The Spirit Lake Massacre

[228] Address of John N. Maxwell in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 526.

[229] Hoover’s Expedition to Spirit Lake in the Hamilton Freeman (Webster City), August 20, 1857; Address of Capt. Charles B. Richards in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, pp. 510, 511.

[230] A Paper by Michael Sweeney in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 539; The Narrative of W. K. Laughlin in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 542; Hoover’s Expedition to Spirit Lake in the Hamilton Freeman (Webster City), August 20, 1857.

[231] Duncombe’s Spirit Lake Expedition in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 496.

[232] Address of Capt. Charles B. Richards in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 510.

[233] Hoover’s Expedition to Spirit Lake in the Hamilton Freeman (Webster City), August 20, 1857. See also Duncombe’s Spirit Lake Expedition in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 496; Address of John N. Maxwell in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 527; A Paper by Michael Sweeney in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 538.

[234] McKnight’s Point was on the West Fork of the Des Moines, on the Fort Ridgely road, about two miles to the southeast of the mouth of Bridge Creek.—See map in Parker’s Iowa As It Is, 1857.

[235] Hoover’s The Tragedy of Okoboji in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. V, p. 17; Duncombe’s Spirit Lake Expedition in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 497.

[236] A Paper by Michael Sweeney in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 539.

[237] A Paper by Michael Sweeney in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 539.

[238] For this incident see Duncombe’s Spirit Lake Expedition in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, pp. 498, 499; Hoover’s The Tragedy of Okoboji in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. V, pp. 17, 18.

[239] Duncombe’s Spirit Lake Expedition in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 499.

[240] Carpenter’s The Spirit Lake Massacre in the Midland Monthly, Vol. IV, p. 27.

[241] Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers, Vol. VI, pp. 929, 934.

[242] The Narrative of W. K. Laughlin in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 542.

[243] Duncombe’s Spirit Lake Expedition in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 500.

[244] For the enlistments of these individuals see the Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers, Vol. VI, pp. 924, 925, 926.

[245] In the Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers, Vol. VI, pp. 929 and 931, it is stated that Thatcher and Burtch enlisted either at Fort Dodge on March twenty-third or at Shippey’s on March twenty-eighth. The latter place and date seem far more probable than do the former.

[246] A Paper by Michael Sweeney in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 539; The Narrative of W. K. Laughlin in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 542.

[247] The Narrative of W. K. Laughlin in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 542.

[248] Address of John N. Maxwell in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 527.

[249] Carpenter’s The Spirit Lake Expedition in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 483.

[250] Carpenter’s The Spirit Lake Expedition in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 500; Address of John N. Maxwell in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 527; The Narrative of W. K. Laughlin in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 542.

[251] There seems to have been some disagreement as to who had charge of the advance guard. For the view taken by the present writer see Smith’s History of Dickinson County, Iowa, p. 80.

[252] Frank R. Mason’s Recollections in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, pp. 532, 533; Carpenter’s Spirit Lake Expedition in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 484.

[253] For an account of the discovery of the Springfield fugitives see that of Frank R. Mason’s Recollections in Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, pp. 532, 533.

[254] A quotation from Carpenter in Gue’s History of Iowa, Vol. I, p. 314.

[255] Frank R. Mason’s Recollections in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 533; Smith’s A History of Dickinson County, Iowa, p. 82.

[256] A Paper by Charles Aldrich in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 548.

[257] A Paper by Charles Aldrich in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 548.

[258] Frank R. Mason’s Recollections in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 533.

[259] Address of Capt. Charles B. Richards in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 513; Address of John N. Maxwell in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 528; Duncombe’s Spirit Lake Expedition in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, pp. 502-504.

[260] Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers, Vol. VI, pp. 922-937; Smith’s History of Dickinson County, Iowa, p. 84.

[261] Address of Captain Charles B. Richards in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 515; Smith’s History of Dickinson County, Iowa, p. 84.

