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Transcriber's note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
A carat character is used to denote superscription. A
single character following the carat is superscripted
(example: y^e). Multiple superscripted characters are
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[Illustration: Isaac Stevens]
THE LIFE OF ISAAC INGALLS STEVENS
By His Son
HAZARD STEVENS
With Maps and Illustrations
In Two Volumes
VOL. I
[Illustration]
Boston and New York
Houghton, Mifflin and Company
The Riverside Press, Cambridge
1900
Copyright, 1900, by Hazard Stevens
All Rights Reserved
THIS RECORD
OF
A NOBLE AND PATRIOTIC LIFE
IS DEDICATED
TO
THE YOUNG MEN OF AMERICA
PREFACE
For many years I have felt impelled to write this Life, not only in
justice to General Stevens's memory, but also as an act of duty to the
young men of the country, that the example of his noble and patriotic
career might not be lost to posterity. An only son, closely associated
from boyhood with him, his chief of staff in the Civil War, and always
the recipient of his counsel and confidence, the opportunities thus
given me to know his sentiments and characteristics, and to witness so
many of his actions, plainly augment the duty of making his record more
widely known. In these pages, setting aside, as far as possible, the
bias of filial respect and affection, I seek to simply narrate the
actual facts of his life.
Since beginning this work in 1877, I have been greatly assisted by data
furnished by many of General Stevens's contemporaries, former brother
officers, and associates in the public service, many of whom have now
passed on. I render my grateful thanks to them for such aid, and for
their words of appreciation of General Stevens and encouragement to his
biographer, and especially to Generals Zealous B. Tower, Henry J. Hunt,
Benjamin Alvord, Edward D. Townsend, Rufus Ingalls, A.A. Humphreys, E.O.
C. Ord, Thomas W. Sherman, Joseph E. Johnston, G.T. Beauregard, William
H. French, Truman Seymour, Orlando M. Poe, Silas Casey, John G. Barnard,
M.C. Meiggs, Joseph Hooker, George W. Cullum, David Morrison, George E.
Randolph; Colonels Samuel N. Benjamin, Granville O. Haller, Henry C.
Hodges, John Hamilton, H.G. Heffron, Elijah Walker, Moses B. Lakeman;
Major Theodore J. Eckerson, Major George T. Clark; Captains William T.
Lusk, Robert Armour, C.H. Armstrong; Professors W.H. C. Bartlett, A.E.
Church, H.S. Kendrick, H.E. Hilgard, Spencer F. Baird; General Joseph
Lane, Senator James W. Nesmith; General Joel Palmer, Nathan W. Hazen,
Esq., Alexander S. Abernethy, C.P. Higgins; Judge James G. Swan, Arthur
A. Denny; Hon. Elwood Evans, General James Tilton.
My thanks are also due, for facilities for examining and copying records
in their departments, to the Hon. J.Q. Smith, former Commissioner of
Indian Affairs, and Hon. A.C. Towner, Acting Commissioner; to General H.
C. Corbin, Adjutant-General; General John M. Wilson, Chief of Engineers;
Hon. John Hay, Secretary of State; Professor Henry L. Pritchett,
Superintendent of the Coast Survey; Lieutenant Paul Brodie, formerly
adjutant 79th Highlanders, for copying hundreds of pages of documents in
the Indian Office; Mr. R.F. Thompson, of the same office, for assistance
rendered; Professor F.G. Young, of Eugene, Oregon, for a copy of Colonel
Lawrence Kip's account of the Walla Walla Council, republished by him.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Savage's New England Genealogies.
Abiel Abbott's History of Andover.
Miss Sarah Loring Bailey's Historical Sketches of Andover.
Church and town records of Andover.
Massachusetts Colonial Records.
Family records and correspondence.
History of the Mexican War, by General C.M. Wilcox.
Campaigns of the Rio Grande and of Mexico, by Major Isaac I. Stevens.
General Stevens's diary and letters (unpublished).
His reports in the Engineer Bureau of the Army (unpublished).
Reports of the Coast Survey, Professor A.D. Bache, for 1850 to 1853.
Boston Post newspaper, files for 1852.
Pacific Railroad Routes Explorations, vols. i. and xii., two parts.
General Stevens's reports to Commissioner of Indian Affairs, with
journals of Indian councils and proceedings in 1854-55 (unpublished).
Reports of December 22, 1855, and January 29, 1856, in House Document
48, 1st session, 34th Congress.
Reports of August 28, December 5, 1856, council at Fox Island; October
22, 1856, second council at Walla Walla; April 30, 1857, with map and
census of Indian tribes (unpublished).
Reports to Jefferson Davis, Secretary of War, August 15, December 21,
1854; February 19, March 9 and 21, May 23 (two letters), June 8, July 7
and 24, August 14, October 22, November 21 (three letters), 1856. See
documents of 34th and 35th Congresses.
Reports and correspondence of General Wool, Colonel George Wright, and
Lieutenant-Colonel Silas Casey, in said documents.
Governor Stevens's messages to legislature of Washington Territory,
February 28, December 5, 1854; January 20, December, 1856, the latter
accompanied by reports to the Secretary of War and correspondence with
military officers during the Indian war. See, also, above documents and
messages for proceedings relative to martial law.
Governor Stevens's speeches in 35th and 36th Congresses, in
Congressional Globe.
General Joseph Lane's speech in 35th Congress, May 13, 1858, on the
Indian war.
Three Years' Residence in Washington Territory, by James G. Swan.
The Walla Walla Council, by Colonel Lawrence Kip.
Account of Colonel Wright's campaign against the Spokanes, by Colonel
Lawrence Kip.
Report of J. Ross Browne, Special Agent, etc., on the Indian war, House
Document 58, 1st session, 35th Congress.
History of the Pacific States, by H.H. Bancroft, vols. xxiv.-xxvi.
Archives State Department.
Records War Department.
Circular Letter to Emigrants, The Northwest, Letter to the Vancouver
Railroad Convention, by Governor Stevens, published in pamphlet.
The War between the States, by A.H. Stephens.
