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YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Theodore Edgar Potter
1832-1910

To the Wife Who Shared wiTn
TnEODORE Kdgak Potter the Perils
of Frontier Life and WnosE Devo
tion and Companionship was the
Source of iiir Greatest Jov, Tmib
Hook, is Affectionately Dedicated.

PREFACE.
Theodore Edgar Potter, whose life story fills the succeeding pages
of this book, died at his home in Lansing, Michigan, October 25,
1910. The manuscript of this autobiography was found in his
library after his death. It is now published in conformity with his
last wishes so that his children and grandchildren may appreciate
the struggles, privations and dangers that marked the lot of those
pioneers, who, like himself, gave their best years to the develop
ment of the great western country. The story is told in his own
words, — the few changes made have been in the arrangement of
matter and in embodying in it incidents which ho mentioned in
letters and other articles but which he did not chronicle here.
The story is so complete l.lmL any addition may seem super
fluous. Bui to the members of Mr. Poller's family, for whom this
book is printed, it lacks the incidents of warm personal friendship
that in their minds rendered his life so distinctive, and which he in
his modesty failed to chronicle. The writer will be pardoned
therefore if he calls attention in this preface to a few phases of Mr.
Potter's life which arc of extreme interest and tender memory to
his family.
Theodore Edgar Potter was a fond husband and father. He
lavished upon his family the affection that flowed so freely from his
decj) and generous nature. To hint and his wife were horn five
children, and to them all and their children in turn, he was endeared
by his generous affection. The writer can speak for the grand
children. He was especially interested in their receiving the bene
fits of theeducation which poverty denied him in his youth, and never
lost an opportunity to urge them forward in their studies. He was
extremely anxious that they should learn the value of money and
acquire the habit of saving. His plan of encouraging them to save
is illustrated by his habit of giving each grandchild a dollar to
invest at Chrislmas and offering prizes for those who could show the
best return on their investments at the next. Christmas season.
Undoubtedly the happiest day in his life was October 5, 1908, when
v

vi PKKFACH.
in the midst of a gathering of all their children and all their grand
children save one, he and his devoted wife celebrated their golden
wedding. His death in 1910 broke the family circle, for his wife,
five children and thirteen grandchildren all survived him.
He was a public-spirited citizen. He answered the call of duty
whether it demanded service on the battle field or in public office.
He was twice a supervisor of the township of Vermontville. In
1896 he was elected alderman for the third ward in Lansing, Michi
gan, a position he held for two terms, at the end of which time he
refused rcnoininalioii for a third term. His public service was not
rendered entirely through public office. Many a person in Lansing
owed food and fuel to his generosity during the winter of 1893-4.
He was a devoted worker in the Grand Army of the Republic
and a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the Uni
ted States. During the last few years of his life, after retirement
from business, he devoted practically all his time to the work of the
Grand Army of Ihe Republic. In 1898 he was elected Commander
of the Charles T. Foster Post in Lansing, and in 1899 was reelected.
In 1899 the department commander offered a silk flag to the G. A. R.
post in Michigan gaining the largest percentage in membership
during the year. Commander Potter went after this prize for his
post and iu the year increased its membership from 191 lo 320.
A small post in the slate having only eleven members won the prize
by an increase of 100 per cent but the increase in numbers in the
Charles T. Foster Post was so large that the Department Com
mander had a second flag made and presented it in person to the
Post. Mr. Potter's interest in the G. A. R. was not confined to Ihe local
organization. From 1901 lo 1909 he was each year a special
aide-de-camp of the Commander in Chief, and attended the national
encampment during most of these years. In 1903 lie was appointed
Special Aide in Charge of Military Instruction in the Schools of the
State of Michigan. In his work in this field Mr. Potter aimed to
inculcate patriotism, and accomplished this by offering a series of
prizes for the best essays submitted on Abraham Lincoln. The
contest was a spirited one and aroused much favorable comment
throughout the slate.
The influence of such a life as his cannot be measured. His
country has expressed its gratitude for the years of patriotic effort

PREFACE, vii
on the frontier and in the battle line; his comrades in the G. A. R.
have acknowledged the worth of his service in perfecting their
organization; young men everywhere have testified to the influence
which he had upon their lives; but the true measure of his influence
will never be known because it will flow on through the lives of
those whom he met and will in turn be transferred by them to others.
May this book keep fresh in the minds of his children's children,
and in turn their children, the story of the unfaltering steadfastness,
the devotion to high ideals of service and the generous spirit that
made unique the life of Theodore Edgar Potter.
New York, October, 1913. G. C. S.

CONTENTS PAGE
Boyiioob Days  1
Across the Plains  25
In the Rockies  57
Across the Desert  79
Golden California  99
With the Sonora Grays  121
Under Walker in Nicaragua  137
Still a Wanderer  145
Early Days in Minnesota  151
The Sioux War  161
The Dakota Campaign  187
Under Thomas in Tennessee  203
The Capture or TnE Younger Brothers  221

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY

OF

THEODORE EDGAR POTTER

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY

OF

THEODORE EDGAR POTTER

Copykiciht 1913
By GEORGE C SPRAGUE

THE UUMFORD PRESS
Concoud, N. H.

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF
THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
CHAPTER I.
Boyhood Days in the Woods of Michigan.
I was born in Saline, Washtenaw County, Michigan, March 10,
1832. My father and mother with two small children had come to
Michigan in the spring of 1830 from Cayuga County, New York,
by way of the Eric Canal to Buffalo and thence by steamboat to
Detroit, a journey requiring seven days' time. From Detroit they
walked to Plymouth, a distance of thirty miles, carrying their two
children in their arms. They stopped a few days with relatives at
Plymouth and then walked on to Saline, twenty miles further,
where they settled. -Here my father built one of the first frame
houses in that part of the country which he used both as a house
and as a tailoring shop, for he had learned the tailor's trade in his
youth at Huntington, Pennsylvania, his birthplace. His father
had died when he was a mere boy and he had been forced to cam
his own livelihood from that time on. At the age of eighteen he
had been one of a small party to survey through a line from Cleve
land, Ohio, to St. Louis, Missouri, and 'at nineteen he had joined a
larger party that surveyed a broad road through Ohio, Indiana
and Illinois to the Mississippi River at Quiney, Illinois. In this
way he had picked up the rudiments of surveying and gained some
knowledge of the vast wilderness of the Great West, lt was doubt
less the glamour of these youthful da3's as a surveyor that led him
to leave the comparatively well-settled community in New York
in which he lived for the wilderness of Michigan.
My early life was spent like that of other boys born on the frontier.
My earliest recollection is of an occurrence that happened when I
was three and a half years old. Our family was then living in a log
house on a new farm. My parents had gone to the home of a settler
two miles away, to attend a funeral, leaving me with an elder brother
and sister. There was a long ladder leading from the main room to
2 1

2 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
the loft above where wc children slept, and in trying to climb this
ladder I fell and catching one leg between the rungs broke the
limb above the knee. I suffered great pain from the injury and my
brother, who did not know that the leg was broken, carried me from
one bed to another, my leg dangling, trying to stop my crying. It
was not until four hours later that my father reached home. The
nearest doctor was at Saline five miles away, and as father had to
make the trip on foot through the woods in the night it was some
hours before the physician arrived to find my leg badly swollen
and causing me terrible pain. After the doctor had set the leg my
father took a two-inch auger and, boring holes in one of the logs
which formed the side of the house, drove long pegs into them and
built a wide shelf upon these pegs. Mother fixed up a bed for me
on this shelf and for six weeks I lay on this firm bed that could
neither jar nor spring before I was allowed to get up.
Another painful recollection that comes to mind occurred not
long after. The year after my accident father made the trip to
Detroit with his ox team to meet some relatives of ours who were
coming on from the East to locate a farm near us. The newcomers,
among other possessions, brought a bright new wagon. While
my father and my mother's nephew Louis Phillips, the head of the
family of newcomers, were away looking at the last piece of govern
ment land left in our township I took an axe and chopped off the
tongue of the new wagon. This was a serious offence and in those
days the vigorous application of a green birch was the common
mode of punishment for a four-year-old offender. But for the
intervention of one of the newcomers, the wife of the owner of the
wagon, I might not have survived the ordeal to tell this story.
Soon after this painful occurrence we moved back to Saline
where my father secured work as a surveyor which took him away
from home much of the time for the next two years. At that time
Saline was the largest village on the old stage route between De
troit and Chicago, and when the six horse stage-coaches came in
with a grand flourish, whips cracking, tin horns blowing and horses
prancing, nearly every person in town was at the tavern, to see
who had come or who was to go, and all business came to a stand
still until the horses were changed and the stage had passed on.
But even at that time the days of the stage coach were passing.
I well remember when the Michigan Central Railroad was finished

BOYHOOD DAYS. 3
as far West as Ypsilanti, and in celebration of this event all were
invited to attend a barbecue there. My father went and took me
with him. When we reached the town, early in the day, we found
the one street decorated with flags and a brass band entertaining the
visitors. We visited the place where the ox was being roasted over
a huge log fire, to make sure with our own eyes that we were not
to be disappointed in the great dinner we had come so far to enjoy.
At the depot we witnessed the arrival of the first passenger train
from Detroit carrying the officers of the road together with General
Cass and other prominent men who were to speak at the exercises.
About two inches of light snow had fallen that morning and when
the train came in view on the slight up-grade near town we saw two
men sitting on opposite ends of a cross-beam in front of the engine
holding large splint brooms with which they swept the light snow
from the track. Such was the railroad snow-plow of sixty-five years
ago. The train consisted of several flat cars loaded with passengers,
and two passenger cars for the officers of the road and speakers
made like the old-fashioned Concord Coaches, with doors on each
side. For a new country the crowd of people present was very large,
and to a boy of eight years it was a wonderful sight. After the
dinner of roast ox, baked potatoes, pumpkin pie and ginger-bread,
the people formed in line behind the band and inarched to the
stage where the railroad officials spoke eloquently of the great
growth and prospects of Michigan. As my father had just returned
from a surveying trip, he was called upon for a short description
of a part of the new country. On reaching home late that night,
my mother asked me what I had seen and heard that day. I told
her that I had seen the roasted ox, a brass band, a railroad train,
two men with brooms sweeping the railroad track, and had heard
General Cass and my father make speeches to the people. Such
were my boyish impressions of an event that typified so much in
the development of a great state.
Another event that appealed to me as of more than ordinary
importance was connected with the presidential campaign of 1840.
My father was a strong Whig politically, and when he learned
that General Harrison, "Old Tippecanoe," was to speak at Fort
Meigs in Ohio, seventy-five miles from Saline, he and a Mr. Parsons
who owned a saw-mill in the village got up a party of sixty men to

4 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
go that distance to hear him. The trip was made in style, the party
using their own conveyance. They fitted up a huge wagon by
building a platform with rows of scats upon it which they attached
to a set of large wheels used to cart logs to the saw-mill. There
was a flag-staff near the driver's seat from which waved the Stars
and Stripes and part way up this flag-staff was a platform to which
two live coons were chained. At the rear end of the wagon was a
miniature log cabin in which were two barrels of cider with faucets
and cups to accommodate the oft thirsty passengers. A brass band
of eight pieces and a team of sixteen horses completed the jolly
outfit. As the grand cavalcade passed our log house on the road I
remember that my father, who was in charge as marshal, stopped
it long enough for the band to play one of its favorite airs and for
the men to take another drink of cider and give three cheers for
"Tippecanoe and Tyler too." Then the big train moved on, to
return seven days later from its campaign with no other loss than
the two barrels of cider and the time that had been spent. This was
my introduction to politics.
After the campaign of 1840, my father traded farms and moved
three times within two years; the last time onto a well-improved
farm of eighty acres near Plymouth, Wayne County, purchased
of a relative who had turned Mormon, and gone lo Nauvoo, Illinois.
This farm had good buildings on it and was near a district school.
The school was a great advantage to all of us children and we
improved our opportunities during the two and a half years we
remained in the locality. Previous to this we had been pretty con
stantly on the move (our family moved twelve times during the
first ten years of my life) and when we did settle near a school,
which was not often, there would soon be another moving. Two
exciting events occurred during our stay at Plymouth. One was
a cyclone which came in the night when we were all in bed, and
carried away the roof of our house compelling us to seek shelter
in the barn in the midst of a heavy rain storm. With the help of
neighbors, we had a new roof on our house within two days, though
we had to go to Ypsilanti for the materials. The other event,
nearly a fatal one, occurred on Christmas day, 1814. A boy of
about my age by the name of Clayton came lo our house lo get
mo to go with him to hunt partridges. My father and eldest brother
were away, and unknown to my mother I took the old musket

BOYHOOD DAYS. 5
that my father had carried in the battle of Oswego, with its flint
lock and steel ramrod, and went off hunting with Clayton. After
shooting several times at squirrels and partridges, but killing none,
we went to shooting at a mark. Tiring of this, we varied our sport
by loading with powder only, without bullets, and firing at each
other at a distance of three or four rods. In my excitement I forgot
to take the steel ramrod out of the barrel after loading my gun,
and when I fired the rod passed through Clayton's coat sleeve,
drawing blood, but doing no serious injury. That ended the mimic
warfare. We agreed to go home and keep perfectly quiet about our
Christmas celebration. In 1856, I met Clayton at the State Fair
in Detroit and he said he had not yet found the ramrod.
Ten days after that Christmas hunt, our family was on the move
again going to the then unbroken forests of Eaton County where
we were to occupy a new double log house built in advance by my
father and eldest brother. To young persons who may never
have seen these pioneer shanties, much less have seen one built,
a description may be of interest. The only tools used were an axe,
a saw and an augur, with sometimes an adz. After clearing a plot
of ground sixteen by forty-eight feet, the straightest beech and elm
trees, ten to twelve inches in diameter, were cut into logs sixteen
and twenty feet long, and hauled to the clearing. The thickest
logs were selected for the front, so that when the structure was
ready for its roof the front wall would be ten feet in height and the
rear wall about seven feet, giving a good pitch to the roof. Bass-
wood trees were cut for the roof, split in half and the centers dug
out like a trough. A row of these hollowed logs was laid trough-side
up from the front to the rear wall, then another row was laid trough-
side down overlapping the upper edges of the first tier and making a
waterproof covering, without cither rafters or shingles. For floors
white ash trees were cut, split, lined, hewed to make straight edges,
and laid. Each shanty was twenty feet long and stood eight feet
from the other, both being under this one roof which gave a covered
alley-way between them. The doorways were cut in the walls
so as to open into this alley. The doors were made of hewn split
ash, hung on wooden hinges, and closed by a wooden latch, with a
piece of rawhide string to pull the latch up to open the door. Not
a nail was used in the construction of these two shanties. All the
money spent on them went to buy two windows, each containing

6 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
six 7 x 9 panes of glass. Fireplaces were cut through the logs,
and slick chimneys were built upon the outside, laid and plastered
with clay.
It took four days to make the trip to the new home and required
two neighbors with their ox teams to move the family, furniture,
provisions and corn. Though I was not quite thirteen years old,
my father sent me ahead one day in advance with a drove of stock,
consisting of three cows, two yearlings, five sheep and four hogs.
A neighbor's boy of about my age accompanied me and we were
guided by a rough map which my father had made of the route,
and by the names of the laverns where we were lo spend the nights.
I was allowed six days to take the stock through and was not over
taken by the teams until we reached Eaton Rapids on the fifth
day. We had twelve miles to go ihe next day, four of them over
a new road just cut through the woods which no team had ever
travelled. We reached our shanty home before night, and re
ceived a warm welcome from my brother who had been left by my
father to guard the place. Cheerful fires were blazing to greet the
family of seven children.
As we had no fodder for the stock, and our only food was the corn
in the ear which we had hauled seventy -five miles, browsing was the
only hope of life for the cattle and our principal business for the
next three months was in cutting down trees for them to feed on.
Within two days after reaching our new home my eldest sister and
myself came down with the measles, followed within the month by
the rest of the children. My eldest brother had a relapse and came
near dying from this disease; all his hair fell out, leaving his head
as bald as a bare rock the rest of his life. In spite of our troubles we
managed to clear seven acres of land and to get in spring crops,
such as corn, potatoes, pumpkins, and squash. After selling his
Wayne County farm and paying off the mortgage and settling other
debts, my falher had $300 left with which to begin life anew and
make another home. But necessary expenses until a crop could
be raised reduced that amount to $100 which was just enough to
buy eighty acres of government land. Father decided to go to the
land office at Ionia, fifty miles away, and make the purchase of
our land. The evening before going he laid the one hundred silver
dollars out on the cherry table, the finest piece of furniture we had,
and let us handle and count over the largest amount of money we

, BOYHOOD DAYS. 7
children had ever seen. After he had gone we were greatly worried
for fear he would be robbed, carrying so much money alone and
travelling on foot, and talked a great deal among ourselves about
it until he returned on the fourth day, safe and sound, to our great
relief and joy. The crops on the seven acres of new ground proved
very successful and when harvested, three acres were sown at
once to wheat.
During the winter my father hauled tamarack logs to the saw
mill at Eaton Rapids to be sawed into lumber for a frame barn,
giving half of the lumber for the sawing, and in the spring he built
the first frame barn in that part of Benton Township, Eaton County.
This was in 1846. The barn was thirty by forty feet in size and
in its stable my sister taught the first school in that vicinity, having
seven pupils, three of whom were from our own family.
In the following July my father cut our three acres of wheat with
a sickle, and I bound it and set it up. The next day he cut one acre
for a neighbor, binding and setting it in shock, and taking three
bushels of wheat for his pay. I went wilh him lo do Ihe binding.
It was very hot that day and the field was surrounded by heavy
timber which shut out all movement of the air. He drank fre
quently and freely of cold water from a nearby spring, until we
finished the work. It proved to be his last day's work. lie was
taken very sick, became unconscious, and on the 2(ith day ot July,
1846, we buried him in the little wheat-field on his new frontier
farm at the early age of forty-eight years. He left a widow with
seven small children, whose only possession was a farm of eighty
acres of which only seven acres had been cleared.
As soon as my mother's two brothers, who owned fine farms near
Auburn, New York, heard of my father's death, Ihey came out to
see us with the purpose of taking us all back with them to New
York and caring for us. But my mother would consent to no offer
of theirs. They pleaded that the family could not support them
selves in such a wilderness as Michigan then was, and that they
could not leave us there to starve. But she replied that all she had
to live for was her seven children, the oldest now nearly seventeen
and the youngest two years of age, and that as she had moved
fifteen times since her marriage she did not intend lo move again
as long as she could keep the family together. The winter before
my father's death my oldest brolhcr and sister had been sent to

8 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
Vermontville to school for one term and I was told that I should
go the next winter, but my father's death put a stop to our school
ing until four years later, when a district school house was built on
the corner of our farm and a school opened, which greatly relieved
the anxiety of my mother, lest her children should grow up without
educational advantages. At the time of his death my father was
planning to sell his farm and move on to the prairies of Wisconsin
where he thought we could get a living easier, and this he would
have done, no doubt, had he lived. But death put an end to the
roving habits of eighteen years. My mother firmly decided to
stay where she was as long as her children would stay with her.
My father had been elected Justice of the Peace for two town
ships in 1845, and Supervisor in 1846, and was filling both offices, so
that his death was deeply felt by the community. The day after
his burial we drew the wheat into the barn, and the day following,
threshed ten bushels with flails and shelled five bushels of corn.
The next day I was sent with our ox-team and the ten bushels
of wheat and five bushels of corn to the Delta Mills to be ground
into flour and meal. On the way I met a Mr. Nickerson with a
horse and buckboard at a place in the road which was too narrow
for the teams to pass each other. Having an axe with me, I went
to cutting the road wider, and in doing so, stepped near a large
rattlesnake, that warned me by his vicious rattling to keep out of
his way. I killed the snake and we finally got the teams past each
other. Mr. Nickerson learned who I was and told me that he was
a lawyer and that he had tried a case before my father as Justice
of the Peace at Dimondale, only four weeks before his death. I
reached the mill before dark, but had to stay over night to get my
grist. I slept that night in the mill, and got home next day with
'flour and meal enough to last us for three months. Early in the
Spring we had chopped three acres of timber near the new barn,
Jand mother wanted us to log and burn it and put it into wheat
ithat fall. In September, we arranged to exchange work with two
men to help do the logging. We cleared the ten acres, chopped the
previous winter, and sowed it all to wheat in the fall, from which
we harvested nearly four hundred bushels.
About two months after my father's death I had my first ex
perience with big game. We had only a small piece of cleared land
and this we used for the growing crops, letting our cows run at

BOYHOOD DAYS. 9
large in the woods to get their pasturage. In stormy weather
they often laid out over night and it was my duty to look them up
early the next morning. One morning after a storm I started out
with my younger brother to drive home the cows. We could hear
the cow bells at a distance of about a mile and so had little trouble
in finding them. We had sighted the cows when the dog rushed
forward and began to bark at a large buck deer. The deer had
great antlers, and used them and his feet upon the dog. He
was having a hard time of it and I ran up to help, whereat the deer
turned upon me. I ran back, dodging from tree to tree, the deer
striking at me with his hoofs and the dog snapping at his heels.
My younger brother stood looking on about ten rods off, badly fright
ened, and screaming at the top of his voice. The dog's biting worried
the deer so much that he finally turned upon him and gave me an
opportunity to pick up a dry oak stick which lay on the ground and
which I used as a club. When the deer had scared away the dog,
he renewed his attack upon me and we circled around an oak tree,
he striking at me with his feet and antlers and I hitting him on the
head with my club whenever I saw an opening. I filially succeeded
in knocking him down and pounded him on the head until I thought
he was dead. My brother came up and we attempted to drag the
deer home, but soon found that he was too heavy for us. We forgot
all about the cows in our excitement and started home on the run to
carry the news to the family. We found our oldest brother at home
with two neighbors who were there helping him with some work.
We told them what had happened, but it was difficult to get them
to believe our story. They finally concluded to go with us and see
for themselves, and they were greatly surprised to really find the
largest deer that they had ever seen. They dressed il and our family
had plenty of venison for a whole week. The story was published
in our only county paper and copied by Detroit papers and it was
spoken of as a great adventure for a boy of only fourteen years.
The most important result of the occurrence was that my mother
told me that from that time on I should have a gun to carry whenever
I went after the cows.
There had been handed down in our family a revolutionary
musket with a history that could be traced back to 1775. It had
been used by my father at the Battle of Oswego in the War of 1812.
It was an old smooth bore flint lock, with steel ramrod, cartridge

10 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
box and belt. This was my first gun and I was very proud of it.
Whenever I had occasion to go into the woods I carried it with me,
loaded, primed and ready for any large game that might appear.
The same month that I killed the deer with a club I shot at no less
than five deer and missed every one of them. My mother there
upon said to me, "Ed, if you expect to supply the family with veni
son, you had better trade off your gun for a dry oak limb. "
One evening during that same fall, a messenger brought word
that a bear was killing the hogs of a Mrs. Jones, our neighbor, two
miles north of us and asking us boys to come at once bringing our
guns and lanterns. The man who brought the word said that he
would go after Lile Cogswell, who lived two miles farther away,
and who owned bear dogs. My oldest brother and I started at
once, he taking his rifle and I my old musket. When we reached
the farm we found that the bear had injured one of the hogs badly,
breaking its back, and had only been kept from killing and carrying
it off by Mrs. Jones and her dogs. The night was very dark, but it
was evident from the way the dogs were barking and howling that
Bruin was not far off. We killed the hog and told Mrs. Jones to
take the dogs to the house and shut them up, so as not to scare the
bear away. We decided that we would drag the carcass of the
hog to a log bridge that spanned a small stream nearby, place it
on the bridge, which was about ten feet high, and then secrete our
selves beside a large elm tree near the bed of the stream.
My brother conceived this plan, declaring that as the bear was
hungry he would follow the carcass to the place where we had drag
ged it. We took our position several feet lower than the bridge, so
that we could look up toward the sky and see the bear if he came
onto it. We had not been wailing more than thirty minutes before
Mr. Bruin made his appearance on the bridge. He evidentlyscented
us and was suspicious of danger. As he squared himself broadside
to us and looked down, my brother whispered, "Now is our time,
give it to him." The bear made a jump at the sound of the guns,
struck the bank within six feet of us, and ran into a large beech
top a few rods away, groaning as if in great pain and breaking the
branches near him. Not knowing what he would do next, we lit
our lanterns and took up a position on the bridge, thinking that
that was the safest place for us just then. In all new countries
the settlers have certain signals for such occasions. In the timber,

BOYHOOD DAYS. 11
where settlements arc few, the blowing of horns, ringing of cow
bells and firing of guns are the usual signals. No sooner had we
fired at the bear than we heard three shots from a distance, which
meant that Lile Cogswell and his bear dogs were on the way. In
a short time we heard the blowing of horns and the ringing of cow
bells and within an hour from the time we had fired our first shots
twenty men were on the bridge listening to our story and to the
groans of the bear. Lile Cogswell and two of his dogs were selected
to interview Mr. Bear at once. The dogs were let loose and we
followed them with lanterns and guns. We found that the bear
was so badly wounded that he could not run, but he made a desper
ate fight with the dogs. One of them was killed by him, and the
other was accidentally killed by one of the men in shooting at the
bear. Cogswell, to save the rest of his dogs, rushed forward to
within ten feet of the bear and shot him through the head.
We then held a council and decided that two of the men should
go wilh me to get my mother's ox-team and stone boat and draw
the bear to our place that night and dress il. It was also voted
that the next day should be a holiday, so that all the neighbors of
that section could come and receive a share of the largest black
bear that had ever been killed in that part of the state. It was a
great relief to the settlers for miles around to know that this particu
lar bear was dead. He had been a regular visitor for the past
two years and had not slighted any farmer in the township who kept
hogs. At least one hundred settlers visited our home the next
day and received a portion of the carcass that had cost them so
dearly in pork. The bear weighed, before being dressed, a little
over four hundred pounds. It was found that both my brother and
myself had hit the bear and that either of the shots would have
proved fatal as they passed clear through his body. My mother
then advised me to do my hunting after dark, as she said it was
evident that I could see to shoot better in the dark than in the light.
The year of our bear hunt the State Capital was located at Lan
sing within twelve miles of us, settlers came in rapidly, new roads
were surveyed and opened to the Capital from the surrounding
towns and villages, and general improvement and prosperity was
manifest. A company of ten men, surveying an air-line road from
Battle Creek through Bellcvue and Charlotte to Lansing, stopped
over night at our house, sleeping on the cabin floors, my mother

12 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
getting supper and breakfast for them. In the morning, the head
surveyor needing another hand, and offering twenty-five cents a
day and board until their return, I was selected to take the posi
tion. My duties were to carry water, make fires, and do other mis
cellaneous work as required. The foreman asked me if I was the
boy who killed the buck with a club, and said that they had two
guns in their party, but that they had killed no game except a
few partridges and a woodchuck since starting. He told me jest
ingly that they would expect me to furnish the party with venison,
even if I had to do it with a club, although I might use their guns
if I wished and could take time to hunt while they were at work on
the way. Wc started early but made only three miles that day
as the route from our place on was almost wholly through an un
broken forest of hard wood timber, the only cleared land in the
vicinity being my mother's farm. My first day's hunt netted seven
partridges for supper. The next day we made less than a mile,
crossing the Old Maid Swamp which was covered with a thick
growth of tamarack and willow brush, with mud and water under
neath. I cut brush and small trees for a path nearly all day. As
soon as we reached solid ground I was ordered ahead to locate a
good camping spot which I found near a stream of water. While
preparing the camp I saw two deer coming towards me on the trot.
I seized my gun, (hopped behind u log, and when they were within
five rods of me I bleated, anil they stopped. I fired and broke the
back of one. After cutting his throat I went back and reported to
the party that I had located the camping place but said nothing
about killing the buck. When the party came up they were all
greatly surprised to find a deer, dressed and hung up ready for
cooking. We had plenty of venison that night, and in fact during
the rest of the journey. This was my first deer killed with a gun.
My former failures were from excitement and aiming too high.
After this I never had another attack of "Buck Fever."
The fourth night we camped near the present location of Waverly
Park, west of Lansing. Next morning we heard cow bells, and
the sound of someone chopping. Some of us followed the sound,
and on reaching Grand River saw a log house on the other side
where a Mr. Cooley lived. He came across in his boat, told
us we were within three miles of Lansing, and took one of our
party in his boat to town. They returned about noon, accom-

BOYHOOD DAYS. 13
panied by Charles Bush, a prominent citizen of the new capital.
We pushed on and at four o'clock P. M. we were at the corner of
Washington Avenue and Main Street, where they were then building
the Benton House to accommodate the first Legislature, which
was to meet in January, 1848. I had seen brick buildings before,
but had no idea how they were put together until I saw them using
mortar with the brick on the Benton House. The influx of people
was so great, and the houses so few, that we could find no roof to
sleep under that night. We followed Washington Avenue, which
had just been underbrushed, north to Briggs' store where we bought
supplies for our supper and then pitched our tent under a large
elm tree just south of the store and camped for the night. Next
morning most of the party, after breakfast, walked farther north,
past the frame of the first capitol building on to North Lansing
where there were two or three small stores, and a saw-mill.
All the settlers around Lansing had been invited to the "Raising"
of the capitol that day. Jugs of whiskey, and dinner and supper
were provided free for all. The whole proceeding of the erection
of the capitol building of the State was after the fashion of an old-
style raising of the heavy frame of a barn or house. The most of
our party assisted at the raising, and also at the dinner and supper
and helped to empty the jugs, but all rallied at our tent under the
the elm-tree that night, every man sober.
Next morning we started on our return, following our previous
trail for the first four miles, then making a new survey half a mile
south of the previous one to avoid a part of the swamp. In after
years the Peninsular railroad followed our first survey west of
Charlotte most of the way to Lansing. On the tenth day after
my leaving, I reached home much elated over my first visit to
Lansing, the infant Capital and hub of the Slate of Michigan.
In the following month of September, I made my second visit
to Lansing, under the following circumstances. A man by the
name of Corydon P. Sprague, a relative of my father, with his
young wife, both school teachers, visited us on his way to Wisconsin.
He went to see Lansing and concluded to settle there and open a
school instead of going further west. Having no means to build
a schoolhouse, five families of his relatives volunteered to go and
build one for him and make him a present of it. So on September
10th, 1847, Samuel Preston, John Strange, George P. Carman,

14 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER..
Wm. H. Taylor, and Theodore E. Potter, who represented his
mother's family, with axes and teams met in Lansing near the
junction of Grand and Cedar Rivers, where Bush & Thomas had
given a lot for the purpose and near the spot where the Potter
Manufacturing Company's factory was afterwards built. We cut
timber on the lands of speculators, who were not there either to
consent or object, hauled the logs to the lot with our ox teams and
in ten days had completed a two-story log schoolhouse and resi
dence — the first schoolhouse ever built in Lansing — hauling the
pine lumber for the floors and desks from Flushing, a distance of 40
miles. In this two-story log house Mr. Sprague and his wife lived
und opened the first Select School in Lansing, having a full attend
ance the first winter, Mrs. Sprague teaching the primary classes,
and he the more advanced. During the summer of 1848, new
schools were opened in other parts of the city, as most of the
people were settling along Washington Avenue on the north side
of the river, which left the Sprague school out of reach and incon
venient of access. In the fall of that year Mr. Sprague opened
but one department and his wife taught a district school at Delta
Mills. The same year she was taken sick and died, and he became
disheartened and returned to his former home near Auburn, New
York. Afterwards he went to California, located at Sonora, and
in 1850 was elected a member of the California Legislature, serving
two terms. He laler moved to Oregon and began the practice of
law, and still later returned to California.
While building the log schoolhouse, old Chief Okemos, then
eighty years old, and a few of his tribe were camped near us. They
had been hunting near our home not long before, and he knew me;
and also about the story of my killing the buck with a club. He
delighted to prove his own bravery and many dangerous encounters
by showing Ihe numerous scars he carried from conflicts with
both Indians and white men, made by the tomahawk, knife and
rifle. History tells of the British commissioning him as Colonel
of an Indian regiment which fought the Americans at the battle of
the Thames, and how he afterwards went to Detroit and agreed
with General Cass to lay down the tomahawk and scalping knife
and to become a good Indian, and how he never broke his agree
ment. He look great interest in me, calling me his "Pick-a-nin-ne
Shc-mo-ke-man" (white young man). He watched me intently

BOYHOOD DAYS. 15
while I hauled and skidded logs with the oxen and a log chain.
As it was very warm, I was working with bare feel, and he [minted
to his own feet, and said — "Squaw make moccasins — you wear
moccasin." That night he took me to his wigwam. The squaws
looked at my bare feet and at each other and then began to shake
with laughter. One of the men said they were making fun of my
bare feet. Soon one of them handed Okemos a pair of new, nicely
beaded moccasins and he asked me to put them on. I offered to
pay him for them but he refused. I walked proudly around dis
playing the moccasins in all the wigwams, greatly to the delight of
Okemos. I did not go barefoot again in Lansing. Since that time
I have been acquainted with numerous tribes of Indians but Okemos
is the only Indian I ever knew to give a present to a white man.
One day Okemos asked me to take a night hunt with him up
the Cedar River. Three of us went in a large canoe, Okemos in the
bow, I in the center, and another Indian in the stern to steer. We
paddled up the river about two miles where we stopped until it
was dark. The weather was warm and sultry, and the mosquitoes
very thick and tormenting. As soon as it was dark torches were
lighted, and the boat was permitted to drift slowly and silently
down the stream. Okemos sat in the bow of the boat armed with
a hatchet fastened to a long pole. In a short time we saw the antlers
of a large deer protruding out of the water, his body immersed to
keep off the mosquitoes, and his eyes shining like two small brilliant
stars. Before we reached him we discovered the heads of two more
submerged deer, all intently gazing at the bewildering lights and
unconscious of danger until Okemos with his hatchet struck the
antlered one in the head. With a quick movement he then struck
one of the others, which made such a splashing in the water as to
frighten the third one away. Before midnight we were back in
camp with two fine deer. This was the first time I ever had a hand
in this kind of a still hunt, though I had heard about it before, and
often practiced it on the lakes and rivers of the West years after
wards. Okemos lived to be over one hundred years of age, and died
at one of his camps on the Looking Glass River east of DeWitt.
His body was lashed to his favorite pony, and taken to Shim-le-con,
an Indian Mission Village on Grand River, south of Portland,
where it was buried.

16 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
After going home from Lansing and finishing up the fall work,
we bought eighty acres more of government land adjoining us on
the east. During the winter we chopped twenty acres of the new
land, burning a large part of the timber while green and gathering
the ashes to make into "Black salts" at a neighbor's ashery. The
black salts were sold to merchants in Charlotte, who had them
made into potash, then drawn in wagons to Marshall and shipped
to Buffalo, where they were made into saleratus, ready to be shipped
back to the merchants and sold to the same families who had cut the
timber and burned the logs. In those days this was the only paying
way of disposing of Ihe now very valuable hard wood timber. As an
example of the profit in black sails let me say that my eldest brother
George filed a claim on forty acres adjoining us on the north, and
before the time for payment expired he had made enough black salts
from the timber which he cut to more than pay for the land.
Hunting bee trees for honey was another business the settlers
engaged in to their profit in the fall and winter. There were three
methods of finding a bee tree. One was to make a box with a sliding
glass top, put some honeycomb and honey in it, leave the slide open
and set it in the woods in the sun where the bees would find it.
The bees would fill up with the honey and fly straight for their
home. The hunter would take his ax and mark the trees in line with
the flight of the bees, then close the box with some bees still in it,
move some distance lo the right or left in the sunshine, open the box
and line the bees from that point. At the point where the second
line crossed the first the' bee tree was sure to be found. Another
way was lo follow the line of flight of bees on a warm day und
detect the bee tree by their buzzing. Or again, when there was snow
on the ground and there came a warm sunny day when the bees
would come out, the settlers would locate the tree by the dead
bees that had been chilled by the frosty air and lay on the snow
at the foot of the tree trunk.
Our family all enjoyed good health during this period except for
the usual attacks of fever and ague. This complaint was very
prevalent in Michigan during the early days and hardly a family
escaped it. Ague shakes was the fashion, and quinine the remedy,
some carrying it loose in the vest pocket so as to be able to take a
pinch of it at any moment while at work. My mother said she
filially drove il out of her system after a ten years' fight, by the bitter

BOYHOOD DAYS. 17
help of that drug and that every fall all the children of our family
were sure to have it but me. And, seeing the example of it around
me so much, she said that I became an expert in imitating the
shakes, although I never had a genuine experience of the bone-
rattling, teeth-chattering and flesh-burning, which no amount of
resolution, perspiration, quinine and cold water could fully prevent.
Young people of today must not think that we young folks of
those days had no fan. Amusements of various kinds were common,
stlch as young people and children play in all ages and countries.
Besides in that new country we had our house and barn raisings,
huskings, apple-parings, spelling schools, coon hunts and other
sports not known now, which have passed away with the pioneer
days which were their only proper setting — amusements in which
old and young participated. At these gatherings might be found
practically all the people of the district in which the gathering was
held. Many were the queer characters that were brought together,
and many the stories that were told about them. I cannot vouch for
the truth of all these stories, but from such incidents originated
much of the gossip, story-telling, and amusement of the people
in those days of scattered neighborhoods, sparse population and
few books and newspapers. One of the characters of our neighbor
hood was a man by the name of Bailey who lived about two miles
north of Charlotte. He was one of the first settlers in the county,
noted as a violin player and a very sociable and agreeable fellow.
He was called "Rail Bailey" because of an exploit for which he
was given credit at the first election held in our precinct. Here
were gathered the voters of four townships and after voting they
all stayed over to have some fun. Some had come on horseback,
and for amusement Bailey offered to run a race of ten rods on foot,
with a heavy fence rail on his shoulder, against a man on horseback
from near Delta, the stake to be a gallon of whiskey. The Delta
man, being a temperance man and Christian, be it said to his honor
and consistency, refused to bet with whiskey or make any bet at
all, but consented to the race. The conditions of the race were
that Bailey, with the rail on his shoulder, which was to be selected
by a committee from among the largest ones in a neighboring fence,
was to start one rod in the rear of the horse, to get under way, and
on getting even with the horse the word "Go" was to be given and
both were to start together. Bailey won the race and ever after
3

18 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
went by the name of "Rail Bailey." Many other stories were
told about him. Shortly after this, it is said, he went to a store in
Charlotte to get a pair of rubber boots. Finding a pair that fitted
him, he put them on and walked out into the mud and came back
with them covered with mud and told the merchant that they
suited him, and that he would like to keep them, but had no money
to pay for them. The merchant replied that as he had soiled them
so badly that no one else would buy them, he could keep them and
pay when he was able. The old settlers still claim that Bailey
never paid for those boots. The spring of the year when the race
was run a new doctor came with his family to Charlotte and Bailey
employed him. When his corn was ripe the doctor asked Bailey to
take a hog he had received for doctor's fees, that had been fatted in
part on beech-nuts, and to fat it on corn, when he was to kill it and
dress it for half of the meat. Bailey consented, told him to bring
the hog out next day and he would have a place ready. When the
hog came he put it iu the pen, fed it corn that night and next
morning, then killed and dressed il and look the doctor his half say
ing that it was fat enough for his own use and he thought for the
doctor's too. The doctor was angry but could do nothing but make
the best of it, and he said afterwards that the story, circulated all
over the country, gave him such a reputation that he had no lack
of patronage.
In the spring and summer of 1848 the jobs to open the State
road from Battle Creek to Lansing which I had helped to survey,
were let to different parties. Among the successful bidders were
four men by the name of Gilkey, living near Lansing, who took
four miles of the road near our home, making their headquarters
at our house. I took a contract from them to build eighty rods of
the road one mile east of our farm for which I was to have $250.00
in State land script, good for 200 acres of land anywhere in the State.
I was in my seventeenth year and strong and rugged for one of
my age. I first cut the timber four rods wide and then cleared the
center of the road one rod wide by pulling out the stumps. Twenty
rods of the road had to be corduroyed with logs 12 feet long. I
always took my dinner and gun with me, and twice during my
noon hour killed a deer near my lunching place.
While on this job I had another hunting experience, one which
lacked all the enjoyment of my other successes and which resulted

BOYHOOD DAYS. 19
in a loss that was almost irreparable to our family. One noon I had
left the ox-team for their rest, and carrying my musket had stepped
into the brush when I saw three deer coming towards me and, as
I thought, stopping within ten rods of me in the thick willow brush.
I fired at the spot where I supposed they were, and the next moment
my mother's best cow came rushing out towards me from the willows
and fell mortally wounded within two rods of where I stood. I
started back to my work broken-hearted, asking myself, "What
shall I do? How shall I break the news to my mother?" I knew
it would be a great loss to the family, as that cow furnished nearly
all the milk and butter for a poor family of seven children. I be
thought myself that the cow would at least be good for beef, and
went back to where she lay to cut her throat and let the blood from
her body. When I got there she was still alive and struggling for
breath. She looked up at me with her great soft eyes as much as
to say, "You have made a great mistake in shooting me." lt
took all of the nerve I could muster to end her struggle. I couldn't
work any more that day and started for home to break the sad
news to my mother and the family. As I neared the two log shanties
that constituted our home, I saw my mother and the smaller
children standing in the yard, and when mother saw me she
called out, "Ed, what is the matter? — What have you come home
so early for?" I broke right down and cried, and told her I had
killed "old Brinn." As soon as she and my younger brothers
and sisters realized that what I said was true, they joined me and
we all wept together. My oldest brother who was out at work was
called in to hear the sad news and the only thing he said was, "I
have always told you that Ed was too young to handle a gun."
We hitched the oxen to a wooden sled made out of small logs,
and my older brother going with me, we loaded the cow onto it
and drew her home. When we got there I joined the family in
another weeping time over our loss. We dressed and prepared
the cow for market and started in the middle of the night with
the ox-team for Charlotte, eight miles away, arriving there early
next morning. As very little money was in circulation at that time
we were obliged to trade the beef for groceries, dry goods and other
necessaries for the family. The financial loss to my mother was
not great, but the loss of milk and butter to the family was felt

20 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
painfully for the next two years. Since that time I have never
killed a deer without its reminding me of my mother's brindle cow.
After finishing my road job I sold $100 worth of my script
in Lansing for $20 cash, and with the remainder located eighty
acres of land in Kent County, and forty acres in Shiawassee County
near Corunna. During the winter of 1848-9, we cut twenty acres
of timber, and burned most of it to ashes to make black salts and
saleratus. The California gold excitement at that time was taking many
men out of the country, and would have taken nearly ull the young
men if they had hud the means with which to go. I was only seven
teen years old, and tried in every possible way to get enough money
to go. I had 120 acres of land, but could not raise money with it
for nobody had money to loan, and nobody seemed to want to buy
land. In the spring we made three hundred new sap troughs out of
split ash logs hewed out with an axe and charred inside to keep
them from leaking, tapped four hundred maple trees and made eight
hundred pounds of sugar to exchange for goods and family supplies.
During the summer we harvested ten acres of wheat with grain
cradles, threshed it with a horse power machine, and had a fine
crop of over three hundred bushels for use and market.
In October of this year a very distressing occurrence happened
that kept the entire half of the county excited for some time. Four
miles east of us, in Windsor township, stood a log schoolhouse
in the woods. One day in October a boy of six years by the name of
Wright, who was attending school, strayed from the path on his
way home and got lost in the woods. Nearby settlers looked for
him in vain that night. The next day people for miles around were
notified, and a searching party of about two hundred men turned
out to look for him. They found where he had rested over night,
and during the day found his cap two miles southwest of the school-
house. Next day fifty men from Eaton Rapids joined in the search.
Towards night on the third day, I was on the extreme right flank
of the searching party about three miles from the schoolhouse and
south of Taylor's Lake near the head of Thornapple River. The
willow brush was very thick here and I could make little progress.
It was growing dusk and I was about to turn back to the main
party when someone at my left fired at a deer. Instantly some-

BOYHOOD DAYS. 21
thing that for a moment I supposed to be a wild animal sprang up
in a thick clump of willows not more than ten feet from me. A
second glance showed me that it was the boy, and I at once shouted
to the others that he was found. He was so frightened and ex
hausted that he could not speak, and his feet were badly frost
bitten. We took him on our backs and carried him to the nearest
house where he was treated by a doctor who was in the searching
party, and then taken to his home. He never fully recovered from
the shock and exposure. Four years later the boy was a pupil in
the same school house of Miss Diantha O. DeGraff, whom I married
in 1858.
In the spring of 1850, I was still hoping some way would open
to enable me to go to the gold fields of California. In the mean
time one of love's romances occurred. My oldest brother, George,
in attending one of the log house dancing parties met a young lady
by the name of Gladden. It was a case of love at first sight and
they were married the same month. He at once built a log house
for himself on his forty acres which adjoined our farm and was
living in it the month after their marriage, though still working
and managing our mother's farm. In the following spring while
making sugar, some differences occurred between us on the sub
ject of his managing mother's farm, I wanting to work it and he
claiming that I was too young. His decision and that of my mother
left me nothing to do but obey his orders, with which I was not
satisfied as I thought that they were not giving me the privileges
to which I was entitled at home.
There was helping me that spring in our sugar-making a young
man twenty years old by the name of Verplanck, who was the eldest
of eight children, of a very poor family living on a new farm near
us. To him I confided my troubles. He in return told me that
he and his father did not agree, and that he was planning to leave
home and look out for himself. His father would not give his
consent to his leaving home but he said that he had decided
to go even if he had to run away. We finally agreed to go off
together, tramp the forty miles to Jackson, and see if we could
not get work on a farm or on the railroad. The next night
we filled the large potash kettle full of sap, left it boiling, and
taking a change of clothes tied up in a bandanna handkerchief
and a fresh loaf of bread, some fried cakes and a cake of sugar as

22 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
provisions started out. We had about three dollars each in silver.
On reaching Jackson the next day at noon we went to u hotel and
told the landlord we were looking for work. He said that he had
a farm near Jackson and wanted to hire some men to split rails for
fifty cents a hundred and board. We told him that we were from
the Eaton County woods and accustomed to that sort of work.
After an agreement with him, he gave us our dinner, wrote an order
to the tenant on his farm and gave us directions to reach the place.
We reached the farm about three o'clock, and'found an Irish family
in possession. The man gave us tools, took us to the woods and
marked the trees we were to cut and split. We worked until night
cutting logs 11 feet long, and after a good supper slept well. Early
next morning we went to split up the logs we had cut, but
found the white ouk so very tough that after working hard all
day we had split less than 200 rails. The next day we worked
until noon, and then told the Irishman that we could make no
money on such timber und would have to quit unless our wages
were raised. He took his horse and went to Jackson to consult the
landlord, but came back saying there would be no increase in our
pay. We told him he was welcome to the 300 rails we had split,
but on leaving he gave us fifty cents each. We walked back along
the railroad track to Jackson and thence to Grass Luke where we
boarded a freight train for Ann Arbor, working our passage by
helping unload freight along the way. At Dexter we heard of a
farmer two miles out of town who wanted to hire help. We went
to his farm, helped him do his chores that evening, and took supper
with him. He told us he could pay us but $5 a month besides
board and washing which was less than we cared to stay for. We
stayed all night with him and helped him do his morning chores
in return for the lodging and our breakfast, and he then offered
us $6 a month, which we declined. We walked on to Ann Arbor,
where we tried to get work on the railroad but were told we were
too young.
We now concluded that we had made a mistake in leaving home
and decided to return unless on our way back we could find a good
job. We walked to Whitmore Lake and stayed over night with a
farmer, then went on west through a good farming country, paying
our way with work. On the seventh day after leaving home we
reached Eaton Rapids, and found one of our neighbors there who

BOYHOOD DAYS. 23
had come to get a grist ground and had to stay over night to get
it done. He had two bushels of corn to be ground for my mother.
I asked him what she had said about my leaving home. He replied
that she had told him that I thought too much of her to stay away
long; and then said to me — "Your mother will be glad, but not
surprised to see you return." We slept on the mill floor that night,
and next day rode home with this neighbor. I was warmly wel
comed by all our family and became fully convinced that my troubles
were mostly imaginary, and that there was "no place like home."
Verplanck was not so well received, his father telling him that he
had hoped he would never return.
In August of that year the "bloody flux" or dysentery, raged
among the settlers and many died, among them my friend
John Verplanck and his three younger sisters. All the people
were greatly alarmed and nobody could be had to help care for
the sick. Those who died were buried at night by the county
coroner, without any funeral ceremonies.
After my return home from my futile journey I diligently made
up all lost time and learned to value home as never before, gave
up my wild boyish habits and notions and concluded it was
time to make more of a man of myself and do the best I could at
home. So well did I do that when I was twenty years old my mother
and brother obtained means for me to fulfil my long desire of going
to California. In closing this story of my boyhood days I will
copy an extract of a letter from my mother, written when eighty
years of age to a grandson, Pitt R. Potter. After a sketch of Michigan
life, she closed by saying: "I kept my family with me until they
became men and women, and neither of my five boys, to my knowl
edge, have ever used liquor or tobacco, and all have good homes
and families." Thus she fulfilled her purpose formed at the time
of my father's death, and kept the family together until she saw
them all married and gone. She lived with her eldest daughter in
plain sight of her old home and died at the ripe old age of eighty-
three, a remarkable age considering the labors, trials and hardships
she had gone through in a new country. Neither my father nor my
mother ever united with any church organization, but I believe
that they were Christian people, doing to others as they would
have others do to them, and that they died as they had lived, in
the full belief that all mankind would be ultimately saved.

