Fort Kearny con-
sisted of one company of the Sixth infantry under Captain
Henry W. Wharton, except for the last year when First
Lieutenant E. G. Marshall was in command. In 1858 the
garrison consisted of one company of the Fourth artillery,
under Captain J. P. McCown. Colonel E. V. Sumner is
reported "on the Platte near Fort Kearny" with three
companies of the First cavalry ;3o and three companies of the
See Illustrated History of Nebraska, v. 2, p. 153.
HISTORY OF FORT KEARNY 259
Third artillery were at a point on the Big Blue, 132 miles from
Fort Leavenworth.'! In 1859 the garrison comprised one
company of the Second dragoons and one of the Fourth artil-
lery, under Major W. W. Morris. When the civil war broke
out in the spring of 1861 there were two companies of the
First cavalry and one of the Second dragoons under Captain
Edward W. B. Newby. It appears that Captain Newby
was ordered south with his command in the latter part of
1861. Under him at Fort Kearny was Captain Charles
H. Tyler. He was born in Virginia and sent to the military
academy at West Point from that state. He had been
promoted from a lieutenancy to his captaincy January
28, 1861; but devotion to his state and section overcame
his specific allegiance and his larger loyalty to the Union.
Accordingly he started a little campaign of his own by
spiking the cannon at the fort. Stories of this enterprise
differ, some of them giving the number of disabled howitzers
as ten and other accounts as fifteen. It appears from the
army register that Captain Tyler was dismissed from the
federal service June 6, 1861, doubtless on account of his
disloyalty. Captain Newby, also, was born in Virginia,
though he was appointed as a cadet at West Point from
Illinois. Either on account of the influence of his northern
environment or of differing temperament, he took the
opposite course from that of Captain Tyler and appears
to have had a creditable career in the federal army. He
was commissioned captain of the First cavalry March 3,
1865; captain of the Fourth cavalry August 3, 1861, doubt-
less on the occasion of his leaving Fort Kearny and entering
service in the South; major of the Third cavalry July 17,
1862; retired September 25, 1863; died March 29, 1870.3'
" Report of the secretary of war, 1858, v. 2, part 3, doc. 2, p. 782.
'2 Moses Sydenham, who was at the post at the time, informed the
present writer that the incident actually happened.
Captain Tyler had a notable career in the confederate array. He
rose- to the rank of brigadier general and as such served under several of
260 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
In January, 1864, the First Nebraska veteran cavalry
regiment returned from the South and on the 18th of
August was ordered to Fort Kearny. Soon after the end
of the civil war regular troops were again sent to the western
plains on account of Indian troubles there. In the spring
of 1866 General Babcock found Colonel Henry C. Carring-
ton with his Eighteenth regiment of infantry temporarily at
Fort Kearny, but the regular garrison consisted of two com-
panies of the Fifth United States volunteers. There were
six regiments of the regular army stationed at various points
in the department of the Platte that year. According to
reports of the adjutant general the garrison at the fort in
1867 consisted of two companies of the Thirtieth infantry
and recruits; in 1868, one company. Third artillery; 1869
and 1870, one company, Ninth infantry, under Captain Ed-
ward Pollock, who was therefore the last commandant at
this famous post. Fort Kearny continued to be the most
important point in the interior of the plains until the Pacific
railroads were constructed, because it was the junction of
the main branches of the wagon roads from the Missouri
river by the central route to the Pacific coast; but as
settlements proceeded westward and pushed the Indians
before them the mihtary importance of posts beyond the
first military establishment of the great trail naturally
the famous military leaders of the Confederacy, including General Long-
street and General Joe Wheeler. He was in Missouri under the commands
of Marmaduke and Price in the latter part of 1864. He was a prisoner
in 1862 and was exchanged in that year against a federal officer of like rank
in a New York regiment. Consult general index, Records of the War of
the Rebellion, in which he receives frequent mention.
Not many years ago there would have been a sharp cleavage of pub-
lic opinion touching the contrasting careers of these two notable soldiers.
From one point of view Tyler would have been regarded as a martyr, of
great spirit and devoted loyalty; from the other, as a traitor and an ingrate.
And likewise Newby would have been ranked as a patriot or a ruthless in-
vader. Now the good qualities will be generally conceded to both, and
Tyler will be blamed only, or mainly, for bad judgment in his choice of
alternatives. — Ed.
HISTORY OF FORT KEARNY 261
increased at its expense. Fort McPherson, ninety miles
west of Fort Kearny, was established in 1863, and it soon
overshadowed its more noted predecessor. In 1867 it was
garrisoned by one company of the Third artillery and was
headquarters for the Eighteenth infantry; in 1868 it con-
tinued to be headquarters of the Eighteenth infantry and
had a garrison besides of six companies of the Second cav-
alry; in 1869 its garrison comprised seven companies of the
Fifth cavalry and Ninth infantry. Fort Sedgwick, situated
near old Julesburg, just west of the Nebraska line, also
assumed more military importance than Fort Kearny at
this time.33
'^ statements of the distribution of troops at Fort Kearny and other
posts named above appear in the house and senate executive documents
as follows:
House executive documents, 1848-49, v. 1, doc. 1, pp. 162, 164.
House executive documents, 1849-50, v. 3, pt. 1, doc. 5, pp. 185, 188d,
188e.
House executive documents, 1850-51, v. 1, doc. 1, p. 110.
House executive documents, 1851-52, v. 2, pt. 1, doc. 2, p. 195.
House executive documents, 1852-53, v. 1, pt. 2, p. 56.
House executive documents, 1853-54, v. 1, pt. 2, p. 116.
House executive documents, 1854-55, v. 1, pt. 2, p. 56.
House executive documents, 1855-56, v. 1, pt. 2, p. 134.
House executive documents, 1857-58, v. 2, pt. 2, p. 72.
House executive documents — report of secretary of war — 1858-59,
V. 2, pt. 3, doc. 2, p. 782.
Senate executive documents, 1859-60, v. 2, p. 600.
Senate executive documents, 1860-61, v. 2, p. 216.
Senate executive documents, 1861-62, v. 2, doc. 1, p. 54.
House executive documents, 1866-67, v. 3, doc. 1, app. p. 5.
House executive documents, 1867-68, v. 2, pt. 1, p. 436.
House executive documents, 1868-69, v. 3, pt. 1, p. 734.
House executive documents, 1869-70, v. 2, pt. 2, doc. 1, p. 154.
Report of secretary of war, 3d session, 41st congress, 1870-71,
V. 1, pt. 2, doc. 1, p. 70.
In the civil war period there were frequent changes of garrisons at
the posts. During a part of 1863 one company of the Second Nebraska cav-
alry was stationed at the Pawnee agency. [House executive documents, 1863-
64, v. 3, p. 369.] In October, 1863, a detachment of the Seventh Iowa cav-
alry under Major Wood garrisoned Fort Kearny. In the latter part of 1864
five companies of the First Nebraska cavalry were stationed at the fort,
under command of Colonel Robert R. Livingston. In the spring of 1865
262 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
In the report of the adjutant general for 1848, Captain
Ruff's command of two companies of the mounted rifles
were reported at Grand Island and also as enroute to the
mouth of the Columbia. It had been ordered to "proceed
with this command — that is the regiment of mounted
riflemen under Colonel Loring — to Oregon early next
spring by which time the regiment will be filled up to the
lawful standard, the rank and file having been lately
discharged by act of congress, August 14, 1848 ".^^ The
quartermaster general in his report for 1850^^ said: "The
regiment of mounted riflemen for which means of trans-
portation and suppHes had been furnished before the com-
mencement of the year were marched across the continent
during the year and stationed in the territory of Oregon
with the exception of two companies left at Fort Laramie
on the route." According to the report of the adjutant
general for 1849 two companies of mounted riflemen were
at Fort Laramie; two at Fort Hall and six, under Colonel
Loring, at Somona, California, on the way to Oregon.
Captain Ruff's command — two companies of the rifle
regiment and one of the Sixth infantry — started west
before the main body of the regiment, under Colonel Loring,
reached Fort Kearny, and Lieutenant Woodbury, the
engineer, had already bought the post of the American Fur
Company, to be used as the second of the new chain of
military posts, when Colonel Loring arrived. On the 22d
of June Major Cross said in the journal of the expedition:
"We had now arrived at Fort Laramie, 639 miles from
Fort Leavenworth (273 from Fort Kearny), a point where
the government has established a military post, where two
companies of the rifle regiment were stationed, which was
Lieutenant Colonel Baumer was in command, Colonel Livingston being
absent on an expedition up the North Platte. [The Indian War of 1864,
pp. 429, 553.]
'^ House executive documents, 1848-49, v. 1, doc. 1, p. 184e.
35 Senate executive documents, 1850-51, v. 1, doc. 1, p. 123.
HISTORY OF FORT KEARNY 263
to be a resting place for us for a few days. "3*^ In 1850 there
were two companies at Fort Laramie, three at the mouth
of the Columbia river, and five under Brevet Major Ruff
at Fort Vancouver. The Sixth infantry was the favorite
regiment for the plains country. In 1848 there were two
of its companies at Fort Scott, Kansas; three at Fort
Leavenworth; one at Fort Atkinson, Iowa; two at Fort
Crawford, Wisconsin; one with the Winnebago on the
Mississippi; two at Fort SneUing, Minnesota. In 1849
there was one company at Fort Scott; two at Fort Leaven-
worth; two at Fort Kearny; one at Fort Laramie; three
at Fort Snelling; one at Fort Ripley — formerly Fort
Gaines. In 1850 there was one at Fort Scott; one at Fort
Leavenworth; one on the Arkansas; two at Fort Kearny;
one at Fort Laramie; one at Fort Clark; two at Fort
Snelling; one at Fort Ripley.