War Records, vol. v., for Army of the Potomac in 1861; vol. vi., for
Port Royal Expedition; vol. xiv., for James Island campaign; vol. xii.,
in three parts, for Pope's campaign.
Military Historical Society of Massachusetts, vol. ii, entitled The
Virginia Campaign of 1862 under General Pope.
History of the 79th Highlanders, by William Todd.
History of the 21st Massachusetts, by General Charles F. Walcott.
Biographical Register of West Point Graduates, by General George W.
Cullum.
Defence of Charleston Harbor, by Major John Johnson.
Southern Historical Society Papers, vol. xvi.
Official dispatches of Admiral Dupont.
Life of Charles Henry Davis, Rear Admiral.
Letters and statements from gentlemen named in the Preface.
* * * * *
The author, having sought his information from original sources as far
as possible, deems it unnecessary to mention the great number of
histories, regimental histories, and biographies that he has perused, as
they throw little light on the subject, and much of that misleading.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
ANCESTRY.--BIRTHPLACE
Isaac Ingalls Stevens, seventh in descent from John Stevens,
1, one of founders of Andover, Mass., 1640--Deacon Joseph,
2--Captain James, 3, captor of Louisburg; deputy to General
Court--Lieutenant James, 4, raised company for French and
Indian war; died in service--Jonathan, 5, Revolutionary
soldier, Bunker Hill; other service; characteristics--His
brother James's diary of siege of Boston--Isaac, 6,
crippled by falling tree; marries Hannah Cummings,--her
ancestry; hires Bridges farm; untiring industry and thrift;
death of wife; second marriage; characteristics; children 1
CHAPTER II
BIRTH.--BOYHOOD
Born, Marble Ridge farmhouse, North Andover, Mass., March 25,
1818--Delicate child--Heroic treatment--Incidents showing
character--Devotion to mother--Her death irreparable
loss--Early schooling--Over-study--Evil effects--Insists on
leaving school--Works in factory a year--Strict treatment--
No indulgence--Injudicious urging--Fever--Rupture from
over-exertion--Seeks Dr. Warren--Old Put's school, Franklin
Academy--Rigorous daily life of farmer's boy--Phillips
Academy--Appearance on entering--Earns board and lodgings
with Nathan W. Hazen, Esq.--Takes first rank in studies--Power
of concentration--Habits of study--Proficiency in mathematics--
Protests against bigotry--Overcomes extreme diffidence--
Appointed to West Point 13
CHAPTER III
WEST POINT
Patriotic emotions on entering West Point--Determines to be
head of his class--Better prepared rivals, Biddle, Halleck,
and Butler--Distinguished classmates--Extra French lessons--
Letters describe life and studies--Father and uncle William
disappointed at standing at first examination--Abominates
smoking and chewing--Early rising--Halleck and Biddle compare
notes--"Little Stevens is driving ahead like the Devil"--Gains
first place--Spends 4th of July in New York--Southern contempt
for Yankee farmers--Determined to resent it--Dialectic
Society--Second year encampment--Military ball--Contrasts his
situation with that on entering--Characteristics drawn by
Professors Bartlett and Church--Extra drawing lessons, great
gains--Admires General Miller's "I'll try, sir"--Generous
rivalry--Eleven good friends--Visit home 24
CHAPTER IV
WEST POINT.--LAST TWO YEARS
Appointed assistant professor of mathematics--Leading part in
Dialectic Society--Efforts at speaking--Reflections on
studies and authors--Long walks--Forbidden sweets--
Horsemanship--Skating over thin ice--Saves companion from
freezing--Letters to father and sisters--Susan goes to
Missouri--Again head, third year--Patriotic indignation at
British aggression--Advises sending Oliver to college--Letters
to Hannah and Oliver--Avows abolition principles--Founds
"Talisman"--His own anonymous critic--His intimate friends--
Graduates first in every branch--Parents attend graduation
exercises 48
CHAPTER V
NEWPORT
Ordered to Newport, R.I.--Phrenological chart--Lieutenants
Mason, Beauregard, Hunt--Ascendency over employees--Newport
society--Mr. Stevens welcomed--Personal appearance--Meets his
future wife--Benjamin Hazard--Horseback rides--Family
mansion--Charming Polly Wanton--Colonel Daniel Lyman--German
class--Marriage of Susan to David H. Bishop--Death of
grandmother--Urges additional fortifications--Proposes to
study law--Friendly letter from Halleck--Takes part of
Tilden; of H.L. Smith--Death of Hannah--Delivers address
before Newport Lyceum--Lecture on Oliver Cromwell--Visits
Washington--Fairhaven battery--Death of Susan--Death of
Benjamin Hazard--Marriage, September 8, 1841 60
CHAPTER VI
CHARGE OF WORKS: NEW BEDFORD, PORTSMOUTH, PORTLAND, BUCKSPORT
Wedding journey to West Point--Returns to Newport--Charge of
works at New Bedford--Moves to Fairhaven--Halleck asks aid
for engineer corps--Journal--Thanksgiving in Andover--Hazard
born, June 9--Fugitive slave harbored in Andover--Elizabeth
marries L.M. Campbell in Tennessee--Moves his family to
Portsmouth, N.H.--Charge of works there and Portland,
Me.--Pleasant society--Examines old forts at Castine--Fort
Knox, on Penobscot, buys land for--Youthful appearance--
Backwoods uncle, warm welcome--Overwork--Severe illness--
Julia Virginia born, June 27, 1844--Visits Andover--Elizabeth
and Mr. Campbell--Moves to Bucksport tavern--Goes to
housekeeping--New friends--Assistants, Richard Kidder Randolph,
Isaac Osgood, A.W. Tinkham--Penobscot River--Barge--Pushes on
works--Fine ox-teams--Judge of men--Severe sickness in
winter--Visits Washington--Obtains large appropriations--
Confidential inquiry if he desires promotion--Characteristic
reply--Delighted in dispensing hospitality--Daughter Julia
Virginia died, December 7, 1845--Beautiful tribute by Mr.