. ' ¦

At the Auk ok Twknty

l(i'[irc>tllii-i'il fn.lii a iI:ikhitiv"Ijl»' lak.'H ill Marshall, Mil ¦liiu.-lli, mi tlu-ilay l'hro,l,,
Miliar I'ol (<x sUrluii on (In; overland dip to < 'alil'oinia

CHAPTER II.
Across the Plains.
From the day when I first heard of the rich gold discoveries in
California I was ambitious to reach the Golden West. But in 1849
I was only seventeen years old, too young, so my mother thought,
to make the hard trip into the new country. Moreover I had no
money with which to buy the necessary equipment. I had located
120 acres of land but it was not valuable, for everyone had land
to sell and few cared to buy. But in 1852 when I reached my
twentieth year my mother and elder brother aided me in raising
the money for my equipment thus making it possible for me to
realize my fondest hope. There was but one man in the county
who had ready money which he was willing to loan. lie was a
retired naval officer who had been wounded at the Battle of Vera
Cruz in the Mexican War. lie was a good friend of my mother's
and she induced him to loan me one hundred dollars on good land
security, with interest at 30 per cent per annum.
In 1852 there were but three routes by which one could reach
the Pacific Coast and a man's choice of the three depended absolutely
upon the amount of money which he had on hand for the journey.
If he had $300 he might take the railroad to New York or the boat
down the Mississippi to New Orleans, then a steamer to Nicaragua
or the Isthmus of Panama, cross to the Pacific and take another
steamer up the Coast to California, the entire trip requiring about
thirty days. If he had $150 he might ship on a sailing vessel, go
down the Atlantic Coast around Cape Horn and reach the Golden
Gate in any time from three to six months according to the season.
If he had not enough money for either of these routes but sufficient
to purchase an ox-team and wagon, rifle and ammunition he could
cross the plains, the then so-called American Desert, and after
spending anywhere from four to six months on the way would
reach the golden valleys of California. My money was barely
sufficient for an ox-team outfit and I, perforce, chose the last men
tioned route.
Erastus Jacobs and Edwin Spears from the same township left
25

26 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
their new made homes and started with me. The three of us had '
less than $400 with which to buy our outfit and supplies for the long
journey. We decided to defer purchasing this outfit until we reached
the border of the frontier. On April 6, 1852, we started from our
homes, my brother taking us by ox-team and sleigh to the nearest
railroad station which was at Marshall, thirty miles away. At
Marshall we bought tickets to New Buffalo, at the foot of Lake
Michigan, which was then the Western terminus of the Micliigan
Central Railroad. We crossed by steamer from New Buffalo to
Chicago, a town which was so young and small that it had only
one railroad and that running for a distance of only ten miles. We
stopped in Chicago one day and then took passage on a canal boat to
Peoria at the head of navigation for river boats on the Illinois River.
We disembarked at Peoria, for here we planned to buy outfit and
supplies and make our start on the long overland journey.
We were very fortunate in getting our outfit but our good for
tune was due to the misfortune of another. On the day of our
landing at Peoria we found a widow with five children who had
started with her husband for the West a few weeks earlier; he had
died on the way and she now wished to dispose of her outfit and
return home with her children. The outfit consisted of three yoke
of oxen, one covered double wagon, one riding pony, one double-
barreled shot gun, one ride, one tent, cooking utensils and a lurge
quantity of provisions for all of which she asked the moderate price
of $250 which we paid her without a word. We saw her and her
family on board a river boat started buck for her old home near
Toledo, Ohio, which she had left filled with bright hopes and antici
pations four Weeks previous, only to be wrecked and stranded
among strangers. It was the first of the many sad scenes which
we were to observe amongst the many thousands who like us were
pushing westward in search of fortune.
We hitched up our teams the same evening and made our first
camp five miles west of Peoria. We planned to cross the Mississippi
River at Keokuk in southeastern Iowa and to strike the Missouri
River at St. Joseph, Missouri, about 400 miles distant from Peoria.
We reached Keokuk in six days, and finding the country new and the
roads bad, concluded to lay over one day and give our oxen a much
needed rest. Afler crossing the river into Missouri we found the
roads much better. The country was moslly prairie and the larger

ACROSS THE PLAINS. 27
portion of it unsettled. Covered wagons were in sight every day,
all pushing forward towards the same destination and the same
golden opportunities that we were seeking. What settlers there
were living on the route were willing to sell their property at a
sacrifice in order to make the same venture that we were making.
In fact almost every family seemed afflicted with a severe case of
"California Fever." We had plenty of opportunities to trade our
outfit for a good prairie farm.
We reached St. Joseph on the first day of May, having made
the trip from home in twenty-four days, which was a very good
record indeed. We had reached the extreme border of civiliza
tion. It was now necessary for us to become part of a larger body
of travellers for our mutual self protection as we were to cross a
country at least 1,600 miles in extent that was occupied and con
trolled by roaming tribes of hostile Indians. At St. Joseph we met
a man named William Sherman who came from our owii county in
Michigan and who had driven an ox team hitched to a light two-
wheeled rig from his home to St. Joseph. We knew him by reputa
tion as one of the best hunters and trappers in Michigan and suc
ceeded in getting him to purchase a quarter interest in our outfit
and to add his yoke of oxen to it. Mr. Sherman was about fifty
years of age and a pioneer and frontiersman of the highest type.
He proved to be of great help to us in many ways before reaching
the gold fields, not only because of his ability as a hunter but also
because of his constant good humor and clever wisdom which made
him the arbiter of the many differences which arose between the
members of our train. He was known to us as " Uncle Billy." He
added two good guns and two hunting dogs to our outfit and the
addition proved to be valuable to us during the next four months.
Four days after reaching St. Joseph we had organized a train
of nine wagons with thirty-six yoke of oxen, ten riding horses
and six cows. Our party numbered thirty-five men with four ladies
and two colored servants. Uncle Billy was the oldest and I was
the youngest person in the train. The nine wagons represented
nine different states, namely: Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky,
Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
The four ladies were young and unmarried and came two from
New Orleans and two from Memphis. They were members of
southern hunting clubs and were taking the land route to California

28 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
for the purpose of hunting large game such as buffalo, elk and
antelope. The two ladies from New Orleans accompanied their
uncle who was a polished southern gentleman and a noted hunter.
This party had four yoke of oxen hitched to a large and heavy covered
wagon which had been used as an express wagon on the streets of
New Orleans. I remember that this wagon had a very high top, on
the side of which was painted in great gilt letters, "Poydrass Street,
New Orleans," and that it attracted more attention than any other
one I saw during the journey. This New Orleans party had come
up the Mississippi River by boat to Memphis where by previous
arrangement they met the party consisting of the other two young
ladies of our party and their two brothers who were also provided
with a complete outfit. They all boarded the boat at Memphis
for St. Joseph, and their combined outfit resembled a travelling
arsenal. The ladies were dressed in bloomer costume and each had
a well trained mustang riding pony for her own use. There were
two stout, healthy looking colored men, supposed to be slaves,
wilh the parly who were brought along lo do the work, such
as cooking, driving teams, pitching tents and everything except
guard duty, which it was stipulated, at the time they joined our
train, they should not do. This party reached St. Joseph and went
into camp near us on the second day after our arrival. Uncle
Billy and his two dogs were the first to make their acquaintance
and before evening of the day of their arrival the young ladies and
he were practicing with their rifles at a target.
The Indiana wagon was in charge of a man named Joseph Smith
from St. Joseph County, Michigan, who had crossed the plains
in 1850 and had returned over the same route in 1851. Before we
left St. Joseph on our long journey over the plains we elected him
captain of our train. He was about forty years old, had been raised
on the frontier and was a well known pioneer und hunter. He
proved lo us before the journey was over that we had made no
mistake in electing him our captain.
On that first evening together in camp Uncle Billy related to us
some of his experiences in the woods and before we went
to sleep that night we had a complete history of himself, his wife
and his son Paul, whom he had left on a farm in the dense
forests of Michigan to make a living as best they could, while he
made this journey to California to seek his fortune. Before we

ACROSS THE PLAINS. 29
parted company with Uncle Billy we became convinced that he
never told one of his best stories unless his wife or his son Paul
was connected with it.
The number of teams waiting to be ferried across the Missouri
was so great that four steam ferry boats were kept busy transporting
them. Our train of nine wagons took its place in line on the night
of the fifth of May, at least half a mile from the ferry, to await its
turn and it was not until the afternoon of the next day that we
were landed on the west bank of the raging Missouri. We made
our first camp west of the Missouri in a dense grove of cottonwood
and elm timber. The next morning it was raining as it had been
doing for the last four days, but we nevertheless broke camp and
made for the prairie which was only six miles away. We were all
day In making this short distance and I can truly say that it was
the most uncomfortable day that I had ever experienced. When
we reached the prairie we found that all the emigrants who had
crossed the river during the five previous days had gone into camp
waiting for the rain to cease. It was a grand sight to look over
the prairie as far as the eye could discern and see the new white-
covered wagons and tents clustered here and there and the great
number of horses and cattle, scattered in every direction, trying
to get a bite of the short spring grass that had but just started to
grow. It was estimated at the time that at least ten thousand emi
grants were camped within a distance of ten miles of this point.
These men had cattle and horses enough to haul them, and supplies
sufficient to last them during the trip of sixteen hundred miles
through a country entirely uninhabited except by Indians. Each
train had to guard its own stock to keep them from getting mixed
up with others and this was considerable of a job where there were
so many separate trains.
This great army of people were all bound for the same goal and
each person was read}' to hitch up his team and be the first one
onward as soon as the clouds cleared away and the sun made its
first appearance. The morning of the eighth of May brought us
good weather and the entire body of people and animals formed
a great procession and started on the way. Previous to this time
there had been but one trail over which the wagons could pass.
But 10,000 people starting from the same locality on the same
day made it necessary for more trails, which were very easily made

30 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
on the open prairie, excepting when we came to a stream that had
to be bridged. During the first day's march there were at least
twelve roads for twelve teams abreast. Our roadometer which
was fastened to the rear wheel of our wagon registered fifteen miles
for this first day's drive.
That night Captain Smith called our party together and said
that we ought to adopt some rules to govern us on the march
that was before us and that as captain he would see that such
rules as we saw fit to make were enforced. He reminded us that
when we crossed the Missouri River we had passed beyond the
border of civilization und the reign of law and that all our dis
putes und troubles would have to be settled by arbitration among
ourselves as there were no civil courts on the road we were travelling
to which cases could be taken. A committee of five, including the
captain, was appointed to draft such a code for our government.
This committee soon reported a set of rules that the captain had
travelled under two years previously while crossing the plains and
these were adopted. The rules were few and simple but they
covered the main essentials of life on the frontier. One rule pro
vided for the formation of our camp each night so as to give pro
tection against an Indian attack. This was to be done by running
the wagons close together in the form of the letter U, pitching all
tents inside this enclosure and posting four men as guards during
the night, two of them al the camp and two with the slock. Any
differences that might arise among us were to be settled by a board
of arbitration consisting of three persons selected from the entire
number of our party including the ladies. I remember also that
one of the by-laws stipulated that we should travel only six days
in the week, and that this rule was strictly lived up to during the
entire time and distance. The day of rest did not always fall on
Sunday as our stops had to be governed largely by the presence
of grass, wood and water.
Early in the morning of the ninth our nine wagons were on the
march again. Some trains that had horses for their motive power,
and grain with which to feed them, were on the move all through
the night as they knew that Wolf River was but a few miles ahead
and that there was but one bridge on which to cross. During the
day large numbers of antelope were seen on the hills, but never
less than half a mile away, out of range of rifle shot. This was the

ACROSS THE PLAINS. 31
first opportunity offered the ladies to show their skill. The four,
dressed in bright red suits, mounted their ponies and with Uncle
Billy and three other men of the train acting as escorts started on
the hunt. The red suits seemed to have the same attraction for the
antelope that a torch light has for a deer in the night. They stood
still and stamped their feet and gazed at the bright object, allowing
the hunters to come within close gunshot range. This first day's
hunt was considered a great success for the ladies as they killed
four antelope, which the men brought to camp lashed to the ponies.
When they arrived in camp they were given three cheers for
their success, which meant a feast on antelope for the entire train.
That evening "Uncle Billy" related many of his exciting Michigan
hunting experiences which I will refer to later on but gave the
ladies all the credit for the day's successful antelope hunt.
The only bridge at Wolfe River was owned by a person living
at the Pawnee Indian Mission nearby, who charged $5 for each
wagon that he allowed to cross. Such was the crowd of people
and so exorbitant the price that our party joined with some other
trains and built a new bridge over which we passed on the morning
of the tenth of May. It was said that there were four such bridges
built in two days over that narrow stream which ran through a
rocky gorge twenty feet deep and forty feet wide.
On the morning of this tenth of May there occurred one of the
many sad incidents that we met with on our way. On account
of the exposure through which the emigrants had passed dur
ing the storms of the previous week a great deal of sickness
was prevalent. We had heard that smallpox and cholera had
broken out before we crossed the Missouri Bivcr anil near Wolf
River we passed several fresh made graves. About two miles west
of the Pawnee Mission a family of seven persons, consisting of
father, mother and five children had camped. The oldest girl
came to the Mission that morning and reported that her father,
mother and two brothers were dead and that the two others were
very sick. The missionary was trying to get somebody to go with
him to aid them in their trouble and our captain halted the train
while he told us of the sad case. After hearing his story Captain
Smith said that he believed it was our duty to help bury the dead
and that even if they had died from a contagious disease it would be
safer for us to go and bury them than to get excited and run away

32 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
from what he considered was our duty. When he called for volun
teers nearly all iu our train offered to go and he chose fifteen of us,
and left the rest to look after the outfit and guurd the cuttle which
were let out to graze. The missionary led us to the camp which
was about a half mile away and there we found living only the
girl who had given the information in the morning. We buried the
six persons in one grave. The girl was taken to the Mission where
we left her with the promise from the missionary that her wishes to
have the outfit sold and that she be returned to her friends in
Virginia would be faithfully carried out. This incident detained
us about four hours. The afflicted family were Germans who had
been travelling with a train of six other wagons. When they were
taken sick three days before, their travelling associates had gone on,
leaving them to take care of themselves. It was an uncommon
thing for a train to lay over on account of sickness even for one day,
as it was well understood by all, before starting, that even with the
smallest possible amount of detention it would take the entire
season lo get through to California. The Nevada Mountains, six
teen hundred miles west of us, must be crossed as early as October
to avoid the deep snows.
Our train went into camp late that sad day having made only
twelve miles. Tho captain told us thai evening that we had four
rivers lo cross before reaching the Platte River valley near Fort
Kearney and instructed us to be ready to start at two o'clock
the next morning so as to get ahead of the rush and travel
over the old road instead of having to make a road of our own.
By noon the next day we had forded the Big Mineha River, twenty
miles from our starting point, and there encamped three hours.
We made five miles more before camping for the night. That
evening the captain told us that if we would consent to start out at
ten P. M. each day for ten days we would gain at least five miles
each day over the other trains and by doing this we would be able
to get ahead of the great body of people and find better roads,
camping places and pasture. We adopted this plan and before
the ten days had expired we had left the crowd in the rear. We
forded the three other rivers in the night, namely, the Little Mineha
and the Big and Little Bine. The country we were now in was con
sidered the very best part of the now great state of Kansas. At this
time the Pawnee Indians were in possession of all this country as

ACROSS THE PLAINS. 33
far north as the Platte River, while the Sioux claimed all of the
lands north of the Platte to the Canadian line.
It was during our journey along the Big Mineha that we had
our second hunt. "Uncle Billy's" experience in hunting big game
in company with the ladies had not been quite satisfactory to him
self, as the ladies had carried off all the honors. We had heard
that elk and deer were plentiful in the timber along the Big Mineha
River. So when nearing the timber he suggested to me that I
take our riding pony and go to a point of timber some five miles
down the river while he would take his two deer hounds and follow
down the river on foot, keeping in the timber . and that if he started
up any big game he would let the dogs loose and drive it in my
direction. Taking two other men with me I started out early
in the morning. On our way we saw great numbers of antelope
which were very wild, and kept out of range of our guns. At
seven o'clock we were at the designated point of timber and in
a short time we heard the hounds. It was evident that the game
was coining in our direction. Wc picketed our ponies and took
our positions some forty rods apart in the timber. I stationed
myself on the river bank near the rapids, where game would be
quite sure to cross if they tried to get into the timber on the opposite
bank. The barking of the dogs came nearer and nearer, then a
shot from a rifle was heard, then another shot and still another.
The woods seemed to be full of hunters. At least ten elk and as
many deer soon came in sight, headed for the rapids. I fired as
they plunged into the river. On the opposite bank several shots
were fired and the herd turned on their track hack up tho
river. Tt was not long before we learned that six elk and four deer
were killed that morning. At least ten men from other trains
had a hand in the sport, but it was "Uncle Hilly" and his
dogs from the woods of Michigan who were voted the honors
of the day's sport and success. We packed our ponies with only
the choicest portions of the meat that was allotted to us for we were
at least ten miles from the spot where our train would camp that
evening. We crossed the river about noon, built a fire and broiled
some of the elk steak, by holding it over the fire on sharpened
sticks, and had our dinner after which wc started a southwest
course to find our train. During the afternoon we saw fresh signs
of buffalo, and sighted a small herd about two miles away, making
4

34 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
north on the run. Our ponies were already loaded down with the
spoils of the day and we could spend no time in following the buffalo.
We were well tired when we reached camp about sunset where we
found that the ladies had brought in two antelopes during our
absence. During this hunting trip we met several Pawnee Indians armed
with bows and arrows and gave them what was left of the elk and
deer that we had killed. Little did we think at the time that
the slaughter of game we had that day participated in was an illus
tration of one of the primary causes of all the Indian wars of our
country since the first of the English settlements. The Indians
had fought for their hunting grounds and after killing unknown
numbers of while men had been driven back from the Atlantic
Oceun to the Missouri Biver. The question of the final outcome
was discussed by the older members of our train. What would
this unnecessary slaughter of game lead to in the future? If all
emigrant hunting parties were as successful as we had been, what
would be left for the poor Indian to subsist upon? The only answer
made to this question was that the Indians would never be driven
farther west, as white men could not live in such a poor country
as this. When I travelled through this same country ten years
later all of the Indians on our western border from the Rio Grande
to the British line were in arms against the white man fighting lo
retain their hunting grounds. Much more could be said in regard
to the early day abuse of the Indian, but we pass it for the present.
As we had been travelling nights for the past five days and were
well in advance of the great rush we voted to take a rest the next
day. It was the first Sunday that we had found a choice camping
place since our start from St. Joseph. Our encampment was on
the banks of ihe Little Blue River, with grass, wood and wuter in
plenty and numerous large catfish in the river that were easily
caught. Large game was plenty. The lady hunters with their
southern escorts had kept the train well supplied with antelope
meat every day. Uncle Billy had lulled his first buffalo of which
the entire train had the benefit. After we had cleaned up,
changed our clothes and washed our dirty ones which we spread
out on the grass to dry, a minister from one of the nearby camps,
accompanied by one hundred or more of his friends and followers,
came to our camp and asked the privilege of preaching to us. I

ACROSS THE PLAINS. 35
remember that he took as his theme the duties that we owed to
God on this perilous trip. After his sermon he passed on to the
next camp, inviting the members of our party to go with him.
The invitation was accepted by many of our men and by
the four young ladies who went to assist in the singing. These
were undoubtedly the first sermons ever delivered by white men
to white audiences on the Little Blue River.
The river was lined with fishermen that day, and hundreds of
large fish were caught on which we feasted for the next two
days. That evening while we were gathered around our camp fire
Uncle Billy entertained us with one of his Michigan bear stories,
which I will relate as I now remember it. In the fall of 1840
he was living in a new log house, built near the Thornapple River
far from any settlers. He was engaged in trapping for furs, and
hunting for large game, such as bear, elk, deer and wolves.
While he was away from home one day visiting his traps, a
large black bear made a visit lo his log house. His wife saw the
bear looking in the door, and hastily grabbing her son Paul she
hurried up the ladder into the attic and lei the bear have his own
way in the room below. He helped himself to a loaf of bread,
drank up and turned over two pans of milk and then went out
into the yard where he turned over a bee hive, ate what honey
he needed and departed. If there is anything a bear loves it is
milk and honey. It was late that night when Uncle Billy got home
to find his wife and six £ear old boy badly frightened. lie concluded
to stay at home the next day as he thought the bear would return
for more milk and honey as soon as he got hungry. On the second
day the bear returned, accompanied by three others — a mother
and her two cubs. Uncle Billy had secreted himself and was ready
for them with two gnus. They first went for the honey. He
fired and broke the largest bear's back, and than fired at the old
mother wounding her badly but not mortally. He killed the
first bear with another ball in his head and then started with his
dog after the mother and cubs who had fled to the woods. The
mother soon became very weak from the wound she had received
and the dogs overtook her. She turned to fight them, and when
Uncle Billy arrived on the scene he found that she had killed one
of the dogs and badly injured the other, lie quickly killed the
old bear, and with the help of the injured dog tracked the cubs to

36 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
a large hollow log about Iwo miles from his home. He was deter
mined to capture the cubs alive, and this he did by cutting a
hole iu one end of the hollow tree, building a fire ut the other end
and smoking them out. After capturing them he took them home
and kept them until they were full grown, when he sold them to
a travelling show man for fifty dollars.
After Uncle Billy had finished his story, an amusing incident
occurred that led to disagreeable consequences for me. There
was a man with us about thirty years of age, who had seen hard
service in the Mexican War, and had been given a government
land warrant for his services which he had located in Michigan
where he had settled. He caught the gold fever, concluded to
go with us to California and mortgaged his land to secure the
money for his equipment. When we reached St. Joseph and he
learned of the amount of sickness among the emigrants he became
discouraged and said that if he could sell out his interest he would
return to his family as he felt sure he would never live to reach
the gold fields. We made fun of what he said and assured him
that he was one of the healthiest and most robust men of the
company. He changed his mind at this and instead of going
back laid in a large supply of patent medicines, advertised
to cure every conceivable kind of disease. He bought a strong
hand trunk and filled it with these medicines. Soon after starting
on our trip he became known as the "Doctor" of our train. He
didn't like the name, but the more he resented it the oflener it
was applied to him. It was " Good morning, Doctor," and "Good
evening, Doctor," every day. While he was absent attending
the meeting at one of the camps this Sunday some person handy
with an indelible pencil wrote the following sign on the cover
of our wagon: "Dr. E. S  . All diseases promptly treated."
Many of the larger trains had doctors in their parties who made
considerable money on the trip, and it was nothing unusual to see
a doctor's sign on a wagon. Our Dr. E. S  soon had a call
for his professional services from the members of another train.
I pointed out the "doctor" to the man who inquired for him, and
it was not until this man spoke to him that he discovered the sign
on the wagon. He was very angry and laid the whole affair lo
me although I hud little lo do with il. I was told that he threat-

ACROSS THE PLAINS. 37
ened me with a good horse-whipping. That night it rained and
we did not break camp until morning. It was my day to drive
the team. As we were driving along on the high sandy bank of
the river, the doctor came up behind me, struck me with a whip,
and accused me of painting the sign on the wagon cover. I denied
the charge, but his only answer was to strike me again. He was
between me and the river bank and I made for him with all my
strength expecting to force him over. He grabbed me and we
fell down the steep bank together at least twelve feet onto the
soft ground below. It was lucky for me that I fell on top of him.
He yelled at the top of his voice, "Oh, Ed, you have killed me;
what will my poor wife and children do!" I thought for a moment
that he was dying and was badly frightened. At my call for help
the train was halted. We carried "the doctor" into the wagon,
threw water in his face and gave him brandy, and he soon revived.
Wc called a real doctor from a train nearby who found by exami
nation that his left shoulder was out of place and his right arm
fractured at the elbow. We gave him five dollars iu gold for his
services and instructions and after an hour were on our way again.
The injury proved to be a serious one. The doctor called to see
his patient again that evening, and said that he would always have
a stiff elbow, as it was a compound fracture. He had to carry his
arm in a sling for the next four months. After that morning's
scrap with our doctor, caused by my not submitting to an unde
served horse-whipping, I was given the name of "Bully Potter,"
and was known by no other name until wc separated in the Nevada
Mountains. As he claimed that I was the cause of his gelling the
nickname Doctor, with better reason I claim that he was the cause
of my getting the name of Bully.
This trouble with "the doctor" was the cause of my having more
work to do than I had previously had. Instead of driving the
teams one-fourth of the time, I now had to drive them one-half
of the time to fill his place. I also had to do his share of
guard duty, so that my work was just doubled all around. This
experience proved to be a valuable lesson to me in my subse
quent life. I have never been in company with miners, lumbermen
or soldiers but what some one of them has been picked out as the
butt of ridicule and nagged for the amusement of the crowd. Some
times this so-called fun has consisted in giving a man an uncouth

38 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
and discreditable name, which is sure to follow him through life.
Many a man has been led to commit desperate deeds just because
of such nagging. This personal affair on the Little Blue River and
its unfortunate results led me to avoid such teasing in the future
and to disapprove of it whenever it came within my notice.
The Pawnee Indians were very friendly with the emigrants.
When we were in sight of the Platte River at least one thousand
warriors passed our train. All were mounted on ponies, armed with
bows and arrows, spears and tomahawks, and painted for battle.
To our questions they answered that the Sioux had crossed the
Plallc and were stealing their squaws. They pointed over the hill
and said thai there would be a great fight that uftemoon in the
river valley on u batlle-ground that hud often been fought over
before. They invited us to go to the lop of u hill that was in plain
sight where we could see the battle and watch them whip the Sioux,
and drive them back across the Platte to their own lands. Some
of us witnessed the Indian fight that afternoon on the old battle
field about thirty miles east of Fort Kearney. Without doubt
there were as many white men looking down upon this farce of a
battle as there were Indians engaged in it, and the whites were
far better armed, for at that time the Indians knew practically
nothing about handling fire-arms and none of them were using
guns that day. It was quite apparent to the spectators that these
Indians did not go to war for the purpose of getting killed. They
kept well out of reach of each other's arrows and although I stayed
for at least two hours I did not see a single dead Indian. What
I did see was an exhibition of very fine bare-back riding by the
members of both tribes. We learned a few days later that on the
following day the Indians got their fighting temper up to the proper
point, so that several Indians on both sides were actually killed.
There were two companies of United Stales troops stationed at
Fort Kearney for the purpose of protecting the emigrants from
hostile Indians. Fort Laramie, three hundred miles west of Fort
Kearney, was the next United States post where we would find
troops. Fifteen miles above Fort Kearney we found many emigrants
fording the Platte River, which wasatleast a mile wide at that point,
the water being on an average of not more than one foot in depth
though the current was very rapid. Their reason for crossing at

ACROSS THE PLAINS. 39
this point was to reach a road on the north side of the river on
which there was but little travel and along which they expected to
find better pasturage for their stock. Platte River is a dangerous
river to cross, as its bed is composed of quicksand which is continu
ally changing. During one week the channel may be on the
south side and the next week on the north. Many wagons were
lost by emigrants crossing at this ford. The breaking of a king
bolt, tongue, wheel or anything that could not be quickly repaired
gave the rapid current its chance to wash the loose sand from under
the wheels and in an hour's time the wagon would have settled so
rapidly that you could see nothing but the white cover above the
surface of the water. If the wagon was ever recovered it would
be at some time in the future when the water was running in some
other part of the river bed.
These rapids were a favorite crossing-place for the buffalo on
their annual migrations northward in the spring. Thousands of
these monarchs of the plains were in sight as we reached the ford.
They were coming from the south, inarching in single file, in com
panies of from one to three hundred, each company led by one of
the most powerful bulls of the herd. All the trains in our section
had to stop that day while these herds were crossing the ford,
for they would neither stop nor turn out of the way for us or for
anything else, but as primitive pioneers claimed the right of way,
Some of us would go out and select a nice fat looking one and
shoot it down, but that did not check the herd nor turn them
in the slightest from their chosen course. We had to wail until
the herd had passed before we could get the one we had shot.
Where they passed down the sandy bank into the river their trail
was worn so deep that they would disappear from sight entirely
to again emerge in sight in the river, each company strictly follow
ing its leader in single file and close order with no scattering or
straggling. It was a scene that will never pass from the memory
of those who had the privilege of viewing it. It was a wonderful
panorama to look upon. Thousands of buffalo and hundreds of
wagons were fording the rapids of the river, each column in plain
sight of the other but far enough apart not to interfere with the
other, for the rapids were at least a mile long.
The favorite range of the buffalo runs north and south, about
five hundred miles wide, commencing at the Arkansas River on

40 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
the south and extending north into the British possessions. As
all the streams in this region take an easterly course the buffaloes
have to cross them in their migrations, yet they are known to have
journeyed at least a thousand miles north, returning south the same
season. All through this country are still to be found the so-called
"Buffalo wallows," sometimes several of them in less than an
acre of ground. They are usually about ten feet in diameter
and from one to two feet in depth and are made by the bulls in
the spring when challenging their rivals to combat for the favor
of the opposite sex. The ground is dug up and hollowed by the
pawing of the two bulls, the challenge is accepted, and the battle
lakes place. The one lhal comes off victorious remains in posses
sion of his bride until dispossessed by a more powerful rival. So
desperate are these battles thai frequently one of the contestants
is left dead on the balllcficld, while the victor dies in the wullow
from the wounds he has received. These wallows have proved
of great benefit to emigrants and have saved many a life. The
soil is so compact from the treading that after a wallow becomes
filled with water it remains until evaporated. Many an emigrant
train has found water for man and beast in a buffalo wallow when
all the streams were dried up. It must not be thought that this
water is of the quality one is accustomed to get at a popular summer
resort, but on the plains a thirsty man or beast with a parched
and swollen tongue, far from a living stream of water, docs not
hesitate long about the quality of water he is willing to drink.
Many an emigrant and soldier can also truly say that a buffalo
wallow has saved his life when attacked by Indians, as it is a safe
and natural rifle pit. I well remember in the several Indian
battles in which I participated on the plains of Dakota in the
summer of 1863, what good use both soldiers and Indians made
of thein.
Now, before proceeding with the description of our journey,
let me give you the estimate which most of us set upon the character
and value of the country through which we were then passing.
Fifty years ago any school boy if called upon to give a description
of the country west of the Mississippi River, would say that it
was "The Great American Desert." At that time it was thought
to be of little or no value except for the furs it produced. This
was the opinion of our party in 1852. But not long after our

ACItOSS THE PLAINS. 41
journey countless numbers of emigrants crossed the Missouri
River seeking homes in this very desert, the valleys and plains
of which are now fast becoming the richest and most fertile in
the world. American-born emigrants were the first to penetrate
and settle there, claiming the best land; following them came the
foreign emigrants, flowing in that direction in a mighty tide, nar
rowing down the limits of the supposed Great American Desert, and
making a veritable garden of what we considered worthless land.
It did not take long to discover that what wc in our party had
looked upon as a worthless, barren desert, incapable of sustaining
a civilized population, was in fact the richest part of our territorial
domain with a climate pure and healthful and a soil surpassing
that of most of the eastern and southern states and capable of
producing indefinitely. The name "Great American Desert" has
passed away; instead has come " The Plains," a synonym of great
things. Of the ninny persons who crossed the plains at the time I
did, whom I have since met, there are none who have not expressed
surprise that their judgment regarding the vast country over
which they passed at that time was so far from correct.
After leaving the Missouri River the size and varieties of timber
constantly diminished. As we left civilization behind and pene
trated the vast plains, forests were nowhere to be seen. The few
scattering trees, mostly small Cottonwood, which grew close to
the banks of the larger rivers, continually became smaller and
smaller as wc advanced westward and' finally disappeared alto
gether leaving only the small willows to mark the water courses.
Nearly all of the plains country can be said to be without timber
of any kind. Scientific men disagree as to the reason for this
lack of timber. Some of them think that the prevailing high
winds that blow unobstructed across the prairies prevent the
growth of timber as well as of tall grass. The facts show
that grasses grow much taller on the prairies of Iowa and Minne
sota, than they do in Utah, Nebraska and Nevada. The lands
on the prairies will produce grass high enough to conceal a man
on horseback, while the plains are covered with a mass of buffalo
grass scarcely three inches high. Another theory is that the plains
were once covered with a heavy growth of timber which by various
causes was destroyed, and that since this destruction timber had
been prevented from growing by the annual fires which the Indians

42 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
set each fall to burn the dead grass and hasten the fresh growth
the following spring. As tending to prove this last theory, many
trunks of large trees have been found in u petrified condition on
the uplands of Colorado, Utah and Nevada, far from any streams
of water.
One of the most remarkable and deceiving phenomena to be
met with on the plains is a mirage. It is a wonderful dis
tortion of nature; yet it looks so real that the most experienced
eye is often deceived by it. The first mirage noticed by our party
was while in camp on the Platte River. We saw what we supposed
to be a large party of Indians coming directly towards our camp
and as they appeared to be moving rapidly we hastily prepared
to defend ourselves. It proved however to be only a small herd
of elk. Their number was greatly multiplied by the mirage, and
their horns and peculiar motion led us to believe that it was a war
party on horseback. It was a common thing for us to look in some
direction iu the early morning or late afternoon and see what
appeared lo be a large fleet of vessels under full sail on a great lake,
which would turn out to be only a train of white covered wagons.
Many an emigrant train while looking for water has gone miles
out of its course to reach an inviting body of water which the mirage
placed in sight, seemingly only a short distance away, beckoning
and alluring them, constantly deceiving them with the belief that
they would soon reach the greatly-longed-for goal. Throughout
this whole country travellers will occasionally run onto the graves
of persons who have been led astray by the delusion until they
have perished. In locating a route across the plains, water was one
of the most important things to take into consideration. Sometimes
it would be necessary for us to make what was called a "dry camp,"
where there was no water. Then we would carry water in cans for
ourselves, while the animals would have lo depend upon what
moisture they received from the dew while grazing at night.
Uncle Billy had narrated all the hunting stories that had been
told on this trip so far. It was evident lo us all that he was run
ning short on his hunting reminiscences, as he had repeated some
of his best ones. But that night after crossing the Platte River
and seeing the countless buffalo he told us a deer story that was
new to us all and that I am quite sure was strictly true, as years
later I talked with men who shared the venison which he killed on

ACROSS THE PLAINS. 43
the occasion. His story was as follows. Deep snow had fallen that
winter and deer were plenty near his cabin. There came a warm
spell that melted the snow slightly, and this was followed by a
cold snap which froze the wet snow sufficiently to bear up a man
on the crust while a deer would break through. A short distance
from his home Uncle Billy struck a herd of thirteen deer one morn
ing. He shot and killed three of them before they got out of sight.
He followed the rest of the herd and iu less than two hours had
killed them all, none of them being over one-half mile from his
house. He killed some of them with his hatchet as it was impos
sible for them to get away, as they broke through the sharp crust
of the snow. One of the largest deer came near killing him
by striking him with his forefeet and breaking two of his ribs.
His son Paul, who was then fourteen years old, heard the firing and
took his gun to aid his father. He passed several dead deer before
reaching his father whom he found so badly injured that he could
not walk. He hurried back home and told his mother and together
they brought him home on a large hand-sled after which they went
for the neighbors and a doctor. It was a close shave for Uncle
Billy for he was under the doctor's care for three months before
he could do any hunting.
After leaving the ford on the Platte River where so many had
crossed to the north side, we had no trouble finding good grass
and water for the next three hundred miles. We continued on
the south side, travelling on a level plain near the river, with hardly
a tree of any kind or size growing on the banks. The only fuel we
had was what we could gather from the driftwood which had floated
down from the mountains during the freshets, and the dry buffalo
excrements, called "buffalo chips" which wc gathered and which
made a very fine fire. When about one hundred miles above Fort
Kearney we met some fifteen hundred Sioux Indians returning
from a bloody fight they had had the day before with the Pawnees.
They were all mounted on ponies, finely painted and decorated
with feathers, and carried their bows, arrows and shields with fresh
scalps hanging from their lances. The Indian who had taken the
largest number of scalps had the honor of riding at the head of
the column and one would say from his appearance that he was
the happiest red man on the plains. These Sioux claimed they
had fought a great battle and had whipped the Pawnees, but at

44 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
"the same time they seemed to be in a great hurry to get across
the Platte River into their own country.
Before we reached the South Platte River our road became very
sandy and the soil so poor that grass grew only near the river. It
was very hot and dry. Suddenly, without any warning, we saw
an immense cloud of dust bearing down upon us from the west.
Our captain promptly took in the situation and ordered us to turn
our teams around so that they faced to the east, to run our wagons
close together, chain the wheels and set the brakes. Before we
had completed these preparations we were in the midst of one of
the severest sand-storms I ever witnessed on the plains. The
wind blew at least fifty miles an hour, carrying the sharp hot sand
with such a velocity that neither man nor beast could face it.
The storm did not last over ten minutes and our train suffered
little damage from it. But we passed several trains that day which
had been badly damaged. Wagons were blown over and great
numbers of horses and cattle stampeded, while several men were
injured and two were killed. Wc assisted in helping those who
had suffered. It was due to the experience and knowledge of our
captain that we were brought safely through that brief but terrible
storm, us it was admitted by all thai our train was right in its path.
This storm delayed us several hours, compelling us to camp that
night on the east side of the south fork of the Platte, which heads
in the Colorado Mountains near Pike's Peak, and upon the banks
of which the city of Denver was later built. At that time no white
man knew of the presence of gold or silver in the Colorado Moun
tains for no one had yet dared to penetrate and prospect them.
We camped on the river bank for the night expecting to cross
the ford the next morning. The day had been the warmest we
had had since leaving the Missouri. Our roadometer registered
five hundred and twenty miles from St. Joseph which distance
we had covered in thirty-one days. So far we had met with but
few storms to detain us. Our captain had told us of the terrific
thunder storms he had been through two years before when passing
over the same route, and said that the sand-storm of the morning
was a sure sign of the approach of a heavy thunder storm. He
was very anxious to cross the South Platte River before this storm
came, as a heavy rain would make it unfordublc, and gave us
orders therefore to be ready to cross at sunrise. Before midnight

ACROSS THE PLAINS. 45
the predicted storm burst in all its fury. There was neither timber
nor bluffs to break the force of the wind which blew with such
velocity as to raise the water from the river-bed and drench our
camp with the river spray in addition to the driving rain. Imagine
the continuous roar of thunder, the livid flashes of lightning gleam
ing through the mist and spray of water that stood out against
the inky darkness of the night and you will have some conception
of the dismay that the storm brought to us as wc lay iu the frail
shelter of our covered wagons. When the storm ceased, the guards
who had been with the cattle and horses came in and reported
that our stock had stampeded. When daylight came our cattle
were nowhere to be seen. Three out of our ten horses also had either
broken their picket lines or pulled up the iron pins and left
with the cattle in wild flight. Captain Smith said that the stock
would halt as soon as the storm had passed and accordingly sonic
of us mounted our ponies and set out in search of the lost animals.
We had no trouble in following their trail and found them quietly
feeding in a valley about ten miles from camp. Our cattle and horses
were mingled with hundreds of others and it was evident that it
would take time to pick them out. A few of the cattle had been
killed and many more injured in the stampede. That afternoon
a meeting of the owners was held to consult as to the best way
to separate the stock of each train from the herd. The rain of the
previous night had already raised the river so that it could not
be forded for at least three days and Captain Smith advised
leaving the cattle undisturbed for that time, saying that they
would probably separate by themselves if left alone. The party
took this advice and agreed to leave the stock at the valley ten
miles front camp until the river could be forded with safely. True
to our captain's prophecy, the oxen, cows and ponies of our train
came together before the end of the three days and/we brought them
into camp in better condition to continue the march than before,
as the long rest and good feed had done them much good. Several
men were drowned in attempting to ford the river on the third
day after the storm, but on the fourth day we took our train over
without accident. From this point to Fort Laramie, on Laramie
River, we had good roads and good feed for our stock.
We were now approaching the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains,
and had passed out of the range of buffalo and antelope. Deer

46 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
and elk were still plenty and a few brown mountain bears were seen,
our southern party bringing in one young brown bear near this
point. They said that they had seen a mountain lion and a herd
of mountain sheep during the day. The doctor's arm and shoulder
were improving, as it was now three weeks since the accident.
I had performed all his duties during this time, driving the team,
standing guard at night and washing his clothes, and had left
the train only one day of the time to go on a buffalo hunt. He
was getting quite good-natured over the affair, and now took all
the blame for his injury on himself.
Al Fort Laramie we had our oxen shod for the first time on the
trip, for we were approaching the Black Hills. In leaving the Fort
and ascending the steep bluff the road wound over the solid black
rock for a distance of twenty-five miles with no vegelalion what
ever near it. We passed through Ash Hollow, a narrow ravine
leading down from the hills into the valley of the north fork of the
Platte River, and in this valley, less than a mile long, we counted
over sixty fresh made' graves by the roadside. As we approached
the river valley we saw numerous wagons halted as far from the
road as they could get, each flying a red flag to indicate the presence
of smallpox. The new-made graves we had seen were those of the
victims of this dread disease. For the next two days of our travel
we saw these red flags flying from many wagons unhitched at the
side of the road.
From Ash Hollow it was forty miles to the ferry where we expected
to cross the river. The day that we left Fort Laramie was the
warmest and most trying for man and beast that we had experienced
since starting. The thermometer indicated one hundred degrees,
the sun shone blislcringly hot on those bare, black rocks and we had
no water for stock until we reached ihe river that night. No game
could subsist on ihe rocky barren waste over which we hail travelled
during the day but our southern hunting party left the train at
Ash Hollow, where there was scattering timber and searched for
game through ravines and over bluffs during the balance of the day
joining the train just as we were going into camp, with the first
mountain sheep that had been killed on the trip and two fine deer.
Uncle Billy was with them, and received the credit for shooting
the mountain sheep. This success made Uncle Billy's tongue run

ACROSS THE PLAINS. 47
pretty rapidly for the next forty-eight hours, and led him to tell
several new stories of his prowess as a hunter.
At Fort Laramie we had been informed that the ferry on the
North Platte was owned by Mormons who were charging exorbitant
prices for crossing in their boat which was small and unsafe. That
evening the captain suggested that he and Erastus Jacobs
ride ahead of the train to the ferry, to find out the true situation
there and report to us at our next camping place. Accordingly,
when we broke camp at daybreak the next morning the captain
with Jacobs and two other mounted men galloped off on their mis
sion. We had gone about twenty miles when the two men who had
accompanied the captain and Jacobs in the morning met us and
advised us of a fine camping place about five miles further on.
We went into camp before dark on the river bank opposite a well-
wooded island. It was evident that there had been recent heavy
rains in the mountains, for the water was very muddy and rising
rapidly. The next morning wc found that the river was out of its
banks and that wc were camped on an island, with water running
five feet deep a few rods south of us where the previous evening
there had been dry ground and a heavy growth of grass. The
river must have risen ten feet during the night and it was still
rising. Wc were somewhat alarmed as a further rise of ten feet
would float us and our possessions off with the flood. But the
waters soon began to fall, and before night the river was in its old
channel. At noon the cajitain and Jacobs rode into camp and we all gathered
around them to hear what news they had from the ferry. They
were both exhausted from their long trip and made us wait until
they had eaten their dinner before telling their story. After they
had rested and feasted on choice sheep and venison steaks, they
related what they had witnessed during the past twenty-four hours.
As I now remember it, the captain said that they arrived at the
ferry about two o'clock in the afternoon and that the river was
then high and rising at the rate of about two feet per hour. The
channel was narrow at the ferrying place and as the volume of
water increased the current became very rapid. A large number
of men and wagons were waiting to be ferried across, at a charge of
five dollars each for wagons and one dollar each for men, while the
women were carried free. The proprietors allowed only two wagons

48 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
and ten men on the boat at each crossing because of the high water,
while the slock had to swim across just below the ferry. As soon
as the cuttle of one truin were well slurled for the opposite shore
with their owners on horseback closely following them, another
train would start its stock into the river. Many people were cross
ing when the captain rode up. One large drove of stock, which the
captain thought consisted of over one hundred head, had nearly
reached the opposite shore, being driven by fourteen men on horse
back, and another large drove was well started in their rear, when for
some reason the first drove suddenly turned around and started
back to the other shore. The fourteen men on horseback were
caught between the two bodies of cattle, each going in opposite
directions, and all were drowned. The wives of two of the men
were on the boat at the time and saw their husbands go down to
their watery graves. As Captain Smith, who was used to the
tragedies of the frontier, related this story the tears streamed down
his face and his voice was broken with sobs. Jacobs who was my
partner and messmate, lold me laler that he thought the cattle
turned back because dogs barked at them as they neared the shore.
He said that after the accident the ferrymen refused to run the boat
until the river had gone down, so that there would be no danger in
crossing. He had stopped at the ferry all night, and said there
were probably five thousand emigrants within five miles waiting to
cross, and that it would take several days before our turn to cross
would come.
The next morning Captain Smith, Jacobs and I walked up the
river to the head of the island and found the water falling very
fast. A large amount of flood wood, much of which was dry pine,
hemlock and spruce timber which had been brought down by the
present freshet was lodged near the head of the island. Jacobs, who
had been a raftsman for two years in the pine woods of Michigan,
thought we could made a raft out of these dry logs and ferry our
selves across the river at this point, but the captain said that the
current was too swift. Jacobs and I argued that there would be
but little current as soon as the freshet had passed and the river had
gone down to its normal depth, and that if the channel was no wider
on the other side of the island than on this side we could easily get
our things across on a raft. The captain remarked that as we had
no boat he didn't see how we were to get onto the island, to which

ACROSS THE PLAINS. 49
Jacobs replied that he could get onto the island all right and that
he would look the situation over from that point. The captain
agreed to let him try it but advised him to wait until the next day
when the river had gone down. When we got back to camp Jacobs
suggested that we get Uncle Billy and our axes and go up the river
and see if we could not get across to the island. We started out
about ten o'clock. Jacobs told us that he was going to cut off a
length of a dry pine log, roll it into the river, and paddle it over to
the island. About noon he launched his solid canoe and started
down the river standing barefooted on the log. The entire crowd
was at the bank to see him off, for we had told them of his venture.
He kept the log at a proper angle to go diagonally with the current
and landed safely on the island. He looked the island over and
returned to camp with the news that we could easily cross the river
there with a raft. When he was returning the ladies who had
travelled in Egypt, said that his log looked like a gondola coming
down the Nile. From that time on he went by the name of " Gon
dola. " It is in such ways, and on such occasions, that men obtain
amusing names which follow them at least until the party breaks
up and often longer. It sometimes became a little embarrassing
for us when strangers came from other camps to visit us, and our
Michigan crowd was introduced by our nicknames of "Uncle Billy,"
"The Doctor," "Gondola" and "Bully."
We listened with much interest to "Gondola's" plan of making a
raft to take the wagons across the river. He said that the channel
on the opposite side of the island was no wider than that on this
side and that there was a good landing place there. He was sure
that we had plenty of rope in camp to safely handle such a raft, and
promised us that if we would all join in and help him he would
land us safely on the north bank of the river within three days.
The party voted unanimously to build the raft and elected Gondola
to boss the job. Taking twenty men with axes he went to a willow
grove a little up stream and, there built a small raft, ten by sixteen
feet in size which he had in the water in less than two hours time.
A coil of inch rope was fastened to each end of the raft; Uncle Billy
was told to yoke up our brindle ox team, and I to bring our riding
pony, and our best block and tackle to the shore. As I was the
youngest and lightest man in the train, Gondola asked me to swim
my pony across the river and carry the rope which was tied to the
5

50 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
horns of the oxen. A large rope was fastened through the ring of the
ox yoke and this was attached to the raft. The tails of the oxen
were tied together to prevent them from turning in the river, and
making back for the shore. Gondola, Uncle Billy and three other
men were to manage the raft, which was hitched about two rods in
the rear of the oxen. Gondola aimed to strike a cove about twenty
rods farther down the bank than the spot from which we started,
and it was my business to see that we reached this cove. The
men on shore were instructed how to manage the rear rope. The
word was given and in less than two minutes we were safely on the
island. We fastened a pulley to a tree, pulled the large rope
through it, and told the men on shore to pull the raft back,
Gondola and Uncle Billy returning with it. Four more trips were
made by the raft during the day, carrying over tents, tools and
provisions for those who were to go to work on the large raft
early the following morning. Grass was good on the island and
the cattle were all driven over that evening without accident.
While the captain and Gondola were at the head of the island se
lecting timbers from the flood wood for the big raft, Uncle Billy and
I started out with our guns to look for deer, with the understanding
that we were not to shoot at anything except large game. The
timber became thicker and larger as we went down the island, which
was in some pluces fully a half mile wide, and we soon separated, he
keeping near the south shore and I near the nortji. I soon dis
covered signs of deer und looking over the top of a knoll saw five
of them, one looking straight at me. I fired and a deer fell. I
dropped down out of sight and reloaded, then slowly and carefully
raised myself and saw the other four deer still standing there, one
of them broadside towards me. I fired at this one, thinking I could
kill him on the spot, but he jumped and ran past me out of sight in
the woods, the other three following him. I cut the throat of the
first deer and then looked for the spot where the second one stood
when I had fired. I found a trail of blood on the leaves and followed
this a few rods into the woods where I found the deer dead. I soon
heard Uncle Billy's gun and started off to reach him. As I came up
I saw him intently looking at an animal which he had just killed,
and he did not seem to notice my approach until I asked him what
he had shot. He said that he thought he had killed a mountain
lion, but after looking it over I told him it looked to me more like a

ACROSS THE PLAINS. 51
lynx or wild cat than a mountain lion. He told me that when he
first saw the animal it was coming towards him on the run, making
about twenty feet at a jump he thought, but that when it saw him it
went up a tree like a flash. He was terribly frightened when he saw
it coming straight for him, for his first thought was that it was one of
the mountain lions that he had read about. He pointed out the
big limb of the tree less than twenty feet from the ground where
the animal sat when he shot it, and said that he stood and
looked at it for at least ten minutes before he could muster
courage to shoot, for he had completely lost his nerve. The animal
sat on the limb looking straight at him with its eyes glaring and its
tail switching back and forth, and he expected every second that it
would spring at him. He finally mustered up his courage, took
aim at the head, and the one shot finished him. He still insisted
that it was a young mountain lion, and when I asked him if he had
ever heard of a lion climbing a tree his reply was that if it wasn't a
lion he would like to know what it was. Wc tied the animal's
legs together, hung it on a pole and started for camp, carrying it
over our shoulders. I took the lead and went to the spot where I
had killed the first deer which I showed to Uncle Billy who seemed
quite surprised as he had not heard the sound of my gun, so excited
was he with his "lion." He was doubly surprised when I showed
him the second deer. When we reached camp with Uncle Billy's
animal the captain gave his opinion that it was a large mountain
wild cat. Four of us went after the two deer which wc dressed and
divided among the members of our company. The lion was hung
up in plain sight of those on the opposite side of the river. Jacobs
and the captain, in looking up raft timber on the island, found the
body of a dead man which undoubtedly was one of those drowned
at the ferry. That afternoon two ladies from the ferry whose
husbands were among those drowned, came across on our raft to
look at the body we had found, arid one of them identified it as that
of her husband. It was getting towards evening, so the ladies from
the ferry stayed that night at our camp as guests of our Southern
party. The next morning Gondola and twenty men were early at work
on the large raft. They first cut six logs twenty-four feet long and
laid them on four green, peeled stringers close to the river's edge;
then cut eight twelve foot logs about six inches in diameter, bored

52 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
them with a two-inch auger, and pinned them crosswise of the six
large logs. This gave a good strong base, which we covered with
small poles and willow brush. By noon wc hud two rafts finished,
one on each side of the island, and were quite ready for the good
dinner of venison and lion meat which awaited us at the camp.
After dinner the captain gave orders for everything to be ready to
be carried across to the island during the afternoon, saying that we
would lay by the next day as it would be Sunday. The raft on the
south side was quickly launched and loaded and at nine o'clock that
night our nine wagons were safely on the island. A large train of
twenty wagons that had camped near us the previous night saw
what we were doing and asked to join with us, but we told them that
this was only an experiment and that if it was successful we would be
glad to sell the outfit to them at a fair price. After our outfit was
safely on the island, they offered us $100 for the use of our raft
to carry their outfit across at once. We told them that we were
going to stay on the island over Sunday, but they could have the
raft on the south side Monday forenoon, and that on the north side
Monday afternoon, and in that way could get over the river by
Monday evening. It was part of the bargain that they were to
turn in and help us.
This purly had a minister with them, and we arranged to have a
joint service Sunday on the island for the burial of the three bodies
that we had found for our men had discovered two other bodies
iu the drift-wood in addition to the one that the captain had
found. That evening we heard that two more dead bodies had
been found further down the river and were to be brought next
morning to the island for burial. Messengers were sent out on
horseback to all the emigrant trains in the vicinity, notifying them
of the services. Sunday was a beautiful day. The raft ran con
tinuously and nearly one thousand people were present at the
services. There were at least fifty ladies present and they gathered
wild flowers to strew on the single grave in which these five men were
buried. There were three ministers to conduct the services,
and that burial service in the wilderness left a deep impression upon
us all.
On Monday morning at eight o'clock we began crossing the north
channel of the river, and at noon our train was safely over. By
nightfall wc were twelve miles further on our journey for our four

ACROSS THE PLAINS. 53
days' stop had given our stock a good rest. Before leaving the island
the parties that had purchased our rafts offered us $50 for our
ropes and pulleys and we accepted their offer, getting that amount
for what had cost us $20 in St. Joseph. The captain thought
we should give the island some appropriate name, one by which
all of our party would remember it hereafter. One of the ladies
suggested calling it "Jacob's Island," in honor of Gondola to whose
persistent efforts we owed our success in crossing the river, and to
this the party unanimously agreed.
During these four days in camp several amusing incidents occurred,
one of which was caused by our having two negro slaves in our
train. Up to this time these slaves had attended their masters
and had not assisted in the work of the general camp but in build
ing the rafts the help of these two healthy slaves was offered and
accepted. One afternoon they went fishing with some of the
white men. These two occurrences caused a good deal of discussion
among the white men as to the proper place for slaves. When
cooking the fish that evening one of the white boys said that he
didn't propose to work with a "nigger" on the raft, while another
replied that these two negroes were good enough to work with him
and were much better helpers than some white men he knew of.
The disputants soon came to blowsand grabbing their sizzling frying-
pans struck each other over the head again and again. Uncle
Billy jumped into the fracas and separated them and told them
that they could never settle the slavery question in that way. He
told them that if he had them iu Michigan he would teach them
not lo fight over trifles in the same way that he had taught his son
Paul, that is, by shutting tliein up in his out-door bake oven when
it was good and hot. After Uncle Billy's lecture the white and
colored boys worked together in harmony.
Our first camp on the north side of the Platte River was made
three miles below the ferry where the fourteen men had lost their
lives six days previous. The two ladies whose husbands were
buried by us at the island were with us by invitation from the
captain and at the ferry we met several members of their train
still searching for bodies. Thus far the bodies of only seven of the
fourteen men had been found, and our captain told off all of us that
could be spared to spread out and look for the remaining bodies.
The doctor said he would drive the team with his one arm if I

54 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
would go with the searching party, and took the whip in his hand
for the first lime in over six hundred miles. Uncle Billy and I
took our guns, for as there was scattering timber and clumps of
willow on the river-banks, we thought that we might get a shot at
some large game before night. We saw several wolves in the early
afternoon but we were not wolf hunting and paid no attention to
them. We kept on along the banks of the river exploring the
flooded places, climbing over drift-wood and wading through the
marshy lowlands looking for the missing bodies. The train was
making faster time than we were, as it was moving in a straight
course while we were following the winding river. As we neared a
sharp bend in the river we saw some moving objects that we took
to be deer or elk along the border of a small piece of timber about a
half mile away. They were coming towards us und evidently hud
no ideu there was danger for the wind was blowing from their direc
tion so that they did not scent us. We watched them from a hiding
place in a small bunch of willows and soon made out that they were
elk and that there were ten of them. When within about eighty
rods of us they stopped and looked back, but finally started on a
trot directly towards us. We agreed that Uncle Billy should aim
ut the louder and that I should try for the next one. As they trotted
into the marshy bayou we fired, immediately dropping into the
bushes and re-loading our rifles. When we rose out of the bushes
there stood the rest of Ihe herd, looking to see what had happened
and we got another good shot before they made off. We found that
we had killed three of the herd and had just started to dress them
when three horsemen rode up who had sighted the herd and had
shot at and wounded the leader. They were members of the party
who were searching for the missing bodies and as their camp was
nearer than ours we offered them half the elk meat if they would
get a wagon to take it to camp. It seemed that they hud ulreudy
sent in for a wagon to take back a body which they had found in
the water near the bayou and when this came up we loaded the fresh
elk meat in on green willow brush with which we filled the bottom.
It was now nearly dark and we were about to make for camp when
we saw a herd of six elk, a short distance away making for the river.
Uncle Billy started along the river bank to head them off but as it
was so late and as we already had a considerable load I did not go
with him. However the temptation of getting another shot was

ACROSS THE PLAINS. 55
too much for my good resolution to kill no more game that day, for
when wc neared a bend in the river where I saw I could get a chance
of a good shot I dropped into the bushes and waited. A moment
later I heard Uncle Billy's rifle ring out and a few minutes after
that took a close shot at the rest of the herd, killing one of the largest
ones. This made us five elk for our afternoon's hunt, as Uncle
Billy's last shot had killed one. It was long after dark when we
arrived at camp with our five dead elk and the body we had found
in the river.
Our train camped that night within a short distance of the party
that had met with such a sad loss of men and we learned that
nearly all of the men drowned were Mormons who were on their
way to Salt Lake. The survivors told us that they had decided to
stay in their present camping place for several days in the hope
of finding the remaining bodies. The next morning wc bade
the Mormon train good-bye, after they had thanked us for the
help wc had given them.

