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This dissertation has been 62—3955 microfilmed exactly as received HENDRICKSON, Jr., Kenneth Elton, 1936- THE PUBLIC CAREER OF RICHARD F. PETTI GREW OF SOUTH DAKOTA, 1848-1926. The University of Oklahoma, Ph.D., 1962 History, general University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan Copyright by Kenneth Elton Hendrickson, Jr. 1962 THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE THE PUBLIC CAREER OF RICHARD F. PETTIGREW OF SOUTH DAKOTA, 1848 - 1926 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY KENNETH ELTON HENDRICKSON, JR. Norman, Oklahoma 1962 THE PUBLIC CAREER OF RICHARD F. PETTIGREW OF SOUTH DAKOTA, 1848 - 1926 APPROVED BY ^?rv DISSERTATION COMMITTEE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to Professor Gilbert C. Fite who directed this dissertation and whose encouragement made possible its completion. Thanks are also due the members of the reading committee: Professors Rufus G. Hall, Max L. Moorhead, Donnell M. Owings, and Alfred B. Sears, for their valuable suggestions. A special vote of thanks must be tendered to Professor Herbert S. Schell of the State University of South Dakota who introduced me to Pettigrew, and whose invaluable assistance speeded the completion of the manuscript. Further thanks go to the staffs of the Pettigrew Museum, Sioux Falls, South Dakota; the State University of South Dakota Library ; the South Dakota State Historical Society; the Library of Congress Manuscripts Division; and the National Archives for their assistance in research. To my wife, Dianne, I am deeply indebted for her preparation of the final copy of the manuscript, and for her patience and understanding during the years it was in progress. Ill TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Chapter I. THE PIONEER POLIT ICO....................... 1 II. PETTIGREW AND GOVERNOR ORDWAY.............. 34 III. SENATOR PETTIGREW AND THEAGRARIAN UPRISING. 62 IV. THE WESTERN PROMOTER...................... 91 V. A WESTERN SENATOR AND REPUBLICAN PARTY POLITICS.............................107 VI. SENATOR PETTIGREW AND THE SILVERQUESTION . 152 VII. A SILVER REPUBLICAN................... 181 VIII. THE "ANTI-IMKRIALIST"................. 214 IX. THE BEGINNING OF THE END; AND THE END . 248 X. THE "HAS BEEN" POLITICO............... 275 EPILOGUE........................................ 309 BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................... 313 THE PUBLIC CAREER OF RICHARD F. PETTIGREW OF SOUTH DAKOTA 1848 - 1926 CHAPTER I THE PIONEER POLITICO Dakota Territory in 1870 was a raw frontier country, inhabited by roaming bands of Indians and dotted with sparse settlements of whites. Into this land one April day came a young man whose rugged spirit and vitality matched that of the land he now claimed as his own. His name was Richard F. Pettigrew. He was a pioneer. The youth was well suited to the tasks which awaited him. Full six feet tall, his shoulders were broad and his back straight. But equally important, his physical prowess was matched with a keen intellect, an engaging personality and boundless energy. Moreover, Pettigrew had supreme confidence in himself. He was aware from the outset of the limitless opportunities offered by Dakota, and he determined at once to exploit them for all of their worth.^ As he gazed across X ■ Doane Robinson, History of Dakota Territory and South Dakota (New York; American Historical Society, 1930), II, 640. 2 the prairies of eastern Dakota that day, Pettigrew must have envisioned in his mind’s eye the wealth which was there for the taking. Penniless, with no alternative but success, there could be no turning back for him. He must push on, Richard Pettigrew was born in 1848 in the village of Ludlow, Vermont, Through his mother he could trace his lineage back to the Puritan band which followed John Winthrop to Watertown, Both of his grandfathers fought in the Revolution and later settled permanently in Vermont; and there his parents spent their early years, were married and began their family, Richard’s life might well have run its course in Vermont had events not forced his father to flee New England and seek a new home further west, Andrew Pettigrew was a devoted admirer of the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, He circulated the Liberator and other unpopular literature, and his store in Ludlow served as a way station for the "underground railroad," By 1850, unfortunately, his fervor began to cost him friends and customers, and soon he was faced with financial ruin. In 1854, his savings gone and his very life in danger, he made the final decision to leave. Drawn by glowing reports of the West which he read in railroad advertising, Andrew gathered his family and set out for Wisconsin,^ 2 R,0, Parkinson, "The Early Career of Richard Franklin Pettigrew," (lowa City, Iowa; State University of Iowa, unpublished Master’s thesis, 1938), 1-2, 3 The Pettigrews settled on a farm in Rock County near the hamlet of Union.