Brooks--Organizes course of lectures--Salmon weir--Advocates
engineer company--Enlists first soldier--Views on raising
standard of rank and file--Ordered to Mexican war--Speeds to
Boston by sleigh 78
CHAPTER VII
VOYAGE TO MEXICO
Placed in charge of pontoon and engineer train--Delays in
embarking--Visits from relatives--Death of Elizabeth--Letters
to wife--Sails on barque Prompt, January 19, 1847--Diary of
voyage--Seasickness--Warm weather--Passes Bahamas, Great
Abaco, Hole in the Wall, Berry Island, Black Chief--Steward
commits suicide--The weather in the Gulf--Arrives at the
Brazos--Meets officers--Great confusion--Sails to Tampico,
beautiful, picturesque region--Landing at Vera Cruz, March 9
and 10 96
CHAPTER VIII
VERA CRUZ.--CERRO GORDO
Vera Cruz--Defenses--American army invests city--Lieutenant
Stevens's zeal in reconnoitring--Hands torn and poisoned--
Horse bolts to enemy's lines--Throws himself from saddle--
Looks out route for covered way--Put in charge with large
working parties--Volunteers--Independent ways--Diary of
siege--Capture of city--Damage by artillery fire--"Moonlight
magnificence and sunlight squalidity"--Secures fine horse--
Appointed adjutant of engineer corps--Diary of march to
Cerro Gordo--National Bridge--Rancheros--Reconnoissances
of Cerro Gordo--Disabled by rupture--Compelled to remain in
camp--Description of battle--Letter to wife 110
CHAPTER IX
JALAPA.--PUEBLA
Prisoners released on parole--March for Jalapa--Encerro, Santa
Anna's country seat--Reaches Jalapa, Eden of Mexico--Prepares
memoir on conducting war against guerrillas--Letters to
wife--Feeling address at burial of Sapper Carigan--March from
Jalapa to Puebla--Beautiful country--Soldado--Pass of La
Hora--Las Vegas--Perote, its plain and castle--Leaves Perote
with Colonel Clarke's brigade--San Antonio--Tepe Ahualeo with
General Worth and Garland's brigade--Hacienda of Virayes--
Byzantium--Ojo de Agua--Hacienda Santa Annaced--Nopalucan--El
Pinal--Acajete--Amasoque--Column of lancers threaten attack--
Sheer off at fire of Duncan's battery in two bodies--
Lieutenants Stevens and McClellan pursue one for five
miles--Puebla occupied--Health improved--Reports for duty--
Reconnoitres road to Tlascala--Examines position in city--
Generals Scott and Twiggs arrive--Santa Anna renounces
power--His career and character--Attends church--Bull fight--
Army recruiting strength--Drilling--Awaiting reinforcements--
Engineers making maps--Collecting information--Wealthy
Mexican offers to act as spy--Dominguez, robber chief, with
some of his band, employed as spies and couriers--Submits
memoir on system of espionage and employing robbers--Rumors--
Guerrillas invest El Pinal--Colonel Harney marches to disperse
them--Arrival of volunteers--Review--Sorry appearance--Good
material--Heavy defenses and eighteen thousand troops at City
of Mexico--Character of Mexican governing class--Letters to
wife--Description of Puebla--Climate--People--Confidence of
the troops--Character of General Scott--Arrival of General
Pierce 129
CHAPTER X
ADVANCE TO MEXICO, EL PEÑON, CONTRERAS, CHURUBUSCO
Advance to valley of Mexico--Description of defenses--General
Scott and staff with Twiggs's division reach Ayotla--Daring
reconnoissances of El Peñon by Lieutenant Stevens--March
around Lakes Chalco and Xochimilco--Occupy San Augustin--
Reconnoissances of enemy's positions--San Antonio road
strongly fortified--Pedregal--Intrenched camp at Contreras--
Battle of Contreras--Lieutenant Stevens urges decisive movement
adopted by Twiggs--"Attack the enemy's left; you cut him off
from reinforcements and hurl him into the gorges of the
mountains"--Stormy night--Discouragement--Scene at Scott's
headquarters--Second day's battle--Reconnoitring from church
steeple at Coyoacan--Enemy in full retreat on San Antonio
road--Instant advance by Twiggs, led by Lieutenant Stevens,
who comes up against fortified convent and brings on battle
of Churubusco--Description of battle--Terrible scenes of
battlefield banished sleep--Letter to wife--Tacubaya occupied--
Armistice 163
CHAPTER XI
MOLINO DEL REY.--CHAPULTEPEC.--CAPTURE OF CITY OF MEXICO.--RETURN TO
UNITED STATES
General Scott and staff enter Tacubaya--Take quarters in
Bishop's Palace--Commissioners to negotiate peace--Mexican
treachery--Armistice terminated--Battle of Molino del
Rey--Useless attacks--Severe losses--Battle of
Chapultepec--Castle stormed--Quitman advances on Tacubaya
causeway--Worth on San Cosme causeway--Lieutenant Stevens,
with Worth, wounded--Enemy retreat in night--American troops
occupy city--Lieutenant Stevens's remarks on the
movements--His character sketches of Lee, Beauregard, Tower,
Smith, McClellan, Foster, Mason--Removed to city--quartered
in the Palace--Severe wound--Ups and downs--Mounts
crutches--Journeys in ambulance with Lieutenant Foster to
Puebla--Arrives at New Orleans 202
CHAPTER XII
HEROES HOME FROM THE WAR
Proceeds to Washington--Flattering reception--Gives full
accounts to Colonel Totten--Joyful reunion with family in
Newport--Shoots mad dog--Ordered to Savannah--Letter to
brother--Character of Cromwell--Makes garden--Justice of
Mexican war--Savannah orders countermanded--Resumes works at
Bucksport--Purchases house, garden, poultry--Characteristic
reply to inquiry as to willingness to be sent to Pacific
coast--Brevetted captain and major--Efforts to secure justice
for brother officers--Opinion of General Taylor--Brevet
pay--McClellan asks assistance for engineer company--
Lieutenant Stevens's views--Advocates reorganization
of the army 226
CHAPTER XIII
COAST SURVEY
Professor A.D. Bache tenders charge of Coast Survey office--
Accepts conditionally--Retains charge of works--Assumes new
duties--Estimate of General Taylor--Magnitude of Coast
Survey Office--Organizes the force--Reforms the office--
