Civil War Era in North Dakota Lesson 2

Civil War Era in North Dakota Lesson 2 Biographies Andrew Burke: Civil War Veteran In 1890, Andrew Burke was the second governor elected in the state of North Dakota. He was the only North Dakota governor who was a veteran of the Civil War. Burke had a rocky start in life which makes his election to the governorship even more interesting. He was born in New York City to a poor family. His mother died when he was born. His father raised him until he died when Andrew was four. Andrew was sent to an institution for orphans, but also fared for himself by selling newspapers. Eventually, Andrew Burke became a ward of the Children’s Aid Society of New York which put orphans on trains that traveled across the country. The trains stopped at towns where farm families could choose to adopt one of the children. Burke ended up on a farm in Indiana. He was fortunate that this was a happy home for him. He attended school in the winter and worked on the farm in the summer. The Civil War broke out when Burke was 11 years old. When he turned 13, he enlisted with Company D of the 75th Indiana Infantry as a drummer boy. He mustered out of service in 1865 and returned home to finish school. After two years of college, Burke moved to Minneapolis where he married. The young couple soon moved to Casselton, Dakota Territory. Here, Burke’s fortunes began to improve. He worked as a bookkeeper for Hibbard and Parlin’s general store, and then as a cashier for the First National Bank. Beginning in 1884, he served three terms as Cass County Treasurer which brought him into contact with important Republican Party leaders. In 1890, the Republican Party nominated Burke for governor of the new state. He was also supported by the Farmers’ Alliance, an organization with national and statewide political power. As governor, Burke discovered that the state had no constitutional provision for the election of presidential electors. He called the legislature into special session in June 1891 so that North Dakota’s voters would have a voice in the 1892 presidential election. He also supported using state funds (and some of his own money) to help farmers buy arsenic to poison grasshoppers when the insects threatened to destroy the wheat crop. Burke (as well as several other governors) was influenced by “Boss” Alexander McKenzie who worked for railroad interests. Because there was no governor’s mansion in 1891, McKenzie gave his own house to Burke, but McKenzie expected favors in return. The legislature passed a bill favored by farmers and the Farmers’ Alliance that was meant to force railroads to lease land to grain elevators and warehouses. McKenzie asked Burke to veto the bill. Burke did veto the bill, but the veto angered the Farmers’ Alliance. Because he gave in to pressure from McKenzie, Burke lost the 1892 election to a farmer, Eli Shortridge. Burke never forgot his early days and the help he had from the Children’s Aid Society. In 1891, he organized a group that worked to establish the Fargo orphan’s home in 1892. His story was carried in newspapers around the country. He encouraged orphans to believe in their future, saying that “It is the character of the man that wins recognition.” As a veteran of the Civil War, Burke was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He later worked for the U. S. Land Office in New Mexico where he died in 1918. Abraham Lincoln: Civil War President Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) was the Civil War President. When Lincoln was elected in 1860, southern states, fearing that he would ask Congress to outlaw slavery, seceded from the Union. South Carolina was the first to depart. Eventually 10 other states broke their ties with the United States and formed a new nation, the Confederate States of America. As the states seceded, their elected delegates to Congress left their seats and returned to their home states. Lincoln was mostly self-educated. He had a typical frontier education with several months in a “blab” school where students learned to “read, write, and cipher” (do arithmetic). From these basics he learned how to be a surveyor. He was also a storekeeper and became a lawyer. He passed the bar exam in Illinois, and set up an office as a lawyer in Springfield. In 1846, Lincoln was elected to Congress. As a representative, he gained some notice because he opposed the Mexican War. In 1858, Lincoln, a Republican, ran for a seat in the U.S. Senate against Stephen A. Douglas. Douglas was a well-known senator, a Democrat, and a capable public speaker. As the two campaigned for office, they engaged in several debates. Lincoln’s performance in those debates brought him national attention. Though Lincoln lost that election, the Republican Party asked him to run for President in 1860. Immediately after Lincoln was elected President, southern states threatened to secede. Secession meant that the United States would have to go to war to restore the Union. In his inaugural address, Lincoln spoke directly to the southern states saying: In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you.... You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it. Lincoln did not intend to free the slaves when he first became president. He came to that conclusion slowly over the course of the Civil War as he listened to his advisors and members of Congress. He also knew that restoring the Union meant ending slavery permanently. On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation which declared enslaved people to be free. During his presidency, Lincoln ensured that the United States would continue to establish new territories and states in the West. To help these states prosper, he signed the Homestead Act, the Pacific Railway Act, and the Morrill Land Grant Act. Though the war in the states took up most of his time and attention, he read reports on the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 and the battles in Dakota Territory. He made sure that military resources were sent to Dakota. He appointed able officials to the new Dakota Territory. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, was assassinated on April 14, 1865 just as the Civil War came to a close. Eagle Woman: Mrs. Matilda Galpin One of the most important people living at Fort Rice in 1864 was Matilda Galpin. Her husband was a trader and had been appointed the post sutler (a sutler sold supplies). She was one of three women living at Fort Rice during the terrible winter of 1865. Her friendship was important to Julia Larned, a survivor of Fort Dilts, who worked with her husband to operate a private bakery for the soldiers. Elizabeth Cardwell, the wife of a private in the First U.S. Volunteers, felt the comfort of Matilda Galpin’s medical skills at the birth of her baby in the spring. Matilda Galpin was also known by the name her family had given her as a child: Eagle Woman That All Look At (Wambdi Autepe Win), or simply Eagle Woman. Her father was the famous Two Kettle Teton leader, Two Lance. Her mother was a Hunkpapa Dakota known as Rosy Light of Dawn. She inherited her mother’s status as a Hunkpapa. When her parents died, she married Honore Picotte, a trader for the American Fur Company at Fort Pierre. Around 1850, she married Charles Galpin. She gave important assistance to both of her husbands. Through her family ties, she was able to help her husbands engage in trade with the Dakotas. She was also able to create peaceful relations between the traders and the Dakotas and later helped to bring several Dakota tribes to Fort Rice to talk peace. Her skills as a diplomat were recognized and respected by both the Dakotas and the officers of the Army. Eagle Woman was able to live and work in both cultures. She understood that life on the northern Great Plains was changing with the arrival of more and more white people. She also understood the power of the Army. Often described as a very intelligent woman, she did what she could to avoid war and promote peace. Eagle Woman was also a woman of great courage. One day, at the end of March 1865, she saw two Dakota men trying to set fire to Fort Rice. She approached them and ordered them to leave. The fort did not burn and the men were captured the next day. Another attack on the sawmill at Fort Rice on May 26, 1865 led to the wounding of Lieutenant Wilson, who supervised the log-cutting operations. Three arrows hit his arm, his leg, and his chest and caused him to fall from his horse, fracturing his hip bone. Mrs. Galpin (as she was usually known at the fort) saw his attackers riding toward him to take his scalp. She ran to help and protect Lt. Wilson. As she held him, she chased off his attackers by scolding them and shouting: “This man belongs to me now! You can not mutilate him or touch him! Begone, every one of you!” They fled. She then waved her shawl in the air to draw the attention of rescuers who carried Lt. Wilson to the post surgeon. In the fall of 1865, Charles and Matilda Galpin visited several tribes including the Blackfoot Sioux, Brulé, Hunkpapa, Miniconjou, Oglala, Sans Arc, Two Kettle, and Yanktonai villages to invite the leaders to participate in peace talks at Fort Rice.

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