^ Here the family worked and played, and the children continued their education at a country school. By 1860, however, the desire to give his brood the best schooling available prompted Andrew to move once more. This time he settled near Evansville, the location of a respectable academy. Richard graduated from Evansville Academy in 1864 and that fall enrolled at Beloit College.^ Since the family had no money for college expenses, he took a job as a janitor. This provided enough for room, board and tuition, and he was able to complete two full years of study before fate inter vened to cut short his college career. Soon after the beginning of the term in 1866 Andrew Pettigrew became seriously ill. Richard hurried home from school to help manage the farm and when his father died in December, he decided to.stay on as long as he might be needed. It was not until the late summer of 1867 that he felt free to leave. He had heard of a job in a dry goods store in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which sounded attractive, and he decided to go there. When he arrived, however, the job had been taken and he was forced to pick corn in order to earn enough money to eat. A few days later he learned of a position as a ^Dumas Malone (ed.). Dictionary of American Biography, "Richard Franklin Pettigrew" (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1946),XIV, 516-517. 4 Parkinson, "The Early Career of R.F. Pettigrew," 3-5. 4 teacher in a country school near Marion Junction. He applied, passed the required examination, and was hired. Teaching did not appeal to young Pettigrew. Neverthe less, he threw himself into his work with his characteristic vigor. Shortly, however, he decided to return to college and thus spent most of his leisure time reading law in preparation. When the year of teaching was completed, he went directly to Madison and enrolled in the Law School of the University of Wisconsin. There he met and studied under William F. Vilas and John C. Spooner, who were later to be his colleagues in the United States Senate. At the end of the school year 1869, Pettigrew, penniless once again, joined a surveying party which was headed for Dakota Territory.^ The group arrived in eastern Dakota in June and worked through the summer and fall. Pettigrew was impressed with the immensity of the land and the opportunities which awaited the enterprising pioneer. Before he started home in November, he staked a claim to 160 acres near the village of Sioux Falls on the Big Sioux River. Then he returned to Madison to read law under the direction of Spooner. Little time elapsed, however, before Pettigrew again became restless. He feared that he might lose his claim to 5 R.F. Pettigrew, "Autobiographical Manuscript," Pettigrew Papers, Loose File, Pettigrew Museum, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 1. 5 a squatter, so in April 1870, he again set out for Dakota, and this time he stayed.& The "village" of Sioux Falls which Pettigrew viewed across the Big Sioux River that spring,day in 1870 consisted of three log buildings, barracks, officers quarters, and a hospital. These buildings were constructed by the army in 1863 after an Indian uprising had frightened most of the original settlers away. In 1869 the soldiers departed, but the buildings were left standing.? Since the land was now a military reservation and in theory not open to settlement, only a few people had returned. The buildings were inhabited by three traders, and a feV farmers lived along the wooded banks of the Big Sioux River, The day he arrived, Pettigrew met Dr. Nyrum Phillips, a trader and one of the original settlers who had remained. The young man moved into the vermin-infested barracks with the doctor and this became his home during his first year in Dakota.® Since he knew something of the business because of his experience in 1869, Pettigrew decided to support himself by surveying the public domain. Shortly after his arrival in Dakota, he called upon the Surveyor General, William H. H. ^R.F. Pettigrew, "The Scroll of Time" (Unpublished Article, 1916), Pettigrew Papers, Loose File, 4. ^Ibid., 2. ®Ibid.. 4. 6 Beadle, and was granted a contract for the survey of a portion of Lincoln County south of Sioux Falls.^ Meanwhile, young Pettigrew continued to broaden his acquaintanceship in the Big Sioux Valley, and he soon came to know most of the white settlers and Indians who inhabited the area. Pettigrew was a man who made friends quickly and impressed others with his attitude assurance and self ‘10 confidence, and he undertook to promise everyone living on the Sioux Falls Military Reservation that they would be allowed to prove up on their claims without interference as soon as the lands were surveyed. But a problem soon developed. Pettigrew and Phillips discovered that a syndicate had been formed in the East to buy the Sioux Falls Reservation from the government.