FORT KEARNY RESERVATION
The following data relative to the reservation of Fort
Kearny, Nebraska, were compiled from the township plats
in the office of the commissioner of public lands and build-
ings at Lincoln.
The reservation was situated in townships 7, 8, 9 of
ranges 14 and 15, west of the first principal meridian. Its
west line ran within a mile and a quarter of the west side
of range 15, and it extended about the same distance on
the east side beyond five sections in range 14. It ran
approximately 1 1-7 miles north into township 9, extended
entirely across township 8, and 2 6-7 of a mile into town-
ship 7, making in all a tract of 10 miles square. The ^ag-
staff was situated near the southwest corner of section 22,
township 8, range 15. In this range there were 1,108.64
acres north of the Platte river, and 1,929.98 south of the
river.
'^ Senate executive documents, 1850-51, v. 1, doc. 1, p. 157.
264 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The township Hnes of the reservation were surveyed
in June and July, 1859, and the subdivisions August 25,
1859, by Charles W. Pierce. The original reservation, out
of which that part of the reservation proper lying north of
the river was delimited, extended from the fort on the west
along the south bank of the Platte river a distance of sixty
miles and was bounded on the north by the line of the
bluffs of the Platte valley. It was surveyed in 1866. After
a request by the surveyor general of Nebraska that it should
be thrown open to settlement," that part of township 9, in
ranges 14 and 15, above the ten mile reservation, was
surveyed in July and September, 1866; while townships
7 and 8 of range 14, lying immediately south of the Platte
and therefore within the original reservation, were surveyed
in July and August, 1859. So, also, townships 8 and 9 of
range 16, on both sides of the Platte and contiguous to the
west line of the original reservation, were surveyed in June
and August, 1859, resurveyed, 1877. A httle less than
two sections deep of township 8, range 16, were north
of the river. The subdivisions of the tract last described
were surveyed in July and September, 1866. Township 9,
range 13, north of the Platte, comprised in the original
reservation, was surveyed in July and August, 1866; while
township 8, ranges 12 and 13, south of the Platte, and so
below the original reservation, were surveyed in 1859. A
small corner of township 8, range 12, north of the Platte,
was surveyed in 1866. Township 9 of range 12 north of
the Platte — probably north of the original reservation —
was surveyed in 1859. Range 12 is the west tier of Hall
county; range 13 is the east tier, and range 16 the west
tier of Buffalo county. In township 11, range 8, north of
the Platte, no survey was made earlier than 1866; that
part south of the Platte in 1865. In townships 13 and 14,
"See index card, "Fort Kearny, 1848", library Nebraska State
Historical Society.
HISTORY OF FORT KEARNY 265
lange 8, the township Hnes were run in 1862; the sub-
divisions in 1866. Township 9, range 10, west, a small
corner northeast of the Platte, in 1866; all southwest of
the Platte, in 1859. Township 10, range 10, immediately
northwest of the Platte, in 1866; that part of the same
tract southwest of the Platte, in 1859; townships 11 and
12, north of the Platte, 1866.
Township 8, south, and that part of township 9, south
of the Platte, in range 11, were surveyed in 1859; that part
of township 9, same range, north of the Platte, in 1866;
township 10, range 11, both sides of the Platte, in 1866.
Townships 11 and 12, range 11, all north of the Platte, in
1866. Township 8, range 12, mostly south of the Platte,
1859; a corner of that tract northwest of the Platte, in 1866;
township 9, range 12, north of the Platte, 1866; — the
southwest corner south of the Platte in 1859; townships
10, 11, and 12, north of the Platte in 1866.^8
Inquiry at the general land office, through the courtesy
of Mr. Hitchcock, elicited the following official statements:
Department of the Interior, General Land Office,
Washington, D. C, April 13, 1910.
Hon. G. M. Hitchcock,
House of Representatioes.
Sir: In response to the inquiry contained in your
letter dated April 9, 1910, I have the honor to advise you
that the foi-mer Ft. Kearney military reservation is
shown by the records of this office to have been located on
the South Platte River in Ts. 7, 8, and 9 N., Rs. 13 to 17
W., Nebraska, embracing ten square miles,^^ including
islands above and below the Post, containing 70,088 acres,
exclusive of water.
^^ See Transactions Nebraska State Historical Society, v. 2, 2d series,
p. 53; J. P. Dunlap goes with a party to survey Buffalo county and Hall
county into sections. The party was under Henry H. Hackbush, and it
began "from the northwest corner of the reservation", June 24, 1866.^Ed.
'^ This should be "embracing a tract ten miles square". The reserva-
tion did not approach range 17, nor touch range 13. — Ed.
266 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
A part of the lands were purchased on August 16,
1848, from the Confederated Pawnees."" See Revised Indian
Treaties, page 647. It was established by the War Depart-
ment, according to the record, in 1847 or 1848 as Ft.
Childs, a military station on route to Oregon, under author-
ity contained in the Act of Congress approved May 19,
1846 (9 Stats., 14). It was surveyed by the War Depart-
ment in 1859, and connections made with the pubhc sur-
veys, by Deputy Pierce, under instructions from the U. S.
Surveyor General, dated May 24, 1859.
On December 2, 1876, the reservation was relinquished
to the Interior Department for disposal under the Act of
Congress approved July 21, 1876 (19 Stats., 94). On
August 29, 1876, instructions were forwarded to the U. S.
Surveyor General to survey the reservation in accord-
ance with the Act of Congress aforesaid, and further
instructions were issued him on October 26, 1876. . . .
Very respectfully,
Fred Dennett, Commissioner.
Department of the Interior, General Land Office
Washington, May 2, 1910.
Mr. Albert Watkins,
Lincoln, Nebraska.
Sir: In reply to your letter dated April 18, 1910, I
have to advise you, in addition to the details expressed in
office letter "E" dated April 13, 1910, addressed to Hon.
G. M. Hitchcock, House of Representatives, relative to the
abandoned Ft. Kearney military reservation in Ts. 7, 8,
and 9 N., Rs. 13 to 17 W., Nebraska, that the whole of
the former military reservation including that part thereof
ceded by the Indians, was relinquished and transferred to
the custodv of the Interior Department for disposal under
the Act of Congress approved July 21, 1876, (19 Stat., 94),
according to the record.
That portion of the land embraced in the reservation
which was ceded by the Indians is referred to in Article 1
of the Treaty of 1848, (See Revised Indian Treaties, 1873,
page 647), as follows:
This should be August 6. See 9 stat., p. 949,
HISTORY OF FORT KEARNY 267
"Article 1. The confederated bands of the Pawnees
hereby cede and relinquish to the United States all their
right, title, and interest in and to all that tract of land
described as follows, viz: Commencing on the south side
of the Platte River, five miles west of this post, 'Fort
Childs'; thence due north to the crest of the bluffs north
of said Platte River; thence east and along the crest of
said bluffs to the termination of Grand Island, supposed
to be about sixty miles distant; thence south to the southern
shore of the Platte River; and thence west and along the
southern shore of said Platte River to the place of be-
ginning"
The land embraced in the abandoned military reserva-
tion including that part ceded by the Indians was surveyed
under the direction and supervision of this office in 1877,
for disposal under the law . . .
Very respectfully,
Fred Dennett, Commissioner.
Note. — For a part of the official data about Old Fort Kearny, not orig-
inally available, I am indebted to a valuable article in the Conservative
of February 2, 1899. My belief that the article was prepared by Mr. A. T.
Richardson almost assures the correctness of the data in question.— Ed.
MISSIONARY LIFE AMONG THE PAWNEE
By Rev. John Dunbar
Note. — The following was copied verbatim, including
spelling and punctuation, from the original manuscript. — Ed.
In 1834 on the day that is annually set apart in our
churches for special prayer for the conversion of the world
the Presbyterian church at Ithaca N. Y. determined to
increase their efforts to promote that important object.
The plan adopted at the time to augment their labors and
contributions was this. The church unanimously resolved
to select certain persons from her own bosom who, provided
the project met with the approbation of the American Board
and was deemed worthy of its patronage, should perform
an exploring tour among the Indian tribes near and beyond
the Rocky Mountains. Should a location be found in this
vast and almost unknown country where it would be safe
and desirable to commence a Mission it was to be forth-
with occupied. The expenses of the exploring tour and of
the Mission should one be established were to be defrayed
by this church. The Mission was to be called "the Oregon
Mission. ' ' Three persons, the number designated, were soon
obtained to engage in this undertaking. One of these was
a clergyman for sometime a resident in the place; the other
two were young laymen. The church afterwards excused
one of the laymen at his request, and adopted a son to
supply his place.
May 5th. of the same year Rev. Samuel Parker, Mr.
Samuel Allis and myself started from Ithaca to perform the
exploring tour already mentioned. We arrived at St. Louis
May 23d. On making inquiries we were informed that the
(268)
MISSIONARY LIFE AMONG THE PAWNEE 269
party of traders whom it was designed we should accom-
pany from that place to and beyond the Mountains had
started 6 weeks before our arrival. They had been gone
so long that we could not expect to overtake them, and as
we were unacquainted, both with the way through the
country, and with the mode of travelling and subsisting in
it, we were advised to delay our undertaking till the ensuing
spring. After we had gained what information we could
relative to our enterprise at this place we did not deem it
expedient to prosecute our exploring tour at present. Mr.
