Goodhue County, Minnesota - Chapter 7: Indian Treaties, 1909

Chapter 7: Indian Treaties

Prairie du Chien in 1825 - Second Treaty in 1830 - Treaty of 1837 - Doty Treaty in 1841 - Treaty of Mendota in 1851 - Land Open to Settlement - Prairie Island Indians.

While the whites, at their own inclination, were shifting the sovereignty of the vast tract including within its scope what is now Goodhue county, the Indians, nevertheless, had claims which the nations had, in a measure at least, to acknowledge. The Sioux were not only in practical, but in actual possession, and it was only after long negotiations that the country was opened for permanent white settlement.

The treaty of Prairie du Chien, signed in 1825, was important to the Sioux living in this vicinity, in that it fixed certain boundaries. The eastern boundary of the Sioux territory was to commence on the east bank of the Mississippi, opposite the mouth of the "Ioway" river, running back to the bluffs, and along the bluffs to the Bad Ax river; thence to the mouth of Black river, and thence to "half a day's march" below the falls of the Chippewa. The boundary lines were certainly, in some respects, quite indefinite, and whether this was the trouble or not, at any event, it was but a few months after the treaty when it was evident that neither the Dakotas nor Ojibways were willing to be governed by the lines established - and hardly by any others. The first article of the treaty provided : ' ' There shall be a firm and perpetual peace between the Sioux and the Chippewas ; between the Sioux and the confederated tribes of Sacs and Foxes ; and between the Ioways and the Sioux.*' But this provision was more honored in the breach than the observance, and in a little time the tribes named were flying at one another's throats and engaged in their old-time hostilities. On the part of the Sioux this treaty was signed by Chiefs Wabasha, Little Crow, Standing Buffalo. Sleepy Eye, Two Faces, Tah-sah-ghee, or "His Cane;" Black Dog. Wah-ah-na-tah, or "The Charger;" Red Wing, Shakopee, Penishon and Eagle Head, and also by a number of head soldiers and "principal men." The Chippewa signers were

In 1830, a second treaty with the Northwest Indian tribes was held at Prairie du Chien. Delegates were present from four bands of the Sioux, the Medawakantons, the Wapakootas, the Wahpatons and the Sissetons, and also from the Sacs, the Foxes and Iowas, and even from the Omahas, Otoes and Missouris, the homes of the last three tribes being on the Missouri river. At this treaty the Indian tribes represented ceded all of their claims to the land in western Iowa, northwestern Missouri, and especially the country of the Des Moines river valley. The lower bands bad a special article inserted in the treaty for the benefit of their half-blood relatives :

"The Sioux bands in council have earnestly solicited that they might have permission to bestow upon the half-breeds of their nation the tract of land within the following limits, to-wit : Beginning at a place called the Barn, below and near the village of the Red Wing chief, and running back fifteen miles; thence, in a parallel line, with Lake Pepin and the Mississippi river about thirty-two miles, to a point opposite Beef, en* O'Boeuf, river, thence fifteen miles to the Grand Encampment, opposite the river aforesaid, the United States agree to suffer said half breeds to occupy said tract of country, they holding by the same title, and in the same manner that other Indian titles are held."

Certificates, or "script," were issued to many half-breeds, and there was much speculation in them, and litigation over them, in subsequent years, a matter of which will be treated later in this history. The Sioux also ceded a tract of land twenty miles wide along the northern boundary of Iowa from the Mississippi to the Des Moines, the consideration for which was $2,000 in cash and $12,000 in merchandise. Iron Cloud, of the Red AVing village, was among the signers of this treaty.

In the spring of 1837, Agent Taliaferro, who had in charge much of the early negotiation between the Indians and the United States, was instructed to organize an authoritative and reliable delegation of the lower bands of Sioux, to proceed to Washington and make a treaty ceding the lands claimed by them in what are now Wisconsin and Minnesota. These lands were the islands in the Mississippi and a strip of land of a few miles, varying in width from the mouth of the Broad Axe to the mouth of the "Watab. The expedition as it started from Fort Snelling consisted of a number of Indian chiefs and head men, and several whites. At Red Wing the boat stopped to take on Wacoota and his head soldier; and at Winona, Wabasha and Thin Face joined the expedition. The treaty was concluded and signed September 29 by Joel R. Poinsett, then secretary of war. For some

* reason, which at the present time is not known, none of the representatives of Wabasha's and Wacoota's bands, as shown by the record, signed the treaty, although both chiefs were present, and Wabasha was head chief of the Medawakanton band. A considerable portion of the country ceded along the Wisconsin shore of the Mississippi was only across the river from their own lands, and they certainly had an interest in its disposition; but in the printed copies of the United States treaties their signatures do not appear.

