Still Hotter Than Hades & Our Last Day in Nebraska City 8/23/2010

The weather hasn't gotten any cooler here but they do promise that by Tuesday it's going to cool off which will be nice. We had a few caches to finish here in Nebraska City so off we went early this morning. First cache was in Steinhart Park on a tank and it was a nano container too. Luckily they gave a good clue so we found it quickly.

Next cache was at the Grand Army of the Republic Hall where there was a Civil War Museum. The Romanesque style Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Hall was designed and built in 1895 by Harry Lawrie and George Lee Fisher and was the meeting place of the William Baumer Post No. 24, which was one of 354 GAR posts in Nebraska. The hall has been restored and is now the Civil War Veterans Museum at the G.A.R. Memorial Hall. In Nebraska, 372 towns organized G.A.R. posts, the first in 1867 in Omaha.
William Baumer Post 24, Nebraska City, was mustered August 2, 1879. The Post was named for one of Nebraska's native CIvil War veterans. Colonel Baumer commanded the 1st Nebraska Infantry in which over 200 Nebraska City volunteers served. William Baumer's portrait hangs in the Hall.
Construction of the Hall began in 1894, with significant support from the William Baumer Woman's Relief Corps No. 107 (W.R.C.). The Hall was dedicated in March, 1895. More than just a meeting place for the G.A.R. and the W.R.C., it was a community center. Many groups, both political and social, were allowed to use the building. Youth groups, temperance meetings, and various woman's groups met here.
Post 24 closed in 1935, when the last local Post member, William Balfour, died. The Depatment would not close until 1948, when Nebraska's last Civil War veteran, Michael Bondell, died in Beatrice. Even after the Post and Departments closed, the Hall continued to serve the community as a well-used meeting site.
In 1991, the G.A.R. Hall, Inc., a non-profit Nebraska corporation was formed to preserve and restore the building to its original condition. The main room of the building contains memorabilia and artifacts of the G.A.R. and Civil War history.
At one time, there were more than 100 Grand Army of the Republic Halls in Nebraska. Only four remain today.
The Nebraska City G.A.R. Hall, built in 1894, is the only one of these halls in the state that has undergone restoration and development as a Civil War and G.A.R. museum. In addition, it is the largest Civil War Museum in the Midwest.
The Hall is a reminder to us and to our children of the presence of Civil War veterans in Nebraska City and the role they played in the growth of the community, state and nation after the war.
Dedicated to the memory of the Union and Confederate veterans, the Hall is being maintained so that it may once again serve the community as a meeting place, research library and historical museum.

Next cache was on the porch of the Chamber of Commerce house which formerly was the Taylor-Shewell-Gilligan Home c 1882. It was a lovely old home and looked beautiful inside as it was closed and all we could do is look through the windows.

The next cache was along a back road was located near a monument commemorating the signing of a treaty with the Pawnee Indians in 1857. Although a mere technicality, this treaty made legal the settlement of Nebraska north of the Platte.
It is interesting to note that J. Sterling Morton served as interpreter at the treaty signing. Born in 1832, Julius Sterling Morton came with his bride to Nebraska in the fall of 1854. Nebraska Territory had just been organized that spring. At the time of the treaty, the 25 year-old Morton was the Otoe County representative to the territory's Legislative Assembly. President James Buchanan appointed him secretary and acting governor of Nebraska Territory in 1858. When Nebraska became a state in 1867, Morton was nominated for governor by the Democratic party but was defeated. Grover Cleveland appointed him U.S. secretary of agriculture in 1893, becoming the first cabinet member appointed from west of the Missouri River.
Unfortunately not much is known of the individual Native American attendees at the treaty signing, other than their names. Na-Sharo Se-De-Ta-Pa-Ko “The One The Great Spirit Smiles On” was a chief of the Republican Pawnee.
With the treaty of Grand Pawnee Village, Nebraska (1833) the Pawnee ceded all their lands south of the Platte River. With the Treaty of Table Creek, — commemorated by this monument – they ceded all lands north of the Platte, except a strip on the Loup River, where their reservation was established. This tract was ceded to the Whites in 1876, when the tribe was removed to Oklahoma, where they now live.
Despite the legalistic wording of the treaty the Pawnee at this time knew full well what the White Man was up to.

