Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1911-09-12
DEDICATION OF ME-
MORTAL TO MRS. LOTT

Lott monument in the Vegors GENE.
terry Sunday, near Stratford, was az.
tended by more than 1000 people
and the crowd would have beer
much larger had the roads beer
good for automobiles, but the heavy
rains Of Saturday night made thai
mode of travel exceedingly difficult
A tent was provided with seats fol
the crowd, but it was not large
enough to hold nearly all present
who wished to hear the address Of
Prof. F. c. Runkle of the Ellsworth
public schools. The program was
carried out as published, except the
Lehigh quartette failed to put in an
appearance, owing no doubt to the
condition of the roads. The two
sons and wife of John Lott White
of Boone were present. Mr.. White
is the youngest son of Lott and was
on a business trip to North Dakota
and unable to attend the ceremon-
les.
The monuments is an excellent
piece Of work and stands eighteen
feet high. 1t is in the form of an
obelisk. It is said the largest crowd
of farmers from Webster and this
county was present that ever as
sembled, a few of whom knew Lott
personally. The unwilling of the
monument was by Aunt Rebecca
Mcclure, neary eighty years of age,
sister-in-law of Henry Lott, and
who lived in his home number of
years and knew him we'll. Isaac
Bell, who located in that vicinity
in 1S49, was the Oldest settler of
Webster county present.
Following is the address delivered
by Prof. Runkle:
The coming of Henry Lott to this
locality marks the beginning of its
history. White men had traversed
this territory before. In the early
30's, Nathan Boone while surveying
the neutral ground for the Sacs and
the Foxes and the Siouxs, located
the junction of the Boone with the
Des Moines river and in 1884 three
companies of U. S.: dragons reach
ed the same locality and from there
crossed over to the Iowa river.
But Henry Lott came as squat
ter to make permanent home, or
to find a more secluded home, foy
tradition has it that he had good
reason for secluding himself from
government authority and from the
Indians. For sixty years Henry
Lott has been maligned and it is
certainly time for the facts of his
career to be known. Some one was
to be sacrificed to appease the In
dian wrath. The government agent
seized upon Lott as the victim for
the appeasement of the Sioux. His
report was greatly exaggerated and
carelessly made but has been pub
lished in an Iowa history. However
those who knew Lott well give an
entirely different story. Thorough
| Investigation shows that while he
has been given the reputation of a
| typical "bad man" of the frontier
there is nothing outside of the ter
rible revenge he is supposed to have
taken for the death of his wife and
child to warrant the belief that he
was anything but one of those ad
venturous spirits only contented tc
inhabit the farthest outposts of civ
| ilization.
In 1S47 Lott, with his family OF
three beside himself. his wife, heI
son Alfred and his son Milton, jour
neyed up the Des Moines river until
he found this spot where the waters
of the Boone and the Des Moines
unite, and here, few rods to the
northwest Of the spot where thi:
1 IuOuumGut eTeClSu ~ lis Wiz uoN
stands, he built his cabin. Many
miles to the south in Boone county
was the Pea settlement. Eastward
was settlement at Iowa Falls
Northward and westward not cab
in broke the monotony of the In
dian country.
In the middle OF December. 1S4S
the Lott cabin was attacked. 1t Il
here that some persons differ as t.
the year in which this attack tool
place. Old pioneers who claim t.
know say that 1t was in December
1916. while still others hold that I
was in December, 1847. However
noted historians claim that 1t occur
red in 1S4S and thus we give 1t
Sedomondotah and his band of Siou,
warriors, bent on plumber and en-
vious of the encroachment of tn,
pale face, determined that he coult
not extend his civilization farther
The father and son being away from
the cabin, an attack was made oil