The Doty treaty, made at Traverse des Sioux, in July, 1841, failed to be ratified by the United States Senate. This treaty embodied a Utopian dream that a territory of Indians could be established, in which the redmen would reside on farms and in villages, living their lives after the style of the whites, having a constitutional form of government, with a legislature of their own people elected by themselves, the governor to be appointed by the president of the United States, much along the plan still followed in the Indian Territory, except that it embodied for the Indians a much higher type of citizenship than is found in the Indian Territory* The Indians were to be taught the arts of peace, to be paid annuities, and to be protected by the armies of the United Slates from their Indian enemies on the west. In return for these benefits to be conferred upon the Indians, the United States was to receive all the lands in what is now Minnesota, the Dakotas and northwestern Iowa, except small portions, which were to be reserved for the redmen. This ceded land was for the most pari to be opened to the settlement of the whites, although the plan was to have some of it reserved for Indian tribes from other parts of the country who should sell their lands to the United Stales, and who. in being moved here, were to enjoy all the privileges which had been so beautifully planned for the native Indians. But no one can tell what would have been the result of this experiment, for the Senate, for political rea-i sons, refused to ratify the treaty, and it failed of going into effect.

Prior to 1851, only the land on the east of the Mississippi, with a few islands in that river, were open to white settlement. The agitation started in the late forties resulted in the treaties which opened what is now Goodhue county and surrounding territory to settlement. July 22, the treaty of Traverse des Sioux was signed, and on July 29, 1851, the deliberations preceding the treaty at Mendota with the Wah-pa-koota and Medawakanton bands of Sioux were started. The chiefs and head men of these two bands were thoroughly conversant with the proceedings of the Indians and the representatives of the United States at Traverse des Sioux, and all were on hand, ready for the negotiations at Mendota. The first session was held in the warehouse of the Fur Company at that place, but the Indians found the atmosphere stilling-, and not in accord with their usual method of outdoor councils, so the consideration of the treaty was taken up under a large brush arbor, erected by Alexis Bailly, on an elevated plain near the high prominence known as Pilot Knob. Dr. Thomas Foster was secretary for Commissioners Lea and Ramsey; the interpreters were Alexander Faribault, Philander Preseott and Rev. G. II. Pond; the white witnesses were David Olmsted, \V. ('. Henderson, Alexis Bailly, Richard Chute. Henry Jackson, A. L. Carpenter, W. II. Randall. A. S. II. White, H. L. Dousman, Fred ('. Sibley. Martin McLeod, George N. Faribault and Joseph A. Wheelock. On the opening of the first day's session the object of the gathering was fully explained to the assembled Indians by the white commissioners. For the Indians,. Wabasha, of the Medawakantons, replied as follows:

The chiefs and braves who sit here have heard what you have said from our Great Father. I have but one thing to say to you. fathers, and then we will separate for the day. I was among those who went to Washington and brought home the wTords of our Great Father. Some of those here were there also, and some who went are now dead. According to what our Great Father then said, we have some funds lying back in his hands. We spoke of these funds to our fathers, the commissioners, who were here fall before last. These men you see around you are anxious to get that which is due them before they do anything. That is all I have to say now."

The Leaf Shooter (Wacoota). of the Red Wing band, rose and displayed the medal formerly worn by Chief AVambde Yah Kapi (War Eagle That May Be Seen), who was killed by the Sacs and Foxes on the Des Moines river in July, 1849. He said: "My race had four chiefs, but they have passed away from us. The last- one (War Eagle That May Be Seen) was made chief by my father, Governor Ramsey, who placed this medal about his neck. Father, I wish to have those who have killed the owner of this medal, pay for it. The fall before last, you spoke of this; the medal wras then all bloody, and if you will look at it you will see that it is still so. I wish you to wash that blood off. I return it to you, and if you will wipe off the blood, I will be glad."

