F 592 .7 .F64 Copy 1 IN MEMORIAM Sergeant Charles Floyd REPORT OF THE Floyd Memorial Association PREPARED ON BEHALF OF THE Committee on Publication BY ELLIOTT COUES. "RESURGAM." SIOUX CITY: PRESS OK PEKKIN'S I1KOS. COMPANY, 1897. ' ..- n u v wu \ * v«. \ J ) IN MEMORIAM I Sergeant Charles I loyel REPORT OF THE Floyd Memorial Association PUKPARED ON BEHALF OF THE Committee on Publication 1JY ELLIOTT COCKS. RESURGAM." SIOI \ CIT"i PKESS O* PI Hk ins BROS. COMPANY, 1897. ,7 X Table of Contents. PART I.— Floyd's Like and Death. pack. 1. Floyd's Antecedents, ------ 1-3 2. Floyd as a Sergeant of Lewis and Clark, - - 3 3. Floyd's Journal, ..-..- 3_9 4. Floyd's Death and Burial, Aug. 20, 1804, - - 9-12 5. Floyd's Grave, before 1857, ----- 12-14 PART II.— Floyd's Reburial in 1857. 6. Floyd's Grave Exposed, ----- 14-17 7. Floyd's New Grave, ------ 17-18 8. Floyd County, for whom named, ... - 18-21 PART III. — The Floyd Memorial Association. 9. Origin of the Association, - 21 24 10. Organisation of the Association, - 24-27 11. Proceedings of the Association before Aug. 20, 1895, - 27-32 12. Incorporation of the Association, Aug. 20, 1895. - 32-35 13. The Obsequies of Aug. 20, 1895. ... - 35 a. Afternoon Exercises, ----- 35-44 b. Evening Exercise. 1 -, - - - - - 44 4~ 14. Proceedings of the Association after Aug. 20, 189S, - 55 58 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL No. 1. Washington, D. C, Jan. 1, 1896. Hon. George D. Perkins, Chairman Committee on Publication, Floyd Memorial Association, Sioux City, Iowa. Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith the report of the Floyd Memorial Association which I was requested to prepare on behalf of your committee. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Elliott Coues. LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL No. 2. Sioux City, Iowa. Jan. 4, 1896. John H. Charles, President Floyd Memorial Association, Sioux City, Iowa. Sir: We have the honor to transmit herewith the report of the Floyd Mem- orial Association, with the preparation of which the Committee on Publication was charged by resolution of the Board of Trustees of Aug-. 24, 1895. This report contains: 1. All that is known of Floyd's antecedents, life and death. 2. All accounts of his reburial in 1857. 3. A full account of the origin, organization and proceedings of the Association before, during and after the memorial exercises of Aug. 20, 1895. Your committee believe that this report represents a valuable contribu- tion to permanent history, and that it will serve to promote the purposes of the Association; they therefore recommend its immediate publication. All of which is respectfully submitted. George D. Perkins, Elliott Coues, Mitchell Vincent, George W. Wakefield, Constant K. Marks, Committee on Publication. IN MEMORIAM Sergeant Charles Floyd REPORT 0I : THE Floyd Memorial Association PART i.— FLOYD'S LIFE AND DEATH. Section 1. Floyd's Antecedents. The Floyds were early pioneers in Kentucky. Their descendants were numerous, and it is not known with cer- tainty to which line of descent the subject of the present biography belonged. Colonel John Floyd was the most prominent of these pioneers. He was the son of William and Abidiah Floyd. He had brothers, Robert Floyd, Charles Floyd and Isham Floyd; also, brothers-in-law named Lemaster and Sturgis; but little is known of any of them. Charles Floyd, brother of Col- onel John Floyd, resided at Floyd Station when he first came to Kentucky, about 1780, and afterward in whal was Known as Pond Settlement, in present Jefferson County, Ky., where he had a farm on Mill Creek, a few miles from Louisville. It is probable but not certain that ho was tbe father of Sergeant is Floyd of the Lewis and Clark expedition. The only direct allusion to the Sergeant's father we have found is a remark contained in Capt. Meriwether Lewis' official muster-roll of his party, dated .Ian. 15, 1807, now in the archives of the War Department at Washington. Speaking of th< geant's decease, Lewis adds: "His father, who now resides in Kentucky, is a man much respected, tho' of but moderate wealth. As the son lost his life while in this Bervice I considered his father entitled to gratuitj in consideration of his loss, and also, thai the deceased being noticed in this way will be a tribute but justly >\\\>- to his merit."' This shows that the Sergeant's father was still living In 1807, but unfortunately omits to give his full name. Se ■ Lew is and Clark: Ed. 1893, i>. 254. 1 2 REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. Col. John Floyd was among the brave volunteers who flocked to the siandard of George Rogers Clark, to repulse Indian hostilities. He was mor- tally wounded by Indians near Floyd Station and died the same day, April 12, 1783. His brother Charles carried him off the field. For the circumstances of his death, and view of the monument which now stands on the town pike between Middletown and Simpsonville, Jefferson County, Ky., "erected by the commonwealth of Kentucky to the memory of fourteen brave soldiers who fell under Capt. John Floyd in a contest with the Indians in 1783," see English's Conquest of the Northwest, 1896, p. 751; also, preceding pp. 748- 750, for report of Col. John Floyd to the Governor of Virginia, April, 1781, on the condition of affairs in Kentucky, etc. In September, 1781, Col. John was wounded in an Indian ambuscade, on hurrying to the rescue of settlers after the disaster at Squire Boone's Station, near present Shelbyville. Col. John was also under Clark in 1782. George Rogers Clark Floyd (son of Col. John), afterward distinguished at the battle of Tippecanoe, was the one who caused the drum and fife to be played during the amputation of Clark's leg at Clarksville, Ind., early in 18C9. Henry Floyd appears as a lieutenant in the forces raised by George Rogers Clark for the famous Illinois regiment, for the reduction of Kas- kaskia, Cahokia, Vincennes, etc., 1778-9. He was among those allotted land in severalty in the Clark grant of 149,000 acres for their services in that campaign. Isham Floyd appears as a private in the same connection. George Rogers Clark was an elder brother of William Clark (of Lewis and Clark), and in this association of the Floyds with the Clarks we are evidently close upon the record of the antecedents of our Sergeant Charles Floyd. He is known to us simply as one of "the nine young men from Kentucky," as the Lewis and Clark history styles them, who joined the famous expedition. As Col. R. T. Durrett of Louisville, says, in a letter to the present writer, of November 16, 1895, the Sergeant was simply "a young man of the times," of neither fame nor fortune, but closely enough connected with persons then prominent to secure a place on the expedition as one of its non-commissioned officers. Col. Durrett knows of no contemporary news- paper which gives a notice of his death, but adds: "I think it possible, how- ever, that something might have teen said of him in the 'Farmers' Library,' a, weekly paper then published at Louisville; but unfortunately no file of this paper is in existence. * * * His father (believed to be the Charles Floyd already mentioned) was a respectable farmer in Jefferson County, who appeared frequently as an appraiser of dead men's estates, as witness, as juror, as magistrate, etc., all of which goes to show that he was a solid man of good standing in the community. I have not been able to find among the descendants and distant relatives of the Floyds, who still exist in this vicin- ity, any person who could tell me anything about Sergeant Charles Floyd. There are no near relatives here, however, and I think that it is very strange that he should have passed entirely away from the memory of the liv- ing * * *." The date and place of birth of Sergeant Floyd are unknown. He was no doubt born in present Jefferson County, Ky., about 1780-85. REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. 3 The foregoing is the sum and substance of all that is known on the sub- ject, prior to Floyd's connection with Lewis and Clark. Of this brief con- nection, and its termination by death, our information is ample and precise. Sec. 2. Floyd as a Sergeant of Lewis and Clark. Floyd was a civil- inn, and never a soldier of the United States army, except as enlisted in the particular service of the Lewis and Clark expedition. He no doubt joined that expedition with others in the fall of 1803, at St. Louis, Mo., and went into the winter camp of the party, 1803-4, on the east bank of the Mississippi, at the mouth of Du Bois or Wood river, in Illinois, nearly opposite but a short distance above the entrance of the Missouri. From this point the expedition sailed in a barge and two perogues at 4 p. m. on Monday, May 1 :, 1804. It proceeded up the Missouri to near the site of present Sioux City, Iowa, where Floyd died on the afternoon of August 20, 1804. Exclusive of his duties in Camp Du Bois, the duration of his actual service on the expedition was thus brief— a period of 99 days. That he did his duty faithfully and ably, we know. It is believed that he was the first citizen-soldier of the United States ever buried west of the Mississippi, after the acquisition of Louisiana. Sec. 3. Floyd's Journal. Both of the commissioned officers of the expedition, the four non-commissioned officers (Floyd, Pryor, Ordway, and Gass), and at least three of the privates, kept journals. Those of Capt. Lewis and Capt. Clark were edited by Nicholas Biddle and first published in 1814 as the authentic History of the Expedition. This went through many edi- tions, the latest one of 1893. The manuscript journals of Pryor and of Ord- way were utilized for the History by Biddle; but all further trace of them has been lost. The journal of Patrick Gass was first published at Pittsburgh in 1807, under the editorship of David McKeehan, and went through more editions than the Captain's own history ever did, including translations in French, German and Dutch. NoUiing was known of Floyd's journal till Feb- ruary 3, 1894, when it was discovered by Reuben G. Thwaites, Secretary of the Wisconsin Historical Society, at Madison, Wis., in Lyman C. Draper's collection of documents relating to George Rogers Clark and William Clark. This is the verj volume mentioned by Capt. Lewis in his letter to President Jefferson from Fort Mandan, of date April 7. 1805, communicated by Jefferson to Congress in a message dated February 19, 1806, and repeatedly published. The original publication misprinted the date as April 17, L805, and it has generallj been so given; but the original letter is on file among the Jefferson papers in the Department of Mate al Washington, and the wrong date is thus easily corrected. In this letter Capt. Levis Bays: "l have sent a jour- nal, kept by one of the Sergeants, to Capt. (Amos) Stoddard, my agent al St. Louis, in order a. issible to multiply the chances of saving something." This is the Floyd journal we now possess. Announcement of its discovery was promptly made in the New York Nation of February 15, !. The identification of the manuscript is beyond question. The dis- covery was communicated to the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester, Mass.. al the semi annual meeting held in Boston, April 25, 1894, and pub Hshed in full in the proceedings of thai Society, Vol. X.. N. s.. Pari 2, pp. 225- 252, under the editorship of Prof . J. D. Butler, who prefaced it with some crit- ical and explanatory matter, including the manuscripl prospectus of Robert Frazer's never-published journal, and a Mandan letter of William Clark to his REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. brother-in-law, William Croghan. In this form the article was reissued as a separately paged pamphlet, Svo.. pp. 30, Worcester, Mass., press of Charles Hamilton, 1894, with the title: "The New Found Journal of Charles Floyd, a Sergeant Under Captains Lewis and Clark." This journal is an interesting historical relic, and on a few points it has value as a check upon the official history and upon the narrative of Gass. The most important items it contains are found on the inside of the back cover, where, among some other names (chiefly relating to the Sergeant's detail of a guard for a prisoner), occur three and possibly four names found nowhere else in all the annals of the expedition. Two of these names, "Thomas M. Winn" and "Pall," are perhaps not finisberl out; a third is "William Lebouch;" the fourth is "Lasuness," possibly standing for La Jeu- nesse. But nothing is known of any such persons in connection with the expedition. A memorandum inside the front cover has the date of May 13, 1S04; otherwise the 53 manuscript pages of the journal run from May 14 to August 18, 1804 — two days before the Sergeant's death. As printed in 8vo. it makes 14 pages, or less than half of Prof. Butler's pamphlet. The print is intended to be verbatim, literatim et punctatim, and no doubt renders the original with fidelity. Through the courtesy of Hon. Geo. D. Perkins, we are enabled to present three fac-similes of portions of the manuscript, as first printed in the Sioux City Journal of August 21, 1895, these being taken from the first and last pages, and from the inside of the back cover, where occurs the Sergeant's autograph signature — probably the only one in exist- ence. REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. **Vj J \i j <^ 4 Kj M \ -1 JM * 1 ^0 v -! REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. X CO . - m- The place of death was lowland, and the Captains proceeded for the I to the hist point above where the bluffs strike the river. The two foregoing notices remained the only known published record! of the death till is;):;, in the revised edition of Lewis ami Clark published thai -.ear by Dr. ("ones, some extracts are given, verbatim, on p. ?.'. from the 10 REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. original manuscript of Clark's Journal, at dates of August 19 and 20. These are to the same effect as the Biddle text of 1814, but reproduce Clark's quaint spelling, etc. The original manuscripts, making 3,056 pages, are those upon which Biddle worked, and are now preserved in the archives of the American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia. They were in Dr. Coues' hands when the 1893 edition of the History was prepared, and a literal copy of the whole of them is now in his possession. We thus possess the whole record pre- cisely as written by Capt. Clark on the spot at the time. The matter for the week ending with Floyd's death, August 13-20, is found in Clark Codex A, pages 176 to 179, for August 13 and 14; and in Clark Codex B, pages 3 to 14. for August 15-20. We will condense this record to August 18 inclusive, and then give verbatim all that is said of Floyd. Monday, August 13, 1804. From a camp on the boundary between pres- ent Monona and Woodbury counties, Iowa, the expedition passed on the left the boundary between Blackbird and Dakota counties, Neb.; passed on the left the site of Fort Charles, where the trader James Mackay had had a post in 1795-6; passed on the left the old mouth of the creek on which the Omahas resided; and camped on a sandbar on the left. This camp is de- scribed in a way which enables us to recognize the spot as having been in what is now the river-bottom on the Iowa side, directly opposite the present mouth of Omaha creek. The details of the place have changed considerably, but not irrecognizably, since 1804. Clark calls this camp, where they were to stay a week, Camp Fish, and Fishing Camp, from the circumstances pres- ently to be given; he makes it 3 miles northeast of the "Mahar" (Omaha) village. As soon as the expedition arrived here, Sergeant Ordway, Peter Cruzatte, George Shannon, William Werner and another man were sent with a flag and some tobacco to the village to invite the Omahas to a conference. Gass says, however, that only "a Sergeant and one man were sent to the village." Floyd says: "Sent Som of ouer men to Se if aney of the natives was at Home." August 15th. The men returned at noon, but had found no Indians. Capt. Clark and ten men went fishing with a drag in the creek, and caught 318 fish of different kinds, according to Clark; Gass says 387; Floyd says: "Capt. Clark and 10 of his men and my Self went to the Mahas Creek a fishen and Caut 300 and 17 fish of Difernt Coindes." August 16th. Capt. Lewis and 12 men went fishing; Clark says this catch was "upwards of 800"; Gass says 709; Floyd says 709, too. In the re- ports of these two exploits, Clark and Floyd agree to a single fish for the 15th; Gass and Floyd agree exactlj for the 16th. We may therefore con- clude that Gass is far out for the 15th, and Clark still further so for the 16th; the total of the two catches being 1.026 or 1.027, but neither the 1,096 that Gass counts, nor the upwards of 1,118 that Clark reports. It is quite possi- ble that the wetting Floyd got on the 15th in dragging the creek led to his death. August 17th. In the evening "Labieshe" (Francois La Biche), one of a party who had been sent to the Ottoes on the 7th to arrest Moses B. Reed, a deserter since the 4th, returned. He said the rest of the party were coming in with the deserter, Reed; that they had also caught another deserter, a French boatman named La Liberte, but that he had given them the slip: and that they were bringing in three Otto chiefs. REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. 