[262] The reputed finding of the body of Joel Howe may well be questioned. The evidence presented tends to show that the headless skeleton found by Mr. Goodenough could not have been that of Howe. Of the party that took the trail route to the Mattock cabin from Howe’s, H. E. Dalley is the only one who in late years has survived, and in fact he was about the only one of the Johnson party who survived the fearful storm of the fourth and was able to give a coherent tale of what they had done. The leader of the party and its second most active member both were lost in the storm. Mr. Dalley in relating the facts of the burial of Howe has always maintained that Howe’s body, complete and not headless, was found but not buried at the same spot. Instead the party carried the body to the Mattock place where it was interred. He has ever sturdily maintained that this act of the party is the most vivid recollection of the whole experience. Lieutenant Maxwell has also maintained that the body was not headless when found. There is a discrepancy between the number of bodies disinterred in the vicinity of the Mattock cabin and the number of people reported to have been killed there.

The place and conditions under which the skeleton was found also lend an air of controversy. The skeleton is said to have been found about eighteen inches deep under a cow-path and at the head of a small ravine worn back about thirty feet from the lake shore. In soil conditions as they exist at the lakes, such a ravine would not have been the result of years of work, as is implied, but would have been the work of a freshet. That the wearing back was the result of the work of years is implied in the statement that “Turning at the head of this recession is a cattle path.” Here the inference is plain that the cattle for years had turned to avoid the ravine. Once started, the spring freshets and summer rains would have rapidly worn the ravine back to a greater distance than thirty feet. All those stating that the body was buried where found say it was buried upon the summit of a bluff. The conclusion is evident that a thirty foot backward recession of a ravine would hardly have occurred in the face of a bluff. By its finders the body is said to have been buried only about eighteen inches deep. With the eroding effects of a cattle path would it have been still that depth below the surface after a lapse of nearly a half century? One would think that such could hardly be. For discovery and interment of the remains of Joel Howe, see Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. XI, pp. 551-553.

[263] There will probably always be more or less controversy as to the number of bodies found and buried. The present writer has sought to be conservative in accepting evidence. See Smith’s A History of Dickinson County, Iowa, pp. 88, 89; Address of John N. Maxwell in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, pp. 539, 540; The Narrative of W. K. Laughlin in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 543; Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), p. 74.

[264] Smith’s A History of Dickinson County, Iowa, p. 90; Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers, Vol. VI, pp. 922-937.

[265] Smith’s A History of Dickinson County, Iowa, p. 90.

[266] Smith’s A History of Dickinson County, Iowa, pp. 91-94.

[267] The Narrative of W. K. Laughlin in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 544.

[268] Smith’s A History of Dickinson County, Iowa, pp. 98, 99; Address of John N. Maxwell in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 530; The Narrative of W. K. Laughlin in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 544.

[269] The Spirit Lake Massacre and Relief Expedition in the Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers, Vol. VI, pp. 995, 996; Narrative of W. L. Laughlin in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 544; Address of John N. Maxwell in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 531.

[270] Address of John N. Maxwell in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 531; The Narrative of W. K. Laughlin in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 544.

[271] The Narrative of W. K. Laughlin in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, pp. 544, 545.

[272] Address of John N. Maxwell in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, pp. 531, 532; The Narrative of W. K. Laughlin in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, pp. 544, 545; Gue’s History of Iowa, Vol. I, p. 317.

[273] Captain Johnson had come to Bach Grove on the Boone River Troy Township, Wright County, from Pennsylvania. Mention has been made of the manner of his enlistment. Upon his failure to return, his mother disposed of the claim and returned to Pennsylvania. When the bodies were found, Angus McBane of Fort Dodge took charge of the remains and sent them to his mother for burial. The remains of Burkholder were taken charge of by his brother-in-law, Governor C. C. Carpenter. They were given a military funeral at Fort Dodge, conducted by Major Williams. All the members of Company C that could be brought together at that time attended.—A Paper by Michael Sweeney in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), III, p. 541.

[274] Address of Capt. Charles B. Richardsin the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 516.

