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Article Title: Nebraska History on Nebraska Territory: A Reader’s Guide

Full Citation: James E Potter, “Nebraska History on Nebraska Territory: A Reader’s Guide,” Nebraska History 84 (2003): 162-175

URL of article: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH2003NeTerritoryGuide.pdf Date: 9/07/2012

Article Summary: The author describes twenty-nine Nebraska History articles concerning the Nebraska Territory. Topics discussed include the Territorial System and the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Government and Politics, Economic and Social Development, Land Acquisition and Agriculture, Indians and Indian Affairs, Military Affairs, and Prelude to Statehood.

Cataloging Information:

Names: Stephen A Douglas, Joseph E Johnson, George L Miller, Robert W Furnas, William S Harney

Nebraska Place Names: Omaha, Nebraska City, Brownville, Columbus, Florence, Elkhorn Valley (Cuming County)

Keywords: Kansas-Nebraska Act, Popular Sovereignty, Kansas Constitutional Convention, Civil War, Bank of Florence, “wildcat” banks, Mormons, transcontinental railroad, The Omaha Arrow, The Huntsman’s Echo, Omaha Herald, Omaha Library Association, Homestead Act, Nemaha Half-Breed Preserve, Office of Indian Affairs, First Nebraska Volunteer Infantry, reconstruction, suffrage, Stephen A Douglas, Joseph E Johnson, George L Miller, Robert W Furnas, William S Harney

Photographs / Images: the seal of Nebraska Territory with the motto “Popular Sovereignty”; Stephen A Douglas; Edward R Harden (2 views); second territorial capitol building in Omaha; overland freighting company’s 1858 advertisement for teamsters; black laborers in Brownville about 1864; Omaha in the mid-1860s; Bank of Florence; George L Miller; Omaha Daily Herald building in Omaha; Daniel Freeman; Pawnee earthlodges neat Genoa (William Henry Jackson photograph, 1871); Omaha agent Robert W Furnas with a group of Winnebago chiefs and interpreters; “The Surrender of Fort Donnelson” (Harper’s Weekly, March 1, 1862); Charles McDonald’s Cottonwood Springs Ranch, near Maxwell

NEBRASKA HISTORY

By James E. Potter Nebraska Territory

he centennial of the passage on reminiscence or edited documents he believes the territorial system influ­ of the Kansas-Nebraska Act was and others taking a more analytical enced American democracy. He argues Tcelebrated in 1954 with a joint approach. They, too, include much of that our federal system has derived its meeting of the Nebraska and Kansas value and arguably, several could have strength from the constant process of State Historical Societies, where been included in this survey if space self-renewal made possible by the terri­ Professor Roy F. Nichols gave the key­ were no concern. A bibliography of torial experience. Despite ostensible note address. Although the creation of these articles and other suggested read­ control from Washington, territorial Nebraska and Kansas territories was ings follows this essay. Other writings government was essentially a grass-roots accompanied by political strife and relating to Nebraska Territory that ap­ operation by the people themselves. proved to be an important milestone peared in the Society's quarterly The concept of self-governing on the road to civil war, the territorial between 1918 and 1945 and in the communities sponsored by older ones system Congress established in 1787 Publications series, which began in originated at least as far back as 1584, to serve as a prelude to statehood was 1885, can be found by the dedicated when Sir Walter Raleigh was granted a described by Nichols as "one of the most charter to establish an English municipal inspired inventions of the American corporation in America. After the political genius." Territories were the American Revolution, Congress was "seedbeds of democracy" and Nichols faced with the question of how to reminded his audience that it was secure and develop new lands to the important to keep their story alive. Now, west, particularly those of the Northwest fifty years later, the sesquicentennial of Territory. In Nichols's view, the plan the Kansas-Nebraska Act has arrived, that Congress came up with ranks, in and with it an opportunity to review many ways, in importance with the what progress has been made in Constitution. responding to the professor's challenge. The Ordinances of 1785 and 1787 The record turns out to be quite provided the basic methodology for good. More than eighty articles explor­ creating new states in the federal union, ing aspects of Nebraska's territorial first by organizing them as territories. history between 1854 and 1867 have Nichols notes, however, that by 1854 a appeared in the Nebraska State Historical series of complex moral, economic, Society's quarterly since 1946, the year The seal of Nebraska Territory featured social, and political factors produced Dr. James C. Olson assumed the the motto, "Popular Sovereignty." The conflict over the organization of editorship. Their authors have included act organizing Nebraska and Kansas Nebraska and Kansas that made them academics, Society staff, graduate repealed a ban on slavery in new "the scene of the most spectacular act students, and lay persons. Two of the territories. Popular Sovereignty meant the in the drama of territorial history." people living there could decide whether articles received the Society's James L. to keep or abolish slavery when they These factors included slavery, the route Sellers Memorial Award for the best drafted a constitution and asked for of a pending transcontinental railroad, article in their respective volumes. The admission to statehood. MNH 7434-1 the fate of the American Indians, and 150th anniversary of Nebraska Territory's the fracturing of long-term political organization seems an appropriate time reader willing to seek them out. alignments. to revisit a selection from this scholar­ The articles summarized here have In conclusion, Nichols comments ship in hopes of attracting renewed been grouped under several headings: that the territorial process within the interest in this fascinating period. The Territorial System and the Kansas­ continental boundaries essentially This essay summarizes twenty-nine Nebraska Act; Government and Politics; ended with the admission of Arizona Nebraska History articles, chosen for the Economic and Social Development in 1912, and reflects upon the implica­ insight, analysis, or context they provide (which includes the largest number of tions this reality holds for American on several major themes in our territo­ articles); Land Acquisition and Agricul­ democracy in "an atomic age." It is rial history. The articles are cited in ture; Indians and Indian Affairs; Military essential, he believes, to keep the terri­ full at the end. Many other articles pub­ Affairs; and Prelude to Statehood. torial story alive through new research lished since 1946 relate, at least in part, and programming in order to remind us to our territorial past, some focusing The Territorial System and the of American democracy's power and Kansas-Nebraska Actl vitality. James E. Potter is senior research historian at Roy Nichols's article, "The Territories: James C. Malin's article, "The Ne­ the Nebraska State Historical Society. Seedbeds of Democracy," surveys how braska Question: A Ten-Year Record,