Parker concluded it would most promote the cause in which
he had engaged that he should return and procure other
associates who with him should be at this place in season
to have company beyond the Mountains and thus accom-
plish the exploration of that remote region. It was thought
advisable, that Mr. Allis and myself should proceed to the
Pawnee country, and if we should find that people prepared
commence a Mission among them. Of the Pawnees and
the tribes in their vicinity we had received favorable in-
telligence.
We left St. Louis on 7th. and arrived at Liberty on
14th June; a distance of 400 miles by the course of the
river. Liberty is the most western village in the state of
Missouri on the north side of that stream. Here we stopped
a few days, and then proceeded to Cantonment Leaven-
worth; 34 miles above Liberty and on the opposite side of
the Missouri. We had intended to go directly up to the
place of our destination, when we came to this place, but
we could find no opportunity to get thither. It is rare
that whites pass either up from, or down to the Canton-
ment from the last of May till the first part of September.
We were compelled to remain in the vicinity of Leaven-
worth till the latter part of Sept. The way seemed to be
hedged up before us. This was to us a time of deep anxiety
and anxious suspense. We were fully aware that our
270 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
patrons were expecting us to go forward in our work, but
we seemed to be doing comparatively nothing. We did
indeed visit some of the tribes in the vicinity of the Can-
tonment, and endeavored to study Indian character, but
this, at the time seemed to be accomphshing very little.
Once during the time of our delay I made arrangements
to accompany a wretched half starved party of Otoes, who
had come down to the Cantonment to beg provisions,
when they should return to their village. At their village
I would be within 30 miles of the place I wished to visit.
When I went to their camp in the early part of the day on
which they assured me they would set out on their return,
they informed me, they had determined to pay their friends
the Konzas a visit and it would be several weeks before
they would reach their place of residence on the Platte.
The true reason however of their not wishing my company
was that they were desirous to take home with them a
quantity of whiskey, and they were fearful they might get
into trouble about it should I be in the company. The
next day I saw some of them coming up from the settle-
ments in the border of the state having with them 6 or 8
horses laden with the waters of death to the Indian. Some
white man with a devil's heart had for a little paltry gain
furnished these creatures, already sufficiently wretched,
with that which is speedily working their destruction.
We had not been at this place many days before Mr.
AUis' health became impaired, and for several weeks the
prospect of his ever benefitting the Indians directly by
his personal efforts was darkened. At length his health
began to mend, and before we were able to reach our
destined field was fully restored. Now came my turn to
lie and pine on a sickbed. My sickness was severe, but
of short duration. My disorder yielded readily to medical
treatment, but exposures, when recovering, brought on a
second and third attack of the same disease. The strength
MISSIONARY LIFE AMONG THE PAWNEE 271
of each in turn was prostrated, and we felt, that if God
had any thing for us to do for the benefit of the Indians,
he would spare us and give us strength to accomplish it;
if he had not, his time for winding up our labors for the
good of our fellowmen was the best time. We now saw
our own weakness, and were made to feel, we could do
nothing toward the accomplishment of our contemplated
work without God. Here we were taught a useful lesson.
We had been over anxious, and wished to do too much
in our own strength. Now we felt, and afterwards were
made to see, that God's way is the best way.
Sept. 22. I started from the Cantonment, and on the
2d. October reached Bellevue, at that time the seat of the
government agency for the Pawnees, Otoes and Omahaws.
This place is in the Otoe country, and about 200 miles
above Leavenworth on the same side of the Missouri. It
is 10 miles above the mouth of the Platte and 20 below
the site of the Old fort called Council Bluffs. Here we
found Rev. Mr. Merrill, his wife and a female assistant,
who had come out in the autumn of 1833 as Missionaries
to the Otoes under the patronage of the Baptist Missionary
Society. Here were also the Otoe blacksmith his family
and assistant. The Omahaws have a blacksmith and his
assistant stationed at this place. The interpreter for the
Otoes and Omahaws then resided here with his family.
Half a mile below is the establishment of a gentleman who
is engaged in the fur trade in the Mountains. Mrs. Merrill
with her female associate had gathered the children of these
families into a school which was at the time quite flourish-
ing and numbered about 20 scholars. Their people, the
Otoes then Hved 30 miles from them. At this time no
missionaries, except the Methodist brethern who crossed
the mountains the spring before, had penetrated the Indian
country further than this place. The traders and others
who have heretofore traversed this immense region have
272 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
almost without an exception kept the knowledge they
have acquired of the country and its inhabitants to them-
selves, or communicated it only to their fellowtraders.
In this country men may not unfrequently be met with
who have spent 15, 20, or more years in it, who have tra-
velled over almost every part of it, and who appear to be
as well acquainted with its geography as we are with that
of our native state. These men rarely travel beyond the
limits of the Indian country, consequently their knowledge,
not being committed to writing and diffused, dies with
them and does not benefit the world. Those engaged in
trade in this country may deem it to be for their interest
to keep the world in ignorance of the geography and in-
habitants of this extensive portion of our continent. Cer-
tainly the conduct of many white men who live in, and
of others who occasionally visit this country needs only
to be known to be condemned in any decent society. Their
deeds are deeds of darkness, and cannot bear the light of
civilization merely.
About the middle of October the Pawnees were called
in to the agency to receive their annuities for the first time
under the provisions of the treaty stipulated with them by
commissioners on the part of our government the previous
autumn. As many as 600, or 800 of the Pawnees were
present at the time. The agent delivers the annuities to
the chiefs, and they make such distribution of them among
their people as they may think proper. The chiefs keep
but few of the goods to themselves. The Pawnees receive
of them, I think, in proportion to their rank and wealth.
The annuities of the different bands of Pawnees come in
distinct parcels. At this time they were highly gratified
with the quantity of goods received. A better state of
feeling among this people toward our government and
its subjects never perhaps existed.
MISSIONARY LIFE AMONG THE PAWNEE 273
We were now led to see that we had come to the
Pawnees at precisely the right time to obtain a favorable
introduction to them. Had we come earlier in the season,
they would have been out on the prairie prosecuting their
summer hunt, and we would have been unable to have
gained access to them till they had returned to their villages.
At this place we would not have had so favorable a place
to have studied Indian character as we had had where
we spent the summer. God brought us to this people
just when they were best prepared to receive us.
The first chief of the Pawnee Loups, soon after his
arrival, having heard casually, that two missionaries had
come who were desirous to go and live with the Pawnees
and teach them a new religion, went to his father, the
agent and requested that one of them might live with him
and teach his people. When the agent communicated this
intelligence it inspired us with hope and raised our ex-
pectations of being yet in the hands of God instruments
of good to this benighted people. Before the receipt of
this intelhgence we were intending to spend the ensuing
winter together and with the Grand Pawnees, but now,
after prayerfully considered the subject in view of this
unexpected opening, we concluded to separate and go with
different bands, provided the chiefs of either of the others
should apply for a missionary.
The agent told us he would give us an introduction to
the Pawnee chiefs, state our object in coming to live with
them and recommend us to their good treatment in the
evening after he had finished his business with them.
Accordingly when he had completed his business the agent
introduced us to the chiefs who were sitting about the
council room, they all rose, passed round, shook hands
with us and sat down again. The chiefs of the Grand
Pawnees demanded a Missionary. We were now both
spoken for, and the chiefs of the other bands would have
18
274 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
been pleased to have taken each a Missionary to Hve with
them.
The agent now proceeded to inform them we had
come to tell them about God to teach them our religion
and to learn their children to talk on paper like the white
man does. He also told them that it would be pleasing
to him to hear that we were well treated by them. The
first chief of the tribe arose and made a speech the sub-
stance of which was that he was very glad we had come to
tell his people about God and the things of religion. He
said his people were in the dark on these subjects their
rehgious notions were vague and indistinct and they would
receive gladly our instructions. He also said it was well
we had come to live with them and teach their children,
and promised that we should be well treated. Some of
the other chiefs followed to pretty much the same effect.
This was more than we had ever ventured to expect from
these savage sons of the prairie.
The next day we started from the agency to accom-
pany our new acquaintances to their villages. We had
not proceeded more than a mile before we came to the
place where our respective guides and protectors separated
each taking the trail that led to his own village. From
this spot we were each alone with our savage companions.
Mr. Allis was under the care of the first chief of the Pawnee
Loups. My conductor and host was the second chief of
the Grand Pawnees. Our trail crossed the Big Horn and
Platte and led up to the Grand Pawnee village on the
south side of that stream. The first and second days of
our journey I ate nothing till night and slept on the ground
under the spangled curtains of the heavens. In the after-
noon of the third day we rode into the village and came
to the old chiefs lodge. He dismounted and walked directly
into his dwelling. Forthwith his daughter, a young woman
of 22, made her appearance to unsaddle our horses and
MISSIONARY LIFE AMONG THE PAWNEE 275
bring in our luggage. The young woman unsaddled and
unbridled her father's horse, then attempted to do the
same to mine. But my horse seemed to have a more just
sense of propriety in this respect than prevails among the
Pawnees. She did not succeed and I willingly removed
the saddle and bridle myself. I now entered the lodge,
and found the bearskin already spread for my reception.
