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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (May 23, 1901)
8 Conservative * terested person , ns Colonel Wlmrton in timates ; but the decision was left to him , and finding by tins time ho could get n report , which was on the 2nd of November , that Colonel Ludwell E. Powell , who wns in command , had "some sixty good substantial log cabins , with straw and dirt roofs , nearly com pleted , and that his entire command would in a short time bo in comfortable quarters , " ho decided to lot them remain as they were. It is mentioned also that they had contracted for 20,000 bushels of corn at"87) < > cents per bushel , a price which Colonel Whartou thought quite reasonable. This was the beginning of Nebraska City as a corn-market ; and a very creditable beginning it was. Thus 4(58 ( officers and men and 454 horses were quartered for the winter of 1847-48 within our city limits. THE CON SERVATIVE will probably bo able soon to give an account , from extraneous sources , of the way they spent the wint5r. It appears from the record that Colonel Powell scattered his command more than suited Colonel Wharton. He detached a company to attend the "Pottawattamie emigration , " whatever that may have been ; another to accom pany the engineer officer to Grand Island to make a survey , and "heavy detach ments" to aid iu a pointless expedition against the Sioux , an enterprise of Major Barney's , superintendent of Indian affairs. The Name. The first use of the name "Fort Kearney" occurs in the official return of September 80 , 1847 , reporting the arrival of the command on the 15th at "Table Creek , on the Missouri River. " Until evidence to the contrary appears , I be lieve it must be assumed that it was so christened by Colonel Powell , who signs himself "Ludwell E. Powell , Lieut. Col. , Bat. Mo. Md. Vol. , Commanding. " Thereafter Colonel Wharton at Fort Leavonworth also uses the name regular ly ; but to Washington it was always "Table Creek. " As to their buildings , the blockhouse stood in Fifth street , just south of Main. The hospital was in the rear of the Morton house. The barracks ran around the brow of the hill to the south west ; stones from their foundations are not rare along there , for example , in the street north of Mr. Chris Johnson's residence. These barracks were no doubt the work of Quartermaster Stewart Van Vliet , who was also the engineer of the aboriginal corn deal mentioned above. This will bo the origin of the tradition that he built the blockhouse ; there is no mention of his having been a member of Captain Prince's command , when that edifice was constructed. The Officers. General Van Vliet was the last sur vivor of the officers who took part in these affairs , and only died on the 28th of last March , at his home in Washing ton. Be had been on the retired list since 1881 , at which time he had been in the service for forty-one years. Ho was a West Pointer from Now York , and served through the rebellion as a general officer. [ The editor of THE CONSERVATIVE will deposit a correspon dence of his with General Van Vliot and the general's photograph in the pub lic library of Nebraska City. ] Of the others , Colonel Clifton Whar ton was a Pennsylvania ! ! , and in the service from 1818 to his death at Fort Leavenworth in 1848. Colonel William Edgar Prince was appointed from Massachusetts in 18538 , brevetted captain for gallant and meritorious conduct in the Mexican war and lieutenant colonel for faithful and meritorious services during the rebellion. He was retired in 18(54 ( and died in 1892 in Now York City. Colonel Powell was a volunteer officer , and I am not informed as to his further career , except as appears below. Another name which has aroused my curiosity is that of Andrew W. Sublette , captain of Company A , Battalion Missouri Mounted Volunteers. He is referred to once or twice in the corres pondence as authority on certain mat ters , and says of himself that he had been "a trader with the Indian tribes of the plains and Rocky Mountains for sixteen years. " I would like to know whether he was a member of the same family as the famous traders , William and Milton Sublette. Other officers stationed here that winter were Assistant Surgeon J. Walker , medical officer , and First Lieutenant Daniel P. Woodbury , en gineer officer. " Lieutenant Woodbury was here only eight days , leaving on September 28rd for Grand Island with an escort of five officers and seventy-eight men , who re turned on October 28rd. March 12th , 1848 , Colonel Powell relinquished com mand and left for Grand Island , and on April 28th 18 officers and 875 men fol lowed him , reaching their destination June 1st ; and this was the end of Ne braska City's career as a military post. The New Fort Kearney. The new station at Grand Island was called Fort Ohilds , and correspondence from it uniformly mentions Nebraska City as Fort Kearney. Colonel Powell appears to have remained in command of it until cold weather , when it seems that he showed somewhat unseemly haste to return to civilization. Cap tain , lator.Gen- eral , Charles F. Ruff , a West-Pointer , who succeeded him in October , 1848 , complains bitterly of his "extraordinary conduct" in leaving the post before ho arrived , and talcing with him the records of the station and the doctor as well , thus leaving the incoming garrison of raw recruits , who had no houses nor shelters ready , exposed to the winter storms of the high plains. That must have been an ordeal indeed ; the ques tion of removing the entire force to Fort Kearney on Table Creek was dis cussed , but they got through the winter somehow where they were , and I do not doubt all deserted and went to Cali fornia in the spring. In October , 1848 , General Stephen W. Kearney died ; and on the 80th of De cember R. Jones , adjutant-general , issued an order by which the new post established at Grand Island , Platte River , became Fort Kearney. The news did not reach Capt. Ruff very promptly , for two months later he was still dat ing letters : "Fort Childs , Oregon Route" and "Fort Ohilds , Indian Ter ritory. " By May , however , it was known to travelers as Fort Kearney , and the famous Captain Bonnevillo was in command. This is , of course , where the city that afterwards grew up across the river got its name. The fort was maintained until 1871 ; it has been gone longer than it existed. As for Nebraska City's claim to the name , the war department furnishes a curious reminder of the way it persisted , in a letter written from "Old Fort Kearney , Nebraska Territory , in De cember , 1854 , wherein James G. Brown calls the attention of Hon. Jefferson Davis , secretary of war , to the actions of some very unworthy men who are edit ing the Nebraska City News , in the old blockhouse , requesting him , if he indeed be a god , to make it hot for them. The old building was moved away when it got in the road ; it was made into a barn and at last torn down , and all that remains of it is some scraps of its oaken door-sill , in the panels of the Nebraska City Public Library and adorning a few private desks as paper weights. A. T. RICHARDSON. DEATH KNELL OF THE BURLINGTON NEWSBOY. The days of the ubiquitous train news boy appear to be numbered. The man agement of the Burlington Route has sounded his death knell. After June 1 , passengers on the Burlington will have no need to decline lemon drops and chewing gum nor hold "all the popular works of the day" on their laps until the return trip of the attentive attache. Of the several million passengers who have made the acquaintance of this individual , few will chant a requiem for him. He never enjoyed a great degree of popu larity save with children who cordially welcomed his aid to make persistent assaults on their mothers' pocketbooks. The loss of the newsboy on Burlington trains will be more than atoned for , by the increase in the number of magazines and other periodicals on its library cars. Moreover , news stands will be provided at more than double the number of Bur lington stations , now possessing them. The radical change , altogether comfort able to those persons who travel , marks an epoch in the gradual improvement of passenger train service.
