[202] Palmer’s _Incidents of the Late Indian Outrages_ in the
_Hamilton Freeman_ (Webster City), July 30, 1857; Mrs. Sharp’s
_History of the Spirit Lake Massacre_ (1902 edition), pp. 102-104.
[203] Charles Aldrich in an address at the unveiling of a
commemorative tablet in the Hamilton County Court House in Webster
City, Iowa, on August 12, 1887, states that they started about
midnight. It does not seem, however, that such a late hour could have
been possible under the circumstances.--See the _Annals of Iowa_
(Third Series), Vol. III, p. 548.
[204] Palmer’s _Incidents of the Late Indian Outrages_ in the
_Hamilton Freeman_ (Webster City), July 30, 1857.
[205] Palmer’s _Incidents of the Late Indian Outrages_ in the
_Hamilton Freeman_ (Webster City), July 30, 1857; Hubbard and
Holcombe’s _Minnesota in Three Centuries_, Vol. III, p. 233. For a
wholly different view of Dr. Strong see Gue’s _History of Iowa_, Vol.
I, pp. 307, 308.
[206] One version of the flight of these refugees tells us that Smith
and Henderson were not, at first, left behind but were taken for some
distance on hand sleds. This proved impracticable and the men were
abandoned. Miss Agnes C. Laut has this plainly in mind when she refers
to Mrs. Smith as the “one dame, who abandoned an injured husband on a
hand sleigh” and hence does not need to “be preserved as a heroine of
the West.” This, however, is unfair to Mrs. Smith.--See Miss Laut’s
_Heroines of Spirit Lake_ in the _Outing Magazine_, Vol. LI, p. 692.
[207] For varied versions of the flight of the Wheeler refugees see
Mrs. Sharp’s _History of the Spirit Lake Massacre_ (1902 edition), pp.
109, 110; Gue’s _History of Iowa_, Vol. I, pp. 307, 308; Hubbard and
Holcombe’s _Minnesota in Three Centuries_, Vol. III, p. 234.