Jackson County, Minnesota - Chapter 3: The. Spirit Lake Massacbe - 1857, 1910

TO PROPERLY understand the conditions that preceded, and the causes that led up to, the outbreak of Inkpaduta's little outlaw band of Sioux Indians, culminating in the massacres at the Okoboji lakes and at the Springfield settlement in March, 1857, it is necessary to go back to a very early day for some of our information. While the Indians who participated in the massacres were Sioux, they were members of an outlaw band of that nation, and the outrages of 1857 cannot properly be charged to the Sioux nation.

Except for a brief time during the war of 1812 the Sioux of Minnesota had been faithful in their friendship toward the whites from the time of the treaty made with Lieutenant Pike in 1805. This was true with only a few individual exceptions,^ which can not be charged to the nation as a whole or to anv individual tribe. Although all of the recognized Sioux tribes were on friendly terms with the whites until the great outbreak of 1862, in the thii-ties there separated from the other tribes a lawless band which were enemies to all other Indians and in time came to be troublesome to the whites. This

*The Sisseton Sioux murdered two drovers near Big: Stone lake in 1846; the same tribe killed Elijah S. Terry near Pembina in 1852; a drunken Indian killed a Mrs. Keener near Shakopee In 1852. ' was the beginning of the band which conducted the horrible butcheries at Okoboji lakes and at Springfield. The story of the origin of this band and its early history is interesting.

During the thirties the greater part of the Wahpakoota branch of the Sioux lived in the Cannon river country, and its head chief was Tah-sah-ghee, or His Cane. Under him was a sub-chief named Black Eagle, who frequently had a small village in the Blue Earth countr}\ Black Eagle's band was composed largely of desperate characters who frequently made incursions against the Sacs and Foxes in Iowa. The latter retaliated by raiding not only Black Eagle's village on the Blue EJarth, but also the main body of the Wahpakootas under Tah-sah-ghee in the Cannon .river country.

About 1839 Tah-sali-ghee was murdered by some members of his own band. It was commonly believed that the murder was done by Inkpaduta f at any rate that warrior was an accomplice. The killing of their chief caused great consternation and indignation among the Wahpakootas, and Inkpaduta and his accomplices were forced to flee. They went to the Blue

^Inkpaduta. also spelled Inkpadoota, has been variously translated to mean Scarlet End, Red End and Scarlet Point. He was born on the Cannon river about 1800. Mrs. Abbie Gardner-

Earth country, where Black Eagle and his little band were then located, and took temporary refuge there. The murderers were soon chased out, however, by the Cannon river Wahpakootas, who vowed vengeance. The coming of Inkpaduta and his fellow murderers broke up the band of Black Eagle and that chief with some of his warriors fled with Inkpaduta to the northern Iowa countrv.

The band was now outlawed and all Indian tribes were its enemies. Blagk Eagle became chief and led his band to many adventures and over a large territory, they seldom comingling with other tribes. Prom time to time additions were made to the band by the arrival of some desperate character from one of the several Sioux tribes, who fled his own country by reason of some crime committed, and souglit refuge with the outlaw.s. Among those who so joined the band at an early date was Si-dom-i-na-do-ta,^ or All Over Bed, who fled from Sleepy Eye's band of Sisseton Sioux. Black Eagle was murdered after he had been chief only a short time and was succeeded by Si-dom-i-na-do-ta, the second in command being Inkpaduta.

When the outlaw crew began its career it is said to have consisted of only five lodges. The band gradually gained strength by the acquisition of disorderly and turbulent characters until at one time it is said to have numbered above

"As I remember Inkpaduta, he was probably fifty or sixty years of age, about six feet In height, and strongly built He was deeply pitted by smallpox, giving him a revolting appearance and distlnRTuIshing him from the rest of the band. His family consisted of himself and squaw, four sons and one daughter. His natural enmity to the white man. his desparately bold and revengeful disposition, his hatred of his enemies, even of his own race, his matchless success on the war path, won for him honor from his own people, distinguished him as a hero, and made him a leader of his race. By the whites - especially those who have escaped the scenes of his brutal carnage, to wear, within, the garb of deepest mourning, from the severing of social, parental and filial ties - Inkpaduta will ever be remembered as a savage monster in human shape, fitted only for the darkest corner of Hades."

five hundred and to Jiave had eighty lodges. They were almost constantly at war with neighboring bands, notably with the Pottawattomies, the Sax and the Poxes, and had several bloody battles with these tribes.* This constant warfare greatly reduced the renegade band, and when white settlers began to gather in their territory they had not the power of former years. Later wars with the Winnebagoes reduced their fighting force still more.

