Benjamin F. Gue

“ Houses, barns, stacks, fences, bridges and all animal life are quickly destroyed as the hot blasts strike them and in a moment the ground is left a blackened, blistering waste of desolation. The ruin of the camp or farm is as complete as the wreck of a burning town, or the track of a tornado. Scores of people and hundreds of homes were annual victims of these fires in the early years of scattered farms on the great prairies, before experience brought to emigrants and settlers the wisdom to protect their lives and property by timely back-fires as soon as the frost had killed the grass. ”

“ But among the new settlers there were regrets over the innovations which banished in some degree the universal hospitality of the early days of common poverty, when every cabin was a house of entertainment for the white-top wagon loaded with “new comers,” men, women, and bright-eyed, bare-footed children seeking new homes.
Before turning to the dark days of the Civil War, which even then was beginning to seem slowly gathering in the not distant future, we may take a backward glance at the log-cabin era which will linger in the memory of the gray-haired few who were of that generation. ”

“ We declare it to be the solemn obligation of the legislative and executive departments of the Government to put into immediate and vigorous exercise all of their constitutional powers for the removal of any just cause of discontent on part of any class and for securing to every American citizen complete liberty and exact equality in the exercise of all civil, political and public rights. To this end we imperatively demand of Congress and the Chief Executive a courage and fidelity to these duties which shall not falter until their results are placed beyond dispute or recall. ”

“ These vast plains, in which the eye finds no object to rest upon, are first seen with surprise and pleasure, but their great uniformity at length becomes tiresome. The grass was now about a foot high, as the wind swept over the great plain, it appeared as though we were riding on the unquiet billows of the ocean. ”

“ He secreted his warriors in the forest not far distant. The old chief led two divisions in the stealthy attack, while young Black Hawk was sent with the third division to capture and burn the village. In the midst of an exciting race, when all eyes were fixed upon the rival horses, the terrible war whoop burst upon their ears and the fierce Sacs and Foxes rushed like a whirlwind upon the unarmed and panic-stricken crowd. The Iowa warriors made a dash for the village, where their arms had been left, only to find it in flames. ”

“ It is declared that the constitution plants slavery upon all the public domain, and there nurtures and protects it. “It is no longer held under this decision that freedom is national and slavery local, confined to limits of the States that see fit to uphold it. It is fastened upon every foot of soil belonging to the Government, and there is no power in Congress, or in Territorial governments to expel it. Whatever territory may be acquired by the United States will instantly become slave soil. Wherever the flag of the country goes, there goes slavery with its chains and manacles. ”

“ This was Iowa, as it was first seen by white men, and no more enchanting land ever met the gaze of explorers. For six days the Frenchmen remained with their Indian friends, traversing the valley of the river, hunting elk, buffalo and prairie chickens, fishing and bathing in the pure waters, feasting on the choicest of the products of the fields, forests and streams. The natives exerted themselves to provide every entertainment possible for their white visitors, and urged them to prolong their stay. ”

“ While the Quakers were from principle opposed to war, so warm were their sympathies for the oppressed, that they found a way to hold in high esteem and admiration these fearless young men who had risked their lives in striking sturdy blows for freedom in Kansas. The fame of John Brown, as one of the most daring leaders of the Free State men, had reached every part of the country and the peaceful people of the Quaker settlement saw in him a leader so devoted to emancipation that his life would be freely given to secure freedom to the slaves. ”

“ That night the Sioux warriors celebrated the butchery of twenty men, women and children in the true Indian fashion, with blackened faces, keeping time in their war dance to the beating of drums, circling over the bloodstained snow with unearthly yells among the mutilated bodies of their victims, until exhausted by their horrid orgies. ”

“ At first the sight is grand beyond description as the rays of the glowing red rise higher and higher and the smoke rolls upward in increasing density. But soon an ominous roar is heard in the distance as the hurricane of fire is driven with an ever-increasing wind, exceeding the speed of a race horse, and the stifling atmosphere glows with the smothering heat of a sirocco from a parched desert. Escape for man or beast is impossible unless a back fire has been started in time to meet the advancing tornado of resistless heat that can only be staid by a counter-fire. ”

“ Their brilliant deeds will be an inspiration to patriotism in all the coming years of the Republic. But no history of the war however minute can record the silent sufferings on the countless marches, the heroic deeds in deadly conflict, the horrors of the prison pens, of the common soldiers. Their unmarked graves are scattered among the forests, swamps, highways and farms of more than twenty States. They marched away from northern homes in the years of early manhood when hopes were high and life was dear to them and to all the family circle from which they parted. ”

“ The walls re-echoed to the stately tread of progress and the old legislative halls which had, biennially since 1856, sheltered the representatives of a great people from the incipient days of pioneer zeal and self-sacrifice, in panic and war and into the bloom and fruition of peace and prosperity; halls in which statesmen have been made and heroes been sent to perform missions of freedom, to free men, as only such truly noble patriots and freemen could. ”

“ Instantly a message flashed over the wire carrying warning to the approaching train which was fortunately reached barely in time to avert a greater horror than has ever yet overtaken an Iowa railroad. As the train halted at the little station, the last before the wrecked bridge, the passengers learning of the narrow escape from destruction hastily gathered about the brave little Irish girl attempting to express some measure of their gratitude to her for saving them from a fate too awful to contemplate. ”