163 Nebraska History - Winter 2003

U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois had long advocated organization of a Nebraska territory. As chairman of the Senate committee on the territories, Douglas shaped the bill that became the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. RG3411 :1385 Because slavery was legal in the new Nebraska Territory, a few Southerners, both civil­ 1844-1854," reinterprets Senator Stephen ians and army officers, brought slaves to Nebraska as personal servants. In November A. Douglas's motives in seeking the 1860, two slaves, Hercules and Martha, were advertised for sale in Nebraska City to organization of a Nebraska territory. As satisfy a debt. Nebraska (City) News, November 24, 1860 chairman of the Senate committee on the territories, Douglas amended the bill territory. By 1844, and particularly after republic," not slavery or personal ambi­ that became the Kansas-Nebraska Act to the acquisitions resulting from the war tion, explains his role in the ten-year provide that the people in the territories with Mexico, Douglas realized the history of "the Nebraska Question." could decide whether to allow slavery United States needed to occupy ("Popular Sovereignty"). This amend­ and exploit the vast region west of the Government and Politics ment repealed the 1820 Missouri Mississippi River if it were to become, Dennis Thavenet's article, "The Territo­ Compromise, which had banned slavery in Malin's words, a"continental land­ rial Governorship: Nebraska Territory as in the lands of the Louisiana Purchase. mass" nation. Douglas believed the Example," reviews the qualifications, He also divided what was originally to highest national interest required administrations, and accomplishments be a single territory into two. Malin Congress to "authorize ani::! encourage of the eight men who held the office argues that the compromises Douglas a continuous line of settlements to the between 1854 and 1867. Five, Francis offered to gain the organization of Pacific Ocean," which the new technol­ Burt, Mark W. Izard, William A. Nebraska and Kansas were not moti­ ogy of railroads and the telegraph now Richardson, Samuel Black, and Alvin vated by his desire to win Southern made possible. As a corollary, the Indian Saunders were appointed and two, support for his presidential ambitions, "barrier" would have to be removed Territorial Secretaries Thomas B. as some of his critics have charged. before railroads could be built or settle­ Cuming and J. Sterling Morton, served To support this thesis, Malin cites ment could proceed. lengthy terms as acting governor. Douglas's writings and from According to Malin, Douglas viewed Secretary Algernon S. Paddock also 1844 to 1854 as evidence that he had American development from a global filled the governor's chair from time to loftier goals in mind than the presidency perspective, and his desire to see the time. in seeking the organization of a Nebraska United States become "an ocean-bound The duties of the territorial governors

164 Nebr~ka Territory were provided in the Ordinance of 1787, on territorial growth and development. which created the territorial system, Under the Organic Act creating Ne­ though they had evolved somewhat braska Territory (The Kansas-Nebraska by the time Nebraska Territory was Act), the President of the United States organized. Nebraska governors were the appointed a chief justice and two asso­ first to be appointed to four-year terms, ciate justices to the territorial Supreme and the first that could no longer make Court. Individually, the justices presided or adopt law before a legislature was over district courts, whose jurisdiction established. This latter change, accord­ was defined by the legislature. Twelve ing to Thavenet, was included in the act different men held these appointments organizing Nebraska and Kansas to be and one, Samuel Black, went on to consistent with the doctrine of Popular become governor of Nebraska Territory. Sovereignty. Following a discussion of the politi­ Thavenet the political cal and judicial backgrounds of the considerations that led to the governors' Nebraska judges and how and why they appointments and assesses their qualifi­ came to be appointed, the essay looks cations, their exercise of power, and at how the territorial court system their relationship with Washington, the evolved and operated. Homer examines territorial legislature, and the people. several cases to assess judicial perfor­ The governors' foremost task was to mance. He concludes that the territorial promote settlement of the territory lead­ courts achieved the goal of preparing ing to its early admission to statehood. Nebraska's judicial system to operate Thus, their official addresses to the effectively after statehood. Most judges legislature and other public pronounce­ were men of some ability, and were ments often constituted propagandistic successful in educating Nebraskans and unrealistic boosterism. In addition about how to settle disputes according to their promotional responsibilities, to the rule of law. territorial governors approved or vetoed David H. Price, in "Sectionalism in legislative acts, appointed local officials, Nebraska: When Kansas Considered organized the territorial militia, and Annexing Southern Nebraska, 1856­ oversaw territorial finances, in short, 1860," shows that geography, not party many of the same duties that modern politics, was the most divisive issue in governors perform. the early years of Nebraska Territory. In concluding his assessment of While fierce rivalries played out in the the men who served as governor of legislature and the press, the battIe lines Nebraska Territory, Thavenet notes that were drawn according to whether one while some were well qualified, others lived north or south of the Platte River, were too young and inexperienced, and the warfare was waged over which suffered from drinking problems or section or town was to gain such personal ambition, or served too briefly as the capital, the terminus of the trans­ to make much impact. Nonetheless, the continental railroad, or the initial point governors played an important role in for roads leading west from the Missouri Nebraska's history, despite being River. "charged with great responsibility, but The essay provides an extensive hamstrung by resistance at home, and review, largely from press accounts, of little support from Washington." the gathering momentum in the South Michael Homer's "The Territorial Platte section that led, in 1859, to the Judiciary: An Overview of the Nebraska election of Nebraska delegates to the President Franklin Pierce appOinted Kansas Constitutional Convention. The Experience, 1854-1867" looks at a group Edward R. Harden of Georgia as a justice of territorial officials who have been less of the territorial Supreme Court. Harden pro-annexation arguments included studied than the governors. This neglect was photographed in civilian clothes, and early statehood for the South Platte if is unfortunate, says Homer, because the wearing a costume he had received from joined to Kansas, a better prospect of judicial system had a significant impact an Omaha Indian. RG2411 :21340, b the transcontinental railroad being built