CHAPTER III.
In the Rockies.
Our route lay up the North Platte, until we struck the road lead
ing to the Sweet Water River. The country had become barren,
with little vegetation except an occasional patch of burnt grass
and sage brush, but the roads were excellent and we made good
progress. I remember that one day we passed through a valley
that looked as though it were covered with snow. This valley was
called Soda Lake. In the early spring the basin of the valley was
covered with water but like many other lakes in the region it had
no outlet, and evaporation during the hoi summer months caused
the water to disappear leaving upon the earth a crust of alkali or
soda several inches in thickness. Wo used this soda for our bread,
biscuit and pancakes, and it seemed to answer the purpose as well
as the store soda that we had purchased in St. Joseph and had car
ried with us for eight hundred miles. We passed a large number of
these soda lakes in the southern part of Wyoming and speculated
upon the probable value of the product when the region should
become more accessible.
We reached the Sweet Water River the day after crossing Soda
Lake and found it a narrow, rapid stream, flowing through a valley
hardly a mile wide, which was covered with the finest grass we had
seen for the last three hundred miles. We were now about one
hundred miles east of the South Pass where wc were to cross the
divide of the Rocky Mountains. As we had been driving our
teams for at least eight hundred miles on a gradual up-grade, we
looked forward with anticipation to reaching the summit, for then
we would have the advantage of a down-grade. Near the head of
the valley was Independence Rock, its walls rising almost per
pendicular, for three hundred feet from the surrounding plain.
It was the only great rock in the vicinity, and as it covered an area
of several acres it was a landmark. It had been given its name by
General Fremont who, on his first expedition to the western border
of the continent, raised the Stars and Stripes from its summit on
July 4, 1848, the first flag-raismg in the Rocky Mountains. We
57

58 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
camped near this rock, and examined it with curiosity, finding
thousands of names chiseled upon its face with the dates when the
parlies passed it. A party of Mormons with stone-cutting tools
were located on the spot and did a profitable business in cutting
names in the rock at a charge of from one to five dollars, accord
ing to the location. We were fortunate in having a man with us
who could do the work with a hammer and cold chisel and as the
rock was of sandstone and very easily cut we soon had the satis
faction of having our names on that great roster. Men who passed
there u year later said that the names previously cut in the rock
had nearly ull been erased und new ones cut in their places. So
transient is our fame! We learned that the scheming Mormons
made a nice fortune from the emigrants in a few years by cutting
their names in the rock for a fancy price, and when they had passed
on erasing these names and cutting others in their places.
Less than five miles from this rock the Sweet Water valley came
abruptly to an end. As we toiled up the valley it seemed as if it
were entirely enclosed by solid rock walls three hundred to five hun
dred feet in height, and our eyes were strained to see the spot the
river entered where the trail would lead us out of this enclosure.
As we drew nearer to the bold bluff of solid rock we caught sight
of two openings, one a narrow gorge called the Devil's Gate —
just wide enough to let the tumbling, swirling river through, the
other, to the left and wider than the first, the opening through
which our trail ran. This opening soon broadened into a narrow
valley with a steep up-grade for the first two miles, which led to
a level plateau with a good road and plenty of grass for our stock.
We could see the mountains now only a short distance away, the
lower ranges covered with a thick growth of timber while Pike's
and Long's Peaks towered above the timber line with their summits
covered with snow.
We made our camp in this beautiful plain near a snow-bank
the melting water from which ran into a small creek flowing east
into the Sweet Water River. As we toiled up the valley from the
Sweet Water River more than half of our party went hunting in
the timber that lined the valley, for we had secured no game since
leaving the North Platte River. The Southern members of our
parly with Uncle Billy and his dogs and Gondola hunted along the
timber to the left of the train and brought in two mountain sheep

IN THE ROCKIES. 59
and a brown bear. The other and larger party that I was with
skirted the timber on the right of the trail and killed a black-tailed
deer. Uncle Billy's dogs had been a detriment to our hunting parties
on several previous occasions, but on this trip they were given the
credit of finding the bear. For the past five days we had been eating
bacon that had been smoked and cured in Cincinnati and had been
carried fifteen hundred miles and the fresh meat was a great treat.
As I think of our supper that night and our breakfast next morning,
consisting mainly of fresh mountain sheep, bear and deer, eaten
in that beautiful spot near the summit of the Rocky Mountains,
I think that if the voices of the forty persons in our party could
be heard with mine we would declare unanimously that those
two meals were the most enjoyable that we had eaten since cross
ing the Missouri River. The beauty of the scenery, the rarity of
the atmosphere due to the elevation, the encouraging prospect be
fore us all combined to give a relish for the fresh and tender
wild meat that nothing before had done.
We had still about twenty miles before reaching the highest
point in the South Pass with a gentle grade most of the distance.
Because of the altitude the atmosphere was light and rarified, affect
ing the efforts of both man and beast; the teams were easily tired
and would lie down while hitched to the wagons, ns soon as we
stopped. For this reason the captain gave orders lo make only
ten miles the next day and to camp at a spot where he had camped
two years before.
That evening many stories were told about our camp fire. The
captain told us of some of his hunting experiences in this same
region which were so thrilling that a hunting party was gotten up
at once under his leadership to put in the full day hunting. Early
next morning, as we were ready to start, the captain asked me if I
would take charge of the train while he went on the hunt. This
I agreed to do on condition that they make a day of sport out of
their hunting, dividing the party into two squads, one taking one
side of the trail and the other the other side, with the penalty upon
the squad that secured the least amount of game of cooking supper
and breakfast for the company at the summit of the Rocky Moun
tains. The suggestion met with a cheer and arrangements
were quickly made, Captain Smith and Gondola being selected
as leaders and choosing up sides. The captain instructed me to

60 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
push on at once and to make the agreed camping place by noon
if possible, and at three o'clock lo send out two empty wagons to
gel the game. Both parties were to kill any guine they could find
and the result of the contest was to be decided by a majority vote
of all the persons that stayed with the wagons.
At noon, after an up-hill drive of ten miles, we made camp on
the west side of a snow-bank several feet in height which had been
left from the previous winter. While I had been attending to the
various interests of our train during the forenoon the Doctor, with
his arm still in a sling from the injury received at the Little Blue
River, drove our team of four yoke of oxen handling the whip
with his well arm. At three o'clock in the afternoon, as we had
previously agreed, two of our wagons were unloaded and started
out in opposite directions, one north and the other south, towards
the limber und foot-hills of the mountain runges, to bring in the
game which the twenty hunters had secured during the day. The
teams returned nearly at tho same time, each wagon well loaded
with game, dressed and ready for use. The parties of hunters
marched alongside the wagon with their rifles over their shoulders
and made an imposing and martial procession. Nearly all the
varieties of unimals to bo found near tho summit of the Rocky
Mountains from u rattlesnake to a mountain lion were killed that
day. Captain Smith's parly, hunting near one of the branches of
the Sweet Water River, brought in four mountain sheep, one black-
tailed deer, twenty-five rabbits, one bald-headed eagle, and two
large rattlesnakes. Gondola's party, hunting on the south, secured
a mountain lion, a deer, and twenty rabbits. The bodies of all the
game except the mountain lion were brought to camp while the
lion's skin was presented to the Southern party who were saving
all the furs and valuable hides that were obtained on the journey.
The vote taken on the relative success of the hunting parties
resulted in Captain Smith's party coming out victorious, and Gon
dola's parly had the task of preparing the next two meals, which
they did with much merriment and to the satisfaction of all. Supper
was announced in good time and we all gathered in a circle around
the fire and were served in genuine Southern style by the two
4 colored men.
That supper was a memorable occasion for us. We were all in
good spirits over our success thus fur, delighted with our fine game

IN THE ROCKIES. fll
supper and enthusiastic over the novel and romantic location we
occupied. The stars shone brilliantly above us in the rarified
atmosphere, our eyes took in a depth and outstretch of landscape
which they could not fathom, our memories spanned with interest
the incidents and distances of the route already covered, and our
anticipations sought to grasp the future of our way. This induced
thoughtfulness and reflection, as well as exuberance of spirit and
hopefulness. Our hardships and exposures seemed forgotten or
discounted, and our future prospects rose above par in the market
of our anticipations and hopes. The hour following supper was
an interesting and enjoyable one, each member of the party being
called upon for a five minute speech. I think that there were some
very witty and even brilliant things said that night, but, as no
secretary had been appointed for the occasion, no record of these
speeches was made and they were soon lost in the echoes of the
nearby mountains. But the hour and the speeches served their
best purpose, for they brought us into closer touch and sympathy.
with each other than wc had boon before.
After supper and oratory we came down to plain business again.
Captain Smith told us that wc would find very little game for the
next seventy miles of our way. The hunting parties had that day
secured about a thousand pounds of fresh meat that we could easily
preserve for use during the next ten days, as meat would keep for
weeks in that pure air and altitude if it wore merely cut into narrow
strips and hung to Ihe loops of our wagon covers. The captain
also told us that our next camping place would be near the junc
tion of two roads, one through Salt Lake City, crossing the Green
River at Fort Bridges, and passing through Emigration Canyon;
the other taking the most direct route which the country would
permit for the northern end of the Great Salt Lake. The latter
route would take us over a very rough country that had been travelled
only two years, but through beautiful scenery as the road passed
the hot springs on the Bear River and went through the valley of
the White Pyramid Rocks. The captain himself preferred the
latter route both because he had been over it and knew all the
camping places and also because it would save us one hundred
miles of travel, but left to the members of the party by a majority
vote the decision as to which route should be taken. By common
consent the determination of this question was left until the next day.

62 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
When the sun rose the next morning not a cloud was to be seen.
Peaks one hundred miles away were as distinct in that pure moun
tain air as if but a few miles off. As we started on everyone re
mained with the train and all were deeply interested in watching
for the spot where the waters would be found running westward
to the Pacific Ocean. The road was good and we could no longer
discern with our eyes that we were any longer on an up-grade, but
the water from melting snow in the ravines still ran in an easterly
direction. Before noon we came to a small mound of rocks piled
around the base of an iron post to mark the exact dividing line, and
soon uflerwurd discovered the water from molting snow-banks
running westward. Five miles further on we caino to Pacific Springs,
where wo found an abundance of tho purest mountain spring water.
Here we turned the stock out to food on the short grass und to
rest while wo took our lunch. We concluded to go ten miles further
before camping for the night. The vote was then taken on the choice
of route, resulting in a decision to follow the shorter, but rougher
and newer, road by way of the Bear River and White Pyramid
Rocks. The only ones who wanted to go by way of Salt Lake City
were our Southern people, and their reason was that they were
curious to see Brigham Young and his multitude of wives.
During the next five miles that afternoon we passed the point
where the road to Salt Lake City branched off. In beginning the
descent of the mountain, a marked change came over our animals.
Since leaving the North Platte River we had been obliged to use
a great deal of persuasion, expressed in the forms of oxgads, to keep
our oxen on the move. Now they kept their drivers on a sprint to
keep up with them. Two men were sent ahead of the train on
horseback to look up a good camping place for the night. It was
getting late in the afternoon when they returned and met us, with
the news that wo could find one of the bosl of camping places by
going off' from tho road about a mile to tho north. We followed
their advice and found it indeed an excellent place. As we had
made a thirty-mile drive that day the captain said that we would
only attempt to make fifteen miles the next day, and would camp
on the Big Sandy River the next night. We all rolled in early that
night with the exception of the four guards, for we were very tired.
It happened that I was one of the relief guard that went on duty at
two o'clock, and I do not remember ever having a harder time getting

IN THE ROCKIES. 63
awake than I did that night. The only thing that helped me keep
awake on guard was the howling of a pack of wolves not far off.
The next morning while driving the stock into camp a deer followed
by a dozen wolves ran past us within easy gunshot but it all happened
so quickly that none of us had a chance to get a shot at him. The
deer's bold strategy probably saved his life, for the wolves turned
back as soon as they saw us. Wolves were so plenty in this belt
of country that elk, deer and sheep were very scarce.
At nine o'clock we were on the move, and before nightfall had
crossed the Big Sandy River, after a hard drive over pulverized
sandstone rock three or four inches deep. We were now penetrating
a country where nearly all the streams disappeared in the loose
sand or emptied into some lake that had no outlet. In fact we
crossed but one river that finally reached the ocean in the seven
hundred miles after we left the summit. The Big Sandy was a
sample of such rivers. It had a broad channel, which was evidently
all used during the spring freshets, but on this day there was not
a drop of water to be seen. A few miles above us there was water
fresh from the melting of perpetual snows running in its channel;
ten miles below us. where the river entered the mountains again,
the water came once more to the surface and formed a considerable
stream which finally emptied into the Green River.
After crossing the dry channel of the river we went up the
west bank a few miles until we found water in the channel and good
grass on the banks. Captain Smith told us that the next two days
would be hard ones for our oxen and horses, as the road was rough,
and as there would be practically no grass for them to pick. At
his suggestion we employed the early evening in cutting the lux
uriant grass on the river-bank with our scythes and packing it into
sacks and blankets to be carried along for the use of our stock. We
packed this grass in every empty place in the wagons and even
tied bundles of it on the sides and on top of the covers, until some
of the wagons looked almost like travelling hay-mows. We made
an early start the next morning and as the weather proved cool
and favorable, covered thirty miles before we made camp that
night. Twenty miles of this distance was through country covered
with sandstone rocks, which protruded above the ground in every
conceivable shape, and which made the roads very difficult to
travel. In places our heaviest wagons would sink six inches into

64 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
the sand rock. The sides of the roads were so lined with boulders
that there was no possibility of turning out to make a new track
so our wagons hud to follow in the deep ruts ulroady cut into the
sandstone rock.
We all wondered that a road had ever been made through such a
country and soon learned that the only reason for it was that the
emigration passing through the country in 1849 was so great as
to demand another and shorter route to the coast than the one
via Salt Lake City. In the year just mentioned several large trans
portation companies were organized which made a business of carry
ing passengers to California for a certain price per person, including
board and lodging. They carried first, second and third class
passengers. The first class travelled with horse teams hitched to
light spring wagons paying two hundred dollars apiece and cover
ing the journey from tho Missouri River in sixty days; the second
class passengers travelled in wagons drawn by mule teams, at a
cost of one hundred fifty dollars, it taking them eighty days to
make the trip; the third class travelled with ox teams, paying one
hundred dollars for the trip, which took them one hundred days.
The first year's experience of these companies proved that grain-fed
American horses were a failure for this purpose and route, and that
mule teams were little better; only the ox teams could live and
successfully endure the trip, for with proper care they would thrive
on the native grasses along the way, while the horses and mules
could not do so. It was these transportation companies that cut
this road through the rough sandstone country for the purpose of
saving one hundred miles in the trip to California.
Our camp was made right on the trail that night for we were
hemmed in by rocks. We threw down the grass which we had
cut the previous day and our stock spent the night beside the
wagons doing away with the necessity for a double guard. We
had no water for the stock and only that which we had carried
during the previous day for ourselves, so we made an early start
the next morning in order to reach water and grass on the Green
River which was ten miles away. The sun rose bright and clear
on this, our Uncle Sam's Birthday, July 4, 1852, and we celebrated
right merrily by starting down the steep descent into the valley
of the Green River. It was a beautiful and inspiring view from our
elevation. The delightful valley, broad, green and picturesque

IN THE ROCKIES. 65
in the glow of the early morning sun, looked as if it might well
have been selected as a quiet and happy Eden for the home of a
primitive race. It spread out for ten miles in front of us to the
river itself and then ten miles beyond the river to another range of
mountains which we must pass in order to reach the Bear River
valley beyond. The most dangerous part of the descent came soon
after our start. There had originally been a bluff fifty feet in height
here and when the road was first put through all wagons were
let down over it by ropes and tackles. When the Mormons got
possession of the road and the ferry on Green River, they charged
ten dollars a wagon for lowering them over the cliff and taking them
across the river on the ferry. This was little less than robbery and
the emigrants, in 1851, decided to cut a road down the soft sandstone
bluff and save the charge. This was done and the Mormons lost
a large source of income; they still kept the road in good repair,
and published and sent a guide-book through the country explain
ing the advantages of this route in order to get good returns from
their investment at the ferry. At this steep road down the bluff
we found two men connected with the ferry, who gave us instructions
and aid in making the dangerous descent. The captain told me to
go ahead and take my wagon down first, giving me directions as to
how to do it. Three of the four span were unhitched and driven
down the road to the foot of the bluff; the remaining and best
span was left attached to the wagon to take it down while the speed
was regulated by a heavy two-inch rope attached to the rear axle
and running over the drum of a windlass. With this arrange
ment the descent which had looked so hard was made with case and
safety. After leaving the bluff the road wound through a deep sand
stone ravine for about seven utiles and thou emerged in the valley
which was one of the finest and most beautiful 1 have ever looked
upon. We found water for the animals in the ravine through which
we passed, and while we were watering them the captain and Uncle
Billy rode ahead to the ferry to see if there was any chance of our
getting across that day. I was left in charge of the train and was told
that if I did not hear from them to move right on until wc reached
Ihe ferry. We arrived at the fcrry-housc at noon and found
that one of the owners also owned the ferry on the North
Platte. He had been at the North Platte at the time of the drowning

66 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
and recognized Captain Smith as the leader of the train that had
helped to search for the bodies of the unfortunates after the acci
dent. He told us that we might cross ul once und that there would
be no charge for us because of the help we had given to his people
in their trouble. We drove onto the ferry, all the stock except the
ponies swimming the river, and in less than an hour our outfit was
across. The ferrymen and their helpers lived in log-houses on the
west bank of the river and were very insistent upon our coming
to see their homes, seeming anxious to have us see how Mormon
families lived in a country two hundred and fifty miles from their
nearest white neighbors. Of the women whom we met living here,
four were said to be wives of the two owners of the ferry. These
ferrymen wore also stockmen, owning a large number of cattle
which they kept at the south end of the valley, well out of reach
of the [Hissing emigrants. Tho beginning of their herd hud con
sisted of the sick, lume und stray cattle which had been left behind
by passing emigrants und hud been supplemented by others thai
had been run off in the night by thieving men in the Mormon settle
ments and secreted in mountain valleys until the trains from which
they were stolen had ceased their searching for them.
The man who had taken us over on his ferry free of charge went
with us to show us a good camping place which we found within a
half mile of a spot whore about a thousand Snake Indians from
the upper waters of Green River were camped. They were on
their annual visit to the Utah Indians, who wore to meet them in
the valley. The ferryman informed us that the Utahs would prob
ably be in the valley before night, and advised us to stay over the
next day as by so doing we would see the greatest exhibition of
bareback riding we had probably ever witnessed. He said that he and
his partner were well known to the chiefs of both tribes and that
he would be glad to take a crowd of us over and introduce us to
them if we wished to go. All of us, including the ladies, welcomed
the idea and a party of ten was soon ready, of which I was one.
When we got to the Indian camp the ferryman spoke to them in
their own language. The chiefs gathered around him, while he
told them that we were on our way to the setting sun, having
come from where the sun rises, and that wc had called upon
them as friends in passing through their country. The eyes of
every buck and squaw were fastened on the four ladies who were

IN THE ROCKIES. 67
dressed in their brilliant red suits and mounted on fine ponies, and
our guide told us that these Indians had never witnessed such a
sight before. He told them that the ladies were great hunters, and
bad many furs with them which they had taken in the past two
moons. Our captain asked him to invite them to come to our camp
and see the furs which the ladies had taken and tanned on the
trip. The Indians said they would wait until later as they expected
the Utahs before the sun went down, and as every Indian who had
a pony wanted to be on hand to meet them. We bade them good
bye and rode back to our camp after arranging with the ferryman
to bring some of the Snake and Utah chiefs with him to our camp
at five o'clock that afternoon. The ladies busied themselves during
the rest of the afternoon in getting their furs in shape for exhibi
tion, not omitting the bald eagle which they had mounted, nor
the two rattlesnake skins which they had dried and stuffed. They
had stuffed and mounted many other small animals, such as prairie
dogs, rabbits, four or five different kinds of owls, and a large cat
fish. Much of this exhibition was new to even the members of
our train, as the work had been done by the ladies in their own
tent. Promptly at five o'clock the two ferrymen, with two of their
helpers, their ladies and about twenty Indians from the Utah and
Snake tribes rode into camp. The Mormon ferrymen interpreted
for both sides. Our ladies were the center of attraction. They
were dressed iu their bright red suits, and appeared lo be exceed
ingly attractive to the Indians, so much so indeed that they paid
but very little attention to the exhibition of furs and stuffed animals.
They were told how well the white man's squaw could shoot with
a rifle, but, as they were still using bows and arrows this statement
made little impression upon them until the ladies offered to show
them how well they could shoot. The target was set up about ten
rods away and the Mormon explained it to the Indians. Every
time the ladies hit the bull's-eye and rang the bell attached to the
target, the Indians were so pleased that they gave their savage
grunt with such vehemence as to make it a howl sufficient to raise
the hair on a white man's head. They were very much interested
in the target and asked permission to shoot ul it with their bows
and arrows, but had very little success. When the shooting was
over Uncle Billy showed the Indians the skin of the strange animal

68 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
he had killed on the Island of the North Platte, but they and the
ferrymen all said they had never seen anything like it before, and
were not sure what il was.
When we separated that afternoon the Indians invited us to
come to their camp that evening to attend their reception to the
Utahs which would conclude with the Snake Indian dance. They
also invited us to watch their horse races the next day, which the
Mormons said would be the finest thing of its kind in the country.
In view of their invitation our party voted to lay over the next day.
Our ladies were quite pleased with the impression they made on
the "Big Indians" of two prominent tribes, and the chieftains
no doubt felt that if they could capture and retain them, it would
be the highest possible honor and glory they could attain to.
Every one in our train was anxious to witness the Snake tribe
dance that night. Our captain who was cautious and not to be
put off his guard by Indian strategy told us that it would be very
necessary to keep a strong guard out that night, for there were bad
white men as well as Indians in the neighborhood who were on
the watch to take advantage of just such opportunities as this to
steal the stock belonging to emigrants. It was arranged therefore
that one-half of our parly should go to the Indian camp and see
the dance for a period of two hours, while the other hulf stuyed on
guard, and should then return and stand guard while the other
half visited the encampment. All the emigrants in tho valley had
been invited by tho ferrymen to go and see the dance and those who
were still camped on the east side of the river were given free passes
across the ferry so that they could attend. Some twenty ladies
in all were present to see this Snake Dance. The first dance was
performed by eight Indians, four Snakes and four Utahs. The
bodies of the Snakes were nearly naked and were painted iu bright
colors to represent the different kind of snakes which are found iu
that part of the country. As they came into tho large dancing ring
each one of the four Snake Indians held a live snake in his hands.
At the same moment four Utahs entered the ring decorated with
all kinds of different colored feathers, and reciting a form of
Indian chant. A number of other Indians were sealed just out
side the ring, and made their kind of music — which was not ex
tremely melodious— on different kinds of rude instruments, the
dancers keeping time to the music by the movement of their feet

IN THE ROCKIES. 69
and the motions of their bodies. In the movements of the dance
the four Snake Indians exchanged snakes with each other, and at
different times had them coiled around their necks and their arms.
When the dance was over the snakes were liberated and left to
go free. They were believed by the Indians to be sacred and so
close to their deity and so high in his favor, that they were sought
as mediators to bring the wauls of the tribe before the Great Spirit.
The Snake Indians also believe that the original mother of these
serpents was the common ancestor of both snakes and Indians.
This opening dance which lasted a few minutes seemed a solemn
affair, but its mildness soon changed to scenes of amusement and
finally almost fearful excitement. As many as a hundred Snake
squaws came into the ring followed by the same number of Utah
braves; all were painted in brilliant colors in every conceivable
style, each one to suit his own taste and fancy, and their heads
were covered with fanciful decorations of feathers of all shades of
color. Each Indian selected his partner for the dance, and at a
signal given on a rawhide drum all started in at once, and the
public test commenced. At the signal the Indians outside the
circle struck up a peculiar guttural chant, difficult to describe or
imitate, and the dancers tried to keep step with this jumble of
so-called music. This dance continued until the participants be
came exhausted and left the ring. When only one couple remained
on the floor the crowd gave what was intended as a cheer, in the
deep guttural grunt of Indian approval which assured the last
dancer that in their view he had fairly won his prize. The winner
received as his reward the squaw who had finished the dance with
him and was entitled to take her home with him as his own. Through
the Mormon ferrymen, who understood the language of both tribes,
the Indians invited the white people to dance. As we had two
good violin players, and a clarionet player in our party, their invi
tation was accepted. Twelve ladies volunteered to take part in
three sets of a cotillion, a man was selected to call the changes,
the dance commenced and we had our evening Fourth of July
celebration which seemed to please the Indians for they gave us
a grand grunt of approval. After entertaining them with three
styles of white men's dances, we returned to our camp and relieved
our guards, who went over to the Indian camp and remained until
the performance closed for the night.

70 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
The next morning we attended the great horse races. Before
noon about five hundred members of each of the two tribes, mounted
painted and feathered in their gayest styles, gathered at the course.
The first race was on a straightaway about half a mile long. Each
tribe took its position, mounted, on opposite sides of the race
track about six rods apart and at a given signal three Indians from
each tribe at the head of the column swung into line on the race
track and at another signal the race between these six began. At
the end of the course the horses were jumped over two poles fas
tened horizontally about three feet from the ground, turned, and
raced back to tho starting point. The Indians who won took as
their prizes Ihe horses of the throe beaten men. Several such races
took pluco that day, some of them quite exciting, but we soon tired
of the sport although it was u fine exhibition of skill in riding.
Among tho redskins' feuts was to got a while man to lay a nickel
or dime on the ground, when one of them would mount his pony,
start him on a run und leaning over his side, pick up the coin and
recover his scat. As long us tho white boys would advance the
money there were plenty of Indians ready to make the running
dash and pick up the coin with rarely a failure.
During the day reports came to us that large numbers of stock
had been missed from the camps on the east side of the river, and
that no trace of them could be found. There was little doubt in
our minds that they were stolen on the previous evening when the
emigrants were enjoying the festivities of the Indians, and that they
had now been driven into hiding places in the mountains where it
would be both difficult and dangerous for the emigrants to follow
the trail of the robbers. Our captain knew very well at the time
that both the Mormons and the chieftains of the Indian tribes
knew where tho stolen cattle were. No doubt all were in the plot,
expecting lo share iu the plunder, and would huvo fought to re
tain their booty if the emigrants had united in a determined effort
to regain it. But the emigrants were helpless. They had readily
fallen into the trap, and now must bear the penalty. From our
camp we could see no opening in the high rocky wall that sur
rounded us; we seemed to have been caught in a complete cul-
de-sac — bagged, us more ncurly expressed il — where a few hundred
Indians could huvo held and captured a strong force. Our captain
alone of our train knew where the trail out of tho canon was.

IN THE ROCKIES. 71
There was nothing for the pillaged emigrants to do but to take
their medicine.
Many of the Indians came over to our camp on the evening of
the fifth and we tried to entertain them by having our colored men
sing plantation songs with banjo accompaniment and give planta
tion dances, but our attempt was a failure. The Indians gave no
manifestation whatever of the least interest in the efforts of the
negroes. The ferrymen told us that very few of the Indians had
ever seen a negro, and that they all looked upon them as an in
ferior race and beneath their notice. When they bade us good
bye that evening they neither spoke to nor took any notice what
ever of the colored men. I learned later from association with
other Indians that all American Indian tribes in their primitive
condition possess this same prejudice, and that the negroes rarely
overcome it and gain their friendship.
Our two days experience in the Green River Valley made a deep
impression upon inc. I saw here the clashing extremes of civilization.
There were two tribes of savage Indians still bound by their primi
tive habits and instincts; and there was the group of men and women
of the white race called Mormons, who claimed to be civilized,
educated and highly religious, professing to have received a new
revelation for the guidance of their lives and conduct in an age
when civilization demanded more from the individual than ever
before. I saw these two extremes, the savage Indian and the civi
lized white man meeting and indulging in the same practise of
polygamy, the Indian determining the number of his wives by the
number of horses he owned, and the Mormon determining his by
the size of his bank account. Then there were the members of
our own train consisting of the refined, college educated and world
travelled ladies and gentlemen from the south, and the rest of us
plain, rough and hardy pioneers with little education, yet honest
and true men, loyal, each one of us to the standards of American
civilization. Here we were, this human conglomeration of college
bred and savage, of honest pioneersmen and hypocritical Mormons
walled up in a natural garden, surrounded by cliffs towering hun
dreds of feet high that seemed to shut us off from the rest of the
world. I could not but wonder what type would have predominated,
had we at that time been the only representatives of the human race.
Surely not the Mormon for by his standard, the lowest, most primi-

72 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
tive and savage, was also the highest, noblest and best. There is
no possibility of evading this logic. The Indian did not degrade
a higher civilization by becoming what he was, for his faults and
habits were the product of his place in civilization and not the
fruit of retrogression from a higher stage; while the Mormon owed
his low condition to his voluntary betrayal of all that was best
in the civilization to which he once belonged, for he had prostituted
his training, education and morality, and thereby placed himself
on a plane beneath the savage. For honesty, purity, truthfulness,
trustworthiness and honor, as between the two, Indian and Mormon,
give us the Indian by all odds. While he acts out his nature, he
acts it for himself alone knowing no better; but the Mormon know
ingly descends to his degeneration, and without excuse or reason
adds to his crime by deceiving, dragging down and degrading others
lo his own low level.
The time had now come to leave this interesting valley, with its
beautiful stream of pure fresh mountain water, the only one wo
were to cross from ihe Rocky Mountains lo Ihe Novudas, a dis
tance of eight hundred miles, all the other rivers and streams sink
ing and disappearing in the salt lakes and deserts of Nevada. The
Green River heads two hundred miles north of the valley we were
camping in, flows through eastern Utah, then into the Colorado
River and Gulf of Mexico, and is one of the most picturesque rivers
of the continent. We started on our way early on the morning of
July 6. After rounding * rocky bluff we began to climb the hills
again by a road similar in character to that by which we entered
the valley. The up grade was very steep and we made slow prog
ress winding through crooked and rough ravines for six or seven
miles until we reached a spot where we could look down over the
entire valley, and with our field glasses see the Indians repeating
their sports of the previous day. The view was so beautiful that
we halted to give our teums an hour's rest and a light feed, while
we feasted our eyes on the loveliness of the scene. Seeing it now
from the West, as we had earlier from the East, added to and
enhanced its charm and we fell that the dullest intellect could not
but be aroused to the deep consciousness that this was none less
than the creative handiwork of God, a material and permanent
expression of his supremo beneficence and goodness.
Wc were soon on the move again, reluctant to take the lust

IN THE ROCKIES. 73
backward look. The roads were heavy but ns our oxen had been
well fed and rested for the past two days they made good progress
and at sunset wc had passed the summit between the two rivers
and were over twenty miles from our camp on the Green River.
We made a dry earop that night and fed our stock on the grass
which we had cut in the valley before we left. No hunting parties
were out that day, and no game larger than a rabbit had been seen.
Our fresh meat had been used up, and wc wen- again living on our
Cincinnati smoked bacon. As the stock were all kept in camp that
night, we had out only half the usual guard. We fed out all our
grass in the morning and made an early start for it was fifteen miles
to the nearest grass and water. We made this distance before noon
and after a two hours' rest started on a down grade over a good
level road to the valley of Bear River. We camped on the banks of
a small mountain stream with the- best of grass near the cam]).
Wolves were plenty and very bold, a huge pack of Ihcm attacking
our stock that night and injuring a cow so badly that we had to
kill her iu the morning. They were so hungry and ferocious that
they did not leave until the guards had killed two of their number.
Trouble that we were not looking for developed that night.
The two days' drive over the sandstone rocks had made several
of our ox-teams foot-sore and in the morning we found one of the
best oxen we had on our Michigan team hobbling around on three
legs, with the other one badly swollen. At first wc thought that he
might have been bitten by a rattlesnake, but on examination we
found that a large sized gravel stone had worked in between his
hoofs. Another wagon had two oxen in a similar condition. We
could not go on with the oxen in this shape and we had to choose
between delaying and doctoring them up, turning them out and
leaving them to the wolves, or killing them and taking their flesh
with us for food. The captain advised us to lay over where we
were for two days and doctor the lame cattle, while the rest of
our train drove on twenty miles further to Thomas' Fork on Bear
River and a better camping place, where they could wait for us.
We took his advice and stayed at our camp, faithfully applying all
the remedies we had to our sick oxen. We could not save the one
on our team so on the second day we killed and dressed it. The
two oxen belonging to the other wagon recovered from their lame
ness by the second day.

74 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
During this stop Uncle Billy and I put in our time hunting in
the mountains, while the doctor and Gondola were trying to heal
the ox's fool. The first day we killed un elk and several rabbits
and saw a number of wolves and bears. While we were returning
to camp that night we came across an ox and a cow that had no
doubt been left behind by some train or had strayed away and
could not be found. Our ponies were loaded with our game and
we were five miles from camp; but Uncle Billy thought we had
better drive the ox and cow along with us for if no one claimed
thein wc might use them to fill the places lefl by our own cripples.
The second day wo hunted along the banks of Bear River. We
saw several oik but could not get near them and so returned to
camp curly concluding to hitch up our teams and drive ten miles
that night. We hitched up the ox we had found and driven in the
day before, and ho made our team as good as ever. We expected
however, to be called upon to give him up at any time, for during
the trip wo had found stock several times but the owner had always
appeared to claim it. Once on the Platte River a fine pony,
saddled and bridled came into our camp early one morning and
we rode him over two hundred miles before his owner appeared
to claim him. Up to this time we had lost no stock, our good
fortune being duo to the fuel that our captain was continually on
his guard and would allow no curclcssuess on the part of the men.
The nexL morning at eight o'clock our train was all together
again. As Captuiu Smith hud not expected us until evening he
with fifteen others had gone on a hunt up the Thomas River. Our
party of southern people had been out the day before and had
brought back an elk and two deer. This day they had gone out
for bear. When they left they had said they wished that Uncle
Billy and his two dogs were with them, and when Uncle Billy heard
this ho started out at once to have a hand in the bear hunt. Gondola,
the Doctor, and I divided tho beef we had killed the day before
and spent the rest of the day fishing near the camp with good suc
cess. From our encampment wc would see clouds of steam from
what was called Steamboat Springs which were nearly twenty
miles away. When the party of bear hunters came in towards
night, they had to their credit four mountain bear. They had seen
several elk and deer during the day but they did not try to shoot
them as they had agreed to shoot nothing but bear. Uncle Billy

IN THE ROCKIES. 75
and his dogs were responsible for the day's success. The result was
a great surprise to the captain as he had found no game in the
valley two years previous. The bear meat was taken care of, and
we judged there was enough to last us until we reached the Great
Salt Lake, if it kept well.
We had a good night's rest and were on the road for Steamboat
Springs at sunrise. As we neared the springs we could easily dis
tinguish one large cone shaped mound that every few moments
would send large volumes of steam spouting up from its center,
the vapor drifting away like a transparent cloud on the clear blue
sky. On approaching still nearer we saw a great white mound
surrounded by hundreds of smaller ones, all composed of the alkali
or soda which occurs so abundantly in this vicinity. At times
the entire underground system would seem to be put in operation,
and the whole group of mounds that looked like old fashioned
beehives would set to gajjing, spouting and belching out steam and
hot water in a fierce bubbling competition. Our road jiasscd so
near them that we could feel the sjiray from the hot water falling
on us. The largest mound covered several acres and could not be
approached ' on account of the extreme heat of the ground around
it and the hot water and spray which spouted forth and fell to the
ground from the cone. The center of the mound seemed like an
immense boiling caldron sending forth tremendous blasts of hot
water and steam ns often ns every thirty minutes. Wc were in sight
of these interesting springs for two days.
We went into camp that night near the great North bend of
the Bear River and here the river was deep and wide enough to be
navigated by a large sized steamboat. In looking down the river, a
clear stretch of a few miles to the southwest, the valley seemed to
be walled in by an unbroken cliff of white rocks. Some of our party,
including the ladies, rode the next morning to the point where
the river entered the rocky gorge, and said that it was a great sight
to look down on the rushing, foaming torrent which struggled as
if enraged at the sudden opposition and limitation forced upon
it by the rocks, presenting a great contrast to the quiet calm of the
waters just opposite our camp. About noon on July 13th we left
the valley of the Bear River and made for a small valley about ten
miles distant. Shortly after leaving Bear River valley we came to

76 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER
a series of unique and beautiful natural wonders called the "White
Pyramids." These were sandstone rocks as white as the purest
snow rising in the shape of regular cones and varying in height from
one foot to one hundred feet. We passed through this singular and
beautiful formation for a distance of about three miles. That even
ing we reached an excellent camping ground in a narrow valley
where there was an abundance of good grass for the cattle and pure
mountain water, for both man and beast.
Our camp was visited that evening by a number of Flathead
Indians who, with their families, were on their way to the camp of
unolhor tribe iu tho Hear River vulley. They were all well mounted
on fine mountain ponies. This tribe is not numerically strong,
and its members arc very friendly with oilier tribes und with emi-
grunls who puss through their country. They wore the first Indians
we hud mot who were nol prepared for u fight on short notice. They
were not decorated in the hideous war paints of the usual Indian
tribe, nor did they dangle any display of scalps to prove their
valor. Instead they claimed to be a tribe of peacemukers, visit
ing neighboring tribes in the interests of peace by the special direc
tion of the Great Spirit. We found that some of them could speak
English sufficiently to understand us, and they took much pleasure
in showing us their squaws, pappooses, and ponies. The Flatheads
cremate their dead, and some of us witnessed that evening the burn
ing of the remains of a small child. After the burning of the body the
ashes were gathered up mixed with pitch and plastered on the face
and body of the child's mother as a token of remembrance and
a sign of mourning.
The ladies of our train who had been at first anxious to go by
way of Salt Lake City, were now delighted to think that they
had come by this route, and two of them who had travelled abroad
declared thul iu ull their travels Ihey hud never witnessed such
beautiful und splendid scenery us Ihey hud seen on this duy. We
were now about one hundred miles from the north end of Great
Salt Lake, which we were anxious to reach as soon as possible.
Our captain informed us that the first fifty miles would be over a
rough country with but little pasture for our slock. Wc were
three full days in making that fifty miles. Our southern hunters
und Uncle Billy were out in the hills und small side valleys all this

IN THE ROCKIES. 77
time looking for large game. In the three days they brought, in
five black-tail or mule deer and a large number of jack-rabbits.
Our captain told us that there would be no large game after we
left the Bear River Mountains until we reached the Nevada Moun
tains, a distance of six hundred miles or more, and that it would
be well to get what fresh meat we could.

CHAPTER IV.
Across the Desert.
When wc reached a point where we could see the Great Salt Lake
and its surrounding valley we were greatly cheered, not only because
we were near one of the great landmarks of our journey, but also
because we were sure of having good roads for the next four hundred
miles. During the next three days we crossed several small streams
of pure mountain water, along which the grass was good, but a
short distance away from them there would be no vegetation
except sage brush and no animal life but an occasional rabbit and
a species of sage hen about the size of a prairie chicken. These
sage hens would fly up out of the brush along our path, and such of
our hunters as had shotguns were kept busy trying to shoot them.
This was good sport, for they were the same color as the sage brush
and could not be seen on the ground so they had to be taken on the
wing. The main road led several miles north of the lake in order
to keep on firm ground, but as our party was determined to strike
the lake at. some point and go into enmp for one day in order to sec
the sights, we took a road that branched off from the main
road and camped on a stream of fresh water two miles from
where it emptied into the Salt Lake. Some of our parly who
were out riding visited the lake that afternoon and found a good
bathing place with hard banks and bottom. Uncle Billy was
the first one of our party to take a swim, and told us that evening
that the only trouble he had was to keep out of the way of
the large flakes of salt which were floating on the surface of the
water. He said that he felt as if he had enough salt sticking to him
to supply our train for the balance of the way to California, and that
he must have a fresh water bath before he went to bed or else he
feared he would experience the fate of Lot's wife before morning.
Uncle Billy's experience so interested the rest of us that we all
determined to go to the lake early the next morning and try the
bathing. The captain said that at least two men must remain to
guard the train while the rest went to the lake, and Uncle Billy and
I were the two who were chosen. We put in our time washing our
79

80 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
clothing. I had done the doctor's washing ever since his arm was
injured, and as he was still conveniently carrying it in a sling it
became my duly lo do il again. There had boon no general regular
wash day since we left Green River and orders had been given for
all to clean up before starting next day. The water we used was
quite soft, and with the free use of soap our washing looked very
respectable when hung out on the lines which were stretched from
one wagon to another. The party returned from the lake before
noon and while they cleaned up, Uncle Billy and I took our turn at
bathing. As there was no wind the sensation was a jileasant one
although wo had to wade sonic distance before reaching water of uny
depth. As soon us wo reached a depth of four or five feet our bodies
would begiu to lloat, in fact we could not uvoid floating, for it was
impossible to keep the whole of the body under water at one time.
If you got your head under water you could not keep your logs from
coming up above tho surface.
After our day's rest at the Great Salt Lake wo felt very refreshed,
und quite reudy to start on the next slago of our journey, the objec
tive of which was the Humboldt River Valley, a distance of one
hundred miles on our way towards the setting sun. On July 23rd
we made twenty miles through a sage brush country, and camped
in the foot hills of the Humboldt Mountains. During this day not
a living thing of uny kind iu the way of game was seen, if we except
un occasional gaunt looking rabbit which jumped from one bunch
of sage brush to another to keep out of our way. We found fresh
water, but very little pasture for our stock. On the morning of the
24th we were on the move before sunrise, and after driving ten miles
found good grazing and went into camp for the remainder of the
day. On the 25th wc had to make twenty-five miles before we
found a good camping place, which was near tho beginning of the
descent into Hie upper valley of the Humboldt River. The country
wus the poorest wo had travelled over und we did not sec un unimul
or bird of any kind during tho day's drive of twenty-five miles. The
grass was very short and burned by the scorching rays of the sun.
That night we had to double our guards as the stock was restless
and constantly roaming about in search of bettor feed. On the
morning of the 2Clh the captain and three others started in advance
of the train to look for a camping place where our stock could find
sufficient grass, even if we hud to drive off from the main road to

ACROSS THE DESERT. 81
reach it. Wc were now on a down grade. The day was one of the
hottest wc had experienced and not a breath of wind was moving.
After driving fifteen miles we met the captain who told us that by
driving down a small valley about three miles distant we could find
good grass and water. But our stock were now exhausted and
could go no further, so we halted until sunset and then hitched up
and made the three miles to the place which had been selected. The
next morning the sun shone so bright and hot that it was decided
best, on account of the extreme heat, to remain in camp for the day.
Many of our men became uneasy and dissatisfied at this delay and
for the first time on the journey fault was found with the captain
and he was criticized for holding the train over for a whole day
when we had so short a time left us for reaching our destination.
Three of the wagons were so disaffected as to hitch up and leave us
but when they finally got out on the trail and the sun became hotter
and hotter they saw their folly, and turned back to camp. This
rest proved the best thing that wc could have done for we learned
afterwards that trains which moved on those two extremely hot
days lost considerable stock by the excessive heat.
By the 29th the hot wave had passed on and as our road was now
on a down grade wc made good progress. Our two days' rest,
combined with the cool breezes that came from the mountains to
the north put new life, vigor and cheer into man and boast. In those
narrow valleys through which wc were now passing we often came
upon both hot and cold water springs at the same place. At one
camping place we found at least twenty deep natural wells of pure
cold water walled in by rocks of volcanic origin. In Thousand
Springs Valley which wc crossed wc found numberless springs of hot
and cold water which were so near each other in some places that if
a person would lie at full length on the ground he might bathe his
feet in a spring of hot water and at the same time bathe his hands
and face in another spring of cold water. The pasturage was good
in all these small valleys, and camping places were easily found but
most of the streams disappeared in the sand after reaching the end
of the valley. There was no timber of any size in the region. Our
parly agreed that this section of country was absolutely worthless
and the history of the fifty years since that day has confirmed our
judgment in this respect.
A description of the features and character of this section of the
7

82 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
country and the incidents and details connected with one day's
travel through il with an ox team is sufficient for the four hundred
miles of travel from the upper waters of the Humboldt River down
its valley to Humboldt Lake, for the scenery showed little variety.
The river was important owing to the fact that its valley furnished
the only east and west route by which emigrants could reach Cali
fornia. It was the largest river in Nevada, its valley extending
three hundred miles although it was only about two miles in width.
The Little Humboldt and the Reese Rivor wore its main tributaries
bringing down a huge volume of water during the spring but in
the summer drying up in the sands of the desert before reaching the
Humboldt River channel.
After making about twenty miles on this day — the 29th — we
went into camp at a spot offering plenty of good food and wuter.
No lurgo game had been seen during the day although Uncle Billy
said that he had found door tracks along the bank of the little brook
on which we were camped. This statement was sufficient assurance
that he intended to hunt deer the next day. A few Digger Indians
came to our camp that evening armed with very inferior bows and
arrows. They were the most degraded lot of Indians we had met
with on our travels. Hunting parties started out on both flanks of
our train curly the next morning, eager for the chase after several
days abstinence from its excitement. Uncle Billy and his party
on the south side of the road saw no large game, but the party on the
north side got two small doer which were a great addition to our
store of fresh food. The following day was the last day of July,
the date which we had set for reaching the Humboldt Valley, but
in spite of the long drive that was before us in order to keep up to
schedule Uncle Billy started out with his dogs in the morning deter
mined to make up for his poor luck of the previous day. Soon
after leaving camp his dogs started a door which crossed tho road
just ahead of the train. Two of the ladies had mounted their ponies
and as the deer crossed the road they galloped after him and brought
him down with their rifles much to Uncle Billy's dismay. This was
all the game that was killed that day, so Uncle Billy's hunt brought
little credit to him.
That evening wc went into camp on the bank of the Humboldt
River. At this point it was only about four rods wide but quite
deep though with little current. The next morning (August first)

ACROSS THE DESERT. 83
wc started down the valley for Humboldt Lake, three hundred and
fifty miles away. At the first camp on the Humboldt the captain
explained to us fully his plan of trying to reach Humboldt Lake the
latter part of August and of resting there a few days to get the stock
into good condition for the sixty mile trip across the desert that lay
west of the lake. We took an inventory of our supplies and foimd
that we would have to live on short rations, if we did not find game
along the way. This scarcity of provisions led us to plan to send out
large hunting parties every day to bring iu any game that could be
found, whether large or small. Our trip thus far had taught us a
valuable sanitary lesson, namely that those who lived on fresh meat
were seldom troubled with sickness. Captain Smith thought that
our party had killed more game than any emigrant train that had
crossed the plains that year, and as he was experienced in the life of
the plains we believed him. Certain it was that wc had had less sick
ness than any train of the size we know of, and wc attributed our
good fortune to nothing except the active mode or living and our
almost daily fare of fresh wild meat.
We made only fourteen miles the first day in the valley and camped
at night near the river, but the mosquitoes and sand flies were very
numerous and rendered our camp anything but enjoyable. A
party of fifty California miners returning lo the States, all mounted
on mustang ponies, came into our camp that evening. They pre
sented a very picturesque appearance, as they were dressed in
Spanish costume, with bright colored leggings and sashes, and broad
brimmed Mexican hats, and well armed with heavy Colt revolvers.
They had started from Sacramento, seven hundred miles west of
us, on the 15th of July. Some of them had been over this same
route one or two years before when on their way lo California.
The evening passed very pleasantly in listening to the experiences
of these miners fresh from the wonderful gold fields. They were
making their trip homeward at the rate of fifty miles a day on their
tough little horses, the best in the world for such a purpose and such
a country. The party planned to go by way of Salt Lake City to obtain
supplies and said thai they expected to reach the Missouri River
in less than (iffy days. They fold us that they had buried that
morning one of their number who had been accidentally shot; but
we learned a few days later that the so-called accident had been a

84 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
fight with pistols in a dispute over a trifling matter. Three days
later we passed the grave of this man who had been so foolishly
sacrificed. It was marked by a large willow slake driven into the
ground to which his Mexican hat was fastened. On the hat was
written his name, the date of his death, and the statement, "Killed
by accident." During this period many such "accidents" occurred.
The next morning Uncle Billy asked me to be one of the day's
hunting party. We crossed the river and made our way to the
foot hills on the other side where we found deer tracks leading down
lo the river bunk. We decided that deer came to the river in the
night to get water and also to rid themselves of the mosquitoes and
flies, and that at daybreak they had gone back into the brush or
timber, and so we rode towards the mountains about five miles to
the northwest. Tho foothills were covered with groves of man-
soncto or small apple trees, the fruit of which is mixed with acorns
from the scrub oaks of the lower ranges and used by the Indians as
their staple food during the winter. We followed along the base of
this range of mountains, crossing two small streams of water that
disappeared from sight before they reached the river and although we
saw several deer, one of which was within rifle range and was wounded
by us, we wore unable to secure any of them as they plunged into a
thick growlh of mansonelo brush where wc could not trace them.
After a long hard ride of thirty miles wo rode into cump without
uny gunie. The other hunting parly which included the ladies
brought in two door and several rabbits, so we had fresh incut for
breakfast tho next morning.
I took up the ox-gad instead of the rifle the next day, giving
Gondola and Billy a chance to go with the hunting party. On
account of the intense heat wo made only ten miles that day. The
hunting party returned to camp early, having obtained no game
worth mentioning. What game there was kept to tho patches of
timber and brush on the mountain side where there was shelter
from the rays of the sun. Our hunting parties met with little
success in this section, and for ten days we lived on short
rations of Cincinnati bacon that we had brought with us a distance
of twelve hundred miles.
On the thirteenth of August we camped at the mouth of the Reese
River, a large stream coming out of the Reese Mountains, and head
ing over two hundred miles south of us. The spot where we camped

ACROSS THE DESERT. 85
was called the mouth of the river although there was no water on
th$ surface of the ground; ten miles south of us it became a fine
mountain stream. Our hunting party that day went several
miles south and secured two deer and upon returning home reported
splendid feed and water in a small valley only five or six miles away.
The prospect of good feed for our oxen was so alluring that We voted
to break camp that evening and move at once to this valley and
to remain there until our slock was rested. It was the first time
since starting that wc had made camp and broken it the same evening.
As there was a full moon we experienced no difficulty in the night
march and our new camp which wc reached about midnight proved
to be one the of best we had found during our trip. AVe delayed
at this spot for two days, resting our cattle for the hard drive which
lay before them and taking advantage of the good hunting to lay in
all the fresh meat wc could carry, thus giving us a change from the
bacon diet which had become rather monotonous.
On the morning of the fifteenth we broke camp bright and early
and with both men and oxen well fed and rested retraced our steps
past our old camping ground, and made twenty-five miles before
going into camp for the night. Our course was now almost due
north around the great bend of the river, which wc passed the next
day and arrived at the point at which the Little Humboldt River,
after flowing two hundred miles from the Humboldt Mountains,
disappeared in the sand. As the roads were good and the weather
cool, wc made another twenty-five miles the next day and on the
three succeeding days totalled sixty-five miles. Our fresh meat was
keeping well, owing to the cool weather, arid so wc sent out no
hunting parties but pushed on as rapidly 'is possible, taking full
advantage of the cool weather and the excellent food which we
found for our stock. When wc went into camp on the evening of the
twenty-fourth, eight days after leaving our camp on the Reese
River, no one had been on a hunt during tl ; time nor had a gun been
fired by anyone of our company. We we 2 now about one hundred
miles from the Humboldt Meadows, wlieh the captain said we
could reach by the evening of the twenty-i inth provided the weather
continued cool. At the meadows wc planned to take another two
days' rest in preparation for the trip across the sixty mile desert
which lay to the westward.
On the morning of the twenty-fifth Uncle Billy headed a hunting

86 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
party to the neighboring mountains, and this party was very suc
cessful, killing two door and a young mountain bear, which furnished
us with fresh meat for tho next two duys. This success so aroused
Uncle Billy's story telling spirit that that evening he entertained us
all with Michigan hunting yarns, one of which I still remember.
This was the story of a neighbor who lived about three miles from
him and who invited him to come to his place one evening in Sep
tember and shoot the deer that were eating his new sown wheat.
He accepted the invitation and told his wife and son Paul that he
would come home in the morning with fresh venison. He shouldered
his gun after dark that night and started for his neighbor's house by
a short cut through the woods. As he neared the house he heard a
rustling iu tho loaves and saw a largo black animul moving slowly
through the brush with its head down, evidently eating acorns
and beechnuts. He hoard the uniniul grunt und concluded it was
a bear and as il was five or six rods off and coming towards him he
slipped behind a tree and waited for it to come nearer. It was too
dark for him to see the sights on his gun, but he felt perfectly cool
and putting three buckshot on top of the ball he leveled his gun at
the animal and fired. The boar gave a grunt and was out of sight
in an instanl. He reloaded his gun and went forward lo where the
bear hud been bill us he could find no signs of il, went on lo the
neighbor's house and told his story. They went back together
taking Iwo dogs with them, and found the bear, which proved to
be his neighbor's only hog which had been feeding on beechnuts in
the woods. Two of the buckshot had proved fatal so he was bled
and dressed on the spot. The next morning Uncle Billy surprised
his wife and boy with fresh pork instead of the venison which he had
promised them. This story was greeted with shouts of laughter and
led inc to repeat a similar incident in my own experience when I
hud killed my mother's only cow, leaving our family of seven children
without milk and buttci .for a period of two years.
We were on the road early the morning of the twenty-fifth with
the determination to rc-ich the great Meadows at the sink of the
river as soon as possible. The roads were good, the weather delight
ful, and as no hunting p >rly went out that day we made a twenty-
five mile drive before cai iping. A large number of Digger Indians
visited us that evening. They were engaged at this season in
gathering their winter supply of food. This consisted of mansoneto

ACROSS THE DESERT. 87
berries and acorns, gathered from the nearby mountains, ground
in stone mortars by the squaws, and the meal obtained from them
mixed with the flesh of frogs and large while grubs which they
secured in the loose black soil along the river. Their way of getting
these oily grubs was to take a sharp pointed stick about three feet
in length which they pressed into the loose soil and whirled around
until the hole became larger than the stick. The worms and grubs
came out of the soil and clung to the stick, and the squaws carrying
woven willow baskets carefully drew out these sticks, scraped the
grubs off into the basket with their hands and replaced the sticks
for another catch. When grasshoppers were plenty, they used
them instead of the grubs, as they could get them very quickly by
driving them into the water, and scooping them out in long pointed
baskets made for the purpose. These grubs or grasshoppers were
mixed with acorns and mansoneto berries and then ground together
and baked into bread, which was stored away in mounds along the
river bank. During the winter months the tribe moved from one
storehouse to another as the supply of food dwindled. The Digger
Indians never use ponies or horses for any purpose.
The doctor offered to drive the team on the morning of the
twenty-seventh, and, as the roads were good and his arm nearly well
we thought that it would be safe for him to do so, so Captain Smith,
Uncle Billy and his dogs, Gondola and myself arranged to make up
a hunting party that day, keeping along in the scattering timber of
the foothills. Wc borrowed two of the ladies' horses and taking
our noon lunch and canteens filled with cold coffee made for the
hills. We rode all day through brush and timber, over hills and
through deep ravines and travelled nearly forty miles before reach
ing camp that night, but failed to find any game worth shooting.
We had trouble finding water for our horses, but finally discovered
a little lake of brackish water which was hardly fit for use even by
animals. Ten miles farther back in the mountains we could have
found plenty of game and pure water, but all of the streams that
formed in the mountains soon disappeared after reaching the dry
sandy plains below. Other trains that camped here for a few days
and sent parties into the mountains found plenty of game, as we
heard later. That night wc decided to send out no more hunting
parties until we had crossed the desert and reached the timber
in the Nevada Mountains.