Pawnee. A confederacy belonging to the Caddoan family. The name is probably derived from parika, a horn, a term used to designate the peculiar manner of dressing the scalp-lock, by which the hair was stiffened with paint and fat, and made to stand erect and curved like a horn. This marked features of the Pawnee gave currency to the name and its application to cognate tribes. The people called themselves Chahiksichahiks, `men of men.'
In the general northeastwardly movement of the Caddoan tribes the Pawnee seem to have brought up the rear. Their migration was not in a compact body, but in groups, whose slow progress covered long periods of time. The Pawnee tribes finally established themselves in the valley of Platte river, Nebr., which territory, their traditions say, was acquired by conquest, but the people who were driven out are not named. It is not improbable that in making their way north east the Pawnee may have encountered one or more waves of the southward movements of Shoshonean and Athapascan tribes. When the Siouan tribes entered Platte valley they found the Pawnee there. The geographic arrangement always observed by the four leading Pawnee tribes may give a hint of the order of their northeastward movement, or of their grouping in their traditionary southwestern home. The Skidi place was to the north west, and they were spoken of as belonging to the upper villages; the Pitahauerat villages were always downstream; those of the Chaui, in the middle, or between the Pitahauerat and the Kitkehahki, the villages of the last-named being always upstream. How long the Pawnee resided in the Platte valley is unknown, but their stay was long enough to give new terms to 'west' and 'east,' that is, words equivalent to 'up' or 'down' that eastwardly flowing stream.
The earliest historic mention of a Pawnee is that of the so-called "Turk", who by his tales concerning the riches of Quivira allured and finally led Coronado, in 1541, from New Mexico over the plains as far as Kansas, where some Pawnee (see Harahey) visited him. The permanent villages of the tribes lay to the north of Quivira, and it is improbable that Coronado actually entered any of them during his visit to Quivira, a name given to the Wichita territory. It is doubtful if the Apane or the Quipana mentioned in the narrative of De Soto's expedition in 1541 were the Pawnee, as the latter dwelt to the north west of the Spaniards' line of travel. Nor is it likely that the early French explorers visited the Pawnee villages, although they heard of them, and their locality was indicated by Tonti, La Harpe, and others. French traders, however, were established among the tribes before the middle of the 18th century.
How the term Pani, or Pawnee, as applied to Indian slaves, came into use is not definitely known. It was a practice among the French and English in the 17th and 18th centuries to obtain from friendly tribes their captives taken in war and to sell them as slaves to white settlers. By ordinance of Apr. 13, 1709, the enslavement of Negroes and Pawnee was recognized in Canada (Shea's Charlevoix, v, 224, 1871). The Pawnee do not seem to have suffered especially from this traffic, which, though lucrative, had to be abandoned on account of the animosities it engendered. The white settlers of New Mexico became familiar with the Pawnee early in the 17th century through the latter's raids for procuring horses, and for more than two centuries the Spanish authorities of that territory sought to bring about peaceful relations with them, with only partial success.
As the Pawnee villages lay in a country remote from the region contested by the Spaniards and French in the 17th and 18th centuries, these Indians escaped for a time the influences that proved so fatal to their congeners, but ever-increasing contact with the white race, in the latter part of the 18th century, introduced new diseases And brought great reduction in population together with loss of tribal power. When the Pawnee territory, through the Louisiana Purchase, passed under the control of the U. S., the Indians came in close touch with the trading center at St Louis. At that time their territory lay between the Niobrara river on the north and Prairie Dog creek on the south, and was bounded on the west by the country of the Cheyenne and Arapaho, and on the east by that of the Omaha, on the north of the Platte, and on the south of the Platte by the lands of the Oto and Kansa tribes. The trail to the south west, and later that across the continent, ran partly through Pawnee land, and the increasing travel and the settlement of the country brought about many changes.
Through all the vicissitudes of the 19th century the Pawnee never made war against the U. S. On the contrary they gave many evidences of forbearance under severe provocation by waiting, under their treaty agreement, for the Government to right their wrongs, while Pawnee scouts faithfully and courageously served in the U. S. army during Indian hostilities. The history of the Pawnee has been that common to reservation life the gradual abandonment of ancient customs and the relinquishment of homes before the pressure of white immigration.
The first treaty between the Pawnee and the U. S. was that of the several bands made at St Louis, June 18-22, 1818, when peace was concluded with all the tribes of the region disturbed by the War of 1812. By treaty of Ft Atkinson (Council Bluffs), Iowa, Sept. 28, 1825, the Pawnee acknowledged the supremacy of the U. S. and agreed to submit all grievances to the Government for adjustment. By treaty of Grand Pawnee Village, Nebr., Oct. 9, 1833, they ceded all their lands south of Platte river. By that of Ft Childs, Nebr., Aug. 6, 1848, they sold a 60-mile strip on the Platte about Grand Island. By treaty of Table creek, Nebr., Sept. 24, 1857, all lands north of the Platte were assigned to the Government, except a strip on Loup river 30 miles east and west and 15 miles north and south, where their reservation was established. This tract was ceded in 1876, when the tribes removed to Oklahoma, where they now live. In 1892 they took their lands in severalty and became citizens of the U. S.