This was to be my chair and table by day and couch by
night. The old chief had treated me with utmost kindness
by the way and his family appeared highly pleased to
welcome me to their humble mansion. The women com-
menced expressing their good feeling by placing before me
a large wooden bowl containing a good quantity of dried
buffalo meat, and when I returned this, another bowl of
equal dimensions, containing not a sparing portion of
boiled corn and beans, was received in exchange. I was
not long unemployed before a third bowl with liberal share
of mush was presented. This was followed by a quantity
of pounded corn, an ear of roasted corn, &c., and my
eating for that day was finished. The news of my arrival
having spread through the village, the next day before
noon I had been to six different lodges to be feasted. Nearly
my whole time had been occupied, and the fragments of
time I was permitted to spend at my new home were
chiefly taken up with the presentation of food by my kind
hostess. This will serve as a specimen of my feasting
during the five days we remained at the village. All,
from the highest to the lowest, seemed to be perfectly kind
and friendly, and apparently gratified, when they could
do me a favor.
The Pawnees are divided into four distinct bands.
These are the Grand Pawnees, the Republican Pawnees,
Pawnee Loups, and Tapage Pawnees. The Grand Pawnee
village is on the south side of the Platte 130 miles from its
junction with the Missouri. Tapage and a part of the
276 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Republican band live in the same village on the north
side of the Loup fork of the Platte 30 miles above its mouth.
The other part of the Republican band live in a little
village 4 miles above the Tapage on the same stream.
The Pawnee Loups have a village on the Loup fork 3 miles
above the Httle Republican village. The four villages
have a population of 8,000, or 10,000 souls, and may all
be visited by riding 30 miles. It may be questioned whether
there be another spot in the whole Indian country where
so many immortal beings may be visited with so little
travel.
The different bands intermarry. The chiefs of each
band seem to be independent in managing the affairs of
their respective clans. But when business of common
interest is to be transacted a general council of the chiefs
and others from the different bands is held. The first
chief of the Grand Pawnees is the first chief of the nation.
Jealousies often exist between the different clans, villages
and chieftains. The Loups have longest been separated
from the parent stock, and between this and the other
bands there is a less intimate connection existing than be-
tween either of the three other bands. Between the Loups
and the other bands war has been waged. The Loups
have been so long a distinct band, that their language has
become dialectically different from that spoken by the
others. The Rees, or Aricaras were once probably a band
of Pawnees, but their separation has been of such long
standing, that their language has become materially different
from the Pawnee tongue, yet there is still a striking re-
semblance. This tribe numbers from 2,000 to 3,000 —
has been hostile to the whites, is poor and wretched and
distinguished for the beauty of their females.
The government of the Pawnees is exercised by the
chiefs. Some of these possess a good degree of authority
and influence over their people. Usually they are the
MISSIONARY LIFE AMONG THE PAWNEE 277
fathers of their people, and instead of receiving any com-
pensation for their services do much directly to promote
the happiness of their subjects by feeding them and giving
them presents. In the exercise of their authority they are
generally mild, but when the occasion requires it, they are
sufficiently severe. Instances have been known of life's
having been taken to secure obedience. A man who per-
sists in his disobedience is pretty sure not to escape a sound
beating. The chiefs take a deep interest in the welfare of
their people. I have known them to manifest much anxiety
to benefit their people, and this too when they stood most
in need of the sympathies and efforts of their rulers. Rank
among the Pawnees is hereditary. A man is a chief because
his father was. But all authority is conferred by the com-
mon consent of the people. A man may be in rank a chief,
yet have no authority. To be an authoritative chieftain
a man must have rank, and be a favorite of his clan. Among
the Pawnees a man becomes a brave by stealing horses and
killing his fellowmen. It is not necessary however among
those wild savages for a man to have contributed to the
destruction and misery of so many of his fellowmortals to
constitute himself a hero, as it is in lands denominated
christian.
The Pawnees make two hunts each year, the summer
and winter hunt. To perform the winter hunt they leave
their villages usually in the last week of October, and do
not return to them again till about the first of April. They
now prepare their cornfields for the ensuing season. The
ground is dug up with the hoe, the corn is planted and
well tended. When it has attained to a certain height,
they leave it, and go out to their summer hunt. This is
done near the last of June. About the first of September
they return to their villages. Formerly the bufalo came
down to and far below their villages. Now they are obliged
to travel out from 10 to 20 days to reach them. The
278 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
bufalo are rapidly diminishing and will in time become
extinct.
When they leave their villages to hunt the bufalo,
they take every man and beast with them, and the place
of their habitations is as desolate and solitary during their
absence as any other spot on the prairie. When the time
of their departure arrives all the furniture and provisions
they wish to carry with them are packed on their horses.
The residue of their scant furniture and provisions are
concealed in the earth till their return. As each family
gets ready they fall into the train, which frequently extends
some miles. They travel of course in Indian file, and each
boy, woman and girl, that has a horse to lead, walks in
the trail before it. Their children who are yet unable to
walk with them, the women either carry on their own
backs, or pack them on their horses. The aged and infirm
are obliged to travel with the others, and get along the
best way they can. It is piteous to see the poor, wretched,
crippled creatures drag themselves along. These start
early and in the course of the day come to the next camp.
They do not start very early in the cold season, but during
the warm season they set off as soon as it is light, and
sometimes before light and travel till 11, 12, 1, 2, 3, 4
o'clock; then stop and turn their horses loose to feed. It
is not customary with them to take any food till their
days travel is ended. The women now set up their tents
wood and water is brought and food prepared. They now
eat till ample amends are made for the morning's fast.
They travel from 8 to 20 miles a day. It frequently occurs,
when they are travelling, that a horse gets frightened,
jumps about breaks away from its leader, kicks till it has
divested itself of every thing that was put on it, and then
runs off at full speed. The unfortunate wife must now
follow her horse till she can catch it, bring it back gather
up her scattered utensils replace them on her horse, then
MISSIONARY LIFE AMONG THE PAWNEE 279
follow the train. All the recompence she receives for her
trouble is a severe chiding from her lazy husband who may-
have been a witness to the whole transaction without
having offered at all to assist his inferior half. They camp
where there is both wood and water, when it can be done.
When they come to the spot selected, each family chooses
a site for their dwelling, and a populous village soon grows
up in the midst of a solitary place. When they have
traveled all day, and just at night come to the camping
ground a scene usually ensues that beggars description.
The horses are fretful and uneasy, the children, cold and
hungry, the women, vexed and weary, the men illnatured
and imperious. The dogs yelp and howl, the horses whinny,
the mules and asses bray, the children cry, the boys halloo,
the women scold, the men chide and threaten, no one
hears and everything goes wrong. Tongue and ears at
such a time are of but little use.
The Pawnees kill the bufalo on horseback and with
the bow and arrows. They throw the arrow with such
force as sometimes to pass entirely through the bodies of
those animals. They ride close alongside the bufalo, and
while at full speed shoot their arrows into them. Gener-
ally every arrow tells in the work of death. They are very
strict in their regulations while killing the bufalo. A
body of soldiers are enrolled whose duty it is in connection
with the chiefs to take the charge of this business. They
keep men out to look for the bufalo, and when a band of
them is discovered to watch their movments. When ^ the
village has come sufficiently near to a herd to warrant a
hunt, the intelligence is proclaimed through the village by
some old man designated for the purpose. All who wish
to participate in the sport now catch their horses and
prepare for the work of destruction. Two or three of the
leading soldiers curiously painted and wearing a variety
of ornaments ride out of the village bearing the soldiers
280 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
escutcheon with about a dozen armed attendants and
stop on some eminence till all the hunters have come up
with them. The soldiers now move forward in the direction
of the bufalo, and the hunters follow. Two old men bear-
ing their gourds and medicine sacks run on foot at full
speed before the hunters, sweating, singing and shaking
their gourds. A man who should now have the temerity
to ride before the soldiery would scarcely escape with his
life. At any rate he would secure to himself a most savage
flogging. Thus the soldiers and old men precede the
hunters till they have come as near the herd as they can
safely go without frightening them. The hunters are now
drawn up in a line that all may have an equal opportunity
of killing game. The word is given, the charge is made
and in a few moments each is seen alongside the animal he
has selected the fatal arrow flies, the wounded animal
stops, — a second victim is marked out, and soon winged
death overtakes it, — a third, fourth and sometimes a
fifth fall before the swift destroyer, and in the short space
of one hour a band of 200 bufalo are slain butchered and
their flesh moving toward the dwellings of their destroyers.
The Pawnees are excellent horsemen and with good horses
deem it rare sport to kill the bufalo. The regulations of
the soldiery are so strict, that it would not screen a man
from punishment, who should go out and frighten a herd
of bufalo, should he even plead that his family were starv-
ing for want of food. This is a wise regulation, though it
may appear uselessly severe. Did no such thing exist
among them a part of them would starve to death.
The food of the Pawnees consists principally of bufalo
flesh and corn. The bufalo flesh is preserved by drying,
and cooked in a variety of ways — usually boiled. They
grow a good quantity of corn. This is harvested at different
times and prepared in different ways. They usually have
more corn than is sufficient for their own consumption.
MISSIONARY LIFE AMONG THE PAWNEE 281
They also cultivate pumpkins, beans, watermelons, &c.
At the proper seasons they dig a variety of edible roots.
Their food is course, but wholesome.
The men say their appropriate employments are hunt-
ing — (taking the bufalo), and war. Consequently every-
thing else that is to be done is the appropriate business of
the women. The women are very laborious, but most
abject slaves. One educated in our privileged land can
scarcely form a conception of the ignorance, wretchedness
and degraded servitude of the Pawnee females. We cannot
contemplate the condition of these wretched creatures
without being led to feel deeply that for all that is better
in the condition of females in christian lands they are
indebted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The female, no
matter who she is, that, makes light of the christian religion,
trifles with that which makes her to differ from the most
abject slave and degraded heathen.