88 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
We were now about forty miles from the Meadows, the objective
point of this stage of our journey. The next morning we were on
the road before sunrise, but by ten o'clock were forced by the ex
treme heat to go into camp. At five o'clock that afternoon we
broke camp and after a ten miles' drive went into camp about ten
that night, it being understood that we would start out again at
daybreak and after making ten miles would lay by during the middle
of the day. This plan was followed out to the letter and we arrived
at the Meadows lalo in the evening of the twenty ninth of August.
On tho thirtieth we hold a council and decided to abandon four
of our heaviest wagons and load their contents into the other five
wagons. This arrangement would give us seven yoke of oxen to
each wagon on the trip across the desert instead of five yoke as we
hud had previously. We had planned to delay at the Meadows
for Iwo days but the woullicr becoming cooler wo decided to start on
the evening of the first day, and to make the first twenty miles to
the boiling springs that night. A ton of hay was cut and loaded on
one of our five wagons for we know wo would not find any feed for
our stock for the next two days. We bade a final farewell to the
four wagons that had served us so well for the past four months,
and started on our night drive for tho Hot Springs, our next camp
ing place, twenty miles nearer our final destination. We passed
many booths that night, built of cedar and spruce boughs, whore
whisky and water were sold at the same price for a drink. Our
Michigan contingent invested four dollars iu a gallon of water,
agreeing to leave the wooden cask encased in the cloth that held it
at the Truckee River. During the night we passed hundreds of
wagons abandoned by the roadside, and thousands of dead oxen
whose lives had been sacrificed on the desert for greed of gold. Some
of these animals had died three years before, but such was the
influence of tho dry atmosphere that their carcasses remained in
form, instead of docuying. We saw sonic of these carcasses propped
up with gun barrels or with gun barrels thrust in their bodies and
looking like small arsenals or forts, for years before guns and every
thing else that could possibly be dispensed with by the emigrants
were thrown away to lighten their burdens and save their lives.
Hundreds of human lives were lost on this desert in the year 1849.
The night was cool and a gentle breeze was blowing from the
Nevada Mountains to the westward and had it not been for the

ACROSS THE DElERT. 89
deep sand, and the entire absence of cvci ': green and growing thing,
we could hardly have imagined that we were in the middle of a great
desert. At twelve o'clock we halted for thirty minutes to feed our
stock from the bundles of grass tied to the wagons and at five o'clock
on the morning of August thirty-first we went into camp at the
boiling springs. Not a living thing was in sight except emigrants
and their stock. All was dry, bare, dreary desolation. The springs
consisted of clear hot water boiling out from between deep and wide
openings of solid rock, the water running over the rocky basins and
disappearing in the sand. Wagon boxes had been sunk in the
sand, corked tight and the hot water turned into them to cool for
the cattle to drink, but the rays of the sun were so hot that it never
really became cool. During the day we lay in the shade of our
wagons, feeding our stock twice from the wagon load of hay. Not
a spear of hay was left when we were ready to start at evening, so
we used our hayrack for fuel to cook by and left the empty wagon to
keep company with thousands of others abandoned near the Hot
Springs of Nevada.
At sunset we were on our way again. Our captain told us that
the sand would now be much deeper than during the past twenty
miles and said that wc should be very thankful if wc reached the
Truckee River by noon of September first. ISofore starting we
invested in another supply of mountain water, paying two dollars a
gallon for it. Two booth saloons were selling whisky at twenty-
five cents a drink and pure Truckee River water for one bit a glass,
a drop in the price of water of 50 per cent, from prices of the day be
fore. As we neared the mountains that night the air became fresher
and cooler, but the sand grew deeper and deeper. When daylight
came we had passed the highest point of the desert and could see the
timber which skirted the banks of the Truckee River ten miles
away. Our wagon wheels rolled in sand from six to eight inches
deep, but our oxen now took on new life for they seemed instinc
tively to know that they would soon reach good food and water.
The head of each ox and horse was lifted high as it sniffed the cool
and moist mountain air, laden with the scent of fresh water and
grass so that although the sand grew deeper around our wheels our
teams only travelled the faster, and at ten o'clock we were on the
banks of the Truckee River, a gift of pure vatcr without price. We
struck the river within five miles of Pyrnrtid Lake, where it loses

90 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
itself in the sands of the ¦ esert and after watering our stock drove
on down near the lake, wncre we found good feed and made camp.
Some of our parly visited the lake thai evening and caught a nice
string of fish besides killing two doer.
This locality was very interesting for the two great lakes, one at
each end of the river, are indeed most beautiful. Lake Tahoe, six
thousand feet above the level of the sea, is without doubt the most
beautiful body of water to be found in the Nevada Mountains.
Walled in by high mountains on the south and west it opens to let
out the Truckee River, a large stream of pure mountain water,
which rushes through deep canons and gorges with a fall of nearly
two thousand feet in the first twenty miles; it soon widens into a
narrow valley where it slumbers until it reaches Pryamid Lake, a
body of water more than thirty miles long and fourteen wide, walled
in on all sides by solid rock, leaving no outlet. Tho two lakes are
about sixty miles apart. The mother lake which is the smaller of
the two, is located on the eastern lino of Culiforniu and sends
ils pure cold waters down into Ihe greater lake to keep il alive;
there the massive rocky barriers rise up before it and seem to say
imperatively, "Thus far shalt thou go and no farther," thereby
constituting for this arid country one of the most splendid reservoirs
of water ever created.
Tho morning of September second dawned beautifully with a
clour sky radiant with soft golden hues, und soon Ihe rising sun cusl
brilliant glories over the rocky walls of the lake, giving us a sight so
entrancing and magnificent that I believe the members of our train
could not forget it as long as they live. From this point we had
before us more than one hundred miles of up grade travel to reach
the summit of the Nevada Mountains, and of this distance about
forty miles lay up the narrow valley of the Truckee River towards
Lake Tahoe. We started from camp about nine o'clock that morn
ing making a good ten miles' drive and then camping for the night
on the river bank. The mountain slopes on each side of the river
were covered with a fine growth of fir and pine. We planned to
make fifteen miles up the valley the next day and as we now had
only four wagons, more of us were able to join the hunting parties
although the large teams of oxen required two drivers to each wagon.
I was one of tho hunters on that first day and us doer wore plentiful
wo brought in four that night. The following morning the captain

ACROSS THE DESERT. 91
ordered every man to stay with the teams all day, as the river had
to be forded many times in going the fifteen miles and this was not
now an easy matter since the water was high on account of recent
rains in the mountains. We were up early that morning and started
in advance of all the trains camped near us. We forded the river
soon after starting and repeated the experience seventeen times
during the day.
That evening we came to a creek and valley entering the Truckee
Valley from the northwest, which we were to follow until we reached
Beckwith Valley, which in turn would lead us to the summit of the
Nevadas. We camped for the night at the mouth of this creek,
and here met parties from California who offered to buy all our stock
and wagons and to allow those of us who wished to do so to keep on
with the train iinl.il il reached Sacramento. The opportunity being
a good one, we sold out lo them. Some of these men were miners
and had plenty of gold dust with them. One of them told us of
rich mines at Poor Man's Creek and said that wc would pass within
five miles of the diggings. I made up my mind then and there that
I would stop at Poor Man's Creek. It was nearly one hundred and
fifty miles to that point and would take at least fifteen days to
reach it, for travelling over the mountains was very slow. One of the
stock buyers kept with the train in order to pick out camping places
with good grass and to see that we did not drive more than ten
miles per day, this being one of the conditions of the purchase, for
the buyers intended to keep the stock in good condition so that they
could readily dispose of them in California.
Wc made only eight miles on the fifth and camped thai night at
the foot of Beckwith Valley, which was hemmed iu with a heavy
growth of timber. In this eight miles journey we had increased
our altitude by fifteen hundred feet. On the sixth the road was
rough and stony, and we went into camp in the same valley after a
ten mile drive. We were now entering a country where large game
was plentiful. Uncle Billy had seen a grizzly bear and the sight
had worked upon his nerves until he talked of little else. On the
seventh all the good hunters in our train were scouring the
mountains on each side of the road for grizzlies, but not a bear was
seen by us, although we found fresh signs of them and killed two deer.
The next day twenty of our number renewed the quest, but again

92 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
failed to find any grizzlies; because of the thick timber and steep
mountain sides tho hunting all had to bo done on foot.
Thai night wo camped near the first and al ihut time Ihe oidy settler
in Nevada. With his family of wife and nine children this pioneer had
emigrated from Missouri and settled in the valley in 1849. Since then
he had accumulated a fair fortune by picking up worn out stock from
the passing emigrants, caring for them until they were in good condition
and then driving them over the mountains to the California markets.
We mot this interosting character that night and when he heard that
wo wore anxious lo hunt grizzlies ho invited us to camp for a day und
promised thai ho would take us on u grizzly hunt where we could
both see und shoot them. The captain let us decide the question
und wc voted unanimously lo take a day off and try real big gumo
hunting. Our pioneer friend informed us that il was nearly five
miles lo the place where bear could bo found and that this distance
could be traversed only on foot. Ours was the first party having
lady hunters, he said, that had ever camped in that valley and he was
sure that his twenty year old daughter who was the best shot in
the family, would welcome the chance to go hunting grizzlies with
some of her own sex. He told us that it would be necessary to start
by sunrise and since this would require very early rising suggested
thai the ladies spend the night with his wife and daughters at their
homo and Luke breakfast with them. Tho luetics were glad lo accept
the invitation und were seemingly happy of the chance to get u
breakfast Ihut had been cooked within doors. We were up early
the next morning and just as the sun was rising thirty-four persons
from our train, together with the pioneer, his daughter and four of
his sons started to the hunting place. Our guide was made our
captain for the day and it was understood that everyone should
implicitly obey his orders. We found tho way rough and difficult,
but the thought of the sport ahcud made us disregard all obstacles.
The vulloy where wo wore to begin our hunt was finally reached and
our guide and captain after noting tho direction of the wind and the
bear signs stationed us in certain positions which we were to maintain
while he and his sons beat up the game in a cross valley and
drove them past our stations. The hunter and his boys had horns
which they were to blow in case they started a bear. Orders were
given that no one was to leave the spot where he was stationed, and
that no shots were to bo fired except at bear or mountain lions.

ACROSS THE DESERT. 93
Perfect quiet was necessary since the grizz'y bear is always very
suspicious and on the lookout for danger and trouble, ready to run
and hide at any unusual sight or sound. Contrary to general opin
ion the grizzly is extremely timid a characteristic which is
due, doubtless, to the fact that it is the most hunted of any of our
mountain animals. Every hunter of any ambition wants to kill a
grizzly sometime in his life. That was really the matter with us.
What else but this ambition could have induced men who had killed
almost all other kinds of game on the continent to slop a train of
forty men a whole day, while thirty -five of them went out into the
roughest kind of mountain country over five miles of rock and cliffs.
For two hours we lay quiet, scarcely speaking a word, our ears
keyed to catch the first sound that should tell us of the approaching
game. The wait seemed never-ending to us, but at last we heard
the sound of a horn, seemingly not more than a half mile away,
followed quickly by a rifle shot. A herd or five deer passed us on
the trot, but not a shot was fired al them for wc were after bigger
game. A few moments later wc heard a half dozen shots from the
point where the ladies were stationed and in another instant a bear
and two cubs dashed up the ravine directly towards us only to turn
a short distance away and make off down the mountain. Several
of us saw them and fired as they turned, while Uncle Billy and the
captain of our train started down after them, forgetting the orders
of the guide in the excitement of the chase. A few moments later
shots rang out again, and the two cubs runic into night once more
again making towards us. Wc fired as they came into range and
one of them fell dead, but the other escaped down the mountain.
There was no more firing and soon we heard three blasts on our guide's
horn which was a signal for all of us lo come lo them. As wc passed
down the mountain wc cut the throat of the cub which we had killed
and found Captain Smith and Uncle Billy standing proudly over the
body of a big grizzly which they claimed that they had killed. The
guide .and his boys had a large mountain lion which they had
shot and when we reached the ladies we found that they had
killed one large grizzly and wounded another, which had escaped
into the woods. Several of us started in pursuit of the wounded
bear whose trail was easily followed by the drops of blood. We
were convinced that he was mortally wounded and soon came to
him and found him in his death agony. The five shots fired by the

94 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
women had all found their mark. Two struck the wounded bear
and three struck ihe one which was killed on the spot. The wounded
one was said by our leader to be the largest bear thut had been killed
in that vicinity, and the five ladies received the honors of the day.
The large bear killed by Captain Smith and Uncle Billy had been
badly wounded by our leader and his sons earlier in the chase. No
one knew which of us killed the cub We dressed the game in short
order, and soon had it ready to pack. The captain and I, with two
of the boys, went to camp to get teams and wagons to bring back
the game. Wo made the trip easily, met the party with the game
at a previously designated point and by four o'clock in the after
noon were all on our way back to camp. While we had been gone
for Ihe teams the hunters had found the other cub which had been
wounded, and had killed it as well as two deer, so that our bag for
the day's hunt consisted of five grizzly bears, one mountain lion
and two door. The skins of the five bears were given to the ladies,
making a splendid addition to the collection of trophies which they
had secured on the trip.
We were royally entertained that evening by our Missouri host
and his family, who related to us some of their experiences during
the past three years in this wild mountain country. They described
vividly tho terrible winter storms and told us how two years before
they had boon snow bound for nearly half the year, when snow fell
three foot deep in the middle of September and did not go off until
April of tho next year. Only a short distance from this spot a
Missouri wagon train of fifty-two persons was caught in a snow
storm only a month after our visit, so we learned later, and all per
ished. Evidence was discovered to indicate that in their sad and
desperate sufferings they cast lots to decide which one should
be sacrificed for food, in the hope that one or more might live to
toll of their sufferings and fuLe to the world. This party hud been
detained on the road by sickness und death, and only Iwo days before
the storm had camped near tho house of our host who warned
them of their danger in attempting to proceed further. In the
blinding storm they wandered ten miles off from the main road, and
consequently were not found until the snow had disappeared the next
spring. Their camp was only thirty miles from the Missourian
who hud wumed them of their dungor und who had plenty of pro
visions to have kept thorn ull during the winter. He und his boys,

ACROSS THE DESERT. 95
during the early part of the winter, spent many days searching for
them but never found their out of the way camp where all had
perished until the early part of April, 1852, when they discovered
evidence that two of the party were still alive as late as the twentieth
of March.
The stories of early snows made us all mindful that it was now the
eighth of September, and that it would be extremely well for us to
be on the move and over the mountains just as soon as we could, if
wc wished to escape the serious consequences of a possibly early
winter. We were now camped about thirty miles east of the Cali
fornia line, which was the summit of the Nevadas, and at the rate
we were tavelling it would take us three more days to pass into
California, the golden state to reach which we had been on the long
weary road over five months. That night we resolved to spend no
more lime hunting but to push rapidly on to our goal. Wc agreed
that the day's hunt with its excitement and success would never be
forgotten by any of us but thut it would be remembered by all as
a grand wind up of a two thousand mile trip with ox teams and the
best of all the many hunts that we had had. The morning of the
ninth we were on the road early and made fifteen miles to the head
of the valley, where we entered a dense forest of pine, spruce and
hemlock. The next one hundred miles of our way was to be over
the roughest country we had covered on our whole route.
On the tenth pf September wc made another ten miles over this
very heavy road and camped that night five miles from the Cali
fornia border. Our camp was now six thousand feet above the sea,
and after another five miles of up grade, our trail would be down
ward for the remainder of our journey. AU our talk that evening
centered on the cheering fact that we would pass the summit of the
Nevadas the next day. The night was cool and wc secured a good
rest. The grass was thin and scattering and as we let our stock
feed until late in the morning we were slow in starting, but about noon
we could see that we were on the down grade, and felt very happy
at the prospect of soon ending our long journey. We camped that
night on the head waters of a small creek that emptied into Feather
River. All about us stood the heavily wooded mountains. The
sole subject of conversation that evening was the question of where
best to locate for mining. Some had decided to go on down into the
California valleys. The ladies of our party were going to San

96 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
Francisco, but most of the men were anxious to try their hand at
mining for the first thing. They had come for gold and gold they
intended lo got.
Nothing of special interest occured during the next four days.
The roads were very rough, running through unbroken forests of pine
and spruce timber, the trees towering from one hundred to two
hundred feet high. On the seventeenth we came to a place called
Eureka where there was a small saw-mill run by water power. Gold
has been found in quartz rock here and a company hud been formed
to put in u crusher with which to pulverize the rock and extract the
gold,' but the plant was abandoned the following year as the ore was
too poor to pay for working. We camped on this branch of the
Feather River and most of the one hundred young men located at
the mine visited our camp, each one eager to give advice as to the
best place for us to go, which advice was offered. free to ull und
without asking. But, while they were so free with advice as to
what it would bo best for us to do in California to make money, it
struck me from their uppcurunco thut it was doubtful if a single
one of them in tho whole crowd had made enough since coming to
pay his way back to his former home in the states. The one little
saloon in the place seemed to be the groat attraction for them all,
and was probably the depository of most of their earnings.
The next settlement on our route was Onion Vulley, thirty miles
uwuy, and five miles from Onion Vulley wus Poor Man's Creek,
tho place I had selected fifteen days before us the spot whore I would
try my fortune ul gold mining. The roud for Ihe first two miles out
of Eureka lay through one of the worst mountain gorges we had
anywhere found. The grade was steep and very sidling, so that in
some places we had to hold our wagons with ropes to keep them from
turning over. We were a full half day in making the distance of
two miles. We could distinctly see Pilot Peak its top clad in
perpetual snow; and above the timber line toward the foot of the
mountain lay the little village of Onion Valley, the supply station
for the mining camps in that vicinity. We made eight miles more
thut day, and camped lor the night in a small open space where our
cattle could find a little grass. They were so hungry after the day's
hard trip that they trimmed and ate all the green brush around as
high up as they could reach, and we cut down the willow bushes
bordering the brook near us to feed to them. That evening

ACROSS THE DESERT. 97
our talk was largely upon the probability of our meeting again
after the separation that was soon to come. We had learned to
esteem and care deeply for each other during the varied and trying
experiences of the long journey, and the thought of parting was
painful. As I had talked of Poor Man's Creek for the last fifteen
days, all had come to look upon me as the first one who would leave
the train. One of them said, possibly lo discourage me from stop
ping there, "Now, Bully, if you settle down there, you will always
be poor." I replied that as I had been brought up in poverty it
wouldn't make any difference anyway but that I construed the
name of the locality just the other way, and that it was so named
because it was the only place for a poor man to get rich. Most of
the party discouraged me saying that if I stopped up there in the
high mountains. I would soon be snowed in and could do no mining
for six months, for wc had been told the night before that the snow
had been thirty feet deep during the past winter. But I held to
my purpose and said that unless .something unforeseen happened
before reaching Onion Valley I would leave Ihcm there. On the night
of September twentieth we camped within five miles of the village
and several miners from Nelsons and Poor Man's Creek visited our
camp to induce us to locate at the mining camp. They showed us
their buckskin sacks well filled with gold nuggets. Some of them
wore willing lo sell their claims lo us as Ihey were now ready lo return
to their homes iu "The Slates. " I was the only one of our parly who
told them that I was going to do my first mining on Poor Man's
Creek. The man who had bought our Michigan teams and wagons had
agreed to pay us in full at Onion Valley. The next morning I
packed what few clothes I had in my carpet sack, rolled up my two
blankets and was prepared to leave the train as soon as we reached
Onion Valley and received our pay for our teams. Wc made an
early start and reached the village by ten o'clock. I sold my gun to
a man in Onion Valley for five dollars and after receiving my share
from the sale of our teams, pony and cow, found that I was about
sixty dollars richer than when I left home one hundred and sixty
seven days before without counting the knowledge, experience and
pleasure I had gained on the journey. It was the largest sum of
money I had ever possessed. The train halted long enough for our
financial transactions and then all the members pressed up to give
8

98 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
me a shake of the hand and wish me luck. The four young lades
insisted thai, us I was the youngest of the crowd und had been con
sidered by all us the boy of ihe train, Ihey could not part with me
with u mere shake of the hand, but must give me u farewell kiss, and
this I received to tho greal merriment of the other members of the
train although I have no doubt each one wished he might have
filled my boots that day. It is now fifty-one years since I stood and
watched that little train leaving Onion Valley and slowly disappear
ing from my sight, and I have never since met but two of its members.
These were Ed Spears (the Doctor) and William Sherman (Uncle
Billy), both of whom did well in California, returned to their fami
lies in Michigan and lived and died among their old friends, re
spected and esteemed.

CHAPTER V.
Golden California.
Onion Valley was located in a small valley at the base of Pilot
Peak seventy-five miles cast of Murysvillo, Ihe head of steamboat
navigation on the Feather River. It was then the supply station
for the mines on the head waters of Feather River, as at that time
teams could not cover the rough trail lo the mines and all supplies
had to be packed in from Onion Valley on small Mexican mules
or on the backs of men. From Marysville to Onion Valley supplies
were brought by wagons carrying four to six tons. These were
drawn by from eight to sixteen mules which were driven with a
single line by one man who rode the near hind mule. Four and
six horse Concord Stage Coaches ran daily between Marysville
and Onion Valley for the accommodation of passengers who paid
twenty dollars each for the distance of seventy-five miles. All
mining towns on the branches of Feather River for forty miles
north and east depended on Onion Valley for supplies, making it
an important point. The nearest mines were on Poor Man's
Creek, of which il was said that more poor men were here made
rich than in any other surface digging iu California.
At noon on September 21, 1852, 1 shouldered my satchel, blan
kets, frying pan, coffee pot, a week's provisions, pick and shovel,
a total weight of about fifty pounds, and started for Poor Man's
Creek five miles away. With mc wore three other young men
who had just conic in by boat, each of them carrying a similar pack.
The first mile of travel was over a good trail, with no timber, although
the grade was steep. The next four miles was through a dense
forest, with deep ravines and gorges, and alongside rocky canyons,
where the path was so narrow that I had to use my long-handled
shovel to steady myself over dangerous places. I have often heard
it said that the Mexicans could take their pack teams of loaded
mules and broncos over any trail that a man could lake a pack
over, but certain it is that up to this time they had been unable to
get a pack train within three miles of Hopkinsville, the mining village
at the mouth of Poor Man's Creek. Wc passed several men on
09

100 THEODORE EDGAR POUTER.
our way who were constructing a trail for puck trains, which,
however, wus not completed until the following spring on account
of deep snow fulling early so that all supplies for the mines had lo
be brought in on the minors' own bucks. Wc soon reuched a
commanding spot on tho trail from which we could look down the
narrow valley and see tho while tents of the mining village of
Hopkinsville. Wo reached the village before dark und sheltered
ourselves thut night in an abandoned miner's shanty of spruce
boughs. That evening we looked for the first time upon the night
scenes and excitements of a real mining camp.
The little village had been hastily built during the past six months
and the buildings were necessarily rude and cheap. The hotels,
stores, gambling houses and saloons were all built of canvas with
Ihe exception of the floors, which wore made of spruce lumber,
sawed by hand und costing from five hundred dollars lo eight hun
dred dollars per thousand feet. There wore ut least one thoiisuud
minors in I lie village that night, and not a boy, nor u woman nor
a gray huirod man did we see among them all. Board at the best
hotel was twenty-four dollars a week in advance, including a sleep
ing bunk made out of rough boards and built along the side walls of
the dining room. Iu tho saloons all kinds of games of chance
were being played. Two bars, one on each side of the room, dis
pensed cheap whiskey, the signs reading, — "Plain drinks 25 cents,
Fancy drinks 50 cents." My three new companions were from
the state of Maine, strong, healthy young men who had been
brought up in the woods of that State, and who had only just
arrived in California via the Isthmus of Panama. The scenes
and excitement of that evening were so new and interesting to us,
that we did not think of going to our shanty for sleep until after
twelve o'clock.
In the morning wc prepared a good breakfast from the supplies
wc hud packed iu the preceding day and leaving one man lo
look ufler our camp und agreeing to keep together for the
day started out in search of gold. We were full of hope,
and took our picks and shovels with us, expecting to return at
night with nuggets of gold iu our pockets. We went up the creek
as far as gold had been found, but every claim had been taken
and everywhere men were at work on them. At least half of the
claims were for sale, bul of course, those wore the ones that were

GOLDEN CALIFORNIA. 101
not paying well. We passed one claim where four men had taken
out forty thousand dollars worth of gold the day before, and others
where the color of gold could not be found. These latter claims
belonged to men who were willing to sell out and go somewhere
where they could pick up gold out of the water or sand without
having to labor hard with pick and shovel to find it.
About noon we came to a store, at the back of which was a
slaughter yard. Here about one hundred miners wore gathered,
serving as a. combined jury, judge and executioner. The prisoner
was accused of stealing his neighbor's frying-pan, and had been
found guilty of the crime at this rude trial. He was tied to one
of the posts used for hanging up beef, while a man chosen by lot
gave him twenty-five lashes with a heavy whip. After this whip
ping he was compelled to give up his interest in a good mining
claim, and to leave that section of the country. This was the
heavy penally for stealing small things like a frying-pan; it
was death by shooting or hanging for anyone caught stealing
articles over the value of fifty dollars. Civil courts were not
instituted in these remote mining places until two years after I
arrived in California. Few men were punished for stealing under
the summary methods and severe penalties of the miners' laws
for the criminal element soon learned to be honest if they had not
been before. If guilty of crime, they did not find it so easy to
escape punishment here as in other jurisdictions where courts were
established and justice was not so swift. Many of the miners in
the early days in California would leave the gold in their sluice
boxes or long toms, from Monday until Saturday night and nothing
would be touched. But conditions changed when civil courts
took the place of miner's laws in 1854, and then every miner had
to take good care of his gold every day or he would find that it
had been stolen.
On our way back to camp after getting this first glimpse of
western justice one of my companions came across a man whom
he had formerly known in Maine. This man and his three partners
offered to sell their claim to ns as they wished to return lo their
homes iii Maine before the winter set in. They told us that they
had made good wages during the summer with two rockers, that is,
boxes eighteen by thirty-six inches with a wire screen or sieve
bottom, placed on rockers, into which one man would shovel the

102 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
sand and gravel, while the other rocked it with one hand and dipped
water into it to wash it with the other hand. The gold being heavier
than the sand settled to the bottom while the water washed the
sand and gravel away, und left the shining gold in the rocker. In
those early days there were three ways in which to separate the
coarse gold from the gravel on these small mountain streams.
These were a rocker, as just described, a twelve quart sheet iron
pan, and the long torn. Where the soil was very rich with gold, a
man could wash out a good fortune in one summer with a pan;
two men with a rocker could wash twenty limes as much dirt
as one man with a pan; while with a long torn with four sluices
attached and sufficient water running through them two men
could wash out a hundred times more dirl than with a rocker. We
got the lowest price at which these men would sell their claim,
which was two hundred dollars, and then set out for our shack to
talk the mutter over. The man who stayed in cump had a good
supper roudy for us und we did full justice to it us we wore very
hungry, not having had any food since breakfast. We discussed
fully the matter of buying the claim and finally decided to test
it the next morning. We went to the village again that evening
and the excitement of the previous night was again experienced.
In the morning, we packed our things and carried them to the
claim we were to test. The owners showed us how to use the
rockers and we went to work with the understanding that we
wore to have the gold we look out thut forenoon in case we bought
the claim. We worked like beavers for four hours, then cleaned
up and found we had taken out something over one ounce of gold,
worth about twenty dollars. We felt satisfied with the result
and after taking dinner with the owners, paid them for the claim,
including the two rockers, their tools and the log shanty in which
Ihey lived. Thai afternoon wc worked busily again and by even
ing hud about twenty dollars more iu gold dust. Several of our
mining neighbors culled on us thai evening and advised us to put
in a long torn, which they said would enable us to secure much
greater results. We had no timber with which to make such a
long torn and the sluices that were necessary. Graham, one of
my partners, said he was good at running a whip saw and sug
gested that we saw our own limber und one of the neighbors who
gave us the advice offered to rent us a whip saw for two dollars

GOLDEN CALIFORNIA. 103
a day, and to sell us a long tom for twenty-five dollars. We con
cluded to work with our rockers another day, and to defer our
decision until then. The next day brought us less than twenty
dollars for our work and that evening we decided to put in a long
tom. Next morning while two of the men worked the rocker,
James Graham and I went up on the side of the mountain in sight
of our claim, where there was a pit and platform already made
for whip-sawing lumber, and having borrowed a broadax and
handax, chopped down a fine spruce tree eighteen inches in diameter
and cut a log twelve feet long. We scored and hewed this log to
two inches in thickness, rolled it onto the platform, lined it on
both sides for one inch lumber and then began our work as sawyers.
Graham took his position on top of the timber as head sawyer,
while I went down into the pit under the timber, as second best
man, where I had the benefit of all the sawdust in my face and eyes
while under orders to look up and see that the saw followed the
line on the under side of the log. By night we had six boards cut,
each ten inches wide and twelve feel long, and by noon the next
day wc had twelve boards, sufficient lumber to make four sluice
boxes, with three boards to each box. At the village wc bought
ten pounds of twopenny nails, costing fifty cents a pound, and by
night had our sluices ready lo attach to the long tom, which we
bought next morning at a cost of twenty dollars. We made a
wing dam in the creek to turn the water into the sluices and that
night had over one hundred dollars iu gold dust to pay us for a half
day's work with our own long tom and sluices, which greatly en
couraged us.
The old miners who had spent a winter in the mountains were
anxious to leave before the heavy snow came, which was expected
very soon after the first of October. When vVe first reached Onion
Valley we had been told that the snow was sometimes thirty feet
deep in the mountains, and I remember that when we were coming
over the mountains we had seen trees on the eastern slopes partly
burned off fifty feet from the ground by fires kindled by emigrants
who, being delayed in crossing the plains and getting caught in
the heavy snows, had left their teams and attempted to save their
lives by crossing the great snow belt on snowshoes. Hundreds
of emigrants lost their lives in trying to cross the mountains during
the fall and winter of 1849, 50, 51. But we gave little heed to

104 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
the weather and kept on working our claim for twelve days, each
day being more successful, so Ihut on the third duy of October
wo washed out over six hnndrcil dollars worth of gold. That night
the snow came. On the morning of the fourth it was nearly two
feet deep, and falling so thick und fust thut we could not see a man
len fool from us. Il snowed constantly for six days, then suddenly
turned warm und ruined until the snow all disappeared. The
miners along the banks of the creek became alarmed at the situa
tion and many of them left their shanties and fled to the higher
ground. At Hopkinsville tho whole town was torn up bodily
and moved up on higher ground out of reach of the surging flood.
The water in the creek rose twenty feet that day and the flood
swept every movable thing before it, — shanties, tents, sluices,
boxes and tools, everything that hud been snowed under and left
was curried down the valley in the mud rush of the surging waters.
How much gold was curried awuy in the flood no one could estimate.
This flood wus the cause of the dissolution of our partnership.
During the few days thai we hud boon able lo work our claim we
hud succeeded in obtuining about three thousand dollars. But such
was the danger from these terrible floods that two of our party
packed up and went with many other miners forty miles to the
weslwurd whore mining wus not so surrounded by difficulties.
Giuliani anil I decided to slick by our claim and to slurt up our
boiie-and-musclo saw-inill eurly in the spring so us to replace the
sluices and boxes carried off by the flood.
We had a chance to buy five whip saws at a very low price from
miners who were leaving the vicinity, and soon we were at work
sawing lumber, the demand for which we could not meet, even
though we charged eighty cents a foot. We hired men to cut logs
and hew them ready to be sawed, while we did only the sawing.
In less than a week we were running two saws, Graham as head
sawyer for one gang und I now promoted from the pit und recep
tacle of fresh sawdust for eyes, nose and mouth, as head sawyer
of the other, while each of us educated a new hand in the pit below
to become a head sawyer at a future day, provided he liked the
business. By this process of education we soon had all of our five
saws running busily from morning until night, six days in the
week. We made money very rapidly at the prevailing prices
for we had nearly ull the trudc. "The Gruhum & Potter Saw-mill"

GOLDEN CALIFORNIA. 105
was soon known the length of Poor Man's Creek. Graham was in
the early prime of life, twenty-six years of age, six feet and two
inches tall, weighing over two hundred pounds, while I, though
only twenty years of age, wciglied one hundred and sixty pounds,
and was over six feet tall so that wc were conspicuous even in that
region and day of strong men. Wc kept our five saws running
steadily for two months, moving up or down the stream, wherever
the miners wanted the lumber. The best of spruce timber lined the
stream on either side, costing us only what it took to cut it, and
as our saw-mill was very portable, we could go where the lumber
was and there was little expense in hauling. The only real diffi
culty in our work lay in the steepness of the sides of the mountains
rendering it difficult to find a place which was level enough to set
up the saw-mill.
In December the snow had become so deep that it was impos
sible for men to do any kind of work out of doors and we were
compelled lo give up our sawing. Nearly all of the miners within
three or four miles came into Hopkinsville and there was a winter
colony there of about three hundred young men, with not a woman
in all the town or district around. Provisions in town became
scarce before February was over and it looked as if we would soon
either have to be put on short rations, or else must leave our camp
and attempt to get down to Ihe settlements in the valley. Eighteen,
of us volunteered to go to Onion Valley and bring in supplies of
food on our backs through the snow which was eight feet deep.
The first two miles of our journey lay up the creek valley and was
made quite easily, but when we left the creek and began to go up
the side of the mountain wc found the going very hard. It was
difficult to make a track through the deep snow, which was so
light that one would sink into it up to his armpits. The only way
we could make any progress through the snow was for the man
in the lead to fall forward his full length, get up, walk forward his
length, and fall again into the snow, continuing the operation
until he was exhausted, then stepping aside and letting the next
man take his place while he dropped into the beaten path in the
rear. Most of Ihe men could make from four to six plunges in
the loose snow before becoming too tired to advance, but James
Graham, who was our leader that day, would make twelve plunges
every time he was in the lead before giving up his place to another.

106 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
The snow was falling so thick that we could not clearly see one-
half the length of our line of eighteen men. We had made about
two miles up the mountain at a grade of about thirty degrees
and were close to the top, from which we would have a comparatively
easy down hill trail to Onion Valley, when, without warning, the
deep body of light snow which evidently rested on a harder crust
of older snow, started en masse down the mountain side towards
Poor Man's Creek, from whence we had just so laboriously come,
and carried with it our entire party of eighteen men. Such a
"sliding down hill" none of us had ever experienced before. The
snow was very light and the whole body of it moved at the same
time so we were kept from being buried in it, and no one of us was
injured except Graham who fell and struck his back and side against
a rock, hurting himself quite badly. By the time we had collected
our scattered party from the snow it was gelling late in the day
ami as Graham was suffering from his injury wo decided to return
to Hopkinsville for the night, and slurt anew in the morning.
It took us an hour lo find ihe Iruil we hud come over, but when we
had located it we had little trouble in following it. Graham proved
to be badly injured and suffered so much pain that we had to carry
him, and if it had not been for the brandy which several of the
nieu had with them, he would never have lived to reach the camp.
It was a difficult task, this carrying a badly injured man along the
narrow snow trail. One man would go along on the side of the
trail tramping the snow down to make the trail wider so that two
men could lake Graham by his arms und drug him nlong between
them. We kept this up until we reuched an abandoned miners'
camp about a mile from town. There we made him as comfortable
as possible with four men to care for him while the rest of us went on
to Hopkinsville, reaching there about midnight. We aroused the
only doctor in the village and started him with two fresh men on
the way lo the shanty where Gruhum lay injured. One hundred
men volunteered lo slurt early the next morning for Onion Vulley,
over the sumo route wo hud tuken; but only n few of the men
who were in our party were willing to try again. I had very little
sleep that night, but felt sure that the trip could be easily made
by one hundred men, and determined to go on. When the new party
reached the cabin where Graham hud been left, we found him
apparently betler and determined to go with us in spite of the

GOLDEN CALIFORNIA. 107
advice of the doctor and of all of us. It was snowing so heavily
that wc could not see a person twenty feet away. At Graham's
request I was chosen leader of the party for the day, and before
starting I released them all from their promise to make the trip
and advised all who were not willing to do their share in breaking
the way to go back to camp. Twenty of the party turned back
at this and after leaving four men at the log shanty to keep up a
good fire and have some food on hand to care for any of our party
who should give out and be obliged to return before reaching the
top of the mountain, the rest of us, including Graham and the
doctor, about eighty in all, started up the difficult trail. A
few of the party tired and turned back before the top was
reached for it took some time and much effort to break a trail
through the avalanche of the previous day. As soon as we reached
the hard snow which had been left bare by the slide we made rapid
progress and reached the top of the mountain about one o'clock.
From this point we were only about one mile distant from Onion
Valley and we found il far easier breaking a road down the moun
tain than it had been going up. When wc were within half a mile
of town it ceased snowing, and we could see the roofs of the two
hotels, but the rest of the village was buried under the snow. We
were discovered by the villagers soon afterwards and they started
out and broke a path to meet us. Graham had become exhausted
in going down the mountain, and when the people met us Ihey
hauled him into town on a large hand sled. Wc reached the hotels
before dark, but to enter them by their doors we had to go down
snow stairs nearly twenty feet, as the snow was over that depth in
the main street of the town. During a period of six weeks that
winter the only way of getting from one hotel to the other or to
any other place in town, was by tunnels cut through the drifts
of snow for that purpose. The houses were kept lighted night
and day with oil lamps or candles.
In a couple of days the weather had become settled again and
many of our party returned lo Poor Man's Creek, carrying supplies
on their backs, although a few of them were determined to go
farther down into valleys where they would be out of the snow bell.
The doctor and I stayed with Graham who was loo ill lo travel
and ten days after his injury in the snow slide the poor fellow died.
He knew that death was coming and very calmly lold us what he

108 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
would like to have us do. His personal effects and gold dust
he handed over lo me to be sent back to his young wife in Maine.
Ho uskcd tho doctor and me to make a coffin out of the timber
he und I had sawed together in Onion Vulley und lo bury him in
the snow until spring cume when we could dig his grave. We
promised fuilhtully lo mark his grave plainly wilh his nunie und
former homo so that his relatives might find his body when they
came for it, as he was sure they would do. After he died I hastened
over the trail to Hopkinsville, cut the lumber for his coffin into
proper lengths and with the doctor's help packed it on my back
across the trail to Onion Valley and laid all that remained of my
good old partner Graham away to rest. Long before the snow
disappeared we made his grave on the mountainside and marked
it as he had requested.
Gruhuin's death left, nic badly broken up. I fell that I could
not stuy in the place where ho und 1 hud worked together so long,
especially now that there was little lo do. I returned to Hopkins
ville, and having sold our whipsuws and what lumber we hud on
hand, started out for Marysville for the purpose of taking the
steamer down the river to San Francisco. I reached Marysville
the fifteenth of March, und sent Graham's gold dust and belongings
to his wife by express, writing her a letter telling her the sad tidings.
A year later I heard from her, und two years afterwards I learned
that Graham's body had boon taken up and shipped to his old
home in Maine.
I paid twenty-five dollars for a first class steamer ticket down the
river to the Golden Gate. Sacramento, the capital of the State
was our first stop, and here we found the streets flooded with water,
on which boats plied as though the streets had been canals, while
most of the residents were living on the second floors of their houses.
This flood was caused by the melting of the heavy snows in the
mountains. A run of twenty-four hours landed us in San Fran
cisco. Tho beautiful bay was crowded with vessels carrying the
flags of all the nations of the world. It was said, and I think
truly, that by stopping in the new city a single week one could
hear spoken every language of the world. It was a novel and
interosting sight to look out over the bay and see the many colored
flags floating in the soft spring breezes, as if painted on the distant
blue sky. I have often recalled und can never forget the beautiful

GOLDEN CALIFORNIA. 109
picture. But one did not spend much time in looking at the
scenery here. When he turned from viewing the bay his eyes fell
upon the crowded streets of the city, thronged with busy crowds of
young men. There were few women, gray-haired men or boys;
nearly all were young men, vigorous, stirring and energetic, each
preparing to search for the elusive gold. Many of the vessels in
the harbor had agents in the city trying to hire sailors, for their
regular crews had descried and gone to the gold mines. In some
cases even the officers had deserted their ships, so that the com
manders of the vessels in order to keep their crews had been forced
to forbid their men to go ashore.
The most exciting happening in the new city was the arrival of
mail. There were many thousands of strangers in the city, each
anxious to hear front home and friends in the far cast. All the mail
then brought to the Pacific Coast came by ocean steamer which
arrived only once in two weeks. No wharves had yet been built
and passengers, freight and mail had to be transferred from the
steamers at anchor half a mile from shore, into smaller vessels
or "lighters" and then taken to shore, which made a long tedious
job. The mails, like everything else, were late in reaching the city
distributing office, which always became a center of excitement,
clamor, and sometimes violence, before the mail was distributed.
The post office would be besieged by a dense crowd extending for
blocks and its windows had lo be barred lo keep men out while
the clerks were distributing what sometimes amounted to tons
of letters, taking as long as two full days to sort. While the mail
was being distributed a great crowd would be clamoring for it,
sometimes becoming so impatient as to rush against the building,
causing it lo shake and tremble as if there had been an earthquake.
At the time of this, my first trip to San Francisco the post office
had ten delivery windows, each window marked with initials,
showing what letters might be obtained titere. Ten lines of people
were formed in the streets, each person as he came taking his place
at the foot of the line before the window bearing the initial of his
name, where he awaited his turn as the line moved slowly on.
No one could call for mail for more than one name and as soon as
he received that he had to step out of the line; even under this
rule which kept the crowd moving those at the rear end of the
line had sometimes to stand five or six hours before they reached

110 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
the delivery window. The business men of the city could not
afford to lose so much time and often offered from five to twenty-
five dollars for one's position near the window, und this practice
led men who did not expect mail to go early and get a good posi
tion which they would soil to someone who was in a hurry and
willing to pay well for it. Some men who could stand the strain
of standing still would keep this up, getting puy for their places
three or four times in twenty-four hours, as for several days after
a mail steamer arrived and the mail was ready to deliver, the long
ranks kept formed duy and night. Men with supplies of hot
coffee, cakes and oilier eatables passed up and down the line sup
plying refreshments, and saloon keepers had their runners along
the line selling drinks at exorbitant prices.
I stayed in this city of crowds and excitement nearly ten days
and then bought a ticket back lo Marysville which cost nic folly
dollars, fifteen dollars more limn on my trip lo Ihe city, duo to
the fuel Ihut it look u day longer to go up the river than to conic
down. I had decided to go buck to Poor Man's Creek und work
the claim in which I had a share, for it would be forfeited unless
some one of its owners was back al work by Ihe fifteenth of April.
To hold a claim il wus necessary to have it registered in ull the
mountain districts, thai giving you the right to leave it during Ihe
winter for a period of six months. Tho Register of Cluims wus the
only paid officer in the district and his position was a remunerative
one, as he received a foe of five dollars from everyone registering
a claim. The San Francisco papers had been full of glowing ac
counts of very rich diggings recently discovered in the northeastern
part of the state, one of which was called Gold Lake, where it
was said one could pick up nuggets of gold on the shore of the lake
without any digging. Another great digging that was loudly
advertised wus Rush Creek, about one hundred miles north und
eust of Murysville. I was so smitten with the fever that when
I reached Murysville I decided to give up my interest ut Poor
Man's Creek and was caught and curried awuy in the new "'rush"
for Rush Creek. The last fifty miles of the journey to the new
camp could not be traversed by leanis and ull supplies had to be
tuken in on the bucks of mules and men. I purchased sixty-five
pounds of prospector's supplies und joined in tho exciting rush
with many others who like myself wore eager to bo the firsl there.