Of all the Sioux bands this was the only one that made trouble for early day white settlers, and they were uniformly hostile to all with whom they came in contact, fear of punishment being the only restraint upon their lawlessness.* The first instance of its hostility to the whites was in d846, when the band broke up, plundered and drove away a party of government surveyors. Two years later an attack was made on another party of surveyors under Mr. Marsh, who was running a correction line across the state of Iowa.

"Befoi^ the removal of the Pottawattomies and the Sax and Fox Indians this band had several bloody battles with these tribes. The most noted of which, and that which proved most disastrous to the Sioux, took place near the headwaters of Raccoon river. The Sioux had waylaid and massacred "a party of Delawares who were on their way to visit their friends, the Sacs and Foxes, who were then holding a great dance and festival near the site of the present city of Des Moines. Only one Delaware escaped. He hastened to the camp of his friends. An avenging party led by that noted chief, Pash-epa-ha, tben eighty years old. was soon on the war path. After a Journey of a hundred miles they overtook the Sioux and slew. It is said, three hundred of them with a loss of only eight of their own braves.

"The band also had several battles with the Pottawattomies. One of these took place at Twin lakes, about fifty miles west of Fort Dodge, and another on the Sooth LI«ard. In what Is now Webster county. The last battle between Indian tribes known to have taken place on Iowa soil was fought in 18S2 between a part of this band and a band of Musquakles. The "battle field is not far from th« present town of Algona. There the Sioux were again defeated."

*" . . . a small band of savages, renegades and outlaws from the Sioux, owing neither alleglence nor obedience to any chief or band, or other authority, white or red. They were Ishmaelites whose hands were against all other men, and who were particularly hated by their own kindred and nation." - ^Minnesota In Three Centuries.

The surveyors of this party had just crossed to the west side of the Des Moines a' little below the present site of Fort Dodge when they were met by Si-dom-ina-do-ta and a portion of his lawless band. The Indians forbade the surveyors to proceed and ordered them back to the east side of the river, declaring that the land on the west side belonged to them. After making this declaration the Indians left while the whites continued with the work. They had gone but a short distance when the red men returned and broke the instruments and wagons and robbed the surveyors of their horses and provisions. Marsh and his men then made the best of their way home.

After this the few settlers along the Des Moines river were made the victims of repeated robberies and outrages. Such conduct on the' part of Si-dom-i-na-do-ta led the government to establish the post at Fort Dodge, which was done in 1850. For a time peace resulted along the Des Moines, but farther west, on the Raccoon and Boyer rivers, the savages continued their old game. In October, 1852, they attacked and robbed a family on Boyer river and took a young man and young woman prisoners. A detachment of troops from Fort Dodge overtook a portion of the perpetrators of this outrage and made prisoners of Inkpaduta and Umpashota, whom they held as hostages until the captives and stolen property were returned. At another time two or three white prisoners were taken by the renegades, but were forced by the troops to release them.

In July, 1853, Fort Dodge was abandoned as a military post, the troops going north and establishing Fort Ridgely in what is now the extreme northwest comer of Nicollet county, Minnesota, on the Minnesota river above New TJlm. Si-domi-na-do-ta and his band were not slow to take advantage of the absence of the soldiers and they became very troublesome to the settlers along the Des Moines, both above and below Fort Dodge. Retribution overtook the red handed leader of this gang of outlaws in 1854. An excellent account of his taking off and the tragic events which preceded it has bepn given

There were also wicked and dissolute white men who lived oflf the appetites and baser passions of the savages. Among these was a man by the name of Henry Lott, who in the fall of 1846 was living and conducting a small trading station on the Des Moines river a short distance below the mouth of Boone river, about twenty-five miles south of where Fort Dodge now is, and I suppose his principal stock in trade was "firewatei^* or whiskey.

