Des Moines County IA Archives History - Books .....Chapter VI Black Hawk Purchase 1915
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Book Title: History Of Des Moines County Iowa

CHAPTER VI 
BLACK HAWK PURCHASE

   What we have written in the foregoing pages is merely an introduction to the
main purpose of this book, which is to preserve to future generations a history
of Des Moines County and its people.

   This history commences on the extinguishment of the Indian title to the land
within its corporate limits. The Black Hawk war terminated in 1832, and at its
termination, on the 21st of September, 1832, where is now situated the City of
Davenport, a treaty was entered into between the United States, which was
represented by Gen. Winfield Scott and Governor Reynolds of Illinois, and the
Indians by Keokuk, Pash-e-pa-ho ("The Stabber"), who was a party to the infamous
treaty of 1804, and some thirty other chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes. By this
treaty the Sac and Fox Indians ceded to the United States 6,000.000 acres of
land bordering on the Mississippi River, commencing at the northern boundary
line of Missouri; thence northward along the Mississippi to the mouth of the
Upper Iowa River, thence west fifty miles, then south to the -Missouri line,
thence to the place of beginning. The consideration for this cession was $20,000
annually for thirty consecutive years, and the payment of the debts of the
Indians, which amounted to $50,000.

   Before the extinguishment of the Indian title white settlements had been made
at several places along the Mississippi. Dr. Samuel C. Muir, a Scotchman by
birth, who had married an Indian girl, had built a cabin where is located the
City of Keokuk; this was in 1821. A Frenchman named M. Blondieu had a cabin
further up the river. At the head of the Des Moines Rapids, Louis Honore Tesson
had a trading post. In 1829 Dr. Isaac Galland settled where the Town of
Nashville is located; his place was called Ap-wip-e-tuck. Here was born to the
doctor and his good wife, in 1830, Eleanor Galland, who was the first white
child born within the now limits of Iowa. At Shok-ko-kon (Burlington) Maurice
Blaundeau, a halfbreed, had a trading post. Here he died and here was his grave.
When the first white settlers came, they found the grave enclosed by a fence
made of palings, and at its head had been erected a wooden cross. His remains
were taken up and interred, very probably in the old cemetery grounds on which
is now built the Burlington City High School.

   By the terms of the treaty ceding to the Government what is known as the
Black Hawk Purchase there was reserved what is known as Keokuk's Reserve. Mr.
Arthur Springer, historian of Louisa County, has examined very thoroughly this
matter and I quote what he says: "Keokuk's Reserve has been described in so many
different publications, and in so many different ways, that there are many
conflicting views extant as to its original shape and location. Doctor Pickard
in his historical lectures upon the Indians of Iowa has a map which gives it in
one form. Doctor Salter gives it in a different form, and both of these usually
excellent authorities are wrong. From the fact that this reservation included a
considerable part of the best land in this county, we deemed it best to procure
an accurate description of it. By the treaty of 1832 this reserve was to be
marked off under the direction of the President of the United States.
Accordingly it was surveyed by Charles D. Ward, assistant surveyor for William
Gordon, surveyor. The survey commenced on April 30, 1835, and was finished
October, 1835. Robert Neil and Joseph Prepi were chain carriers, Etienne
Tourville was axman, Francis Ray was flagman, and Michael Dennis, Coles Olivier
and Narcis Blaycamp were camp keepers and hunters. The shape and location of
this reserve is shown on the map of Louisa County as it was first established,
which appears in this work. This map was prepared by W. S. Kremer, county
surveyor of Louisa County, and according to his judgment, the southwest corner
of the Keokuk Reserve was situated about fifty-two rods (thirteen chains) south
of the quarter post between sections 16 and 21, township 73 north, range 2 west,
and extended north 290 west forty-two miles and thirty chains to the Indian
boundary line. It then extended southwest along the Indian boundary line nine
miles and thirty-seven hundredths chains; thence south 290 east forty-two miles
and thirty chains to a point a little south of latitude 410; thence north 280 to
the place of beginning. The in formation we give in regard to the Keokuk Reserve
is derived from a certified copy of the original blue print, and a portion of
the field notes, and was furnished us by the commissioner of Indian affairs."
According to the map to which Mr. Springer refers, the southwest corner of the
reserve commenced at the southeast corner of the southeast quarter of section
33, township ~z north, range 3 west (Yellow Springs Township). Put it will be
remembered that the northern boundary of old Des Moines County was a line drawn
due west from the lower end of Rock Island to the Missouri River. Such being the
case, a large part of this reservation must have been in old Des Moines County.
It is a well-known fact that in Yellow Springs Township a large portion of the
western part of the township was not settled until after this reserve had been
extinguished, which was in 1836.