GOLDEN CALIFORNIA. Ill
Hundreds of men who carried only their blankets and provisions,
relying on being able to get extra supplies when they reached the
camp, passed others who were more heavily laden. Some of them
got there in three days, while others required six days. On the
way four of us agreed to stake out our claim together, and stay
by each other.
We reached the new mining village called Rushtown at dark
on the sixth day and found that there was still a great deal of snow
on the mountains and that the water in the creek was very high.
Miners were at work along the banks washing the dirt and claiming
that they were making money very fast. Our party of four got
bunks in a log hotel, and next morning started out to locate a claim,
but for a considerable distance found the claims all taken and
staked, and someone in possession. Wc located on the first vacant
ground wc. came to, which was about five miles down the stream,
and by night had built a temporary shelter of fir and cedar brush.
On the following day wc built, a comfortable house of small fir
trees, and il occurred to me thai if Graham with his whipsnw had
been with us, we could have made quick money by sawing the
pine, spruce and fir trees which lined the banks, and selling the
lumber for which there was a good sale at one dollar per foot.
I went to the village next morning to get a whipsaw, but learned
there was but one on the creek, and thai that one was now in use.
Through one of the merchants of Rushville I placed an order for
two whipsaws, to be delivered as soon as possible by Mule
Express. Soon after giving my order I met a company of miners
from Poor Man's Creek, among whom was a good sawyer who
had worked for Graham and me the preceding year. This man
volunteered to go back to Poor Man's Creek and get three saws
and two other men who had also formerly worked for us.
The trip would take at least five days but I agreed to his
proposal and told him that if he would start at once I would
have the logs cut and hewn and ready to saw when he got back.
I countermanded my order for saws through the merchant, and
went back to camp where I told my three partners that I had a
good job for them until the water went down enough to allow us
to work in the creek. For the next five days we busied ourselves
cutting sawlogs at different places along the creek, and before the
saws came I had taken orders for five thousand feet of lumber at

112 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
one dollar a foot. The sawyers with the three saws came in good
time and by tho seventh day ull three saws were running, cutting
limber at tho rate of one hundred foot per duy for euch saw. For
the next thirty days we did nothing but saw lumber for miners
along the creek, and there was such a demand for it that the miners
would themselves get the logs ready for us and we had only to saw
them up into boards for which we received the regular price of
one dollar a foot.
Rush Creek was about twenty miles long, heading near the
western summit of the Nevada Mountains, and flowing through
a continuous gorge until it emptied into the Feather River. Rush-
ville was located about throe miles from ils head. Every claim
on the entire length of the creek was taken and recorded before
the water subsided and the miners could get to work. We soon
discovered that the paying claims wore confined to about two
miles of the creek near the village of Rush town, which proved
lo be very rich. Tho rest, of the claims were valueless so that most
of the miners who hud hurried to this now district the first of April,
carrying some gold dust in their pockets, left the country the
first of June "dead broke." The only thing that saved me from
going out in the same condition was our forty days' work with
the whipsaws and the great demand for lumber.
The failure of Ihe mines ruined the lumber business and the
only thing left to do wus to find some other pluce to try mining
operations uguin. When I left Marysville for Rush Creek in April,
I told my associates thut I believed I was making a mistake in
not going to Poor Man's Creek and working the claim I had bought
an interest in the fall before; I oven offered them an interest in
my claim there if they would go with me, but tho influence of the
rush lo Rush Creek wus too strong und they declined my offer
and we wont on lo our failure. A similar disappointment came
to those who wool lo Gold Lake, for this development proved lo
be a complete fraud gotten up by some merchants in Sacramento
who shipped u large stock of miners' supplies there and then got
out advertisements of the finding of gold which were published
in most of Ihe California papers. When Ihe crowds of cM-iled
miners learned of Ihe fraud Ihey organized a vigilance committee,
took possession of the goods of tho guilly merchants which they
distributed among themselves, urrcslcd the merchants, tried them

GOLDEN CALIFORNIA. 113
under the miners' code, and upon a verdict of guilty executed them
on the spot. Their act was upheld by the miners throughout the
state and put a stop to subsequent speculations and frauds of
this nature.
Before leaving Rush Creek I had decided to go to Poor Man's
Creek to find out what had becoine of my claim there. I found
that two of the men from whom my partners and I had bought
the claim had returned and retaken it, as it had become forfeited
because of our not remaining in possession and they told me that
I had made a great mistake in leaving it, as they were making
money rapidly. I explained to them that I had left because two
of my partners had gone away and the other one had died. They
invited me to stay over night with them, and in the morning offered
to sell me a quarter interest with them for five thousand dollars
but as I did not have the cash I could not buy. They showed me
twelve hundred dollars in gold which they had washed out that day,
and said that the pay had averaged one thousand dollars a day
for fifty days, lt needed nothing more than this to show me
what a great mistake I had made in abandoning the claim through
the wild rumors of a place of which I knew nothing. But such
was the fortune of miners who followed surface digging in California.
In haste to get rich they were not satisfied at doing well, but made
hazardous changes in the hopes of finding diggings rich enough
to obtain a fortune in a day. My loss was gain to others. Before
I left these men made me flattering offers if I would stay with
them, but I told them I did not care to run in debt, and could
make forty to fifty dollars a day running three whipsaws on Nelson's
Creek during the rest of the season. On leaving they gave me a
sack of gold weighing six pounds, saying that as I had once bought
the claim of them, and no doubt would now be in possession of it
but for the death of my partner, they would make me a present
of their previous day's earnings worth twelve hundred dollars as
part remuneration for my loss. I hesitated to take the gold but
they insisted upon it, and said that if at any time I returned they
would take me into partnership with them and give me a good
chance. I thanked them many limes for their kindness and said
I might return in two weeks, as I was going lo work my saws on
Nelson's Creek which was only twelve miles away. As I walked
towards Nelson's Creek carrying the six pounds of gold so kindly
9

114 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
given me, I asked myself if I would have given away twelve hundred
dollars under similar circiimstuncos. IIow few would have done
it. For fifty years the gift and ihe spirit which prompted it has
enriched my memory.
On arriving at Nelson's Creek I found that my lumber partners
were all ready to slurt our thrct: bone-und-nnisclo saw-mills. The
next morning we look a contract to saw ten thousand feet of inch
lumber, to be delivered on or before the first of August (it was now
the fifteenth of June) for which we were to receive fifty cents a
foot, making five thousand dollars for the job. Our camp was about
a half mile from Nelsonville, located at the spot where Nelson
Creek emptied into Feather River. Good paying gold claims
were located the entire length of Nelson Creek which was formed
by the union of Poor Man's Creek and Hopkins Creek, at Hopkins
ville, fifteen miles above us. The lumber wo wore under contract
to saw wus to be used in the construction of a flume to divert the
waters of Nelson Creek from the channel and curry them to the
Feather River, and the work had to be done in August while the
streams were low. If we could obtain help enough to prepare the
timber as fust us wc could saw it we could easily finish our contract
in twenty days und have lime to open a claim for ourselves and
extend tho flume to it. We finally concluded to do this und staked
out a claim, paying live hundred dollars for right, of way over
other claims lo build a flume of three hundred feet to carry water
to it. Our lumber contract and the opening of our new mine
gave us plenty of work for six months. On the tenth of July we
finished our contract and received our pay, clearing three thousand
seven hundred dollars in twenty-five days. We then moved our
camp up the creek to our claim, where our workmen had prepared
three new sawpits and had cut timber, and by the nineteenth of
July we had three thousand feet of boards ready for our own flume.
The dum wus soon finished to turn the water into the flumes and
on the lust day of the month the five-mile flume was completed.
On the first of August mining operations commenced on
every cluim in the bed of the stream. It wus necessary to carry
on this work day and night, without intermission, until the claim
was exhausted, or the men driven out by high water. More than
one million dollars was invested in the claims along these six miles
of river bed by young men who had carried in most of their pro-

GOLDEN CALIFORNIA. 115
visions and supplies over rough and steep roads while the work
of preparation went on. It was an interesting and impressive
sight, one not soon to be forgotten, to stand on Nelson's point,
the location of the little village of five hundred people, its members
gathered from nearly every state in the Union and to look down
the stretch of the Feather River watching the six-mile flume of
shimmering water running at a speed of twenty miles per hour,
turning great paddle wheels in its progress to pump the seepage
water from the claims back into the flume, while down in the bed
of the stream hundreds of men could be seen busily washing out
gold in rockers or long toms. Then one might turn and look south
ward up Nelson's Creek for a mile and the same scene would present
itself, hundreds of 3'oung men literally slaving day and night for
gold, as if no other interest existed.
Little gold was taken out during the first few days, but as soon
as the claims were well opened large finds were made in both streams.
Some claims failed to pay expenses, while others enriched their
owners. Our claim failed to pay expenses the first two weeks,
but on the fifteenth day wc struck a pocket in the bed rock from
which we took out over two thousand two hundred dollars worth
of nuggets in less than one hour. On the same day the fourth
claim below us yielded sixty thousand dollars, which was said to
be the largest amount taken on one day from any claim within
a radius of six miles. Thai claim paid its four owners more than
five hundred thousand dollars in two months. My partners and 1
worked our claim day and night whenever wc could get sufficient
help. We would work for days and obtain very little and then
perhaps the next day we would find enough to pay for a whole
week's work. The claims on Nelson's Creek paid well, while half
of those on Feather River were a failure. Many parlies became
discouraged and left after a year's hard work with nothing to show
for their toil and heavy expense, while often the purchaser of their
claims did well.
I had sent word to my kind friends at Poor Man's Creek, who
had given me the six pounds of gold, asking them to come and
spend some Sunday with us. Two of them came over and
I spent the day in showing them the sights on Feather River,
and in taking them to dinner at the best hotel in Nelsonville.
They told me that their claim was paying better than when I had

116 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
been there, and that they had been offered $50,000 for it, but
had refused to sell for less than $75,000 and had given an option
on it at that price for one week. On the way back from the hotel
we stopped and examined the claim where gold worth $60,000
had been taken out of a pocket iu a rock in a single day, and the
owners showed us the gold which they had washed out that fore
noon which was worlh $12,000, and said that there was as much
more in the long tom to show for their afternoon's work. We
remained and saw the gold as it was taken out of the box. In the
course of our conversation the owners of this claim discovered
that my friends from Poor Man's Creek were from the same state
as they and on this basis they soon became warm friends. On
reaching our claim towards evening we found that this hud been
a successful day for us for our men were cleaning up the day's
findings that amounted lo over $1,800. Tin; owners of the rich
cluim we hud visited insisted that wo should ull go with them to
the hotel for supper. There were nine of us in the purly, eight
from Muine, and I alone from Michigan. We had a splendid
visit that night without any aid from the saloon-keeper for we
were all temperance men. When our party broke up I persuaded
my friends from Poor Man's Creek to stay over night with the
promise that if they would do so I would arrange to have them
home at seven o'clock the next morning by supplying them with
saddled mules. They accepted my invitation and started out
early the next morning accompanied by one of my partners and
one of their new made friends from the rich cluim, both of whom
stayed with them during the day and were witnesses of the sale
for $75,000 cash of the claim that eleven months previous I and
three others had bought for $200, and then forfeited by our neglect.
The day our friends left us we got over $1,200 from our claim
and then for five days it failed lo pay expenses and seemed to
be worked out and worthless. But we kept on working hoping
to find a rich crevice or pocket in the bed of the rock where gold
hud wushed in yours before and had not been moved by the current.
For two weeks longer we labored on without success, but we resolved
to keep at it until our claim was entirely dug over or we were driven
out by high water. By the 10th of September half our claim
had been worked over und been found barren and us the ruins und
snows would soon be upon us, we decided to work a narrow strip

GOLDEN CALIFORNIA. 117
near one bank of the creek where there appeared to be loose seamy
rock, in the breaks and fissures of which we might find gold. After
working a distance of eighty feet we reached a seam in the rock
from which we obtained three hundred dollars in one afternoon.
To clear the bed of water we had to change the location of the
water wheel and pump which took us a day and then wc found
gold in paying quantities, obtaining over $(i()0 in a space only
two by eight feet. Our hopes arose, and we hired extra men to
remove the top gravel that was six feet deep over the crevice,
hoping that if this crevice extended clear across the creek bottom
we would obtain six or seven thousand dollars for it. By noon of
another day we had cleared about twenty feet of rock, and in the
afternoon began to take out and wash the gravel in the crevice
as far down as gold could be found, running it through sluice boxes
and the long torn, and keeping extra men at work all night paying
them six dollars for each twelve hours' work. When Ihe crevice
was cleaned up we had six thousand seven hundred dollars for our
four days work, which caused us lo forget the many days of hard
work when we had obtained nothing. Two old miners who visited
us that day said they were sure this was the same j>ocket from
which four New York men had taken $75,000 the year before, and
I told them that I would like to meet those New Yorkers to thank
them for the goodly amount of gold they had loft behind. The
strangers asked permission to look into the riffle box, that held
the gold under the long torn and after examining it one of them
said that it looked to him as if this second crop were better than the
first. We were much surprised the next day to be visited by
hundreds of miners from the vicinity who had heard that we had
made a find of $100,000 in one day and who came down to congratu
late us and to take a look at the crevice in the rock of the creek
bottom, now already filled with six feet of water, that had given
its owners such a treasure. Even the owners of the rich claim
below us came lo congratulate us "on the greatest strike ever
made on Nelson's Creek." The slory was widely published all
over the state of the $100,000 gold find in one crevice in Nelson's
Creek, the rumor having its whole foundation in the statement of
a miner who looked into a box of gold that had less than $7,000 in
it. We only wished the story could have been true. Visitors
did not ask questions, but seeing the "pocket" for themselves

118 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
concluded that the story was true, inasmuch as two of the oldest
miners in the section had seen gold nuggets covering the bottom
of a box three feel wide and six feet long, and were ready to swear
there was a bushel of them. With such exaggoraled stories pub
lished and believed, no wonder the life of a miner was an exciting
and wandering one.
On September twenty-sixth rain began to fall at the head waters
of the Feather River, raising the water enough to carry off the five
miles of flume on that stream, although the one mile of flume on
Nelson's Creek remained undisturbed. We were able to keep
at work until our claim was gone over, but did little more than
pay expenses after working the pocket. On the twenty-first of
October we sold our flume, long torn, pump, tools and everything
connected with the claim for five hundred dollars to jiarties who
owned the claims above us which they intended lo flume and work
tho next souson.
Il wus now eighteen months since I hud loft home and I had
not heard a word from any of my people during the whole period.
No post offices existed in the mountain mining districts. The
nearest post office was Marysville, one hundred miles away, and
to got mail one had to give an order on tho neurost post office to
an official mail muu und puy him one dollar for ouch letter which
ho brought. I hud oflou made out these orders but had received
no mail. When leaving homo T had promised my mother to write
her every mouth after reaching California, und this 1 had done.
I was sure that my mother und oldest sister had written me, and
that there must be letters for me somewhere in California. A
miner told me that he had been in the state two years before he
received a letter from his wife and that then he had advised his
wife to address her letters to him in her name and that thereafter
he had received them regularly and without expense, as no extra
charge was made in California for delivering letters addressed to
ladies. By his advice I at once wrote home, asking them to address
all letters to Miss Louisa Potter, Marysville, California. As a
result of this scheme I received three letters on the tenth of Febru
ary, twenty-two months after leaving home.
My two partners decided to return to their homes after finish
ing our job on Nelson's Crock us they felt satisfied with the result
of their six months' work, amounting to five thousand dollars

GOLDEN CALIFORNIA. 119
each, two thousand from their whip-sawing and three thousand
from mining. I had done equally well and in addition had the
twelve hundred dollars which had been given me, and I also made
up my mind to return home, and with my money buy the best
farm in our home county. On the first day of November we
shouldered our blankets and started for Marysville, going by way
of Hopkinsville and Poor Man's Creek lo Onion Valley where we
could take the stage. Wc slopped for dinner at Hopkinsville, and I
was surprised to find only two men remaining who had wintered there
the year before. We examined my old claim that had been recently
sold for seventy-five thousand dollars and I made myself known
to the present owners, who had heard of me in connection with
the death of my partner James Graham. I asked them if the
claim was for sale but they declined to name a price for it, having
bought it for mining purposes. We learned from them that the
men from whom they purchased had bought a claim at Forbestown,
which was fifty miles away, out of the region of heavy snows where
they could work during the winter. At their invitation wc stayed
over night with them and saw them clean up over three thousand
dollars worth of gold for their day's work.
Starting out at daybreak we took the three mile up grade trail to
Onion Valley on which Graham had been injured in the snow-slide ot
the previous year. Al Onion Valley wc boarded the six horse Concord
slagc. I slopped at. Forbestown and bade farewell lo my three part
ners who were bound back East and whom I never saw again. One
mile north of Forbestown, on a creek running into Feather River,
I found the two men who formerly owned the Poor Man's Creek
mine. They seemed glad to see me again and I told them that
I had spent the previous night at their old claim where I had been
informed of their present location and had stopped on purpose
to see them again. The sides of the creek on which these two men
were located had been worked over but the middle of the stream
which was about one hundred feet wide, had not been worked,
although it was reported rich. They owned three hundred feet
of the creek bed and were planning to build sluices to divert the
water around their claim, so that they could work the bed of the
stream. The gold here was in the shape of dust, not nuggets as
in the mountains, and they were planning on separating it from
the other gravel by means of quicksilver. There had been three

120 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
partners originully but one of them hud gone home and his share
of the claim wus for sulo, ami uflcr examining the cluim for two days
the gold fever once more mastered me and I decided to try my
luck again anil lo buy out this one-third interest. The purchase
took all I had made during the past six months and left me with
nothing but my share of tho claim. It wus un expensive cluim to
open and one that could be worked only during the rainy season
when there wus plenty of water for washing. By great effort
we were ready to begin operations in December, the usual time
when the rainy season began, but this year it was late and for
long weeks we waited. About the first of January the rains came
and we set to work with a large force of men on both sides of the
crock, washing out the gravel. Wc were greatly disappointed
for the daily clean-up for thai month was only six hundred dollars
und our daily expenses were over two hundred dollars. We could
work only during the rainy season, three months of the yeur, und
so wo hired help enough to work duy und night from Junuury first
to the 18lh of Murch, when the cluim wus ull worked out. In
November I had put six thousand dollars into the claim and in
April after five months' work, I went away with only two thousand
dollars in my pocket.

CHAPTER VI.
With the Sonora Grays.
My disheartening loss at Forbestown made it practically impossi
ble for me to go back lo Michigan so I decided to keep al mining and
to try my luck in Tuolumne County, one hundred miles southeast
of Sacramento. My partners, to whom the loss had not meant so
much as to me, decided to return home and spend the rest of life
among their friends. As soon as our business matters were settled
we took passage by stage for Marysville and at evening were on
board a boat, my partners bound for San Francisco and I for Sacra
mento. The next morning I bade my partners a final good-bye
and left the boat to take the stage to Sonora, the county scat of
Tuolumne County and the largest mining town in Southern Cali
fornia. Our coacli was a largo six-horse one, with room for twelve
persons inside. The first twenty miles was over a good level road,
one of the interesting spots which we passed being old Fort Sutter.
The second twenty miles was through the foot-hills of the Nevada
Mountains, still over good roads, and the cud of this stage was
Jackson, the county scat of Amadorc County and the first mining
town on our road. The first forty miles was made in four hours,
with a change of horses and drivers every ten miles and with a load
of twenty-two. consisting of twelve passengers inside and ten China
men on top.
When we arrived at Jackson wc found it a center of great excite
ment. A vigilance committee had the evening before executed
a noted Mexican bandit and outlaw, and his body was still dangling
at the end of a rope from a limb of a live-oak tree in the center of
the town, the committee having given orders that it should hang
there all day as a lesson to the robbers and bandits who were numer
ous in that mountain district. Amadorc County is today one of
the principal agricultural and fruit-growing sections of the State;
Jackson still remains its county seat, and I am informed that strang
ers who visit the town are shown the live-oak tree in the center of
the town from which, it is said, more robbers and guerillas have
121

122 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
been hanged than from any other tree in California. We were de
layed at Jackson at least an hour on account of this excitement.
Mokeluiuno Hill, in Calaveras County, located on Calaveras
River, a large rapid mountain stream, was the next mining camp.
Soon after leaving Jackson we entered a mountain gorge leading
down into the river valley which seemed to me the most dangerous
road I ever travelled. Imagine a coach and six horses loaded with
twenty-two passengers dashing down a steep, narrow, rocky gorge,
around frequent sharp curves, at a speed of ten miles an hour with
the coach rocking, swaying, and fairly reeling down the fearful
descent, apparently about to be dashed into pieces at any moment,
and you have some faint conception of that ride and my fear while
taking it. But the driver sat on his seat with a coolness and com
posure that seemed to me at the time to amount to either indifference
or recklessness, handling his six linos and managing his brakes as
carelessly us if ho were on u level road, whistling or singing some gay
uir, seemingly totally oblivious to uny danger. It was not reckless
ness, us I soon found out, but rather the result of long experience
and familiarity with danger. At the end of the gorge we reached
the half way point of our journey and made a half hour's stop for
dinner. The next fifty miles to Sonora was through a continuous
mountain district, as rough as could be found in California where
a six-horse couch could possibly go. With fresh horses und only
thirteen passengers, tho Chiiiamcu leaving us at Mokoluninc Hill,
we stalled down the river, going for two miles over the road by
which we came in, then turning off into another gorge similar to the
one we had passed through but on the opposite side of the river and
up hill instead of down. For three miles we toiled slowly up the
grade and then after a rapid drive of five miles came to the Spanish
town of San Andreas. Our relay of six fresh horses stood in the
street all ready to be hitched on and three minutes after we drove
up we were off again at a ten-mile rate for Murphy's Camp. At
Mokelumno Hill, with the aid of u five-dollar gold piece, I hud ob
tained permission from the driver to sit on the scut with him during
the last fifty miles of our mountain ride, which was considered a
great privilege. This driver, who had been on this ten mile section
ever since the road was opened two years previous, entertained me
with stories of vurious hold-ups, and showed me scars where
he had been struck by bullets in attempting to escape from robbers

WITH THE SONORA GRAYS. 123
with his coach and passengers. At the highest point on the road
he pointed out to me a high mountain three miles to the right and
south of us, where in September, 1852, three of the most dangerous
and desperate bandits that ever infested California were captured
and executed. Since their capture and execution he said that not
a slagc coach on that route had been held up. The drive to Mur
phy's Camp, where we changed horses and drivers again was made in
seventy minutes, seven minutes to u. mile. Murphy's Camp is
noted as the point where stages leave for the Calaveras National
Park, the home of the wonderful sequois and redwood trees which
grow to a diameter of forty feet. The first grove of these trees
is only twenty miles east of Murphy's Camp. There are also cele
brated caves in the vicinity and a wonderful natural bridge spanning
a river. In the spring of 1855 I visited all these interesting points,
and again in 1880 I visited them with friends, finding the spot
which had once been nothing but a rough mining camp then a
great center for tourists.
An hour's drive from Murphy's Camp brought us to Vallicita,
a village settled by Mexicans as early as 1840, where they followed
mining for gold in a crude way transporting the ore by mule teams
to Mexican cities. The next mining town which wc reached was
called Angel's Camp. All these little mining villages were located
in Calaveras County in the narrow valleys made by small streams,
on the upper range of mountains lying between the two large moun
tain rivers of Calaveras and Stanislaus. The courses of these
rivers we could trace with the eye from our route by the heavy
growth of pine, spruce and cedar timber that lined their banks.
Angel's Camp was strictly a Mexican or "greaser" town. Not a
Yankee with his enterprise had yet invaded it or disturbed its lazy,
dirty, half-civilized life. Its name could only have orginated from
the loveliness of its situation since the appearance and reputation
of its inhabitants showed them to be far removed from such a class
of beings. The sun was sinking out of sight, in the wesl, throwing
its bright rays over the mountains and covering them with a mantle
of transient and splendid glory as we left Angel's Camp. Only
from the top of a stage coach at such a moment, it seemed to me,
could a person have any conception of the almost heavenly beauty
of the mountain scenery about the village. Wc drove down the
mountain ridge to reach the ferry across the Stanislaus River, our

124 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
driver, like the nine others who had preceded him, having perfect
command of his teams as they trotted briskly down the steep road
way. Tho ferry boat was attached to a heavy rope by a system of
pulleys, the force of the current supplying the power to propel it
across the stream. The grade up from the river was not so steep
as to prevent our going at a trot most of the way until we reached
the summit of the mountain, four miles further on. From there
on we found good roads all the way to Sonora, which we reached
about nine o'clock, one hour behind schedule, but having made the
distance of one hundred miles in fifteen hours.
It was Saturday evening and the one long, narrow street which
ran the length of this, the largest mining town in the State, was
packed with people, most of whom were Mexican Greasers, although
there were representatives of practically every State of the Union.
The principal places of attraction were two large gambling houses,
one of them named "Miss Virginia; Saloon," owned and managed
by a Mexican woman, und Ihe oilier owned and run by Americans
and culled "The Long Tom Saloon." All the known gambling
games were in operation at these places, and liquor bars were
running in each, seven days of the week and twenty-four hours of
the day. I had made this trip to Sonora partly that I might find
an uncle by tho name of Corydon P. Sprague, who hud represented
Tuolumne County iu the Slule Legislature for the past two years,
but I learned that night Ihut he hud recently left the town und
moved to Oregon. I was therefore ul soniewhut of a loss just what
to do, but thut evening I found four brothers, by the name of Gilkey,
whom I had formerly known in Lansing, Michigan. One of them,
Edwin Gilkey, kept one of the hotels in Sonora and showed me the
sights during the evening. I accepted his hospitality and took
my first lodgings at his hotel, which was the only temperance
house in town. It was a temperance house because Gilkey's wife
insisted that he should not sell liquor and because of her position
he was finally compelled to close it for want of patronage, for tem
perance houses were never known to live to any groat age in a new
mining town.
The next day I visited tho father and mother of the Gilkey boys,
who were living in Shaw's Flats a mining camp two miles from
Sonora. lt wus Sunday and tho Mexicans were to have a Spanish
bullfight at three o'clock that afternoon, to which Riley Gilkey

WITH THE SONORA GRAYS. 125
asked me to go. Sunday is the great holiday of the Mexicans. This
was the second bullfight held in Sonora, and as a grizzly bear was
to figure in the show everybody was anxious to see it. Two acres
of ground had been inclosed by high pointed posts deeply planted in
the ground and fastened at the top, and a grand stand was erected
on one side of the circle large enough to accommodate all who would
pay one dollar for a reserved scat. There must have been fully
five thousand people in the stand thai day. A Mexican band enter
tained the crowd with Spanish tunes, intermixed occasionally with
Yankee Doodle and other American tunes, and kept the waiting
crowd of many nations and peoples in good humor until the show
began. The proceedings opened with the entrance of a small
Mexican bull decorated with many colored flags. He stood still a
moment, looking in bewilderment at the great crowd of people out
of his reach, then circled the ring a few times, and finally
tossed with his horns two dummies which were thrown into the ring,
much to the delight of the audience. By a side door there now
entered a Mexican dressed in a gay colored suit, carrying in one
hand a red flag, and in the other a long, sharp lance. The band
struck up a gay tune and the death struggle began. The bull
dashed and plunged fiercely at his daring antagonist who skillfully
evaded the thrust of his horns when il appeared lo us that he must
certainly be impaled. Then after stepping aside from the bull's
mad charge, he would prick him with his lance to enrage him the
more, thus torturing the poor brute until it was time to close the
first act in the tragedy by thrusting his lance into the heart o the
animal. The band then struck up its music again while the audience
cheered and waved their hats and applauded, ns if a noble deed had
been done. The victorious Mexican proudly waved his bloody
lance, made many smiling bows to the audience, and backed out
of the ring like a great conqueror — over a poor little bull. The
slain animal was then dragged out of the ring and act one of the
cruel play was ended.
The second act was still more repulsive and inhuman. Two
bulls were put into the ring to mangle each other until they became
exhausted, whereupon two Spaniards, worthy of their proud blood,
exhibited their courage and prowess by entering the ring where
they faced the dreadful danger of the two exhausted and mangled
bulls. For a full half hour they tortured the poor suffering and

126 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
bleeding animals with sharp pointed swords to the delight of the
crowd of onlookers, and finally when their lust for blood was satis
fied, thrust Ihcir swords bravely and fearlessly into the hearts of the
almost dead animals.
The ring was now cleared for the final act, which had been
arranged at the special request of the citizens of Sonora and which
was to consist of u fight between a grizzly bear und the fiercest
bull which the Mexicans had. The bear had been raised from a
cub by one of the citizens, who could play with him as if he were a
dog, but who had allowed no other man to luy his hands on him.
The bear and its owner first entered the arena together and played
with each other to the amusement of the crowd. The man soon
left the ring and tho bull was let in. The bear took a position near
the flag-staff in the arena, while the bull circled around him several
limes, occasionally slopping lo bellow und paw up tho ground but
upprouchiug ucurer und nearer each time. The bear quietly watched
tho bull as ho drew near anil suddenly, springing forward, struck
him with one fore.paw on the side of his head, the blow knocking him
down, taking half the skin off his head and tearing out one of his
eyes. The bear did not touch the bull again but resumed his upright
position, and looked around the arena as much as to say, — "Bring
on another." The bull got up and staggered away until he struck
the wall, where he laid down. That closed the show. The bear's
owner jumped into tho ring, and calling him, shook hands with him,
hitched the leading chain to his neck und led him uway. He had
made more by the show than the showmen had, for he had heavy
bets on his favorite. This was my first and last bullfight. All my
desire to witness such sport was then and there satisfied. I have
never wanted to see another such exhibition of brutality. A country
that allows such exhibitions has no right to call itself civilized.
Nearly all the neighboring mining camps were represented at
Sonora that day and excitement ran high until Monday morning.
I had supper ut the Gilkey House that evening with the four Gilkey
boys, their father, mother and sister, and they entertained me with
the story of their experiences in those mining regions, while I told
them some of mine in the gold fields of Northern California. They
soon lourned thut my lust venture had been unsuccessful und lhat
I was anxious to get at work again. Ed, the hotel keeper, said
that he hud been estimating for one of the banks in the town on the

WITH THE SONORA GRAYS. 127
delivery of five hundred thousand feet of lumber from their saw-mill
ten miles up the mountain. At his invitation I went with him to the
bank and looked into the proposition. The lumber would have to
be brought down a ditch only eight feet wide and three feet deep and
delivered on the banks at a point where teams could reach it. It
seemed like a difficult job, but I was desperate and after forcing the
bankers to come up in their offer as far as possible I took the job
for Gilkey and myself promising to have the lumber delivered within
a month. The mill men promised on their part to have five hundred
rafts of lumber in the stream in six days, ready to run down, to keep
three feet of water running in the stream, and to furnish us with
enough money to pay our help each Saturday night. I was to
superintend the work, for which I was to receive two hundred
dollars, provided wc made that much. I camped and lived with
our hired men along the stream, working a night crew to keep the
lumber moving, and by the second week we were slicking lumber
at the landing, which proved to be Ihe hardest part of our work.
At the end of the fourth week, as wc were finishing our job,
Gilkey came into camp much excited, saying that a run had been
made on the bank that evening which had forced it to close its
doors. A mob of depositors had taken possession of the building
nnd had broken open the vaults but had found no gold. All the
deposits had disappeared with the bankers the day before. Two
other banks, one at Jamestown and the other at Columbia, both
of which were owned by the same parties, had then been taken
possession of by the depositors, but very little money was found in
either of them. The depositors, mostly miners, lost half a million
dollars in the three banks. But Gilkey and I did not intend to be
defrauded, and the next day we attached the lumber for our pay.
The Columbia Company, which had contracted for the lumber
through the bank, came forward promptly and paid all claims, and
after we had paid the workmen we had eight hundred dollars left
to be divided between us. Gilkey received three hundred dollars,
although he had done but little, while I got five hundred dollars for
the month's hard day and night work.
The day following the winding up of our work for the lumber
company I went with Gilkey up into the mountains on the Stanis
laus River, about twenty miles from Sonora, to inspect a large ranch.
There were five hundred acres of fine prairie land bordering on the

128 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
river, very level and entirely cleared, but surrounded with moun
tains which were covered with a fine growth of pine, spruce and
cedar. This ranch had been located two years before by a Missouri
family who hud built a good log house and burn und had occupied
it one year. They hud boon driven out by the deep snows of winter
and had abandoned the place for a farm which was away from the
mountain snows. Their claim on the land had become outlawed,
having been abandoned one year, and Gilkey had paid the man
fifty dollars for the buildings and his rights in the ranch. He
wanted me to form a partnership with him and to take up the
ranch and as I was much pleased with the land and its surroundings
I agreed to do so. It wus now the early part of Muy, just the proper
time to commence farming in the mountains, so we returned to
Sonora, and made preparations for moving the Gilkey family out
lo the farm. Wo purchased a team und two cows next duy, und on
the duy following I look u load of supplies and the two cows to the
ranch, while Gilkey promised to bring on the family within the next
two days.
I had been there but one day when a man named Lyons, who
owned a large ranch near Sonora, drove up and asked me what I was
doing on his ranch. I explained to him that Gilkey had bought
the rights to the ranch, thai I had gone into partnership with
him and that wo were going to develop it. lie replied that Gilkey
had no claim lo the place that would hold because the man whose
rights he had bought hud nothing to sell, for the ranch was his and
he meant to hold it. He carried a revolver in his belt and I noticed
a rifle in his buggy so I was afraid that he meant trouble. He came
back after an hour or so and told me that I had better send word at
once to Gilkey not to come onto the ranch, or otherwise he would
get into a great deal of trouble. I knew that Lyons lived near
Sonora so I advised him to see Gilkey himself and tell him what
he had told me. I explained to him that I was a stranger in the
vicinity and not acquainted with the facts in the case and that if
he was entitled lo the claim I wanted to know so at once so that I
could withdraw. I assured him that I didn't care for a ranch that
belonged to another as I thought there were plenty of good claims
in California without having to buy trouble with one. This seemed
to cool him somewhul and he wenl away saying he would sec Gilkey.
The visit from Lyons made me uneasy, and I was very anxious

WITH THE SONORA GRAYS. 129
until Gilkey and his wife and little girl drove in about dark. At the
first opportunity I got him out of his wife's hearing and told him of
Lyons' visit and of what he had said. He replied that this was the
first time that he had ever heard of such a claim, and said that
although Lyons had met him oil the road he had made no mention
of the claim. It didn't make me feel any easier when Gilkey said
that Lyons had the reputation of being the most dangerous man in
the county, and that he had killed three men since coming lo Cali
fornia, but that nevertheless he didn't intend to be scared out of hi3
claim but would hold it until he was cither bought out or killed.
He thought, however, that there was little likelihood of Lyons molest
ing us, as he had probably come out to take possession of the ranch
and finding me here had tried to scare me off.
But my fears of Lyons had not been groundless. The next
morning we saw a tent located near our house and found Lyons and
four other men with two loads of timber starting to build a house.
Gilkey and I went over to the spot and asked Lyons on what he
based his claim to this ranch. He replied that he had filed a claim
on the ranch to take effect when the first man's claim ran out, that
he was on the claim at that time, and finding me there had ordered
me off, and that if we didn't want trouble we had better leave at
once. When 1 asked him why he had not spoken to Mr. Gilkey
about the mailer the day before as he had promised me, he replied
that, he hail not wished lo start trouble in the presence of Gilkey 's
wife and little girl. The discussion grew hot and both men became
very angry and I feared lest they would use the pistols which they
were carrying. I tried to cool them down by suggesting that we
take the matter to court, but Lyons declared with an oath that no
court in California would ever decide this case. I finally took
Gilkey by the arm and drew hint away from Lyons. We took
counsel at the house and I advised him to go at once to Sonora and
consult with the judge and a good lawyer. Gilkey did not wish to
leave his family and urged me to go in his place, and this I agreed
to do. I reached Sonora before noon and laid the matter before
the judge, who said that Gilkey would have to contest his case in
the United States court, but that he had better leave the ranch at
onec as Lyons was the worst man in the county to deal with. I
told him the whole story and asked him to write a letter to Gilkey,
repeating what he had told me as I feared that if he stayed at
10

130 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
the ranch much longer there would be bloodshed. I took the
letter which he wrote and called on a friend of Gilkey's who was a
lawyer, and who also gave me a loiter advising Gilkey if he regarded
his life as worth anything, to leave the ranch at once. I returned
by way of the home of Gilkey's brother, where I took dinner and
he gave me another note to Gilkey advising him to give up the ranch.
I reached the ranch soon after dark and found a scene of excite
ment. Lyons, it seems, had been to the house and ordered Gilkey
off the ranch at once. Gilkey had opened fire on him and both men
had emptied their revolvers at each other, but they were so excited
that neither had been hit, although one ball had passed through
the hair of Gilkey's little girl. I handed Gilkey the three letters
without a word, and after reading them he said that although the
advice was good he wus going to slay on the ranch. His wife
begged him lo leave al once und 1, who was tired of the whole affair,
told him Ihut I should leave Ihut. night as I regarded my life as of
more value lo mo tliu.ii all the ranches iu California. He said that
I was a coward to go and leave him, but I didn't bother to answer
that. I offered to take the team and carry his wife and child back
to Sonora, where they would be out of danger but he would not
listen to it. After supper I made Mrs. Gilkey a present of my
interest in the team and cows and started on foot for Sonora, carry
ing my satchel.
My five days' experience at farming in California had proved too
exciting for mo and I wus determined to gel so fur away from that
ranch that I would not be troubled with it again. I kept walking
all night and did not halt until I reached a mining claim near James
town, which was beyond Sonora, and here I stopped for breakfast.
I then walked on until I reached Jacksonville, a mining town on
Tuolumne River, seventeen miles from Sonora, where I found a
Michigan friend who wus mining alone on the south bank of the
river. I slopped at. his cluim and helped him that nflernoon. He
hud built u wing dam to turn the water off from his claim and he
said that he hud been making good wuges for the past four weeks
und hud all the space he could work until high water cumc. The
cluim looked good so I bought un interest in il, und having purchased
a long loin, sluice boxes and a largo canvas hand pump, wont lo
work in earnest. It proved a fine investment for inc. I hud been
at Jacksonville two weeks when one day the man with whom I

WITH THE SONORA GRAYS. 131
boarded showed me an article in the Sonora Herald, giving a detailed
account of the trouble between Gilkey and Lyons and speaking of
me as Gilkey's partner who had left the ranch one night and had
not been seen or heard of since. A large number of men had been
searching the country for me, as they had concluded from my
absence that Lyons had killed me. As soon as I saw the article I
got a horse and rode to Sonora where I met Gilkey on the street.
He seemed very much surprised as he had believed that I had been
killed. He said that his family were still at the ranch, and that he
was going to hold it. I went with him to his brother's house
and after an hour's persuasion got him to agree to leave the ranch
and settle the matter in the United States court. I gave him one
hundred dollars and sent one hundred dollars to his wife, on his
promise that he would leave the ranch at once.
I returned lo Jacksonville that night and worked out the claim,
and once more found myself possessing a good sum of money. My
partner returned lo Michigan while 1 went to Columbia, where I
found Gilkey again keeping hotel. At Columbia I bought another
claim. The soil here was a blue clay which had to be dug, then
dried in the sun and kept under cover where it would stay dry until
the rainy season set in, when there would be water to wash the
gold out. Some of these claims were very rich. This gold-bearing
clay lay between cliffs of while limestone rocks which pointed up
to or near the surface of the ground, and dipped down on some
claims for two hundred feet. At the bottom of these clay beds was
a bed of fine gravel, which was easily washed without drying, and
which was rich in gold. Mining in this clay was an expensive
proposition. One set of men dug out the clay in the pit, then hoisted
it with ropes and pulleys and man-power to the surface, where others
spread it out to dry, pounding and mashing the lumps into smaller
pieces to facilitate the drying, while still another set of men wheeled
the dried dirt into mounds and covered il with canvas or boards to
protect it until the winter rains came. Then with the coming of the
rainy season the long toms were put to work and all hands were kept
busy reaping the golden harvest. Like other claims some of these
made their owners rich, others gave them fair wages and still others
were a dead loss.
The Water Company charged so much for the use of their water
that the claims could not well pay much. This robbery, as it was

132 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
called, led to the assembling of a convention of miners who organ
ized a stock company for the purpose of building a ditch to carry
water from Stanislaus River, a distance of thirty-five miles. The
day following the meeting stock enough was taken to build it and
a surveyor was at once put to work. I spent a month assisting
the surveyors in this job and luler three men und I as partners took
one mile of this canal to dig. Our portion of the work was fifteen
miles up in the mountains east of Columbia. The canal was to be
twelve feet wide and six feet deep and forty rods of our mile ran
through solid rock, which had either to be blasted through or
buill over by a flume. One-half of the contract price was to be
paid in company stock and the other half iu cash. We built a log
shanty to live in, and on the twentieth of May, after about three
months' work, our job was finished. The lower fifteen miles of
canal was now finished, but the upper ton miles could not be com
pleted until the snow went off. For a lime wc helped iu the con
struction of u suw-mill which the company was building on the
mountain-side near Ihe section of tho cunal which we had completed,
and a ter that was finished returned to our claim and commenced
digging out blue clay again and drying it in the sun. On account of
our new canal, the slock of the old Tuolumne County Ditch Com
pany that had boon selling at un advance of five times its par value
wont down below par. The now company agreed to furnish water
at one-fouilh Ihe price of the old company and every claim which Ihe
new ditch could reach wus taken up and worked, the increase of
business giving new life to afl the surrounding towns. I aguin
boarded at the Gilkey House. Mrs. Gilkey set a very good table
and, as she would not allow the sale of liquor in her house, she had a
quiet and orderly lot of boarders.
One Suturduy evening, about the first of July, I happened to be
at Sonora when a telegram came to tho sheriff advising him that a
prominent man had boon killed by his partner at Columbia and that
a mob was determined lo hung the murderer. The message culled
on tho sheriff to send the Sonora Grays, a militia company, to
protect the man. The wire wus cut by the mob after this message
was sent and we had no further communication. About thirty of
the company and ten citizens armed with revolvers, I among them,
started for Columbia on the doub e quick, led by Ihe sheriff and the
captain of the Grays. When we reached Columbia we found that

WITH THE SONORA GRAYS. 133
the mob had torn the iron door from the calaboose, and had dragged
the prisoner, with a rope around his neck, to the trestle work of a
high flume. Here, by the light of a bonfire, they were giving him
a mob law trial. There was a crowd of probably three thousand
men, most of them shouting for his execution before even any kind
of trial was had but some of the belter and more level-headed citi
zens risking their own lives in attempts lo prevent the outrage.
The prisoner who was exhausted by the violence which he had
already suffered at the hands o!' the mob had given up hope, and
asked only for time to make his will and for a lawyer to draw it for
him. Before the will was finished the crowd heard that the sheriff
and the Sonora Grays had arrived. The sheriff ordered us to fire our
revolvers over the heads of the mob and to make a dash for the
prisoner. Wc found him with one end of the rope around his neck
and the other over the flume. The mob yelled madly to haul him
up. The sheriff cut the rope only lo have another noose thrown
over the man's nock. It was a terrific fight for the prisoner's life.
Time and again we cut the rope only to have another one take its
place. Once, in the wild excitement, a rope was placed around
another man's neck, and he was drawn six feet into the air before
the mob saw the mistake. For about ten minutes the struggle
went on and for a time we thought, we could save Ihe prisoner but
he was so injured thai he could not. help himself, and at lust we were
overpowered and he was hauled up more dead Ihuii alive. Ilul the
ci. plain of flic (bays had yet another trick to play, for ns soon ns
the prisoner was pulled up above the heads of the mob, he ordered
his men to fire at the rope, and the body fell to the ground again.
It was a vain effort for the mob drew him up once more, and the
leaders, to be sure of their victim, filled his dangling and senseless
body with revolver balls. The mob leaders then gave orders to
leave his body hanging there until Sunday night, and although
thousands of men went to see the dangling corpse that day no one
had the courage to take it down and bury it.
I had heard of men being hanged by mobs before, but this was
the first lynching I had seen. During the fight two other men had
been so badly injured that they died the next day. When I witnessed
the bull-fight in Sonora, and saw the brutality of man towards dumb
animals, I had concluded that these men had become mere brutes
themselves and had struck their lowest level. But when I saw this

134 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
worse than brutul mob, composed of people professing to be civilized,
I made up my mind thai human beings sometimes fall far below
tho brutes, becoming more savage and inhuman than animals, and
possessing the full nature and spirit of demons of the lowest pit.
During that same month a mob took a horse-thief from the jail at
Sonora and hung him from the limb of a tree, in the middle of the
street, and left his body dangling all day as a pretended warning to
all horse thieves. Some months later two Mexicans were legally
tried and convicted of murder before a jury in Sonora and theirs
were said to be the first executions ever performed in accordance
with the law in a California mining town.
That night when marching with the- Sonora Grays to Columbia,
I became acquainted with the sheriff and with several men of the
military company, who invited me to come and drill with them once
u week. This 1 did for four weeks, thus securing my first lessons
in military tactics. I learned easily and the captain said thut if I
would join the company, Ihey would make me their captain the
next year. But I told him that 1 had been a lloulor since reaching
California and had not stayed long enough in any one place to hold
such a position. The Sonora Grays was the only state militia com
pany located iu a mining town in California and was composed
mainly of young men who were not permanently located, so that
it wus difficult to keep up the organization. Those four nights of
drill in the use of the old bungling flint-lock musket, with that
company of daring spirits, fired the military spirit in me and poured
a. feeling of patriotism through my youthful system which kindled
in me a soldierly ardor that has never quite died out.
General William Walker, of filibuster fame, had at this time just
conducted an unsuccessful expedition into the State of Sonora, in
Northwest Mexico and had been driven out with most of his men,
barely escaping with his life. He was now getting up an expedition
to Nicaruguu, ncurly three thousand miles down tho coast. I told
my partners that if 1 could sell my mining interest ul a fair price
I would join tho expedition, for I believed Walker would succeed
and Ihut Nicaragua would become a prosperous country. But they
told me thai it would be sure death to join his expedition, und ufter
learning more about tho country and its climate, I decided thut it
was a doubtful proposition and stayed on our claim until it was all
worked out.

WITH THE SONORA GRAYS. 135
January, 1856, had come, and I was again out of business with
nothing in sight, unless I searched for another claim. It looked to
me as if mining for gold was an uncertain business. I was still
boarding with Gilkey. Lyons was as yet in possession of our ranch
for the court had not decided the question of ownership. Gilkey
had become discouraged and despondent over the trouble and was
morose and ill-tempered, making it unpleasant for his family and
friends. The father and mother of this family, who once owned a
fine farm on the banks of the Grand River in Michigan and were
fairly prosperous there, died of old age soon after reaching Cali
fornia, and I have learned that afterwards the boys became rough
characters, often getting into trouble, and that three of them died
at different times with their boots on. Similar stories can be told
of too many once happy families who left pleasant and promising
homes to go to the Pacific Coast in the days of "Gold Fever," in
the hope of quickly gaining wealth. I decided to return to Michi
gan and sold my three thousand dollars worth of stock iu the new
canal for two thousand dollars, which I added to the fifteen hundred
I had made working our last claim, packed my clothes in my carpet
bag and started for San Francisco. I travelled by stage to Stockton
where I stopped one day and then took the boat to San Francisco.

CHAPTER VII.
Under Walker in Nicaragua.
I found San Francisco bustling with excitement. General
Richardson had been murdered by gamblers, and as the author
ities seemed unable to do anything to improve conditions a
vigilance committee consisting of the best men in the city was
organized, proclaimed marshal law, and ordered every gam
bler a.nd outlaw to leave within three days. The committee also
arrested, tried and executed two gamblers named Corey and
Casey for the actual murder. At Ihe end of the three days of grace
all the gamblers, outlaws and pugilists remaining in the town,
numbering over four hundred, were arrested, photographed and
measured and then placed upon a sailing vessel bound for Australia
with the warning that if they ever returned they would be summarily
hanged. The city was intensely excited over this exodus when I
arrived and there were also stories in the air regarding Walker's
expedition to Nicaragua that increased the excitement. News
had conic that this expedition was practically sure of success,
ns the filibustering forces had taken possession of a large part
of Ihccounlry. Several of Walker's officers were in Ihe city actively
engaged in collecting funds lo aid him, and secretly recruiting men
for his force. This had to be carried on under cover as United
States officers were watching every move and arresting anyone
found to be engaged in filibustering. Two of Wralker's lieutenants
had been arrested and were in prison awaiting trial at the time of
our arrival. But the recruiting was not stopped by these arrests.
Even while the trial was going on I, in company with three young
miners from Wisconsin, enlisted in the Filibuster's service. Our
enlistment was under the following conditions. First, each of us
took oath to divulge nothing as to our enlistment, nor to speak of
it to anyone outside of our party of four. Secondly, the recruiting
officer promised lo furnish us with the money for the purchase of
tickets lo New York via Nicaragua on the regular passenger steamer
Sonora which was the next boat to leave. Thirdly, we were to
serve in Walker's regiment and in case the expedition was a success,
137

138 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
were to be given our choice of a large tract of either funning or
mineral land, and wore also to have positions us officers in Wulker's
army. If the Sonora arrived on lime, she would leave Sun Francisco
twelve days after our enlistment. The time until then was ours
to use as we pleased. The first thing that we did was to send home
what extra money we had on hand, and after consultation with
a banker we did this by means of duplicate drafts, the buyer keeping
the original and a duplicate being sent to the one who was to receive
the money in case the buyer and the original draft did not
appear. Two of the Wisconsin men who were with me sent home
thirty thousand dollars and I remarked that if I had half that
amount I would never join a filibustering party. They replied that
they had left good homes to make a fortune, and did not consider
thirty thousand dollars a fortune, that Ihey believed if Nicaragua
wore conquered it would mean the fortune of every man who
hud a share iu il. Wo spent, most of our lime until ihe Sonora
arrived in seeing Ihe sights iu the city, und in visiting the vessels
in the hurbor. The only exciting occurrence that happened during
this time was a mild earthquake that shook us out of our beds
about midnight one night and sent us hurrying into the streets
in our night clothes. The quake caused plenty of excitement,
but aside from cracking the walls of some now brick buildings it
did no damage.
The Sonora came iu on time and went through the customary
process of unloading passengers, cargo, and several boatloads of
mail. Again the long lines formed at the postoffiee; I suggested
to my friends that if we took places in the lines and sold them to the
highest bidder we would muke more money in a day than Walker
would give us for a month's hard service carrying a musket over
the mountains and valleys of Nicaragua. They took up with my
suggestion and so when the delivery windows wore opened we
were in line wit.li our dinners uud camp stools at window "S",
tho throe Wisconsin men saying that I here wore probably more men
doing business in the city under the name of Smith than under any
other and lhat our chances of selling our positions would bo better
under the leLlcr S than elsewhere. About one hundred men were in
line when wo took our places. Il wus three hours nfter wo got in lino
before the window opened and men at the head of the line then

UNDER WALKER IN NICARAGUA. 139
sold their places for twenty-five dollars each but before we got
near the price was down to fifteen dollars. We four had agreed
among ourselves to sell out jointty for fifty dollars and just before
we reached the window four business men paid us this amount
for our places. We went to the rear again in a line now including
two hundred men. To buyers who passed along tho line wc said
that the four of us would sell our places for forty dollars, and one
buyer offered to pay us that stun if we would hold our places until
we got within ten men of the window. We accepted his offer,
and he gave us ten dollars to bind the bargain saying that if he
was not on hand to take our places at the time mentioned the
deposit was ours. He was on hand with three other men at the
appointed time, paid us the additional thirty dollars, and again
wc went to the foot of the line which was now longer than before.
We repealed the performance for the third time, again getting
forty dollars for our four positions, and then the business men
having secured their mail and our ship soon being due to sail we
gave up the profitable business.
The Sonora sailed with more than seven hundred passengers
on board. The trip took fourteen days, with one stop at All-
chapulco for coal and water. At this stop the Mexicans came on
board by hundreds and amused us by diving from the upper deck
after small silver coins which wc threw into the water and which
they caught before Ihey reached Ihe bottom. The climax of the
exhibition came when the captain threw a silver dollar into Ihe
air and ten natives dove from the wheel house for the prize. Our
trip was a very pleasant one, as we had a well furnished table, good
weather and no sickness. We had no means of knowing how many
recruits there were for Walker on board as each man had been sworn
to speak to no one as to his destination and purpose. On the
morning of the fiftecnlh day wc anchored in Salinas Bay, San
Juan Del Morte, where wc wore landed in' small boats, the recruits
going first. A box of old muskets went with the first boatload
of twenty-five men and there was an officer on shore to receive
the men, form them into line and give them their arms. My
partners and I were in the second boatload and in half an hour
after we reached shore one hundred and sixteen young men, all
from California, had been landed, armed and equipped for active
military duty. The officer who received us read his orders,

140 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
assigning as our first duty the guarding of the gold that was on
board the steamer to Virgin Bay, on Lake Nicaragua, about twenty
miles distant.
This California gold, in its native state, was packed in strong
boxes and was on the way to the mint in Philadelphia. As General
Walker was in control of the district the navigation company had
called upon him to protect the treasure over the twenty miles of
land transportation. At ten o'clock that morning two six mule
teams started with the treasure for Virgin City and our company
fell into line, half in front of the teams and half behind, with orders
to be ready for an attack at any moment. It was a strangely
dressed company of adventurers. Every man was dressed to
suit himself. More than half of us were clothed just as we came
from the mines of California, with thick boots, heavy wool trousers,
a leather belt al the waist lo hold up our trousers und to curry a
revolver, a heavy woolen shirt worn outside the trousers with from
from two to four rows of bullous extending from the shoulders
down the front lo Ihe waist, and with hats of every style from a
close fitting skull cap to a broad brimmed Mexican straw hat.
One man, who had evidently been employed in an office, was dressed
in a swallow tailed coat and high silk hut. Four Englishmen,
seemingly just come over, wore dressed in knickerbockcr corduroy
suits. Tho command was given and we started on the first ten miles
of the up grade trail, all of us in good spirits after our twenty-five
hundred mile voyage. When we reached tho top of the watershed,
we could look down upon the great fresh water lake of Nicaragua,
a splendid body of inland water, forty miles wide and more than
one hundred miles long. At this point many of the passengers
from our steamer who were mounted on bronchos passed us as they
wore anxious to reuch tho harbor on the lake and gel aboard the
other bout for the night. We made the twenty mile trip in six
hours, and went into camp with a few others of Walker's soldiers
who were guarding Ihe town which had been captured only u few
days previous. There were no wharves and the big steamer was
forty rods from shore. As the lake wus rough und unsafe for
small boats thut evening, the disappointed passengers wore obliged
to spend tho night in the small Spanish town which had no hotel

UNDER WALKER IN NICARAGUA. 141
nor any kind of decent accommodations. Half of our company
were kept on guard during the night, while the other half slept
in five tents and were far more comfortable than the six hundred
passengers who were stranded in the town. The wind went down
towards morning and the people were taken on board. Wc received
orders lo go on board the steamer, cross the lake and proceed
down the San Juan River lo Fori San Carlos, where we were to
await further orders from General Walker who was with his main
force near Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, eighty miles cast
of us. Before the steamer was ready to sail, word came by special
messenger that Walker and his men had been compelled to surrender
and that the General was being tried by court martial at Managua.
Our captain did not believe the story, which if true meant the
downfall of all our hopes, and said that he would follow his instruc
tions and lead us to Fort San Carlos.
At the foot of the rapids on the San Juan River the passengers
and baggage were unloaded from the lake boat and transferred
two miles by land around the rapids to a river boat. Here we
again did duty as guard for the gold which we were protecting.
The San Juan River forms the boundary between Costa Rica and
Nicaragua, and runs through a tropical forest so dense that we could
not sci! five rods back from the banks of the river. Alligators lined
the banks, monkeys frisked and played in the trees and parrots
flew screeching over our heads as wc went down the river. Wc
camped at the rapids thai night and the next morning boarded
two river boats. Al noon wc lauded al Fort San Carlos
where we found a company of fifty men, all Californians.
I knew the lieutenant in command of this force for he had
been a miner at Poor Man's Creek. He had heard of Walker's
surrender and had determined to disband his company and
to leave the country at once in order to avoid trouble. Our
captain after hearing his story became convinced that the game
was up and calling us into line explained the situation to us,
advising us to get out of the country as soon as wc could. He
said that although he was a nephew of General Walker he meant
to get back to the United Stales as soon as he possibly could as
there was nothing that could be done here. He told us that wc
might take our guns with us, if wc wished, as we would probably

142 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
receive no other pay for our brief military service. Some of us
carried our guns along and started for the river boat which
was on its way to Graytown, where we could take a regular passen
ger steamer for New York. Eighty-five of our company decided
to go to their homes in the different states while the balance of
our number crossed the Isthmus again and returned to California.
Those of us who were going back to our homes in the States
boarded the river boat which carried us to Graytown where we
secured transportation on a New York steamer leaving that night.
Wc were only too glad to bid farewell to Nicaragua. The trip
required ton days, our only stop being at Havana where we delayed
six hours taking on coul. I went ushore for a few hours and thought
myself well repaid by tho sights of the old Spanish town. The
news of Walker's capture had been received by the Spanish with
great rejoicing as his first expedition hud been nia.de lo Cuba,
where he. had been captured and court inarlialed and where but
for the interference of the United Stales authorities ho would prob
ably huvo boon executed. Al Managua tho court martial
sentenced him lo be shot, but uguin the United Stutes consul
saved his life us well as the lives of several of his staff. But his
failures and narrow escapes did not deter him. Tn 1858 he planned
an expedition against Honduras, and he and his men, while on board
a sailing vessel, were cuptured by a British man-of-war near the
custom coast and their plans came to naught. Once more and
for the lust time he left Now Orleans in 1800 with over one thousand
well armed recruits, landed them on the northern coast of Hon
duras and having captured several towns, proclaimed himself
president. But the forces were too strong for him and he was
finally compelled to surrender, and after trial by court-murtial
at Truxillo, ho wus shot on the plaza of the capitol grounds in
September, 1800.
Wo encountered rough weather all the way from Havana to
New York and most of us had a bud time with sou-sickucss. We
were seven duys in muking the usuul five days voyage and land
never looked so good lo me us it did when wo reached New York
Buy. Some four hundred of the passengers, myself included
wore dressed in miners clothing and our first act upon reaching
shore was to buy now clothes. My throe comrades iu the Nica-

UNDER WALKER IN NICARAGUA. 143
ragua campaign left for their homes in Wisconsin and I accom
panied them as far as Micliigan. The last stage of my journey was
made on horseback, through the woods, to my mother's home where
I was warmly welcomed by mother, sisters and brothers after
my absence of four years. And now at the age of seventy-two,
as I write from memory the story of my experiences during
those four years, it all seems to me like a far distant and pleasant
dream.

