Time for another spotlight on one of my ancestors. This was written by either my grandma or her sister, both were the granddaughters of Samuel Allred.
Samuel Allred
Born 3 Jun 1851 in a covered wagon near Council Bluffs, Iowa.
At the time he was 15 years old, the Black Hawk War broke out. He was used as a guard to help protect the pioneers from the Indians. He remembers July 23, 1866. Word was received that two men in Fairview had been killed by the Indians and that they were on the war path. He was sent to Ephrain with this news. When on the way instead of following the road down through Pigeon Hollow, he went over the hills. The next day when he returned he could see the tracks of the Indians who had been waiting for him by the side of the road.
Another time during Sunday meeting a man came and said the Indians were coming to town. Five men left so as to meet the Indians and talk to them. They met them just south of town. The Indians were very angry and wouldn’t listen to what was being said to them. They want Jack Allred (an Indian interpreter). When he arrived, he talked to the Indians and two came to town with him. They had stolen horses a week before. They promised to return them if they would be released, but the horses were never returned.
In all the Indian trouble Grandfather was only in one incident that any shots were fired or any fighting done. That took place west of town in the fields where he had been sent as a messenger.