I have wandered with these savage people during
four of their hunting campaigns, — two winters and two
summers. In their winter excursions, they kill as much
meat, as they think they will need, as soon as may be after
coming into the region of the bufalo. When this has been
done they retire into winter quarters; that is, they go
to some place where is wood, water and plenty of horse
fodder. Here they remain till the feed for their horses
becomes short. They then remove to another place, and
do not return to their villages till the first of April; because
their horses could not live there before that time. In the
summer they stay no longer on the prairie than is necessary
to procure a supply of meat. As soon as they can accom-
plish this and return to their village their corn harvest is
ready to be commenced. The first hunting tour I per-
formed with them, they travelled, from the time they left
their village, till they returned to it again in the spring,
about 400 miles. During the first summer hunt I was
282 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
with them they travelled 700 miles before returning to
their village. During my second winter hunt they travelled
900 miles. Second summer hunt 800 ms. Mr. AlHs has
performed three hunting tours with the Loups and been
treated with uniform kindness and respect. Said his host,
the first chief of that band, in a conversation one day, any
persons to injure that man, meaning Mr. A., must step
over my dead body. I suppose Mr. A. was more beloved
by the family of his host than any other member of it.
All of us who have lived with them are constrained
to say they are a kindhearted, liberal people, but they are
heathen, darkminded heathen.
Last spring the Pawnee Mission received its first re-
inforcement; consisting of Dr. Saterlee and Mrs. AlHs.
The wife of Dr. Saterlee deceased before reaching the
Indian country. I was wholly unacquainted with either the
Dr. or his lady, yet when I received the sad intelligence I
could not but deeply sympathize with our bereaved brother
in his affliction, and feel that the Mission had sustained a
loss in our sister's early death. But I did not fully ap-
preciate our loss till I had learned the character of that
soulloving, amiable young woman. She seems to have
been admirably fitted to have been useful in the sphere to
which she had been assigned. She is happy now, and her
afflicted partner is spared to do his master's work. Dr. S.
spent the last summer with me anlong the Grand Pawnees.
When I left him he was expecting to return and spend the
winter with them. He is quite useful to them in the prac-
tice of his profession. Mr. AUis spent the last summer at
Bellevue, and was intending to remain there during the
winter.
Among the variety of vices that are practiced by the
Pawnees is that of Polygamy. It is a common usage with
them for the same man to marry all the sisters of the same
family. When a young man wishes to enter the married
MISSIONARY LIFE AMONG THE PAWNEE 283
state, at the proper time, he puts on his bufalo robe with
the fur side out, and draws it over his head and face so as
to nearly conceal his visage. In this predicament he walks
to the lodge of his intended fair one, enters it and sits
down. No one speaks to him, nor does he utter a word
till he leaves the lodge. But the object of his visit is under-
stood by all the parties concerned. When he has sat in
silence a while, he rises and leaves the lodge. After the
lapse of a few days, he ventures to visit the dwelling of
his beloved a second time, wearing his robe as before.
When he enters the dwelling, if he sees the bearskin, or
other skin is spread for his reception, he may now show
his face and be seated, for this is a sure indication that
his visits are not unacceptable; but if no seat is prepared
for him, he may retire, his company is undesired. If he
is favorably received the young woman soon takes a seat
by his side. Her father also makes it convenient to be at
home at the time. A conversation ensues between the
young man and the young lady's father in the course of
which the suitor asks the old gentleman's mind with respect
to the proposed connection. The old man replies that
neither he, nor his family have any objections to his be-
coming their soninlaw. The old gentleman moreover tells
his intended soninlaw to go home to his own lodge, make
a feast, invite all his relatives and consult them with respect
to his proposed marriage. In the meantime, he tells him,
he will make a feast invite his daughter's relatives and
consult with them concerning her marriage. If the relatives
offer no objections on either side, the union follows as a
matter of course without farther ceremony. This is fol-
lowed by a series of feasts on the part of the bride. The
parties thus brought together may have previously settled
the marriage question between themselves, or they may
have been wholly unacquainted. The husband comes to
the lodge of his fatherlaw and lives in it with his wife.
284 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The soninlaw on taking his wife gives his fatherinlaw from
one to six horses according to his abihty for his daughter
and the privilege of Hving in his lodge. Thus it is the
case with the eldest daughter. The others are given to
the soninlaw by their father as they become marriageable,
and he receives in return a horse, or two for each of his
daughters. The soninlaw has a particular portion of the
lodge allotted to him, and it is [his] appropriate business to
take care of all the horses that belong to the family. The
eldest sister is the principal wife, and commands the
younger, who seem to be little more than domestic slaves.
It is a regulation among the Pawnees, rank being equal,
the younger shall obey the elder. How little to be desired
is the condition of the younger sisters in the Pawnee family
and particularly of the youngest.
ADDENDUM
[The following letter, dated June 11, 1909, from B. S.
Dunbar, now a resident of Manhattan, Kansas, and son of
Rev. John Dunbar, is placed here because it is supple-
mental to the foregoing paper. — Ed.]
The mission and principal farm station were located on
Plum Creek, and a smaller farm station was located on the
Loup Fork, near the Pawnee Loup village, for the con-
venience of that band of Pawnee. The first incident that
I will mention is the death of Falki, chief of the Pawnee
Loups, and of Marcellus IMathers, son of the farmer at the
Loup Fork station.
Falki went to Mathers' house and asked him for some
powder which the government had promised the Indians;
Mathers said that there was no powder there for them;
and they had some words. At last Falki said he would
take what powder there was there, and stepped towards a
powderhorn that was hanging on the wall and reached
toward it with his right hand, holding his blanket across
ADDENDUM 285
his chest with his left hand. Mathers picked up an ax
and struck Falki on the chest, cutting off his left hand at
the wrist and also cutting into his chest some. Falki
then threw his left arm around Mathers' neck and took the
ax away from him. At that moment Marcellus Mathers
stepped into the door and Falki, on seeing him, let go of
his father and followed Marcellus who ran around the
house. Falki threw the ax at Marcellus, the edge striking
him between the shoulders, injuring him so badly that he
died in a few days. Falki then started to the village but
fell from loss of blood. Some of his people saw him in
time to get him home before he died. My father and
Timothy E. Ranney helped to take care of Marcellus
Mathers until he died. After Falki died the Indians were
determined to kill Mr. Mathers; but the missionaries
persuaded them to go on a hunt, and as soon as Marcellus
died they got Mr. and Mrs. Mathers off to the settlements
on the Missouri.
I remember when a large body of Sioux warriors made
an attack on the village nearest the mission ; I think it was
about a mile away. The village was on the bottom and
the Sioux were on the bluff overlooking it. The main body
of Sioux remained on the bluff, but parties were constantly
riding back and forth. I do not remember how many of
the Pawnee were killed; but their loss was heavy. It
was not known how many of the Sioux were killed, as they
took their dead away with them. The shooting and shout-
ing were plainly heard at the mission.
The last incident I will mention took place at the time
the mission was abandoned. The Pawnee had gone on
their summer hunt and left a number of their children at
the mission school. Some time before this occurred it had
been decided that in case of alarm all the people were to
repair to the farm station as there was a stockade around
the buildings. One morning the alarm was given that the
286 NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Sioux were coming and all gathered at the farm station.
The Pawnee children were put down in the cellar and the
men, numbering between ten and fifteen, armed themselves
and made the best showing they could. Father went to
the gate and talked with the Sioux, as he understood the
Indian language and ways better than the others. The
Sioux chief wanted to come into the stockade, but he was
kept out because he would be very apt to discover the
Pawnee children, and if he did, it would be the end of
them. After a while, some of the Sioux got the stable
door open and stampeded the horses that belonged at the
station, when the whole party took after them and thus
ended the attack.
That afternoon there was a council held, and it was
decided to abandon the mission. I remember well how
badly my mother felt about giving up the mission after
doing, and going through so much, and when good results
were just beginning to appear.
I will give the names, as nearly as I can remember, of
the people who were at the mission at the time it was
abandoned. Rev. John Dunbar and Rev. Timothy E.
Ranney, missionaries; George B. Gaston, Lester W. Piatt,
farmers; Samuel Allis, teacher in Indian school; Peter
Harness, blacksmith; Mr. Delaney, striker; Mr. Groves,
Mr. Cline, and Mr. Petijohn, farm laborers; George Crow,
laborer at the Missouri farm; Mr. Cleghorn, interpreter.
Messrs. Dunbar, Ranney and Allis each had a wife and
children, and Mr. Gaston a wife at the mission.
Rev. John Dunbar moved to Andrew County, Missouri,
and from there to Holt County, where he bought a farm
and lived until 1856, when he moved to Brown County,
Kansas, where his wife died, November 4, 1856, and he
died November 1, 1857. Rev. T. E. Ranney went to the
Choctaw mission. Mr. Gaston settled at Tabor, Iowa;
Mr. Piatt at Civil Bend, Iowa; Mr. Allis in southwestern
ADDENDUM 287
Iowa; Peter Harness went to St. Joseph, Missouri; Mr.
Pettijohn and George Crow went to Andrew County,
Missouri. Crow was married there and afterwards moved
to Nemaha County, Nebraska, where he was elected a
member of the legislature in 1859.
Of Mr. Dunbar's children, Jacob S., the oldest son,
born October 27, 1837, now residing at Evans, Colorado,
served over three years in the Second Kansas cavalry;
John B., now a resident of Bloomfield, New Jersey, was
born April 3, 1841, and served two enlistments in a Mas-
sachusetts artillery regiment; Mary, the oldest daughter,
was born December 13, 1842. She was married to Rev.