CHAPTER VIII.
Still a VVandioiirh.
The first few days after reaching home were spent in visiting rela
tives and friends and in telling them the story of my experiences and
the time passed very pleasantly. But after the novelty of being
at home had passed I grew uneasy and restless and once more faced
the question of what I should do. The ways of the people at home
were so different from what I had grown accustomed to in my four
years' life in California that I felt out of place, and determined to
return to the Golden West at my earliest opportunity. The op
portunity came through the excuse of visiting relatives in New York
and placing my favorite sister iu school there. We went by way
of Niagara Falls where we stopped over for a day to sec the sights,
and then we visited our relatives in New YTork State. Having
concluded my visit and placed my sister in a good school, I bade my
relatives goodbye, anil started for New York City intending to take
the first steamer for Panama. I reached the city al evening and
went at once to the dock, where I found that every berth on the boat
had been taken and thai, if I sailed I would have lo sleep on my
blankets on the lower floor. In spile of the fact that 1 had roughed
it for years I didn't like this idea and so decided to go to New Orleans
with some other miners and sail on a boat which was due to leave
there two weeks later. The trip appealed lo me as it would give
me an opportunity to visit Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore,
Cincinnati, Louisville, Harrisburg and Pittsburg.
The next morning therefore I took the train for Washington ar
riving at noon, and spent the afternoon in looking over what seemed
to me to be a very dirty and dilapidated place for the Capitol of
such a great nation. The next two days I spent in Philadelphia
and Baltimore, which seemed more interesting to me than Washing
ton. From Baltimore I went by rail to Harrisburg and thence
had a delightful daylight ride through the mountains to Pittsburg.
I took passage on a river boat that night to Cincinnati where I
spent the following day. The journey from Cincinnati lo Louisville
11 145

146 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
was made by a small river boat and at Louisville, after a twenty-
four hours' wait, we took a large Mississippi packet to New Orleans.
In all the cities near the border of the slave states, and on all the
river boats the only public question which we heard agitated was
that of slavery. Every man from the north seemed to be closely
watched, and if he spoke a single word against the "beautiful
southern institution " someone was sure to call him to order, or make
dire threats against him. Our party of ten soon saw that it would
be our best policy to keep discreetly quiet on that subject while in
a section entertaining views to which our own were hostile. It was
during Fremont's campaign for the presidency, four years before the
election of Lincoln and the beginning of the War of the Rebellion,
yet steamboats had already been stopped on the Ohio River, north
ern men had boon taken from them and landed on tho Indiana
and Illinois shore and told lo return home ami slay there and not to
meddle with the peculiar institution of the South. Some of the
Southerners on Ihe boat inquired what our business wus on Ihe
lower Mississippi River. Our reply ihut we wore going to Now
Orleans to take tho Panama steamer for California seemed to satisfy
them, and to allay their fears of an invasion by us ten young men
for the purpose of breaking up their "groat and lawful institution."
There were slaves on our boat who had been bought in Kentucky by
southern slave holders. They wore chained and handcuffed to
gether, some of the younger and more powerful ones being chained
singly, on the lower deck, lo prevent escape. Our bout stopped at
many places for passengers or freight and the towns and cities which
we saw looked dull und dilapidated, as if dying for want of the enter
prise und intelligence which would not enter as long as slavery was
alive. Upon reaching New Orleans wc found that the boat from Panama
wus not yet in, and as it was not duo lo leave until five days uflcr
its arrival we sought boarding places for the length of our stay.
After spending three days viewing the sights of the city, wo learned
Ihut the steamer wus quaruiilincd ul the mouth of Ihe river one
hundred miles below the city, because of cholera on board. The
word cholera ended our hopes of reaching California by this route
und of uny desire wo may have had for slaying on in New Orleans.
The next day we look a bout up the river to St. Louis, twelve hun
dred miles north, quite undecided as to what wo were to do when we

STILL A WANDERER. 147
reached there. The prospect of an invasion of cholera put a sudden
quietus to the slavery question, and on our way to St. Louis we heard
very little said about it.
I was the only one of our party who had been in California and the
rest expected me to answer the question of what to do next. I told
them that there was yet plenty of time to reach California by cross
ing the plains, provided wc could get mustangs to ride. Before
reaching St. Louis we had decided to go to Fort Leavenworth on the
Missouri River where we thought we could get an outfit for the trip.
We stayed but one day in St. Louis, then took a Missouri River boat
for Fort Leavenworth, where we found we could get our outfit.
The commandant at the Fort told us it would be a hazardous
undertaking to cross the plains at this time, however, as the Mormons
were in rebellion and had stirred up the neighboring tribes of Indians
to assist them. A large force, he said, was then being organized to
subjugate Ihe Mormons and to enforce the territorial laws of Utah.
This body of troops was expected at the Fort within ten days and
he offered us good employment until the expedition should start
saying that we could accompany it. I told him that I had crossed
the plains a few years before over the same route, and upon hearing
this he asked me into his private office, questioned me about the
country and said that if 1 would wait until the expedition was ready
to start he felt sure that he could gel me a position on the com
mander's staff as my knowledge of the plains would be of value .
In the meantime he offered me a job superintending the construc
tion of a long line of temporary barracks and, as this was just the
kind of a job I was accustomed to, I accepted it. The next morning
all the men who had been with me for the past two weeks went to
work for the government. Within a few days troops began to
rendezvous at the fori, most of them coming by boat up the Missouri
River. Two large trains of supplies composed of six mule teams
with a few troops had already been sent forward to Fort Kearney,
three hundred miles further wcsL, and by the twenty-fifth of June,
the main body of troops numbering three thousand men and com
posed of cavalry, infantry and three batteries of artillery were ready
to move forward. At the last moment orders were received not to
undertake the expedition until the next spring because of the late
ness of the season.
This order caused me to change my plans once more and I con-

148 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
eluded to return home and make a new start. Some of my associates
left for their homes, two enlisted in the Light Artillery and two others
were given steady work at tho fort as carpenters. I was offered a
good job but declined it and went back home by way of Chicago.
The last eight miles of my journey was made on foot in the night.
I found ull the family asleep, and without awakening anyone went
lo the room I had occupied three months before, and on the next
morning (July second) surprised them all by walking out lo the
breakfast table just us they were silting down. The surprise and
shock wus too much for my mother, who supposed mo lo bo in
Culiforniu, und she broke down und sobbed on my shoulder. I told
them of my recent movements and of tho incidents which hud kept
mo from getting back to California, and ended by celebrating the
anniversary of our independence wilh our fumily ul home. I
decided lo slay iu Michigan until the next spring und then make
another start for the West. But my mother asked me why I could
not settle down among my friends, as I hud u good piece of land und
money with which to improve it. She reminded me that I would soon
be twenty-five years old, and said that it was time for me to cease
being a wanderer and to make a home of my own. She urged me
so hard that I finally promised her that I would do as she wished.
On tho sixth of July, therefore, I left my mother's homo fully de
termined lo go and clear the piece of new laud I had houghl of the
government before I left for California, which was located twenty
miles north of (baud linpids.
There was no slagc route to my claim so 1 was obliged to walk Ihe
distance of seventy miles carrying my satchel and a new ax, the
most important tool in a new and heavily lumbered country. The
second night after leaving I reached tho home of an uncle, within
eight miles of my land. I told him of my plans and asked him to
recommend a good chopper who would do his share of charing forty
acres of land by the first of September. Ho recommended a man
whom he had hired recently, but said that I would huvo to pay him
the high wages of twelve dollars per month and board, as ho was a
first-class worker. A message was sent to this man and he came to
see me that evening, and as I liked his looks I decided to hire him
for three months. He wanted thirty-six dollars for tho throe months
wages, and I told him that this wus sutisfuctory and that if wc got
forty acres chopped in good shape in three months, I would pay him

STILL A WANDERER. 149
forty-five dollars. The next morning my uncle took his ox team
and wagon nnd made the trip to the nearest store, six miles away,
whore he purchased a load of supplies for me and carried them lo my
claim. In the afternoon of the following day wc began work putting
up a log shanty, which wc completed by noon of the second day.
On the tenth day of September the forty acres of limber along the
south side of my claim were chopped into five windrows, each eight
rods long. I paid my man his forty-five dollars, left my ax and cook
ing utensils with a neighbor and started for my uncle's house. The
next morning my uncle took his one horse buckboard and drove me
to Grand Rapids, and from there I walked to my mother's home.
The following week the Michigan State Agricultural Fair was held
in Detroit, and my eldest brother and I attended it. We walked
the forty miles to Jackson to reach the Micliigan Central Railroad.
At Ann Arbor we stopped off for two days and visited relatives at
Saline, my birthplace. From Saline we walked the fifteen miles to
Ypsilanti and there took the train again for Detroit and the Fair.
On our return home we visited the Stale Prison at Jackson, where
the warden, William Hammond, who was a friend of ours, offered
me a position as guard, which I accepted. The following day found
me walking my beat as an armed guard on top of the high stone wall
surrounding flic prison grounds, with the promise of a place ns over
seer in the prison in three mouths. On January 1, 1857, I received
notice of promotion to a position as overseer iu one of Ihe shops of
the prison with an increase in pay. But the inside work was not
what I liked and I soon gave notice of my resignation, lo take effect
the first of March. In the meantime I had written the officer in
command at Fort Leavenworth, asking him if I could have the posi
tion which he hud promised me the preceding spring in the expedi
tion to Utah, if I returned in the sluing. My letter reached him
on the Rio Grande River, where he was stationed wilh his company
on guard duty along the Mexican border. He replied that he had
written about me to General Sidney Johnson who was in command
of the expedition, and advised me to write to him personally. I
accordingly wrote General Johnson informing him of my experience
on the plains. I received answer that every staff position was filled,
but that I could have an appointment as assistant wagon master if
I would enlist in the regular service. This I declined to do.

CHAPTER IX.
Early Days in Minnesota.
When the first of March came I left the prison service and went
home, but the western fever had its hold upon me and I was restless
and dissatisfied. Crowds of settlers were at this time rushing to
the new territory of Minnesota and I decided to follow them. Soon
after I reached home from Jackson, I started for St. Paul by way of
Galena, Dubuque, La Crosse and Winona, getting the first boat
that broke throught the ice to St. Paul that spring. At St. Paul I
took passage on the Time and Tide for the Sioux Agency, five hun
dred miles up the Minncsola River, beyond the historic Indian
town of Mcndota on the left bank and Fort Snelliug on the right.
Fort Snelliug was located on a high rocky bluff, near the junction of
the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers, and was for many years the
headquarters of the United States forces in the Northwest. Twenty-
five miles above Fort Snclling the boat made its first landing at
the stirring young town of Shakopee, named in honor of a cele
brated Sioux chief. Fifty miles above Shakopee was Shuska, mi
Indian village, and following il came llelle Plain, a county scat of
some importance where many of the passengers left the boat looking
for land and many more came on board to go farther up the river in
search of better locations. It was said that every piece of good land
for two hundred miles above St. Paul had been located and laid out
as a village plot or town site, with a hotel or store of some kind
erected to start the place, and a saloon and blacksmith shop added
as soon as the population made it possible. All those enterprises had
becti started during the two years time thai had elapsed since the
land had been purchased from the Sioux Indians. The river formed
the line between counties and laud speculators had located many
"county scats" on the river, so that there was no plot of land which
they offered for sale which was not "near a county seat."
We passed many new towns bustling with the constant coining of
settlers from the eastern states and from Europe. At Lc Sueur, one
hundred and fifty miles above St. Paul, two hundred passengers
left the boat and about one hundred came on board. We were carry-
151

152 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
ing u heavy loud of freight for the Indian agencies, and this, with our
crowd of passengers, made il very difficult ul limes for the stern
wheeler lo make much progress against the swift current. When wc
came in sight of Kusola, Colonel Flundruu, the Indian agent on
board, told some of us thut although it was ton miles by river to St.
Peter, it was only one mile on fool over a good road and invited us
to walk across and lighten the boat. Nearly all of us took the
walk. The bout did not arrive until lute und the captain announced
to the crowd thai wus waiting, that he would not leave until four
o'clock the next morning.
Morton L. Wilkinson, a young lawyer whom I hud known at
home, who wus now u member of the Minnesota territorial legisla
ture and also a member of the Constitutional Convention which was
soon to be held at St. Paul, hud been a passenger on the boat with
Agent Flundriin and invited me lo go to the hotel anil slay over
night with them. Colonel Flundruu wus u young westerner who had
lived wilh the Sioux Indians for several years. lie was dressed in
u buckskin suit, wearing his long, straight, light-colored huir bung
ing down to his shoulders. Ho had a kind and pleasant word for
everyone and was a favorite among ull tho passengers. While at the
hotel thul night ho became interested in my California experiences
und kept nic tolling stories most of tin: evening. Wilkinson hud
left Michigan for Minnesota the same year thai I went lo Cali
fornia, and he told Flundruu thul night that the reason ho had not
gone lo California wilh me was because ho could not raise enough
money lo buy an ox loain. Before und during the Civil Wur Wil
kinson was United States senator from Minnesota and was consid
ered one of the ablest and most loyal men in the Senate.
After a night's rest in a real bed, we boarded the boat early and
were soon on our way up the river again, with one hundred less
passengers than tho previous duy. Our next slop wus Mankuto,
thirty miles by river und ten by land, and il took us six hours to
make the distance. Mankuto was then the largest town on the
river but our stop was only long enough to let off some passengers,
none being taken on. Now dim, a town settled by Germans from
Cincinnati, sovcnly-fivo miles further up tho river, wus the next
slop; here over one hundred Germans Iofl the bout, while fifty
others came on board for the trip up to the Indian agencies. Three
miles above Now Uhn we came to the luuds owned by the Sioux

EARLY DAYS IN MINNESOTA. 153
Indians, which lay on both sides of the river and extended north to
Big Stone Lake at the river's head and lo the Dakota line. Soon
after dark we reached Fort Ridgcly where a large quantity of gov
ernment supplies were unloaded, delaying us so that we did not leave
again until daylight. At noon wc arrived at the lower Redwood
Agency, located on a beautiful prairie, skirted with limber and
about two hundred feet above the river.
Colonel Flandrau and Mr. Wilkinson invited the passengers to
visit the agency to get an idea of the inside management of a United
States government Indian Agency, during the distribution of the
government supplies. Several thousand Indians were gathered from
different parts of the reservation, all awaiting the distribution of
the government supplies which were brought for them. Many of
the Indians were at the lauding place and cordially welcomed their
agent, Colonel Flandran. Handrail invited Wilkinson and myself
to a good supper and lodging at the agency that night.
The next day Wilkinson and I took the boat for Yellow Medicine
or Upper Indian Agency, one hundred and fifty miles by water,
where Flandran met us, having driven across the forty miles of
prairie with his team of Indian ponies. The Upper Agency was two
miles from the landing place, and since it was late in the day and
the boat was to slay there two nights before starling on the return
trip most of the passengers remained on board until the next morn
ing. Wilkinson and I, however, got off and walked up the pleasant
valley of Yellow Medicine River to the agency, which was located in
a fine oak grove, one hundred feet or more above Ihe river valley.
The Agency buildings were of brick, which had been made by hand
by the Indians. Here again we met Colonel Flandran and also
Major Gclbraith, another agent, who had been sent as one of three
men to investigate the condition and needs of those Indians who
had sold their lands to the government for a small sum and had
received their payment in goods for which they had paid exorbi
tant jiriccs. Here I found another friend from Michigan, who had
filled the contract for erecting the buildings of the agency. He was
living at the agency with his family and I stayed at his house for
two days.
At the end of our stay three other men and I hired Indian ponies,
and, accompanied by an Indian guide, made the journey across coun
try to the Lower Agency. It was a ride of forty miles, over a beauti-

154 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
ful prairie dotted with fine growths of timber bordering the streams
and lakes. We passed a number of small brick houses, built by
the government for Indian families who had chosen to adopt a
civilized mode of life, and to follow the business of farming. To
each of these families had been allotted eighty acres of land, a brick
house, sixteen by twenty-four feet in size and one and one-half
stories high, and the necessary agricultural implements. A white
man had been appointed for each group of several families to act as
instructor in teaching them the white man's way of farming. On
this ride wc frequently passed Indians dressed like while men, work
ing with plows and harrows iu ihe fields or making bricks, and we
saw two well built Indian churches. All those changes were the
result of two yours of white men's control of these once wild savages.
Reaching Redwood Agency, I obtained lodgings with one of the Boss
Indian farmers who lived in good style iu a new brick house.
The following day was flic semi-annual payment day when the
Great While Father guvo out supplies lo his red children. The
payments were made partly in gold, but mainly iu provisions,
blunkots and other goods. A company of troops had come in from
Fort Ridgely to keep order during the payment. The Sioux braves
wilh their families, from as far north as the Canadian border and
for two hundred miles west, were on hand lo receive their govern
ment pay at the two agencies. Children and the aged and feeble
who were unable to walk came on conveyances made of two long
poles fastened ul one end lo ouch side of a pony, the other end drag
ging on the ground and the polos covered with skins. Several
hundred such conveyances which had been drawn for hundreds of
miles, were in sight that day. Payment was made by number, each
family having been given a registered number. When the number
wus culled the head of the family presented himself for his allowance
for tho next six months, less the amount which ho hud traded out in
udvuucc wilh such traders as were licensed by the government to
sell lo tho Indians. Very many of those Indians found but little
coming to thorn and were left poor for the next six mouths, while
the traders who hud made enormous profits on their goods, as the
Indians had no real idea of the value of money, reaped a golden
harvest. This ignorance on Ihe part of the Indian and greed on the
part of the trader cutised a great part of the dissatisfaction and
trouble, violence and war which this country has suffered in Indian

EARLY DAYS IN MINNESOTA. 155
history. This Indian pay day was the only one I ever saw and it
was very interesting to me.
The following day four of us hired a double team and driver to take
us twelve miles across the prairie to Fort Ridgely. We crossed the
river by ferry and were soon riding over a beautiful, unpopulated
prairie. Wc reached Fort Ridgely at nine o'clock in the morning,
where we found five companies of United Stales troops and two
batteries of light artillery. Wc remained four hours, visiting the
Fort and taking dinner with the soldiers. The fort was situated
on a government reservation of several sections of land which had
been selected when the treaty was made with the Indians and they
were placed upon the reservation. A celebrated war chief named
Ink-pa-du-ta and his band had never consented to the sale of the
Sioux lands, had declared themselves independent, and early in
March of this year had made an attack on the scattered settlers
around Spirit Lake, near the northern line of Iowa, one hundred
miles northwest of Fort Ridgely. They had killed all the settlors
near the lake, and several families on the Des Moines River in Min
nesota, carrying with them as prisoners four women whom they
held for ransom. The names of these women were Mrs. Noble,
Mrs. Thatcher, Mrs. Marble and Miss Gardner. Mrs. Noble and
Mrs. Thatcher wore unable to keep up with the baud and were
killed soon after their capture. Mrs. Marble was ransomed by
two friendly Indians who had been sent out for the purpose by the
missionaries Riggs ami Williamson and who gave for her freedom all
the horses and guns they had, being later reimbursed by the governor
of the territory. It was learned that Miss Gardner had been sold
to a Yankton warrior and many friendly Indians offered their serv
ices to undertake her rescue or ransom. Three prominent members
of the Indian church wore scleclcd for the work, one of whom, by the
name of Otherday, later proved of great friendship and service to
the whites at the time of the terrible Sioux massacre in 1802.
These throe men were furnished with four horses valued at six hun
dred dollars, 11. double wagon and harness valued at one hundred
dollars, blankets and squaw cloth worth one hundred dollars and
other articles amounting in all to one thousand dollars, wilh which
to ransom the captive. They left on their mission on the twentieth
of May and on the thirtieth reached the Indian camp of one hundred
and ninety lodges of Yankton warriors and three of Ink-pa-du-ta's

156 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
band. They succeeded in ransoming Miss Gardner for two horses,
seven blankets, two kegs of powder, one box of tobacco and several
small fancy articles, bill to secure themselves uguinsl Ink-pu-du-la
and his fierce warriors, ihey hud lo obluin Ihe escort of two sons of
the Yankton chief back to the agency. While this rescue party was
currying out ils work the governor and Ihe commander ul Fort
Ridgely were planning a movement against Ink-pa-du-ta and his
band to bo begun just as soon as Miss Gardner was safe. On the
day that the commander at the fort learned of her safety he received
orders lo join General Johnson wilh his force iu the expedition against
the Mormons; this put un end lo ull hope of punishing the Indians
thut Spring. Only a few of those events had transpired at the time
of our visit at Fort Ridgely but the entire story is told here as it
had a considerable effect on my movements. The news of the Spirit
Lake massacre was brought lo the fort by the livery man with whom
wo were lo go on lo New (Jim und caused grout excitement ut the
post. The ride across tho plains was u lovely one. It was the most
beautiful country we hud seen. We reached our destination at sun
set and put up at a German hotel which furnished good accommo
dations. There was but one American born citizen iu this town of
fifteen hundred people und he wus a veteran of Ihe Mexican War.
He owned the largest general store iu town, which was housed iu
the only brick building yet erected, from tho top of which tho Stars
und Stripes flouted every duy of the your. Ho kepi both Indian und
German clerks in order to accommodate all his customers. The first
inhabitants of this town had come from Cincinnati two years previ
ous, and since then more than five thousand other Germans had set
tled in the town and on farms in the vicinity. There wore two beer
gardens in the town; one of them had an opera house connected with
it, which we attended that night, where wo witnessed a German play.
The Ink-pa-du-ta massacre at Spirit Lake had greatly alarmed the
farmers in the vicinity and many of them left their homes and brought
their families into New Ulm for safety that night. The leading
men advised the building of a fort for their protection in case of an
Indian attack and a militia company was organized. Settlors out
on the Big Cottonwood River towards Spirit Lake, twenty miles
from Now Ulm, came into town in large numbers und added greatly

EARLY DAYS IN MINNESOTA. 157
to the excitement and fear. In consequence of this alarm our night
was a sleepless one.
The next morning we secured conveyance by lumber wagon to
Garden City in the Blue Earth Valley, twenty-five miles southeast
of New Ulm, where the men who were with me had friends and rela
tives living. Our journey lay through a fine prairie country, across
the Big and the Little Cottonwood Rivers and past several small
lakes bordered wilh limber. On each of the streams and lakes we
found settlers living in log houses whose first inquiry was for
news concerning the Spirit Lake massacre. Each one was ready
to move his family to some place of safety at a moment's warning.
We reached Garden City a little after noon and found the people
at work building a log fort around a large boarding house which
was owned by the company creeling the grist and saw mill ou the
river. My friends found their relatives all al work on the Fort,
for many families had left their farms and had come into town for
protection. Most of the people in this section had come from Bos
ton, Massachusetts, and knew very little about western life, or of
the handling of an ax, the principal tool of the pioneer. After dinner
I saw how they were situated, bought a good ax, and went to work
with them on tho fort. Before night I hud gained such a reputation
at. that kind of work that I was chosen to boss the job. Iu two (lays
we had a half acre surrounded by a wall of logs ten feel high. After
it was finished and the women and children were placed inside, all
felt more secure. Reports continued coming in that made the situ
ation look worse every hour. Some families had already left the
territory until the Indian question was settled. I tried to quiet their
fears by telling them that the New Ulm people had organized a
militia company and had sent a committee to the governor for arms
and ammunition. Reliable news soon came direct to us from Fort
Ridgely and the Indian agencies that Ink-pa-du-ta and his warriors
had gone westward into Dakota. The messenger bringing this
news had letters with him from Flandran, Riggs and Williamson,
and also from the Commander of the Fort, advising all the settlers
to return to their homes as the danger had passed. By the end of
the week most of the settlers had returned home and were at work
again on their farms. I was given a good job in one of the mills
which were being built.
I had been working at the mill for two weeks when a Norwegian

158 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
settler living on the south branch of the Wattonwan River, twenty
miles southwest of us, came riding into the village with the news
that the Indians wore burning and robbing the homes of the settlers
on the river and that they were fleeing from the country. In
less than two hours families that had left the log fort two weeks
before wore returning lo it again, and that night it sheltered more
people than formerly. Each report that came in was to the effect
that the Indians were advancing down the river, plundering the
vacunt homos and stealing the slock which the settlers had failed to
drive off with them. No one had been reported killed but every
selller was on the run to save himself and family. Two days pre
vious to this raid word had been received that Colonel Alexander's
Regiment had left Fort Ridgely by bout und gone to Fort Leaven
worth to join the Mormon expedition, so that there wore no troops
ou the frontier for the protection of settlers, with the exception of
the handful left, lo protect Ihe I'Wl. This fact caused the settlers
lo lose courage for Ihey felt, that without the regulars there was no
hope or safety for thorn except tho entire abandonment of the country.
Nothing gives a settler on the Indian border such confidence as the
knowledge that he is protected by his government through the
presence of an adequate force of regular soldiers. Tho regulars
arc the only force ihut the outlawed savages fear und that can
keep them from plundering and killing scattered settlors. In tho
absence of regular troops the best thing for settlors to do is to organ
ize militia companies. That evening, in our log fort, sixty men
volunteered to sign the roll of a territoriul mililia company and I
was elected captain, with a young man by the name of Pease for
lieutenant. Pease was a picturesque figure; he had been brought
up on the frontier and always wore buckskin.
We raised one hundred dollars that night and this sum was turned
over to me with instructions to go al once to St. Paul, got arms and
ammunition for the company and return us soon us possible. A
teum took us twelve miles to Mankuto thut night, und early in the
morning wo boarded a steamer down the river that landed us at St.
Paul the next morning, in time to visit Governor Medary at his house
before he was out of bed. He invited us to breakfast with him and
at once ordered a team to be in readiness to take us to Fort Snelliug.
We first drove to the residence of Senator II. M. Rice, and the four
of us were at Fort Snelling at nine o'clock where we secured sixty

EARLY DAYS IN MINNESOTA. 159
Springfield rifles with cartridge boxes and plenty of ammunition.
After dinner at the Fort, Senator Rice gave me his personal check
for two hundred dollars, with instructions to use it in the best way
possible to make our new territorial militia company comfortable.
At two o'clock p. in. we had our equipment on board the steamer
Favorite, the best and fastest boat on the river, and the next morning
at ten o'clock we reached Mankato. Teams and wagons from Gar
den City were waiting for us and wc reached our blockhouse in time
to give "The Garden City Sharp-Shooters, " as we named ourselves,
a drill that afternoon. The experience and knowledge I had gained
with the Sonora Grays in California, less than two years previous
was of value to me now. The boys thought from the way in which
I formed them into platoons and drilled them in primary tactics that
I must have been in the regular service. For two weeks wc kept
up this drill daily, and stayed close to our guns waiting for orders.
Letters from the governor and Indian agents which reached us at the
end of the two weeks informed us that no one had been killed during
this last raid, that only one house had been burned, a few cattle
and horses stolen and several abandoned houses entered and goods
carried off. Less than forty Indians had been engaged in the raid,
and these apparently only for the purpose of theft, and of frighten
ing the settlers into leaving the country. Wc also received the
welcome news thai two companies of regular infantry had been
ordered to Fort Ridgely lo protect the settlers from furl her depreda
tions, and that Ink-pa-du-ta and his followers had had nothing to
do with the raid, but were in Dakota. The settlers now went back
to their farms and for years suffered no disturbance.
The citizens of Garden City and vicinity took a lively interest
in our home company and raised four hundred dollars to build an
armory on the public square for use as a drill room. Our organiza
tion was kept up until the Civil War broke out and its presence gave
the settlers in the vicinity a feeling of security from 1857 lo 1801.
With the beginning of the war the government ordered our guns and
outfits sent back to Fort Snelliug where they were used in arming the
First Regiment of Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, said to have boon
the first volunteer regiment offered to the government in the war of
the Rebellion. This regiment had the credit of losing the largest
percentage of men of any regiment during the four years' struggle
for national life and liberty. The guns which our home Militia

160 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
Company had used received their baptism of fire in the First Battle
of Bull Run.
The financial crisis of 1857 struck Minnesota like a blight. The
territory had experienced a great boom, in common with other new
frontier territories. Villages and cities had sprung up like mush
rooms in nearly every county in the eastern half of the territory,
most of llioin built on borrowed capital on which interest was paid
al. from one lo three per ce.nl a month. When the panic cume most
of the now improvements became a dead loss to both borrower and
louder. What little money I carried into tho territory soon dis
appeared and in 1858 I could figure out without the aid of higher
mathematics that my six years of hard labor in the west had been a
financiul failure.
I now decided not to try life any longer single-bunded, and re
turned to Michigan where I married Miss Diantha O. DoGraff, to
whom I had been engaged a short time, and whom I had known when
a boy in Michigan. In November, 1858, wc returned lo Garden
City and commenced keeping house in purl of the log Fort which
I had helped build during the previous year. My wife was an
experienced school teacher and started a private school in our
rooms which gave her pleasant occupation during her first winter
in the new Northwest country. This was the first private school
opened in that pari of the country. I ran the only grist mill
in operation that winter. About the first of January, 1859, il be
came so colli thul the river froze nearly solid and the water wheels
in the mill became u muss of solid ice. Wo could not slurt tho wheels
again until the following March, and most of the settlers had to
grind their corn and wheat for food in hand coffee-mills or pound
it in a nioitar. As I lived iu part of the house owned by the miller
and worked for him, we managed to save out enough flour, nicul
and buckwheat to lust until the mill run again.

CHAPTER X.
The Sioux Wak.
During the years 1859 and 1860, Minnesota filled up rapidly
with settlers. The government had a strong force of troops
along the borders of the settiemenls and the Indians were kept on
their reservations. But in 1801, soon after the Civil War began,
the Sioux became bold and defiant and left their reservations with
out permission; scattered settlers on the frontier lost horses and
cattle, and in two instances children disappeared, all of which
occurrences were charged up to the renegade Sioux. In the spring
and summer of 1802, Minnesota was called upon to furnish seven
regiments of volunteers for the war. Two companies were enlisted
from the Sioux reservations in the State. The Indian agents were
nearly all opposed to the war and openly showed their joy at any
reverse to our arms. The Indians, learning that the north was
divided, became more bold, passing at will through the border
settlements and causing an unusual feeling of uneasiness and alarm.
Many families fled for safety from their homes to the larger and
older settlements. An instance in our own family will serve to
illustrate the annoyance wc suffered. One day when my wife
was alone with our litllc two-year-old daughter, two powerful,
six-foot Sioux warriors came into the house without warning. One
of them picked up the child as if to carry her off while the other
offered my wife a large new brass kettle. My wife as decidedly
as possible rejected their offer and they finally left, only to return
later bringing two more Indians with them. They had the same
brass kettle and carried in it a hog's head which they had stolen.
They set the kettle heavily down on the floor, and offered it and
the hog's head for the child, and, when they were again refused,
went away deeply disgusted and displeased. These Indians were
thirty miles from their reservation. When we told the inci
dent to our neighbors we were warned to keep close watch over
the child, lest she be stolen away by them.
Six months afterwards these same Indians were massacring hun
dreds of settlers all the way south from the Canadian border to
12 101

162 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
the boundary of Iowa. In 1863, after the Sioux had been driven
from Minnesota, it was learned that these prowling bands of Indians,
one of which had visited us, had been sent out by Little Crow,
the most warlike chief of the Sioux, for the purpose of locating
the settlements, spying out their situation and strength and learn
ing where to strike most safely and successfully when they com
menced war the following August. The Sioux planned to involve
the Winnebago tribe, and obtain from them over five hundred ad
ditional warriors to assist them in the attack on the Minnesota
settlements. The situation looked so gloomy that in the early
summer of 1862 I sent my wife and two small children to Michigan,
where they would be out of danger. I did not see them again
until the hostile Indians had been driven westward out of
Minnesota. This hostile feeling on the part of the Indians located
a few miles west of us, and of those on Ihe Winnebago reserva
tion, only two miles east of Garden City, taken together with the
recruiting of the best of our young men for service in the war of
the Rebellion, contributed to muke the situation very unsafe for
the people of the border settlements. The United States troops
had all been ordered south from Forts Ridgely, Ripley and Aber-
crombie, only a sergeant with a handful of men being left to hold
each fort and to protect its property. Every night for weeks, the
hostile Indians held councils up to the time thut Little Crow took
the war-path.
On the morning of the nineteenth of August, 1862, two citizens
from New Ulm came riding into Garden City with the news that
the Sioux were massacring the settlers near Redwood Agency and
Fort Ridgely. The advancing bands of savages were within a short
distance of New Ulm at the time these messengers had left and couri
ers had been sent to all the valley towns, warning the settlers of the
danger and appealing to tlicm to hasten to the aid of New Ulm,
Ihe largest town in the Indian country west of Mankuto. Within
four hours from the time we received the news sixty men were en
listed, armed with such guns as could be found and mounted on
farmers' horses. The men elected me their captain. During the
excitement of preparation the ladies of the village prepared a
good dinner and rations for our journey. At noon we formed into
line and started for New Ulm, twenty-five miles to the northwest,
the men and women who stayed behind cheering us bravely on and

THE SIOUX WAR. 163
bidding us Godspeed as we rode away. All the men wanted to go
wilh us but there were not enough horses to go around so some had
lo content themselves with wishing us good luck and warning us not
to lose our scalps.
Wc followed the Mankalo road three miles until wc slruck a
fresh Indian trail leading from the Winnebago Agency towards the
Sioux Agency and became convinced that a party of Winnebagos
had joined the Sioux. We followed this trail a short distance, then
turned to the right and struck out for the Mankato and New Ulm
wagon road which ran on the south bank of the Minnesota river.
We reached this road at the point where it crossed the Butternut
Creek, about ten miles from New Ulm, where we passed through the
first timber since leaving Garden City. At Butternut Creek we met
four families who were greatly excited and were fleeing lo safety
with their teams and stock. They told us that it was sure death for
us to go on as the Indians were out in large numbers, massacring
all they could find and begged us to escort Ihcin lo Mankato.
They admitted, however, that they themselves had not seen an
Indian for a week. This incident had the effect of alarming some of
our boys for the safety of the families they had left at Garden City,
and four of them decided to return home. They agreed to go with
the four families and protect them as far as the fork where the main
road to Garden City branched off.
Our little band was now decreased lo fifty-six men. Soon after
crossing the Creek we reached a large log cabin occupied by a Mr.
Shaw who was the oldest settler in the country. He was over
seventy years of age and for ten years his house had been a stopping
place for all who travelled the road. We found him and three of his
neighbors busy preparing the house for a siege. He regarded this
work as merely precautionary, for he thought the Indians would
not harm him and his wife, as he was well-known to the chieftains
and had always treated them kindly. While we were talking with
Shaw a double team drove up with a party of four land seekers,
who intended staying over-night with "Uncle Shaw." They said
that they had met and talked with a mounted party of Winnebagos
about one hundred in number and that all in the party were young
braves, well armed and decorated for war. These men were young
fellows from Wisconsin and well armed. They had heard nothing

164 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
of the uprising until we told them, when they at once decided to go
with us. This addition made our original number good.
From Shaw's house on Butternut Crook we had five miles of
open prairie before reaching Little Cottonwood River, and from the
Little Cottonwood it was three miles to the Big Cottonwood. We
made fast lime, for it was getting late in the day and we were
anxious to reach New Ulm before dark. While making the three
miles between the Big and Little Cottonwood rivers we saw, about
two miles to our left, a parly moving towards New Ulm. At first we
thought that this was a band of Indians, but our Wisconsin friends
took a look at them through a field glass and said that it was a
group of settlers with ox teams. As we galloped along the high
bluff of the Big Cottonwood, wc could look over the intervening
timber and see the buildings of New Ulm nearly three miles distant.
There wus a beautiful clear sky and wo could see the town plainly.
Several buildings in the western pari of the city were in flumes and
wo concluded thai Ihe Indians hud arrived. Wo had lo go through
a half mile of timber and willow brush to roach the open ground
on the opposite side of the river, and many of us thought of the death
that might be lurking behind those very willows if the Indians were
in ambush. There wus hesitation among my men as wo neared
the ravine, but I reminded llicni that wc hud already passed through
two places fully us bud as this for un ambush and thai if wc turned
back now we would have to puss through them again. I also told
them thut il would bo far safer to go on into Now Ului from the
eastern side than to go buck, for if the Indiuns knew wc wore muk-
ing for home over the road they would undoubtedly ambush us
on our way. The situation was a critical one and there was no
time to lose. My men still hesitated. Once more I urged them,
telling them that I had been elected their captain but eight hours
before, that we had fully agreed to go to the relief of New Ulm,
and that if wc retreated now after we were in full sight of those
who so badly needed our help we would be disgraced forever. This
was sufficient. There was a cheer from the company and a shout
to lead them forward. I ordered them to follow in single file and
putting our horses on tho run we broke through the ravine and
onto the prairie on the other side of the river. In less time than
it takes to tell the story we were formed into columns of four and
with our horses on the gallop entered tho eastern part of the city.

THE SIOUX WAR. 165
As we reached the road running down the Minnesota River Valley,
we met two companies of militia, one from St. Peter under com
mand of Captain Dodd, the other from Le Sueur, commanded by
Captain Saunders, one of the leading ministers of the Minnesota
Valley. Both of the companies were mounted and they aggregated
about one hundred men. We had just joined forces when down the
road over which we had come there galloped a company from Man
kato, under Captain Bearbour. This company consisted of about
fifty men and raised our strength to a full two hundred. With
Captain Saunders at our head, we swept four abreast through the
main business street of the city as fast as our horses could carry us.
We were within a half mile of the Indians before they knew of our
presence, and we took Ihcm completely by surprise. They dropped
their torches and scalping knives, mounted their ponies in the utmost
haste and scattered each one for himself in the direction of the
reservation. There appeared to be about one hundred of them.
They had burned two of the breweries and twenty-one houses, and
had it not been for our arrival they no doubt would have burned
the entire town and massacred all the people that night, as there was
no other armed force to check them.
We could not follow the Indians in the dusk, and so after they
had scattered wc returned to the city and took care of our horses
as well as wc could. Coffee was furnished us by the ladies, and
wilh the rations which wc had brought from home wc had a good
campaign supper that first night out. Colonel Charles E. Flandran,
the Indian agent whom I had met at the Redwood Agency six
years previous, had arrived from St. Peter during the afternoon
and taken command of the city. He had placed the town under
martial law and stationed guards on all roads leading out of the
city with orders to allow every person to come in, but no one to
pass out except such as held a permit from him. Nineteen dead
bodies, mostly those of women and children killed inside the city
limits, were brought in that evening. All had been scalped and ter
ribly mutilated. They were laid out in a row on the floor of a. black
smith shop for identification and it made a scene such as none of us
had ever witnessed before. Most of those who had left their families
that morning to rescue others now felt anxious to return at once to
the protection of their own homes. In eight hours after leaving
our homes twenty-five miles away we had met the Indians in our

166 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
first skirmish and driven them away; had seen the destruction of
homes by fire, and gazed upon a score of mutilated bodies of women
and children who had been tomahawked and scalped by the savages.
Many of my men that night asked for passes to go home, but Colonel
Flandran refused them, saying that if we all stayed we could whip
the Indians here and prevent them from penetrating the more
settled country to the east of us, while if we abandoned New
Ulm we might lose the entire State. Most of my men were de
termined to go for they feared that their own families might now
be in danger; four of them left their horses that night, escaped
through the guard on foot and started for home. Two of these men
went in the wrong direction and nearly lost their lives before reach
ing home. The next morning all but fifteen of my company signed
a petition asking for passes to return home that they might protect
their own families, und the percentage in the other companies
wus fully us large. Colonel Flandran culled Ihe cupluins together
for consultation and the officers ull agreed lo stand by him. We
admitted, however, that if our men were determined to leave that
they would be of little use in case of an attack. My men had said
to me that morning, — "If our families were in the east like yours,
we would gladly stay and fight it out here. But place yourself in
our positions and then answer the question as to what you would
do if your own family was within twenty-five miles of you and ex
posed to slaughter?" I admitted that my first duty would be to
protect my family.
The meeting of the officers that morning resulted in the deci
sion to give passes to all the men who had families. Some of the
men on leaving exchanged their rifles with those who stayed and
who had only shot-guns, which were of little use in Indian warfare;
others left their exlra firearms and ammunition, for they all felt
that we would have a hard fight ou our hands. When those re
ceiving passes had left 1 had fifteen out of my original sixly men re
maining and this was about the proportion with the other companies.
Some of tho officers were in favor of evacuating the town but Colonel
Flandran and most of us would not listen to this, as there were
over two thousand recruits stationed at Fort Snelliug who could
be armed and sent lo our relief within forty-eight hours. We de
cided to hold the town as long as we possibly could.
It was Wednesday, August twentieth, when most of our men

THE SIOUX WAR. 167
left us. The previous day the Indians had murdered people all along
the western line of Minnesota, and by Thursday night five or six
hundred refugees, many of them wounded, had straggled into
New Ulm seeking safety. Rude hospitals were made up for the sick
and wounded, while the few physicians in the town worked night and
day and the women volunteered as nurses. We were greatly encour
aged by the arrival of four companies, one from Blue Earth City,
one from Shclbyvillc, one from Waseca and one from Henderson,
in all about two hundred men. On Wednesday night news was
brought in by two men, one of whom had an arm broken from a
rifle bullet, that fifteen miles away in a swamp near Leavenworth
on the Big Cottonwood River a party of one hundred settlers had
been surrounded by Indians. A force of one hundred men was at
once organized to go to their relief, leaving one hundred and fifty
to protect the city. During the day we had heard the cannon
booming at Fort Ridgely at the Sioux Agency, eighteen miles up
the Minnesota River, and we took this to mean that the main body
of the Sioux had attacked the fort. Before starting ou this re
lief expedition which would lead us within ten miles of Fort
Ridgely, Colonel Flandran, who remained in command at New
Ulm, gave us orders to return at once if the firing at Fort Ridgely
ceased. We .started out, well mounted, taking several wagons
to bring in the sick and wounded. Ilcforc wc got out of sight of
the city we began finding dead bodies, and before reaching the be
sieged settlers we had discovered sixty-five bodies of those slain
by the Indians. The firing at the Fort still continued. Though we
saw many scattered bodies of Indians, they all kept out of range
of our rifles. The settlers whom we relieved were all foreigners,
very few of whom could speak a word of English. After much diffi
culty we found out that they had been attacked by the Indians
on Tuesday, the nineteenth, and had been surrounded in the swamp
for three days, during which time six of their number had died and
still lay unburied. The wounded and the women and cltildren
were put in the wagons and we started to return at once, not even
taking time to bury the dead, for an hour's delay might mean the
death of us all. Wc had only fairly started, when a man came gal
loping up to tell us that three families with their teams were sur
rounded by the Indians only two miles away. We halted at once
while half the force went to the rescue. We found the wagons

168 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
within a half hour from our departure but even then we were too late
to save Ihe occupants, for all hud been murdered and scalped.
We had just resumed our march when the sounds of the cannon
at Fort Ridgely died out and we saw smoke and flames from that
direction. This could mean but one thing and that was that the
Fort had boon captured by the Indians, who would now doubtless
attack Now Ulm wilh fresh forces. It was nearly dark and we
were still fifteen miles by tho shortest route from New Ulm. If
we took this short route we must cross the Cottonwood River three
times, each time passing through a ravine where the Indians might
easily ambush us. Small groups of Indians were in sight watching
us, and we knew that the main body was being kept informed of
our movements. We decided to outwit them if possible, so, late
thai afternoon, made camp. As soon ns night cume we left our
cump fires burning und moved uwuy over tho river road, reaching
Now Uhn before daylight on Saturday, August twcnly-third.
The four Wisconsin men who hud joined us ul Hulloruul Creek
while on our way to the relief of Now Ulm proved lo be made of
the right kind of stuff for Indian fighting and acquitted themselves
well. One of them was taken violently sick on Friday while on the
Cottonwood trip, and on Saturday morning desired to start for
his homo. Ilis companions promised him thul lie should go uud
early that morning those four men stalled for St. Peter, thirty miles
down the river, where Ihey were to cross by ferry. Soon after
reaching the river they were ullackcd by u bund of Indians, who
had been sent out from Fort Ridgely after its capture to destroy
the ferry, and three of them were killed.
After destroying the two ferries at New Ulm and the one on the
road to Fort Ridgely in order to prevent escape from the town
by those routes, the entire force of Indians who had been besieging
Fort Ridgely for throe days appeared at New Ulm and at nine
o'clock Saturday morning made a desperate attack on the west side
of the town. Il was their plan lo burn Ihe city, murder all who were
in it, und then lo strike Mankato und roach the Winnebago
Agency, where they felt sure they could persuade several hundred
Winnebago warriors lo join them in massacring the whites. They
had been greatly disuppointed in not cutting off our party that
night on the Cottonwood River as they had planned to do; but
our night march deceived thorn, and no doubt saved our lives.

THE SIOUX WAR. 169
This march was also one of the causes which saved the city and its
people from destruction for if our force had been cut off the city
could soon have fallen.
During the opening of the attack on Saturday two white men
were seen, almost in front and a little to the right of the Indians,
running towards the city from a narrow skirt of timber on the west
side of the river bluff. They turned out to be W. W. Doolcy and
Henry W. Smith from Lake Shctook, sixty-five miles west of New
Ulm, where there was a settlement of about one hundred persons, the
farthest west of any settlement in the State. On Monday, the
eighteenth, the Indians had attacked them and after defending
themselves as long as possible, these two men, with their wives,
who were sisters, and their six children stalled for New Ulm. Early
on Wednesday the Indians had overtaken them nnd Ihey were
compelled to abandon their wagon and conceal themselves in the
tall grass. During the day the Indians killed the six children and
captured the two women, who were held prisoners for eleven months,
until the Government ransomed them. The two men made their
escape, and, supposing their wives as well as children to be dead,
worked their way through the tall grass to the river and thence
down to New Ulm. Their story is told here because they were
later members of the cavalry company 1 commanded, though, before
wc were mustered into service, Doolcy was made chief of scouts
over seventy-five loyal Indians, wilh the rank of captain, which
position he held until the close of the Indian war. II. W. Smith
was a first-class soldier and served in my company until the regi
ment was mustered out. Both of them were out on the Dakota
plains doing good service at the time their wives were ransomed
and brought in and presented to them on the Missouri River. Who
can imagine the feelings of Ihose men at that happy surprise? Both
men have since passed away, but the two wives and sisters, when
last heard from, were still living together in Blue Earth County,
Minnesota. But let us return to the battle of New Ulm. This second
attack was made oh the west side of the city where many of the
buildings had already been burned. The savages came on with
their ponies on the run, yelling and whooping and singing their
war songs, their naked bodies painted in all colors, and their feather
head-dresses flying in the wind. They made a bold dash to cut

170 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
off Dooley and Smith and this attempt cost them the lives of several
of their warriors. For three days we had been busy throwing up
breastworks at different points around the borders of the city, and
between two and three hundred men were behind these breast
works, besides fifty or more men who were on horse-back. The
Indians spread out before us like a great fan, riding back and
forth, coming closer and closer, leaning on the opposite side of
their ponies, and firing at us from under their horses' necks, their
yells and war-whoops becoming more hideous as they came nearer.
Suddenly a panic seized our men in the trenches and they made
a wild rush for the center of tho city, followed by the Indians, who
yelled and whooped louder and more hideously than ever. When
they reached the houses the savages stopped to plunder and set them
on fire, and this looting alone saved us for il gave us a chance to check
the panic of our men. Captain Saunders, the minister commanding
the Lc Sueur Company, wus seriously wounded and fell from his
horse. My horse was shot and killed from under me, either by
the Indians or by my own panic-stricken men who fired as
they retreated. Several men were injured while trying to check
and rally the fugitives, some of whom never stopped, however,
until they reached their homes from ten to forty miles away. Most
of these runaways were killed by Indian scouts who had been
sent out to guard the roads leading eusl from the city und to
prevent our escape.
During the previous night Colonel Flundruu hud ordered a
barricade built through the main street to serve as a protection for
the refugees and their families who had come into the city, and also
for a central rallying point if our men were driven in. This blockade
consisted of wagons formed in two lines, one on each side of the
street, each wagon stutioned u few feet from the next one and a
plank run in between lliem. This barricade was about forty rods
long, with u space of eight fool between the two rows of wagons.
It wus almost completed when the panic occurred and most of
our men stopped when they reached il. This, together with the
faet thul the Indians hud stopped to plunder und burn houses,
gave them time to recover their confidence and courage. That
delay of an hour on the part of the Indians was our salvation. We
rallied our men and determined to give the Indians the best fight
they ever had. By noon they were burning houses in nearly all

THE SIOUX WAR. 171
directions on the outskirts of the town. Up to this time no help had
come. We had learned that one thousand men under General Sibley
were at St. Peter, well-armed, but without ammunition. A large
body of men ajipcarcd on the opposite side of the river near the
lower ferry, which had been destroyed, but they left, being unable to
cross. Wc found out later that they were two companies of militia
from Henderson and Shakopee, who, seeing the city on fire and the
ferry destroyed, concluded to return to St. Peter.
About two o'clock the wind began to blow strongly from the east
and the Indians decided to set fire on that side, and burn us out
completely. For that purpose about five hundred of their braves
approached from the east. This was the direction from which
wc were expecting aid, and the report started that the advancing
body of men, under Sibley, was coming to our relief. Captain
Dodd was so certain of this that in spite of our protests he started
out on his fine black horse to meet them. In vain we tried to stop
him; he went on at full speed, until the Indians fired a volley at
him, then turned back and fell dead before he reached us, pierced
by many bullets. As the Indians would surely burn us out if they
succeeded in setting fire to the eastern side of the city, Colonel
Flandran saw that something must be done at once, and called for
volunteers to drive them out of a thick piece of oak brush which
ran alongside the Mankato road of which Ihey hail taken possession.
As the call for volunteers was made I was struck iu my left
cheek wilh two buck-shot and momentarily stunned. I fell, and
those with me, seeing that I was hit in the face, thought I was dead,
and took my Sharp's rifle, Colt's revolver, and ammunition and were
about to leave me, when I sat up. I walked to a nearby temporary
hospital, where the doctor took the shot from my face and gave
me a stimulant. All this occurred in such a short time that I was
able to get my arms and join the volunteers in driving the Indians
from their shelter in the brush. We had about one hundred of
our best men, well armed and led by Colonel Flandran; we dashed
into that brush with a rush and a war-whoop that made the Indians
conclude we could fight and beat them at their own game. It was
a bloody, close range, desperate baltlc. Many on each side were
killed. Colonel Flandran's clothes were pierced with bullets in
many places and his gunstock was shattered. A fine young man
at my side was shot in the mouth, his tongue cut off, and he died

172 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
the next day. In fifteen minutes we had driven them out of their
ambush and they made no further attempt to burn us out again
that duy from thut direction.
From movements of the Indians during the afternoon, we felt sure
that they expected reinforcements and that then another attack would
be made. When night came they built fires to the south and west
of us, out of range of our guns, and hold war dances all night long,
preparing for the next day's battle. Colonel Flandran called a
council of the officers, and we discussed the situation in all its
phases. Some were for vacating the place that night, but others
who knew the Indians better were certain that such a move would
result in death to us all. We finally decided to burn all the build
ings that were in the way of our rifle fire or that might afford shelter
to the Indians in au attack upon our barricade. We burned about
forty such buildings that night, barricaded the remainder as much
us possible and lined their sides wilh loop holes. Our best marks
men wore placed in these houses, with instructions not lo fire until
the Indians came within close range. Ammunition wus source
and every shot must count. The women were engaged throughout
the night in casting bullets, preparing bandages, or making coffee
and carrying it around to the men, while the men kept busy
strengthening the fortificutions in every possible way. Some few
who fell sure we would ull be mussucred the next day stole away
and loft for their homes; some of those reached home but more did
not. When Sunday morning came, our courage was high and we all
felt confident that the Indians could not conquer us. During the
night some of the men had made dummy cannon out of stove-pipe
mounted on wheels and had placed one at each end of our barri
cade, where the Indians could see them. Indians are supersti-
tiously afraid of cannon. Near the "cannon" we placed blucksmith's
anvils to do the firing with, in cuse un attack was made iu force.
Soon after daylight we could see the Indians forming in lurgc bodies
to the eust und south of the city. About fifty of them soon appeared
to the westwurd for the purpose of drawing our men out of the
barricade in that direction. They put on a bold front, came within
rifle range and dared us lo como out for a fair fight. But our men
kept under cover und hold their fire. In the meantime the main
parties from the south and eusl ad'auccd iu buttle array, their

THE SIOUX WAR. 173
leaders mounted on ponies. They made a great display, beating
Indian drums and other instruments, the noise of which, mingled
with their war-whoops, seemed to encourage them to their work of
slaughter. As they came nearer, it was clear that heavy reinforce
ments had been received during the night. Occasionally a gun was
fired by them, but not a gun had as yet been fired by us. They
were led by a chieftain dressed in while man's clothes, wearing a
tall silk hat and mounted on a fine American horse, all of which
he had stolen. They halted within twenty rods of the cast end of
our barricade, and then orders were given our men to fire. Such a
volley as Indians rarely experience poured into them from the houses
and the east part of the barricade. As soon as the smoke cleared
away we saw the fatal effect of our fire, for the enemy were in
disorder. Al the instant of firing the volley, the anvils were also
let loose several times for the moral effect, and wc afterwards learned
that the Indians believed wc had secured cannon during the
night. They did not make a second attack, but withdrew about two
miles to the westward where they held a short council on the high
bluffs in plain sight from our blockade, and then disappeared from
our view. As soon as they had disappeared we decided to evacu
ate the town. There were about two thousand people iu the city,
eighty of whom were wounded and flying for want of proper care,
and there were less than thirty houses left standing for shelter,
and provisions for only twenty-four hours. There seemed no
prospect of relief from the towns below, so orders were given to
have all the teams made ready to carry the sick and wounded to
Mankato. By noon we were ready to start on our retreat. No
sadder sight could well be imagined than that which attended our
going. For five days the bodies of men, women and children had
laid unburicd in the little city and we could not stop now lo bury
them. Most of the buildings were smouldering ruins. Every in
habitant was a fugitive from his home, and scores of them were
badly wounded. We knew that our hope of escape was a slim one,
for if the Indians learned of our retreat they might ambush our
column and massacre us all before we reached Mankato. It was
a sad procession that started out from the ruins that noon. When
about ready to start wc found that a number of wagons were loaded

174 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
with household stuff and this we unceremoniously dumped out in
order to give space for the wounded and the women and children.
When nearing tho Cottonwood River we met a relief train con
sisting of Captain Cox with two hundred men. But they had no
provisions and so we did not turn back. Captain Cox counter
marched his men and returned with us. Reaching the bluff of the
Big Cottonwood, Senator Swift, who afterwards became governor of
Minnesota, and who was al this time in command of the rear
guard, noticed thai the stars and stripes had been loft flying from
the Fuller Block, the only brick building in the city. He halted
his men and called for volunteers to go back for the flag. His men
hesitated and told him they thought it unnecessary to spend the
time and run the risk simply for the flag. The sentiment attached
to that flag of battle seized me and I offered to go back alone for
it if he would loan me his own horse which was much better than
mine. My offer was accepted and the rear-guard was halted to wait
for me. The horse was a good one and I made the trip quickly and
safely, and upon my return received the cheers of the men who
thought the deed a dangerous one. We soon overtook the rest of
our column and early on Monday morning reached Mankato,
having kept on the march all night. Nine of the wounded died on
the way. One of the women in the wagons was a Swede whose
husband and three children hud been killed in the rush to New
Ulm, while she herself hud been wounded. On that retreat from
New Ulm to Mankuto she guvo birth to u baby boy, and I have re
cently learned that al the present time this boy, who was in truth
born on the battlefield, is now living in Montana and is one of the
millionaires of that State.
Upon reaching Mankato we found that most of the settlers in
Minnesota were leaving the Stale for Wisconsin, being determined
to place the Mississippi River between them and the hostile Indians
before stopping. The stampede was caused largely by the burning
of New Ulm on the previous Saturday and the report which had
been circulated that all its inhabitants and those who had gone
to their relief had been murdered by the Indians. Colonel Flandran
decided that something must be done at once to stop the stampede,
and called for three volunteers to take good horses and follow the
three main roads through the State telling the people that the
Indians had been whipped and were returning to their reservations.