11 August 18th. The rest of the party, consisting of George Drewyer, Reu- ben Fields, and William Bratton, arrived with their prisoner, Reed, and with the party of Ottoes and Missouries. Biddle's text of 1814 says not a word of this deserter; but the Clark Codex B, p. 7, this date, supplies the missing information, which Coues inserted in the edition of 1893, p. 77: "Proceeded to the trial of Reed, he confessed that he 'Deserted & Stold a public Rifle shot pouch Powder & Ball' and requested we would be as favour- able with him as we could consistantly with our Oathes — which we were, and only sentenced him to run the gantlet four times through the Party & that each man with 9 switchies should punish him and for him not to be considered in future as one of the Party." August 19th. A council was held with the Indians. These were Ottoes and Missouries, not Omahas. The last entry in Floyd's journal, August 18th, describes the party as "the Grand Chief of the ottoes and 2 Loer Ones and 6 Youers of thare nattion," i. e., the head chief, 2 lower ones, and 6 others, a total of 9; he does not mention the French interpreter who was with them. Gass simply says, "Eight Indians and a Frenchman," which is right. The ninth man was the interpreter, whose name is given in the ''lark Codex B as "Mr. Fanfou." The principal chief was Little Thief, an Otto, named as Weahrushhah on August 3; the other chiefs were: Shongo- tongo or Big Horse, an Ottoe, also mentioned on August 3; Karkapaha or Crow's Head, a Missouri; Nenasawa or Black Cat, a Missouri; Sananona or Iron Eyes, an Otto; Neswaunja or Big Ox, an Otto; Stageaunja or Big Blue Eyes, an Otto, in the Codex called "Stargrahunja;" and Wasashaco or Brave Man, an Otto; total, eight. The Clark Codex gives nine, but this total in- cludes the interpreter. The Indians at conference received medals, certifi- cates, and other presents, including some liquor; "those people beged much for whiskey," says the Codex, p. 12. We have no word of the cause of Floyd's fatal illness. The Codex for August 19th finishes abruptly in these words: "Serjeant Floyd is taken verry bad all at once with a Biliose Chorlick we attempt to reliev him without success as yet, he gets worse and we arc much allarmed at his situation, all attention to him." August 20th. "Sergeant Floyd much weaker and no better, made Mr. Fanfou the interpter a fiew presents, and the Indians a Canister of Whisky. we set out under a gentle breeze from the S. I'], and proceeded on verry well Sergeant Floyd as bad as he can be no pulse and nothing will stay a mo- ment on his stomach or bowels — Passed two Islands on the S. S. (starboard side, or right hand) and at the first Bluff on the S. S. Serg. Floyd Died with a great deal of composure, before his deathhe said to me I am going away I wanl you to write me a letter' We buried him on the top of the bluff \k mile I mall river to which we gave his name, he was buried with the Honors of War much lamented a seeder post with the Name Sergt. C. Floyd died here 20th of August. 1804 was fixed at the head of his grave This man at all times gave us proofs of his firmness and Deturmined resolu- tion to doe Service to his countrey and honor to himself after paying all the honor to our Decesed brother we camped in the mouth of floyd's river about 30 yards wide, a butifull evening." Such is the simple yet touching language' in which the death is recorded. It is our only original record, except the still briefer one already transcribe I 12 REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. from Gass; for the Biddle text is of course based on the Clark Codex. It will be observed that the two accounts differ in some particulars. We are inclined to think Gass' account is closest to the facts; it seems most probable. Poor Floyd is dying on the boat, by noon of the 20th; the party lands as the end approaches; it is soon all over with the brave Sergeant. But this place is unsuitable for interment, being on low ground. They proceed a short distance, to the first bluff that reaches the river. There the sad ceremony is performed, late in the afternoon; the spot is named Floyd's Bluff; and the bereaved expedition proceeds to camp at the mouth of the first stream above, which they name Floyd's river. Both the bluff and the river have retained and will forever keep the name thus given them. The little distant town of Sergeant's Bluff shines with a reflection of Floyd's name. Floyd's river and bluff are within the present limits of Sioux City. The bluff is to be set apart and beautified as a public park, graced with a monument, to perpetuate the name and fame of Charles Floyd, the martyr sergeant of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Sec. 5. Floyd's Grave before 1857. On the return of the expedition from the Pacific ocean, the spot where Floyd had been buried was visited, September 4, 1806. The grave had been disturbed, it was thought by Indians, but perhaps it was by wolves. They filled it up again, and passed on their way to home and friends, leaving the dead to his lonely vigil in the wilder- ness. One would have thought the memory of this humble young "man with a musket" destined to perish. But it was ordered otherwise. Floyd was temporarily forgotten; but Floyd's grave, marked with an enduring cedar post on a bold headland of our mightiest waterway, was never lost sight of; it became in the course of time a well-known landmark, allusions tc which are frequent in the records of Missouri voyaging before 1857. We select three references to noted travelers. On the 10th of May, 1811, the overland Astorian expedition under W. P. Hunt reached the Omahas. In this party were Mr. Bradbury, whose work is well known, and Mr. Thomas Nuttall, the subsequently famous botanist. The same season of that year Mr. Henry W. Brackenridge voyaged up the Missouri with Manuel Lisa, the noted fur-trader. Brackenridge was on the spot May 19th, 1811, at which date he notes in his Journal (Svo., Pittsburgh, 1814, p. 230): "Encamped near Floyd's bluff and river, fourteen miles above the Mahas. Sergeant Floyd, one of the party of Lewis and Clark, was buried here; the place is marked by a cross." This is the only author who calls the post a "cross;" probably he saw it only at a distance, and mistook the object; or did not observe it particularly, and had heard it so described. But that is immaterial. In that year, and for some time afterward, the post over the grave of the celebrated Omaha chief Blackbird was still standing on Blackbird Hill. The two were almost within sight of each other — two similar memorials, yet of opposite symbolism. The one stood for the outgoing of the Indian, the other for the incoming of the white man. How emblematic were these graves! Barbarism was decaying in the grave of Blackbird; in the last resting-place of Floyd lay the germ of civilization. REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. 13 The great painter and panegyrist of the Indian, George Catlin, ascended the Missouri to the Yellowstone in 1832, in the first steamer which ever went so far as that. On his return voyage, in a canoe with two men, he passed Floyd's Bluff and Blackbird Hill. He stopped at each, that his facile pencil might portray them; and his sketches form plates 118 and 117 of his celebrated series. They are in juxtaposition on the same leaf, opposite p. 4 of Vol. II. of the fourth (London) edition of his work, as if to accentuate the symbolism just said. Each shows the landmark surmounting the grave; and the text of Letter 32, accompanying these plates, is in part a rhapsody on the natural beauties of the scene, in which the enthusiastic traveler gives full vent to the feelings which surcharged him. His apostrophe to Floyd may be here transcribed; for Catlin's "prophetic soul" felt no more than we realize today — Floyd's name will never die! '"Where heaven sheds its purest light, and lends its richest tints — this round-topped bluff, where the foot treads soft and light — whose steep sides, . n nd lofty head, reach to the skies, overlooking yonder pictured vale of beauty — this solitary cedar-post, wiiich tells a tale of grief — grief that was keenly felt, and tenderly, but lorg since softened in the march of time ami lest. Oh, sad and tear-starting contemplation! Sole tenant of this stately mound, how solitary thy habitation! Here heaven wrested from thee thy ambition, and made thee sleeping monarch of this land of silence. Stranger! Oh, how the mystic web of sympathy links my soul to thee and thy afflictions! I knew thee not, but it was enough; thy tale was told, and I, a solitary wanderer through thy land, have stopped to drop familiar tears upon thy grave. Pardon this gush from a stranger's eyes, for they are ail that thou canst have in this strange land, where friends and dear relations are not allowed to pluck a flower, and drop a tear to freshen recollections of en- dearments past. Stranger! Adieu. With streaming eyes I leave thee again, and thy fairy land, to peaceful solitude. My pencil has faithfully traced thy beautiful habitation; anil long shall live in the world, and familiar, the name of Floyd's Crave." Catlin states that the cedar post bore only "the initials of his name." ■\Ybether this be a fact, or a figure of speech, cannot now be determined; but it is against the express statement of Capt. Clark that "the name Sergeant C. Floyd" was incised, together with the date of death. Catlin's plate will be rei ' by residents of Sioux City, and especially those who knew the bluff before it suffered the double encroachment of the river and the railroad. It looks up river, with the site of Sioux City in the background; and the artisl represents live persons climbing the side, nearly in the same path as thai by which the procession of August 20, 1895, passed up t<> th< ceremonies of thai memorable day. it is invaluable as a portrayal of the unaltered bluff and original grave; probably no other such picture exists. The original painting has been supposed and said to be now in the Catlin collection in the United stales National Museum at Washington; but our correspondence with the director <>t' the Museum on this subjeel shows that such is not the case. The painting, however, may still exist elsewhere, and be brought to light hereafter. i'! L839, the eminent scientist, .lean x. Nicollet, discoverer of the tin.. source of the Mississippi in 1836, ascended the Missouri, lie was from April 14 REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. 4 to June 12, or 69 days, in going from St. Louis to Fort Pierre. At some time in May, the exact date not given, he passed Blackbird Hill and Floyd's Bluff. We read as follows on p. 34 of his Report (Senate Doc. No. 237, 26th Congress, 2d Session, February 16, 1841, pub. 1843, and 2d edition as House Doc. No. 52, 28th Congress, 2d Session, January 11, 1S45, pub. 1845): "The next day we passed before the magnificent amphitheatre of bills, the summit of that nearest the river being surmounted by the tomb of Blackbird, a celebrated Maha chief, and murderer by poison, whose history was told in Maj. Long's first expedition, but has been since reproduced with various versions in many public prints. Several miles higher up, we got a glimpse of the vale watered by the Maha creek, in which is the principal village of the Maha nation. The hills on the left bank of the river, of which we had lost sight, again came into view towards the close of the afternoon, covered by a soft and grateful verdure. We stopped for the night at the foot of the bluff on which is Floyd's grave; my men replaced the signal, blown down by the winds, which marks the spot and hallows the memory of the brave Sergeant, who died here during Lewis and Clark's expedition. Our steamboat then started under full blast to take shelter at the mouth of the Tchan-kasndata, or Sioux river, against an impending storm, that soon after broke over us, and lasted during the night." Nicollet's beautiful map, by far the best in existence at that time, marks "Floyd's Grave," just below "Floyd's R." We could multiply references prior to 1857, but the citations made must suffice. We therefore pass at once to Part II. — the reburial of Floyd in 1857. PART II. -FLOYD'S REBURIAL IN 1857. Sec. 6. Floyd's Grave Exposed. Sioux City extends along the left bank of the Missouri from the vicinity of Floyd's Bluff up to the Big Sioux River. The bluff is situated in lot 8, section 1, township 88 N., range 48 W. Somewhat less than a mile higher up, Floyd's River empties into the Missouri on the same side; this courses through the city. A little higher up than this, a small creek also flows through the city. This was noticed by Lewis and Clark, with their usual accuracy of observation, and called by them Willow creek; it is now known as Perry Creek. A year or two before 1857, probably in 1855, a squaw-man settled with his wife at the mouth of this creek; he is still living, and known to many persons as "Joe Lionais," his proper name being Joseph Lyonrais. Up to this period, when the germi- nation of a great city was but begun, travel through the country had mainly been up the waterway of the river — the main artery of the Great West, the principal avenue of approach; but with the founding of the city came roads, and thoroughfares by land were established. One of these passed by the bluff where Floyd had been buried half a century before. But the bluff was no longer the "round-topped" one of Catlin, on whose culminating brow the cedar post had been erected over Floyd's grave. The insolent and turbulent Missouri, ever restlessly turning in its bed, ever exploring its flood-plain for new channels in which to wind its way along, ever making new bends and cutting off old ones, had exerted its incessant and irresistible force upon this miscalled one of the "eternal hills." The frontage of the bluff was fretted REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. 15 and worn out in the struggle against the flood. Constant dropping will wear away a stone; and it was not many years before the water exacted a tribute from this land. During a freshet, early in the spring of 1857, the bluff was so far washed away that Floyd's grave was exposed on the face of the now nearly venical precipice, sixty feet or more above water level; the post, if still standing to this time, was dislodged and fell to the foot; and the re- mains of the deceased were in imminent danger of falling, to be swept away forever. It is impossible to say now exactly when this precarious condition of the grave was first noticed, or by whom the discovery was made, or the precise state in which the remains were found by those who rescued them from impending destruction. Many persons now living witnessed the ceremo- nies with which the bones were recommitted to the earth in the safe place further back from the river; some of these persons also assisted in the res- cue; and the present writer has conversed or corresponded with several. But memory is treacherous after a lapse of years, and accounts differ in de- tails. Yet there is such a substantial agreement with circumstantial differ- ence in the testimony we possess, that a reasonably accurate account can be given, as a contribution to permanent history. It is not probable that there was any sudden wash-out or down-fall of the face of the bluff, to attract immediate attention and cause a general alarm about the historic spot. It was gradual, and may have been noticed bj degrees, so to speak, before the imminence of the danger aroused the community to action. The alarm appears to have been sounded late in April or early in May. Mr. M. L. Jones,* of Smithland, la., a gentleman now living at an advanced age, was one of those who observed the condition of the grave, and sent word to Sioux City. When in 1895 the subject was re- opened a number of old citizens placed their recollections on public record, among them the following: S. T. Davis, of Sioux City, in a letter dated June 1st, 1895, printed in the Journal next day, states: "Thirty-eight years ago last Tuesday the residents of Sioux City par- ticipated in an event of no little historical importance — the reburial of the remains of Sergeant Floyd. The river had washed away the foot of the bluff on which he was buried by Lewis and Clark, so that the end of the cof- fin protruded over the water, and perhaps a hundred feet or more above it. It was proposed by some of the citizens of Sioux City to take up the remains, and re inter them further back on the same bluff." *Since penning the above we It ive received an important letter addressed bj Mr. Jones to Dr. Coues, dated Smithland, Ta., December 28 1895. It app-ars fr bis letter thai the writer is the person who discovered the exposure and gave the alarm to Sioux City. We transcribe in substance: ■'] Rrstsaw the grave in May, 1854. Che cedar post was almosl intacl then, though pieces had been cut ofi? by relic hunters. I passed the place frequently in 1854 55. The post si I in sight <>f a fool trail thai ran along near the river, thai the wagon road had to go round. It was som ■ 100 feel or '•■ fro n the edsre of the bluff overlooking the river. Late in the fall ol 1*56 I passed thai way, and ao1 seeing the posl in it - accustomed place, I w 'tit feo examine it . and found that it had been cut away till only a few nches remained above ground. Late in Vpril, I as ] was going that way from Sioux City, [ was seized with chill and fever; bu1 noticed thai the river, thru very high, was cutting into the bank. 1 walked as close t<> the edse of the bluff as 1 could; the ground had caved in, the posl was gon>, and it looked as if the grave had lt- >ti.