Meets "men of Mexico"--General Shields--Approves
compromise measures--Puritan father condemns Webster--
Visits Bucksport--Daughter Gertrude Maude born--Wound
breaks out afresh--Contemplates leaving Coast Survey--Moves
family to Newport--Pays $400 on house--Generous in money
matters--Spends summer in Washington--Letters to his wife--
Ideals of woman, marriage, duty, ambition--Admiration for
Henry Clay, the master spirit--Compromise measures passed--Fine
health--Carries appropriation--Truth and directness superior
to low cunning--Office improving, duties more pleasant
daily--Publishes Campaigns of Rio Grande and of Mexico--General
Scott takes offense 241
CHAPTER XIV
LIFE IN WASHINGTON
Moves family to Washington--Pleasant society--Takes hold Fourteen
Years' Bill--Reorganization of army--Urges brother officers to
do "their duty to their profession"--Army man, not a corps
man--Moves to Mrs. Janney's, on 8th Street--Takes family to
Newport for summer, 1851--Another phrenological chart--Rents
house on 3d Street and goes to housekeeping--George Watson
Stevens--Letters to wife--Responds to toast of Army and Navy
at banquet to Kossuth--Advocates coast defenses, and writes
articles--Appointed member of Lighthouse Board--Sells Bucksport
house--Advocates election of General Franklin Pierce as
President--Articles in "Boston Post"--Speeches in Andover,
Newport, and Portsmouth--Taken to task by Secretary of War
Conrad--Pungent reply--Leader among young officers--Numerous
calls--Friendship with Professor Bache--Continued improvement
of Coast Survey Office 257
CHAPTER XV
GOVERNOR, WASHINGTON TERRITORY.--EXPLORATION, NORTHERN ROUTE
Washington Territory organized--Exploration of routes to Pacific
determined on--Appointed governor--Letter of resignation from
army--Colonel Totten's reply--Silver service presented by
friends on the Coast Survey--Obtains charge of exploration of
Northern route--Takes high ground--Impresses his views on the
administration--Applies for Captain McClellan--Letter to
him--Sends Lieutenant Donelson to Montreal to procure maps
and data from Hudson Bay Company--Prepares his own
instructions--Magnitude of task--Organizes the expedition--
Gives McClellan charge of construction of the military road,
Steilacoom to Walla Walla--Declares independence of Hudson Bay
Company--Busy scenes in 3d Street house--Sends officers to San
Francisco, St. Louis, and St. Paul to hasten preparation--
Selects territorial library--Exploration fully reported in
vols. i. and xii., Pacific Railroad Reports 280
CHAPTER XVI
THE PARTY.--THE START
Leaves Washington--Expedites matters in St. Louis--Dispatches
party up Missouri--Up Mississippi to St. Paul--Rouses party
in camp before breakfast--Breaking mules--Incessant
rains--Roster of the party--General plan--March to Sauk
River--Winnebago Indians--Canadian voyageurs--Pierre
Boutineau--Camp regulations--Assimilated rank--All to stand
guard--Pembina train--Pushing on detached parties--March to
Pike lake--Swollen streams, bogs--Crossing Sauk and Crow
rivers--Lightning Lake--Fish and game--Relieves Lieutenant Du
Barry--Discharges inefficient men--White Bear Lake--Parties
reassemble at Pike Lake 302
CHAPTER XVII
PIKE LAKE TO FORT UNION
General course W. 10° N.--Lieutenant Grover surveys separate
route--Country within forty miles examined by side
trips--Route passes near Breckinridge, Jamestown, Minot, and
Great Northern Railroad nearly to Rocky Mountains--Crosses
Chippewa River--Camp regulations--Bois de Sioux--Description
of country--Red River hunters--Sheyenne River--Lander's
adventure--False alarm of Indians--Myriads of buffalo--The
hunt--Lake Jessie--Buffalo threaten camp; stop train--Horse
and mules go off with buffalo--Governor Stevens disabled--
Lander returns--Inveterate horse-killer--James River--Anxiety
at non-return of Tinkham--Guns fired--Parties sent back to
find him--Sioux reported approaching--Train arranged for
defense--Red River hunters--Tinkham returns safe--Governor
Wilkie and Red River hunters--Customs--Hunts--Government--Air
tainted by slaughtered buffalo--Maison du Chien--Coteau de
Missouri--Mouse River--More Red River hunters--Exchange
visits--Express dispatched to Fort Union--Assiniboine
Indians--Council--Distribution of presents--Arrives at Fort
Union 320
CHAPTER XVIII
FORT UNION TO FORT BENTON
Description of Fort Union--Alexander Culbertson--The
Blackfeet--Making peace--Surveys by side parties--Bugbear
stories--Moving westward--Blackfoot war party--Big Muddy--
Missouri bottom--Every one ordered to walk part way daily--
Milk River--Field order--Abundant game--Gros Ventres--Feast
and council--Feud with Blackfeet--Peace made between them--
Trading horses--Cypress Mountain--Stories of Indian
fights--Bear's Paw Mountains--Party sent to view them--Box
Elder Creek--The Three Buttes, favorite resort of Blackfeet--
Crosses Marias and Teton rivers--Scene of bloody Indian
conflict--Fort Benton--Fort Campbell 347
CHAPTER XIX
WIDESPREAD EXPLORING PARTIES
Gathering information--Lieutenant Grover to Bitter Root
valley--Lieutenant Mullan to Muscle Shell River--Lieutenant
Donelson to examine Cadotte's Pass--Mr. Lander to Marias
Pass--George W. Stevens describes outfitting war parties--Funds
fall short--Governor Stevens takes responsibility of incurring
deficiency--Starts to visit main Blackfoot camp--Chiefs join
the party--Culbertson's defense of Fort McKenzie--Death of
Rotten Belly--Reaches Marias River--Express brings report from
Lieutenant Saxton that mountains are impassable for wagons--
Returns to Fort Benton--Lander ordered back--Want of harmony in
his party--Stanley proceeds to Piegan camp--Lieutenants Saxton
and Grover meet on summit of Rocky Mountains--Tinkham returns
from Three Buttes and Marias River--Outfitting with pack