THE SIOUX WAR. 175
I was one of the volunteers. I secured a good horse from Daniel
Tyner, the sheriff of Blue Earth County, who had been in the siege of
New Ulm and whose horsclhadriddcnafterinyownwaskilled. While
the horse was being fed, I took breakfast with a Mr. Piper and his
wife from Garden City. My shirt and left side were covered with
blood from the wound in my face and Mrs. Piper wanted me to
put on some clean clothes before I left. This I decided not to do,
as I felt that my bloody clothing would be belter evidence than
any words of mine to the fleeing settlers that I had been in the
fight at New Ulm, and would lead them to believe my message.
Upon starting, Colonel Flandran handed me the following order: —
"I have ordered Captain Potter, who has been with me for five
days in the siege of New Ulm, to inform all settlers who are leaving
the State on account of the Sioux War that the Indians have been
whipped at New Ulm and driven back onto their reservations;
and he is authorized to say to you that it will now be safe for you
to return to your homes. I have empowered him to place guards
on all roads and bridges to give this information, and also empower
him to press any horse he needs into his service for these purposes.
Charles E. Flandran, Commander in Chief of State Militia."
As I mounted my horse to start on my mission, a stranger stepped
up to me and handed over a new Colt's revolver, belt and ammuni
tion, wilh the words, "You may need this, keep it until I call for
it." I strapped Ibis belt over my own pistol belt and bidding the
boys good-bye rode rapidly away. The first twelve miles was
through a timbered country and I made the distance in an hour
and a quarter. My first stop was at the Winnebago Indian Agency
where I gave the agent the first news he had received of the result
of the fight at New Ulm. Many of the Winnebagos were present
and greatly excited. The agent told them the news by means
of an interpreter and then called on one of the Boss Farmers to
take six of his most reliable Indians and escort me through the
reservation to Wilton, in Waseca County, just outside the reserva
tion lines. We passed many settlers on the way, with their families,
in wagons, and I told them of the defeat of the Indians and ad
vised them to return to their homes. At Wilton we crossed Le
Sueur River on a long wooden bridge where I stationed a guard
with orders to let no teams pass going east, and to post copies of
my orders on the bridge for all to read for themselves. Some of

176 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
the settlers became very angry and were disposed to force their
way across. As an illustration of the panic, I will mention the case
of one man who lived six miles south of Garden City, and who
owned six hundred and forty acres of land. He had left his home
in the night, with his family and two wagon-loads of household
goods and was determined to cross the river. He insisted that he
had soon Garden City on fire at the time he left, und ulthoug he
knew I had been in tho fight at New Ulm believed that I was only
one of a few lo escape, and that within a week the entire State would
be in the hands of the Sioux. He offered to give me a deed to all
his land, if I would give him enough for it so that he and his family
could get across the Mississippi River. I laughingly declined his
offer and prophesied that he would be back in his home within ten
days, which prophecy proved true.
From Wilton, accompanied by two other mounted men, I hurried
on to Waseca fifteen miles further east. On our way we met a
company of sixty mounted men from Dodge County to whom I
showed my orders, whereupon ihey returned with us to Waseca.
I had ridden my horse forty miles in less than six hours and he now
began to show signs of giving out. I told the captain of this
company that it was neccssaiy for me to go on to Owatona that
night, and that I must have tin; best horse in Waseca. I also asked
him to have Colonel Flandran 's orders printed and poslcd on each
road in the vicinity. While a horse was being secured the print
ing wus done, und, before I loft, copies of the orders were curried
in every direction by tho captain's men. By this time the buck
shot wounds in my face had become very painful. I had a phy
sician in Waseca examine them, who advised me to have them
attended to at once, as there was danger of blood-poisoning.
I told him that I would at lend to the wounds as soon as I
reached Owatona but that there was no time for it now, as it was
nearly four o'clock and I had twenty-five miles yet to ride. Two
men of the militia company lived in Owatona and their captain
ordered them to accompany me. We passed many settlers hurrying
east across the Mississippi River, all of whom we advised to turn
back to their homes. Among them were several men who knew
me. The wounds in my face, my blood-stained shirt, and the
revolvers in my belt, convinced them thai I had really been in the
fight and was telling them the truth. We reached Owatona at

THE SIOUX WAR. 177
seven o'clock, and gave the inhabitants their first information of
the defeat of the Indians.
After having my horse cared for, I asked the landlord for a good
surgeon to attend to my wound, and in less than five minutes two
physicians were at work. In probing and cleaning the wound,
they found a sliver which had been driven into my face. The
shot had evidently first passed through the board of a fence which
had afforded us a slight protection al the lime 1 was wounded.
I told the doctors that I had not removed my clothes for six days,
and that I did not remember having had any sleep during that time.
They brought me a clean shirt and pair of trousers in exchange for
my bloody ones, but I told them that I believed my bloody clothes
and wounded face, taken with Colonel Flandran 's order had done
more than anything else that day to keep hundreds of people from
leaving the State and that I had better wear them to the end
of my journey. 1 scrubbed up, however, and after ordering a fresh
horse or team to be ready to start at twelve o'clock that night
for Albert Lee, forty miles south of Owatona, and arranging with
the doctors to have Colonel Flandran 's orders printed during the
night and distributed the next day I borrowed a night-shirt and
went to bed. I got four hours of good sleep, my first in six days,
and at twelve o'clock was called to lake the night ride lo Albert
Lee, which I made with a good team and driver. During our six-
hours' ride we were halted four limes by camp guards pul out to
watch against Indians. We were well supplied with copies of the
paper containing Colonel Flandran 's order and the news from New
Ulm, and these wc distributed in all the camps of settlers along the
road. At seven o'clock Tuesday morning wc were at Albert Lee,
bringing in the first good news they had received from New Ulm.
We found here a great crowd of settlers rushing out of tho State,
as nearly all those located south and west of Mankato had taken
a southern route to avoid crossing the Winnebago reservation.
At this point there were two roads leading cast to Ihe Mississippi
River, one crossing at La Crosse, the other going into the northern
part of Iowa and crossing at Trairie Du Chien. Mounted mes
sengers were sent out al once to notify those who hud passed through
town during the preceding day of the needlessncss of their going
farther. I concluded to stay over until noon and then ride to Wells
in Faribault County, forty miles west. By this delay I got another
13

178 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
short sleep, which I greatly needed, and also a fresh poultice for
my face. My bloody clothes attracted much attention, and many
wild and foolish questions were asked me by men who were still
so frightened that they insisted on getting the great river between
them and the Indians.
After a good dinner I mounted a fresh horse and in less than six
hours was in Wells. Here the news of the defeat of the Indians
had already boon received, and most of the refugees had gone into
camp awaiting its confirmation before sturling back to their homes.
I found one cam]) where they were burying a woman who had died
from fright; and another where a woman had died from exposure
during the flight, showing me that there hud been suffering other
than that caused by the bullet or the tomahawk. I stayed over
night at Wells where I found several niou I know, four of whom
had gone with mc to Now Ulm and taken part in Ihe first day's
light, and had then returned to care for their families. Next morn
ing, the excitement ul Wells huviug subsided und most of the families
now preparing to return to their homes, I made arrangements for
a fresh horse to take me back to Mankato via Minnesota Lake,
Mapleton and Garden City, a distance of fifty miles. I met but
few loams or camps on the way and the persons whom I did see
were on their way home. Al Mapleton I found most of our Garden
City people iu camp uwuiling my coming, us they had heard that I
wus to return to Garden City that way. As I rode into their camp
they gave me three cheers. The muu in command of the camp
was the one who gave me his horse lo ride when I left for New Ulm
in command of our militia company and the first question he uskcd
me wus what had become of his horse. I told him that in our fight
the Indians had taken his horse with them to their happy hunting
grounds beyond the clouds where ho probably would be well cared
for, us they knew he was a "bravo" horse, becuuse he wus killed
in the lino of buttle along with a number of them. lie muttered
that it was a good horse and someone would have lo pay for it,
whereupon I assured him thai ho should be paid if I hud to pay
him myself. I took dinner with the campers and tried to get them
to go buck to Gurden City with mc, but they declined lo go until
they were ubsolutoly sure thut ull wus safe.
I reached Garden City at sunset, without meeting a person ou
the lonely fifteen-mile ride. Of the population of four hundred in

THE SIOUX WAR. 179
this village the week before, not one was now left. I put my horse
in the stable and then went to some of the stores, Two of which I
found open, and helped myself to coffee, crackers, cheese and
sardines. I took these provisions to my own home, made a fire
and got a good, hot supper. After supper I washed my week-
old, blood-stiff clothes and exchanged them for clean ones, and
having cared for my horse, went to the Williams store and camped
out for the night. My bed was a bolt of cotton cloth laid on the
floor and I had a roll of cotton-batten for a pillow, but no sleep
could have been sweeter or sounder than mine. After breakfast
I rode around town to most of the houses, finding the doors locked
and everything undisturbed and then started for Mankato suppos
ing that I had been the only person iu the town that night. I after
wards learned, however, that a Polish doctor with his wife and six
children, for whom there had been no conveyance when the rest of
the people left, had stayed over night in the log school-house. They
barricaded the doors and windows, making it practically a block
house, and stayed there for four days until Ihe people came back to
their homes. On the way to Mankato I met the Williams brothers,
merchants of Garden City, with two other men going back home, and
assured them that the village was all right and that their store was
undisturbed except that 1 had forgotten lo make up my bed there.
They said that the people in Mankato believed the Lydiau War
was over, and were awaiting my report as to the condition of the
country I had been through. I rode on and soon reached Mankato
reporting at the headquarters of Colonel Flandran, where I was
highly complimented upon the execution of my mission.
Colonel Flandran informed me that he had been ordered to
establish his headquarters at South Bend, three miles west of Man
kato, and asked mc to act as one of his aides with the rank of first
lieutenant, my work to include the carrying of dispatches through
the Indian country and the command of special details of troops
sent out from headquarters. He also told me that I had been
elected the day before as first lieutenant of a company to be sta
tioned at South Bend and that I would have all the work I was
looking for during the next thirty days. That night we took up
quarters in a large hotel at South Bend where our company of sixty
men, mounled on the best of horses, awaited special duty. My
first outside duty was the carrying of it dispatch to General Sibley

180 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
at Fort Ridgely where he was stationed with two thousand men,
preparing to follow up and punish the Indians for Ihe recent
depredations and murders. 1 hud u dctuil of twenty men ou the
trip and spent the night at the fori. While here I visited the hospi
tal and saw ton wounded men, the only ones of Captain Marsh's
company to cscupo deuth ut the Indian ambush at the ferry
crossing of the Redwood Agency. I also met others who had
been wounded in the ambush at Birch Cooley near the Redwood
Agency. These two massacres, with the later umbush of General
Custer on the Little Big Horn in 1876, were the deadliest assaults
made by the Indians in the nineteenth century.
My next dispatch duty of any importance occurred soon after
wards when I carried the news of General Sibley's victory over the
Indians in the buttle of Wood Luke, near the Yellow Medicine
Agency, to Fort. Snelliug scvcnly-livo miles awuy. I took only one
man with mc on this trip, as there wus little or no danger. We
made the ride in one day. After slopping a day at the fort, ami
at St. Paul, 1 wus ordered lo tuke u picked body of sixty mounted
men and report to Captain Cox who had been sent to Madelia
with a company of soldiers to build a block-house for the protec
tion of the solllors ou Ibis exposed point of the frontier. Wo started
about dark, taking the shortest route straight across the unbroken
prairie passing Loon und Crystal Lukes. We were aided by the
bright moonlight until about midnight when clouds obscured the
heavens and a driving ruin commenced. We kept on through the
rain and darkness, only being ublc to keep the truil by having a
dismounted scout, carrying a tallow candle lantern, lead the way.
It was nearly two o'clock in the morning when we reached our
destination and were halted by the guard at tho block-house. The
garrison had finished their fort with the exception of the roof. Our
coming was u great relief to them, for four persons had been killed
by the Indians in sight of the village during the preceding day and
their dead bodies had been brought in. At ten o'clock that night a
wounded Norwegian settler hud come in from his home eight miles
southwest of Mudoliu, on the soulh fork of the Wultonwun River,
und reported thul four members of his family hud been killed, he
ulone having escaped, lie said thai Ihe Indians were making their
way up the river towurds a settlement consisting of about twenty
five families of foreigners who hud just returned to their farms.

THE SIOUX WAR. 181
thinking their troubles ended. I heard this story as soon as I reached
Ihe block-house and told Captain Cox that it meant sure death
to these exposed families unless wc went lo their protection. He re
plied that he could not leave his post without orders. I told him
that I had not been assigned to the post but had been placed under
his orders and asked him if he would be willing to let me take
my men to the rescue. He finally consented, but warned me that
we might fall into an ambush and be annihilated as the St. Paul
company had been at Birch Cooley only two weeks before. I
knew that some of Captain Cox's men wanted to go with mc and
asked him if he was willing to let them go, but he would not consent
as he said his company was under orders to protect the block
house. My company had rations with them, the cooks of ('ox's
company made us coffee and after a hurried breakfast we look
the trail to the threatened valley. It was four o'clock in the morn
ing when wc started, only two hours after our arrival, and so dark
that I could not tell how many men I had. As soon as it was suffi
ciently light to see, after we had gone several miles from the camp
I rode down the double line and found that I had one hundred
mounted men and three wagons loaded with infantrymen, instead
of the sixty men of my own command. Occasionally a man volun
teered that he belonged lo Cox's company but intended to go
with us.
About daybreak a dense fog settled down and we could not,
see a rod in front of us. I was riding al the head of the column
with two pioneer guides, who were showing us the road, when a
man suddenly appeared before us. He could not speak a word
of English, but a number of my men were Norwegians and we
soon learned his name. lie proved lo be one of those whom wc were
hastening to relieve. He had been shot in the breast just al night
fall and was holding his straw hat, which had been pierced with
two balls, against the wound to stop the bleeding. He was sure
that his wife and two boys had been killed at the limche was wounded.
We learned that we were near his home, which was at a ford of
the river, and that by crossing the river here we could save eight
miles in reaching the settlement. Some of the men thought it
dangerous to go down into the brush al the river bottom which
would afford a fine ambush for the savages, but I knew that
if we expected to reach the threatened families ahead of the Indians

182 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
wo must take every chance and gave orders to cross ul once. When
we struck the river bottom the fog was still so dense thai we could
hardly see twenty feet ahead of us, but, us soon as we reuched the
high bunk on the other side, we wore ubove the thick fog und could
see quite clearly. Here we found the badly wounded wife of the
wounded Norwegian, hidden in a thick grove of plum trees near
their log house, and told her thut her husbund wus still alive and
that Ihey would at once be sent buck to Mcdulia for medical
treatment. Leaving ten men to take care of the wounded couple, we
hurried on to the larger settlement, travelling rapidly over the open
prairie. About eight o'clock we reached the first house in the valley
and found it deserted, but a kettle of potatoes was boiling on the
fire and there wus no evidence thut the place had been disturbed.
It seemed lhal the settlers had seen us coming und, believing us to
be Indiuns, hud spread the alarm und fled. Il was three hours
before wc found Ihcin, the entire settlement having gathered in
one house throe miles further up tho river where they hud planned
to defend themselves. It was one o'clock before we could get the
people together with their teams und more valuable possessions
and sturt buck for Mcdulia. There were twenty-seven wagons
in lino and wilh the crowd of women and children wc decided to
tuke no chuncos but to return by tho long trail over tho open coun
try. Il wus u distance of twenty-eight miles und proved n tedious
trip for the people who hud only just got buck lo their homes from
the first stampede of over two hundred miles, as well as for us who
had been in the saddle all night long. Late in tho afternoon wc
saw four mounted Indian scouts on the opposite side of the river
riding in the same direction as we were. They fired at us and then
rode out of sight in the timber. This incident gave me some anxiety
and I decided to send a dispatch to Captain Cox asking for immedi
ate assistance. The two men wilh this dispatch returned ut nine
o'clock that night, saying that Captain Cox could not reinforce
us, us most of his men were already with us and as he himself was
in danger of being attacked in the morning. Wo continued our
march without a slop und reuched Mcdulia safely ubout two o'clock
the next morning. At the trial of the Indian chieftains which
took place the next December at Munkato, it was shown thut only
twenty-five Indiuns took purl in the ruids and massacres around

THE SIOUX WAR. 183
Mcdulia, but that this small number had killed seventeen settlers
and wounded as many more, and had captured two white women
whom they carried for fifty miles and then murdered upon hear
ing of the failure of their cause. The chief of this party was one
of the thirty-eight hanged at Mankuto on December 20, 1802.
Wc remained at Mcdulia until these Indians were driven away,
and then returned to South Bend.
Our thirty days' enlistment had now about expired. Colonel
Flandran had received notice that Colonel Montgomery with the
25th Wisconsin Volunteers was to be stationed at South Bend,
that the militia was to be mustered out and the Indians were to
be pursued by United States troops under General Pope, whose
headquarters wore to be at Fort Snelliug. The National govern
ment, however, was short on cavalry and called for a regiment to
be raised in Minnesota for the Indian War. I received a commis
sion to recruit one of the companies in this regiment and the day
after the expiration of my thirty days' commission I led seventy-
five men to St. Peter where we were to unite with twenty-five
others whom Horace Austin had recruited. I was entitled to the
command as captain from the fact that I had recruited most of
the men. Austin who was well-educated and a brilliant lawyer
wanted tho command, and in order mil lo cause uny delay in gelling
our muster rolls lo headquarters first so as to become enlilled to
the coveted position as Company "A"' in the regiment, I waived
the point in his favor and was sworn iu as first lieutenant. Austin
had already served as captain in the militia and remained captain
of our company until the regiment was mustered out. After the
war he was elected circuit judge for a term of six years, leaving the
bench to become governor of the State for two terms. He is now
living in California, where I had the pleasure of meeting him again
at the National G. A. R. encampment in San Francisco in 1903.
Thomas F. West was elected second lieutenant. As I write this
he is eighty years of age and living at Medford, Oregon.
As soon as the company officers were elected, Captain Austin
and I took the stage for St. Paul, which wc reached the same day,
and handed in our company muster roll. Wc wore told that ours
was the first company to be put on record. By some kind of wire
pulling a Minneapolis Company was given letter "A," however,

184 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
and we hud to put up with second pluce und be called Company
"B." The horses for the regiment soon arrived and were held
at Fort Snelling. Company "A" hud the first choice of horses
and selected bays, while we selected all grays for Company "B."
The captain returned to St. Peter to look after his men, while I
remained to look after the horses until arrangements could be made
to get them and our equipment to St. Peter. In less than a week
wc wore mustered into tho United Slutcs service, were uniformed,
armed and mounted, and ready for orders.
Most of the hostile Indians hud now been driven out of the
Stuto into Dukotu, und the season wus loo lule to follow them that
fall. Many had been captured and were under trial by court-
martial at Camp Release, one hundred miles up the river from St.
Peter. The court wus iu session nearly throe weeks, and condemned
to death three hundred and Iwonty-ono of the Indians who had been
implicated in the murders of defenseless settlers in Ihe Slab:.
The prisoners were brought to Mankato chained in puirs, where
they were confined in the barracks and guarded by our soldiers
until the president could review the proceedings and pass upon
the verdict. President Lincoln was not busty in coining lo a de
cision, und a grout muny in the Stale begun to think thut the con
demned Indiuns would bo set free, us muny petitions hud been sent
to him from people in the Eastern Stales asking for their release.
Four lest, these guilty wretches should escape justice led to several
attempts by the enraged settlers, who had suffered so terribly,
to surprise and kill all of the condemned prisoners. One attempt
came near execution. One hundred and fifty men, who had lost
members of their families in the attacks, banded together tinder
oath to kill Iheso prisoners and wore armed with revolvers and
officered by some of the best and bravest men iu Minnesota. The
day and hour wus fixed for the deed, bill al tho lust moment one
of their own number betrayed the secret to Ihe colonel command
ing the regiment which guarded the prisoners, und their attempt
was frustrated. About, the fifteenth of December President Lin
coln's message was received ordering Ihe execution of thirty-nine
of the chieftains included in the list of throe hundred and twenty-
one who hud boon condemned. Tho order read as follows:

THE SIOUX WAR. 185
"Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C, December 6, 1862.
"Brigadier Gen. Sibley, St. Paul, Minnesota.
"Ordered, That of the Indians and half-breeds sentenced to be
hanged by the Military Commission composed of Col. Crooks,
Lt. Col. Marshall, Capt. Grant, Capt. Bailey, & Lieut. Olin, and
lately sitting in Minnesota, you cause to be executed on Friday,
the 2fith day of December, instant., the following named, to-wit: —
(list of names of thirty-nine.) The other condemned prisoners you
hold subject to further orders, taking care that they neither escape
nor be subjected to any unlawful violence.
"Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States."
On the morning of December twenty-sixth our company was
ordered to march to Mankato and act as guard al the execution.
Wc were in our saddles and on the way before daylight. The dis
tance was only twelve miles, but the thermometer registered thirty-
five degrees below zero, and before we reached Mankato many of
the men had frozen ears and feet, and all suffered severely from
the intense cold. At Mankato we met several other companies
of our regiment who had been ordered here for the same purpose
as we. Hundreds of angry men who had suffered at the hands
of these savages were camped within sight of town. They were
well armed ami officered and were determined that the two hundred
and eighty-two Indians who were not lo be executed thai day by
the law, should suffer execution al, their hands. Colonel Miller, who
was in command of the troops hail a force of fully two thousand
men, including one buttery of artillery, with which to protect his
prisoners. The execution look place iu the early afternoon. The
thirty-nine Indians were ranged on one long platform and executed
at the same moment, in sight of a vast multitude of people besides
the two thousand troops. At the appointed moment W. W. Doolcy,
a former member of my mililia company and a chief of scouts,
whose family had been killed by the Indians at Lake Shetook,
stepped forward and cut with an axe the two-inch rope that held
the scaffold suspended and the entire number were plunged to
death. The prisoners met their end like true soldiers of the plains.
Missionaries who had been with them for years were permitted with
them during their last days. When the time came for them to go
to the gallows the braves asked lo have the chains taken from their

186 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
legs so thut they could go in Indiun style, single file. This was
allowed, and they marched to the scaffold singing their Indian war-
song, which wus joined in by all the other prisoners. Each Indiun
pluced the rope around his own neck and sang while the death cap
was drawn down over his eyes. For five minutes after the scaffold
fell everything was as hushed and silent as death itself. Then
the crowd began to quietly disperse. The settlers who had formed in
companies prepared to make un utlack on the barracks, but Colonel
Miller had his force well disposed to repel any attack, and tho people
saw that il would bo foolhardy lo make an attempt to storm the
jail protected as it was by tho force of disciplined soldiers. Nearly
all the soldiers present were Minnesota men and many of thoin had
had friends killed by the Indians, so that their sympathies were
with the settlers and il wus well understood among them Ihut if
un attack wus made on the barracks, and Ihey were ordered lo
(ire on their own friends, Ihey would do so indeed, bill would sec
thul none of the attacking parly should gel hurl. Fortunately
the ultuck wus not made and the settlers dispersed.
The executed Indians were ordered buried on an island in the
river near the spot of their execution. All were to lie in one grave
and a strong guard was stationed to protect their remains. That
night our company returned to St. Peter. On the way several
sleighs passed us ut different times with only two men in each sleigh.
The surgeon of our regiment, a Dr. Weiser, who was riding at my
side, remarked thut it looked us if those sleighs might have dead
Indians in them in spite of the guard at the grave. I jokingly as
sured him that even if there were dead Indians in those sleighs,
there was no danger of his losing his sculp to them. That night
uflcr reaching St. Peter and supper at the Nicolet Hotel, the doctor
invited mo upstairs to the third floor, saying that ho hud some
valuable Tndiau relics he would like lo show me. There on the
floor lay throe of Ihe Indians thai had boon buried Ihut afternoon
und pluced under u guard consisting of a full company of live Minne
sota soldiers. The great mystery was how those Indians were smug
gled out of the grave, in spite of the watchfulness of those guards.
It wus soon known to ull thut their bodies had escaped the grave
and were distributed among museums and hospitals in this country
and abroad.

CHAPTER XI.
Tiif, Dakota Campaign.
About March 1, 1863, four companies of our regiment were
ordered to Fort Ridgely where we were thoroughly drilled for a
month in preparation for the expedition planned by General Pope
to enter Dakota in the early spring and punish the hostile
Indians who had escaped the previous fall. The winter had been
severe and many Indians had died from cold and hunger. Yet in
spite of the severity of the winter several war parties returned to
Minnesota in April and commenced their work of destruction.
Our battalion had plenty to do to protect the settlements. One
party of fifteen passed within three miles of Fort Ridgely and killed
several people near New Ulm. Our entire battalion was ordered
out by companies in different directions to capture this parly. As
Captain Austin was on courl martial duty I was ordered to take
the Company and strike the Cottonwood River near Sleepy Lake.
Soon after starling we saw Indians on the opposite side of the river
hurriedly making their way west, leading horses which Ihey had
evidently stolen from the settlers. They saw us as soon ns we saw
ihcm and hurried off, bill we gained on them so rapidly that they
abandoned their stolen horses and scattered in different directions,
each by himself. We had with us four half-breed scouts besides
W. W. Dooley and his brother-in-law Smith, both noted scouts who
had been in the siege of New Ulm. These men agreed that the
Indians after separating would make for a certain point where they
would meet, and that if wc could make this point before they did
we would stand some chance of capturing them. We started at
once for this spot deciding to make Walnut Grove, twenty miles
away, that night where we knew we would find hay for our horses,
and log houses for shelter. We reached Walnut Grove about
midnight and, after feeding our horses and making coffee, rolled
up in our blankets for a few hours' rest with orders lo start at day
light for Lake Shetook, fifteen miles away. Six miles brought us
to the spot where Dooley 's and Smith's families were overtaken and
murdered the previous August. The men had not been there since
187

188 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
the occurrence and were greatly disappointed to find the swampy
ground covered wilh water, making it useless to search for the
bodies of their families. At nine o'clock we came to Dooley 's and
Smith's homes at the south end of the lake and found that their
hay and grain hud all boon used by troops thul hud stopped there in
Ihe fall. Here I divided our force sending twenty men under W. W.
Dooley seven miles up the oust side of the luke lo the Ireland Farm
ut Ihe north end when; Ihey were to secrete themselves und watch
for the Indians, while the rest of us returned to the south end of the
lake, crossing the Des Moines River, which was then high and full
of floating ice. The floating ice came near causing us the loss of
three men and horses in crossing. Be3'ond the river we found stacks
of hay and two log houses whose occupants hail been killed by the
Indians, und here wo made fires, dried our clothes and fed our
horses. Wc then divided the company again, leaving ten men with
the poorest horses lo remain until five o'clock iu the afternoon when
Ihey were lo go up (he west side of the lake, while I look thirty men
und wont lo the Great Ousis, Ion miles wosl, nour the Pipe Stone, u
pluce of grout resort for the Indiuns of the Northwest because of
the quantity of soft rod stone out of which they made their pipes.
We met that night al Ireland's Farm without having scon un Indiun.
We were now sixty miles from Fort Ridgely but concluded
to return by way of the Redwood River Agency which would make
the distance eighty miles. This route would enable us lo obtain
forage und replenish our meagre rations ul the agency, and would
ulso give us u chance lo gel game, so the hull-broods lold us, in the
timber along the Redwood River. Wo started early, our route
taking us over an open prairie. A few men were sent out as scouts
on each flank, with the double object of locating the trail of the
hostile Indians, and of finding game which would be very
welcome to sixty men who had boon living two days on dry bread
and coffee. The scouting parties and the main column wore to
meet ut. Linn's Crossing on the Redwood River twenty miles from
our starling point. When Hearing tho Redwood the scouts ou the
east flank saw five mounted Indians making north ul a rapid pace,
and ut once gave chase. The Indians crossed the river ul, Linn's
Ford und our main force cume up jusl iu lime to sec Lhcm puss out
of sight on the opposite side of the river. Twenty of us, mounted
on the best horses, crossed the river and followed them rapidly until

THE DAKOTA CAMPAIGN. 189
we again came in sight of them, when they separated and scattered
in different directions making pursuit useless. Wc returned lo the
ford where the rest of the company had arrived and found that our
hunting parties had secured quite a variety of game during the
forenoon, including prairie wolves, foxes, badgers, and wild geese,
which was already in the process of cooking when we arrived. The
fresh meat afforded us a fine change from our bread and coffee.
By riding twenty miles that afternoon we would shorten our dis
tance so as to be able to reach Fort Ridgely the next day. We
made this ride and went into camp on the south bank of the
river under very unpleasant conditions. It was u cold, dark April
night. We had but one full ration of bread and took our supper on a
half ration with our coffee. The horses hud only dry dead grass
with a. Utile corn. It, was so cold that we could not sleep, and sleepy
and hungry as we were, we were not in very good humor. Our
situation was so bad that we decided to push on twenty miles to
Redwood Agency. Wc started at midnight. We were in a section
of the country that had not been settled by white men and there was
nothing to guide us but the narrow and almost indistinguishable
Indian trails. Often our half-breed guides had to dismount in the
darkness and feci for the way on their hands and knees and we made
slow progress. Not even the glimmer of a single slur broke the
gloom of the night. We rode four abreast, and many of the men
fell asleep on their horses. It, look us eight hours to make the dis
tance of twenty miles over the trackless plains. The Agency was
deserted, but we found shelter, plenty of hay and about five
bushels of corn in the ear. We used the logs of some of the Indian
camps for wood to warm ourselves and cook by, nud having divided
the corn wilh our horses, roasted our share by the log fires and
enjoyed it very much. Wc stayed here until noon and then pro
ceeded on our way, reaching Fort Ridgely that evening, without the
capture of au Indian or the loss of a man.
'The companies which had been sent out in other directions
returned either that night or the next day with the exception of the
company ordered up the Minnesota River to Big Stone Lake, which
returned on the sixth day bringing a single Indian who claimed to be
a friend of the whites and who had voluntarily surrendered. Two
days later I was detailed to take this Indian to Fort Snelling and
deliver him to General Pope. David Quinn, a half-breed govern-

190 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
ment interpreter who accompanied me was positive that this Indian
was one of the outlaws who had participated in the last raid. We
took our shackled prisoner in a two-horse wagon to St. Peter, placed
him in the county jail that night, and after a day's stage ride deliv
ered him to General Pope. The interpreter, Quinn, made an inves
tigation of this prisoner and finally obtained positive evidence of
his participation in the massacre. Ho was thereupon tried, found
guilty and hanged ul Fort Snelling in the full of 1803.
I went on from Fori Snelling lo St. I'uul us 1 wus expecting my
wife and two small children from Michigan as soon as navigation
opened on the river. Boats had already conic up as far as St. Paul
and the first one after my arrival brought my family, on their
return to our home in Garden City. I went to General Sibley and
obtained a furlough for one week so Ihut I might go home with
them and set; llicm comfortably settled. The duy uflcr their
arrival al. St. Paul wo look passage to Mankuto on one of the first
bouts up the Minnesota River thai spring, and thence obtained
conveyance by wagon lo Garden City. Wc found that most of the
people hud returned to their homes. Two companies of troops hud
been stationed in the village early in the winter and had built good
log barracks, which gave the citizens a feeling of confidence and
safety. In four days I had everything comfortably arranged for my
family and then returned to Mankato, taking the first boat up the
river to Fort Ridgely.
We had a busy time preparing for the summer campaign in Dakota.
A largo amount of supplies was scut up the river by boat to Camp
Pope, which was the rendezvous of the expedition. Our entire
force was composed of Minnesota troops consisting of three regi
ments of infantry, one of cavalry, two batteries of light artillery,
two companies of half-breed scouts and one company of pioneers —
in all over four thousand men. On account of the wild und un
settled iiulurc of the country the expedition hud lo depend ou its
own supplies und wc wore uecompunied by two hundred and
twenty-five six-mule wugons of provisions und u pontoon train
of forty six-mule loams for use in crossing the Missouri or other
large rivers if necessary. Our expedition moved from Camp Pope
ou June 16, 1863. Our course was northwest, keeping to the
valley of the Minnesota River, crossing many small tributaries
and making from fifteen to twenty miles a day. The scouts

THE DAKOTA CAMPAIGN. 1<)1
were kept busy in advance and on both flanks, with orders to
report at once if any hostile Indians were seen within ten miles of
us. The pioneers located our camps and constructed earthworks
every night. Ten days of this progress brought us to Big Slonc
Lake, near the eastern line of Dakota, where we camped one day
in Brown's Valley, noted on account of its being the source of the
headwaters of the Minnesota River flowing southeast into the
Mississippi, and of the Red River of the North, flowing north into
the Hudson Bay. From here our march continued northwest
towards the big bend of the Cheyenne River, over one hundred
miles away. After about fifty miles of this journey the scouts
reported that the grasshoppers had destroyed all the grass in front
of us and wc halted while the extent of the devastated area was
ascertained, ft was discovered that it extended only about twenty
miles, so the next day we crossed the barren prairie where not a
spear of green grass was to be seen.
We reached the big bend of the Cheyenne River on July third,
crossed the river and made our camp in a beautiful valley, where we
remained while a detachment was sent to Fort Abcrcrombic, sixty
miles northeast on the Red River, for news from General Pope and for
the mail for our command. General Sibley assigned to mc the duty of
making the trip to Fort Abcrcrombic and offered me a force of five
hundred men if I desired them, as he said he considered it a dangerous
mission. I replied that if he would furnish me with sixty men from
my own company, forty from any other companies he might select and
fifty half-breed scouts under the command of Captain Dooley, I would
undertake the service and would be back in three days. As the
weather was hot I told the general that I thought it best to start at
midnight. I returned from the general's quarters to my company,
called the men into line and asked them if there were sixty who would
volunteer for the service. Every man offered logo. At midnight
we were in our saddles ready for the start. The scouts told us we
would find water half way to the Fort, but nevertheless f halted
the column as we crossed the river and ordered every man to fill
his canteen as we were to pass through an enemy's country and
might be delayed before getting half way. The night was warm
and clear, a full moon was shining and we made good progress,
so that by daylight we were twenty miles from our camp.
Before leaving General Sibley s orders were read to us. These

192 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
required us to keep scouts out in front and rear and on both flanks
and to kill no game going or returning. Two sutlers' wagons, each
drawn by ten mules, accompanied us to bo loaded with supplies at
the Fort. At daylight u dense fog settled down that detained
us over two hours and when it lifted we saw within close gun
shot six fine elk standing and looking directly ut us. It wus a
severe test to the self restraint and military discipline of our men and
lo the power of Ihe orders given by our commanding general. Some
of the men looked at me as if lo ask if I did not want elk for dinner.
I shook my head and not u shot was fired, but how tho spirit und
appetite did rebel against tho orders!
The sun soon came out bright aguin und we were on our way. It
became very hot, but we kept moving, our scouts always on the
watch for fresh signs of Indiuns. When in sight of u vulley covered
with scattering limber whore the scouts hud told us wc. would
find water, a herd of buffalo thai hud been started up by the scouts
cume rushing down u ravine near the sutlers' wagons. The sutlers,
who had probably not hoard the orders road, or else did not think
themselves under strict military discipline like the soldiers, fired into
the herd killing one and breaking the leg of another, and before I
fairly knew what was up, or could interfere, many of my men had
joined the chase. Corporal Dudley of my company wus charged
by a large wounded bull and wus so excited ihut in using his revolver
he shot his own horse in the lop of its head so Ihut it foil as if dead.
Seeing the danger of the fallen corporal from the enraged animal, 1
shot the buffalo iu the head with my Sharps Carbine. Tho sup
posed dead horse recovered, and proved to have received only a
scalp wound and Dudley rode him until mustered out.
This incident und the dressing of the game detained us another
hour. When we reached the stream where we expected water, there
was none to be found. Tho next watering place was al Wolfe
Creek, twonly-fivo miles further on, and men and horses wore
already very thirsty. The scouts now cume in with reports of a
fresh Indiun trail where a bund hud camped the day before, and
Captain Dooley, their commander, was very uneasy. About noon
we crossed another Indian trail which led like the other in the
direction of the Canadian line. Later we learned that the Indians
who left these trails had started out for Minnesota to renew their
depredations on the settlers but that upon reaching Lake Traverse,

THE DAKOTA CAMPAIGN. 193
a few miles north of Big Stone Lake and learning of the approach of
General Sibley's expedition, had returned lo a position near the
Canadian line, where all the hostile Indians of Minnesota were then
assembled. They hud chosen this spot so thai if attacked by our
forces and overpowered, they could lake refuge in Canadian terri
tory, whore our forces could not follow them. They also expected
lo receive reinforcements from the tribes located in Canada. After
striking this last trail we moved cautiously. Wc reached Gooso
Creek Valley about four o'clock and within another hour found
abundance of water to relieve the sufferings of the men and of the
animals, whose tongues were parched and swollen from thirst.
Major Camp, in command of Fort Abercrombie, had been notified
of our coining and when he caught sight of us started out at once
with fifty cavalrymen to escort us to the Fort. We were well
provided for at the Fort after our continuous sixty-mile ride during
the extreme heat of that fourth of July.
We had brought with us a six-mule wagon for the purpose of
taking back the mail for the men of our expedition, which the major
showed us, all ready to be loaded. I informed him that my orders
were to stay at the Fort one day and to return the next, and so on
the fifth we rested. The veterinarian of the Post informed me that
five of our horses were unlit lo return, and Ihe post surgeon told me
that three of our men would not. be able lo be back with us. On
the morning of the sixth everything was ready for us to slurt. on our
return and wc set out at two o'clock in the morning. Major Camp
with one hundred men accompanied us part of the way. We reached
our camp the next evening just at dark, without any incident of
note having occurred and I delivered the mail at headquarters,
made a verbal report — not including Ihe story of our buffalo hunt —
and received the thanks of the general for the success of my service.
Next morning the expedition was on the march again up the
valley of the Cheyenne River. On the seventeenth of the month
the general learned of a movement of the Indians Southwest from the
border of Canada towards the Missouri River, news which was con
firmed on the twentieth by three hundred half-breed Chippcwas
who were on their summer hunt for buffalo meat and skins and who
visited our camp. This information necessitated a change of plan
in order to prevent the Indians from escaping. About fifty miles
south of Devil's Lake General Sibley established a fortified camp,
14

194 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
leaving there under a strong guard, the major part of his wagon
train, together with tho sick and injured men and animals. Travel
ling in light marching order and carrying twenty-five days' rations
the balance of the command, eighteen hundred infantry, six hundred
cavalry, 0110 hundred pioneers, one hundred scouts, and two bat
teries of artillery started on a rapid inarch to intercept the Indians
before they reached the Missouri River. On the twenty-second we
crossed the James River, fifty miles west of the camp and on the
twenty-fourth tho scouts reported hostile Indians iu large numbers
under the command of Red Plume and Standing Buffalo near Big
Mound, about sixty miles north of the Missouri River.
Positive orders had been issued against the killing of game, but
those orders were not always obeyed. Lieutenant Freeman of my
regiment und u few of his friends found Ihe temptation loo grout
for them, and while outside the lines hunting buffalo wore ambushed
mid four of Ihe parly killed. A sergeant wilh two arrows iu his
body escaped lo bring the news lo the general. The scouts soon
came in reporting that the main body of the Indians wore within
five miles of us. We moved forward a short distance and went into
camp near the east bank of a large lake just west of the Big Mound.
The pioneers started throwing up earthworks and the cavalry and
infantry wore drawn up in line of battle while Riggs and Williamson,
the Indians' former missionaries were sent to treat with them. Large
bodies of Indians appeared in plain sight near the top of Big Mound,
und Dr. Weiser, surgeon of our regiment, who hud lived with the
Indians several yours, mounted his horse und rode up to the puintcd
wurriors, several of whom he greeted as old friends. As he rode
back und passed our lines, Colonel McPhnil said to him, "Doctor,
I expected to see you killed." The doctor replied, "They will not
kill a medicine man. They are my best friends." He stated that
there would bo no fight, thul. duy, us the Indians said they intended
to surrender. Nino companies of our cavalry hud boon silting their
horses for three hours, drawn up iu lino of battle under a blistering
sun, awaiting orders. Riggs und Williamson finally returned, bring
ing wilh llicm two while boys whom the Indians hud lukou iu Minne
sota the year before and whom they now returned as an earnest of
their good faith. Tho savages asked thul General Sibley moot Ilium
in council.
At this news Dr. Weiser became so confident of their peaceful

THE DAKOTA CAMPAIGN. 195
intentions, that he again mounted his horse to visit them. He
disobeyed orders in doing this and paid no attention lo our attempt
to dissuade him. Off he went up the hill, dressed in full uniform
and his horse on a gallop, but before he reached their lines a number
of shots rang out and he fell dead, pierced wilh many bullets. His
orderly who was with him returned unharmed. The battle was
soon raging. The Indians spread out and advanced rapidly upon
us, some on horseback, others on foot, all shouting their terrible
war cries. Colonel McPhail ordered our nine companies of cavalry
forward at a gallop, while Colonel Brooks with the 6th Minnesota
Infantry on the double quick made for the left flank of the Indians
to cut them off from their camp. Both batteries followed close
uflcr Ihe infantry and cavalry. The Indians were soon on the run
and we hot after them. As wc reached the lop of the hill n heavy
thunder storm broke over us. As we charged down the opposite
side of Big Mound, Indians firing at us from front and righl flank,
private Murphy and his horse fell dead at my left. At. the same
instant Colonel McPhail, who with drawn sword was directing our
men to cut off the Indians directly in front of us from their main
body on our right, had the sword struck from his hand, while my horse
fell to the ground. My horse was soon on his feet again and after
a few staggers went forward in the charge as if nothing had occurred.
1 thought that he had been shot, but after the fight when wc went
back to get Murphy's body we found that a bolt of lightning had
struck him, killing him and his horse, disarming the colonel and
knocking my horse to the ground.
On we went in the charge as fast as our horses would carry us,
driving the savages through their camp, which they abandoned,
leaving behind tons of buffalo meat and other heavy articles which
they could not carry in their hasty flight. Colonel Crooks' Infantry
and the batteries soon came up and wo sol fire to the camp and
abandoned articles, and took up the trail of the fugitives directly
towards the Missouri River. Wc soon overhauled them and then
began a desperate running fight. One of Sibley's aides reached us
with orders to return to headquarters, but Colonel McPhail did
not understand the orders to mean to return at once, so wc did not
slacken our pace. The fugitives finally turned upon us in their
desperation, but we quickly put them to flight again and in the last
five miles of the running fight before darkness overtook us forced

196 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
them to abandon nearly everything they had stolen the previous
summer from tho Minnesota settlers, as well as valuable furs und
buffalo robes which they hud tuken since leuving their rosorvutions.
Muny of our soldiers found bundles of mink, otter, and beaver skins,
and it wus said thut one of the sutlers hud u wugon loud of valuable
furs when the regiment returned lo St. Paul. As the darkness cume
on another aide galloped up with emphutic orders to return lo head
quarters ul once. Wc were now eighteen miles awuy from head
quarters and uflcr the severe service und oxcitemonl of tin: day hud
a long and trying march buck, urriving ut headquarters just ut
daylight, thoroughly worn out. Wo were all disgusted, feeling that
Sibley ought to have brought his headquarters to us on the field,
as then we would huve been able to capture the Indians before they
crossed the Missouri. The next day we laid over to bury our dead
consisting of two officers and seven men. There were more than
one hundred dead braves stretched out on the route of our pursuit.
I hud iu my company of cavalry a fine young man by the iiume.
of Andrew Moore who cume from the Blue Eurth Vulley, south of
my home in Garden City and who stood six feet two inches in his
bare foot. In Ihis fight ul Big Mound three Indiuns hid in u buffalo
wallow on a hill ul our righl from which they kept up u persistent
fire upon us. Colonel McPhail gave orders lo Captain Austin lo
deploy to the right, under protection of the hill, cut off these marks
men if possible and drive them from their position. Within two
minutes we wore in their rour. They fired ut us und then tried to
escape. Two of them wore killed and Ihe other one Lhrew down
his gun und offered to surrender, but some of the men fired and
wounded him. He instantly turned, ran for his gun and fired before
any one could shoot him, the bull striking Andrew Moore in the
abdomen. He, us well as we, knew from the nature of the wound
that ho could not recover. We curried him in un ambulance wilh
us to the Missouri River, but being on the move and having no
proper treatment, he died on the twenty-fifth, and we buried him
with military honors on the bank of a beautiful lake. We marked
his grave with a lurge mound of stones and named the lake after
him. The most pathetic feature of the case was that while he knew
ho could not live lie hoped and longed lo be able to roach homo and
look once more upon the faces of his wife and children before he
died. Ten years after his death the valley in which he was buried

THE DAKOTA CAMPAIGN. 197
was well settled, and a railroad ran along the bank of this lake, which
was still known as Moore's Lake.
When wc overtook the savages again they were within twenty
miles of the Missouri River. They had received reinforcements
and gave us battle at Stony Lake. The whole country in our
front seemed covered with mounted Indians. Our columns were
halted while our batteries threw a few shells into their midst which
put them to flight. Indians cannot stand the fire of artillery and the
bursting of shells when the range is too great for them to use their
rifles. This fight, which occurred in the morning, did not last over
thirty minutes and by nine o'clock Ave had driven them back until
wc reached a point several miles front the river's bank, yet over
looking the broad valley. It was n beautiful duy, the sun shining
bright and clear. Across the river on the highland opposite, some
fifteen miles away, wc saw bright flashes of light reflected to us.
At first we thought Ihcsc to be the glitter of the sabers of General
Sully's command, which had been ordered up the soulh side of the
Missouri, to act in concert with us in the capture of these Indians.
But our scouts soon disillusioned us by saying that the flashes of light
were from small oval looking-glasses which the Indian warriors were
proud of wearing, and which they used both for ornament and for
signalling. These (lashes, Ihey said, were made by Indians who had
crossed the river and were signalling lo those who were still on this
side. General Sibley had relied on capturing the families of Ihe
Indians before they could cross the river, believing that if he had the
women and children in his hands the warriors would quicldy sur
render. The half-breed scouts told him that the Indians could
quickly make rafts out of willows overlaid with buffalo skins lo lake
their women and children over and thai unless we hurried they
would escape capture. Seeing a large body of Indians making for
the timber that skirted the river, wc galloped rapidly forward to
reach them. As we were entering the river bottom the scouts
brought in several Teton Sioux whom they had just captured. This
tribe belonged on the other side of the river, and said that a large
body of their tribe had come to assist their brothers in crossing the
river, and that they hud seen nothing of General Sully's white
soldiers. The timber was too thick to get our horses and artillery
through and we delayed while the pioneers chopped a road through
it for us. When wc reached the bank the Indians and their families

198 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
could be seen on the opposite side. A few shells from the cannon
quickly drove them from sight again.
Convinced now that the Indians hud escaped him, General Sibley
sent his favorite aide, Lieutenant Beaver, to order the artillery to
return, but before reaching his destination the lieutenant was shot
down by Indians, still secreted in the lumber. A second aide reached
the destination, the artillery was recalled and we went into camp
about durk on a level mound with Apple Creek bordered with a thick
growth of willow brush on one side and a heavy body of timber on
another side. The mound was from ten to twenty feet higher than
the bottom on which the creek willows grew and its banks were steep,
so that it was an excellent camping place. Strong earthworks were
thrown up and a heavy guard placed that night. Just at day
break several shots were fired from the timber, four of them passing
through our company officers' lout, though loo high to do damage,
und one of fliein wounding my horse und disabling him for sovorul
weeks. A small purly of Indiuns ulso made their appearance from
the brush along Apple Crook and tried to stampede our horses, but
we stopped their little game with a few shells from our batteries and
all was quiet again. The rest of the Indians evidently escaped across
the river that morning. Alarmed and mystified at the failure of
Sully's command to co-operate wilh him, Sibley sent his scouts down
the river to learn what had become of them. They returned ou the
second day with the news that Sully's supply boats had grounded on
a sand bur one hundred und fifty miles below, and thut he hud been
unable to push on. While tho scouts wore out on this duty, wc
buried Lieutenant Beaver and his orderly with military honors.
Beuver was a young man of English birth who had hunted large
game in Africa and had come to St. Paul with two other young
Englishmen to spend a season hunting large game on the plains and
iu the mountains of the west. Finding that it was inadvisable und
dangerous to curry out their plans while the Indiuns were at war,
they offered their services to General Sibley for his expedition, were
given lieutenants' commissions, and served on his stuff us volunteer
uides without puy. They were well educated and we understood
that they belonged lo noble families. Lieutenant Beaver was the
oldest of the three und ulwuys claimed the honor of currying dis
patches where the bullets flew thiekest, and now after three months'
faithful and courageous service, he laid down his life on the banks

THE DAKOTA CAMPAIGN. 199
of the upper Missouri River, five hundred miles west, of the border
of civilization. His two comrades felt his loss keenly and resolved
to avenge his death. They continued to fight the Indians and
both of them lost their lives on the frontier before the war closed.
On the third day after the Indians had crossed the Missouri,
co-operation with General Sully having proved a failure, Sibley
ordered a return to Fort Snelling. It took us four days to reach
Camp Atchison, the fortified camp where we had left our supplies
and a part of our force. On reaching this camp we learned that the
scouts who had been left here during our absence had captured the
son of Little Crow who was the chief disturber in bringing on the
Indian War. Little Crow's influence had been so great that he
had actually persuaded the Indians thai they would drive all the
settlers out of the country west of the Mississippi River if they
would follow him. They followed him but instead of the glory which
he had prophesied they had found themselves driven away from
their reservations and homes out onto the bleak plains of Dakota
where they suffered and starved the next winter as the result of
their war with the whites. Then Little Crow's followers had turned
against him, saying that he had deceived them and could lead them
no longer, nor live among them, and that il. would be safer for him
lo go and live in Ihe while men's country than to slay with them.
So he left them and taking his son returned to Minnesota, where
he was recognized by a settler who shot him on the spot. His
son escaped and fled into Dakota again, and there while searching
for his mother's family had been captured by our scouts near Devil's
Lake. He was taken to General Pope's headquarters at Fort
Snelling where valuable information was obtained from him. He
was then imprisoned at Rock Island with the Indians who had been
condemned to death by court martial but had been saved by the
reprieve of the president. Later these murderers were taken up
the Missouri River and liberated in Montana, where, in June, 1876,
most of them took part in the battle of Little Big Horn River, aiding
in the massacre of the gallant Custer and his five companies of
cavalry. 1 1, was believed at that time, and is still thought by the
old settlors, that if those Indians condemned to death by court
martial had all been executed at Mankato, the battle and massacre
on the Little Big Horn would never have occurred. The bitter

200 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
enmity of these savage chieftains and their burning spirit of revenge,
was in my opinion the direct cuuse of the Montana uprising.
The day before we reached Cump Atchison, u body of one hun
dred men under command of a Captain Fisk, all well mounted and
well armed and carrying two pieces of artillery stopped at the camp
on their way lo the newly discovered gold fields in Montana. Major
Atchison, who was in command, Iried to persuade them not to go
on as they wore almost sure to bo attacked by the Indians. But
Ihey fell confident that they would huvo no trouble, since they wore
well mounted und armed, and wore sure that they could protect
themselves until they reuched Fort Benton, ut tho greut North Bend
of the Missouri River, where there wus u sinull garrison of United
States troops, so Major Atchison's words had little effect and they
moved on. When they were about fifty miles from Cump Atchison
Ihe Indians ul lacked them one morning before they hud broken
cump, und killed four of them ul their first lire. They held the
Indians off with their artillery the first duy und that night two of
their best men crawled through the Indian lines and hastened to
Fort Atchison for assistuuee. These couriers reached Camp Atchi
son just ut daybreak. Our force had come in the day before and
General Sibley soon had four hundred cavalrymen and one buttery
on the wuy lo their relief. Wo reached theni at twelve o'clock thul
night. The next morning ubout two hundred Indians came in sight
to reconnoitre, and perhaps to make an uttack. Before they fairly
knew whutwus up the charge was sounded and four hundred mounted
men were on their heels and a battery pouring shells among them.
This reception was too much for them and they quickly scattered
over the plains as fust us their ponies could curry them. We soon
returned from the chase, reporting five Indians killed. Thus deliv
ered, Fisk and his men were glad to return with us and acknowledged
that but for the prompt relief they must ull have been slaughtered.
We were soon on our way back to camp and within forty hours after
setting out on the relief expedition wc wore safe in the fort again
without the loss of a man.
The morning after our return Camp Atchison was broken up,
General Sibley with the infantry and one battery, marching by way
of the Cheyenne River and Fort Abcrcrombic, while Colonel McPhail
with six companies of cavalry and the other battery, took an easterly
route running south of Big Slone Lake to Fort Ridgely. I was in

THE DAKOTA CAMPAIGN. 201
McPhail's division and we saw no signs of Indians on our way.
Colonel McPhail was a Minnesota farmer and knew but. little of
military tactics or discipline. He knew that there was little possi
bility of meeting hostile Indians and so gave us an easy lime on our
home march. Buffaloes were plenty and wc had hunting parties
out each day, bringing in an abundance of fresh meat for the com
mand. Wc arrived at Fort Ridgely about the tenth of September.
During our absence General Pope had constructed two lines of
stockades, reaching from the northern line of Iowa to the border of
Canada. These stockades were from ten to twenty miles ajwrt,
depending upon convenience to wood and water, were made of
prairie sod and included accommodations for men and stables for
their horses. The first lines of stockades ran on a line parallel with
Now Ulm, and the other was from ten to twenty miles west and
parallel with it. A small force of cavalry was stationed at each of
these stockades to assist in capturing any bunds of Indians lh.it
might come within these lines which practically covered the entire
settled portion of the slate. These stockades proved of great bene
fit, as the Indians soon learned that it meant capture or death for
them to venture within them.
As our regiment, by the terms of its enlistment, could not be
sent into service in the Civil War and as the Indian war was now
practically over, after two months at. Fori Ridgely we were ordered
lo Fort Snelling lo be mustered out. The Sioux War on our north
west border occurred during the intense anxiety of the Civil War.
Although it was of considerable magnitude itself, and was fairly
successful as a campaign, it was hardly noticed by the country at
large for the attention of all was absorbed in the changing fortunes
of the far greater and more important conflict in the South.