The tribal organization of the Pawnee was based on village communities representing subdivisions of the tribe. Each village had its name, its shrine containing sacred objects, and its priests who had charge of the rituals and ceremonies connected with these objects; it had also its hereditary chiefs and its council composed of the chiefs and leading men. If the head chief was a man of unusual character and ability he exercised undisputed authority, settled all difficulties, and preserved social order; he was expected to give freely and was apt to be surrounded by dependents. Each chief had his own herald who proclaimed orders and other matters of tribal interest.
The tribe was held together by two forces: the ceremonies pertaining to a common cult in which each village had its place and share, and the tribal council composed of the chiefs of the different villages. The confederacy was similarly united, its council being made up from the councils of the tribes. In the meetings of these councils rules of precedence and decorum were rigidly observed. No one could speak who was not entitled to a seat, although a few privileged men were permitted to be present as spectators. The council determined all questions touching the welfare of the tribe or of the confederacy.
War parties were always initiated by some individual and were composed of volunteers. Should the village be attacked, the men fought under their chief or under some other recognized leader. Buffalo hunts were tribal, and in conducting them officers were appointed to maintain order so as to permit each family to procure its share of the game. The meat was cut in thin sheets, jerked, and packed in parflêche cases for future use. Maize, pumpkins, and beans were cultivated. The maize, which was regarded as a sacred gift, was called "mother," and religious ceremonies were connected with its planting, hoeing, and harvesting. Basketry, pottery, and weaving were practiced.
The Pawnee house was the earth lodge, the elaborate construction of which was accompanied with religious ceremony, and when after an absence from home the family returned to their dwelling the posts thereof were ceremonially anointed. Men shaved the head except for a narrow ridge from the forehead to the scalp-lock, which stood up like a horn. Frequently a scarf was tied around the head like a turban. Both beard and eyebrows were plucked; tattooing was seldom practiced. The breechcloth and moccasins were the only essential parts of a man's clothing; leggings and robe were worn in cold weather and on gala occasions. Face painting was common, and heraldic designs were frequently painted on tent covers and on the robes and shields of the men. Women wore the hair in two braids at the back, the parting as well as the face being painted red. Moccasins, leggings, and a robe were the ancient dress, later a skirt and tunic were worn. Descent was traced through the mother. There were no totems belonging to the confederacy. After marriage a man went to live with his wife's family. Polygamy was not uncommon.
The religious ceremonies were connected with the cosmic forces and the heavenly bodies. The dominating power was Tirawa, generally spoken of as "father." The heavenly bodies, the winds, thunder, lightning, and rain were his messengers. Among the Skidi the morning and evening stars represented the masculine and feminine elements, and were connected with the advent and the perpetuation on earth of all living forms. A series of ceremonies relative to the bringing of life and its increase began with the first thunder in the spring and culminated at the summer solstice in human sacrifice, but the series did not close until the maize, called "mother corn," was harvested. At every stage of the series certain shrines, or "bundles," became the center of a ceremony. Each shrine was in charge of an hereditary keeper, but its rituals and ceremonies were in the keeping of a priesthood open to all proper aspirants. Through the sacred and symbolic articles of the shrines and their rituals and ceremonies a medium of communication was believed to be opened between the people and the supernatural powers, by which food, long life, and prosperity were obtained. The mythology of the Pawnee is remarkably rich in symbolism and poetic fancy, and their religious system is elaborate and cogent. The secret societies, of which there were several in each tribe, were connected with the belief in supernatural animals. The functions of these societies were to call the game, to heal diseases, and to give occult powers. Their rites were elaborate and their ceremonies dramatic.
Four tribes of the Pawnee confederacy still survive: the Chaui or Grand Pawnee, the Kitkehahki or Republican Pawnee, the Pitahauerat or Tapage Pawnee, and the Skidi or Wolf Pawnee.
In 1702 the Pawnee were estimated by Iberville at 2,000 families. In 1838 they numbered about 10,000 souls, according to an estimate by houses by the missionaries Dunbar and Allis, and the estimate is substantially confirmed by other authorities of the same period, one putting the number as high as 12,500. The opening of a principal emigrant trail directly through the country in the 40's introduced disease and dissipation, and left the people less able to defend themselves against the continuous attacks of their enemies, the Sioux. In 1849 they were officially reported to have lost one-fourth their number by cholera, leaving only 4,500. In 1856 they had increased to 4,686, but 5 years later were reported at 3,416. They lost heavily by the removal to Indian Territory in 1873-75, and in 1879 numbered only 1,440. They have continued to dwindle each year until there are now (1906) but 649 survivors.
Messrs Dunbar and Allis of the Presbyterian church established a mission among the Pawnee in 1834, which continued until 1847 when it was abolished owing to tribal wars. In 1883 the Woman's National Indian Association established a mission on the Pawnee reservation in Oklahoma, which in 1884 was transferred to the Methodist Episcopal Church, under whose auspices it is still in operation.