The commissioners reminded the Indians that in regard to the money which was due them under the treaty of 1837, a portion of which was being withheld, the treaty provided that it was to be paid to them at the direction and pleasure of the Great Father, the president; that the Indians had agreed to this wdien they signed the treaty, twelve years previous, and had never complained before. But Colonel Lea said that if the Indians would come to an agreement in regard to the treaty, there would be no trouble about the back money. In regard to the medal, which is known in history as the bloody medal, owing to the Leaf Shooter's poetic and figurative allusion to its ensanguined condition, Governor Ramsey said that he had demanded from the president that $1,000 should be taken from the annuities of the Sacs and Foxes and used as an emollient to cleanse the blood from the medal; and that $1,000 should be taken from the Sac and Fox fund for every Sioux killed by them, and the amount turned over to the relatives of the victims. He further said that in the exercise of his discretion, the president had concluded that the money he was keeping ought to be expended in the education of the Indian children, but that the matter could be settled amicably if the treaty were speedily signed. The next day a brief council was held under Alexis Bailly's large brush arbor, which had been well appointed with stands, tables and seats for the chiefs. At this session, Wabasha, without comment, returned a draft of the treaty which on the previous day had been presented to the Indians for their consideration. There was an embarrassing silence for a time, and Colonel Lea said he hoped the treaty would soon be concluded, for he was at a great distance from his home, and having been a long time away, was most anxious to return. Chief Wacoota replied: "Our habits are different from those of the whites, and when we have anything important to consider it takes us a long time. To this diplomatic remark, Colonel Lea rejoined: "That is true; but this subject has been before you a long time. You are chiefs, not women and children ; you can certainly 'give us an answer tomorrow." The council then adjourned for the day.

The next day, at the opening of the council, AVabasha arose and said he had listened to the words sent them by the Great Father and which the commissioners had delivered; "but," continued he, "these other chiefs around me may have something to say also. I will sit and listen to what is said." After a long, constrained, and doubtless uncomfortable silence, Little Crow, graceful and deliberate, arose, and addressed the council. Little Crow, chief of the Kaposia band, was, without doubt, according to the evidence of his contemporaries, the brainiest, shrewdest and most influential Indian then west of the Mississippi. Dressed elaborately for the occasion, with a white shirt and collar, a gaudy neckchief, his tastefully embroidered medicine bag suspended from his neck, a red belt, with a silver buckle, about his waist, and wearing a pair of elaborately beaded trousers and moccasins, his long, black, curling hair, soft and almost as silken as a white woman's, flowing over his shoulders, and with his keen black eyes alight - he was indeed a striking and attractive fig- lire. His voice, attuned to the forests and the waterfalls, had nature's own musical intonations, and when he began to speak even the little Indian children, playing about the outskirts of the council, were silent. As reported by Alexander Faribault, the chieftain said :

"Fathers: These chiefs and soldiers, and others who sit here, have something they wish said to you, and I am going to speak it for them. There are chiefs here who are older than myself, and I would rather they had spoken ; but they have put it upon me to speak, although I feel as if my mouth was tied. These chiefs went to Washington long ago and brought back a good report concerning the settlement of our affairs in the treaty made there, and they and we were glad. But things that were promised in that treaty have not taken place. This is why these men sit still and say nothing. You perhaps are ashamed (or disgraced; "ishtenya" in Sioux) of us; but you, fathers, are the cause of it's being so. They speak of money that is due them; it was mentioned the other day to Governor Ramsey, and we spoke about it last fall, but we have not yet seen the money. We desire to have it laid down to us. It is money due on the old treaty, and I think it should be paid; we do not want to talk about a new treaty until it is all paid."

The commissioners again declared that under the treaty the money which had been withheld was to be expended by the direction of the president, and he had decided to apply it to the education of the Indian children. Perhaps, they said, there has been a misunderstanding as to what the other treaty meant. They desired now to make a treaty that would be so plain that there could, and would be no doubt, as to its meaning. Governor Ramsey then said: "If this treaty can be arranged, as much money will be paid down to you as will be equal to your usual cash annuities for three years." The governor then thought to bring matters to an immediate conclusion. "Do you wish," he asked, "that this amount be paid to you as your other annuities have been?" The chiefs made a murmur of apparent assent, and the governor continued: "Do all the people want it paid in that way?" Little Crow replied that if it were divided for the Indians by the whites it would probably be best; if the Indians undertook to divide it there might be some difficulty. Governor Ramsey replied that the money was in "money boxes," and a long time would be required to count the money and get it ready, and in the meanwhile they would- go ahead with the treaty. But Little Crow said: "We will talk of nothing else but that money, if it is until next spring. That lies in the way of a treaty. I speak for others, and not for myself."