165 Nebraska History - Winter 2003 south of the Platte, and the natural affin­ also reviews how early political battles Democrats first adopted the "opposition" ity of southern Nebraska and northern were fought over sectional and or "independent" mantle against the Kansas, divided not by a treacherous economic issues, and often centered on party regulars. Many eventually became river, but only by an artificial boundary personalities. At the same time, how­ Republicans and others supported the line. ever, the legacy of the Kansas-Nebraska anti-administration wing of the national In the end, the Kansas convention Act and its unsatisfactory compromise party. By the election of 1860, full-scale rejected the Nebraska delegation's plea on the slavery issue began to fracture partisanship had emerged in Nebraska, for annexation, and it is unlikely the once dominant Democratic Party, with the Republicans in the ascendancy, Congress would have agreed, regardless. both nationally and in the territory, a dominance that was to last into the Although the annexation movement ran eventually shattering long-standing 1890s. out of steam, sectional issues would party alignments. The pro-slavery, continue to affect Nebraska politics pro-southern stance of the Buchanan Economic and Social until well after statehood. With the rise administration alienated many Nebraska Development of Nebraska political parties, and the Democrats and the administration's Many Nebraska History articles relate in outbreak of the Civil War, however, they resistance to a homestead act and some way to this broad theme. Orville were no longer predominant. opposition to railroads and land grants H. Zabel's "To Reclaim the Wilderness: James B. Potts, in "North of 'Bleeding outraged Nebraskans generally. The Immigrant's Image of Territorial Kansas': The 1850s Political Crisis in Potts traces how Nebraska political Nebraska" discusses Nebraska's "wilder­ Nebraska Territory," provides a valuable parties grew slowly from their formal ness" image, which needed to be over­ sequel to the annexation story. Potts organization in 1858, and how dissident come to attract settlement. He notes that Nebraska had three strikes against it at the beginning. The opening of the territory happened almost overnight, the landscape was relatively treeless and waterless, and for half a century explor­ ers and travelers had been proclaiming the region as a desert. It was up to terri­ torial officials to dispel this "wilderness" image and their efforts involved what today is called "public relations." First, they kept up a steady stream of memorials and resolutions to Congress urging the construction of a transconti­ nental railroad, land grants to settlers, and protection from Indians. Such developments, of course, depended on federal action. In the meantime, loca­ tion, land, and minerals were the characteristics territorial governors and journalists most often touted in their efforts to improve Nebraska's image. The Platte Valley was "fitted by nature for an easy grade" and was the only logical route for the transcontinen­ tal railroad. Nebraska's abundant and fertile land would provide productive homes for the landless and soon make the territory one of the best stock-raising and grain-growing regions on earth. Although Nebraska's mineral treasures The capital of Nebraska Territory was at Omaha. Construction of the second capitol were as yet untapped, there was little building, shown here, began in 1855. The capitol was still unfinished when the legisla­ doubt they existed. Territorial leaders ture first met there in December 1857. C244-7 clearly realized the importance of creat­