Late in the fall of this year a party of Winnebagoes came to his . place with a span of Indian ponies which they wanted to sell, and they finally made a trade with Lott, who got the ponies, presumably, for what is usually termed a song. Lott's family at this time consisted of his wife, a stepson, about eighteen years old, an own son, thirteen years old, and probably two or three small children. After the Winnebagoes had gone Lott took the span of ponies and started for Fort Des Moines to get supplies for his family and for trade with the Indians. A few days after he went a party of Sioux under Si-dom-i-na-do-ta came there and demanded the ponies, saying the Winnebagoes had stolen them, and when told that the ponies were not there they refused to believe it and ordered the oldest boy to go out and get them. The boy left and immediatel}' started down the river in the hope of meeting his stepfather. After waiting an hour or two and the boy not returning, the Indians ordered the younger boy to go and get the ponies, and he, like his brother, started down the river to meet his father.

By this time it was nearly night, and darkness soon setting in and a blinding snow storm coming on, the boy became confused and perished by freezing to death. The older boy succeeded in reaching his father and they scon reached home and found the younger boy gone. They, in company with some neighbors, immediately started a search and soon found the lifeless body stark and cold in death. Lott seems to have taken the loss of his son very deeply to heart, and although there is no evidence of his seeking immediate revenge, he seems to have brooded over it and awaited a favorable opportunity to do so.

In the meantime fin 1853] the soldiers had been removed from Fort Dodge to Fort Ridgely, and Lott himself^ soon after that event, moved from the mouth of Boone river to near the mouth of Lott's creek, on the oast branch of the Des Moines river (in Humboldt county, Iowa), where he was living in the winter and early spring of 1854. His wife had died previous to the time and the small children were given in charge of his old neighbors, only his stepson, now a young man, accompanying him to his new home. He was still intent on trading with the Indians, taking with him a small stock of goods and two or three barrels of whiskey. Upon his arrival he learned that there was a family of Indians encamped a few miles above him on the river and conceived the idea of murdering the whole family in revenge for the Indians having unintentionally caused the death of his son.

So, taking his stepson, he proceeded to the Indian camp, which was occupied by 8i-dom-iiia-do-ta and Avife, mother and six children. On reaching the camp he told Si-dom-i-na-dota that there was a drove of elk feeding only a short distance away. The unsuspecting Indian took his rifle, mounted a pony, and followed the white men up on to a prairie, where, sure enough, there was seen a herd of elk not far away. The Indian rode gladly a Way, anticipating a rare treat in killing a fine elk and thus replenishing his larder. He had gone but a few rods when both men raised their guns and fired, killing the Indian instantly. They then returned to the camp and proceeded to murder the whole family, as they supposed, with the exception of one girl, Fome seven or eight years old, who slipped out under the walls of the tepee and made her escape. She hid in the bushes not far away until Lott and his son had completed their bloody work and left; then she returned to the tepee and found her relatives all murdered. However, in looking them over, she discovered signs of life in her oldest brother, and, bringing some water, she threw it in his face and brought him to. He had been knocked in the head with an ax or hatchet, but was not seriously injured. The boy and girl remained two or three days at the tepee in the hope that some of their friends would come and find them, but none coming, they struck out for a family of white people whom they knew lived on the west fork of the Des Moines, some fifteen miles distant. They reached this place in safety and told their terrible story. It was not long until the Indians became aware of the murders and they demanded that the whites deliver Lott and his son over to them, to be dealt with according to the Indian idea of retribution.

The settlers for thirty miles or more around engaged in a hunt for Lott and his son, but they were unable to find them, for Lott well knew what would be his fate if he fell into the hands of the enraged red men. So, immediately after committing his atrocious deed, he hitched up his team and started for Fort Des Moines. There he joined a party of Mormons who were about to start across the plains for Salt Lake, and as he had several

I afterward learned from reliable authority that Lott finally reached Oregon, at that time a very sparsely settled territory, inhabited by several tribes of Indians who waged almost incessant warfare against the white settlers. There he joined a band of Indians and fought the whites with his red brethren. After one of the many fights the whites had with the Indians, in the spring of 1857, in which the latter were defeated, there was found left among the dead the body of Lott, it being recognized by a young man who had known him while he lived on the Des Moines. The manner of his taking off seemed to be the execution of a not unrighteous judgment.

After the raurrler of Si-dora-i-na-do-ta in 1854 Inkpadiita became the recognized leader of the outlaw Sioux^ and continued operations in southwestern Minnesota and northwestern Iowa, and was very annoying to the settlers on the frontier.

