APPENDIX III.

FOREWORD TO THE BRASSFIELD VERSION OF THE LOTT-INDIAN TRAGEDIES.

I am writing this story as related by Major Brassfield as an account of the events which transpired between Henry Lott and the Indians. It, therefore, is not written with the desire to minimize the efforts made, or results gained by those who have made researches on this subject.

I realize that anyone gathering historical data assumes a very difficult and tedious task. Unless journals have been kept dates and details are conflicting. They only can be approximately correct, and writers frequently find themselves submerged in the amplified and embellished reports which it often is impossible to co-ordinate into authentic accounts. Discrepancies, therefore, without intent, must arise and the seeker along a scarcely discern able trail dis. covers how easily mistakes may be made.

Diverse and conflicting accounts of a street brawl immediately after its occurrence are reported by the various witnesses of the happening. How much more difficult to procure dependable evidence when the participants to a struggle or the actors in a tragedy have passed across the stage of life. How much more obscure the pathway when distance has enveloped the outline of events with the dimness of uncertainty which makes hearsay evidence the best --the only source of information.

I shall not try to reconcile the various printed statements; but shall tell, in my own words with the connecting historical links, the story related by Major Brassfield which indelibly was impressed on my youthful memory. Were it possible for me to rehearse the story in the Major's own words, his quaint, deliberate, convincing expression; his accurate, if lengthy, adherence to detail, the account would be far more interesting.

261

Henry Lott's early trouble with the red skins, and the subsequent Indian killings by him were separated by several years of time and miles of distance--the first occurred in what now is Webster county, the second in Humboldt county; but for the sake of brevity I recount the opening and later parts of the tragedy as a connected story. There is the discrepancy of a year between the earliest account of the Lott family trouble and the time given by Major Brassfield. It should be assumed, however, that Brassfield knew the year of his arrival in Iowa; the birthdays of his children; and when he left Hamilton county; and that he kept the record clear in that way.

The Major did not mention the son of Lott whom historians state was frozen to death at the time of the Indian raid at Lott's premises; nor did he mention another son who, according to various versions of the massacre, assisted his father in the slaughter. The communication on buckskin, from Lou to his neighbor furnished the sure clue to the perpetrator of the crime; and the injured Indian lad's gesticulations were the only means of knowing what passed between Lott, the braves, and the old chief at the wigwam before the hunting trip.

Brassfield called it a freak of fate that the pioneer lines of Henry Lott and himself were placed so closely together. He and Lott came to Iowa almost at the same time; he was present after the first trouble with Lott and the Indians; they were absent from home part of the time in 1849; he and Lott moved north at about the same time, and he was present after the closing of the Iowa chapter of Indian history in which Henry Lott was the active figure.

Major Brassfield left his ancestral southern plantation in 1847, and with oxen and covered wagons came to northern Iowa. Henry Lott arrived soon after and squatted almost within a stone's throw of him. The former in what now is Hamilton county, and the latter in what now is Webster county. The two white families were the only ones in the immediate vicinity at the time of the early trouble between Lou and the Indians.

262

Major Brassfield was a careful student of nature. He observed the practices of his neighbor Lou, as he did the habits of the wild game which he hunted. He studied the banks of the White-Fox, Skunk and Eagle creeks. He knew perfectly the lay of the land along the Des Moines and Boone rivers, and was as familiar with the ground about what later was called Lott's creek and Bloody-run as he was with his own dooryard.

Major Brassfield was a man of few words, but he emphasized everyone of them. He was absolutely dependable as a friend and quite as dependable as an enemy. He possessed in abundance the alert, vigorous, indomitable, persistent and uncompromising spirit of the Pilgrim fathers. His memory was a very retentive one, and until his death at the age of eighty-five years, he was considered to be authority on pioneer settlement data and reminiscences.

I am very glad to state that Hamilton county's record is free from any accounts of serious trouble with Indians.

The question arises--if one wanders into the realm of speculation--whether if Lott had fallen into the hands of the outraged Indian band under the leadership of Scarlet Point, the subsequent massacre by the red skins at Spirit Lake might not have been averted.