166 Nebraska Territory

AIMYOP TBR WIST! 16,000 YOI(E OF OOOD WORKING OATTLE, From Four to 7 yoars of oge, wantctl at NEBRASI(A CITY, for hnuling; fl'f'i;>;1t -il'om tbi~ point to tTt",h, fo), ",:,ichSEVEXTY-FIVg DilJJ[,Alkl ]Jel' Yoke will In pnid. Not.ica will bo ~h1cm throngh tho· ncws­ paperaif thr.timc' tao,r are to be deli"Q.el.buLEnp .. p".o thoj' wii! be wrmteu ab"ut the fil',t of lIrllY. FIFTH" IlUNO'RED MEN "Yante,l Int' teamsters who will be found nyu prdtl Twenty-five doJltl)'s per month out anu back. Non" llUt lIlen ql' good habit.s need "pply; ns drinking ilJtoxiuat.ing Jjquor~, cn.rd pln.yinp;j n·nd profane ItUlS'Uftgo will not he pel'mHtm1 while in emplo.Y~llent" l~ach man will ita pl"(~8ontr.1l with I) Biblo aml hymn b.}ok. :l!'o'rty Wagml IIleste,s Black laborers in Brownville, about 1864. This photo is the earliest known image of wanted whn mnst come weIll ecu-mrnenueu nnd whc will be pn.itl the' ui1unl wug-e,.,. African Americans in Nebraska. 8844:283 A number ",r houi3o, will bo ront,',l in "'obmslm City, and one Inl'go "tote room, Apply to J) Overland freighting was an economic boost to river towns. In 1858 Russell, Majors, and Ru~,sELr" ilIllJORS Jc. W.U)J)ETJ. Waddell received a contract to supply the army in Utah, and opened a depot at 1):y KJ~~EY &; UM.T."l, A£;onts. Mr 20:".1. Nebraska City. Using thousands of oxen and hundreds of "bullwhackers" they guided ponderous freight wagons across the Plains. Nebraska (CitV) News, March 20, 1858 ing an attractive image of Nebraska, but Brown, traces one of Nebraska's most Unlike the Missouri River towns, lack of funds limited their efforts largely important territorial towns from its Columbus, at the confluence of the to exuberant expressions of faith in the founding in 1854, through its boom Loup and Platte rivers, struggled to future. years as a steamboat port, and its de­ grow. The town company gave away "Nebraska's Missouri River Frontier, cline after failing to realize its dream of building lots as an incentive to attract 1854-1860," by Norman A. Graebner, a railroad connection to the west in the settlers and entrepreneurs who would examines the Missouri River as a central 1870s. The first half of the essay focuses establish commercial enterprises, in­ feature of territorial development. He on the growth years, and on the people cluding hotels and sawmills. The town outlines the founding of the river towns and institutions that made Brownville a survived a heated legal battle over the in 1854, focusing on Omaha, Nebraska vibrant and important community in ferry, which was fought out among sev­ City, and Brownville, and covers the Nebraska Territory. eral of its founders. The case reached speCUlative "boom" of 1856-57 and the Contrasting with the story of the territorial Supreme Court. In the "bust" that followed. Brownville's development as a river end, the business generated by trail The Pike's Peak gold rush and over­ town is Donald F. Danker's "Columbus, traffic and the ferry helped Columbus land freighting spurred the territorial a Territorial Town in the Platte Valley." hang on until the arrival of the Union economy, but only agricultural develop­ Columbus was a rare example of a terri­ Pacific Railroad solidified its future. ment could bring staying power. The torial town in the Nebraska hinterland. Another article by Danker, "The river towns' connection to steamboats . Based on the records of the Columbus Nebraska Winter Quarters Company and freighting permitted the territorial Town Company, the article reveals how and Florence," traces the fortunes of economy to transcend the subsistence Columbus's economic underpinnings one of the early townsite companies stage. But because travel on the derived from its location on a major that, like several others, was founded Missouri River was seasonal, "railroads overland route to .the west, and on the by Iowa interests. Florence shared alone could break through the town company's operation of a ferry common experiences and aspirations economic barriers imposed by both across the Loup River for the benefit of with other early communities along the wagon and river transportation." travelers. In fact, the townsite was Missouri, including hopes of securing "The Brownville Story: Portrait of a chosen on the basis of the prospective the territorial capital or the terminus of Phoenix, 1854-1974," by Marion Marsh ferry location. a transcontinental railroad. The article

167 Nebraska History - Winter 2003 explains how the Nebraska Winter Wyoming in Otoe County in 1864, and ing carrying mail, and hauling supplies Quarters Company operated and what the inability to attract a railroad left for telegraph builder Edward Creighton's the proprietors believed were the keys Florence a quiet village in the shadow crews. Freighting from Omaha became to Florence's growth and development. of her rapidly growing neighbor, Omaha. even more significant after 1863 when They included a ferry, a rock bottom on A focus on Omaha is the subject of gold was discovered in Montana. the Missouri suitable for a railroad Carol Gendler's "Territorial Omaha as a In addition to staging and freighting, bridge, a newspaper to boost the town's Staging and Freighting Center." As a Omaha was an important outfitting advantages, a Wildcat bank, and the jumping off point to the west, Omaha point for overland travelers, including prospect of coal nearby. had both advantages and disadvantages miners and Mormons. Echoing the Early Florence was a lively place when compared with other river towns. articles noted above, Gendler shows with several merchants and businesses, One advantage was a government how Omaha's growth depended upon including the Bank of Florence. The wagon road from Omaha to Fort Kearny transportation. Ultimately her future was town attracted trade from emigrants along the north bank of the Platte. Yet secured by the coming of the railroad, traveling west, including many Mormons Omaha was too far north to attract the which signaled the end for steamboats in the handcart expeditions that set off depot of Russell, Majors, and Waddell and freight wagons as pillars of the river from there between 1857 and 1860. But when they won a contract in 1858 to town economies. like many territorial towns, Florence freight supplies across the Plains to the Territorial finance is the subject of failed to realize her founders' expecta­ army. Gordon Blake's article, "Government tions. The failure of the Bank of Despite this setback, staging and and Banking in Territorial Nebraska." Florence after the Panic of 1857, the freighting were mainstays of the Omaha He examines banks and their relation­ transfer of Mormon outfitting to economy in the 1850s and 1860s, includ­ ship to the territorial government. In the

Omaha in the mid-1860s, looking toward Capitol Hill and the second territorial capitol building from Thirteenth and Farnam streets. 054:2-80