S. H. Adams and now resides at Clifton Springs, New York.
Bellevue was the birthplace of all these children.
INDEX
Abert, Colonel J. J.: Route to the
Columbea, 233
Adams, Rev. S. H.: 287
Adobe Town: See Kearney City
Agriculture, among Indians: 9, 280,
281
Albertson, Isaac: 200
Allen, J. S.: 110
Allen, James A.: 104
Allen, James S.: 90
Allis, Mrs. [Emeline]: 282
AUis, Samuel: 7, 268, 270, 274. 282,
287
Alson, Simeon: 86
American desert: 47, 51, 54, 64
American Fur Company: 1, 22, 25,
28, 29, 68, 70, 228
Anderson David, Early Settlement
of the Platte Valley: 193
Annexation of Kansas City, Missouri,
to Kansas: 128, 129
Annexation of South Platte country
to Kansas: 120-123
Aoway: See Iowa
Arapaho: See Indians
Area of Nebraska: 58
Arikari: see Indians
Arkansas territory organized: 137
Arlington (town): 12
Ash Hollow: 144, 150, 152, 153, 156
Ash Hollow battle field, map of: 151
Ashley, General William H.: 26, 229
Astor, John Jacob: 1, 4, 7, 8, 48, 49
Astoria: 8, 24
Astorian expedition: 1, 4, 24, 31, 39,
70
Atchison, David R.: 129
Atkinson, General Henry: 67, 229
Avery, Samuel, address by: 31
Babcock, General O. E.: 247, 249
Bain, Robert: 221
Baker, Mrs.: 198
Baker, J. M.: claim of, 94
Bangs, S. D.: 114
Bannock: see Indians
Bashley, Mr.: 221
Battle Ground of Ash Hollow, Robert
Harvey: 152
Becker, J. M.: 93
Beckx, Rev. F., S. J.: 208
Bell, Rev. Thomas: 225
Belden, D. D.: claim of, 98
Bellevue Claim Association: regula-
tions of, 71
Bellevue: 1, 4, 6, 7, 28, 29, 66-68,
98, 271, 287; plat of, 69
Bellevue trading post: 70
Bennet, H. P.: claim of, 82
Bennet, I. H.: 80; claim of, 83
Bennet, Isiah: 99
Bennet, John B.: 120
Bennet, Joseph: claim of, 82
Bennet, WiUiam: 82
Bent, Jesse: 172
Big Elk: 67
Biles, Mr.: 219
Birth of Lincoln, Nebraska, Charles
Wake: 216
Blackbird: 9
Blackburn, John S.: claim of, 95
Black, Samuel: 195
Blue Water creek: 145, 148, 149,
153-154, 158
Boil, Rt. Rev. Bernard: 205
Bonneville, Captain: 230, 244; ex-
pedition of, 26
Boone, Captain Nathan: 231
Boulware, John: 103
Bowen, Leavitt L.: 102, 103, 105;
claim of, 90
Boyd, James E.: 195, 196
Boynton, Paul: 172
Boyd ranch: 195, 196
Bradford, A. A.: 110
Breckenridge, S. M.: claim of, 82
INDEX
289
Breidenbach, John: 93
Bridgeport town claim: 84
Briggs, Ansel: 82
Briggs, A. N.: claim of, 89
Brown, John: 42
Brown, J. J.: 203
Buchanan (town): 200
Buffalo county: 265
Burkley, St.: 93
Burris, John T.: 128
Burns, Robert: 171
Burrows, E.: 225
Butler county: 27, 199
Butcher, John: 85, 91
Burt, Francis A.: 6, 7, 98, 99
Butterfield, E.: 82
Cabanne, John: 70
Cabanne's post: 70
Cadman, John: 216
Cady, Major A.: 152, 153
Caldwell, Francis E.: 89
Calhoun, John: 117
California road: 193, 194
Calkins, F.: 89
Cannon, Rev. Francis B.: 213
Capital controversy: 28, 118, 119
Capital removal: 98-114
Cavanagh, Rev. John: 212
Carrington, Colonel Henry C: 260
Central City: 195, 197
Chambers, Samuel A.: 120
Chase, Noble: claim of, 96
Cheever, John H.: 120
Cheyenne: see Indians
Chief Swan: 187
Childs, Major Thomas: 242, 257
Chilton, Robert H.: 244
Chivington massacre: 172
Choteau, Auguste: 67
Christopher, Charles: claim of, 91
Claim clubs: 71
Clancy, William: 103
Clark, WUliam: 67
Clarke, Henry T.: 13, 110; claim of,
89
Clarke, Sidney: 130
Cleghorn, Mr.: 287
Cleghorn, Benjamin A.: 84
Cline, Mr.: 287
Cole, Thomas: 225
Colfax county: 27
Collins, Dawson: 225
Collins, I. F.: claim of, 96
Collins, Mary C: 189, 190, 191
Collins, Thomas: 195, 255
Collier, W. H.: claim of, 95
Colorado territory organized: 140
Comley, E.: 225
Commercial House: 203
Company A, Second Nebraska Vol-
unteers: 203
Cook, P.: 82
Cook, Philander: 77, 114
Cook, William H.: 114
Cooke, Lieutenant Colonel P. St.
George: 143, 144, 146, 152, 153,
157
Coppens, Chas.: 208
Cornell, H. N.: 78
Cottonwood Post: see Fort McPherson
Cottrell, Matthew: 201
Council Bluflf: 22, 24, 26, 233
Council Bluffs: 271
Craig, James: 236
Creighton, Edward: 13
Crooked Hand: 202
Crooks, Ramsey: 24
Cross, Major Osborn: 235, 244, 262
Crow, George: 287
Croxton, John H.: 120
Culbertson (town): 165, 167
Cuming, Thomas B.: 13, 99
Curtice, William J.: claim of, 92
Curtis, Miss Natalie: 181
Daily, Samuel G.: 195
Dakota territory organized: 140
Daughters of the American Revolu-
tion: 1, 2, 3, Ft. Kearny chapter, 2
Dawson, Jacob: 217, 218, 221
Decatur, Stephen: 71, 101; claim of,
83
Decker, B. G.: deed, 90
Delaney, Mr.: 287
Delatour, S. P.: 159, 160
290
INDEX
Dellette, James C: 77, claim of, 89
Denton, John W.: claim of, 92
DeSmet, Rev. P. J.: 207, 212
Dickinson, William W,: claim of, 95
Dobytown: see Kearney City
Dodge, Greenville M.: 202
Dodge, Sylvanus: 202
Dog Town: see Valley City
Donovan, Captain: 216, 222
Dorman, B.: 225
Dorman, C: 225
Douglas House: 209
Douglas, Stephen A.: 27, 125
Drake, A. R.: 78
Driftwood creek: 165
Drips, Andrew: 6, 68
Drum, General Richard C, Rem-
iniscences of the Indian Fight at
Ash Hollow, 1855: 143
Dudley, Lieutenant Edgar S.: 242
Dunbar, B. S.: 285
Dunbar, Jacob S.: 287
Dunbar, Rev. John: 7, 287; Mis-
sionary Life Among the Pawnee,
268
Dunbar, John B.: 287
Dunbar, Mary: 287
Dunlap, J. P.: 265
Dyson, Joseph: 83
Early Days in and About Bellevue,
Edward L. Sayre: 66
Early Settlements of the Platte
Valley, David Anderson: 193
Edwards, Ninian: 67
Election districts: 1854, 99; 1855,
103, 104
Election judges: 1855, 99
Elk Hill: 1
Elkhorn City: 202
Emonds, William: 210, 212
English, W. R.: 83
English Settlement in Palmyra, Rev.