-. too. 1 Has quite dizzy from my sickness bu1 laid down and crawled to the edge, where, 1 oking over, I saw some bon^s projecting from the ground. I o itin I on my way to the house ol a I rra- versier. a Frenchman, with whom Dr. F. Wixon was stopping We senl word to the Sioux City post-office, and Floyd's remains were secured next day. I was nol preaenl at t in- rescue, nor at the reburial, as I was sick for --"in- time; bu1 I understood that amone the number who secured the remains were Dr. A. M. Hunt, long since deceased, and Dr. J . J . Sa\ ill.-." 16 REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. The Charles City Intelligencer prints a letter, which is reprinted in the Sioux City Journal of June 23, 1895, addressed to Maj. E. B. Dyke by Dr. S. P. Yeonians, an old settler familiar with the location of the grave, and one who has often seen the post. Referring to the washing away of the face of the bluff by the river, Dr. Yeomans states that in 1856 (a slip of the pen for 1857), it was discovered that the box containing Floyd's remains was exposed for one-third its length, and being thus suspended over the river was in imminent danger of falling. To prevent this catastrophe the citizens of Sioux City formed a large party, which went to the spot to rescue the remains. Dr. Yeomans further says: "A strong cable was prepared to attach to the box, and Dr. Sloane, father of our fellow townsman, editor of the Citizen, being light of weight, volun- teered to accept the post of danger. With a rope tied around his waist, se- curely held by strong hands, he was let down over the brink of the precipice until the box was reached and the cable adjusted. The remains were then brought to a place of safety," etc. A still more circumstantial account of the finding of the remains is given in the Sioux City Journal of June 23, 1895, with refei'ence to the An- nals of Iowa of October, 1863. This is from the pen of N. Levering, chair- man of the committee appointed to rescue the remains in 1857. Mr. Levering is still living, in Los Angeles, Cal. His account may be condensed in the fol- lowing terms: In March, 1857, when the snow was rapidly melting, the water ran so high that Floyd river and the Missouri came together and overflowed what is now called South Sioux City. About this time it was discovered that the Missouri was encroaching on Floyd's Bluff, and that the grave with its contents was likely to be precipitated into the turbid flood below. A meet- ing of citizens was soon called and a committee appointed to rescue the re- mains. The committee consisted of N. Levering, chairman; Hon. M. F. Moore, Dr. S. P. Yeomans, George Weare, and Capt. J. M. White. They re- paired to the spot, accompanied by a large number of other persons (among whom were ex-Gov. C. C. Carpenter, of Fort Dodge; Hon. Addison Oliver, ex-M. C, of Onawa; C. B. Rustin, now of Omaha, Neb.; and Augustus Gron- inger, then and now of Sioux City. They found that the rushing waters had robbed the grave of a part of its contents. With much labor, and not without danger, the remains not already washed away were secured; they included the skull with its lower jaw, a thigh bone, a shin bone, and various others (see the list of bones found in 1895, as given beyond). These were taken charge of by the committee for reinterment. The coffin appeared to have been made with small oak slabs, set up on end around the body, with a covering of similar form and same material. The red cedar post originally erected by Lewis and Clark had slid into the river. It had seemed to be per- fectly sound, but had been whittled down till it was no larger than a walk- ing-stick by travelers anxious to preserve a relic of Floyd's grave. Accord- ing to some published accounts, a piece of the post had been carried to Lon- uon and deposited in a museum in that city by an English traveler. According to a letter written by Mr. Levering at Sioux City, July 25, 1863, and published in the Annals of Iowa as above said, it appears that he then transmitted to the Rev. Samuel Storrs Howe, librarian of the State REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. 17 Historical Society, Iowa City, la., a small piece of the coffin. The English traveler above mentioned was probably George Catlin, but possibly Mr. Pr ad bury. Such, in effect, is the sum of the information on record concerning the exposure of the grave and the rescue of its contents from destruction, in April or May, 1857. Some few more bones than Mr. Levering specifies were certainly recovered, for they were in evidence on opening the new grave in 1895. It is probable that some of them were scattered down the bluff, and that all those finally collected were not gathered at once. The body appears to have been laid head-on to the river; and in this case the skull, from its shape, would be likely to fall among the first. It is believed with some rea- son that the skull was in fact not found till after other bones had been taken to the city. None of the arm bones were ever recovered; and none of the skeleton above the lumbar region or middle of the body was found in 1895, except the skull with its jaw, one collar bone, and fragments of some ribs. But the large bones of the lower limbs were mostly preserved. These facts tend to confirm the belief regarding the position of the body. The tradition that the original cedar post, or any fragment of it. is still extant is not sup- ported by satisfactory evidence. The record is clear to the time of Catlin's visit, 1832, but soon becomes obscure. Nicollet's statement that in 1839 his men "replaced the signal, blown down by the winds," may mean either that the original post was set up again, or that it was replaced by a new one. Certainly a post — whether Lewis and Clark's of 1804, or Nicollet's of 1839, was a familiar object to passers-by down to 1857. At this date, Mr. Levering tells us that "it had slid into the river;" yet he describes it as being per- fectly sound, though whittled down. It may be that he thus speaks of the post as he had known it to be down to 1857, when it was finally lost, and not that he saw it at this late date; or else the expression "slid into the river" may mean only that it had fallen to the foot of the bluff, where it might have been recovered when some bones that accompanied its descent were collected. In 1895 Mr. A. M. Holman, of Sergeant's Bluff, gave some members of the present publication committee some bits of sound wood which he affirmed in good faith had been cut from the post. But these proved to be pieces of oak. It is not impossible that these were from a slab of the original coffin; but their soundness seems against such a supposition. The new grave of 1857 was marked with a headboard and footboard, which had been broken off or burnt off to the ground when this grave was opened in 1895, leaving no trace above ground, though crumbling remains of them, as of the new coffin of L857, were found. In short, your committee has never been able to reconcile conflicting statements regarding the post, or recover the missing links of evidence since is.39. Sec. 7. Floyd's New Grave. On the 28th of May, 1857, the remains thus recovered were reburied with appropriate patriotic and religious cere monies. We are again indebted to Mr. N. Levering for the most circumstan- tial account which has reached us of this occasion. To this your committee is able to add a few names and some other particulars. The weather was propitious, and the exercises were conducted accord ing to the programme which had I □ devised by the committee In charge of the proceedings, a new grave had been prepared on the same bluff, 'A 18 REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. about or rather within two hundred yards further back from the river. The occasion was of the greatest public interest to the then young town; an event in its very earliest days, destined to make permanent history. A large concourse of citizens of both sexes participated in the ceremonies. "Capt. James B. Todd, late of the U. S. Army,"* officiated as marshal. Under his' direction a procession was formed at 2 p. m. in front of the United States Land Office in Sioux City. The new coffin, six feet seven or eight inches long, was neatly finished, and draped with the flag. The pall- bearers were eight, seven of whom represented as many different states. Mr. N. Levering himself was one of them, on the part of Ohio. The others whose names he remembers were: W. Craft, Virginia; T. Griff y, Kentucky; L. Kennerly, Missouri; W. H. Levering, Indiana; and D. W. Scott,** of the U. S. Army. The coffin was borne at the head of the procession, which marched to the levee, where the steam ferryboat "Louis Burns" was wait- ing to carry all who could get aboard down river to the bluff. Many per- sons also repaired to the bluff in carriages or on foot, as the boat was too small to carry them all. At the proper time the coffin was lowered into the grave by Captains Todd and Scott, Mr. W. H. Levering, and Mr. Craft. Impressive funeral services were conducted by the Rev. Thomas Chestnut, of Illinois. The orator of the occasion was the Hon. Marshall F. Moore,*** who delivered an address which, says Levering, "was very appropriate, able, and eloquent, and reflected much credit upon the honorable gentle- man." Even at this early day, the question of erecting a suitable monument to Floyd was raised and freely canvassed. The proposition met with gen- eral favor, and some steps were taken to that end; but they failed of their purpose, and the matter was dropped. Evidently, the time for such a noble consummation had not arrived. Another long interregnum was to intervene before the sleeping Sergeant should reawake and come into his kingdom in the memories of men. Sec. 8 Floyd County, For Whom Named? This question seems to your committee pertinent, and may be properly considered in connection with the events just narrated, as there is naturally an impression in the *So given by Levering'- The name is not to be found in Heitman's Register, 1789-1889. The nearest to it is that of John Blair Smith Todd, of Kentucky, appointed to the army from Illinois: Cadet Military Academy at West Point, July 1. 1832; Lieutenant and Captain Sixth Infantry, 1837-56; resigned September 16, 1856; Brigadier General of Volunteers, September 19, 1861; appoint- ment expired July 17, 1862; died May 14, 1871. Capt. Todd was elected first mayor of Sioux City and well known by many old residents, and he always signed his name J. B. S. Todd; so Levering merely forgot the correct name. ;; "'The only "D. W." Scott whose name appears in Heitman's Register is David W., of Vir- ginia, appointed from Indiana, a First Lieutenant of Infantry, March 10, 1847, and honorably mustered out July 20, 1848. If this be the man, he was not in the army in 1857. ***Of New York, who had come to Sioux City to practice law in 1855, and was in the spring of 1857 elected district judge of the district which included all the northwestern part of Iowa. Judge Moore was then a young attorney, a graduate of Yale college, and fairly equipped for his profession. "His duties as judge somewhat interfered with his gay and festive disposition, but no one doubted his honesty, though many did his legal knowledge: and he. no less than the public, rejoiced at the close of his term in December, 1858," sa}'S Mr. J. C. C. Hoskins. in aletter to Mitchell Vincent, November 21, 1895. Judge Moire was early a partner in the banking house of Casady. Moore & Clark, of Sioux City. He be.-ame allied by marriage with the Ewings and Shermans of Ohio. At the breaking out of the war he was appointed from Ohio Lieutenant-Colonel of the Sev- enteenth Ohio nfantry October 4, 1861; he resigned February 14, 1863, and was reappointed as Colonel of the Sixty-ninth Ohio Infantry February 23, 1868; he was brevetted Brigadier-General of Volunteers March 13. 1865, for gallant and meritorious services during the war, especially at the battle of Jonesboro, Ga., and M ajor-Ganeral of the same for the same at the same date, and re- signed November 7. He went to Olympia, Wash., became Governor of Washington, and died in office February 27, 1870. REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. 19 minds of many persons that the county was dedicated to Sergeant Charles Floyd— which is not the case. We propose therefore to discuss the evi- dence bearing upon the no fewer than four persons named Floyd for whom the county has been claimed, and hope to be able to settle the case in favor of the rightful recipient of this honor. 1. The letter of Dr. S. P. Yeomans, already noted in these pages in another connection as having been published in the Charles City Intelli- gencer, and in the Sioux City Journal of June 21, 1895, proceeds to discuss the origin of the county name, Floyd, which was given by legislative enact- ment in 1851. It appears that ten years afterward, on the outbreak of the war in 1861, an effort was made to change the name, because it was sup- posed to have been given in honor of John Buchanan Floyd, Governor of Virginia 1850-53, Secretary of War 1857 to December, 1860, and afterward a General in the Confederate Army. Thus, the County History of Floyd re- cords some proceedings of the State Legislature of 1862, to the following effect: Senator Redfield, of Dallas county, introduced a bill to change the name of Floyd county to Baker county, in honor of Gen. Edward Dickinson Baker, the gallant soldier who fell at the battle of Ball's Bluff, Va., Octo- ber 21, 1861. Senator Ainsworth moved to amend by changing the name to Lyon. Senator Holmes objected to this amendment, because he lived in Jones county, the name of which he desired to change to Lyon. Senator Duncombe, of Webster county, stated that Floyd county was not named for the J. B. Floyd "we hear so much about nowadays," but for "a Sergeant of Lewis and Clark's expedition." (This shows that the tradition con- necting Sergeant Floyd's name with the county had been established in 1862.) Senator Woodward, of Muscatine county, inquired if the senator from Dallas county had introduced his bill in pursuance of the express de- sire of the people of Floyd county. Senator Redfield replied that he had not done so for that reason, but because he was under the impression that this county had been named for "that infamous traitor, John B. Floyd;'" and he withdrew the bill, upon the assurance of Senator Duncombe that the county had been named for Lewis and Clark's Sergeant. The County History states furthermore, that one B. B. Steenburg, for- merly of Floyd, was once a member of a commission to ascertain the origin of the name. The conclusion was reached in this instance that Floyd county had been so called in honor of a certain topographical engineer who died near Sioux City before the war, about the time his labors as surveyor had been completed. But it further appears from Dr. Yeoman's letter that Mr. Steenburg once told Maj. Dyke, editor of the Intelligencer, that he had no doubt in his own mind that the name was given in honor of Sergeant Floyd; that it could hardly have been given for John B. Floyd, a young man of no national reputation in 1851; but that possibly the name referred to William Floyd, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. It thus appears that thirty years ago there were already four different theories regarding the origin of the county name, all irreconcilable, and none demonstrated. 2. An unpublished letter of Mr. J. C. C. Hoskins, dated Sioux City, la., November 21, 1895, addressed to Mitchell Vincent, Esq., of Onawa, and by 20 REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. the latter transmitted to Dr. Coues. includes the following statements, in substance: "I have always supposed that Floyd county was named for the traitor. J. B. Floyd; I think there can be no doubt of it. In the early days Iowa was overwhelmingly Democratic. In 1850, when the state was divided into 49 counties their names were with two exceptions (Cedar and Des Moines) Indian or personal. Of the 34 personal names, 14 were of Democrats active and distinguished at that day, Jeff. Davis among them; three or four were of democratic saints who had gone to their rest; others were of distin- guished soldiers of the Revolutionary or later wars; one was of Julien Du- buque, the pioneer; one of Henry, the orator; one of Marshall, the jurist (if, indeed. Marshall county was named for this judge). In or about 1852. 49 more counties were named in a similar method, though the scope of the names were wider — Adair, Bancroft, Brewer, Butler, Calhoun, Cass. Craw- ford, Dickinson, Floyd, Guthrie, Grundy, Hardin, Howard, Shelby, Wood- bury, Worth, and Wright, — at least these 17, were dedicated to Democrats: Adams, Clay, and Webster, were statesmen, not Democrats; Emmett and O'Brien, Irish refugees; Franklin, Montgomery, and Greene, were of the Revolution; Kossuth was the Hungarian patriot; Audubon was John James, the famous ornithologist; Humboldt was the scientist: of Mills and Mitchell 1 have no present recollection." The opinion of our veteran pioneer fellow-citizen certainly carries weight: but in this instance it must yield to conclusive evidence to the contrary. 3. In our desire to sift this matter thoroughly, and perhaps not without hope of being able to establish the claim of our hero to the honor of the county name, we have corresponded with our much esteemed friend and fellow-member of the Floyd Memorial Association, Hon. Charles Aldrich, curator of the State Historical Department at Des Moines. The result of his inquiries in our behalf would seem to show conclusively that the county was named for William Floyd, a signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. Suffolk county, N. Y., December 17, 1734, d. at Western, Oneida county, N. Y., August 4, 1821). We have pleasure in presenting Mr. Aldrich's letter in full, without further comment: Historical Department of Iowa, Des Moines, November 8. 