John Beach

John Beach, from A.R. Fulton's Red Men of Iowa 1882.

Born in Massachusetts to William Beach and Lucy Tucker, John Beach enlisted in the U.S. Army during his late teens and graduated from the West Point Military Academy on July 1, 1832. He was commissioned as a brevet 2nd lieutenant served on the frontier with the Infantry Regiment, assigned to Fort Armstrong and Fort Crawford during the 1830s. In 1836, he took command of the Fort Armstrong garrison after its commanding officer Lt. Col. William Davenport ordered an evacuation and led a march to Fort Snelling in Hennepin County, Minnesota. Beach would remain at Fort Armstrong until being assigned elsewhere in November. During his last year with the army, he was involved in recruitment efforts before his resignation on June 30, 1838. Beach later married Lucy Frances Street, the daughter of General Joseph Street.

Two years later, he succeeded his father-in-law General Joseph Street as U.S. Indian Agent to the Sac and Fox tribes following Street's death. He continued his predecessor's work in establishing farming and education to the Raccoon River Agency reservation, although he was ultimately unsuccessful in the former goal. He also opposed settlers sqatting on reservation land as, in 1841, a force of dragoons under Lieutenant C.F. Ruff removed James Jordan and other settlers illegally living on the reservation. They had previously ignored Beach's order to leave and, after allowing them to gather their possessions, Ruff ordered his men to burn their homes. On October 11, 1842, he presided over the signing of a treaty which allowed the federal government to purchase much of Iowa from the Sac and Fox. He remained at the agency until 1847 where he resided in the area as a local farmer and merchant. Beach reenlisted during the American Civil War, however he involved in the training and drilling of recruits as his hearing loss disqualified him from the field.

Returning to Agency City following the war, he became a writer and historian in his later years. He died on August 31, 1874, at age 62 and buried at Chief Wapello's Memorial Park. A series of articles he had written on the early history of the various tribes he lived with during his career were published posthumously in the Agency Independent in the months following his death. His writings on the history of the Fox and Sac, as well as the fur trade on the Des Moines River, were later included in the History of Wapello County (1878).