Richard Wake: 224
Enoch, J.: 82
Enoch, J. N.: 91, 114
Fales, William: 199
Falki, [Pawnee chief]: 285
Feld, Dr. J.: 128
Ferguson, Judge Fenner: 7, 90, 101;
claim of, 84
Five Mile Creek: 93
Flanagan, Michael: claim of, 92
Fontenelle [town]: 11
Fontenelle, Logan: 11, 68
Fontenelle, Lucien: 6, 68
Forney, John W.: 131
Fort Atkinson: 28, 67, 229
Fort Calhoun: 22
Fort Childs: 239, 240, 242
Fort George: 187
Fort Grattan: 148, 152
Fort Hall: 262
Fort Henry: 26
Fort Kearny (old): 267
Fort Kearny: 143, 144, 150, 194,
196, 227, 232, 235, 240, 241, 243,
247, 248, 251, 252, 254, 256, 258,
260, 261; described, 244, 245, 248;
rebel soldiers at, 249-251; reserva-
tion, 253
Fort Laramie: 143, 150, 235, 256, 262
Fort Leavenworth: 143, 148, 231,
232, 233, 237, 239, 241
Fort McPherson: 167, 247, 248, 249,
252, 261
Fort Pierre: 25, 143
Fort Randall: 189
Fort Sedgwick: 252, 261
Fort Sidney Barracks: 252
Fort Snelling: 232
Foster, Robert Cole: 128
Franklin county: 196, 255
Fremont (town): 201
Fremont House: 203
Frenchman river: 165
Furnas, Robert W.: 13, 111, 120
"Galvanized Yankees": 250, 251
Game: 193
Gardner, David R.: 199
Gaston, George B.: 287
Gibson, Thomas: 103
Gilbert, Dr.: 221
Gilmore, A. R.: 82
Gilmore, R. J.: 82
INDEX
291
Gilmour, William: 81
Glover, J. B.: 114
Grand Island: 197
Grant Left Hand: 172
Grape Island: 87
Grattan, John L.: 155
Greene, Kinney & Company: 90
Griffin, William A.: claim of, 81, 87
Groves, Mr.: 287
Gwyer, William A.: 97
Hackbush, Henry H.: 265
Hall county: 265
Hall, Horace S.: claim of, 97
Hamilton, William: 71, 80, 101
Hardenburg, Mr.: 218
Harding, John: 225
Harlan county: 196, 255
Harness, Peter: 287
Harney, General W. S.: 143, 144,
146, 147, 150, 152, 153, 154, 155
Harris, A. J.: 225
Harris, W. A.: 225
Harsh, L.: 103
Hartwell, Major: 202
Harvey, Major: 237
Harvey, Robert, The Battle Ground
of Ash Hollow: 152
Harvey, W. H.: 114
Hawker, Mr.: 216
Hazleton Land Company: claim of,
97
Hedde, Fred: 197
Henry, Andrew: 26
Henry, Dr. Charles A.: 80, 194, 195,
255
Hepner, George: claim of, 82
Herold, William: claim of, 92
Heth, Captain: 157
Hewett, Obadiah B.: 120
Hickman, B. H.: deed, 90
Hileman, John C: 91
Historical Significance of the Cele-
bration, Albert Watkins: 15
History of Fort Kearny, Albert Wat-
kins: 227
Hitchcock, Phineas W.: 195
Hoffman, Samuel E.: 128
Holladay's Overland Express: 56, 57
Holland, John: 195, 255
Hollister, A. W.: claim of, 82
HoUister, George W.: 81, 99, 101
Holloway, Charles T.: 101, 105
Hook, Amos O.: 195, 255
Houston, S. D.: 124, 128
Howe, Captain: 146
Howe, James: 89; claim of, 85
Howe, William: 86
Hudson, Henry J.: 199
Humphrey, Lieut. Gov. L. U.: 130
Hunt, Wilson Price: 23
Hunt's expedition: 22, 24, 25
Huntsman's Echo: 196
Idaho territory organized: 140
Illinois territory organized: 133
Independence, Mo.: 25
Indian buffalo hunts: 277, 278, 279,
280
Indian characteristics: 186
Indian courtship: 283
Indian depredations: 194
Indian Ghost Dance, James Mooney:
168
Indian ghost dances: 190-192
Indian massacres: 12, 148-150, 157,
162, 170, 172
Indian missions: 189, 190, 206, 282,
285
Indian religions: 171, 172, 173, 176.
181, 189, 191
Indian reservations: 29
Indian sign language: 184, 185
Indian songs: 181, 182
Indian treaties: 27, 28, 67, 169, 187
Indian villages: 276
Indian War of 1864, Eugene F. Ware:
183
Indianola (town): 167
Indiana territory organized: 132
INDIANS:
Arapaho: 27, 170-174, 180; north-
ern, 178
Arikari: 9, 24, 25, 229
Barmock: 27
292
INDEX
Blackfeet: 26
Brule Sioux: 149, 150, 152 ■
Caddo: 173, 174, 180
Cheyenne: 27, 150, 152, 169-174,
171, 193, 194
Comanche: 172-174
Kiowa: 169, 172-174
Minneconjou Sioux: 150, 152
Missouri: 9, 27, 29
Ogalala Sioux: 150, 152
Omaha: 9, 11, 27, 29, 174
Oto: 9, 25, 27, 29, 270, 271
Pawnee: 9, 19, 27, 165, 166, 167,
188, 201, 269, 272, 273, 285;
bands of, 275, 276
Piute: 175
Ponca: 9
Shoshone: 27
Sioux: 12, 25, 143, 166, 167, 169,
170
Wichita: 172, 173, 174, 180
Winnebago: 174
Iowa territory organized: 134
Iron Bluffs: 77
Iron Bluffs Actual Settlers Claim
Club: 77; resolutions, 78
Irving, Washington: 51
Izard, Flavius: 81
Izard, George A: 81
Izard, Mark W.: 81, 87, 101 '
Jackson, Daniel E.: 230
James, Gov. William H.: 196
Jefferson county: 27
Johnson, Hadley D.: 117
Johnson, J.: 225
Johnson, John P.: 117
Johnston, George: claim of, 95
Jones, B. F.: deed, 91
Jones, R.: 237
Julesburg: 56, 57
Kansas-Nebraska bill: 42
Kansas-Nebraska Boundary Line,
Geo. W. Martin: 115
Kearney City: 193, 194, 195, 196,
245, 254, 255
Kearney county: 195, 255, 256
Kearney station: 256
Kearny, Stephen W.: 231, 235, 258
Keeling, William W.: 120
Keeler ranch: 193, 194
Keeler, Tom: 193, 194, 202
Keller, C. D.: 114
Kenny, Rev. Hugh P.: 213
Kimball, Richard: claim of, 93
King, Jacob: 200
Kinney, John F.: 83
Kittle, Robert: 201
Koenig & Weibe: 197
Kountze, Augustus: 13
Kountze Brothers: 204
Kuhn, J. M.: claim of, 97
Lacy & McCormick: 203
La Flesche, Joseph: 68
La Flesche, Louis: 202
Lamb, John K.: 196
Lamb, "Pap.": 197
Langenf elder. Rev. Edmund: 213
Langley, George L.: claim of, 87
Larimer, Rachel: claim of, 91
Laughlin, Wi Kam W.: 110
Last Battle of the Pawnee with the
Sioux, William Z. Taylor: 165
Lavender, Luke: 216
Leavenworth, Colonel: 229
Lee, Captain T. J.: 117
Lee family: 202
Lee, Robert E.: 246
Lewis & Clark Expedition: 21, 24,
39, 67
Lisa, Manuel: 6, 25, 26, 66, 67
Lisa's expedition: 25
Little Blue: 26
Little Butte: 150
Little Eagle (Indian village): 187,
189
Little Thunder: 143, 149, 150, 153,
154
Livingston, Colonel Robert R.: 261
Lloyd, C. R.: 86
Lloyd, William: 86
Lockwood, Almann: deed, 90
Logan Creek: 11
Lone Tree Ranch: 197
INDEX
293
Longsdorf, H. A.: 114
Long's expedition: 51
Loring, Colonel: 262
Louisiana purchase: 38, 39
Lovett, Fr.: 225
Lucas, F.: 225
McCarthy, Robert: 114
McCausland, David: 236
McClellan, C. B.: 128
McClellan, Robert: 24
McCormick: see Lacy & McCormick
McCown, Captain J. P.: 258
McCoy, John: claim of, 94
McCoy, Preston: claim of, 94
McDougall, Judge H. C: 128
McDowell, William C: 120
McGee, Mobillion W.: 128
McKesson, Dr.: 216
McKinney, Rev. Edward: 7
MacLean, George E.: address of, 35
McMahon, P. J.: claim of, 83
McMaster, Thomas: claim of, 87
McQuay, John: claim of, 98
Marcy, William L.: 236
Majors, Alexander: 13
Manners, Chas. A.: 118
Manning, J. P.: claim of, 96
Manypenny, George W.: 68
Martin, George W., Kansas-Ne-
braska Boundary Line: 115
Martin, John A.: 126
Martin Pfiug & Brother: 219
Marshall, Lieut. E. G.: 258
Maycock, J.: 225
Medary, Gov.: 119
Medicine Creek: 187
Megeath Brothers: 204
Meier, D.: 86
Menck, Christian: 197
Menck, Mrs. Christian: 197
Mendenhall, Lieutenant: 147
Merrick county: 198
Merrill, Rev. [Moses]: 271
Michigan territory organized: 133
Middleton, J. A.: 124
Miege, Rt. Rev. John Baptist: 205-
215
Miles, Stephen B.: 120
Miller, Elder: 217
Miller, Dr. George L.: 13, 155, 195
Miller, Lorin: 195
Minchall, J. D.: 221
Minneconjou Sioux: see Indians
Minnesota territory organized: 134
Missionary Life Among the Pawnee,
Rev. John Dunbar: 268
Mission Reserve: 68, 69, 80, 81
Missouri Fur Company: 22, 25, 26,
28, 68, 228
Missouri: see Indians
Mitchell, General Robert B.: 183
Mitchell, Jonas: claim of, 86
Montana territory organized: 140
Monuments: 1, 5
Moon, Joab: 89
Moon, Job: 89
Moon, John: 85
Mooney, James: address by, 183
MooNEY, James, The Indian Ghost
Dance: 168
Morgan, Col. Willoughby: 67
Mormons: 198, 199
Mormon trail: 200
Morris, Major W. W.: 259
Morton, J. Sterling: 82, 118, 195,
claim of, 85