1895. Dear Dr. Coues: On receipt of your letter relating to the naming of Floyd county. I tele- phoned and secured an interview at our rooms with my friend, the Hon. P. M. Casady, of this city, who was a state senator in 1850. and a member of the committee on new counties. At that session he introduced the bill which had for its purpose the erection and naming of 50 new counties. He is a thoroughly well-preserved man of 76 years; his mind is clear, and his recollection of events of those days seems perfect. In fact, he is the active and hard-working president of one of our largest city banks. He says: "It was at first in contemplation to name the present county of Wood- bury in honor of Sergeant Charles Floyd, and that territory was so designated in the original bill which I introduced. But this was not agreed to. and the Indian name Wahkaw was substituted for that of Floyd. The county bore the name Wahkaw for three years, when it was changed to Wood- bury, as it stands today. Later on in the session the present county of REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. 21 Floyd was so named in honor of William Floyd, a signer of the Declaration of Independence from the State of New York. This I am certain was done at the suggestion of some member of the House of Representatives who had come from the Empire State. There was a disagreement over some section or sections of the bill, and it went to a committee of conference, undergoing first and last considerable discussion upon several of the suggested names." In this state there are no stenographic reports of the debates and dis- cussions in the Legislature, and the early Journals of the House and Senate are very meager. Much of the general consideration of the measure oc- curred in Committee of the Whole, where no records whatever were kept. Floyd, the rebel, was then a young man and unknown. So was Floyd, the civil engineer. Neither of these men was mentioned in that connection. There is no positive written or printed contemporary record of this matter in existence. I take Judge Casady's recollection to be final and conclusive, and I accept it the more willingly because I heard him make this same state- ment many years ago. Much confusion has arisen over the subject through the lapse of years, and from the similarity of names, but I believe that Judge Casady sets forth the exact truth. He is a most intelligent, excellent gentleman, and I am glad that he has been spared to this day to set the matter right Very respectfully yours, CHARLES ALDRICH. Dr. Elliott Cones. 1726 N Street, Washington. D. C. P. S. — Since the above was written I have conferred with Hon. George G. Wright, ex-Chief Justice of our Supreme Court, and ex-United States Sen- ator, who was a member of the State Senate with Judge Casady in 1850. Though his attention was then more especially given to other topics of legis- lation, he now in a general way strongly supports the statement of Judge Casady. and expresses himself as having no doubt of its truth. C. A. PART III. THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION OF 1895. Sec. 9. Origin of the Association From the foregoing excursion to Floyd county we return at once to Floyd's Bluff— to the discovery of Floyd's grave of 1857 — to the founding of the Floyd Memorial Association, and espe- cially to the memorial exercises of August 20, 1895, on the 91st anniversary of Floyd's death — to the end that Floyd's monument may be erected in Floyd Park, while the memory of these interesting contemporaneous events is still fresh in the minds of our patriotic and public-spirited fellow-towns- men of Sioux City. The honor of originating the Association can be rightfully ascribed to no single individual. If the idea of such an association for the purpose of erecting a monument be referable to any single occasion or event, it is dis- tinctly traceable back to 1857. It was" fruitless then, but bided its time to fructify during the many years when the thought was "in the air," as may be said with literal exactitude of the position in space which the original sepulture of Floyd now occupies, suspended like Mahomet's coffin between heaven and earth. The purpose has never faded entirely from the minds of those now living who witnessed the ceremonies of thirty-nine years ago; to 22 REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. them and their descendants it is familiar. No doubt the interest reawak- ened in Lewis and Clark by the republication of the History of their Expedi- tion in 1893 contributed to the quickening of the idea. Doubtless, also, the discovery of Floyd's Journal by Mr. Thwaites, its publication by the Amer- ican Antiquarian Society, and the comment upon it by such papers as the New York Nation (February 15, 1894), tended to the same result of crystal- izing an already saturated solution of the thought. The desirability of marking Floyd's grave was expressed by the writer in correspondence with Mitchell Vincent, Esq., of March 4, 1894. From the first the project has been one of national rather than local historical significance. But the real- ization of the noble purpose remains entirely to the credit of the citizens of Sioux City and vicinity, and more especially redounds to the honor of the older residents. It would be invidious to particularize by name in such a case, where all worked together to the common end in view, and where the greatest praise that could be desired is to come from the fulfillment of the single purpose, for the accomplishment of which there has been but a single mind. Among the means to this end, none has proved more effectual than the course pursued by the Sioux City Journal from the beginning. The interest taken in the project by this paper, and the liberal policy which showed that interest by putting unlimited space at the service of the Association, not only tended to arouse public sentiment, and stimulate public endeavor, but has preserved the best record extant of the origin and progress of the Asso- ciation, both before and after the pivotal date of Augast 20, 1895. Your committee desires to express its obligations to the Journal for much of the material, without which the present memoir could hardly have been pre- pared. We shall draw heavily upon this contemporaneous record, as con- firming, amplifying and supplementing the minutes of meetings and other official documents which have been placed in the hands of the publication committee. The Journal of May 16, 1895, devotes a column to Sergeant Charles Floyd, with the caption "An Association for Paying the Honor Due to His Mem- ory" — perhaps the first express announcement of the fact of such a proposed organization. This notable article is unsigned, but was prepared by Mi'- A. F. Statter, of the editorial staff. Among other items of interest it says: "A number of old settlers have been discussing the matter of forming a society to visit on August 20 of this year the present site of the grave, which was moved many years after Floyd's death, and hold appropriate ceremonies in honor of the first white man to be buried in this neighbor- hood. D. A. Magee is acting as secretary until an organization is formed, and a number of old settlers, such as Mitchell Vincent, of Onawa: A. M. Holman, of Sergeant Bluffs; and John H. Charles, of this city, have inter- ested themselves in the matter, and are making every effort to carry forward the undertaking. The object of the association will be to secure state legis- lation to buy the historic spot, and erect a monument to the memory of the first soldier to die on this soil after the Louisiana purchase, and to promote enough interest in this city to secure good driveways to the spot and make it a point of interest as well as of history." This article continues with extracts from Capt. Clark's original manu- script journal of dates August 19 and 20, 1804, as printed in the Coues edition REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. 23 of the history of 1893, and other extracts from Floyd's own journal, as printed by the American Antiquarian Society in 1894; and concludes with an account of the not then successful search for the grave of 1857 by D. A. Magee and others. The Journal of May 26 follows up this announcement with a four-column article on the "Proposed Floyd Monument," noting conspicuously the "wide- spread interest in the organization for its erection," and giving an extended description of Floyd's Bluff, illustrated with a double-column view from a photograph which Mr. D. A. Magee had caused to be taken. This article is unsigned; it was prepared by Mr. A. F. Statter. It announces that "the promoters of the Monument Association propose to organize it on Floyd's Bluff on the 91st anniversary of the day of his death, August 20 of this year. Much enthusiasm is developing. Not only the people of Sioux City, of Ser- geant Bluffs and of the surrounding country are interested in it, but the interest extends to all who are absorbed in the history of the United States, and especially the Western half of it." The same article concludes with a letter from Dr. Coues, dated Washington, D. C, May 22, 1895, noting the Lewis and Clark expedition, and earnestly urging "the proposition made by Mitchell Vincent and others to purchase a tract of 20 or 30 acres, to be sef aside for a public park, upon the culminating point of which the monument is to stand." The Journal of May 29, 1895, says: "The duty of the people of Sioux City and Woodbury county in the matter of properly honoring Sergeant Floyd, whose grave is on a high bluff in the southern part of the city, is clear. The letter published in the Sunday (May 26) Journal, from Prof. Elliott Coues, of the Smithsonian Institution, ought to arouse every one to the importance of some immediate action. Several old residents have taken hold and intend to do something, and they ought to be supported by others." The New York Nation of May 30, 1895, publishes a letter from Dr. Coues. noting the steps already taken at Sioux City for a monument to Floyd, and continuing the general subject of Floyd and his journal, with remarks by an unnamed correspondent. The Journal of June 2, 1895, speaks of the "wide interest" the move- ment had already attracted, and of the applause it had won from scientists and historians, citing the New York Nation of May 30th. The Journal's article is mainly a contribution to the early history of the subject from Mr. A. F. Statter, who writes upon Brackenridge, Catlin, Nicollet, and the American Antiquarian Society's publication of Floyd's Journal. Mr. S. T. Davis also contributes to this article the letter we have already mentioned and used on p. 17, regarding the removal of Floyd's remains in 1857. The Kansas City Star of June 8, 1895, publishes an extended historical article under the caption "A Hero of the Lewis and Clark Expedition." About this first week of June the movement thus started at Sioux City ac- quired great impetus and far-reaching effect. National publicity was se- cured by an Associated Press dispatch, which immediately went the rounds of uncounted newspapers. By misprint this dispatch appeared with the heading, "Grave of Sergeant Lloyd." This error was corrected in the Wash- ington, D. C, Post of June 13, by a special letter from Dr. Coues. It is curious to remark in this connection, that the apparent mistake of "Lloyd' 24 REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. for "Floyd" simply reverts to the original spelling of the Welsh surname, of which "Floyd" is a later form. Such in brief, is the published record of the origin of this Association. The first stage of its formation was ended with the rediscovery of the grave of 1857, to which we now turn. Sec. 10. Organization of the Association. Meanwhile, on Memorial Day, May 30, 1895, Floyd's grave of 1857 was found; and on June 6 the Floyd Memorial Association was first formally organized, on the spot. The official account of these events was furnished by Hon. C. R. Marks to the Sioux City Journal of June 10, in substance as follows: The late Dr. Wm. R. Smith was always interested in the subject, and left a bequest to assist in erecting a suitable monument. The late Mr. W. P. Holman. of Sergeant Bluffs, had often thought that something should be done, and had conferred with Dr. Smith for that purpose. Several years ago, during Congressman Struble's term of office, they had petitioned Con- gress for an appropriation for a. monument, having obtained many Iowan signatures; but the matter was not pressed, lest it might conflict with a desired appropriation for the public building in Sioux City. Mr. C. J. Holman and Mr. A. M. Holman, sons of W. P. Holman; Mr. Mitchell Vincent, of Onawa; Judge Geo. W. Wakefleld, of Sioux City, and others, recently visited Floyd's Bluff, but discovered no sign of the grave. "Others present: D. A. Magee, J. D. Hoskins, J. L. Follett, jr., C. R. Marks visited the bluff, and after nearly two hours fruitless search were rewarded by the discovery of the grave, at Mr. Marks' suggestion that it should be identifiable by some difference in the color of the soil. To verify this, considerable ground was tested in various spots with hatchet and trowel. Mr. Geo. Murphy finally picked out a place which answered to his recollection of the site, and on testing it with his cane found light-colored earth. Further exploration with a trowel disclosed the contour of the grave, as shown by a line of demarkation between yellow and black earth, and the gentlemen felt sure they had found the right spot. Desiring to have other witnesses of the discovery, among those interested in the case, and espe- cially to have as many as possible of those who had been present at the re- burial in 1857 meet on the bluff, the appearance of which had been much modified by removal of trees and a railroad cutting through its northwest end. they desisted from further excavation at this time. Following are the proceedings of the meeting of citizens at the grave of 1857 on Floyd's Bluff, in Sioux City, June 6, 1895, at 3 p. m.: Present: J. C. C. Hoskins, S. T. Davis, J. D. Hoskins, D. A. Magee, George Murphy, L. C. Sanborn, H. D. Clark, A. Groninger, A. M. Holman, L. Bates. E. R. Kirk, W. L. Joy, T. J. Stone, C. J. Holman, John H. Charles. J. P. Allison, W. B. Tredway, J. L. Follett, Jr.. and C. R. Marks. The persons assembled recognized the place as Floyd's Bluff, most of them having been either present at the reburial of 1857, or at that time fa- miliar with the ground and the grave, as the then traveled road, the signs of which were still visible, passed from the Missouri river bank up the ravine on the north side of the bluff. No depression of the ground was visible: but the persons who had been on the bluff on May 30 pointed out a spot where the surface soil was light-colored or yellowish, in contrast with the surrounding black earth. On excavating this to the depth of a few REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. 25 inches, the whole contour of a grave was plainly visible. The western end of this was dug deeper, and the original walls of the grave in the dark- colored earth were disclosed as the mixed yellow and black soil was thrown out. At the head and foot, a few inches under ground, were found pieces of oak board about a foot long, much decayed. About four feet below the surface the coffin appeared, still in form, but so much decayed that the lid caved in when struck with the spade. The skull, including the lower jaw, and some other bones were found, in a good state of preservation; but no farther exhumation was made, as the identification was deemed complete. Thereupon the informal gathering was called to order. J. C. C. Hoskins was elected President; and C. R. Marks, Secretary. It was moved by A. M. Holman, seconded by E. R. Kirk, and carried, "that we do hereby organize ourselves into the FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSO- CIATION." It was moved, seconded, and carried, that an Executive Committee, composed of A. M. Holman, Mitchell Vincent, and George W. Wakefield, be hereby appointed to act with the President and Secretary to arrange for future meetings, perfect an organization of the Association that shall seek to perpetuate the memory and grave of Sergeant Charles Floyd, and espe- cialy to hold a meeting August 20, 1895, the ninety-first anniversary of his death. In view of the fact that the grave had been opened, thus attracting public attention, and that persons might consequently remove the bones or relics, it was moved, seconded, and carried, that the skull be taken charge of by the President and Secretary for safe keeping until the Association should redeposit it in the properly secured grave on the occasion of the proposed memorial services of August 20. The remaining bones which had been uncovered were left in the grave, which was then filled up flush with the surface of the ground. Thereupon a paper was signed by the persons present; a copy of the same being ordered to be spread upon the minutes of the meeting, and the original to be preserved. On motion, the meeting adjourned, subject to call. The following is a copy of the paper which was signed, as printed in the Journal of June 10: "We, the undersigned residents of Sioux City and Sergeant Bluffs, Io.. and vicinity, do hereby certify that we were present on the afternoon of June 6, 1895, at Floyd's Bluff, where the meeting was held to identify the location of the grave where Sergeant Charles Floyd's remains were rein- terred by public ceremony May 28, 1857. The location is where, coming up the Missouri river on the Iowa side, the first high bluff roaches the river hank, and below the mouth of the Floyd river. The grave is on the crest of the ridge of the bluff which extends back from the river and hollows north ami south of it, and about 3(50 Tfeet back and east from the top of the railroad f this importanl meeting, tin- last one held before the ceremonies •>! the 20th, appears in the Journal "f August is. from the pen <>( Mr. Arthur P. Statter, and has i a used !