Captain William H. Larrabee was a veteran of the Civil War. He had joined the 5th Main Regiment at the age of sixteen. Later, he was taken prisoner and had to spend 11 months in a prison in South Carolina.
In 1865 he went to Arizona to fight in the Indian Wars there. Three years later he returned to the east where he married Maria. He worked as a photographer for three years and then joined the army again being stationed at Fort Totten. About this time the regiment was to leave Fort Totten and aid General Custer in his fight with the Indians. On March 11, 1875 Larrabee decided to desert the army. He was captured near Lake Juanita, brought back to the Fort and court martialed.
At his court martial, Larrabee made the following statement in his defense:
"When I first came to this post, I was suffering with catarrh (inflammation of nose and throat) and a bad cold and was given a bunk within four feet of a hot stove. At night it was kept nearly always red hot. I could not get much sleep, and those sleeping near the doors or windows would not let them be opened. There was no ventilation what‑so‑ever.
"My sleeping so near the stove and losing so much sleep, I think, prevented my using judgment that I otherwise would have. And further, I heard remarks made as follows at different times:
" 'He couldn't have been very old himself eight or ten years ago.'
" 'It's him fast enough, and he shot that boy for promotion.'
"Another answered, 'It might not be the man, one was a photographer and this is a shoemaker!'
"These remarks I felt were intended to apply to me.
"About nine years ago I was acting quartermaster sergeant at Camp Bowie, Arizona Territory. One very dark night, I think about ten o'clock, I had gone to sleep. I was awakened by a noise seemingly from the outside of the quartermaster's building. I arose up and took a revolver with me; being in an Indian country, arms were generally carried. I walked out and around where the noise proceeded from. I called out, "Who is there? If you try to get away from here I will shoot you!" No one made any answer and I could not see anyone there. I thought to make sure if the window had been broken open or disturbed in any way. I reached out to feel if the window was disturbed‑ just then someone arose up in front of me, and through a nervous movement, my revolver was discharged. The man was shot and died.
"An inspecting officer came a few days after this affair. I was released from arrest, and resumed my duties as Quartermaster Sergeant.
"I served 18 months after that in the same company and no one seemed to blame me.
"I heard since I have been here from fragments of conversation, that the members of the company thought they ought to get rid of me some way. I only imagined from the conversations, that I was the subject. Such remarks as these I heard:
"'It would be rather too cold weather now to turn a man out on the prairie' which would be answered, 'good enough for the SOB!'
"These are the causes, together with my sleeping in the hot room, which caused me to desert."
The sentence for desertion was two years in prison at Fort Totten.
Due to the efforts of his wife and some friends, he was able to get the sentence changed to "Ten years on the Dakota Prairies." It was because of these events that he was the only one of Company L., 7th Cavalry, to survive. The rest of the men went on to meet Custer and history finishes the story.
Larrabee decided to serve his sentence near the lake where he had been captured. He bought the buildings from Belland's dug‑out and moved south about a mile and a half on the east side of the James River. He brought with him his wife, and two daughters, Maud and Mamie. He hauled lumber from Jamestown to build a two‑story frame house, the first in Foster County. It became the half‑way station between Fort Seward and Fort Totten with many prominent people spending the night there. The building burned in 1886 and was never rebuilt. The Larrabee family moved back to New England.
Here are some excerpts from a letter written to a friend back east:
"At last after traveling by rail, prairie schooner, and ox team we arrived at Fort Totten to find that William's trial was on and he was found guilty and sentenced to two yeas in a Federal prison.
"I was simply crushed but‑ after talking things over with our friends here and taking their advice we got his sentence changed to ten years of life on the prairie; so my dear we will not see you for ten years for we are going to live somewhere not very far from where we are now.
"General L.C. Hunt is in command at Fort Totten and last winter several cavalry regiments were quartered here.
"We just received word that Custer and the L. Troops of the 7th Cavalry were all massacred June 20, 1876.
"This was the regiment quartered here last winter. We are all feeling frightened and dismayed about it.
"The Indians are restless and dissatisfied and are feeling very much elated over their victory.
"This relay station was formerly kept by an old Frenchman by the name of Belland. He was what is called by the settlers a "Squaw‑man" having bought a squaw from some Indian and living with her as his wife.
"This station is very isolated there being no settlements west of Fargo and for that reason it is very difficult to get anyone to live there. Also the emigrants going into Montana, and Idaho to the mining camps all followed this trail prior to the opening of the posts at Jamestown and Bismarck.
Dakota Territory September 1876
Dear Patty:
A beautiful September day and at last we have left the post and are settled on the Fort Totten Trail about thirty miles from Fort Totten. Mr. Larrabee sought out a man by the name of Joseph Hayes who owned a log house near the James River Valley.