( 'attain TiiKonoitK Kim; a it I ** >'i lint
I- mm t) plim.ogrBpli hiUt'ii .il, Ml. t'iiiil, MiiiiumiI,!, in ISlil. in lit.-
Miiuii'dnlii infiinli y

»f tin- I I.I,

CHAPTER XII.
Under Thomas in Tennessee.
After our regiment was mustered out. many of the young un
married men re-enlistcd and went south to take part in the War of
the Rebellion. I went home to Garden City and spent the winter
with my family. In the spring Indian war parties again entered the
State and began their depredations and murders. One evening a
band of fifteen attacked a small settlement at Willow Creek, only
twelve miles southwest of Garden City, killing several families and
stealing a number of horses. I learned the news at ten o'clock the
same night and saddling the old war horse that had borne me
through the Dakota campaign started for the nearest stockade,
which was twenty miles west of us, to notify the garrison. I passed
through Madelia where I gave warning to the settlers, then hastened
on to the stockade. The commander immediately dispatched a
courier to the next stockade in the line, twenty miles west. He
furnished me with a fresh horse and I rode twelve miles north to the
next stockade, where my sudden arrival iu the night, stampeded
some of the cavalry horses. Twenty-five mounted men were im
mediately sent southwest to try to pick up the trail of the murderers.
After breakfast at the stockade I returned to the post where I had
changed horses, intending to return home by way of Willow Creek.
Here, however, I found that the entire force had been sent
out to the northwest and that no warning had been sent to the
stockade ten miles southwest of them. I therefore mounted my
own horse which was now rested, arid carried the news to this stock
ade and finding that there were others that hud not been warned
rode on south to still another one. At this last stockade the
news had just been received and ihe cavalry were in their saddles
ready to start when I rode in. I gave them what information I had,
especially as to the direction taken by the troopers from the other
stockades. Il was now ten o'clock in the morning and ns I had
ridden fully sixty-five miles in twelve hours, I felt the need of a little
rest. I remained at this post for dinner, then started home for
Garden City, forty miles away. I passed through Willow Creek,
203

204 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
the scene of the massacre on my return, and found that five persons
had been killed and ton horses stolen. I reached home at nine
o'clock thul night, having boon gone twenly-thrce hours, during
which time I hud ridden over one hundred miles und had not had a
wink of si eo]>.
As the result of my journey the parly from the second stockade
which I notified struck the trail of the Indiuns about ten o'clock that
morning und soon overlook Ihem. The Indiuns hid in the thick
brush nour a bluff und finally escaped in the night leaving the stolon
horses behind them. The next morning another party of troopers
struck their trail and followed it until they hud killed or captured
the entire band. That ended the Indian raids in that part of the
state for the spring und summer of 1864. Such was the animosity
against the Indians after this massacre that one of them could not
have passed through the stale safely oven if he hud had tho stars
and stripes wound around him.
Major Braekct.l, who had taken au ucilvo pari in the pursuit of
the Indiuns, obtained a commission to ruiso u battalion of cavalry
to be mounted on Canadian ponies for frontier service. He asked
me to raise one of the companies, but my wife objected so seriously
thai I declined. I sold my old war horse, that had seen service in
the Sibley campaign, to M. T. Full of Garden City, who wus com
missioned as first lieutenant in Bruckotl's battalion, and so il saw
two years more of service iu Indian fighting.
Soon after litis raid I ho federal government called upon Minne
sota lo furnish another regiment of infantry for service iu the south
and Governor Miller sent me a commission to raise one company of
this regiment in Blue Earth Valley. The command of this company
was promised to me if I desired it. I soon had the company made up,
consisting largely of men who had already seen service in the Indian
war. My wife believed thai I hud fully done iny purl und thut I
ought now to slay at homo with my family. I told her thai the war
would soon be over und that I thought il was my duty to go. The
company gathered at Mankato lo choose their officers before starting
for Fort Snelling and I told them that, although I hud recruited the
compuny and wus by right entitled to the command, yet on account
of the fuel thut my wife was confined in bed, our youngest child
being only five days old, I would relinquish my right to the command.
But the men would have none of this, telling mo that 1 had recruited

UNDER THOMAS IN TENNESSEE. 205
them and was their choice for captain and that they would not be
satisfied to go to the front under another officer. Iu spile of my
objections they unanimously elected me captain, and left the
choice of the other company officers until we reached Fort Snelling.
There was nothing for me to do but to go if my men were lo
go at all and I proceeded with them to Fori Snelling, making this
distance of seventy miles in two days by wagon train, where we were
mustered in as "Company C" of the Eleventh Regiment of Minne
sota Infantry. As soon as wc had been mustered in I called on the
governor and told him how things were at home. When he had
heard my story he granted me a furlough so that I could stay with
my family until the regiment was ready to leave for the south and
said that if my wife was not well enough for mc to leave by the time
of the departure of the regiment he would have Ihe furlough ex
tended for me. I returned home where I found my wife much bettor
and reconciled to my going south. I remained at home a week
and so arranged affairs that my family would be comfortably
provided for during my absence, and then returned to Fort Snelling
just in time to go South with the regiment.
We marched from Fort Snelling to St. Paul, where we were taken
aboard a river steamer which had two large barges lashed one to each
side, the whole furnishing comfortable quurlers for the one thousand
men. Our regimental band played "The Girl I Left Hehind Me"
as we left the city. We debarked at. l.uCrosse, Wisconsin, which
was the nearest point to a railroad, and the next day proceeded in
freight cars to Chicago where we camped for two days in one of the
city paries before we could obtain transportation for Louisville,
Kentucky. At Indianapolis wc were transferred from the cars which
wc hud occupied from Chicago to the airy upper decks of two freight
trains which were filled with fighting humanity below. This change
detained us another day. At Jcffcrsonville, just opposite Louis
ville, wc camped for one night and the next day crossed the Ohio
River to Louisville by ferry. Here we were detained three days, for
our officers were determined to have something better in the line
of transportation than the tops of old freight cars for the balance
of our trip to the south.
In Louisville we were soon made aware of the fact that wc were in
an enemy's country. All the way from St. Paul to Jeffersonville
wc had been greeted with hearty cheers and demonstrations of

206 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
loyalty. But no sooner had we crossed the Ohio River than the
cheering slopped and wc met with the frowns, scowls and sneers
of people who did not dare express their insults openly but who
showed us as plainly as they dared how they hated the soldiers
wearing the Yankee blue. Upon reaching Louisville wc inarched
up one of tho finest residential streets of the oily whore the homes
of the wealthy rebels wore situated. We were hulled in this
street while our regiiuenlul officers arranged for transportation to
Nushvillc, Tennessee, und during this hull il commenced to rain
heavily. We hud become thoroughly drenched when Lieutenant-
Colonel Ball, who had seen hard service in the First Minnesota In
fantry and who was temporarily in command, sent orders for us to take
shelter from the rain on the porches of the residences which lined the
street. This gave much offense lo the disloyul and wo wore ordered
off the porches by the owners but wc paid no alien I ion to such
orders, maintaining our protected positions. Wo remained ou these
porches for five hours when the order came lo full iu and wo marched
buck, us wc supposed, to entrain for Nashville. Instead of this we
marched to a largo tobacco warehouse which was nearly empty and
which the owners had been requested to throw open to us for shelter
until transportation was provided. The owners, being rebels, had
refused and had guards at the locked doors lo keep us out but these
were thrust aside, ihe doors broken open, and we secured good quar
ters for the balance of our stay.
Up lo this lime our regiment had been in command of Lieutenant-
Colonel Ball, as Colonel James B. Gilfillau, who hud boon promoted
to the leadership of the regiment from a captuincy in one of the
Minnesota regiments then in New Orleans, had not yet arrived.
Lieutenant-Colonel Bull had received a telegram from him that he
was on tho way by boat and would join us at Louisville. He was
one of the early pioneer settlers of Minnesota and so we officers
decided to give him a real western pioneer reception on his arrival.
We met him at tho boat and escorted him to the United States Hotel
where Lioulonunl-Colonel Bull hud secured the lurgest parlor for
the occasion. Nearly all the officers had served in the Indian war
und wo conducted Ihe reception in approved Indiun style. All
except Lieuleiiuiil-Colonel Bull sul iu a circle on the floor wilh our
feet curled under us, while he brought the colonel into our circle
and introduced him as our Great War Chief, whereupon we uttered

UNDER THOMAS IN TENNESSEE. 207
ugh! ugh! in recognition and welcome. The colonel then made a
war .speech to us, his braves, saying that if his warriors would follow
him the great war would be closed before many moons. When he
had finished his harangue the colonel was handed a large Sioux
chief's pipe made from the famous red pipe stone of Minnesota that
one of our men had brought with him and he smoked with us the
pipe of peace. At the close of these ceremonies refreshments con
sisting of some of the best of coffee and some of the hardest of hard
tack were served. After refreshments an officer started a Sioux
War Chant, which brought us all to our feet and we took part in an
Indian war dance which closed the exercises of the evening. I
wonder whether any other military officer during the Civil War was
ever given just such a reception by his comrades?
The day after our colonel's arrival the regiment was culled into
line and marched through the main street of the city to a large
open field where we had our first regimental drill. Reports showed
that every company was full and that there was not a man on the
sick list. Most of our men had seen service before, so the officers
found their task as drill masters an easy and pleasant one. The
regiment made a fine appearance with its full complement of men.
In 1864 it was a rare sight to see an infantry regiment with its full
quoin, of one thousand men. Old soldiers who had served three years
inquired what brigade was going lo the front as wc marched by,
newly uniformed. Many questions were asked, and remarks made
about this Minnesota Brigade for we were not taken for raw troops.
The day following our first regimental drill we left ut noon for Nash
ville via the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, our travelling accom
modations being the best wc had had since leaving St. Paul. We
reached Bowling Green at dark where wc were detained until next
morning, ns guerillas had burned a freight train on the track. Thai
night our men received ammunition and the next morning our two
trains moved out cautiously, passing the wrecked freight train where
an immense amount of army stores had been destroyed. At several
places on the line we saw spots where trains had been destroyed.
At the railroad tunnel thirty miles north of Nashville, the guerilla
General Morgan had earlier captured a passenger train, robbed its
passengers and then run the train into the tunnel and set it on fire,
thus putting the tunnel out of commission for several months, during
which time passengers and freight had to be transferred over the

208 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
hills by six horse mule teams. The tunnel, however, had been en
tirely repaired when we pussod over the roud.
Wo reached Nashville ubout dark und wore inarched a distance
of about three miles to a camping place near Fort Nigley and the
Chattanooga Railroad. For the next ten days we were stationed
at this place, details being made from our regiment each day to guard
freight trains to Chattanooga, the guards riding on top of the louded
curs. This wus u dangerous duty in a country infested with bunds
of guerillas, who wore worse to fight than even the wily and treacher
ous Indiuns. After ten days of this duty orders wore received to
full in und inarch to the Louisville and Nashville Depot. Wo were
delighted at the orders expecting that we were to be sent to Sher
man's Army, but to our great disappointment we were detailed by
companies for guard duly lo keep the ruilroud communication open
from Nashville lo the Kentucky line. Our regimental headquarters
was established ul Gallatin, a town of about four thousand popu
lation, twenty live miles north of Nashville. A negro regiment had
preceded us in this guard duty und hud built stockades of poles und
split logs sot upright which ufforded rather poor shelter. My com
pany was stationed at Richmond Station, five miles north of the
Kentucky border, and the first work that we did was to build ten
small log houses, each accommodating ten men, which made com
fortable quarters for all of us. We sent out patrols of six men each
twice a duy und these met similar patrols from the stations to the
norlh and south of us, ouch compuny muking duily reports lo houd-
quurlers. The country neur our stution was well settled. There were several
large plantations in the vicinity most of which had been abandoned
by their owners who had enlisted in the rebel army, while the young
est and ablest of the slave men had joined the Union forces. The
non-slave holding population was mostly loyal and many of the
men of this class had entered the Union ranks. The section was
therefore almost equully divided iu sentiment und there wus now
dcudly animosity between former neighbors und friends. We wore
told thut during the six weeks of their stuy, the colored regiment
thul had been ou guard before us hud losl Hourly one third of their
number by guerillas who hud picked them off, thul the government
hud found il almost sure death lo use them as ruilroud guurds, und
so hud sent them lo the front where they made good soldiers.

UNDER THOMAS IN TENNESSEE. 209
In sight of our camp lived a family, consisting of a man and his
wife, three sons and one daughter. They had a small plantation and
ten slaves. The father was a pronounced Union man, and had
offered himself for service in the Union armies but had been refused
on account of his age. His three boys enlisted in the Confederate
army and his daughter entered the Confederate hospital service
while the mother claimed to be neutral. The two youngest boys
were killed in battle and the girl came home. The oldest boy had
become captain of a band of guerillas which operated in the rear of
Sherman's army, destroying railroads and murdering Union soldiers
and even non-combatants. This band was known as Harper's
Guerillas and operated in unison with another band of outlaws known
as McKay's Guerillas, both bands doing most of their work along
the line of the road wc were guarding. McKay shortly previous to
our arrival had been surrounded with a few of his men in a log house
near Gallatin and upon their refusal to surrender, the house was set
on fire and all had perished. The survivors of McKay's bund joined
Harper, thus giving hiin a party of one hundred and fifty men with
which he committed an outrage nearly every day. As Harper's old
father, mother and sister lived near our camp he was careful not to let
his band kill our patrols, because ho feared that if he did so his people
would he molested. The camps on either side of ns did not fare so well.
One Sunday two men from the station five miles south of ours left
their cum)) without leave, taking their guns wilh them, and went, lo
a church two miles away from the railroad. During the service
some guerillas of Harper's band rode up to the church and called
on them to come out and surrender. After they had surrendered
and given up their arms, they were shot down in cold blood and their
bodies more savagely mutilated than any which I had ever found
mutilated by the Sioux Indians. Word was left wilh one of the
church members to tell the officers of these men to come and lake
care of their bodies. I later talked with men who were present at
the church at the time and who told me that the occurrence caused
very little excitement, the preacher going on with his services and
closing them at the usual time as though nothing unusual had
happened. Government engineers came to our camp soon after our arrival
and located a place for us to build a strong block house of hewn tim
bers twelve inches square. This block house was of octagonal shape
15

210 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
and large enough to accommodate one hundred men. The building
of this block house, with our patrol duties, kept us very busy up to
the Battle of Nashville. As soon as it was known that General
Hood with his army was marching towards Nashville the guerillas
became more active than ever in our vicinity, attempting to destroy
all ruilroud connection between Nashville and the north in order to
hinder the bringing of reinforcements and supplies to General
Thomas. For four weeks before the battle of Nashville not a duy
pusscd during which the ruilroud or telegraph linos between Bowling
Green and Nashville wore not cut. At the lime of the battle of
Franklin Harper's Guerillas cut the railroad ten miles north of our
station at a point where there was a steep grade, derailed two engines
pulling a train of thirty curs loaded with army stores, uncoupled the
cars near tho engines, and lot the train run down the steep grade
und crush into another (rain which wus coming up, finally selling
fire lo the wreckage of the two trains. Throe soldiers in charge
of some officers' horses were ou one of those trains. As soon us the
news of the wreck reuched Nushville, 1 wus ordered to tuke fifty men
and proceed at once to the scene of disaster. We reached the spot
about two o'clock in the morning and found a condition of appalling
confusion. Among the wreckage were the remains of these three
soldiers. They had been shot and their bodies cut up into small
pieces by sabres to gratify the brutal lust of these worse than savages.
Fully one thousand soldiers were soon on the spot us witnesses of
this ghostly atrocity. Willi the entire force wo cleared the road of
wreck uge und enabled trains lo pass lo Nashville that evening.
Within the next week we caught and executed five of the savage
brutes who perpetrated this outrage but this only rendered the
others still more desperate, causing them either to drive every Union
family out of that part of tho country or to kill them in cold blood.
Many of the refugees sought shelter iu our camps, appealing for
protection. An old man of eighty years wilh his wife, who had been
a neighbor and friend of the Harpers, was ordered to leave his home
but did not go. Thereupon the brutal guerillas, many of whom were
from well-bred families, look all uuiinuls which the old folks owned,
killed them in their dooryurd in front of the house und threatened
lo shool the old man if he attempted to move the curcusses. Friends
in Louisville heard of the plight of this family and took care of them.
A man by the name of Purdue, over sixly-five yeurs of uge, was

UNDER THOMAS IN TENNESSEE. 211
driven from his home. He sent his wife and daughters to the north
while he himself came lo our camp, where he was of great service as
a guide and scout. He was well acquainted with the country aud
people and was absolutely without fear. He led our men to the
guerillas' haunts where we destroyed many of them.
Throe days before Hood arrived in front of Nashville a large
force of Union troops under command of General Green made a
forced march over the Louisville and Nashville Pike, and one night
camped only six miles west of our station. Foraging parties were
sent out in different directions. One of these parties, which was
composed of sixteen men, was cut off from the main force by Har
per's Guerillas, and compelled to surrender. After giving up their
arms they wore all shot in cold blood, except one, a teamster, who
was sent back to headquarters lo notify the commander of what
had happened to his party. That night Harper visited his old father
and mother to carry to them the story of his complete destruction
of this party.
Soon after this incident we heard the booming of cannon at Nash
ville and on the river below where batteries had been planted by
the rebels to block the river against our gunboats. Wc hoped and
prayed for orders to proceed lo the front. Instead of being called
into battle, however, we received reinforcements of two more regi
ments which were sent, up lo help us guard the railroad. This
road was the only railroad running north over which supplies mid
reinforcements could be brought into Nashville and it was of such
importance to General Thomas that he had given orders to keep
it open even if it took twenty regiments to perform the task.
The rebels made several attempts to cross the Cumberland River
both above and below Nashville and to get possession of this road,
cutting off communication wilh the north, but they were defeated
each time. During the battle of Nashville, guerilla bands, antici
pating the defeat of Thomas by Hood, made desperate efforts to
destroy the road and telegraph lines and cut off any retreat
north. Scarcely an hour passed during these few days that the
road or the telegraph lines were not broken in some place. The
fate of the battle turned the tide. Instead of Thomas having to
retreat. Hood lost his army aud whole regiments of Kentucky and
Tennessee troops, now sick of fighting, surrendered to our forces and
were sent north as prisoners of war over the road wc were guarding.

212 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
They were ragged, bedraggled and half starved and orders were
given to all the guards along the railroad to give these men on the
way north to prison all the hardtack and coffee that could bo spared.
For three days, after the battle, our principal work was in feeding
these poor, ragged, starving foes from boxes of hardtack which we
had piled up near the track and from pails of hot coffee which we
dealt out to them. The conductor of one train of five hundred
prisoners ordered his train slopped al our camp for ten minutes for
refreshments. Our men were transformed into wuilers for the
occasion and served the rebels us liny sul iu their box curs us
temporary prisons, wilh two Union guurds ut each door. Never
could u, lot of men receive a happier service than was given by us,
their enemies, during those ten minutes. When the train started
on, three as hearty cheers as ever men could give went up to their
foes from those five hundred refreshed prisoners. Such was the
treatment which was accorded them ull along Ihe wuy until they
reuched the army prisons.
After ihe victory of Nashville und the destruction of Hood's
army, our regiment wus assigned to the Sixteenth Corps under
General A. J. Smith and received the credit of having been in the
battle of Nashville, which was true as far as our desires were con
cerned but not true in respect of our position, unless guarding the
important ruilroud und fighting off guerillu attacks can be suid to
have been in some sense participating in the battle of Nashville.
After this victory ull the guerillu bunds except Hurper's ceused their
operations in our vicinity. Hurper's band, however, continued to
muke it lively for us until ufter Lee's surrender, often teuring up the
track and cutting telegraph wires causing more annoyance than real
daniuge. Everybody felt that the war would soon be over and our men
talked constantly of the probability of early orders to return home.
In February, 1865, nearly all of us suffered severely from jaundice
and several of my men died. Wc would much rather have borne
the brunt of hat tie than have endured such a siege of the poisonous
yellow enemy, the results of which never entirely left some of
us. In the midst of our scourge came the stunning und paralyzing
news of Lincoln's ussussinulion. What effect it would have upon the
war, whether or not it would stimulate the South to renewed effort,
wus to us u much debated subject. For awhile after the assassination

UNDER THOMAS IN TENNESSEE. 213
the guerillas became more bold and active, but this was not for long
and there was quiet as soon as it became known that Johnston had
followed Lee's example and surrendered.
Upon the arrival of mail at our camp from headquarters one spring
morning I received a letter from my wife at Garden City, on the
back of the envelope of which was written, in the handwriting of
the postmaster at Garden City, the following note: — "A. J. Jevvett,
his wife, four-year-old boy, his father, mother and wife's sister, were
all murdered and scalped by Indians this morning. If possible,
return home at once." Under this was written the following memo
randum signed by Colonel Gilfillan, "If you wish to return home,
come to headquarters on the first train, and I will see that you have
a furlough and transportation." I took the first train to Gallatin
but after talking with the colonel concluded not to start for home
until I received further news, as the murder had taken place at a
time when hostile Indians were not known to have been within three
hundred miles of the section. The Jewctt family and mine were
intimate friends and I felt a deep interest in the case. A few days
later I learned the facts. An Indian half-breed by the name of
Campbell, who had been an interpreter for the whites through the
war with the Sioux, had accompanied lirueketl'fl Hullalion lo Fort
Rice on the Missouri River for the winter of 1864 186,'!. Lieu
tenant Full of the battalion, who came from Garden City and to
whom 1 had sold my Indian war horse, was a relative of Mr. Jewetl's,
and was in the habit of sending his surplus money to Jewell for safe
keeping. Campbell knew of this and left the battalion secretly, en
gaging six desperadoes from the renegade Sioux to go with him.
They made the winter's journey of four hundred miles across the
plains on foot, with three ponies to carry their supplies. They reached
Jewctt's farm, two miles cast of Garden City, before the snow was
gone, attacked the family just at daylight, murdered them all,
ransacked everything in search of the money, even cutting open the
feather beds, cooked themselves a breakfast, then divided the spoils
and separated. The six renegade Indians took the ponies, while
Campbell dressed himself in Jewett's best suit of clothes and started
ou fool, for Mankato intending to visit his father's family at Hen
derson, twenty miles down the river. A neighbor of Jewett's,
who was returning home from Mankato with a horse and buggy,
met Campbell and spoke with him and noticed that the half-

214 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
breed appeared to be in a great hurry. He drove on thinking there
was something wrong about the man and when he got to Jewett's
place he met two neighbors who told him of the crime. He
immediately turned his horse around and, asking one of the
men to accompany him, started on the road to Mankato to try
and catch Campbell whom he now felt was at least a suspicious
person. They hud reuched the hill overlooking the town when they
saw ihe fugitive hurrying along the road. As ihey came nearer
they both noticed thut he wore u suit of Jowotl's clothes, und draw
ing their pistols halted him und ordered him to throw up his hands.
They took uwuy his two revolvers, made him get into the buggy
wilh them at the point of their pistols and in less than ten minutes
had him in the prison in Mankato before anyone in that city had
heard of tho murder. The courthouse bell and the church bells
were rung as an alarm, and in a few minutes nearly all the citizens
hud gathered around tho courthouse und jail. Campbell realized
thul his shrift of life wus u short one, und asking for u Catholic priest
confessed the whole crime und turned over four hundred dollars
which wus his share of the plunder. He also gave information as
to where tho other six murderers could be found. After his confes
sion he wus given un hour to prepare for death and al two o'clock
thut afternoon, less than ten hours uflcr the murder, the guilty
wretch wus bunged ut the end of u rope thrown over the limb of u
tree in the courthouse yard in the presence of practically the entire
population of the oily. Thus closed iu ignominy the career of one
who had been of much service to the whites during nearly three
years of Indian warfare.
The leader of the band having been so promptly disposed of, the
whole country turned out armed to kill or capture the other six
Indians before they reached their homes in tho wilds of Dakota.
Tho soldiers in all the stockades were notified and parties were sent
out into the large timber south of Mankuto, where Campbell had
said that the renegades would be found. The duy following his
death their hiding place was discovered and they fired on the small
squad of soldiers that surrounded them, killing one and wounding
another, escaping for the lime. They wore not heard of uguiu
for ton duys, but the search and pursuit was kept up so persistently
thai Ihey ull were killed before reaching Dukolu.

UNDER THOMAS IN TENNESSEE. 215
When the bodies of Jewett's family were examined it was found
that the four-year-old boy, who had been struck on the head by an
Indian war club and had been left for dead, was still alive aud the
doctors finally succeeded in restoring him. Jewett's relatives came
on from Boston, settled up his estate and took the boy home with
them. They gave him a good education and the last I knew of
him he was a prominent lawyer in Boston carrying a distinguishing
mark which no other carried — the imprint of an Tudian war club
on the to]) of his head.
The people of Minnesota were vcr}' much wrought up over this
murder and the county commissioners of Blue Earth County voted
the sum of one thousand dollars for the purchase of bloodhounds
with which to run down the bands of Indian outlaws who still in
fested the country. The county clerk wrote to me inquiring if
bloodhounds could be purchased in the section of Tennessee where
we were situated and I replied that there was a man in the vicinity
who had them for sale. A later letter informed me that the com
missioners had appointed a Garden City man named E. P. Evans
to come to Tennessee and make the purchase. Evans soon reached
camp and in a few days we had secured six fine blooded hounds to
be taken back to Minnesota. It was a considerable undertaking
to transport these dogs to Minnesota. F.vnns had with him a letter
from the governor of Minnesota to Colonel Gilfillun, asking him for
a detail of two men from the regiment to accompany hiin and the
dogs on the journey. The main soul hern armies had surrendered
and the war was practically over so the colonel told Evans that as
he felt sure the regiment would soon be on the way to Fort Snelling
to be mustered out it would be belter to wait and take the dogs
with them, thus saving transportation charges. He promised that
in case orders for the return home were not received by the first
of July, he would make the detail as requested. Our orders arrived
before that time and the dogs went with us. Upon trial, it was found
that, although these hounds had been trained to follow the scent of
a negro to his death, as soon as they were placed on the trail of an
Indian they stuck their tails between their legs and made a cowardly
sneak in the opposite direction. So Blue Earth County lost its one
thousand dollars, so far as the specific object of the expenditure was
concerned. Returning now to the remainder of our story in the South:

210 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
Following the Buttle of Nashville wc still kept our stations guarding
the railroad although the guerillas were very quiet. A Methodist
camp meeting was held in the church about two miles from our camp,
in the same church where tho two men of our regiment had been so
brutally murdered by guerillas one Sunday. I received orders from
headquarters one day, during the continuance of this camp meeting,
to take my company with two other companies of the regiment,
surround the camp grounds and search the crowd for some of Har
per's Guerillas who were understood to be present. We executed the
orders to the letter but failed to gel our men, as they had learned
our purpose by some underground means.
The week before orders reached us to return north Harper sent word
to Colonel Gilfillan that he and his company of guerillas would sur
render. The surrender took place a short distance from Gallatin and
seventy-five men laid down their arms, took the same oath as Lee's
army had taken and were permitted to return to their homes. The
officers wore allowed lo retain their side arms and horses. Such wus
the feeling uguinsl Harper and his two lieutenants thut they thought
il best lo leave the slulo until their Union neighbors hud forgotten
their depredations. A guard wus given these officers for their pro
tection while they visited Harper's home, near my headquarters, to
say farewell before leaving the state. This guard consisted of fifty
men from my company, my first lieutenant and I accompanying
them to see that protection was really afforded. Our guard lasted
from 10 A. M. until 2 P. M. and during our stay the family prepared
dinner for us ull. The three ox -officers wore constantly ou the watch
for danger, two of them watching the roads while the other ate his
dinner. While my men were having their dinner inside Harper
asked me and Lieutenant Neal to stay outside with him, as he had
something to say to us. This we did and he told us that he and his
lieutenants were planning to go to Mexico as they could not with
sufcly stuy in Ihe slate, hundreds of men having sworn to shoot them
on sight. He asked me if Pardue, a former neighbor, was still at
my camp saying that he was his worst enemy and that his life would
not bo worth u shilling if Purdue know thul he wus ul homo. 1 freed
his mind of most of his fours by tolling him thul Purdue wus in Nush-
villc on duly und hud not even hoard of his surrender.
During this conversation he was free lo loll us of several narrow
escapes from capture or death when my company was on his trail.

UNDER THOMAS IN TENNESSEE. 217
At one time he was staying over night at a plantation when he was
informed of our approach by the slave of a neighboring planter and
escaped by a back path as we marched up in front. Again he told us
how one night he had visited our encampment with ten men when
he had come so close to our guard line that he could see us distinctly
through the lighted windows of the house and might have killed some
of us by firing. His company had had several opportunities to kill
members of my company, he said, but he had given strict orders
not to kill any of them unless attacked, as he feared that by so
doing he would draw down our vengeance upon the families of
himself and his friends. This story we discounted as we felt sure
that none of his men would let pass any chance of shedding human
blood. He also told us of an attempt to capture Lieutenant Neal
and myself at our boarding place, about, a hundred rods from our
quarters, which had been unsuccessful because we hud just changed
boarding places. Orders had been given to kill us if wc resisted,
he said, and Neal replied by saying that wc would never have been
taken alive as we understood only too well that surrender to a
guerilla meant a death of the crudest kind.
Neal asked Harper how he and his lieutenants happened to have
U. S. A. saddles on their horses and he answered jovially that they
had taken them from the freight trains they had wrecked leu miles
from Richmond Station. I asked him if he and his men were re
sponsible for the killing and mutilating of the three soldiers whose
bodies wc had found there and he responded, without any show of
feeling, that they were. Neal then spoke up and told him that we
had been through the worst of Indian wars, had seen the results of
Indian massacres and witnessed many horrible butcheries, but that
in all our experience we had never looked upon bodies so horribly
mutilated and mangled as those of the three soldiers whom his men
had killed. He replied that it was war, and that his actions were
justified. But we told him that such inhuman brutality as this on
the part of an intelligent man was enough in our minds to justify
us, his victors, in taking his life even though he had surrendered
and was under our protection. But we were soldiers under orders
to give him protection and in spite of our convictions those orders
had to be carried out. If our men had known the story then, as
well as their officers, I doubt if we could have prevented them from
shooting down those three gentlemanly brutes.

218 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
Our conversation ended with the call to dinner with the family.
It was an excellent farmer's meal and we partook heartily. After
the meal there was an affecting farewell scene between Harper
and his family; although they were divided in political opinion and
loyalty they were an affectionate family. Harper asked for a
guard to the pike five miles west of Richmond, but I had no authority
to furnish this and refused; when we came to a by-path that led into
the woods on the way to our camp, he thanked us for our kindness
and bade us good-bye. I was immensely relieved to be rid of the
loathsome duty of protecting one who had no moral right to
protection, and congratulated myself upon seeing the last of this
wretch. If he went to Mexico he made a quick trip of it, for
I later learned that ho was back home within two months, and
ut work uguin killing his enemies. Purdue, our well loved scout,
wus one of those whoso life was taken by him thul next fall. This
enmity between the Union men und guerillas iu that country was
so bitter that assassinations continued until both parties wore prac
tically destroyed, doubtless Harper among ihe number.
Our regiment was relieved from duty the latter part of June and
we started for home. All along the way, after leaving Kentucky,
we received the same welcome and hospitality as that received by
others who had served longer and had been in scores of battles.
One Sunday the train carrying us was sidetracked near u small town
in Indiana and the engine detached, the intention being to leave us
there until Monday. But we were too eager to get home to
be sidetracked that way and pushed the train a mile into town and
cheered until an engine was attached to it. We reached Chicago
that evening, having stopped at Indianapolis long enough for a
sumptuous dinner. On this trip our six bloodhounds attracted
more attention than the nine hundred soldiers and officers. We
had decorated them with the stars and stripes and had printed the
following words on a cloth blanket which each wore: "Purchased
by Blue Earth County, Minnesota. No more slaves lo run down.
Enlisted with the U. S. A. for the Sioux War. Deserted our Rebel
Muster und bound for Minnesota, or bust." That night in Chicago
the entire regiment, except for a few of the officers, rolled themselves
in their blankets und slept ou the soft side of the pavement on
Michigan Avenue with tho oool breezes from Lake Michigan to
dispel the intense heat. Hundreds of people came to our spacious

UNDER THOMAS IN TENNESSEE. 219
bedroom for a look at the "war worn veterans," and more often the
"Tennessee recruits." Early flic next morning we inarched to the
station and took the train for LaCrosse, Wisconsin, where we were to
embark on steamboats for the journey up the Mississippi River.
At every station in Wisconsin flags were flying from the house tops
in our honor and ladies were at the train with flowers lo pin ou our
coats and baskets of fruit and food to distribute among us. The
nearer we got to home the greater became the enthusiasm. At
LaCrosse, which we reached just at dark, the mayor and citizens
prepared us fine quarters for the night in the courthouse and the
city hall.
In the morning two large boats were at the wharf ready to take
us on board for the fine daylight ride up the "Father of Waters,"
and through historic Lake Pepin. Il was Ihe morning of July fourth
and it looked as if nearly all the people of the city wished passage
with us on those boats, so great was the crowd at the dock.
Half the regiment went ou each boat and after the soldiers had
boarded, others were let on board lo the full extent of the boat's
capacity. It was staled that the War Eagle, the floating palace
of the Mississippi at that time, had fully two thousand passengers
on board that day. There was a fine brass band on each boat which
afforded a pleasant attraction, but ninny said Ihut. our dogs, the
like of which they had never seen, provided u greater attraction
than the band. Winona, Red Wing, Wabashaw and Lake City
where we stopped were wild with enthusiasm over the return
of the 11th Regiment. None of the men were allowed ashore, but
baskets of flowers and refreshments were sent on board and dis
tributed among them, for which we returned our thanks to the kind
people by exhibiting our dogs to the crowd from the hurricane deck.
Just before dark wc passed Hastings where wc were saluted by the
firing of cannon and at eight o'clock reached St. Paul where the
city had provided every comfort for us. Such recognition of our
services on the part of people everywhere, such a hearty welcome
back, such overflowing kindness and hospitality as we received
can never be forgotten and was in itself almost enough to repay us
for the hardships and exposures we had passed through.
The next day we marched to Fort Snelling with nine hundred
men, one hundred less than when we left and on the eleventh
of July were mustered out of service and discharged. We had

220 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
served less than a year, and had been in no important battles;
but many lives had been sacrificed by exposure, hardship, and
strenuous service against the guerilla bands of northern Tennessee.
The grass-covered mounds where our comrades lie buried at every
station along the Louisville and Nashville Railroad from the Ken
tucky line to Nashville bear mute witness to the fact that the Eleventh
Minnesota, though late in the field, contributed its portion to the
Union of Stales and the salvation of the Nation. And of those who
returned, nearly ull carried wilh them the seeds of disease that had
been sown iu their systems by such exposure and hardships as were
unavoidably incidental to army life. After being mustered out
the members of my company were furnished conveyance by govern
ment wagons to Mankato and thence wont to their homes in
the Blue Earth Valley where nearly all of them had enlisted, as we
wore mostly farmers and farmers' sous. After our separation at
Mankuto I returned lo my home in Garden City, lo enjoy once
more tho blessings of peace iu the undisturbed society of my fumily
und friends.

CHAPTER XIII.
The Capture oe the Younger Brothers.
Soon after reaching home from the South 1 purchased the beauti
ful farm of Colonel J. H. Baker, on the Watlonwan River one
mile from Garden City. Here we lived in happiness for the next
ten years. Minnesota during this period became a great and pros
perous state. Railroads were built to reach nearly every county in
the southern part of the state and the two former Indian reserva
tions were opened and transformed into a populous and prosperous
farming district. The three years of Indian warfare, in which the
lives of one thousand five hundred settlers were sacrificed, were
now almost forgotten except by those of the oldest residents who
had had a hand in driving the savages out of the state. The Indian
War, notwithstanding its cruellies and sufferings, proved a final
benefit since it resulted in ridding the very best agricultural part
of the state of its dangerous occupants much sooner than could
have otherwise been done.
In the summers of 1873-4-fl the grasshoppers from the plains
west of us came into the slate in such vast numbers as to destroy
nearly nil the crops during those three years. Such wns the devasta
tion that most of the farmers who remained on their farms were
obliged to accept aid from the stale or to borrow from friends out
side the state. Every possible plan was tried to drive off the locusts
or to kill them off but we found that though we could drive off
and kill off the Indians the locusts were too much for our skill
and power. Our county commissioners voted a bounty of ten
cents a quart for them and the schools were closed to allow the
children, as well as adults, to catch and destroy them. The princi
pal of the Garden City School and his pupils spent one day on my
farm with their canvas nets. My nearest neighbor attached a
canvas net to his hayrake and hauled in the pests by horse power.
Other improved methods of getting grasshoppers so increased the
catch that the bounty was put down to five cents a quart on the
second day and after the third day's harvest the crop was so great
that it was taken off entirely for fear of bankrupting the county.
221

222 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
One farmer in the vicinity attached a funnel-shaped net to two hay-
rakes which ho fastened twenty feet apart and drew up and down
his fields. His one day's catch filled us many grain sucks us could
be loudod on u huyruck und required four horses to draw them to
the place whore tho bounty was paid. The locusts were killed in
the sacks with kerosene oil and the supervisor of each township
had to attend lo measuring them and burying them in long deep
trenches, lint all efforts availed nothing. Thousands of farmers
wore compelled lo leave Ihe slate, taking their stock with them
and moving into other western stales.
I hud now lived west of the Mississippi River neurly twenty-five
years and hud hud my share of a pioneer's troubles, so after the
three barren years I concluded to go buck to my nutive state until
Ihe scourge had passed awuy, when I would return again to my farm
and lo making a living by hard labor without having the results of my
labor destroyed by insects. Wilh this cud iu view I rented my farm
to a man who hud no means with which lo leave the country and who
depended ou the slulo lo furnish him seed for the next season's
planting, sold my live stock to parties living outside the scourged
district and in tho full of 1875 started with my family for Michigan.
The following winter I travelled us u book agent, but, my health
being poor, I abandoned thut employment und decided lo go once
more to funning.
During the summer of 1876 I wont buck to Minnesota to see
how my farm, which I hud rented, wus doing und by chance be
came involved iu another of the most stirring incidents in Minne
sota's history. One day a couple of well-dressed men drove up to
my farm and asked me what I would take for it. They said that
they had capital and intended buying up a group of the farms
which had been practically abandoned because of the scourge of
grasshoppers. My price seemed to be too high for them however
and they rode on towards Mankato. The next day I met these
same men with six others on the streets of Mankuto. They were
nogotiuting wilh several furmois for tho purchase of their farms
and seeing me inquired whether I hud not now decided to
take u lower price. Our conversation wus disturbed by the pass
ing of a procession, led by a brass bund, und the land buyers
soon mounted their horses and rode off to St. Peter. At St. Peter,
these men, as f later learned, put up ul the best hotel in town und

CAPTURE OF THE YOUNGER BROTHERS. 223
during the curly afternoon called on some of the principal business
men aud went to the bunks lo get some bills changed. After those
business errands were ended they relumed lo the hotel and sat on
the hotel porch during the balance of the afternoon, amusing them
selves by throw ing coins into the street for the small boys lo scramble
for. That evening they had many offers of cheap farms which
they promised to go and sec.
The next morning they left St. Peter and rode east through Le-
Seuer County and on the second day took dinner at a restaurant in
Northfield, Rice County. After dinner six of the men mounted their
horses while the other two went to the only bank in the town, leveled
their revolvers at the cashier and ordered him to hand over all the
money there was in tho bank. The cashier did not obey but closed
the doors of the money vault, and was instantly shot dead. The
robbers also shot down the janitor of the bank and wounded a cus
tomer who was in the building. At the sound of the first shot in
the bank the six men stationed outside rode up and down the street
firing their revolvers and ordering all persons to keep indoors. But
the citizens were quickly aroused and in a moment a deadly fire
poured out on the mounted robbers from windows and doorways
and two of them fell dead and two others were badly wounded.
The two bandits who wen- in the bank look what, little money
wus in sight, joined the others outside, mounted hurriedly und lied
to the woods a few miles from the village. Mere Ihey remained iu
hiding for several days until they thought the excitement was over
and the search for them ended, and then leaving their horses
behind started on foot to get out of Minnesota.
A search of the two dead robbers brought to light maps and
documents which were positive proof that this was the gang of the
James and Younger brothers, outlaws and robbers from Missouri,
composed of the refuse from the Civil War who hud found it impossi
ble to settle down at the end of that struggle and had organized
to prey on society. The survivors in their attempts lo get safely
out of the state entered a farm house by night, four miles east of
Mankato, ordered the family to prepare them a good supper, the
first real meal they had been able to get in eight days, paid for it
and then left for the woods again. News that the robbers had
been seen again caused the utmost excitement. Special trains were
made up on all the railroads and word was sent out that all who would

224 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
volunteer to run down this robber band would be given free trans
portation. Immediately the whole southwestern part of the state
wus under arms und hastening lo the conflict. Old Indian lighters
and Civil War veterans rendezvoused ut every available point with
the arms they had used in their former campaigns and, before an
other night, guards and putrols were stutioned at all bridges over
Blue Earth River which was now swollen by recent ruins und which
the robbers would huvo to cross in order to gel out of the stute
towards Missouri. At the covered wagon bridge, one mile west
of Mankuto, some one threw stones into the east end to uscertuin
if there wus a guard inside about ten o'clock one night, but did
not attempt to cross. About thirty rods south of this wagon bridge
was a long high railroad bridge which was guarded by railroad
section men. The robbers fired at these men that same night,
causing lliom to floe for sufcly, whereupon they crawled over the
bridge on their hands und knees, stole Iwo horses on which they
mounted their wounded comrades und look the roud to Luke Crystal.
On reaching the Garden Cily road the baud wus fired on by guurds
who were stutioned there and separated. The James brothers
stole two farm horses belonging to the Reverend Mr. Rockwood,
a minister living in Garden City, and at daybreak next morning
were seen riding them bareback one mile north of Madolia.
That morning Cupluin Aru Burlou, sheriff of Rice County, who
hud served with me in the cavalry regiment through the Indian
War came to Garden City seeking information about the horses
stolen from the minister and asked me lo go with him on the robbers'
trail. I told him that I had been in Michigan with my family for
the last eight months and that I was now only a visitor here, that
my health was far from good and that I thought I could not stand
the hard riding that it meant. He urged me so persistently that I
finally yielded and taking the carbine anil revolvers I had used
through the Indian War, rode with him to Lake Crystal where we
boarded the first train for St. James, thirty miles west. At St.
James we hired a team to take us north with the idea of heading off
the robberS, but before we started a man came in on horseback
to inform us that they had passed five miles north of us only an hour
before. We unhitched our horses, gol sonic section men lo take
eight of us on two huud-curs lo Windom, thirty miles further west,
where we urrived at two o'clock P. M. Hero we gol our dinner

CAPTURE OF THE YOUNGER BROTHERS. 225
and secured a good team to take the eight of us twenty miles north
west to a ford on the Des Moines River for which wc felt the robbers
were aiming. Wc reached the ford about dark and immediately
stationed guards to let no one pass. The next morning we learned
that the James brothers had spent the night with a settler ten
miles northeast of us, and this news was encouraging as it
meant that we were now ahead of them. No further news being
received we rode forty miles irtto Pipestone County close to the
west state line but got no further track of the fugitives. The fol
lowing day we rode south to the railroad where we boarded the
first train east towards home. On reaching Madelia we learned that
the hiding place of the other four robbers had been discovered five
miles north of that town. Two hundred armed men .surrounded
their camp that afternoon and before night one of the fo'ur robbers
lay dead and the three Younger brothers, all wounded, were in
Sheriff Barton's ha'mds.
As soon as the news reached St. Paul a large delegation came by
special train to take the prisoners to the capital, but Sheriff Barton
insisted that as the crime had been committed in Rice County
and in his jurisdiction he should take the prisoners there for trial
and refused to give them up. The St. Paul delegation thought that
if the prisoners were taken to Rice County by the way of Owalonn,
they would be captured and hanged by a mob before we reached
the jail; as wc would have to change ears twice during the journey.
The sheriff had legal possession of the prisoners and a strong guard
to protect them, however, and refused to take them to St. Paul, so
the dispute was finally settled by allowing them to take the body
of the dead robber to St. Paul while the sheriff took the live ones
on to the Rico County jail. The three robbers, whose wounds
had not yet been dressed, were taken into a passenger car and a
doctor called in who, after au exumination, said that two of them
would probably die before reaching their destination. Cole Younger,
the oldest of the three, was able to sit up and willing to tell
his story of all they had passed through since coming into the state.
I was one of his guard and sat in the seat with him. He asked me
many questions about our pursuit and said that he remembered
looking at my farm. One of the leading Mankato bankers was
on the train and Younger said that he would like to speak with him.
I went to Mr. S. and told him the prisoner was anxious to see him.
10

226 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
Younger said, "I was in your bank fifteen days ago to get a $20
bill changed, aud talked with you about some farms you hud for
sale." "Y'es," said Mr. S., "and you agreed lo return or let mo
hear from you." Younger replied, "I did not lie, I have done
both. I have returned and you now hear from me. Our plans were
laid lo rob your bank and make our escape through the unsettled
country near Mankato, but that band came along the street just
as we were ready to begin the game, ull the people cume out into
the street to heur the music und we lost our nerve und our chunce.
We loft Mankato and rode on into the thickest settled part of the
state to our death. I hear that the two James brothers have been
killed and that we three brothers are all that are left of the eight
who visited your city fifteen days ago." Mr. S. then started in
to lecture him on the bad business he was in, whereupon Younger
asked him if he would like lo know the difference between the
business ho was following and thai of the banker. Mr. S. said
that ho would und Younger said, "In your business you arc robbing
Ihe poor and iu mine i am robbing the rich." Another man from
Mankuto who stood by suid, "Less than fourteen years ago we
hanged thirty-eight men ou one scaffold in our city, and every
one of them was as good if not better than you are." Younger re
plied, "I expect to hung before I leave your oily, but those two
boys are iny brothers, both mortally wounded and one of them
under twenty yours of uge, this being his first raid. I blame myself
for their being hero. All I ask of you people is not lo hang those
boys but to let thoni die as Ihey urc."
The train soon reached the city where a crowd of several thousand
people was waiting to see the robbers. Here we hud to change to
another railroad a quarter of a mile away and we feared trouble.
But when the crowd saw how badly wounded the men were their
feeling of murder gave way to one of pity. At Owntona another
transfer was made and here again it seemed that the entire popula
tion of the city and country round about wus out to get u glimpse
of the captured outlaws but no demonstration was made. At
Owatona the sheriff received a telegram thai a mob of thoiisunds
of angry people hud gathered ul Fuiribuiill und hud determined lo
hung the robbers, llurlou telegraphed back Ihut. he would bo ut
Fuiribuiill with his prisoners on the regular truiu ul throe o'clock,
thut ho hud u strong guard und thai any one who tried to take posses-

CAPTURE OF THE YOUNGER BROTHERS. 227
sion of his prisoners would be shot to death. Instead of taking the
regular train, however, wc boarded a freight that started earlier
than the passenger tram and stopped a mile south of the Fairibault
depot. Two teams were ready for us here and prisoners and guards
were driven direct to the jail. By this unexpected move we had
the prisoners inside the prison walls and under the doctor's care
before the passenger train pulled into the depot. There was talk
for a time of storming the jail but when the news was received
that the men were so badly wounded as to be practically dying
the mob decided to let the law take its course with them.
At the request of Sheriff Barton I stayed on at the jail for five
days helping him. At the end of this time, the excitement hav
ing quieted down, I returned home to Garden City, leaving my
army carbine to be used by a guard who the next night killed
a man with it who approached the jail without halting at his
order. Twenty years after the event I wrote Captain Barton
asking him to send me the carbine by express, as I desired to have
it go to my posterity as a relic and souvenir of the Indian wars
in Minnesota. He informed mc, much to my sorrow, that it had
been destroyed by fire. All three of the Younger brothers recovered
from their wounds and were brought to trial. They pleaded guilty
and were .sentenced lo life imprisonment at. hard labor. The slate
law was such that the penalty for a murderer who pleaded guilty,
was life imprisonment instead of hanging. The five days which
I spent in the attempt to capture the two James brothers and in
the capture of the three Younger brothers were fully as exciting,
though not as dangerous, as my experiences in the Indian War.
It showed me that the jieople of Minnesota had not forgotten how
to defend themselves and Ihut they would never allow robbery
and murder without instantly rallying und making a brave fight.
for lives and properly.
After the exciting occurrences connected with the capture of
the Younger brothers I returned to my family iu Michigan. They
were anxious to remain in Michigan and as I had a good opportunity
at this time to exchange my Minnesota farm for one at Vcrmont-
ville, Michigan, I decided to settle definitely there. Here we lived
until our family of five children were all of age. During this time
in addition to my farming I also engaged with two of my brothers
in the hard wood lumber business al Pottervillc, Michigan, about

228 THEODORE EDGAR POTTER.
fifteen miles from my farm. In 181K) I sold my Vermontville farm
and bought another in the sume county, locuted on the new line of
ruilroud being built by the Pore Marquette Ruilroud where I laid out
the present village of Mulliken, Michigan, und continued a few
years longer as a farmer with an incidental lumber business. My
Mulliken farm I soon sold to my eldest son and purchased a quarter
interest in tho Pott or Furniture Manufacturing Company at Lansing,
Michigan, which ('ity has boon my homo during tho past thirteen
yours. My life has not boon filled wilh such important und thrilling events
as have the lives of some other pioneers. But such incidents as
have occurred in my life in their relation to the growth of a nation
I have considered worthy of record, if for no other purpose than to
teach my posterity of the labor und toil on the purl of ull who helped
lo curve a great country out of u. wilderness. Though I did not
suffer any great hardships in my experience still there have been
muny exposures, trials und (lungers. As I now look buck upon
those curlier experiences of pioneer uud army life, they seem through
the distance more like pleasures than hardships or perils. And
now, at seventy-two years of age, man's usual life limit, as I find
myself still enjoying the companionship of the wife of my youth
and thul of ull my five children und thirteen grandchildren, not u
death having yet occurred among us, enjoying the unbroken love
as well as the companionship of all these, I ask what more can
I have to comfort me in this life except to know that after this
mortal body is cured for there will be un immortal body and a still
happier home.

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<8S>
Austin 1995