[275] Captain Richards speaks of their attempt to secure supplies at the settlement upon their return as follows: “The settlers at the Colony were on short rations and could spare nothing. We decided to buy a steer and kill for the party, but we had no money and the owner refused to sell without pay. We offered to give the personal obligation of all the officers, and assured him the State would pay a good price; but this was not satisfactory. We therefore decided to take one vi et armis, and detailed several men to kill and dress the steer. They were met by men, women and children, armed with pitchforks to resist the sacrifice, and not being able to convince them either of the necessity of the case or that they would get pay for the steer, I ordered Lieut. Stratton and a squad of men with loaded guns to go and take the steer; when ... the hostile party retired.”—Address of Capt. Charles B. Richards in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 517.

[276] Duncombe’s Spirit Lake Expedition in the Proceedings of the Pioneer Lawmakers’ Association of Iowa for 1898 , p. 45; Address of Capt. Charles B. Richards in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, pp. 518, 519.

[277] Captain Richards is quoted as follows in Gue’s History of Iowa, Vol. I, p. 318, concerning the attempt to cross at this point:—“The wind was now blowing a terrific gale and the cold was intense, so that our wet clothing was frozen stiff upon us.... When help and material for a raft came, so strong and cold was the wind, and so swift the current, filled with floating ice, that all of our efforts to build a raft failed. It was now dark and still growing colder, and the roar of the blinding storm so great that we could no longer hold communication with our companions on the other side. We were benumbed with cold, utterly exhausted, and three miles from the nearest cabin. We were powerless to aid our comrades, and could only try to save ourselves. It was a terrible walk in the face of the terrific blizzard, our clothes frozen, our feet freezing, and our strength gone.”

[278] Address of Ex-Governor Carpenter in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, pp. 486, 487.

[279] Hoover’s The Tragedy of Okoboji in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. V, p. 24.

[280] Frank R. Mason’s Recollections in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 535.

[281] Address of Ex-Governor Carpenter in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 487.

[282] Frank R. Mason’s Recollections in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, pp. 535, 536.

[283] Letter from Mrs. Collins in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 549.

[284] Republished article from the St. Paul Pioneer of May 31, 1857, in the Hamilton Freeman (Webster City), July 13, 1857.

[285] Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), p. 150.

[286] Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), pp. 151-156, 168.

[287] Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), pp. 168-171. This stone is more familiarly known in mineralogy as catlinite—being so named from George Catlin, the noted traveler, who first studied it. See Hodge’s Handbook of American Indians, Vol. I, pp. 217-219.

[288] Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), pp. 152, 153.

[289] Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), p. 172.

[290] Robinson’s A History of the Dakota or Sioux Indians in the South Dakota Historical Collections, Vol. II, p. 237.

[291] Gue’s History of Iowa, Vol. I, p. 322; Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), p. 175.

[292] Gue’s History of Iowa, Vol. I, p. 323; Robinson’s A History of the Dakota or Sioux Indians in the South Dakota Historical Collections, Vol. II, p. 237; Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), pp. 175, 176.

[293] Republished article from the St. Paul Pioneer, of May 31, 1857, in the Hamilton Freeman (Webster City), July 13, 1857.

[294] B. M. Smith and A. J. Hill’s Map of the Ceded Part of Dakota Territory, 1861.

[295] The Ink-pa-du-ta Massacre of 1857 in the Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Vol. III, pp. 392-394; Robinson’s A History of the Dakota or Sioux Indians in the South Dakota Historical Collections, Vol. II, p. 238.

[296] Robinson’s A History of the Dakota or Sioux Indians in the South Dakota Historical Collections, Vol. II, p. 238.

[297] Robinson’s A History of the Dakota or Sioux Indians in the South Dakota Historical Collections, Vol. II, p. 238.

[298] Republished article from St. Paul Pioneer, of May 31, 1857, in the Hamilton Freeman (Webster City), July 13, 1857.

[299] Robinson’s A History of the Dakota or Sioux Indians in the South Dakota Historical Collections, Vol. II, pp. 238, 239.

[300] Republished article from St. Paul Pioneer, of May 31, 1857, in the Hamilton Freeman (Webster City), July 13, 1857.

[301] Flandrau’s The Ink-pa-du-ta Massacre of 1857 in the Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Vol. III, p. 394.

[302] Flandrau’s The Ink-pa-du-ta Massacre of 1857 in the Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Vol. III, p. 395.