168 Nebraska Territory first years of Nebraska Territory, little hard currency was available, leaving only two viable alternatives to address this problem. One was to increase pro­ duction, primarily of agricultural products, to provide a surplus to sell on eastern markets. Because this solution was not possible in the short run, the legislature chose the other alternative, which was to allow the issue of bank­ notes that could circulate as currency. Although a banking system was needed to alleviate the currency short­ age, the legislature's mistake was to charter banks in 1856 without any regu­ lations on how they could operate. Blake suggests, however, that a legisla­ tive majority may have favored laissez-faire policies to fuel the specula­ tive real estate boom that marked these years. Because the banknotes printed by the several "Wildcat banks" were unsecured instruments of indebtedness, The Bank of Florence was one of the "Wildcat" banks chartered by the territorial the territory's economy collapsed in the legislature in 1856. It failed during the Panic of 1857. RG4330:PH:3 wake of the nationwide -financial panic of 1857. Benjamin Pfeiffer, in "The Role of founded primarily to boost the fortunes . A study by Ann L. Wilhite, "Cities and Joseph E. Johnson and his Pioneer of their respective communities and Colleges in the Promised Land: Territo­ Newspapers in the Development of attract settlement, Johnson's papers rial Nebraska, 1854-1867," received the Territorial Nebraska," discusses the reveal that they also made important James L. Sellers Memorial Award for influence of newspapers on territorial literary and cultural contributions to best article of 1986. The article provides Nebraska's political, economic, and Nebraska life. a detailed review of territorial townsite cultural development. He focuses on Wallace Brown, in "George L. Miller speculation and promotion, and the Joseph E. Johnson, who edited The and the Boosting of Omaha," provides role of numerous institutions of higher Omaha Arrow during its five-month life another example of newspapers' and education founded as proof of these in 1854, and who later established The newspapermen's contributions to terri­ towns' permanency and "civilization." Huntsman's Echo at Wood River Center. torial development. Like Johnson's In an era of exuberant local optimism, As Johnson's writing shows, he was Omaha Arrow a decade earlier, Miller's towns tried to "reproduce patterns and not interested only in politics. The Omaha Herald, founded in 1865, sought institutions characteristic of older, more Arrow's masthead proclaimed that it to overcome negative images of established communities," particularly was to be "a family newspaper, devoted Nebraska by extolling the territory's churches and colleges. to the arts, sciences, general literature, agricultural potential, climate, and Wilhite also reviews the leadership agriculture, and politics." To make good natural resources. and the denominational support on this boast, Johnson included short Miller constantly published articles characteristic of most of these institu­ poems and fiction in the Arrow, and on agriculture, fruit culture, and stock­ tions. Although virtually all of the early weighed in editorially on moral issues, raising, and urged Nebraska farmers to colleges, and many of the early towns, such as temperance and political plant trees. The Herald office acted as a failed to survive, their founders demon­ corruption. The Huntsman's Echo, clearinghouse for reports about new strated patterns that would shape published after Johnson moved to a innovations or samples of agricultural Nebraska into statehood: "boosterism, ranche in the Platte Valley, provides a products, which often occasioned competitiveness, the preeminence of revealing look at the hustle and bustle articles. The Herald, like other papers, certain eastern Nebraska towns, local along one of the major overland trails was also a prime booster for its own interest in higher education, and faded to the west. community and Brown traces Miller's promises." Although early newspapers were ceaseless efforts to promote Omaha as a

169 Nebraska History - Winter 2003

George L. Miller. RG2411 :PH3767C The Omaha Daily Herald building in Omaha. RG2341 :PH:195 commercial and transportation center. The association was founded by a The need for wood and water dictated Robert D. Harper's "Theatrical Enter­ group of leading Omaha citizens. The that most early agriculture took place tainment in Early Omaha" reveals how organization conducted a regular near the Missouri and other streams. new Nebraskans brought with them a lecture series on a wide range of topics, According to Richardson, three desire to recreate cultural forms they featuring orations by men and women modes of farming resulted: crop and had left behind. Nebraska Territory's prominent in Omaha political, business, livestock; specialized crops; and first dramatic performance was held in and social circles. The association also specialized livestock. The first two Omaha on May 28,1857, and the Omaha opened a reading room stocked with required proximity both to timber and Ubrary Association began a lecture books, newspapers, and periodicals. prairie and to the river towns that series in the same year. During this early Unfortunately, the Omaha Library provided marke.ts. The third involved period, Omaha's primitive accommoda­ Association could not be sustained livestock grazing on the open prairie tions and sparse population attracted financially in the wake of the Panic of and was less dependent on timber, no performers of prominence, and the 1857 and faded away after little more since no fences were required. Nor did theatrical presentations were sporadic than three years. specialized livestock operations need until after the Civil War, when both the to be as near the river towns, because variety and quality of Omaha theatre Land Acquisition stock could be driven some distance began to improve. and Agriculture to the shipping points. Regardless of Philip A. Kalish, in "High Culture The ways individuals acquired land which type of agriculture was practiced, on the Frontier: The Omaha Library from the public domain and pursued Richardson discovered that many Association," deals with another early agriculture in Nebraska Territory has Nebraska farmers lived in the river effort to transplant culture to Nebraska. received less attention than transporta­ towns and not on the land they were The territory's first library was estab­ tion, town-building, and government. farming. lished in Omaha in the winter of C. Howard Richardson, in 'The Milton E. Holtz, in "Early Settlement 1856-57. Its founders' motivation Nebraska Prairies: Dilemma to Early and Public Land Disposal in the Elkhorn included the desire to provide cultural Territorial Farmers," uses surveyors' Valley, Cuming County, Nebraska and educational opportunities for field notes and plats from 1855-56 to Territory," looks at settlement patterns in present and future generations, to study how Nebraska farmers adapted one of the first counties established in emulate the older cities of the East, and to localized physical, economic, and the hinterland west of Nebraska's to use the library as a selling point to social opportunities in the hinterlands Missouri River border. Most of the attract new settlers. of the Missouri Valley and its tributaries. settlers in the study area were Germans