Next cache was out in the country on a dirt road also located at monument commemorating Joe Brown and his steam wagon. The first self-propelled land vehicle driven west of the Missouri River was invented by Joseph R. Brown of Minnesota. It was manufactured in New York by John A. Reed and arrived in Nebraska City aboard the steamboat West Wind on July 2, 1862. Brown was determined to run a fleet of steamers to the goldfields of Colorado. He planned to run six wagons along the Nebraska City – Fort Kearney Cutoff and to follow the South Platte River to Denver bring supplies to the goldfields of Colorado. After arriving in Nebraska City, the first steam wagon made several excursions around town, to the delight of residents. It had twelve-foot diameter driving wheels and required a crew of three. It could pull four or five wagons. Even before it turned a wheel it had motivated the residents of Otoe County to expend money to build bridges over the Big Blue River and Salt Creek to improve the cut-off.
On July 12, 1862, and with great fanfare, this first steam wagon set out on its maiden voyage to Denver. Unfortunately, it broke down not too far from this cache site. Spare parts were not available; the Civil War was raging, and Brown’s family was under attack in an Indian uprising, as a result the vehicle was abandoned. What was left of it was scavenged for scrape metal during WWI.

Our last cache was a multi-cache way out in the country off several dirt roads at the Wyoming Methodist Church c1878 and the Cowles Hill Cemetery c1870. The Cemetery Association was organized August 5, 1870 at a meeting held in the Giles School House.
This organization, with J.H. Gregg as chairman and A.T. McCartney as clerk, purchased a plot of ground from Mr. & Mrs. Charles Cowles fir the sum of $50.00 on December 26, 1872. Two of the Cowles children had previously been buried on this plot of ground. Cowles Hill Cemetery Association held the first Memorial services in 1896 in the Wyoming Methodist Church next to the cemetery. These services have been held annually for eighty-six years in the same building.
In 1938 a boulder, seven feet high and weighing ten tons, was placed near the gate to the cemetery. A plaque, on this stone, bears the inscription, 'In memory of the Pioneers of This Community.' The cemetery is maintained by a perpetual care fund established in 1929. The cemetery is a tribute to our founding fathers and posterity."

The cache had to do with the gravesite of William Trout who rode with General George Custer. Old Bill, as he was known, was a local bachelor farmer in the new state of Nebraska shortly after the Civil War. He was one of the founders of this rural church in 1878. It is a Methodist church, which explains the church’s ME inscription. In 2005 the church was re-roofed and minor repairs completed.
Reportedly Bill never tired of telling stories of his adventures with General Custer during the Civil War. As a member of the Sixth Regiment (Colonel George Gray commanding) of the Michigan Cavalry Brigade (General George A. Custer commanding), he was one of “Custer’s Wolverines”. The regiment participated in battles in and around Gettysburg and saw action throughout the War under Custer. After relocating to Nebraska, Bill was active in the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Chapter in Nebraska City.
An interesting side note, during the war, the Sixth Cavalry lost 75 men from battle wounds, but 247 from disease.


Some of the other sites we saw were Farmer's Bank. Established in 1884, Farmers Bank is Nebraska City's only locally owned bank. Tradition says that in 1932, the Farmers Bank was the largest state bank in Nebraska. The Richardson-style building was constructed in 1886 as a post office. A Federal Court Room occupied the second floor. Farmers Bank purchased the building on February 14, 1986 and began extensive renovation soon after. Farmers Bank moved into its new quarters on March 21, 1988.
Farmers Bank received the Presidential Award for Historic Preservation. The original Post Office blue prints on linen are safely stored at the Farmers Bank as a valuable reminder of its past construction.

