[260] _Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers_, Vol. VI, pp. 922-937;
Smith’s _History of Dickinson County, Iowa_, p. 84.
[261] _Address of Captain Charles B. Richards_ in the _Annals of Iowa_
(Third Series), Vol. III, p. 515; Smith’s _History of Dickinson
County, Iowa_, p. 84.
[262] The reputed finding of the body of Joel Howe may well be
questioned. The evidence presented tends to show that the headless
skeleton found by Mr. Goodenough could not have been that of Howe. Of
the party that took the trail route to the Mattock cabin from Howe’s,
H. E. Dalley is the only one who in late years has survived, and in
fact he was about the only one of the Johnson party who survived the
fearful storm of the fourth and was able to give a coherent tale of
what they had done. The leader of the party and its second most active
member both were lost in the storm. Mr. Dalley in relating the facts
of the burial of Howe has always maintained that Howe’s body, complete
and not headless, was found but not buried at the same spot. Instead
the party carried the body to the Mattock place where it was interred.
He has ever sturdily maintained that this act of the party is the most
vivid recollection of the whole experience. Lieutenant Maxwell has
also maintained that the body was not headless when found. There is a
discrepancy between the number of bodies disinterred in the vicinity
of the Mattock cabin and the number of people reported to have been
killed there.
The place and conditions under which the skeleton was found also lend
an air of controversy. The skeleton is said to have been found about
eighteen inches deep under a cow-path and at the head of a small
ravine worn back about thirty feet from the lake shore. In soil
conditions as they exist at the lakes, such a ravine would not have
been the result of years of work, as is implied, but would have been
the work of a freshet. That the wearing back was the result of the
work of years is implied in the statement that “Turning at the head of
this recession is a cattle path.” Here the inference is plain that the
cattle for years had turned to avoid the ravine. Once started, the
spring freshets and summer rains would have rapidly worn the ravine
back to a greater distance than thirty feet. All those stating that
the body was buried where found say it was buried upon the summit of a
bluff. The conclusion is evident that a thirty foot backward recession
of a ravine would hardly have occurred in the face of a bluff. By its
finders the body is said to have been buried only about eighteen
inches deep. With the eroding effects of a cattle path would it have
been still that depth below the surface after a lapse of nearly a half
century? One would think that such could hardly be. For discovery and
interment of the remains of Joel Howe, see _Annals of Iowa_ (Third
Series), Vol. XI, pp. 551-553.
[263] There will probably always be more or less controversy as to the
number of bodies found and buried. The present writer has sought to be
conservative in accepting evidence. See Smith’s _A History of
Dickinson County, Iowa_, pp. 88, 89; _Address of John N. Maxwell_ in
the _Annals of Iowa_ (Third Series), Vol. III, pp. 539, 540; _The
Narrative of W. K. Laughlin_ in the _Annals of Iowa_ (Third Series),
Vol. III, p. 543; Mrs. Sharp’s _History of the Spirit Lake Massacre_
(1902 edition), p. 74.
[264] Smith’s _A History of Dickinson County, Iowa_, p. 90; _Roster
and Record of Iowa Soldiers_, Vol. VI, pp. 922-937.
[265] Smith’s _A History of Dickinson County, Iowa_, p. 90.
[266] Smith’s _A History of Dickinson County, Iowa_, pp. 91-94.
[267] _The Narrative of W. K. Laughlin_ in the _Annals of Iowa_ (Third
Series), Vol. III, p. 544.
[268] Smith’s _A History of Dickinson County, Iowa_, pp. 98, 99;
_Address of John N. Maxwell_ in the _Annals of Iowa_ (Third Series),
Vol. III, p. 530; _The Narrative of W. K. Laughlin_ in the _Annals of
Iowa_ (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 544.
[269] _The Spirit Lake Massacre and Relief Expedition_ in the _Roster
and Record of Iowa Soldiers_, Vol. VI, pp. 995, 996; _Narrative of W.
L. Laughlin_ in the _Annals of Iowa_ (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 544;
_Address of John N. Maxwell_ in the _Annals of Iowa_ (Third Series),
Vol. III, p. 531.
[270] _Address of John N. Maxwell_ in the _Annals of Iowa_ (Third
Series), Vol. III, p. 531; _The Narrative of W. K. Laughlin_ in the
_Annals of Iowa_ (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 544.
[271] _The Narrative of W. K. Laughlin_ in the _Annals of Iowa_ (Third
Series), Vol. III, pp. 544, 545.
[272] _Address of John N. Maxwell_ in the _Annals of Iowa_ (Third
Series), Vol. III, pp. 531, 532; _The Narrative of W. K. Laughlin_ in
the _Annals of Iowa_ (Third Series), Vol. III, pp. 544, 545; Gue’s
_History of Iowa_, Vol. I, p. 317.
[273] Captain Johnson had come to Bach Grove on the Boone River Troy
Township, Wright County, from Pennsylvania. Mention has been made of
the manner of his enlistment. Upon his failure to return, his mother
disposed of the claim and returned to Pennsylvania. When the bodies
were found, Angus McBane of Fort Dodge took charge of the remains and
sent them to his mother for burial. The remains of Burkholder were
taken charge of by his brother-in-law, Governor C. C. Carpenter. They
were given a military funeral at Fort Dodge, conducted by Major
Williams. All the members of Company C that could be brought together
at that time attended.--_A Paper by Michael Sweeney_ in the _Annals of
Iowa_ (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 541.