animals--Lieutenant Saxton, with Culbertson and twenty-eight
men, descends Missouri in keelboat--Doty stationed at Fort
Benton--Lander's insubordination curbed--Stanley returns with
thirty chiefs--Talk with Blackfeet--Their dress--Peace
advocated--Chief Low Horn--His good faith 364
CHAPTER XX
EXPLORING THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS
Lieutenants Saxton and Grover start down the Missouri--March up
the Teton via Sun and Dearborn rivers to Cadotte's Pass--
Description of country; game--Governor Stevens proclaims
inauguration of civil government on summit of Rocky Mountains--
Descending western slope--Big Blackfoot and Hell Gate rivers--
Overtakes main party--Fine condition of animals--Bitter Root
valley and river--Fort Owen--Lieutenant Arnold here with train
and provisions--Nine passes examined--Lander's erratic course--
Council with Flatheads--Chief Victor--Lieutenant Mullan
stationed at winter post in Bitter Root valley--Lieutenant
Donelson with main party sent via Clark's Fork and Pend Oreille
Lake--Dr. Suckley descends rivers in canoe--Tinkham to explore
Marias Pass--Proceed to Fort Benton--Cross mountains to Walla
Walla--Governor Stevens moves down the Bitter Root--Meets the
Nez Perces--Crosses the C[oe]ur d'Alene Mountains--C[oe]ur
d'Alene Mission--Indians--Lake--Falls--Spokane Indians--Spokane
Garry, head chief--Forced ride to Colville--Meeting with
McClellan--His explorations--Dilatoriness--Reports against
country and passes 375
CHAPTER XXI
UPPER COLUMBIA TO PUGET SOUND
McDonald's Indian tales--Chemakan Mission--Settlements in Colville
valley--Visits Spokane House--Garry's Lodge--Arrival of main
party at Camp Washington--March to Walla Walla--Pelouse River--
Crosses Snake River--Rides to old Fort Walla Walla--Visits Walla
Walla valley--Pu-pu-mox-mox--Lander ordered to survey Nahchess
Pass--Descends Columbia to Dallas, to Vancouver--Colonel
Bonneville--Ascends Cowlitz River in canoe--Four days in
drenching rains--Lander balks--Tinkham ordered to cross
Snoqualmie Pass--Officers reach Olympia--Captain McClellan
ordered to run line to Snoqualmie Pass--His failure--Tinkham
succeeds--McClellan aggrieved--Governor Stevens's opinion of
pioneers--McClellan's 396
CHAPTER XXII
ORGANIZING CIVIL GOVERNMENT.--THE INDIAN SERVICE
Wild country--Scanty population--Character of settlers--Serious
problems--Governor Stevens arrives at Olympia--Issues
proclamation--Organizes Indian service--Appoints agents--Visits
all parts of Sound--Meets Governor Douglass at Victoria,
B.C.--Reports on Hudson Bay Company's claims--First message--
Halleck exposes Southern political schemes--Purchases
homestead--Preparing exploration reports--Secretary Davis
stops further surveys--Drafts protested 411
CHAPTER XXIII
RETURN TO WASHINGTON.--REPORT OF EXPLORATION
Warm welcome in San Francisco--Lectures on Northern route--
Advocates three routes--Via Isthmus to New York--Joyful family
reunion in Newport--Proceeds to Washington--Complete report
of exploration--Deficiency provided for--General Hunt relates
incident--Secretary Davis disparages Northern route--General
Stevens's rejoinder--His final report--Severe labors--Sickness--
Doing the work of the delegate--Appointed commissioner to
treat with Blackfeet and other tribes--Unimpaired influence 425
CHAPTER XXIV
CROSSING THE ISTHMUS
Steamer from New York--Riotous scenes--Stops at Havana--
Aspinwall--Forlorn place--Cars to the summit--Carusi's
pavilion--Scene at night--Proceeds on mule-back--Tropic
rainstorms--Crossing the Chagres River--Lost children--
Panama--Embarks on Golden Age--Touches at Acapulco--Panama
fever--Reaches San Francisco--Welcomed by friends--Delayed
by sickness--Rebuke to General Wool--Steamer up the coast--
Into Columbia--Lands at Vancouver--Canoe trip up Cowlitz
River--Muddy roads to Olympia--Disappointing appearance--
Second message 433
CHAPTER XXV
INDIAN POLICY.--TREATIES ON PUGET SOUND
Beneficent Indian policy--Intention to write account of his Indian
service frustrated by early death--Indians of Puget Sound,
helpless, ready to treat--Organizes treaty force--Decides on
policy and terms--Sends agents to assemble Indians--Great pains
to make them fully understand and to consult with them--Council
and treaty of She-nah-nam or Medicine Creek; of Point Elliott
or Mukilteo; of Point-no-Point; of Neah Bay--Speeches--Visits
Victoria, and calls on Governor Douglass to restrain Northern
Indians--Napoleonic campaign--What was accomplished--Present
condition of the Indians 448
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
General Isaac I. Stevens, at the age of 43,
from a photograph _Frontispiece_.
Grave of John Stevens _to face page_ 2
Birthplace of General Stevens, Andover, Mass 14
Infant Jesus. Crayon drawing at West Point 44
Old Wanton Mansion in Newport 66
General Stevens at the age of 23, from a miniature by Staigg 74
Margaret Lyman Stevens, from a miniature by Staigg 76
Low Horn, Piegan Chief 374
Charles H. Mason, Secretary of the Territory, from a photograph 414
MAPS AND PLANS
Route, Vera Cruz to Mexico 118
Battle of Cerro Gordo 124
The Valley of Mexico 162
Battlefields in the Valley of Mexico--Contreras, Churubusco,
Chapultepec, Molino del Rey, Mexico 172
THE LIFE OF ISAAC INGALLS STEVENS
CHAPTER I
ANCESTRY.--BIRTHPLACE
About 1640 a mere handful of English colonists went out from Boston, and
made the first settlement in the town of Andover, Essex County,
Massachusetts. They laid out their homes on the Cochichewick, a stream
which flows out of the Great Pond in North Andover, and falls into the
Merrimac River on the south side a few miles below Lawrence. The infant
settlement was known as Cochichewick until 1646, when it was
incorporated as a town under its present name, after the Andover in
Hampshire, England, the birthplace of some of the settlers.