TThere Is a conflict of authority in regrard to these outlaws and especially in regard to their leaders, Si-dom-i-na-do-ta and Inkpaduta. Iowa authorities convey the impression that there was at all times only one band, of which Sl-dom-ina-do-ta was the leader, with Inkpaduta as second in command, and that the latter assumed the chieftanship upon the death of the former. Minnesota authorities state that after the removal of the Sacs and Foxes from Iowa In 1846 there were two bands, one operating In Iowa under Si-dom-i-na-do-ta. while a few others remained on the upper Des Moines under the leadership of Inkpaduta. Mr. Holcombe. In Minnesota in Three Centuries, very clearly explains the relationship between the two notorious outlaw leaders, and calls attention to errors made by Iowa historians:

"Now, certain misinformed people have been led to believe that the Spirit Lake and Springfield murders were perpetrated by the Indians In retaliation for the murder of SIntomminee Doota rSi-dom-i-na-do-ta] and his family by Henry Lott and his son. It Is asserted by some Iowa historians (Major Williams, before mentioned, seems to have started the story) that SIntomminee Doota and Inkpaduta were brothers, and that the latter when he slew the people at Spirit lake and cut off their heads, dashed out the brains of the little ones against trees and houses and ravished the women and PTlrls of the Iowa settlement, was merely taking vengeance for the loss of his brother.

"The truth Is. Inkpaduta was a Wahpakoota Sioux, his family were all members of that band, from southeastern Minnesota, while All Over Red [Si-dom-i-na-do-ta] was a Sisseton, from the upper Minnesota. It is doubtful whether Inkpaduta ever heard the particulars of All Over Red's murder: it Is certain that he woul<3 not have been concerned if he had. With him it was every man for himself, he never had a sentiment so noble and dignified as that of revenge, and would not turn on his heel to retaliate for the slaughter of his nearest friend. Of all the base characters among his fellow outlaws, his nature seems to have been the vilest, and his heart the bHckest. He murdered his own people - even those of his own band. He killed one of his companions to have his wife In safety."

Iowa, the trouble originating at Clear lake, where a party of three or four Winnebagoes met a young Sioux alone and killed him. The murderers sought protection at the homes of two white settlers at Clear lake, Messrs. Hewitt and Dickerson, who had settled there in 1851. These settlers were friendly to the Winnebagoes and assisted in getting them to a place of safety. The Sioux under Inkpaduta were in an ugly mood over the occurrence, searched the house of one of the white settlers, and tlireatened vengeance. The whites became alarmed and gathered at the home of Mr. Dickerson. It was decided to form a company and drive the Sioux from the neighborhood. Accordingly twenty-five whites^ under the leadership of a man by tlie name of Long, proceeded to the Sioux camp and demanded that the Sioux leave the vicinity at once, which the Indians reluctantly agreed to do and did.

After having been so summarily driven from the Clear lake country, Inkpaduta and his band returned to his old hunting grounds on the upper Des Moines and about the lakes in Dickinson county, Iowa. They continued to annoy the few settlers along the Des Moines and its tributaries during the summer of 1855. During the year 1856 they were comparatively peaceful, and no fear seems to have been felt by the whites of the older settled portions of the country or by those who pushed farther out on the frontier - among them th<>se who came to the Springfield settlement.

Now, having told of the origin and having given a brief history of l;his outlaw band from the time of its organization, let us take a look at it as it was when the settlement at Springfield was founded in 1856 and then consider some events that led to the terrible massacres in the spring of 1857. In 1855 Inkpaduta and his warriors appeared at the Sioux agency and received annuities for eleven persons, although they were not identified with any regular band or a party to any treaty. They appeared again in 1856 and demanded a share of the money to be paid to the Wahpakoota tribe. This time they were refused and made a great deal of trouble, but were forced to return to their haunts on the Bix Sioux river.® At the time of the massacre the band consisted of about a dozen warriors and their women and children.

After having spent the summer of 1856 in the Big Sioux country, Inkpaduta and his band set out on a trip to their old hunting grounds and, as has been previously stated, appeared at the Spriijgfield settlement in the fall. From their camp at Springfield they proceeded to the lakes in Dickinson county, where they fished and hunted and visited the homes of the whites settlers, as they had done at Springfield, partaking of the whites^ hospitality and thus gaining accurate knowledge of the number in each house, and making themselves familiar with the conditions and suri'oundings. From this settlement they proceeded to the Little Sioux river, camping a few days at each of the large groves.