There may have been older wounds as well as more immediate, although less inhuman causes which precipitated the massacre of the Spirit Lake settlers. It seems to be a well authenticated fact, however, that a part of Scarlet Point's band participated, and the Indian boy, Deer-Foot, who in January, 1854, escaped the bludgeon of Henry Lott, and who had developed into a fighting, fearless and aggressive brave--something of a menace to settlers--was among the number who led the Dickinson county raid in 1857.

264

MAJOR BRASSFIELD'S STORY OF HENRY LOTT'S TROUBLE WITH THE INDIANS.

The shack of Henry Lott was only a short distance from my first cabin. He was a good, but not an intimate neighbor; and we, of course, exchanged the usual favors of pioneer life.

Whatever the peculiarities or propensities of Lott may have been, no one could accuse him of being a personal coward. He was daringly reckless and often venturesome to the point of foolhardiness. He did not qualify the assertion that his purpose in coming west was to accumulate property, so he did not emigrate for the love of hardship or with the hope to help humanity. He declared, however, that a dead Indian told no tales and harmed nobody, and in that faith he was willing to serve.

Henry Lott was not a man to inspire confidence; and his careless, often aggressive methods with the Indians were a constant source of anxiety to my family and to the settlers to the south and west. His besetting sin found expression in furnishing fire-water to the natives and while their brains were muddled with liquor he readily gained an advantage in trading with them. Such sharp practices, many times, strained their relations to the breaking point; although the Indians were simple minded and did not know the value of their possessions. Fur and ponies were their only trading stock, and on various occasions numbers of their ponies disappeared, some of which were located with Lott and forcibly taken from him. Other bunches of the animals, supposedly, were driven by him to the settlements south and east and sold. At one time the Indians located a number of their ponies on the premises of Lott and claimed them. He flatly refused to surrender the horses, asserting that he had bought them while the braves were drunk. On this occasion several white men, whose appearance was not prepossessing, were present at the conference--envoys for the transfer of the ponies--and the Indians did not press their claim. A second depredation

265

of the same kind followed immediately, and very soon a third one was reported.

On the heels of these losses a young squaw, White Fawn, took up her abode at Lott's cabin for the purpose of nursing his wife whose health was precarious. Saving the lives of palefaces was not the mission of redskins, so the already enraged Indians called upon Lott. Chief Two Fingers demanded that he leave the country or suffer the consequence. Lott, however, stood his ground until part of the stock had been killed and the stable burned. He finally was forced to flee for his life and leave his family behind. Meanwhile, White Fawn mounted one of the ponies and came to my cabin for assistance. With my two sons, George and Tollman, I at once repaired to Lott's shack, reaching there after his enforced and hurried departure.

Mrs. Lott, a frail, nervous woman, wholly unfitted for frontier life, we found in a state of utter collapse from excitement and fright. The chief and older warriors stoically were smoking their pipes. Two lithe and sinewy bucks were searching the cabin for articles of adornment and eatables, while a lad of 15 had bared himself to the waist and was preparing a meal. White Fawn finished the cooking and we all partook of the repast.

My family always had been on friendly terms with the Indians, and for the time, I succeeded in allaying their anger and inducing them to leave. Although they had fired Lott's stables, killed his stock and destroyed his provisions the Indians had made no attempt to inflict punishment upon his wife or violate her person; and during the intervals of calmness she spoke very gratefully of their conduct toward her.

A storm of some severity arose and for several days we remained with the family hoping for the arrival of the white fugitive, but he did not come. Finally, with the return of moderate weather we yielded to the frenzied entreaties of the almost demented wife and took up the trail to the southward, having improvised a sled upon which we

266

transported the stricken invalid. We, however, had made but a very short distance toward Mineral Ridge (*see foot note 1) when the poor woman died. With great difficulty we dug a shallow grave and buried Mrs. Lott at an angle in ,the trail near a large boulder. (*See foot note 2.)

White Fawn, who was devoted to her pale-faced sister, accompanied us on the southward trip, but she could not be induced to return. Reluctantly we turned our faces homeward; and as long as we could see her, White Fawn dejectedly stood beside the frozen clods which covered the remains of her departed companion.