>v your committee to supplement the official manuscript minutes. The unsigned rding to the programme. No untoward incident marred the occasion. The assemblage numbered fully five hundred persons; among them were the following, who attended or participated in the event as officers and members of the Association and its invited guests, officers and members of the Han- cock Post, G. A. R., other civic and military officials, members of the press, old settlers, and the public: Hon. Charles AJdrich, Curator State Historical Department. Des Moines, la. Mrs. Ains worth, Onawa, la., journalist. C I). Bagley, Sioux City. Charles Baldwin, Sioux City. L. Bates. Dakota City. Neb C. A. Benton, Credits Commutation Co., Sioux City. > iur committee's relation ol these imposing ceremonies i- based i On their participation in the programme, all the numbers of the committee having 1 a present on the occasion, ami three ol thi le speakers; J On Secretary Marks' official minutes of the exercises, con- sidered as procea.Hnys ol the Association; and ) On the very full accounts published in the Sioux Citj Journal and Tinuso! August 20 and 21. These papers printed eleven columns of illustrated articles on th ■; event, oae o unpre sdented local interest ami just local pride, a- well a-- ..t national historic significance. The Associated Press dispatch from Sioux City ol August ." was very gen- erall} used by papers throughout the United States, four committee acknowledge with thanks their iniebteiaawto thseiitor of th; Journal ail his reporto ia id particularly to Mr. vard furnish:1 Dr. Cojes with a much mire extensive list "i names of persons present than had before been prepared. 36 REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. Ellis Blackbird, otherwise Shongoska or White Horse, grandson of Chief Blackbird, Omaha Agency, Neb. L. M. Brown, Sioux City. C. A. Bryan, Sioux City. R. Buchanan, Sioux City. A. H. Burton, Sioux City. Prof. J. D. Butler, Madison, Wis., bearer of Floyd's Journal, and deliv- erer of the funeral oration. Miss Butler, Madison, Wis. President John H. Charles, Sioux City, presiding over civic ceremonies. Mrs. John H. Charles, Sioux City. R. J. Chase, Sioux City. H. C. Cheyney, Sioux City and Pacific R. R., representing Maj. Horace G. Burt, of Omaha, Neb. Col. A. D. Collier, Sioux City. Dr. Elliott Coues, Washington, D. C, speaker on behalf of Lewis and Clark's Expedition. Mrs. Elliott Coues, Washington, D. C. E. E. Crady, Sioux City. Mrs. D. A. Crockwell, Sioux City (or Mrs. Dr. Crockwell, Salt Lake City, Utah.) W. C. Davenport, Sioux City. M. B. Davis, Sioux City, comrade G. A. R. E. G. Dilley, Sioux City. James Doughty, Sioux City. David Douglas, Sioux City, locomotive engineer of the train. Henry Fontanelle, Omaha Agency, Neb., in charge of the Omaha Indians, Shongaska and Sindahaha. F. L. Ferris, Sioux City. G. M. Gilbert, Sioux City, leader of the choir. Rev. Elinor E. Gordon, Sioux City. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Green and family, Sioux City. August Groninger, Sioux City. Mrs. A. Groninger, Sioux City. J. W. Hallam, Sioux City. J. H. Hamilton, Sioux City. Atlee Hart, editor North Nebraska Eagle, Dakota City, Neb. Dr. J. L. Hanchette, Sioux City. Mr. Herman, Sioux City. Frederick Clark Hills, formerly Sergeant Company E, 117th New York Volunteers, Senior Vice Commander Hancock Post, No. 22, G. A. R., and President Board of Education, Sioux City. A. M. Holman, Sergeant Bluffs. Mrs. A. M. Holman, Sergeant Bluffs. C. J. Holman, Sergeant Bluffs. Mrs. C. J. Holman, Sergeant Bluffs. Frederick Holman, cadet U. S. N., Annapolis, Md. J. C. C. Hoskins, ex-President of the Association, Sioux City. Mrs. J. C. C. Hoskins, Sioux City. J. D. Hoskins, Sioux City. REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. 37 James Hutchins, Sioux City. Robert Ingersoll, Sioux City. Rev. H. D. Jenkins, Sioux City, deliverer of the prayer and benediction. Mrs. H. D. Jenkins, Sioux City. Miss Anna and Miss Ruth Jenkins, Sioux City. Paul Jenkins, Sioux City. Frederick Johnson, cadet U. S. A., West Point, N. Y. Dr. G. A. Johnson, Sioux City. Dr. J. Perrin Johnson, Sioux City. Wm. L. Joy, Sioux City. E. R. Kirk, Sioux City. L. D. Letellier, Sioux City, a pioneer. C. H. Lewis. Sioux City. D. S. Lewis, Sioux City. John W. Lewis, Sioux City. Arthur Linn, Canton, S. D. \Y. G. Linn, Sioux City. Geo W. McGibbons, Sioux City, comrade G. A. R. F. A. Magill, Sioux City. Treasurer D. A. Magee, Sioux City. J. A. Magoun, Jr., Sioux City. Secretary C. R. Marks, Sioux City, in charge of the remains. Mrs. C. R. Marks, Sioux City. Russell A. Marks, Sioux City. George Murphy, Sioux City. Capt. C. O'Connor, Homer, Neb. Charlotte O'Connor, Homer, Neb. G. M. Pardoe, Sioux City. Judge Isaac Pendleton, Sioux City. Miss May Pendleton, Sioux City. Hon. Geo. D. Perkins, M. C, Sioux City, speaker on behalf of the Board of Curators of the Iowa State Historical Society. Mrs. Geo. D. Perkins, Sioux City. Mrs. H. A. Perkins, Sioux City. Prof. J. L. Pickard, Burlingame, Kas. John M. Pinckney, Sioux City. Mrs. John M. Pinckney, Sioux City. John S. Potts, city editor Evening Times, Sioux City. Commander Eugene W. Rice, Hancock Post, No. 22, G. A. R., Sioux City, presiding over military ceremonies. Judge G. S. Robinson, Sioux City. Dr. Grant J. Ross. Sioux City. Rev. Mary A. Safford, pastor Unitarian Church, Sioux City. Robert H. Sayre, South Bethlehem, Pa. Rev. T. M. Shanafelt, Superintendent of Baptisl Missions. Huron. S. I). Sindahaha, otherwise Glistening Tail, Omaha Agency, Neb. E. W. Skinner, Sioux City. Arthur F. Statter, reporter Sioux City Journal. Whitfield Stinson, Sioux City. Thomas J. Stone, Sioux City 38 REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. S. W. Swiggett, Sioux City. Henry J. Taylor, Sioux City. T. C. Tees. Sioux City. Prof. J. E. Todd, State Geologist, Vermillion, S. D. Mitchell Vincent, C. E., Onawa, la. J. P. Vincent. Onawa, la. Judge George W. Wakefield, Sioux City, speaker on behalf of the city. Mrs. Lycurgus Wakefield, Sioux City. A. J. Westfall, Sioux City. B. P. Yeomans, Sergeant Bluffs. Mrs. B. P. Yeomans, Sergeant Bluffs. Dr. S. P. Yeomans, Charles City, la., speaker on behalf of the old settlers. George W. Young. Sioux City, chief of police. The train on the Sioux City and Pacific R. R. was advertised to leave the station at 1:30 p. m. At that hour, when the Hancock Post had marched with drum and fife to the station, and the citizens had also assembled, it was found that the means of transportation were insufficient to con- vey the throng. But Mr. H. C. Cheyney procured two additional coaches in a few minutes, and at 1:45 the train started, with the veteran engineer, David Douglas, at the throttle. The train soon stopped in the cut at the foot of Floyd's Bluff, and its 400 passengers alighted. Fully 100 others came in private conveyances. The procession from the train ascended to the top of the bluff, headed by the Hancock Post. A photograph of the ascent was taken as the procession moved up the south face of the acclivity. When all had gathered about the grave, beside which stood two urns containing the remains of Sergeant Floyd, President Charles opened the exercises in a few fitting words, and introduced Judge George W. Wake- field, who spoke on behalf of Sioux City, in substance as follows: ADDRESS OF JUDQE WAKEFIELD. "We have met today to mark an historic spot in memory of a volunteer citizen soldier of the early days of the republic. On this occasion the pres- ent clasps hands with the past, today with the days of Washington and Jefferson. It is well for us to stop in the midst of our labors and take a momentary retrospect and thereby realize the rapidity of our nation's growth and the importance of the Louisiana purchase. When Sergeant Floyd died and was buried on this bluff the frontier was along the line of the Allegha- nies, and the lower end of Lake Ontario was an almost unbroken wilder- ness. From that frontier our civilization has extended westward by rapid strides down the Ohio, across the Mississippi, over the great plains and the heights of the Rockies and down to the Pacific ocean. Sergeant Floyd was one of the pathfinders exploring for this civilization a vast region, an empire in extent, stretching from the "Father of Waters" to the wave-washed shores of Oregon. We meet to commemorate the life and death of this man, a volunteer soldier, enlisted in the service of the United States. It is very largely the names of generals and great captains that occupy and engross the historic page and memorial slab, but today our hero is the man with the musket, and without the stalwart service of such there would be no generals or great captains. REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. "The man with the musket who is faithful to every call of duty is the true hero. The people of Sioux City have a just pride in preserving this historic spot and the memory of this pioneer soldier. They have, with other interested friends, organized the Floyd Memorial Association and planned this memorial celebration. They extend to all a most hearty invitation to join in this work to the end that at no distant day we may dedicate a monument where today we place a simple slab. It is the duty of the present to preserve the ancient landmarks. Let us do our duty." THE FUNERAL ORATION- President Charles next introduced Prof. James D. Butler, who appeared carrying in his hand the original manuscript journal of Sergeant Floyd, to deliver the funeral oration. Prof. Butler spoke in substance as follows : "All ye that are about him bemoan him, and all ye that know his name say: 'How is the strong staff broken and the beautiful rod.' — Jer. xlviii.. 17." "Let us roll back the tide of time and imagine ourselves standing ninety- one years ago on this selfsame spot. About noon a flotilla comes in sight — three boats, one of twenty-two oars, the others each of six. They come to land at the base of the bluff and bring ashore a man at the point of death. They try in every waj inventive love can dictate to relieve and rally him. He revives a little and says to the leader of the party, T want you to write me a letter,' murmurs a few words of father and mother far away in Ken- tucky. Then, looking around at many an eye tearful though unused te weep, he enters his last agony, cries. 'I am going to leave you.' and all is over. With noiseless step death steals on man. No plea, no prayer delivers him; From midst of life's unfinished plan With sudden hand it severs him. Ready, not ready, no delay. Forth to his judge's bar he must away. "All are in silence, some one perhaps pours out audible prayer for the parting spirit and for those around, none of whom in such a moment can forget their own brittle thread of life. "The little utmost that can be done to honor the dead is done at once. that in paying last honors saddened hearts may throw off something of their burden. Boards provided for mending the boats are shaped Into a coffin, one of the (lags, broughl along to show nationality in councils, serves for a winding sheet, and Strong arms hear the lifeless loved one. pew loved more than ever, up to the heighl of land. A grave has alreadj i □ fash- ioned then' and two ropes from the boats lower it into its last resting place In the face of death all men have serious moments. Committing dust to dust, all fee] what shadows we are and what shadows we pursue. All thank Ood for him who hath abolished death and broughl the life of Immortality to light. Bui grief is restless and finds a solace jn action. The tallest cedar within reach, topped With the stars and stripes, is set up over the grave, and the words "Charles Floyd, August 20, L804," are cui Into it. A dis- charge of muskets follows as a requiem. Then the whole hand, too broken- hearted to linger, with folded hands, casting a last look at the heaped up 40 REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. earth, go clown the slope, launch their boats and the same evening push on further into the great lone land. They do with their might what their hands find to do, realizing as never before that there is no work in the grave. "Two years must drag their slow length along before Floyd's fellow- soldiers can return from the farthest west and behold his memorial post, which, let us thank God, was predestinated to be proof against undermining waters below, prairie fires sweeping around, and cyclones assailing from above, till it insured everlasting remembrance to the site of Floyd's inter- ment." HON. GEO. D. PERKINS' REMARKS. Geo. D. Perkins, who represented the Board of Curators of the State Historical Society, was then introduced by President Charles. "Standing here," he said, "on the verge of this new-old grave, we are re- minded that it is the unexpected that happens. The Louisiana purchase in 1803 was unexpected. It was the state of war between France and England that rendered that purchase possible. Out of this purchase an empire west of the Mississippi river has been created, controlling in large measure the destinies of the great republic. Without this acquisition it may be doubted if the government of the United States could have long survived. The rapid settlement of this vast territory was the unexpected, for prior to the pur- chase the steamboat and the steam railway were unknown. The mighty transformation since Lewis and Clark and their faithful companions made their slow way up the Missouri river, here, was beyond all the thought of that time. The occasion was one of pride to the people of Sioux City, and of honor to the state and to the country." With a few remarks touching the marking of Sergeant Floyd's grave, and the obligation of caring for it, he brought his brief address to a close. At this point in the programme the exercises were placed in charge of Gen. Hancock Post, G. A. R., and the military ceremonies were formally opened by Post Commander Eugene Rice. Dr. H. D. Jenkins then offered prayer, which was followed by the singing of "Nearer My God to Thee," by a chorus led by Mr. G. M. Gilbert. COVLdANDER RICE'S ADDRESS. Post Commander Rice then delivered the following address: "Comrades: One by one as the years roll on we are called together to fulfill the duties of respect to our country's dead. The present — full of the cares and pleasures of civil life — fades away, and we look back to the time when the heroes of our republic gave their lives in its service. As in the conflict of the 60s, when we, too, were soldiers of the republic, and gave our service for the maintenance of the Union and for the triumph of the cause represented by the Stars and Stripes — the flag so dear to our hearts — so in the earlier years of our nation's life was this same flag dear to the heart of this soldier of the republic, Sergeant Charles Floyd, who gave his life to his country in this then newly discovered wilderness, almost a century ago. and whose remains we today reconsign to the bosom of our common mother — earth — thus giving in these ceremonies a tardy recognition of serv- ice to his country. REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. 