commissioners, the Indians saying nothing, the council adjourned until it should be called by the Indians. The next day the Indians remained in their quarters until late in the afternoon, when messengers came saying that the chiefs were all assembled at the council house and wished their white fathers to attend. Very soon the council was in session, but after the opening there was a long silence. Finally Anah-ga-nahzhee (Stands Astride), the second chiefs or head soldier of the band of his brother, Shakopee, remarked that it had been decided in council, the Indian council, that Wacoota should speak to the Indians. But Wacoota asked to be excused, and that some other Indian should speak. "I am of the same mind with my friend here, Wabasha, and will sit and listen," said Wacoota. There was no response. After a long wait the commissioners went over the whole subject again, and the Indians yet remaining silent, Colonel Lea at last said: "It is plain that the Medawakantons do not wish to sell their lands. I hope they will not regret it. This grieves my heart, and I know it will make the heart of your Great Father sad. Say to the chiefs and head men that we are all ready to meet them here tomorrow, or at any other time and place they desire." The commissioners now hastily adjourned, apparently in great ill humor, leaving the chiefs still on the benches, astounded at the conduct of their white brothers. There was an interregnum in the proceedings for four days. The time was spent by the whites in privately preparing a treaty which would be. acceptable to the Indians. The Medawakantons had become partially reconciled. The head chief, "Wabasha, was still opposed to any treaty as it had been proposed, but Little Crow and other sub-chiefs were in favor of one if the terms were fairly liberal and the assent of their bands could be obtained. Little Crow was particularly for a treaty and the sale of the big expanse of land to the westward, which, he said, did his people no good, which but very few of his band had ever visited, and which he himself had never seen. He disliked to abandon his old Kaposia home, because of its associations. Here were the graves of his father and mother and other kinspeople ; here was the site of his birthplace and of his boyhood, and here he had been chief of the old and noted band of his ancestors for more than four years. But Little Crow was shrewd and intelligent, and knew that the whites were pressing upon his people as they had pressed upon the other red people, and that the result would be the same as it had been - the Indians would be compelled to leave their country and move on. The wise course, therefore, it seemed to him, was to obtain the best terms possible - to get all of the money and other supplies and the best permanent reservation to be had. It was asserted that Little Crow had been well bribed by the traders, and by the commissioners, too, and that his opinions were the result of substantial considerations. If the charge were true, the conduct of Little Crow was somewhat strange. He spoke against considering the treaty until the money that was being held hack should be paid in hand. He demanded a reservation that should come down the Minnesota to Traverse des Sioux, and he wanted all the money and goods, and the most favorable terms generally that could be had. He was in frequent consultation with the commissioners during the days of waiting, and at the last announced that he was ready to sign the treaty, although some of the Indians had sworn that they would shoot the first man of their tribe who put his hand to the goose quill preparatory to subscribing to the hated contract.

Monday, August 5. was an eventful day in the deliberations. The council met at 11 o'clock in the morning, and Chief Good Road, of one of the bands about Fort Snelling. was the first speaker. He said: "We have several things to say about the various matters before we sign this treaty.'' Colonel Lea replied: "The treaty has been prepared after we have all agreed as to its terms, and it is best not to delay any further. We will have the treaty read in English and explained in the Dakotah language, so that all can see that it is a good treaty." Rev. S. R. Riggs, the missionary, read the treaty slowly, and explained it in Sioux very fully. Governor Ramsey then said: 'The chiefs and head men have heard the treaty in their own language. Who will sign first .'" There was a silence of some minutes, when Colonel Lea indicated that Little Crow should be the first to sign, but the chief smiled and shook his head. At last Wabasha arose and said :

"You have requested us to sign this paper, and you have told these people standing around that it is for their benefit; but I do not think so. In the treaty you have read you mention a lot about farmers, schools, physicians, traders and half-breeds, who are to be paid out of the money. To all of these I am opposed. You see these chiefs sitting around here. They and some others, who are dead, went to Washington twelve years ago and made a treaty in which some things were said ; but we were not benefited by them, and I want them struck out of this one. We want nothing but cash for our lands. Another thing : You have named a place for our home, but it is a prairie country. I am a man used to the woods, and do not like the prairies ; perhaps some of these who are here will name a place we would all like better. Another thing; when I went to Washington to see our Great Father, he asked us for our land, and we gave it to him. and he agreed to furnish us with provisions and goods for twenty years. I wish to remain in this country until that time expires.