170 Nebraska Territory from Wisconsin, and their land acquisi­ white settlers' greed, and shortcomings tion patterns reveal how the Elkhorn in the treaty creating the reserve. River was a controlling factor in the Years of delay plagued both the sur­ establishment of their farms. vey of the reserve's western boundary Because timber, water, and good soil and the land's allotment to mixed were important, many of the land claims bloods as individually owned tracts. were laid out in linear fashion to "share By the time the allotment was finally the wealth" the Elkhorn Valley afforded. completed in 1860, settlers had already These tracts abutted the river, providing encroached upon the reserve and the access to water and timber, as well as Indian lands passed quickly to white some fertile bottomland and some up­ ownership, often for less than their land prairie, which was not subject to value. flooding. Even though the German "Robert W. Furnas as Omaha Indian settlers did not constitute a true colony, Agent, 1864-1866" by Robert C. Farb is a Holtz believes their mostly simultaneous two-part article covering an aspect of arrival and common background led to Furnas's public service less well known "colony-type" behavior in their land than his contributions to Nebraska acquisition patterns. agriculture and politics. Furnas was The article concludes with a statistical appointed agent to the Omahas in 1864. study of the types of land claims made The tribe then numbered about one in the study area, revealing the high rate thousand men, women, and children, of success the settlers enjoyed in secur­ and it was up to Furnas to deal with ing title to their land. The Germans' such complex issues as the appointment unusual settlement patterns, their of the agency trader, management of innovative, industrious, and pragmatic reservation land, distribution of annu­ spirit, and their common ethnicity, ities, and Indian education, all within combined with the Elkhorn Valley's the cumbersome bureaucracy that was suitability for agriculture, were the keys. the Office of Indian Affairs. In "Homesteading in Nebraska, 1862­ An added complication was the 1872," William H. Beezley reviews the more than six hundred starving territorial demand for free homesteads. Winnebagos who had left their Dakota He notes how resistance to the home­ reservation and thrown themselves stead idea by the Democratic admin­ upon the mercy of the Omahas. Furnas istration in Washington became a participated in negotiations whereby significant factor in the rise of the the Omahas ceded a portion of their Republican Party in Nebraska. reservation to the Winnebagos. The article also discusses the meth­ Although Furnas seemingly was an odology of the homesteading process, honest and effective agent, political the role of the public land surveys, and considerations caused his removal in the operation of the government land Daniel Freeman, shown here later in life, 1866. offices. Beezley provides statistics on filed what has been recognized as the Edmund J. Danziger, Jr., in "Civil War the number of homestead entries and first homestead in the nation on January 1, Problems in the Central and Dakota the acreage claimed during the first 1863. The Freeman homestead near Superintendencies: A Case Study," decade of Nebraska homesteading. Beatrice has been preserved as the analyzes how the Office of Indian Affairs Homestead National Monument of Finally, he places the Homestead Act America. RG4376:PH:l administered government Indian policy within the context of other methods of in Nebraska, Kansas, and Dakota territo­ land alienation. southeastern Nebraska set aside by ries during the Civil War years. The treaty in 1830 for allotment to the office had prodigious responsibilities Indians and Indian Affairs mixed-bloods of four Missouri Valley that it was ill prepared to meet. The Gregory 1. Johansen's, "'To Make Some tribes. His article reviews how the goal Central Superintendency, for example, Provision for their Half-Breeds': The of using the tract to provide a home for was responsible for sixteen tribes, com­ Nemaha Half-Breed Reserve, 1830­ these mixed-bloods was never realized prising some 13,000 Indians of widely 1866," traces the history of the tract in due to government mismanagement, varying cultures and lifestyles.

171 Nebraska History - Winter 2003

In the face of diminishing game, a major goal was teaching reservation tribes to become self-supporting farm­ ers, while protecting them from white encroachment and attacks by nomadic tribes. Yet when Sioux attacks drove the Pawnees from their hunting grounds, the government failed to provide the promised protection so the Pawnees could work their farms. Crop failures from drought and insects also frustrated Indians' attempts to farm, and near star­ vation was the result. There were other problems as well, including thieves and unlicensed traders on the reservations, and dishonest Indian Office personnel. Danziger concludes that the adminis­ tration of Indian affairs in the Central and Dakota Superintendencies during the Civil War years reveals the "tragic, irreconcilable inconsistency between American expansion and the United States government's desire to protect and to 'civilize' the red man." Military Affairs William Henry Jackson took this photograph of Pawnee earthlodges near Genoa, Nebraska, in 1871, but the Pawnees had used such dwellings for generations. RG2065 Richmond L. Clow, in "Mad Bear: William S. Harney and the Sioux Expedi­ tion of 1855," reviews the government's response to the so-called "Grattan Massacre," the killing of a small party of soldiers at a Sioux encampment near Fort Laramie the previous year. The government ordered Harney to retaliate, and his troops inflicted a major defeat on Little Thunder's band of Brules near Ash Hollow in September 1855, killing many, capturing others, and destroying the village. Following this demonstration of government power, Harney marched his command from Fort Laramie to Fort Pierre, where he imposed peace terms on Sioux leaders. The article reveals the conflict between the War Department and the Office of Indian Affairs over which agency should control federal Indian policy, a conflict that would continue for years. Although Harney's campaign brought an uneasy peace to Omaha Agent Robert W. Furnas (standing, second from Jeft) with a group of the Plains, it proved only an interlude. Winnebago chiefs and interpreters. Furnas helped negotiate an agreement whereby Benjamin Franklin Cooling's article, the Omahas ceded part of their reservation to the Winnebagos. RG2067 "The First Nebraska Infantry Regiment

