History of Henry County, Iowa

Annotation

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The Territory of Iowa, although it had been purchased by the United States, and was ostensibly in the possession of the Government, was still occupied by the Indians, who claimed title to the soil by right of ownership and possession. Before it could be open to settlement by the whites, it was indispensable that the Indian title should be extinguished and the original owners removed. The accomplishment of this purpose required the expenditure Of large sums of money and blood, and for a long series of years the frontier was disturbed by Indian wars, terminated repeatedly by treaty, only to be renewed by some act of oppression on the part of the whites or some violation of treaty stipulation. As previously shown, at the time when the United States assumed the con trol of the country by virtue of the Louisiana purchase, nearly the whole State was In possession of the Sacs and Foxes, a powerful and warlike nation, who were not disposed to submit without a struggle to what they considered the encroachments of the pale faces.