Among the first who thus planted their hearthstones in the wilderness
was John Stevens. His name stands fifth in an old list in the town
records containing "the names of all the householders in order as they
came to town." The mists of the past still allow a few glimpses of this
sturdy Puritan settler. He was admitted a freeman of the colony, June 2,
1641 (Old Style). He was appointed by the General Court, May 15, 1654,
one of a committee of three to settle the boundary between the towns of
Haverhill and Salisbury, a duty satisfactorily performed. He was
sergeant in the military company of the town, a post then equivalent to
captain or commander. According to Savage, N.E. Genealogies, vol. i., p.
186, John Stevens lived at Caversham, County Oxford, England, and came
to America in the Confidence from Southampton in 1638.
Large, substantial head and foot stones of slate, sculptured and
lettered in the quaint fashion of his day, still mark the resting-place
of John Stevens, after the storms of now two and a third centuries, in
the oldest graveyard of Cochichewick, situated opposite the Kittredge
mansion, and about half a mile north of the old parish meeting-house in
North Andover. He died April 11, 1662, in the fifty-seventh year of his
age, and was therefore thirty-five years old when he founded his future
home. John Stevens was evidently a man of note and substance, the worthy
progenitor of a prolific family, which has filled Andover with his
descendants, and put forth from time to time strong, flourishing
branches into all quarters of the country. It may indeed be safely said
that there is scarcely a State in the Union which does not contain
descendants of this sturdy Puritan.
His son Nathan, the first male child born in Andover, lies buried near
him under a broad freestone slab with an inscription to "Coun^{clr}
Nathan Stevens, who deceased February y^e 19, 1717, in y^e 75 year of
his age." The memorials of many others of his descendants stand thickly
scattered through the quaint old burial-ground. Not the least
interesting of these relics is a stone "In memory of Primus, who was a
faithful servant of Mr. Benjamin Stevens, Jr., who died July 25, 1792,
aged 72 years, 5 months, and 16 days."
A vigorous, long-lived race sprang from the loins of this first settler
John, a hardy, thrifty race of plain New England farmers, honest and
straightforward, with plenty of solid, shrewd good sense, bearing
manfully the toils and hardships of colonial days, and contributing its
quota of ministers and deacons to the church, and officers and
soldiers to the wars with the Indians and the French. In 1679 a grant of
land was made to Ephraim Stevens, son of the first settler, in
recompense of his losses by the Indians. In 1689 Lieutenant John
Stevens, another son, perished in the expedition against Louisburg. In
1698 Abiel Stevens, a grandson, was captured by the Indians, but made
his escape. In 1755 Captain Asa Stevens and Ensign James Stevens died in
the Lake George campaign. Upon the state muster-rolls appear the names
of twelve Stevenses of Andover as soldiers in the Revolution.
[Illustration: GRAVE OF JOHN STEVENS]
The subject of this work, Isaac Ingalls Stevens, was the seventh in
direct descent from John Stevens, the founder of Andover,--1 John
Stevens, 2 Joseph, 3 James, 4 James, 5 Jonathan, 6 Isaac, 7 Isaac
Ingalls Stevens.
Joseph was the fourth son of the first settler John. He was deacon in
the church. He married Mary Ingalls May 20, 1679, and died February 25,
1743, aged 88.
James was the second son of Joseph, married Dorothy Fry, March, 1712,
and died May 25, 1769, aged 84. He participated in the military affairs
and contests with the Indians and French of his times, commanded a
company at the capture of Louisburg, and for his services was granted a
tract of land in Maine. He was a deputy to the General Court. His
gravestone bears the title of captain.
Captain James's eldest son was also named James. He was born in 1720,
and married Sarah Peabody in 1745. This James was an energetic,
promising young man, with a young wife and two boys, when in 1754 a
recruiting party with colors, drum, and fife went about Andover beating
up recruits for the French and Indian war then raging. The young men all
hung back. "Make me a captain," said James Stevens, "and I will raise a
company for the war." This remark led to his receiving the commission
of ensign. He raised a company of the young men of Andover, and marched
away at their head to the shores of Lake George, in New York, where,
November 28, 1755, he died of camp fever, with the rank of lieutenant.
His eldest son, Jonathan, inherited a due share of his father's spirit,
for we find him hastening to Bunker Hill, and fighting manfully in the
battle. He served on other occasions during the Revolutionary war, and
after a successful dash upon the enemy writes the following interesting
letter to his sister:--
LOVING SISTER,--These will inform you that I am very well at
present, and have been so ever since I came from home, and I hope
you and all my friends enjoy the same state of health.
We have been up to Ticonderoga and took almost four hundred
prisoners of the British Army, and relieved one hundred of our men
that were prisoners there.
Our army have come from Ticonderoga down as far as Pawlet, about
sixty miles, and expect to march to Stillwater very soon. So no more
at present.
I remain, Your Loving Brother,
JONATHAN STEVENS.
PAWLET, October ye 1st, 1777.
Jonathan married Susannah Bragg, December 15, 1773, and raised thirteen
children,--Jonathan, Susannah, James, Dolly, Jeremy, Hannah, Isaac,
Nathaniel, Dolly, Moses, Sarah, Oliver, and William.
He united the business of a currier and tanner to his ancestral pursuit
of farming, and achieved the modest independence he so well merited. The
house that he occupied for many years stood on the old road that passed
along the western border of the Cochichewick meadows, that were long
since flooded and converted into a lake, the extension of the Great
Pond, for the water supply of the woolen mills of his son Nathaniel, and
the cellar is still visible on the west side of the road, some three
hundred yards from its junction with the road from the village of North
Andover to the mills. He afterwards built one of those large, square,
substantial mansions, once common in New England, on the crest of the
high ground east of the village, and commanding noble views of the
hamlet, the Great Pond, and the Cochichewick valley and the mills. This
house was unfortunately destroyed by fire in 1876.