The valley is sheltered by hills and is open to the east where the waters of Lake Belland come into the river through a little creek. It is a good place for raising stock and that is Mr. Larrabee's intention. We will also keep the relay station where the mail carriers and freighters can keep their relay horses.
Let me describe our surroundings. To the east lies Lake Belland, a nice little sheet of water with a few treys on the north and south shores. On the south and north the hills shut off the view. The river runs out of the valley to the west.
Mr. Larrabee is very busy making hay and getting in supplies. The relay station will use up huge quantities of this for all the supplies freighted to Fort Totten and the Indian Agency go by our door along the trail.
Herds of antelope pass near grazing as they go, in this valley, the fine grass and running water, which is not often to be found, for you may travel miles upon the prairie without finding water. The geese and ducks and prairie chickens are here in immense numbers and sometimes they cover vast spaces. The sand hill cranes look at a distance like huge herds of cattle.
About the lake is the breeding place of the ducks and they will remain until the frosts send them southward.
You asked me about the buffalo. There are no buffalo here now as they left the region around Devils Lake about 1868. They used to be very numerous about there as the grass is good and there is plenty of water but the Indians and Red River half‑breeds became so numerous and hunted them so persistently that they went west and south. They made pemmican of their flesh in immense quantities and sold it to the Hudson Bay and American Fur Companies.
With love,
Dakota Territory, May 24, 1877
Dear Patty,
We have no neighbors nearer than Fort Totten except the Indians who visit us frequently and so far as I know I am the only white woman in Foster County.
We have a new baby at our house, a boy, which we have named Berkley Terry Larrabee who arrival on the 12th was very much dreaded by me because we had no doctors or nurses.
This boy so far as we know is the first white child born in Foster County. The little girls have come in with their hands full of some beautiful flowers and wanted to know what they were called. Hunting out my old Botany book I found that they were the Pasque flowers with their quaint furry hoods that cover the buds. The hills are covered with them as they begin to bloom so early. There is no grass and the leaves come after the flower. We welcomed them eagerly as they are the first but we will have an abundance of wild flowers all summer long.
The lake is full of fish and as they go up Sluogullion Creek (so named by me because it's such a tiny stream beside our creeks at home), usually we get numbers which are a welcome change in our menu though they are not so fine as the salt-water fish at home.
Oh, how homesick I get for the sight of a white woman's face. I have seen none since I came here in September. The Indian women visit us frequently.
Five came a few days ago. One is always the spokeswoman and introduces the others by pointing to them, "This Lizzie, this Fanny, this Mary". We always have to give them lunch when they come, as they will remain until they are fed.
We had five or six fat little puppies and Mr. Larrabee gave each of them one which was received with broad smiles and great pleasure. I was glad he had given them something that pleased them so much and mentioned it to William after they were gone, when he replied nonchalantly, "Oh, yes, they will make them into a pot of soup." You can imagine my disgust, as this was the first time that I knew that they ate dogs.
Love,
Dakota Territory, September 1877 Dear Patience:
Have just got settled after moving. We moved about a mile south of our last habitation.
Mr. Larrabee has built a six-room frame house, the first one in the county where we will be much more comfortable than in the old log house. He will move all the buildings here and there we will keep our relay station.
It is in the bottom of the valley on the banks of the river James and is much more sheltered. The round topped hills are on the north and west and cut off our view but to the south it is open with gently rolling prairies in the direction of the river. The trail travels along this rolling land towards the river which is called the James.
Mr. Larrabee is busy getting in hay and getting in supplies and we will be busy for we intend keeping a relay house here and he will need a great deal of provender to supply the animals.
Herds of antelopes pass near grazing as they go, for in this valley is fine grass and running water which is not often to be found for you may travel miles upon the prairie without finding water.
The geese and ducks are here in immense numbers and sometimes there are so many that they cover vast spaces. About the Lake is the breeding place of the ducks and they will remain until the frost sends them southward.
Dear Patty:
Your letter received and was glad to get all the news from home. There have been a few men who have come in here and stayed a few months but no one has brought their families or made any long stay and to the best of my belief I am the only white woman in Foster County.
A new baby arrived at our house on May 12th. We have named him Charles Edward Larrabee and as his birthday is the same day as Berkley's they can both be able to celebrate their birthdays together. We are quite sure that these babies are the first white babies born in Foster County. As there are no county organizations I have entered their births in our family Bible.
I forgot to tell you that we receive the mail three times a week. The name of our mail carrier is Edward Loomis. He stops at our house overnight and keeps his relay of horses there then in the morning goes on to Fort Totten returning at night when he goes to Jamestown.
Dakota Territory, June 1879
Lake Belland is named after an old Frenchman who lived there at the time the county was surveyed. He was what is known as a "Squaw man" having purchased a squaw from an Indian which it was easy to do for a pony or something like that.