The Indians spent several days in the vicinity of the home of the Wilcox brothers, bachelors, who lived on the Little Sioux, and then went down the river to what was known as the Bell and Weaver cabin, situated near the present location of Sioux Eapids, and occupied by Mr. Weaver and his wife and his brother-inlaw, Mr. Bell. From that point they continued down the river, stopping at each settlement a few days to hunt and trap and enjoy the hospitalities of the whites. They passed the settlements at Peterson and Cherokee and the few settlers between them until they finally reached the town of Sraithland, which was located on the bank of the Little Sioux, just above where it merges from the bluffs and flows out into the wide Missouri bottom. Smithland was then a little town of about a dozen buildings. It was an oldor settlement than those the Indians had before visited and the whites there knew, or at least had heard, something of the doings of this band in former years, so they did not extend hospitality, as had been done by the newer settlements.

Inkpaduta and his outlaws camped near the own and connnenceil be^rging and stealing food for themselves and their ponies, much to the annoyance of the people of Smithland. Fort the first time on the trip the Indians were not received kindly and for the first time they became insolent. A number of incidents occurred which aroused the wrath of the whites and caused the Indians to become more sullen and disagreeable.® Relations between the white and red men had reached this stage when the settlers decided to order the Indians to leave.

Four or five determined men armed themselves and proceeded to within a few rods of the Indian camp, when to their surprise they found Inkpaduta and his warriors armed and prepared to fight. They ordered the settlers not to approach and when the order was not heeded the Indians fired their guns over the heads of the whites, who then returned to town. The subject of the actions of the Indians was discussed and the settlers concluded

-One morning Mr. Smith, the founder of the town, caught an Indian stealing corn from his crib and gave the redskin a sound cuffing. The Indians alleged that at another time while they were In pursuit of elk they had some difficulty with the settlers, claiming that the whites interrupted the chase. It is said that an Indian was bitten by a dog belonging to one of the settlers, that the Indian killed the dog. and that the owner of the dog then gave the Indian a severe beating and took his gun from him. Another time, it Is said, the settlers drove off a party of squaws who were stealing hay and com.

that they did not care to feed so many Indians when it was difficult to get enough food for their own families, and that notice should be given that they must leave. - Accordingly all the men gathered together and went to the Indian camp and disarmed the band, telling them they must leave the next morning, and that they might call for their guns then. The Indians did not call for their weapons, but left without them.

The Indians, who claimed that they were on their way to visit their friends, the Omahas, who at that time lived just across the Missouri river, now changed their plans entirely and returned over the route by which they had come. Their fracas with the people of Smithland had put them in an ugly temper and they at once began depredations upon the exposed and scattered settlements, although they did not shed human blood until they were on trie extreme frontier.

At the first house they came to after leaving Smithland, the occupants being ignorant of the troubles at the latter place, the Indians seized the guns of the inmates. They then rasacked the cabin, taking all the monev thev could find and what trinkets pleased their fancy. Inkpaduta and his warriors and squaws continued in a northeasterly direction toward Cherokee, helping themselves to provisions and in some places killing cattle to supply themselves with meat. As the settlers along this route were from ten to twenty miles apart, and as the snow was of enormous depth, preventing travel, one settler did not know what was happening to his neighbor, so each in turn fell easy prey to the vagabonds and none offered resistence.

Some fifty miles above Smithland was a little settlement of about a dozen houses, founded by a colony of adventurous men from Massachusetts and named Cherokee.

The people of this village had^ in some manner, learned of the outrages committed below and had hidden their guns^ provisions and such valuables as the Indians would be likely to take.^*^ This action caused the Indians to become very angry and they threatened to take the lives of the settlers unless the hidden property was produced. Only by a narrow margin was a massacre averted. The whites were generally firm and the Indians got but little from the settlement. They had the satisfaction, however, of killing most of the stock before leaving. At one cabin in Cherokee three bachelors who lived there did not hide their guns, nor did they propose to give them up. Tins action resulted in threats to shoot by both parties and bloodshed was narrowly averted. When the whites refused to give up their weapons the Indians cocked their guns and pointed them at the men, sticking the muzzle almost in their faces. The whites acted instantly and brought their weapons to bear upon the reds in the same way. For a time it looked as though some one would surely get hurt, but neither party fired and finally the Indians lowered their weapons. Before they left they succeeded in getting hold of one of the men, dragged him froii the cabin, wrenched his gim away from him, and beat and kicked him severely, breaking several of his ribs. His companions finally got him inside the cabin and fastened the door. This so enraged the Indians that they fired several shots through the door, but none of the occupants was hit. The whites did not return the fire.

