The Spirit Lake Massacre

by Thomas Teakle

CHAPTER XVIII

[192] Carpenter’s The Spirit Lake Massacre in the Midland Monthly, Vol. IV, p. 23; Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), pp. 94, 95; Hubbard and Holcombe’s Minnesota in Three Centuries, Vol. III, p. 229. See also a different version in Palmer’s Incidents of the Late Indian Outrages in the Hamilton Freeman (Webster City), July 30, 1857.

[193] Hubbard and Holcombe’s Minnesota in Three Centuries, Vol. III, pp. 229, 230; Laut’s Heroines of Spirit Lake in the Outing Magazine, Vol. LI, p. 692; Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), pp. 94-99.

[194] Dr. Strong has been considerably maligned as one who upon the first alarm had become so terrified that he summarily fled south, leaving his wife and children to the mercies of an Indian attack. For a more charitable view see Palmer’s Incidents of the Late Indian Outrages in the Hamilton Freeman (Webster City), July 30, 1857.

[195] For somewhat varying accounts of the attack upon the Thomas cabin see Palmer’s Incidents of the Late Indian Outrages in the Hamilton Freeman (Webster City), July 30, 1857; Carpenter’s The Spirit Lake Massacre in the Midland Monthly, Vol. IV, pp. 23-25; Gue’s History of Iowa, Vol. I, pp. 304, 305; Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), pp. 94-99; Hughes’s Causes and Results of the Inkpaduta Massacre in the Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Vol. XII, pp. 275, 276; Hubbard and Holcombe’s Minnesota in Three Centuries, Vol. III, pp. 229, 230; The Spirit Lake Massacre and Relief Expedition in the Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers, Vol. VI, pp. 898, 899.

[196] Hubbard and Holcombe’s Minnesota in Three Centuries, Vol. III, p. 230.

[197] For the attack upon the Wood brothers see Hubbard and Holcombe’s Minnesota in Three Centuries, Vol. III, p. 230; Hughes’s Causes and Results of the Inkpaduta Massacre in the Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Vol. XII, p. 275; Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), pp. 99, 100.

[198] Report of Captain Barnard E. Bee in House Executive Documents, 1st Session, 35th Congress, Vol. II, Pt. II, p. 147.

[199] All of the particulars of the events which happened at the Stewart home we owe to the relation of Johnny. He was later adopted into the home of Major William Williams at Fort Dodge and in 1915 was living in Byron, Minnesota, and at that time was one of the four living survivors of the raid. Read accounts in Hubbard and Holcombe’s Minnesota in Three Centuries, Vol. III, pp. 230, 231; Palmer’s Incidents of the Late Indian Outrages in the Hamilton Freeman (Webster City), July 30, 1857; Gue’s History of Iowa, Vol. I, p. 305; Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), pp. 100, 101.

[200] Hubbard and Holcombe’s Minnesota in Three Centuries, Vol. III, p. 232; Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), p. 107.

[201] Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), pp. 148, 149. For Mrs. Marble’s impressions see an article from the St. Paul Pioneer, May 31, 1857, republished in the Hamilton Freeman (Webster City), July 13, 1857.