Jonathan Stevens purchased, for sixpence an acre, a large tract of land
in Maine, which he divided into three farms, and bestowed upon his sons
Jonathan, James, and Isaac. They settled, and named the place Andover,
after their native town, and the descendants of the two former still
reside there.
Jonathan Stevens was a tall, large man of fresh, ruddy complexion and
fine appearance. He was fond of relating the incidents of the battle of
Bunker Hill, and used to recount the tale to his children and
grandchildren every Fourth of July,--how Putnam went along the line and
commanded them not to fire until they could see the whites of the
Redcoats' eyes; and how Abbot, the strongest man in town, bore a wounded
comrade off the field on his back. On the anniversary of the battle he
invariably invited his comrades in the fight to his house, and
entertained them with New England rum and hearty, old-fashioned
hospitality, while the veterans fought the battle o'er again. He sat
among the veterans of the battle at Webster's magnificent oration in
dedication of the Bunker Hill monument. On his eighty-fourth birthday he
worked with his men in the hay field, keeping up with the best all day,
and suffered no ill effect from the unwonted exertion. He died April 13,
1834, at the age of eighty-seven. In 1799 he gave the tract of land upon
which was erected Franklin Academy, on the hill north of the
meeting-house.
Jonathan's brother James, Captain James's other son, also served in the
Revolutionary war, and left a diary of the siege of Boston, recently
discovered in the garret of an old mansion in Andover, which opens like
an epic:--
"April ye 19, 1775. This morning about seven o'clock we had a larum
that the Regulars were gone to Concord. We gathered to the meeting
house, and then started for Concord. We went through Tewksbury into
Billerica. We stopped at Pollard's, and ate some biscuits and cheese
on the common. We started and went on to Bedford, and we heard that
the Regulars had gone back to Boston. So we went through Bedford. As
we went into Lexington we went to the meeting house, and there we
came to the destruction of the Regulars. They killed eight of our
men, and shot a cannon ball through the meeting house. We went along
through Lexington, and we saw several Regulars dead on the road, and
some of our men, and three or four houses were burnt, and some
horses and hogs were killed. They plundered in every house they
could get into. They stove in windows and broke in tops of desks. We
met the men a coming back very fast," etc.
Jonathan's fourth son was Isaac, born in 1785. On reaching manhood he
went before the mast on a voyage to China, and brought back, as a gift
to his mother, a beautiful china tea-set. After his return from sea he
went to Andover, Maine, to settle upon the lands bestowed by his father
upon himself and brothers, Jonathan and James.
With characteristic energy, Isaac Stevens set to work clearing his land,
and reducing rebellious nature to orderly submission. While thus at work
in the woods one day, a heavy tree fell upon and crushed him to the
earth; his left leg was terribly mangled, the bones broken in two
places, and he received other serious injuries. The doctors insisted
that the leg must be taken off in order to save his life, but Isaac
Stevens with inflexible resolution refused to allow the amputation, and
after a long, painful illness finally recovered. The limb, however, in
the process of healing, became materially shorter and permanently
stiffened, so that he was unable to bend the knee joint, and during the
remainder of his life the wound broke out afresh periodically, and
caused him great suffering. As soon as he was sufficiently recovered to
bear the journey, he returned to his native Andover, where, under his
mother's careful nursing, he slowly recovered from the terrible injuries
he had received.
It was at this time that he formed an attachment with Hannah Cummings,
the daughter of a sterling farmer family like his own, and who united to
a warm and affectionate heart, noble and elevated sentiments, strong
good sense, and untiring industry. Their marriage followed soon after,
on the 29th of September, 1814. He now relinquished the project of
settling in Maine, and hired an old farmhouse with some twenty acres of
land of Mr. Bridges. This house, one of the oldest in Andover, is
situated at the end of Marble Ridge, a short distance south of the Great
Pond, and at the point where the road from the village to Haverhill,
after crossing the Essex Railroad, forks, the left branch leading on to
Haverhill, while the other turns short to the right and conducts to
Marble Ridge Station. The solid timbers and stockaded sides of the rear
part of this old house--for the front is a later structure--were the
mute witnesses of a stratagem in early Indian troubles as novel as it
proved successful. The stout-hearted farmer settler was alone, with his
wife and little ones about him, one night, when he discovered a large
party of savages stealthily approaching, and spreading out so as to
encompass his house. Hastily barricading the doors, he seized his
trumpet, which he bore as trumpeter of the military company of the
settlement, stole unperceived out of the house, caught and mounted his
horse, and, making a circuit through the fields, gained the high road
between the Indians and the village. Then, putting spurs to his steed,
and pealing blast upon blast from his trumpet, he charged furiously down
upon the Indians, now in the very act of assailing his domicile, who,
thinking no doubt that the whole force of the country-side was upon
them, incontinently fled into the forest.
Judged by the standard of these days, the young couple had an
unpromising future. They were very poor, the husband a cripple, and they
held as tenants a few barren acres from which to extract a livelihood.
But Isaac Stevens now toiled early and late with untiring energy; he
saved at every point, and turned everything to account with true Yankee
thrift. He built a malt-house, and after laboring on the farm from
earliest dawn until dark, would work at preparing the malt until late in
the evening. His farm embraced a large meadow lying on both sides of the
Cochichewick, just below where it issued from the Great Pond, but now
flooded by the milldams still lower down, where he cut vast quantities
of meadow hay, with which he filled his barns and fed a goodly number of
horned stock during the long, rigorous winters, realizing thereby a
handsome profit in the spring. His young wife joined her efforts to his,
and frequently cut and made clothing for the neighbors around, in
addition to the unceasing and arduous labors of a farmer's wife. Such
thrift and industry could not fail of success. The Bridges house and
land were purchased, largely on mortgage at first; then the wet meadow
was added; then a goodly tract of generous land was bought of the
father, Jonathan Stevens, and other fields and tracts were added from
time to time. During the thirteen years following their marriage, the
first scanty holding grew to a farm of one hundred and fifty acres of
their own, and free from debt. Seven children, too, came to bless their
union and increase their cares. Then the devoted wife and mother died,
November 3, 1827, leaving this helpless little flock, the oldest of whom
was but twelve and the youngest two years of age. Henceforth life was a
heavy and unceasing labor to Isaac Stevens. The little farm grew no
larger, and all his efforts were now required to maintain his family and
keep free from debt. Two years afterwards he married Ann Poor, of North
Andover, impelled by his situation and circumstances, with so many
helpless children about him and the household economy of the farm
unprovided for. The second wife failed to restore the happiness of home.