**"At this place the whites had heard somethiner of the trouble before the arrival of Inkpaduta and his band, and, I presume, had they gathered together In one of the log houses, they might easily have defended themselves against this small band, but they were in the midst of an Indian country, and should they fire upon and kill any of the redskins, it was supposed that it would precipitate the whole Sioux nation upon themselves and other defenseless settlers. I might here remark that the same idea and feeling prevailed among nearly all the people on the frontier at that time." - Jareb Palmer.

As the savages proceeded up the Little Sioux they became still bolder and more insolent, stealing all the horses from the settlers, destroying all the property that was too bulky for them to take with them, and in several instances ravishing white women. Prom Cherokee they proceeded to Peterson, in Clay county, where the story of their outrages having preceded them, the settlers had secreted their weapons, provisions and valuables. But by bullying and abusing the settlers the Indians compelled many to produce their liidden stores, of which the outlaws took what they wanted. At this place they took two girls, aged seventeen and twelve years, to their camp. The younger they released the next day, but the older girl they kept in their camp more than a week. When they were ready to leave the young lady was permitted to return to her home.

Prom Peterson the red devils proceeded to the cabin of Bell and Weaver. Here they committed all kinds of deviltry, some so revolting as to be unfit to print. Among other things, the Indians amused themselves by compelling Mr. Bell to stand against the wall while they threw their long knives and stuck them in the wall around his head. After the redskins had left, Mr. Bell and Mr. and Mrs. Weaver started out on foot across the trackless and snow-covered prairie in seeming futile attempt to reach Port Dodge, fifty miles away. After enduring the most intense suffering from fatigue, hunger and exposure, the fugitives reached Port Dodge and were the first to bring intelligence of the dangerous situation on the frontier.

Major William Williams, of Fort Dodge, had been authorized by the Iowa legislature to take measures for the protection of the frontier should he deem it to be in danger. Therefore he at once organized a company of fifty men and was soon on his way to the settlements on the Little Sioux. Upon his arrival he found that the Indians had gone. After learning the particulars of the atrocities committed, Major Williams, instead of following the Indians, as it would seem it was his duty to do, gave what relief he could to the people who had suffered at the handg of the Indians and then returned home."

From the Bell and Weaver cabin Inkpaduta and his Indians went to the Wilcox cabin, where they continued their depredations, but fortunately there were no women there. They took three horses belonging to the Wilcox brothers and then proceeded eastward to the Okoboji lakes settlement.

Such was the gang of desperadoes approaching the exposed settlements and the unsuspecting settlers on the extreme frontier at Okoboji lakes and at Springfield. No warning had they that Inkpaduta and his ruffian band, who had been peaceably inclined on their visit in the fall, was returning in a far different mood, bent on murder.

The Indians arrived in the vicinity of Okoboji lakes on the evening of March 7^^ and went into camp near the cabin of Mr. Mattock, where Arnold's Park is now. The band consisted of fifteen warriors,

"It Is barely possible tlrat Major Williams did not know that there were white settlers In the direction in which the Indians had grone. Mr. Jareb Palmer has written of this possibility as follows:

"On reaching: the Little Sioux he [Major Williams] found that the Indians had left, they havingr gone in the direction of Spirit lake. The settlement at Spirit lake was of so recent date that I presume the major was Igrnorant of Its existence and It is possible that he had never even heard of Spirit lake itself, as it was only Just beginning to be talked about."

"This is undoubtedly the date of their arrival and is the one given by Mrs. Sharp. Judge Flandreau says they must have arrived on the 6th or 7th. R. A. Smith, in his history of Dickinson county, gives an earlier date and .says: "A letter found upon the ground written by Dr. Harriot, dated March 5 (two days before the massncre). referred to the fact that the Indians were camped there, that they were on friendly terms with them and that they had done some trading with them. Other matters were referred to in the letter which showed that they had no suspicions of danger." It is very probable that the Indians who arrived before the 7th were members of some other band, or, possibly, scouts from the renegade band.

including Inkpaduta, with the squaws^ papooses and the ufsual complement of ponies, dogs and other appurtenances of an Indian camp. On the morning of the 8th began the awful massacre. No white person knows the particulars of the beginning of the butchery, for at the Mattock home, where it began, all were killed. The killing of the settlers continued for several days, at the end of which time every white person in the Spirit lake country, with the exception of four women captives, was murdered, while none of the Indians, so far as is known, was harmed.

