Decatur, Nebraska

In 1837, a man named Woods became the first permanent white settler in what
is now Decatur when he built a home where a creek emptied into the Missouri
River. The creek came to be known as Wood Creek in his memory. The town
that sprang up here, however, was named after a later settler, Stephen A.
Decatur Bross.
Decatur Bross was born in New Jersey in 1815 and lived in New York before
joining the U.S. military during the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848. By
1852, Decatur had dropped the Bross from his name and was living in Bellevue,
Nebraska. He may have dropped his last name because he left behind a wife
and two children in the East. While in Bellevue, he connected with Colonel Peter
Sarpy, who operated the American Fur Company trading post there. In 1854,
Sarpy sent Decatur to scout for a new trading post site closer to where the
Omaha Indians were then living. In 1855, Sarpy, Decatur, and Clement Lambert
erected a log cabin trading post at the site picked out by Decatur. Lambert built
another cabin which became a tavern and later a dry goods store. Decatur
worked at the post and also farmed at the site of Decatur Spring, which would
serve as the water source for the town for a century. In 1856, a group of men that
included Decatur, Sarpy, and Lambert laid out the town of Decatur.
Decatur did not stay in the town that bore his name, however. As he had in the
past, he pulled up stakes and moved farther west. He was part of the Colorado
gold rush of 1859 and was one of the early settlers of Georgetown. During the
Civil War, he joined the Colorado territorial militia and apparently was present at
what came to be known as the Sand Creek Massacre of November 29, 1864, in
which approximately 200 peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians were killed.
Originally hailed as a great victory, within a year a Congressional investigation
characterized it as cold-blooded murder. In response to that finding, Decatur
wrote to the former territorial governor, Dr. John Evans (one of the founders of
Northwestern University), who was contemplating a run for Congress. In the
wake of the Sand Creek fiasco, President Andrew Johnson had demanded
Evans resign as governor of the territory. In his reply to Decatur, dated Nov. 4,
1865, Evans promised that he would work to "vindicate the reputation" of the
Colorado troops.
"Having suffered from said misrepresentations myself, I have commenced the
collection of facts to be used in evidence in order that the truth shall be made
known and that justice may be done to all," Evans wrote.
Evans did not make it to Congress and historians seem pretty content to regard
Sand Creek as a needless massacre. In Colorado, however, at least during the
remainder of Decatur's lifetime, Sand Creek was regarded as a great Union
victory in the Civil War.
Decatur was sometimes referred to as Commodore Stephen Decatur, a
reference to the early American naval hero of the same name.
Despite its early founding date and location on the Missouri, Decatur did not
become a great city. It was bypassed by railroads in favor of other river crossing
points. Today, it has a population of about 600. There's a small business
district, which includes Mighty Mo Miniature Golf and the Green Lantern
Steakhouse & Lounge. A mural on the side of the Green Lantern depicts Lewis
and Clark looking out over the Missouri from a hill. This probably represents the
explorers' visit to Blackbird Hill. The hill is on private property in the Omaha
Indian reservation, which begins at the north edge of Decatur, but motorists can
pull into the nearby Blackbird Scenic Overlook on Highway 75 to get a feel for
what Lewis and Clark saw from Blackbird’s gravesite.
Blackbird was an Omaha chief who died of smallpox four years prior to the
arrival of the Lewis and Clark expedition, according to Clark. According to
legend, Blackbird was buried sitting erect on his horse, so that he could see the
traders coming up the Missouri.