She had no children, and died in 1866, four years after her husband.
Isaac Stevens was a man of deeply marked and noble characteristics. His
fortitude was severely tested by the misfortune which left him a
lifelong cripple. His cool courage and inflexible resolution are best
illustrated by his manner of dealing with a dangerous bull he once
owned. This animal grew daily more and more savage, until every one
stood in fear of it except the owner, who, as often happens in such
cases, persisted in thinking it quite harmless. At length, however, the
bull one day chased a neighbor, who had imprudently ventured to cross
the field in which it pastured, and overtaking him just as he reached
the fence, tossed him high in air, so that falling fortunately on the
farther side of the inclosure, he escaped with no more serious injuries
than some severe bruises and a broken nose. The bull, furious at the
escape of his prey, was bellowing and pawing the ground. "The bull must
be shot!" cried the man who helped off the injured neighbor. But Isaac
Stevens at once armed himself with a stout cudgel, coolly hobbled into
the field, disregarding all remonstrances and entreaties, fixed his eye
upon the enraged beast, backed him into a narrow corner where he could
not escape, and thrashed him over the head with the club with such
terrible severity that he was completely subdued, and ever after
remained perfectly gentle and submissive.
Always strictly observing the Sabbath, he held liberal views of religion
and attended the Unitarian Church. He kept himself informed of the
current events of the day, taking the New York "Tribune" and Garrison's
"Liberator," and manifesting the greatest interest in education,
temperance, anti-slavery, and every cause that would make mankind better
or happier. "How he denied himself all comforts almost, and _quietly_
sent money to free the slave and for the temperance cause! He was a
strong pillar of the foundation principles of right and justice that it
would be well for young men of this day to study," said one who knew him
well.
He was, above all, a man of perfect integrity and truth, and of a strict
sense of justice. There was not a fibre of guile or indirection in his
moral nature. He held strong and ardent convictions, noble and lofty
ideals of duty and philanthropy, and an intense hatred and scorn of
wrong or oppression in any form. He strongly opposed and denounced the
use of liquors and tobacco, and became early in life a vehement and
outspoken abolitionist of slavery, at a period when the advocacy of such
doctrines demanded unusual moral courage as well as stern conviction of
right. At his decease, years afterwards, he bequeathed five hundred
dollars to the Anti-Slavery Society, requiring only that Wendell
Phillips should deliver a lecture in the parish church of North Andover.
The untiring industry which, with his frugality and good management,
enabled him to achieve comparative independence so early in life, was
not the course of a drudge and miser, but of an ardent, resolute spirit
spurning poverty, debt, and dependence. All through life he manifested
an unconquerable aversion to debt. He loved a fast horse, and the old
mare which he kept until she died, over twenty-seven years old, was, in
her prime, the fastest in the town. After reading a newspaper or book,
he was in the habit of giving it to a neighbor, telling him to hand it
to another after perusing it. He took great pains with his orchards, and
planted apple-trees along the stone walls bordering his fields. He also
planted the noble elms now overhanging the old farmhouse, and the long
lines of this graceful tree now bordering the road from the house to the
crest of the hill overlooking the village and the road over Marble
Ridge, and the numerous clumps and rows in his fields wherever a sightly
eminence seemed to require such an adornment.
His children were:--
HANNAH PEABODY, born September 24, 1815, died November 24, 1840.
SUSAN BRAGG, born February 14, 1817, died April 8, 1841.
ISAAC INGALLS, born March 25, 1818, died September 1, 1862.
ELIZABETH BARKER, born July 14, 1819, died December 10, 1846.
SARAH ANN, born January 13, 1822, died February 8, 1844.
MARY JANE, born August 5, 1823, died June 22, 1847.
OLIVER, born June 22, 1825.
The following account of the ancestry of Hannah Cummings is given by her
nephew, Dr. George Mooar, D.D., of Oakland, California, who has
collected much information concerning the Cummings genealogy:--
"Hannah, wife of Isaac Stevens, was the third child of Deacon Asa
and Hannah (Peabody) Cummings, born October 23, 1785, married
September 29, 1814, and died November 3, 1827.
"The line from her father to the first American ancestor runs thus:
Asa (6), Thomas (5), Joseph (4), Abraham (3), John (2), Isaac (1).
"Deacon Asa was born in Andover, Massachusetts, but removed in 1798
to Albany, Maine, a pioneer settler there, a trusted, intelligent,
and capable citizen, who in 1803 represented his district in the
General Court.
"Captain Thomas (5) was born in Topsfield and died September 3,
1765. He married Anna Kittell, the widow of Asa Johnson, of Andover.
"Captain Joseph (4), of Topsfield, was quite a character. The
biographer of Dr. Manasseh Cutler says that he found among the
papers of that eminent person a notice of Captain Cummings in which
he is spoken of as a remarkable man, well versed in the politics of
the day, and he adds: 'From the interest Dr. Cutler felt in him, he
must have been a stanch patriot and Federalist.' In a notice which
appears in the 'Salem Gazette' we are told that when nearly a
hundred he would readily mount his horse from the ground. He died in
his one hundred and second year.
"Abraham (3) was a resident of Woburn and of Dunstable.
"John (2) was quite a large proprietor in Boxford, Massachusetts,
and later was one of the first fourteen proprietors of the town of
Dunstable.
"Isaac (1) appears on a list of the 'Commoners of Ipswich in 1641,
but appears to have arrived in America three years before. No exact
knowledge of his previous residence in Great Britain has been
obtained. The prevailing tradition gives him a Scottish descent.'
"An elder brother of Hannah Cummings was Dr. Asa Cummings, D.D., of
Portland, Maine, eminent for classical learning and piety, and
editor of the 'Christian Mirror' for many years."