“ The discovery of America by Columbus was followed by an era of adventure, and successive expeditions for conquests in the new world, in which the nations of Europe vied with each other for supremacy. Visions of rich gold fields, vast empires of fertile lands for planting colonies and enlarging the domain of the nations of the old world, stimulated the spirit of adventure and opened unlimited fields for the acquisition of wealth and official rank and power. No scheme was too visionary to enlist men and money to launch it. Spain was at this time one of the powerful nations of Europe. ”

“ These rugged settlers led the way through hardships and privations, creating from nature's resources new homes where the rude log cabins crowded the vanishing wigwams farther westward. They first ventured upon the unsheltered prairies and turned over the sod of countless years' formation, which carpeted with grass and flowers a soil of unsurpassed fertility. They brought from distant states and countries habits, customs, religions, prejudices, and virtues of widely separated communities and nationalities. ”

“ It must be evident to the impartial observer that the legislation of the Twenty-second General Assembly has had most gratifying results.
“Railroads have been called into being by the people to promote the common welfare and the State can tolerate neither usurpation of power nor conspiracy on the part of its creatures. We are building for the future and the importance of keeping intact those principles which lie at the foundation of every government of, for and by the people cannot be overestimated.” ”

“ But another great change comes; the waters again cover the northwestern portion of the State and ages come and go before the sea recedes, never to return. Iowa has finally been raised above the sea level and the waters drain toward the ocean, forming great rivers, and plowing deep channels through the oozing sediment. The sun and wind finally dry the surface; forests and rank vegetation again make their appearance; animals come forth from Nature's nurseries and spread themselves over the land, and roam through the jungles, preying upon each other in their struggle for food. ”

“ Half a century hence the sun is sure to shine upon countless villages, silvered spires and domes, denoting the march of intellect, and wealth's refinements, in this beautiful and far off solitude of the West, and we may perhaps hear the tinkling of the bells from our graves.” These descriptions of the country from 1832 to 1835, when Iowa was beginning to attract the attention of eastern people present a vivid picture of the beautiful prairies, rivers, valleys and groves before its soil was broken for cultivation and before its Indian population had removed from their favorite hunting grounds. ”

“ No heresy has ever been taught in this country so fraught with evil as the doctrine that the people have a constitutional right to disregard the Constitution. It ends to revolution and anarchy. It is incumbent upon all who influence and mould public opinion to repudiate so dangerous a doctrine before it bears fruit destructive of republican institutions. The cause of temperance can sustain no injury from the loss of this amendment which would be at all comparable to the injury to our republican institutions which a violation of the Constitution would inflict. ”

“ The pioneers of the valley were poor, and endured all the hardships and privations inseparable from settlement in a wild country. They were wholly dependent upon their own ingenuity and toil for the common necessaries of life and they felt keenly the merciless taxation that was levied upon a traffic which brought them a scanty supply of groceries and hardware in exchange for their products. Spain insolently refused to even grant them the free navigation of the river, unless they would unite their fortunes with Spanish Louisiana and separate from their own kindred and country. ”

“ We were benumbed with cold, utterly exhausted, and three miles from the nearest cabin. We were powerless to aid our comrades, and could only try to save ourselves. It was a terrible walk in the face of the terrific blizzard, our clothes frozen, our feet freezing, and our strength gone. After wandering in the blinding storm until nine o’clock, we fortunately found the cabin. Here we passed a night that will never be obliterated from my memory. We gathered about the fire vainly trying to dry our frozen clothing. ”

“ The captives suffered greatly in this hurried retreat, wading through deep snow and swollen streams, cold, hungry and worn out, and it is a wonder they survived. Before they reached the Big Sioux River, the horses taken from the massacred settlers had died from starvation, their bodies were cut up for food and the loads they had carried were transferred to the backs of the squaws and the four white women.
Six weeks of terrible suffering and horrors unspeakable had been endured by the four young women when they reached the Big Sioux River. ”

“ Freedom is certainly National, because it prevails in all the States as fully as it did at the adoption of the Constitution, and slavery prevails no more than under the Constitution it has a right to do.
“The decision admits that a Territory shall be erected into a State, the State has full power to legislate on the subject of slavery, as well as on others not given by some power in the Constitution to Congress. The decision in no sense invades the sovereignty of the States, nor in the slightest degree curtails their power. ”

“ The obloquy heaped upon them was the work of designing men who desired to continue their impositions upon the people. The Iowa law was imperfect in detail and yet its enactment proved one of the greatest legislative achievements in the history of the State. It demonstrated to the people their ability to correct by earnestness and perseverance the most far-reaching public abuses and led to an emphatic judicial declaration of the common law principle that railroads are highways and, as such, are subject to any legislative control which may be deemed necessary for the public welfare. ”

“ It was hard to sever all social and kindred ties and seek among unsettled regions a place to make new homes; endure the stern privations, slavish toil and long, slow waiting for the coming in late years of life of the advantages that the children might some distant day enjoy. The whole West of fifty years ago was dotted over with log cabins, where, amid hardships, sickness, want and unending toil, the best years of the lives of brave self-sacrificing men and women were given to the building up of a new civilization from little more than nature had provided. ”