The Spirit Lake Massacre Part 18

[134] Hubbard and Holcombe's _Minnesota in Three Centuries_, Vol. III, p. 223.

[135] _Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers_, Vol. VI, p. 892; Fulton's _Red Men of Iowa_, p. 301; Smith's _History of d.i.c.kinson County, Iowa_, p. 53; Hubbard and Holcombe's _Minnesota in Three Centuries_, Vol. III, p. 223.

[136] Robinson's _History of the Dakota or Sioux Indians_ in the _South Dakota Historical Collections_, Vol. II, p. 344.

[137] The strength of the band was not great. Originally it is said to have numbered one hundred fifty lodges, but this estimate appears to be too high. At the time it started up the Little Sioux from Smithland it probably numbered not more than fifteen lodges at the highest estimate. Its depletion was due to dissatisfaction in the band and to the fact that the band did not draw annuities which caused many to drop out and return to the Agency in order to secure them. See Mrs.

Sharp's _Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre_ (1902 edition), p. 56; Hubbard and Holcombe's _Minnesota in Three Centuries_, Vol. III, p. 248; _House Executive Doc.u.ments_, 1st Session, 35th Congress, Vol. II, Pt. I, p.

359; Hodge's _Handbook of American Indians_, Pt. II, p. 891.

[138] Powell's _On Kinship and the Tribe_ in the _Third Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_, p. x.x.xviii; Hubbard and Holcombe's _Minnesota in Three Centuries_, Vol. III, p. 223.

[139] Hubbard and Holcombe's _Minnesota in Three Centuries_, Vol. III, p. 223.

For further support of the view that Sidominadota's death was not a cause as here set forth see J. W. Powell's _Kinship and the Tribe_ in the preface to the _Third Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_, pp. x.x.xviii-xl; _Senate Doc.u.ments_, 1st Session, 32nd Congress, Vol. III, Doc. No. 1, p. 280; Pond's _The Dakotas or Sioux in Minnesota as They Were in 1834_ in the _Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society_, Vol. XII, p. 389; Dorsey's _Siouan Sociology_ in the _Fifteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_, pp. 213-218.

CHAPTER X

[140] Smith's _A History of d.i.c.kinson County, Iowa_, p. 53; Flickinger's _Pioneer History of Pocahontas County, Iowa_, p. 29.

[141] Flandrau's _Inkpaduta Ma.s.sacre of 1857_ in the _Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society_, Vol. III, p. 388; Mrs. Sharp's _Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre_ (1902 edition), p. 60; _House Executive Doc.u.ments_, 1st Session, 35th Congress, Vol. II, Pt. I, pp. 358, 389; _Senate Doc.u.ments_, 1st Session, 35th Congress, Vol. III, p. 146; _The Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre and Relief Expedition_ in the _Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers_, Vol. VI, p. 892.

[142] A. Warner and Company's _History of the Counties of Woodbury and Plymouth, Iowa_, pp. 305, 306.

[143] Smith's _A History of d.i.c.kinson County, Iowa_, p. 55; Fulton's _Red Men of Iowa_, p. 303.

CHAPTER XI

[144] W. S. Dunbar and Company's _Biographical History of Cherokee County, Iowa_, p. 242; Fulton's _The Red Men of Iowa_, p. 303.

[145] Peck and Montzheimer's _Past and Present of O'Brien and Osceola Counties, Iowa_, Vol. I, p. 38.

[146] Gillespie and Steele's _History of Clay County, Iowa_, pp. 56, 57; Mrs. Sharp's _History of the Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre_ (1902 edition), p. 61; Smith's _History of d.i.c.kinson County, Iowa_, p. 56.

[147] William H. Hart's _History of Sac County, Iowa_, p. 38; Gillespie and Steele's _History of Clay County, Iowa_, p. 57.

[148] _The Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre and Relief Expedition_ in the _Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers_, Vol. VI, p. 892; Smith's _History of d.i.c.kinson County, Iowa_, pp. 58-61.

[149] John F. Duncombe's _Spirit Lake Relief Expedition of 1857_ in the _Proceedings of the Pioneer Lawmakers' a.s.sociation of Iowa for 1898_, p. 38; Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, pp. 493, 494.

CHAPTER XII

[150] Pond's _The Dakotas or Sioux in Minnesota as They Were in 1834_ in the _Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society_, Vol. XII, pp. 436, 437.

[151] _The Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre and Relief Expedition_ in the _Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers_, Vol. VI, p. 893; Mrs. Sharp's _Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre_ (1902 edition), pp. 63, 64; Smith's _History of d.i.c.kinson County, Iowa_, p. 65.

[152] Concerning the events at the Gardner cabin we must, of necessity, rely upon the statements of Mrs. Abbie Gardner Sharp who remained the only living witness of the scene. See Mrs. Sharp's _History of the Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre_ (1902 edition), pp. 63-65.

[153] Smith's _History of d.i.c.kinson County, Iowa_, pp. 65, 66; Carpenter's _The Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre_ in the _Midland Monthly_, Vol.

IV, p. 21; Gue's _History of Iowa_, Vol. I, pp. 297, 298; Mrs. Sharp's _History of the Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre_ (1902 edition), pp. 65-67.

[154] Richman's _The Tragedy at Minnewaukon_ in _John Brown among the Quakers_, pp. 214-216; Mrs. Sharp's _History of the Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre_ (1902 edition), pp. 67-71; Carpenter's _The Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre_ in the _Midland Monthly_, Vol. IV, p. 21.

