REMEMBER WHEN: More of the Legend of Chief Wapello's Spear

BY SUE PARRISH

Upon further research, more has come to light concerning Chief Wapello’s spear referred to in last week’s Remember When column — “Faulty Memories and Legends.” One question has been answered, as reported in a September, 1907 Courier article, but the others remain.

T.J. Phillips, Ottumwa mayor in 1907, received a letter from C. H. Stevenson of Fredric, Iowa, offering to donate to the Ottumwa Public Library a spear having belonged to Chief Wapello. (The current Carnegie library building was opened in 1902.) Phillips referred the letter to J.T. Hackworth, one of Ottumwa’s movers and shakers and president of the Ottumwa Public Library Association. At that time, objects of historic interest were kept at the library, and evidently with Mr. Hackworth as president of the library association, he was considered by some president of an historical society and keeper of important Wapello County relics. So now we know why Mr. Hackworth was considered president of an historical society. Mr. Hackworth “gladly accepted” the spear, and it was promptly put on public display at the library.

The following is a direct quote from the 1907 article: “The spear has a long and interesting history. It was made by Charles Barnes (Bates?) in Ohio in the year 1839, who emigrated to this state (then a territory) and settled on his new purchase south of Eddyville. The spear was traded to Chief Wapello for a pair of moccasins and buckskin trousers. The Chief carried this spear on his hunting and fishing trips along the Des Moines River from Agency to Red Rock for some years.

“On his last hunting and fishing trip, he stopped at the village of Eddyville (then a trading post) and left with his Indians and some white men, who had joined the party, on a hunting trip south of Avery Creek and continued south to the hills of Soap Creek, where the white men left the party and returned to the trading post at Eddyville, while the Indians continued down the Des Moines River.

“Among the white men that accompanied the Indians on this hunt were Mr. Street, Bert Dalashmutt, Mr. Newel and Charles Bates, the latter being the grandfather of Charles H. Stevenson, now living in Fredric. Chief Wapello had left his spear at a small store belonging to Michael Welch, and as he never returned to claim it, the spear remained around the Welch premises for some years.

“When Charles Stevens (Stevenson) was about fifteen years old he found the spear in an old stable belonging to Michael Welch at Eddyville. His grandfather, Charles Bates, recognized the spear as soon as he saw it, and took it to Mr. Stevenson’s father’s home, where it remained until his father’s death. Charles H. Stevenson then took the spear to his home where he kept it for over fifty years. The spear is not noted for its beauty or simplicity, but as a historical relic, the handle having long since decayed.

“Charles H. Stevenson is now a resident and is nearly sixty-five years of age. As Mr. Stevenson is growing old he thought he would place the old Indian relic in the hands of some historical society and it was gladly accepted by the Ottumwa library, where it will be kept as a souvenir of the once noted “Chief Wapello.”

Facts we are certain of are that Chief Wapello’s last hunting trip was along the Skunk River. He died March 15, 1841, in what is now Keokuk County. Mr. Bates could not have legally purchased property in this territory prior to May 1, 1843, and if he “settled on his new purchase south of Eddyville” prior to that, he did it illegally, though settlers began to converge around settlements, as the trading post at Eddyville would have been, and Bates must have know what he was going to claim when he legally could. (It is for this reason that the Dragoons were sent to hold the line at Agency within the year prior to May 1, 1843, to prevent later blatant incursions onto Indian territory.)

Will Chief Wapello’s spear surface? It is hardly likely, as its disappearance is the result of one of two things: It was removed from the library’s collection due to ignorance and disposed of, or surreptitiously spirited away by that proverbial “Thief in the Night.” In any case, it has been missing for a very long time. There could be a third alternative: It was given to the Fox at the Tama Settlement. Let’s hope so.

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Sue Parrish is a retired museum director; author of the book "Days Gone By" and the current president of the Wapello County Historical Society.

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