   On the 4th of August, 1824, in a treaty made in St. Louis between the Uuited
States and the Sac and Fox Indians, they relinquished their title to the lands
which they held in Missouri. By the terms of this treaty there was set off and
reserved for the use of the halfbreeds what is known as the Halfbreed Tract,
they holding the title in the same manner as Indians. They had the right to
occupy the land, but could not convey title, the reversion being in the
Government. On the 30th of July, 1834, the Congress passed an act by which this
reversionary interest was relinquished, and the halfbreeds acquired the fee
title. The result was, as soon as the halfbreeds had been clothed with the fee
title, many speculators entered this district and for a quart of whiskey, a
blanket, a pony, or any small sum, purchased most of these lands. They also
purchased from some claiming to be halfbreeds. but who in fact were not, and who
had taken possession of certain portions of the land. It was a general niixiip
of fraud and deception to acquire valuable property. To settle the difficulties
which arose from these acts, and to decide the validity of the claimants, the
Legislature of Wisconsin Territory on the 16th of July, 1838, passed an act
appointing Edward Johnston, Thomas S. Wilson and David Brigham commissioners,
with power to settle the difficulty. After the commissioners had commenced their
labors the next Legislature repealed the act appointing them. The repealing act
also provided that the commissioners should receive $6 per day for the services
which they had rendered, and gave them authority to bring actions against the
owners of the halfbreed tracts to recover for the services rendered. In August,
1839, Edward Johnston, one of the commissioners, obtained judgment against the
owners of the said tract for $1,290, and David Brigham, another of the
commissioners, obtained judgment against the same owners for $818, both
judgments being rendered by the District Court of Lee County. Execution was
issued on these judgments, and the sheriff made return on these executions,
stating he had sold to Hugh T. Reid the halfbreed tract containing one hundred
and nineteen thousand acres, more or less, for $2,884.06, and had executed and
delivered to him a deed for the same. Webster, the defendant (plaintiff in
appeal) claimed title to 160 acres of the land sold to Reid, and offered to
prove that Na-ma-tau-pas was a halfbreed. Objection to this evidence was
sustained. Then he offered to prove that he had entered into possession of the
land and had improved it, and no service had ever been made upon him of the
pendency of the suit of Johnston and Brigham; that Reid was the counsel who had
procured said judgment; that he as well as the owners of the said land were
prevented by the fraudulent acts of plaintiffs from appearing and defending;
that the return made by the sheriff was false and fraudulent. The court
sustained the objections to this evidence, whereupon plaintiff below had
judgment and for costs, and upon writ of error the case came before the United
States Court (Webster vs. Reid, 20 Howard 437)." The Supreme Court reversed the
court from which appeal had been taken, holding the court erred in sustaining
objections to the evidence offered by the defendant. This put an end to Reid's
title. Subsequently the title to these lands was determined by partition decree
issued by the United States District Court for the Territory of Iowa. The
partition decree divided the tract into IOI shares, and it was provided in the
decree that each claimant should draw lots for his share. Francis S. Key, author
of the "Star Spangled Banner," and Henry W. Starr, attorney, of Burlington, were
attorneys in the case; Judge Mason presided as the court. This trouble commenced
when the halfbreeds' land was a part of old Des Moines County, for it was in
1834 the halfbreeds were clothed with the fee title to these lands.

   The treaty by which the United States acquired the lands described in and
known as Black Hawk Purchase was ratified on February 13, 1833. Col. J. W.
Johnson had in 1808 a trading post at Shoc-ko-kon, near the mouth of Flint Creek.

   The names of white settlers who came to what was Des Monies County before the
extinguishment of the Indian title will be considered in another place in this
history. It may not be out of place at this point to state why in the course of
events the Indians were compelled to give way to the coming of the pioneers. The
North American Indian possessed characteristics different from those of any
other race of men on the face of the earth. He was different from the ancient
Britain, German and Gaul, who led a tribal existence amongst the mountains and
forests of the land in which he dwelt; different from the hordes which came from
Asia and devastated Europe. Like the Indians, the Celtic, German and other
tribes inhabiting Western Europe were continually at war among themselves. When
they had been conquered by the Roman power, they took upon themselves the
customs and habits of their conquerors, and in coming time became the conquerors
of those who had conquered them. More than this, they conquered themselves by
weeding out the wildness in their natures, and became in time masters in all the
arts of civilization and enlightenment. Not so with the North American Indian.
He was a part of the wilds he inhabited. lie could not separate his life from
his environments. He was as untamed as the wild buffalo which he chased over the
prairies, or the deer or elk which he hunted amidst the forests. He lacked the
power to reason and comprehend; was governed by hate and revenge. He had no
fixed habitation; was not rooted to the soil; was bloodthirsty, and to satisfy
this hunger for the blood of his enemy would in midwinter traverse the forests
for hundreds of miles, and with hideous yells, with tomahawk and scalping knife
in his hand, pounce upon his sleeping foe and without any discrimination of age
or sex, massacre them. He fought in ambush, and not in the open. His bravery was
a fiendish bravery, and only when he thought his enemy was in his power would he
exhibit it. He is passing away with the buffalo, with the forests in which he
lurked, and the wild prairies which he roamed. If he had possessed the nature of
the German or Celtic tribesmen he would have become rooted to the soil on which
he dwelt, would have cultivated fields, built for himself a home; would by his
labor and skill have made the material universe administer to the satisfaction
of his outward wants; would have developed his inward being. He had to give way
before the irresistible march of the white man wearing the coonskin cap; the man
who came to till the soil; to make a home for himself, his wife and children.


Additional Comments:
HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY IOWA AND ITS PEOPLE

By AUGUSTINE M. ANTROBUS

ILLUSTRATED
 VOLUME I
CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 
1915 

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