Colonel. Lea made an indignant and severe reply to AVabasha, although as a matter of fact Wabasha's request was not perhaps so very unreasonable. The colonel declared that the chief had a forked tongue, and was neither the friend of the white man or the Indians. "We know that the treaty does not meet his views, and we do not expect to be able to make one that will suit him," said Colonel Lea. "We know that he tried to deceive the Indians and us. He wanted to have the Medawakantons and Wahpakootas make a treaty by themselves - a separate treaty - and leave out the upper bands altogether. He did not want them to have a good treaty unless he could dictate just how it should be. He advised you to ask $6,000,000 for the land, which he knew was a foolish proposition. We are surprised to find a chief like him, whose father and grandfather were great chiefs. We have talked much about this treaty, and we have written and signed it, and now it is too late to talk of changing it." After Colonel Lea had finished this stinging rebuke., which must have gone deep to the heart of the proud old chief, there was evident dissatisfaction among the Indians. Governor Ramsey quickly asked: "Will either of the principal chiefs sign? Do they say yes .or no?" But they said neither. They were silent for a time, and -evidently displeased. For a while it looked as though the papers would not receive a single Indian signature. At last Bad Hail, the second chief of Gray Iron's band, arose and said that if* two claims against the whites could be settled, he and others would sign. Chief Shakopee then came forward and laid before the commissioners a written deed, made and signed by the Indians in 1837. and conveying to their kinswoman, Mrs. Lucy Bailly (nee Faribault), the wife of Alexis Bailly, three sections of land, including the present site of the town of Shakopee. The chief said the Indians desired that this land be secured to Mrs. Bailly by the treaty, or that, instead, the sum of $10,000 in cash be paid her. Bad Hail presented another paper, providing that a provision be made in the treaty for the reservation of several hundred acres for the'heirs of Scott Campbell, the noted old interpreter at Fort Snelling. Stands Astride, the second chief of Shakopee 's band, demanded that the request made in both papers be complied with. But Colonel Lea replied: "Our Great Father will not allow us to write such things in treaties. If you wish to pay Mrs. Bailly $10,000 you can do so out of your own money when the treaty is ratified, and you can pay Scott Campbell's heirs as much as you please; the money will be yours." Little Crow again spoke, and was, as before, listened to with the deepest attention. He said he had been raised in a. country where there were plenty of trees and extensive woods, in which wild game could be found. If the Indian reservations were made hi extend eastward to Traverse des Sioux, there would be plenty of woods, and he would be satisfied. The land provided for the future home of his band was too much prairie. Shakopee's brother now came forward, and speaking very loudly and earnestly, and to the point, said he represented the Indian soldiers, or braves, and was one of the owners of the land. "The chiefs don't seem to do anything," he said, "and we must be heard." Like Little Crow, he thought the east line of the proposed reservation was too high vip in the prairies, and he indicated Lake Minnetonka and Minnehaha creek as the locality where he thought the Medawakantons would, in the future, be willing to live and die, to make it the perpetual home of the band. He said the soldiers were satisfied with the other parts of the treaty. Governor Ramsey saw a valuable opportunity. He began flattering not only the warrior who had spoken, but also the other Indian soldiers, saying they had spoken out boldly and like men. The commissioners, he said, have been waiting to hear what the warriors wanted. "Now," said the governor, "we will come down with the reservation to the Little Rock river, where it empties into the Minnesota; this line will certainly give you timber enough." Another soldier arose and demanded that the treaty with the Chippewas be abrogated so that he and the other Sioux could go to war against them whenever they pleased. No attention was paid to this speech except to laugh at it. Then ( !hief AVacoota. the mild mannered, gentle hearted head of the Red Wing band, arose, and speaking somewhat slowly and deliberately, made a somewhat lengthy speech, in which he said that the treaty was all right upon its face, but the Indians, and he among them, feared that when it was taken to Washington it would be changed to their great injury, just as the treaty of 1837 had been changed. "I say it in good feeling," declared Wacoota, "but I think you yourselves believe it will be changed without our consent, as the other treaty was." He said as to future reservation, he wanted it south of where he and his band then lived (in the Cannon river country), or he would like his particular reservation to be at Pine Island or on the Mississippi, which locality, he asserted, was a good place for the Indians. He wanted this condition put in the treaty if it was right and just, but if not, then "say no more about it." He declared he was pleased with the treaty generally, but hoped that the farming for the Indians would be better done than it had been. Governor Ramsey complimented "Wacoota "as a man I always listen to with great respect." Wacoota, it will thus be seen, wanted the reservation in the south part of what is now Minnesota, practically in what is now Goodhue county, others wanted it in other places, in fact there was so wide a diversity of opinion that the red men would probably never have agreed among themselves, even if the matter had been left entirely to them. The commissioners honestly considered that they had selected a good place for the Indian reservation. There would be plenty of wood and water, and the Indians could continue to hunt in the big woods and elsewhere in their former hunting grounds as usual until the whites should come in and settle upon the lands.

