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.