It is not my intention to go into the details of this butchery at Okoboji lakes, commonly called the Spirit lake massacre,^^ but to simply give a few facts concerning it, that the reader may gain an idea of the temper of the Indians when they attacked Springfield. In fact, the only approach to an authentic account of the massacre is that given by Mrs. Abbie Gardner-Sharp, and her story is confined principally to the events at her father's house.

When the Indians appeared in the settlement on the morning of March 8 they continued the insolent, overbearing manner they had employed on the Little Sioux, those of the whites who came in contact with them noticing that they displayed their sullenness and insolence to an unusual degree. Some of the settlers became alarmed, but others professed to believe that the Indians were simply in one of their peevish moods, and scouted the idea of any serious trouble. At breakfast time an Indian came to the home of Rowland Gardner, one of the prominent settlers of the place, and was given his breakfast. He was followed by others

"Out of about forty people killed In this massacre only one was killed on Spirit lake; the others had their homes on the Okoboji lakes. At the time the whole lake country of Dickinson county was known as the Spirit lake country; hence the commonly applied name of the massacre.

until the whole fighting force, including Inkpaduta and his fourteen warriors, with their squaws and papooses, were in the house, and all were fed. Suddenly they became sullen, demanding ammunition and numerous other things, and not having all their requests granted, attempted to shoot one of the inmates. They prowled around the place until noon and then went away, taking Mr. Gardner^s cattle with them and shooting them on the way back to camp.

The Indians returned to this home in the afternoon, took Miss Abbie Gardner, then fourteen years of age, prisoner, and murdered the rest of the family. Miss Gardner (now Mrs. Sharp) has graphically described the murder of her faniily in her History of the Spirit Lake Massacre, from which I quote:

About three o'clock we heard the report of guns, in rapid succession, from the house of Mr. Mattock. We were, then, no longer in doubt as to the awful reality that was hanging over us. Two long hours we passed in this fearful anxiety and suspense, waiting and watching, with conflicting hopes and fears, for Mr. Luce and Mr. Clark [who had gone to warn some of the neighbors] to return. At length, just as the sun was sinking behind the western horizon, shedding its brilliant rays over the snowy landscape, father, whose anxiety would no longer allow him to remain within doors, went out to reconnoiter. He, however, hastily returned, saying: *'Nine Indians are coming, now only a short distance from the house, and we are all doomed to die.'* His first thought was to barricade the door and fight till the last, saying: "While they are killing all of us, I will kill a few of them with the two loaded guns still left in the house." But to this mother protested, having not yet lost all faith in the savage monsters, and still hoping they would appreciate our kindness and spare our lives she said: **If we have to die, let us die innocent of shedding blood."

Alas, for the faith placed in these inhuman monsters! They entered the house ajid demanded more flour; and, as father turned to get them what remained of our scanty store, they shot him through the heart; he fell upon his right side and died without a struggle. When first the Indian raised his gun to fire, mother or Mrs. Luce seized the gun and drew it down; but the other Indians instantly turned upoB them, seized them by the arms, and beat them over the head with the butts of

They then began an indiscriminate destruction of everything in the house; breaking open trunks and taking out clothing, cutting open feather beds, and scattering the feathers everywhere. When the Indians entered the house, and during these awful scenes, I was seated in a chair, holding my sister's baby in my arms; her little boy on one side, and my little brother on the other, clinging to me in terror. They next seized the children, tearing them from me one by one, while they reached their little arms to me, crying piteously for protection that I was powerless to give. Heed- Jess of their cries, they dragged them out of doors and beat them to death with sticks of stovewood.

All this time I was both speechless and tearless; but now, left alone, I begged them to kill me. It seemed as though I could not wait for them to finish their work of death. One of them approached, and roughly seizing me by the arm said something I could not understand, but I well knew, from their actions, that I was to be a captive. All the terrible tortures and indignities I had ever read or heard of being inflicted upon their captives now arose in horrid vividness before me.

After ransacking the house and taking whatever they thought might be serviceable, such as provisions, bedding, arms and ammunition, and after the terrible scalping knife bad done its terrible work, I was dragged from the never-to-be-forgotten scene. No Ian- ' guage can ever suggest, much less adequately portray, my feelings aa I passed that door.