Wabasha now arose and asked whether or not is was designed to distinguish the chiefs and second chiefs by marks of distinction, and to allow them more money than the common Indians should receive. Colonel Lea answered: "Wabasha now talks like a man." The colonel said that it was due to the station and responsibility of the chiefs that they should be distinguished from the other Indians. He said that each chief ought to have a medal and a good house to live in, so that when his friends came to see him they could be accommodated properly. Wabasha again arose. This time he turned his back upon the commissioners and spoke to his warriors somewhat vehemently, but with dignity. "Young men," he said, "you have declared that the chief who got up first to sign the treaty, you would like killed; it is this talk that has caused all the difficulty. It seems that you have agreed among yourselves that you will sell the land, and you have done it in the dark. I want you to say now outright, before all' the people here, whether you are willing to sell the land." Shakopee's brother, the speaker for the warriors, sprang to his feet and called out excitedly: "Wabasha has accused us of something we never thought of. The warriors heard that the chiefs were making a treaty and they did not like it, for the land really belongs to the warriors and not to the chiefs; but they never spoke of killing the chiefs. It was true that the soldiers have got together and agreed to sell the land ; they have told him so, and now I have said so." Governor Ramsey, seeing his opportunity, quickly said: "This, then, being the understanding, let the soldiers tell us what chief shall sign first." Medicine Bottle, the head soldier of Little Crow's Kaposia band, arose and said: "To the people who did not go to Washington and make the treaty - to them belongs the land on this side of the river. There is one chief among us who did not go to Washington at that time, and the soldiers want him to sign first. He has been a great war chief, and he has been our leader against the Chippewas. It is Little Crow. We want him to sign first." Little Crow promptly arose. Without a tremor he faced the scowling warriors who had opposed the treaty, and in his well known clarion voice, keyed to a high pitch, he thus addressed them : signs this treaty you will kill. Now I am willing to be first, but I am not afraid you will kill me. If you do, it will be all right. A man has to die sometime, and he ean die but once. It matters little to me when my time comes, nor do I care much how it comes, though I would rather die fighting our enemies. I believe this treaty will be best for the Dakotas, and I will sign it, even if a dog kills me before I lay down the goose quill." Then turning to the commissioners, he said: "Fathers, I hope you will be willing to let our new reservation come down to the Traverse des Sioux, so that our people can be comfortable and not crowded, and have plenty of good hunting and fishing grounds. The Swan lake and other lakes have plenty of fish and wild rice and there is plenty of wood. Rock creek is not far enough down for us. I am glad that we can hunt in the big woods as heretofore, but I hope you will bring our new home down to Traverse des Sioux.*' If Little Crow's request had been granted, the eastern boundary of the new reservation would have extended about forty miles below Rock creek, or two miles east of St. Peter, and Would have included the present sites of that city, New Ulm and Mankato. The commissioners declined the request. Colonel Lea said: "The reservation is all right as if is." Governor Ramsey said: "We have marked out a large piece of land for your home ; the soldiers asked us for more and we gave it. It is all that we can do." Colonel Lea added : "No man puts any food in his mouth by much talk, but often gets hungry if he talks too long. Let the Little Crow and the other chief's step forward and sign." Finding the commissioners firm, Little Crow now stepped to the table and, being handed a chair, sat down and signed each of the duplicate copies of the treaty. It has been said that Little Crow was taught to write by the Rev. Briggs at Lac cpii Parle, and another account declares with equal assurance that his teacher was the Rev. Dr. AVilliamson, at Kaposia. To the treaty Little Crow signed his original name, Tah O-ya-te Duta, meaning His Red Nation. Wabasha was the next to sign, making his mark. Then the other chiefs, head soldiers and principal warriors crowded around to affix their marks. In all there were sixty-five Indian signatures. Of Wacoota 's band, the following affixed their signatures : Chief Wahkoo-tay, the Shooter; his head, soldier, Iron Cloud; and his principal warriors. Good Iron Voice, Stands on the Ground, Stands Above, Sacred Fire, Red Stones, Sacred Blaze and Iron Cane.