A day or two later Lott, who had aroused the settlers at Pea's Point and Mineral Ridge and enlisted the services of the friendly Johny Green band of Indians (*see foot note 3) and the neighbors, Pea, Crooks and Sparks, returned to find his home deserted. In company with Lott and his party we retraced our steps to the place where we had buried the body of his wife. Over her grave the husband voiced a terrible threat to the effect that: although it might take years to accomplish his purpose he would finally "get even" with the Indians for what he, in his unreasoning anger, was pleased to call the killing of his wife. He did not, however, immediately seek to execute his vengeance.

Henry Lott abandoned his demolished abode and moved restlessly about the country. He, a little later, located in Des Moines and remarried. In 1849 he traversed again the old trail and with his family, returned to the site of his former misfortunes. The latter part of the same season my wife and I visited in Mahaska county, where early in November our son Aaron Brassfield was born, after which event we returned to our home on the Boone river.

Lott's relations with the Indians while he lived with his second wife were comparatively neutral and friendly. Mrs. Lott exercised a strong restraining influence upon her
__________
¹Mineral Ridge or Ridgeport is eight miles south of Stratford.
²Author's Note--The body of Mrs. Lott may have been removed later.
3Chemisne, Only the English equivalent of Indian names was used.

267

husband and the fact that only small numbers of friendly Indians appeared at intervals gave an added assurance to the settlers that Lott's feeling of hatred toward the natives was diminished or outgrown.

The death of Mrs. Lott in 1853 was a severe loss to the neighbors as well as to her family. She was a strong, capable and sympathetic personality who made and retained friends without apparent effort. During her last illness her husband said, many times: "If she dies my inspiration will be gone; I cannot go on creditably without her."

Mrs. Lott was buried near the old log cabin clearing where the summer's sunbeams filtered through the shimmering leaves of monarch maple trees, and through whose boughs the winter's blasts crashed or sighed unceasingly. (*See foot note 1.)

The home of Henry Lott again was broken and he decided to move forward along the river into Humboldt county where, in company with another white man, he trapped and traded with the Indians on the Des Moines. One of the trading staples found on his provision wagon was whisky, and the demand never seemed to exceed the supply.

Settlers near the Des Moines and Boone rivers had become more numerous by this time. On account of the severe weather of January and February, 1853, and a greater number of hunters in the active work of killing game, a serious season of scarcity threatened. I began to look about for better hunting-grounds; so, during the summer, accompanied by two of my sons, I prospected in a northerly direction and returned home at intervals.

We located and built a cabin in the fall of '53, on the west bank of the Boone river at Liberty. My son Perry was born at Hook's Point in December, 1853, and my wife
_______
*It is evident from Major Brassfield's account that the monument dedicated to Mrs. Lott indicates the resting place of the second, instead of his first wife, unless, as before stated, her body may have been re-interred at that place.

268

and family were not brought to Wright county until the spring of 1854.

Henry Lott renewed his acquaintance with me after I had settled in his neck-o'-the-woods, and occasionally I crossed his trail while in the pursuit of game. His distressing and regrettable domestic experiences had changed his appearance, but had made him entirely heedless of personal safety. His aversion for the Indians--after having slumbered for a season, seemed to have taken on a new intensity.

The roving band of Two Fingers (*foot note 1) had stretched their teepees and built their wickups on the bank of Bloody Run (*foot note 2) and with reckless bravado Lott visited their camp, smoked the pipe of peace and freely dispensed fire-water until the bucks were stupefied with liquor (*foot note 3). The chief did not indulge freely in the revelry, but accompanied the venturesome trader to a near-by gulch to hunt.

A study of the surroundings made it apparent that immediately after discharging his gun at the game--and before the old chieftain could rise from his crouching position and reload his musket--Lott stole upon the unsuspecting Indian, dealt him a terrific blow from behind, splitting his head with the tomahawk of Two Fingers which the assailant evidently had borrowed from his victim for the purpose.

Lott, evidently assuming that the bucks in their tepees still were "dead drunk" and the squaws sleeping, he revisited the camp after nightfall; murderously assailed and left for dead--supposedly--every member of the little Indian band. Among the victims were the squaw and pappooses of Chief Two Fingers. The pappooses, Hawk-eye and Flying Wind, were twin braves of about fifteen years, whose comeliness, fleetness and alertness were sources of great joy and pride to the old chieftain.