Mayhew Cabin. Allen Barnes Mayhew was born in Bristol Twp, Trumbull Co, Ohio to Holmes Mayhew and Lucretia Woodward on February 11, 1826. His father, Holmes Mayhew, was a clothier by trade and had originally come from Massachusetts, emigrating to Trumbull Co, Ohio in 1822 where they had a large farm.
Barbara Ann Kagy was born in Bristol Twp, Trumbull Co, Ohio to Abraham Neff Kagy and Anna Fansler on January 31, 1833. Her father was trained as a blacksmith and ran a shop in Bristol. Barbara’s mother died in 1838, leaving her to care for her younger sibling’s and her educational opportunities were limited by it. In a letter to a cousin, dated December 7, 1848, she writes, “John goes to school now and so does Mary. Pa wanted me to go this winter but I cannot and do the work too; perhaps I shall go next winter if I live and let Mary stay at home.” She would not get the chance to return to finish her education as she became pregnant within the next couple of months and married Allen Barnes Mayhew on May 9, 1849. Their first child, Edward, was born in Bristol, Twp, Trumbull Co, Ohio on September 21, 1849. A second son, Henry Kagy Mayhew, was born in January 1852. >>back
Allen and Barbara Mayhew migrated to the Nebraska City area from Trumbull County, Ohio, with their two sons in the spring of 1854. John Wallace Pearman noted that Allen Mayhew was one of the “chainmen” on the surveying crew for Nebraska City Town Company on July 10, 1854. The Mayhew family is also recorded in the first territorial census for Nebraska taken on November 20, 1854 as living on government land near Ft. Kearny, Otoe County, Nebraska Territory.
Allen Mayhew had made a claim on 160 acres of land just southwest of Old Fort Kearney (Nebraska City) and built a cabin out of cottonwood logs on the northeast corner of his claim, likely with help from his brother-in-law, John Henry Kagy. In the original pre-emption application found in the National Archives, Washington, D.C. is an affidavit which outlined the specific dates of construction. This affidavit states that “the claimant on or about the 15th of July 1855 in person made settlement on the south west quarter sec 8 township 8 north range 14 east by laying a foundation for a dwelling house. Since which time he has erected a dwelling house on said tract into which he moved with his family on 29th August 1855.” The statement goes on to describe the house in great detail and the land in cultivation as quoted in the previous section.
Allen & Barbara Mayhew remained in Nebraska City at their cabin and had six more children. Their only daughter, born in 1854 or 55, Charles was born in July 1856, Thomas born on January 31, 1858, twin boys, originally named John Hannibal and James Hershel, born in April 1860, and Albert Allen born in May 1862. The daughter died in infancy and one of the twin boys died young with the second twin thereafter going by the name Hannibal Hershel. Allen Mayhew farmed several acres near the cabin, harvested grapes and made wine, produced homemade brooms for sale and also worked as a cooper. Allen left Nebraska in 1862, heading for the Snake River Valley in the northwest. He reached Salt Lake City and stayed for the winter, but fell ill and died there on December 1, 1862. The news did not reach his wife for several months.
On April 15, 1864, Barbara Mayhew filed a petition in the local court to settle her husband’s estate. She moved her children into another cabin located on one of the city lots which her husband had purchased in 1858. The original quarter section (minus the ten acres given to the city for Wyuka Cemetery) containing the 1855 Mayhew cabin was sold to Jerome Lathrop on October 21, 1864 for $2500. The cabin was used by the various owners as a rental property until well into the 20th century. Barbara’s father bought the city lots from the estate and sold them off, lot by lot, over the next several years.
Barbara remarried on February 27, 1865 to Calvin Bradway and moved to his home in Red Oak, Iowa. Her father was appointed administrator of Allen Mayhew’s estate upon her remarriage and finalized the administration in November 1865, giving Barbara $649.14 as her widow’s third and the balance of $1298.28 to her remaining children. Barbara and Calvin Bradway had three more children, losing a daughter and adopting another son before Bradway was shot and Barbara widowed a second time in 1869. Barbara then moved to her father’s home southeast of town in the Camp Creek area. She died at the age of nearly 49, on January 22, 1882, and is buried in Camp Creek cemetery, located two miles from her father’s homestead along with her sister Mary, who died in 1869. Three of her surviving sons eventually moved to western Kansas in the mid 1880s along with her father.



That was about it for the day so we headed back to the coach and the a/c. Well until tomorrow from Missouri we love and miss you all. Mom & Dad Dori & Dick