At Mendota, as at Traverse des Sioux, when the treaty was concluded, each Indian signer stepped to another table where lay another paper which he signed. This was called the traders' paper, and was an agreement to pay the "just debts," so called, of the Indians, including those present and absent, alive and dead, owing to the traders and the trading company. Some of the accounts were nearly thirty years old, and the Indians who had contracted them were dead; but the bands willingly assumed the indebtedness and agreed that it might be discharged out of the first money paid them. The territory ceded by the two treaties was declared to be: "All their lands in the state of Iowa, and also all their lands in the territory of Minnesota lying east of the following line, to-wit : Beginning at the junction of Buffalo river with the Red River of the North (about twelve miles north of Morehead, at Georgetown station, in Clay county), thence along the western bank of said Red River of the North, to the mouth of the Sioux Wood river; thence along the western bank of said Sioux "Wood river to Lake Traverse; thence along the western shore of said lake to the southern extremity thereof; thence, in a direct line, to the juncture of Kampeska lake with the Tehan-Ka-Sna-Duka, or Sioux river ; thence along the western bank of said river to its point of intersection with the northern line of the state of Iowa, including all islands in said rivers and lakes."

The lower bands, in which designation were included Wacoota's and Wabasha's bands, were to receive $1,410,000, to be paid in the manner and form following: For settling debts and removing themselves to the new reservation, $220,000. one-half to the Medawakanton bands, and one-half to the single Wahpakoota band; for schools, mills, and opening farms. $30,000. Of the principal of $1,410,000, the sum of $30,000 in cash was to be distributed among the two bands as soon as the treaty was ratified, and $28,000 was to be expended annually under the president's direction as follows: To a civilization fund. $12,000; to an educational fund. $6,000; for goods and provisions, $10,000. The balance of the principal, or $1,160,000, was to remain in trust with the United States at five per cent interest, to be paid annually to the Indians for fifty years, commencing July J, 1852. The $58,000 annuity interest was to be expended as the first installment - $30,000 in cash, $12,000 for civilization, $6,000 for education, and $10,000 for goods and provisions. The back annuities under the treaty of 1837 remaining unexpired were also to be paid annually. Their reservation was to extend from the mouth of the Yellow Medicine and Hawk creek southeasterly to the mouth of Rock creek, a tract twenty miles wide and about forty-five miles in length. The half-breeds of the Sioux were to receive in cash $150,000 in lieu of the lands allowed them under the Prairie du Chien treaty of 1830, but which they had failed to claim.

dota treaties, duly signed and attested, were forwarded to Washington to be acted upon by the senate at the ensuing session of Congress. An unreasonably long delay resulted. Final action was not had until the following summer, when, on July 23, the senate ratified both treaties with important amendments. The provisions for reservations for both the upper and lower bands were stricken out, and substitutes adopted, agreeing to pay ten cents an acre for both reservations, and authorizing the president, with the assent of the Indians, to cause to be set apart other reservations, which were to be within the limits of the original great session. The provision to pay $150,000 to the half-bloods of the lower bands was also stricken out. The treaties, with the changes, came back to the Indians for final ratification and agreement to the alterations. The chiefs of the lower bands at first objected very strenuously, but finally, on Saturday, September 1, 1852, at Governor Ramsey's residence in St. Paul, they signed the amended articles, and the following Monday the chiefs and head men of the upper bands affixed their marks. As amended, the treaties were proclaimed by President Fillmore February 24, 1853. The Indians were allowed to remain in their old villages, or if they preferred, to occupy their reservations as originally designated, until the president selected their new homes. That selection was never made, and the original reservations were finally allowed them. The removal of the lower Indians to their designated reservation began in 1853, but was intermittent, interrupted, and extended over a period of several years. The Indians weat up in detachments,, as they felt inclined. After living on the reservation for a time, some of them returned to their old hunting grounds about Mendota, Kaposia, Wabasha, Red Wing and the Cannon river country, where they lived continuously for some time, visiting their reservation and agency only at the time of the payment of their annuities. Finally, by the offer of cabins to live in, or other substantial inducements, nearly all of them were induced to settle on the Redwood Reserve, so that in 1862, at the time of the outbreak, less than twenty families of the Medawakantons and Wahpakootas were living off their reservation. AA'ith the subsequent history of these Indians this volume will not deal in detail; the purpose of dealing with the Indians thus far in this chapter having been to show the various negotiations by which Goodhue county and the surrounding territory came into the possession of the whites and was thus opened for settlement and development.

