In the last half of the 1800’s, Governor Jayne appointed the following agents to take a census of the territory which would be used in the apportionment of the representation in the Dakota Territory first legislative assembly:

• Andrew J. Harlan for the district east of the Vermillion River and south of Sioux Falls.
• W. Brookings for the Sioux Falls district.
• Obed Foote for the Yankton District, extending eastward to the Vermillion River.
• George M. Pinney for the Bon Homme district.
• D. Morse for the country on the Missouri river above the mouth of the Niobrara.
• Henry D. Betts for the Red River of the North (area just below the Canadian border).

These agents reported the following eligible voters who would be able to cast a ballot in the first official Dakota Territory election:

• CLAY AND UNION DISTRICT – 396 white males, 263 white females, 37 half breeds. The total entitled to vote was 236.
• SIOUX FALLS DISTRICT – 30 white males, 10 white females. Total eligible voters were 30.
• YANKTON DISTRICT – 278 total number of eligible white inhabitants, 9 half breeds. The total number of eligible voters was 81.
• BON HOMME DISTRICT – 102 white males, 61 white females, and a total of 76 eligible voters.
• RED RIVER DISTRICT (North Dakota) – 51 white males, 25 white females, 264 mixed males, 260 mixed females. Total number of eligible voters was not given.

Official legislative records show that William Hamilton was one of twenty-six members of the House of Representatives in the tenth session of the legislature in 1872.  They met in session from December 2, 1872 until January 10, 1873.

On September 10, 1883, the Land Office at Huron reported that William Hamilton filed notice of his intention to make final proof in support of his claim and secure possession of 160 acres in Sully County at Clifton.

Hamilton died at Fort Randall, where he had been taken for medical treatment, on Friday, the 23^rd of August, 1867.  He had been on the frontier since his boyhood and was one of the oldest of western pioneers at the time of his death.

He had been appointed agent of the Omahas and Pawnees, at Council Bluffs, by President Andrew Jackson, was at one time the sutler at Fort Leavenworth, and held a like position at Fort Snelling, Minnesota.  He had also spent some years in the fur trade, employed by the American Fur Company on the Yellowstone River.

He moved from the Yellowstone to settle on Pratt Creek in Dakota Territory with his sons in 1859.  Pratt Creek was thirty miles above Fort Randall, and up to the time of Hamilton’s death, it was a outpost on the western frontier.

Major Hamilton was known among the Indians as the “man that fears nothing,” and received this name from the following bold incident in his career:  “In 1830 or “50, General Kearney was ordered to Council Bluffs with a detachment of troops to hold a council with the Indians, there being at the time some disturbance among them.  When the Indians came in, having been summoned by their agent, they showed signs of an ugly temper.  General Kearney thought to appease them by appearing in council with his soldiers all unarmed, to prove to the red men that he had no hostile intentions.  The subordinate officers protested, deeming it very imprudent, but they could not move the general, and then turned to Hamilton and urged him to see the general and discourage him from the dangerous step.”

Hamilton saw that the Indians were in an ugly mood and prepared to commit some desperate act.  He told the general about the critical situation and told him that he would run the risk of losing the life of every soldier and his own if he persisted in disarming his men.

Kearney refused to change his plan, however, and required his officers and men to appear at the council without their arms.  There were a number of kegs of powder and other ammunition scattered about the council grounds.

Hamilton with his interpreter took his station immediately in front of the Indians, who were seated some four or five deep, in a semi-circle, in numbers from four to five hundred.  General Kearney and his staff were on one side of Hamilton and the soldiers, numbering one hundred men, on the other.

The council had not proceeded far when Hamilton discovered that the Indians were awaiting a signal to begin a massacre.  He understood their character so well that he believed the life of every white man present was about to be sacrificed.

He jumped into the ring, seized a glowing ember from the council fire, and jumped on an open keg of powder, exclaiming to the Indians:  “If you do not every one of you instantly lay down your arms and retire from the ring, I will set fire to the powder and we will all go to the Spirit Land together.”

Hamilton’s body exhibited scars inflicted by knife and bullet, received from the Indians.

 

Author Author Clarence Shoemaker, originally published in the Gregory Times-Advocate on February 5, 2025