41 "As time rolls on we too shall have fought our hattles through and be laid to rest, our souls following the long column to the realms above. •'Let us so live that when that time shall come to us those we leave behind may say above our graves: 'Here lies the body of a true-hearted, brave and earnest defender of the republic' " Following Commander Rice's address Comrades G. W. McGibbons, F. C. Hills and M. B. Davis made short responses, and each dropped a flower upon the urn containing the remains. The G. A. R. exercises were con- tinued by the Rev. H. D. Jenkins, who spoke as follows: DR. JENKINS' ADDRESS. Comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic: We who are accus- tomed to meet from time to time to pay funeral honors to the brave, are met today to deposit the ashes of an old soldier of the republic in a more fitting sepulcher than they have heretofore received, over which in due time shall rise a lofty monument or commemorative shaft. "Beside the beautiful waters of the Potomac rests the father of his country, in a tomb from whose site the visitor looks out upon the capital of a great nation and the marble palaces of its representatives. Beside the noble stream of the Hudson lie the mortal remains of that great general whose sword, followed by your muskets, preserved the liberties so dearly won. and that mausoleum by the most famous of our eastern rivers has become already a sacred Mecca to the great Empire State. Beside the broader flood of the Missouri, upon this glorious height, we redeposit today the ashes of that humble soldier who carried the flag of Washington into new and unexplored regions, and whose sacrifice and toil helped to make possible the victories of Grant. No one can read the story of that heroic band who in 1804 pushed its bateaux up this river in the face of unknown dangers and well known foes, without recognizing in it the pioneers of civilization, of freedom and of faith, for all of which God had destined this vast continent. "You know the story of Arnold von Melchthal, called Winkelried, who in 1308 gathered into his arms a sheaf of Austrian spears, by sacrifice of his own life making way for the advance of freedom in the persons of his compatriots who pressed forward where he fell. So it was with this man whose name we speak with reverence, confronting an inhospitable wilder- ness, but opening it up to free labor, free schools and free states. "Upon this lofty eminence, looking out over three states whose joint population is nearly 3, 500, Don. under a sky as genial as that of Italy, amid farms bursting with opulence, beside railways burdened by our present harvests, beside a city whose palaces of trade are builded of marble, jasper and chalcedony, we recommil his bodj to the grave, leaving it In the keep- ing of that God who will reward every man according to his work, and there may it rest undisturbed until the last day. In the nan [ the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen and Amen." ADDRESS OF DR. COUES. President Charles having resumed charge of the exercises, at the eon elusion of the military programme, I>r. Elliott Coues, the eminent Lewis and Clark historian, was the next speaker Introduced. He spoke briefly on behalf of the Expedition, as follows: 42 REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. "Ladies and Gentlemen: Instead of any poor remarks of my own on this interesting historic occasion, we will hear the very words which were penned on this spot by Capt. William Clark, on the day of Sergeant Floyd's death, August 20, 1804: " 'Died with a great deel of composure, before he died he said to me I am going away I want you to write me a letter — We buried him on the top of the bluff y 2 mile below a small river to which we gave his name, he was buried with the Honors of War much lamented, a seeder post with the Name Sergt. C. Floyd died here 20th of August 1804 was fixed at the head of his grave — This man at all times gave us proofs of his Determined reso- lution to doe service to his country and honor to himself after paying all honor to our Decesed brother we camped in the mouth of floyd's river about 30 yards wide, a butiful evening.' " ADDRESS BY DR. YEOHANS. Following Dr. Coues, Dr. S. P. Yeomans, an early pioneer of Sioux City. who was present at the reburial of Floyd's remains in 1857, was introduced by President Charles, to speak on behalf of the old settlers. We give a synopsis of his interesting and appropriate address: "The occasion of this assemblage, with all its connecting incidents, is so unique as to be rarely, if ever, paralleled in human history. We are here to consign to their final resting place the remains of a fellow-being who died nearly a hundred years ago: to pay the last tribute of respect to one of whose life and history we have little knowledge beyond the fact that he fell at his post of duty in the service of our country. "These honors to one of whom we know so little fittingly exemplify the great cardinal doctrine of the Christian world, the kinship of the race, the brotherhood of man. Charles Floyd is a stranger to us, belonging to another age; probably no living being has ever looked upon his face, or grasped his hand. But 'a man is a man for a' that,' having a common origin and a common destiny with us, and the claims of our common humanity for sympathy and such aid as we may bestow in the time of calamity and help- lessness. "It is not extravagent to assume that Sergeant Floyd, with all the others composing the expedition of Lewis and Clark in 1804-06, were as truly heroes as thousands of others whose names are emblazoned upon the pages of history. This expedition was esteemed of great national importance; it was authorized by act of congress upon the urgent recommendation of President Jefferson. Ample time was taken to select the men composing it, who. by their courage, prudence and physical endurance were fully qualified to per- form the arduous duties required. It involved an entire separation for two years from every vestige of civilization, a traversing of two of the longest and most important rivers in North America, with no means of transporta- tion, aside from their frail boats, propelled with their own strong arms, with no knowledge of the rapids and cataracts that were before them. It in- volved the scaling of mountain heights, whose towering peaks were capped with everlasting snow. It involved encounters with savage beasts, as fero- cious as those found in the jungles of Africa, and the meeting with Indian *ribes in overwhelming numbers, who could be conciliated only by shrewd- ness, tact and diplomacy. REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. 4:; "There can be no question that men who voluntarily assumed perils and hardships like these belonged to the highest type of heroes. "As we stand by this open grave there comes to us a sense of a mystical association between the opening and closing years of the century, which seems naturally to lead the mind to the contemplation of existing condi- tions at these remote periods of time, comparison with which will indicate the growth and development of our nation. "We have in our immediate presence an object lesson that epitomizes this general process of change and development. Forty years ago I came to Sioux City in the first stage coach ever seen north of Council Bluffs, to establish a United States land office. Upon the banks of the Floyd, within your city limits, was a camp of 300 Indians, and for a considerable time thereafter all the eating was done at the table of the late Dr. John K. Cook. Within these four decades there has grown up this magnificent city, with a system of railroads radiating in every direction, stately mansions, hotels and business blocks, churches, school houses, and a teeming multitude of busy and prosperous citizens. I am glad to greet so goodly a number of the old settlers that were here at the beginning, who endured the toil of sowing and planting, and who, in their declining years, are reaping in rich profusion the reward of their labor." Upon the conclusion of Dr. Yeoman's address, the participants in the ceremonies were grouped about the open grave and photographed in several different views. The two receptacles containing the remains were then lowered into their final resting-place. One of these was an urn-shaped jar made for the pur- pose by Holman Brothers, of Sergeant Bluffs; but as this proved too short to hold the long bones, the latter were placed in a similar but narrower and higher earthenware jar, which had been provided by Secretary Marks. The remains thus interred were: The skull, including the lower jaw: the right femur, 18 inches long: a tibia, 15 inches; a fibula, 14% inches; part of the other fibula; one vertebra; one clavicle; and portions of several ribs all in good preservation. The inscription upon the urn was: SERGEANT CHARLES FLOYD. Dikd August 20, 1804. Reinterred May 28, 1857. Memorial Services August 20, 1895. A wreath and other floral offerings were placed upon the grave, which, after it had been filled up, was covered with the large stone slab ma M. ('. Carlstrom, laid flat upon the ground. The inscription reads: Sergeant CHARLES FLOYD DIED Aug. 20. 1804. Remains removed from 600 Feel West ami Reburied at This Place May 2s. 1857. This Stone Placed Aug. 20. 1-'' : . REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. The articles of Incorporation of the Floyd Memorial Association were numerously signed at the grave, as well as earlier in the day; and after the henediction had been pronounced by Dr. Jenkins, the assemblage dis- persed, and the Association adjourned to meet at the Auditorium of the Young Men's Christian Association, in Sioux City, for the exercises of the evening programme, at S p. m.. the same day. (B. EVENING EXERCISE - Y. M. C. A. Auditorium. Sioux City. la.. S p. m., Tuesday. August 20. 1S95. The large audience which gathered in the Y. M. C. A. Auditorium for the evening exercises was called to order by President Charles at S o'clock. The stage was occupied by the speakers of the occasion. Dr. Coues and Prof. Butler, by President Charles. Prof. J. E. Todd. Prof. Pickard. Rev. Dr. Jenkins, and Mr. J. C. C. Hoskins. Secretary Marks, at the suggestion of Dr. Coues. offered the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted: Resolved. That the special thanks of the Floyd Memorial Association be and they are hereby tendered to Mr. H. G. Burt, of Omaha. General Mana- ger of the Sioux City and Pacific Railroad, for the many courtesies and favors by which he has shown his interest in the Association, and greatly promoted its purposes. The following resolution was also introduced by Secretary Marks and unanimously adopted: Resolved. That the thanks of this Association be and they are hereby tendered to the Gen. Hancock Post. G. A. R.. for its cordially rendered serv- ices in honoring the grave and memory of Sergeant Charles Floyd, in re- depositing of his remains and placing a stone over the grave this day. President Charles then introduced Dr. Coues as the historian of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, who had been invited to deliver the address of the evening on that subject. Dr. Coues arose and delivered a most interesting address upon the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition. Dr. Coues. as the historian of these explorers, probably knows more about their travels, hardships and adventures than any other living man. and his words were listened to with rapt attention by the audience. Dr. Coues has a strong, clear voice, and the faculty of keeping his hearers in perfect sympathy with him in his subject. At the close of his address he was tendered a hearty round of applause. Dr. Coues spoke substantially as follows: DR. COLES' EVENING ADDRESS. "Mr. President. Ladies and Gentlemen: Lewis and Clark's Expedition is our national epic of exploration, conceived by Thomas Jefferson, wrought out by the great pioneers who showed the way from the Mississippi to the Pacific, and first given to the world by Nicholas Biddle in the year 1814. Being the latest historian of this ever memorable enterprise. I have been asked to give you some account of a journey which, from the day it was finished until today, has never ceased to be on the tongues of men. has never ceased to be a model of all such undertakings, and will never cease to bear fruit until our great West is no longer great. "In the year 1S03 we had nothing west of the Mississippi. In that year one of the greatest statesmen America ever produced bought from the great REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. 45 founder of the Napoleonic dynasty the whole of the country between the British and the Spanish possessions, which had been called by the French Louisiana, and was almost entirely unknown. By a stroke of the pen. with- out a drop of blood, and for much less money than Sioux City represents to- day, this vast possession became ours — as we trust forever. "Jefferson naturally wished to know what sort of a bargain he had made and determined to find out. For this purpose he appointed his private secre- tary. Meriwether Lewis, of Virginia, a captain in the army, gave him carte blanche to organize an expedition, gave him a letter of credit addressed to all the world, and minute instructions for the conduct of the enterprise — which was nothing less than a journey across the continent, by the principal waterways — the Missouri on this side of the great divide, the Columbia thence to the Pacific, ('apt. Lewis selected his friend, William Clark, of Virginia, as his associate — and thus were linked two names which will live so long as men love to hear of deeds of greatness. "The winter of 1803-4 was passed in camp at the mouth of Du Bois or Wood river, in Illinois, nearly opposite the mouth of the Missouri, and on Monday, May 14, 1804. the expedition started with forty-five men all told, in one large and two small boats. Besides the two captains, there were nine young Kentuckians, fourteen United States soldiers, two French watermen, one hunter, and a negro slave; besides which, a corporal and six soldiers and nine watermen were engaged to go only as far as the Mandans. There were afterward several changes in the composition of the permanent party, so that when it left the .Mandans, April 7. 1805. it consisted of thirty-one men. one woman, and her new-born baby. "The lecturer said he should be obliged to condense to the utmost, to bring up even a part of the most important facts of so long protracted an expedition. Passing over the early stages in a few words, he brought the expedition to the vicinity of the Little Sioux. Inyan Yankey, or Eaneahwa- depon river, on August 7, 1804. In thus approaching Sioux City, the lecturer called attention to an interesting chart of the Missouri flood-plain in Monona county, drawn by Mitchell Vincent, of Onawa, which showed how great had been the changes in the river since the time of Lewis and Clark. Some places they navigated in their boats would now require "prairie schooners," being scleral miles to the right or left of the present channel. Several camps were pointed out as the explorers passed the present site of Decatur and Blackbird hill, and on Augusl 11 found themselves on the Omaha creek a few miles below this city, where they remained until the 20th, to hold a council with otto ami Missouri Indians. Here Sergeant Floyd was taken violently ill with the disease which ended his life aexl day, about noon, when the expedition had almost reached the blufl where he was buried and which still bears in o the river close by, where the expe- dition camped after paying the last honors to their deceased comrade. "To show how minute and exacl were the observations made on lin- age the lecturer cited the case of the little creek now called Perry, Bowing through the city, which, together with Prospect bill, was duly and recogniza- bly described, before the explorers reached the Big Sioux. Tchankaandata, or Watpaipakshan riser. "On August 22 Patrick Gass was elected a sergeant to All the vacancy caused by Floyd's death, and subsequently became one of the historians of 46 REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. the expedition, whose published narrative antedated that of Lewis and Clark by seven years. "The following October saw our travelers safely at the villages of the Mandan and associated Indians, at and a little below Knife river, about 65 miles above Bismarck, now the capital of North Dakota. Here they spent the winter in quarters which they built and named Fort Mandan, awaiting the opening of navigation. They raised our flag for the first time among these Indians, cultivated friendly relations with them, entered also into diplomatic relations with British traders, and the following April saw them ready to resume their arduous journey toward the setting sun. On the 7th of that month they sent the large boat back clown the Missouri, bearing dis- patches to the president and others, which was the last word heard from or of the party till they returned to St. Louis in September, 1806. "They soon passed the mouth of the Little Missouri, and were then be- yond any point which white men had ever reached. The mouth of the Yel- lowstone was reached April 25. They went on and discovered Milk river, which they named from the color of the water; they passed the Musselshell; they reached Judith's river, which Capt. Clark named for the lady he after- ward married; they reached Maria's river, which Capt. Lewis named for a lady whom he never married; and on June 13 the roar of the Great Falls was first heard by Capt. Lewis, who had gone ahead of the main party. No white man's eye had ever rested before on these cataracts, or on the won- derful fountain which there bursts out of the ground with water enough to make a sizable river. "They were occupied a full month in making a portage past the falls, dragging their boats and baggage seventeen and three-fourths miles to the place where they could be launched again in smooth water. They went on again and named Smith's and Dearborn's rivers for the then secretary of the navy and of war respectively. They soon entered the stupendous chasm they called the Gates of the Rocky Mountains, swept past the present site of Montana's capital; and then Capt. Clark, who was in advance, at one moment discovered the three great rivers which unite to form the Missouri — the Jefferson, the Madison, and the Gallatin, so called from the president and two of his cabinet— names they bear today. With an unerring instinct, the explorers chose the Jefferson as the main continuation of the Missouri, and went up it as far as they could push or drag their boats. In passing its three principal branches, they named them Philosophy, Philanthropy and Wisdom rivers, in recognition of the three great qualities to be found in Jefferson; but a later age ("which knew not Joseph") changed these names to Willow creek, Stinking Water and Big Hole river. "Arrived at the end of possible navigation, the captains fortunately fell in with some friendly Shoshone Indians and learned something of the terri- ble route before them across the continental divide and through the huge nest of mountains in Idaho. They had "bucked against the Rockies" in about the worst place they could have found. They, however, went quite easily over Hie first and main divide at a point now known as Lemhi pass, which Capt. Lewis, first of white men, surmounted on the 12th of August. They were then on the Pacific water-shed, and Capt. Clark made a reconnoissance down the Lehmi and Salmon rivers, but found that route impracticable. The expedi- tion was then conducted northward over a mountain range and into the pleas- REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. 