Two of the number in camp, however, escaped death.
_________
¹Si-dom-i-na-do-tah.
²The name Bloody Run was adopted after the tragedy.
³The account as understood from Deer-Foot.

269

Although severely mutilated, a young brave, Deer-Foot, and a young squaw, Evening Shadow, made their way to the camping-ground of Scarlet Point.

Deer-Foot told the terrible tale of the slaughter of his kinsmen by the paleface who professed friendship. The bucks in Scarlet Point's band were for starting in immediate pursuit of the perpetrator of the crime, but the chief's wiser council prevailed and they repaired to Fort Dodge for advice and assistance.

The report of the massacre spread rapidly and was freely discussed by the indignant settlers who hurriedly sought the scene of the butchery. Some of my neighbors were not amicably disposed toward the Indians, but they did believe in the principle of fair play. I was among the early arrivals at the place where the bloody deed was committed. (*Foot note 1.)

Picked men were detailed to follow the fleeing miscreant, and other willing helpers assisted in burying the dead savages. Investigation verified the statements of Deer-Foot. The hunting trail of Lott and Two Fingers was located in a ravine and led to the body of the slain chieftain.

The blow which caused the death of Two Fingers must have been struck with a steady hand, for the head of the victim was cleft in twain from the frontal bone backward and the tomahawk was imbedded in the brain. His empty firearm was tightly clenched in the hands of the dead Indian. Later, there was found tied to a sapling near the site of Lott's camping place an unsigned message written with the point of a charred stick on a piece of buckskin, and addressed: "To my old neighbor, Major Brassfield." It read: "I told you I would get even. I have kept my word."

The frozen body of Two Fingers was carried to camp in the blanket found upon the hunting trail. The covering
_________
¹The location of this massacre of Indians was at a point in Humbold county about seven miles north of Dakota City, and thirteen miles northwest of Goldfield--as the crow flies--and near where Bloody Run empties into the Des Moines East Fork.

270

had been cast aside while pursuing the elk, the carcass of which had been dressed and loaded into Lott's schooner. Neither food nor furs were to be found in the Indian tepees.

The scene at camp was a grewsome one. The whisky furnished by the white man had done its work well. The bodies of the braves gave very little evidence of resistance to the assailant. While helping to arrange for the burial of the victims I was horrified to find among them the body of White Fawn, the comely young squaw who last had been seen by me at the grave of Mrs. Lott. The threat of Lott to "get even," which was made half a decade earlier at the burial place of his wife more than a score of miles distant, had been paid with compound interest.

The Indians were buried near the scene of the massacre. Scarlet Point's band (*foot note 1) made no demonstration of disapproval, and stoically waived the right of tribal burial. The chief, however, insistently asked that: when located, Lott should be turned over to his braves for punishment according to the code of Indian ethics. He assured the Fort Dodge authorities and the posse who accompanied him to camp that if this were done no more trouble would ensue--he would break camp and vamose to distant hunting-grounds,

It was thought best to promise compliance with the request, as great uneasiness was manifested by the settlers; but it was not necessary to redeem the promise, for Henry Lott, the shrewd white man, fled the country and did not return.

His wagon course was followed down the river, but a "skift" of snow fell during the night of the pursuit and partially obliterated the trail. Having in his favor the several days' start, his pursuers decided it was best to abandon the man hunt and return home.

The successful flight of Henry Lou caused rejoicing instead of regret. A troublesome individual was removed from our midst and the authorities were relieved of the
_________
¹Ink-pa-du-tah. Said to have been a relative of Two Fingers.

271

necessity for redeeming the pledge to deliver Lott, alive, to Scarlet Point, thereby escaping the responsibility for his mistreatment--perhaps death--at the hands of the Indians.

The summer following I received a message through the mail. Like the former one, it was written on a square of buckskin, but with pen and ink. It was rolled carefully about a smooth, round stick and securely tied with a rawhide thong, and said: "To my neighbor, Major Brassfield. I am on my way toward the setting sun. Several more Indians have been bitten by my good shooting-iron since I last saw you. I have a fine scalp-lock decoration now, and intend to add to it occasionally. That is what I am here for." -Signed-"Lott."

Top

Back

Author's Note