172 Nebraska Tenitory

Nebraska directly. The article outlines the settlements that had been estab­ lished along the Platte and Little Blue rivers, the status of military forces in the region, and relations with Indian tribes just prior to the outbreak of open war­ fare in late summer 1864. Hagerty then details the Indian attacks on emigrant and freight trains, stagecoach stations, and ranches beginning August 7, 1864, and the military response. The title is somewhat misleading, however, because little if any of the article deals with events in 1865. The Quest for Statehood Two articles relating to the political evolution of Nebraska from territory to state conclude this review. The first, "George L. Miller and the Struggle Over Nebraska Statehood" by Wallace Brown, reviews the role of a leading Nebraska Democrat and journalist as the move­ ment for Nebraska statehood gained momentum in the mid-1860s. Following his defeat in the campaign for territorial delegate in 1864, Miller founded the Omaha Herald, which would soon become the leading Democratic organ. While many Nebraskans could appre­ ciate the benefits of statehood, such as voting representation in Congress, control of the federal patronage, and the receipt of federal land grants, these plums would fall to the party in power. These realities presented Nebraska Democrats with a dilemma, which is revealed in Miller's editorial pronounce­ "The Surrender of Fort Donelson," Harper's Weekly, March 1, 1862. The First Nebraska Volunteer Infantry regiment made a significant contribution to this important Union ments in the Herald, and his private victory. correspondence with J. Sterling Morton. After RepUblicans in the legislature and the Battle of Fort Donelson," pro­ and focuses on its role in the February had secretly written a constitution and vides a glimpse at a part of Nebraska's 13-15,1862, battle at Fort Donelson, set an election for state officers and to Civil War history that played out beyond Tennessee. At Fort Donelson, the vote on the constitution, the Democrats her borders. having a sparse Nebraska regiment helped win a Union were in a quandary. If they nominated population and being remote from the victory that had major strategic impor­ candidates for state officers, it would be main theaters of conflict, Nebraska tance, and which also propelled Union seen as an endorsement of statehood, Territory contributed a large percentage Gen. Ulysses S. Grant into the national which the party wanted to delay until of her military-age men to the Union spotlight. they felt strong enough to have reason­ Army. Leroy W. Hagerty's "Indian Raids able prospects of controlling a new state Cooling traces the early service of Along the Platte and Little Blue government. Presenting no candidates the First Nebraska Volunteer Infantry in 1864-1865," in two parts, covers an and campaigning against statehood, Missouri following its enlistment in 1861, aspect of Civil War history that affected however, would foreclose any chance

173 Nebraska History - Winter 2003

Charles McDonald's Cottonwood Springs Ranche, near present-day Maxwell, supplied overland travelers with supplies and livestock. Soldiers camped nearby while constructing Post Cottonwood (later Fort McPherson) in 1863. RG2469:PH:l of Democratic success in the forthcom­ it. This omission proved contrary to the territory. Yet, as Potts points out, blacks ing election and award the political trend taking shape in Congress, which nonetheless would have been enfran­ prizes to the Republicans by default. had already enacted legislation to chised under the recently enacted In the end, the Democrats nominated ensure the civil and voting rights of Territorial Suffrage Act, which had given state candidates, but avoided taking an Southern blacks. black men the vote in federal territories. official stand on the statehood issue, When Nebraska's admission to state­ The legislation that created Nebraska all of which was to no avail. The Repub­ hood came before Congress in 1867, Territory and that which admitted licans triumphed amid charges of the Radicals realized that admitting Nebraska as a state both established election fraud, statehood was consum­ Nebraska with its restrictive constitution important precedents. By the Kansas­ mated, and the Democrats would not would provide an unacceptable prece­ Nebraska Act of 1854, Congress taste political success in Nebraska again dent when it came time to readmit conceded control over civil rights to until the 1890s. the former rebel states. However, "If new states and territories under the The final article, "Nebraska State­ Congress established such authority in doctrine of Popular Sovereignty; by hood and Reconstruction," by James B. the Nebraska case, the way would be the Nebraska statehood act of 1867, Potts, was ~he Sellers Award winner for open to extend federal control over Congress reclaimed its prerogatives to 1988. It reveals how Nebraska statehood voting rights as a basis of reconstructing make such decisions. was caught up in the national political the southern states." debate over reconstruction after the The authority that Congress estab­ Afterword Civil War. The question of how best to lished was by refusing to admit Nebraska It is clear that Nebraska's territorial restore the Union became a contest to statehood unless the legislature experience has been the subject of between President Andrew Johnson and agreed to the "fundamental condition" significant scholarship, signaling that the Radical Republicans in Congress. of male suffrage without regard to race. historians have recognized the era's Potts surveys the manipulations by When the legislature complied with this fundamental role in shaping the pro-state fqrces in Nebraska to draft a condition, the admission bill, which had Nebraska that was to be. It is less constitution covertly and without already been passed over Johnson's certain, however, that the public is deliberation. Regardless of party, many veto, became law on March 1, 1867. much aware of the rich and fascinating Nebraskans opposed black suffrage and Had Nebraska refused to accept the history of Nebraska in the years before the new constitution did not provide for condition, it would have remained a statehood. One suspects the March 1