47 alley on the east side of the Bitter Root mountains, which they de- scended northward nearly to the present site of Missoula, Mont. There they west up the stream they call Traveler's Rest creek, now known as the Lo Lo fork, and were soon involved in the terrible mountains already men- tioned, where they suffered much from hunger and cold. "But on the 24th of September they found themselves once more on navi- gable waters — on the Kooskooskee or Clearwater river — at the junction of its north fork with the main stream. There they built boats and pre for the dangerous navigation to the ocean. Down the Kooskooskee they came to the mouth of the Snake or Lewis river, and down this till October 16, when they reached the Columbia itself. No foot of white man had ever be- fore been set on the mountains they had thus passed — no canoe of white man had ever cleft the Columbian current above tide-water. Sweeping on rapidly they reached the great falls of the Columbia; they glided through the Dalles; they were soon on tide-water, and on the 7th of November the Pacific ocean burst upon their view. "Hugging the north shore, and at one place barely escaping shipwreck, they kept on till, on the 14th of November, Capt. Lewis stood upon the shore of the ocean at Cape Disappointment. Then after a few days, during which Capt. Clark pushed explorations along the coast, the expedition ascended the Columbia to a place where it was narrow enough to be crossed in their frail boats, passed to the south side and came clown to the mouth of a little stream they called the Netul, up which, about three miles, they found a good i i for winter quarters. They built a fort, which they called Fort Clat- Prof. Elliotl Coin sop and prepared to pass a dismal winter. My this time they were of course out of provisions; bul they managed to live by shooting elk, and trading what odds anil ends they possessed with the Indians for lish and root- 48 REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. "They had expected to find here some trading vessel, and it had been intended that some of the party should come home by way of Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope, perhaps. But no vessel came that year; and so, on Sunday, March 23, 1806, they abandoned Fort Clatsop and set their faces to recross the continent. They ascended the Columbia to the falls in boats, and thence went on horseback to the mouth of the Walla Walla river. There, striking across country, they reached the Kooskooskee at the pres- ent site of Lewiston, Idaho. They kept up this river to near the place now known as Kamai, and there settled down in Camp Chopunnish on May 14 for a month, to wait till the snow should be sufficiently melted to permit them to repass the fearful mountains by the same trail as before — what has since become known as the Northern Nez Perce trail. Having safely accom- plished this, they found themselves once more at the mouth of Traveler's Rest creek, July 1, 1806. "Here it is important to remember that the expedition was divided in two, to proceed by different routes to the Missouri, and meet again on that river below the mouth of the Yellowstone. "Capt. Lewis took nine men and w^nt by Missoula, up the Big Black- foot river, and crossed the continental divide July 7, at what has since be- come known as Lewis and Clark's pass — though Capt. Clark was never there. This brought him to the headwaters of Dearborn river, and he easily passed thence along Sun river to the old camp at the Great Falls of the Missouri. Leaving here all his men but three, Lewis started with George Drewyer and the two Fields brothers to explore the source of Maria's river. He went up this river within ten miles of the place where it issues from the Rocky Mountains, and thus attained by far the northernmost point ever reached by any member of the expedition. Soon after he started to return there oc- curred the only serious collision with Indians during the whole expedition. A party of treacherous Blackfeet who had come into camp with professions of peace rose up in the night to kill the four white men. The result was that Capt. Lewis killed one Indian. Reuben Fields killed another, and the Indians were whipped out of sight, leaving their horses and equipments in the hands of the brave whites. The fight occurred July 17, near the conflu- ence of Two Medicine Lodge and Badger creeks, in the vicinity of the pres- ent Blackfoot agency and Piegan postoffice. Capt. Lewis then beat a hasty retreat and by a forced march reached the Missouri at the mouth of Maria's river. There to his joy he met those of his men he had left at the Great Falls, and some of Capt. Clark's men with them. But how the latter got (here we must now inquire. "When the parties separated at the mouth of Traveler's Rest creek, Capt. Clark and all his men pushed up the valley of the Bitter Root river southward, and then turning eastward crossed the continental divide at a new place — that since known as Gibbon's pass, from having been used by Gen. John Gibbon when chasing Chief Joseph in our last Nez Perce war. Capt. Clark was thus on the old Bitter Root and Bannock stage route. He made this pass July 6, came by Bannock, and July 8 was again at the place, at the head of navigation of the Jefferson, where the whole party had been the August before. He descended the Jefferson to the junction of the Madison and Gallatin. There he sent a sergeant and a few men to continue down the Mis- souri and effect a junction with the men Capt. Lewis had meanwhile left at REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. 49 the Great Falls; and it was this party which, continuing down the Missouri, so fortunately re-enforced Capt. Lewis at the mouth of Maria's river. "But Capt. Clark had his own exploration to make. This was the ex- ploration of the Yellowstone river. He ascended the Gallatin, passed Boze- nian, and on making the Bozeman pass, July 15, he soon struck the Yellow- stone at the present site of Livingston, Mont. In all this exploration the Indian woman Sacajawea, who knew the country well, was of the greatest possible assistance, and Capt. Clark praises her highly. Ho continued down the Yellowstone on horseback till he found Cottonwood timber large trough for boats, built a couple and navigated the whole river down to its junction with the Missouri on August 3; but he did not, as some have thought, see anything of the Yellowstone above Livingston, nor was he or any member of his expedition ever in Yellowstone Park; though John Colter, one of the men, did enter the park and discover Yellowstone lake in 1807. "The two great captains had planned to meet at the mouth of the Yellowstone, and so well had they arranged matters that they got there nearly at the same time. Clark was a little ahead, however, and he kept on slowly a little distance, knowing that Lewis could not be far behind. And, in fact, the latter was soon on hand, but in a sad plight. He had been shot by accident by one of his men with whom he was hunting, who had mistaken him for an elk. The wound, which was through the hips, was severe and painful, though not dangerous. 'The expedition was happily reunited on the Missouri, a little above the mouth of the Little Missouri. August 12, and proceeded on to the Mandans. They found that their fort of the first winter had been destroyed by lire. Here John Colter was discharged at his own request, and the interpreter, Chaboneau, and his wife were also discharged. An Indian chief named Shahaka and some other persons were taken aboard, to be carried to the sr at of government to visit their great father, and the expedition continued to descend the Missouri. "One little known date which interests us in the present connection is September 4, on which day the expedition returned to Sioux City. The journal notes that Floyd's grave was examined on that day. It was found dis- turbed, as they thought, by Indians, but perhaps it was by wolves. They filled it up again and passed on. "No special incident marks the rest of the journej borne. The hardy explorers swept rapidly down the swelling current of our mightiest river. and reached St. Louis in safety about noon of the 23d of September, 1806. "Thus was brought to a happy conclusion the most memorable expe- dition in the history of our country — one accomplished at Hie utterlj insig- nificant expense of about $2,500, which Congress had appropriated for the purpose, and with the loss of hut a single life thai of him whom we honor today." PROF. BUTLHR ON FLOYD. President Charles next introduced Prof. Butler, the aged scholar, who displayed the original journal of Bergeanl Floyd, discovered by Mr. R. G. Thwaites, among the manuscripts of the State Historical Society, at Madi- 50 REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. son, Wis. Prof. Butler's subject was "Sergeant Charles Floyd," and a synop- sis of his remarks is as follows: "What do we know about Sergeant Floyd? We know little, but we know enough to make us lament that we know no more — enough to believe him worthy of a lasting memorial — the best memorial that we can secure. "He enlisted in Kentucky among the choice and goodly young men picked out there by Capt. Clark for exploring the vast and unknown West. He was selected by the captain of that corps of explorers as the fittest man tor his second in command. These Kentuckians, joining a party under Capt. Lewis, started from near St. Louis May 14, 1804, on a transcontinental ex- pedition which no white man had ever accomplished, and which it is not likely that any Indian had ever undertaken. Floyd was from the first a sergeant among these adventurers, and on the 99th day after starting up the Missouri he was brought ashore near the foot of his bluff, having been prostrated the day previous with mortal sickness, and he died there on that same day, Monday, August 20, 1804, just ninety-one years ago. "He was buried on Floyd's Bluff, a cedar post erected to mark the spot, and the branch which empties into the Missouri just above was named in his honor Floyd's river. He was the first soldier, and probably the first citizen, of the United States who died in the Louisiana purchase. His toma- hawk, stolen on the Pacific slope, was sought out with great pains and ran- somed with a great price for carrying home as a memento to his friends in Kentucky. We have other proofs in what high estimation he was held by his officers and his men. The Washington records of the war office fur- nish a touching testimonial in his favor from Capt. Lewis. When Con- gress was about to give a land and money bounty to the survivors of the expedition, that officer urged granting to the heirs of Charles Floyd as many acres and dollars as fell to either of the sergeants who had served all the way to the western ocean and back. "Sergeant Floyd, amid infinite difficulties, kept a journal day by day of the toilsome advance up stream — a chronicle unbroken till within two days or" his death. We know much about that journal. We find Capt. Lewis describing it as "one of the best of the seven which had been kept by his men," and transmitting it to St. Louis in the barge which, on April 7. 1805, he dispatched down the Missouri from the Mandan villages. This manu- script was buried, as it were, in a Kentucky grave, but at length resurrected by Lyman C. Draper, a man beyond all men sagacious of such quarries from afar. When this heart's core of Floyd's life had been exhumed and borne safely to Wisconsin, it lay hidden for a generation in Draper's fire-proof at Madison. Floyd's narrative would never have been recognized but for itf self-evidencing testimony — bearing witness to itself — that this unique relic, so long lost, so wide wandering, so ready to perish and so long sleep- ing soundly in its own sheets, accidentally caught the eye of Reuben Gold Thwaites, secretary of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, on the 3d of February, 1893. This discovery was made known to the American Anti- quarian Society in Worcester, Mass., the mother and model of all similar institutions in America. A request was made by that Association to James D. Butler, one of their members, that he would deliver an address on the new-found treasure trove at their next Boston meeting. On hearing the ad- REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. 51 dress the Antiquarian Society voted to print every word of the Floyd journal verbatim, literatim et punctuatim. "Brackenridge. journeying on a vessel of the American Fur Company in 1811, speaks of the cedar post. In 1832 George Catlin was a passenger on the first steamer which ever ascended the great river as far as the Yellow- stone, and he came down the same season in a canoe with two half-breed oarsmen; he landed at the bluff, found the cedar intact, sat on the mound, plucked flowers there, wrote a page in description of the same, and from sketches then drawn painted a picture which was exhibited in London and Paris, as well as in our Atlantic States. In 1839 Nicollet, making the first accurate map of the Missouri, under orders from the secretary of war, found the monumental cedar fallen down, but, although a cyclone was im- pending, would not let the steamer scud for shelter till his men had set it upright. In 1857 the mighty river broke the banks that bind her in and tore in pieces this fettering bluff. When the dwellers near came hither they found that undermining water had caused a landslide, so that one end of the Floyd coffin projected from a sheer precipice, and a man lowered by a rope reported the skull to have fallen out. It was immediately discovered below, and. with the other bones, reinterred at a safe distance from the verge. "You all know the rest, how all dwellers in this region who knew the story of Floyd have felt that in neglecting to honor Floyd they were themselves dishonored, "You know how the sacred spot of interment through the trampling of horses and cattle had become indistinguishable, and how discordant on that matter were the opinions even of those who had assisted at the reburial. You remember last Decoration Day, what a gathering on the bluff, what a testing the earth with trowels, the discovery of the hallowed ground by its color and shape, the disinterment, and the organization on June 6 of this Floyd .Memorial Association. "It is a great joy to me that I am permitted on this anniversary to show you here the autograph, yes. the autograph journal of Floyd, not a line erased, not a word obscured, a writing thai in some particulars serves to cor- rect, complete or illustrate the official reports of Lewis and Clark, a work that will yet he reproduced in photographic lac similes l>\ Iowa and per- haps .Missouri as unsurpassed in antiquitj by any of their literary remains or written chronicles. Nor can I without emotion bring again to the bones Of its author this manuscript, so often ready to perish, or to lurk unknown forever, hut which, after well-nigh a centurj of wandering, comes home to do him homage. Such a reunion moves our wonder like thai vision of the prophet in the valley of dry hones when there was a shaking and the bones came together. ,;i,-h to his fellow, b to his hone. 0, that Floyd, when io perish here ninety y< could have forseen tins day, this con- course, his remains bo cared tor. and this hook which i now bring t<> it> author coming hack from adventures Btranger than Fiction! The vision would have sweetened even tin bitterness of death. "What is the aim of our Association? "We propose to erect such a memorial over the hones we now deposit in God's acre that henceforth there shall be no uncertainty where tiny lie. a memorial slab already provided we today place over the dust we delight to 52 REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. honor. Its marble will naturally last longer than the cedar post, and can defy the pocket-knives of relic-hunting vandals. But it is nothing to what we expect. We view it as the first stone in a structure worthy of the hero who here fell, and of his endeavors stretching to Pacific shores. "In a small Vermont mountain town the best monument in the grave- yard commemorates a minister who died there very poor. Its history as told me was this: For a long time after the minister's death he had no grave- stone, but one morning a large lump of slate was observed on his grave and found to have been rolled there by a half-witted laughing-stock of the vil- lage, who had rudely inscribed it with these lines: 'This simple stone may mark the spot Where our dear pastor lies, Till a better one shall take its place, Or till the dead shall rise.' "The fool roused the wise to their duty. Our hopes are sanguine that this history will be seen to repeat itself in regard to the Floyd memorial. "Floyd who was in the forefront of our crusaders who first bore a line of light into and through the thick darkness that had hitherto brooded over all the trans-Mississippi. It was not the will of God that he should be frost- bitten during the winter among the Mandans, nor share in the frequent famines with no food but the flesh of dogs, horses and whales, and not much of that, nor was he, like his survivors, worn out in the month long portage at the Great Falls, nor did his eyes fail through vainly watching for a sail to succor amid want of all things on the Pacific. "But he was ready and eager for all this, and even more. He is proved to have been so not only by his being preferred to many good men for an arduous position, and by his disappointing no expectation, and by his loss being so greatly lamented, but by the touching testimonial to his character from his commander, a captain as sternly just as Cato the Censor, or the first Brutus. Therefore, the willing mind that was in him — let it be ac- cepted for the deeds he would have done had not his Maker been pleased to cut him down in the midst of his days. I see Floyd's shadowy ghost among us today, rejoicing to join in our gathering for doing him honor. With reason does he claim a memorial in the goodly land he laid down his life in spying out for us. The Eschol cluster he plucked for us there I bring you today in his journal, a bunch of grapes that shall never decay or wither. "Our memorial will have a national significance. In commemorating Floyd we do our best to honor the discovery of that trans-Mississippi Amer- ica which, world famous for the wonders and wealth of nature, is fast filling with millions of men, and may yet control and shape the destinies of the whole. "Exploring the trans-Mississippi was in Jefferson's thoughts before the Revolutionary war ended. Despairing of penetrating the Spanish cordon from the east he sent Ledyard to Russia, hoping to enter the terra incognita by way of Bering straits. No half-faced fellowship in the great West could content him. He held that the valley of the Mississippi must remain value- less to us all till we became masters of its mouth. There is one spot on the globe, said he, where the people must be our natural and necessary enemies, and that is the kingdom which holds the entrance of the Mississippi, our REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. 