With a naturally sensitive nature, tenderly and affectionately reared, shuddering at the very thought of cruelty, you can, my dear reader, imagine, but only imagine, the agony I endured when so suddenly plunged into scenes from which no element of the terrible or revolting seemed wanting. Behind me I left my heroic father, murdered in a cowardly manner in the very act of extreme hospitality; shot down at my feet, and I had not the privilege of impressing one farewell kiss upon his lips, yet warm with life and affection. Just outside the door lay the three children - so dear to me - bruised, mangled and bleeding; while their moans and groans pierced my ears and called in vain for one loving caress which I was prevented from giving them. A little farther on lay my Christ-like mother, who till the very last had pleaded the cause of her brutish murderers, literally weltering in her own blood. Still farther on, at the southwest corner of the house, in a similar condition, lay my eldest sister, Mrs. Luce, who had been so intimately associated with me from earliest recollections. Amid these scenes of unutterable horror I took my farewell look upon father, mother, sister and brother and my sister's little ones.

whose hands were still wet with the blocd of those dearest to me, and at one of whose belts still hung the dripping scalp of my mother, with even the much coveted boon of death denied me, we plunged into the gloom of the forest and the coming night; but neither the gloom of the forest, nor the blackness of the night, nor both combined, could begin to symbolize the darknessi of my terror-stricken heart.

Another place of butchery was at the home of Mr. Mattock, where an abortive attempt at defense had been made. Apparently the whites had been in the house, and the Indians, to drive them out, had fired the cabin - the only instance in which a cabin was burned. A few weapons were found near the bodies of some of the slain men, leading to the belief that a fight had been made. Mrs. Sharp describes the scenes at this point as she remepabers them:

A tramp of about one mile brought me to the camp of my captors, which was the home of Mr. Mattock. Here the sights and sounds that met the eye and ear were truly appalling. The forest was lighted by the camp fires and also by the burning of the cabins, and the air was rent with the unearthly warwhoop of the savages and the shrieks and groans of two helpless victims confined in the burning cabin, sulfering all the agonies of a fiery ^^ath. Scattered upon the ground were a number of bodies, among which I recognized that of Dr. Harriot, rifle still in hand; as well as the bodies of Mr. Mattock, Mr. Snyder and others, with rifles near them, some broken. All gave evidence that an attempt at resistance had been made, but too late.

All this must be celebrated by the wardance - that hideous revelry that seems to have been borrowed from the lowest depths of Tartarus. Near the ghastly corpses and over the blood-stained snow, with blackened faces and flerce uncouth gestures, and with wild screams and yells, they circled round and round, keeping time to the dullest, dreariest sound of drum and rattle, until complete exhaustion compelled them to desist.

On the 9th the demons completed their work of carnage in the immediate vicinity by the murder of the four remaining families and the taking of two more women prisoners, Mrs. Lydia Noble and Mrs. Elizabeth Thatcher. At one home they seized the children by the feet, dragging tliem from their mother^s arms, and dashed their brains out against an oak tree. On the 10th they broke camp and crossed West Okoboji lake on the ice, traveled to the west a distance of three miles, and went into camp. The savages broke camp again on the 11th and moved northwesterly to the Marble grove on the west side of Spirit lake. They were ignorant of tlie fact that there were any more whites in the vicinity and did not find it out until the 13th, when they murdered Mr. Marble and took his wife, Mrs. Margaret Marble, prisoner. This was the last butchcry in the vicinty and the event was celebrated by a war dance.

From this camp on Spirit lake, on the 13tli, Inkpaduta and his" bloodthirsty warriors, with the booty and captives, set out in a northerly direction and entered Jackson county. They traveled in a leisurely manner, camping in the groves along the streams and by the little lakes, never stopping more than one night in a place, feasting upon the provisions taken from their victims. During this journey they were planning the attack on the Springfield settlement and, according to Mrs. Sharp, were negotiating with the Indians of TJmpashota's and Gaboo's camps for assistance in the work. On the 26th of March camp was pitched on the bank of Heron lake, some fifteen miles from the Springfield settlement.

Let us, for the time being, leave this red-handed band of murderers at their camp on Peron lake, making preparation for future crimes, and again take up our story of the Springfield settlers as we left them, anxiously waiting for the opening of spring.