Morton, Thomas: 99, 101
Myers, P.: 86
Nebraska and Minnesota Territorial
Boundary, Albert Watkins: 132
Nebraska bill: 27
Nebraska Center: 196
Nebraska country: organization, 27
Nebraska Palladium: 70, 109
Nebraska State Historical Society:
1, 2, 4
Nebraska territory organized: 134,
139
Newby, Captain Edward W. B.: 259
New Mexico territory organized: 136
North Bend: 201
Norton, Daniel: 90
Nuckolls, Stephen F.: 120
294
INDEX
O'Fallon, Benjamin: 67
Oklahoma territory organized: 142
Omaha: see Indians
Opa-tan-ga: see Big Elk
Oregon: 7, 53
Oregon trail: 1, 2, 22, 24, 25, 27, 28,
194, 231, 233, 234, 247
Oregon treaty: 138
Oto: see Indians
Otoe county: 225
Pacific Fur Company: 1, 7, 22, 39,
48,
Pacific railroad bill: 27
Painter, J. A.: 90
Painter, J. J.: 90
Palmer, Captain Henry E,: 251
Palmer, L. R.: 124
Papillion creek: 203
Parker, Jason: 197
Parker, 0. F.: 96
Parker, Rev. Samuel: 268
Parker, Rumbold & Co.: 96
Parmalee, Daniel: 194
Paulsen, Thomas: claim of, 94
Pawnee: see Indians
Pawnee Mary: 167
Pawnee mission: 282, 287; aban-
doned, 286, 287
Paxton, William A.: 13
Peckham, Darwin: 219
Pell, Wm.: 225
Pendleton, N. G.: 233
Pennsylvania ranch: 199
Petijohn, Mr.: 287
Phelps county: 255
Pierce, Charles W.: 253, 264
Pierce, Roswell G.: 87
Pike, James M.: claim of, 88
Pike, S. M.: claim of, 88
Pike, Lieut. Zebulon: 51
Pike's expedition: 51
Pike's Peak trail: 193
Pilcher, Major [Joshua]: 6, 26, 63
Pine Ridge: 178, 179
Plathe, Rev. George H.: 213
Piatt, Lester W.: 287
Plum creek: 248, 249
Pontiac's war: 169
Ponziglione, Father Paul, S. J.: 206
Portage des Sioux: 67
Porter, R. J.: 124
Pound, Judge S. B.: 216, 221
Powder Face: 172
Powell, Lieut. Colonel: 236, 238,
239, 241, 256, 258
Powell, L. E.: 236
Power, Rev. James: 211, 213
Presbyterian Mission: 6, 7, 71
Preston, William G.: claim of, 88
Privit, Francis M.: 81
Provost, Etienne: 26
Puty, Rev. Father S. J.: 205
Ranch No. 1: 203
Rankin, Benjamin P.: 195
Rankin, B. P.: 91; claim of 85
Ranney, Rev. Timothy E.: 286, 287
Rawhide creek: Indian origin of
name, 202
Reed, Daniel E.: 80, 99
Reed, John: 226
Reed, Captain Peter: 203
Reeves, Mills S.: 120
Reminiscences of the Indian Fight
at Ash Hollow, 1855, General
Richard C. Drum: 143
Republican party: 43,
Resources of the West: 57-63
Richards, J.: 225
Richardson, A. T.: 267
Richardson, J. W.: 11
Richardson, L.: 77
Richardson, William R.: 13
Rickley, John: 198
Rickley, S. S.: claim of, 93
Ridgely, Assistant Surgeon: 155
Riley, P.: 86
Robertson, J.: claim of, 97
Robinson, C. D.: 88
Robinson, Doane, Some Siddlights
on the Character of Sitting Bull: 187
Rodgers, WiUiam H.: 236
Rogers, Samuel E.: 109
Rootham, Messrs.: 225
Roubidoux, Joseph: 70
INDEX
295
Rudolph, [Mr.]: 219
Ruff, Captain Charles F.: 239, 240,
243, 256, 257, 258, 262
Rumbold, William: 96
Russell, Joseph: 199
Russell's ranch: 200
Sacajawea: 40
Sailings Grove: 88
St. John, John P.: 130
St. Marys church (Omaha): 211
St. Philomenas church (Omaha): 211
Saline county: 27
Sanders, W.: 225
Sanford, Wales: 82
Santa Fe: 247
Sarpy county: organization of, 100-
109, 111, 112, 113, 114
Sarpy, Peter A.: 6, 29, 70, 71, 101;
claim of, 82
Satterlee, Dr. [B.]: 282
Saunders, Alvin: 13
Savannah: 199
Sayre, Edward L., Early Days in
and about Bellevue: 66
Scanlan, Rev. Thomas: 211, 212
Scenery of Nebraska: 60
Schamp [Shamp], Peter: 216
Scott's Bluff: 24
Sears, R.: 225
Seely, S. E.: 113
Settlements in Nebraska: Bellevue,
6; Fontenelle, 11
Seward county: 27
Shaffel, Rev. R. A.: 209
Shallenberger, Ashton C: 1, 5, 6
Sharp, Emery L.: 84
Shell creek: 27, 68, 200
Shelley, George M.: 130
Shield, Stokes and McCune: 97
Shine, Rev. Michael A., The First
Catholic Bishop in Nebraska: 205
Shinn, Moses: 200
Shinn's Ferry: 199, 254
Shoshone: see Indians
Shoultz, T. G.: 89
Simpson, Andrew J.: 203
Simpson, Benjamin F.: 126, 128
Sioux: see Indians
Sitting Bull: 170, 186, 190
Sitting Bull, Louis: 192
Sixth U. S. infantry: 263
Skirvin, Jacob: 91
Skirvin, J. K.: claim of, 81
Sky Chief: 167
Slavery: 41, 42
Smallpox: 9
Smith Brothers: 201
Smith, C. E.: 83, 90
Smith, H. H.: claim of, 86
Smith, Hyrum N.: 86
Smith, Jackson & Sublette expedition:
26
Smith, Jedediah: 230
Smith, Judge J. B.: 202
Smith, Robert M.: claim of, 92
Smoky Hill route: 193
Some Sidelights on the Character of
Sitting Bull, Doane Robinson: 187
South Pass: discovered, 26
Spotted Tail: 149, 163, 202
Squatter claims: 68, 69
Steele, Captain: 146, 147, 157, 162
Steptoe, Colonel: 152
Stewart, Robert M.: 236
Strachan, F. R.: 225
Strickland, S. A.: claim of, 86
Strickland, Silas A.: 99, 105
Stringfellow, General B. F.: 129
Stuart, Robert: 24
Sublette, Andrew W.: 236
Sublette, William A.: 230
Sumner, Colonel E. V.: 258
Survey of base line: 117, 118
Sweet, James: 219
Sweezy, William M.: 203
Sydenham, Mos es:195, 255, 259
Table creek: 231, 232, 237, 241
Talbot, John: 195, 255
Taylor, William H.: 120
Taylor, William Z.: 165
Taylor ranch: 203
Territorial Evolution of Nebraska,
Albert Watkins: 135
Thatcher, Solon 0.: 121
296
INDEX
Thatcher, T. Dwight: 122
Thayer, John M.: 12, 13
The First Catholic Bishop in Ne-
braska, Rev. Michael A. Shine: 205
"The Nebraska Country": 228
The New World Movement: 35
Thomas, Colonel L.: 155
Thomas, William D.: 255
Thompson, Widow: 83, 90
Thrall, W. R.: claim of, 96
Tichenor & Green: 221
Tippecanoe: battle of, 169
Todd, Captain: 154
Tozier, James: 86
Tracy, J.: 195, 255
Trading posts: 6, 24, 25, 68
Trecy, Rev. Jeremiah: 210, 211, 212
Turner, G. F.: 82: claim of, 81
Turner tavern: 201
Twitchell, Col. S. D.: 130
Tyler, Captain Charles H.: 259
Tyson, Isaac: 84
Tyson, Jonathan: 83, 84
Tyson, O. N.: 83
Tyson and Sharp: claim of, 83
Tzschuck, B.: 83
Union Pacific eating houses: 201
Union Pacific railroad: 29
United States boundaries: 52, 53
Upjohn, Erastus N.: claim of, 84
Upjohn, Uriah: 82, 90; claim of, 84
Valley City: 194
Van Horn, Col. Robert T.: 128
Veith, Hiram: claim of, 96
Veil, Anthony: claim of, 93
Wake, Charles, Birth of Lincoln,
Nebraska: 216
Wake, Rev. Richard, English Set-
tlement of Palmyra: 224
Wakeley, Eleazer: 13
Walbridge, George F.: 87; claim of,
89
Walker, Joseph: 239
Walker river reservation: 179
Ward, Mrs. Oreal S.: 1; address of,
2
Ward, R. R.: 225
Warden, Clever: 172
Ware, Eugene F.: 245, 251: Indian
War of 186 U, 183
Warnes, Edward: 216
Warren, Lieutenant G. K.: 155, 158
W ATKINS, Albert: History of Fort
Kearny, 227; Nebraska and Min-
nesota Territorial Boundary, 132;
Territorial Evolution of Nebraska,
135
Watson, C. E.: 89
Watson, Charles E.: claim of, 88
Watson, Charles F.: 82
Watson, Eli P.: 87; claim of, 88
Watson, William H.: claim of, 93
Watson, William R.: claim of, 88
Wattles, Gurdon W.: 7; address of, 6
Webster, John Lee: 1, 2, 6; address-
es of, 4, 47
Wharton, Lieut. Colonel Clifton:
237, 238, 256, 257
Wharton, Captain Henry W.: 258
White, Dr.: 230
Whitefish camp: 22
Whitman, Marcus: 26, 39, 230
Whitney, Nathan S.: claim of, 94
Wichita: see Indians
Wiley, W. F.: 114
Wilson, Jack: 179
Winters, John W.: 83
Wirth, Rev. Augustine: 213
Wisconsin territory organized: 133
Women and children in battle of
Ash Hollow: 148, 149, 150, 157,
162
Woodbury, Lieut. Daniel P.: 238,
256, 257, 258
Woods, Major Samuel: 150
Worth, General W. J.: 242
Wounded Knee massacre: 170, 178
Wyandotte convention: 120, 123, 126
Wyeth, Nathaniel: 26
Wyeth's expedition: 26
Wyoming territory organized: 141
Yost, A. N.: 12
Young, Elder: 216
Yutan: 25
Zealand, Jos.: 208
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