53 front door, our only gateway from the West to the commerce of the world. For thai gateway he was ready to fight not only England that he hated and In to which he was indifferent, but France which he loved. "Spain, viewing the trans-Mississippi as a greater Mexico, would have made a Fearful fight against us in order to retain it. Her infatuated sover- eign gave it away to Napoleon. That emperor, needing money more than i wilderness he could not defend against England, sold it to us. As soon as Jefferson indulged any hope of securing such an inestimable jewel he began preparations to prove its value. The purchase, completed April 30, 1803, was not known to him before the 2d of July, and three days after- ward his private secretary. Capt. Lewis, started from Washington, adven- turing to the shore washed by the fartherest sea — an exploration which, as Humboldt once said, revealed to the world a vaster and more valuable region than any other party of explorers had ever brought to light. In 1890 more than 14,000,000 already inhabitated that wilderness, to whom and their children, the Floyd monument here will be a focus of historic interest. "The expedition in which Floyd was a martyr drew a line of light along the Missouri nearly to its fountainhead. It doubled the strength of our claim to the Pacilic slope for a thousand miles further west. In subsequent negotiations we claimed Oregon and Washington because we were the first to discover the mouth of the Columbia. But the British had a counterclaim, for they had first ascended that river above tidewater. This claim would have had weight and might have cost us a war had not the comrades of Floyd been foremost in descending the Columbia to the ocean. "In honor, then, of our first soldier who died on the Missouri, one who so did his duty for a hundred days that we know he would have done it well for a thousand, as moved by shame that you have ignored and neglected his grave so long, as glorying in the earliest grave of trans-Mississippi America, that of one of our foremost pathbreakers hitherward, build ye for Floyd a worthy monument, an ornament to your city, seen afar on land. 'The path of duty is the way to glory.' " At the conclusion of this address resolutions complimentary to both Iters were passed, and the audience dispersed. On motion the Association adjourned for one year or at the call of the President, the Board of Trustees, to unci in the Court House at 2 p. m. on August 24, to perfect its organization bj the election of permanenl officers. and transact other business. On the following day, August 21, the Sioux city .Journal, in publishing the s'uii report of th«- foregoing exercises, presented an editorial leader, which we transcribe tor its intrinsic Interest, and to complete the record of the occasion. It is as fol li SERGEANT CHARLES FLOYD. "The reburial of the remains of Sergeant Charles Floyd, a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition of ninety-one years ago. conducted tinder the auspices of the Floyd Memorial Association of Sioux City, yesterday, was a historical event of great Interest. The presence of hi-. Coues, of Washington, i>. C, and Dr. Butler, ol Madison, Wis., added vastly to the public interest. REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. "The Louisiana purchase, under the Jefferson administration, stands as the most important acquisition of territory ever made by the government of the United States. Indeed, it may be suggested that but for this fortu- nate outcome with France the young republic would not have long sur- vived. It was the fear of England that induced Bonaparte to hastily con- clude the treaty by which this vast territory, exceeding in extent the territory wrested from the British by the revolution, became annexed to the domain of the United States. "Mr. Livingston, who represented this government, joined by Mr. Mon- roe, had no authority to negotiate for the territory included in the purchase. Communication with Washington would require at least three months, and the European complications were such that immediate action must be had. Understanding President Jefferson's views, and having confidence in his approval, the treaty was negotiated. The purpose Mr. Jefferson had was to secure the free use of the Mississippi river, particularly at New Orleans; but such was the attitude of England that Bonaparte felt that in order to keep the Louisiana, territory out of the hands of the British it was the part of wisdom to dispose of it to the United States. "The purchase was made for $15,000,000. The population of the United States at that time numbered about 6,000,000, and the pledge of $15,000,000 was probably equal to a pledge of more than $500,000,000 at the present time. "Mr. Blaine, in his 'Twenty Years of Congress,' speaking of the good fortune of the country in that matter, says: " 'England's acquisition of Louisiana would have proved in the high- est degree embarrassing, if not disastrous, to the union. At that time the forts of Spain, transferred to France, and thence to the United States, were on the east side of the Mississippi, hundreds of miles from its mouth. If England had seized Louisiana, as Bonaparte feared, the Floridas, cut off from the other colonies of Spain, would certainly have fallen into her hands by easy and prompt negotiations, as they did, a few years after, into the hands of the United States. England would thus have had her colonies planted on the three land sides of the union, while on her ocean side the formidable navy confronted the young republic. No colonial acquisition ever made by her on any continent has been so profitable to her commerce, and so strengthening to her military position, as that of Louisiana would have proved. This fact was clearly seen by Bonaparte when he hastily made the treaty ceding it to the United States. That England did not at once attempt to seize it, in disregard of Bonaparte's cession, has been a source of sur- prise to many historians. The obvious reason is that she dreaded the com- plication of a war in America when she was about to assume so heavy a burden in the impending European contest. The inhabitants of the union in 1803 were six millions in number, of great energy and confidence. A large portion of them were accustomed to the sea and could send swarms of pri- vateers to prey on British commerce. Independent citizens would be even more formidable than were rebellious colonists in the earlier struggle with the mother country, and, acting in conjunction with France, could effectively maintain a contest. Considerations of this nature doubtless induced the Addington ministry to acquiesce quietly in a treaty whose origin and whose REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. 55 assured results were in every way distasteful, and even offensive, to the British government.' "This negotiation enabled the United States, in course of time, to settle territorial disputes with Spain, and enabled the government finally to ex- it-mi its borders to the Pacific ocean. It is impossible to measure the im- portance of the Louisiana purchase. The country then acquired forms to- day the States of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota west of the Mississippi river, Colorado north of the Arkansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. "The history of this transfer, and its correlatives, forms a most inter- esting study in our national history. The negotiation preceded the intro- duction of steam navigation, and the settlement of the country west of the Mississippi was regarded as extremely remote. Indeed, Mr. Livingston as- sured the French that settlements would not be made beyond the Missis- sippi river for one hundred years. "Lewis and Clark organized their expedition in 1803, starting from St. Louis. They were absent two years and a half. Sergeant Charles Floyd, one of the party, died just below Sioux City and was buried by his compan- ions on the bluff overlooking the Missouri river on the 20th of August, 1804. The Floyd river was named in honor of the dead sergeant. The body was moved back from the edge of the bluff by citizens of Sioux City in 1857, and the grave in time was obliterated. It was discovered this summer and the remains have now been placed in a secure casket, and in yesterday's ceremonies a marble slab, suitably inscribed, was placed to mark the spot of burial. It is the purpose of the Association to care for the grave and to further improve the ground. E. P. HEISER. Sec. 14 Proceedings of the Association Aftei' August 2 J, 1895. (Abstract of Minutes.) Court House, Sioux City, August 24, 1895. The Board of Trustees of the Floyd Memorial Association met at 2 p. m.. pursuant to adjournment of August 20. Present: President John H. Charles, in the chair; Secretary C. R. Marks, Treasurer D. A. Magee, Judge Geo. W. Wakefield, Mitchell Vincent, Esq., of the Board; also, Dr. Elliott Coues, Hon. Geo. D. Perins, R. Buchanan, I Arthur F. Statter, R. J. Chase, C. A. L. Olson, and Wm. Huddleson. The minutes of several previous minutes were read and approved. The election of permanent officers being in order, and the necessarj motions having been carried, the following persons were unanimously >ed: President — John H. Charles, Sioux City, la. Vice-Presidents— 1. Judge Geo. W. Wakefield, Sioux City, la. _'. Prof. .1. I>. Butler, Madison, Wis. 3. Dr. Blliotl Coues, Washington, i>. C. i Horace G. Burt, Omaha, Neb. 5. Mitchell Vincent, Esq., Onawa. la. 6. Hon. Geo. D. Perkins, Sioux City, la. 7. Dr. S. I'. Veomans, Charles Cit> . la. Hon. Charles Aldrich, i>< Moines, la. 9. Rev. T. M. ShanalVIt, Huron. S. D 56 REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. 10. W. P. Garrison, Esq., New York, N. Y. 11. Col. Wm. Hancock Clark, Detroit, Mich. 12. George Murphy, Esq., Sioux City, la. 13. Vacancy. 14. Vacancy. 15. Vacancy. Secretary — Hon. C. R. Marks, Sioux City, la. Treasurer — D. A. Magee, Esq., Sioux City, la. President Charles was desired to nominate three persons to fill the vacancies in the list of Vice-Presidents. The chair requested and was al- lowed time to consider the case. (The appointments subsequently made were: 13. Col. Meriwether Lewis Clark, Louisville, Ky. 14. Maj. John O'Fallon Clark, St. Louis, Mo. 15. Jefferson Kearney Clark, Esq., St. Louis, Mo.) A letter was read from Col. Wm. Hancock Clark, of Detroit, Mich., eld- est grandson of the celebrated explorer, William Clark, regretting that, owing to misdirection, the invitation to the ceremonies of August 20 did not reach him in time for him to attend, and expressing his trust that the Association would "bring forth good fruit in so noble a cause." It was voted that a set of the photographs taken of the memorial cere- monies of August 20 be presented to Dr. Coues, Prof. Butler and Dr. Yeo- mans. It was suggested to publish in book form the obsequies of August 20, together with such other historical and official matters as should show the origin, organization and proceedings of the Association, as a report for use in promoting the final objects in view — the erection of a Floyd monument, and the establishment in perpetuity of a Floyd park. The suggestion took the form of a motion that the chair appoint a Publication Committee for this purpose. This motion being carried unanimously. President Charles appointed thereupon the following committee: Hon. Geo. D. Perkins, chair- man; Dr. Elliott Coues, Mitchell Vincent, Esq., Judge Geo. W. Wakefield, and Secretary C. R. Marks. On further consideration of the subject, Dr. Coues was requested to prepare the report for the press, in consultation with Chairman Perkins. The By-Laws for the government of the Association, having been drafted, were read, and on motion unanimously adopted, as follows: BY-LAWS OF THE ASSOCIATION. Section 1. The Board of Trustees shall meet annually on the Saturday following its election at 2 o'clock p. m., and shall also hold regular meetings on the last Saturday of January, April, July and October at 2 o'clock p. m. Special meetings may be called at any time by the President, or in his ab- sence from Sioux City by a Vice-President, notice of such special meeting to be given each Trustee personally or by written or printed notice mailed to each Trustee at least twenty-four hours before the time of such special meeting. A majority of the Trustees shall constitute a quorum. Section 2. Special meetings of the members may be called by the Board of Trustees, notice of such special meeting to be given by one publication in a newspaper published in Sioux City on the day prior to such meeting. REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. 57 Section 3. In addition to the officers provided for by the Articles of In- corporation there shall be appointed by the President annually the following standing committees of five members each: On finance, on grounds, on leg- islation. Section 4. These By-Laws may be added to, altered, modified or amended at any meeting of the Board of Trustees, provided that a majority of the Trustees vote in favor thereof. The appointment of standing committees by the chair being in order, President Charles said that he desired time to consider this important mat- ter, and would therefore defer the appointments for a few days, when he would communicate them by letter to Secretary Marks. There being no further business, the Board adjourned sine die. The following standing committees were appointed by President Charles, per letter to Secretary Marks, dated Sioux City, September 11, 1895: Committee on Finance — 1. E. W. Skinner, Chairman, Sioux City. 2. James F. Toy, Sioux City. 3. Wm. H. Beck, Sioux City. 4. A. M. Jackson, Sioux City. 5. T. A. Black, Sioux City. 6. Geo. M. Pardoe, Sioux City. 7. Robert Buchanan, Jr., Sioux City. Committee on Legislation — 1. Geo. W. Wakefield, Chairman, Sioux City. 2. Geo. D. Perkins, Sioux City. 3. J. S. Lothrop, Sioux City. 4. C. H. Lewis, Sioux City. 5. Charles Aldrich, Des Moines. Committee on Grounds— 1. C. R. Marks, Chairman, Sioux City. 2. John P. Allison, Sioux City. 3. George Murphy, Sioux City. 4. Mitchell Vincent, Onawa. 5. A. M. Holman, Sergeant luffs. (Abstract of Minutes.*) Court House, Sioux City, December 28, 1895. The Board of Trustees of the Floyd Memorial Association met at 3 p. m., pursuant to call of the President. Present: John H. Charles, in the chair; Geo. D. Perkins, Geo. W. Wakefield. Mitchell Vincent, Whitfield Stinson, B. W. Skinner, Robert Buchanan, Jr., and Secretary C. R. Marks. The chair stated that the meeting had been called to consider the reports of the Publication Committee, and of the Committee on Grounds, and to transact other business. Hon. Geo. n Perkins, chairman of the Publication Committee, mad'' a report of progress in the preparation of the proposed report. He had con- ferred with Dr. Coues, In Washington, i>. c, who had informed him thai the report was practically completed, and would be transmitted to the committee In :> few days. Hon. c. R. Marks, chairman of the Committee on Grounds, reported that nothing had been done toward purchasing the ground for the desired park, and he had no figures lo submit from the owners of the property. Mr. ,i ^n', ported In the Sioux City Journal ol December 2'. 1895. 58 REPORT OF THE FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. Marks and Judge Wakefield were requested to call upon the Credits Com- mutation Company, to ascertain definitely upon what terms the land could be purchased. Three propositions were to be made: (1) Asking a donation of a small piece of ground about the grave. (2) Offering to buy 2V/ 2 acres at a certain price. (3) Offering to buy the 2iy 2 acres, conditional upon a rebate by the owners upon the making of certain improvements by the Asso- ciation. An interesting letter, addressed to Dr. Coues by Reuben T. Durrett, LL. D., of Louisville, Ky., President of the Filson Club, and transmitted to Judge Wakefield for any use he might wish to make of the information it contained, was read to the Board. It related to the parentage and early life of Sergeant Floyd, as presented in the opening pages of the present re- port. Other letters were also read; and there being no further business, the Board adjourned. biiIiIBb 910 SS3JJ9N0D JO AHKm-i