There is a little lake northeast of here which has had no name. An old blue cow of ours wandered up there and was lost for a few days; since then the lake is known as Blue Cow Lake.
Have seen no white women except the ones from the post in three years.
Dear Patty:
Time passes quickly even on the prairie and we have been here five years. Two brothers named Smith, E. Delafield and Herbert, have settled on the south side of the lake.
They carry on a trade with the Indians buying furs. This is the first white settlers near us but neither of the brothers are married.
The country looks beautiful‑ I wish you could see it. There is some talk of a R.R. coming through the county but it will not be within twenty miles of us.
The R.R. is the Northern Pacific and there is talk of surveyors working in that part of the county brought in by the freighters and mail carriers.
If such is the case we will not be here many years longer as we will not be so prosperous after the R.R. arrives. The travel then will leave the old trail and I scarcely know whether I am glad or sorry.
Dakota Territory, 1882 Dear Patty:
At last we have a real, bona‑fide settler. He has taken a pre‑emption on the south side of Lake Belland and is building him a "wee brown soddy". He is working for Mr. Larrabee and will move his family here. His name is George Bakken.
My it seems so comfy to have some woman near even if she is a couple of miles away. These people have some family and I am glad for the sake of the children will have some other children to play with.
It was a real fact about the R.R. and it has come in as far as Jamestown. Another townsite is platted in this county and is called Carrington after Henry Carrington of Toledo, Ohio; of the Carrington‑Casey Land Company.
This will bring in the settlers and soon we will see a shack on every quarter section. You may wonder what a quarter section is. It is 160 acres of land one-half mile long and all the land here is surveyed in that way. The mail now instead of coming from Jamestown comes via Carrington, and a P.O. has been established here with Mr. Larrabee as Postmaster.
Dakota Territory, 1881
Dakota Territory, 1883 Dear Patty:
At last Foster County is coming into its own. The town of Carrington is booming. New settlers are coming in droves. Two passenger trains have reached Carrington and many who wished to come on the first train could not even find a foothold on the cars. Men swarming over the tops of the cars and clinging to railings on platforms.
Carrington has become the greatest boomtown in the northwest. Still you can drive all day away from the railroads without seeing a sign of human habitation‑ bush nor tree‑ shack nor stack. There are no roads and we find our way across the prairie by reading the inscriptions showing range‑township and section placed on the surveyor's section stakes.
As I have not written to you for so long I must give you a story of the blizzard which raged here this winter. It was one of the worst I have ever seen. The winter has been very cold and I scarcely see how the emigrants who landed in Carrington have existed as there were no trains in there all winter. The snow was so great that the Northern Pacific abandoned everything until spring.
A number of boarding cars were left here which the people used as homes and a quantity of R.R. ties which were taken possession of and used as fuel. Some provisions had been left in the cars when they were abandoned and these and the jackrabbits which they managed to kill kept them alive through the winter. If it had not been for this I think that the few who stayed would have perished as no relief reached them until March '83 when the Northern Pacific train reached there.
Dakota Territory, 1884
Dear Patty:
William and I just came home from Carrington where we went on business and called on some of the wives of the new settlers. So many new people have come in. There is a beautiful new hotel named the Kirkwood which is run in great style, Negro waiters and everything else accordingly. This has been done to accommodate the class of people who are buying land as many rich people from the east are coming in to buy land.
These letters came from Paul Black, a former resident of Grace City. The following information came from the Post Returns of Fort Totten and was also compiled by Paul Black. Mr. Larrabee's name appeared on several entries showing that he was in confinement.
The returns also indicate that Company L., 7th Cavalry, arrived at Fort Totten on 12 August, 1875 from Fort Abraham Lincoln and returned there later, leaving Fort Totten on 10 March, 1876. Larrabee apparently joined the company when he arrived at Fort Totten on 13 November, 1875, later deserted, was tried and sentenced, and remained in confinement at Fort Totten when Company L returned to Fort Abraham Lincoln. A rather fortunate circumstance, since Company L was killed to a man at the Little Big Horn in the summer of 1876.
The Larrabee's home also became the first post office. After train service to Jamestown became regular, mail would come to Fort Seward by train and then be carried by wagon train to Fort Totten. Soon passengers began making the trip, too. During the winter when the snow was too deep 'for the horses, dog‑sleds were used. The trip was made three times a week. (A story of a trip on the trail is included in an article under Historic trails and sites.)
Ed Lohnes, who lived in Fort Totten in the early years of its beginning, was the mail carrier, after his discharge from the army. At the beginning there was a dispute with Larrabee ever some arrangements, so Mr. Lohnes established his own camp which included barns and other shelters. It was located a mile or so down the river. After Lohnes retired a man by the name of Bowman took over the operation. Bowman died about the year 1885 and his family left soon after that.
Source: A History of Foster County 1983 Page 24