A few of the descendants of the original Goodhue county Sioux now live at Prairie Island, where they have a settlement of their own and a small Episcopal chapel. It will be recalled that after the signing of the treaty ceding this and other counties to the whites the Indians moved to the designated reservation. After the Indian outbreak of 1862 they were removed to the Santee reservation in Nebraska. For several years after the outbreak an Indian's life was not safe in this county, among the indignant whites. The intense feeling after a time died away, and a few Indians wandered back. Their hearts longed for the scenes of their youth, and one by one they located on Prairie Island. Finally several families relinquished their rights in the Santee country, and in return the government built them houses and made them as comfortable as possible at Prairie Island. The annuities have now expired, and these descendants of the original owners earn their living on their little farms and do various work for the farmers of the county. Their children attend the public schools, and the families evidently live in contentment and happiness, although in their hearts they still long for the old days of hunting and fishing and the free, wild outdoor life, when the country was all theirs and the demands of conventionality unknown.

Hon. William C. Williston, now deceased, was one of the most eminent of Minnesota jurists, occupying the bench of the First Judicial distrid from 1891 until the time of his death, June 22, 1909. He was bora at Cheraw, Chesterfield county, South Carolina, June 22. 1830, son of William K. and Annis (Chapman) Williston, the former of whom was a native of Simsbury, Conn., and the latter of South Hampton. Mass. The parents went to South Carolina in the late twenties, and Ihere the father engaged in the mercantile business. In 1834 the family removed to Chardon. Geauga county. Ohio. There the mother died in 1863, and the father came to Red YVing, where he ended his days. During his boyhood, William was an ap1 pupil in the schools of his neighborhood, and early entertained the idea of studying for the legal profession. Such an opportunity later presented itself, and after several years of training in the office of Riddle & Thrasher, of Chardon. Ohio, he was admitted to the bar in 1854. His first practice was as a junior partner in the office of his preceptors, the firm name being Riddle, Thrasher & Williston. Two years later Mr. Williston left Chardon and came to Red W^ing, becoming a partner in the firm of Wilder & Williston in 1859. In 1862 the Civil WTar had broken out, and repeated calls for volunteers were being sent to the northern states. Desiring to be of service to his country, Mr. AVilliston raised a company of volunteers, of which he was elected captain. This company was organized in August, 1862. with the expectation of doing service in the South, but the outbreaking of the Indian outrages caused a demand for fighting nearer home. Going into service as Company G, Seventh

History 05 Goodhue County 89

.Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, Captain Williston 's command was ordered with the rest of the regiment on an expedition against the Indians. The regiment engaged in the battle of Wood Lake, September 22, 1862, and was stationed at frontier posts until May, 1863, when again ordered on an Indian expedition, engaging the Reds in battle July 24, 26 and 28, 1863. Company G was then ordered to St. Louis, Mo., October 7, 1863, where Captain Williston remained till the spring of '64, when he tendered his resignation and after its acceptance returned to Red Wing, where he resumed his practice with Judge Wilder. In. 1872 he entered into partnership with 0. M. Hall, this arrangement continuing for several years. His first appointment as district judge came in 1891 from Governor William R. Merriam. He was elected to the position in 1892, and then successively re-elected until his death. His associate on the bench was the Hon. F. M. Crosby, of Hastings. Judge Williston represented the county in the legislature in 1873-74, served in the senate in 1876-77, was clerk of the city schools seventeen years, and city attorney several terms at various times. He was an independent voter, a communicant of the Episcopal Church for fifty years, and a member of the Masons. William C. Williston was married in 1854, at Chardon, Ohio, to Mary E. Canfield, of that place, daughter of Austin and Lodemia (Benton) Canfield. To this union were born two sons and two daughters. William F. C. is deceased. Julia W. is the wife of John H. Rich of Red AYing. Annie C. is the wife of Louis Phelpsr now of Wyoming. Eugene, the youngest son. died in infancy.