[303] The text of this bond appears in Flandrau’s Ink-pa-du-ta Massacre of 1857 in the Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Vol. III, pp. 395, 396.

[304] Ma-za-ku-ta-ma-ni was at this time the President of the Rev. Riggs’ Hazelwood Republic. This Republic was a rather unique attempt at self-government upon the part of Christianized Indians of the Yellow Medicine Agency under the guidance of the Rev. Mr. Riggs. It was “a respectable community of young men who had cut off their hair and exchanged the dress of the Dakotas for that of the white man.... They elected their president and other officers for two years, and were recognized by the Indian agent as a separate band of the Sioux.”—Hubbard and Holcombe’s Minnesota in Three Centuries, Vol. II, pp. 254-257.

[305] John Other Day won his title to fame in the annals of Minnesota by the part he took in the terrible Sioux Massacre of 1862. Certainly nothing else is needed to prove the worth of a Christian Indian than this act of his. The whites and Christian Indian refugees were in deadly peril of massacre at the Yellow Medicine Agency when to “John Other Day ... was entrusted the agency people and the refugees ... sixty-two souls in all, and as the ... revelry still came up from the stores on the bottom ... he moved off to the east with his white friends, crossed the Minnesota and skillfully covering the trail bore them away to safety ... without rest or delay he hurried back to the scene of the massacre to save more lives and assist in bringing the miscreants to justice.”—Robinson’s A History of the Dakota or Sioux Indians in the South Dakota Historical Collections, Vol. II, pp. 278, 279.

[306] Flandrau’s The Ink-pa-du-ta Massacre of 1857 in the Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Vol. III, p. 396.

[307] Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), pp. 216-221, 224, 225. Mrs. Noble seems to have been killed in the southeastern corner of what is now Spink County, South Dakota.

[308] Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), pp. 231, 232.

[309] Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), p. 236.

[310] Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), pp. 238, 239.

[311] Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), p. 241. See also Flandrau’s The Ink-pa-du-ta Massacre of 1857 in the Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Vol. III, p. 398.

[312] Lee’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre, p. 35.

[313] Lee’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre, p. 36.

[314] Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), p. 249.

Concerning this costume Mrs. Sharp has since remarked that “the style and fit might not have been approved by Worth, but it was worth everything to me.”

[315] Flandrau’s The Ink-pa-du-ta Massacre of 1857 in the Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Vol. III, p. 399.

[316] Flandrau’s The Ink-pa-du-ta Massacre of 1857 in the Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Vol. III, p. 399.

[317] Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), p. 257.

[318] For these speeches see Lee’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre, pp. 37-41; Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), pp. 260-265.

[319] Lee’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre, p. 43.

[320] Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), p. 268, 269; Lee’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre, p. 44.

[321] Flandrau’s The Ink-pa-du-ta Massacre of 1857 in the Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Vol. III, p. 400.

[322] Flandrau’s The Ink-pa-du-ta Massacre of 1857 in the Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Vol. III, p. 397.

[323] Lee’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre, p. 42.

[324] Flandrau’s The Ink-pa-du-ta Massacre of 1857 in the Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Vol. III, p. 401.

[325] Flandrau’s The Ink-pa-du-ta Massacre of 1857 in the Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Vol. III, p. 401.

[326] Flandrau’s The Ink-pa-du-ta Massacre of 1857 in the Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Vol. III, pp. 401, 402.

[327] House Executive Documents, 1st Session, 35th Congress, Vol. II, Pt. I, p. 367.

[328] House Executive Documents, 1st Session, 35th Congress, Vol. II, Pt. I, pp. 362, 363.

[329] House Executive Documents, 1st Session, 35th Congress, Vol. II, Pt. I, p. 368.

[330] House Executive Documents, 1st Session, 35th Congress, Vol. II, Pt. I, p. 368.

[331] Hubbard and Holcombe’s Minnesota in Three Centuries, Vol. III, p. 254.

[332] House Executive Documents, 1st Session, 35th Congress, Vol. II, Pt. I, pp. 369, 370, 375.

[333] House Executive Documents, 1st Session, 35th Congress, Vol. II, Pt. I, pp. 373, 374, 375-379.