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Nance County

brave who chanced to stray too far beyond the enclosure. Pursuit was deemed inadvisable.

     In 1862 a small body of troops were stationed at Genoa to assist in guarding the precious lives of the persecuted Pawnees. This was the summer of the terrible Sioux massacre in Minnesota, when 700 men, women and children perished at the hands of the merciless savages, and the attention of the beligerent Sioux seemed for a time to be diverted from their enemy in Nebraska.

     In 1863 the government decided to put up a school building in which to educate the youthful Pawnees in the arts and sciences of civilization, and the following year the contract was let to Joseph P. Becker (now of Columbus) at $30,000.

     The building was 42x125 feet in size, two stories high, and used to be known as the Pawnee House. The brick was made on the ground, and the building constructed on the most economical plan. It is said the contract called for stone sills for the windows and doors, but cottonwood timber was used instead. It is also said that the contractor, when questioned as to his reason for so doing, replied that he "had observed how readily cottonwood turned to stone in this country, and presumed if used in the building it would become petrified by age." No such transformation has been observed up to date, and the uncharitable are inclined to believe that Mr. Becker disregarded the "stony" part of the contract to save expense.

     Upon the completion of the school building, a dinner was given by the agent to dedicate the new structure, and while all hands were having a merry feast, a large force of Sioux warriors, intent upon plunder, rode into the town. Thirty Pawnees were killed in a cornfield east of the school house while trying to save their ponies, and one soldier was killed in the melee that followed. About this time a small party of Pawnees went out on a general foraging expedition. They stopped at the house of a farmer one mile west of Columbus and asked for refreshments. The farmer very bluntly refused to give them anything, and ordered them to "make tracks." They finally persuaded him to accompany them to an island in the Platte, and that was the last seen of the gentleman until some days later, when his mutilated body was picked up in the Cedar, strapped to a cottonwood log. Ten of the Indians were arrested and imprisoned, but released at the end of six months for want of evidence to prove their guilt.

     Early in the sixties, Mr. Platte, previously spoken of, established a trading point with the Indians at Keatskatoos, and in 1866 D. A. Willard, hailing from Michigan, but who had been in business at Omaha and suffered heavy losses, entered the employ of Mr. Platte. He finally went in for himself, and built up a lucrative trade -- the nucleus of his present large fortune.

     In 1868 the Sioux commenced depredations upon the scattering settlements along the Republican valley, in the western part of the state, and in 1869 matters grew worse. A great many small parties of travelers were killed, and horses and cattle run off by the score. Ft. McPherson was the base of operations for the soldiers, under General Carr, and the popular Major Frank North joined the command of Gen. Carr at the fort with 300 Pawnee warriors. This band was organized by Maj. North in 1867, under orders from Gen. Augur, and by this time they had become so thoroughly drilled as to understand exactly what was required of them, and any command by their young leader was obeyed with alacrity. Besides these was a band of scouts under Buffalo Bill, who was chief, and under whose directions the pursuits of the Sioux were conducted. It will be easy to understand that the Pawnees would enter into a fight with their inveterate enemy with zeal and earnestness, and being well acquainted with the Indian mode of warfare, they would be able to render effective service in the campaigns against the Sioux. But in their appearance and modes of dress the Pawnees could only appear like the wild and untamed Indians they really were. To show to the reader how they appeared on dress parade when they tried to appear to advantage as soldiers, we will quote from the biography of Buffalo Bill (W. F. Cody), who was at that time chief of scouts at Ft. McPherson. In depicting the grand review of the soldiers, he describes the Pawnees as they appeared at a military inspection as follows: "The Pawnee scouts were also reviewed, and it was very amusing to see them in their full regulation uniform. They had been furnished with regular cavalry uniform, and in this parade some of them had their heavy overcoats on (in summer); others their large black hats, with all the brass accoutrements attached; some of them wore pantaloons and others only breech-clouts. Others wore regulation pantaloons but no shirts, and were bareheaded; others again had the seat of the pantaloons cut out, leaving only leggins; some wore brass spurs, but had neither boots nor moccasins. With all this melange of oddity, they understood the drill remarkably well for Indians. The commands of course were given to them in their own language by Maj. North, who could talk it as well as any Pawnee."

     In the summer of 1869, Gen. Carr started out in pursuit of the Sioux, who were still committing all manner of depredations in the Republican valley, with several com-

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© 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 by Ted & Carole Miller