[155] Pond's _The Dakotas or Sioux in Minnesota as They were in 1834_ in the _Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society_, Vol. XII, pp. 437, 438.

[156] Mrs. Sharp's _History of the Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre_ (1902 edition), p. 73.

[157] See Mrs. Sharp's _History of the Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre_ (1902 edition), p. 73, where the statement is made that five men, two women, and four children were killed at the Mattock cabin.

[158] Hughes's _Causes and Results of the Inkpaduta Ma.s.sacre_ in the _Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society_, Vol. XII, pp. 271, 272.

But there is a third view as to the outcome of the conflict at the Mattock cabin. This version is sponsored by Major William Williams who was a member of the relief expedition sent from Fort Dodge. Major Williams believed that the Indians purposely concealed their losses.

In his report to Governor Grimes, made upon his return to Fort Dodge under date of April 12th, he stated that "the number of Indians killed or wounded must be from fifteen to twenty."--(Gue's _History of Iowa_, Vol. I, p. 299.) This estimate would seem to be entirely too high.

Only under exceptionally favorable conditions would it have been possible for five men, suffering every possible handicap, to have killed or wounded so many concealed enemies. Again, there were in all probability not more than fifteen or twenty warriors in the party of the red men. The loss or crippling of such a number would have meant practical annihilation. Later when the party was encountered in its flight from the scene of the ma.s.sacre, various individuals who had the opportunity of recognizing the individual members of the band reported them to be the same in membership as at the beginning of the raid at Smithland. Thus the statement of Major Williams could not have been accurate. Mrs. Sharp speaks of only one Indian as being injured and of no deaths--which is more probable.

[159] Mrs. Sharp's _History of the Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre_ (1902 edition), p. 74.

CHAPTER XIII

[160] _The Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre and Relief Expedition_ in the _Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers_, Vol. VI, p. 894; Mrs. Sharp's _History of the Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre_ (1902 edition), pp. 76-78; Smith's _History of d.i.c.kinson County, Iowa_, pp. 68, 69; Gue's _History of Iowa_, Vol. I, pp. 300, 301

Mrs. n.o.ble and Mrs. Thatcher in later relations of the ma.s.sacre spoke of their children as having been killed at their own cabin. If such were the facts then their dead bodies must have been carried to the Howe home; for there they were found by the members of the rescue party rather than at the place of death. This fact has led to the statement that five small Howe children were killed in addition to Sardis and Jonathan. There were, however, only three smaller children in the Howe family--Alfred, Jacob, and Philetus.

[161] Mrs. Sharp's _History of the Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre_ (1902 edition), pp. 78-80; Neill's _History of Minnesota_, pp. 622, 623.

CHAPTER XIV

[162] Mrs. Sharp's _History of the Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre_ (1902 edition), pp. 81, 82.

[163] Agnes C. Laut's _Heroines of Spirit Lake_ in _Outing Magazine_, Vol. LI, p. 692.

[164] Gue in his _History of Iowa_, Vol. I, pp. 301, 302, says that Marble fired first at the target, and when he went out to see what had been the result of his shot the Indians fired on him; while Carpenter in his article on _The Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre_ in the _Midland Monthly_, Vol. IV, p. 22, states that when Marble's gun became empty and he was defenseless he was shot.

[165] This is the list as it appears on the east tablet of the State Memorial near the Gardner cabin with the exception of the omission of the names of those not killed at the lakes but who were ma.s.sacred in the vicinity of Springfield, Minnesota.--_The Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre and Relief Expedition_ in the _Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers_, Vol.

VI, p. 920.

[166] Mrs. Sharp's _History of the Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre_ (1902 edition), pp. 83, 84; _The Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre and Relief Expedition_ in the _Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers_, Vol. VI, p. 895.

R. A. Smith, in his _History of d.i.c.kinson County_, appears skeptical concerning the real character or meaning of this attempt at Indian pictographic writing, and in commenting upon it notes that "many of the writers who have mentioned this incident have made more of it than the facts would warrant. The three or four published accounts which have been given to the public agree in stating that the picture record gave the position and number of victims correctly, and also represented those killed as being pierced with arrows. Now this is mainly fiction. The first discovery of the tree on which the hieroglyphics were delineated was by a party consisting of O. C. Howe, R. U. Wheelock and the writer sometime in May.... It was a white ash tree standing a little way to the southeast of the door of the Marble cabin.... The rough outside bark had been hewed off for a distance of some twelve or fifteen inches up and down the tree. Upon the smoothed surface thus made were the representations. The number of cabins (six) was correctly given, the largest of which was represented as being in flames. There were also representations of human figures and with the help of the imagination it was possible to distinguish which were meant for the whites and which the Indians. There were not over ten or a dozen all told, and except for the hint contained in the cabins, the largest one being in flames, we could not have figured any meaning out of it. This talk of the victims being pierced with arrows and their number and position given, is all nonsense. Mr. Howe and the writer spent some time studying it, and, while they came to the conclusion that it would convey a definite meaning to those understanding it, they could not make much out of it."

[167] Mrs. Sharp's _History of the Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre_ (1902 edition), p. 93; _Hamilton Freeman_, July 13, 1857; _The Spirit Lake Ma.s.sacre and Relief Expedition_ in the _Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers_, Vol. VI, p. 895.

CHAPTER XV