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1914 History of Boone County
Chapter XIII
Scrap of Local Hisstory

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George W. Crooks, one of Boone County's oldest living citizens, was well acquainted with and at one time was a neighbor of Henry Lott, who figures quite prominently in a history of Boone County published in 1880. Feeling that Lott had been done an injustice, Mr. Crooks some years ago prepared the following paper for the Boone County Historical Society Henry Lott, about whose character and conduct much has been said and written, and not a little of which is incorrect, is charged by historians with many crimes of which he was not guilty; this I will endeavor to prove: With his family, consisting of wife, two sons and a stepson, Henry Lott settled near the mouth of the Boone River in the spring of 1846. He was not a desperado, nor a horse thief, as claimed, but was a trapper, hunter and frontiersman in every sense of the word; very much attached to his family and quite industrious. It was not true, as some writers claimed, that he stole ponies from the Indians, which caused him and his family to be disturbed, "but by reason of the fact that his cabin was located upon a section of the country called "Neutral Ground," where quite a few Indian tribes claimed they each had a right to hunt and trap without molestation, but that the white man had no right to do so. Lott was not disturbed until about January, 1847, at which time Indian chief, by the name of Sidominadotah, who was also called "Old Chief Three Fingers," by reason of having lost a finger from one hand, appeared at Lott's cabin with six or eight of his band, all tricked out with war paint, who demanded supper, which Mrs. Lott cheerfully furnished. After all had finished the meal the chief informed Lott that he was an intruder on the land; that he had settled on the Sioux hunting ground and that he must leave; to all of which Lott refused to agree. Thereupon the Indians appropriated to their use Lott's property of every kind that they could carry away. The miscreants robbed beehives, and shot horses, cattle and hogs so full of arrows that many of them died. Not satisfied with this, they threatened and abused Lott and his family. At this juncture it was thought best, for the safety of the family, that Lott and his stepson should secretly leave the premises and make their way to the nearest settlement, which was some twenty miles distant. 'T'his they accomplished. When they reached the Boone River Bluff man and boy looked back and thought they could see the Indians killing the balance of the familv. It even appeared to them that they could hear screams of terror and distress. Of the two bovs left at home, one became so frightened that he fled down the Des Moines River to escape from the Indians. Lott had a voung horse that the Indians were anxious to take away with them. They ordered the other boy to catch it or they would kill him. This frightened him so badly that he ran into the timber and secreted himself in a clump of brush on a nearby hill, from which vantage point he was able to see, by moonlight, what took place about the cabin. He often during the night saw his mother driven out of the house into the cold by the Indians. This boy remained in hiding until the Indians fled. Lott and his stepson reached Pea's Point earlv the next morning, giving the alarm and telling a terrible story. Lott was then sent further south to secure more men. When he reached Elk Rapids he ran across Johnnie Green, a  Pottawattomie chief, with whom he was acquainted. The Indian was encamped there with quite a number of his tribe. U'pon hearing Lott's story, Johnnie Green held a council with his warriors and it was determined that the chief and about twenty-five of his braves would accompany the white men to Pea's Point, there to join others of the white force who were to complete the expedition against the Sioux. All settlers in the neighborhood of Pea's Point assembled at the house of John M. Crooks, who then lived on what is now known and called the Myers farm. The settlers, fearing that the Sioux might come down the Des Moines River and commit further depredations, were on the lookout for the foe. Late that afternoon Lott, with the chief, Johnnie Green, and his braves, together with a number of white men, came across the prairie from the east at full speed for Crooks" house. The Indians were in front with their war paint on and were yelling, as was their usual custom. The settlers supposed them to be the Sioux prepared for battle, and marched out to meet them, and were on the point of firing. When Lott saw what was about to happen he rode out from the rear with other white men, all of whom were soon recognized by the settlers. It is needless to add that the latter were much pleased to find the approaching whites and Indians were friends instead of enemies. John Pea, Thomas Sparks and five or six other white settlers joined the relief expedition and with all possible haste marched to the Lott cabin, where they found that the family had not been killed, as Lott supposed, but that one of the boys, who had been left at home, was missing. The condition of things about the place indicated that the Sioux had robbed the family of nearly everything it possessed. It was also evident that when the Sioux left Lott's cabin they had gone north but a short time before the arrival of the rescue party. However, the conditions of the weather were such that it was considered inadvisable and practically useless to follow the marauders. The Pottawattomies and all the white men soon returned south except Pea. Lott was much overcome when he saw the condition of his place and property. He found himself almost destitute of the necessaries of life, and with the further distress of mind in that he had a son missing, who perhaps might either be killed or a prisoner in the hands of the Sioux Indians. There being snow on the ground, Lott and Pea were able to follow the trail of the boy. Soon they came upon his dead body, where he had frozen to death, near the now town site of Centerville. On account of the ground being frozen and the bitterly cold weather all that could be done with the body was to give it a temporary burial. Early in the following spring a more permanent interment was effected near where the unfortunate boy came to his untimely death. By reason of the abuse and insults heaped upon Mrs. Lott by the Sioux, and exposure to which she was subjected during that dreadful night, disease overtook her and in about three months afterwards her body was laid in the grave, wasted away by hasty consumption. Soon after her death Lott and the two boys remaining, one a stepson, removed from the claim where they had met with so much misfortune, and located in or near Fort Des Moines. About a year later Lott married a girl by the name of McGuire. The stepson then left home and the pioneer, wife and son, in company with quite a few other families, returned to the locality near the mouth of Boone River. However, Lott did not again settle on the old claim but located on another a short distance north and west of it. By this time and soon after quite a few settlers had located claims in that neighborhood, one of which was my father's family. Hence, we became well acquainted with Lott and his family, as it appeared by his last marriage and which was comprised of twin girls and a son. Soon after the birth of the latter, Lott's second wife died. He found a home for his motherless twin girls in a family by the name of Dickinson. Here thev grew to womanhood. The son was adopted into a family bv the name of White living in Webster County. After the death of his second wife, Lott closed up all his business affairs and in the fall of 1853, accompanied by the son born to him by his first wife, went up the Des Moines River some distance above Fort Dodge to engage in hunting and trapping. They set their traps on what is, or was, called Lott's Creek, in Humboldt County. After being there some time Lott learned that old Chief Three Fingers, the Indian who was the cause of the death of his wife and son, was camped on another creek not very far away. Lott did not, as some writers claim, pretend to be friendly to Chief Three Fingers upon meeting him, but lost no time in locating his camp and making a survey of the surroundings. At an opportune time Lott and his son secreted themselves near a spot where the old chief made his daily visits to his traps, and when he came that way shot him to death. They then went to the Indian's camp and killed all of the family, except a girl about fourteen years of age, who escaped. Taking all of the chief's ponies and furs and property which they found of their own, the avengers made their way to Boonesboro, where they staved three or four days. When Lott and his son made ready to leave Boonesboro he made this remark to certain of his friends: 'I am now going to leave this country, never to return. I am fully satisfied, and you will hear the reason not many days hence." Where they went I know not, but it has been the general understanding that they went to California. Whai 1 have written was not gotten from Major Williams. The most of it was obtained from the lips of Lott and his son. From my personal acquaintance with the family I am led to raise this query: What did Lott do for which he should be condemned? Killing the chief's family only. The balance of his acts was the taking of life for life, and property for property. What would most any other man have done in that day and generation under tiie same circumstances and surroundings?

History of Boone County, Iowa
N. E. Goldthwait, Supervising Editor
Illustrated, Volume I
Chicago, Pioneer Publishing Company
1914

Transcribed by Lynn Diemer-Mathews and uploaded July 12, 2023.

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