174 Nebraska Territory anniversary of statehood in 1867 has financial indiscretions, a frequently problems of nation-building, there is no become, for many Nebraskans, the unforgiving environment, and the counterpart to the unique territorial Genesis date in our history, question of what to do with the people system, which for so many years guided, As Professor Nichols noted in his who already lived here, In the end, refined, and sometimes reinvented the essay, the territorial system was a Nebraska's founding fathers (for women political, social, and economic institu­ unique feature of American democracy. were excluded from politics), as young tions of the United States, The people of each new territory were and inexperienced as many of them given a basic framework, within which were, in thirteen years managed to Notes they had considerable latitude in work­ prepare Nebraska to take her place as ing out the details of self-government an equal partner in the federal union. I Although Nebraska's name came first in the original act, I have adopted the terminology that In Nebraska the road was often rocky, Unfortunately, in parts of the modern came into common use soon afterwards, and filled with obstacles such as personal world that are currently struggling with which has continued to identify the act in subse­ ambition, fierce political rivalries, a pent-up desire for democracy and the quent scholarship.

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Bibliography Beezley, William H. "Homesteading in Nebraska, 1862­ Holtz, Milton E. "Early Settlement and Public Land 1872." 53 (Spring 1972): 59-75, Disposal in the Elkhorn Valley, Cuming County, Nebraska Blake, Gordon. "Government and Banking in Territorial Territory," 52 (Summer 1971): 113-32, Nebraska," 51 (Winter 1970): 425-35. Homer, Michael W. "The Territorial Judiciary: An Overview Brown, Marion Marsh. "The Brownville Story: Portrait of a of the Nebraska Experience, 1854-1867," 63 (Fall 1982): 349­ Phoenix, 1854-'1974." 55 (Spring 1974): 1-142, 80, Brown, Wallace. "George L. Miller and the Struggle over Johansen, Gregory J. "'To Make Some Provision for Their Nebraska Statehood." 41 December 1960): 299-318, Half-Breeds': The Nemaha Half-Breed Reserve, 1830-1866," 67 ____. "George L. Miller and the Boosting of Omaha," (Spring 1986): 8-29, 50 (Fall 1969): 277-91. Kalish, Philip A "High Culture on the Frontier: The Omaha Clow, Richmond L. "Mad Bear: William S, Harney and the Library Association," 52 (Winter 1971): 411-17. Sioux Expedition of 1855," 61 (Summer 1980): 133-54. Malin, James C. "The Nebraska Question: A Ten-Year Cooling, Benjamin Franklin, "The First Nebraska Infantry Record, 1844-1854," 35 (March 1954): 1-15, Regiment and the Battle of Fort Donelson." 45 (June 1964): Nichols, Roy F. "The Territories: Seedbeds of Democracy," 131-45. 35 (September 1954): 159-72, . Danker, Donald F, "Columbus, a Territorial Town in the Pfieffer, Benjamin. "The Role of Joseph E, Johnson and Platte Valley." 34 (December 1953): 275-88. his Pioneer Newspapers in the Development of Territorial ____. "The Nebraska Winter Quarters Company and Nebraska," 40 (June 1959): 119-36. Florence." 37 (March 1956): 27-50. Potts, James B. "Nebraska Statehood and Reconstruction," Danziger, Edmund J., Jr. "Civil War Problems in the Central 69 (Summer 1988): 73-83, and Dakota Superintendencies: A Case Study." 51 (Winter ___' "North of 'Bleeding Kansas': The 1850s Political 1970): 411-24, Crisis in Nebraska Territory." 73 (Fall 1992): 110-18. Farb, Robert C. "Robert W. Fumas as Omaha Indian Agent, Price, David H. "Sectionalism in Nebraska: When Kansas 1864-1866." 32 (September 1951): 186-203; (December Considered Annexing Southern Nebraska, 1856-1860," 53 1951): 268-83, (Winter 1972): 447-62, Gendler, CaroL "Territorial Omaha as a Staging and Richardson, C. Howard, "The Nebraska Prairies: Dilemma Freighting Center." 49 (Summer 1968): 103-20, to Early Territorial Farmers." 50 (Winter 1969): 359-72. Graebner, Norman A "Nebraska's Missouri River Frontier, Thavenet, Dennis. "The Territorial Governorship: Nebraska 1854-1860," 42 (December 1961): 213-35, Territory as Example," 51 (Winter 1970): 387- 409. Hagerty, Leroy W, "Indian Raids Along the Platte and Little Wilhite, Ann L. "Cities and Colleges in the Promised Land: Blue Rivers, 1864-1865." 28 (July-September 1947): 176-86; Territorial Nebraska, 1854-1867." 67 (Winter 1986): 327-71. (October-December 1947): 239-60, Zabel, Orville H. "To Reclaim the Wilderness: The Robert D. "Theatrical Entertainment in Early Immigrant's Image of Territorial Nebraska." 46 (December Omaha," 36 (June 1955): 93-104. 1965): 315-24.

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